Shiller finished reading Martha's note, which also docunted how she used the power of the Evil God to remodel two locations.
These two locations were not chosen randomly; both are related to the mysterious Underground Ancient City. The midpoint of the line connecting Wayne Manor to the Wayne Hotel is precisely where the Ancient City is located, aning these two buildings are equally distant from the Ancient City.
As for why this was done, Shiller found the answer in the latter part of the plan—Martha wanted to switch tis.
Martha's ambition was even greater than he had imagined. She didn't simply want to delay matters by 20 years and then resolve them after 20 years. She wanted to delay for 20 years and then have soone from 20 years in the future co back to directly erase all losses.
After becoming a Follower of the Evil God, she had a way to affect the ti nodes of a particular region in this separate cosmos, but not by direct control. Instead, she employed a sleight of hand, a bait-and-switch.
The current tiline can be seen as 0, the past tiline as -1, and the future tiline as 1.
The sum of all tis in all spaces on the current tiline must always be 0, aning it must always be the present, neither anchored in the past nor fixed in the future.
This is normal because for all linear-ti beings, every minute and second they experience is the present. The past and future are not substantial to them; they are not tangible. Therefore, bringing spaces from the past and future would seriously violate the laws of the cosmos and result in severe consequences. Universe administrators strictly guard against this, and clearly, Martha had no capacity to disrupt it.
But she had another thod. If the sum just needs to equal 0, then she just needed to create a section of -1 and another of 1, and the two would add up to 0. The sa principle would apply for more distant tis.
This ans that neither the hotel where Shiller, nor the one where Peter was, actually existed in the present. The true present should be the day between the difference of the two hotels. It's just that this 0 was replaced with -20 and 20.
And now, Wayne Manor was the sa, after the successful experience with the hotel, Wayne Manor was changed to -20 years and 20 years—Martha wanted that -20 years.
As long as this pattern was used to anchor a location from 20 years ago, people from the future could enter this space and change sothing there, thereby affecting things 20 years ago and giving those people a chance to turn things around.
But according to Martha, there was also a problem: the tis could not be aligned perfectly and would result in both ti points increasingly converging until they completely rged, so the opportunity had to be seized before the rger.
Shiller thought back to his and Peter's encounter with the ti at the hotels and realized that the zero point was off by so tens of seconds. This might have been the calibration error Martha spoke of and ultimately the culprit for the two ti points inexorably drawing closer.
But there was a much larger margin for error over 20 years. Martha ntioned in her letter that the Four Families and Falcone each had their plans, aiming to use the 20 years of inheritance to execute their breakthrough strategy.
All these images flashed through Shiller's mind, and he roughly understood what they intended to do.
He sighed inwardly but still pocketed the letter and hurried downstairs. Alfred's head indeed hadn't moved; as Shiller stepped out of the back garden's door, he turned to look at the aged butler one last ti.
Shiller dashed toward the big tree in the garden, found the cellar entrance as quickly as possible, and jumped in; he followed the footprints to the rendezvous point and saw imdiately what Jero was holding in his hand.
It was a piece of shimring tal.
It was still covered in Alfred's blood and brain matter.
Shiller sighed, asked no questions, said nothing, and simply stated, "Let's go."
Jero looked back at him but ultimately also remained silent, and the group set off towards the Ancient City in silence.
Shiller soon felt the shifts in ti, clearly heading towards a place 20 years in the past, the predestined endga designed by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne along with the Four Families.
Jero seed to fully understand the map, leading the group through countless turns to arrive at the gates of the Ancient City.
When Shiller entered God's Temple, he saw Peter imrsed in an enchanting liquid in a pool, and he sighed again but said nothing.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid I'll need to borrow your companion. I assure you he won't die," Jero said smiling at Shiller.
In just a glance, Shiller realized he was facing the true Joker. It was no longer necessary for Shiller to discern, as Jero produced a jar of green liquid—Shiller recognized it to be the Dionysus Factor, sothing only the Joker could handle unscathed.
They approached the altar at the very front of the pool, surrounded by exactly five vacant spots, each one marked with a different pattern in different colors.
Jero was the first to place the piece of tal extracted from Alfred's head onto the gold-patterned spot.
Jero placed the green liquid in his hand onto the green-patterned spot.
Cobblepot's blood-red leg oozed a wine-red liquid, which he collected in a glass bottle and then placed onto the wine-red-patterned spot.
Finally, everyone turned to look at Shiller.
More precisely, at the head of Gordon that Shiller held in his hands.
"The final tal is in my head," Gordon said. "Open up my head and take it out."
"Let guess, you each represent a backup plan set by the Four Families," Shiller sized up the others, "Over the course of 20 years, one person searching for one kind of tal, then assembling them together to summon a great dark entity."
At this point, the Jero brothers no longer intended to hide anything; they nodded, only for Shiller to say, "Did you ever consider that this plan might have been tampered with, that there's a traitor among you?"
"Impossible," Cobblepot said. "It's precisely because we were anxious about faults in the plan that they made the younger generation do it - we've never directly encountered the Evil God ourselves."
"But you've still been contaminated."
"We've been contaminated on purpose," Jero revealed as he lifted up the hem of his shirt, showing the red wound with tiny granulations inside. "This is a cultivated, controllable contamination that, aside from enhancing our survival capabilities, also prevents us from being contaminated a second ti and helps to suppress the tal inside us, that stuff isn't sothing ordinary people can just handle."
"Excellent," Shiller comnted. "Then why am I here?"
"We'd very much like to know that too," Jero stared at him. "You weren't supposed to be a variable in the plan, but given your value, we didn't stop you either."
"As a matter of fact, I received an SOS," Shiller said. "A friend who trusts asked to find him in room 1905 of the hotel. Guess who that was?"
"Bruce Wayne? He's a part of the plan too, his duty is to keep that Evil God busy. Though we don't know why, the Evil God is very interested in him."
"So, he's the one who's dealt with the Evil God the most?"
"You could say that," Jero replied.
"Since he's involved with you, he didn't actually need to seek my help, but since he did, it ans he no longer trusts you. This proves there may well be a mole among you."
The atmosphere among everyone stiffened. Cobblepot spoke first, "Impossible, we all double-checked..."
"Who can guarantee anything when it cos to the Evil God?" Shiller sighed, placed Gordon's head on the table, and said, "Whether you believe it or not, I know far more than you do."
"The thing inside Jas's head is not the fifth tal," Shiller declared. "From the mont he took on the mission, he fell into a trap set by the Evil God, it's a complete fraud. If you use what's in his head for the Array, all your efforts will be wasted."
The others looked at each other, not sure who to believe. Shiller was indeed the only variable, but this eccentric could also be a puppet of the Evil God.
"We won't believe you," Cobblepot said. "The Evil God is best at misleading people, appearing in various forms to win trust. Our elders paid a huge price for this, my own mother is still trapped in a mad delusion, I won't believe you."
"Then give my person back," Shiller didn't intend to discuss further and walked towards the pool; the Jero brothers exchanged glances, their faces revealing a nacing look.
Peter lay quietly in the pool, his eyes closed as if in a beautiful dream. Shiller wanted to fish him out, but the Jero brothers pounced on him and pulled him away.
"Can't kill him," Gordon suddenly said. "The blood of a stranger might contaminate the pool, let's not make things worse."
"You're having that old problem again," Jero complained. "All right, let it be then. I'm going to open up your head."
Shiller was tackled down but seed to have no intention of standing back up. He sat where he fell, but took out the clock by himself.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is the fifth tal you're looking for, left by Martha," Shiller guessed. "She seed to figure out through so ans where the Evil God would tamper, so she took precautions in advance. Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Shiller threw the clock over, hitting Jero who caught it, but couldn't see anything unusual about it from the clock. The tal used to make the clock seed like the most ordinary tal.
Contrarily, the piece taken from Gordon's head emitted a faint fluorescence, consistent with all the other tals in appearance.
They really just gathered around and started to study it.
Shiller really couldn't stand it anymore and whispered, "I'm starting to understand arrogance now."
Everyone turned their eyes towards him as Shiller sighed again and said, "I really don't understand why, with 20 years to prepare, your elders didn't think to go to England to invite an expert to guide you. Have you even studied a smidgen of arcane theoretical knowledge?"
Shiller rambled in frustration, "Everybody dares to make plans, everybody just executes them. Didn't you ever think, not even one of your elders is a Magician? Without any, where did you get the courage to rely on your own imagination against the Evil God?"
"Don't you realize, magic is a very precise thing with mature theories developed over many years, a set of its own rules and processes, a very rigorous system," he continued.
"Even if those things seem like instinct to a Magical Family, they represent a formidable barrier of knowledge to you normal people, daring to act without understanding anything; even with 20 years, not bothering to go to so school to study a little, you'd be weirdly successful if you did manage."
"Go ahead, place whichever one you want," Shiller waved dismissively, "Anyway, neither is going to work, you place whichever you prefer."
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