The Evil Scientist is Too Competent

After the first Adam's death, I continued watching the simulation despite my discomfort.

No matter how I felt, that wasn’t a reason to turn away from the truth.

As expected, the second and third Adams also perished within a day, accomplishing nothing.

The second was dropped in the middle of a war and died instantly.

The third was mauled to death by a roaming beast.

A world without civilization was an incredibly dangerous place.

A regular person—one who lacked combat skills and weaponry—wouldn’t last a single day.

And so, after tens of thousands of years, the fourth Adam arrived.

He successfully spread knowledge of the alphabet and Arabic numerals.

But beyond that, he achieved little before dying.

"I see. I think I understand now."

After witnessing the deaths of four clones and the passage of hundreds of thousands of years, I finally realized why there was such a long gap between the appearances of Adams.

From the very beginning—

Adam wasn’t meant to be deployed so many times.

At most, only once or twice.

A contingency plan—an emergency intervention for when Terra’s humanity failed to find its way.

Had everything gone according to the Earthlings’ original plans, Terra’s civilization would have reached the medieval era within ten thousand years.

If Adam had arrived then, the second Adam would have been born into a society not so different from Earth’s.

And by that point, humanity would have had the means to prevent the appearance of additional Adams altogether.

But reality wasn’t so simple.

This world was unpredictable, chaotic.

And humans—wild, unrestrained humans—were impossible to forecast, even with Earth’s advanced technology.

"Honestly, I’m more amazed that these primitive bastards managed to build a civilization at all."

The fifth Adam introduced the foundations of science and mathematics.

But the humans of this world didn’t take it seriously.

Mathematics was an invention born from the necessity of agriculture.

These supernatural hunter-gatherers, who never had to worry about food, had no need for such a thing.

The sixth Adam, realizing that humanity needed to be reset, attempted to make them more intelligent.

It was a difficult task, but by applying every psychological technique from Earth, he somehow managed to succeed.

The seventh Adam—

He tried to advise the newly civilized humans—only to be killed.

Which was understandable.

After all, these damn monkeys weren’t farming—

...I didn’t even want to talk about it.

"—So, that means I’m..."

Finally—

At Terra’s 2.56-million-year mark,

Humanity had blossomed into a machine civilization.

And a graduate student fell from the sky.

An Akashic Record who would rapidly advance Terra’s technological growth.

After watching all of this unfold, I finally understood both the nature of my existence and my duty.

I was a designed being, created specifically for Terra.

My life was artificial.

But I also realized—being artificial wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I hadn’t been made as a mere plaything, nor was I some tool for destruction.

"I was... born for you."

The simulation neared its end.

Shifting my perspective, I looked down upon the planet.

A tiny blue dot fit perfectly within my field of vision.

Long ago, astronauts claimed that witnessing this sight had profoundly changed them.

But to someone like me—who lived far beyond their time—

It didn’t stir anything in me.

What set my heart racing wasn’t the sight of this small planet in its entirety.

It was the fact that I now understood my purpose—

And what I had to do.

"For you... and for Earth."

Adam’s duty.

It was to develop Terra into a second Earth.

And from now on—

That was my task as well.

Returning from the simulation, I immediately found myself face-to-face with three women, all staring at me in silence.

They wore grim expressions, as if they had been waiting for me to wake up.

Sensing the tension in the air, I carefully broke the silence.

"...What’s wrong?"

"Eight-tan. I have something to ask you."

Leviathan’s usual playful tone was gone.

Her voice was steady.

Her expression—serious.

She stared straight at me and spoke.

"—Did you sleep with Vira?"

Next to her, Aile was nodding furiously in agreement.

And caught between them, Vira looked more than a little sheepish—her awkward smile practically screaming Sorry, man, I fucked up.

Judging by this situation...

It was clear that Aile had dragged the full confession out of her.

Which made sense.

Vira knew Aile’s # Nоvеlight # feelings well.

Aile had never been good at hiding them—she still clung to the innocence of a young girl.

Even someone as dense as me had picked up on it.

So, for another woman like Vira, Aile’s emotions must have been painfully obvious.

"...Yeah."

"You told me Vira wasn’t your type. You said you liked big boobs."

"I prefer big boobs. That doesn’t mean I dislike small ones."

I answered honestly, stating both facts and my personal preferences.

Leviathan tilted her head, puzzled by my composure.

I suppose my attitude must have felt off to her.

After all, I wasn’t panicked.

I wasn’t guilty.

I wasn’t making excuses.

But it couldn’t be helped.

I had just spent millions of years coming to terms with my own existence and purpose.

I had no intention of letting myself be shaken over something as trivial as women.

I had responsibilities far greater than this petty love drama.

"So? What did you come here to say?"

"Don't you think this is unfair?" Leviathan’s voice was unusually subdued. "You rejected my confession so coldly, but you slept with Vira just like that..."

"M-Mine too!" Aile quickly followed up, her face burning. "You turned me down as well—! W-When did you become so shameless?!"

Leviathan and Aile, their emotions running high, fired off rapid accusations.

Hearing such complaints from women who were neither my lovers, wives, nor family felt utterly absurd.

Sure, they had expressed their affection for me before.

But that didn’t mean we had established any kind of deep relationship.

Fortunately, I knew exactly how to shut them down.

There were psychological tactics that women absolutely hated.

"So, do you two want to do it too?"

"...What?"

"E-E-Eh—?!"

Vira and Aile froze, their faces blank with shock.

Meanwhile, Leviathan—who had clearly been waiting for that very invitation—immediately started stripping off her shirt.

Only to be tackled and restrained by the other two.

Her arms pinned down, she screamed like a man falsely accused of seduction.

"Eight-tan tempted me first—! This is legal!"

"Get a hold of yourself, you lunatic! Aile, let’s take her out of here!"

"Y-Yes! Scientist, we’ll talk later!"

With my ultimate technique, I had successfully driven all three out.

Letting out a sigh, I stood up from the sofa and walked over to the coffee machine.

With a fresh cup in hand, I returned to the window.

The city of E sprawled beneath me, its details far clearer than when viewed from space.

Turning Terra into a second Earth was important, of course.

But simply copying Earth wasn’t enough.

Earth had its own methods, and Terra had its own.

Besides, reckless development could sicken the planet.

And if the planet sickened, its inhabitants wouldn’t be spared either.

"I’m going to need a long lifespan for this."

A very long lifespan.

Even as normal people were born and grew old, becoming wrinkled elders, I would have to remain young and devote myself to research.

I could already see the hardship ahead.

Now I understood why Adam’s memories had been implanted with the identity of a graduate student.

Only a grad student could be dumb enough to accept this kind of workload.

I let out a self-deprecating chuckle at my own joke.

*****

After that day, Eight became insanely busy.

His past research suddenly seemed like child’s play compared to the absurd technological advancements he now released daily.

[Evilus Corporation—The Anti-Aging Drug! A formula that prevents aging until natural death!]

[Is Energy Now Infinite!? Evilus’ Room-Temperature Fusion Reactor Activated!]

[The Brain of a God—Evilus Conquers Baldness!]

At times, he even invented things that Earth had never been able to achieve.

If this were a normal world, Evilus would have already been dismantled by government pressure.

With so many world-changing technologies monopolized under one company, it was only natural for the masses to believe that Evilus was plotting world domination.

Which—

To be fair—

They could actually do.

They had the capital, the power, and the military force to make it happen.

Even Regalia was one of those who suspected such things.

"...Scientist, what the hell have you made this time?"

"Full-immersion virtual reality. Entertainment for the overworked masses."

"Oh, dear God."

But in truth—

It was far worse than what Regalia imagined.

Watching the mad scientist before her, she realized how many people he was about to drag into an inescapable abyss.

"—Do you have any idea what people are saying about us?"

"Hmm?"

"They think we’re torturing aliens for intel. They’re even questioning whether you’re human."

"I’m not an alien, I’m an evil scientist."

Regalia sighed. "Then they’ll probably start saying this instead—"

She recalled a joke that had been spreading among the public.

"The Evil Scientist is just too damn competent."

Hearing that, Eight let out a small chuckle.

Regalia, after a brief moment, laughed as well.

For a while, the quiet sound of their shared amusement filled the room.