Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 215 - 204 Invasion

Chapter 215: 204 Invasion

The Divine Seal Fragment, which was the core lifeline of this place, was no longer present, and the power of restart had also become rootless water, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

In my perception, the architecture of this secret base dissipated like a fragmented moon reflected in water, even this laboratory shattered into pieces, void and darkness flooded in like a tide through the cracks, submerging everything. I turned back to look at the young girl Lu Chan, who also silently watched me. Neither of us said a word.

The independent reality space had entered its end; however, in my heart, there were still some puzzles left unsolved.

Why would the young girl Lu Chan appear here? Even though, to Dr. Silver Mask, Chen Long, and myself, this independent reality space seemed like a dream, for others, including young girl Lu Chan, it was undeniably real. Even with a national-level demon hunter medal as her origin, the incarnation of a dream, young girl Lu Chan, shouldn’t appear in reality. The obsessions left by the past Lu Chan shouldn’t have taken shape.

Nevertheless, I probably no longer had the chance to explore the answers; the truth would be buried along with this space in the darkness.

Darkness overwhelmed my vision and consciousness.

Then, my consciousness automatically reverted to the real world, back to the "clinic" of the Weirdo Maker. Lu Youxun, Zhu Shi, and Mazao all stood by my side, while the demon hunter team brought by the Divine Spear waited silently outside the door.

What had happened there truly felt like a vast dream. Upon waking, an indescribable void and melancholy filled my chest. Yet, I could still confirm the massive "ash" hidden within the flames that I obtained after killing Chen Long. It was ironclad proof that those experiences were not false.

Even now, I don’t understand what the purpose of the "ash" really was. Perhaps because I was obtaining more and more "ash," the unclear and inexplicable premonition in my heart also became clearer. This was definitely a good thing, a treasure that greatly enhanced superpowers, whose value was far beyond that of the Outer Path Impermanence Sword.

"——The independent reality space has been destroyed."

I announced this immediately.

Lu Youxun then immediately perked up, declaring, "Let the operation begin!"

Following that, Mazao made her move. In her left hand, she held a brown wooden carving of a skull, an item given to her by Lu Youxun previously to bear the soul burden on behalf of the user; her right palm faced the center of the front hall as she unleashed the returning blessing power.

"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows——"

She chanted this phrase like a spell.

A dark, eerie mist materialized out of thin air, forming a teleportation door. Due to her poor condition last time, only a tunnel that people could barely squeeze through had reappeared; now, unconcerned by the soul burden, the teleportation door she recreated matched the scale of those previously opened by the Weirdo Maker, with a diameter of over two meters, enough to drive a car through.

The wooden skull’s eye sockets emitted a red light, and its mouth rapidly clicked open and shut, clearly bearing the soul burden for her. She turned her head towards the demon hunter team, who, without any agreement, started moving swiftly and in an orderly fashion, rushing into the black mist vortex one after another.

We also entered the other side of the black mist vortex at the very end.

By using some "Fireflies" previously set up at the old base of the Human Bureau, I had already grasped the changes on the other side before passing through the teleportation door. With the complete destruction of the independent reality space, the space where the old base was located became blurred like rippling water and returned to normal within a second. Everything and everyone that originally existed in the independent reality space, such as guards and researchers, as well as equipment and materials taken from here, all reappeared at the old base.

Now, Changan must also have returned to the real world and might appear nearby; collecting him would mean accomplishing a great deed from my end.

Additionally, as I had focused almost all my attention on killing Dr. Silver Mask before this, I let the guards and researchers be resurrected by the power of restart. The demon hunter team moved into the depths of the old base after passing through the teleportation door and soon encountered the guards turned into weirdos in battle. Zhu Shi, hearing the distant noise of the battle, said nothing; he just changed into a straw raincoat and conical hat, drew his sword, and joined the battlefield.

As for the researchers, fine, but I hadn’t planned on keeping those guards alive. Forgetting to kill them earlier didn’t matter; now was still in time to kill them. I prepared to summon the Fire Sea to kill all the guards inside the old base. Lu Youxun seemed to sense my intention and quickly stopped me.

"Wait... don’t kill the monsters here just yet," he said.

"What’s the matter?" I temporarily halted.

"According to the information you provided earlier, the original bodies of the monsters should not be inside the stronghold, meaning that once the guards die, the ’seeds of the heart’ should leave this stronghold and head to where the originals are. The resurrection mechanism inside the stronghold requires all the materials of the deceased to fully resurrect, which should prevent the guards from continuing to exist as monsters after their resurrection," he explained, "However, that’s not the case. They are able to use the monster’s power every time they resurrect, which means..."

"Their ’seeds of the heart’ may not automatically leave their bodies?" I asked.

"It’s a possibility. So, maybe even if we capture them alive later, they won’t self-destruct. It’s always worth a try," he said, "You also don’t need to bother joining in on this capture, and in fact, the demon hunters brought by the Divine Spear all have the desire to prove themselves on the battlefield. If you join in, their efforts will be in vain."

"To prove themselves..."

Unlike me, an Outer Path Impermanence, the official Evil probably care more about their achievements in Luo Mountain and the corresponding status that comes with it. Regardless, Luo Mountain also records contribution scores for those who prove themselves, which can later be exchanged for various items and resources. I have already made enough achievements this time; there’s no need for me to keep earning points.

Besides, I may not need those points in the future.

It’s not that the items and resources available for point exchange are useless to me, but I have already made up my mind to kill the Divine Spear. I don’t believe that after killing one of the less than twenty Great Success Rank Evil in Luo Mountain, I can continue to use Luo Mountain’s point exchange system normally.

Zhu Shi also doesn’t seem interested in proving herself, although objectively speaking, battlefield achievements would certainly be beneficial for her. I checked her status through "Firefly." Within her Residence Level, her strength is overwhelming, and the monsters here pose no threat to her. Even if there are some enemies with absurd superpowers, they can’t perform a ’first-time kill’ in front of Buzhou Mountain’s power. Seeing this, I decided to just watch for the time being.

The guards did not use Shadow Transmission to escape, but stayed to protect the researchers and fought desperately against the invading demon hunters. I don’t believe all these monsters are absolutely loyal to the Human Bureau; it’s likely that the Human Bureau has means to control them, just like Chen Long said, there are "backdoors" left in their bodies from surgeries.

It seems they can’t undertake Shadow Transmission with the researchers. According to my previous encounters with information about monsters, although monsters can open doors to the Shadow World, the Shadow World is a realm where life is not allowed to exist, even lacking the concepts of time and space. This is consistent with the bizarre experiences I had when I entered the Shadow World previously. Probably only those with the requisite power can cross it safely.

Chen Long indeed had undertaken Shadow Transmission with someone else before, during the time he kidnapped Changan. Perhaps Chen Long has a way to protect Changan in the Shadow World using his own power. Ordinary monsters also can’t turn Shadow Transmission into ’Portal Armor’; it’s possible that Chen Long’s ’All-round Enhancement’ could boost Shadow Transmission from a ’self-only’ transport to a ’transport anything’ capability.

As I watched these scenes, I entered the Fire Element state, infusing my spirit into the surrounding heat and rapidly expanding it across the entire old stronghold to confirm Changan’s location.

Meanwhile, Lu Youxun turned to Mazao and spoke, "This Teleportation Door, can you maintain it hands-off?"

"Hands-off?" Mazao quickly caught his implication, "...No, I have to stand close by to maintain it."

With a diplomatic tone, Lu Youxun said, "Then, may I ask you to stay here and keep the Teleportation Door running? Though we have an overwhelming advantage in the current battle situation, in a battlefield rife with the power of the strange, anything could happen, so I hope you can secure our way back."

"Sure," Mazao nodded without hesitation.

However, Lu Youxun’s true intention was probably to avoid having her take risks on the battlefield. Not only am I here, but Divine Spear, who should be arriving at the battlefield soon, and Chen Long, the only Great Success Rank counterforce here, is already dead. The difference in combat capabilities is like a lion to a mouse; it seems unlikely that there would be any mishaps.

Mazao has never displayed her fighting capabilities in front of Lu Youxun, and often appeared unstable due to soul-trauma, seemingly being perceived as a "researcher" not adept at combat. I had no intention of unnecessarily putting Mazao at risk, so I naturally agreed with Lu Youxun’s suggestion.

This time, it seemed that Divine Spear truly had a wasted trip; he initially claimed to me, "You can’t handle Chen Long" and even said, "Chen Long is mine to kill." I really want to know his reaction when he finds out about the current situation.

While pondering this, I used my Perception to search the old stronghold and quickly found Changan’s location. Indeed, he was in the deep chamber of the main control room of the old stronghold, still immersed in a transparent container.

Additionally, in another laboratory belonging to Dr. Silver Mask, I spotted a familiar figure of a young girl.