Chapter 47: Time Sealing – Section 10

“Time…” Black Hair gently chewed on the word, unable to speak for a moment.
It had to be admitted—he was terrified by Cobra.
Undoubtedly, if evaluating the value of this discovery, Black Hair could only give it a perfect score. How precious time really is—perhaps all the wealth in the world couldn’t even compare to a fraction of it. As early as in ancient China, there was the saying, “An inch of time is an inch of gold, yet an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time,” highlighting the importance of time. In battles, Black Hair didn’t measure time in minutes but in seconds, even microseconds.
A difference of just one microsecond could determine life or death, victory or defeat!
This was time—the most crucial part of all tangible and intangible wealth.
Yet Cobra claimed that Madaro had discovered the rules of time. What did that imply?
Black Hair didn’t know; he could hardly imagine it. So he remained confused, sitting there silently without saying a word. Cobra seemed to be in the same state as well. The entire rooftop became so quiet that even the sound of a needle falling could be heard.
After a long while, Black Hair finally let out a deep sigh.
“It seems we’ve stumbled upon something extraordinary.”
“Mm,” Cobra agreed.
“What were those rules? Did Madaro mention them?”
“He did. They are the constant rules of time. But this constancy isn’t absolutely unchangeable. As long as the price paid is high enough, modifications can be made within allowable limits. Ranked by difficulty, they are acceleration, stopping, and reversal.” At this point, Cobra smirked and winked at Black Hair.
“I really don’t know whether to congratulate you or pity you. According to ancient legends, this is a divine realm. So as for the price… it’s likely enough to make you spit blood.”
“Oh?” Black Hair immediately became interested, gradually emerging from his confusion. “Tell me more.”
“It’s simple.” Through conversation, Cobra’s fatigue eased somewhat. Hearing Black Hair’s question, he sat up straight and drew a straight line across the coffee table with one finger.
“First, we need to assume that time is a straight line.”
“Mm.” Black Hair glanced at the winding lines on the coffee table and wisely didn’t refute Cobra’s statement.
Unaware of Black Hair’s strange expression, Cobra continued speaking on his own.

“Well, let’s assume time is a straight line that moves forward forever. According to known rules, this line cannot be changed at all—it will continue to extend endlessly, with no end in sight. But we all know this isn’t absolutely true. There used to be a legend saying that if one could accelerate energy beyond the ultimate cosmic speed, it would be possible to return to a certain point on this line and see one’s past self.”
“You’re right,” the black-haired man nodded, agreeing with the Snake’s assumption. At that moment, he suddenly remembered a movie he had watched on Earth before. It also assumed that if energy acceleration reached a certain limit, one could see both the past and the future. He remembered the protagonist using such a device to create an exceptionally wonderful life for himself. (The American movie “Fatal Attraction.” The knife really admired it.)
“Well, since you can understand these assumptions, things become simpler,” the Snake said with a smile after clapping his hands. “But have you ever thought about this? Such an assumption is something that anyone who has studied time knows a little about. So why has no one ever actually managed to do it? Or rather, why hasn’t anyone succeeded in testing it?”
“Maybe it’s because the ultimate speed cannot be reached? Or perhaps there isn’t enough energy?” the black-haired man asked tentatively. As he communicated with the Snake, he gradually entered the Snake’s way of thinking and grew increasingly interested. As the conversation deepened, a fascinating aspect of the universe gradually unfolded before the black-haired man’s eyes. That mysterious attraction made even someone as calm as him unable to resist.
“You’re right. But that’s just one of the reasons. For a long time, people have believed that time cannot be changed for this reason. But that’s a wonderful mistake,” the Snake chuckled and drew a line on the coffee table.
“Because they don’t realize there’s such a rule: in a universe, its time can never be changed.”
“Is this the cosmic rule discovered by Madaro? But what’s different about it compared to what people know now?” Hearing this, the black-haired man interjected indifferently. But his gaze immediately fell on the line the Snake had just drawn, and his voice stopped abruptly.
That line exactly divided both ends of the straight line drawn earlier.
“In a universe, its time can never be changed. So… the real key isn’t that it can’t be changed, but the previous sentence. That’s right…” Staring at that strange line, the black-haired man first murmured to himself, then his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

The cobra beside him watched with a smile as the black-haired man made the changes. He nodded silently.
“You’ve figured it out—that’s exactly what Chief Madaro wanted to explain to you.”
“Why is that?” The black-haired man chewed on the laws of the universe a few more times before suddenly looking up and asking.
“It’s hard for me to explain. No, actually, I can’t even understand it myself. But one thing is certain: these laws of the universe are like frequencies, locked in one dimension. So no matter how hard people try, they can’t break this reality fixed by the laws of the universe. After all, human effort can never rival nature.” Facing the black-haired man’s intense gaze, the cobra pushed up his thick glasses and said with a smile, “From your expression just now, I guess you’ve also realized it. This rule can actually be cheated. The key lies in one universe. As long as it’s not one universe, time can no longer be protected by the laws of the universe. In other words, it gives us an opportunity to take advantage of it.”
“That’s right. Indeed.” The black-haired man reflected on the cobra’s words before smiling. “But it’s easier said than done.”
“That’s true for others,” the cobra said dismissively, shaking his head. “For us—no, rather, for you who possess the Stone of Light and Darkness—it’s completely different. Don’t forget, there’s another universe hidden inside that stone. Regardless of how mysterious that universe is, it’s still a universe. To us, it’s just another dimension.”
“Then how do we exploit this loophole?” As the cobra explained further, the black-haired man felt he was approaching the key to the matter and pressed on.
“Energy acceleration,” the cobra said, pointing with a finger. “Just like that researcher did. Inject energy into the virtual universe for advanced acceleration, then retrieve it at the critical moment. Accelerate it again in this universe. In this way, the energy crosses dimensions twice, and the constraints imposed by the laws of the universe are reduced to the lowest level—almost to none at all. We can use this to realize the hypothesis that’s been circulating for ages.”
Noting the black-haired man’s focused expression, the cobra emphasized, “Control over time!”
“Not bad,” the black-haired man smiled. “But if I remember correctly, you mentioned a taboo earlier. Um, that allowable range. What does that mean?”

“Well… it’s quite sad when I think about it. In fact, you’ve already suffered that punishment in advance.” Hearing Black Hair bring this up suddenly, Snake awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “The explosion some time ago was the consequence of that.”
“You mean the destruction of Black Prison Planet?” Black Hair’s eyes widened instantly.
Although he had long suspected something was amiss with the accident on Black Prison Planet, he never imagined it was due to this reason. At that moment, the expression on Black Hair’s face was truly remarkable—surprise, anger, regret, distress—all combined to form a bizarre tableau.
Unfortunately, despite his bewildered reaction, Cobra showed not a hint of sympathy, merely shrugging casually.
“That’s right. It was that. I explained it to you before. Exploiting the laws of the universe is a challenge to nature, as well as a form of exploiting loopholes. So one must be extremely careful. That researcher went too far—beyond what the loopholes allowed—so the laws of the universe detected it, leading to the collapse of the energy structure. Time came to a severe halt, resulting in a massive explosion. If you hadn’t arrived just in time to rescue everyone during that time stop, that explosion alone would have destroyed us all. There’s no way you’d even find our bones.”
“That’s… true.” Black Hair’s expression changed slightly as he nodded in agreement, still shaken by what Cobra had described.
He had participated in that rescue himself, so he knew the dangers involved. Such a massive explosion, covering almost the entire Black Prison Planet, yet everything was frozen in an eerie stillness. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Black Hair wouldn’t have believed such a bizarre scene could exist in the universe. And although he managed to save all the victims, he himself narrowly escaped death. The danger involved was enough to make one shudder at the thought.
If he hadn’t withdrawn immediately upon noticing the anomaly, if he hadn’t happened to have an ultra-advanced armored shuttle, Black Hair really couldn’t imagine what would have happened to him.
Perhaps the Death Star was already divided among other forces now?
Without him around…
Black Hair smiled bitterly and patted Cobra’s shoulder. “Alright. I think you’ve explained it clearly enough to me. What remains is just the actual operation. I believe that since you know the method, you’ll definitely achieve your goal. So if you need any support, feel free to ask me anytime. I only care about the result, not the process.”

“No problem.” Cobra habitually pushed up his thick glasses and stood up. “I’ll complete this task. And after that, I have only one request.”
“Hmm. Go ahead. As long as I can do it,” the dark-haired man replied cheerfully.
“Get Chief Madaro back with us so he can continue to be our leader,” Cobra said slowly, looking into the encouraging eyes of the dark-haired man.