It felt as if I was standing at the edge of a dangerous cliff.

    Cold sweat dampened my back, my tongue was bone dry, and my heart pounded so loudly it was almost deafening.

    Was this how a criminal caught red-handed by the police felt?

    The fear that my life might soon come to an end seemed to choke off my breath.

    The only small comfort was that I had an excuse to keep my mouth tightly shut when questioned.

    I was glad I couldn’t speak. Surely my voice would be too pathetic to bear.

    ''...That’s not a very comforting thought!''

    Of course, such a natural exercise of my right to remain silent didn’t help at all in solving the situation.

    It only stopped things from getting any worse.

    The moment Tempest pinpointed me as a psychic, the situation had already hit rock bottom.

    Damn it. When he asked about the Nexus Project, I should’ve reacted as if I had no idea what he was talking about.

    But since I had responded so clearly as if I knew everything, there was no way out now.

    Still, it couldn’t be helped that I had let my guard down.

    The fact that Tempest could identify psychics was something that had never appeared in the original story.

    After such a suffocating interview, it was only natural that I’d let my guard down.

    ''What should I do? What on earth am I supposed to do?''

    I hadn’t really thought about what to do if I got caught this easily.

    I had never imagined a scenario where I’d be identified as a psychic without even using telekinesis.

    So, what happens next?

    Would the Association take me away as a test subject? Or would they just eliminate me as a threat?

    Either way, it was the worst-case scenario. If things went wrong, even Raven or Greg, who had looked out for me, could get dragged into this.

    ''I don’t want that... Because of me... I don’t want others to get hurt...''

    Amid the endless stream of thoughts, a familiar face suddenly flashed through my mind.

    Raven, Greg, Alice, David, Sabrina... The incredibly precious people I had met in this world.

    And along with them, the nightmare of my precious people being harmed because of my mistake.

    A cold sensation that seemed to freeze my emotions stabbed my heart sharply.

    ''There’s no changing the fact that I’ve been caught. So, I have to find a way to get through this somehow.''

    In a way, it was incredibly fortunate.

    Up until now, while caught in confusion, I couldn’t think rationally no matter how hard I tried.

    But by reaching the limit of my emotions, my mind seemed to snap back to calmness.

    There was a reason behind the saying, “Even if you’re caught in a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.”

    Of course, where I was now wasn’t a tiger’s den—it was a dragon’s den.

    ''But wait, if they can recognize psychics... then how did the Invaders manage to sneak into Nighthaven? Shouldn’t they be catching those intruders? Why am I the only one they’ve identified?''

    The more I thought about it, the more unfair it seemed.

    If they could distinguish psychics, shouldn’t they be focusing on the Invaders hiding in Nighthaven?

    Why were they bothering someone as insignificant and unremarkable as me? Did they have some sort of grudge?

    When that thought filled my mind, a hot emotion close to anger flared up.

    Along with it, the pride that I had never done anything wrong in my life reignited my waning resolve.

    If anything, I had helped the world—I had never caused harm to anyone.

    In fact, they should be grateful to me!

    With that mindset, I found myself glaring at Tempest with a fierce look in my eyes.

    He, who had been watching me, stroked his beard with an expression I couldn’t quite read.

    “Hmmm, I see. It seems the question was a bit off for someone who can’t answer. Let me rephrase it. Yuria... are you a psychic created by the Nexus Project?”

    While I had been regaining my composure, Tempest seemed to have been refining his question.

    Perhaps he was adjusting it to be a simple yes or no so he could still extract the information he wanted.

    I listened carefully, frowning deeply as I deliberated.

    I had a gut feeling that my answer here would determine my fate.

    ''Well, I do know about the Nexus Project. There’s no way I wouldn’t. After all... it’s a massive event that is central to this Fixer universe.''

    The Nexus Project was a large-scale experiment conducted in secret during the war with other races.

    Its purpose was to transplant the power used by dimensional invaders, the Invaders, into humans.

    Just think about how much influence beings like dragons and progenitors wield now.

    Tempest himself had power and influence so immense he was considered a one-man army.

    The progenitor was so dangerous that even someone like Tempest, whose actions were hard to predict, couldn’t easily provoke them.

    And yet, the Invaders were beings who had destroyed the Otherworld—the home of those dragons and progenitors.

    There was no way greedy humans would leave such power alone.

    ''Of course, the result of the Nexus Project was a clear failure. The plan for humanity to gain the Invaders'' power only ended up giving the invaders more loyal minions. It could be considered one of humanity’s greatest mistakes.''

    The arrogant plan to wield the Invaders’ power backfired completely.

    Humans with special genes, the psychics, ended up becoming slaves to the Invaders.

    Those who were captivated by the power from beyond dimensions went mad, steering the world toward ruin.

    They even attempted to summon an incomplete Invader to Earth.

    Fortunately, this was discovered early enough to stop it at the initial stage....

    But since they hadn’t destroyed the roots of the problem, the same thing could always happen again.

    In fact, in the future, a recovered Invader would succeed in calling forth more invaders.

    “...”

    So, how should I answer this?

    If I think carefully about Tempest’s question, it could be interpreted like this:

    The Nexus Project ultimately produced psychics who worshipped the Invaders.

    So, wasn’t he implying that since I was a psychic, I too might be tainted by the Invaders?

    In other words, there would be no excuse for me if I were to be cast aside here.

    Alright, now that I understood his intention, I needed to think calmly.

    Contrary to what he thought, I had no connection with the Invaders.

    In fact, I’d be glad if the Invaders disappeared from the world altogether.

    So, the answer I needed to give here was "no."

    The Nexus Project itself had happened years ago, and I had only awakened a few months back.

    No matter how I looked at it, it would be difficult for me to be considered a psychic created by the Nexus Project.

    However, if I simply answered "no," there would be no other way to explain myself.

    How on earth was I supposed to convey that I was a reincarnator with memories of my past life?

    Yeah, so the best I could do here was...!

    “...”

    “Hm? That reaction... you don’t mean to say you don’t know, do you?”

    “...!”

    I held my gaze on Tempest relentlessly until he started to feel puzzled.

    As the silence dragged on, Tempest eventually grasped what I intended.

    My answer was neither yes nor no—it was "I don’t know."

    I had no way of knowing what my past was like before I opened my eyes. It wasn’t even a lie.

    Tempest was a mage so skilled he could discern lies just by looking at someone.

    He quickly realized that I had no intention of deceiving him.

    However, there was still a questionable part.

    If I didn’t know my own past, how did I know about the Nexus Project, which was buried in the world''s shadows?

    ''This is my chance.''

    I discreetly held the Tesseract hidden inside my clothes against my chest.

    Then I slowly stood up and lifted my shirt slightly, just enough to reveal my stomach.

    Tempest’s eyes widened as he saw the scars covering my abdomen.

    The reason for his surprise was none other than the countless scars that covered my exposed skin.

    “Those scars... could they be...?”

    “...”

    Without any reaction, I quickly pulled my shirt back down, as if asking if this was enough.

    But could he really discern something just from my actions? His face twisted with discomfort.

    Well, in his mind, he was probably envisioning me being horribly abused by the Invaders.

    And maybe he thought I had managed to escape from their organization by seizing a rare opportunity.

    To me, he must have been imagining a situation that was quite advantageous.

    Of course, this was all a deception. However, the scars themselves weren’t fake—they were real.

    I had only used the Tesseract to temporarily swap my current self with a version of me from a timeline where my body was covered in scars.

    In a way, it was just an extension of when I had erased my previous wounds.

    If I could remove scars, I could also create them.

    Making scars, especially, wasn’t difficult. Though it did consume some energy, which hurt a bit.

    ''I won’t say anything directly. If I give an exact answer, he’ll realize it’s all a lie.''

    Despite being a dragon, Tempest had a remarkably gentle nature, even by human standards.

    If he weren’t such a person, he wouldn’t have become the mayor of the city or helped suppress the world war...

    Normally, most people wouldn’t bother with such a thankless job. If it were me, the stress would’ve split my head in half.

    All I did was guide his misunderstanding and induce his misconception.

    A mute psychic covered in scars—couldn’t that shake his heart, even a little?

    And it seemed my rather wicked plan had worked.

    Tempest let out a troubled sigh and spoke much more gently than before.

    “Sigh, signs of abuse... I thought from the start you were a bit different from a typical psychic... Tsk, then I’ll get straight to the point, Yuria. Are you... on humanity’s side?”

    “...!”

    “I see. Despite knowing about the Nexus Project and possessing psychic powers, you use that power with caution... I still can’t fully trust you, but at least I’m sure you hold no hostility.”

    This was... success!

    I barely managed to suppress the urge to jump up and down with joy, instead sitting back down as if nothing had happened.

    Revealing my emotions too early might change Tempest’s mind.

    I had to remain as calm as possible until I found a way out of here.

    One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

    After a long while, staring out the window as he pondered, Tempest finally turned to me.

    “Then, let’s do this. Yuria, do you have any thoughts about receiving ‘protection’ from the Association?”

    His final proposal was something that would require careful consideration.