An hour later, Baxter Building.
"So... me, you, and everyone else outside... we're actually already dead?"
In the hall, Johnny struggled to comprehend Reed's explanation. "W-What does that even mean? Are we all dead now?"
"No, we're alive. But right now, all of us, including the entire universe, are in a special 'state'..."
Reed explained seriously, "The universe was destroyed once, but afterward, Victor used the World Anchor to reshape the destroyed universe into a state from the 'past.'"
"A state from the past?"
Ben sat on the couch, his huge hand slowly tightening. "You mean Victor turned back time?"
"Not exactly."
Reed shook his head.
"If it were merely time reversal, then theoretically, we would still be on a timeline capable of continuing to evolve normally."
"But what the World Anchor did was more complicated."
As he spoke, Reed quickly walked over to the holographic control console beside him.
Several blue beams lit up, and a ribbon of light stretching endlessly forward appeared before them.
"Suppose this is our universe."
Reed lightly tapped the middle of the light ribbon.
"This is the present."
Then his finger continued forward.
"This is the future."
The ribbon continued stretching until it reached a certain point.
"Then..."
Reed suddenly clenched his hand.
The entire section of light ahead shattered violently!
"The universe was destroyed."
The others instinctively grew solemn.
Reed looked at the points of light floating in midair and continued:
"Under normal circumstances, after destruction, there would be no 'afterward.'"
"Time, matter, life, history... everything would lose the foundation needed to continue evolving."
"But Victor found, from outside, a certain historical cross-section where this universe had once existed."
Reed reached out and pulled back a section of the light ribbon from before its collapse.
"Right here."
"Then he used the World Anchor