Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 133 - 127 Ying Lingyun1

Chapter 133: 127 Ying Lingyun1

The grand Western-style mansion seemed to house only Zhu Shi and his grandparents, and now Changan would be added, totaling just four people, so it was quite normal to have many empty rooms.

We were now in one of these empty rooms, which contained only a wooden table. A towel was placed on the table, on which lay the head of the Weirdo Maker; the towel was stained with dirty blood that had flowed from the severed neck.

If a thief had entered the house, or if nearby children had really treated this place as a haunted house for exploration, the sight of such a head during their search might truly evoke the feeling of experiencing a horror story.

On the way here, I hadn’t seen Changan, presumably somewhere else in the mansion. He certainly didn’t know that the head of his biological father (though a possibility avatar) was under the same roof as himself. Perhaps out of discretion, Zhu Shi locked the room door as we entered.

Mr. Zhu walked up to the table, stood with his hands behind his back, and stared silently at the head. As outsiders, Mazao and I didn’t feel it was right for us to just reach out and grab his son-in-law’s head; we could only stand behind and wait for someone to hand it over. Mr. Zhu made no move yet; he merely seemed lost in deep thought.

At first, I was a bit puzzled, but soon understood. Unlike Zhu Shi and me, Mr. Zhu most likely firmly believed in Ying Lingyun’s death. After all, Ying Lingyun was his son-in-law, the husband of his daughter. It was inevitable that he felt sentimental upon seeing the remains.

I realized that this might be a good opportunity. Zhu Shi knew very little about Ying Lingyun, but Mr. Zhu likely knew everything about him. I could use this chance to ask Mr. Zhu about Ying Lingyun. The man might still be alive, and gathering information about him now might be useful for future precaution.

Besides, even putting that aside, I was extremely curious about Ying Lingyun as a person and wanted to know about his past.

Upon hearing my inquiries about Ying Lingyun, Mr. Zhu looked back in confusion.

"Are you interested in this kind of guy?" he asked pointedly, referring to the head on the wooden table.

It seemed he really disliked his son-in-law, even referring to him as "this kind of guy."

"Yes," I said. "When I first killed him, I didn’t know he was Zhu Shi’s father, so..."

"...Ah, I see." Mr. Zhu nodded thoughtfully. "You don’t need to feel regret for killing such a person. But since you are curious, I might as well tell you.

"However, as you see, I am old, and my story might be long. How about we talk elsewhere? We’ve already prepared tea and snacks for you here."

I had no objections, so Mazao, Zhu Shi, and I followed Mr. Zhu out of the room. He led us to a guest tea room and we sat down. Zhu Shi’s grandmother was already there, waiting for us. She served us hot tea and snacks then excused herself. It seemed the initial plan was to have us for tea and pleasantries first before retrieving the head, but Mr. Zhu had skipped that part. I had a vague feeling that he was someone who disliked formalities despite his appearance.

As I watched the steam rising from the hot tea, Mr. Zhu appeared nostalgic and asked, "Where would you like to start?"

Suddenly asked this, I too was unsure how to proceed. After thinking for a moment, I noticed a puzzling point and asked, "As far as I know, Ying Lingyun was just an ordinary official in society before, so why did he later become a son-in-law in a demon hunter family?"

"Oh, starting from there?" He nodded. "Has my granddaughter told you that I originally planned to withdraw the Zhu family from the demon hunter circle?"

"She has," I said. Zhu Shi, sitting beside me, also nodded.

"What prompted this thought was none other than my daughter, Zhu Jiu."

Mr. Zhu then told us the whole story.

Zhu Jiu was Zhu Shi’s mother and the only daughter of Mr. Zhu.

In fact, the Zhu family did not have a tradition of having only one child; on the contrary, they have always encouraged spreading their branches. For instance, Mr. Zhu—Zhu Ba’s generation had several siblings, but all had died by now.

The cause of death was nothing else but the "Yama Sword."

Although even members of the Zhu family themselves did not believe that the Yama Sword possessed the power of Impermanence, it was true that it contained immense strength. According to reliable records, the heir who fully released the power of the Yama Sword could achieve power beyond the limits of a demon hunter. Consequently, regarding the inheritance of the Yama Sword, Zhu Ba and his siblings ultimately turned against each other and engaged in an unprecedented slaughter.

As the only survivor, Zhu Ba developed a severe psychological trauma from that horrific carnage. Thus, to prevent similar conflicts among future generations, after his wife gave birth to a daughter, he had no more plans for more children and directly named his daughter "Zhu Jiu" following the family’s inheritor style.

For this only daughter, he harbored great hopes that she would become an outstanding demon hunter and imposed extraordinarily harsh training on her.

The saying goes, ’Raise sons poor and daughters rich,’ yet he did the opposite with Zhu Jiu, rigorously tempering her spirit and body to the extent of seeming utterly devoid of tenderness—the very image of a Devil.

This wasn’t just my view; it was what he himself admitted.

Over time, however, he realized his daughter was not cut out to be a demon hunter.

"As a demon hunter, Ah Jiu’s aptitude was terribly poor, and within her lifetime, achieving the achieved realm was hopeless, let alone the Residence Realm. Additionally, her nature was too gentle and kind, unfit for the cruel abnormal world," Mr. Zhu slowly said. "Plus, the demon hunter aptitude of the Zhu family has been declining generation by generation. You should know, before my generation, there had never been such tragic incidents revolving around external objects like the Yama Sword within the Zhu family. So, I thought it was about time for the Zhu family to withdraw from the demon hunter circle."

Who would have thought the Yama Sword had such a bloody history? I glanced at Zhu Shi; her expression was solemn, seemingly already aware of it.

"But Zhu Shi’s talent should be considered good, right?" I asked.

"Yes, my granddaughter is an exception among the descendants. If Ah Jiu is a failure, then she could be called a genius. The problem was she wasn’t even born back then. Knowing this now, perhaps I would have made different judgments at that time," Mr. Zhu said, "But back to our discussion, as you may know, the abnormal attracts the abnormal. If you want the Zhu family to withdraw from the abnormal world, it would mean giving up the power and knowledge of the abnormal.

"But that doesn’t mean I plan to let the Zhu family become just another common member of ordinary society. In order to stand firm in that world, I wanted the Zhu family to gain a certain degree of power and status in secular society. For this, I hoped my incompetent daughter would sacrifice her own will, follow my orders, and marry a man with sufficient power and status in secular society."

"So, it’s what’s called a political marriage?" It occurred to me that Mr. Zhu was indeed a manipulative father exploiting his children’s marriages for gain.

Was Ying Lingyun the partner in this marriage? But the Shadow Swapping Monster had said that Ying Lingyun was also of humble origins, and had risen rapidly only after attaching himself to the Zhu family.

"Correct." Mr. Zhu nodded. "Before the Fan Tian Incident, although our demon hunter family couldn’t truly influence secular society with the power of spells, if we accumulate wealth through the benefits of spells and then use this wealth to connect with those in power, as long as it’s not too outrageous, there are still some loopholes to exploit.

"Using these advantages, I successfully found some marriage candidates for my daughter who possessed both morals and power, some who had already achieved great success, others who were rising stars with boundless futures.

"However, just when things were progressing smoothly, we encountered an unexpected major obstacle..."

Naturally, I asked, "Was it because Zhu Shi’s mother strongly resisted?"

Zhu Shi was very engaged in listening, seemingly hearing about his mother’s old stories for the first time. Mazao, lacking cultural sensitivity on this topic, just stared at the tea stalks in the teacup, apparently studying divination through them.

Mr. Zhu shook his head and then said, "That could only be considered an expected obstacle, and only the second greatest."

"Then what was the greatest obstacle?" I asked.

He spoke gravely, "It was myself."

Not only was I surprised, but even Zhu Shi exclaimed in shock, "Ah?"

Mr. Zhu smiled helplessly and continued to tell us—

In the past, watching his daughter’s face filled with resistance and seeing a son-in-law candidate who was almost old enough to be his brother, Zhu Ba suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

From his youth, he had schemed with and against his siblings and even became the victor in the family’s internal conflicts, thinking his heart had grown cold. However, perhaps because of this, the real him deeply craved the nourishment of familial love, harboring suppressed love for his wife and daughter.

He had personally slain his own family members before, and his wife and daughter were the family he had fortunately reencountered. How could he, blinded by greed, treat his daughter like merchandise to be sold to someone else?

Thus, he crashed the matchmaking event, flipped over the table of the suitor he had found, and took his bewildered daughter away.

While this move was satisfying, he still had to consider how to ensure the future of the Zhu family in secular society.

That’s when he noticed an individual.

It was Ying Lingyun.

Unlike the political rising stars with solid family backgrounds, Ying Lingyun was a rootless commoner, even an orphan whose parents had both died.

However, he had an enormous advantage that those figures couldn’t match.

That was his daughter’s affection for him.

They had known each other since primary school, childhood sweethearts. Long ago, Zhu Ba had realized his daughter’s deep-seated love for this man but had always dismissed it, thinking they lived in different worlds and would eventually part ways. But after planning to enter secular society—especially after his moment of enlightenment—Zhu Ba reevaluated Ying Lingyun and discovered that he indeed had many strengths.

Ying Lingyun was impressive looking, talented, articulate, perceptive, and decisive. Although he was occasionally arrogant and pompous, his commanding leadership drew people to rally behind him.

From another perspective, this was also a form of "political capability" many people lacked. If he could receive enough cultivation and supplement what he lacked in background, he could potentially achieve great things in society.

Zhu Ba thought, if that was the case, marrying his daughter to this young man might be acceptable.

Having made up his mind, he approached Ying Lingyun, helping him enter the political arena. Within a few years, the man truly soared unstoppably, becoming another rising star in the political sphere.

During this process, he gradually discovered Ying Lingyun’s secret.

While associating with his daughter, Ying Lingyun also had a dubious relationship with a Demon masquerading as a beautiful woman!

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