Chapter 26: I Trapped Myself I Guessed Myself and I Left Wis'adel for Myself!

“I know you’re anxious, but let’s not be anxious just yet.”

The biting chill of the mountain wind was nothing compared to the lethal weight of the violent Sarkaz currently pinning me against the frozen rock face.

As a frail, powerless brain-worker from a bygone civilization, I didn’t even entertain the thought of physically resisting her.

Instead, I naturally leaned back, resting the back of my head against her gloved hand with practiced ease.

“It’s useless to interrogate me.

My memory is completely wiped.

Ask whatever you want, but regardless of the answer, the Doctor you knew before and the man I am now would absolutely undermine each other.”

Taking advantage of the angle, I cast a subtle glance downward at her legs.

No iconic ripped black stockings.

My suspended heart completely flatlined.

Oh my god.

This isn’t an IF-line transmigration.

This is a sudden, premature Alter drop, and she’s wearing the exact identity of the single-core universal meta-solution I used to unga-bunga my way through the hardest stages.

In this Terra where I seemed to be the sole transmigrator, it was terrifyingly easy to guess who had butterfly-effected this into existence.

Don’t tell me…

the mastermind from the Babel era was also me?

A shiver ran down my spine as I realized I had suddenly been promoted in seniority.

Oh no.

Please tell me I’m not going to get backstabbed by my own contingency plans in the future.

Wis’adel seemed entirely too familiar with my mannerisms.

It took her only a split second to transition from raw, emotional volatility back to a cold, dangerous composure.

She sneered, a harsh sound that cut through the howling wind.

“I knew it, damn it!” A string of vicious Sarkaz profanities followed.

“You thought you could just turn your back and forget me just because you lost your memory?”

“You dared to stay behind to face me without remembering a single thing?

If I wanted to kill you—” Her hand shifted, and the sharp edges of her crimson nails gently, threateningly traced the line of my jugular.

“—you would have died a hundred times over by now!”

“Otherwise?” I blinked at her with absolute innocence.

“You wouldn’t kill me anyway.”

Under her rapidly darkening expression, I casually added, “That’s about all I remember…

oh, right.

I also remember exactly how to command you.”

Bang!

Wis’adel’s fist slammed into the rock wall beside my head, fracturing the solid stone into a massive, spiderweb-like crater.

Dust and shattered ice rained down on my shoulders.

“Are you really that confident that you can offer me nothing and still expect me to work for you?

What do you take me for!

Ceobe?!” She shook the stone dust from her hand irritably, glaring at me with venomous crimson eyes.

Ah, she’s definitely anxious, I realized.

“But I don’t know the answers either,” I said, maintaining my flawless poker face.

“If you want to be mad at someone, blame the guy who didn’t leave you any notes before going into the freezer.

Why blame me?

Ever since I got dragged out of that sarcophagus, I’ve been fighting and working overtime without enjoying a single benefit!”

I was blatantly lying through my teeth, betting everything on the assumption that my previous self hadn’t told her the most critical pieces of information.

Staying behind to confront Wis’adel wasn’t a suicidal gamble.

Even if I had miscalculated and she genuinely intended to blow me to pieces, Kjera would have been forced to hold her nose and intervene to protect Pramanix, who was standing nearby.

At worst, I would have just taken a severe beating.

But if I bet right, I could sequence-break half the plot and brute-force my way through the upcoming events!

Most Operators in the timeline had their own factional baggage, political responsibilities, and geographical limits, meaning they couldn’t act as my permanent bodyguards.

But this Lord of the Revenant Court was entirely different.

She genuinely had nothing tying her down.

She was the ultimate free-roaming DPS, ready to be deployed for exploration at a moment’s notice!

“That’s exactly the problem.” Having vented a fraction of her anger, Wis’adel finally released her grip on my collar.

She stepped back, sizing up my frail frame before crossing her arms over her chest.

“The previous you said to me—”

She paused, perfectly mimicking my tone.

“‘I’m sorry I can’t answer your questions now.

Let me tell you when I wake up next time, after casting off all shackles.'”

I stared at her in deep silence for a long moment.

When I finally spoke, the words tasted like ash.

“I’ll state this upfront: I am on your side, and you are not allowed to hit me for what I’m about to say.”

Wis’adel narrowed her eyes, giving a curt nod.

“Fine.

But I don’t think there’s any hidden meaning in that sentence that I missed.”

“It’s not about a hidden meaning, but rather…” I racked my brains, trying to phrase the absolute absurdity of my own nature as tactfully as possible.

“How could you possibly believe that, aside from a guilty conscience, there was anything in this world strong enough to ‘shackle’ him to the point where he couldn’t even leave a message?”

Even if the Lumberjack arrived early, it wouldn’t warrant being that melodramatic, right?

Based on my intimate understanding of my own cowardly, procrastinating nature, this was undoubtedly a scenario where my past self hadn’t figured out how to solve the problem at all.

So, he simply spouted a cool-sounding line and pushed the entire mess onto his future amnesiac self to deal with.

Wis’adel stared at me.

The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy.

Then, she suddenly let out a breathless laugh, followed immediately by a rapid-fire, deafening string of the foulest Sarkaz curses known to Terra.

Watching the temperature of her face visibly rise with pure indignation, I genuinely feared she was going to break our agreement and beat me to a pulp anyway.

She tilted her head, let out a dark sneer, and stepped away.

“He didn’t let me say it.

Guess for yourself.”

“Can’t you reveal even a little bit?” I pressed.

“Impossible.

I don’t even know what I actually accomplished in the end.

It’s useless to tell you.” She glared at me hatefully, then reached out, grabbed my hand, and yanked me up from the snow with bone-jarring force.

Who would believe that the greatest battle of wits in this entire world is actually just me scamming myself!

“Fine.

Then at the very least, he told you to follow me around, right?” I patted the freezing snow off my coat, instantly adjusting my mindset to secure the prize.

“Without you, micro-managing those other Operators is way too mentally taxing.”

“I will follow you.

Don’t overthink it,” Wis’adel snapped, turning her head away to hide her face as she bit her lower lip.

“It’s just to monitor you and make sure you fulfill the promise you made to me.”

He really hasn’t changed at all in this regard…

Due to the massive shifts in the timeline, she was long past being the W from the original trajectory.

Standing before me now was the undisputed strongest mercenary of the Babel era.

She was the recognized Lord of the Revenant Court—a monster who had defeated three Lords of the Sarkaz Royal Courts, slain two Behemoths, and single-handedly forced back eighteen Silver Lance Pegasi within three years of her debut!

Of course, these were all terrifying statistics I had looked up on the road.

Wis’adel herself merely let out a disdainful, half-hearted hmpf through her nose at the thought of her own legend.

“Those two are almost done praying.

Hurry back.

I’ll follow behind you in the shadows…” Wis’adel’s voice grew slightly muffled as she stopped in her tracks.

“Don’t mind me.

He specifically asked me to learn quite a few tracking methods.”

She looked back at me, the wind catching her hair.

“You’re heading back to Ursus, right?

See you in Ursus.”

Holy crap!

Right, I just finished negotiating with the Snow Leopard!

The memory of my precarious deal with SilverAsh slammed back into my mind.

I immediately turned and sprinted off down the mountain path.

Wis’adel remained standing in the freezing wasteland, her crimson eyes watching my retreating back until I bypassed a massive snowdrift and disappeared completely from view.

Only then did the voices in the shadows—the Nachzehrers—finally begin to clamor in her mind.

“He lost his memory!”

“Lost his memory!”

“He can lose his memory too?

That’s a lie, right?!”

“Shut up!” Wis’adel scolded in a low, dangerous hiss.

“You bunch of old immortals dare to butt into my business with him?

It’s not for you to manage!”

With a swirl of ash and explosive residue, the red figure merged smoothly back into the darkness.

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent!

to use the links!)