"On the eve of the machine's self-activation, before it killed me, I thought about many things unrelated to my own life and death. I thought about what kind of life I would have had if I had not been trapped inside this Experiment Chamber."
"I would have married Janey. She would have worn the most beautiful wedding dress, and I would have rented the largest ballroom in the Waldorf Astoria. We would have had many children and lived happily ever after, until we grew old and fell into Long Sleep beneath the setting sun."
"In that brief span of time, I had already lived out an entire lifetime with her in my mind. I suddenly understood that, if I had a choice, I would rather have an ordinary life than leave my name and voice upon the world as my teacher had said."
"At least, that was what I thought then. But just as we were desperately saying goodbye to each other, things changed. A stranger wearing Black and Yellow Armor suddenly appeared beside me."
"No one knew how he had gotten in or who he was, but he seemed to know me. His voice sounded as though it came from the bottom of a dried-up well in the desert, a hoarse yet deep laugh."
"'Doctor, it seems you have made your choice,' the strange man said. But I was terrified. My mind was completely blank, and I had no idea what he meant."
"But the next moment, I was already outside the chamber, embracing Janey, while my teacher held onto my arm."
"When I turned to look, I could only see the figure undergoing a strange phenomenon within the intense blue light. His body spewed black smoke like a black hole. Eleven minutes and fifty-seven seconds later, the timer