Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 185 - 176 Escape

Chapter 185: 176 Escape

I immediately quickened my pace.

With Chen Long’s maximum speed, it would only take the blink of an eye to reach me.

Even though the roads of this secret base were complicated and he couldn’t reach full speed, at the slowest, it wouldn’t take more than a single breath of time.

Unfortunately, I was no match for him now.

I had more or less grasped the full extent of my current strength, which was roughly comparable to the achieved level when I previously fought the Weirdo Maker. This was both the limit of the strength enhancement provided by the Outer Path Impermanence Sword and the limit this independent reality space could bear.

When I killed those monsters earlier, I once again felt the space I was in teeter on the brink of collapse. Even if the Outer Path Impermanence Sword could enhance my strength a bit more, I wouldn’t really be able to use it to enhance myself. Doing so would only force me to log out of this base again.

Moreover, even if I could enhance myself to be strong enough to combat Chen Long, I would still be helpless against his cheating Portal Armor. My victory in our last battle was based on overpowering that Portal Armor with a far greater density of strength, a method that couldn’t be based merely on maintaining an equilibrium with him.

But, if this base could only support achieved levels of power, why could Chen Long now unleash mana fluctuations of Great Success Rank?

Could it be that he has a "home field advantage" here, needing only to worry about an outsider like me being logged out, while he could freely exert himself?

Moreover, judging by his last performance, he could have used stealth that even I can’t detect, so why did he need to first unleash such mana fluctuations before moving toward me, isn’t that just like reminding me to hurry and escape?

With these strong doubts, I looked around for a place to hide. I didn’t plan on going back to the original cell to hide; it was the place where I had killed people, and hiding there didn’t seem like a good idea. It would be better to hide in another cell.

However, the other cells’ iron doors were tightly shut and obviously locked—thinking of "locked," I took out the iron key I had obtained from the senior researcher. Judging by the locks, perhaps the iron key could be used to open them here too. Moreover, the senior researcher had mentioned that this iron key was a "door card."

I tried it, and as expected, the iron door opened.

How could the keys for the cell door and the stocks be the same? Yet, the fact was undeniable. Without a second thought, I hid inside the cell and casually closed the iron door. The door locked automatically. This cell was specifically chosen because it was vacant, not coincidentally but because I chose one from which no noise was emanating.

That wasn’t all; I continued to look for places to hide inside the cell, and soon noticed in a corner the Iron Maiden I had seen in other cells.

A normal person would never hide inside such a piece of torture equipment, but my situation was different. I directly opened the Iron Maiden, crawled inside, and then closed the lid from the inside.

The countless knife-like spikes inside the Iron Maiden mercilessly pierced my flesh all over, as if dozens of knife-wielding murderers were stabbing me simultaneously.

If it were an ordinary human, they would inevitably be dead or disabled, unable to make this choice. But I am a Flame Aggregation, with both pain and blood mimicked, and I could freely choose whether to turn off the mimicry. The knife-like spikes that entered my body did not cause any significant pain, nor did any blood come out.

From entering the cell to hiding in the Iron Maiden, it might seem like it took a lot of time, but for my current consciousness processing and movement speed, it was just a bit over half a breath’s time. Almost at the moment I closed the lid, Chen Long’s mana fluctuations, like swift thunder, rushed up the corridor I had just been in and then stopped.

Inside the Iron Maiden was pitch dark, I silently held my breath, imagining myself as a cold-blooded animal lying in wait.

Then, from outside in the corridor, sounds of Chen Long opening iron doors and checking inside cells came one after another.

After a while, Chen Long finally came to the cell I was in. The sound of the lock being opened, then the iron door creaking open on its rusty hinges. Footsteps entered the room.

I didn’t rashly use Perception to sense outside the Iron Maiden but instead peered through the gaps in the Iron Maiden’s lid. Vaguely, I could make out Chen Long’s figure; he stood in the center of the cell, inspecting it with sharp eyes.

Chen Long wasn’t originally an enemy so formidable that I couldn’t match him, but environmental factors forced me to hide like this, which somewhat frustrated me, stirring the urge to burst out and have an all-out battle with him.

On the other hand, I actually quite like this life-and-death game of hide and seek. Why, you may ask? Because, at this moment, I’m just like the main character hiding in a closet from monsters in a horror game. This kind of "role-playing" may only be experienced under such circumstances.

As for "circumstances overpowering the individual"... although this reason may seem significant from an objective viewpoint, it has actually receded somewhat in my mind at the moment.

It’s possible that Chen Long can not only sense my thermal emissions in reverse but may also inexplicably sense my gaze and thereby discover my hiding place. Hmm, I should take this opportunity to think about what to say when he discovers me, and decide on the pose I should strike when jumping out of the Iron Maiden... I couldn’t help but let my thoughts run wild, possibly influenced by my twelve-year-old body.

While I am lost in thought, I still shut down the simulation processes of my physiological functions such as breathing and heartbeat. After all, I don’t need to breathe or have a heartbeat, and I don’t need blood flow or endocrine activity either; these physiological functions could actually be detected by Chen Long’s supercharged perception.

I’m not sure how effective this effort will be, as Chen Long can still sense mana fluctuations. But if he really could discover me by this method, then when he first saw me at this base, he should have been able to detect through mana fluctuations that I wasn’t a "normal twelve-year-old child." Perhaps the "Misunderstanding Aura" of this base could also hinder his perception?

Chen Long might also see me directly through the gaps of the Iron Maiden cover with his extraordinary vision... but, while the equipment may appear as an Iron Maiden to me, to others it might seem like other precise scientific equipment. The same goes for this place’s cell; it might not be so easy for others to hear screams from here, but rather a lab with excellent sound insulation.

The scene I previously saw in Lu Youxun’s illusion was a clean operating room, not a messy cell.

"..."

Chen Long seemed to have some kind of mysterious certainty, possibly related to his sixth sense enhanced by the "All-round Enhancement" superpower. He probably thought that I should be in this cell, spending an unusually long time here. Just as someone who fears cockroaches carefully checks everywhere at home after one scurries away, his expression through the gaps looked especially tense.

However, he never came over to open and check the Iron Maiden.

Even if he really saw my hiding spot as an Iron Maiden, he should not have failed to check here. The common sense that "one cannot hide in an Iron Maiden" does not apply in our world from the start. It’s as if, in his view, the place where I was hidden wasn’t equipment that could be opened. Hide-and-seek players could hide well, but not inside a mere coat rack—his attitude seemed to say.

After a long while, he finally gave up and turned to leave.

I didn’t rashly leave the Iron Maiden. Moments later, his figure reappeared, quickly entering the cell and checking for any signs of change. Of course, there were none. He stood up with his back to this side and left with regret again.

A long time passed, and after making sure he wouldn’t return, I opened the lid of the Iron Maiden and walked out.

It was a narrow escape.

Moreover, I could almost confirm now.

My perception here involved not only "seeing things differently from others" but could even produce the effect of "seeing is believing."

It is said that dogs see fewer colors than humans, so the world looks different to them. Though that’s the case, we cannot say the world as seen by humans is correct and the world as seen by dogs is wrong. It can only be said that both parties perceive the world in different forms.

And even if the objective world differs in the subjective recognition of both parties, the objective world should not adopt double standards in actual interactions. Even if a drunk person mistakes a man for a woman, they cannot truly make the mistaken subject pregnant.

However, my situation is clearly different. The iron key, which should have been a "door card," could open both iron gates and stocks; what may appear to Chen Long as equipment not suitable for hiding could, in my eyes, be a hiding spot.

Could it be that the world I see is the correct one, and the one they see is wrong? I couldn’t think so. This place is their territory, even a field where scientific research activities must be conducted based on correct knowledge; it made no sense that I, an unexpected guest, observed the real truth.

It’s very likely that two contradictory "truths" coexist here.

Why does such an inconceivable phenomenon occur to me?

When I presented a truth contradictory to theirs in front of them, how did the events specifically manifest in their eyes? Just thinking about it felt bizarre and creepy, as if there were bugs crawling in my veins, and I couldn’t tell whether it was horror or curiosity.

I moved silently to the door of this cell, then peered out into the hallway outside.