Chapter #12 - What if?

(First Person - Artemis~)

As I stared at the commands floating on the screen, a progress bar appeared next to the main screen, which signaled the current optimization and readiness status of the program and the device.

While it was running, an ambient music I had arranged for this kind of waiting time played, it is annoying to do nothing while other things do your work, so I connected to the bunker's network, which was limited to the 10 km area around. I told my sisters about what had happened before except the last part about the interesting existence, and I changed it to a situation that caught my attention; my sisters did not hesitate much but even so I could notice the concern in the faces of both, so I took some time to calm them down and assure them that nothing dangerous was happening, to which, due to my continuous assurances, they gave in calmly, not forgetting to remind me to come to breakfast, which I gladly accepted.

After the call ended, I looked at the progress bar:

[Current progress: 67%

Estimated optimization time: 30 minutes]

Because there was some time left, I decided to infiltrate the network once again, since considering the previous communication, these troublesome guys have some infiltration ability to control it to some extent, which worries me a little, I knew very well where this network came from, and its importance was higher than the planet itself.

(Artemis) [Speaking of her, I haven't spoken to her for a long time... even when I was angry at her for what she did without my permission. As a world conscience, she should be more attentive to herself instead of fulfilling the wishes of others without considering the consequences, if I hadn't supplemented her with the knowledge she lacked, this planet would already be in the hands of someone terrible, I should be able to see her now, but I guess her state is quite precarious. While I am a bit angry about her, I cannot let her die or be manipulated by others; I will have to make a trip to that place, though it will be a headache in several ways...]

While thinking about a certain useless world consciousness, I checked and breached the cyber walls and fortresses of external forces on the net thanks to a certain phantom authority, gathering information about the forces and characters in and behind these.

--------------------------------------------

(Third person~)

In a hidden place, in the depths of a cave, there was a high-tech equipment, controlled by several people and at a very alarming speed for ordinary beings, in the center of the place, there were two people, both women, connected to a type of helmet, which blinked at times.

These two women were the main force of this force, using these helmets, which were external entrances to the Reinette network, to suppress the higher authority and obtain it for themselves.

Suddenly, red lights started flashing all over the place, which alerted all the controllers and soldiers in the area, forcing the two women connected to the helmets to disconnect as a protective measure.

(Woman A) - What happened, why did we disconnect, what is the status? - asked one of the women who disconnected while stretching a little.

(Controller) - Miss, we are currently under attack by an unknown existence, our defenses are obsolete to their level, and I fear that, in less than 1 minute, all the devices here will be discarded by that person, including the extreme diving helmet - Answered the controller in command of the group.

(Woman B) - These can only be done by her sister, if she really came back, then we can only run away from the planet, I do not want to face her again - said the second girl who disconnected from the helmet.

After listening to what her sister said, the woman A remained silent, determining a viable option... until an image appeared on the screen, an image of a person they didn't want to see...

(Artemis) - Wow, and I was wondering who was brave enough to perform such an operation, but it turned out to be you two; I should have guessed - Artemis said while sitting on a stone, outdoors.

----------------------------------------------------------------

(First person-Artemis~)

To be honest, I already figured that this operation had to be related to Iana, I'm not saying that she was collaborating with third parties in this coup, but there were already many third parties in our relationship and now they are directly linked, so it's not strange that part of their wives are in agreement with their plans.

These two girls are Tana and Mana, they are twin sisters that we picked up in our travels, their planet was in a state of unstable volatility, that is to say it would explode at any moment, so, at this time we had to mobilize a large part of our forces to stabilize and neutralize the core of the planet, when we got there, I realized that shortly after our arrival, an important part of the world core had been removed which caused the instability, thus giving the current problem.

Then, due to Iana and their insistence, we picked them up and took them to our house, everything was fine for a few years, until I found out that the perpetrators of the core theft were the little girls who seemed innocent by our side.

(Artemis) - I didn't expect you guys to be in this place, I think I warned you what would happen if you picked up your old ways, Tana, Mara. - I said to both as I fixed my slightly disorganized hair.

As I spoke, I noticed how both girls started to tremble and it wasn't from emotion, they knew what they had done and in fact they knew how I had dealt with the threats I had encountered on my way, either with or without Iana's consent, and they even knew that I had a little notebook that I registered thousands of ways to die thanks to the disinterested ones who obstructed my path.

(Artemis) - I guess Iana didn't tell you, but I'll tell you: Get out of my home in two hours, or face the consequences - I paused a little and adjusted my face in the most indifferent way possible - Potentially DEADLY! - I finished my sentence by staring at both devils.

The two girls simply gave the order to cut the power and run away, and then ran out of the place leaving behind a total mess.

(Artemis) [These girls do evil but abandon everything else for their own survival, even their innocence; I still remember how Iana interceded with them, which I thought was because of her motherly affection; but after a coincidence, seeing them going out with Iana in the middle and both of them by her side, smiling like vixens snatching their prey, the truth never confronted Iana for this, because I always believed I was the first in her heart, the trust we had at that time had not come out of nowhere; I may have fallen in love but I didn't become an idiot because of that.

Still...that fucker kept bringing woman after woman, which I guess was the preface to the current situation].

[BEEP-BEEP-OPTIMIZATION COMPLETED]

As I thought, "Searcher 21.0" completed its optimization and was ready to unveil the mystery.

Press the white button in the center which started running the program:

[START CONFIRMED]

{LIFE SCAN IN PROGRESS-------SCAN COMPLETED}

{ADMINISTRATOR LEVEL ∞ - ARTEMIS - CONFIRMED}

[STARTING COUNTDOWN TO START OF RETROSPECTION]

{10}

{9}

{8}

{7}

{6}

{5}

{4}

{3}

{2}

{1}

{0}

[RETROSPECTION ACTIVATED!]

The moment the last message came out, everything around me was literally paralyzed, even me, I can only move thanks to the vacuum in my body.

Plants, wind, light, time-space, etc. Everything stopped in a state infinitely close to Zero.

But after a few seconds, the perspective I had, of everything, started to be rewound, as if I was rewinding a movie, everything except me was returning to its previously recorded state.

I remembered that I had left a time limit before I fell asleep, of course I was not affected, so the artifact created a phantom copy of me to represent the entire time.

After going back 10 hours in time, in simulation, I noticed myself lying on the stone and decided to play the simulation 2 times the normal speed, which strangely enough, overheated "Searcher 21.0" a little.

[Cliffhanger was here, but the author politely dismissed it so as not to let the reader down badly].

(Third person~)

After a few minutes, an anomaly appeared in the current space; a shadow approached the sleeping Artemis out of nowhere, while "that" time-space was suspended like the image at the beginning of the simulator. The figure could not be easily determined, it was only a shadow and her real body was not recognizable, her slender figure could barely give an idea of her female sex, while her face was completely black.

(Artemis) [Ha! if you don't want to show your face, then you think I can't know who you are, if I can't do that then my title of the best scientist in existence is not deserved!]

Artemis brought out a device called "Death to Riddle 100.0", because as a scientist, artemis likes to reveal secrets, she will not accept that they make artificial riddles, so she strived to improve this device to detect mysteries or abnormalities that have been created in less than 3 days.

The device was a camera, which was intended to collect information from internal storage and reconstruct things according to the situation recorded in the records of the world and internal memory.

Artemis noticed the figure's anxiety, but as the creator of her artifacts, she had full confidence in her inventions, so the figure could only remain still, waiting to be unveiled.

A few minutes later a picture came out of the camera, portraying the shadow figure, and by coincidence two other figures.

Artemis, when she saw the pictures, was stunned for the first time in years.

[A WILD CLIFFHANGER HAS APPEARED!!!!]