Walker in Modern World

Taking a deep breath and hoping no one would call the police, Sanjay slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

A girl in her twenties was watching something on her phone, chewing gum absentmindedly. When she noticed Sanjay entering, she shouted,

"There are a few items in the glass cabinet. Let me know if you want anything." She returned her attention to her phone immediately after speaking.

Sanjay, unsure of how to proceed, decided to be direct. "Excuse me, do you buy gold?"

Hearing this, her eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

She looked up from her phone, seemingly unsure if she'd heard him correctly. "You mean you have gold?"

"Yes," Sanjay confirmed with a nod.

"Huh. I know your type," she scoffed. "You people try to scam jewelry stores with fake gold and take their money. I'm not falling for that. Why don't you leave and try your tricks somewhere else?" She waved him off dismissively, as if she couldn't be bothered.

Sanjay didn't respond with words. Instead, he reached into his bag and carefully pulled out a gold biscuit. He always kept a few pieces with him during transport.

The girl froze, her expression shifting to shock as she stared at the gleaming gold. Without a word, she pulled a machine from beneath the counter and scanned the piece.

The display read: Natural Gold: 13.2 percent.

"It's real gold," she whispered, astonished.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, her tone now a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

Sanjay offered an awkward smile and remained silent.

Understanding that pressing him might lead to trouble, she didn't ask again. Instead, she said, "If you're willing to sell this piece, I can give you one million quarks for it."

"Actually, my problem is a bit different," Sanjay admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

The girl's curiosity piqued further. She leaned forward, hoping his "problem" wasn't going to involve her too deeply.

"Well," Sanjay began hesitantly, "I don't have a bank account."

Her eyes narrowed. "What? How? Everyone has a bank account!" she exclaimed, then stopped herself, realizing what he meant. Sweat formed on her forehead as the implications dawned on her.

"Sorry, I can't help you with that," she said quickly, avoiding his gaze and keeping her head down.

Sanjay considered his options. "What if I give you this piece as a gift? Would you help then?" he offered, throwing the metaphorical bait and waiting to see if she'd bite.

From her earlier reaction, Sanjay suspected the gold was incredibly valuable, though he had no idea just how much. One million quarks certainly sounded like a lot.

The girl's eyes sparkled at his offer.

'Is he serious? Is he really going to give me the gold?' she thought. She was in desperate need of money, and the temptation was undeniable.

"Okay," she said, trying to sound indifferent. "Let me see what I can do." She turned and disappeared into the back room, leaving Sanjay waiting at the counter.

Her hesitation gave him hope. If she hadn't outright rejected him, there was still a chance.

A few minutes later, she returned, a frown creasing her face. As soon as she saw Sanjay, she blurted out, "Who are you?"

"What happened?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing," she said, brushing off his question.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking again, her tone more serious this time. "Let me make the deal clear. I'll create an ID for you, and you'll pay me with this gold. But no one can know about this under any circumstances."

Hearing this from her, Sanjay smiled. He had hit the jackpot. His first try was successful.

"Okay," he nodded happily.

"Come in," she said, opening the backdoor and letting him step behind the counter. She then pressed a button, and the entire shop closed with a metallic hum.

Sanjay entered the backroom and was surprised to see multiple monitors beeping and displaying various data.

"Welcome to my office," she said dryly. "Name's Maya, by the way. And yours?"

"Sanjay," he replied.

"That's a unique name," she said with a smile.

"Are you going to create the ID yourself?" Sanjay asked, wanting to confirm if someone else would be involved or if she'd take him somewhere else.

"Of course, I'll do it. Who else do you think would do it?" Maya smiled and pulled a massive syringe from one of the drawers.

Sanjay's skin prickled with goosebumps at the sight of the injection. She wasn't planning to kill him, was she? Is this risk even worth it? he thought nervously.

"What? Are you regretting it now? There's no time for that. Even if you back off, you're not getting your gold back," Maya said with a mischievous grin.

I hope it's sanitized, Sanjay thought, though he didn't say it aloud. Before he could react, Maya jabbed the needle into his shoulder and began extracting blood.

To his surprise, there was no pain—not even the sting of an ant bite. Given the size of the syringe, he'd braced himself for agony, but there was nothing. Sanjay relaxed, though the amount of blood being drawn left his hands feeling numb.

Finally, Maya pulled the syringe out, now full of his blood. Without saying a word, she inserted the sample into a sleek-looking machine. Then, she took his photo with a unique-looking camera, scanned his retina using another device, and captured his fingerprints.

Sitting down at her computer, she started typing quickly.

"Full name?" she asked.

"Sanjay Sharma," he replied.

She didn't ask for anything else and continued typing.

After a few minutes of silence, she handed him a transparent ID card.

"Okay, Sanjay, your ID is created, along with a bank account and everything else," she said.

She handed him the card and then added, "But I'm warning you—don't fall under the government's radar. If they dig too deeply into your background, they'll find out the truth. As for your basic information, it's all stored here." She handed him a small device resembling a flash drive.

Sanjay accepted it, deciding to figure out how it worked later.

"Thank you, Maya. You've helped me a lot," he said with a friendly smile. Though he suspected the gold was worth far more than the service she provided, and considering how quickly she accepted, she probably did this sort of work often. Still, she had helped him when he needed it.

Maya smiled. "You haven't gone through augmentation, have you?"

"Augmentation?"

"What?! How can someone not know about augmentation? Have you been living under a rock or something?" she asked, astonished.

Sanjay shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm a bit slow in this area."

"Huh, figures," she said with a sigh. "Augmentation is when your body is modified—your muscles and bones strengthened. Lots of other enhancements are possible, too. You should look into it. Your DNA is incredibly weak; I noticed it when I checked."

"Well, I'll make sure to do that," Sanjay said, thanking her again.

Maya tilted her head. "Anything else you need?"

"Actually," Sanjay said with a grin, "can you help me with one more thing?"

Maya sighed, visibly exhausted. "What is it now?"

A few minutes later, Sanjay walked out with a smile on his face. He'd asked Maya if she could convert his remaining gold pieces at one million quarks each, and she had happily obliged. Now, he had a few million quarks in his bank account, along with his shiny new ID.

He tucked the ID and everything else into his backpack and went in search of a hotel. After walking for a few minutes, he found one.

The hotel looked impressive from the outside, and the inside was even more stunning—sleek, modern, and entirely sci-fi in appearance. The reception desk was handled by an android.

Sanjay approached and requested a room for a week. The android receptionist processed his request efficiently and handed him a room key.

Though he now had money and access to advanced technology, Sanjay knew he needed to travel back home soon to check the timing. The fear of returning to an insecure or dangerous environment held him back from leaving immediately.

But now, since everything seemed safe, he decided to travel back.

As soon as he traveled back, Sanjay appeared in the familiar space tunnel. However, this time, there were three paths: two in front and one behind him.

The path behind him, reflecting a blue light, was the portal to the 23rd-century world he had just left. The second, reflecting a white light, led to the medieval world. The third, radiating a golden light, was unfamiliar—he had never seen it before.

The golden light must lead back to his home. Curious, he stepped into it and reappeared in his room, just as he had left it.

He glanced at the clock: it was 3 p.m. When he entered the 23rd-century world, it had been 2 p.m., and he had spent roughly six hours there. Yet, only one hour had passed in his world.

Sanjay had previously assumed the two worlds were the same, just at different points in time, so their time flow should match. But now, he began to wonder: was it because the 23rd-century world was near a black hole, causing time dilation? Or perhaps there was a massive planet in their solar system affecting time? He resolved to research this further in the future.

Since there was still time left in the day, he ate some snacks and disappeared from his room again, reappearing in his hotel room in the 23rd-century world.

He left the hotel and visited the library. With the help of the hotel receptionist, he found a store selling laptops and phones. Upon arriving, he was astonished by the array of advanced technology.

What surprised him the most was the VR headset—not the typical glasses-like models but a helmet that allowed the user to fully immerse themselves in a virtual reality world, much like those depicted in movies and manga.

Excited, Sanjay decided to buy one. Along with the VR headset, he also purchased a phone. The phone he chose was from the Neo series, the latest model, costing almost 50k. It was transparent, similar to the ones he had seen people using.

He also learned that laptops were no longer in use. For tasks that didn't require heavy computing, phones could project holographic screens for watching videos or completing daily tasks. Only CPUs with extremely powerful configurations—beyond anything he could comprehend—were available for demanding workloads.

Realizing that buying too much without sufficient knowledge would be wasteful, Sanjay decided to keep his purchases limited for now. He left the store with his new phone and VR headset, eager to test them out later.