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

Chapter 230 What? You're saying the cycle hasn't even started yet?!

During these three days, apart from the busy work of the executive staff, the lunar base was filled with an atmosphere of excitement and joy.

"The formula for APTX-4869 cannot be changed. The Time Crystal Preservation Project has been successful."

"Ai Haibara has overcome the obstacle of the two timelines and arrived at Professor Agasa's house. The Shiho Miyano Guidance Project-1 has been successfully completed."

"The transformation from [Edogawa Conan] to [Kudo Shinichi] has been completed. The 'Kudo Shinichi Subconscious Implantation Project - 31' has been successful."

"..."

The plan has succeeded, the plan has succeeded, the plan has succeeded...

Even though these messages weren't broadcast by His Excellency ZC-01 directly into the minds of everyone in the executive layer, but rather by the slightly mechanical broadcasts of the [Cycle Computers]—everything seemed the same.

For those who haven't been replaced by AI and have gone to cryogenics to "hibernate," those who are still at work, TDD projects a familiar window onto their wrists.

The news of the victory prompted many people to cheer:

"We won!"

Yes, the league has won again.

"We must defeat the [story timeline]!"

—That's what those who joined the alliance at the beginning, those who learned the initial truth, said first.

Then, "The Alliance cannot compromise on the [real-world timeline]!"

—As the "truth" is uncovered, even reality becomes the enemy of the alliance.

Then, "Since they want war, we'll give them war!"

Ultimately, even the universe itself stood against the alliance.

However, what is most surprising is not the repeated escalation of the "conflict," but that since the founding of the CYZ Alliance, from the start of the ceremony leading to the "end," the Alliance has almost never experienced a real defeat.

The six rituals must all succeed, right?

They won again and again.

The league has always been like this.

Behind these victories, undoubtedly, lie those [cyclic computers] that have been there for reasons unknown, the core of the CYZ effect that the alliance "accidentally" discovered, and those crucial "resources"...

For the vast majority of alliance members, ZC-01 does not exist.

Everything is going well, and the alliance remains on track for the future.

However, everyone at the executive level has always known who the most crucial and key figure in these victories is—ZC-01.

Lin Sheng cleverly used the "unity" given by the "prophecy machine" to naturally guide the alliance's pursuit of him into advancing the "ritual case".

Therefore, on the morning of the third day, when Conan had solved the case of the abandoned pharmaceutical factory and was heading to the Beika Town cargo transport port,

The seventeenth member of the executive council is now walking down the "corridor" leading to the low RSI value space that houses the [cyclic computer].

He may have once had a famous name.

In fact, the name might be widely known throughout the alliance due to a previous successful operation.

However, during the long "cycle" period, like most executive councilors, once someone becomes a member of the executive level, they are usually more familiar with their code name.

He is currently only the seventeenth member of parliament.

"You'll be alright, the lads from before have all come back."

When the seventeenth member heard the experimenter standing at the door of the stabilization chamber say this to him, he could tell from the researcher's concern for him.

“I know,” Senator Number Seventeen nodded. “The team from [Reverse Reasoning] has already gone there once.”

Low RSI values ​​are now much easier to achieve than in the past.

The stabilization chamber used to maintain the environment is theoretically located in the sandwich between the execution layer and the core layer. Those pure CYZ effects can easily disrupt the surrounding "environment" into a mess.

The seventeenth member looked at the "black door" in front of him, a wormhole leading to the mezzanine, and to the location of the "Cycle Computer" called the "Narrative Pen".

Beside the gate stood two towering stone tablets, like guards, covered with countless names.

In order to get closer to the core layer and create a lower RSI value environment, the most common thing is to make sacrifices.

The most important message that the team, composed of researchers and special agents, brought back from that space was—

A legislator with executive authority is needed to go and investigate.

This is also why the seventeenth member of parliament is standing here.

His coding also shows that he was one of the earliest members to join the league.

The seventeenth member of parliament was even proud of this, as he could say he had personally witnessed every step of the CYZ alliance from its inception to its growth.

Most of his former colleagues, due to the seemingly endless work or other reasons, chose to erase their memories and return to their positions.

But he didn't.

As he said, he was one of the first members to join the league—he was a bit old-fashioned.

Except on a few occasions, when given a direct order from Lord ZC-01, he had never erased his memories and rarely even set foot in the Psychological Support Department.

The seventeenth member of parliament always felt that those memories, whether glorious victories or unforgettable defeats, were an inseparable part of his life.

Therefore, his mind was so indestructible to others, so rational and decisive, that he almost never made a wrong judgment.

He even replaced Shigenobu Hitomi as the person chosen for this operation—not only because of Shigenobu Hitomi's importance, but also because he was indeed more suitable.

Only the seventeenth member knew that he had ulterior motives in making this application.

This "decision-making machine," which has worked diligently and conscientiously for the league for a long time, now wants to retire.

Throughout the long cycle of time, Member of Parliament No. 17 watched his colleagues come and go, and couldn't even remember how many times he had greeted those familiar yet unfamiliar faces.

After all, "death" is just one of the league's resources, especially for an "old man" like him.

The moment a person passes through layers of selection and becomes an executive member, he usually loses the power to kill.

This is especially true for an elderly person like him who has experienced a lot.

He certainly understands this.

In fact, if it weren't for the information received by the executive branch requiring a member of parliament to go, and the fact that the risks involved were indeed unavoidable.

His sense of responsibility will drive him to continue on this endless road, never stopping.

"Unless His Excellency ZC-01 personally intervenes, the history of those victims is almost exceptionally solidified under the influence of the CYZ effect, and the constancy of the effect testifies to their sacrifice itself."

“If we want to reverse this phenomenon, we need to first reclaim the TDDs left in the ‘corridors’ and then re-lay the ‘tracks’.”

Shigenobu Hitomi looked at the projection in front of her, "Approximately how long will it take?"

“It’s hard to say,” Liu Ran frowned, “because in order to lay the ‘tracks’ quickly, we have, in a sense, already considered the victims themselves.”

"We've utilized the protection mechanisms built into the [Circular Computer] for Alliance members; the timelines of those who perished are now effectively maintaining part of the 'corridor' leading to that space."

The conversation between Liu Ran and the Speaker of the Council echoed in his mind, and the seventeenth councilor looked around.

Now, he is walking in a place of "nothingness," but every nerve in his body tells him that he is both falling upwards and downwards, and that he is slowly "spreading" outwards.

This eerie feeling did not stop Senator Number Seventeen. He merely adjusted his breathing and then, following the steps outlined in the plan, silently extended the hand bearing the TDD.

The TDD on his wrist emitted a faint glow, and he felt as if he had grasped something warm and solid—

He knew this was the "handrail" of the "stairs" or "corridor," a substantial "handrail" formed by the timelines of those task force members.

Then, his feet touched the soft soil, and the scent of the forest immediately filled his senses. Councilor Number Seventeen immediately recognized this place from his memories; it was the forest level.

The Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure excels at construction; they pave the way with their time and memories.

The seventeenth member of parliament was very careful and knew he couldn't afford to make a single mistake, according to the explanations given by the returning members of the "reverse reasoning" team.

"Their memories and timelines are also diverging, and if they're not careful, they could fall into other possibilities..."

“Follow the Alliance’s markers.” After confirming once again that the markers were correct, Councilor Number Seventeen took a step toward the forest path.

Now, beneath my feet lies another desolate expanse of hard rock.

In the floating clouds nearby, several azure pumice stones, engraved with the Alliance's mark, shimmered at the edge of this island in the sky.

Then, another scene unfolded, resembling a vast grassland...

Finally, after walking through the last corridor, Member of Parliament Number Seventeen "arrived at his destination".

But the scene before him made him pause slightly—he thought he would see the dilapidated [Cycle Computer], but instead, he was faced with a seemingly ordinary office, quiet and tidy.

This is different from what the returning task force members said.

His first instinct was to look down at his TDD to see if he had fallen into the wrong "possibility".

The RSI value remained stable at 33.33, without any fluctuation, exactly the same as the predetermined value in the plan.

He made the right choice. After all, compared to his vision, TDD data is never wrong, and in the abnormal space, TDD results are more reliable.

But everything here is so normal; it all seems too peaceful.

This space, with an RSI value below 50, looks... looks just like an ordinary office.

There were no complicated devices, no unsettling futuristic technology, and even the lighting was unusually soft.

The "peace" here evokes a sense of bewilderment and unease.

The seventeenth member tentatively walked towards the center of the room, where there was a simple wooden desk with some documents on it.

He slowly walked to the table, wanting to see what was written on those documents.

Perhaps the information recorded above is what the alliance needs.

However, just as he took a step closer, a voice suddenly rang in his ears—

"Don't get too close, just stand there. The protective equipment you're wearing isn't enough."

He stopped walking, and then he saw a pen on the table slowly stand up, as if some invisible force was supporting it.

Then, the pen cap began to open and close, as if it were speaking, and at the same time, a line of strange text appeared, as if it were actually floating in the air.

"Oh, it's you, Ota. I thought it would be Miss Hitomi!" Its words stirred a strange feeling in the heart of the seventeenth councilor.

Yes, that "Cycle Computer" called the "Narrative Pen" is actually Lin Sheng's pen.

Does this fountain pen still remember Da Tian Xiaochuan?
I had seen him in that office before he became what he is now.

He surprised the boss when he brought out that case file.

In fact, this is why the alliance did not lose a single person in this essentially "inhuman" "room".

Lin Sheng once said—

"You all need to supervise this yourselves. If even one member of the alliance..."

The whole room remembers!
In short, the nature of these "cyclic computers" is now quite clear.

These are all things in Lin Sheng's office.

After all, what could better bear and invoke that brilliance than Lin Sheng's own brilliance?

Those outer shells, instruments, and devices are all a disguise—a disguise for the universe, merely a "reasonable excuse" for the outside world.

Then, Da Tian Xiaochuan saw the pen jump into the air, its cap opening and closing twice as fast, and several exclamation marks appeared on the words that appeared in the air, indicating that the matter it was talking about was very urgent.

"Why are you taking so long to get here! Hamster's running wheel is about to give way!"

Yes, before the core layer is opened, the overall maintenance of the Alliance lunar base is crucial.

It has always been the hamster in the original time-space loop structure generator that has been in charge of regulation.

"Do you know how difficult it is to maintain the stability of all your timelines simply by relying on the CYZ effects escaping from the core layer?"

The pen kept muttering and complaining, its voice tinged with resentment.

"Thank goodness you guys made those people go into hibernation to conserve the CYZ effect, otherwise we would all have burned ourselves out!"

The pen spilled a few drops of ink (tears), expressing its sadness and dissatisfaction: "Honestly, they have no trust in us at all."

After all, in Lin Sheng's final "ripple" arrangement, the core layer's permissions would not be opened casually.

It will only be activated when they encounter executive councilors.

However, this does not mean that Lin Sheng does not trust his "creation".

Because the "life" of these things comes from the low RSI value itself, they are completely different forms of intelligence from humans.

Their existence does not depend on traditional intelligence and thought patterns, which leads to their "logic" being quite peculiar.

In order to deceive the universe, Lin Sheng gave them a shell called the "Cyclic Computer".

Therefore, under normal circumstances, they are completely unable to communicate effectively with the outside world, and may not even remember what happened.

This also means unparalleled confidentiality.

“Remember this ‘key’.”

As he said this, the pen wrote a key in the air.

It was a very long key, so long that the end was nowhere in sight.

The space with an RSI value below 50 finally showed some abnormality.

As the pen tip touched the ground, the entire space seemed to tremble slightly with the movement of the numbers—

The string of numbers then came to life.

As if it were afraid of seeing the outside world, the moment it saw Da Tian Xiaochuan, it jumped into Da Tian Xiaochuan's body and became a part of his timeline.

"You can see it very clearly from below the time display."

The pen was a little out of breath after finishing this step; the top ring of metal on its cap had developed some rust, and even the words that appeared in the air were now tinged with rust.

It just “wrote” an irrational number in one go.

"This is a detachable timeline made entirely of numbers."

Then, the pen's voice suddenly turned into a calm tone, "Because this irrational number has theoretically disappeared from the universe, it will hide itself away."

Then a design drawing also jumped into Da Tian Xiaochuan's memory, and the pen instructed:
"Use this machine to disassemble the timeline in isolation, and then find Hamster's running wheel."

The pen paused, remembering the poor hamster's assigned task and the current state of the [Cyclic Computer]. It silently mourned for it for half a second inside the pen's "core".

"It's that [Circulating Computer] that's been repairing itself. It's easy to recognize. It will lead you to open the door to the core layer."

"Lin Sheng left a CYZ effect with a constant value of 333 chords in the core layer. As long as you do not exceed this amount each day, it will recover the next day."

It paused for a moment, its voice sounding somewhat frustrated.

"Then tell Hitomi to save 33 strings for us, otherwise we'll become disposable!"

Then the pen seemed to remember something, and it suddenly "raised its head":
"Wait a minute, isn't the right to life of alliance members the most important thing? I think I'm an alliance member now too!"

The pen remembered its real-world identity; it was now the Alliance's [Circular Calculator], so it quickly added:
"No, no, you only have 300 strings available."

Then, the pen began to explain to Ota Akikawa what exactly happened in the "Hoshimi Tower Case".

Da Tianxiaochuan's expression softened for a moment as he recounted the story, but then, at the end, he heard the pen's somewhat irritating words:
"But you won't remember them anyway. These memories can't be taken out of the country. In fact, I can only remember them here!"

Immediately afterwards, two files drifted into his TDD with some background music that seemed to be Mario eating a mushroom.

The sound of the pen thus transformed into an undisguised excitement, accompanied by a fast-paced tone.

"One is the revised 'Interference File on the Star Tower Case,' with the black borders already drawn. The remaining content is enough for the executives to understand that the boss is trapped and cannot get out for the time being."

"The other one is the follow-up plan he and that detective made. Since you went to such great lengths to get in, it means there are no problems on Earth at the moment."

At this point, the pen excitedly spun around on the table, "That means the victory is already decided!"

"After all, the detective already found the location of Moonshadow Island in the abandoned pharmaceutical factory."

"Kaito Kuroba impersonated him, luring the detective to the port, and then told him through Yusaku Kudo that the island was related to the third pointer..."

"Hoohoo!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the pen suddenly struck an exaggerated JOJO pose, and its "body" instantly turned dark purple.

"[Cycle] is now open! The Alliance is now invincible!"

However, the mention of the pen sent a chill down the spine of the seventeenth member of parliament.

Da Tianxiaochuan immediately realized that a big problem had occurred.

He projected the intelligence from his memory, along with the file that had just been written into TDD, into the air.

“Yesterday, Shinichi Kudo didn’t get any information about ‘Moonshadow Island’ from that abandoned pharmaceutical factory!”

The pen paused, its body stiffened, and it stood still in mid-air, the words in the air also ceasing to flow.

Immediately afterwards, question marks and exclamation marks filled the office.

"??!!"

"Actually, when I entered this space, he was heading to Beika Town Cargo Transport Port with Hattori Heiji and others."

"yesterday?!!!"

The pen seemed even more surprised, shocked, and incredulous than Da Tianxiaochuan.

"This can't be! The [loop] hasn't even started yet?!"

"Actually, we're not sure about that."

Ota Akikawa recalled the analysis conclusion of the Time Research Department at the time, "Because the time display instrument really couldn't see anything, this matched part of the characteristics of [cycle].

"But Conan really doesn't know about Moonshadow Island yet."

He thought for a moment and offered a suggestion, "Judging from the fact that the explosion at the abandoned research institute is different from the past, could it be that the [story timeline] wants to..."

"Absolutely impossible! Don't you understand?"

"It's not just Lin Sheng, I mean not only Lord ZC-01 who's trapped there, the entire dual timeline is trapped as well!"

Its tone was "urgent," and large blocks of text bubbles appeared, spreading uncontrollably to every corner of the space.

"The dual timelines theoretically have absolutely no power to interfere with 'reality'! Otherwise, why would I have said the victory was already decided!"

"In short, Otae, you need to find out what happened right now!"

"The Moon Shadow Island case must follow the events of 'The Shadow of the Black Iron Fish'!"

……

At a distant point in time, during the "Star Tower Case," Lin Sheng watched the final scene unfold before him—Da Tian Xiaochuan walking towards his "office."

He sighed inwardly; that was all he could see.

Now that he has sent most of his surplus to the alliance, looking further ahead, he may not be able to "capture" all those "possibilities".

After all, Ran Mouri's good fortune remains a potential problem.

Although she has been reset in reality, in the "Star Tower," Ran Mouri, who still remembers the truth, continues to do her best to guide her own destiny.

The situation is complicated enough now.

Every action of Conan Edogawa over the past two days flashed before Lin Sheng's eyes.

Judging from Conan's behavior and performance, or more precisely, from his experiences over the past two days, this has clearly exceeded the original expectations.

"Fortunately, it seems that Karasuma Renya and GSSRA have also realized this."

"Before entering the [cycle], they will do their best to protect themselves while helping the alliance."

Lin Sheng looked at the pale sun in the void, his heart heavy—

Obviously something went wrong over there.

In any case, Conan must enter the "ritual loop" by the third day at the latest. In other words, Conan must know about Moonshadow Island and its connection to the pointer, and develop a strong desire to explore that place.

Otherwise, the abnormal effects of [Conan Edogawa] would make it impossible to suppress that new timeline.

(End of this chapter)