If all laws could be twisted and corrupted by that Calamity, could "time," which stood alongside space as one of the most fundamental laws underpinning the world, also be corrupted by it?
That was why Lynn had asked the question.
The corruption of matter, space, and living beings was something you could touch and see. Even most laws would surely be affected within the present space-time you occupied. But what if time could be corrupted too?
Would that mean...
That Calamity never actually needed to launch a universe-wide extermination in the present? Perhaps merely making a slight change to the course of history would shatter everything that currently existed.
The heart clearly had not expected Lynn to ask such a question either.
He paused for a long time before saying:
"In theory, since time is also a law, it certainly could be contaminated by that Calamity. But I don't think it would happen. The highest-order laws aren't so easy to interfere with. Take space, for example. The universe is immeasurably vast. Even if some regions collapse, that won't affect the stability of space as a whole."
Countless years had passed since the Genesis of Innovation.
Vast Cosmos had long since become a self-contained whole.
Lynn adjusted his Monocle and glanced at him.
"But that's only your conjecture. Ultimately, time could still be contaminated, couldn't it? So I want to ask: if our past were contaminated, would it affect us in the present? Or does our universe actually have parallel timelines, so that even if the past changes, our present remains unaffected?"
The heart was momentarily at a loss for words. He had not expected Lynn to suddenly raise so many questions on such a vast scale.
He thought for a moment before finally saying:
"I don't know. I doubt there