Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 276 - 258 The Girl in Prayer1

Chapter 276: 258 The Girl in Prayer1

If Number One really is Xu Gou, how much could this fact help me? I began to calculate in my mind.

At the current stage, the most urgent problems I need to solve are the confrontation with Impermanence and the whereabouts of Changan’s soul, both of which have little to do with Xu Gou. From his hatred towards Ying Lingyun, we might be able to join forces against Ying Lingyun. However, I have little interest in seeking outside help. Moreover, compared to other pressing matters, Ying Lingyun as an enemy needs to be put on hold for now.

Since Number One does not want to expose his real identity in the Void Realm, maybe I can also use "You wouldn’t want others to know your true identity either" as leverage to coerce him into doing what I desire. But how much pressure can such a threat exert on someone who’s qualified as Impermanence? Wordplay is not my forte, and if not handled well, it may attract another enemy at this stage.

However, even if I don’t expose his true identity, I suspect he will soon become the first to publicly reveal his true self in the Void Realm. He has never hidden his desires or his hatred towards Ying Lingyun in front of other Chosen Ones. Since I can guess that he is probably Xu Gou, maybe right now, someone like Number Five has already made the connection between Number One and Xu Gou.

After analyzing this, despite Number One’s wariness towards others, he seems to be not good at concealing his true feelings. His authenticity may lean more towards being straightforward, which is to say, he’s probably similar to me.

Speaking of which, he should be using a female body now, right? I’ve heard senior researchers say that the female researcher who fell in love with him and saved him decided to donate her own body so that he could be reborn with a healthy one. But looking at his current body structure and silhouette, there’s no trace of female curves – he looks entirely like a tall, thin man, with a voice deep like that of a male.

Could it be that he’s not actually Xu Gou? Or could it be that in the so-called "sacrifice her body for his complete resurrection," the body of the female researcher was simply consumed as material, and in the end, he was reborn in his original form? Since it’s about reverting to his "complete form," it would make sense if the body returned to a male form.

Or maybe in the Mist Dream Realm of the Void, perhaps we all appear in forms that conform to our mental self-perception, and a female body in reality doesn’t prevent him from appearing as a male figure in the Void?

"... Excuse me, do you need something?"

Unable to tolerate my prolonged gaze, Number One took a half step back, as if fearful of being targeted by a monster, and was very alert.

Number Two, Little Bowl, also looked at me with some confusion.

At that moment, footsteps came from afar, interrupting the standoff between me and Number One. We all looked over. Two figures came through the gray mist into the rocky seating area. Judging from their silhouettes, they should be Number Four, Xuanming, and Number Six.

These two, who didn’t get along with each other, seemed to have already encountered each other in the gray mist. Now, as if they were oblivious to each other, they stood at different spots and both turned their attention towards the Master of Divine Seal.

They were both Impermanence, and they still felt like enormous beings to me. Perhaps because my Perception had increased significantly, I could now discern the difference between them.

I was sure of one thing—neither Number Four, Xuanming, nor Number Six was the hostile Impermanence that had attempted to act against Mazao and myself last time. In terms of impression, Xuanming felt like an immense volcano, while Number Six was like an endless ocean made of white light.

As for that hostile Impermanence, honestly, perhaps because the adversary didn’t descend in their true form, I had a foggy perception. It was like trying to focus on distant mountains in the deep darkness of night, where I could only make out their large, vague silhouettes. But upon careful recollection, there seemed to be a smell of death about them.

At first, I thought it was because the adversary could potentially bring my death, which is why I had such an unclear impression. However, the more I pondered, the more I felt that "death" might actually be an inherent attribute of the adversary.

Also, whether it’s because of past information I’ve heard or not, the presence of Xuanming seemed slightly more immense than that of Number Six next to him. Is Xuanming truly an exceptional force among those of Impermanence? I feel that even if I were to unleash all my power, I would not measure up to him.

Both he and Number Six seemed to allocate some of their attention towards me, yet neither was in a hurry to speak to me, observing me with a mysterious attitude. After a while, it was Xuanming who spoke first.

"Number Three, how exactly did you infiltrate the Void Realm?" he asked.

"My method of entering the Void Realm is no different from yours."

Since no one would believe me anyway, I told the truth: "By obtaining a Divine Seal Fragment, binding with it, then getting pulled into this dream realm out of the blue... I’m just a ’victim’ who’s been swept along."

"’Victim,’ huh..." Number Six let out a disbelieving chuckle.

Little Bowl No. 2 approached me silently and took hold of my left hand. Perhaps she also sensed the immense presence of Xuanming No. 4 and the monster of No. 6, so she wanted to derive some sense of security from me—although that’s what I thought, Little Bowl No. 2 seemed to have a different purpose.

"Mr. No. 3, can you hear me?" Her voice appeared directly in my mind.

Is this Spiritual Synchronization? No, it seems to be just Mind Transmission.

"I can hear you." I also tried speaking in my mind, "How about you?"

"I can." She said.

Speaking of which, she mentioned before that her ability to communicate with animals and plants also included the ability to initiate spiritual communication with mind... I continued internally, "Can your ability be used in the Void Realm?"

"I just gave it a try. It seems like my ability to see through lies, my telepathy can also function normally here."

She sighed a bit as she said, "Actually, this ability can’t be used in the real world. Due to the pervasive Frenzy, the barriers between minds have become incredibly massive, and my voice struggles to reach others accurately."

"Due to the Frenzy"... I was a bit concerned about this term.

What concerned me was not the Frenzy itself, but that Little Bowl No. 2 seemed very clear about how her abilities would perform in the normal world before Doomsday. Given that she was born in the Doomsday Era, even if she understood that her abilities could not manifest normally, she shouldn’t be so certain about the extent of their effectiveness in a normal world. Yet, she seemed to also possess that knowledge. Did she also learn about this through her super-intuitive, irrational insights?

Or could it be that she actually experienced the peaceful era? Considering the variable flow of time in different areas of the Doomsday Era, Mazao even said that some survivors thought Doomsday had just occurred not long ago, so it’s possible that Little Bowl No. 2 was indeed born and grew up in the peaceful era. Though she may have forgotten it, her experiences weren’t lost.

It could also be because she is a soul-loss patient, and her spirit had traveled from the era I lived in to the Doomsday Era... If so, why couldn’t we find her data in the list of soul-loss patients?

While thinking, I asked, "Did you specifically use telepathy to tell me something?"

If there was something she wanted to communicate to me, she could have just spoken normally. Since she specifically used telepathy, there must be a need for secrecy.

"Yes, Mr. No. 3. In fact, I have been observing and deducing since the beginning, and now, after observing the others, I have finally confirmed it. We indeed have some sort of connection with this Void Realm. And I am able to faintly visualize this link," she said.

"By ’connection,’ are you referring to the factor that affects my activities in the Void Realm?" I asked.

"Yes. Based on your past experiences, the deeper your connection with the Void Realm, the easier it is for you to pass through its mist; if the connection is sufficiently weak, it’s difficult to even have a physical presence here... This is my conjecture," she said. "In my view, among us, you have the weakest connection with the Void Realm. If we were ’ten’, you might not even be half of ’one’.

"Do you remember what happened before the last session in the Void Realm ended?"

"The Master of Divine Seal inflicted an extremely intense pain experience on you all through some means... right?" I recalled.

"The Master of Divine Seal subjected me to a dream of death, and it’s very likely everyone else went through the same. In fact, I don’t think it was merely a dream, he has the power to make realities at will. Perhaps at that moment, we had indeed gone through a real death, it’s just that he immediately turned it into a fleeting dream," she speculated.

It sounded like Yinyue’s power to ’turn illusions into reality’. Yet, Yinyue’s superpower itself has the attributes of an ’omnipotent wish-granting machine’; most human desires she can fulfill with just a thought. Whereas the divine seal is the genuine article of a wishing machine, naturally, the Master of Divine Seal would exhibit characteristics that feel familiar.

From the perspective of the power hierarchy, rather than saying the Master of Divine Seal resembles Yinyue, it’s more like Yinyue resembles the Master of Divine Seal.

"Now the Master of Divine Seal cannot leave the Void Realm or affect the real world, but he can manipulate our life and death at will. If nothing unexpected, the root of the problem should be this ’connection’," Little Bowl No. 2 said, "It’s the noose tied around all of our necks."