The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 107 Time of Inversion

Lin Sheng could clearly see the research on this [cycle] conducted by the researchers at the future research level.

On every electronic screen in the lab, countless formulas, constructing new "loop" structures, reasoning about the inversion of timelines...

Even the three-choice research method failed to bring any breakthrough.

No matter how fresh the air is or how bright the lights are, they cannot bring even a little positive emotion.

Bai Zichen's eyes were anxious and confused, and everyone around him could feel an indescribable depression.

Even a few people had fallen into silence like stone statues, they just stared at the charts and data.

It's like an eternal confusion, a puzzle that can never be solved, trapping the entire time exploration department in such a maze.

Even using as many three-choice research methods as possible to simultaneously arrange this time structure is impossible.

"We can't do it at all. We can't do it at all..."

An elderly researcher spoke in a low voice, his voice as if coming from the abyss, filled with utter sorrow.

His words were like the whispers of some demon.

The researcher, standing in the timeline simulation sandbox equipped with the most advanced timing simulation system, had his fingers trembling slightly.

Finally, his index finger stopped on the "Start Simulation" button.

He no longer had the courage to face the possible consequences.

"How many times have we tried? Ten thousand times? A million times? Ten million times?"

He muttered to himself in a low voice.

"Even more? All we're doing is a simulation, but everything is based on the 'forward' time flow."

A sense of fear spread throughout the Department of Time Research.

In the abyss of their minds, these researchers felt an unspeakable horror.

"Can anyone tell me!" another researcher struggled and shouted to the sky.

He collapsed.

"Can anyone tell me?"

The researcher shouted almost hysterically, his voice choked with uncontrollable despair and deep fear.

"How on earth can we get past that zero?! How on earth?!"

Just as Lin Sheng saw it, even now, even in this [loop] he now had almost unlimited time and possibilities.

But I just can't do it.

Since there is no correct option at all, what is the point of getting more possibilities and approximations?

The reversal of the timeline, or the "reverse time flow", completely breaks all the alliance's understanding of the timeline.

How is it possible for the timeline to run backwards without violating the law of causality?
This is a problem that researchers can never get around, a darkness like a black hole in physics.

Retrograde? But in violation of the laws of causality and time?!
The feeling of suffocation and powerlessness even made some people start praying to God.

"O Almighty God! May His glory fall..."

They prayed for His mercy to [Edogawa Conan] and [Kudo Shinichi].

As the person who has the greatest control over the story trajectory in [Loop].

All I can say is that no one can match the control of the [Story Timeline] over the entire main time stream.

The same goes for the use of Kudo Shinichi.

Time reversal means that time begins to flow along the negative axis, rather than starting at some positive value and moving back towards zero.

Just like the confusion that Lin Sheng saw the researchers at the research level raised in the initial experimental stages of the future.

"If time is reversed, doesn't that mean the future of the past overlaps with the past of the future? How can the logic of causality be maintained in this way?"

Yes, [story timeline] does not mean to make the timeline of the universe go backwards, nor does it mean to make the buds that have sprouted new leaves slowly shrink, nor does it mean to make the fruits that have fallen to the ground return to the trees.

It is not about bringing the dead people or their spirits back to life, but about making the timeline leading to the future develop towards the "past".

It is like retracing the movement of matter after the Big Bang to its original origin.

And then you have to move forward as well.

At this moment, the [story timeline] allows the main time flow and the direction of the universe's development to continue flowing along the negative axis of time.

How could humans possibly imagine how the time sequence in the "negative direction" should be arranged and how cause and effect should be connected?

This was not supposed to work.

Just as the personnel on the research level have gone mad, how can the timeline go against its own nature?
Lin Sheng saw the explanation given to him by the future director of the Time Exploration Department.

He saw Bai Zichen pause, then utter the unspeakable truth with difficulty.

"Please imagine this - Mr. ZC-01, you are standing on the beach, and suddenly, the water begins to flow in the opposite direction."

"However, each time it flows back, the splash never overlaps with the previous wave. This reversal does not mean returning to the past, but rather separating history from the future in a way that we cannot predict."

"But the problem is they're still in the same timeline! How is that possible?!"

In Lin Sheng's eyes, that sense of time allowed him to see—

That substantial story timeline, along with reality, crashes into the past history.

Have you ever seen time flow backward?

That's the time for inversion.

Just as Bai Zichen said.

The ever-flowing waters of time suddenly decided to change direction at a certain moment. They stopped at a certain moment, and then flowed back to the past without colliding with history!
Just like the river seen from the other side, the water flows in the opposite direction but does not collide with the water upstream.

The same time point!

The future of the past and the past of the future exist at the same time.

The future of the past is the past of the future. They coexist but do not intertwine with each other.

But Conan can, and under that pale sun, the [cycle] encompasses them all, this cycle, this spiral, this contradiction.

[Kudo Shinichi] lets time flow back to the past without colliding with the past.

It is like letting the sea suddenly flow towards the river from the estuary, but every water molecule flowing backwards happens to be "offset" with the river water flowing downstream.

This is exactly what the [Story Timeline] came up with to deal with the Alliance.

This is also the truly terrifying part of [Loop]—

Who says time keeps jumping backwards?
[Story Timeline] The entire future of the universe at this moment was stolen, only when it was needed for future cases, only when the case or Conan needed technological advancement.

Only then will it return this time to reality.

"This time it's real. Everyone has eternal life."

Even Lin Sheng was shocked by this great power. He saw that at some point in the future, his voice would become extremely hollow when he heard the truth for the first time.

"From now on, the entire history of the universe will wander like a wandering ghost for just six months, or maybe a year?"

This made Lin Sheng close his eyes.

He took a deep breath. "Is this the [story timeline]'s counterattack?"

This power made him feel a heaviness he had never felt before, a heaviness that he could not escape.

Therefore, at the next "moment" when time begins to reverse, after almost exhausting all the possibilities that the entire research layer can provide.

Lin Sheng immediately ordered all field staff to take off their TDDs.

It has to be fast.

Wearing TDD, they are like a few drops of water rushing forward in the long river of time.

Their time flow is still positive because of TDD.

(End of this chapter)