Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 232 - 218 Sounds of Change

Chapter 232: 218 Sounds of Change

Two days had passed since the battle at the old Human Bureau stronghold.

According to the messages from Mr. Zhu, the demon hunters captured the majority of the researchers and some of the monster guards with minimal casualties. While the whereabouts of two researchers remain unknown and their fates uncertain, the demon hunters can generally be declared completely victorious.

Zhu Shi also retreated unscathed from the frontline and then went to retrieve Changan, which I had placed far away. The old Human Bureau stronghold was hundreds of kilometers from Saltwater City, and since Mazao and I were already gone, Zhu Shi could no longer use the convenient Black Mist Teleportation Door and had to use other methods to bring Changan back and perform a comprehensive diagnosis. The details of this will be explained later.

The news of my killing the Divine Spear quickly spread within Luo Mountain, reportedly causing quite a stir. It seems that the two demon hunters I sent back had successfully carried out my instructions. The name "Zhuang Cheng" immediately resounded throughout Luo Mountain.

Even my challenge to Impermanence became well-known news. I don’t know how those two demon hunters interpreted my words at that time; I only intended for them to pass the message privately. Or perhaps this was their own cunning. But none of that matters.

Lu Youxun once told me they were merely tools, and although I countered him, I must admit that part is true. Regardless of the objective conclusion, in my heart, they indeed are just tools. After disarming, whether they are broken or discarded, it initially occurred to me to kill them all, but after witnessing Lu Youxun’s mental death, a sense of indifference arose, and I casually dismissed that thought.

Perhaps this is the thought pattern of an Extraordinary Fanatic. Put another way, to some extent, I might be similar to Lu Yu and the Divine Spear. I never treated those two demon hunters as humans. Zhu Shi must never know about this. I was not always this extreme; I am very aware that this is probably due to the psychological impact of casually killing people with my superpower. I used to arrogantly believe that my soul would not be shaken by killing, yet some gradual changes have occurred.

The fact that I decisively killed the Divine Spear and even used those demon hunters to provoke Impermanence, could that also have been influenced by this? Perhaps there was a smarter, more compromising method available at the time, but I overlooked it; maybe if I could transport my current self to the past, I would make a different choice.

Not necessarily. Perhaps there indeed was a smarter method available at the time, but that was not the path I should take. Simply put, I am the kind of person who would make that decision in that situation, and I fully accept that version of myself and all potential consequences that follow. Asking me to show mercy to someone intending to harm Mazao is utterly impossible; not to mention the absurdity of running away in fear.

After completely breaking away from the old Human Bureau stronghold, holding the unconscious Mazao in my arms, I had become calm and began seriously contemplating the next steps.

Although I plan to actively seek out Lu Youxun and the Divine Spear behind Impermanence, I fundamentally don’t know who exactly the other party is. While there are some clues, it is true that I cannot just confront them immediately. If by chance I accuse the wrong person, not only would I be mistakenly blaming someone, but it would also be creating unnecessary enemies, which is highly undesirable.

The opponent might not tolerate provocation and could actively seek me out, and considering that I’ve shown the power to instantly kill someone of Great Success Rank, it’s quite possible that the hostile Impermanence might personally intervene. This is indeed what I hoped for, but currently, it’s inconvenient for me to leave Mazao, and under such circumstances, Mazao might inevitably get involved. If possible, I naturally would want to take the initiative in the attack.

Mazao soon woke up, and I explained the current situation to her, her expression very solemn.

I might oppose Impermanence because of her, something I had previously discussed with her face to face. By now, she wouldn’t persuade me to abandon her any longer. However, a verbal agreement and actually carrying it out are two different things. I do not know how exactly she is thinking, but if she can feel joy and reassurance secretly supporting me, that would also make me happy.

Moreover, she disclosed the details of how she was previously ensnared.

Certainly, Lu Youxun had fully prepared to kidnap Mazao, but the simplicity with which Mazao was trapped seemed suspicious to me initially. As expected, Mazao had allowed herself to be captured deliberately. Afflicted with hypnosis, she used the Power of Return to break the hypnosis meanwhile pretending to be completely unconscious and was sealed in a crystalline coffin. Whether Lu Youxun realized it or not, he might have been taking advantage of the situation.

As she explained this to me, we had already left the forest and were walking along the highway at night. Puzzled, I asked, "You broke the hypnosis? But weren’t you passed out?"

"Strictly speaking, to avoid blowing my cover, I only partially undid the hypnosis," she explained. "At that moment, my consciousness was operating at a low frequency, similar to sleepwalking, which enabled me to detect external dangers and decide whether to use the Power of Return to flee."

She wouldn’t still be sleepwalking when she heard Lu Youxun mention "GPS," would she?... This thought crossed my mind, but I dared not mention it, instead continuing to ask, "Why didn’t you just run away then?"

"Because I want to know where they plan to take me," she said.

"Do you want to know if they’re planning to find a cure for soul-loss, right?" I asked.

"Yes. If their only intention is to seek a cure for soul-loss using such violent means, to beat other powers to it... then I am willing to cooperate with their research," she said, "It doesn’t matter which power finds the cure first, what’s important is that the soul-loss patients can be healed."

At this point, her voice lowered: "...that way, Zhu Shi’s mom might also be saved."

It seemed that even though she appeared indifferent towards Zhu Shi, she actually respected him quite a bit. Or rather, she was just not good at dealing with good intentions, easily getting overwhelmed by those who approached her with strong goodwill. However, she always considered her Broom Star Physique and adopted an extreme avoidance policy.

She was too kind-hearted, placing her own safety secondary. Although I wished she would consult with me before taking action, when the incident occurred abruptly and there was no time to contact me, and it was a great opportunity to infiltrate the enemy’s camp, she just went ahead.

No, leaving that aside, she might not have wanted to alert me. In a way, I somewhat wanted to treat her as my accessory. To put it extremely, I hoped to keep her under my wings forever, with her only focusing on attracting abnormal events for me. However, fundamentally, she was a very opinionated person, a lone wolf who did things her own way. She knew I would disagree, yet she wouldn’t hesitate to act upon finding an opportunity.

In this respect, she and I were of the same kind. Whether there would be danger, whether the people around would agree, these were secondary, insignificant. If I were in her position, I would definitely do the same.

Not to mention, infiltrating the enemy’s camp was truly thrilling. I genuinely liked the action of sneaking into the secret base of the Human Bureau. However, I did it because I liked it, while her reasons were mostly negative.

She always carried immense pressure and guilt, deep down she believed she should not interact with people, even thinking she shouldn’t continue to live. Her constant activity to save others was probably driven by a desire for atonement. And speaking of saving others to the utmost, that would undoubtedly be "saving the world."

In my mind, Yinyue’s "illusion" surfaced, and the scene where she confronted me emerged.

"Where should we go next?" she asked.

"Let’s find a place to stay overnight in the city first," I said.

If it was to avoid Lu Youxun and the backer of Divine Spear, Impermanence, locking onto our location first, it was best to head somewhere off the grid. We neither needed to eat nor sleep, so a remote wilderness wouldn’t be a problem. However, the enemy was one of Luo Mountain’s rulers, and methods like divination were readily available to trace a person. The issues of multiple powers holding each other back over the question of "where is the soul-loss girl" were no longer relevant. We might as well maintain normal eating and sleeping habits to keep in good spirits.

Mazao seemed to have other ideas, but after thinking for a while, she followed.

Using the mobile map, we quickly located a nearby city. It was ten o’clock at night, prime time for a late-night snack, yet very few stores were open. After some effort, we found a diner still lit up with only two or three customers inside. While eating, the voices of nearby tables chatting drifted over, seemingly nervously discussing topics like "nuclear bombs" and "world wars."

That’s when I realized, and connected to the internet on my phone to check the news.

As expected, the noise from my battle with Yinyue had been too great, Yinyue had even resorted to a nuclear explosion. This was something the nation couldn’t cover up, although it occurred only an hour or two ago, it had already become a hot topic among many netizens. According to the comments, that nuclear explosion was of the magnitude of a strategic nuclear bomb. Some people were terrified thinking it was a nuclear attack from the United States, while others thought it was a national nuclear weapons test. Even foreign websites were discussing this event.

In terms of destructive scale and total energy, beings like Impermanence, who could incarnate as natural disasters, possessed a power many times greater than the nuclear explosion summoned by Yinyue. However, when it comes to affecting public sentiment, it was the other way around. Up till now, Luo Mountain had always been observing, and the Impermanences did not show their existence to the world. Yet, this was indeed a fragile and invisible consensus, ready to disappear at any moment. Now, this consensus was torn a corner by my fight with Yinyue.

The abnormal world was gradually revealing its existence to the public, and the footsteps of a changing era were drawing nearer.