An infinite journey starting from paradise

[Prop Card: Drunken Man's Time Travel Rules x1]

[Item Description: Consumable item, can only be used once.]

Time doesn't flow in one direction, nor is it itself a truly objective reality. Past and future don't necessarily have causal relationships. Yet, after countless journeys through time, the Drunken Man has discovered a way to fix causality and stabilize worldlines.

After using this item, one can anchor the time node in which one is currently located, travel through the ocean of possibilities of a single universe, reach a time node in the past, and return to the anchored time node after a certain subjective time.

[Additional note: No viewing permission is currently available.]

[Note: Why do people face an inevitable fate? Because the wave function is bound to collapse. Why can't people give up hope? Because the wave function can still diverge.]

Looking at the complicated item descriptions on the cards in his hand, Lin Shangren was a little confused: "Isn't this item a little too serious? It should only need to explain that this thing can allow me to travel to the past and then return to the present, so why add so many obscure explanations?

I studied aquaculture in my previous life, not physics. Are you using all this quantum mechanics jargon to trick me into not understanding it?

System, won’t you explain it to me?”

However, the system did not answer Lin Shangren's question this time, but only popped up a prompt box indifferently:

【Do you want to use this item? 】

"Hey, you're pretending to be an expert by not saying anything, huh?"

【Do you want to use this item? 】

"Then use it." Lin Shangren muttered to himself.

After the order was given, the card in Lin Shangren's hand dissipated into tiny particles of light. The light particles then transformed into a ribbon of light, wrapping around Lin Shangren's left wrist, and finally transformed into a simple black electronic watch.

The orange-red numbers on the dial showed the number "96:00", which should be the time when Lin Shangren could move around in the past.

"Four days? Isn't that a little short?" Lin Shangren asked in his heart, "Also, how should I travel through time? How do I set the time node I want to travel to? I should... Shit!"

Before Lin Shangren finished asking his question, he suddenly felt as if the floor beneath his feet had disappeared, and his body was falling straight down freely, as if he was about to fall into a bottomless abyss.

"Wow! So sudden?!"

When he looked carefully, he found that he was in a magnificent nebula that was difficult to describe in words. The brilliant stars and stardust formed a magnificent and surging ocean.

It was difficult for Lin Shangren to describe what he saw and how he felt at the moment. It was as if he was falling from a height of 100,000 meters, and his surroundings were filled with brilliant fireworks exploding.

"My Lord, don't worry, I will hold you tight."

A clear and gentle female voice came to Lin Shangren's ears, and he then noticed that a pair of slender and strong arms were hugging him tightly from behind.

He tried his best to turn his head and barely saw the appearance of the "person" who was hugging him. It was a beautiful girl with short silver-blue hair: her facial features were delicate and deep, her skin was as white as snow, and her body was wrapped in flowing starlight.

"system?"

"I'm here," the girl said softly, "I know you wanted to compliment my appearance, so thank you for the compliment."

"Ah... this is worthy of being my system, it's very reliable." Lin Shangren said half-jokingly.

The system girl did not comment on Lin Shangren's teasing. Anyway, she was sure that her appearance must be in line with her master Lin Shangren's XP system. After all, she was born according to this setting.

"Let's get down to business." Lin Shangren continued, "Where is this place? How do we get there?"

The system girl replied, "This is the ocean of possibilities for this universe. From the movement of the first microscopic particle in the Big Bang to the final moment of the universe's heat death, all the possibilities of this universe are here."

"Huh? Possibility? What does this have to do with time travel?" Lin Shangren was a little confused. He really didn't know much about this aspect.

"Time is not an objective physical quantity, at least not in this type of universe. Time is simply a concept created by intelligent life to describe the phenomenon of increasing entropy. Intelligent life uses the logic of consciousness to understand the world, so for intelligent life, time is linear.

But for the macrocosm, time is just like what you see before your eyes: a chaotic mess. However, when the universe itself develops self-awareness, it will weave a fixed pattern of entropy growth from this chaotic mess of possibilities. To explain it with concepts you can understand... well..."

The system lady closed her eyes, as if searching for information in her mind. After a moment's pause, she slowly spoke, "Right, you can think of it as the Marvel Universe's sacred timeline. Once a sacred timeline is identified, the universe's consciousness will become complete, and only then will a qualitative change occur, saving it from the fate of heat death and ultimate extinction."

"Here."

The System Girl pointed in a direction, where countless stars gathered together to form an exceptionally gorgeous "river" in a chaotic sea of ​​possibilities.

"That is the sacred timeline chosen by this universe. However, due to its own problems, this timeline cannot achieve self-consistency, so it needs the intervention and help of outsiders. Your rescue of Manaka Gawain and Byakuya Rinone may seem like an ordinary act, but it is of extraordinary significance to this universe." The system girl continued to explain.

"So, I traveled to this world and met Hehuan and Rinne. Everything I experienced before was the so-called cosmic consciousness?"

Lin Shangren felt somewhat dissatisfied, but he hated the so-called "fate" and "grand existence" very much. He hated that his choices and actions were interfered with by some mysterious thing.

"No. You... I can't explain the details to you right now, but I can assure you that you are truly free from the control of 'fate'. Even though we came to this universe because of the consciousness of this universe, we... everything you do will only follow your will."

Lin Shangren rubbed his neck. He felt that the secrets hidden by this petite and lovely system girl behind him were exponentially more than everything he had experienced before.

But he also knew that he was not in a position to get involved in such a grand issue at the moment. All he needed to do now was to save the two girls who were tortured by fate.

Lin Shangren asked again, "System... I won't ask any more questions. I'm not interested in the fate of the universe or anything like that. I just want to know, if I hadn't come to this universe and hadn't gotten involved in the so-called sacred timeline, what fate would have befallen Hehuan, Linyin, and the others?"

"It's extremely miserable."

The system girl only answered with these four words.

After a pause, she added, "You've done well enough to be the hero who brought a happy ending."

"What kind of review is that? It's so old-fashioned."

Although Lin Shangren disagreed with the system girl's evaluation, he actually found it quite useful.

"Forget it, forget about it."

Lin Shangren shook his head, temporarily clearing his mind of the numerous questions. He continued, "So what should we do next? Do nothing and just wait to fall into that river of stars below..."

Before he finished asking, the scene before him suddenly changed again. The brilliant and chaotic galaxy disappeared, replaced by a deep cave.

Sloping stone walls, dense trees and stone formations, and a deep cave half a man's height. This place was exactly like the caves Lin Shangren had seen in the virtual world before. The only difference was that, instead of a dilapidated ruin, a towering, pure white building towered above the stone walls.

There is no doubt that this is the illegal research institute that Rin mentioned in the virtual world, which is also the place where the organization in the real world uses to study the paradise system.

"What do you mean? Go in and take a look."

Just as Lin Shangren was thinking about whether to go in directly, he heard footsteps behind him.

"Who?"

Lin Shangren turned around suddenly and found a girl with a high ponytail and a sailor suit appeared behind him. Judging from her appearance, Lin Shangren felt that the girl looked familiar.

Before Lin Shangren could say anything, the girl asked, "Judging from your uniform, you're not a student at Rokukeikan Academy, are you? What are you doing here?"

"I'm a hiker who came here for an adventure, and I got lost. Excuse me, where is this place?"

"Here? This is the hospital affiliated with the Comprehensive Research Center for Life Sciences." The girl pointed to the white building. "Further south is the private Rokukeikan Academy. I'm a student there. My name is Aoi Nazuki."

"Aoi Nanazuki... As expected, this is the younger version of Aoi-sensei."

Looking at Aoi Nazuki's face brimming with youthful enthusiasm, Lin Shangren was convinced that he had indeed traveled back in time.

Aoi Nazuki didn't notice Lin Shangren's changing expression. She continued, "If you need help, I can take you to the academy. But you'll have to wait a little while. I lost my homework for my hobby class... By the way, did you see a little gray rabbit just now?"

Chapter 28: The Sin of the Bird Healing a Person

"Hobby class homework? A gray rabbit?"

"It's about this big." Aoi Nazuki gestured with her hand, "A little fat. Mr. Suzumoto asked me to take good care of it before he went on a business trip, so I accidentally fed it a lot of food. But it doesn't seem to like carrots..."

"Rabbit's actually not fond of carrots. In fact, they prefer green leafy vegetables with a moderate water content. Low-fiber, high-carb crops like carrots can only be used as snacks for rabbits. Eating too much is not good for them."

As a former agricultural student, Lin Shangren subconsciously explained the rabbit's eating habits to Aoi Caiyue.

"Huh?! Is that so? I've never heard of this before." Aoi Nazuki showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, "No wonder when I first started raising it, Mr. Suzumoto didn't include carrots in the feed. I've learned my lesson. I have to remember this..."

Suddenly, without warning, Aoi Nayue lunged towards the bushes nearby, her upper body completely buried in them. The speed was so fast that even Lin Shangren, whose vision was far superior to that of an average person, almost failed to react.

"Here it is, I caught it!"

Aoi Nazuki flapped her legs excitedly and pulled herself out of the grass, holding a round gray rabbit in her hands.

"The blue-purple rabbit is one of the most common rabbits used in experiments, and is also often used for both skin and meat. However, compared to the rabbit, the bigger problem is Aoi-sensei in front of us..."

The carefree girl before him was indeed a far cry from the intellectual and gentle Aoi. According to the information Lin Shangren extracted from Hokariya, Aoi Nayue was actually a mercenary within the organization, secretly protecting Hehuan. Later, under the threat of Hokariya, she was forced to join the Paradise Games.

"So, Aoi-sensei was also raised in that academy and later directly absorbed into the organization. Her extraordinary strength and speed are most likely the product of human experiments conducted by Rokukeikan Academy."

Lin Shangren made an analysis quickly.

"Of course, it's not ruled out that he's gifted."

Looking at Teacher Aoi's exceptionally developed chest, Lin Shangren added in his heart.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry, I'm so rude..."

Aoi Nazuki scratched her head in embarrassment: "Um... I've already caught it. So, do you need me to take you to school? Um... this gentleman."

"I'm sorry for being rude. My surname is Lin and my name is Shangren." Lin Shangren forced a gentle smile.

"Rinrin? What a rare surname."

"It's actually written the same way as Hayashi (はやしhayashi), except that lin (林) is the Chinese pronunciation. I'm Chinese," Hayashi Shangren explained.

In his original world, when he was studying in Japan, he had to emphasize this point every time he introduced himself to others. After all, Japan also has the surname "Hayashi," and it is the most populous single surname in Japan.

"Rin? Mr. Lin... Shangren...?"

Since there are no clear retroflex consonants in Japanese, Aoi Naoki found it particularly difficult to pronounce Hayashi Naoto's name and almost bit her tongue.

"If you're not used to that, just call me Shangren, Miss Aoi."

"Hmm." Aoi Nazuki nodded.

"Shangren-kun is from China...? That's amazing, such a faraway place." Aoi Nazuki said, "I haven't left this island since I was adopted by the academy.

The places outside must be amazing, right? I really want to go see them.

I can leave here after graduation..."

Aoi Nazuki continued to talk to herself, looking completely lost in her own fantasy. She didn't even react when the rabbit in her arms broke free. Her eyes gradually glazed over, and then she collapsed straight down.

"Ms. Aoi?!"

Lin Shangren hurried forward and supported her.

"Hey, are you okay? Why did you suddenly become like this?"

Lin Shangren reached out and held her carotid artery. He found that Aoi Nayue's body temperature was unusually high and her heart rate was abnormally fast.

"How could this happen? Could it be acute myocarditis?"

He helped Aoi Natsuki up, but found a red number tattoo on the back of her neck, just like the number of a laboratory mouse.

"16...are those next to it needle holes? These are traces of long-term injections. Are they traces of human experimentation? Human experimentation, human trafficking, organ trafficking..."

Lin Shangren recalled the crimes of Rokukeikan Academy that Rinyin had recounted in the virtual world.

"Is this the aftereffect of the experiment that's causing her now?"

Just then he heard faintly a series of strange noises. The sound was very slight, but it was gradually approaching.

"Someone is coming, more than one!"

Lin Shangren looked at the bushes behind him vigilantly.

"Escape? Hide? Are you going to leave her here?"

Before Lin Shangren could make a decision, a group of people ran over from the bushes.

There were six people in total, all men, around thirty years old, wearing almost stereotypical gray uniforms that looked a bit like hospital nurses' attire, but also a bit like slim-fitting chemical protective suits without the hoods. Most importantly, they each held a strangely shaped long stick, completely black, with two protruding metal studs at the top.

Lin Shangren's many years of experience watching science fiction films told him that these people seemed to be holding some kind of electric baton.

"These people should be the minions of that organization. So how should I escape? Or kill them?" Lin Shangren pondered. "System, use my five chances to draw the lottery first."

Yes, my Lord.

Seeing the stranger Lin Shangren here, those people seemed very surprised.

"That's not right. Isn't Subject No. 16 the only subject for this experiment? Why is there someone else here?" the leading man asked into the headset.

Before the person on the other side of the headset answered his question, Lin Shangren responded to them first.

Lin Shangren has made his choice: to kill him, so that they can't escape!

"Oh!"

Before the six people could react, Lin Shangren took out his pistol.

"About thirteen meters, no wind, no need to consider the resistance of the 9mm Parabellum round..."

Without the help of a sure-hit shot, Lin Shangren can achieve a very high hit rate simply by relying on his reaction speed, calculation ability, and very stable gun-control technique, not to mention a close-range attack.

Except for the person who was shot by the first bullet and escaped death because the shot was aimed at the shoulder, the remaining five people were killed in an instant with one shot.