Nobita's Time Heist

Before coming here, Nobita was worried about what would happen if the 22nd century itself ceased to exist due to changes in the past. But the current situation undoubtedly reassured him—the future changes because of the past, and since the 22nd century still exists, it means Jaqen and Phoenicia's plan has failed. Even if he didn't stop them, someone else would.

"Is this a hundred years from now?" Jinglu finally recovered, grabbed the light pole of the navigation light with one hand, leaned out, and looked at this unfamiliar future world. She exclaimed, "It's like a dream... If you didn't tell me, I would have thought I was three or four hundred years from now!"

The speaker has no intention, the listener has the heart.

Jinglu's casual remark reminded Da Xiong of the information Phoenicia had given him. He didn't know why these villains always went on and on; perhaps they were confident of defeating their opponents and never considered that he would leave the Dream Universe with this information.

How did humanity, who used chemical fuels a hundred years ago and struggled to even migrate out of the solar system, achieve such a rapid technological explosion in just one hundred years? How could they even use secret tools developed a hundred years later to fight against the Phoenicians, the ultimate life form that had evolved for hundreds of millions of years? What exactly happened in these hundred years without major wars?

Unfortunately, now is not the time to solve the mystery. Nobita can only temporarily list this as a side quest and investigate it when he remembers it someday.

"I remember it was going this way... no, it should be that way..."

In the future, the time machine would probably look like a convertible shaped like a flying carpet. There would be other vehicles that could travel in the air as well, so it didn't attract much attention.

After driving for a while, relying on his memory, Nobita finally found his destination.

Secret Props Memorial Museum.

Chapter 433: Old Friend

Although called a museum, it is actually a giant floating island. A giant bamboo dragonfly stands on each of the island's four sides, generating a powerful anti-gravity field that holds the island in the air. Above the island, a building stands prominently, its pointed roof soaring into the sky, its red tiles gleaming in the sunlight. High walls surround the entire structure, seemingly guarding the precious secrets within.

“I have a lot of incredible secret gadgets in my pocket, right? Actually, they were all invented by scientists of this era.” Nobita stepped on the brake, pulled the trigger, and slowly brought the time machine to a stop at the museum’s dock. He explained to Shizuka, “This museum is where the history of the development of secret gadgets is preserved. Many prototypes of gadgets are displayed here. The craftsmen here also do the repair work on some special gadgets.”

“I know.” Jinglu had a flash of inspiration, as if she had suddenly realized something. “Just like in comic books, the older something is, the more powerful it is, right? Even if it’s a prop, the original model must be stronger, right?”

"..." Nobita didn't know how to evaluate this old-fashioned concept of "the older, the stronger," and could only smile wryly. Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the first EVA units, Unit-01 and Unit-00, were indeed stronger than the later ones, but this theory didn't apply to secret gadgets. The first-generation secret gadgets often lacked that imaginative, agile feel and were closer to traditional machinery.

Take the bamboo dragonfly, for example. Initially, it was the size of a backpack, with a propeller extending from it to control flight. After a series of adjustments, its size was successfully miniaturized, becoming a lightweight device that could be worn on the head. The same is true for the Anywhere Door; the model of the world's first Anywhere Door was several stories tall. Just like the first electronic computer created by mankind, it possessed a massive size completely incompatible with civilian use. Who could have imagined that, in just a few decades, even a tiny smartphone could accomplish so much?

"Ah... wait a minute... Mr. Nobita..."

A robot with a very familiar face ran towards them step by step. Its head was square, and the rest of its structure was also very simple, as if intentionally trying to distinguish it from humans. Its hands and feet were all metal mechanical structures. The only thing on its head was a blue railway flat-topped peaked cap, with a metal badge on its forehead, which was the only symbol indicating its identity.

Childhood memories flashed through his mind, and Nobita immediately remembered this old friend who appeared frequently.

"It's you, conductor!" (From Doraemon episode 162, "Night on the Galactic Railroad," a tribute to the story of Galactic Railroad 999. Nobita secretly uses Doraemon's commemorative ticket and boards the deserted Galactic Railroad train with his friends, experiencing a series of adventures that follow.)

Seeing a familiar face in the 22nd century automatically boosts the sense of familiarity by ten points. Nobita hurriedly jumped out of the time machine, grabbed the mechanical hands, and shook them vigorously, exclaiming, "How did you end up in a museum?"

"After that, we drove the Sabro (the name of the Galaxy Train) to the Songzhi factory, but after checking, we found out that some of its parts were too old and had long been discontinued. The people at the factory couldn't guarantee they could fix it either. After going through many twists and turns, they referred us to this museum, which is simply a treasure trove. It even has parts that haven't been produced for decades..."

Speaking of Saburo, he was as excited as ever, seemingly genuinely happy for his old friend with whom he had worked for many years.

"Later... as Mr. Nobita knows, the train had stopped running. Even if we repaired Sabro, neither of us would have anywhere to go. A museum guide suggested that Sabro be displayed as an exhibit, so that people in the 22nd century could have a chance to learn about the development history of the Galaxy Express. Besides Sabro, there are many other models of trains on display in the museum, some of which are my old friends!"

"With so many trains, we need someone to do their routine maintenance and upkeep." The train conductor swung his metal wrist, clearly quite satisfied. "After looking around, there was no one more suitable than me. They asked me to stay at the museum and take on this job. Heh... at least they've found me something to do."

"Really?" Nobita was genuinely happy for him. "That's great! If you can find a job at the museum, you don't have to worry about it going out of business anymore. As long as new secret gadgets are produced, those old models will always need a place to be stored."

"I owe everything I am today to Mr. Nobita. If you hadn't pierced the asteroid with that one blow..." The train conductor didn't have an expression system, but from the change in his tone, it wasn't hard to hear the感慨 (gǎnkǎi, deep feelings) of his life. "Speaking of which, is there something you need to repair at the museum today? Or are you simply bringing a friend to visit? Either way, you need to show an invitation to enter."

“I was in a hurry…” Da Xiong scratched his head, “and didn’t bring that thing with me.”

"Really?" He glanced around furtively, and when no one was around, he lowered his voice and whispered in Da Xiong's ear, "In that case, you can just follow me for a bit. I'll change you into a uniform and we'll go in through the staff entrance. But please don't go to any places that require real-name registration, because if your name doesn't match the registered person's, you'll be exposed."

"I won't let you do that."

Nobita chuckled, fumbled in his pocket for a moment, carefully recalling the shape of the card, and finally, at the bottom of a pile of props, he precisely picked it out with his fingers.

It resembles a commemorative card, with a white background and a gilded border. The card prominently displays a human hand and a robot cat's hand, each holding half of a bell, piecing them together to form a complete bell.

What the pattern is doesn't really matter.

In the train conductor's eyes, the series of codes in the lower right corner of the card is the most important thing.

"This is... the museum's official electronic identification number. With this, you are considered the highest-level VIP guest officially recognized by the museum. No prior reservation is required; you can visit at any time and enjoy various services such as free prop restoration..."

The train conductor had only heard of such invitations, but no guest had ever actually taken one out, so much so that he thought it was an old urban legend.

Who would have thought that Nobita Nobi, a man from the 21st century, could pull such a surprise out of his pocket?

“Before, we helped them with a little bit of work at this museum. After it was over, the curator gave each of us an invitation, as a souvenir.” Nobita humbly simplified that great adventure at the Secret Gadget Museum into “a trivial achievement” and said with a smile, “At the time, he assured us that we could come anytime, and the doors of the Gadget Museum would always be open to us.”

"In that case, let's go in through the main gate in a proper and respectable manner."

Chapter 434: Kurt

Secret tools, or rather, origin technology, are the source of the liberation of productivity in the 22nd century.

Regardless of whether it's a workday or not, there will always be visitors.

Amidst the bustling crowd, Nobita spotted many familiar gadgets, including some that were too dangerous to be produced anymore. For some reason, Doraemon always seemed to have a knack for getting his hands on these dangerous items.

This museum holds many of his memories. He noticed that many of the gadgets Doraemon uses, such as the flying carpet-shaped time machine, are now on display. There's even a history of time machine development nearby. Nobita was almost scared out of his wits when he looked closer. It turns out that the one Doraemon uses is practically one of the first prototypes to hit the market!

It's a convertible with almost no safety features, no seat belts, and its load-bearing capacity is also problematic; the standard version can only carry the weight of two adults.

The first time Doraemon took it to the Cretaceous period, all five of his friends gathered and crushed it, which led to the series of adventures that followed. Afterwards, Doraemon made more than a dozen complaint calls to the department store to no avail. Frustrated, he modified the time machine himself, increasing its carrying capacity to accommodate five adults. As a result, he finally managed to avoid any further mishaps when traveling to Japan 6 years ago.

From convertibles to the civilian models Doraemon rides in (Doraemon's time machine, the Tulip, is essentially a civilian vehicle within the time machine category), to the airships used by the Time Police, and then to the island-shaped super-large time-travel devices favored by some time criminals... the concept of time machines has been constantly evolving, and the old artifacts in Doraemon's possession are almost ready to be phased out by technology.

“Nobinia, um…” Jinglu noticed this too, pointed to the display stand, and said softly, “Is this the model we’re sitting in?”

"Ha...hahaha...ha..." Nobita was speechless and could only laugh dryly.

The train conductor led them through the props, and Jinglu felt as if she had entered another world, everything was new and exciting. But she restrained herself, not letting her curiosity show, otherwise she would look like a country bumpkin who had never been to the city.

The train conductor was surprised to learn that he was looking for Kurt, because the museum guide who had asked him to stay was none other than Kurt.

"I heard he's the grandson of some great inventor. I don't know why, even though he could be interning at a better company, he's working as a tour guide at the Secret Gadget Museum." The train conductor shook his head, puzzled. "These young people nowadays, I really can't understand them anymore."

"Haha, is that so? Maybe everyone has their own preferences. Perhaps he just likes the environment in the museum." Da Xiong smiled ingratiatingly, secretly recalling Kurt's situation. He figured it was probably because he couldn't let go of a certain girl in the museum that he continued to stay there.

After many twists and turns, we finally saw Kurt, who was wearing an elegant plaid suit and introducing the exhibits to the visitors.

"What you see now is the [Phantom Thief DX's Bow Tie]. With just a press of the bow tie, you can transform into the legendary phantom thief, capable of easily breaking through any heavily guarded defenses on your own! If you want to retrieve information from a dangerous place, or take something without anyone noticing, this item is the perfect choice."

His tone was quite proud as he gestured with his arm and announced loudly, "The [Phantom Thief DX Set], also known as the 'Sherlock Star,' is a secret item that perfectly corresponds to the Sherlock Holmes Set."

"Wow……"

The boys who came to the exhibition didn't understand anything, so of course they thought this thing was incredibly cool. It's only natural that a charismatic villain always attracts more attention than a righteous one.

Adults simply find it strange that such a thing would be included in a secret gadget. They wonder what the person who developed this gadget was thinking.

“Brother!” The little boy tugged at his clothes and asked curiously, “What happened to Phantom Thief DX in the end? A long, long time ago, I saw a news report about him. It seems that he hasn’t appeared since he visited the Secret Gadget Museum.”

"Well..." Kurt gave a complicated look, scratched his head, and said with a wry smile, "Let's just assume that he's still active in a very faraway place."

For some reason, he was always reluctant to say things like, "Phantom Thief DX has reformed and retired from crime." He always felt that saying that would be a loss.

It's the 22nd century, and this kind of charade won't fool children. So everyone looked disappointed and muttered that Phantom Thief DX was probably in jail.

In any case, this part finally ended without any major incidents.

"Train conductor? Is it another train with a broken part?" He caught a glimpse of the conductor's peaked cap out of the corner of his eye, turned around and asked, "Just a moment, I'll go get it for you..."

……

When their eyes met, Kurt was stunned.

He rubbed his eyes repeatedly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Nobita?!"

"Kurt. Long time no see..."

Before he could finish speaking, Kurt pounced on him and gave him a big hug.

This is actually Nobita's fault. Every time an adventure ends, he always solemnly promises everyone—"We'll definitely meet again!" But back in Tsukimi-dai town, the peaceful daily life engulfs him again. It's rare for a promise to meet again to actually come true. Some friends live in other timelines or on other planets, making it quite difficult to meet up.

Being apart more often than together is the main theme of life—that's the only way he could comfort himself.

"It's been so long, I..." After a long pause, Kurt excitedly wiped the corner of his eye, "I originally planned to come to the 21st century to see you, but then the time-space ban was issued, so I had to give up."

"The time-space ban... Ah, right, there's that too." Nobita sighed helplessly. It was the so-called time-space ban that forced Doraemon to leave them and return to the future. Perhaps the Time Police had anticipated the Apexion Foundation's actions, but prediction is one thing, it still couldn't stop it.

"You might not believe it, but right now... I'm actually on my way to save the world."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Kurt's expression changed. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then grabbed Da Xiong's arm and practically dragged him forward.

The layout of this secret artifact museum was incredibly complex, almost like a maze. Wandering through a multitude of exhibit counters, they arrived at a vase displayed on the wall. Its location was quite secluded, far from all the exhibits, with no restrooms, and the hovering surveillance robots only passing by every five minutes—making it one of the museum's most hidden corners. Kurt reached out, pressed the bottom of the vase, and expertly spun it a quarter turn.

"Click——"

An arched opening appeared in the wall in front of them, exuding an irresistible aura of danger, much like the secret hideout every boy dreams of.

"This is the secret laboratory left behind by Dr. Pipula. I took over it and expanded it a lot using the [Space Scroll]."

He waved to Nobita, "Quick, while no one's around, hurry up!"

Chapter 435: Most of the secret tools are still in a black box.

Kurt's statement that he "expanded it slightly" is incredibly insightful.

At first, he didn't realize it, but the further he went, the larger the space became. For a moment, Da Xiong thought he had hollowed out a mountain and was inside it.

Such a large space actually makes the surrounding walls feel less oppressive.

Upon entering, one sees all sorts of experimental equipment scattered haphazardly on the table. There are also numerous raw materials transported from all over the country, a dazzling sight that rivals Nobita's own bedroom.

Like Nobita, Kurt belongs to the "organized chaos" type. Don't be fooled by the messy table; as long as you can find what you need in a pinch, it's all good. This is similar to Doraemon, whose pockets are practically as messy as the room. Every time he pulls out a gadget, he has to throw out a whole bunch of things before he can find the secret item he wants.

Apart from that, the experimental conditions here are really not very good.

Nobita saw coffee brewed with his own eyes, and although he knew nothing about the experimental procedures, he roughly knew that this behavior was absolutely unacceptable.

Kurt clearly realized how messy his place was, and blushing, he quickly rushed over, trying to tidy it up as if it were too late. But faced with the chaotic room, he had no idea where to start and could only laugh sheepishly.

The screen displayed surveillance footage from every location within the entire secret props museum. To put it more bluntly, the actual monitor of this museum was this unassuming little tour guide standing before him. Even blind spots that some of the staff might not have noticed were under his surveillance.

Perhaps the Phantom Thief DX never left; he simply decided to stop committing crimes.

The train conductor followed Nobita in a daze, and walked in. When he saw that there was such a hidden world inside the museum, his eyes widened, and the clockwork behind him started spinning rapidly, which seemed to be a sign that he was overthinking.

"My God, Mr. Kurt, how...how did you get a room like this? Who are you?"

Nobita, however, remained remarkably calm. "This used to be Pipla's lab, right? Where is he?"

"Sigh, don't even mention it. Dr. Pipla and my grandfather are back together again," Kurt waved his hand helplessly. "The two of them have started a research company. They do absolutely nothing but research new secret gadgets every day. The worst part is, they don't sell any of their new inventions!"

Kurt looked troubled, clapped his hands, and said helplessly, "Even the best things have to be sold, right? Now they make new things purely to satisfy their own desire to invent, which is quite pure. After the last incident, Dr. Pipla went back to get his craftsman's license, and now he can make secret gadgets too. Before he left, he left me a whole bunch of blueprints, and I remember there were weapons among them..."

"You wait, Nobita!"

As he spoke, he became even more enthusiastic, and with a series of clanging sounds, he pulled out a gleaming pistol from what seemed like junk or old stock. Its golden sheen made Nobita exclaim, "Wow, a golden legend!"

“Take this for example,” he introduced confidently, “I call it the ‘Universal Crusher.’ It can break carbon atom bonds. It can instantly destroy a living being’s body. Once hit, there is no reversible method; the flesh will collapse in less than a second.”

He held an extremely dangerous object in his hand and shook it a couple of times. "It was originally intended to be used to process dangerous biological samples, but the parameter alignment wasn't handled well during the invention process, so it turned out like this."

"This...is it a gadget invented by Kurt?" From this eccentric style, Nobita had already deduced this, and he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. "I remember that to make gadgets, you have to get a craftsman's license. Does Kurt already have a craftsman's license?"

……

One question left Kurt frozen in place, scratching his head with a wry smile.

"There's nothing I can do. That thing isn't easy to pass. It's not just a practical test; there's also a theoretical exam, and I fail the theoretical exam every time!" He sighed. "This is the fourth year in a row that I've tried to get the license, but I still haven't succeeded."

Kurt was a hands-on inventor; forcing him to memorize theoretical knowledge was practically torture for him.

Because he didn't have a craftsman's license, he couldn't openly make secret items.

Why not just stay at the Secret Props Museum, work as a tour guide, and maybe even find a chance to scavenge some discarded parts? With his skill level, he could cobble together some dubious, unlicensed props. Of course, these things couldn't be sold on the market; they were just for his own amusement, like his grandfather and teacher did.

"Let's not talk about that. Nobita, aren't you going to save the world? You must need a lot of gadgets, right? What do you want?" He patted his chest, revealing a very confident expression, and made a promise, "Anything that's in the museum, I'll steal for you... I'll borrow for you, I mean it!"

Seeing that his old friend was willing to take the risk and make his comeback after just a few words, Da Xiong was moved and quickly grabbed him.

"It hasn't come to that point yet, don't be impulsive! But there's something I really want to ask you about."

Da Xiong pondered for a moment, seemingly struggling with how to bring up the matter.

Perhaps sensing his hesitation, Kurt patted his chest and laughed, "Don't you trust me? You can tell me anything."

With this strong dose of encouragement, Nobita felt much more at ease and asked, "The Dream Machine You Can Do As You Please, Kurt, are you familiar with this thing?"

As expected, Kurt's eyes sharpened instantly upon hearing the prop's name. He went from comfortably lounging on the sofa to sitting upright and serious.

After a moment of eye contact, Kurt's gaze finally fell on Jinglu—the medieval-dressed female swordsman.

"I see, so you used the Dream Machine."

Da Xiong nodded.