Chapter 1

The tactical tracker's screen blinked with a pulsing green light.

My name is Ethan. Strictly speaking, I don't belong to this era.

Three years ago, in an underground quantum lab in 2026, my partner Marcus and I had an accident while testing a time machine. I was thrown single-handedly fifty years into the future.

I thought I would see flying cars and a highly advanced human civilization. But the moment I landed, I was hit by the overwhelming stench of sulfur and rotting flesh.

Earth, fifty years later, had become an absolute wasteland.

I don't know if it was a nuclear blast or tectonic shifts, but the entire world was shrouded in highly radioactive dust. Water sources had dried up, vegetation had mutated, and surviving humans would not hesitate to shove an iron pipe through someone's neck just to fight over half a bottle of dirty water.

The most rational thing to do would be to immediately beam myself back to 2026, completely shut down the machine, and never return.

But I didn't do that. Because I discovered one thing: the source of this global catastrophe was a global energy network project called "Eden," set to launch in 2026.

If I didn't figure out exactly what went wrong with that project back then, even if I went back to the comfort of the modern world now, the disaster would still arrive on schedule decades later. My world would eventually end up exactly like this.

So I had to stay. I needed to find the "engineering black box" buried deep in the epicenter of the wasteland. As long as I dug up this hard drive containing the faulty underlying data and brought it back to the modern world, I could stop the apocalypse at its source before the catastrophe even happened.

Fortunately, the time machine still worked, and I could return to that safe, clean modern world anytime.

For three years, I frequently traveled between the two eras, bringing over medicine, food, and daily necessities.

Today, using the radar, I finally locked onto the coordinates of the black box. One last dig to extract it, and everything would be over.

I stuffed the radar into my pocket, patted the dust off my clothes, and quickened my pace toward the "fortress" built of rusted metal and high walls ahead of me.

I needed to rush and tell Nova the good news.

Navigating the familiar corridors of the fortress, I headed straight for the top-floor suite. Nova was the supreme lord of this fortress, and my lover.

Three years ago, not long after arriving in this world, I met Nova. She was surviving by scavenging for trash in the slums.

Later, she became my guide in this world. To secure a safe base of operations for my search for the black box, and for Nova, I began frantically transporting supplies from modern society using the time machine.

I brought her modern body armor, boxes of antibiotics, countless cans of fresh meat, and even high-precision assault rifles and large-scale water purification filters.

Relying on the massive resource advantage I provided, in just three short years, Nova went from a bottom-tier refugee who couldn't even afford a meal to swiftly pulling together an army.

Today, she had built this black iron fortress boasting three thousand armed mercenaries, becoming the undisputed supreme lord of the region.

I had endlessly promised her that once I found the black box and resolved the apocalyptic crisis, I would take her back to the modern world with me. We would buy a house with a lawn, and she would never have to suffer in this sandstorm-ridden hellhole again.

The corridor was quiet. I walked up to her spacious suite, but just as I raised my hand to knock, I noticed the heavy metal door wasn't fully shut. It was left ajar, about two fingers wide.

And in that unguarded moment, I heard the sounds coming from inside.

It was the squeaking of a bed frame rocking, coupled with the crude laughter of another man.

My outstretched hand froze mid-air.

Peering through the crack in the door, I clearly saw the scene inside. Nova's bare back was visible as she tightly clung to a muscular man covered in tattoos. That massive back tattoo was all too familiar to me—it belonged to Kael, the boss of the largest raider gang outside the fortress.

Just the day before yesterday, Nova had leaned against my shoulder and told me that Kael's gang was constantly prowling around the fortress perimeter. For the sake of the big picture, she claimed she had no choice but to have dinner with him to buy some time.

"Why isn't that guy who only knows how to tinker with wires following you around like a lapdog today?" Kael let out a heavy breath, his tone filled with undisguised mockery.

Nova scoffed dismissively. Her voice wasn't gentle and reliant like before; instead, it reeked of calculation. "Him? He went out to the ruins to measure coordinates. Probably looking for his black box again. Spends all day dreaming about saving the world."

"Saving the world?" Kael stopped his movements, immediately frowning. "Hold on. If he actually goes back and stops this disaster, what happens to our world now..."

"You finally used your brain, Kael." Nova pushed him away and slowly grabbed a cigarette from the nightstand, lighting it. "If the disaster never happens, what could we possibly do in that peaceful era? At best, I'd be a bottom-tier loser working a cash register, worrying about rent every day. And you? You'd definitely be in prison."

Kael inhaled sharply, his eyes instantly turning predatory. "Fuck. Then we absolutely cannot let him save any world!"

"Of course I won't let him save it." Nova blew a smoke ring. Her gaze swept over the modern furniture in the suite and the row of assault rifles hanging on the wall, her eyes dripping with absolute contempt. "I worked too hard to get to where I am today. Now I have an endless supply of clean water, thousands of guns, and the lives of tens of thousands of refugees hang on my every word. Give all this up just to go to modern society and live some ordinary, hard-working 9-to-5 life with him? No damn way."

Standing in the shadows outside the door, I clenched my hands into tight fists.

This was the woman I had protected for three years. I thought we were family, relying on each other. But to her, I was nothing but a delivery boy. She didn't want the world to return to normal at all; she only cared about the little bit of power she held in her hands.

"But that time-traveling machine he has... that's definitely a good thing." Kael stroked his chin, pure greed flashing in his eyes.

"Of course. That machine is our future cash cow." Nova leaned against the headboard, smiling with utmost cruelty. "When he comes back from checking the coordinates this time, I'll tell him there are riots and it's unsafe. Just in case, I'll ask him to give me the operating method for the time machine, so we can leave in an emergency. He'll hand it over like a good little boy."

"Is he really that obedient?"

"If I just shed two tears, he listens to my every word. Once I get all the access codes, we'll find some excuse to lock him in the basement dungeon, and then get rid of him."

Hearing those words, my breathing stopped for a half-second.

"And after we get rid of him?" Kael asked.

"With his machine..." Nova's tone grew extremely excited. "We can go to his modern society anytime. We can push carts full of the freshest meat and vegetables out of big supermarkets, take the best reserves of antibiotics, and even chill in a luxury beachside hotel for a few days."

She grew more thrilled as she spoke. "When we want to come back, we just buy crates of modern military body armor and automatic rifles to bring back. The entire wasteland will be ours! Modern society will be our free supermarket and resort, and the wasteland will be our palace to rule as kings!"

Listening to this absolutely bottomless scheme, my stomach churned violently.

My right hand swiftly drifted to the pistol at my waist. If I kicked the door open right now, the bullets in this gun would be enough to shoot this disgusting pair full of holes within three seconds.

But I stopped my movement.

I couldn't kill them right now. I couldn't even push the door open and confront them.

Because the radar in my hand only showed the "coordinates" of the black box—it was still buried deep underground. Without using the heavy engineering excavators under Nova's control, an ordinary guy like me could never dig it up.

What's more, if I fired now, Kael's men would rush up and shoot me to pieces within five minutes. If I died here, the apocalypse in modern society would happen right on schedule.

Before obtaining the black box, I had to be completely submissive to her. I couldn't let her see any flaws in my act, let alone fall out with her.

It was the only way I could successfully get my hands on it.

Once I actually secured the black box, I would return to my time and sever every single connection to this machine.

I forcefully buried all my rage deep in my heart, took a few slow steps back to leave this nauseating place, and leaned against a cold pillar to take a deep breath.

I pulled the communicator out of my pocket, tuned to the voice channel, and pressed the call button.

A few seconds later, Nova's slightly husky voice came through the earpiece. "Ethan? What's up?"

"Nova, it's me." I made my voice sound extremely excited, not revealing a single hint of a flaw. "I just got back to the fortress. I found the exact location of the black box! We just need to organize one more excavation, and we've done it!"

Nova paused for a moment, then immediately switched to an incredibly thrilled and doting tone. "That's wonderful, Ethan! I knew you could do it! You must be exhausted from being out in the wind and sun. Go to your room and rest. I'll have someone heat up some water and prepare food right away. I'll be right over to keep you company."

I calmly hung up the communicator.

You want to manipulate me, right? Fine. For the next few days, I will play this game with you to the extreme.