Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 169 - 161 Soul Rebirth 2

Chapter 169: 161 Soul Rebirth 2

The Luoshan Office had a small reception room where Mazao was sitting on the sofa, intently examining the severed arm, with Zhu Shi by her side. And I was sitting on the other side with Lu Youxun.

"Lu Youxun," I said, "you mentioned earlier that Chen Long was ambushed and captured by Ying Lingyun at some unknown time and place, then subjected to mental transformation, right?"

Seeing me bring up the information again, Lu Youxun first froze, his complexion turning ashen, then nodded: "Yes, that’s what I said. If I had sensed Ying Lingyun’s plot in advance, perhaps I could have prevented Chen Long from falling from grace."

"So you’re saying that you never actually witnessed Ying Lingyun brainwashing Chen Long," I said. "Did Chen Long tell you this himself? That he was brainwashed by Ying Lingyun, which is why he betrayed you?"

"A person who has really been brainwashed would never admit to being brainwashed; instead, they would argue that they have never been brainwashed and would utterly believe in the false notions implanted in them," he shook his head. "It was Silver Mask... Ying Lingyun who told me this."

As he spoke, he seemed to understand my suspicion and continued: "Are you suggesting that Chen Long wasn’t actually brainwashed and that he betrayed me of his own will?"

"I’m only considering that as a possibility," I said.

"The possibility is zero," he said without hesitation.

How could there be a situation with zero possibility? That was my first thought. Especially coming from Lu Youxun, who once mastered the superpower of "possibility avatars" and claimed to have even summoned versions of himself like "becoming a national leader starting World War III," how could there be "impossible" in his perspective? Even though he appeared calm now, perhaps he was actually swept up in emotion.

"I can see you’re struggling to accept it, even thinking that I’m being emotional... Then let me put it another way," he said. "Suppose Zhu Shi uses some magical item tonight that can seal any superpower and ambushes you from behind, then delivers you, unable to resist, to the Human Bureau, watching indifferently as you become a miserable lab animal, tortured and manipulated by others. And she does all this with a straight face, telling you that she’s been an underling of Ying Lingyun for a long time and befriended you to help collect valuable test subjects for Ying Lingyun... What would you think?"

"That’s impossible," I said without hesitation. "Unless her memory and cognition were altered by ’Water Moon,’ she would never do such a thing... I see, your point is very clear to me now."

The Chen Long that Lu Youxun knew of yesteryear was, in his eyes, much like the Zhu Shi in my eyes now. We both believed it was impossible for the other to betray.

"But Chen Long is at the Great Success Rank now, isn’t he? The Great Evil Silver Moon is also only of the Great Success Rank, and ’Water Moon’ is just a derivative artifact. I can understand if Chen Long, who was only at achieved level before, fell for it, but can Chen Long now not break free from the brainwashing caused by such an artifact?" I wondered.

"Most ’brainwashing,’ if applied for a brief duration, is merely an ’effect,’" Lu Youxun explained, "but if sustained over time, it becomes a ’result.’ It’s like how a healthy person who constantly maintains a hunched posture will eventually become hunchbacked, and now Chen Long, even at the Great Success Rank, is beyond correction. Even if you present him with an opportunity to right himself, he won’t even think about wanting to return to normal."

I reviewed my previous encounter with Chen Long in battle.

Although he was said to be brainwashed, he felt surprisingly calm to me, to the point where I lacked a genuine sense of fighting someone who had been brainwashed. Of course, it’s not that a brainwashed person must exhibit fervent and rigid expressions; there are also "calm madmen" within the madness spectrum. Besides, without brainwashing, it’s hard for me to imagine an achieved level Evil switching allegiances to an organization like the Human Bureau.

However, from a personal standpoint, I didn’t want to believe that Chen Long was someone who had been brainwashed. After all, he was the first adversary who made me fight in earnest, and it was disheartening to think that this opponent was merely a "puppet on strings."

Perhaps in Lu Youxun’s view, it’s easier to accept being manipulated into betraying by an enemy than a comrade turning sides voluntarily. I was truly sorry for Lu Youxun, but I earnestly hoped that Chen Long had some sort of unbelievable hidden circumstances that could justify his actions.

The stationed agent brought over a report on the state of my soul damage, and then went back to his workstation. The paper I received looked like a medical examination form, and the content was mostly handwritten. Despite being written by an agent, the handwriting was as bold as that of a real doctor. Zhu Shi and Mazao both looked over concernedly but were powerless to help; Lu Youxun, on the other hand, could understand.

He took the examination form from me, pondered thoughtfully, and then asked, "Are you still feeling pain?"

"Still a bit," I mused, describing it, "like a bruise that remains after falling off a bike."

"It seems there’s no major problem," he concluded.

"No major problem?" Zhu Shi asked suspiciously.

Lu Youxun clarified: "To put it simply, the damage Chen Long inflicted on him is like tumbling down from a twenty-story staircase while wearing a helmet and knee and elbow pads. Even though his body hurts everywhere, at most he has some bruises, and it doesn’t seem like there are any fractures. According to everyday life standards, he’s indeed injured, but by combat standards, it doesn’t even qualify as a minor injury."

"You can’t be serious, Senior Brother Zhuang..." Zhu Shi’s expression turned strange as she looked at me. "You were beaten by a being of Great Success Rank for so long, and it’s just this? How tough can you get?"

"It’s not all due to Zhuang Cheng being ’tough,’" said Lu Youxun. "Contrary to being invincible in defense, Chen Long ultimately lacks a definitive, lethal move; he can only go for accumulating damage. And before the damage could accumulate significantly, his tactics already met a wall."

"At least say I’m strong and sturdy," I added.

The conclusion of the report didn’t exceed my expectations; it seems that my soul indeed possesses an extraordinary endurance. Moreover, the credit this time isn’t entirely due to my soul itself.

In the process of battling with Chen Long, I also discovered another attribute of mine.

The Weirdo Maker once said that my flames, being an offensive force, couldn’t provide protection for my own soul, but this statement now appears to be incorrect. My flame can mimic flesh and blood, meaning that even in my Fire Element form, I can touch external objects just like a normal body, thus it seems to also possess the capability to act as a shelter for the soul to a certain degree.

And it seems that this capability can be enhanced. Just as the higher the density of the Fire Element body’s flames, the stronger the abilities, the soul defense of the Fire Element body also seems to increase in this process.

The proof is that when attacked by Chen Long with a higher density Fire Element body, the pain I felt was reduced.

From this, it’s clear that there was also a mistake in the combat tactics I chose while fighting Chen Long.

I shouldn’t be so quick to use Flame Transmission in battle. Although Flame Transmission is a supreme movement skill close to Space Transfer, during this process, my Fire Element body must continuously disassemble and reassemble. If I keep repeating this process, the density of the body—that is, the soul defense—can’t increase.

Just being caught in a moment when my body’s density is low is one thing, but if there’s an opportunity during the disassembly and reassembly, my soul would truly be defenseless. To put it in gaming terms, it’s like having a damage reduction rate reduced to zero, only able to endure with bare hit points in a critical state.

"Even if it’s just a soul injury equivalent to falling down the stairs, it’s not good to leave it untreated, right? There should be some medicines for treating soul injuries in this office..." Zhu Shi still couldn’t rest easy.

There are medicines for treating the soul here? I suddenly thought of grabbing some for Mazao.

"You might as well not bother. Even if it’s just a minor injury for Zhuang Cheng, those are claw marks left by the power at the Great Success Rank; with the shallow medicines stored by the office, using them would only be akin to pouring a cup of water on a fire scene," Lu Youxun shook his head.

I felt regretful. In that case, it certainly wouldn’t be of help to Mazao.

"I will help Zhuang Cheng recover," Mazao, who is always silent in front of others, suddenly spoke.

"Your own soul should also be in an overburdened state, right? However... Maybe he can think of a way himself."

It seemed Lu Youxun thought of something, he suggested to me, "Zhuang Cheng, your flames are your Spirit, right? And Spirit is the same as the soul. Since you can transform Spirit into flame, then is it possible to also turn flames into your own Spirit, or say, soul?"

"Would that really work?" Zhu Shi sounded as if he heard some tall tale.

"Trying it out won’t hurt," Lu Youxun looked at me.

Mazao, too, was watching my every move with attention.

I understood what Lu Youxun meant. Since I can shift my body between flesh and flames and be reborn in fire countless times, filling in wherever there’s a wound with flames, perhaps the soul can also do the same thing: to be able to revert back to its original state regardless of what kind of injuries it sustains?

I think it’s feasible. My body is my flames, my flames are my Spirit, so my body is my Spirit. If the body can do it, then there’s no reason Spirit—soul—cannot.

In the past, I couldn’t grasp the concept of what a soul was, but now, through pain, I have understood the concept of the soul.

Under the watchful eyes of the three, I raised my right hand, summoning a Fireball, then began to imagine in my mind. Now, there are fine cracks in my soul, and this ball of fire will become the brand-new flesh of the soul, filling them, healing all the cracks.

I slapped the Fireball into my chest, where it disappeared like a stone dropping into water.

And the inner torment, like snowflakes meeting hot water, quickly dissolved and vanished.

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