Chapter 424: Lord of Storms

The moment the crimson spear entered the atmosphere, Murphy sensed its existence through the precision radar matrix.

After the spear split into three, he immediately calculated the landing points of the three spears.

Subsequently, he activated the "Time Magic Box" he carried with him and returned to five hours ago.

This was one of the plans that had been made in advance. Once the moon operation failed and there were signs that his side might be hit, he had to return to the past immediately to prepare for the response based on the possible strike.

The timing of this time backtracking is very important. He must confirm that his side has been hit, and at the same time, he must backtrack in time before the strike truly descends and causes losses.

Needing to confirm that his side has been hit is naturally to obtain more information. Only by knowing the possible strike method can he find a way to respond in a targeted manner.

But "must be before the strike descends" is to avoid the "Time Observer Effect."

The so-called "Time Observer Effect" means that once an event is observed by any observer, then for that observer, the event has undoubtedly happened. No matter how one travels back, the occurrence of the event will be an inevitability for that observer.

In short, using a Time-Turner to go back to the past is possible, but the time traveler cannot change the facts that have already happened.

That is to say, future events are actually the result after the time traveler's influence.

When Muggle scientists first studied the Time-Turner, they had already observed and confirmed this phenomenon, which is called the "First Law of Time Travel."

Under the constraint of this iron rule, if you see a person die in a car accident, any behavior of going back to the past to try to change this reality will not succeed. If you want to save a person who might die in a car accident, you must go back to the past before the car truly hits them.

This led to the second law of time travel: the Law of Incomplete Information.

Any event you can change through time travel is an event you are not sure will happen in the end.

Once you confirm that something will happen, you cannot change it. You can only make changes to it before it might happen.

Under this law, time travel is actually just a way to increase the chance of winning in some scenarios, and cannot be used for save-loading and trial-and-error.

The timing and method of using it are also very subtle. Sometimes its tactical role is actually not much different from "time pause" and "time acceleration," so Murphy usually doesn't use this method often.

However, the surging and terrifying magic on that spear was unusual. He almost immediately judged that it might have the power to destroy a city, and the landing points of London and Arkaim were unlikely to defend against this kind of attack in his previous cognition.

Moreover, the several messages he received just now also gave him some guesses about this matter.

If Jim Best wasn't deceived by someone, then the person who gave him the instructions might be his future self.

And the highest management authority of the "Binary Tree" supercomputer could not be broken at all. For anyone other than Murphy to obtain the highest management authority, they first need to face a password-cracking problem. The difficulty of cracking it, even with a quantum computer, cannot be completed. If you try to crack it with the "Lock-Opening Charm," the magic consumed would be enough to create an Earth out of thin air.

Therefore, the person who issued the sortie order was also likely Murphy himself.

This matter itself was a hint that he needed to return to the past: because his future self did return to the past.

Murphy returned to five hours ago and left the combat command center.

The moon operation plan had failed. This was an observed fact. He could no longer change it, and for this plan, he had already used almost all resources. Even if he did it again, he couldn't do better, so there was no point in backtracking and intervening.

All he had to do was avoid his side suffering major losses under the strike.

He first confirmed the situation of the "Binary Tree" and confirmed that it had not been invaded. Then he thought about it and pre-set an instruction, assigning combat machinery to the landing point in Siberia.

Subsequently, he went to London and found the magic research group, discovering that they were already working on the production of the "Magic Barrier."

Murphy asked a staff member and found that they had started working on this task five hours ago. Because it was a sudden instruction, it did not go through the normal project process, so Murphy did not know about it.

"That is to say, it wasn't me this time who gave them the instruction to make the magic barrier."

"Will I backtrack again?"

He learned about the so-called magic barrier. This is a magic technology that mimics Arkaim's "Holy Wall." The technical difficulty is not high. The most important thing is to connect the magic barrier to the magic net and maintain it with the continuous magic energy in the magic net. Theoretically, unless the attacker uses more magic energy than the magic energy circulating in the magic net node, it cannot be broken.

He had some bottom in his heart. This technology was obviously aimed at the spear's attack.

Finally, he came to Arkaim.

At this moment, the wizard holy city was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers, as if holding some grand celebration.

Murphy had just appeared on the Sky Street when several wizards surrounded him. A little wizard gave Murphy a bouquet of flowers. "Congratulations, Lord Protector Shaman, blessings to you and Her Majesty the Empress."

He walked all the way to the Palace of Spring. Everyone was smiling at him, and when he finally saw the Empress, he understood the meaning of those smiles.

Sophia was wearing a gorgeous ceremonial robe, wearing a gold ring on her left hand, and she looked at Murphy with a smile. "Why are you back again?"

Murphy looked at the ring on the other party's left hand with a complex expression. "This wouldn't be..."

The Empress held up her hand and spread her five fingers to show him. "You gave it to me. We are engaged, Mr. Murphy."

"..."

Murphy was speechless for a moment. What kind of self-NTR plot is this?

"The future me?"

Sophia nodded.

"You said 'again.' I've been back more than once today?"

Sophia nodded again.

"Then you should know why I came back this time, right?"

In order to avoid the "Observer Effect," time travelers should try to reduce the amount of information received, so Murphy's questions were very simple.

The Empress thought for a while and understood. "Are you back for the first time? Then you should be here to remind me that the Holy City is in danger? But you don't have to worry, Arkaim is safe."

Murphy felt relieved. "Did the future me tell you this?"

"Yes. You reminded me to connect the Holy Wall to the magic net. You should be here this time for this, right?" The Empress said.

Murphy was completely relieved.

His future self observed that Arkaim was not in danger, and then told the Empress this fact. According to the Time Observer Effect, the safety of Arkaim was an established fact that had been confirmed, and no one could change it.

Relieved, Murphy looked at Sophia again, a little strange as to why he would specifically return today to get engaged to the Empress.

But this question was a bit difficult to ask, and after confirming the safety of his side, he also needed to go back to solve the remaining problems.

Sophia watched Murphy disappear in front of her, knowing that he had returned to the future a few hours later.

She gently stroked the ring on her left hand.

She didn't lie.

Arkaim is safe.

But she didn't tell the whole truth either.

However, no matter what, the ending is doomed.

This is a step she must complete, but at the same time, it is also her choice from the heart.

Mr. Murphy, goodbye.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 425 =====