In the interrogation room, the cigarette butts quickly filled half of the ashtray.

Detective Robinson's sanity made him refuse to believe the story made up by the man in front of him, but his instincts reminded him to listen to it.

"So...... You're trying to tell me you're a 'time traveler'? After extinguishing another cigarette butt, the inspector asked with a frown.

"It's not exact, but you can understand it that way." Uncle Xue replied.

"Let me do this," continued the Inspector...... "according to you, if you do nothing, then ...... In the afternoon of this day, the victim in this case, Jim Becker, will get into a fight with his classmate Adams, which will lead to a car accident; In addition to killing Adams instantly, the crash will also involve a school bus and a speeding SUV with a monster capable of razing half the city, and five robbers who had just robbed the Federal Savings Bank of Kitchener. ”

"That's a good summary." Uncle Xue responded.

"Heh......" Robinson sneered, and continued, "So, in the evening after the disaster...... That is, tonight, you go on a time travel back to noon today, and stop this scene by coming to the alley just before Adams is hit by a school bus; Unexpectedly, the situation on the other side has changed again - because the bank robbers' cars came later than the last time, the school bus and the SUV still collided, but the location of the impact changed, and the monster finally ran out and started the slaughter. ”

"Yes." Uncle Xue said, "But this time, I was relatively close to the place of the incident, and soon after the monster appeared, I rushed over and tried to kill it to control the number of casualties. ”

"Oh?" Robinson asked, in a bookish tone and raising an eyebrow, "Did you succeed?" ”

"If it works, I won't be talking to you here." Uncle Xue continued, "That monster is unbelievably strong, I was almost killed, but fortunately I can escape by 'activating the ability'." ”

"Oh." Robinson had an impatient expression, "So this time...... You're here again, or are you going? ”

"Morning." Uncle Xue replied.

"Morning subway station?" Robinson continued.

"No, earlier than that." Uncle Xue denied, "At six o'clock in the morning, I went to Becker's house. ”

"So...... Did you trespass into a private house before you killed someone? Robinson added.

Uncle Xue didn't answer the question, but just said to himself: "I sneaked into his bedroom, subdued him, unlocked his computer with his fingerprints, searched his hard drive and room, and asked him a few questions. ”

"Huh?" Robinson listened to this, and his brain ached, and he lit another cigarette for himself as he looked questioning.

"Long story short...... I found out that this high school student named Becker was in collusion with some local criminal gangs, and he organized criminal activities against college girls under the guise of "parties" by means of drugs and coercion, and his main purpose was not for money, but to show off to a group of people who were similar to him on the dark web. Uncle Xue continued, "Adams's girlfriend is one of Becker's victims, and I think that's why they have an argument today...... Adams was there when I pushed the man off the tracks, and the probe at the scene should have photographed him as well, so you can go and confirm with him; And the reason Becker skipped class and showed up at the subway station today was because he was going to hand out party flyers......" he paused for half a second, and then added, "These leaflets are now in your evidence room, but until I tell you this, you naturally don't think too much about this kind of thing...... As for Becker's incriminating evidence, you can find someone to search his room. ”

After saying this in one breath, Uncle Xue paused for a few seconds and then added: "Oh, by the way, what I just told you about is what happened when I 'backtracked for the second time', that is, the third 'Friday of the 13th' that I experienced. ”

"And how many times have you experienced it now?" Robinson asked.

"The seventh." Uncle Xue replied.

"What did you do in those three or six times?" Robinson said, "Or rather...... Why are there so many more times? Have you failed to prevent disaster every time? ”

"Yes." Uncle Xue said bluntly, "The 'third time' I just told you is the closest to success......; After subduing Becker and searching him, I laid out all the evidence of his crime, called the police on his own mobile phone, and left his room to hide near his villa and watch through binoculars.

"Five minutes later, there were a couple of low-profile cars, but they weren't police cars, and the people who got out of the cars weren't policemen.

"Looks ...... The local gang is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and although they are polite to this young master on the surface, they still have a hand behind the scenes; I don't know if they were tampering with Becker's communications equipment, or if they had an inside line in the police station, anyway...... They just broke into Becker's house.

Then, perhaps there was some argument between the two sides, or the people weighed the pros and cons and made some decisions, and a moment later, Becker's entire family was killed, the evidence of the crime was taken away, and the house was set on fire.

"At this point, I think it's acceptable, after all, not many people died.

"So, after confirming that the fire engine was coming, I went to the Federal Savings Bank in the city center......"

At this point, Robinson suddenly interjected, "Why don't you go to elementary school?" Rather than dealing with bank robbers, sneaking into the parking lot of an elementary school and popping the tires of a few school buses...... Isn't it much easier? ”

"Of course I know that." Uncle Xue said, "But you don't know anything...... A chain of events like this one is very difficult to deal with; As you have just heard, there is a difference between the 'first' and 'second' situations - this difference is mostly due to the 'sense of déjà vu' brought about by time regression, which makes some people make a different choice at certain moments than the last time, that is, the so-called 'parallel universe divergence point'.

"Theoretically, every hesitation and every 'uncertain' thought of each individual may create a branch and then derive a parallel universe, some of which are important, some of which are inconsequential, but you can never tell which choices will be digested and corrected by time and space, and which will be infinitely amplified by the butterfly effect...... You can only guess empirically.

"Based on my previous experience and the differences between the previous two 'today', I deduce that ...... event of 'two cars colliding and monsters going berserk' is an important node similar to a 'space-time marker' on the timeline, although it seems to be accidental, there must be a large number of 'cause and effect' behind it, so when I intervene in this matter, if the 'cause and effect' generated by the intervention itself is insufficient...... Then the changes I create will be 'corrected' by the plane itself in various ways.

"In the 'second time', apparently this was the case, long before my act of 'saving Adams' was carried out, the time and space had already made adjustments to some details of this timeline, but this adjustment was not to prevent me from saving Adams, but to cause the two cars to collide as usual, which means that 'Adams' death was just a trivial matter, but the collision of the two cars and the rampage of the monster in the car...... It is a very important event, and if it is destroyed, it will bring great damage to the continuity of time and space.

"To sum up, it is definitely useless for me to sabotage the school bus for the 'third time', because in the face of such a big incident, the 'intervention' of tyre puncture is too weak.

"Suppose that monster is hiding in a student's belongings, or is disguised as an elementary school student, then even if I break down all the school buses, he/she will leave the school in other ways, such as taking another parent's car, or even walking...... Eventually, he/she will be hit by a robber's car somewhere and run away. ”

Robinson said, "Can't you try to find the monster before it runs amok?" ”

"How?" Uncle Xue said, "At the 'first time', I wanted to confirm the death list of the students on the school bus, but there was no way to find it out...... The buses at all public elementary schools in Kitchener are free-ride, picking up and dropping off students every day on a stop-by-stop, not per person, and how and which class the students want to take...... They can be changed at any time at their own discretion.

"And, when I intervened that day, disaster had already occurred...... If only one bus of primary school students had died, it would have been easier to delineate the target area, but by then there had been a large number of casualties and disappearances, and it was impossible to determine which missing children were on which school bus.

"Taking a step back, what can I do if I narrow down the suspicion of monsters to no more than twenty or thirty? Go over and ask them, 'Which of you is a monster?' Will there be results? I know almost nothing about the monster, whether it has intelligence, how it lurks, etc., all of which are unknown, what if my presence makes it feel threatened and goes out in advance? ”

Robinson finished another cigarette and lit the next one: "Okay...... You go on to say. ”

Uncle Xue continued: "At noon, I arrived near the Federal Savings Bank and waited for the robbers to appear.

"Because of the corrective power of time and space, I can't act rashly, if I call the police a minute or two in advance according to the time point I know of the robbery, then this time the robbers are likely to be delayed for a while because of some kind of bullshit thing, or a sudden, inexplicable 'ominous premonition', just before the action hears the siren, so they give up the robbery, and then they will still cause monsters to run wild somewhere for some reason......

"It's useless to call the police as soon as they start the robbery, because the bank's own alarm system is activated at about this time, and the direct line alarm inside the bank is faster than if I had dialed the police on my mobile phone.

"It's also unrealistic to go to the robbers in advance, I only know where they're going, but I don't know where they're coming from.

"Then there's only one way left...... As they were about to complete the robbery, I rushed over and scrapped their car, killed the driver, took his weapon, and then rushed into the bank and blocked the other robbers in the lobby to prevent them from snatching the other vehicles and escaping.

"As long as I put it off until the robbers were surrounded by the police, the chain of events was broken; And the 'cause and effect' generated by these things I have done is enough, and this kind of 'intervention' should be able to successfully counteract the corrective power of time and space and prevent the monster from going berserk. ”

"Well......," Robinson mused, "from the point where you claim it's Friday 'seventh'...... Things didn't go as smoothly as you thought, did they? ”

Uncle Xue nodded and said directly: "Four of the five robbers are rabble, but there is one ...... At least when it comes to escaping, it's unbelievably strong.

"This cargo was able to carry two large bags of money, and ran away from my eyes with several bullets in his body, and then parkour threw me more than 100 meters away, and grabbed a car driving on the street in my sight...... I don't think I need to say anything about the rest of the story. ”

"And so you started the 'fourth'?" Robinson asked, following the other side.

"The progress of the fourth is about the same as the third, the difference is ...... This time, when I entered the bank, I completely ignored the lives of the hostages, and directly used the heavy weapons I had prepared in advance. Uncle Xue continued.

"So you're letting people run away?" Robinson Road.

"The third time, I suspected that the kid who escaped was a capable person, and the fourth time I was sure of ......," Uncle Xue continued, "That guy has quite high physical strength and the ability to heal himself quickly, and he can also maintain a high athletic ability when suffering an injury that is absolutely fatal in the eyes of ordinary people......"

"Oh." Robinson said noncommittally, "What about later? ”

"This time, I didn't go back in time immediately after the monster went berserk, because I was out of tricks." Uncle Xue said, "I let the police who rushed to the scene arrest me and take me back to the police station for detention." During this process, I kept thinking about what to do, and then ...... That's where I met you. ”

"Hehe......" Robinson laughed, "yes, you said at the beginning, 'We've known each other in at least three other parallel universes,' that means we've both met for the fourth or sixth time?" ”

Uncle Xue didn't answer this directly, because it was self-evident, he just responded: "In the conversation with you, I found that you are a very capable agent, and you also have relatively high authority, the most important thing is ...... Unlike the FCPS or EAS people that I can't reach or trust in a short period of time, you're working at the local grassroots level in Kitchener, and I can reach out to you and use you for your purposes in half a day. ”

After a pause, Uncle Xue said again: "That's it...... I started my fourth backtrack, coming to my fifth Friday; This time, I simplified things by picking a public place and personally killing Becker, kicking him off the platform as the subway approached.

"Then I stayed where I was, waiting for the police to arrest me; After entering the bureau, I wanted to offer to 'just talk to Inspector Robinson,' but I didn't expect that I didn't say anything, and you would interrogate me yourself.

"I lied to you during that interrogation, because I didn't expect you to believe what I said to you at this moment; In contrast, you should be receptive to some of the settings you are more familiar with, such as multiple personality split.

"With that in mind, I put on a scene in front of you, playing the role of a man with three personalities.

"You can't tell if I'm playing tricks or if I'm sick, but I'll tell you...... It was my 'homicidal personality' who killed Becker, and the one you were talking to was the 'good personality', and at this moment, the 'good personality' learned of a bank robbery scheme in which another 'robber personality' was involved and wanted to ask you for help.

"I told you the time, the place, the number of people, and even the cars they drove, the clothes they dressed, and the weapons they used, and I also took special care of you, and one of them is very good at escaping, so be sure to watch out for him.

"At that time, I hoped that you could set up an ambush based on the information you already knew and catch them all.

"Results...... You just sent a patrol car and told them to go to the bank at the time I said to 'have a look', no doubt...... That's bullshit, your police officers have been killed, monster rampage has happened as usual, and my plan is ...... once again Fail. ”

When Robinson heard this, he didn't even want to smoke: "What about the sixth time?" What did you do again? ”

"The events of the morning were basically the same as the fifth...... But on the sixth occasion, after I was arrested, I didn't pretend to be fine, and I didn't mention the matter of time backtracking, but just talked to you very sensibly for a while. Uncle Xue said, "First, I want you to think that I am a calm and sober person; Second, on the basis of the first point, I want you to pay attention to the bank robbery. He paused, "Honestly...... By the sixth time, I had given up on keeping my innocence and safety, even if I was seen as an accomplice to the robbers, an indiscriminate murderer, or something...... I admit it, I always have a way to escape anyway. In addition, I have kept an eye out for as much information about you as I can from your mouth...... In case there is a seventh time, I will have a certain amount of capital, so as not to talk to you from scratch again. ”

"The sixth time...... Did I listen to you? Robinson asked.

"Listen, not only did you decide that the robbery was real, but you also found out through your own intelligence network that it was a 'robbery order initiated by a third party', which is very tricky compared to ordinary civil gangs." Uncle Xue replied, "So, you mobilized all the police forces you could mobilize in less than two hours, and laid a net in advance...... Unexpectedly, before they could act, they were discovered by the other party, and they just gave up the plan, and still triggered the monster rampage event somewhere. ”

"Hmph...... Discovered? Robinson laughed, "Are you implying to me that there are undercover agents in the police department?" ”

"Considering the way Becker died in the third and fourth times......," Uncle Xue said, "you don't think it's a hint, you can basically be sure that there are undercover agents in the police station." ”

"Good, good...... The story is wonderful, and despite the absurdity of the content, your words are very pertinent, and I can't find any logical loopholes. Detective Robinson leaned back in his chair, "And what do you need me to do now?" Do you want me to hand over command to you...... Is it up to you to stop the robbery that hasn't happened yet? ”

There was a palpable sarcasm in his tone.

This is the sorrow of those who travel back in time; Every time you look back, your previous efforts will be in vain, and almost no one will believe you or understand you, whether you have done good, bad, right or wrong......

If you don't do anything, bad things will happen; And if you do something, others will not know that you have prevented the bad thing from happening, but will only see what you have done, which is incomprehensible or disgusting.

That's why I said...... You're a good cop, but you're also a stubborn person. Uncle Xue continued, "It's okay...... In the last backtrack, I found a hole in the eye and went to the toilet. ”

"What do you want to say?" Robinson Road.

"The toilet is diagonally opposite the door, if I remember correctly...... It's the 203 office, and there are a lot of police officers gathered inside to watch a baseball game, because there are many people and the sound of the monitor is turned up very loudly......," Uncle Xue said, "Moreover, it is a live broadcast." ”

"Huh...... I see what you're up to. Robinson's mind was spinning fast.

"In the ninth inning, in the second half, the Eagles Helmets hit the ball with the fourth base, at this time full base, the first ball, the player on second base, Dawkins failed to steal the base, returned to base, defended once, hit, out of bounds; On the second ball, the batter hits (short hit), the opponent's pitcher misses, one person scores, and the others advance to first base respectively, and continue to fill base; The next batter, Tony, made a miraculous home run. Uncle Xue immediately said such a paragraph, and finally added, "The game should be a little while before it reaches the ninth game...... We'll talk when you're done. ”