Chapter 191, Seventy-Third Cycle (21)
【The Sakura Team to Save the World】
[Hiro: Zero went to work.]
[Hiro: Are you guys going to Poirot Cafe today?]
[Mazda: No, let's focus on Zero's apprenticeship with Detective Mouri first, and then we can discuss what Hanagaki Martial Arts said.]
[Hagi-chan: Yes, after Hanagaki Martial Arts resolves his problem, he'll immediately return to twelve years in the future, right? After all, he's not from our timeline, so we don't have much time. It's best to ask your questions as soon as possible.]
[Squad Leader: What a pity! If only he could remember the principles and experimental data of those high-tech advancements of the future, we could have built the worldline observation instrument and time travel mechanism ahead of time.]
[Hiroki: I wonder what will happen after Hanagaki Martial Arts returns. If he fails to change the future and travels back again, what changes will occur on our side?]
Noah's Ark: Three Possible Directions.
[Noah's Ark: 1. The timelines of our two worlds remain intertwined. Zero successfully passed the death calamity, and the plan succeeded. Our current timeline's development has influenced the future twelve years from now. Huayuan Martial Arts has returned to a bright future and will no longer travel back.]
[Noah's Ark: Part Two. The timelines of our two worlds remain intertwined. Zero did not survive the catastrophe, and the plan failed. Hanagaki Takedo returns to the future and re-formulates a plan with the Sakura Team twelve years in the future. He travels back to July 1st again, affecting Zero's side and causing them to reload their save. Only Zero and Hanagaki Takedo remember everything.]
[Noah's Ark: Part 3. The timelines of our two worlds separated at their only intersection. Zero failed to survive the catastrophe, and the plan failed. Huayuan Wudao once again traveled from the future to twelve years ago, which is July 1st of this year. However, the timeline he traveled to had separated from Zero's and our current timelines, and they developed independently without affecting each other, returning to their original positions.]
[Hiro: Hiroki in the future told Hanagaki Takedo that the intersection of the world lines created by the two worlds of "Tokyo Manji Avengers" and "Detective Conan" is very likely to be unique, and they are planning this project with the mindset that it will only happen once.]
[Hirota: In other words, the information about the future sent by Huayuan Wudao is likely a one-time event. Regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, if he goes back, he won't return. We cannot judge whether the plan has failed based on this.]
[Hiro: I can't be sure, but it's highly likely. So, what Hanagaki Martial Arts means is that he wants to go through this year with us, until the final outcome is revealed on December 25th, confirming the success before traveling back.]
[Ida Kou: Is he trustworthy? Should I add him to the group?]
[Zero: Sure, he already knows enough information, and it's easier for us to discuss things now.]
[—Wu Xiaodao joins the chat group—]
*
[Zero Observation Diary]
[—Wu Xiaodao joins the chat group—]
[Wu Xiaodao:? ? ? 】
[Wu Xiaodao: What kind of group is this? Zero's Observation Diary? Only Zero isn't here?? You guys actually created a group behind Zero's back??? [Pupil Shock.jpg]]
[Mazda: Zero knows about this group.]
[Wu Xiaodao:...]
[Wu Xiaodao:? 】
[Hiro: Yes, we observe and discuss in this group things that Zero is trying to hide from us, especially his own safety and health.]
[Hagi-chan: For example, why does the Dream Chair, which was taken from the organization, have Zero's data? Did the organization use Zero before? When?]
[Wu Xiaodao: Sorry, let me think about it carefully. I memorized way too much information before I came.]
[Wu Xiaodao: According to research data, it should have been from April 1st to May 1st, thirteen years ago, with a total of thirty experiments.]
[Hiro: It was the month Zero disappeared!]
[Mazda: Yeah, he even explained that he was going to do the experiment, not to be a test subject, haha [smirk.jpg]]
[Squad Leader: Thirty times!!! [Smirking.jpg]]
[Hagi-chan: He really went to great lengths to keep this from us [laughing emoji]]
Everyone was so angry they sneered, their chests heaving, wishing they could rush over right now and give that blond bastard a good beating.
Huayuan Wudao once said that the organization's dream chair is used to... hypnotize and brainwash people to enter their subconscious dreams and explore the deepest secrets in their hearts, right? It's just that the conditions are too harsh, so it hasn't been widely used on undercover agents.
No wonder, no wonder, no wonder the ending CG of the last playthrough was a dream.
After the anger came worry and heartache.
Although they really wanted to give Rei Furuya a good beating, they ultimately just surrounded him and forced him to confess about what happened in that loop.
"I'm sorry, I did hide it from you. Actually, there's another save point for 'The Crow Is Staring at You.' The previous save point for 'The Worldline Where the Four-Petal Cherry Blossom Survived' wasn't completed but was directly overwritten." The blond youth admitted his mistake obediently. "But believe me, I'm really fine, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get out safely after a month. Luckily, I had learned some hypnosis techniques before, so it didn't work on me. Didn't Huayuan Martial Arts say that the experimental data was perfect and under my control the whole time? I kept it from you mainly because I had already completed the game in one life, so there was no need to tell you and make you worry."
They were skeptical, yet furious.
But Furuya Rei remained steadfast in his conviction, his eyes unwavering, so they temporarily believed him.
Then……
【ZERO Observation Diary】
[Class Monitor: The future Morofushi said that Zero didn't just complete "A Dream of Red Mansions" once and then save it. Before the final battle, he reloaded his save and changed all the tragedies he knew about. So how many times did he reload during this period? And what did he sacrifice to change those tragedies?]
[Hiroki: Yes, changing the plot related to the protagonist Conan is very difficult. We were already very careful with Asami and the previous twin lovers incident, but it still caused Zero a lot of heartache. One wrong move and it could lead to going over time and dying, resulting in a rollback.]
[Hirita: And the save file loads back to the very beginning of the "A Dream of Red Mansions" loop, which is when Shinichi Kudo becomes Conan Edogawa at the amusement park. Will Zero have to go through it all again? Did nothing unexpected really happen during that time? The Sakura Team of twelve years probably doesn't know what Zero went through during that period either, right? Zero only told them that after loading the save file once, he successfully reached the end based on future information... but Zero is a liar.]
[Wu Xiaodao: It is known that before the final battle, Zero experienced a total of 25 April 1st events, which is 25 years. Although it is only one year for everyone else, it is a full 25 years for Zero, and this is under the premise that Zero succeeds in reloading the save file on the first try.]
Noah's Ark: But according to my calculations, the chances of success on the first try are very small.
[Mazda: One save/load cycle is 25 years, two cycles are 50 years, four cycles are 100 years, and the timeline is very chaotic. How long did it cycle through this chaotic time?]
[Class Monitor: Do you guys remember that reincarnator from 50 years ago? I remember Zero saying that this senior reincarnator reincarnated for 500 years, was on the verge of collapse, was captured by the organization's BOSS, and finally died when he was discarded by the system after losing his usefulness.]
[Hiro: That's different. I believe Zero won't break down and give up because of this. Even if he's really affected by the chaotic time loop, he'll at least hold on until it's all over, instead of collapsing in the darkness before dawn again.]
[Hiro: Zero would never give up voluntarily. He must have encountered other difficulties and was forced or compelled to give up his chance to survive.]
[Class Monitor: Of course, I believe in Zero too. I mean, is it possible that, like the reincarnator half a century ago, the system abandoned the player for some reason near the end of the game, causing the player to lose the ability to reload, which is why Zero didn't reload after dying in the final episode?]
[Hagi-chan: It's certainly possible, but I think it's unlikely. Didn't the system previously praise Zero as an extremely talented player? Would they really just abandon Zero and let him die like that? Unless Zero's death creates a huge and lasting emotional impact on viewers somewhere, like a tragic heroine dying young in a work of art, or a hero who dies in the finale to save the world.]
[Mazda: Is the audience really that important? I think the biggest surprise for the system all along has been Zero himself. Rather than letting Zero end the game with a tragic death that leaves countless viewers heartbroken, the system is more likely to join forces with the world's consciousness to make Zero's death a true death for our world, and then take Zero's soul to other worlds to continue the next game and attract even more viewers.]
[Hiro: This has always been the most likely possibility, but how exactly does the system operate? Is it working in concert with the world's consciousness to make the convergence of Zero's death's world line unavoidable? Only the world's consciousness could suddenly cause a previously safe building to explode even when we are fully prepared, right?]
[Hiro: Or perhaps the system has some leverage over Zero, using us, this country, and the safety of the entire world to threaten Zero into abandoning the save file and going with it?]
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
They made so many guesses, but none of them were certain, which made them feel really insecure.
Date Wataru stood by the window, gazing into the distance. He took a deep breath, first sending a private message to reassure and confirm Morofushi Kagemitsu's emotions, before continuing to type in the group chat.
[Class Monitor: In short, if we don't make any changes to the worldline we're in and it continues like this, Zero will definitely die inexplicably and won't be able to reload a save.]
[Squad Leader: Originally, we thought that the biggest change to Zero's timeline would be if we all survived, but now it seems that's clearly not enough. We must change the timeline before the final battle on December 25th to ensure Zero's survival.]
[Class Monitor: Although Shiho Miyano from the future said that all the worldlines they saw in the Worldline Observer ended with Zero's death, that doesn't mean there aren't any worldlines where Zero survived. They only observed 35,000 worldlines. If we try jumping between worldlines a few more times, we might just happen to reach a worldline where Zero survived. Not to mention, we're currently in the only existing worldline where we traveled back from the Hanagaki Martial Arts Tournament, so our chances of winning aren't zero.]
[Squad Leader: Until we know the exact cause of Zero's death, this is all we can do right now.]
[Hiro: But Zero rejected the plan to change the world line. He wanted to continue with the original storyline, ensuring that everyone except him survived to the greatest extent possible. His own survival was just a side effect.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu typed those words almost through gritted teeth, then took a deep breath to calm himself down.
[Hiro: It's alright. We can convince Zero by rephrasing it. After all, you can't change more than 2% of the timeline at once. As long as the changes are within Zero's acceptable range and don't significantly impact the main storyline, Zero won't have any objections.]
[Hiro: We can probe for the specifics in the next few story segments focusing on Zero.]
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