Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 151 - 144 Undercurrent 1

Chapter 151: 144 Undercurrent 1

Last time, I mentioned the Void Realm and Bowl No.2 to Zhu Shi," I said. "Given her kind nature, she wouldn’t ignore the follow-up, so it was necessary for me to wrap up that topic first.

And if it had been just that, I wouldn’t have needed to bring up the Master of the Divine Seal. But since I’d already told her such crucial information about the Divine Seal Fragment, it was too late to hold back now. It was better to tell her everything.

In addition, Zhu Shi possesses systematic knowledge of Mysticism and has her identity and background from Luo Mountain. Although I’m also considered Evil, I’m of the Outer Path Impermanence and still an outsider to Luo Mountain. I rely heavily on Zhu Shi’s connections for many pieces of intelligence, and she herself can be an excellent consultant.

As for Lu Youxun, his network within Luo Mountain is indeed richer than Zhu Shi’s, and he’s probably better than Zhu Shi in terms of experience and knowledge. However, I could never openly confide in him. Trust is more important than capability. No matter how much I may like him as a person, at most we could only form a relationship based on mutual benefit. We couldn’t become true friends.

To facilitate Zhu Shi’s acceptance of what I had to say, I allowed her to use "Buzhou Mountain" on me throughout our conversation. On this basis, I shared my experience in the Void Realm.

No matter how incredible my words seemed to her, she had no choice but to accept them.

After her initial shock, she first turned off "Buzhou Mountain" then rubbed her nose and muttered to herself as if speaking to no one in particular, "Seven chosen people competing around a single winning spot, with the ultimate victor using a universal wish-granting device to fulfill their desire... Senior Brother Zhuang, have you stumbled into some kind of magical battle movie set?"

"That’s what I’d like to know," I said.

"Luckily, you don’t have to kill each other over the wish-granting spot. Otherwise, with two beings like Impermanence out of seven competitors, how would one compete for what’s left?" she shook her head. "No, it’s actually hard to say that there wouldn’t be infighting. Although the Master of the Divine Seal said that infighting would be penalized in terms of contributions to the task of collecting Divine Seal Fragments, if someone is willing to risk that punishment to kill a competitor, then it’s a different story.

"Moreover, if one of the seven stands out, the remaining six could easily join forces to murder the one standing out and share the ’negative points.’ If everyone’s score drops, it’s effectively as if no one’s score has dropped."

I felt Sister Zhu might be well-versed in fantastical stories of this nature, or perhaps she was just naturally adept at identifying loopholes in things. I had barely finished speaking before she immediately noticed the exploitable gaps in the rules.

Besides, if you were to ask who among the seven stands out right now, it would be me. Even the Master of the Divine Seal specifically singled me out, saying I was the only intruder. Could this be a deliberate move to put me at a disadvantage, enticing the other six to test my strength and depth, or even to use the method mentioned by Zhu Shi to create a situation where they use someone else to kill me? It was hard not to make such paranoid conjectures.

However, the Master of the Divine Seal didn’t even consider the likes of No.4 Xuanming and No.6, Impermanence, as threats, let alone me. Even if he couldn’t directly affect me due to the binding relationship of the Divine Seal Fragments, at the very least, he could control the grey mist to restrain me, and if that wasn’t enough, he could deal with me using his enormous body. He had no shortage of methods.

I had no illusions that because the Void Realm was a dream, death there didn’t count. My opponent was not one to be confined by such common sense.

"This kind of competition with simplistic rules seems very problematic..." Zhu Shi mused, "And granting a wish only for the one with the highest contribution seems a bit stingy. If the divine seal is omnipotent, why not promise to fulfill the wishes of all participants?

"...No, that would actually reduce `work efficiency`. With the current system, those confident in their abilities can strive hard, and those who lack confidence can trade for the knowledge they need to fulfill their wishes. It doesn’t seem so bad, does it?"

I added, "Although the two strongest in the Void Realm right now don’t seem like characters who will honestly work hard."

"You’re the same, I bet that Master of the Divine Seal must be having quite a headache right now." While speaking, she seemed to be reminded of something and added with a laugh, "By the way, it feels like your situation is like some of the fantasy novels I’ve read before. Maybe the Master of the Divine Seal is just an ordinary person who accidentally obtained the divine seal and is pretending to be the mastermind; No.7 could be his sock puppet thrown in among you. When he discovered you, an intruder, he might have appeared cool and collected, but in reality, he was sweating buckets."

Picturing the scene she described, I was momentarily speechless and then said, "That would make it easier for us then. If he’s truly just an ordinary person pretending to be profound, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about him destroying the world."

Ordinary people who wish for the world’s destruction when things don’t go their way are not that rare, but if someone still truly harbors that wish after gaining extraordinary power and position, they are no longer just an ordinary person from a psychological standpoint.

Even someone with an offbeat personality like mine wouldn’t wish for such extreme destruction.

What I truly desired was the dazzling and bizarre colors that bloomed in the process of destruction, not the result of destruction itself.

However, according to Luo Mountain’s apocalypse prophecy, the endpoint of the apocalypse is utter emptiness, where everything dissolves into nothingness.

"You’re right," she said helplessly, shaking her head, "Based on your previous description, No.6 apparently has an extraordinary understanding of the divine seal and believed to have grasped the Master of Divine Seal’s true nature, effortlessly piercing through the grey fog’s seal, yet still ended up being thwarted...

"Even though I don’t know what No.6 originally thought the Master of Divine Seal was, if the latter was truly just an ordinary person who happened to stumble upon the divine seal, they probably would have been torn to shreds at that stage."

She then asked, "Do you have a way to destroy the Divine Seal Fragment in your possession? If the fragments which compel you to participate in the competition are bound to it, destroying them should enable you to withdraw, right?"

"This is impossible," I directly refuted.

I had long been able to decompose the Divine Seal Fragment into flames and reconstitute it, but the physical form of the fragment is no more than an illusion. Even if reduced to particles, the binding essence with my spirit remains unchanged, and the once vanished Divine Seal Fragment would re-emerge without notice, which is something I verified before I reconnected with Mazao.

Could the state of the divine seal being "both fragmented and intact" refer to this phenomenon? I felt the reality might still differ. If the contradictory state of the divine seal was merely this, Impermanence like No.4 Xuanming wouldn’t be so perplexed by it.

By the way, after this Void Realm gathering ended, the Divine Seal Fragment bound to me underwent some changes. The new features the Master of Divine Seal added to the fragment seemed not limited to detecting other fragments, but also made it much more portable. With just a thought, I could make my own fragment temporarily disappear; with another, it would reappear.

"Since there’s no way out, we can only think of a way to actively confront this situation. The advice Mazao offered you was correct, even if the Master of Divine Seal promises to answer any questions, you shouldn’t really trade the Divine Seal Fragment for answers," Zhu Shi cautiously said, "You seem to believe that as long as you can eliminate this risk, there will be no problem, but I suggest you not entertain such wishful thinking.

"It’s like how a court judges whether a suspect is guilty, they only demand ’evidence of their crime,’ not ’proof of innocence,’ the latter is often impossible in most cases, and you also have no way of determining if trading with strange entities truly won’t result in any negative consequences.

"But even so... despite me saying all this, you might ’accidentally’ forget when it comes down to it."

Compared to Mazao, Zhu Shi indeed knew me better. And her concerns were not something I hadn’t considered. Even I couldn’t be sure whether I truly wouldn’t take the risk and trade with the Master of Divine Seal in the future, asking him various questions related to the apocalypse—whether to prevent it or, conversely, I had to obtain definite answers.

Thus, I humbly requested guidance, "Suppose the situation does evolve to that point, what should I do?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi first let out a weary sigh, then perked up and offered advice, "If you really need to ask, you could start with some less critical questions. For instance, something you carelessly lost in the past and want to know the location of, or answers you could find on your own with a bit more effort.

"And for riddles that you believe are unsolvable no matter how much time you spend, or too grand a challenge like ’how to save the world,’ you definitely shouldn’t ask. Even if you really want to ask, it’s best not to reveal such inquiries the first time.

"Transactions with malevolent oddities tend to have a pattern: the greater the gain, the greater the misfortune. So the first question must be of a less consequential nature. Never think that trading a Divine Seal Fragment for such a trivial issue is a waste, because the amount gained in the first trade isn’t important, what is crucial is what feedback the transaction itself will provide you with afterward—that’s the essence of testing the waters."

"I will take that to heart."

I made a serious note, then continued our in-depth conversation.

Although she had put forth suggestions under the premise I would trade with the Master of Divine Seal, overall she still stood on the position of no trade. The reason wasn’t just that trading could bring about harmful consequences for me, but also the unknown stance of the Master of Divine Seal. If the Master of Divine Seal truly was the person who Impermanence like No.4 Xuanming speculated had made a wish for world destruction, then helping him collect Divine Seal Fragments would be tantamount to abetting tyranny.

And as an extension of this issue, I had to face another crucial question.

How did the Master of Divine Seal plan to reclaim all the Divine Seal Fragments in the final stage?

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