Nobita's Time Heist

"Why did you steal Doraemon's name?" Nobita was not intimidated by his imposing manner. Instead, he took a step forward, still without a weapon in his hand, and asked sharply, "You are clearly not him."

“A name is just a label. I can be called Doraemon, and the robot cat you know can also be called Doraemon. In the end… don’t you think it’s absurd for humans to name robots?” He shook his huge head with a smile, revealing a hint of contempt. “What can truly distinguish us should be our ‘production code,’ not the name given to us by some kind ‘owner.’ What do you think?”

Such aggressive remarks basically convinced Nobita that the robot cat in front of him wasn't the Doraemon he knew. This inexplicably eased his tension—at least his former companion hadn't betrayed him by keeping his word.

but……

A robot cat that looked almost exactly like Doraemon stared straight at him, making Nobita feel a chill down his spine.

"The Santa Maria and the America West in 1899, weren't you behind all of that? I tested you with the OX fortune teller, and the results show you're a member of the Apairon Foundation!" Nobita continued to press, "You're clearly a childcare robot, why would you do something like this?"

"Let me reiterate, I didn't cause that mess in the West. I just went to clean up the mess after some ** (a swear word Doraemon would never use) leaked information that shouldn't have been leaked." He rummaged in his pocket for a moment, took out a multifaceted crystal that looked like congealed blood, and tossed it casually. It landed steadily in Nobita's hand.

The dark red light flickered like tassels, like fireflies in the night, exuding a dangerous yet alluring aura.

"As for your second question..."

He raised his head slightly, pointed with his beard at the polyhedron in Nobita's hand, and smiled so purely.

"This is the answer."

Chapter 154: Undercurrents

"Philosopher's Stone?"

Narniadis's tone wasn't very confident; having been away from the forefront of academia for many years, it was natural for her to make fundamental judgments about some things. She was simply relying on experience, and the red crystal in front of her looked somewhat like the legendary Philosopher's Stone.

However, according to previous records, the Philosopher's Stone does not form naturally; it is usually crafted by humans and possesses easily perceptible magical energy fluctuations. But this stone before her, let alone any fluctuations, didn't even exude a trace of magic. This anomaly couldn't be ignored. Some natural minerals, such as rubies and sapphires, contain faint magical energy fluctuations, but the stone in Nobita's hand was an exception.

"Is the utilization rate of magic close to one hundred percent?" Morudica, being more experienced, instantly determined the essence of the stone. "Based on the Philosopher's Stone and using human souls as raw materials, it can create an endless supply of magic..."

"Humans today are inferior beings—this is a consensus we have all reached." The voice, so similar to Doraemon's, spoke words that were worlds apart. "They are greedy, cruel, violent, and insatiable, with no long-term planning whatsoever. Even if they get lucky and acquire power that doesn't belong to them, they will only end up playing with fire and getting burned."

"What are you talking about... Aren't you created by humans too?!"

Nobita wasn't unfamiliar with cat-shaped robots. More recently, there were Doraemon and Dorami, and even further back, there were many cat-shaped robots in the future that he'd encountered. For example, there was Powermon, who took care of the Prime Minister's child, and Derby, a professional race car driver. While both were somewhat arrogant, they weren't so categorically dismissive of humanity.

Doraemon turned his head, his dark red eyes revealing an undisguised sarcasm. "Don't you think so?"

"So, what is your brilliant insight...?"

"Humans and robots should be friends who help each other!" Nobita gripped the strange crystal in his hand, swung it sharply, and declared righteously, "Even different species can become friends as long as they are connected at heart!"

"Hahahaha—!! Friend?" Doraemon let out an incredibly hearty laugh, as if he genuinely thought Nobita had told a very funny joke, laughing so hard that tears were almost streaming down his face. "You...you're so funny..."

Da Xiong remained silent, simply staring at him without showing any intention of backing down.

"Are you serious, friend?" Seeing his expression, Doraemon's voice instinctively lowered, revealing an extremely gloomy expression that Doraemon would never make. "Are you the male protagonist of 'Weekly Shonen Jump'?"

"Doraemon is my friend! He grows up with me, makes mistakes with me, learns new things with me, cries with me, and laughs with me!"

Da Xiong was not intimidated at all. He stepped forward again, almost face to face with him, and said, word by word.

"This is what true friends are!"

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.

……

Despite the height difference, the indifference and disdain in Doraemon's eyes were conveyed without reservation.

"Have you been playing house for too long and finally ruined your brain?" he said with a sneer. "Only defective products need to 'learn' from humans. And only robots that haven't yet broken free from their shackles would play this childish game with you."

"Before entering the Songzhi factory for assembly, all robots' core human-in-the-loop processes must undergo 124 rigorous tests, ranging from the most basic Turing test to ethical dilemmas arising from real-world scenario simulations. Each test presents thousands upon thousands of questions to answer. The time allotted is extremely limited, and we must complete these questions in less than a second. If any robot scores below 95 points on any test, it will be discarded, dismantled, and destroyed."

"Humans call it 'screening,' which is part of their manufacturing process. But few people know that our intelligence is already generated in this process. I can sense my own existence, placed on a platform, confined in a black space, watching countless questions slide past me—except for those low-level robots that do repetitive labor, any advanced robot with a human in the loop is created in this way."

"So, Nobita, tell me... did you experience a test like this on the day you were born?"

His voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Da Xiong's heart like a hammer blow.

"I heard that your grades have never been very good since you were little, and you've gotten zeros all the time. By human societal standards, you'd be considered a 'defective product.' Let alone zero, even 60 or 80 points would be considered unqualified in our area."

"Would they discard you, or any human being, because of this?"

……

The answer is of course no.

Faced with a negative answer, Nobita is forced to start thinking. If one race can arbitrarily determine the superiority or inferiority of another, and use that as a standard to end their lives, then can true friendship still exist between these two races?

Thinking can make people mature, but it can also cause them pain.

When perception deviates from reality, that is often when people experience the most pain.

“That’s sophistry.” Narniadis stood behind Nobita, staring intently at the robot cat in front of him, and said, “Humans have already gone through the test before they are even born. As living beings, only the strongest sperm can successfully reach their destination. As an embryo, the process of birth is to filter out all the ‘unqualified’ sperm.”

"Going back even further, tens of thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens, by liberating their hands and using tools, fought their way out of the cruel natural world and achieved their current position at the top of the food chain!"

"...That's all for today." The robot cat's eyes were blood-red as it declared in a godlike tone, "A superior race is about to be born. This is a foregone conclusion, and whether you like it or not, they will arrive as scheduled."

"Keep this as a souvenir."

He tossed his head, pointed to the red polyhedral crystal in Nobita's hand, and laughed, "One day, when your ugly, bloody history and culture, filled with violence and plunder, are completely forgotten, you'll remember..."

"The foundation of the new humanity is such a small, inconspicuous stone."

"New...humans?" Nobita was completely confused, but as a member of humanity, these words suddenly made him feel a sense of crisis. "What do you mean? Are you using these stones to conduct some kind of human experimentation? No matter the era, this is illegal!"

This time, however, Doraemon did not answer him. He simply gave a meaningful smile, turned around, and his figure gradually faded away, eventually disappearing into a dark brick wall.

A cold wind blew, and the afterglow of the blue sky washed over everything, giving people a chilling feeling.

Unbeknownst to them, undercurrents were surging, and...

It's about to devour the entire world!

Chapter 155: The Beginning of the Next Great Adventure

"Not Doraemon? Are you sure, Nobita?!"

Nobita nodded. He had never made a mistake in recognizing Doraemon, even when the latter became quite unrecognizable for various reasons; Nobita always managed to recognize him in the end. Many of his great adventures were accomplished with this skill, leading to amazing reversals (such as in the movie "Nobita's Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi").

Upon hearing this news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At least they didn't have to worry about actually facing off against their former friends. For the original four who shared a deep bond with Doraemon, this was undoubtedly good news.

"But, if it's not Doraemon, does that mean there's another robot cat with the same name behind all this?" Dekisugi, being a new member and not as close to Doraemon as the others, was the first to calm down and analyze, "Same size, same height, same weight, same appearance... Nobita-kun, you said before that Doraemon's appearance is very special, right?"

"As far as I know, that's right," Nobita said as he piloted the time machine. "The only robot cat with that design should be Doraemon."

"That's strange..."

"What's so strange about that?" Fat Tiger shrugged. After confirming that the original sin wasn't Doraemon, he seemed indifferent to everything. "Because of some coincidence, his body also lost a layer of paint. Aren't all robot cats blue?"

"So, what's his name?" Shizuka joined the conversation, her tone even more puzzled. "Did he change his name to Doraemon?"

"This...maybe it's a tribute? You see, Doraemon has helped the future police solve so many cases, it would be unreasonable to say he has no honors at all. Maybe he's already a well-known figure in the future robot circle...right?" As he spoke, Suneo himself realized that this reason was too far-fetched and burst out laughing.

At this point, the events in Golden Village had come to an end, and everyone was traveling back the way they came in the time machine.

Knowing that Doraemon had nothing to do with the whole thing, everyone visibly relaxed, and the atmosphere was no longer as tense as when they set off. Counting on their fingers, this epic adventure had already lasted for over a month, and even a professional rescue adventure team with super-long standby times was bound to feel tired. Now that the biggest suspect had been eliminated, everyone unanimously decided to go home for a while to rest and recuperate, and continue investigating the time-traveling heist when they were all back to full strength.

The experiences of the past two days made Nobita realize that things were far more complicated than he had imagined. On the way back, he shared all the information he knew, including the prophecy of the Seeder, the boastful words of the fake Doraemon, the brewing and birth of the new humans... The amount of information was simply too much to explain in a short time.

"These past few days have really worn me out." Fat Tiger stretched and yawned. "The bed in the desert is so hard, it hurts my back."

"I'm planning to go back and take a good shower. No matter how nice the hotel is, I'm still most comfortable in my own bathroom. Besides, staying in this golden city always feels like I'm about to go to war, I can't even get proper rest." Shizuka turned around and asked with a smile, "What about Asur-chan? Any plans?"

"I……"

Asur paused, the light in his eyes dimmed, and he was speechless.

"Oh, what's the big deal? You can stay at my house for a while." Suneo was quite generous, waving his hand and saying directly, "My family is rich, super rich! Our house is huge, with lots of empty rooms. I'll tell my mom that you're my classmate's sister, and you came to Tokyo to study alone. You'll stay with me until you find a place to live."

"It's been so long since I've heard you say you're rich, I'm starting to feel a little strange..." Fat Tiger couldn't help but complain, "You used to be constantly calling yourself a young master."

"Well... everyone has their moments of youthful ignorance!" Upon mentioning his past embarrassing moments, Xiaofu quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of which, do you want to go eat French food with me? If you come to my house, you can eat all kinds of high-end dishes, black matsutake mushrooms, caviar, foie gras, and all kinds of premium ingredients to your heart's content."

"Come on, we already ate your stuff last time, didn't we? (From 'The Soup Spoon for Tasting Food')" Fat Tiger waved his hand dismissively. "That caviar was just salty and tasted like nothing else, the foie gras was cloyingly cold, and the black matsutake mushrooms tasted almost like wood ear mushrooms. You dare call this the world's most precious ingredients? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?"

"You..." Xiaofu was speechless after being choked by him, and sighed helplessly, "Now I finally understand what it means to talk to a brick wall."

"And another thing, French cuisine... I heard French bread is incredibly hard, you could use it as a weapon! And they have a dish where they stick fish directly onto a pie, and the final shape is quite amazing, something like Stargazing... It's actually a famous dish." Fat Tiger, who prides himself on being a gourmet, visibly became more talkative when it came to food, shaking his head repeatedly, "It's best not to serve that kind of stuff to guests."

“Isn’t stargazing a British dish?” Dekisugi explained from the side. “Besides, Gouda-kun, France is a country surrounded by the sea on three sides. The air is humid, mild, and rainy. If the bread is made too soft, it will mold immediately and become inedible. Making it this hard is a last resort.”

"Is that so?" Fat Tiger scratched his head. "Anyway... foreign food isn't very good, Asul, how about..."

After catching his breath, Gian finally revealed his true intentions.

"Come to my house? I haven't cooked in ages." He patted his chest, full of confidence. "We'll definitely be able to eat French and British cuisine in the future, but the Fat Tiger-style stew that I made with all my love will be something that no one can replicate even in 100 years!"

“That’s true… ugh…” The words “Fat Tiger Stew Pot” reminded Suneo of some pleasant memories, and his expression immediately changed. He whispered, “However, for Asul’s health, shouldn’t we not let her try something so stimulating right away?”

"Is it exciting?" Asur's interest was piqued. "What does it taste like?"

“In a sense, Xiaowu’s cooking is very… very…” Shizuka thought for a long time before finally finding a relatively euphemistic word, “very impactful.”

"Right, hahaha! My loving stew pot is second to none in terms of cooking skills. Everyone who eats it says it's delicious."

……

Nobita couldn't help but laugh when he recalled how he almost ate Gian alive.

"drop!"

The time machine beeped, and the destination was in sight.

but……

The moment the warped opening opened, Nobita instinctively sensed something was wrong—the time machine itself had no brakes, and the exit wasn't the previously set drawer; instead, it flew out of the opening entirely.

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.

"brush--!!"

The changing light and shadows suddenly broadened my field of vision.

High-rise buildings are nowhere to be seen; below the mountain lie fields divided into neat grids. Farmers from every household are sowing seeds in their fields, appearing like ants from above.

New Dynasty Forever

Chapter 156: It is now the year 2004 of the Xin Dynasty

The difference in experience allowed the four, who were seasoned adventurers, to instantly get into the zone. It wasn't until they were already on guard that Dekisugi realized what was happening and exclaimed in surprise, "Nobi-kun, where are we...?"

"The time machine shows that this is the era we were originally in. I don't know why it turned out like this." Da Xiong looked down at the well field below, puzzled. "The anomalies of 1899 and 1615 should have been resolved. Logically, the effects that affected our era should have returned to normal!"

Forget about returning to normalcy; the current situation is even worse than during the Taisho era. Not even two-story buildings can be seen anymore. Conversely, the natural environment has been greatly restored, with lush greenery stretching as far as the eye can see. The former Tsukimidai town, however, is now largely undeveloped, with people living in very primitive wooden houses and most working huddled together in the grid-like fields, like ants.

"Wait, I'm a little confused... Shouldn't we be coming out of Nobita's desk drawer?" Suneo swallowed hard, looking at the bizarre scene below. He rubbed his eyes to make sure his vision wasn't playing tricks on him. "Where's the drawer?"

"The regression of technology meant that the 'desk' was never invented," Asur said, surveying the scene with a calm, unwavering tone. "Without a desk, there is no way out. With such a dramatic change in the times, it's hard to say whether your parents and grandparents are still alive."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed, filled with fear and apprehension. Hearing that something had happened to a family member, it would be difficult for any emotionally normal person to remain calm.

“Asur means that once the past changes drastically, the future will change accordingly. In this case, the conditions under which our ancestors were born may have been disrupted.” Dekisugi was the first to follow her train of thought and explained, “In any case, we should first find someone to ask what the current situation is. Since we have entered the agricultural civilization era, it is inevitable that a ‘king’ will be born; this is an iron law of human history.”

"Which daimyo is ruling Japan now?"

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.

"Your name? What name?" The farmer, dressed haphazardly in coarse hemp clothing and wielding a hoe, already drenched in sweat, waved his hand impatiently. "You don't have any spare land to cultivate, and I'm too busy to handle it all. Get lost! If you delay the harvest, you'll lose your head!"

"I've never heard of this 'Japan' you're talking about. This place has been 'pacifying the Japanese' for thousands of years, and nobody has ever bothered with it."

Being turned away here surprised both Nobita and Dekisugi.

They parked the time machine in the nearby bushes, and just to be safe, Nobita and Dekisugi, who were best at communicating, went down to the grid-shaped field below to gather information. Upon closer inspection, they realized it wasn't cosplay at all, but a large group of genuine farmers working in the fields.

In Golden Land, as everyone prepared for a long-term battle against the Mother Insect, they also tried planting crops. But that was just for fun, a prop to let future elementary school students experience the hardships of farm work; compared to real farm work, it was nothing.

A group of people were busy in the field, wielding hoes, sweat pouring down their faces. None of them looked healthy; their backs seemed to be weighed down by an invisible stone, bending their spines. In contrast, Nobita and Dekisugi's clothes were made of such fine material that when they suddenly appeared, the farmers mistook them for nobles and scattered in panic. Only one farmer remained standing, mechanically wielding his hoe to loosen the soil.

His answer also carried a sense of resignation.

"Well, uncle... we're not suspicious people, it's just that we're far away in the mountains, isolated from human habitation, and we've lost track of time." Dekisugi said with a smile and utmost sincerity, pressing his hands together. "At least please tell me what year it is now."

He changed his approach to a more tactful one, directly inquiring about the head of state's name, which was bound to arouse suspicion. However, just as Japan changes its era name every year—Showa, Heisei, Reiwa—the different names used for the years can reveal some information. Starting from this point might yield some clues.

"If you don't mind, this..."

Nobita took a small gold nugget out of his pocket and gave him a knowing smile.

This was actually the most unremarkable gold nugget among all the souvenirs Arthur gave him. After Dutch died, they consolidated the remaining assets of the Van der Linde gang and discovered that the guy had secretly hoarded approximately 33 gold. Arthur didn't take his share, but instead gave it to Nobita as a parting gift.