Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 111 - 108 Interrogation 3

Chapter 111: 108 Interrogation 3

It was an unremarkable evening, and he attended the elite’s dinner party, as usual. Although sitting at the same table, he could only play the role of a smiling, toasting Joker, unable to talk back when reprimanded and lectured by others.

Born from the underworld, he wasn’t truly trusted by the elites. Many were outwardly polite but scorned him in private, considering him a "dog that couldn’t be domesticated." As long as he was willing to remain an obedient tool, he could continue to sit at that dining table; but once trust was lost, he would be kicked away from the table, or worse, be put on it.

It was precisely because of his lower-class background that he felt a strong sense of inferiority and pride when facing those privileged elites. This combination of feelings became extremely twisted after enduring their humiliations, filling his heart with a toxic fire of anger and resentment.

He felt his career and life had hit an invisible, yet unmistakably clear, ceiling. Climbing the social ladder within his generation through personal effort had become an impossible task. Night and day, he analyzed the reasons, sometimes attributing it to the environment, sometimes to his background, and at times, even to his own wife.

Indeed, he would even blame his wife, and this thought was not unfounded.

In Saltwater City, there was a politician named Ying Lingyun who, it was said, came from a grassroots background similar to his and was of a similar age. This politician even had a history of dabbling in the shady activities of the underworld.

In stark contrast to him, the politician had managed to marry the daughter of the local concealed wealthy Zhu family during his youth, leveraging her connections to forcefully achieve social mobility. He then entered the political scene with ease and met with unmitigated success. The dark past connected with the underworld didn’t even impact his career. Many locals who commanded him with arrogance would flatter that politician, who had also once treated him like an inconsequential pawn to be trampled upon.

Coming from the same grassroots background, why could the other man soar high while he could only suffer in silence? The rage and resentment in his heart grew twisted and swelled, ultimately directing a barrage of anger at his wife, who had been by his side from the countryside to the city.

This was the stark truth behind the dramatic change in his parents’ relationship after he graduated from Jinyu Primary School.

After the night’s dinner party ended, he stumbled home on the nighttime streets, full of alcohol and intense humiliation.

It was then that a figure wearing a silver mask appeared before him like a phantom.

It was a night that would change his fate.

"Do you want power?"

"...You speak of ’power’?"

"A power unrelated to authority and wealth, fame, and background; effortless surpassing those mundane things, beyond the comprehension of ordinary people..." The voice echoed in his ears like the whisper of the Devil, "the real power."

"Real power..."

To a normal person, the other’s words would seem lunacy, but incredibly, he understood and believed.

Once agreed, he would become a being beyond human, forever needing human souls as sustenance. He even accepted this without question. The voice seemed to possess an unfathomable seductive power, helping him skip past the stages of questioning and doubt. He seriously considered whether to accept the power offered to him.

What a joke, why hesitate when such a fortune comes knocking? He nodded without a moment’s delay.

From that night, he was no longer human. He was a Monster.

As a Monster, he began to hunt the elites who had humiliated him and the neglected fringes of society as his prey.

To avoid being pursued by official forces, a normal person would be very careful with the disposal of a corpse, especially that of an elite, making it look like an accident or disappearance at best. But he thought differently; driven by revenge and confidence in his superpower, he deliberately left a scene where the victim’s body would be unrecognizable, sending the elites into panic and fear.

At the same time, he still couldn’t let go of his ambitions and desires from his human days, wishing to push forward his dreams of social climbing. Therefore, he found a nightclub owner with strong influence and connections in the local upper class and forced her to submit to him.

Choosing a nightclub owner as a "partner" seemed nonsensical at first, but there were two reasons.

First, the nightclub owner had such strong influence and relationships because she held many of the local elites’ dark secrets. This was an "open secret" among the upper class. Having had enough of being controlled, the Shadow Swapping Monster now eagerly wanted to stand in the position of controlling others.

Second, the Shadow Swapping Monster was a regular at this night club. He had set his sights on a certain worker within, hoping to "purchase" the exclusive "right to use" her immediately. To this end, he did not hesitate to reveal his Monster Form in front of the club owner.

The target of his attention was the youngest little girl in the night club.

The Shadow Swapping Monster had a perverse preference for young girls. In the past, he was brought to this club by other dignitaries and he always chose the same little girl first.

At first, he chose her simply for the thrill but, after forcing the girl to remove her mask and seeing her true face, he fell for her completely. Since then, every time he entered the club, he would pick the same girl, even bringing clothes that would fit her or adorn her meticulously with hair accessories he seemed to procure from somewhere.

Jinyu had relied on the fact that club employees were entitled to refuse the demand to remove their masks, devising a plan to frame her father. However, it turned out that many of the influential clients didn’t care about such rules and faced no consequences when breaking them.

As for the majority of the interactions between the Shadow Swapping Monster and the little girl during the night, Patrol Officer Lu Youxun, who was examining and reading the surface thoughts of the Shadow Swapping Monster, of course, did not go into detail with us, but he did tell us that the Shadow Swapping Monster did not seem to have completely eradicated his humanity.

The Shadow Swapping Monster felt a basic human sense of guilt for his past actions of beating his wife and daughter, as well as acting as a monster indiscriminately killing people and shattering many families. Besides this, regarding the hardships he had suffered over the years, he also harbored a great deal of private sadness and regret.

He confessed these things to the thin and timid girl like admitting sins to a nun, even demanding that, during the process, she should hold him as a mother cradles her child.

He himself acted like a child seeking affectionate comfort from her and even buried his face in her chest like a baby.

The Shadow Swapping Monster, forced to reveal these secrets by Spell cast by Lu Youxun, was like a netizen whose browser history was projected for all to see, furiously cursing with eyes about to split from sheer humiliation, "You... You bastard!"

Zhu Shi showed a look of a complete mental crash and only after a while uttered a single word, "What?"

"Actually, it’s not incomprehensible. Since ancient times, men have two major fantasies. One is to throw their heads and shed their blood for justice and ideals, to sacrifice their lives; the other is to be unconditionally loved and forgiven in the embrace of a pure girl," Lu Youxun uttered with a sigh, "Many men fantasize about seeking motherly love from girls younger than themselves when faced with heartbreaking situations, like I once..."

Seeing such a dignified man reveal such understanding and empathy, Zhu Shi’s gaze towards him grew more and more disdainful. Mazao also silently distanced herself from him.

I tactfully interrupted his speech, "Patrol Officer Lu Youxun, could it be that you have read too much into the Shadow Swapping Monster’s surface thoughts and your thought process has been affected?"

"Ahem!" Lu Youxun, as if awakened from a dream, quickly coughed twice before responding, "Sorry, I went off-topic. It looks like the glove tool we use for interrogation does indeed have some side effects, and reading others’ thoughts for an extended time can have such an influence. It’s really dangerous—I was almost affected by that child predator."

Zhu Shi, with cynicism, said, "While it’s true that overusing the Mind Reading Ability can indeed be influenced by the subject, but you... you’re something else."

"What do you all know?" The Shadow Swapping Monster, apparently trying to salvage some dignity, began to make defensive arguments that were difficult to listen to, "Every mature woman grew from an innocent young girl. If one cannot love a little girl, it’s like not being able to love a complete person..."

"You better shut up!"

Lu Youxun seemed to have used some sort of Spell on the Shadow Swapping Monster by grabbing him on the top of his head, causing the latter to show an expression of agony and unable to speak any further.

Not only that, the Shadow Swapping Monster’s body underwent drastic transformations. From his previous Devil-like Monster Form, he rapidly reverted to a human stature of about 1.7 meters.

It was quite unaccustomed to see him switching back to human form after being in Monster Form for so long. Moreover, the silk robe he had previously worn had all been turned to ashes by my Flame Palm, leaving him completely naked, bound to a tree trunk in an offensive sight.

"My power!" he exclaimed, unable to accept it.

"Hmm... you’ve been rejected by the seed of the heart," said Zhu Shi, after observing him with a discerning gaze and announcing, "Although Mazao had earlier pulled back the seed of the heart in you that wanted to leave, this doesn’t mean it will accept you again. Your Monster Form didn’t revert immediately only because the seed of the heart hasn’t yet managed to escape.

"But just as earlier, with a little external force applied, your Monster Form will be burst like a bubble and can never return to its original shape."

The Shadow Swapping Monster exhibited an expression as if the sky had fallen.

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