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

Chapter 220 Eight Eggs

Through the central air conditioning vent, Conan could already see the snow-white tiles below, and even vaguely see a fork in the edge of the tiles.

He knew he had found the right place.

The observatory on the 50th floor is a ring structure, with the observatory located at the very center, like the sun.

The outer perimeter consists of two semi-circular corridors, resembling two rings pulled by the observatory's gravity.

This strange structure caused Conan some trouble. He had just followed the airflow of the ventilation duct and made a small semi-circle in the ventilation duct above the corridor.

Fortunately, I have finally found the main exit leading to the observatory.

However, the space here is too narrow, so Conan cannot use the speed boost of his skateboard to break open an exit.

He could only remove the removable partition at the front of the skateboard, carefully adjust the angle, and then use it as a pry bar to try to break down the screws and grid panels underneath bit by bit.

"Dong, dong, dong——"

Suddenly, the ventilation duct began to vibrate violently. The vibration did not come from his own movement, but from an external impact.

A deep, rumbling sound came from deep within the pipes, as if the entire Star Tower was shaking.

Conan's heart tightened immediately.

That was the sound of an explosion—the sound of the seven elevators in the banquet hall crashing down due to the dual timeline operation.

This is undoubtedly a bad sign.

Conan gritted his teeth and instinctively swung the crowbar in his hand, each swing harder than the last, trying to pry open the partition in front of him.

Finally, the last screw broke under the heavy impact.

With a "crack," a ventilation vent panel fell from the corridor ceiling, followed by a small, thin figure.

Conan crashed straight to the ground like a frozen rag doll, without even making any attempt to cushion the impact.

He groaned, then struggled to get up from the ground—

The temperature inside the air conditioning ducts was too low; the overloaded cooling system sent out cold air that made Conan feel as if his body had frozen.

"It's...it's too cold..."

His pale lips trembled, but he immediately forced himself to stand up, supporting himself on the skateboard.

He moved around a bit and reassembled the skateboard with his still slightly trembling hands.

Without hesitation, he stepped onto it and sped toward the metal gate at the end of the fork in the road.

"Beep beep beep—"

As the number "4869" was entered on the embedded screen, the indicator light on the door changed from red to green.

Immediately afterwards, the heavy gears began to turn slowly, emitting a low "click" sound.

Conan breathed a slight sigh of relief as his suspicions were finally confirmed.

"As expected... this place was built by 'Science Frontier'."

But what does this mean?

As this thought surfaced, my heart inexplicably quickened, and even my previously stiff body warmed up with the surge of passion deep within me.

As soon as the door opened just wide enough for him to squeeze in, Conan eagerly squeezed through and slipped inside.

And the space behind that massive metal door finally unfolded before his eyes.

The interior lights of the observatory—or rather, the laboratory—seemed to have been waiting for Conan for a long time.

The moment he stepped through the door, the entire observatory, or rather the laboratory, was illuminated.

It was as if they were waiting for some upcoming ceremony.

To others, it may appear as an ingeniously structured and exquisite astronomical observatory, a marvel of technological creation.

In the very center stands an enormous telescope that looks like a giant cannon.

It points to the enclosed dome, a dome made of thick reinforced glass that reflects the light like a mirror.

Below the dome, two pitch-black panels were completely closed.

The numerous honeycomb-like gaps on them tell Conan that they are not a single entity, but rather a series of movable light-blocking structures.

To the left of the telescope is a touchscreen control panel embedded in the ground, and on the other side is a narrow, single-person elevator that looks like a mailbox.

But what's even more impressive are the mechanical arms that surround the dome, forming a mechanical star trail.

Countless lenses of varying sizes, plated with silver and titanium, are suspended between the robotic arms.

They slowly rotate and refract, some of the lenses reflecting a faint light, like a real star, rotating along its orbit.

This is the facility that any visitor will be amazed by – the "Star Viewing Tower Observatory".

But Conan knew that wasn't the case.

Even more so, as he pulled out the decoding direction diagram drawn by Professor Agasa from a compartment inside the skateboard, looking at the possible decoding needs—

Lenses, beam splitters, geared arms that autonomously track the lunar orbit...

Yes, they all match.

This "observatory" perfectly matches the idea proposed by Dr. Agasa.

In Conan's eyes, he was less in an observatory and more inside a black box similar to the pointer decoding system created by Professor Agasa.

—And it is a "black box" magnified thousands or even tens of thousands of times.

This fact weighed heavily on Conan's heart, many, many times over.

A strange sense of urgency and anxiety came from all directions. Conan could almost feel it. The very spacious "observatory" suddenly turned into a metal cage, a cage made of mystery.

An idea uncontrollably surfaced in his mind, even exploding like a thunderclap in Conan's head—

"In other words... Professor Agasa may have already remembered it before!"

Conan shook his head abruptly.

"No, Professor Agasa is definitely not that kind of person!"

He banished this terrible thought, and even the increasingly terrifying speculations that surfaced in his mind, from his thoughts.

"The pointer is the 'truth' that holds everything!"

But Professor Agasa's voice still echoed in my mind.

Now, those instruments surrounding him seem like a demon called "truth"!

Conan didn't know what was wrong with him; he only felt as if his chest was burning, as if something else was about to appear.

He put his finger between his teeth and bit down hard, using the intense pain to force himself to distract himself. He clenched his teeth and lunged at the control panel.

Conan dared not think any further.

Or rather, he subconsciously felt that he couldn't think about it anymore.

He needed to start decoding the pointers immediately, using this task to numb his mind.

As Conan pressed the "Start" button, all the lights in the observatory went out at once, and the glass dome began to unfold outwards like flower petals.

However, the black partitions on both sides, like curtains, began to slowly retract towards the center, attempting to remove unnecessary light and envelop the entire space in a more enclosed structure.

The outer array of telescopes also began to rotate spontaneously, their robotic arms precisely unfolding, rotating, and aligning. The central "cannon," in particular, began to extend towards the sky, focusing its gaze on the soon-to-appear moon.

The control screen beside him lit up, and Conan once again entered "4869" as the administrator password. The screen then displayed a completely different interface, which immediately caught his eye—

[Pointer Decoder - Enabled]

[Decoding Structure Data - To be uploaded]

[Pointer Core Unit - To be uploaded]

[Decoding Structure Autonomous Adjustment Unit - Enabled]

[Pointer Decoding Time Window - Insufficient Data]

Following the instructions on the screen, Conan clicked the "Upload" button labeled "Decoding Structure Data".

Then, somewhat unexpectedly, he saw the option for "Paper Upload".

He was slightly taken aback, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Conan had been worried that he would have to draw the blueprints that Professor Agasa gave him on the screen exactly as they were drawn.

The doctor placed the blueprints he provided on a scanner that rose from the ground. As the scanner absorbed the blueprints, several flashes of blue light followed, and the information was transcribed to the control center.

The entire observatory seemed to come alive, as if Dr. Agasa's blueprints had activated something—the robotic arm moved, the star trails were aligned, the gears hummed, and the mirrors rotated.

A low-frequency humming sound even echoed in the air.

On the blue light reflected on the screen, the progress of those densely packed projects was showing a rapid increase.

All progress bars quickly filled up, leaving only the last highlighted item:

[Pointer Core Unit - To be uploaded]

Conan clicked the last option heavily.

The lens of the central astronomical telescope popped open, and a mechanical arm extended out. At the end of the mechanical arm was a support that Conan was very familiar with in terms of shape and size.

He took a few deep breaths, and a strange sense of excitement swept over him.

Conan even felt his body getting hot; he was almost drawn forward as if by some kind of calling.

By the time he came to his senses, the watch with two hands had already disappeared from his sight as the watch case closed.

The entire platform trembled.

Conan brought his eyes close to the eyepiece, gazing into it as if looking at the starry sky.

A blue projection appeared on his retina.

[Data calculation in progress...]

[The next decoding time window is expected to be 18:00]

Decoding Weather Settings - Contingency Plan KN4869

【…】

[Climate Generator - System Not Responding]

The red text on the last line, the implication of that message, made Conan's pupils shrink sharply.

"A climate generator?!"

He quickly looked up and rushed to the screen, where a red warning message was flashing incessantly:

Signs of a strong storm detected.

[No weather generator signal detected due to [■■■ interference]]

Please proceed to level B5 for manual calibration.

But I'm all alone now!

At that moment, a familiar voice, after being reflected off the walls of the circular corridor, came through the door.

"Conan! Where are you? We're coming to find you!"

—That's Hattori Heiji's voice.

……

Hattori Heiji's voice was a signal to attack.

[Story Timeline] The Signal for Attack.

Heiji Hattori, Ran Mouri, and Ai Haibara quickly stepped off the elevator platform.

Now, only GSSRA and Alliance members remain on the 49th floor.

Under the operation of GSSRA technicians, the elevator began to descend slowly, and the members of [Destiny's Mandate] successfully passed through the emergency exit. They were now circling into the hall, making their way towards the center of the hall in the dark.

At this moment, the [story timeline] is finally able to make its move.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo Bay, a submarine belonging to the Black Organization.

This small, all-black attack submarine, enhanced by the [story timeline], has reached the pinnacle of stealth and strike capabilities. Following the Boss's "command," it silently surfaced, and then, a hatch on the submarine's stern slowly opened—

That's the launch port of the missile launcher.

Pisco has died under the gunfire of GSSRA soldiers, and now, the chapter of "reunion with the Black Organization" has come to an end.

There was no pause for a moment.

[Story Timeline] Turning to another page of the story, it immediately delivers a fatal blow using the [historical inertia] of the future!
—"Missile attack detected!!"

At GSSRA's Asia-Pacific command center, a sharp alarm immediately sounded.

"Activate the air defense system immediately to intercept!"

Olsen roared, "Send naval forces to search for the strike site! Prevent a second strike!"

But even without GSSRA's intervention, the [story timeline] no longer has a second chance.

"Story-based missile attack detected!"

Within the [Alliance Cycle], the Narrative Department analyzed the basis of the [Story Timeline] and concluded that it was "The Shadow of the Black Iron Fish"!

At this very moment, even the [real-world timeline] is urging the Alliance to join the counterattack.

The moment the missile left the submarine's hull, the Alliance captured the "black iron fish shadow".

Amidst the shouts of "Evacuate immediately!" from the crew aboard the submarine, the Alliance's timeline strike arrived in an instant.

A glittering crystal appeared out of thin air in the center of the submarine.

In reality's "interpretation," time and space are like a torn script, with the interior of the submarine instantly "squeezed" and distorted by multiple time points.

On the control panel, someone suddenly transformed into their appearance from ten years ago, staring blankly at the console. Another operator had even turned into a skeleton.

Four or five babies crawled around on the cold deck.

As the timeline begins to piece together haphazardly, their bodies are sometimes whole, sometimes broken, and sometimes even above the withered bones of an old man's chest, there is a baby's tender face crying loudly.

Beneath the dark, gloomy surface of the sea at night, the entire submarine began to "flicker," transforming into tiny grains of sand, rocks, or molten iron flowing from a steel mill.

Finally, apart from the seawater that rushed into the hull, which was still mixed with some sea ice, the entire submarine returned to nature like a piece of film that had been cut up.

The Alliance's attack did not destroy it, but rather "cancelled" its existence from time.

Even though the missile had become a dud made of a single piece of metal, the story timeline still stubbornly adhered to its historical inertia.

Using the slight "inertia" of presenting the missile to Shinichi Kudo, it finally managed to complete its mission with great difficulty.

The missile flew diagonally through the Star Viewing Tower.

"Xiao Lan, watch out!"

Heiji Hattori clung tightly to the wall, and with a sudden jerk, he pulled Ran Mouri, who was falling backward, forward. The three of them tumbled down the corridor due to the violent jolt.

The circular corridor was tilted at a negligible angle, but of course, the central observatory remained unaffected and stood firmly in the center.

Heiji then heard Conan's response coming from his left.

"Hattori! I'm here!"

The three of them struggled to their feet, and when they turned their heads, Heiji saw that part of the platform in front of the elevator was deeply embedded in the floor of the circular corridor.

"Damn it, Sato and the others can't get up here!"

What Hattori Heiji didn't know was—

For everyone on the 49th floor, it's not just a matter of "not being able to get up".

The future depicted in "The Shadow of the Black Iron Fish" will never come to pass, and the story timeline has been rigged with even more "bets".

And the [real-world timeline] is also going all out.

The matter has escalated significantly.

This means that the side that persists to the end and appears before Shinichi Kudo will gain absolute priority in the "right of interpretation"!
As a reward for upgrading the "Star Tower Case" to a "theatrical version," the dud still produced an effect equivalent to an explosion.

after all--

How could such a crucial "case" not receive a "salute" as a response?
The dud bullet pierced through the load-bearing column on the 48th floor, causing the ceiling to tilt and the floor on the 49th floor to tremble like waves.

The [Reality Timeline] has severed the route of the Weather Generator, and the storm it created, along with the [Story Timeline], is rapidly approaching the Star Tower.

Lin Sheng's face was ashen. At this point, as the case was nearing its "end," all the previous redundancy was to be used to ensure the final correctness of the "decoding program."

But now, he has no choice but to—

"The research team is preparing to evacuate..."

Lin Sheng has decided to abandon the alliance's "cycle".

But this time, someone was faster than him.

Chen Wenfeng, the captain of the [Destiny Shines] task force, practically watched the missile streak across the sky from afar.

Then, he realized it the very first second the ground beneath his feet began to shake.

"Damn it, we have to maintain the overall stability of the Star Viewing Tower! We can't let Shinichi Kudo realize that something's wrong!"

He made TDD pop up the timeline stability range window, then fell to the ground, locking his target on the ground of the forty-ninth floor.

"Use TDD's cycle function! Stabilize the load-bearing column!"

As soon as his shout came through the communication system, all the Alliance task force members in the entire Star Tower activated the TDD acceleration function.

They rushed toward the most critical supporting structures that Yu Hao had marked on the retina, attempting to use their own [cycles] as support.

But Yu Hao knew he couldn't get in.

He is now on level B5, having just arrived at the corridor leading to the climate generator.

However, because of his brief pause just now, and because of his actions of calculating and issuing commands to ensure the stability of the Star Tower.

Now, the surrounding walls have begun to squeeze inward due to the movement of the foundation.

Yu Hao knew that both timelines wanted to kill him in the present.

After all, having TDD allows one to act as a positioning and intervention node within the alliance.

If the alliance activates the climate generator at the last second, even if it only negates the storm for a second, it would be enough to change "reality".

He originally intended to use TDD's acceleration function to squeeze into the climate generator control room before the walls closed.

But in the end, the control room door closed right in front of Yu Hao.

The deformed and twisted metal door rolled up like origami, and a few traces of bright red color could be vaguely seen between the steel folds.

However, next to the climate generator in the control room, a TDD device was still lit up.

The screen was playing images transmitted from the lunar base on a loop.

That was the "last words video" left by "Akami Miyano"—

Operational procedures for the "KN4869" climate contingency plan.

"Cough-cough-"

Yu Hao coughed up several mouthfuls of blood and foam. He turned his head to look at his crushed left arm and the wall in front of him that was about to completely close in.

He then burst into hearty laughter.

It was a laugh that blended irony, exhilaration, and disdain for fate.

"Ha—using historical inertia to make it seem like I can't do it."

His mockery of the dual timelines faded as steel and cement gradually engulfed his chest.

……

As for Dr. Agasa, he is currently adjusting his "teleportation," or rather, the transition points for "scene switching."

He was giving himself a suggestion:
"I am now Professor Agasa of 'Frontiers of Science'..."

"I am now Professor Agasa in the [story timeline]..."

"I am now Dr. Agasa, commissioned by Yusaku Kudo to provide GSSRA with the location of the climate generator signal..."

The alliance, or rather, Lin Sheng, had just sent him a message.

Relying solely on the "inertia" generated by the "Akami Miyano" video can only ensure the safety of the weather generator.

The league has sacrificed so much for tonight's ultimate success; every side has sacrificed so much.

The weather generator must be kept under your control.

All three parties acknowledged it in yesterday's "funeral home case," and the result is that it is the final deciding factor in tonight's celestial phenomena.

After the alliance's obstacles were removed, the [story timeline] began to compete with the [real timeline].

One by one, the cameras worn by all the assault soldiers on the underground floors, and their signals, were extinguished because of the actions of the [story timeline].

In the GSSRA command post, Olsen stared intently at the last beeping signal point and heard the soldier's final words. He abruptly stood up and roared:

"The control unit is on the fifth basement level! Damn it!"

He snatched the communicator: "Get the engineers to dig down with explosives and equipment! Even if it costs us our lives, we must get the weather generator down!"

Then he turned to look at his staff officer.

"Could we use bunker buster bombs?"

"Absolutely not!" Upon hearing the command center's request, the voice on the other end of the phone was an absolute rejection, unusually cold.

"The signal is too scattered, we don't have the exact coordinates, and the key is to shut down the device, not destroy it!"

"And we need to study this device, preferably without any damage."

"Damn it!" Olsen cursed. "Immediately notify everyone still inside the tower and tell them that the machine must be shut down!"

……

For Gin, who was trapped between the 49th and 50th floors, this was also a valuable turning point.

[Story Timeline] There are no other characters available.

The refuge passage from the 49th to the 50th floor was littered with corpses; the GSSRA squad that had been stationed there had been completely wiped out.

The "setup" of one person dominating the red team is still quite intimidating.

At least for those "background figures," Gin's shots were all headshots, and no soldier could react in time.

At that moment, Gin stood in front of the elevator shaft, expressionless, while Vodka nervously kept watch on the surroundings behind him.

They had long since run out of bullets, and Gin was now holding an assault rifle that he had picked up from the corpse of a GSSRA soldier.

But it's no use now; bullets can't change the terrain.

The ground beneath his feet sank down due to the tremor.

"Big brother... what should we do?"

Vodka's voice was somewhat urgent: "The exit is completely blocked. The emergency exit is now facing a wall!"

Gin didn't say anything. He just leaned against the wall quietly, lit a cigarette, and the red glow of the cigarette tip flickered in the shadows.

Gin finished the cigarette without saying a word, and threw away the butt after the last puff.

"Let's go, Vodka."

He looked at the elevator shaft in front of him, or rather, the "staircase" formed after the elevator shaft collapsed.

The broken steel cables, the cracked cement, and the gravel and dust covering them formed a dark shadow leading to the gap in the sloping circular corridor that had recently appeared due to its tilt.

Vodka stood at the edge of the breach, his face pale: "This... can we really go down, brother?"

"Ah--"

Gin merely chuckled coldly, then paused, and unusually, said a few more words:

"Let's go to the rooftop and take a look. Maybe the staircases or escape routes on the edge of the observatory are still in good condition."

After saying that, he took the first step and disappeared into the shadowy ruins of the staircase.

(End of this chapter)