The Evil Scientist is Too Competent

After preventing the end of the universe, I immediately used perception alteration to mess with the memories of all humanity. The apocalypse never happened, and the riots or crimes they committed never took place.

In the process, I tried to restore the damage they caused as much as possible, and where I couldn’t, I fabricated a believable event to fill in. Honestly, this was more challenging than solving the bif universe issue.

It was incredibly headache-inducing, and I felt almost existential dread questioning why I had to do such things, all while taking risks of recklessly manipulating people’s memories… but I had no choice but to do it.

‘If I don’t do it, then who will…?’

In a situation where countless people were despondent and committing terror, even if I argued that we should all forget the past and return to the peaceful times since I somehow solved the crisis of destruction, no one would buy it.

There would be indelible scars in memory that would continue to fester, eventually igniting the flames of war where humanity would turn their weapons against one another.

So I had to do it. It was something only I could handle.

“I shouldn’t keep doing this.”

I wondered if Goku felt like this when he laughed and said he could just revive his friends with Dragon Balls. I found myself feeling a similar emotion. People die, accidents occur, and I think I can just resolve everything with perception alteration-! That thought was increasingly taking root in my mind.

What if this feeling kept growing? If I started to see humans not as humans but as mere NPCs to be manipulated?

Can I still call someone like that human? I began to understand, not just with my head but with my heart, the reason why people said we shouldn’t manipulate memories of other humans on Earth.

‘Should I believe in some religion or something…?’

Sadly, this world doesn’t have a Buddha who promises to save everyone nor a God who said he’d come to rescue 144,000.

From friends, family, the nation, the world— even forsaken by the gods, where can a person in this other world find salvation?

It was a troubling night.

* * *

“Hoo……”

The man exhaled and moved a translucent hand that existed only in his mind. The soldiers in front of him were crushed to the size of a fist.

If it were the old days, just showing this level of power would have made his reputation plummet, and everything would be over, but these days weren’t like that. The soldiers he crushed were androids, mass-produced for a mere few hundred dollars; they swarmed in without respite due to their shockingly low price.

Literally, unceasingly.

“Guh-!”

Androids spewed smoke grenades, sleeping gas, tear gas, and nerve gas, along with an endless barrage of bullets from all directions, not to mention heroes hiding everywhere using their superpowers.

All of this was gradually wearing down the man’s psychokinetic abilities. Did he ever think he’d be defeated like this? The title of S-Class villain felt almost empty at this point.

The strategy was perfectly suited to counter him and the heroes were not a good matchup either. And then there were the seemingly infinite mass-produced androids. The man sensed he would be captured here— if he was unlucky, he might even be killed outright.

“Damn it……”

After several minutes, the man, exhausted, stopped resisting and was subdued. It was not a smooth process. He was forcibly put to sleep with sleeping gas and roughly tied up. After waking up, even using his superpowers would be hard.

The heroes and androids who completed their operation returned with an emotionless demeanor as if they had just done what needed to be done.

A woman was watching this scene closely. Looking out the window while sipping her tea, the woman frowned at the androids returning to their base.

“Soulless tools…”

This was a common occurrence lately. The city government was operating androids to subdue villains that had gone untamed up until now. This was made possible thanks to the Evilus Agent and android technology unleashed by the Evilus Corporation.

It was a good thing. Thanks to this, villains were unable to exert as much power as before, and the number of citizens suffering from villains had sharply decreased. The world had become a little better than before.

However, some people did not look at this situation favorably. The sight of soulless tools taking away what noble humans should be doing was hard for them to accept.

The woman felt the same way.

“─Saintess. It’s time.”

“Ah— already?”

Called by the nun, the saintess carefully set down her teacup and stood up. Moments later, following the nun to the dressing room, she adorned herself with wings on her back and a sparkling halo above her head. Anyone who saw her with wings and a halo couldn’t help but feel a sense of sacredness.

A being sent from the heavens. The saintess, fully adorned as an angel, walked cautiously towards the chapel. Inside, thousands of worshippers were waiting for her.

“Oh, Saintess-!”