Analysis / Contradiction

It's not just about Qianqi's problem. Ultimately, the mystery of "the last time" was a fog of events. Although he didn't find the connection or the root cause, he will prevent it from happening this time.

There are four things that need to be stopped.

The theft of the database, the murder of Erwin, the murder of Vill-V, and the disappearance of Pardo.

The theft of the database was a significant event that led to the change in Qianqi's mental state. It can be said that if Qianqi was indeed the murderer, then the theft of the database was the trigger.

It is still unknown how Qianqi killed everyone at headquarters, but Lin still has to do everything he can.

Kalin arrived at the archives without stopping. He walked in and, looking at the dazzling array of equipment for storing data, fell into deep thought.

Because the exact time of the previous database theft is unknown, and the entire process of Erwin's murder is shrouded in mystery, with Pardo disappearing without a trace, and these three events likely to occur in quick succession, Lin cannot catch the real culprit through conventional ambushes.

However, upon arriving at the database, he realized his mistake. He should have met with Pardo and Erwin before leaving the ball to warn them, but he hadn't thought of it properly in his eagerness to capture Qianqi ...

Lin used his memory to find the device that stored the data from M-I to WM-IV. After copying it into his helmet, he destroyed it.

If he plays the role of the "murderer" and makes no attempt to conceal his whereabouts, then tomorrow the investigators from the Fire Moth will discover that it was him who did it, instead of going after Qianqi.

After completing the first task, he glanced at the location where the surveillance equipment was hidden, made sure to reveal his identity as clearly as possible, and then left the place openly and legitimately.

Finding Erwin and Pardo and preventing them from being murdered was the second thing, and with a little while until 5 a. m., he had plenty of time to do it.

"Don't believe it, Lin."

A bitter voice and a sneer rang out at the same time. This time, Lin, who was already used to it, did not turn around warily, but slowly turned his gaze to look behind him.

Neither the monitor screen nor what he could see with his own eyes showed anything.

... So, assuming that what he heard was also a kind of "intelligence," what would the phrase "Don't believe it, Lin" mean in this case?

He had heard the same words before, but the tone seemed more urgent then, and he couldn't tell whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman.

Oh no, my thoughts get muddled whenever I try to think about related things. It's too much of a stretch.

Thinking about the truth behind the phenomenon is the most direct way to solve the problem. But now, Lin has not only come into contact with the truth, but it seems that he has not even fully investigated the phenomenon.

Before he knew it, Lin had arrived at Vill-V's Spiral Workshop. He glanced at the tightly closed doors; Vill-V should still be at the ball at this time...

"Huh? Lin? What are you doing here?"

Vill-V's voice echoed from the corridor on one side. Lin calmly turned around and nodded to the magician shuffling the cards.

"...Time travel, that is truly humanity's ultimate dream." After listening to Lin's "hallucination," Vill-V exclaimed, "The alternation of time and space is truly the ultimate goal of physics."

She wanted to take a sip of coffee, but after thinking about it, she pushed the cup towards Lin instead.

"I forgot to make you a cup, here, have some."

"I don't..."

"Oh, don't refuse." Vill-V's cheerful smile made it impossible to feel any awe for this PhD with terrifying achievements in physics. "Although coffee can't calm your mind, you probably don't need external things to stabilize your emotions. Why not focus your attention and memory instead?"

Vill-V was right. Even when faced with that bizarre event, Lin's emotions didn't fluctuate much; rather, he had problems with focus and execution.

Drinking some coffee... might help a little.

Lin picked up his coffee, lifted his helmet slightly, and drank the scalding hot coffee in one gulp.

"I almost forgot you can't feel temperature or taste right now." Vill-V suddenly remembered the side effects of the surgery when she saw that he didn't seem to care about the coffee's heat at all.

Vill-V snapped her fingers, and the machine behind her started up, drawing the graphics she needed on the large blank wall.

"Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3, I have made some improvements to the Neural Connection. Now I can make Neural Connection with some machines with the lowest power. Of course, it can't compare to your kind of free control, but it can also quickly respond to my thoughts. Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3 is an invention that can draw according to my consciousness."

Actually, she could have been made into a projection type, but Lin thought this might be Vill-V's Mechanical Romanticism.

"Doctor Mobius has already said that time travel is impossible, and I can tell you definitively that she is right."

"Before I analyze your 'hallucinations,' let me tell you why time travel cannot be achieved, aside from those hypotheses."

Chapter 136 Analysis

"I won't go into the explanation of the Grandfather Paradox, which is a very easy-to-understand concept. I'll just use an assumption to illustrate it first."

As Vill-V spoke, the Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3 began its work, and the paintbrush drew several... abstract human figures on the wall.

"Haha, sorry, maybe my imagination is too vivid, so the reality it reflects is a bit hard to understand." Vill-V chuckled awkwardly, clearly not expecting her thoughts to be drawn so strangely.

However, Lin didn't care about any of that. He silently watched Vill-V, signaling her to continue.

"So, let's assume this is our current timeline."

The abstract human figures were labeled with the word "at this moment," and then another human figure was drawn, which appeared to have some conspicuous decorations on its body.

"This one is from the future; he possesses a time-travel device."

"He came to our time through a time-travel device, he's right in front of us, so what will happen now?"

What will happen?

"... Not very good."

"Yes, not really, we just saw him, that is, we 'observed him'."

Vill-V drew the two human figures together and wrote the word "Observation" on them.

"So, have there been any events in our history or in the present day where people from the future have been observed?"

Lin understood what Vill-V meant; it was indeed a simple and easy-to-understand explanation.

If people were to actually create a time machine in the future, they would certainly want to interfere with history. Therefore, events involving future people would definitely occur. However, there are no records of such events. This suggests that either future people interfering with history would trigger the Grandfather Paradox or something else that would lead to the collapse of the entire historical or material world, or time travel is simply impossible.

"Even when consciousness travels through time and space, it's the same. If we consider Parallel World and timelines as two things, horizontal and vertical, then parallel worlds are like slices of bread that don't interfere with each other. No matter which slice is removed, it won't affect the others."

"But the timeline is an infinitely long icicle. If you want to remove a part of it... it will cause the entire icicle to shatter or break. Consciousness is also a part of the icicle, so there is no situation where the matter has not changed but the consciousness travels back to a previous point in time."

After Vill-V finished speaking, the wall was covered with abstract symbols and images. She clapped her hands, and the Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3 immediately cleaned the entire wall.

"Then there's the 'illusion' of time travel that you mentioned."

The Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3 immediately drew the entire process described by Lin on the wall. This time it looked exceptionally clear, probably because Lin's description was very precise and detailed, so Vill-V's thinking was also exceptionally clear.

Database theft, Erwin's death, Pardo's disappearance, Vill-V's death, and the headquarters massacre...

Each graphic is connected by a single arrow, and the entire sequence follows the order of the events Lin encountered.

"After explaining that time travel is impossible, let's analyze it based on the premise that it's not time travel. Of course, Lin, from now on I hope you can be skeptical of everyone and everything, even me."

"Why?"

"Since time travel cannot explain everything you've experienced, what do you think caused it all?"

It can't be explained.

This is also what Lin wants to know: what causes this cyclical phenomenon?

"Therefore, you need to pay attention to everything around you and be suspicious of all possibilities. Even now, you cannot be sure whether the person you are talking to, Vill-V, is someone in disguise who is giving you the wrong information."

After Lin nodded, Vill-V smiled brightly and continued to share her views.

"The entire process began at 11:30 a. m. on September 11 and ended at 6:30 p. m. on September 18. Because your death occurred at 6:30 p. m. on the 18th, it is impossible to confirm that that was truly the end."

"After all, we can't know for sure whether the 'point in time' before you returned here was the same time you died."

In other words, is it possible that he returned to this time some time after his death, or even several years later?

"Because there are traces of human intervention throughout the entire incident, we can assume that there is indeed a mastermind behind it."

"In the first incident, the database was stolen. Because the information was too vague, I couldn't analyze the specifics, but there is likely still information hidden."

"The second incident was the death of Erwin."

"The time is 5:00 AM on September 12th."

Vill-V paused, glancing at the Curiosity Manufacturing Machine No. 3 out of the corner of her eye, and it immediately drew a picture of Erwin lying on the ground.

"This incident was a murder. The murderer did not leave any useful information, but it did reveal that it was He who lured Erwin out. In other words, He may have already made contact with Erwin."

"Then among the people she came into contact with at the ball, some of them were lying, namely Elysia, Pardo, and Qianqi."

"The disappearance of Pardo may be because she knew some key information and was therefore dealt with by the mastermind behind the scenes. It is also possible that she was the mastermind."

"Compared to several other incidents, this one has a specific time of occurrence, so you can stake out the deck before 5 p. m. and try to catch the person who killed Erwin."

Lin had originally planned to do the same thing; it would be best if he could catch the murderer in one fell swoop. However, he felt that it was not that simple.

"Then came my death. According to you, Number One was murdered after receiving orders from me to investigate. So I probably also had information at that time. But how did I find out the information in such a short time... That's interesting."

She speaks candidly about her death, and her Vill-V heart and cheerful smile easily calm others down.

"Finally, there was the massacre at headquarters. Actually, I don't think that was done by that hacker named Qianqi."

"..."

Lin didn't rush to refute, but calmly looked at Vill-V, clearly asking her, "Why do you think so?"

"The most direct reason... I don't think she could do it. Even if I assume the most unreasonable assumption that she Herrscherification, judging from your description, the victims were all killed with a single blow, even Kevin. I don't think Herrscher would only cause that level of injury, right?"

"Another reason is... your last memory is hazy."

Chapter 137 Contradiction

"What you saw before you died was Qianqi picking up the knife and you raising the gun, right? And then what?"

"..."

Lin carefully recalled the last memory from the previous encounter and discovered that large gaps in his memory appeared after Qianqi rushed towards him.

"Sometimes the root of misleading information is actually what you see." Vill-V tapped her finger on the screen, and the panel inside the helmet displayed all the information from their conversation. "Of course, there is another possibility, which is that something is disguised as a member of the Fire Moth, and the last scene you saw was a disguised Qianqi. But in that case, you should prepare for the worst."

"You can only trust yourself, not anyone else, not even me. What I'm telling you now might all be lies I'm using to mislead you."

"So, I believe you already have the answer in your heart about what to do next."

After Lin left, Vill-V enthusiastically turned on her device, and the conversation with Lin aroused her great interest.

She was skeptical of Lin's words, but just to be on the safe side, she decided to hide quickly...

"Clatter."

The door to the Spiral Workshop was pushed open.

Vill-V suddenly turned around, her usually calm expression changing drastically.

"Who are you--"

Lin was hanging from the outer wall of the overtime work area, waiting for Erwin to come to the deck.

Waiting requires patience, and that's something Lin has no shortage of.

He didn't turn on his night vision goggles, and his helmet lights were off. His human form blended into the darkness of the environment, making it difficult to see the scenery in the night. However, Lin's hearing was playing its most important role at this moment.

The sound of the waves crashing.

The sound of the wind blowing through the narrow crevice.

He heard no other sounds besides that.

Before we knew it, it was five o'clock.

Erwin had not yet appeared, which aroused Lin's suspicion. The sky was beginning to lighten, so why hadn't Erwin come to the deck?

Lin released his grip and landed lightly on the ground, like a cat landing without making a sound.

He was actually a little surprised; could he now control his body so easily?

After waiting on the ground for about ten more minutes, Erwin still hadn't appeared. Based on the time of his death, he should have already been attacked by now...

Could it be that he won't come this time?

Did Lin's actions inadvertently change Erwin's behavior?

He remembered that there was still the issue of Pardo's disappearance to be resolved, so he didn't wait any longer and went back into headquarters.

Just then, a familiar-looking pair of people walked over from not far away; they were the same two people involved in the theft incident during the last database search.

Have they found him and come to arrest him?

Lin thought for a moment, then stood there without offering any resistance, waiting for them to come over and arrest him.

Since Erwin is alright, then Pardo might not be missing either. Let's deal with things one by one first.