Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 190 - 181 Mortal’s Spell

Chapter 190: 181 Mortal’s Spell

Dr. Silver Mask is even more troublesome than Chen Long?

I found it hard to imagine how anyone could be more troublesome than Chen Long, who used "Portal Armor," especially since the other’s combat strength was roughly equivalent to that of an untrained ordinary person.

And then Lu Chan, the girl, immediately provided the answer.

"During the second escape attempt, there was a demon hunter who sneak attacked and killed Dr. Silver Mask. But that guy couldn’t be killed because he had the ’power of restart.’ I believe he is the source of the restart phenomena at this base." She said, "Or rather, it’s something inside his body."

"Something?" I asked.

"I saw it with my own eyes, the scene where he was torn to pieces. He had no heart, instead, there was a small piece of a black, jade-like substance," she said reflectively, "After his death, he reverted back to his original form as if rewinding, and at the same time, from him as the center, the power of restart enveloped the entire base, and the second escape attempt thus ended in failure.

"The base’s restarts would typically occur under the premise of a lack of experimental subjects, but as long as Dr. Silver Mask is willing, he can restart everything anytime, anywhere. We couldn’t even take advantage of a moment of neglect to stealthily assassinate him, because the power of restart could not only be activated actively but also triggered passively."

A black, jade-like substance—that had to be the Divine Seal Fragment.

Yet, that was inside Dr. Silver Mask’s body, and moreover, he could freely control the power of restart... Now I understood why the girl, Lu Chan, said he was more troublesome than Chen Long.

I even felt that this description wasn’t sufficient to describe the opponent; perhaps even ten Chen Longs combined wouldn’t match up to a single Dr. Silver Mask.

If we were in a video game, Dr. Silver Mask would be like a player who could save and load at will, and could automatically start over even if they died and failed, while we were all just NPCs and monsters. Even if there was a huge gap in strength between him and me, he wouldn’t lose first. On top of that, he could continuously accumulate experience, challenging the enemy over and over again until he emerged victorious.

Was the source of this incredible power the Divine Seal Fragment inside his heart? I felt again that Dr. Silver Mask... Ying Lingyun might have truly discovered the real power of the Divine Seal Fragment. Whether it was "snipping reality" or "Rebooting Time and Space," such manifestations indeed lived up to the name of "a piece of the omnipotent wish machine."

The senior researcher had said that Dr. Silver Mask held the core lifeline of this base... could it be referring to the Divine Seal Fragment in his heart? Could destroying the Divine Seal Fragment also destroy this independent reality space?

But to take away the Divine Seal Fragment, one would have to kill Dr. Silver Mask; to kill Dr. Silver Mask would trigger a passive restart... It was an endless cycle.

I shared my thoughts with the girl, Lu Chan, and she murmured, "The black, jade-like substance is the core of the base... This is very likely, and as you said, killing Dr. Silver Mask is an impossible mission... But I had previously conceived a way to destroy this base without killing Dr. Silver Mask.

"And now, because of your presence, I have another idea."

"What idea?" I asked.

"Didn’t you say that because your power is too strong, this space can’t support you and will cause you to ’Shattered Void’ out of here? If we can somehow expand the scope of this ’Shattered Void,’ it’s possible to destroy the base in one fell swoop," she said, "Simply put, we break the situation with force. Even for you, though, this method is probably asking too much.

"As for the old method I had thought of, it’s almost impossible to implement practically, and the intelligence you brought earlier has negated it, but you can still take it as a reference to listen to..."

Before she could finish speaking, through my "Firefly" scouts, I noticed that there were patrolling guards approaching us, and I gestured to her.

She stopped talking and followed me into a nearby cell.

I chose, as usual, a cell that didn’t give away any additional noise. Based on past experience, these cells typically had neither researchers nor experimental subjects, making them ideal for hiding. But this time, it seemed I finally ran into some bad luck.

There were people in this cell, and not just experimental subjects, there was also a researcher.

He was a researcher sitting quietly in the corner reading a book, and though he wore green surgical clothes and looked monstrous in appearance, he was different from the fat and burly monsters. He was lean and appeared young.

Seeing us burst in, he was startled, and the book in his hands fell to the ground.

He immediately stood up, seemingly about to yell.

I quickly summoned the Outer Path Impermanence Sword, and the girl, Lu Chan, was even quicker. She opened her mouth and said, "— You cannot move."

Her voice seemed to carry a strange magic, and upon hearing her words, the young researcher was instantly immobilized.

"What is this?" I felt her skill was like the immobilization spell Mazao had used in the past.

"Just a simple Instant Hypnosis Skill."

The girl, Lu Chan, answered while glancing at the test subject beside her.

That too was a demon hunter bound to a cross. On closer inspection, it turned out to be an "acquaintance"—he was the strange man who had spoken to me when I first entered this secret base.

Except now, he was asleep, and our intrusion did not wake him.

It felt odd. If it weren’t for our intrusion, this demon hunter would have simply slept soundly on the cross, and the researcher would appear to be just lazily sitting by and reading a book. This cell was strikingly different from the others; there was no vibe of "Evil Organization researchers" or "miserable test subjects." Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought the room was empty.

Just as I puzzled over this, the young researcher trembled as if he was about to break free from Lu Chan’s "Instant Hypnosis Skill."

Lu Chan also noticed this, she repeated twice, "You cannot move," then watched the young researcher become motionless once more and sighed, "So that’s it, this person has a very high level of mental discipline, huh."

"Mental discipline?" I wondered, "Is this researcher also a demon hunter?"

"No, he’s just an ordinary person."

"Then what do you mean by mental discipline?" I asked, curious.

"Even ordinary people can have mental discipline."

Seeing I was seeking knowledge, she answered after serious contemplation, "You see, generally speaking, humans tend to choose comfort and laziness, doing things the easiest way possible. But many people, they study diligently, they train their bodies hard, why do you think that is?"

"To achieve their dreams?" I thought of Lu Chan’s identity.

"Right. Intense desire, dreams they wish to fulfill, or a spirit of self-discipline and so on... If a person can spontaneously force themselves to think and do things they normally wouldn’t, then they must have some method of regulating their own mind." She said, "This method, we demon hunters call ’mental method.’"

"So, mental method is something ordinary people can also master." I realized.

"Yes. This person has a strong will, managing his inner world to be impregnable, immune to most spiritual magic. Under normal circumstances, my Illusion Technique, even if ten times stronger, would hardly affect him." She sighed for some reason.

Under normal circumstances? Does that mean that the young researcher is currently in an abnormal state?

I thought for a moment but decided to first ask about what I was most curious about, "Even if an ordinary person manages their inner world well, compared to the spiritual power accumulated by a demon hunter through cultivation, it should still be insignificant, right? Why did you mention the situation before?"

"Demon hunters enhance their spirit through cultivation, which mostly increases the volume of their spiritual power, while the density of the spirit depends on the steadfastness of the will. Many demon hunters, when faced with desperate situations and setbacks, react just so-so. Their tolerance for pain and fear is not necessarily stronger than that of brave ordinary soldiers. Where do you think their so-called ’strong spirit’ manifests?" Lu Chan said, "Even a pea-sized spirit can have the hardness of metal alloy, remaining unscathed after being run over by a vehicle many times its size.

"Some ordinary people, when faced with strange events and evil spirits casting illusions, can nullify their Illusion Techniques, as long as they display a spirit that fears neither heaven nor earth, like Kong Da that you also know..."

At this, she seemed to reminisce about the past, sighed, and continued, "...All in all, ’ordinary people’ capable of this are very rare. However, researchers from the Human Bureau considered outstanding by the outside world are relatively common here."

"So, what do you plan to do with him?" I looked at the young researcher.

"Perfect, since you’re at odds with the Human Bureau, I’ll let you see what the ’real Human Bureau’ is all about."

She said this to me first, then directed that seemingly magical voice to the young researcher, "You may speak now, but don’t yell."

As her voice faded, the young researcher’s face changed as if thawing, and his eyes showed surprise, "...The ghost girl? How did you escape that special cell? And the one beside you, I remember you are that kid..."

Lu Chan asked, "What were you doing here?"

Facing that mana-infused voice, the young researcher exhibited a strong reluctance, obviously not wanting to answer honestly, "...Go ahead and kill or cut me up; don’t think about extracting information about the experiments from me."

"Experiments? You weren’t actually conducting any, were you?" Lu Chan said indifferently, "Or does administering some sedatives to the test subject you’re in charge of and sitting beside it reading novels on a tablet qualify as your ’experiments’?"

So that book appeared as a tablet computer to others?

The young researcher’s struggle became more obvious, while Lu Chan continued in her demonic voice.

"In fact, you don’t want to serve the Human Bureau at all... right?"

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