This time, when the Governor appeared, he was already holding that iconic heavy rifle of his—
And without a word, he pulled the trigger on the first person who'd just given him a strange look.
Bang!
In an instant, the scent of death spread through the air.
Those people who'd been watching the spectacle a moment ago never imagined the Governor would actually open fire so suddenly. By the time they thought to run in all directions, it was already too late.
At that critical moment, another "weirdo" in their eyes stepped in front of them.
Saitama.
No matter when or where, Saitama's beige jumpsuit and red cape made him impossible to forget.
"Oh my God, he caught the bullet?!"
That was everyone's first reaction.
To them, the shocking thing wasn't the Governor firing—it was Saitama showing a power that surpassed any normal human.
In 1984, people's horizons weren't as broad as those in 2020. They hadn't seen hordes of bizarre aliens; they didn't even have the concept of "superheroes" being normal. But whether they were ready or not, the appearance of the T-100 Terminator was the opening act.
The Governor watched Saitama catch his bullet, and his expression didn't change. He simply shifted his aim slightly and fired again.
He remembered clearly: this time, his target had been about to mock him, only to be yanked back by a companion.
Bang!
Another shot.
And once again, Saitama caught the bullet.
The Governor frowned and swapped in a special shell. In his memory, this future-era shotgun round could pierce any defense available in this time period.
But his expectations were shattered yet again.
Saitama's power exceeded anything the Governor had projected.
"What is going on?" the Governor thought.
He tried to scan Saitama's information, but his search came up empty—nothing on record at all.
No surprise there.
When the Governor had departed from his own time point, the era he came from still hadn't produced anyone named Saitama.
In that timeline, Connor was the leader of the future human alliance—and also the Terminator's assassination target.
The Governor had never imagined that, by the time of Terminator 3, someone like Saitama would appear, copy the time machine schematics from his duplicate, and then jump back to 1984 to collide with him head-on.
Watching the Governor frown, Saitama shook his head.
"No helping it, Governor. You just showed up at the wrong time. Tell you what: how about I help brainwash you and turn you into a good robot, huh?"
The moment he heard that, the Governor understood what Saitama intended.
For an AI robot, no matter how badly damaged his body got, he could endure it.
But letting someone format his hard drive?
Absolutely unacceptable.
He raised his gun and opened fire again.
"So we can't have a proper talk, huh," Saitama sighed.
He'd originally thought that, now that he'd arrived in 1984, he could play out a more exciting, elaborate scheme.
But if the Governor wouldn't cooperate…
Well, too bad.
"Guess we're doing this the simple way," Saitama said.
He swung his fist.
With his current strength, he completely outclassed this era. He didn't even need to use any "serious" techniques; a few casual punches were enough to beat the Governor silly, leaving his internal gyros spinning.
Finally, he dragged the dazed Governor to his side and lifted a hand in front of them both.
"Say cheese."
The shutter clicked.
Whether it was the spectators in the café or Vivian, who had traveled to 1984 with Saitama, everyone was stunned by what he'd just done.
But when Vivian suddenly burst into a giggle, the tension shattered.
The crowd roared with laughter.
They began to chant in unison.
"Saitama! Hero! Saitama! Hero!"
Amid their cheers, Saitama led Vivian and the Governor out of the café.
In Saitama's mind, the Governor was still his idol. He had no intention of leaving him there for people to gawk at like some caged animal.
"No choice, Governor," Saitama said lightly. "You played a super cool villain in Terminator 1. But don't worry—you're about to become a good guy."
Under Vivian's watchful gaze, Saitama copied the 2020 version of the Governor's system data and loaded it into this 1984 Governor's body.
Click. Click.
The Governor's neck jerked slightly. Two red glows flared in his eyes.
"T-100 system rebooting. Confirmed. Time point… 1984?!"
With his system freshly reinstalled, the Governor stared at the timestamp in disbelief.
For a second, he wondered if he'd jumped to the wrong era.
Then he saw Saitama standing right beside him and hesitated.
"What is going on?"
…
Saitama explained, "This Terminator unit was originally the 1984 first-generation body. I just installed your 2020 system into it."
The Governor fell silent.
This…
This kind of tactic was beyond anything he'd anticipated.
"So what am I now?" he wondered. "The original model—or the remodeled 2020 unit?"
After a moment of hesitation, he said, "As I recall, back in 2020, you defeated me and copied future data from my system. That's correct, isn't it?"
Saitama nodded.
"You don't think this will change history?" the Governor asked.
"So what if it does?" Saitama answered.
"If you alter history," the Governor said, "then the future version of me might not exist. If I don't exist in that future, then the 2020 me could disappear. If I disappear, I can't protect Connor. And if Connor dies by accident, the humans of the future will lose their leader."
Saitama wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He'd never expected a walking hunk of metal to argue with him in all seriousness about something that had stumped countless scientists.
But topics like this?
In the American TV dramas of 2020, they already had "standard explanations."
Past, present, future—everything was part of a complete timeline.
If someone traveled back into the past, that timeline would ripple. The "past" would become like unset concrete—a structure that could still be reshaped.
Once the time traveler changed a specific event in that past…
That past would gradually harden again as time flowed forward.
No paradoxes.
As for existences like the Flash, Barry Allen, all they really did was open up parallel universes—they didn't affect the current one.
(Those theories, of course, came wholesale from classic American TV shows: Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash.)
Back to the point.
Saitama relayed the ideas in his head to the Governor.
His plan was to use this era to once and for all resolve the future crisis.
And the key to all of it… was the Governor's cooperation.
"So," Saitama said at last, "this is where we're going to need your help, Governor."
(End of Chapter)
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