SWNOVELXO Chapter 87
“My name is Allen. I ended up in that warehouse by accident, though I don’t know how it happened.”
“Accident? You mean you were suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar place? Could it have been a subspace gate malfunction?”
Subspace gate? I had no idea what that meant, but it was certainly a technology that didn’t exist on Earth.
“But if that were the case, it would’ve made big news as a major accident. Unless it was a covert operation by the Galactic Union, though you don’t look like a government or military agent.”
As I explained my situation, the woman in the lab coat—Nias—began theorizing and questioning herself, but it seemed she couldn’t come up with a concrete answer.
Well, of course. It’s not easy to jump to the conclusion that someone came from another world.
“What if I told you I’m someone from a parallel world… or maybe even the past?”
“Time travel is difficult to believe, but someone from a parallel world? That’s a bit more plausible. After all, there’ve been numerous experiments on that front… though, as far as I know, none have ever succeeded in the thousands of years of human history.”
Huh. She’s open to that possibility? I was a little surprised by her response as I threw out the idea.
“As a hypothesis, that is. There’s no way to prove the existence of parallel worlds, and most people consider it a dubious concept. But—”
“But?”
“The idea that you randomly appeared on this resource planet on the edge of the galaxy, a place with no scheduled mining operations for the next 200 years… It’s hard to believe that wasn’t done deliberately. Honestly, it’s almost like you’re a grim reaper sent to take me, someone who’s committed unspeakable crimes.”
“Committed crimes?”
When Nias first introduced herself, she had mentioned she was the galaxy’s most-wanted criminal. At first, I thought she was joking, but after seeing this sealed facility and the strange equipment around, it was clear she wasn’t just an ordinary person.
“You don’t even know who I am? Now it’s starting to seem more likely that you really are from a parallel world.”
She looked at me with a mix of disbelief and amusement. If she weren’t so self-deprecating, I might have assumed she was some kind of narcissist. But her name, if I understood correctly, was famous across the galaxy.
“I used to work in a lab for a certain country about 250 years ago. My research was focused on extending human longevity… and it was there that I developed anti-aging technology.”
“Anti-aging technology…”
“I manipulated human genes using specialized nanomachines. But the problem was that I was the only one who could cultivate these nanomachines.”
What followed was a war waged by the galaxy’s power players, all scrambling to secure Nias and her exclusive anti-aging technology. According to her, billions of people died, and three planets were destroyed in the conflict that ensued.
“Seems like no matter what era, people tend to think the same way.”
“Exactly. And so, eventually, I became branded as a mass murderer responsible for the deaths of billions. There’s no statute of limitations for a first-degree criminal like me.”
That… was tragic. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy.
Nias was known as one of the most heinous criminals in history. Even after 250 years, she was still listed in textbooks, her infamy surpassing even the galaxy’s most prominent rulers or its most famous idols.
“When we first met in the warehouse, I was surprised you didn’t react to my face. People usually tell their children, ‘If you’re bad, Nias will come to eat you.’ That’s how infamous I am.”
Her expression mixed self-mockery with resignation and sadness. As the galaxy’s most hated person, her emotional burden must have been unimaginable.
And here I was, having arrived in the exact warehouse where this galaxy-wide pariah was hiding. If she said that wasn’t mere coincidence, I’d have to agree—it did feel unnatural.
(Could it be that spirit intentionally brought me here? Is there something they want me to do?)
I remembered the unfamiliar name mentioned in that ancient text I came across at my house in the royal capital. Considering the situation, it must have been the name of the spirit that sent me to Nias.
Spirit ᕼᐊᑯᐊ… What exactly does this spirit want from me? Looking at Nias, it’s clear she’s far from an ordinary person. If the spirit brought me here, could its message be that I’m supposed to save her?
“Well, I’m from another world, so I wouldn’t know. Just hearing about humanity’s expansion into space was surprising enough for me.”
“Humanity expanding into space? That’s ancient history—thousands of years old. How far back are you from?”
Still, from what I could tell, Nias didn’t seem like a bad person. It had only been about an hour since we met, but she didn’t strike me as the monstrous criminal described in the history books.
When I flatly told her that I didn’t know about the terrible things she supposedly did, she looked at me wide-eyed for a moment before chuckling softly.