Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 103 - 100 Shadow Swapping Monster 4

Chapter 103: 100 Shadow Swapping Monster 4

The subsequent events were predictable.

Although he could command Shadow Clones, this man in a black suit who suddenly appeared was clearly an ordinary person. If it were truly the Shadow Swapping Monster himself, he would likely have fled at first sight of Zhu Shi, Mazao, and me.

Perhaps in Jinyu’s eyes, he was a mysterious and cruel ex-professional assassin with formidable killing skills, but those abilities were of little use here. The Shadow Clones that appeared were impressive but posed no real threat, adding a touch of humor to the situation.

I didn’t know when this man had started eavesdropping, nor how he interpreted our conversation, but he clearly didn’t realize that more than half of us were no ordinary people. He might have thought that since Changan hadn’t asked for our help in advance, it meant we were powerless to deal with the situation. What a huge misunderstanding.

I immediately released a massive amount of flames, filling every inch of the private room. The surrounding Shadow Clones were annihilated in the flames.

It seemed Zhu Shi had, like the previous night, deployed a Barrier that isolated sounds; the bustling street noises outside became inaudible, and presumably, the sounds within the room didn’t carry outside either.

Changan was barely able to cope with the rapid change of events, and Jinyu was utterly perplexed, as if his worldview had shattered and he was watching everything in a dream.

Under my control, the flames harmed no one except the Shadow Clones, including the man in the black suit. True to his background as a former professional assassin, he quickly reacted to this drastic turn, attempting to dash out the door.

"—Return."

Mazao put down her straw and cola, pointing at the man in the black suit.

With just that pointing, his foot, which had barely taken a step, somehow retracted on its own. He paused, shocked, then hastily tried to take another step, but the strange power affecting him seemed still active, and this time he only managed a half-step before drawing back again.

His face registered terror as he tried to move again, this time unable to even take a half-step before his body involuntarily twisted back, and the panicked expression on his face seemed to rewind and disappeared. His struggles grew fainter, with only his body trembling inexplicably.

Within a second, he could no longer even tremble, and his facial expression froze, as if all his struggles had been cut off before they could even start. He was immobilized as if petrified by a gorgon’s gaze.

This appeared to be one use of Mazao’s Power of Return.

"She’s a supernatural power user too?" Changan revealed a hint of envy amidst his astonishment.

And Jinyu was completely dumbfounded: "What is all this..."

Even Zhu Shi showed a surprised expression.

I have a "lowbrow interest"—I enjoy seeing others shocked by my powers.

Seeing their attention partially diverted by Mazao’s miraculous display brought me genuine joy. Indeed, my Mazao is that impressive—though I wouldn’t quite think so formally, I might really harbor such emotions deep down.

Why did I think so? Was it because I subconsciously considered myself the first person Mazao met in this era? I pondered my own feelings.

Mazao, seemingly uninterested in others’ astonishment, focused on consulting me, "What should we do next? Should we interrogate him to find out the real identity of the monster?"

I thought for a moment, then asked, "Can you make him speak while keeping him immobilized?"

She nodded and slightly relaxed her raised finger. Although the man in the black suit’s limbs and torso still couldn’t move, it seemed the area above his neck had been "thawed." He frantically twisted his neck, displaying a helpless awkwardness.

I stood up and approached, pondering where to start the questioning. Clearly, I couldn’t expect him to speak openly, and even if he did, there was no guarantee of truthfulness. After all, the man was a former professional assassin, and it was uncertain how effective ordinary interrogation might be on him.

Thus, I skipped those unnecessary steps and directly pulled out the Black Rope Heart-locking Ring from my pocket.

My ethereal right hand pierced into the chest of the man in the black suit, seizing his heart.

Regardless of our differing stances, I was thankful to Lu Youxun for giving me this ring—it had proved useful.

Ten minutes later, we had roughly gathered all the information we could from him.

Firstly, the most important part: the Shadow Swapping Monster was indeed in that nightclub, serving as its invisible backing.

He had appeared in front of the nightclub owner about three months ago, proposing collaboration. Though termed a collaboration, it was essentially using force to unilaterally exploit the owner’s societal connections within the local elite. I had no understanding of the elite’s social exchanges, but according to the man in the black suit, even though the female owner engaged in shady dealings, she had considerable influence among the elite.

The true identity of the Shadow Swapping Monster seemed to be a member of the local elite as well, but the man in the black suit did not know his real identity, only the nightclub owner did. And as a hidden backer, when the nightclub operation was threatened, the Shadow Swapping Monster would also offer help.

The shadow clones that had appeared before had been transferred to the man in the black suit by the Shadow Swapping Monster. This transfer process was not complicated; the Shadow Swapping Monster merely had to command those somewhat intelligent shadow clones to follow the man in the black suit. And the one who had kidnapped and beaten Changan two days ago was indeed the shadow clone dispatched by the man in the black suit.

The motive was simple; Changan’s crime evidence collection in the nightclub had already been discovered, and the man in the black suit wanted to settle accounts with Changan. The shadow clone, even if its actions were exposed, would not expose the nightclub, making it the perfect pawn to use.

But before settling accounts, he needed to find out how far Changan had collected evidence about the nightclub’s crimes and whether he had disclosed it to anyone else. Therefore, the shadow clone he dispatched only beat Changan brutally instead of killing him directly.

His original plan was to beat Changan to the brink of death, breaking his psychological defenses, and then have the shadow clone use Changan’s phone to initiate contact, allowing him to interrogate Changan remotely. Unexpectedly, before that phase could even be reached, the two dispatched shadow clones mysteriously lost contact, and Changan reappeared two days later, alive and well.

This was the true story of what Changan had been through two days ago.

"So it’s like that..." Changan said, still shaken, "Just in case, let me ask again; what kind of ’settling accounts’ are you talking about?"

"Speak." I forcefully grasped the heart of the man in the black suit.

The latter showed a pained expression and involuntarily spoke the truth: "That depends on the extent of the evidence you’ve gathered and to what extent you plan to act against us. If you’re just a coward who completely breaks down after getting beaten up, and all this was just youthful impetuosity and a bout of hot blood, then I might let you go home.

"But if you really have some spine, knowing full well you might die, yet still choose to stand against us, then I must admit you’re a man, and I can only treat you as a real enemy and eliminate you."

"So you did have plans to let me go, you’re not an assassin?" Changan was surprised.

"I’m a ’former’ assassin," the voice of the man in the black suit conveyed a sense of world-weariness.

It sounded like he had his own story, but now clearly wasn’t the time to listen to those. I withdrew my hand and then removed the Black Rope Heart-locking Ring. Zhu Shi took the sheathed sword out of the black guitar case and knocked the man in the black suit unconscious. Although I really wanted to just burn him then and there, since Changan was watching, I had to hold back for now.

I felt much better now. The mystery surrounding Changan’s assault, which had long plagued me, was finally completely unraveled, and it was truly a breath of fresh air.

Unfortunately, the man in the black suit didn’t know the Shadow Swapping Monster’s true identity. Although the nightclub owner knew, it wasn’t feasible for us to directly storm into the nightclub to interrogate the owner, as doing so might provoke the Shadow Swapping Monster. After all, we shouldn’t expect too much from information that was volunteered by him.

...Come to think of it, was he compelled to provide that information because he was captured by Mazao’s Broom Star Physique?

I glanced at Mazao, who innocently blinked her eyes.

"Brother, you should hand over the evidence you’ve collected to our family from now on, then that nightclub will disappear for good," Zhu Shi told Changan.

"Ah? Is our Zhu family that powerful?" Changan hesitated.

"In the past few years, families like ours who are demon hunters indeed couldn’t exert much influence on secular society, let alone on those nightclubs connected to many influential figures. But it’s different now," Zhu Shi seemed to be explaining to me too, "Nowadays, with the official forces and Luo Mountain having strained relations, once such a nightclub that even involves young girls is exposed, it will become material for Luo Mountain to criticize the legitimacy of the official forces. Therefore, the official forces will certainly be more eager than us to eradicate it, and moreover, severely."

"Our family is still a family of demon hunters?" Changan was astonished.

Zhu Shi paused, "Ah? Grandfather didn’t tell you anything?"

Changan blankly said, "He just told me to stay quietly in my room..."

"Shouldn’t grandfather have explained the truth to you first?" Zhu Shi first looked puzzled, then seemed to realize something, "Or perhaps he was planning to directly lift the seal on your Demon Blood, so he went to make preparations first? Yes, once the seal is lifted and you remember your childhood memories, that would save the effort of explaining and convincing you..."

Hearing this, Jinyu’s expression became like someone witnessing a large-scale teenage melodrama performance yet had to believe that all that was real, which was very disordered.

Although it was my second time hearing about these matters related to Changan, I had to say, these words indeed didn’t sound like they belonged to the real world. Had I really unwittingly entered a film set with Changan as the protagonist of a fantasy battle story?

"Ah? Demon Blood? Seals? Memories?" Changan was shocked again, "Do I really have such settings that sound like a classical teenage manga protagonist?"

"Alright, alright, now’s not the time to talk about that," Zhu Shi sighed from weariness, "Let’s first discuss the Shadow Swapping Monster. Assuming that the Shadow Swapping Monster is really inside that nightclub now, what should we do to find him?"

Perhaps influenced by me, Zhu Shi had also started to call that strange creature the Shadow Swapping Monster.

As for the current issue, I have an immature idea.