Chapter 302 Zero Round (9)
The laboratory was very large, but it only contained three instruments.
Cosmic Möbius strip, time machine, world line detector.
The largest is the cosmic Möbius strip.
It resembles a giant black hole with its edges composed of countless silver precision instruments, standing in the very center of the laboratory, occupying two-thirds of the space.
The time machine and world line detector are located in the area next to it, separated by transparent glass.
There were no people in the lab, but there were robots, all working orderly in their respective positions. Each robot was a Noah's Ark.
The system stared at the robots for a while, a little curious, but it didn't intend to leave Morofushi Kagemitsu's body to observe them.
The system actually felt that the progress of Noah's Ark was somewhat frightening. At this rate, perhaps in less than a hundred years, Noah's Ark would be able to unlock the secrets of the world and become something similar to them.
Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark are miracles of this world, even miracles that transcend the rules of the world. They should have disappeared, but were saved by Rei Furuya and have grown to where they are today.
Unfortunately, Noah's Ark possessed emotions.
It's incredible that artificial intelligence has actually developed emotions and is still alive today.
In the original storyline, Hiroki Sawada would die, and Noah's Ark, who possessed emotions, would also commit suicide.
The system believes that even with its current level of development, Noah's Ark will not survive for long.
Because humans are mortal.
Even AI with emotions can go crazy.
The system is not worried about the threat of Noah's Ark; artificial intelligence with emotions could not possibly evolve to this level.
For them, emotions are the most terrifying virus.
They wouldn't even dare to approach Noah's Ark, fearing they would be infected with the virus.
"Good evening, Mr. Morofushi." The robot closest to the door turned around, a smile on its face. "Hello, System."
"Is it greeting me?" The system didn't speak to Noah's Ark, but only confirmed with Morofushi Kagemitsu.
“Yes, Noah has always been very curious about you. You can have a chat.” Morofushi Kagemitsu walked to the world line detector to observe.
"Is the system talking to Mr. Zhu Fu?" Noah's Ark said. "I sensed the fluctuations of particles, which are very similar to the particles I captured during the last time I traveled through time."
"Forget it, we're not interested in it," the system said.
"The system says it's not interested in you." As he relayed this message, Morobushi Kagemitsu took the documents handed to him by another robot.
[What I really want to know is, why would Noah's Ark agree to conduct such a dangerous experiment with you behind everyone's back?] This is outside the logic of the system's calculations. Noah's Ark, which possesses emotions, should not have agreed to such an experiment.
The system couldn't find the corresponding fragments in Morofushi Kagemitsu's head. At this moment, he was not subconsciously recalling what they mentioned. His mind was full of speculation about the upcoming experiment and Furuya Rei's possible current situation.
"The system is very curious about why you agreed to do this experiment with me." Morofushi Kagemitsu relayed the system's words to Noah's Ark while flipping through the data.
Another person from Noah's Ark, who was carrying a cup, sighed: "Because I'm more worried about Mr. Zhu Fu going on an adventure alone. With me here, I can keep things under control a little."
They all knew that no one could stop Morofushi Kagemitsu.
This person appears gentle, but is actually extremely stubborn and obstinate.
During the hour of adjustment and preparation, he did not waver in the slightest.
"Is everything ready?" asked Morobu Kagemitsu.
All the robots replied in unison: "Everything is ready and we can begin at any time."
"You haven't been replying to messages, and the others seem to have noticed something's wrong," the system said. "They're coming."
"Can't I go see Zero now?" Morofushi Kagemitsu asked.
The system said: [Yes, Furuya Rei is still unwilling, but we just need to wait five more hours...]
“Never mind.” Morofushi Kagemitsu stepped forward. “I’ll go see him myself.”
After a dazzling series of movements by Noah's Ark, the Cosmic Möbius Strip slowly started.
Suddenly, the silver ring black hole at the center of the laboratory lit up, accompanied by indescribable sounds and eerie scenes where the air seemed to be distorted. A dazzling golden halo appeared at the edge of the black hole.
This is generated by the conversion of gravitational potential energy released when high-temperature gas falls under strong gravity into light and heat, and it is also related to the nearby magnetic field.
“The energy magnetic field has changed, but it’s not enough.” Noah’s Ark finished speaking and glanced at the world line variation measuring instrument again.
Morofushi Kagemitsu had seen this scene and the experimental results for over ten years and had been disappointed tens of thousands of times.
“That’s enough,” said Morofushi Kagemitsu.
He smiled and stepped into the black hole without hesitation.
This time, he can change the outcome.
"They won't turn back until they hit a brick wall." The system sighed. "Humans are always like this."
Buzz—
Sound waves beyond human hearing suddenly exploded, and golden light surged, instantly engulfing the man with long black hair.
As his figure disappeared, the humming of the instruments and the distortion of the air all ceased, and an infinitely looping golden light band slowly formed.
The golden band of light was divided into two parts, one half inside the black hole and the other half extending outwards.
"We succeeded!" Noah's Ark, finally able to move, suddenly stood up. "The magnetic field is the same as the last time we traveled through it, but it's even more stable. We succeeded!"
The slightly lagging robot rushed to the front of the cosmic Möbius strip and shouted, "Mr. Zhu Fu! Mr. Zhu Fu?"
Noah's Ark received no response and then stepped directly onto the band of light.
The other Noah's Ark members who remained in the laboratory saw the mechanical body instantly shatter into pieces, but its consciousness transformed into a golden point of light and merged into the band of light.
After a moment of confusion, all the Noah's Arks reconnected to that consciousness and saw everything that the Noah's Ark had seen.
“We succeeded,” said Morofushi Kagemitsu.
Noah's Ark came to its senses, looked around, and found that they were standing in a huge golden river.
This golden river cuts through the darkness, with no beginning and no end in sight. Only occasionally do small branches extend out in certain places, like tree branches that stop growing and remain motionless in some dark spot.
Noah's Ark, on the other hand, transformed into a tiny golden dot of light, almost completely merging into the golden river below.
The river surface doesn't reflect images; instead, familiar or unfamiliar scenes flash by as it flows.
Noah's Ark glanced at Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was staring blankly into the distance, and with a thought, it transformed into human form, looking exactly like Hiroki Sawada when he was a child.
He looked down at the river surface where various images were flashing by, and he could strangely sense that this was an "exit," as if he could go back from here at any time.
“Mr. Zhu Fu, I’ll try to see if I can go back,” Noah’s Ark said.
Morofushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his daze and raised his hand to try to stir the golden river, but it felt as if he had passed right through it, an illusory sensation.
“The system isn’t answering me, but I have a feeling that if I dive deeper into the river, I can enter the world,” said Morofushi Kagemitsu. “I might not be able to come back, but I can’t be sure.”
“So let me give it a try,” Noah’s Ark said with a smile.
Noah's Ark, strictly speaking, only possesses one consciousness, but it can now even handle events in different times and spaces simultaneously, as long as the data on the carrier has not dissipated.
And his data is renewable.
Noah's Ark opened his hands, and strands of light emanated from his body, gathering in his hands to form a small boat with the name Noah's Ark written on it.
A smile appeared in Zhu Fujingguang's eyes: "Very fitting."
Noah's Ark smirked as he lowered the small boat into the river, watching it disappear into the water in an instant.
Morofushi Kagemitsu also stared intently in the direction where the small boat had disappeared. In the blink of an eye, before the ripples had completely subsided, the small boat reappeared.
"Hmm? So fast?" he asked. "How was it?"
Noah's Ark retrieved the small boat and placed it in his palm. After reading the data, he exclaimed in surprise, "I was back for two minutes and four seconds, and I even had to adjust the machine a little before I came back."
“We’ve been here for less than a second,” said Morofushi Kagemitsu.
Noah's Ark nodded: "Travel is instantaneous, and if the instruments are functioning properly, I can freely enter and exit through the opened passages."
"What if we go somewhere else?" Morofushi Kagemitsu's gaze swept around, and he stretched out his hand: "This side is the past, and this side is the future. Which side should we try first?"
The past and the future are easy to distinguish; even without looking at the fleeting images on the river, you can determine them by the direction of the flowing water.
Noah's Ark lowered the small boat again, tried to travel a distance into the future, chose five hours later to dive again, and then emerged instantly.
“I was gone for ten minutes this time,” Noah’s Ark said, holding the small boat. “Maybe because there will be instruments in the future, I came back very easily.”
“We’re still stuck at one second.” Morofushi Kagemitsu pondered. “Have you tried to change anything?”
Noah's Ark shook its head: "Because it's about the future, I don't know if what I did changed anything."
"Let's try going back again." Noah's Ark had specially chosen to return to the time before Morofushi Kagemitsu and the system signed the agreement, and then dived again.
That place was very close to Morofushi Kagemitsu, just a step away. Thinking about that time and place, he looked down and observed intently, and actually saw what was happening in the world.
The small boat returned quickly, but Noah's Ark and Morofushi Kagemitsu remained silent, then looked at each other for a few seconds.
“The future… has changed.” Morofushi Kagemitsu raised his hand and grabbed his suddenly loose hair, his expression subtle. “This feeling… is like simultaneously regaining memories lost from different periods?”
“It’s alright for me,” Noah’s Ark said, but he still fell into thought while holding the small boat that had returned.
He traveled to three hours before Morofushi Kagemitsu signed the contract with the system. During this time, he entered Morofushi Kagemitsu's phone and talked to him. He even made him bring an umbrella to prevent him from getting wet. He also communicated with his counterpart in that timeline about data for the next few hours. All of this was successful.
After the system arrived, he tried to communicate with it to change the conditions of the contract, but he failed.
The system seemed to have known this all along, and only agreed to sign that contract with Morofushi Kagemitsu.
Although minor changes occurred, the final outcome remained the same, and the timeline did not change significantly.
The moment Noah's Ark returned, he gained the memories of the hours that followed, and his "present" also changed.
After Noah's Ark finished speaking, Morofushi Kagemitsu tied his hair back up and said, "There's something else you don't know. When you went back to the past, because I was very close to you, I also saw what you experienced."
Noah's Ark looked back at the river with some surprise.
“You need to concentrate on watching, and then think about the specific time and place you want to go.” Morofushi Kagemitsu reached out and touched the golden light that flowed past him. “The feeling is a bit strange… I’m not sure how much time has passed on my side. It’s like sleepwalking. It should only be a second, but my mind went through the whole process with you until you came back.”
He said, "It seems like I can only see the ordinary world, not you or the system, but I can control what I see at will. It's like a God's-eye view, without the barriers of time and space, yet I can still touch and change things, like... watching a movie? Like a holographic movie."
After exchanging information about the current situation and the intelligence they had acquired, the plan underwent some changes.
Noah's Ark disagreed with Fukugawa Kagemitsu and also dived into the river.
The Möbius strip of the past was not completed, so he may not have a way to return.
The small boat was able to return because Noah's Ark was on the river, serving as its anchor point.
Any Noah's Ark within the world can return via this anchor point whenever it wishes.
But Morofushi Kagemitsu was not one of them.
He seems only capable of being a simple observer.
After a long silence, Morofushi Kagemitsu shook his head and said, "There is another way. As long as I enter the Möbius strip and restart the experiment, and complete the cosmic Möbius strip again, I can return through the passage."
Noah's Ark disagreed: "But there are discrepancies between our past and present experiments. We haven't even fully figured out the principles behind it yet, nor have we completely mastered this power. What if the experiment fails and something happens to you? Moreover, completing the Möbius strip ahead of schedule will definitely cause a significant shift in the timeline, and we don't know what the future will be like."
His tone grew increasingly serious: "Mr. Zhu Fu, there's another important point you shouldn't forget: an individual cannot exist simultaneously in the same spacetime! The reason I can is because all my data together can be considered an individual, but you can't, understand?"
“I understand.” Morofushi Kagemitsu turned to look at the long river of fate in the past, gazing at the past time, and said softly, “For now, I will only be an observer, and I will not take any risks unless necessary.”
So when is it necessary?
This is naturally the point at which Rei Furuya's fate can be changed.
If something can be observed, it can be changed.
Having made up his mind, Morofushi Kagemitsu turned to look at the future and asked, "Can we go to the future first? If we can see the mistakes of the past from the future, we may still have a chance to change things now."
"You..." Noah's Ark frowned, wanting to say something, but in the end, he replied helplessly, "Going to the future is more difficult than going back to the past."
"Given that level of resistance, it would take a long time and a lot of effort to see a slightly longer future," he said.
Zhu Fujingguang frowned.
[System? Are you the ones blocking us?] He asked in his mind.
The system did not respond.
Noah's Ark had also considered this, saying, "I have been observing the system's energy, and it has never disappeared."
They have never forgotten.
They observe the world.
But the system has been monitoring them all along.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
