"Did you predict my actions through the observation timeline?"
After visiting the exhibition hall where the "History Text" is located, Loki in a suit "happened" to appear. After hearing Sherlock's request to try time travel, he turned around and led the way without any surprise, even though Sherlock himself had similar abilities.
, but still expressed surprise.
"Of course not," Loki replied, "I meant the 'observation timeline'."
That is to use the behavioral patterns of other Sherlocks, no, other "Stephen Stranges", to infer your possible reactions.
"The principle is similar to...'weather forecast'?" he continued to ask.
"Very close," Loki replied: "The reason why the Midgardians' superficial 'prediction of the future' is often inaccurate is because they don't have enough information. Theoretically speaking, if they can clearly know every drop of water in the air,
The position and momentum of molecules can accurately predict the weather for a long time in the future, but that is only a theory, because as time goes by, the variables in the entire prediction system will increase rapidly and cannot be calculated no matter what tools are used.
degree."
"And it's not necessary." Sherlock continued.
"That's right, Midgardians generally only need to know what the temperature will be the next day and whether it will rain. They are not interested in whether there will be Category 2 winds in the park two weeks later," Loki continued: "And we
, it is enough to deduce that Mr. Deputy Minister, after reading the rules, you are very likely to want to experience it yourself."
"So have you predicted the time period I want to go to?" Sherlock asked with interest.
"There is a high probability that you want to go to the time when your parents died, and even save them. Even if you can't change the facts, at least you can have peace of mind, right?" Loki continued before Sherlock spoke: "But
That's impossible. I just said that there is no Sherlock Holmes in other world lines, and no matter who is Stephen Strange, their experiences are not similar to yours.
.”
"..." Sherlock fell silent and began to think.
"Since 'time travel does not exist' and 'there is only one sacred timeline', we cannot go to the past of the 'sacred timeline' and can only push back through other 'time nodes' and slower timelines."
"The history of the Sacred Timeline," Loki led Sherlock through a wide spiral downward tunnel, then raised his hand and pointed: "Welcome to [Caves of Time (e)]".
Sherlock looked up and saw a vast starry sky.
Behind it is still a European medieval style, looking like a thick wooden corridor leading to the castle wine cellar, but in front of it is an extremely wide sky full of stars with no floors, walls or ceilings.
They are not the "false starry sky" that Sherlock often sees, where the stars are far away from each other as if in fear, but the "real starry sky" where stars gather and disperse, with different sizes, colors and brightness. There are even some
A large number of stars gathered together to form a bright Milky Way across the sky.
Of course, there is another possibility - the apparent "real" and "false" are exactly the opposite.
And against the background of the Milky Way and the starry sky, there are also slender, bright golden "smoke" that are almost invisible if you don't pay attention. They have no origin and no end. They shuttle lightly among the stars, as if this starry sky is
The background is average.
"That's the 'timeline'," said Loki, who was standing above the stars: "At least, this is what they look like in the observations of the Ministry of Magic."
"So, your duty is to ensure their continuation as much as possible to prevent them from falling into the 'sacred timeline' after self-destruction?" Sherlock thought of the "rules" he had seen.
"It's 'our' responsibility," Loki glanced at him: "So, are you going to find a safe timeline to take a look at, or are you going to follow a certain agent as he performs his mission?"
"..." Sherlock was habitually prepared to answer "I want them all", and then he remembered that he was already in the "Sherlock's Unpredictable" state: "Let's just observe the agent's mission. It shouldn't hinder him?"
"It won't happen if you're just observing, unless there's something wrong with the observation location you chose." Loki replied, raising his hand to grab it in the air.
As he moved, the golden smoke in the endless starry sky began to approach the two of them, or in other words, the "perspective" was narrowed.
When viewed from afar, the smoky golden threads gradually approached, and their identities became clear - they were countless intertwined translucent golden threads. Because there were so many, they intertwined with each other to form a shape that looked like smoke.
As they continued to approach, those golden threads looked like a large net covering the sky. Even though he knew that it was just the result of observation, Sherlock still felt a little stressed.
Finally, the "giant net" finally stopped pulling in. The original starry sky had been completely obscured, and there were only criss-crossing lines in the field of vision... They had to be called "torrents" instead of threads.
There is almost a blue "core" inside these "golden torrents", but it was previously obscured by bright gold and difficult to see clearly.
"Sure enough, it's here again," Loki said as he raised his hand to draw a circle in front of him, encircling and enlarging one of the golden torrents: "The Chitauri are invading."
Sherlock took a closer look and found that the "torrent" was indeed different from other similar ones. It was normal before, but suddenly shrank and interrupted after the position specially marked by Loki.
Is this the destruction of the timeline?
Sherlock was still thinking, but he saw Loki raise his hand, take a "slice" from the "torrent" where he had circled, and began to observe.
He glanced at it twice and found that looking at this slice alone, it was just a very ordinary picture of the earth taken from the universe. But combined with the previous position of this slice, it can be easily judged that the so-called "blue"
The "core" is the earth itself, but because it is in a continuous state inside the torrent, it looks cylindrical.
Is this form of expression the legendary four-dimensional space?
But in this case, the sudden interruption after that means...the earth is destroyed?
"The world is made up of frames of continuous and different pictures, just like a movie. It's interesting, isn't it?" Loki said while observing the slices: "It's a pity that the 'Holy Timeline' cannot be operated in this way. If you don't start from two
If it falls out between frames, we won't be able to pick you up."
I seem to have "fallen out" a lot, and the principles are different. Everyone is explaining the nature of the world in their own way, and I don't know who is closer to the truth.
Thinking of his previous encounters, Sherlock shrugged and did not respond.
"Pfft." Loki suddenly covered his mouth.
"What are you laughing at?" Sherlock asked.
"Well... you probably don't know about the 'cut history' outside of the 'sacred timeline'. I'll give you a rough outline," Loki stopped laughing: "The Chitauri opened a 'wormhole' to invade New York.
, with the constant flow of troops, the Avengers were unable to resist, and finally came up with an idea to have Iron Man carry a nuclear bomb through the wormhole to blow up the Chitauri mothership."
It seems that Mr. Stark's personality in different worlds is similar. Sherlock nodded to indicate that he was listening.
"Under normal circumstances, Iron Man would successfully complete the mission and return in time before the wormhole disappeared. However, one of the descendants involved in the incident was afraid that Iron Man would not be able to come back, so he slightly delayed the disappearance of the wormhole. As a result,
..." Loki spread his hands: "The energy and radiation generated by the nuclear explosion rolled back from the wormhole. The air blast destroyed most of New York, and the rest of the place was completely turned into a radiation restricted area. Then, the timeline was destroyed."
"Is this tragedy ridiculous?" Sherlock looked at him sideways.
"Sorry, I have stayed in the Ministry of Magic for a long time. I have witnessed too many disasters that led to the destruction of the timeline. It is easy to lose my humanity - although I am not a human either." Loki spread his hands: "The ridiculousness of this matter
The thing is, the descendant was introduced to the Avengers by Thor, and if he caused such a big trouble, Odin wouldn't let him go."
Still don't find it funny, but forget it, he is the god of deceit after all.
"So, how do we save this timeline?" Sherlock asked instead.
"As long as things develop according to their original trajectory, let me see...ah, it should be fine starting from here," Loki stuffed the slice back into the torrent, flipped it forward a certain distance like a book, and took out a new one.
Slice: "This is a fairly simple task. You just need to prevent this guy from contacting the Avengers, or prevent him from interfering with the normal death process of the wormhole, or even directly knock him out until the end of the incident. Overall, it is almost difficult to solve the problem."
Problem, you just need to watch the agent's work flow."
"How to get there? What kind of transportation does the Ministry of Magic use?" Sherlock nodded to express his understanding.
"Transportation? No, no, we don't use that kind of thing," Loki shook his finger: "We just jumped."
…?
Before Sherlock could express his doubts, he saw Loki drop the slice in his hand at his feet.
At this moment, countless golden torrents and the relatively real starry sky all disappeared, and the surrounding environment turned into a cylindrical pipe that went straight up and down, glowing green, and looked very dilapidated. The slice instantly enlarged and turned into a barrier blocking the pipe.
The barrier in the middle also supported Loki and Sherlock.
"I didn't even know that the Ministry of Magic works part-time as a pipeline unclogger." Sherlock glanced at him.
"This is an old antique left over from the Time Administration. You can't see it outside now. In fact, there are thousands of pipes as thick as this pipe. Some of them are in disrepair. Agents accidentally took the wrong route and flew away.
Once you go out, you will never come back." Loki spread his hands: "As for a better plan...that depends on the ministers."
"...How to start?" Sherlock tried to step on the "earth" under his feet. It was not an illusion. It felt hard to the touch, just like a rock.
"Then there is a reason why the leader who inspects the work starts before the people doing the work?" Loki raised his head: "No, he is here."
"How-what-it's-I--" followed by a long scream, a Loki wearing a black trench coat and large sunglasses fell from the sky.
"..." Sherlock subconsciously wanted to use the Slow Down Technique, but immediately realized that this should be a "normal" work process, so he stopped and was about to pull out the wand.
Wow!
Loki's sunglasses hit the "slice" hard, but it didn't "sink" and then "bounce" as Sherlock expected. He penetrated directly through the slice like a high diving dive, causing a huge uproar.
A splash that was awarded 0 points.
"I can't help it. I am the second prince of Asgard. There are very few 'slices' that can be obtained suitable for my status in modern society. If there is a period when accidents are frequent, it is normal for there to be no gap between two missions." Loki in the suit bowed his head.
Looking at the "water surface", it seems like talking to the drowning person, and also like explaining to Sherlock.
"Isn't it possible to adjust the cut-in time node at will? Why is the work still so urgent?" Sherlock stepped on the "water surface" again and found that the touch was still like rock.
"Theoretically, this is true. Even if the timeline has been destroyed for thousands of years, there is no problem in trying to save it, but that is meaningless." Loki pointed to the top of his head: "The purpose of the Ministry of Magic's actions is not to save the timeline.
, but to prevent the destruction of these timelines from having an impact on the 'Sacred Timeline'. I think you should have seen the 'code'. After the destruction of each timeline, if not dealt with in time, the 'elements' that led to its destruction will
Moved to the 'Holy Timeline', once this happens, there is no point in saving them - unless you think it makes sense to let the mortals on that timeline live happily without illness or disaster."
Sherlock decided not to discuss the meaning of life with the God of Trickery: "But in my impression, there seems to be no major disaster?"
"Of course that's because," Loki stared at Sherlock with the same eyes as looking at the flowers in a greenhouse: "They were all blocked by the 'White Star Lord' who wrapped the earth with the 'ocean dimension'."
"..." Sherlock quickly reacted: "The time when the 'White Queen' was petrified?"
"Petrified? Haha, that thing is a poisonous blade that can easily kill the universe demon. It once assassinated Queen Frigga in another timeline. Although Shirahoshi-sama resisted, even her incarnation showed a petrified state.
, needless to say what will happen to the original body?" Loki's tone became cold and hard: "You shouldn't have let Malekith go so easily in the first place."
Queen Frigga of the "Holy Timeline" is still healthy, which means... although that incident has nothing to do with Asgard on the surface, it was still the White Queen who blocked Frigga's knife? No wonder Luo
The Kit agents will be willing to take over the work of the Ministry of Magic, but the "Half-Blood Prince" who returned to the sacred timeline may not know about it.
"That's it. There's no point in talking about the past. You first follow the agents to see how to better manage the Ministry of Magic." Loki tapped his heel three times on the sliced floor.
The next moment, he himself remained on the original plane without moving, but Sherlock suddenly penetrated the sliced screen and fell down.
"Oh, yes, because it is inspection work, your fall this time may take a long time," Loki's voice came from above: "It may take about half an hour, Mr. Stephen Strange.
"
He definitely has some personal grudges with himself in other worlds!
