Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 161 - 153 VS Great Success Rank 1

Chapter 161: 153 VS Great Success Rank 1

I immediately became certain.

The "wave" surging toward the "little boat" I was aboard, formed upon the "dark sea," was none other than the "mana fluctuations" Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun always spoke of.

This was the first time in my life I had felt such intense fluctuations, like I had always lived indoors without any wind and had now finally stepped outside, feeling the strong breeze against my face. Now, without needing to imagine any "sea" or "little boat," I could clearly sense these fluctuations in a natural and normal state.

Was this the mana fluctuations of a Great Success Rank demon hunter that Zhu Shi mentioned?

But where did it originate from?

It wasn’t coming from the old Human Bureau base. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Mazao beside me with an expression of shock and dismay, as she looked toward the southeast. The source of the mana fluctuations lay far in that direction, at least a dozen kilometers from where we were.

"Great Success Rank?"

Mazao muttered in disbelief, then hastily ran outside of the "clinic."

I followed her out and searched through my memory.

I had previously inquired Zhu Shi about the Luoshan Impermanence active in this city. According to Zhu Shi, the highest-powered Evil in this city was of the achieved level, with two individuals in total. One of them was her grandfather, Mr. Zhu. As for "Great Success Rank," even if you searched the entire Luo Mountain, there would be less than twenty, each one a superhuman strong enough to represent a force by themselves. Apart from me, there were no demon hunters in Saltwater City of this strength.

So how should I interpret this mana fluctuation that had appeared? Was it a Great Success Rank that had entered Saltwater City?

If it was merely a normal entry, there wouldn’t be much to discuss. However, even I, who had felt mana fluctuations for the first time, could tell that the recent fluctuations were not of the common whisper of walking and breathing, but rather a burst of powerful and explosive fluctuations. That outsider with Great Success Rank must have unleashed their power for some reason.

Had they cast some Spell? Were they intending to destroy something or, perhaps... had they engaged in battle?

"Zhuang Cheng!" Mazao gazed tightly towards the southeast, the direction of the mana fluctuation, "Based on this direction and distance, the source of the mana fluctuations seems to be... Zhu Shi’s home!"

"What?"

I couldn’t help but be surprised, while a sense of foreboding rose within me.

Since the Barrier around the Zhu’s mansion had prevented my "Fireflies," and it wasn’t convenient for heat sensing to penetrate their Barrier, I hadn’t left any "Fireflies" there. In other words, I couldn’t immediately see what had happened at the Zhu’s mansion, nor could I transport myself there right away.

But then it occurred to me that an immediate rush there using the supersonic movement of the Fire Element form was possible. Moreover, I had an even more convenient method.

"Mazao, can you take me directly to the Zhu’s mansion through Space Transfer?" I asked.

"Right now, I can only transfer myself alone," she said.

"It doesn’t matter."

As we spoke, I placed a thermal energy marker on her and then said, "Go now."

She understood immediately, and her surrounding space twisted as she vanished from the spot.

Using the thermal energy marker, I sensed her appearing in front of the iron gate of the Zhu’s mansion.

Mazao and I both had the skill to transport ourselves to the other’s side by marking each other, and Mazao could transfer herself to places she had been before. I couldn’t go directly to the Zhu’s mansion, but she could. And as long as she went, so could I.

The next instant, I used Flame Transmission. My view changed dramatically, switching from the entrance of the "clinic" to the iron gate in front of the Zhu’s mansion.

Upon landing, I immediately detected a significant anomaly.

Currently, in my Fire Element form, heat sensing was no longer an active skill, but a passive one. Normally, just by standing here, I would be able to feel the presence of the Barrier surrounding the Zhu’s mansion, which blocks sensing. However, the Barrier was now gone. My heat sensing could pass through the iron gate without any impediment.

Beyond the gate, ominous black smoke rose from the depths of the garden; the same Great Success Rank mana fluctuations I had felt earlier also originated there. As the distance was now closer, the mana fluctuations felt even more ferocious. While it was simply a mental sensation for me, Mazao seemed to feel much more.

She appeared dizzy and staggered, involuntarily clutching the iron gate as if standing on the deck of a boat being rocked violently by waves, only just managing to maintain her balance through this means.

"Ugh, this fluctuation..."

"Mazao, you wait here or move back to a further position."

Now the situation was urgent, and I didn’t have time to care for her physical condition, but quickly said, "I’ll handle what comes next."

Having said that, I sprinted straight through the iron gate.

My perception, however, was even quicker than my movements, reaching the depths of the Zhu’s mansion in an instant.

I saw from a distance what was happening there.

The western-style villa that once stood deep in the garden had collapsed, much like a fragile fortress built on the sand and smashed to pieces by a rampaging car—too dreadful to witness. The vast house had become a pile of ruins, and it seemed that during the destruction, it had touched off some explosive and flammable materials, causing some parts of the ruins to catch fire. The black smoke I had seen earlier was released during the burning process.

I had some practical experience with destroying buildings, so by intuition, I could tell that the villa had not collapsed due to load-bearing columns and walls being knocked down; rather, it was destroyed by an external force... obliterated by a landslide-like external force in one fell swoop.

The intensity of this force was by no means inferior to the power I used to split the dilapidated building when taking down Agent Kong.

And the culprit had not yet left the scene of the crime.

He was standing casually in front of the smoking ruins of the building.

He was a tall man with short white hair, wearing tight-fitting grey clothes and pants. Although he was standing with his back to me, I had seen his real face clearly through thermal perception. He had a stern and rugged face, bright and piercing eyes, and a robust physique that exuded the temperament of a martial arts master.

I didn’t know this person, but I could confirm that the source of the mana fluctuations was him, and the mana fluctuations lingered around the building ruins from his strike.

Emerging from beneath the rubble of the ruins was a figure.

It was Zhu Shi’s grandmother, who had been abducted by a Shadow Swapping Monster’s clone in Changan. I had seen her once before when Zhu Shi and I took her to Zhu’s mansion for protection, and it seemed I had seen her the last time I went there to retrieve the Weirdo Maker’s head. In my memory, she seemed to be a strict person, as Changan deeply respected her. But in front of Zhu Shi and me, she had been quite gentle and kind, even inviting me to visit when I had time.

Perhaps due to her own mana, or maybe other self-protection methods, although she had just been buried under the debris, she did not seem to be seriously injured. Blood was flowing from her forehead and palms, but her movements were weak and distressed.

Seeing someone still alive, the man of Great Success Rank didn’t seem surprised and walked forward expressionlessly, clenching his fist with an undeniable intent to kill.

All the evidence and signs no longer required explanation.

The strange man was my enemy.

I arrived about twenty or thirty meters behind him. My blazing right arm extended rapidly, and my palm enlarged as I reached out to grab his torso.

While there was an impulse to kill him on the spot, I still had the most basic sense. It was necessary to find out his true identity, why he attacked Zhu’s mansion, whether he had other accomplices, and, if it was impossible to capture him alive, killing him wouldn’t be too late.

The reason for this thought might be that my previous battles had gone too smoothly; or perhaps the few battles I fought with Zhu Shi were primarily about extracting information from the enemy, which might have led me to develop a bad mindset. This capture-oriented attack ultimately lacked the necessary killing intent, and therefore lacked the corresponding power and speed.

This flaw wouldn’t have been much of an issue in the past because under the accelerated perception and movements of my Fire Element form, all enemies seemed to wriggle and crawl, and even the Weirdo Maker had been at my mercy. Being a little slower didn’t matter, as it was slow in my senses, but to the enemy, it was lightning fast.

But this time, the enemy was different.

As I attacked, he suddenly turned his head to look at me. And in the instant he was about to be caught by the Flame Palm, his body burst forth with a speed surpassing that of sound, slipping through the gaps between the fingers of the flame hand.

Breaking the sound barrier, he thundered across the ground with roars and shockwaves, creating condensation trails that should only appear in high skies, now trailing across the ground. He transformed into a white bolt of lightning, hurtling directly towards me with a thrust.

—I was evaded!

Surprised, I chose to meet him head-on, lifting my left arm to extend and reach for him again. But this time, I added some variations. Like branches splitting from a tree, dozens, even hundreds of arms sprouted from the sides of the extending left arm. Each arm reached out faster than thrice the speed of sound, trying to ensnare the man like a net cruelly thrown out at sea.

This time he surely couldn’t dodge again—just as I thought so, his figure suddenly vanished from my perception, and then abruptly appeared behind me.

I immediately turned around, only to see a fist magnifying rapidly in my vision.

A tremendous unstoppable force shattered my head on the spot.

In my Fire Element form, even if I was maimed, I wouldn’t die, and I wouldn’t even feel a proper amount of pain.

—It should have been so.

However, being hit by that strike, a real pain exploded in my consciousness.