Chapter 2

I sat on the metal folding chair in my room.

About ten minutes later, Nova walked in carrying a stainless steel tray.

She had changed into a pure cotton T-shirt I had brought from the modern world, its wide collar sliding off one shoulder.

"Ethan, eat something. I just had someone heat up the canned beef you brought back." She sat down closely beside me naturally, wrapped her arms around my body, and rested her cheek on my shoulder.

From the moment she leaned in, I caught the smell of cheap tobacco on her. It was Kael's scent.

Suppressing my instinctual revulsion, I gently patted the back of her hand just like I had for the past three years. "Thanks. The perimeter scouting is done. The black box's coordinates are locked in. It's two hundred and seventy meters underground. We're going to need heavy crawler vehicles and the demolition team."

"You've worked so hard." Nova looked up, her eyes shimmering with a fragile, watery gleam. "Once we finish this, we can finally leave this place and never live in fear every single day."

She paused, looking at me with slightly reddened eyes, as if she had suffered some massive grievance. "It's just that... Kael came to me just now. He said if he's going to send his men to help us dig up the black box, he has conditions. He claims a lot of raider camps are massing on the perimeter lately, and if we send our forces to dig up the box, the fortress's defenses will be left empty. For the sake of security, he is demanding I hand over the spare keys to both armories and the highest overrides for the internal surveillance network."

I looked straight into her eyes.

I was well aware that the moment I handed those over, the modern arsenal capable of arming thousands would fall entirely under Kael's control.

But I couldn't show a single ounce of hesitation. I needed their help to dig up that black box, no matter the cost.

At the same time, I also knew they wouldn't dare completely turn on me yet. The only reason they were putting on this sweet, polite act instead of just tying me up and torturing me was because they still hadn't figured out how the time machine worked. If they forced my hand, there was a high chance I'd take them down with me. If I died, the time machine would become a pile of useless scrap metal.

Let alone taking vacations in the modern world, without me, the supplies around here wouldn't even last till next month.

"No problem." I picked up my tactical terminal, bringing up the security system interface right in front of her.

After pressing a few confirmation keys, I smiled at her. "Transfer complete. You can let Kael directly deploy anything from the armories."

Nova stared at the green light on the screen, a flash of wild ecstasy flickering in her eyes. But she quickly masked it, even pushing her luck by gripping my arm tighter.

"Ethan, there's one more thing..." Her voice suddenly sounded incredibly insecure. "It's so chaotic out there. Could you give me the activation passcode for the time machine first? If something happens to you while you're out, at least I can escape to your era and wait for you."

There it was. Her ultimate goal.

My brain went into overdrive. If I gave this up too, I would completely lose all value in their eyes.

Yet I couldn't reject her too bluntly; I couldn't let her get suspicious.

"Nova, it's not that I don't want to give it to you right now. It's just that giving it to you is useless. Booting up the time machine requires two things simultaneously: the operational passcode, and system authorization. If personal access hasn't been pre-activated in the system, having the passcode alone won't turn it on." I held her hand and furrowed my brows, pretending to look deeply frustrated. "And the permissions for the time machine have to be modified from the laboratory in my era. It can't be changed from here."

I lied to her. Starting the time machine required absolutely no prior authorization. I had to say this to buy myself time.

Nova grew frantic. "Then go back and change it right now!"

I intentionally put on a stunned expression. "Why the sudden rush?"

She probably realized her reaction was a bit too extreme and was momentarily at a loss for words. I swiftly changed the subject, my tone becoming incredibly sincere: "Don't worry. As soon as I dig up the black box, I'll immediately head back to the modern era and fix the permissions."

I deliberately lowered my voice. "When that's done, whenever you want to go to modern society to grab fresh food or anything else, you just stand on the machine and push a button."

Those words hit her weak spot dead center.

She didn't dare push me too hard at this crucial juncture either. If I sensed something and aborted the plan, she would get absolutely nothing.

Nova kissed me hard on the cheek. "Then we'll do it your way! I'll go urge Kael to assemble his most elite men right now. First thing tomorrow morning, we go dig up the black box!"

Noon the next day.

I pushed open the door and stepped into the fortress's control room.

Kael was sprawling arrogantly in my designated seat, his grease-stained combat boots propped directly on my control console.

He held a bag of vacuum-sealed jerky I had brought from modern society, ripping the packaging open and chewing aggressively. Nova was leaning tightly against him.

Seeing me walk in, Nova shuffled half a step to the side. "Ethan, you're here. Kael was just coordinating with me about this afternoon's excavation."

I nodded, pulled out a folding chair, and sat down.

Kael looked at me out of the corner of his eye. Chewing on the beef, he split his mouth into a grin.

"The stuff you bring over from your era really is quite handy. No matter how tight the packaging is, as long as you use a little force and rip it open, you can eat whatever's inside whenever you want. So tender, so satisfying."

After he said that, he deliberately raked a highly provocative gaze up and down Nova's body. The air pressure in the room seemed to plummet below freezing in an instant.

He was telling me how he had ripped open my woman last night, just like he tore open this bag of meat.

He was reveling in the sick thrill of humiliating me.

I took a deep breath, playing the part of an utter nerd who didn't understand the nuance at all.

"Glad you like it." My tone was flat, even carrying a pathetic hint of currying favor. "That's high-polymer vacuum packaging. It locks in the moisture. If you need it... I can use the machine to bring a few more crates over for you."

Kael erupted into an outrageously arrogant fit of laughter. He leaned back and forth, almost dropping the meat onto the floor.

"Hahahaha! Nova, did you hear that? He's actually asking if I need him to bring back a few more crates!"

Kael pointed a finger at me, laughing so hard tears formed in his eyes, his face dripping with undisguised contempt.

Nova couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth into a smile, but she quickly suppressed it. Turning to Kael, she said, "That's enough. Grab your men and get ready to head out. Don't interfere with Ethan tracing the location."

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Three massive industrial crawler vehicles and dozens of heavily armed thugs charged into the abyss with full firepower.

Kael's men used dense crossfire to abruptly burn dozens of mutated rats on the perimeter of the abyss tunnel to a crisp. Then, they used high-explosive charges to blow open the blast doors leading to the subterranean server room.

"The radiation is way too high here." I pointed at the beeping Geiger counter, turning my head to speak to Kael and Nova. "For the last stretch, I have to go in and get it myself."

Kael lifted his chin impatiently. "Then hurry the hell up. We're only covering you from the door."

Without a word, I walked through the pitch-black corridor, stepping alone into the core server room covered in decades of dust.

The moment I sliced open the main console with a laser cutter, my palms were slick with sweat.

Everything was set.

Without any hesitation, I moved with blinding speed, shoving the real black box into the most concealed hidden pocket of my undershirt right against my chest, pressing it tightly against my heart.

Then, I pulled the dummy black box out of my outer pocket and cupped it in my hands.

I had stayed up late last night making this dummy. I knew Nova and Kael's nature all too well. Once the real black box saw the light of day, there was absolutely no way they would actually let me take it back to the modern era. They would undoubtedly find an excuse to confiscate it, using it as the ultimate leverage to blackmail me into giving up the time machine forever.

So, I had worked through the night to build a fake. They didn't even know what the real black box looked like anyway.

I walked out of the massive doors, the beams from their flashlights instantly hitting my face.

"Success!" I excitedly raised the fake black box high in my hand. "I got it!"

Just as the words left my mouth, Kael stepped forward, grabbed the black box from my hand, and forcefully snatched it away.

"Kael! What are you doing!" I instantly feigned a look of absolute panic, reaching out to grab it back.

"Relax, Mr. Scientist." Kael stepped back half a pace, holding the dummy black box high. "This shithole is too bumpy. What if you trip and break something this precious? It's safest if I hold onto this for safekeeping."

Nova hypocritically held onto my shoulders, her tone sickeningly gentle. "He's right, Ethan. Something this important, let Kael carry it back."

I stared desperately at the black box in Kael's hands, acting exactly like a broken, useless man.

"O-Okay..." I slowly lowered my arms, keeping my head down. "Please... you must be careful with it."

Kael let out an obnoxiously blatant scoff, casually stuffing the fake black box into his waist pouch. He turned around and waved his massive hand. "Head back to the city!"

They firmly believed they had completely stripped me of every single right and weapon.

They thought they had firmly grasped the very lifeline to manipulate me however they pleased.

Go ahead and cheer.