Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 160 - 152 Out of the blue

Chapter 160: 152 Out of the blue

"A Divine Seal Fragment is actually hidden in such a place?"

Mazao spoke beside me, her voice tinged with tension, "Zhuang Cheng... even though you aren’t using your true body to investigate, you must still be extremely cautious. We don’t know what kind of dangers could be lurking there."

The competition for fragments had only begun a few days ago, yet we had already "luckily" stumbled upon another Divine Seal Fragment—likely, in Mazao’s view, a coincidence attracted by her own Broom Star Physique. And since it was a coincidence of this nature, it was destined to be accompanied by disaster. The Divine Seal Fragment wouldn’t just be sitting there waiting for us to pick it up.

But from my perspective, since we were following Ying Lingyun, who likely possessed a Divine Seal Fragment, encountering another fragment was only a matter of time. It wasn’t coincidence, but inevitability.

However, I may have to admit that Mazao might be the one who’s right.

As the heat sensing was extensively deployed, I immediately detected the first anomaly.

I couldn’t pinpoint the specific location of another Divine Seal Fragment.

Judging by the reaction of the Divine Seal Fragment bound to me, the other fragment was definitely within this one kilometer radius. Whether it was hidden in a safe, or in the interlayer of the floor or ceiling, it couldn’t escape my perception. To me, this domain was as clear as the lines on my palm, nothing could hide from me.

Could it be hidden underground, or even in the sky? Just in case, I expanded my perception from planar to three-dimensional, encompassing everything from the high skies to the depths below, all within my range of perception. This wasn’t just digging three feet into the ground, but a kilometer deep. My heat sensing could ignore material obstructions, so even a thousand meters underground I could uncover everything.

The result was that this old base of the Human Bureau indeed had underground structures, but only up to two levels below ground, and the rest were building foundation structures. Still, I found no trace of the Divine Seal Fragment. Likewise, the sky above was all normal.

This did not fall out of my expectations. If Ying Lingyun placed the Divine Seal Fragment here, he must have taken extraordinary anti-theft measures. Instead of putting it plainly in a safe, it would be more effective to make it undetectable to any thief.

I even suspected that the Human Bureau was unaware he possessed a Divine Seal Fragment.

Admittedly, from a personal standpoint, hiding important items in deserted places is the best choice, but this is based on the premise of "only oneself knowing the hiding place."

If the Divine Seal Fragment belonged not just to Ying Lingyun but to the organization of the Human Bureau, then locking it in a heavily guarded place would be the rational choice.

The current situation seemed to be the opposite.

Meanwhile, as my perception deepened, I could increasingly feel the supernatural presence here.

—I felt like I was being watched by something.

At first, my impression of the old Human Bureau base was that it seemed abandoned, but actually felt as if many people were around, just invisible to me. This impression only intensified when I enhanced my perceptions. What I originally thought might be an illusion like entering an abandoned amusement park now felt like there were indeed many unknown entities active in the darkness.

Even more unsettling, these unknown entities seemed to have noticed my "Firefly," countless chilling gazes converging on the "Firefly" as if they were whispering stealthily in the darkness, discussing maliciously how to deal with this unwelcome guest.

For the moment, I shifted my focus from searching for the Divine Seal Fragment to these unknown entities, and similar to the fragment, I couldn’t find these unknown entities either. There was only a vague sensation that something indefinable was present.

What are these things? Were they detection measures set by Ying Lingyun that had discovered me? Or perhaps Ying Lingyun raised a group of Devils and monsters here to counter potential thieves?

With Mazao’s investigative talents, she could surely expose both the Divine Seal Fragment and the unknown entities. But the issue wasn’t about being able to expose them; the real concern was the kind of danger that would present itself once these unknown beings were revealed.

In the exploration process, the most dangerous things aren’t tangible monsters, but the unknown perils. Even with my power to protect myself, I couldn’t ensure that Mazao wouldn’t be harmed.

Should we just level the old Human Bureau base to the ground? Doing so shouldn’t affect Mazao’s investigation. But I didn’t know if such a brute-force approach would work on the unknown entities, and it would likely destroy the Divine Seal Fragment hidden here as well. Although the essence of the Divine Seal Fragment wouldn’t be affected by being dismantled or destroyed, I was not bound to that fragment and couldn’t determine when or where it might reappear, possibly going straight back into Ying Lingyun’s hands.

There must be a more refined approach, like... surgical removal of a lesion.

While contemplating, I relayed the situation to Mazao.

"—So you mean, it would be better if I don’t go over there to investigate for now?" she asked.

"At least not until I’ve eliminated the traps there," I said diplomatically.

If I had just said "it’s dangerous so don’t go," she would probably have objected. Despite her suspicious and cautious nature, she isn’t the type to worry about her own safety. In fact, the opposite might be true; I sensed that she had a tendency towards self-sacrifice, deliberately walking into dangerous situations.

Comparing us, I found we had some similarities. However, I lacked the impulse to atone for my past, let alone a vision to save the world. My actions were purely for my self-interest, and I firmly believed this was my most natural state. I was like this in the past, I am now, and I surely will be in the future.

Mazao could only nod, then reminded me again, "Then you need to be careful."

As she said this, she looked at my face, as if reminded of other matters, and her expression turned hesitant.

"Zhuang Cheng," she started, about the things you discussed with Mr. Zhu, the grandfather..."

On my way to the "clinic," I relayed the contents of my conversation with Mr. Zhu to Mazao.

Not only was there the possibility that Luo Mountain might harm her, but there was also Impermanence watching over her.

After she heard these messages, she showed an expression that suggested she wanted to speak but hesitated, and now it seemed she had finally decided to say it.

I knew what she was contemplating. She was now able to accept the danger she brought upon herself and let me share some of it, but the Great Demon—Impermanence—was a threat of a completely different dimension.

"If Impermanence really does take action against me..."

"Don’t you dare say anything like ’if that happens, just abandon me,’" I said, "I will never abandon you. Wherever you run, I’ll follow. If you leave me behind, I’ll go directly to the Impermanence who tries to persecute you to settle the score. Don’t think just by distancing yourself from me, you’ll be able to leave me out of it."

Mazao’s mouth opened, but in the end, she swallowed her words. She seemed to have anticipated my response, and this time she gave up rather quickly.

A moment later, she suddenly said, "...Zhuang Cheng, you’re what Zhu Shi used to call the ’resolute man,’ aren’t you?"

"Ah? Where did she say that?" I was taken aback.

"On the cellphone," she honestly replied, "Zhu Shi installed a messaging app on my phone, and she’s been sending me messages recently, telling me a lot about you."

What exactly had Zhu Shi been filling her head with?

Suddenly, I felt an urge to peek through Mazao’s messaging app records—wait, hold on, if I really did something like that, wouldn’t I actually become the "resolute man" Zhu Shi talked about?

"Don’t listen to her nonsense, she’s just blabbering," I chose to change the subject, "By the way, Mazao, can you reproduce that Teleportation Door elsewhere, or only in its original location?"

"It can only be reproduced in its original location," Mazao replied, "If I delve deeper into the mastery of the blessing power, perhaps I could reproduce it in other places as well."

Her blessing power sounded simple in functionality, but its potential for expansion was ridiculous. Since she could reproduce other powers of the strange, perhaps even my flames could be reproduced. I even suspected that in the future, she might be able to reproduce the "Buzhou Mountain" of Zhu Shi and the "possibility avatars" that Lu Youxun had controlled in different individuals—perhaps even in herself.

Then, could her power to revert things to their past states be used to repair the divine seal?

This wasn’t the first time I’d thought about this, and I’d asked her directly. The conclusion was that it couldn’t be done. Her blessing power was limited by her own strength, while the divine seal was far beyond her comprehension.

Moreover, the divine seal is an artifact that transcends the flow of time. Once it shatters at a certain point in time, both its past and future become fragmented, and mere time reversal cannot repair it.

However, I hadn’t completely abandoned this line of thought because I realized other possibilities.

The power of Divine Seal Fragment—other chosen ones seemed to be able to use the power of the divine seal fragments. If Mazao’s blessing power alone couldn’t repair the divine seal, then how about combining it with the power of the divine seal itself?

Of course, this was still a very crude idea because I didn’t know the specific manifestations of the Divine Seal Fragment’s power, nor if it could be combined with Mazao’s blessing power. Even if possible, it’s unclear what could be achieved solely with the fragment’s power.

For the time being, I set aside this notion while continuing to investigate the old base of the Human Bureau and asked, "Mazao, can you help me with something?"

Mazao could only stand by and watch; hearing my request, she immediately asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"I just tried to sense mana fluctuations and thought I found a trick, but I’m not sure if it’s right," I said, "Could you emit some mana fluctuations now for me to see if I can feel them?"

If I could grasp the method to perceive mana fluctuations at the last minute, it might be useful for investigating the old base of the Human Bureau.

Mazao nodded, then extended her right hand, summoning the Illusionary Curved Blade she had used before.

The Illusionary Curved Blade took on a chaotic form, like ripples on the water’s surface, but seeing Mazao’s unperturbed expression, it didn’t seem to reflect a state of weakness, but rather something she did deliberately.

"I should be emitting Residence Level mana fluctuations now, can you feel it?" she said.

At her words, I stared at the Illusionary Curved Blade, then closed my eyes and imagined once again that I was on a small boat surrounded by a dark, silent sea, trying to catch a ripple on the seemingly calm surface.

But I still couldn’t capture anything.

Just when I was about to give up, a violent ripple, like nothing I had ever felt before, appeared in the distance in my mind.

It couldn’t even be referred to as a "ripple," but more appropriately a "wave."

The "wave" swept toward the "small boat" I was on from a far-off place!