Nobita's Time Heist

No matter how chaotic a country is, it is still a country. When the war machine is running at full speed, how can flesh and blood resist it?

"My God..."

Opening the portal, they traveled to the northern border, where the devastated landscape caused everyone to frown.

The once ordinary little village has been transformed into a scene of smoke and devastation. Everywhere you look, once magnificent houses have been looted, and the air is thick with the smell of burning. Flames still flicker, and the ruins form a gray wasteland. The entire village is deathly silent; even the birds flying overhead seem to have fallen silent.

The gaze swept downwards, revealing a corpse burned to ashes, its human form still vaguely discernible. The twisted limbs, stiff yet unyielding, pointed towards the sky. No form of horror—Chinese, Western, or Japanese—could match the impact of this. Though the features were blurred beyond recognition, the pain and despair of death were etched deeply into everyone's minds in that final, frozen image.

"Woo..."

"Shizuka?" Nobita himself was also a little uncomfortable, but in front of the girl, he forced himself to calm down and took her hand. "If it's not okay, then let's not go any further."

"No...it's alright..." The girl's face was as pale as paper. "We're already here, there's no reason to let Nobita face this alone."

"What a mushy couple! Hey, there's still someone here. Are you completely ignoring me?" Asur tiptoed and patted Shizuka's shoulder, comforting her in her own unique way, "Now that everyone's dead, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"After all, the most frightening animal in the world is none other than a human being."

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.

After completely removing her disguise, Asur displayed an almost inhumanly efficient pace. In this small village littered with corpses, she continued walking at a leisurely speed, even reaching the very front of the group. She seemed utterly indifferent to the scattered, mangled limbs on the ground, as if they were merely torn leaves or broken stones, utterly unmoved.

However, in this situation, we need someone with strong mental fortitude to lead the team. Following her lead will prevent us from feeling lost.

"Not a single survivor was left?" Gradually getting used to the oppressive and desperate atmosphere, Da Xiong forced his mouth open and finally managed to utter a sentence, "This place is close enough to the border, but the war shouldn't have started yet... Did the Huns get wind of it and launch an attack ahead of time?"

“According to previous information, the so-called ‘Xiongnu’ seem to be a nomadic people who frequently raided the borders and robbed people,” Asur continued to explain to them. “A hundred years ago, a very powerful emperor organized an army and crippled their fighting capacity. From then on, they could no longer stand against the central government and chose to submit to the Han. At least for the past hundred years, the border has been very peaceful and no further incidents have occurred.”

"That emperor from a hundred years ago was very capable; many crucial matters were related to him..."

……

A tiny white dot moved slightly in the gray, as if divinely inspired, and was caught by Huang Amao's gaze.

"Over there! Someone's moving over there!"

A powerful shout abruptly interrupted the casual conversation. At most, only a quarter of Nobita and his friends were focused on maintaining the conversation; upon hearing there was a survivor, they took off running. On this desolate, lifeless landscape, they finally found a child. His face was blackened by the flames, half of his body burned, making it impossible to tell if he was a boy or a girl, or how old he was; he was simply struggling in agony on the ground.

Seeing his expression, Da Xiong actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Throughout, he adhered to the absolute principle Doraemon had taught him: one must not revive the dead. He rarely thought about it, and even actively suppressed the idea, because Nobita, who was intimately familiar with the effects of the secret gadgets, knew very well that if he was determined, he had the ability. With the right combination of a few gadgets, he could completely bring a dead person back to life.

"If dead creatures could be resurrected, wouldn't the Earth be overcrowded?"—These were the exact words Doraemon had given him.

However, conversely, as long as this person is not dead, even if they only have one breath left...

There is room for him to make a difference in all of them.

"【Time Capsule】--!!" Nobita quickly covered the child with the capsule and witnessed the wounds on his face heal. Even so, the contours of his face were still clearly visible, indicating that he had not eaten a full meal for several days.

"It's really terrible. This place doesn't look particularly barren." Asur glanced around, his gaze passing through the gaps between the houses, and saw the well fields not far away that had been barely divided into squares, now overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. He couldn't help but shake his head. "It's all because of that Wang Mang."

"Shizuka!"

With a single glance, without having consumed the Telepathic Fruit, the two seemed to have a premonition. Shizuka instantly pulled a medical kit from her pocket, bent down, and began a preliminary examination of the child. Ultimately, the Time Wrap could only reverse time for the user; it could save a life in a life-or-death situation, but it wasn't a panacea. Even if someone was pulled back from the brink of death, their consciousness would still be scattered. In such cases, only real medical equipment would be of use.

The words that popped up on the medical kit after scanning with the diagnostic instrument almost made the girl's heart skip a beat.

"A large amount of birch bark tissue was detected in the patient's stomach."

"Soil-like components were detected in the patient's stomach, indicating the proliferation of various bacteria. Immediate treatment is recommended."

……

"What do you mean..." Shizuka's mind went blank for a moment, like an innocent puppy who had witnessed the entire process of slaughtering dog meat and had truly stepped into this terrible world. "Why is there tree bark and soil in his stomach?"

"Food shortages, currency chaos, rampant bandits, and a whole host of other chaotic measures have resulted in this outcome for the common people," Asur said with a sigh. "Everything edible has been eaten. When people are so hungry that they have nothing left, they will do terrible things. Eating dirt and grass is only part of it. In my experience, if this continues, they will start eating people."

There is great hunger in old age, and people eat each other.

Perhaps it's just a few unremarkable lines in a history book, but behind them lies an unimaginable, profound meaning. Nobita and Shizuka, living in a peaceful era and never worrying about food or clothing, could never imagine what that scene was like; it was probably no worse than hell.

"Looking at it from another angle, dying in war... might not be such a bad thing. Compared to living in such a hopeless world, death is a relatively gentle ending."

Chapter 218: History Changes at This Moment!

After an emergency rescue, thanks to the advanced technology of the 22nd century, they finally managed to clear the contents of his stomach.

Because of prolonged hunger, the child's stomach had shrunk, and the gastric juices had begun to corrode the inner lining. At this point, he couldn't even eat normally, so Shizuka had no choice but to give him some nutritional fluids according to the prescription. His eyes slowly opened, looking at the unfamiliar crowd before him, filled with confusion and bewilderment, like a calf that had just opened its eyes and was observing the world.

"It's alright, it's alright..." Shizuka comforted him, then subconsciously asked, "Are there any other people you know?"

She regretted asking the question the moment she asked it. The child's face showed obvious pain. For him, the answer was certain and certainly not a happy memory.

“No, they’re all dead… They came to ask for food, and we said we didn’t have any. The soldiers had come to collect it before, and they took it all. They didn’t believe us, so they started searching house to house, but they still couldn’t find anything, and then…” His voice was broken, as if he couldn’t catch his breath, and he spoke with great difficulty, “My father was killed by them, along with the other men in the village, and hung on that tree.”

Subconscious actions always precede logical thinking. Before the brain could reach a conclusion, everyone's gaze had already turned to the tree he had mentioned. The next moment, almost everyone regretted it—the tree was quite far away, and from a distance, it didn't seem unusual; they thought it just bore a few abundant fruits. But upon closer inspection, it wasn't hard to see that the fruits seemed to have human silhouettes.

It looked like several loofahs hanging from the branches, swaying slowly in the cold wind.

Shizuka's expression changed again, and she felt a chill run down her spine. "How ruthless the Huns are! If you're going to fight, then fight! Why do you have to harm innocent people like this?"

"Perhaps it's to intimidate the enemy?" Asur guessed. "They are still civilians now. If the front lines become strained, the new dynasty will definitely conscript soldiers on the spot. Rather than encountering them on the battlefield, it's better to annihilate them in their infancy while they are unarmed."

"This is too..."

……

"No...no..." The child seemed to have used all his strength to squeeze out these two words. "The previous soldiers also said they were going to fight the Xiongnu...and asked us to hand over military rations, which we did...Then another group of soldiers came, saying they were going to fight the Xiongnu, and they took away the little bit of grain we had stored. When the last group came, we had nothing left. They couldn't find us, so they said we...we must have been colluding with the Xiongnu and gave all the grain to the enemy. They wouldn't listen to our explanations at all."

As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes, which should have been dry and numb.

Those in high positions cannot see these tears. Decisions made lightly on a whim, after being subcontracted through layers of intermediaries, become devastating blows to those at the bottom, capable of utterly crushing them.

"Actually, before the soldiers arrived, our village had already been ransacked by bandits. Everything of value was stolen. After that, the price kept changing, and they also kidnapped many people." The child swallowed hard and said in a hoarse voice, "From beginning to end, we never saw what the Huns looked like!"

"..."

My throat felt like it was stuffed with a ball of yarn; I wanted to say something, but I couldn't get it out.

However, upon closer examination, the current situation seems to make more sense. Three hundred thousand men, launched from six directions, and conscripted locally—each of these is a massive undertaking requiring exceptional organizational skills. Clearly, the demoralized new dynasty lacks such organizational capacity. The more complex the battle plan, the more prone it is to errors in implementation; leading three thousand, thirty thousand, and three hundred thousand men are three entirely different concepts.

Han Xin commanded his troops, the more the better.

But in the long history of China, how many military geniuses have emerged?

To address the shortage of regular troops, Wang Mang adopted a "local conscription system," ordering local units to recruit soldiers from their own areas. In its final stages, this was virtually indistinguishable from forced recruitment; origins and backgrounds were irrelevant—any man was acceptable. Not only that, but even prisoners were not spared. Large numbers of unemployed individuals gathered together, receiving no training whatsoever, and began a forced march north; their discipline was predictably abysmal.

"really……"

After retrieving real-time images from a spy satellite, Asur pointed to the clusters of white dots on them and said, "The assembled troops are all stationed near the border and show no intention of launching an attack."

Shizuka asked, half-sarcastically, "Is this also Wang Mang's strategy?"

"No, this is mostly the idea of ​​his subordinates... After all, since the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, it hasn't fought a single decent battle. His generals don't want to send troops at all, preferring to just pile up on the border. Right now, they're probably making up all sorts of excuses to appease Wang Mang, aren't they?"

The girl frowned slightly and pointed to the southern hinterland of the Central Plains—dense white dots like an ant colony, heading towards the northern border.

"What's worse is that troops are still arriving here in droves. Once all six armies are piled up here, the daily resource consumption for feeding the people and horses will be astronomical. If the supplies from home can't keep up, the villages and towns along the border... no, all the villages and towns along the marching route will become like this hell on earth."

……

Throughout world history, only a very few armies possess unwavering conviction, iron discipline, and formidable fighting power.

Moreover, this is an ancient battlefield where real swords and spears are used to fight for survival. The feeling of shooting someone and stabbing them with a melee weapon is completely different. Walking the line between life and death, a battlefield where survival depends on constant killing, places immense psychological pressure on every ordinary person. Driven by this pressure, a person's actions gradually lose their humanity. When this pressure accumulates to a certain point, the worst possible outcome is a mutiny.

To prevent this, when pressure within the army reached a certain level, most generals would tacitly allow them to find opportunities to vent their frustrations. The targets of these frustrations were often defenseless civilians. In ancient times, without laws of war, massacres of villages, towns, and even entire cities were commonplace.

However, it is extremely rare for such a thing to be exposed before even seeing a glimpse of the enemy, which is enough to show how demoralized the Xin Dynasty's army is.

Such a force is utterly useless on the battlefield, but off the battlefield, it becomes a scourge to the people.

"This can't go on; the war must stop!"

In just a few minutes, Nobita reaffirmed his determination to reverse history, just as he had unhesitatingly decided to save the dinosaurs when faced with the falling meteorite. No matter how the rules of time worked, he simply couldn't bear to watch so many lives perish in the war while remaining a bystander.

Even if you save the world by doing this, how will you tell Doraemon about it someday in the future?

"Before the war fully breaks out, I want to seize one last chance for peace..."

"Our next stop is the territory of the Xiongnu."

Chapter 219: Leaving sooner is also a good thing for them.

"Before... before this, Nobita..."

Huang Amao, who had remained silent all along, finally raised his hand. After witnessing the tragic state of the border village, the ideal state that Wang Mang had woven for him was shattered. Awakening from this brief dream, he suddenly realized that the world had never really changed; it was still as dangerous and terrifying as he had imagined.

“You must be off on important business, right? There’s not much I can do to help. Could you open that door one more time so I can go back?” His eyes were urgent, yet he was worried about troubling everyone, so he stammered, “I…I haven’t been back to the village for a while, I don’t know how they are…”

"Of course... of course you can." Nobita patted his shoulder, his feelings somewhat complicated.

Although they weren't exactly close friends, they had spent some time together, and Nobita had become familiar with the boy's existence.

Perhaps because he lacked a systematic education and had spent his entire life in a secluded mountain village with limited contact with people and events, his mind was simple. He expressed his thoughts without hesitation. He was like a microcosm, condensing the lives of the lower classes of this era before Da Xiong, allowing him to deeply understand what kind of lives ordinary people, who had to earn their own living, truly led.

Hard.

He lives a 24-hour day just like modern people, yet he lives such a hard life. This hardship will continue day after day until he closes his eyes, enters his coffin, and passes on his hardship to the next generation, without accumulating much money.

But... if the year is peaceful, then so be it.

For ordinary people like Huang Amao, the current turbulent situation is the worst possible scenario. Most people in chaotic times are treated worse than even a dog in peaceful times.

We parted here, separated by the vast river of history, and it seems we will never have the chance to meet again.

While the two were talking, Shizuka silently took the Anywhere Door out of her pocket and placed it on the ground. Looking at Huang Amao's thin and frail figure, she felt a tightness in her chest, as if something was pressing against her, and a sense of powerlessness rose within her.

"It's better to get used to it sooner rather than later," Asur whispered from the side. "After all, we are outsiders, and there's nothing we can do about the 'diseases of our time.'"

"Who said that?" Shizuka pouted slightly, defending Nobita. "He saved Arthur and the rest of the Van der Linde gang, changing their fate! Nothing is impossible if you're willing to do it!"

Asur retorted calmly, "Ancient countries with feudal monarchical autocracy and modern countries with large-capital monopolies are completely different concepts."

"Here, the only way to improve the lives of ordinary people is to completely abolish the profession of 'emperor.' However, the act of abolishing it itself will lead to a war that will tear the world apart. No one living in this era, including the servants who are trampled under everyone else's feet, can imagine what life would be like without an emperor."

"Considering that you are carrying out a major operation to repair the timeline, there will be more separations like this in the future. I suggest you get used to it sooner rather than later."

"Habit, habit..." Shizuka sighed, half-closing her eyes as she looked up at the sky, murmuring, "But, doesn't habit mean numbness?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Asur nodded matter-of-factly. “It’s not a bad thing.”

"But numbness isn't a good thing either!"

“It’s certainly not a good thing.” Asur gave her a meaningful look. “But right now, you all need it.”

……

“Look, we agreed to help you find your parents. You trusted me so much and were willing to leave your hometown and come to Chang’an with us.” Da Xiong held his hands, lowered his head slightly, and said guiltily, “In the end, we didn’t find any useful clues. I’m really sorry.”

"Don't say that, Da Xiong." Huang Amao smiled, a rare occurrence, as if he had finally let go of his burden. "Actually, I've always known..."

"They're dead."

When he said those words to put an end to his decade-long侥幸心理 (a mentality of taking chances), what was he really thinking?

“I never wanted to believe it before, but these past few days, I’ve come to understand.” Beneath the bitter smile, perhaps there was a sense of helplessness towards the world. “Whether I was devoured by tigers and wolves or killed by thieves and bandits, it was all a long, long time ago. If there really are souls after death, they must have already found peace. At least, I no longer have to work day and night for others, only to suffer from cold and hunger.”

"It would be a good thing for them to leave this world sooner rather than later."

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.

Shuofang Commandery. Northwest Plain.

Unlike the Han Chinese who inhabited the Central Plains, the Xiongnu did not have a unified government, primarily operating as independent warlords. They seemed to have missed out on the benefits of the agricultural revolution; they didn't build houses or fortified cities, subsisting on livestock, migrating with the water and pasture, and living in felt tents. Compared to an agrarian civilization, they were more like hunter-gatherers of the previous century. From a young age, they learned riding and archery, herding sheep and lassoing horses in peacetime, and in wartime, the entire population was mobilized for war. In terms of individual combat ability, they were definitely stronger than soldiers on the Central Plains. For them, killing wasn't even warfare, but rather a form of exercise after meals.

However, there are always gains and losses.

Unlike agricultural civilizations, pastoral civilizations could not guarantee a stable food source. Each time pastures dried up, they had to undertake large-scale migrations. Their unstable living environment prevented their population from ever growing significantly. Even with highly skilled individual soldiers, they couldn't compete in numbers. Once they resorted to sheer numbers, the Xiongnu couldn't withstand the onslaught.

Even more critically, they had no concept of command in battle, and their tactics were singular—a mounted charge followed by a burst of fire. If they were winning, they would continue fighting; if they judged they couldn't win, they would scatter like birds and beasts, each fleeing for their lives. After all, as mentioned before, killing was a form of exercise for them, and risking their lives for such an exercise was not worth it.

The Xiongnu's technology was quite backward. They lacked the skills to produce many things common in the Central Plains, such as pots, pans, and various utensils, and could only obtain them through plunder. Consequently, they frequently harassed the borders, specifically targeting defenseless civilians, rushing in to loot and then fleeing. Their horses were fast, and by the time soldiers arrived, they had long since vanished. Over time, this caused significant distress to the border populations and damaged the empire's reputation.

Until a hundred years ago, a mighty man descended from the heavens and ended everything, chasing after the Xiongnu and utterly crushing them. In the process, he also gave birth to several well-known idioms that have been passed down through the ages. For example, "brave as the best in the army" and "sealing the wolf's lair" are unique products of that era.

Then, the Xiongnu realized the gravity of the situation and had no choice but to submit. The Han Dynasty then designated Shuofang Commandery as a gateway for peaceful exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu could come to the market here to buy what they needed without fighting or bloodshed, and both sides entered a long period of recuperation.

……

until today.

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.

Within a vast expanse of white felt tents, the sounds of arguing were deafening.

Ujuliu Chanyu (or Ujuliu Ruodi Chanyu) sat in the highest position, watching everything unfold with an expressionless face.