Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 167 - 159 Chen Long 2

Chapter 167: 159 Chen Long 2

Chen Long—Lu Youxun referred to the enemy of Great Success Rank as such.

His demeanor wasn’t just one of recognition, it was tinged with a mix of extremely deep and complex emotions.

"Chen Long?" Mr. Zhu muttered the name, frowning, "This name, I seem to have heard it somewhere before..."

"Wait, isn’t Chen Long that one? The one who betrayed Luo Mountain two years ago, and also..."

It was Zhu Shi who suddenly remembered.

But as she said this, she stopped abruptly, looking at Lu Youxun with hesitation.

He shook his head indifferently and said, "Just say it."

"Is Chen Long one of the twelve Chinese zodiacs, the ’Chen Dragon’?" I asked.

"Dragon" is one of the twelve zodiac animals. The ancients paired it with the earthly branch "Chen," thus creating the term "Chen Dragon." Concepts like Zi Rat, Chou Ox, Yin Tiger, and so on are also formed by pairing the earthly branches with the zodiac animals.

"Yes, ’Chen Long’ is the code name for the demon hunter of Great Success Rank, and he was also Lu Chan’s former partner," Zhu Shi said, glancing at Lu Youxun before explaining to me, "You must remember I told you before that Lu Chan was attacked by the Human Bureau at his weakest two years ago and was then captured by them."

"That’s correct," I nodded, then realized something was amiss, "—Hm? His weakest moment?"

It wasn’t until she brought this up again that the inconsistency of this statement struck me.

Why would Lu Youxun have a "weakest moment"?

The Lu Youxun of the past was of achieved level and an Impermanence who mastered the superpower "possibility avatars." He could summon countless selves representing different possibilities to form a network of consciousness at any time. Even if his actual body became weak, it wouldn’t hinder his ability to control numerous avatars to continue fighting.

At worst, he could combine multiple "possibility avatars" with himself, like the Weirdo Maker. It didn’t matter if he was poisoned, grievously wounded, or even killed on the spot; he could return, restored to full strength.

Moreover, with a network of consciousness, he technically shouldn’t have a single physical body to speak of; all the "possibility avatars" were his real body. If one were to speak truthfully, the real him was the consciousness network itself. The Human Bureau capturing any one individual wouldn’t count as having captured him.

What kind of Immortal would it take to actually catch him?

"The reason Lu Chan was weakened is because Chen Long... his most trusted comrade betrayed him," Zhu Shi explained, "I’m not clear on the details. After that, Lu Chan was imprisoned and studied by the Human Bureau, and Chen Long disappeared without a trace. It wasn’t until Lu Chan escaped from the Human Bureau’s base that Luo Mountain realized Chen Long had defected to the Human Bureau, and they branded him a traitor."

"He really was involved with the Human Bureau."

I accepted this fact but still had some doubts, "But why would a Great Success Rank demon hunter side with the Human Bureau?"

"...Firstly, Chen Long wasn’t of Great Success Rank at the time, but the same achieved level as me," Lu Youxun finally spoke.

He took a deep breath, as if organizing his thoughts and words, and then he revealed the truth of the past to us.

Long ago, Lu Chan, Chen Long, and an Impermanence called "Divine Spear" formed a well-known trio within Luo Mountain and hunted many abnormal entities and evil demon hunters. Due to ideological differences, Divine Spear parted ways with the other two, turning the trio into a duo.

The so-called ideological difference was the clash between Extraordinaryism and Governance Ideology. Divine Spear was an Extraordinary Fanatic who believed demon hunters should completely overthrow the existing social order and rule over mortals with the authority of Immortal Gods.

The past Lu Chan and Chen Long, however, along with Zhu Shi, were adherents of Governance Ideology. They thought powerful demon hunters should integrate into the existing social order and gently guide the coexistence of the secular world and the abnormal world.

Both deeply hoped the world would become a better place; they wished demon hunters could walk openly in society, that ordinary people without powers could be free from the threat of abnormal entities, and that the strong could treat the weak with kindness while the weak could apply their intelligence to build a superior civilization with the power of knowledge and technology.

They firmly believed they were fighting for such a future.

However, at some unknown point, somewhere out of Lu Chan’s sight... Chen Long was ambushed and imprisoned by "Silver Mask," who hypnotized and brainwashed him, altering his self-identity and common sense, even forcefully modifying his body.

It wasn’t until the moment of betrayal that Lu Chan realized the soul of his former comrade had shattered beyond recognition.

Listening to Lu Youxun’s startling and sudden explanation, I struggled to swallow my shock, trying to compare it with the Chen Long I remembered.

"Not... what? Ambushing and imprisoning, hypnotizing and brainwashing... modifying common sense, physically transforming? And even being commanded by an Evil Organization executive to plot against one’s own people, turning former comrades into new victims... What’s all this about?"

Zhu Shi was dumbstruck, God knows what she was thinking, then she continued, "Also, who is this ’Silver Mask’? Uh... is it my dad?"

Lu Youxun nodded and said, "I only found out recently too, Silver Mask... the real identity of the Weirdo Maker is Ying Lingyun."

"It’s one thing to undergo physical transformations, that’s Human Bureau’s trademark. I can understand my dad being able to ambush and take down an achieved level Evil, he has defeated Great Success Rank demons in the past... but brainwashing?" Zhu Shi asked.

"It’s not entirely impossible," Mr. Zhu spoke up, "The ’Water Moon’ given to him by the Great Demon Silver Moon was a Magic Treasure capable of copying superpower abilities. Maybe he copied the ability to brainwash from somewhere. In fact, even if he didn’t copy someone else’s power, the ’Water Moon’ itself is an illusion Magic Treasure so powerful it defies common sense.

"The reason that Magic Treasure can copy any superpower is that it contains the special ability of the Great Demon Silver Moon itself, which is ’turning illusions into reality’—the ultimate Illusion Technique power.

"If Ying Lingyun truly managed to fully grasp ’Water Moon’ as a human, then brainwashing an achieved level Evil would be no trouble at all."

"Turning illusions into reality... isn’t that unbeatable?" Zhu Shi was astounded, "Does this ability have any conditions or a price?"

"As far as I know, Silver Moon always used this ability as he pleased," Mr. Zhu said.

"Then how did my dad actually kill Silver Moon before?" Zhu Shi asked.

I had the same question. "Turning illusions into reality" — despite being described in such simple words, it was the most outrageous superpower I had heard of to date, leaving Mazao’s "Return" and Zhu Shi’s "Buzhou Mountain" looking pale in comparison, not to mention my own humble "Flame Manipulation."

That’s practically a walking Divine Seal, isn’t it?

Before, I thought Chen Long’s Portal Armor was already quite overpowered, but I didn’t expect there to be even stronger abilities out there. And that’s just at the Great Success Rank, how about Impermanence then?

I decided to steer the conversation back on track and looked at Lu Youxun.

"But I still don’t understand, with your past abilities, how could you actually be captured alive? What about your ’possibility avatars’ and your consciousness network?"

"They were paralyzed by the superpower of Chen Long," he answered.

"If I remember correctly, Chen Long’s superpower is ’All-round Enhancement,’ right? The specific effect seems to be..." Zhu Shi seemed to be recalling.

Lu Youxun took over, "The effect is to enhance any ability. Perception, speed, strength, needless to say, even the effects of other spells and special abilities can also be enhanced, and he can even strengthen his allies’ powers.

"My ’possibility avatars’ could also be amplified by his ’All-round Enhancement,’ which would allow me to summon aspects of myself that I normally couldn’t, such as ’me becoming a Great Success Rank Evil,’ or ’me becoming a great scientist.’ Push it further, and even ’me becoming a national leader and starting the third world war’ could be attempted."

"...no wonder you often teamed up with him," Zhu Shi seemed almost too exhausted to quip, "But what does that have to do with him being able to paralyze your abilities?"

"Although his superpower is very potent, there is a problem. If the intensity of enhancement is not controlled properly, it can cause an overload in the enhanced subject, with the worst case leading to an explosion on the spot," Lu Youxun said expressionlessly, "He over-applied his superpower to my consciousness network at the time, leading to the immediate destruction of all my avatars, while I myself was seriously injured and temporarily unable to use my special abilities. Then, in that state, I had no choice but to face the assassins from the Human Bureau and ended up defeated."

"I see..."

Hearing this, I had other ideas, then asked, "Could this ability also be used to enhance one’s sixth sense, or to strengthen abilities like ’Shadow Manipulation’?"

"Yes," said Lu Youxun, "The ’Portal Armor’ you mentioned earlier is likely the result of the combination of his ’All-round Enhancement’ and ’Shadow Manipulation.’ Normally, an average weirdo using the power of shadow manipulation could not achieve that kind of skill—it’s a qualitative change that occurs when the two are combined."

In other words, Chen Long’s Portal Armor was likely as vulnerable to outside offensive mana as the ordinary weirdo’s Shadow Teleportation Gates. It’s just that his "All-round Enhancement" stretched that vulnerability and all the other ’planks’ to extreme lengths, making it viable in combat.

"All-round Enhancement" may sound plain, but it’s an incredibly powerful superpower.

Perhaps, not only Lu Youxun’s "possibility avatars" and a weirdo’s "Shadow Manipulation," Chen Long’s "All-round Enhancement" could turn many seemingly worthless superpowers into shining divine techniques.

"So, in your opinion, could Chen Long be the prototype of all weirdos that you mentioned in the information you previously gave me?" I asked.