Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 235 - 221 Cannot be here 2

Chapter 235: 221 Cannot be here 2

Mazao used to live in the Doomsday Era where deadly dangers were everywhere, and she seemed to have a weaker sense of this direction. However, it might be because she also worried that her Broom Star Physique might affect others, which made her realize the possibility of Impermanence initiating a battle in urban areas and affecting bystanders more quickly than I did.

Looking back, she might have had these worries earlier. Why didn’t she say anything? The reason surely isn’t because she can’t accept living a hidden life away from civilization... Could it be because she was worried about me? Because I opposed Impermanence for her, did she take my feelings into consideration?

But as a person, I am not so indifferent as to not care even if innocent people are affected; if possible, it is of course better to move to a place far from civilization. Moreover, if I really showed such a cold-blooded attitude, I would definitely lose Mazao’s trust. That is something I cannot accept.

The daily life up to now seems to really be moving away from me.

I probably really shouldn’t be among crowds; in the past, I might have unconsciously avoided this thought. Am I really just because I am sure that my flames won’t harm the crowd, so I didn’t think that I should stay away from the city; or do I still have a fondness for the daily life I am used to?

While shouting in my heart that I want to "embark on an adventure beyond reality," do I also have a side that is reluctant to leave this "cradle"?

After eating, we went back to the hotel first, tidied up the items in the room, and then we would go to check out later.

Now looking at this room again, although it’s just an ordinary hotel room, thinking that Mazao and I shared the same bed for two nights, I can’t help but feel somewhat sentimental about this room.

Then we are going to live a life in the desolate wilderness together. After careful consideration, it’s not like we will have nothing to eat, drink, or nowhere to sleep. At the very least regarding food and drink, Mazao and I can teleport into the city at any time to replenish a large amount of living supplies, and the rest can be managed accordingly. Going to a furniture store to buy a bed, and then making a big hole in the mountains, I wonder if that would be feasible. Also, although it is not necessary, this might also be a good opportunity to try hunting in the forest and gathering edible plants.

Thinking about it, I surprisingly found a lot of interest in it, and thus am looking forward to the upcoming camping life with a reverence I’d rather not disclose to others—how many people have fantasized about surviving in the wilderness with a beautiful girl? Moreover, with Mazao and my extraordinary powers we could easily compensate for the lack of camping knowledge.

It’s unbelievable that even the melancholy that had emerged before seems to have a diluting trend.

But what does Mazao think of me?

The last two nights we slept, of course, I couldn’t possibly hug Mazao to sleep; that would make me seem like a pervert who likes little girls. However, Mazao didn’t hug me either, which made me feel somewhat regretful. She probably thought it was unnecessary to continue leaving a teleport mark on me.

I often think about whether Mazao sees me as a member of the opposite sex. It’s not that I doubt whether she has awareness of the opposite sex—after all, I’ve known her for a while, and I can tell she understands the difference between men and women and wouldn’t have the very simplistic misunderstanding that "men and women would have children just by holding hands or kissing." Having traveled through countless places in the Doomsday Era, she would’ve even seen many dark things that I, an adult, can hardly imagine.

That is, she should be very clear I am a male and also very clear that I have those desires. It’s just that she probably never considered herself as a woman—specifically, she had never seen herself as a "woman who might be viewed by men with that kind of gaze", hence her actions lacking a sense of personal boundaries.

Just when we were almost done packing up the miscellaneous items, there was suddenly the presence of a living person approaching outside the door. Since we were about to leave, we hadn’t noticed the need to lock the door. Mazao stopped what she was doing and looked towards the door. The presence quickly departed, and we returned to normal. Then, Mazao seemed to notice something, walked to the door, and picked up a small item from the ground.

I walked over and saw that it was a card advertising "special services", with images of several mature women in seductive poses. Common sense says this is not something young girls like Mazao should see, but her face did not show any unusual expressions, and even after taking a look, she naturally handed it to me.

"Zhuang Cheng, are you interested in this?" Her tone was as if pointing at a fried chicken restaurant on the street and asking, "Do you like to eat this?"

"No, I’m not interested."

I answered without hesitation and threw the card into the trash bin.

Then she said in a tactful tone, "But, you might have that kind of pressure, right? There might not be a chance later; isn’t it better to relieve it sooner?"

Don’t call it "relieving".

I emphasized again that I was not interested.

"Is that so. You’re not interested in this kind of thing..."

She seemed to be pondering something, and finally made up her mind, bringing up an old question she hadn’t mentioned for a while, "...Zhuang Cheng, why are you doing so much for me?"

"Why... are you pointing this out?" I quickly realized why she was bringing up old arguments.

"I know you are kind-hearted, and I know you want to prevent the Doomsday with me, but... is it really just because of these reasons?"

She looked at me intently with pure eyes, seemingly trying to peer into my inner world, but as she continued, she became hesitant and nervous, asking further: "Or is it that, you are... you have feelings for me..."

It seems that the false image I created for myself in the past in front of her is no longer sufficient.

In the past, to explain why I so steadfastly helped Mazao, I fabricated two false motives, one was "I am kind-hearted," so I couldn’t ignore Mazao, a little girl fighting alone; the other was "I want to prevent the world’s Doomsday," which became very solid after I presented evidence that I believed in the existence of Doomsday—the Divine Seal Fragment. Moreover, since Mazao needed my help with the matter of Little Bowl number two, we finally unified our front.

But so far, my series of actions have all been observed by Mazao—this might be an exaggeration, at least she hasn’t directly witnessed my activities in the independent reality space, and she was sleepwalking when dealing with people like Lu Youxun. Regardless of whether she sensed my merciless killings of the demon hunters during her sleepwalking state, just summarizing my behavior style over time is enough to make her doubt my previously crafted image of "kind-hearted".

On the matter of "preventing Doomsday," I have progressed much further than she has. She hasn’t obtained any clues related to the Doomsday, yet I have already obtained the Divine Seal Fragment, encountered humans from the Doomsday Era, and even made contact with the suspected Master of Divine Seal who might have caused the Doomsday—it seems that even without Mazao, I could investigate the Doomsday on my own, and she couldn’t assist me in terms of combat power.

She completely doesn’t know that without her, it would be impossible for me to even make contact with the abnormal world.

Thus, from her perspective, my motivation to oppose Impermanence for her sake is far too weak. I might have previously spoken just for the sake of arguing, but now I am truly doing it, no wonder she felt puzzled.

She wanted to reconfirm my sincerity.

I must handle this question with utmost caution. But how should I answer? Should I tell the truth? Once again, I thought of Yinyue’s "illusion" and heavily negated it in my mind.

Seeing her hesitant to speak, I took the initiative to step forward in the conversation and probed, "What if I really like you... would there be a problem?"

"...I don’t think that’s the reason," she said.

"Why?" I asked back.

She touched her own body and then said, "Look, my body isn’t voluptuous like the woman on that card..."

"It shouldn’t be about that kind of stuff."

I deliberately emphasized the tone, planning to establish an image of a man deeply in love who acts bravely for his beloved girl.

"It doesn’t matter?" she exclaimed in surprise, "Then, do you really... have feelings for me?"

I believed that my efforts were going in the right direction. Mazao should know about male-female relationships, but probably didn’t understand what love is, nor how far love can drive one to act. Moreover, I had previously displayed an image of loyalty and integrity in front of her; as long as I convinced her that I truly liked her, she would believe this motive.

Additionally, I genuinely harbored romantic feelings for her, so it wasn’t difficult to feign this image. Even for myself, if Mazao’s Broom Star Physique was disregarded, opposing Impermanence just for her as a person was also not an unimaginable scenario.

Everything was perfect; I was even admiring my own talent for lying on the fly. Especially in deceiving Mazao, I always seemed to perform exceptionally, much to my own astonishment.

However, on the other hand, I was almost reaching my limit.

Spewing insincere and pretentious words, calculating even my own true feelings, merely to manipulate Mazao—a simple and kind-hearted girl—was utterly disgraceful.

Facing the world and myself sincerely, and remaining true to my heart until the last moment was indeed the style I should maintain.

Seeing the bewildered Mazao, I increasingly felt that I should not continue like this.

At this moment, Mr. Zhu sent a new message, making the path ahead for me and Mazao even more obscure and confusing.