Chapter 278 - Scientist

"Impossible! Isn't that nanobots!? How do you have it!?" The scientist widened his eyes in complete shock. 

As a person who had conducted several hundred experiments with the nanobots, he was familiar with what they looked like and how they worked. And as far as he was concerned, there had been little to no success with implementing nanobots.

Therefore, it was impossible for the girl in front of them to have the finished and working product.

"Let's see, if you can defeat me, I'll tell you." Shiro chuckled.

"Don't waste your words. We'll have her corpse if we kill her. We can just conduct some experiments at that time." The other scientist frowned as he pulled out a hand cannon that wasn't unlike the one in Shiro's hands.

"Hou~ Seems like you have the hand cannon prototypes already huh?" Shiro's voice rang out beside his ear.

"!!" 

Before the man could react, she had already pulled the trigger and destroyed his hand along with his gun.

"Unfortunately for you, my guns are better." She chuckled.

Twisting on her foot, she activated phantom path and flickered towards the first scientist.

"Tch! Negation field." He clicked his tongue and threw a jewel in front of him.

*BOOM!

Before the negation field could activate, Shiro had already sent a bullet flying towards the jewel and shattered it to pieces.

"Say, aren't you throwing around something quite dangerous?" She grinned.

Disassembling the pair of hand cannons, she grabbed his wrist and kneed his elbow.

*CRACK!

"GAH!!!" Crying out in pain, the man flicked his spare hand and created a magic circle.

*PHEW PING~!!

Sending an ice shard that was enhanced by celestial path, Shiro shut down the magic circle before it could even activate.

Flexing her fingers, she slit the corner of his mouth apart with a nanotech dagger and pushed his arm deep into his throat.

Kicking off his elbow, she flipped her body back while also making sure that his arm was securely jammed into his mouth.

Turning around, she could see that the second scientist was running away.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?" Her voice rang out like a creepy alarm as the man suddenly felt danger overwhelm his senses.

Turning around, he caught sight of her eyes filled with cold killing intent and froze up in fear.

*PUSHIII!!!!!

Cutting him in half with a nanotech sword, Shiro shattered the remains of his body to ice dust.

"Now then, only one remains." She tilted her head back and smiled. However, she saw that the man had already passed out and frowned.

"Tch." 

Clicking her tongue, she cut off his head and destroyed his body.

[Received: Nanotech Research Vol 3]

'Hm?! I can get items from this???' Shiro widened her eyes.

Since she noticed that she couldn't get any EXP nor their inventory, she had guessed that this was a simulation of sorts. But for the system to tell her that she received an item, it must mean that this was a quest of sorts.

{Could it be because of the legacy?} Nimue asked in confusion.

'Maybe.' Shiro shook her head as she wasn't sure. 

Turning to her mother, she saw that she had closed her eyes and was currently making sure that her younger self couldn't hear nor see any bloodshed.

"It's over." Shiro called out and crouched next to her.

"Can I see your daughter for a second?" She asked.

"Ah? It's over?" Her mother opened her eyes hesitantly.

"Mn. I want to heal your daughter in case she suffered any injuries." Shiro smiled.

"AH, right. Here." 

Looking at the girl in her mother's embrace, Shiro had a slightly difficult expression on her face. 

The girl's aura was completely weak and fragile. The fear in her eyes along with the way she was trying to shrink her body made her seem so feeble. As if she could just be erased at any moment.

This was completely different to how she is right now. If she didn't know that this was her younger self, she would think that it was some average weak girl she could find anywhere in a village. 

"Is there a problem?" Her mother asked in worry after seeing Shiro's expression.

"Mn? Oh nothing. Sorry, let me heal her now." Shiro shook her head.

Flicking her hand, a spark of fire enveloped her younger self.

Her wounds started to disappear one after another as her expression relaxed a little more.

"T-thank you." 

"You're welcome." Shiro smiled and patted her head.

"Um… pretty lady. What's your name?" Her younger self asked since she wanted to know who had saved her and her mum.

"Shiro." 

"Shiro? Weird name. My name's Nytri." She replied.

"Nytri! That's rude." Her mother rebuked since she was a little afraid that the girl who had saved them would take offence.

"Haha, it's ok. I come from a far away country. I saw your husband on the way here. He's healed up and he should be coming now." Shiro chuckled softly.

"Ah! Thank you very much. I don't know how I can repay you." Her mother asked since they essentially owe them a debt of life.

"How about a meal then?" Shiro replied after a short pause.

After talking for a little longer, they heard her father shouting out their names in worry.

"Amanda! Nytri! Where are you!" His desperate voice could be heard.

"Geral! We're here!" Amanda shouted back as she tried her best to stand up. However, fatigue washed over her and caused her legs to give up.

Quickly supporting her with her shoulder, Shiro raised an eyebrow seeing Nytri do the same.

{Wow. You were quite filial as a kid weren't you my queen?}

'Well I was raised by nice parents. I wonder what they'll think if they realised that their daughter had ended up in this state.' Shiro smiled softly while looked down at herself.

Shaking her head, she helped her mother meet up with her father.

"Thank you. I truly don't know what else to say other than you've saved my family. Thank you!" Her father bowed as tears welled up in his eyes. The thought that his wife and daughter could have perished had filled his mind with fear when he was running around trying to find them. 

But now that he saw them alive and well, he never felt more relieved in his life.

"It's ok. I can't just leave you lot to die now can I?" Shiro replied while helping her father up.

She couldn't possibly have her own father bow to her after all. Even if this was a quest or illusion, Shiro didn't care. She was just happy that she could see them again after so long.

###

Bringing the family back to the village, they saw the healers running around trying to help as many people as they could. Those who had died in the raid had a bed sheet covering their body and was set aside so that they could take a note after attending all of those who were injured.

Looking at the amount of people who had died, Shiro shook her head slightly.

Within that pile of bodies, there were people of all ages. 

"Do you need any help? I have a skill that can heal people." Shiro called out.

"Yes please, our healers are running out of mana and there are still plenty of people who are injured." One of the nurses nodded in appreciation.

While she was healing those who had been injured, the village chief walked up to her and asked if she could spare a moment to talk.

"Sure. But I need to heal these people first." Shiro nodded.

"Ah truly a saint sent by the light goddess. It must be her will for you to come help us." The chief sighed while looking at the destruction that spread through the village.

*Puchi*

Feeling a little irked that she was called the saint sent by the light goddess, Shiro decided to ignore that for now.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

"Hais… I think I'll have to try to rebuild this village or have them move elsewhere. It's too dangerous here." He shook his head tiredly.

"Well I'm planning to leave for a city after this. If you want, I can help escort all of you." Shiro offered.

She was rather curious to the limits of the quest/illusion. The current scene could be described as it reading her memories, but what about cities that she doesn't remember or don't know of?

Plus, there was also the case of Nanobot Research Vol 3. If there's a volume 3, that means there are a minimum of 2 volumes. She guessed that if she were to find the old research bases, she could find more research volumes.

While she was helping out with healing the villagers, she didn't notice that a man was overlooking the entire area where she was in.

"So it turns out that she was your friend huh Isilia?" He muttered with a sad smile.