Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 104 - 101 Shadow Swapping Monster 5

Chapter 104: 101 Shadow Swapping Monster 5

My idea was simple, which was to mark everyone currently in that nightclub with a thermal energy marker.

It wasn’t necessary to mark everyone. Considering that the Shadow Swapping Monster’s severed hand was a rough male palm, we could preliminarily filter out those whose hand shapes did not match the criteria. The Shadow Swapping Monster would definitely be among the remaining individuals.

Even if its true body wasn’t in the nightclub, that wouldn’t matter. Since it had used its ability to swap shadows to enter and leave the nightclub, there must be an avatar mimicking a human form inside. My thermal energy marker could be placed on the avatar as well. As soon as it activated the ability, I would know who the target was.

There was just one potential issue with this method.

After listening to my explanation, Zhu Shi raised an objection, "Won’t your thermal energy marker be detected by the Shadow Swapping Monster? Since it’s essentially a patch of heat, wouldn’t slapping it onto a target make it easily noticeable? Anyone would find it odd to have an abnormally warm spot on their body."

"I can set the thermal energy marker within the internal organs," I said. "The internal environment of the body is naturally warm and not as sensitive to minor temperature changes as the skin. Normally, it wouldn’t be detected."

"Why do you know that?" asked Mazao curiously. "Have you used it on someone before?"

"Huh?" Zhu Shi seemed to realize something.

She glanced at Mazao, then at me, her eyes suddenly sharpening.

I hurriedly changed the subject, "But I’m still worried about whether my method will be sensed by someone with the power of the strange."

"...You’re right," Zhu Shi let me go for the moment. "If the Shadow Swapping Monster detects it, it might use its ability to transfer the cause and effect of the implanted thermal energy marker onto its avatar, and then escape unburdened."

"Wait, did I misunderstand something? Isn’t the causality transfer effect of its shadow swapping ability supposed to occur only when it’s fatally injured, and in a reactive, not proactive manner?" I immediately asked.

"You didn’t misunderstand. When activated proactively, that ability is just the exchange of spatial positions with its avatar. But we can’t rule out the chance that it might trigger a passive effect through a suicidal tactic," she explained.

Although I doubted the Shadow Swapping Monster would consider such usage, this level of caution wasn’t a bad habit.

The problem was significant. Shadow swapping was already an escape ability bordering on absurdly powerful; coupled with the ability to trigger its own causality transfer effect, even if we managed to locate it, we couldn’t prevent its escape.

I was planning to try and catch its original body’s causality as it tried to use its ability to escape. If successful, it might even be possible to prevent the shadow swapping ability itself. The trouble was that this approach was, after all, theoretical at this stage, and its success rate could hardly be relied upon before an actual attempt.

I asked Zhu Shi and Mazao if they had any way to counter the shadow swapping superpower.

Mazao looked troubled.

Zhu Shi, however, proposed her plan: "I have actually contemplated a specific tactic. That would be to have you wrap flames around the Shadow Swapping Monster first, and no matter where it moved, we would be able to track it. As long as it realized that escape from our grasp was impossible and fell into complete despair, the seed of the heart would leave its body.

"In that state, it should be unable to use the shadow swapping ability again. Right after that, I will disrupt the process of the seed of the heart destroying brain information, and we can bring its intact head to Lu Chan. That would mean mission accomplished."

"Setting aside whether this method alone could make it fall into complete despair..." I said, "even if I can entangle it with flames, wouldn’t it just use the shadow swapping ability to transfer my flames to its avatar?"

"The causality that passive activation of the shadow swapping ability transfers is limited to that associated with death," she replied. "As long as the person causing the fatal injury isn’t you, but me and Mazao, or as long as you differentiate ’the flames used to track it’ from ’the flames that kill it,’ the tracking flames won’t automatically transfer."

I understood what she meant.

Similarly, if it committed suicide because of my thermal energy marker, the marker would transfer since it had become associated with its death.

As long as I prevented it from committing suicide with that motive, the thermal energy marker wouldn’t transfer. This wouldn’t be difficult for me.

Thinking about it more carefully, there had been hints of this rule before. Last night, when Mazao cut off the Shadow Swapping Monster’s hand, the severed hand, after it swapped with its avatar, did not disappear as part of the shadow constituting the avatar, but remained as part of the original body’s flesh and blood. This was because Mazao’s act of severing its hand had no substantial association with the fatal injury it suffered later.

I’d managed to grasp the detailed operating logic of its ability and was surprised at Zhu Shi’s insights.

She had seen through the Shadow Swapping Monster’s abilities to such an extent that she might understand them even better than the Shadow Swapping Monster itself. The power of the "Buzhou Mountain" was truly beyond imagination.

"Zhu Shi, since you’ve been able to see through the flaws in the Shadow Swapping Monster’s abilities, could you also disrupt the abilities themselves?"

I had asked casually, but surprisingly, Zhu Shi hesitated.

"Ah? Really?" I was astonished.

"Well, it’s possible..." she said. "But with my current level, I can only disrupt the abilities at the moment they’re activated, and such disruption would only be temporary.

"Furthermore, the Shadow Swapping Monster’s superpower is activated only in an instant. To grasp such a moment is far too difficult for me now, I would at most have a ten percent chance of success."

"I think that’s already quite preposterous..." Mazao couldn’t help but hide behind me.

Zhu Shi seemed greatly distressed, "Hey, wait! Mazao, why are you distancing yourself from me?"

"Let’s not talk about that for now, for the moment we have a method to prevent the Shadow Swapping Monster from escaping, but we still haven’t found the individual himself." I said, "May I implant a thermal energy marker in each of you? You can help me judge if the monster could detect the marker if it were on him."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi couldn’t help but give me a wary look, then said, "Alright... let’s give it a try."

I attempted to set a thermal energy marker in the organs of both of them.

Zhu Shi paused slightly and immediately replied, "I can feel the mana fluctuations of the thermal energy marker, the strategy you mentioned before won’t work."

"I don’t feel anything." On the contrary, Mazao shook her head, "But my opinion can’t be taken as a reference. I am still in a state of soul damage, and my perception of mana fluctuations has greatly diminished."

"Is that so..." I appeared disappointed, but inside I was relieved.

Mazao’s response let me know that the previous event of me implanting a thermal energy marker inside her had likely gone undetected.

"Zhuang Cheng, although your own use of superpowers does not create mana fluctuations that others can sense, the flames you emit are not the same. You must be careful in the future," Zhu Shi cautioned.

"Mana fluctuations..."

Lu Youxun had mentioned this term before as well; it presumably refers to the effects produced when using the power of the strange, a sensation detectable by demon hunters like Zhu Shi.

And then it dawned on me, "What about my ’Firefly’? I previously sent the ’Firefly’ inside the nightclub, could it have been discovered by the Shadow Swapping Monster?"

"You can be assured on that count, the mana fluctuations emitted by your ’Firefly’ are extremely subtle. As someone with quite sensitive Perception, I can barely notice your ’Firefly’; the monster would likely find it even more indetectable." She shook her head, "This thermal energy marker is actually quite covert, if it hadn’t directly entered my body, I would have been unable to detect it either."

I had previously used the "Firefly" to eavesdrop on her phone conversation, she seemed unaware of it indeed.

However, I had never felt "mana fluctuations" before. Now was not the time to seek instruction, but later on, I would have to learn from Zhu Shi how to detect these so-called mana fluctuations.

For now, focus on the issue at hand. Since implanting a thermal energy marker in everyone at the nightclub was not feasible, I had to consolidate the previous clues and consider who could be the Shadow Swapping Monster.

So, I must revisit Changan’s previous account after all?

Following Mazao’s hint that our chance encounter with Changan and Jinyu might contain clues to the heart of the matter, could I infer that within the account that Changan narrated to us about himself and Jinyu, there lay hidden the clues that would enable us to pinpoint the identity of the Shadow Swapping Monster?

Or could it mean the Shadow Swapping Monster was a "character" that appeared in the experiences shared by Changan and Jinyu?

In that portion of the recounted events, eliminating Changan and Jinyu, there were a total of three clear characters: Jinyu’s father, mother, and the nightclub owner.

Considering the Shadow Swapping Monster was inside the nightclub, my initial suspicion was whether the nightclub owner could be the monster, but this direction was negated by the man in the black suit. The Shadow Swapping Monster is a "collaborator" of the nightclub owner, and since the owner is female, those rough male hands could not possibly belong to her. By the same logic, Jinyu’s mother should be ruled out as well.

That left Jinyu’s father, who not only is male but also fits the requirement of "frequenting that nightclub."

But, is it really okay to settle on a target just via the process of elimination? I know Mazao’s Broom Star Physique is extraordinary, but to casually pick up the key to solving the riddle just by strolling around seems absurd.

If we guess wrong, we’ll never catch the Shadow Swapping Monster again. I must obtain more evidence...

I kept pondering over the experiences of Changan and Jinyu.

Suddenly, I caught a huge doubt in their story.

Why had I overlooked this doubt before?

While feeling reflective, I became convinced that I had truly reached the true identity of the target.

"Jinyu, you said you joined the nightclub to frame your father after hearing that he frequently visited," I turned to Jinyu, "And after that, the owner just treated you as a regular employee, never providing any extra convenience."

"Yes..." Jinyu asked with confusion, "Is there a problem with that?"

"The nightclub is akin to a masquerade, with patrons wearing masks and the staff in disguises. Whether for pleasure or privacy, the true social identities of the clients are hidden." I explained, "So how could you be certain that, after you joined the nightclub, your father was still a patron there?"

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