Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 198 - 189 Unspeakable

Chapter 198: 189 Unspeakable

It was like waking from a dream, I returned to normal space.

But I couldn’t say I’d completely returned; part of my consciousness still lingered at the secret base of the Human Bureau, with my focus of awareness shifted to the Luoshan Office.

Also, I had to spare some attention for the "Firefly" that remained behind at the base, accompanying the young girl, Lu Chan. Most of the actions of the "Firefly" over there could be performed by preset commands, but the details still needed real-time adjustment.

It is said that dolphins can sleep with one hemisphere of their brain while the other remains awake. Right now, I might be like a dolphin, with half of my consciousness in the real world and the other half stationed within that nightmarish scene.

Yes, dreams... Although I still do not believe the Human Bureau’s secret base is a dream, I must admit that it does have the color of dreams. The reason being, after the affair of "resisting the power of restart," I managed to grope out some understandings based on my feelings.

I rose from the sofa at the Luoshan Office, touching my forehead. A conjecture was born in my mind, and I increasingly believed it was the correct answer.

I thought that everything was because the space there existed relying on the Divine Seal Fragment.

Although there is no doubt it is the real world, for those who can whimsically rewrite the world like the divine seal and its holders, even the genuine real world, I fear, is no different from a fantasy.

Dr. Silver Mask could use the power dug out from the Divine Seal Fragment—"the power of restart"—to redo all events in that independent reality space, so for him, that independent reality space is like a dream; and I, being a holder of a Divine Seal Fragment, cannot mess around like Dr. Silver Mask but can say I stand on the same ground as him.

Therefore, for me, that place is also a dream. The power of restart cannot reset me, a "real person," as if resetting a dream. The theoretical "firewall" that should prevent outside intruders is virtually non-existent for me.

That I could freely conduct myself within the base as if cheating is likely because of this reason.

Even now, I cannot understand what exactly is the "power of the Divine Seal Fragment" spoken of by the "chosen ones" of the Void Realm, but clearly, I have also begun to benefit from some of the persistent characteristics of the Divine Seal Fragment.

And in that "dream reality," there exist, other than me and Dr. Silver Mask, characters with "real attributes."

They are Chen Long and the young girl, Lu Chan.

It’s not that researchers, guards, and demon hunters aren’t real people. It’s just that for Dr. Silver Mask’s power of restart, they can be influenced at will, making them no different from fiction. Chen Long and the young girl, Lu Chan, are entirely different, showing traits of consciousness not affected by the power of restart.

If Chen Long is included in Dr. Silver Mask’s whitelist, then how do we explain the young girl Lu Chan?

Not only is her consciousness not affected by the power of restart, but she is also an "embodiment of a dream," supposedly only born within a dream reality.

For this, I can temporarily only come up with two possibilities: one, although she is not a Divine Seal Fragment holder, she might have some form of association with a Divine Seal Fragment that endows her with such special attributes;

The second, she might actually be one of Dr. Silver Mask’s people, a spy embedded in the group of test subjects, responsible for internal monitoring. Thus, Dr. Silver Mask would naturally include her in the whitelist and could fabricate an "identity setting in a dream" for her. As for being an "embodiment of a dream," that could have been a deceit from the beginning to end.

Which side could it be?

Seeing that I didn’t speak for a long time after "awakening," Zhu Shi waited for a while before finally couldn’t help it and asked with concern, "Zhuang Cheng, what happened over there?"

"Was the body on the other side killed?" Lu Youxun also spoke up.

Mazao silently clutched at my sleeve.

Having talked so much with the young girl Lu Chan, seeing Lu Youxun’s face and hearing his voice again, I couldn’t help but feel a flood of emotions in my heart.

"No, everything went smoothly."

After thinking for a moment, I roughly told the three of them what had happened over there.

Naturally, I omitted many details that were inconvenient to mention in front of Lu Youxun, particularly information related to the Divine Seal Fragment; however, I did mention "Dr. Silver Mask possessing a mysterious black jade capable of restarting the base."

I initially considered whether I should also keep information related to the young girl Lu Chan a secret from Lu Youxun but then felt there was no need to hide it. Plus, I’d already provided some information previously, so it wouldn’t be right not to give a follow-up. I laid it all out, wanting to hear their thoughts.

"So, my ’dream’ became an embodiment in the form of a young girl? That’s what she said? Hmph... there should be a limit to not being able to justify oneself!" Lu Youxun rarely showed a snorting disdain, "I am not Impermanence, nor am I a descendant of Impermanence; how could I possibly have an ’embodiment’? And a young girl at that... Utter nonsense.

"Zhuang Cheng, you don’t need to take its words to heart. That’s definitely something that mimics my past behaviors, full of lies, a creature that’s neither human nor an entity."

This did not sound like him at all, who usually spoke with restraint. Zhu Shi and I looked at each other, puzzled. His reaction somewhat confirmed what girl Lu Chan had said—for Lu Youxun, girl Lu Chan represented an existence to be shunned, a symbol of hellish memories too painful to revisit, hence he unconsciously rejected the presence of his other self.

Seeing our strange expressions, he seemed to realize that he had given himself away and hastily added, "...I’m just concerned that an accident may occur during the combat operations against the Human Bureau. You know, I take the success of this mission very seriously... There’s really no other meaning."

Zhu Shi shifted the topic with a show of sympathy, "Zhuang Cheng, it’s good that you found your brother, but is it really okay to destroy that independent reality space?"

"Why do you ask?" I inquired.

"Although the independent reality space is indeed a prison that traps all the demon hunters inside, if it is directly destroyed, won’t all the people inside drop into the Void?" she raised a possibility.

I had not thought about that.

However, the reason I had not considered this was that I had an answer in my mind from the very beginning.

The thing she worried about probably would not happen. Although I could not produce physical evidence to support my thought, the independent reality space there should be located in a "place" very close to the real world, which is why I could feel the presence of the Divine Seal Fragment there in the real world.

More so, when I was forcibly logged out from that "Shattered Void," I did not feel myself falling into the so-called Void but was directly sent back to the real world.

Therefore, they should also return to their original places, that is, the old stronghold of the Human Bureau.

I shared my thoughts, and Lu Youxun nodded and said, "If that’s the case, it’s good. After you destroy the space there, the Demon Spear’s team will launch an attack on the Human Bureau forces returning to reality from Luoshan, ensuring that no one slips through the net."

"It’s just a pity for the demon hunters trapped inside..." Zhu Shi sighed.

As for those researchers involved in dark science experiments, Zhu Shi’s attitude when she heard my narration earlier was the same as girl Lu Chan—if it wasn’t necessary to kill them, they were to be spared; if needed, show no mercy.

Maybe Zhu Shi also possessed spiritual power akin to a hero’s—I had this thought.

Then, I looked at Lu Youxun again.

What Extraordinaryism ultimately depicts is a world that treats ordinary people as expendable resources.

And that’s the world he looked forward to.

How should I view this Lu Chan? In the past, he deliberately misled me about Extraordinaryism, and believing in such a villainous ideology, he didn’t have much appeal to me. Although I claim to be a villain, I still want to be friends with good people in the common sense of the term, so I’m doomed to be incompatible with someone like him, an Extraordinary Fanatic. Thinking about it, maybe the reason I couldn’t get closer to him in the past was also that I subconsciously rejected him on this level.

Meanwhile, girl Lu Chan asked for my help to return the "dream of a hero" to him, a process that would kill the current Lu Youxun on a spiritual level. In terms of results, the world would lose an evil Extraordinary Fanatic and gain a dreamer striving to contribute to society—a seemingly all-benefit, no-harm scenario. But I had some aversion to this choice.

After all, the past Lu Chan, who wanted to be a hero, was a stranger to me, while the present Lu Youxun was the acquaintance who had shown me kindness. The misguidance he had given me could be seen as something most people would do, sugarcoating their stance, just like no one would point out the bad parts when sharing their favorite food; and girl Lu Chan’s wording might also have been intended to lower my impression of Lu Youxun.

"Do you want to become a hero, Lu Chan?" I asked.

Lu Youxun asked in surprise, "Why suddenly ask me this? Did that weird thing tell you some strange words?"

I had not yet thought of how to reply.

He first looked at me for a while, then lowered his head in thought, and slowly said, "A hero, huh... that’s something only children believe in, right?

"... I was indeed naive like a child in the past and sincerely believed in such a thing for a time, but... even if you try hard to become a hero and save many people, in the end, nothing good happens.

"Heroes will save those in despair... but when heroes fall into despair, who will save the heroes?"

Zhu Shi said thoughtfully, "You mean..."

"No, you misunderstood. I wasn’t powerful enough in the past to call myself a hero," Lu Youxun waved his hand.

"That’s not true," Zhu Shi said indifferently, "I once respected you a great deal."

Lu Youxun acted as if he couldn’t hear her words, letting them get lost and die out in the air.