The Rowlatt Act was shelved. The oppressive legislation, designed to curb dissent with draconian powers, never saw the light of day. Consequently, the chain of events that would have led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, the senseless slaughter of hundreds of innocent civilians in 1919, was severed. Adav, through a surgical economic strike, had erased one of the bloodiest stains on India's path to independence.
He watched the news reports from his mansion in Pune, the Codex displaying confirmations of the historical alteration. The probability of Jallianwala Bagh occurring, which had hovered ominously in the [Historical Database], now flatlined to zero. It was a profound moment. He hadn't just predicted history; he had rewritten it. The chilling image of future textbooks recounting the massacre, a horror he had carried in his memories, dissolved into nothingness.
Yet, Adav felt no euphoria, only a grim satisfaction. This wasn't about saving lives out of moral imperative; it was about optimizing the path to Svarajya. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre would have bred a different kind of nationalism, one steeped in bitter resentment and a thirst for violent retribution. While that emotion could be powerful, it was inefficient. Adav needed a nation built on strength, not just anger. He needed a calculated, disciplined force, not a scattered, vengeful mob.
The "Week of Silence" had achieved something far greater than preventing a massacre. It had taught the British a new lesson in Indian power: economic leverage was a weapon more potent than any riot. It had also, subtly, redirected the nascent nationalist movement away from purely emotional appeals and towards a more pragmatic, power-focused strategy, precisely as Adav had intended. The road to independence, in this new timeline, would be different. It would be forged not in blood, but in steel and strategic brilliance.