Ch.111111. Entanglement.

# 111

Everything that exists in this world constantly changes within the flow of time, and nothing remains stationary.

Mountains, oceans, life, and even invisible hearts.

When a sliced apple on a plate turns brown, or trees change with the seasons, we still consider them the same entities.

This is because we possess the intelligence to infer and understand the causes of these changes in transformed objects.

Yet despite understanding all these causalities and continuities, we cannot restore changed objects to their original state.

Let’s say we try to restore an apple mentioned earlier.

Though it’s just an apple we’re trying to restore, to truly make it the apple that existed in the past—beyond merely restoring its form—we would need to reverse all time, momentum, and particles that have passed.

Even if technology could restore its form, it would merely be a separate object that we recognize.

Because the essence of the apple that people remember still exists in the vanished past.

That’s why humans cannot turn back time or accurately predict the future.

Even if we recognize past and future, only the present exists in human life.

Standing in the present—the only form of life—we look at the past and create countless branching paths.

But—what if, given enough time, humans could record all states existing in the “present”?

The world constantly changes according to causality, but that moment of the present exists as a fixed entity.

Then, if we could perfectly record and implement the state of a specific moment—couldn’t that moment be considered to exist simultaneously as the present, not simply as the past?

The device Mori called the Controller was a device containing such “coordinates.”

A medium connecting Mori’s future and present to intertwine at a specific point.

Humanity of the 21st century started by calculating and executing the causality that made her existence inevitable.

Over hundreds of years, they created a device that maintains and intertwines “present” with “present,” considering even probabilistic states including uncertainties generated by the broadcast.

As long as the Controller—the coordinates—exists in the fixation device now before Mori.

Through quantum entanglement time fixation, specific points are strongly bound, allowing continuity to be maintained without disruption of flow, even when changes occur due to future information.

Of course, if enough time passes—or if the Controller leaves the device—or if causality becomes distorted beyond its limits.

The timeline will twist, the broadcast will be cut off, and everything will flow into different multiverses.

But it was enough time for humanity to escape from extinction.

[Analyzing recorded coordinates. Confirming currently linked coordinates.]

[Fixing two presents. Calculating variability based on the principle of sufficient reason. Stabilization in progress.]

[We hope for a future that no one has yet observed.]

While the connection with Mori was severed, humanity didn’t just wait.

If only they could reconnect, this time to ensure it wouldn’t break again. And to fully maintain information from the future.

After hundreds of years of research, humanity completed a single loop that transcends time.

* * *

The present of people who existed in the past has become entangled with the reality where I exist.

I don’t know exactly what that means or what consequences it will bring. But something has definitely changed.

[What does it mean that the present is fixed?]

[Damn, I don’t understand any of this!]

[It’s okay. It seems she doesn’t know either, not just us. Look at that dumbfounded expression.]

The message window that originally couldn’t be seen without the Controller now constantly appears in the corner of my vision.

The speed and volume of incoming messages are incomparably faster and greater than before. Almost impossible to read.

So many people were sending messages, yet I could only read a few per day?

So that’s why proper conversations weren’t possible.

“Hmm…”

I collected my dumbfounded expression and looked at the Controller.

The Controller fixed to the device seemed impossible to remove no matter what.

I wonder if it would remain intact even if an earthquake brought down the ceiling.

“So, what am I supposed to do now?”

I asked the wheelchair that had guided me here.

But having apparently fulfilled its role, the wheelchair no longer moved on its own.

Does this mean I’m on my own from now on?

Grumbling that this was too much burden for an ordinary person, I moved the stick on the wheelchair and went outside. I saw two robots following me belatedly.

“Ms. Mori. What’s all this about?”

“Well, I’m not sure yet either… but it seems the people from the past sincerely believe I can change the future.”

“The future…?”

“Yes, the future. To be precise, they want to change their future through me. I think it’s a wonderful plan. After all, a future where everyone on Earth disappears is sad, isn’t it? If it can be changed, it’s right to change it by any means necessary. Yes indeed.”

I don’t know how long they had been planning all this, but I genuinely admired humanity’s will to survive and their ability to execute it.

“Perhaps my birth—becoming Mori—coming here, was all guided by humanity from the past, just like the wheelchair brought me to this room…”

Thinking about it that way stirred up emotions too complex to express, but.

Compared to the future of all humanity, my life and feelings were too trivial, so I decided to accept it as inevitable.

Accepting it wasn’t actually that difficult.

“So what should I do? No, what can I do?”

That’s the problem now. I have no idea what I should do for all these people who are only looking at me.

Doesn’t my every action and word determine the future of hundreds of billions of lives that will be born and die over hundreds of years?

It was such a burdensome and overwhelming task that I suddenly wanted to run away, but.

Having experienced pain to the point of near death, having lived closest to death, I simply couldn’t ignore it.

“Saving humanity’s future while alone in this world—what an enormous mission for someone who was just busy surviving day by day.”

My eyes didn’t laugh as I let out a hollow chuckle at how absurd it all was.

Still, if I’m the only one who can do it… I should try something.

“To get information, going to the library would be best, right?”

“Since enlightenment doesn’t come by just sitting still, that would certainly be the way to go.”

The library I glimpsed earlier had so many books. Knowledge not recorded in books also floated around the library as pure information. It was literally like a galaxy containing all knowledge in human history.

The library must be full of theories and technologies that people beyond the drones have never heard of.

There must also be knowledge and technology that could have solved many problems on Earth, but were realized too late to be of practical help.

If I organize such knowledge and transmit it to people of the past through drones, they could try many things from an earlier point.

As such knowledge and attempts accumulate, completely escaping extinction might not be such a far-fetched idea.

“Alright. Then as long as time allows, let’s explore the library together and search for knowledge that can solve all this.”

It would be impossible for me alone, but there are so many people watching me.

I believe that if so many people join forces, changing the world isn’t impossible.

…Of course, there would be no place for “me” in that changed future.

Even if I receive no reward, if I can stand at the forefront of humanity and save everyone.

That alone would make my life worthwhile.

“But! Today I’m going to rest comfortably. I haven’t been awake long, but too much has happened in that time.”

Besides, I only knew a few essential locations like the food storage and living quarters, but there were still many more places I didn’t know.

It would take at least a day to figure out what was where and commit it all to memory.

“I don’t know exactly how much time we have, but this won’t be solved overnight. Let’s take it a bit easy. Honestly, aren’t you curious about what facilities and devices are here too?”

For now, I’m hungry, so I should head to the dining hall first.

I said that as I moved the wheelchair.

The message window—or should I call it a chat window?

The window where people freely sent whatever they wanted to say was chaotic.

Some people approved of my decision, others said this was no time to take it easy.

Some didn’t understand what was happening at all, and others just said strange things on their own, like they used to.

It’s entertaining just to watch the bustle, but.

“…I need to be able to read it.”

I resolved to quickly find a way to distinguish between helpful messages and trivial ones.