Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 143 - 137 Void Realm 4

Chapter 143: 137 Void Realm 4

"It’s Bowl No. 2!"

Seeing her, my heart, which had been hanging mid-air, finally landed, and No. 1 also relaxed immediately, saying, "This time, you’re the last to arrive."

"Sorry, I’m late." Bowl No. 2 said timidly. In fact, no one had set a time, so there was actually no such thing as being late.

While speaking, she seemed to be observing the several figures present.

Her gaze moved from No. 1, paused on the newcomer, No. 5, then hastily avoided No. 4 Xuanming, and finally rested on me, emitting a tentative sound, "Mr. No. 3?"

"It’s me." I said, "How’ve you been lately? I’m asking about your progress with sin demonization."

As I spoke, I glanced at No. 1, who appeared to be pensive, "Sin demonization..."

"My state is very bad." Bowl No. 2 lowered her head, speaking bitterly, "Last time, I said I could hold out for ten days, but now it’s just over half that time, and I feel like I can’t hold on much longer. If I can’t retrieve my name this time, I’m afraid I’ll completely become a sin demon as soon as I return. So..."

Listening to her, it seemed the flow of time on her side was roughly the same as on mine. Although, comparing the flow of time from different eras didn’t feel quite right.

At the end, she looked up at me with a hint of anticipation.

And so, I delivered the line I’d long prepared, "Mission accomplished."

It seemed to take her a few seconds to understand what I meant, then she exclaimed joyfully, "Really?"

"Really. I’ve found out your name." I said, "But it’s not convenient to speak here; you wouldn’t want others to hear your name, would you? Let’s talk a bit farther away."

"Okay, okay!" she nodded repeatedly.

Under the gaze of others, we temporarily left the seating area and moved deeper into the mist. Once we walked far enough that others likely couldn’t hear us, we walked a little further, then stopped.

She eagerly turned to face me, and my heart was equally impatient. As soon as I told her the name, I could finally complete the task assigned by Sister Mazao. The feeling of living up to someone’s expectations was sweet yet heavy, while the taste of disappointment was bitterly cold. I did not want to experience that taste again.

"Mr. No. 3, may I ask, what is my name?" she asked.

"―Bowl." I recited like casting a spell, "Your name is Bowl. ’Small’ as in ’size,’ ’bowl’ as in ’dishes.’"

Upon hearing this, Bowl No. 2 seemed to be enchanted, losing herself in a daze.

"That’s my name..."

She muttered to herself and then fell into a long silence. I waited a long time, she gave no response, simply bowing her head, zoning out.

I didn’t interrupt her, letting her continue zoning out. However, over time, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Could there be something wrong with the name I mentioned, or did I remember it wrong? That shouldn’t be the case. ’Small’ as in ’size,’ ’bowl’ as in ’dishes.’ I remember very clearly. Or could it be that Bowl No. 2 here isn’t actually Bowl? That’s not possible either; Mazao only has this one friend. Although I was certain of no mistakes, worry makes one muddled, and that’s precisely my state now.

After a good while, she finally emerged from her reverie like surfacing for air, took a deep breath, and said very seriously, "Thank you for waiting. Thank you, Mr. No. 3. You’ve helped me retrieve my name, a lifesaving grace I will never forget."

Watching such a young child speak of "never forgetting" did feel odd, but compared to her regaining normalcy, those were minor details.

"You’re welcome. What happened just now?"

"Because I forgot my name and part of myself, I also forgot many things. Just now, I suddenly regained a lot of memories, so I needed time to digest and organize them," she explained with a youthful voice, then sighed, "When I first met Sister Mazao, I was on the verge of becoming a sin demon in the wild. It was she who used her blessing power to pull me back from the brink, and she even kept me by her side, allowing me to have the name ’Bowl.’ I can’t believe I even forgot that..."

"Speaking of which, I’ve always been curious... Did Mazao give you the name ’Bowl’?"

Seeing that she seemed to really like the name Bowl, I refrained from ridiculing the unusual name.

"I named myself initially," she said.

I curiously asked, "What do you mean by ’initially’?"

"When I named myself, it was ’Small’ as in ’size,’ ’Evening’ as in ’night.’ Because, you see, Sister Mazao’s ’Mazao’ is ’Morning’ as in ’morning,’ so I wanted to have a matching name," she explained with a smile, seemingly recalling past fun, "I thought Sister Mazao must have understood my intention, so I didn’t explain much. It was much later before I realized she’d mistaken my ’Evening’ for ’Bowl’ as in ’dishes.’ Later, I just went along with that misunderstanding."

No wonder when I first asked Mazao if she was the one who gave the name ’Bowl,’ she was ambiguous, saying something about it "somewhat having her part in it"! So when she first introduced herself to me, she also said her name was ’Mazao’ as in ’Sesame, breakfast,’ could she have been thinking only of food?

"By the way, Mr. No. 3, since you found my name in the real world, does that mean you’ve found Sister Mazao... is that right?" Bowl No. 2 asked concernedly.

"Yes," I nodded.

She said in a soft voice, "Can we talk a little about Sister Mazao? I’ve been separated from her for a long time and I miss her very much."

I saw no harm in it and shared with her the details of how Mazao and I had reunited, and briefly explained how I had managed to keep Mazao by my side. Of course, I would never speak of the GPS bracelet and thermal energy marker; aside from that, I also omitted certain parts where my intentions might be seen as ulterior. The remainder of what I told her was mostly the truth and was sufficient to handle the occasional curious interjections from Bowl Number Two.

After a while, Bowl Number Two exclaimed, "So, Sister Mazao finally made a trustworthy new friend and found a comrade willing to fight side by side with her..."

Seeing her accept these hearsay details without a hint of doubt, just like a naive child who believes in the world of storybooks, I couldn’t help but wonder, "Don’t you suspect that I might be making this up? Perhaps my relationship with your Sister Mazao isn’t that good, or I might even be her enemy, and your name might have been coaxed out of me. She might have told me because she thought I couldn’t influence your future."

"So, Mister Number Three, would you deceive me?" she asked.

"Of course not," I lied with my eyes wide open, "but let’s just hypothetically say I was deceiving you—how would you guard against that?"

"I don’t need to guard particularly," she said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, since Sister Mazao trusts Mister Number Three so much, and since you’ve also saved my life, I’ll tell you..." she said leisurely, "Actually, I’ve had a special ability since I was young. Thanks to that, I’m very good at seeing through other people’s lies."

"Good at seeing through...lies?"

I suddenly felt a familiar sweat breaking out on my back.

I didn’t doubt that such an ability existed in this world—after all, Zhu Shi had the same ability—but did Bowl Number Two really possess it as well? She seemed to have no reason to bluff me. I could simply ask Mazao once I returned to the real world, and that would confirm the truth. That could also explain why she accepted my words so easily.

The question was, had I lied to her in the past?

I immediately searched through my memories. It appeared that I indeed had, and not just a few times! Although I hadn’t lied this time, when I previously explained how I met Mazao, I had painted myself as an overly righteous person—had she seen through that too?

Wait, before that...

"In this Mist Dream Realm, aren’t supernatural powers supposed to be unusable? Can your ability still function here?" I asked.

"Is that so? It seems like my ability to see through lies can still be used here. Although it doesn’t feel as flexible as in the real world, it’s not like it’s completely nonfunctional," she mused.

Could it be a misunderstanding on my part, that I’m the only one here unable to use superpowers? No, judging from the words of Number One and the fearless attitude Number Five had hinted about Number Four Xuanming, it should be normal not to use supernatural powers here... Perhaps Bowl Number Two is an exception?

And since she could still use her ability, had she really seen all my past lies? She didn’t seem to bring it up intentionally, merely facing me as usual, and with a soft and obedient voice asked, "Mister Number Three, what’s wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing..."

I habitually changed the subject. Perhaps even this sentence had been seen through as a lie by her.

"Instead of that, how long did it take you to get here?"

"On the way here?" she asked curiously.

"It took me a long time to reach the chairs after I entered the Mist Dream Realm," I said.

"Ah, that..." she began, then shook her head, "No, I arrived quickly, perhaps in less than a minute."

Even she said this.

Clearly, something was odd. Every time I crossed the mist to reach the seating area, it took a long time, but Bowl Number Two and Number Five had said it didn’t take that long. Last time, I got lost for a while before meeting Number Four Xuanming, but then quickly found the place. I hadn’t asked Number One yet, but I assumed their experience would be similar to the others’. This mist seemed to subtly indicate it was unwelcoming to me.

Moreover, none of the others here seemed to have experienced entering the Mist Dream Realm through a "ghostly perspective." Furthermore, they appeared to have all experienced the power of the Divine Seal Fragment, of which I was completely ignorant.

This made me feel like an outsider, like a character who shouldn’t exist in the Mist Dream Realm.

Bowl Number Two quietly observed me.

"Mister Number Three, I have a question, and I don’t know if you could answer it for me."

"Go ahead," I nodded.

She slowly said, "I think... Mister Number Three, this isn’t your second time in the Mist Dream Realm, right?"

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