“Adam?”
“Yeah! That’s right!”
Having completed the investigation, Mr. Powerful returned to the base and relayed what he had seen—the figure he encountered at the headquarters of the villainous organization. The very existence they had been waiting for...
Of course, his words weren’t imdiately accepted. It was hard to believe that soone they had awaited for so many years could appear so easily.
That’s why Mr. Clear turned to Mr. Rays, who had accompanied Powerful, and asked:
“Is what he’s saying true, Rays?”
“...Yeah. I think it’s plausible.”
“Unbelievable... Adam, after all this ti?”
Before Powerful could even frown at being ignored in favor of Rays’ opinion, he imdiately began listing evidence to prove the man was Adam.
“Look! His na is Eight! He’s already a renowned scientist in academia!”
“A scientist, huh...”
“He’s pioneered proof of the soul, developed anti-gravity fields, and laid the foundation for advanced AI. And there are rumors that he’s hiding even more inventions. Where do you think this insane level of science ca from?!”
True—Eight’s accomplishnts were far too extraordinary to be dismissed as re genius.
He didn’t seem like soone from this world. His brilliance resembled that of an alien from a far more scientifically advanced civilization.
For those unaware of otherworldly beings, Eight might have seed like nothing more than a prodigy. But for these four guardians, burdened with the duty of protecting humanity, the conclusion seed obvious.
“Not to ntion, he has no recorded history to explain how he achieved all this! There’s no evidence of him studying science or displaying genius as a child!”
“A man who fell straight out of the sky, huh.”
“Exactly! That’s why—”
“—That doesn’t prove he’s Adam.”
Mr. Clear firmly rejected Powerful’s claim.
Just because Eight’s scientific abilities defied logic, and he had no apparent background to explain them, didn’t an he was Adam.
If he really were Adam—the being they had waited for so long—then...
“Why didn’t he co to us first?”
“What?”
“If he’s truly Adam, he would’ve sought us out imdiately.”
But Eight hadn’t done that. Instead, he had joined Evilus Corporation and remained under their command—a behavior unthinkable for the figure they had been waiting for.
With evidence supporting and contradicting the claim piling up, opinions started to clash.
“Maybe he couldn’t find us, or he forgot! We’ve hidden ourselves too well!”
“That’s just wishful thinking. If he were really Adam, he would’ve found us no matter what...”
“So what if it’s wishful thinking?! If it ans we can finally shed this cursed duty—”
Powerful glared at Clear as if ready to kill him.
Clear, however, t his gaze with sharp eyes, questioning his sincerity.
“...Are you serious?”
“Didn’t you know? You’re the only one among us who actually enjoys this job.”
“You’re pathetic. A defective product...”
“And you’re the real defective one—an outdated relic who doesn’t know how to adapt.”
“Are you picking a fight?”
“Yeah. Anyti.”
As the two prepared to co to blows, the other guardians stepped in to separate them.
Having said his piece, Powerful stord out of the base, declaring he wouldn’t waste another minute rotting away there.
The middle finger he raised on his way out was a bonus.
Watching Powerful leave, Clear turned back to the data he’d left behind.
Eight. Male, twenties. Recipient of the ABC Science Award. A mysterious figure who seed to appear out of nowhere. mber of Evilus Corporation. High-ranking executive of a villainous organization...
While combing through the information, Clear suddenly froze at a familiar na—Evilus Corporation.
His machine-like mind imdiately sifted through old mories. Monts later, the details resurfaced.
‘...Evilus Corporation. That ti...?’
It had been a sudden rise—a corporation that erged out of nowhere and grew at a frightening pace.
The 25 established corporations refused to recognize Evilus as one of their own. Instead, they tried to suppress it, even going so far as to prepare for war.
The will of those 25 corporations practically dictated the world’s fate. Acting on their orders, Clear had assassinated Evilus’s forr owners to preserve global stability.
He vaguely rembered there had been a survivor—just a child at the ti. But he hadn’t paid much attention.
After all, what could a lone child possibly do?
But now—after all these years...
“It’s her.”
The girl who survived back then may have remained immature, but she had risen to beco the head of a massive corporation.
Not only that—she had soone suspected to be Adam serving under her.
Mr. Clear’s legs began to tremble slightly.
He prayed.
Prayed that Eight wasn’t the figure they feared he might be.
Prayed desperately.
*****
“Ah—.”
In the middle of the experint, the Saint suddenly grabbed her eyes and lowered her head. Monts later, she looked up at with tears welling in her eyes.
“I can’t see... My god, are you really not a god?”
“What now...? You can’t see my future?”
“Yes... Normally, I can see glimpses of people’s past or future, but for so reason, I can’t see anything about you.”
The fourth dinsion splits into two concepts.
The first is what most people imagine—a space with four coordinates, including the x, y, and z axes, plus an additional dinsion. This was the space Lizebel had awakened to—a world with a new axis added beyond the usual three.
The second is what scientists often refer to—the Minkowski spaceti proposed by German mathematician Hermann Minkowski. It combines our three-dinsional space with a fourth dinsion—ti—creating a four-dinsional spaceti continuum.
In terms of supernatural theory, these two aren’t all that different.
As a fourth-dinsional being, Lizebel could perceive Minkowski’s spaceti as well. That was why she never failed. She simply discarded tilines where she failed and walked only the paths where she succeeded.
A form of future foresight—or rather, the ability to determine her future with near certainty.
‘And yet she can’t see ? Why?’
It made sense that she couldn’t see my past. If her ability read this world’s spaceti and not individual tilines, then my past wouldn’t exist here—I’d only been in this world for about a year. She’d probably need to extend her perception all the way to Earth just to get a glimpse of it.
But the future was different.
I lived in this world now, which ant my future was bound to it. If she could see far into the future, then logically, she should be able to see mine too...
Yet she couldn’t. For so reason, Lizebel was blind to my future.
“Maybe you’re just out of practice?”
“No way! I’ve been using this ability for years... Should I try looking at soone outside instead?”
Lizebel leaned out the window, pointing randomly at people walking along the street. Then, as she reached out toward soone, her body froze.
She stood there, completely stiff, letting out a strained “Uh...uh...” before carefully speaking.
“Um, uh... Did it break...?”
“What? What is it?”
“No, it’s just... I see sothing really strange—two people who look... weirdly long.”
“Long? What do you an?”
“Uh, well. Usually, when I look at a person’s past, it’s like watching a short video—maybe one or two minutes long. About 100 seconds, give or take?”
A hundred seconds.
That likely ant she could condense soone’s entire life into roughly one second per year.
Nodding as I began to grasp the concept, I gestured for her to continue.
“But those two over there... They’re... really long.”
“How long are we talking?”
“Three... three days?”
“...Three days?”
I paused to do the math.
If one year condensed into one second, then three days—72 hours—was 259,200 seconds.
That’s 259,000 years.
An impossible lifespan for any living being. Even a dragon like Hysberk from another world wouldn’t have lived that long. And there were two of them?
I leaned out the window to see who she was pointing at.
Familiar faces.
A frail red-haired man and a hulking white-haired man.
“...Wait—?”
The lunatic reporters who had barged into our headquarters yesterday were standing right there.
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