Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 189 - 180 Lu Chan’s Nightmare 3

Chapter 189: 180 Lu Chan’s Nightmare 3

Lu Chan, the girl, revealed a startling fact.

"Human beings are the most complex and advanced conscious creatures in nature and are inherently suitable to become materials for various spells and rituals," she continued. "From the memories of the other Lu Chan, I saw that you were engrossed in studying Mysticism before you encountered the abnormal world. So, you should be well aware that human blood, internal organs, bones... even hair and skin are all excellent materials for spells.

"Human sacrifice in the Shang Dynasty, Human Skin Magic Tools in Tantric Buddhism... There have always been historical records of using humans as a price to exchange for blessings and power. Even in the times when medicine and witchcraft were inseparable, people attempted to obtain mystical powers by consuming placentas, even fetuses, or by bathing in the fresh blood of virgins to maintain eternal youth.

"Even today, these bloody and evil mystical knowledges are still preserved among the demon hunter forces and are even considered the orthodox inheritance by certain branches, especially some Extraordinaryism branches.

"In their view, the value that mortals can offer as ’resources’ far surpasses their value as ’slaves.’"

I was very clear that Extraordinaryism had absolutely no such benevolence towards ordinary people, and the "future where ordinary people would not become slaves," as depicted by Lu Youxun, probably wasn’t as beautiful as described. However, I might have underestimated them.

Perhaps it was also because of my indifference to the political stance of Extraordinaryism. In fact, the terrifying future described by Lu Chan had already shown early signs in my past experiences.

The ritual array suspected to have been drawn by Agent Kong on the fifteenth floor, which led to a "space not belonging to the real world," was drawn with human blood; the monsters who sought to enhance their own power did not consume elixirs but human souls.

It wasn’t just them—even my flame had the effect of refining the souls of those I killed into an "ash" with an unclear use. I named it "ash" not because I thought these things were certainly useless, but purely from the inspiration gained during its production. Besides, in reality, industrial smelting by-products like ash are not useless; they can be used as building materials or even as agricultural fertilizers.

I recalled the words said by a senior researcher during an interrogation.

In his view, it was already a "relatively better future" for all mortals to become slaves to the demon hunters, a future he absolutely could not accept. But beyond this future, there was still a "worst future"...

Is this the "worst future" in his mind?

"Most Extraordinary Fanatics just think the future world will turn into one where demon hunters make mortals into slaves, just as most supporters of Governance Ideology believe that demon hunters can build a harmonious future with mortals. However, the future always has an easy way of sliding into a much worse place," Lu Chan said. "Extraordinaryism will ultimately turn secular society into a breeding ground for mortals, where only the seeds with the potential to become ’monks’ are worthy of human rights... This is the consensus of most insightful people and is content the other Lu Chan did not tell you."

"Then, is Governance Ideology relatively better for ordinary people?" I asked.

She shook her head: "Once Governance Ideology reaches the stage where all mortals are treated as slaves, their ideology will turn towards Extraordinaryism, and in the end, it will become the future of Extraordinaryism."

"What about the Human Bureau?" I asked.

"The Human Bureau is not backed by any savior; they simply want to become the next Luo Mountain, which means that they will eventually embrace Extraordinaryism," she said.

"By your explanation, as long as ’Extraordinary’ still exists in this world, wouldn’t the future of mortals be doomed to darkness?"

As I spoke, I thought of the divine seal and the Master of Divine Seal.

In the past world, the power of the divine seal separated the world of ordinary people and the demon hunters, the former living in light and the latter only in darkness.

If this phenomenon was the result of a wish by someone who had obtained the divine seal in the past, then he was undoubtedly someone who favored the world of mortals.

This person was very likely the Master of Divine Seal.

However, Xuanming No. 4 suspected that the Master of Divine Seal was the primary cause of the world’s destruction in the future.

Why would someone who favored the mortal world want to destroy it?

"Since you understand these things so clearly, then the previous Lu Youxun must also understand, right? I’ve heard that he was a firm believer in Governance Ideology, knowing full well that the end of Governance Ideology is Extraordinaryism..."

Mid-sentence, I came to a realization: "So that’s why you called him ’a fool who believes in the limitless possibilities of himself and the world’..."

"’I’ want to change Luo Mountain from the inside," Lu Chan said. "Even if I can’t think of a better way now, that’s just for now; maybe new changes will appear later."

Will there really be any? I thought of Mazao.

Living in the future Doomsday World, she referred to demon hunters as "monks" and referred to herself as a "Blessed Monk."

The miracle that the young girl Lu Chan had been hoping for seemed to have never arrived.

I decided to first focus on the current operation to conquer the secret base of the Human Bureau.

"Since you just mentioned that you can’t fight, is there anything else you can do?" I asked directly.

"I have a better understanding of the situation inside this base, and I have had experience in taking over this base in the past," she said as if she had mentioned something incredible.

"What... taking over the base?" I was shocked.

"In the past, I managed to make contact with other demon hunters who were imprisoned and tortured, and we secretly planned a counterattack, which you could imagine as a large-scale prison break," she explained. "During the first breakout, we killed more than half of the guards, but we were at the end of our tether and eventually suppressed by Chen Long and the other guards; the second time we killed Chen Long and most of the guards, and successfully took over the base, only to have all the fruits of victory taken away by the ’Reboot.’"

As long as this base remained an "island" completely separated from the real world and kept restarting over and over, whatever Lu Chan and the demon hunters struggled to achieve would all be in vain, creating miracles that would eventually turn to ashes. Despite the sadness, it didn’t surprise me.

What did surprise me, even shock me, was something else: "You managed to kill Chen Long?"

Considering all the combat strength of both sides in this secret base at the moment, even including myself right now, it seemed impossible to inflict any damage on Chen Long as he was today. Lu Chan’s claim of killing Chen Long during their escape was to me like human soldiers defeating super robots in hand-to-hand combat.

"Back then, Chen Long was only at an achieved level, still at a stage where we could possibly kill him. Of course, it’s impossible now," she shook her head. "But with your power, you should be able to contend with him, shouldn’t you?"

"I see..."

That made sense to me, and then I clarified, "I suggest you not have too great expectations of my combat ability; currently, I can’t use my full power here."

"What?" She expressed surprise.

I explained the reason why I couldn’t fight to my fullest here, and then she fell into thoughtful contemplation, "That doesn’t make sense. If this place can only bear the strength of an achieved level at most, why can Chen Long fight with all his might?"

Seeing that she could not come to a conclusion for a while, I asked, "Speaking of which... did you know about the Reboot? Do you possess memories of previous Reboots?"

"Yes, the time Reboot of this base can’t reset my memory. The reason, I don’t know either; I’ve always been curious about it," she said. "In the past, I thought that we could escape from this base, so even after knowing about the Reboot, I still led everyone in the second breakout, only later realizing that there was no exit we could use at all."

"Isn’t there anyone among you capable of using Space Transfer?" I inquired.

"There are... but, this base cannot be entered or exited freely through Space Transfer. It’s like there’s an invisible ’firewall’ blocking all means of moving outward," she explained. "Even Chen Long must get Dr. Silver Mask’s approval before he can freely use Shadow Transmission.

"Besides, after he ascended to the Great Success Rank, he had a technique for turning Shadow Power into armor that wrapped around his body, the ’Shadow Entanglement.’ Although that skill is based on Shadow Transmission, it could be utilized without the approval of Dr. Silver Mask, but only that technique."

I was thinking whether we could take advantage of the times when Chen Long didn’t have Dr. Silver Mask’s permission to tackle his Portal Armor, but it seemed that path too was blocked.

However, it explains why Chen Long didn’t just use Shadow Transmission to come directly to me earlier; there were such obstacles. But if such a "firewall" exists, why was my Flame Transmission not blocked?

Even if my power was strong enough to forcibly break through the "firewall," I shouldn’t have felt nothing at all.

"Let’s leave this place," proposed Lu Chan. "Let’s head to the management office first. The management office is equipped with devices that monitor all the rooms inside this secret base, which should help you find Zhu Changan’s whereabouts. I just hope we don’t run into Dr. Silver Mask there."

"Alright."

Good. I also knew which way to take to get to the management office.

We left the special cell together.

With the "Firefly" scouting ahead, our stealth was effortlessly executed, and we even had the spare capacity to whisper as we went along.

"You said earlier that you hoped not to encounter Dr. Silver Mask... does he possess strong combat abilities?" I asked.

"On the contrary, his own combat abilities are even inferior to mine now, and I could knock him down with one hand. Doesn’t he look like someone who has never exercised, like an old homebody? Actually, his combat abilities are pretty much what he appears to be," she said. "But in terms of being troublesome, he’s even above Chen Long as he is now."

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