The investigation team had set up base in a research facility on the outskirts of the city. The middle-aged man who'd brought them there was named Dr. Zhou, a theoretical physicist.
"We've uncovered a critical lead," Dr. Zhou stated, standing in front of a large screen in the conference room. "The divergence points for all mirror humans correspond precisely to historical nuclear test dates."
A timeline flashed up on the screen:
July 16, 1945 – United States' first nuclear test, codenamed "Trinity"
August 6, 1945 – Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
August 9, 1945 – Atomic bombing of Nagasaki
November 1, 1952 – United States' first hydrogen bomb test
March 1, 1954 – United States' "Castle Bravo" hydrogen bomb test
February 13, 1960 – France's first nuclear test
...
Beneath each date, the number of mirror human divergence cases was marked. Starting from 1945, every nuclear detonation date correlated with a new wave of parallel life splits.
"But there were no nuclear tests in 1993 or 1999," Mason pointed out.
Dr. Zhou pulled up another set of data. "In 1993, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an incident involving the loss of control over three tactical nuclear warheads, which released an abnormal amount of energy during transport. In 1999, during the Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, both countries were placed on nuclear alert, resulting in multiple false alarms of an imminent nuclear strike."
"So what you're saying is..." Ethan's throat went dry. "Nuclear explosions... tore a rift in time?"
"Not a rift," Dr. Zhou corrected him. "A branch. Every massive release of energy—especially at the nuclear level—has the potential to trigger a local 'divergence' in the space-time continuum. It's like a tree sprouting new branches, each branch representing a parallel universe."
An animation played on the screen: A single timeline split into two in 1945, each branch splitting again in 1952... By 1999, hundreds of parallel timelines had been created.
"But these parallel universes were supposed to remain isolated from one another," Dr. Zhou continued. "Until now. They're starting to... merge."