Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 180 - 171 re-enters 2

Chapter 180: 171 re-enters 2

People who obtain immortality will inevitably view problems from a different perspective compared to humans with finite lives, and their spiritual nature may also take on a markedly different form. However, this divergence has yet to manifest in me.

Sometimes, I think about how a hundred years from now, all my friends will have died, and I’ll probably still look the same. But I’ve never been mired in the melancholy of our differing lifespans. The reason is quite simple: after all, I’m in pursuit of adventure; for all I know, I could die abruptly by the roadside in the near future. Having an expected lifespan doesn’t matter if I might die even earlier than ordinary people.

I always have this feeling that if one day I earnestly choose to give up on adventure and accept the sightless end of my expected lifespan, my spirituality might undergo a drastic change at that moment, maybe even departing from the category of "human." The reason I still maintain my old-fashioned spirituality might be because I haven’t yet abandoned the obsessions from when I was human.

Back to the main topic, Sister Zhu’s gaze was a bit frightening, which made me immediately revert to my nearly twenty-year-old form.

"Ah," Zhu Shi expressed with regret. "Senior Brother Zhuang, you really don’t plan to maintain that look for a bit longer? Look, Mazao seems to regret it a little too..."

Upon hearing that, I involuntarily turned to look at Mazao, who said with a poker face, "...I’m not regretting anything. Really."

Her tone did seem a little regretful. Could it be that she likes it when I turn into a younger version?

Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to occasionally transform just for her when we’re alone.

As for Zhu Shi, I think it’s better for me to be cautious with my words.

"Cough cough, let’s get back to the matter at hand," Lu Youxun interjected. "Do any of you have any other thoughts about that strange secret base of the Human Bureau?"

"Thoughts... I’m utterly baffled too," Zhu Shi regained her serious demeanor. "But there are many demon hunters there under threat from the Human Bureau. The demon hunters that Zhuang Cheng helped free earlier have likely already been detected by the Human Bureau for abnormalities. We must find a way to help them."

And it was rare for Mazao to join in the discussion.

"I think that base might be located in a ’Different Space,’" she said.

Different Space—this term reminded me of the basement on the fifteenth floor, and it thrilled me.

"Why?" Lu Youxun asked.

"I’ve tried to transfer myself to Zhuang Cheng’s side before, but I failed," Mazao stated calmly. "At first, I thought it might be a barrier preventing me, but considering the various anomalies Zhuang Cheng encountered there, I think the possibility of a Different Space is higher. And indeed, I find it very difficult to transfer myself into a Different Space now."

"Huh? Wait a moment, Mazao..." I recalled for a moment, "When I transported myself there, I don’t think I took your thermal energy marker sticker with me... Why could you attempt the transfer?"

On me, at that place, were only the white restraints, no thermal energy marker sticker from Mazao on my shoulder—if it were there, it would most likely attract the attention of the researchers and "prison guards."

"Because I’ve hugged you at night," Mazao said earnestly. "Setting my return coordinate on a living person, rather than an object, is much more difficult. The reason I always held you while we slept is to locate your body as ’the place where I used to be.’"

Ah? The previous nights when she held me constantly, was it not because of poor sleeping habits but intentional?

Was I marked by her without realizing it?

She looked at me as if it were all perfectly normal, evidently feeling no incorrectness about her action. Although I, someone who secretly marks others’ innards with a thermal energy marker, have no right to talk, I thought what she did was indeed abnormal. Perhaps because of her minimal contact with people in the past, her concept of "partnership" wasn’t quite the same as normal people’s, leading to an excessive lack of personal space.

Yet the thought that she did this considering me as a partner actually made me feel sort of happy.

"Senior Brother Zhuang, you and Mazao sleep together?" Zhu Shi’s gaze pierced me like a sharp sword, targeting me as a potential criminal, "That’s different from what you told me before..."

Saying that, she turned to another person: "And, Mazao... Don’t you think as a girl, you should keep a little social distance from males?"

"What’s the problem with that?" Mazao asked, puzzled. "Zhuang Cheng and I are partners, what you might call ’tied by a common fate,’ right?"

"What common fate! Are you saying not only Senior Brother Zhuang but also you are part of the Gravity system! Are you a binary star system or what?" Zhu Shi retorted.

"Now is not the time to talk about that," I quickly changed the subject. "If the secret base of the Human Bureau isn’t in the real world, that is to say, everything that happens there is as illusory as a dream, whether it’s ’characters like those from two years ago,’ ’the girl Lu Chan,’ or ’the distorted scene that doesn’t resemble a research facility,’ none of them exist in reality... Can I understand it that way?"

"Right, if the female Lu Chan and other demon hunters are all creations of the Different Space, then it could explain why the Human Bureau could so easily capture dozens of demon hunters as research material!" Zhu Shi realized with a start. "They couldn’t possibly accomplish such a thing in the real world, but it would be possible within the dream-like Different Space! Huh? Wait, that’s not right..."

"...Yes, that would be impossible," Lu Youxun shook his head after pondering, "Regardless of the type of bizarre power the Human Bureau wants to research, in the end, they rely on scientific means to study it. Since it is science, it’s destined to be based on objective and authentic materials as research subjects. The creations from dreams amount to nothing more than repetitions of known information, which is meaningless.

"Of course, Different Space isn’t limited to just dream types. It’s indeed possible that it’s a space different from the real world, and setting up a base there would be sufficiently concealed and logical. However, the materials they research must definitely be real living people."

Upon hearing this, I immediately realized a clue and then asked Mazao for some blank Mind-Written Photos.

It was my first time using Mind-Written Photos and they indeed proved to be quite convenient, allowing for easy capture just by holding the photo while intensely imagining in my mind.

The face of the strange man who was the first to speak to me inside the Human Bureau’s secret base was transferred onto the photo by my mind, followed by the face of the demon hunter I had saved and freed. I couldn’t quite remember the faces of the others, so I could only start with these two.

Then, I handed the Mind-Written Photos to Lu Youxun.

"Do you recognize these two faces?" I asked.

"Yes, I do," he replied, staring intently at the two Mind-Written Photos, "They were demon hunters who were captured with me by the Human Bureau’s secret base two years ago. But... they have already died in the Human Bureau’s inhumane human experiments. I saw it with my own eyes; there can be no mistake."

First, the Human Bureau’s research materials must be truly living people; second, the two people in the photos are both deceased; and lastly, at least two years ago, they were both alive.

Considering these three conditions, could it be that the Human Bureau’s secret base I visited was indeed from two years ago?

"...I have almost recovered my condition."

Lu Youxun exhaled and then said, "Zhuang Cheng, assuming it is indeed a Different Space, then there should exist an ’entrance’ or a ’method of entry.’ Please help us find it, and Luo Mountain will break into that place. And if it’s in the real world, also please find the address and assist Luo Mountain in the campaign against the Human Bureau.

"If it is truly ’two years ago,’ at least the Chen Long and Dr. Silver Mask who appeared there are ’people from now.’ They may have found a method of time travel, so please investigate the truth in that case."

"I understand."

The situation seems complex, but my target has always been clear: Chen Long, who knows "Changan’s whereabouts," and Dr. Silver Mask, who holds "clues to the doomsday."

As for "helping Lu Youxun get revenge," that is only a secondary objective for me. However, I do have a good feeling about Lu Youxun; he has also helped me. I am quite willing to stand on his side and help him seek his revenge.

At this moment, an electronic notification sound suddenly came from Lu Youxun’s pocket, and he took out his phone to glance at the message, his brow furrowing reflexively.

"Any bad news?" I asked.

"Divine Spear has responded to my request, but he is not an easy character to deal with," he said. "Zhuang Cheng, be careful. Although I am the one who called for him, considering our special circumstances, there might be others who will seize this opportunity to ask him to do something else."

As he said this, he deliberately glanced at Mazao. I immediately grasped his implication—the Divine Spear might pose a threat to Mazao.

This possibility did not exceed my expectations. More surprising was that Lu Youxun would actually warn me. Was he planning to side with me because I would later help him take revenge against the Human Bureau?

After some further organization and analysis of the previous situation, he underwent the spiritual cleansing ritual once more. During this time, I added a preset command to the "Firefly" on Mazao—if Great Success Rank Evil appeared in her vicinity, it would self-destruct.

On the other end, I could also sense whether the "Firefly" existed, and if Divine Spear were to appear nearby, regardless of whether he had hostile intentions or not, I would immediately return through the thermal energy markers inside Mazao.

Perhaps it would be better to have Mazao evade in advance, but now that she has emerged into the open, thinking that I can still hide her seems naïvely optimistic.

Lu Youxun, having completed the spiritual cleansing, returned to the reception room.

"Well then, let us begin once more," he said, extending his right hand towards me.

I shook his hand, and immediately after, he threw the white jade calculating chips he held in his left hand onto the ground, invoking the Divination Technique. And this time, as expected, it went smoothly, just like the last. He again saw visions of the Human Bureau’s secret base and transmitted them into my consciousness.

I vaguely saw a room, seemingly filled with various precision devices and equipment, like an operating theater.

And in the center of the operating theater was a hard bed made of metal material, seemingly designed with a human-shaped indentation, and it looked like it was connected to many restraints.

Focused on this blurry image, I initiated Flame Transmission.

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