1.19.1 That some tasty blood vials you got there, uncle!

Wilkis's mood got somber after learning the details of his daughter's future. It was not like he ever hid her from the world and had always kept her close to him.

But Girisia's feeling of alienation toward her, a feeling he never showed to him and even Vanras made him question a few things.

'She doesn't exist in the future he saw?'

Why she wouldn't exist in the future, Wilkis could only come to one conclusion. He was not as foolish to think she just changed her name and lived a different life or that she was not important enough to get noticed by Girisia's vision in the future.

No one understood how special his daughter was, besides him. And so he knew the meaning of Girisia's ignorance about her existence.

'She dies huh…' It was a harsh future to look forward to, hard truth to face, and something even worse than what happened to his mother. It seems the future will only get more chaotic.

"I need to keep her safe… for Harut."

*****

"Hah… so you also got a bomb in your head?" Girisia said, looking at the stitches on Tarkov's bald skull.

Due to the operation, Tarkov was shaved clean and now looked a lot similar to Girisia. With both of them carrying the same scars on the head.

A look that Tarkov detested.

"Because of you… because you were too stubborn." Tarkov complained, rarely does he gets angry at things that don't pertain to his past.

And this seems to be one of the rare cases.

"Why to worry though, you knew better than anyone that we won't come out of making a deal with the old man unscathed."

This was the truth, Wilkis was very thorough and hence would put some safeguards in case both of them go, rogue. But what Tarkov didn't expect was the severeness of the safeguards.

From the way he sees it, neither Tarkov nor Girisia had any leverage over Wilkis and after he had extracted all the value he could from them. There is no reason for Wilkis to no get rid of them.

"What happens when he feels we are useless?" Tarkov, using the nanobots in his body, healed the scar on his head and accelerated some hair growth through hormonal manipulation. Though it was slow, a thin layer of black hair already covered his head by this point.

"I won't be and so will you if you stick to me." Girisia was pretty proud at the moment, this bomb may just work to his advantage if played correctly. Death was a concept he was slowly losing belief in.

He had a lot to think about. And from his understanding, who knows if there won't be another reincarnation. Maybe no one is dead and they just incarnate into different beings with memories wiped out.

In his case, he just happened to retain his memory. Not that weird if one thinks about how he had returned to the past.

"Do I have an option, to begin with?" Tarkov wanted to curse thinking how fast the situation can reverse.

The world truly is unpredictable. There was a time when Girisia was nothing more than a cowardly insect that he wanted to use. Now it's the other way around.

In the deal between the three of them, Tarkov was the weakest and most useless partner.

It would be better to say that he was not even part of the deal. The only reason he got accepted by Wilkis was due to Girisia.

But revenge is revenge and if Girisia can help him achieve his goals, he wouldn't mind becoming his servant.

"Yes you have, but that choice will only lead you to death. So surviving with me is the best bet." Girisia seemed to be taking his current situation pretty lightly but in actuality, the truth was far from it.

Mocking Tarkov and letting him know how their relationship has changed was Girisia's way of coping with his current situation.

Mocking and degrading people in a worse situation than themselves have always been a thing humans have enjoyed for a long time.

A cruel cycle of the weak exploiting those weaker than themselves to find happiness that has been carried out by time immemorial.

And the same was here on a smaller scale. At least Girisia still had some control over his life and he can also control Tarkov to some extent.

Knowing that there would be someone below him from today which gave him immense satisfaction. That helped him to ignore the fact that he too had a bomb in his head.

"I don't care about my life. If you can help me with my goal, I will gladly work for you." Tarkov didn't care what kind of thoughts were going inside Girisia's filthy mind. All he cared for was his goal.

"Don't worry about that, your life's goal is something I too wish may come into fruition. I can't explain it in detail for now, not to you or anyone here. But know this. I will gladly help you hunt down Utena and its leaders even if I don't know who they are at the moment."

"You know so much and still know so little." Tarkov was annoyed by the fact that besides acting all-knowing, Girisia doesn't know the thing that mattered to him. But he already knew the reason why. Utena was too hidden.

"I know enough and that's all you need to know."

"Know what?" A voice soon entered their room, a voice that Girisia hated. But now knowing the true identity of this person, he held a bit more respect for her though only on the surface.

"Nothing much Miss Farsight, we were just talking about plans that I believe you already know about." Girisia was still disgusted by this woman but he could still fake it. No one knows the anger a parent feels if their child is harmed in any way and Girisia wouldn't be on the receiving end of Wilkis's wrath.

Though he also believed that he was thinking too much. Farsight was a grown woman, and Wilkis was not the kind of person who was petty or nosy enough to be bothered by things like these.

But there's nothing wrong with taking some precautions.

"So Professor, can I leave, being away from my post for any longer may be problematic for me," Tarkov asked. He didn't want to admit it, but he wanted some normality in his life back, all the talk about "she", Wilkis finding out, and the bomb had already taken a certain toll on his psyche.

"Oh, I wanted you to stay here a bit longer. Your blood is pretty special." Farsight was really interesting to The Alwa people, she has never seen blood that can remain dormant and hidden by even high-class detectors while still holding so much destructive power in it.

If not for Tarkov's identity getting exposed, it was hard to believe that Tarkov was a variant human with one of the most lethal mutations known to mankind.

"But alas, I can't keep you here forever." She sighed as he gave Tarkov a form that was more like his release papers. "I just feel glad that I extracted some of your blood while you were unconscious. My woman's intuition is pretty strong"

'This woman is mentally insane.' Girisia thought, sweating, thinking of the kind of things she would have done to him.

Yes, his brain hadn't been harmed, but who knows what kind of things she had done to the body while he was out. Maybe the regenerative medicine probably healed the problems by the time he worked up. There is a certain suspicion in his mind that parts of his body have been added to this woman's collection.

"Oh, no worries about it. I will be leaving now." Tarkov sweated, only now did he understand why there were so many blood supplements getting injected into his body. Now he understood how Girisia felt whenever he was facing this woman all this time.

For Farsight, the two were nothing more than interesting test subjects.

"Tarkov, before you leave, I have a request." Girisia, noticing a hurry Tarkov was leaving the room, shouted at him to stop.

"What is it?"

"Go and look for Anoman called StarKillerTara and tell her that her mission starts from now. And if she is confused, just punch her in the head." Girisia didn't want to waste a good player just because he was stuck in the research building.

"Well, I will see to it." Tarkov had some idea who this woman was. She was the first slave Girisia ever obtained. And the only anoman that showed some care for Girisia.

"Is this anoman close to you?" Farsight asked with some confusion.

"You do know, anoman's don't even possess any sexual organs and their digestive system is also a mystery. A love of this kind will never come into fruition." There was a look of pity in her eyes as she looked at Girisia.

"Miss… I think you got something wrong. She is just a good and useful companion, I don't hold any sort of feeling toward her."

'Is this woman for real?... How can she even think of things like this in these situations?' Girisia was jealous of Tarkov at the moment. But he knew, getting out of this place early won't be possible.

There was still a day left before his operation and two days before he embarked on the path of mutants.

He had even picked up a good mutant reagent.

'I can't wait to lose this life of trash…'

*****