Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 270 - 252 Ruminating

Chapter 270: 252 Ruminating

Under Mazao’s action, we successfully logged out of the Doomsday Dream, and Impermanence seemed to vanish before our eyes. However, by all accounts, the battle shouldn’t have ended so easily. Mazao definitely knew this as well, yet for some reason, she relaxed.

Then, she examined my body very carefully and asked with concern, "Zhuang Cheng, your injuries..."

My soul was just severely damaged in front of her, where over two-thirds of it was obliterated. Though she knew of my power to repair my own soul, and saw that I was unharmed now, the incident just happened before her eyes, and it seemed she couldn’t help but worry. I too had some doubts about my own condition, suspecting that the strike from Impermanence might have had some unimaginably special properties. So, I followed suit and examined myself.

Luckily, it appears there were no lingering effects, as my soul repaired itself in the blink of an eye to a completely undamaged state. It was like some monsters in comics that, through super regenerative abilities, achieve a quasi-undying body; it seems as long as there’s still a bit of the soul left, no matter how grave the injury, I can recover from it.

In a sense, that strike from Impermanence was rendered fruitless on me.

However, such an attack would probably not even count as a regular attack in his eyes. Should he wish, it would be an effortless feat for him to obliterate my soul into complete nothingness with a single blow. So it can also be said that I was lucky to escape with my life.

That is Impermanence...

I told Mazao that I had fully recovered, to which she gave me a look that said, "I understand every word you’re saying, but when you put them together, I’m lost."

"More importantly... what do you mean by ’safe’ now? Does that mean Impermanence can no longer interfere within your soul?" I asked.

Mazao first nodded, then proceeded to explain.

Her recent action of using the Power of Return to flee from inside her own Spirit World with me is like "someone trying to escape from within their own body," an act that is logically impossible. But spirits, by nature, don’t adhere to the concepts of inside and outside, size, or shape, nor do they follow worldly common sense. Even if it was her dream, it didn’t hinder her escape from her own dream—however, the reason for her escape was not due to this.

"At first, I chose to give up on continuing that dream, whereas Impermanence opted to keep it going. From that moment on, it wasn’t my dream anymore, but his," she said.

There are many ways to continue a dream, and Impermanence used the most brutal method—forcibly seizing the dream. Such an act should have been impossible, yet Impermanence, with his power strong enough to distort the common sense of the world, unreasonably made it a reality.

Perhaps this is somewhat similar to what I used to do. I could twist the settings of an independent reality space with my own perception, while Impermanence could alter the settings of the dream forcefully with his Spiritual Power. Except, he managed to even alter such a core setting; rather than being an unwanted intruder in the dream, he’s more like the god of the dream.

On top of this, he locked onto Mazao with the intent of "not allowing the other party to escape," preventing her from logging out of the dream with the Power of Return. Mazao, as the owner of the dream, was then imprisoned within her own dream.

And all of this began to waver the moment he noticed the specific scenery of the dream.

Although I don’t know why, he seemed to be quite startled by the scene of the Doomsday Dream, and was caught off guard by my attack. A nearly undetectable gap appeared in his intent to lock on. Mazao seized this great opportunity and fled with me in an instant.

One can only say that Mazao is truly worthy of being the Super Survivor who once successfully escaped from the Great Demon and struggled to survive in the Doomsday Era with hellish difficulty. She managed to catch such a fleeting gap of opportunity. Keep in mind that was the consciousness of Impermanence; not just anyone could grasp such a gap.

At least, I was not aware of the gap’s existence, and it’s highly unlikely that an average Great Success Rank could achieve this. In my perception, even when he was shaken and startled, his attention was always intensely focused on us.

Since the Doomsday Dream was now his dream, it was no longer Mazao’s Spirit World. Therefore, it was no problem for Mazao to escape from there—it was a blessing in disguise. Additionally, with her as the "material provider" now gone, the Doomsday Dream will either disappear or be repainted by Impermanence’s Spiritual Power into a completely different scene.

"Mazao, you probably can’t exert your full strength right now, and yet you’ve already defeated achieved-level enemies and even managed to escape from Impermanence’s clutches... So, how strong were you in your prime? Were you at Great Success Rank?" I asked, curious.

"Great Success Rank..." Mazao pondered for a moment. "I don’t know if that counts... However, if I were up against opponents like Divine Spear and Chen Long from the past, I suppose I could at least give it a try."

As she spoke, she looked down regretfully at the Divine Spear’s head on her knee and said, "It seems that I won’t be able to continue investigating this head. Otherwise, before we can glean any information from it, Impermanence will come after us again."

She picked up the Divine Spear’s head and flung it to the side, where it disappeared in mid-air, probably transported elsewhere by her Power of Return.

Even if we stop investigating the Divine Spear’s head, we can’t guarantee that Impermanence won’t come after us again. From our recent clash (perhaps calling it a ’clash’ is too self-flattering), it’s possible our coordinates in the real world have been exposed to the enemy.

So, should we immediately flee from Fufeng Base?

This Fufeng Base was set up to hide us; undoubtedly, a lot of preparations went into it, including a multitude of anti-Divination and anti-surveillance barriers. My "Fireflies" can move freely inside, but they lose contact when they go outside; similarly, if I’m outside, I can’t get in touch with the "Fireflies" inside. If even this place becomes unsafe, going outside would only be more dangerous. If the enemy is determined, they can track us down in an instant. It seems fleeing might be the worst strategy.

On the other hand, I don’t believe that Impermanence would be deterred by mere anti-Divination and anti-surveillance measures of a branch base. It’s likely external factors that are actually preventing the enemy from making a move on us — that is, the influence of Fa Zheng who is active externally. Only another Impermanence can stop an Impermanence. Therefore, it doesn’t make much of a difference whether we stay inside or outside of Fufeng Base. Considering this is Fa Zheng’s territory, it might be better to stay here and wait for his arrival.

To someone like Impermanence, spatial distance doesn’t constitute a factor that determines whether they can strike or not. Since the enemy didn’t relentlessly pursue us, it means he won’t pose a threat to us for a while.

I slightly relaxed the tension within my consciousness and ruminated on the sensation of the encounter with Impermanence.

This exchange wasn’t meaningless; it at least helped me gauge the gap between the enemy and myself. It also served as a lesson, challenging my preconceived notions of combat.

Previously, my foes, at most, exploited their unique powers to put me at a disadvantage, but this time, I was overwhelmingly outmatched purely in terms of power, which has never happened to me before.

The enemies who used their special abilities to flee from me in the past probably felt the same as I do now.

I wonder if I could stand up to that Impermanence once I fully unleash my power.

Although that Impermanence projected his power remotely into the Doomsday Dream, akin to an "avatar’s descent," I had a head-on collision with his power, so even without direct contact with his main body, I managed to get a sense of his "size." Since I didn’t immediately feel "utterly outmatched" when I delved into this issue, it means that I could be comparable to the enemy once I fully release my powers. In other words, on the same level.

If the confrontation had continued as it was, in at most ten seconds, the pressure of the crisis caused by enemy Impermanence could have completely unleashed me, but our engagement lasted less than half a second. Although it’s regrettable, Mazao was right there beside me. Plus, given the gap between the enemy’s and my levels, I would probably have been killed instantly in the next second. No matter how great the potential, if it’s gone before it can be unleashed, it equates to zero.

Perhaps I should think of other ways to hasten the release of my potential. Right now, I can grow stronger passively, just sitting or lying around, but I can’t wait any longer. Should I try asking Fu Feng to help me spar? That doesn’t seem to work. Just having a sparring partner is far from enough. It’s meaningless if I know it’s just practice in my heart. Only a fight where my life is truly on the line will do.

With the Divine Spear’s head no longer available for use, I must find a new way to investigate the true identity of the opposing Impermanence.

I remembered the way that Impermanence reacted to the Doomsday Dream. Clearly, he seemed to recognize the scenes it displayed. In other words, although I don’t know why, it seems he has some level of knowledge of the Doomsday Era.

The Doomsday Dream correlates to a future after the onset of Doomsday; since he knows about the Doomsday Era, it means he’s aware of the future.

An Impermanence that can foresee the future—could it be Gua Tianshi?