Chapter 172: The Beginning of the Sacred Timeline War
Witnessing this scene, even with Conan's immense rationality, he couldn't escape the feeling of a total mental shutdown!
Hadn't the transition from ancient apes to humans only taken two million years? How could he, the "protagonist," exist as a peerless criminal powerhouse with an invincible posture in an unfathomable prehistoric era one to ten million years ago?!
Come to think of it, what crimes could he have possibly committed in that era? Beating up trilobites with prehistoric ferns? Or was the extinction of the dinosaurs actually caused by him performing a Detective's Final Flying Kick?! No, the dinosaur extinction was over sixty million years ago; a mere invincible criminal from ten million years ago couldn't even touch that timeline.
Despite his brain stalling, Conan's resilient reason kept him thinking in fits and starts, though the results of his thoughts could hardly be called meaningful. Actually, his logic provided an explanation and an answer: all these images displayed on the "Ichigo Kurosaki Brand Screen" were fake news created through Photoshop! Unfortunately, logical explanations couldn't convince Conan. The reason was simple: the moment he looked at the person on the screen, he confirmed from the bottom of his heart that the man whose eyes were drowned in endless despair and whose body was shrouded in boundless evil karma was himself! Or rather, "Truth" itself possesses a unique presence. For a detective, the moment the truth appears, they can immediately sense its authenticity!
Conan remained silent in his stupor for a long time before letting his stalled brain slowly reboot. His brows furrowed into an inverted 'V' shape as he began to think intensely, instantly proposing several hypotheses. Perhaps this "self" on the screen was a past life, and his current self was a reincarnation. Or perhaps he would travel through space-time in the future, going back to the prehistoric era to leave his mark. But no matter the hypothesis, there were logical gaps and a lack of necessary information and evidence. Conan couldn't reach a definitive conclusion for the moment, but one thing was certain. Ichigo Kurosaki was right. He—Edogawa Conan, no, Shinichi Kudo—was the protagonist of this world, harboring great secrets and power. Even if he hadn't noticed it himself, when he thought subconsciously, he could instinctively dictate destiny, influencing everything from the shadows.
Knowing this, Conan fell silent. He had always believed he was just an ordinary high school detective, who at most had some mystical and bizarre encounters after meeting Moriarty. But he hadn't expected that under the revelation of this alien invader, Ichigo Kurosaki, he would find it highly likely he wasn't human. Instead, he merely looked human on the outside, while his existence itself transcended all things—the "protagonist" at the absolute center of the world stage!
Conan couldn't help but review his life, and his expression gradually became twisted. Since childhood, he had marched forward with the desire to become a Sherlock Holmes for the new era. During that time, the phenomenon called "thinking" had always accompanied him, permeating his entire life. In the past, this was what Shinichi Kudo took pride in. Because of his resilient reason and his talent for thinking, he possessed abilities and qualities far exceeding those of his peers. On the path of a detective, he had achieved results early on, becoming the savior of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department at sixteen. Regardless of whether it was media hype, a title was a title. Using this as a cornerstone, who was to say that ten years later, he wouldn't become the savior of police forces worldwide, solving several "crimes of the century"? The dream of becoming a new-age Sherlock Holmes seemed inevitable.
But at this moment, the "thinking" he once took pride in had become the source of his fear! A terrifying question faintly surfaced in Conan's heart. As the protagonist named Shinichi Kudo, how many people's fates had he influenced and completely changed through "thinking" since he could remember? The birth of Moriarty, the changes in world lines, Beika Town turning into a "hospitable" crime capital—for every imaginable problem, there seemed to be one final, yet original, answer!
But that wasn't even the most terrifying part. More terrifying was that Conan suddenly associated Ran Mouri's extreme, insane killing intent toward him—toward the existence of "Edogawa Conan"—with the criminal powerhouse named "Edogawa Conan" walking the earth one to ten million years ago... Perhaps, in that prehistoric era, I wasn't the only one walking the earth; there were others too! Maybe the world is actually a cyclical space-time loop mechanism, and nothing is appearing for the first time. So, was Ran Mouri's insane killing intent caused by me? If so, what exactly did I do back then?
Conan's long-tempered brain was like a tireless deduction machine. Give it a clue, and it would start deducing endlessly, associating horizontally, and connecting everything, trying to reach the final answer called "Truth." In this very instant, Conan once again felt a bone-deep fear! Stop! I must stop thinking! I must never open the Pandora's box containing the truth. Inside, besides the truth, is despair and pain enough to swallow everything. Every cell in Conan's body was screaming, issuing a warning. But it seemed too late. Conan's long-exercised brain had superb and rich experience in "seeking death." It never cared about the sinister dead ends ahead; it only knew that deducing and finding the truth was its mission. Primal warnings of danger were completely beneath its notice! The Pandora's box containing the truth was, in this instant, pried open by Conan's brain using deduction as a crowbar. A crack appeared, and the boundless darkness hidden within was already faintly visible.
In the next heartbeat, Conan's thinking was interrupted! Because Ichigo Kurosaki had retracted his flesh-screen, turned back into a sphere, and slammed hard into Conan's face. "I told you, you should learn to stop thinking appropriately. Since you still haven't learned, let me help you!" Ichigo didn't hold back. Conan was hit so hard that blood splattered from his nose. With the residual force, he tumbled through the air more than a dozen times before slamming heavily into the ground. After landing, he twitched violently a few times before finally stretching out his legs and remaining motionless for a long time.
After a while, Conan, lying on the ground, slowly raised his hand and gave Ichigo a thumbs-up, saying in a muffled voice: "That punch... was very intense!" Seeing this, Ichigo's round body bounced once before he spoke: "It seems your hidden strength is a bit stronger than I expected. I thought that punch would at least give you a severe concussion!" "According to what you said, I'm a protagonist after all. Although I look like a mortal on the surface, who knows what my true face is? To be honest, looking back now, I realize that since I can remember, it's not that I haven't been injured, but I've never suffered an injury worth mentioning. Even if I am hurt, I seem to recover very quickly..." Conan slowly climbed up. Although blood was still flowing from his nose, he seemed to have regained his former calm, no longer in the stupor and panic he was in before!
Ichigo couldn't help but praise him: "Your control over yourself is quite good. Have you had similar training before?" Ichigo could see that Conan was controlling himself—controlling "thoughts," which were almost the most uncontrollable thing for humans. Locking the "mind monkey" and tethering the "thought horse," gathering complex thoughts into one and bringing them under one's control—this itself was an achievement. Even Ichigo had only achieved this gradually after realizing the mysteries of Purity and stepping into the Absolute Domain. Conan said flatly: "I haven't had specific training for this. But it seems that while I have no related information in my memory, my body or my soul still retains some evidence." Conan found that as long as he was unwilling to "think," he could actually do it quite easily. It was as if, many, many years ago, he had already used great perseverance to forcibly control himself from "thinking," even using vast amounts of time to engrave this skill into his deepest instincts.
Even though Conan stopped "thinking," the detective's instinct and destiny continued to function. Once a problem was sensed, a series of suspicious points and suspected evidence would surface, tempting Conan to continue "thinking" and touch the truth. But fortunately, Conan had finally learned his lesson. He used reason to shackle and control his brain, not allowing it to "wander" without permission! The former maniac who viewed deduction as life itself was now using absolute reason to put chains on "deduction."
Ichigo watched Conan through his spherical form. In his eyes, Conan's child-like appearance once again vanished from the material world, and the towering giant built of gears and mechanisms reappeared. But this time, that towering giant slowly closed its eyes. Though they didn't close completely, the divine gaze falling upon the mortal realm changed from brilliant as the sun to faint and flickering. "Good. In my Purity Radar, that towering giant representing your protagonist's true self has slowly closed its eyes. This proves your attempt is effective. So, what do you plan to do next? Do you want to go into seclusion with me for a while? I can teach you the secrets of Purity; it should be very helpful to you..."
Ichigo actually had quite a liking for Conan. Not just because Conan, like him, was born a protagonist, and not because they had fought side-by-side, but more because he had faintly discerned Conan's true nature. Kind, just, and full of initiative. Faced with such a person, even with no other reason, Ichigo was willing to lend a helping hand. But Conan simply shook his head: "It's no use. I can't learn your path of Purity Combat that beats up the world..." When he transformed into the Giant of Light and shared one soul, Conan had felt what the path of Purity was. Although he lacked the supernatural knowledge to describe it in detail, he knew that so-called Purity was an extreme sensibility condensed into conviction and resolve! And such extreme sensibility was a poor match for his nature! It wasn't that he lacked emotional thinking, but that his innate rationality was too powerful. It always occupied a dominant, immovable position. Even when every cell in his body was infected and covered by the Purity of the King of Purity, Ichigo Kurosaki, and his brain held only hot-blooded thoughts of beating everything up, it didn't take long for Conan's reason to return, naturally starting to think and deduce again.
"I won't shirk my responsibility. Since destiny was born because of me, and the outcomes of many things have changed because of me, I have an obligation to solve everything. I have many things to do and cannot stay here long-term. However, before that, I need you to help me with one thing, Ichigo!" Conan's tone was calm, yet unyielding. Ichigo said: "What do you need me to do!" Conan took a deep breath and said: "Since I've already noticed certain problems, playing the ostrich and ignoring them won't help. Therefore, I must, in some way, come to know the things I can handle and know, and look for a solution. You continue to adapt to your body and find a way to break through the shackles of Nightmare Beika. But in the process, pay more attention to me. When you feel it's necessary, stop my 'thinking' to prevent me from unknowingly interfering with destiny again!"
This will to never escape, never give up, and march forward despite difficulties made Ichigo chuckle softly! Though their appearances and styles were completely different, that will and resolve were so similar to his own when he had just stepped onto the path of beating up the world! "No problem, leave it to me!"
Conan said no more. He quietly returned to his cardboard box stool, resting his chin on his hand, his eyes glazed over as if his soul had wandered elsewhere. He tried to "think," but differently from the past. He conducted targeted "thinking" while maintaining control over the act of "thinking" itself! When Conan decided to do this, much information and many clues naturally surfaced in his mind, like puzzle pieces waiting for him to fit them together one by one. But Conan was in no hurry to combine the clues and information! Conan first confirmed one point: he must never truly "find" the truth, for he could not afford the price of doing so. Just now, when his brain was about to pry open the box of truth, that boundless darkness—even just a glimpse of it—was enough to alarm him. Every drop of that boundless darkness was despair and pain so concentrated it was beyond human endurance! The moment the Pandora's box opened, the truth itself would no longer be important.
Although he couldn't "find" the truth directly, it didn't mean Conan was out of options. Sometimes, to solve a case, a detective needs creative thinking. Question: If you can't personally walk into a room, how can you know what's inside? Answer: By making assumptions, verifying, and deducing through various indirect means... It was like blind men feeling an elephant or peering at a leopard through a tube, but it was the only way.
Taking out the weapon called deduction, Conan prepared for an indirect investigation of the "Truth." It was difficult because Conan had to perform this task while wearing shackles to control his "thinking." Simultaneously, he didn't know if every step he took would trigger some unfathomable danger. But fortunately, Ichigo Kurosaki was by his side to back him up!
The campfire burned continuously. In Nightmare Beika, many phenomena were completely different from the reality outside. This campfire, for instance, burned with the "sin of an arsonist" as fuel, needing no physical wood, thus burning eternally. The sphere that Ichigo had become did some squats, then pulled up two trees to start lifting as dumbbells, but a portion of his attention remained on Conan. At this moment, Conan seemed to have turned into a statue, remaining motionless for a long time. And perhaps because he knew he wasn't exactly human—but rather a "protagonist" forming its own class in the racial genealogy—some strange changes gradually manifested in Conan. When he thought, even physiological phenomena like blinking gradually disappeared. His breathing became almost imperceptible; sometimes it would even stop for a very long time, with a single breath occurring only after a vast interval. Conan's body seemed to be saying: Since the main consciousness has realized we aren't human, the brothers don't need to continue faking all these unnecessary physiological phenomena.
Conan's thinking was not without problems. Occasionally, dangerous signs appeared. For example, in Ichigo's eyes, the towering giant representing Conan's protagonist true self would suddenly show abnormal movement. Whenever this happened, Ichigo would gently deliver a "Brain Stagnation Punch" to Conan to let him cool down! Conan had no complaints. Even if initially he was sent tumbling a dozen times through the air by Ichigo's punch, and later needed to tumble hundreds of times, nearly being blasted out of Nightmare Beika Park, crashing through a dozen trees before being embedded in the ground, he still had no complaints—because it was effective.
No one knew what results Conan's thinking had achieved. Ichigo only saw that after a certain forced interruption of thought, Conan sat back on the cardboard stool and, as if having made up his mind, pulled out the Stand Arrow from his coat, holding it in his hand and stroking it carefully. This illusory Arrow felt real in Conan's hand. From its patterns to its weight, Conan investigated it over and over.
Ichigo watched this scene, but he said nothing. He actually had some things he hadn't told Conan. When he traced back history with his Purity Radar, he saw more than just the final scene of the Great Judgment. In the eyes of the Ichigo who had just descended to the mortal realm, the timeline of this world—having encountered some unknown catastrophe—was fragmented, chaotic, and terrifyingly long. If a regular timeline is like a rolling, forward-moving river that eventually unifies despite its branches, then the timeline of this world was a "super junk mountain" made of light-and-shadow glass shattered into pieces and piled haphazardly. Ichigo gazed at those fragments. He could obtain the information contained within the time-shards and deduce their approximate eras, but it was difficult to connect their causes and effects because heaven knows which corner the corresponding time-shard was in.
When he realized the timeline of this world was so chaotic and broken, Ichigo initially thought he wouldn't be able to see any useful information. However, when he truly observed, he found that at the core of this chaotic and broken timeline, there existed a causal chain that, while fragmented, was barely pieced together into a shape. From Ran Mouri's madness as the start, to the final Great Judgment and the descent of the God of Crime, all causes and effects existed within that fragmented but barely molded causal chain. It was as if, long before Ichigo's descent, an invisible hand had searched through this chaotic mountain of time-trash and used the wreckage inside to forcibly piece together a small, artificial timeline. Although its specific composition was still messy, it possessed narrative meaning. Ichigo knew very well who that invisible hand was! In fact, Ichigo also knew exactly where that invisible hand was in this world and what "skin" he was wearing. When the elderly God made movies, he loved squatting next to the protagonist to stir up trouble. Deducing from that point and looking at the interpersonal network around Conan, the answer was clear as day. Though Ichigo was slightly surprised that the role the elderly God was attempting to play this time was so bold, he didn't tell Conan these things. While Conan was surprised that Ichigo had beaten up an avatar of God descending to the mortal realm, Ichigo was thinking: Don't talk about me; you even tried to murder the elderly God.
But none of that was important. Although that broken causal axis was long and Ichigo couldn't see through it in just a glance or two, he knew a part of the truth. When Ichigo discovered that the small timeline with narrative meaning had been forcibly molded by the Hand of God from an illusory concept into a Stand Arrow that could manifest in the mortal realm and was thrown to Conan, he understood everything. Although Ichigo was better at thinking with his fists, it didn't mean his brain was just for show. He knew that God hoped Conan would find the answer himself, regardless of the outcome! Ichigo naturally wouldn't go against God's wishes in this regard—not just because he was an Apocalypse Knight under God, but more because he thought the same way. The process of searching for the truth, even if accompanied by pain and unknowable danger, was conducive to Conan's growth and transformation.
Ichigo sincerely hoped Conan would grow up quickly! The reason was simple: he was no longer the protagonist, but the super-villain. Since Mo Yu's script had set up a protagonist and a villain, Ichigo believed this wasn't meaningless. At some point, he and Conan would eventually have a battle. In fact, Ichigo already had a faint inkling. When Conan took out the Stand Arrow and began to investigate the mysteries within, the world also underwent certain mutations. The fragmented mountain of time-trash was rumbling and vibrating; some changes were occurring. With the timeline broken and chaotic to this extent, this world essentially had no "future" to speak of; everything was a repeating overlap of past and present. But the moment Conan took out the Stand Arrow, everything was restructuring and transforming. In the midst of the impossible, a seed named "Future" was born! From that still faint "future," what Ichigo saw was a slightly strange possibility.
A Giant of Light erupting with pitch-black Reiatsu, a Light-Demon exploding with pure white supreme brilliance, and a Blood-Giant shimmering with blood-light—three giants, exerting boundless power in an endless chaotic battle, shifting through time. They fought from modern society all the way back to the Cretaceous period, then to the chaotic era billions of years ago when the Earth was covered in magma, and then all the way to the cosmic era at the end of time! And that possibility named "future," due to the battle of the three giants, split into three and merged into one, separating and combining, showing different colors, but never reaching a conclusion!
Ichigo could see that when the Light-Demon held the advantage, the future was an era of detectives where "cases" were supreme. If the Blood-Giant held the advantage, modern society would be filled with a horde of pitch-black "Xiao Hei" criminals, turning into an era where criminals were supreme. And if Ichigo's Giant of Light held the advantage, an era where martial power was supreme would be born—perhaps there would be a child practicing kendo who picked up a Zanpakutō and embarked on a path of battling gods, demons, and aliens with a blade!
"Detectives, criminals, sword-heroes—three completely different eras and possibilities, yet only one can ultimately exist?" Having faintly discerned the possibilities of the future through Purity, Ichigo, standing outside the chaotic barrier, thoughtfully stroked his chin with his remaining left hand!
End of Chapter
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