Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 228 - 215 Covert Operator

Chapter 228: 215 Covert Operator

Looking at the disappearance of the girl Lu Chan, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat melancholic. Perhaps I’ll never see her again. Though the cooperation between us can’t be called completely trusting, I feel that given enough time together, we could become good friends.

The nearby demon hunters and bizarre guards all noticed that I had eliminated the Dream Chen Long, and the situation suddenly reversed. The previously disheartened demon hunters morale sky-rocketed, while the bizarre guards showed looks of despair, their will to fight dwindling enormously. If this trend continues, capturing them along with the researchers won’t be difficult.

It’s about time to take Changan to the Black Mist Teleportation Door and see how Mazao is doing. Although there is a tool that can replace the user to bear the soul burden, after all, it is short-term use of the Power of Return, I am still somewhat worried that she may not be able to withstand it.

Suddenly, I noticed something off about Mazao’s current location; she seemed to be leaving the old base.

Almost simultaneously, a piece of information entered my consciousness.

This was information conveyed by a "Firefly," and it was the "Firefly" I left by Mazao’s side. According to my preset instructions, it would only actively transmit information when Mazao was in danger.

I immediately tensed up my consciousness, feeling something odd as well. Because the information that came was somewhat ambiguous. Normally, the information "Firefly" would convey should be "Danger!", but the current message was "Danger?", which revealed an unclear meaning.

I saw the "Firefly"’s perspective of the situation there, and also received its internal historical record.

In an instant, I understood what had happened.

To conclude, Lu Youxun had betrayed us.

This word might not be entirely accurate; he was probably just being faithful to his real position, but saying it this way aligns more with my current emotions.

It was about the same time I was fighting Yinyue, Mazao was focusing on maintaining the Black Mist Teleportation Door and did not forget to keep basic vigilance towards the people around her.

The so-called people around her, were Lu Youxun and several demon hunters from the Divine Spear team. The former was not a combatant, so he hadn’t gone to the front lines, while the latter was personnel split from the battlefield to protect the retreat. To Mazao, either side was likely an object of vigilance.

Due to sudden abnormal mana fluctuations erupting in the distance, and my presence also being clearly caught up in it, Mazao couldn’t help but shift some of her attention. Perhaps it was this moment of lapse that Lu Youxun made his move without warning.

"Sleep."

He suddenly said this to Mazao.

The words contained a magical efficacy, the Instant Hypnosis Skill that the girl Lu Chan also used. With Lu Youxun’s current mana, such a spell would probably only work against Bad Level targets at best. Mazao was about to counterattack, but at the same moment, the glow from the eye sockets of the wooden skull — the tool replacing the user to bear the soul burden — suddenly changed from red to blue, and she herself stumbled as if her consciousness became hazy and she could no longer freely control her body.

This tool clearly had a problem; it probably enhanced Lu Youxun’s Instant Hypnosis Skill, and since Mazao was using this tool, it was very likely that it affected her state from the inside.

Mazao seemed to quickly lose consciousness, stumbling forward.

The other demon hunters also acted in unison. One of them cast an Illusion Technique on the "Firefly" beside him at the start of the anomaly, and another used a spell similar to creating ice cubes on Mazao’s left wrist, immediately freezing the red GPS bracelet.

The rest surrounded Mazao and cooperated tacitly, casting the same spell, which looked like a Sealing, a large number of crystals materialized out of thin air, and before Mazao could even fall to the ground, the crystals enclosed her as if a coffin. The Black Mist Teleportation Door vanished as the maintainer was lost.

Mazao was toppled just like that? I subconsciously felt something was wrong.

The crystalline coffin could hover and move through the air, and Lu Youxun and the others silently left with Mazao. With the outside world witnessing a nuclear explosion and the two Great Success Rank entities, Dream Chen Long and Divine Spear clashing, they could only hide and wait for an opportunity to act. The "Firefly," affected by the Illusion Technique, was left behind.

That "Firefly" got dealt with this way, something I hadn’t anticipated, but upon reflection, the "Firefly" is merely a small fragment of my dispersed spirit, with past records of being easily eliminated by the Zhu family mansion’s barrier, so it made sense that it couldn’t withstand the Illusion Technique. As for why it could now send out a warning to me, it seems that it was due to changes in me.

Having gone through the battle with Yinyue, and especially having personally unraveled Yinyue’s "illusion," the common Illusion Technique seemed full of flaws to me. This "Firefly," despite being a small fragment of my spirit split off prior to that, still synchronized with some of my vision and consciousness through our connection and realized it had been affected by an Illusion Technique.

But this "Firefly" was clueless, even if it realized it had been tricked, it could not discern what to do next, and it took quite a while to finally make the "first contact me" judgment.

Even without it, I have other backups, namely the thermal energy markers left in Mazao’s body.

Through the thermal energy markers, I locked onto Mazao’s current location and obtained a historical record of Lu Youxun and others taking her outside.

At the same time, intense doubts, like a hurricane, swept through my mind.

Why would Lu Youxun betray me? How dare he betray me?

Mr. Zhu believed that I had the chance to become an Impermanence, and the young girl Lu Chan, who knew of me through Lu Youxun’s memories, referred to me as a candidate for Impermanence. The term "candidate for Impermanence" also appeared in Yinyue’s speech. Even though I don’t know the specific definition, just by inferring its meaning, I could understand half of it. That is to say, Lu Youxun must also think that I have the potential to become an Impermanence. He has always been a faithful Extraordinary Fanatic, having represented the Transcendentalism Mountain faction in dealings with me in the past.

And to betray me means that he was giving up our connection and also foregoing the Transcendentalism Mountain’s attempt to draw me in. Even if he kidnapped Mazao secretly, with his stance, he would definitely be unable to clear himself of suspicion afterward. Why would he make such a choice?

I don’t believe that he would do such a thing just for his own benefit. Could it be that he thought the gains from kidnapping Mazao were higher than any benefit that could arise from continuing relations with me? Or could it be that, like Divine Spear, he was following the orders of some Impermanence? Or was it a combination of both?

In the historical record, after moving to the former Human Bureau stronghold, Lu Youxun and others arrived at a secluded place where a demon hunter was already waiting. There were many devices around him, and a Teleportation Door had been opened—this device was a doorframe standing on the ground, with pitch black in the middle, unmistakably a Teleportation Door.

When they arrived here, these people seemed to have relaxed a lot.

Lu Youxun said to the person next to him, "As long as we take her through the Teleportation Door, our mission will be completed."

"What will happen to this girl afterward?" one person asked. "She’s an important clue for treating soul loss, but if we send her to that kind of place..."

"That Outer Path Impermanence called Zhuang Cheng seems to be of Great Success Rank. He seems to value this girl highly. If we do this now, in the event he retaliates later..." someone else interjected.

"To him, you’re all just minor characters. He can’t even remember your faces or names. As long as you’re not caught red-handed, you’ll be fine," said Lu Youxun. "Only Divine Spear and I know the details of the mission. It’s for your own good that you’re kept in the dark. But even if I don’t say it, you all understand anyway. Yes..."

He turned to look at Mazao, sealed in the crystal coffin, and after a moment of silence, he said: "...She will be killed. It doesn’t matter to curing soul loss; the only outcome for those sent to such a place is death."

The others looked at each other, yet no one showed a hint of surprise; they clearly knew what they were doing.

Then, they continued to transport the crystal coffin, and the historical record ended there. They were now heading towards the Teleportation Door.

In an instant, I digested all the information above and without hesitation, I launched Flame Transmission.

I arrived in the middle of the team transporting the crystal coffin. These demon hunters were all well-trained and probably had many experiences battling strange entities, so being suddenly ambushed by an enemy was perhaps not too unusual for them. The moment they noticed me, they moved instinctively, coordinating their actions to attack me.

Their movements were fast, but only by ordinary standards. In my Fire Element Form, they looked as though they were standing still in mid-air. Some of them already recognized my face; their bodies continued their attacking motions, but a slow desperation began to emerge on their faces.

Lu Youxun saw my face as well. His eyes might have been the sharpest in the group, yet his reaction was the slowest, still standing still.

I quickly counted the demon hunters involved in Mazao’s kidnapping, and excluding Lu Youxun, there were six in total. I was in a particularly bad mood and wanted to kill them all in one go, but there were still things I wanted to ask them.

So I decided to kill half of them first.

"Wait—"

I did not wait.

Lu Youxun had barely gotten a word out when my flames activated. Three of them ignited and were extinguished on the spot without even a chance to struggle, leaving only a wisp of black smoke. Watching them disappear, I couldn’t help but think: While I have no interest in cruelty, killing them so straightforwardly might be letting them off too easily.

As for the other three, I summoned three balls of flame, each shaping into a massive hand, and grabbed them up.

Then, I turned around, looking at Lu Youxun.