Chapter 192: Evolution

It was merely a single instant.

——Cross-timeline information transmission had already been completed.

It was merely a single instant.

——The form of life seemed to have undergone Evolution.

————————

The multi-dimensional layers of time converged and overlapped, as if solidified into eternal Amber.

The Time Planes layered upon each other, countless instants piled together, the infinite and the finite connected in a line, weaving into dazzling Flowing Light in the Instant Change of a moment.

This Feeling is truly indescribable, as if a moment had passed, yet also as if a Quantity kalpa of Universe Reincarnation had elapsed; instant and eternity overlapped at this moment. The past no longer Flowed, the present fell into Stagnation, and the future was like Shattered Mirror Images, split into countless intangible shapes.

But they all, in a single instant, stood side by side like goods on a Shelf.

These stories unfolded on the countless stacked planes of an instant, like a rich and colorful grand scroll, dazzling the eyes.

At this moment, time had already lost its Meaning, leaving only this Unique instant existing within Xia Zhi's perception. He seemed to be traversing the Time River, Walking through history, surrounded by constantly shifting scenes. He saw past experiences and feelings, felt the present's tranquility and peace, and also glimpsed the future's infinite possibilities and hope.

——He seemed able to know everything, and also able to reach everything.

——Although this was merely an illusion of expansion brought by the influx of New power, Mors Actually it was not Unrestricted.

But this was also harmless, Bijiao as long as it was a Timeline he himself existed on, his Intelligence could easily travel back and forth on the Timeline, both forward and backward.

He could transmit present Intelligence to his past self, and also receive new information from his future self. Basically it could be said, everything he did at this moment determined every moment after and before; every moment was his past, present, and future.

Merely an instant of Evolution, and the closed loop was thus formed.

Even Strictly Speaking, his Evolution did not begin at this moment, but in a later time period, and also occurred in an earlier time period.

Because Cross-timeline Information Transmission was still retracing forward; it was the future him who mastered Isotope Memory Technology and Synchronization Technology, then began retracing forward on the Timeline, causing this result. But no matter how you put it, this Technique's nature was special, therefore determining a very wonderful Phenomenon——

——The future "he" mastered the Technique.

——Equaled the past "he" mastering the Technique.

Anyway, as long as he continuously retraced along the Timeline, the time point at which "Xia Zhi" himself mastered this Technique would continuously Advance. Because he had already shed the low-level three-dimensional Creature Essence, beginning to march toward Higher Dimension; this was an undeniable fact.

「……」

「……」

In front of the Apartment building, the open ground was immersed in the tranquil night.

The Night Wind brushed gently, bringing a faint early summer coolness, like a gentle touch, stirring Ripples in the heart.

In this atmosphere, Xia Zhi remained silent, not uttering a word. This silence couldn't help but make Haruhi Suzumiya's brows furrow tightly, giving rise to suspicion.

"Hey! Why aren't you speaking again? You wouldn't be thinking of how to fob me off again, would you?" The girl had a vigilant Expression, she scrutinized the young man carefully, discovering his demeanor was strange, silent, making her increasingly suspect this Fellow was definitely thinking up some excuse to brush off her questions and challenges.

「……」

「……」

"No, it's just that you, Haruhi Suzumiya..."

Xia Zhi gently rubbed his brow, and finally spoke, his Tone indeed carrying a hint of Complexity: "It's a bit Sudden, wait a moment, let me sort out my Thoughts——"

Team Leader narrowed her eyes slightly, but still nodded with a light hum, magnanimously allowing him to organize his Thoughts.

He gently exhaled, and in a glance past and future arrived simultaneously with a Boom. As if all the Complex affairs of his remaining life were fully in view; whether the Golden Week not long after, or the approaching summer vacation, or even more Distant scenes... he was both here, and also experiencing Those Things.

Although Xia Zhi indeed needed a bit of time to familiarize himself with this brand new perception form.

But more than that, it was because of other reasons that he felt Complex.

——It was actually this simple, simply Smooth to the point of being Unreal.

A Technique of extremely high level, an Application expected to stall him for a very long time without Breakthrough, an Unknown field where he couldn't grasp a shortcut to Breakthrough even in Closed Space... merely because of a single sentence from the girl before his eyes, it could be directly opened to him.

Some people pursue Rome all their lives...

Some people are born in Rome at Birth...

However, Haruhi Suzumiya clearly did not belong to either of the above, because she could casually let someone move directly to Rome, even casually create a Corresponding Rome for her chosen person...

——This ferocious degree is simply outrageous.

Xia Zhi would naturally feel a bit Complex in Mood; although he originally had the idea of guiding Miss Haruhi to have a misunderstanding about him, using that to Breakthrough Realm, but an idea is just an idea, when Actually put into practice, it was still Shocking.

Indeed, the Intelligence inexplicably mastered by the Esper side is perhaps the most likely "Truth".

That is——Haruhi Suzumiya is indeed God.

He slightly reined in his Emotions, forcing himself to shift Attention away from the newly unfolded perception form, temporarily not paying Attention to those events lined up on the Time Plane, instead gently inhaling, looking at Haruhi Suzumiya and asking: "Did you just remember now?"

"So... you admit it?" The girl crossed her arms, Squinting Eyes slightly as she stared at him.

"Yes."

Xia Zhi nodded; at this time he Of Course would not deny it; although Team Leader appeared to have already determined this, but what if? What if she really started to Waver on this Cognition again?

Judging from the current situation, she should be the Highest Permission holder in this World, able to arbitrarily smear Constants and laws in an Unconscious state... since she could open the Time Domain directly to Xia Zhi, she naturally could also seal the Dimensional Gate against him completely.

Before uploading all Progress on this side back to the Main Body, completing the "save"——

He didn't want any twists and turns in the slightest.

"Ha! I said so! Indeed it's like this!" Hearing the other party's admission, Team Leader instantly became Excited, "I said that night wasn't my Illusion, nor was it me dreaming..."

Her words overflowed with Excited Emotion, gestures so excited they almost flailed wildly. That small and exquisite face also flushed red from excitement, like peach blossoms just blooming under the spring sun.

——So it was like this?

——Self-deception in a certain Meaning?

Xia Zhi observed the girl's Expression, nodding Thoughtfully; so it seems Team Leader maintaining these three years of history without change relied on this reason and Cognition? She believed that night's encounter might have been an Illusion she produced herself.

Even if she herself appeared to believe it on the Surface, her Inner Heart was probably also full of Suspicion.

Bijiao she herself has always Wandered between Common Sense and the unconventional, Rationality and impulse often in fierce Conflict. She both yearned for the World to have a surreal side, yet was told by Rationality that was impossible; this Contradiction always Troubled her.

Plus after that, another three years passed, she never saw him again, nor found any Evidence to Prove it, so——

Team Leader could only gradually let go of that night's events as time passed, the relevant Details also gradually fading from Memory.

Until tonight.

Only then did she suddenly "remember" this matter, as if struck by divine inspiration.

It was precisely because of this that the history during this period could be maintained without change, with no reason to change, and it also explained why Haruhi Suzumiya hadn't recognized him before. And now suddenly "remembering" it also just happened to allow her to naturally embrace the fun she wanted after this segment of history.

This was probably the choice made by God.

"Right, why did you suddenly disappear back then?" Having finally calmed down a bit, no longer so excited, Team Leader also abruptly recalled this matter, and instantly looked at him with extreme dissatisfaction: "You vanished without saying a word, and didn't even leave a name!"

"Because the matter was already completed, so of course I had to leave... Not giving a name was because I didn't want you to know, lest you recognize me."

Xia Zhi didn't even raise an eyelid, and came up with an explanation to explain things.

"But I still recognized you!" Team Leader looked doubtful.

"Didn't you not recognize me before this? I thought you were only in first year of middle school at the time, so you probably wouldn't remember clearly, and after a few years you'd forget completely..."

"Mm... seems like it too."

The girl recalled for a moment, and also felt this explanation seemed to make sense; she really had almost forgotten this matter, and if she hadn't happened to dig up a notebook from three years ago tonight, she might have just let this matter pass like that.

She seemed to accept this explanation very easily; Xia Zhi watched this process and wasn't very surprised.

Team Leader was of course not dull, but she always selectively accepted certain things, so it wasn't that his perfunctory explanation was particularly clever, merely that she was willing to accept this explanation.

"Hey hey hey! Also also, did you only return to three years ago tonight?"

Miss Suzumiya swiftly tossed those unimportant parts to the back of her mind, and at this moment once again became extremely sharp, directly pointing this out—

"After I went back that night, I drew a picture and tucked it in my notebook; you seemed to be wearing this same outfit back then, right!"

"Right right right, I just returned from three years ago..."

Xia Zhi nodded repeatedly, reached up to pick his ear, and straightforwardly chose to admit it.

"Then why did you go back to three years ago?" Team Leader's eyes shone even brighter, asking with great interest, showing a tendency to turn into a 'hundred thousand whys'.

"On that night three years ago, a massive Time Fault appeared in the four-dimensional layer; I wanted to go back and see what was going on..." Xia Zhi answered with a straight face, main strategy being to answer every question, just not taking responsibility for the answers, saying whatever came to mind.

"Eh eh eh—Time Fault?" The girl's eyes practically glittered; she seemed extremely interested in this, after all this sounded like some major event concerning the world's main plot, making her heart pound with excitement.

"That's right, but don't ask about this, I can't tell you either..."

The Magician waved his hand, indicating he also still couldn't figure out what the Time Fault three years ago was about, after all that was a time upstream he likewise couldn't reach.

"Mm..."

Miss Suzumiya was not too satisfied with this answer; she furrowed her brows, grumbling dissatisfiedly: "Why not, I really want to know this!"

"Because I can't—"

Xia Zhi shook his head, about to sincerely explain that it was a time point he himself couldn't reach, but just as he started to speak, he suddenly perceived that on countless stacked Time Planes, in that split second, the time period of that Fault three years ago had also opened up to him.

He blinked, tracelessly letting his words take a turn: "Because I can't explain it to you in words; if you're really that curious, I'll just take you to see for yourself."

"Huh?"

Miss Suzumiya first froze for a moment; the next moment, her pupils were brilliant as stars, bursting with an extremely moving, bright radiance: "Can I? Really can I?!"

"Of course."

Xia Zhi smiled faintly.

—Anyway, it's just taking what a girl gave him and turning around to give it back to the girl to farm goodwill.

—This kind of thing he's far too proficient at; why not do it?

……………………

……………………

At the same time.

"You're not planning to stop it?"

On the seventh floor of the Apartment Building, Xia Zhi and Nagato Yuki were looking down from the railing.

He withdrew his gaze, simultaneously asking by the way.

"The Information Integration Thought Entity gave no instructions; I don't need to do unnecessary things." Nagato Yuki said calmly, simultaneously glancing at him lightly, sizing him up slightly: "Is this your Avatar Magecraft? Establishing a connection with yourself existing in a past or future time period to recreate different versions of yourself?"

"The principle is indeed so, but it also draws on Summoning Magecraft, Spirit Summoning Ritual, and parts of the domain of Spiritron Transfer; of course, it also owes much to your Technical Support."

Xia Zhi readily admitted it.

"What is the minimum operational scale on the time layer?" Literary Girl's tone was waveless, continuing to ask. "Can it reach Planck Time precision?"

"Of course not that monstrous." Xia Zhi shook his head.

Planck Time refers to the smallest interval between time quanta, and is also the most basic unit of time.

Roughly... ten to the negative forty-third power seconds.

He currently had no idea at all.

——————————

(PS: Happy Dragon Boat Festival everyone... today inevitably has some social obligations, giving zongzi, eating meals, wife's parental side is the same... φ(゜▽゜*))

(Chapter End)