"Experiment No. 6.
The goal is to find the effectiveness of feather-falling.
Jumping altitude, a chair on top of dining table height. Probably about one and a half meters.
The test begins in 3, 2, and 1. Jump." Alex said into the voice recorder.
The moment Alex thrust his butt out and crouched to jump.
"Thud…" A sound came from the direction of the door.
Emily, who dropped the groceries in her hand, was staring at him, baffled by the ridiculous circumstance.
The 'thud' that Alex heard was the sound of the groceries falling or was it his dignity being destroyed. How long was she there?
The scene got even more humiliating when one more person came from behind Emily.
"What is he doing? I thought he was recovering."
"Don't know, A ritual perhaps!" Said the two people, ignoring Alex. Emily giggled while looking at Alex's foolish act.
If there was a hole, Alex would have crawled into it and hidden there forever.
"What's worse? The fact that he did this five times or the fact that we caught him in the act." Said the middle-aged man who was with Emily.
—-----------Alex POV—------------
"So, you are my team leader. And I was part of your team in the police force. Oh! I was a detective." I should have read Outerworlds more thoroughly as if my life depended on it. I forgot about the side characters and their storyline. Thank god that Emily was here to ease the atmosphere. Or else I wouldn't know what I would do.
If I was a detective, why was I on a guarding mission?
Maybe for extra manpower. Even the military was involved in the transportation and storing of Quantum Synced Crystal (QSC)devices.
"I am here to inform you that you are reinstated. Your suspension is withdrawn and you can come to work as soon as you are ready." Saying that the middle-aged man with a bubbly personality looked at me.
"Then, what about the QSC theft?"
"It's taken care of, we were not the only ones there. They can't blame us for everything." The team leader, Mr Thomas Orwin smiled before replying.
While looking at the smiling senior before me. I was feeling sad. I was destined to die, and this guy will probably die too. Unless I change something.
Am I feeling guilty? I never expected myself to have something like a conscience.
Doubting myself wouldn't change anything. I have decided to change my fate. Now adding one more person to the list might not be that hard.
Even though I know what was about to happen. It shouldn't excuse me from exercising caution. After all, assuming the worst possible outcome was in my blood.
"So, I only need to come to work after complete recovery, right?"
"Yes, we are assigned to a new case that involves human trafficking. This might get gnarly and I would like to have you in your full capacity. I mean physically and mentally."
"Ok, Let's meet two days later then. I am almost fully healed. I just need a couple of more days to adjust myself to this temporary amnesia." I lied through my teeth about my amnesia. I am almost sure that it was not temporary. But the situation demands me to lie, so I will.
"Oh! By the way, did you say human trafficking case?"
"Yes! I did? Do you have some information!" Thomas Orwin inquired.
"Emily, what day is it today? Date, month and year. Say everything."
"July 23rd, 2022."
'Oh! Fuck! Now that I think about it. Isn't this the year of the Blood River? It was so long ago that I read the initial part of the novel. It might have caused my oversight. But now I remember why this year was called the year of blood river.'
The name in itself was self-explanatory. Although humans are the most powerful species on earth as of now. It will not always be so, and the beginning of the change happens this year.
Three months from now, on October 10th. A horrifying incident will happen. From the river Azha that flows through Nova city, this city. A horde of demons will emerge.
With tremendous strength, they will wipe out the general population. Dying the river red using the blood of humans. A scary bleak future was just in front of me.
You might expect the main character of the story to do something about that. But the truth is that Edward is not yet powerful enough to do so. The government will fail too in the face of this tribulation.
And the few strong people who could make a difference will be in dungeons, exploring and fighting while no news of the attack on Nova city will be passed on to them.
Now I know why a QSC device was stolen. A risky move that no one will dare to do. By using a synched QSC device, they plan to sabotage the communication between the dungeon and earth.
It was the demons, I am sure of it. Now everything is making sense.
And the human trafficking was simply a plot of demons to mass-produce demons.
Why do I always grab the short end of the stick!
Alex of the novel died before the Blood-River event. And the simple conclusion to all that information is that.
Do nothing, will die in the Blood River event.
Poke my nose into QSC theft, will be murdered by the demons.
Looking into the human trafficking case, why bother?.
This world was showing a middle finger toward me even before I made a move. Even the cloud in the sky and the tea leaves on my teacup all look like a cluster of middle fingers to me.
How can I salvage this situation?
For a hero, this might be an emotional stimulation to become strong. For everyone else, novel characters or not. This was a death sentence.
"Sigh!" My mind became exhausted from all the thinking.
"If you have something to say, say it. Don't just sigh and make faces. You are raising my expectations a little. You really look like you are constipated.``
"Team leader, give me some time, please. Let's meet up tomorrow."
"Okay! Then see you tomorrow, be sure to remember all the details about human trafficking. We need to investigate this properly. Don't want to be known as a failure ever again."
"Rest assured, my amnesia is only temporary. I will give you a satisfactory answer." Slowly a plan began to form inside my mind. How to not die when reincarnated into a novel. This is a little crazy. But it is the only way.
—--------------
After a while.
Facing me and sitting across the dining table was Emily. She cooked some rice and curry for me and was looking at me with a resolve to do something. Finally, she made up her mind.
"Um! I have something to say." Emily said.
"Ah!" I was startled. Are we finally going to do it? A serious conversation like an adult. I mean I look like an adult and technically I am an eighteen-year-old soul. I can consider myself an adult, right?
"What is it?" I asked while tensed. I need to cool down. Even though I never held a girl's hand, much less have a girlfriend. I think I need to deal with this seriously.
"First and foremost, do you remember promising me that we will meet my family next week?"
"Did I?" What was she talking about. I don't remember something like this happening in the novel. This might be the result of me changing the storyline. The original Alex broke up with Emily soon after he was stabbed. So, there was no family meet and greet event in the novel.
What should I do? Beg to not go. Or hold hands and act lovey-dovey with her. My few sane brain cells went into overdrive trying to find an answer. But without letting me continue, Emily continued.
"Yes, you did…" Emily paused shyly.
Was our relationship so deep? How far did they go to meet the family? Don't tell me she was willing to marry this guy, Alex. That's preposterous.
"Okay then!" I replied. Emily was visually surprised by my answer. She nodded her head like a pecking chick.
"So cute!" My hidden thoughts leaked again.
'Blushes…' Emily blushed hearing that, I turned my head in embarrassment.
—-------------
Lightning flashed, then it became very dark. My body felt weak.
"What happened?" I sat up from the dark alley that I was in. My neck was throbbing with pain.
There were not many people near me, but I could see the shining street lights. I could see a person walking away from me with my blurry vision. He was moving quickly towards the other side of the street. He seems to have noticed a person and began following her.
The person clothed in a black hoodie had a knife in his hand. He hid his hand behind him while walking quickly towards the lady.
I became cautious.
My body tensed up while I made the quick decision to follow them. The gleaming edge of the knife was giving me a bad vibe. I didn't know what happened to me yet. But that didn't stop me from following them. I didn't want something bad to happen in front of me.
Before I knew it, I was closing in on the lady and the unknown man.
Just as we reached an alley, that man sprung into action. Running towards the lady, he hit her in the head stunning her. Holding her by the hair, he forcefully pulled her towards the alley.
It was a shocking scene for me. But I quickly ran towards them with all my strength. Before I knew it, I was already near the man who was holding his knife high in a stabbing pose. The woman was under him, while he sat on top of her staring with deathly eyes.
There was not even a moment to think. I quickly ran and kicked the man with all the strength I have. Might have broken some of his ribs in the process.
But something was different. The man quickly sprung to his feet as if nothing happened and stabbed the knife into my abdomen. The pain was horrifyingly torturous, but I held in the scream that was bursting through my mouth.
"Why you! Why are you here?" The man said in astonishment.
The assailant was close. There was no time to think about what he was saying. I have to do something quickly before I get killed.
I thought showing my presence was enough to prevent the man from doing something bad. But now I have realized that he didn't care at all.
Before the impending doom, I quickly straightened my fingers and poked him in the eye, catching the assailant off guard. My fingers poked into one of his eyes, blinding him. While my other hand clutched the knife preventing it from stabbing in further.
"Ah…." The assailant cried out in pain, more pitifully than me. Before releasing the knife and running away. The last thing I remember was the bluish flickering flame across my hand and a warm feeling flowing through it.
"Ring… Ring… Ring…" The alarm woke me up from my sleep.
"Emily?! Was it all a dream or did it happen?"
Morning 6 am. I woke up from a nightmare. I was questioning the authenticity of this reality now. I could vividly remember every bit of that nightmare. That was the day when I transmigrated into this world.
What happened that day?
Was it all a dream or did it really happen?
Questions one by one were popping inside my head like fireworks.
But the truth remained. It was not a dream, it was a memory. This proves that I might really have temporary amnesia and this also proves that there is more to the stabbing incident than meets the eye.
The assailant knew Alex beforehand.
"Why you! Why are you here?" Were the exact words he said.
As if he was not expecting me. The assailant was shocked to see me. He might have knocked out Alex beforehand or killed him in the process. That might have been why he was surprised. His real target might have been Emily all along.
As every hero would do, the MC in this novel was no different. He lives to piss off countless bad guys while doing what he thinks is good.
And one of those people might be the reason for Emily almost getting stabbed in the novel. But instead of Emily, I was the one that was stabbed?
I was the personification of collateral damage.
'Ah! Next time I see the bastard who stabbed me. I have to make sure to skewer out his other eye and make a kebab with it. That ass, I will get him for sure. Even if the MC dies, I will survive till the end. F this world. What a damned nightmare, I almost had a heart attack.'
Getting my memories back allowed me to have a clearer picture of what happened. Now is the time to take action and so I shall do it.
First on the agenda. Buying metal skewers for kebabs.
—---
Donning his shoes with the pretext of going for a run, Alex went and bought the metal skewers.
"Ha ha ha ha…"