Chapter 143: Welcome to Hell (Part 1)

"How fascinating..."

Looking at the elven maiden lying on the bed, Valen rubbed his chin. The elven maiden was still unconscious, resembling a sleeping beauty waiting to be awakened by a prince. The only jarring detail was the rope binding her hands and feet, which thoroughly dragged the sleeping beauty down to the level of a captive mountain chieftain's bride.

However, Valen did not care about such trivial matters of aesthetics. He reached out, carefully pinching the elven maiden's arms and ankles, and then furrowed his brow.

Although both Chris and Kurona had found it completely normal, as a "doctor," Valen immediately caught a deeply bizarre problem from their accounts: how on earth had this elven maiden been able to move?

Putting aside the fact that she had spent decades in a cryogenic pod, even after her thaw, she had remained unconscious and motionless the entire time. According to Valen's calculations, about half a month had passed from her thawing to her awakening. While this amount of time was not enough to cause severe muscle atrophy, it was certainly sufficient to induce a certain degree of physical disuse syndrome. If you forced a conscious person to lie in bed for half a month without getting up, just see what they would turn into.

If even a conscious person would suffer such effects, needless to say, the elven maiden—who had lacked consciousness the entire time—should have been far worse. Combined with the lingering effects of prolonged cryogenic stasis, had Kurona claimed the elf was unable to move freely upon waking, or that her body was stiff like a zombie's, that would have been the normal outcome. Yet, according to Kurona's report, the elven maiden had shown no abnormalities whatsoever upon waking; she herself noticed nothing amiss, nor had Kurona and Chris detected anything unusual.

And this, precisely, was the greatest anomaly of all.

"It seems her physiological structure still differs from that of humans..."

Muttering to himself, Valen picked up a scalpel and began to gesture with it toward the elven maiden.

"Should I start by examining the nervous system, or simply look at the brain structure first...?"

Just as Valen was talking to himself while holding the scalpel right in front of the elven maiden, she let out a soft groan and slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing the cold scalpel inches from her face, the elven maiden froze in utter shock.

"Aah—!"

The next moment, a shriek piercing enough to rival a slaughtered pig tore through the ceiling.

"Hello there, young lady."

Looking at the trembling, pale elven maiden curled up on the bed, Valen smiled and retracted the scalpel. He then casually sat down on a nearby chair, acting as though his actions hadn't just inflicted severe psychological trauma on a newly awakened girl.

Seeing Valen put the scalpel away, the elven maiden relaxed slightly. She stared at him with vigilant unease, clearly full of wariness. And understandably so; for someone who opened their eyes only to find a man waving a knife in front of them, not being wary would be the real problem. Only Valen's high natural charisma, which practically radiated a passive charm effect, managed to temper the elf's hostility; otherwise, she likely would have been even more terrified.

"H-Hello..."

Hearing Valen's greeting, the elven maiden nodded timidly. Although she still looked at him as if he were a ferocious beast, she was at least willing to communicate, which was enough for Valen. Consequently, he quickly pulled a notebook from his pocket, flipped it open, and looked at the elven maiden.

"I know you have many questions, but I'm afraid I'd like you to answer a few of mine first. Is that all right?"

"...Y-Yes..."

The elven maiden looked less than thrilled, but given the current situation where she was the fish and he held the butcher's knife, she had no choice in the matter.

"First of all, what is your name?"

As he spoke, Valen opened his notebook, ready to write. Upon hearing the question, the elven maiden froze for a moment before quickly replying,

"My name is..."

At that point, the elven maiden seemed to suddenly jam, falling completely blank. Her eyes widened, as if she had encountered something incomprehensible. After a brief pause, she looked at Valen with sudden, terrified panic, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.

"I—I don't remember my name!"

"Oh?"

Hearing her response, Valen raised an eyebrow, then swiftly jotted something down in his notebook before turning back to the elven maiden with a faint smile.

"There, there, don't be so nervous, young lady. Let's take it one step at a time... Hmm, you say you don't remember your name. What about your age?"

"Age, well... this..."

Hearing this, the elven maiden furrowed her brow again, deep in thought as if trying to dig the memory straight out of her brain. After a moment of intense concentration, she despairingly shook her head.

"I—I don't seem to remember that either..."

"Gender?"

"Female! I'm certain of that!"

As she spoke, the elven maiden even glanced down at her own chest, as though afraid she wouldn't even be able to confirm that much. Seeing this, Valen nodded again, added another line to his notebook, and continued his inquiry.

"Then, do you know what the capital of the United States is?"

"Washington."

"What is 8 plus 7?"

"15..."

"What does the Earth revolve around?"

"The Sun..."

Although Valen's subsequent questions struck the elven maiden as utterly bizarre, she answered them anyway. Through this rapid-fire Q&A, she gradually relaxed. At first, she had worried she might have lost all her memories, but guided by Valen's prompts and repeated self-confirmation, she grew calm once more. At least she wasn't a complete blank slate; at the very least, that knowledge remained safely stored within her brain.

By this point, Valen had formed a tentative assessment of the elven maiden.

She had zero awareness regarding her personal identity, but her general public knowledge was entirely intact. Judging by her responses, her academic level was at least equivalent to a university graduate...

However...

Looking at the elven maiden's appearance, Valen simply could not fathom how someone with such an eccentric appearance—someone who might even have been artificially manufactured—had managed to attend university and acquire that knowledge. Given the rhythm of the world prior to the Cataclysm, her mere existence alone would have been enough to make headlines and spark widespread debate.

Could it be...

At this thought, Valen furrowed his brow slightly, then smiled gently at the elven maiden and flicked his left hand. In an instant, the scalpel transformed into a silver flash darting across his fingertips, slicing through the ropes binding her hands and feet with a crisp *swish*. The elven maiden struggled for a moment, and upon realizing she was free, immediately stood up from the bed. Valen casually picked up a hand mirror and handed it to her.

"Do you recognize the face inside this?"

"Huh?"

Startled by Valen's words, the elven maiden hesitated, but she nevertheless peered forward carefully, catching a glimpse of the person reflected in the mirror.

Upon seeing the face—one that clearly did not belong to a human—the elven maiden's expression morphed into utter astonishment, and she violently recoiled.

"What is that?!"