I wonder if you have heard of the "Y2K bug" (Millennium Bug).
The Y2K bug refers to a problem in the year 1999 leading into 2000, where computer systems using two digits to represent the year were unable to perform cross-century date calculations, resulting in errors and system crashes. The technical failures can be set aside for now, but have you ever considered that the root cause was the effect of "cognitive limitation" and "reality disorder"? If we treat a human as a high-precision computer and the transition from 1999 to 2000 as a problem beyond human cognition, would humans... also experience a Y2K event?
Well, to be blunt, when a human encounters something enough to break them, they experience psychological and conscious bugs just like a system crash. Oh, right, I'm not the narrator, and my words aren't for you to hear. Don't get it mixed up~
...
Crash—
A grease-stained dinner plate shattered on the floor covered in footprints from heels and dress shoes.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine..."
Gleaming glass shards reflected countless eerie silhouettes in the blindingly bright lights.
"What is it, Lin?" Elysia rare, direct concern made the dazed Lin shudder. He slowly turned his head and saw the deep look in her eyes. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her...
Scenes of a sea of corpses flashed through his mind, forcing the scent of blood through his failed sense of smell into his brain.
"...It's nothing."
Only after his consciousness fully returned to his body did Lin suppress that bizarre state of separation. What were those images and memories just now...
"I want to introduce two—"
"I have to leave for a moment."
Before Elysia could finish her sentence, Lin shoved through the crowd and rushed out of the venue like the wind.
"Yo, Lin..."
Chiaki, squatting outside chewing gum, was about to wave when the tall figure suddenly closed in. Before she could react, her world spun, and air was blocked from her trachea by a massive hand. In an instant of oxygen deprivation, her face turned bright red and her veins bulged.
"Mmph—! Mmph—!"
She hammered at the arm choking her with both hands, but just as the arm's owner was like an unbreakable statue, the arm itself was like an iron bar, pinning her against the wall without moving an inch. The ballroom doors closed, isolating all noise inside, which meant this scene and her weak cries were unknown to those within.
Chiaki stared in terror at the reaper right in front of her. The blue particles from the helmet's visor mixed with his cold gaze. He was truly prepared to strangle her to death! Lin watched as Chiaki's struggling gradually slowed. her consciousness began to fade, her limbs grew weak, and she was about to go into shock—
Thud.
The restraint on her throat suddenly vanished. She fell to the ground seeing stars, breathing greedily and coughing incessantly, tears and snot flowing freely. She didn't understand what happened, but what she didn't expect was that this was only the beginning of her nightmare.
Lin suddenly raised his right arm. A mechanical device inside activated silently, and specialized chains popped out from the forearm armor hidden in his sleeve, binding her hands and feet. Before she could scream, he tore off a piece of her clothing and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, Lin hoisted the struggling "little bug" onto his shoulder and strode toward Mobius lab.
...
Bam!
Lin kicked open the door to Mobius lab—no, the door was already unlocked.
Mobius, who was undressing for bed and thus only wearing undergarments, stared blankly as Lin walked in carrying Chiaki. Lin gaze swept the room; he locked the door behind him, threw Chiaki onto the sofa, and then pulled out a grenade, hanging it on the doorknob. Anyone opening the door from the inside would accidentally pull the pin.
"W-what are you doing!" Mobius screamed in a breakdown. Why did Lin rush in like a madman to do something so nonsensical in less than an hour... and with an unexplained person!
But Lin ignored the writhing Chiaki and Mobius roar. He grabbed Mobius shoulders and asked solemnly: "Mobius, is time travel possible?"
"Travel my ass!"
...
After Lin brief and concise explanation, Mobius roughly understood what he was saying. Fire Moth would experience a series of murders in the coming days, and the killer was Chiaki lying over there. Her consciousness might have been polluted by something, leading her to slaughter everyone at headquarters on September 18th. Lin was killed by her while in a daze, but he returned to September 11th, the point before everything began.
"...Are you joking? You'd better be joking; that way I at least won't treat you as an idiot." Mobius sneered, looking down at Lin. "If you aren't joking, then the one who needs a consciousness check isn't the little hacker whose clothes you tore on the sofa, but you—a paranoid delusional patient."
"What I said is true." Lin spread his hands to show he was speaking from the heart.
"First, setting aside how a powerless hacker who looks like she's about to be [Beeped] by you can kill everyone at headquarters, the point of time travel alone is absolutely impossible."
Mobius, though seemingly impatient with Lin "sudden illness," draped her lab coat over her thin body and began to explain: "Do you think reality is a pseudo-scientific game that can ignore theories like the Grandfather Paradox? There are over ten theories and hypotheses regarding time travel. The negative energy matter required by the 'Wormhole Theory' and the near-light-speed of a moving wormhole are things humans, still bound by gravity, cannot achieve. Other hypotheses are similarly limited by current human technology and cannot be tested."
"Hmph, understand? Time travel is nonsense. Parallel worlds at different time points observed in the Sea of Quanta are probably easier to achieve than your 'time travel,' but those are just worlds similar to but entirely different from ours. They don't count as time travel at all."
"Finally, you're telling me someone you could easily tie up killed everyone, including Kevin?" Mobius disdainful gaze fell on Chiaki's trembling body, causing the latter to shake even more violently.
Lin fell into deep thought after hearing Mobius words.