"Gel Okabe?"
"That sounds painful."
Mayuri and Hashida Itaru said from the side, and Okabe Rintaro's expression darkened.
Ignoring his thoughts, Makise Kurisu set down her empty cup and continued, "The difficulty of physical time travel has already been proven by SERN's experiments."
"Even using the world's largest LHC, they couldn't achieve it."
Saying this, she stood up and walked to the Phone Microwave, waving her hand, "Such a device is even more impossible."
A crude microwave, an ordinary computer, and an utterly common mobile phone.
Compared to SERN's equipment, the difference was like heaven and earth.
"Then why were messages sent to the past?" Okabe Rintaro demanded.
"I don't know." Makise Kurisu shook her head, "That's also the problem."
"As I said before, SERN wants to use the power of black holes and the Uplift Machine to make time travel possible."
Saying this, she walked closer again, looking at the Phone Microwave in front of her.
"This Phone Microwave probably operates on the same principle," she said. "However, there's nothing in the microwave to act as an Uplift Machine."
"Where would it be?" Okabe Rintaro asked again.
"I don't know." Makise Kurisu sighed, "The time frame for D-mails to be sent is also limited."
"Based on the current situation, this cannot yet be called a machine that can send messages to the past."
Makise Kurisu turned around and looked at Okabe Rintaro:
"Before moving on to the next step, let's solve the existing problems first."
"How boring." Okabe Rintaro crossed his arms.
"99% of Science is built up from boring things." Makise Kurisu sighed, also crossing her arms, "Since you also call yourself a scientist—"
"I'm not a scientist!" Okabe Rintaro swiftly turned around, vigorously shaking his hand, and shouted impolitely, "Didn't I say I'm a Mad Scientist?!"
[It feels like Brooch has inexplicably entered elementary school boy mode again]
[I don't want to, I don't care, I just won't, I find it boring anyway, but I'm also hung up on some even more boring things...]
[It feels like he's sulking because of Assistant's 'Gel Okabe' comment just now]
[So, will it be explained later why this broken-down Laboratory can create something like D-mail?]
[It probably has something to do with that precisely timed discharge phenomenon]
[After all, besides the microwave itself, there's nothing special about it]
[Brooch looks like a child right now, he just wants to make a Time Machine]
"This guy is hopeless." Makise Kurisu sighed deeply, raising her hand to cover her head, "I need to treat him quickly..."
"Huh?"
"Ms. Makise?"
Her words made the others raise their eyebrows.
"You, could it be..."
Before Okabe Rintaro could finish his sentence, Makise Kurisu, suddenly realizing she had exposed something, turned around and loudly stopped him:
"Shut up! Don't say another word! That's impossible!"
"Hurry up and get to the point!" She stomped her foot and returned to the sofa.
Okabe Rintaro didn't seem to have any intention of pursuing it further; instead, he followed her lead and said, "Then, let's move on to the work report."
"How is the data translation from the SERN server coming along, Christina?"
"A senior... neler oh!" He grinned, revealing his true colors.
"I told you I'm not!" Makise Kurisu, who hadn't even fully settled down, retorted loudly.
"But your ID has turned red—"
"No, it hasn't!"
Loudly stopping Okabe Rintaro from continuing, Makise Kurisu gritted her teeth, looked left and right at Mayuri and Hashida Itaru, who hadn't spoken, and feeling very uncomfortable, sat back down and whispered, "There's nothing particularly important to report."
"Is that so." Okabe Rintaro said in a deep voice, "Then I'll continue to rely on you for the investigation."
"Neler oh!"
"Don't call me neler!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Okabe Rintaro turned his head, making his point:
"Next is Tonz, what's the status of the intrusion?"
"No progress." Tonz said casually, "There won't be any progress unless we analyze that mysterious program in the database on the other server."
"What about the analysis using the IBN5100?" Okabe Rintaro was stunned, asking repeatedly.
"If we could analyze it, there wouldn't be a problem." Hashida Itaru shrugged.
"Eh?" Okabe Rintaro realized something was wrong, "What's going on?"
Suddenly, music filled with suspense spread around, and a strange feeling surged through him. Okabe Rintaro couldn't understand.
"What's going on?" Hashida Itaru didn't understand.
"Are you saying you haven't done the analysis yet?" Okabe Rintaro spread his hands.
"Huh? How do I do that?" Hashida Itaru blinked.
After repeated confirmation, Okabe Rintaro finally understood the current situation.
Hashida Itaru had not used the IBN5100 for analysis.
"!" He suddenly reached out, grabbing Hashida Itaru's shoulder, and demanded, "Where is the IBN5100?!"
Hashida Itaru, leaning back under his pressure, became even more bewildered:
"How would I know?"
"..." Okabe Rintaro stood up, "Could it be..."
He turned around without a word and walked towards the spot where he remembered the IBN5100 being.
But the corner where the IBN5100 should have been was now empty.
—A sharp sound cut through the music.
"Okabe, what's wrong?" Mayuri asked, puzzled.
"Christina." Okabe Rintaro looked down at the empty floor, his voice trembling as he asked, "Could it be that I haven't found the IBN5100 yet?"
"..." Makise Kurisu blinked, saying in confusion, "What do you mean 'could it be,' aren't we still not sure where it is?"
"..." Okabe Rintaro's breathing became heavy.
[What a 'neler']
[So it's 2CH, this thing is also quite old, the more you chat, the redder your ID gets, I remember]
[So, when Brooch was spamming John Titor's posts on the forum before, was Assistant also there?]
[Very possible]
[ID ID, I want to know Assistant's ID, quickly box it out for me]
[He finally realized IBN5100-chan is missing]
[Moeka, quickly go find Moeka, maybe we can get it back now]
[Hard to say, might have to send a message]
[Brooch, you're invincible]
[But these few sentences don't necessarily confirm Assistant's identity, anyone who surfs the internet frequently should be familiar with it, right?]
[But Assistant's incriminating evidence has accumulated a lot; each cover-up only exposed her identity further, and it's actually quite late for her to be completely exposed now]
[His reaction is too slow!]