Chapter 480: Chapter 414: Hypotheses (2)
But their "existence" in the original world line was thus erased, leading to anomalies in resource records.
"I understand, Commander. This was my oversight; I didn’t consider this in advance," Jeming admitted frankly. "In future records and reports, I’ll list this part of ’consumption’ separately to avoid confusion in logistics statistics."
"No, I’m not assigning blame." Frost shook his head, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes instead. "I’m confirming a phenomenon. Now it seems that ’that space’ of yours is not only an information vault... It has already constituted a unique ’time paradox generator.’ This is interesting."
After sending Frost away, Jeming fell into contemplation.
The Grotto Heaven can preserve external resources, that’s confirmed.
So, what if what’s being preserved is the inherent matter of this plane itself?
A bolder idea emerged in his mind.
Returning to the research group, Jeming did not hide anything and shared Frost’s discovery and his own thoughts with several core members.
"You mean," Alison’s eyes lit up, quickly grasping the key point, "your space is a ’safe house’ independent of the Reincarnation Plane’s timeline. Foreign objects placed inside won’t reset."
"But if it’s objects from this plane... Theoretically, they should ’restore’ to their original state in nature or within some organism after time rewinds. But now, they’re in your space, in a ’removed’ state. What will this trigger?"
"A spatiotemporal continuity paradox," an elderly wizard specializing in Time Law theories adjusted his glasses, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "An object cannot simultaneously exist in two states. If time rewinding forces it to ’reset,’ and your space prohibits it from ’disappearing’... A contradiction arises. Previously, the disappearance of your Black Giant was a manifestation of this conflict, hence it was ’canceled’ in the paradox."
"If that’s the case, the number of experiments that can be designed is quite extensive," another young wizard excitedly suggested. "For instance, this round, we cut a small, insignificant tissue sample from a Reaper Race and immediately store it in Jeming’s space. Let’s see if the next cycle, the Reaper Race shows an ’unhealable wound,’ or if that piece of tissue disappears into our storage space, returning to it?"
"To go further," someone thought more diffusely, "if this round we store an object from this plane in the space, then retrieve and use it in the next cycle. Then, when time rewinds again... Will that object appear in our hands, or because it was stored away this round, will it not appear? Or will it be directly erased by the time paradox?"
The atmosphere in the laboratory instantly became fervent.
For a group of wizards pursuing knowledge, there’s no more captivating challenge than this.
...
...
Once the laboratory’s concepts were clear, action swiftly commenced.
As the holder of this special space, Jeming became the most crucial "executor."
Under the guidance of the wizards, he utilized the Inner Grotto Heaven’s characteristic of being independent of time cycles to begin a series of "markings" and "samplings."
The first was material testing.
He entered the battlefield’s edge, excavated several tons of plane-native ore rich in specific isotopes, stored it into the Grotto Heaven, and carefully cut and stored a piece of soil marked with energy patterns by special witchcraft, along with the vegetation above it.
Next was energy.
With the aid of several wizards proficient in element and psi transformation, they forcibly stripped and sealed a ball of stable "geocentric pulse energy" from an active Earth Vein node, also handed to Jeming for storage in the Grotto Heaven.
The most complex was the life form experiment.
They selected several representative native plane organisms: from the Reaper Race’s lowest "worker bee larvae," to various adult variants of the Reaper Race.
Some were stored in whole living forms, while others were carefully taken tissue samples for storage, all to observe the different reactions of organisms when time rewinds under different circumstances.
Each sample was meticulously chosen to ensure the wizards could confirm situations at the first moment post-cycle.
The wizards needed to know what would happen to these parts "cut" out of the current timeline when time rewinds.
The basic preparation work concluded, but the most important experimental subject was still unavailable.
"We need High Tier Reaper Race samples, preferably Eighth Level." Jeming reported the research group’s request in the tactical meeting room to Frost, explaining in detail the comparative experiment design of "complete storage" versus "partial storage."
"Life and death don’t matter. Actually, considering the difficulty of capture and subsequent handling convenience, two complete corpses of Eighth Level individuals would be more ideal."
Frost stood with his hands behind his back, in front of the tactical map displaying the overall battlefield situation.
He understood the necessity of these experiments, but at present, a rare trace of helplessness appeared on his determined face.
"I understand your needs, Wizard Jeming. High Tier samples, especially Eighth Level individuals’ data, are crucial for analyzing the Reincarnation mechanism," Frost’s voice remained steady but revealed the reality, "But the problem is... This cycle, we probably won’t be able to get such samples."
He turned to face Jeming and the two Logistics Department wizards who came with him.
"In the last cycle, I could successfully lure two Eighth Level Reaper Race Leaders using their initial discomfort with our ’extreme pressure’ tactical mode, and some kind of ’confident’ prediction of theirs on the Reincarnation critical point. I set up a targeted Law trap, caught them off guard."
"But obviously," Frost pointed to a large section of shadow on the star map representing the ’Reaper Race Activity Silence Zone,’ "they’ve learned their lesson from that failure. It’s not just Eighth Level individuals, this cycle, all high-level beings have fundamentally changed their activity patterns."
"They have completely abandoned confrontations with me on the frontal battlefield or pre-set battlefields, no longer easily revealing their tracks, and their command center’s transfer frequency and secrecy have far surpassed before. They are... avoiding me, or rather, avoiding any risk that could lead to their capture or death."
A research wizard frowned: "Have they realized the danger of being captured alive for research? But time will rewind..."
"That is precisely the key." Frost interrupted him, "Time rewinding can restore material, but for the Reaper Race, it cannot completely erase ’cognition.’ Especially for Eighth Level beings, they may retain more ’lessons’ in the cycle. Now they are more like participating in an extremely conservative survival game, prioritizing avoiding ’triggering reincarnation’ and avoiding significant losses of their own."
The meeting room fell into a brief silence.
"Is there no way?" another wizard asked unwillingly, "Concentrate forces, forcibly sweep a few suspected nests?"
"The cost is too high, and the success rate cannot be guaranteed." Frost shook his head, "An Eighth Level being wants to hide, in this plane where they have operated for countless cycles, we have too many unmonitored blind spots. Forcing large-scale eradication would disrupt our overall strategy of ’extending the research window,’ and might also compel them to undertake unpredictable extreme behaviors prematurely."
He looked at Jeming: "The sample situation can only be postponed. We need to wait for opportunities, or... create new opportunities. Perhaps when the war reaches a certain stage, when they’re forced to make choices. For now, you can continue refining other level paradox experiments and accumulating data."
Jeming nodded in understanding.
The ideal of scientific research encountering the barriers of reality is a common occurrence in any world.
"I understand, Commander. We’ll first focus on the monitoring of the acquired samples and refine experimental plans for High Tier samples." He paused, offering a compromise solution, "Additionally, can we increase the capture efforts on the battlefield for severely injured or dying Sixth Level and even Seventh Level Reaper Race individuals? Although they lack the required levels, perhaps we can still observe some paradox effects to gain experience for subsequent experiments."
"That can be done." Frost agreed, "I will notify the frontline combat units to be vigilant and allocate some rapid response teams to assist you."
(Today, there’s only this Chapter. These past two days I’ve been feeling a bit dizzy and feverish, and today the headache is unbearable. Need to rest and adjust. Everyone, be careful of the flu in winter.)
