Otaku Translation: I! Anomaly Cleansing Agent! C143

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Chapter 143: A Fabricated Life

"Tell me about what happened over the past few years?"

Though Anna desperately didn’t want to answer, she glanced back toward the room where her siblings were and bit her lip. With great difficulty, she nodded.

"Alright... Where should I start?"

"Start from when you received the item," the black-robed man said calmly.

"Six years ago, after your parents passed away, I delivered the developed photographs to your home. That’s when I discovered you had a certain… potential. I helped you out a little. What happened after that?"

After that…

Anna bit her lip again, her face pale as she spoke. "After that… I did regain a family, just as you said. But… but it wasn’t the one I wanted…"

"Oh?" The man's eyebrows rose with interest. "Could you elaborate?"

"Well…" Anna hesitated, her voice heavy with emotion. "When I expressed my wish to the photograph—to have my family return—it wasn’t my parents who appeared. Instead, it was a boy around my age."

She paused, recalling the memory vividly. "When he saw me, he claimed to be my brother. At first, I thought he was insane. I panicked and tried to chase him out. Then I kept speaking to the photograph, asking for my parents to come back so I could have a family again. But instead of them appearing, two bundles of cloth—each holding an infant—showed up…"

In response, the black-robed man shook his head, a flicker of regret passing over his features. "So, at that time, you didn’t fully believe my words."

"You’re a precocious child, rational and calm. You understood deeply the meaning of death—you knew your parents couldn’t truly return. Even though I told you the photograph was a miracle capable of restoring your family—and demonstrated some of its power—you still harbored doubts deep within. Because of your skepticism, the seed I left in that photo didn’t manifest as a reunion with your parents. Instead, it veered off into an unknown direction, resulting in this deviation. Regrettable, indeed."

???

Anna felt dizzy as the man’s explanation hit her like a cold blade piercing her heart. "So… if I had believed wholeheartedly, could I really have brought them back?"

"I’m sorry, but no. Not even then." The man shook his head firmly.

"The boundary between life and death isn’t entirely irreversible, but the conditions required are unimaginably harsh. Keeping someone alive is relatively simple, but bringing back the dead? That’s astronomically difficult. Your innate talent is impressive, but it’s not enough to shatter the barrier between life and death. If you had believed me completely, perhaps you might have summoned faint echoes of your parents or created puppet-like constructs resembling them."

"But… those would still be fake, wouldn’t they?" Anna whispered.

"Yes, they would be fake. But you were barely ten years old. Even hollow shells bearing the likeness of your parents would have fulfilled your wish to some extent. So, technically, I wasn’t lying to you."

The man’s tone remained detached as he finished answering her question. However, noticing something amiss with his “experiment,” his demeanor cooled visibly. He glanced toward the inner rooms, his gaze lingering on the two children inside. Frowning slightly, he remarked:

"It seems none of your supposed siblings—not even your ‘brother’—are biologically related to you. Moreover, they aren’t false creations either; they’re all genuine human beings."

He turned to Anna, his voice tinged with disapproval. "You received one of the top ten seeds, yet all it managed to produce was finding children who resembled your parents. It erased their pasts, stole their original lives, and forced them into playing house with you. Is that correct?"

"No… No, I never intended any of this!" Anna cried, guilt crashing over her like a tidal wave. Her face drained of color, leaving her ghostly pale.

"After realizing something was wrong, I tore up the photograph and took them to the police, hoping to help them reunite with their real families. But… everyone’s memories had been altered!" She leaned heavily against the doorframe, struggling to stay upright. Her lips trembled as she continued, "The police consulted neighbors, who confirmed we were indeed a family of four kids. Municipal records backed it up too—they insisted these were my siblings. We even had baby items at home, and old photos mysteriously included the other three children.”

"I… I never meant to steal anyone’s family. I tried explaining everything, but no one believed me. They thought I’d gone mad from grief over losing my parents. I couldn’t find their original families, so… so I just…”

Municipal archives, neighbor testimonies, traces of everyday life—all rewritten?

At this revelation, the black-robed man’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly. Though the outcome deviated wildly from his expectations, the phenomenon itself—an entity capable of directly altering existence and rewriting lives—was undeniably powerful. Its sheer potency justified the use of Seed Number Seven.

However, while the experimental product met the necessary tier requirements, its abilities still weren’t what he sought. And time was running short—with barely a year left before that event. If, within a year, he still couldn’t create the corresponding anomalous object, then even if he successfully dealt with the Blood-Haired Maiden of the Virgo Bureau and destroyed the thing she had sealed on the top floor of the Virgo Bureau, it would all have been for nothing.

"Never mind…" The man sighed, shaking his head. He adjusted his hat and addressed Anna politely yet coldly. "I have no further questions. Thank you for your time today.

Oh, and since you’ve lost the item I gave you, once I locate it, I’ll reclaim it. You won’t object, will you?"

"I… I…" Despite knowing she couldn’t resist his overwhelming power, Anna mustered whatever courage she had left and clutched the doorframe tightly. "If you take it away… what will happen to them? To all of them?"

"They’ll return to their original homes, and every memory from the past six years will vanish. Aside from you, no one will remember anything that transpired."

"..."

Watching Anna collapse onto the floor, her eyes devoid of light, reduced to a fragile shell of her former self, the black-robed man finally allowed himself a sincere smile beneath his perpetually sorrowful expression.

"Don’t worry. Once I retrieve the item, I’ll erase the mistakes you’ve made. Isn’t that exactly what you’ve always wanted?"

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