The Time Variation Management Bureau, which looks like the office lobby of an ordinary office building, is a scene of chaos, with telephones ringing, telegraphs ringing, and weird noises coming from unknown things happening one after another.
Many men with basically the same appearance, but with different hairstyles, expressions, body shapes, clothing and equipment are running around and busy, making those who see them involuntarily feel inexplicably dizzy.
In the background of this strange picture are the shouts and responses in various communications:
"S2011 needs reinforcements, people with mechanical expertise!"
"M2013, some vets!"
"L2016 needs...er...philosophers."
"XL2018 is under attack! Just bring something you can hit!"
However, in this busy scene like a rushing river, huge rocks will appear from time to time:
"Hey, operator, this is XXL2023, you won't guess what's happening here."
"Asshole! Don't show off!"
"Okay, what I mean is, there is no need to send reinforcements. This timeline has just been destroyed. Please apply to close the team."
"Not approved! Go to an earlier timeline branch point and fix it!"
"I think I expressed it very clearly... This timeline is completely destroyed, and all possible nodes that can save it are on other timeline branches."
"The coordinates of the regression node closest to you are——"
"Ahhhh-the turbulence of time and space-"
"..."
The operator silently put down the receiver and said to his other self next to him: "Timeline XXL 2023, don't send anyone there for the time being. Wait for it to stabilize. Go to 'us' over there and register as 'MIA' for the time being."
"I am very curious every time I encounter this situation," the record officer said while registering: "If an 'I' dies, taking 'him' as the base point, the 'we' on the subsequent timeline should not all disappear.
?"
"It's very simple," the operator spread his hands, "if those 'I's' would die, the subsequent 'we' would not exist from the beginning, and naturally there would be no 'sudden disappearance'. This is also the same time.
The reason why online 'we' are willing to use our lives to summon our earlier 'selves' is because there are rumors that the Time Variation Administration was established by the longest-living 'Mobius' with a string of 'previous him'
of."
"I like the expression 'a string,'" the Recorder shrugged.
"However, this also led to the situation where we acted recklessly when repairing the timeline because we knew that we would 'never die'. This made 'us' in the leadership very distressed and had to find temporary workers in other timelines to 'outsource' some work.
"The operator responded: "Obviously they are all 'me', but there are so many types of personalities due to different encounters, it is simply incredible."
"How do you guess 'our' positions are allocated?" The record officer clicked on the data pad in his hand: "I will not miss any details. I am very good at efficiency and coordination, and you can be distracted and multi-purpose.
He has a very strong memory."
"...I can't tell for a moment whether you are praising me or bragging yourself."
"Is there a difference?"
"Indeed not."
"..."
"Wait a minute? Is the office hall too quiet?"
When the "two" people finally remembered that they were working and were about to start over, they found that the surrounding environment had become completely different from before.
The office hall has been deserted for some time. The cubicles, chairs, computers, and communicators of various era styles are all unused. The large and small screens are flashing uncontrolled cursors and hanging down.
There are only busy tones on the receiver.
"Is there an intruder?" The operator's eyes widened: "How is that possible?"
"Now is not the time to question! According to the charter, we should-"
"[Ahu!]"
Phew-puff.
The recording officer raised his hand to press the emergency alarm on his desk, but before that, with a strange roar, he was struck from the front by a flying axe. Blood spattered, but the huge power of the axe
He even led him back all the way until he hit the wall.
Sizzling...
The recording officer raised his head with difficulty, raised his hand and stretched forward, as if intending to grab something, but he still lowered it. His whole person became transparent and illusory, and finally disappeared completely together with the blood spattered along the way, and the flying object disappeared without any support.
The ax fell to the ground with a clang.
The operator who had been stunned was awakened by the sound, and suddenly ducked down to avoid the second flying axe. He opened the drawer to get the weapon with a slightly unfamiliar look and looked in the direction of the flying axe.
What appeared there were a few strange human beings—maybe they were human beings?
One of them was wearing a fur coat, armor and helmet, and was throwing a throwing ax up and down in his hand. The other was wearing a linen robe, with very long hair and beard, and the weapon he was using could not be seen. The third one was extremely muscular and stronger than
Next to them were two ferocious giants who were twice as big, had yellow-green skin, and were only wearing a pair of black leather pants.
"Thor... the Hulk... and... no, no, they look nothing alike." The operator whispered to himself as he threw the "space-time freezing grenade" he had just found at them.
Due to the special nature of the Time Variation Administration, they have almost no lethal weapons. In most cases, they use restraint and restriction methods. Although this is very helpful for maintaining the timeline, it is also very dangerous for the agents when they directly encounter it.
There was little help at the time.
Same this time.
The man with tangled hair and beard recited some incomprehensible words, and the grenade thrown by the operator froze in the air, and then "melted" like a candle encountering a flame, showing no design ability at all.
"..." Seeing this, the operator gave up the idea of launching a long-range attack, and instead directly threw the "Station Stand" he had just touched in front of him to activate it.
An orange barrier appeared in an instant, blocking out the giants who rushed over the desk and the flying axes thrown by the Viking warriors. The operator took the opportunity to run towards the emergency exit of the office hall.
Ring ring ring——
"[Please vote for me, please vote for me.]"
However, the safety exit he had placed high hopes on was no longer safe. A man who looked like an athlete came flying in from there on a racing bicycle. On the back seat of the bicycle was a man in a suit and leather suit holding a ballot box in one hand and holding a ticket in the other.
Using a loudspeaker, they shouted incomprehensible words that seemed to be canvassing for votes.
However, after the operator heard this weird canvassing declaration, he had a strong urge to find a nearby piece of paper to write his name on and throw it into the ballot box.
——You absolutely cannot do that!
The operator resisted this impulse with great perseverance, and then grabbed a pocket watch from someone's desk nearby and pressed the switch.
Katsa.
Except for the operator, everything around him fell into a state of extreme slowness. He gritted his teeth and rushed past the bicycle, passing through the emergency exit door in a hurry.
Boom boom boom!
"[Ahu!]"
"[Please vote for me!]"
Almost at the same time, the pocket watch shattered and disappeared, and attacks and collisions, as well as strange war cries and unexplained curses, were heard in the office hall.
The next second, the operator disappeared from the emergency exit and appeared in a clean and tidy corridor.
This corridor leads to the director's office. Although most "Mobius" are dissatisfied with the "original man" who founded an organization to squeeze "himself" and always leaves his post without permission, his strength is that of his mother.
There is no doubt that no matter what kind of problems and dilemmas he faces, he can always solve them easily. But now, which has never happened before, the Time Variation Management Bureau itself is being attacked. He goes to the director's office to find out the person who is always lazy.
Calling the "last self" to deal with it was the only solution the operator could think of.
"[Ga——]"
"[Look carefully, I can kill something like this in 0.1 seconds.]"
"[You better be.]"
However, the three figures guarding the door of the director's office almost caused him to suffer a cardiopulmonary arrest.
It was a giant crocodile, a big man wearing dark gold armor with a hammer glowing with lightning in his hand, and a young man wearing a gold and red tights.
There was no room for negotiation at all. They appeared here to prevent staff from contacting the director, and the way they looked at the operator was exactly the same as when a hunter sees his prey.
The worst thing is that all his actions are in the eyes of the other party, and he has not and cannot continue to use tricks.
Then, the only choice is to be tough!
The next moment, layers of phantom-like versions of himself emerged from the operator's body, and he rushed towards the blocker without giving in.
As if corresponding to his movements, layers of phantoms also appeared on the crocodile, the hammer-wielding man, and the boy in tights. The "bodies" of the two sides had not yet come into contact, but a fierce battle had already begun between the "phantoms".
At the beginning, the operator's phantoms could be easily defeated by the corresponding phantoms of the three enemies, and it could even be said that they were unable to fight back. However, whenever a result appeared, the corresponding phantoms would disappear simultaneously.
As the number of "phantoms" on both sides decreased rapidly in the "fierce battle", the pattern was obviously shifting towards the operator. Overall, even if it was one to three, the number of "phantoms" of the operator still far exceeded that of his enemies.
In the end, the bodies of both parties met head-on. The crocodile, the hammer-wielding boy and the boy in tights used the attack methods used by their "phantoms", and the operator escaped from the combined attacks of the three in an incredible but extremely clever move.
He passed by, knocked on the door and rushed into the director's office, leaving them alone looking at each other.
"[Strange, why do you feel like this guy is so familiar with the loopholes in our moves?]"
"[Because you are a waste.]"
"[Gah!]"
The operator had no time to pay attention to the interaction between the enemies. His only purpose was to call the director through the summoning bell in the director's office, as long as he could come back——
winter!
The operator who had just rushed into the director's office was pinched by the neck and pushed against the wall before he could see clearly what was going on in the room.
He recovered from his dizziness with difficulty, only to realize that there were three people waiting here in the director's office.
Compared with the enemies outside who are completely inhuman or have too few human elements, these three people look very normal.
They are a middle-aged man, a young woman, and an elderly man. They all wear black tights with dark red lightning bolts painted on their chests and blood-colored cloaks on their shoulders. They are also similar in appearance.
"It's... you who planned the attack..."
The operator, whose neck was pinched by the elderly man, said with difficulty.
"[You are seeking death on your own,]" the middle-aged man tilted his head and glanced at him: "['Those who advance with the fire will meet their destined death.' Don't say you haven't heard of it. If you dare to target me like this, you will
Don’t complain, I’ll destroy your nest.]”
"..." The operator racked his brains and couldn't remember where he heard these words, but the words "will be" and "destined" are indeed very similar to the style of the Space-Time Administration.
No, now is not the time to think about this. Since they are in the director's office, all the directors here must have...
The operator looked at the director's desk expectantly, and was shocked to find a man sitting there. He was wearing the same clothes as the director, but his appearance was not similar to other "Mobius".
To put it bluntly, he is more or less similar to the middle-aged man in front of him.
"[This is your most valued subordinate, the prototype of 'Mr. Mobius',"" the middle-aged man turned to the "Director": "[If you still refuse to let me return to the future, I will kill him directly. Although
It’s a bit long to wait for the influence of the Space-Time Variation Administration to fade away, but I can wait.]”
The prototype? I? The operator, or rather, "Mobius M. Mobius" was shocked.
"It seems that after holding the power of 'The End of Reincarnation' for more than a thousand years, you still fail to understand the 'nature of time', Kang the Conqueror, or I should call you 'Richards'," "
"The Director" seemed to be injured somewhere, and his voice was as angry as a gossamer: "Time cannot go back."
"[Are you already talking nonsense? 'The Leftovers'?]" Conqueror Kang sneered: "[Time cannot go back? Then where did our...'Black Adam' power come from? Otherwise
Can you shout a slogan and see if you can transform?]"
"You don't understand..." The man left behind slowly shook his head: "So, you can't 'go back to the future'."
"[I've had enough of your nonsense,]" Conqueror Kang waved his hand to the elderly man holding Mobius's neck: "[I'll kill your most capable subordinate first, and then think about how to torture him."
you.】"
"Gu...uh..." Mobius, who felt his neck being tightened, wanted to make a final struggle, but no matter whether he used his own strength or the props prepared in advance, it was of no use, as if the elderly man in front of him knew very well that he
What exactly is the same thing?
"I'm very sorry..." The remaining person raised his eyes slightly and looked at Mobius: "I can only assure you that [death is not the end]."
"[How dare you mention that name!]"
Winter! Boom!
Kang the Conqueror seemed to be furious and did something to the remaining people, but Mobius could no longer hear it.
Everything in front of him was completely shrouded in gray mist.
