Chapter 273: D-Mail
AN: Here is a detailed explanation on D-mail, and how it all works-
Refer this image
Assume a timeline, marked with two instants 1 and 2, separated by a time length of 24 hours.
Now, Richard bought a dog at instant 1, but after 24 hours, at instant 2, he wanted to undo that decision. So, he sent a D-mail, telling "Don't buy the dog", from instant 2 to instant 1 i.e. 24 hours back into the past.
Let's call Richard's memory on the 1st timeline between these two instants M12.
Now, the Richard in the past, at instant 1, received the D-mail, and changed his decision.
The timeline diverged, and after 24 hours, it reached instant 3. Let's call Richard's memory on the 2nd timeline between the two instants M13.
In this example, the Richard at instant 2 on the first timeline will jump to the instant 3 on the second timeline, retaining memory M12. But he will not have the memory M13. Please keep in mind that it was information that had traveled to past, not Richard himself. This retaining of memory M12 is called Reading Steiner.
After jumping to instant 3 of the diverged timeline, our Richard will remember that he had sent a text back to instant 1 of his original timeline, telling himself not to buy a dog. And, yes. There is no dog around him. BUT, surprisingly enough, now there is a cat in the room. Now, Richard has no recollection of the memory M13, so he doesn't know why did he buy a cat, as he had mentioned nothing about it. This is a butterfly effect. It may happen, or it may not. There is no guarantee.
The longer the duration of D-Mail (how far it is sent back into the past), the higher the chances of encountering a butterfly effect.
The divergence no. of the second timeline tells how much it differ from the first. The higher the number (between 0P and 1P) the greater the divergence.
It is very very important, so if you didn't understand, read again.
Thank you
droopyauthor
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10:40 am, 2nd day
T009
Kai was sitting on the roof of the same building where Candidate 47 had called the others to meet.
An entire day had passed since the events of yesterday, yet Kai had yet to step out into the jungle. His Points Tally still showed 67 points, and if he would not get another 10 points by midnight, then the Systems would forcefully teleport him out of the Tournament of Worth.
Yet, there was no hastiness about his actions, his yawns and nonchalant attitude speaking against the anxiousness he must have been showing by now.
There was a stack of documents in his hands, and it was the umpteenth time he was going through them. These weren't the documents 47 had given to the others at the price of 1 Common Grade Item each. The documents in Kai's hands were more precise.
But that wasn't all that his Item, one-half of the Power Sword, had bought him. 47 had told him in confidence that Candidate 55 knew the location of Queen Xenomorph's colony. That's why they had come up with this plan of hoarding as many Items as possible before raiding the colony. She had even invited Kai to join her, 55, and 39, but he had refused her.
47 had taken Kai's refusal of joining her team as him looking down on her capabilities, and in turn, refused to divulge the location of the Queen's Colony to Kai. Then she riled up the other Candidates, saying that they must remain in the group to counter their Bad Luck, and should instead raid the Queen's Colony as soon as possible.
Only Kai knew that remaining in a group wasn't enough to go against their misfortune. At last, they had left him behind, with his prized sword at 47's waist.
And the moment they had all gone out of Kai's sight, his lips had arched into a demonic smile.
Everything had gone according to Kai's plan, and things had turned out to be even better than he had hoped for.
Suddenly, he felt a stirring to his right.
Kai's head snapped in the direction and saw a burst of silver mist seeping out from the moldy roof of the building.
The silver mist took the form of a long, slender, white serpent. Selene slithered up to his shoulders, coiled around him, and flicked out her tongue, kissing his chin.
No longer did he care for the watching Contestants outside the Tournament to see her and connect the dots between Selene's Intangible form and Viscount Lucas' death. Neither did he care for anything that had happened in the last 24 hours.
'No,' Kai corrected, scratching Selene under her jaw. 'I still have a few minutes left.'
-None of them sensed me, master- Selene hissed haughtily. -If only I could kiss that fucking bitch!-
Then her tone changed to more rational. -That sword is too scary,- she hissed, her head bobbing thoughtfully. -I don't know if my fangs could penetrate it.-
Kai didn't wait for her third personality to surface. -Spit it out,- he hissed back at her. -Let's see where they have gone-
Selene slithered to the concrete floor and pushed out the bulge in her stomach.
It was the Tablet.
Kai cleaned the slimy juices over it and pressed his thumb on its back. It opened to the Maps directly, and now, there was a blue trail running from his position to the faraway mark into the island and then coming back.
"Haha!" Kai laughed like a maniac. -Good! Excellent job, Selene- he hissed exuberantly, patting her head. -Even I couldn't have done it any better.-
"Let's see," he mumbled, zooming in at the location of Queen's colony where 47 and others' trip had ended. "So, these are the coordinates. Well, let's not wait any longer, then."
Kai stood up, looked at the sun, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
-Selene- he hissed. -From hereon, you are forbidden to come out of my body no matter the situation.-
As the serpent cursed a hissing breath, diffusing within him, Kai walked to the edge of the roof and took out the Book, which he had put inside his shirt. He looked up and smiled at the sky. Kai knew none of his audience could see his face, but just looking up with a blurred face was enough to guess his expression.
"Boys," he said, opening the Book to the latest tale, "feast your eyes on this."
A smoky veil manifested behind Kai, and when it parted, the insane scientist, Rintaro Okabe, walked out in his long, white lab coat, looking as smug as one possibly could.
"Muahahaha!" Okabe roared, jumping to Kai's side, and putting his hands inside his coat's pockets. "So the time has come to take down the organization. I knew I was the key to all this. Only I, Hououin Kyouma, the greatest scientist, can take on such responsibility. Mr. Storm, how do I look?"
Okabe ran his hands through his hair, pushing them back, and the sun's golden light showered his youthful face with bright shimmers.
Kai looked at him, his smile gone. "Pathetic," he said. "Thousands, if not ten thousand, of people, are watching you right now, and you had to look like an idiot now. Tch!"
Okabe clutched his heart and feigned a heart attack.
Kai frowned, smacked the book on the back of Okabe's head, and said, "You idiot! Is it time to dwell on playing games? D-Mail!"
Rubbing his head, and cursing under his breath, Okabe took out the mobile and flipped it open. "Message?"
Before he arrived at this place, Kai had one specific plan.
He would gather all the knowledge, paying whatever cost. Then, after 24 hours, he would use D-Mail, sending a message to his past self, and saying that wait for 24 hours and don't go to the 47's meeting. In this way, after jumping to the second timeline, he would have all the knowledge about both species paying no price, as his past self had never even gone to the meeting.
Now, though, things had taken a more drastic and murderous turn.
The matter of raiding the Queen's Colony demanded him to get as strong as he could before advancing with his plans. For that, he must attend the meeting orchestrated by Candidate 47. And, as he would go to Queen's Colony just after the meeting, Kai needed the information on both the species, i.e. Candidate 47's documents. So, he couldn't afford to let his past self wait for 24 hours and do nothing.
What he did need now was a massive boost in strength in a short period.
And Kai had just the Item to accomplish such a feat. The sword, Afro's Tachi.
He couldn't use Xenomorph's blood, for it was acidic and may react with the sword's material if kept in long term with each other, decreasing its quality. On the other hand, Yautja's numbers were few and far between. Not to mention, it wasn't easy finding them.
What Kai wanted was something that could let him enhance his sword's Base Damage using Ruthless Ritual in as little time as possible. Then, he would use the enhanced weapon to raid the Queen's Colony.
It turned out he had just the targets in mind with red blood and a smooth touch.
Other than him, there were 16 more Candidates in that hall. A number enough to increase his sword's Base Damage to 76 from 60.
"Kill all Ritual," Kai told Okabe, as the scientist typed it in. "Queen 9.7036S 160.0619E. Don't use spaces and set it for 1 day."
"We are just making it," Okabe said, now serious, losing his childish behavior. "34 bytes. Should I send it?"
Kai closed his eyes. Once Okabe sent this message, he would jump to the second timeline, not knowing how and what his past self had done in the last 24 hours after getting the message. But Kai knew himself. He just hoped his past self would be prudent enough to get the documents from 47 before slaughtering them.
He let out a breath and said, "Do it."
'Let's see if this all was worth it or not,' Kai thought, smiling.
"Umm… Mr. Storm?" Okabe whimpered. "It's not working."
Kai's head moved towards Okabe as if he wasn't a human but a machine, slow and mechanical. His eyes were dead and demonic, and there was no smile on his face.
The corners of the insane scientist's mouth twitched apologetically. "Haha!" Okabe laughed ruefully, shying away from Kai's gaze. "Sorry, sorry, Mr. Storm. Just joking…"
And then Okabe pressed the button.
Kai had expected something, but not this —
An insanely vast image of a microwave oven appeared over him. It was so large that it covered the entire sky.
Before Kai's eyes could even move from one edge of this oven to the other, the entire world shook like a TV screen getting a poor signal.
[Divergence Number: 0.1543P]
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