Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 292 - 272 Moon Concealing Mountain City Date

Chapter 292: 272 Moon Concealing Mountain City Date

Drawing an equal sign between the Doomsday Era and the afterlife world can answer many questions, and it seems to also explain why Ming Zhuo was shocked upon invading the Doomsday Dream and seeing clearly the scene he was in.

However, this explanation also has parts that don’t make sense. The most obvious one is why both Mazao and Little Bowl, as well as others, regard the afterlife world as the real world after Doomsday, and why does the afterlife world have "rumored products with future elements" such as the "Catastrophe Demon believed to have fallen from Xuanming"?

Even though Mazao, Little Bowl, and other survivors struggling in the Doomsday Era have all lost their memories of the past, without enough clues in their environment suggesting "this is the Doomsday Era," they could not unanimously determine that they were in the Doomsday Era. In the culture and religion of any region, there is no record of the afterlife being depicted as "the real world after the destruction of human civilization."

Moreover, logically speaking, since Ming Zhuo firmly believes Mazao is connected to Naraku, even after invading Mazao’s dream and witnessing the afterlife scenario, he should not have been as shocked as he was. At that time, he was shaken as if he had seen a scene "he had never imagined before."

Now, it seems like there are two sets of clues coexisting: one set of clues points to Mazao’s past being in the future Doomsday Era, while another set points to Mazao’s past being in the afterlife Naraku, and these two sets of clues are in conflict with each other.

Combining this with Gua Tianshi’s past prophecy that "hell will spill into the Living World in the future," I even suspect that the truth might be that Mazao indeed comes from the future, and the real world of the future has been transformed into the afterlife due to the outpouring of hell. In this way, the aforementioned two sets of clues seem able to coexist, and the past Mazao becomes "both in the Doomsday Era and in the afterlife."

"How is it, is the information I provided helpful to you?" Lu Chan suddenly asked.

"It’s enormously helpful, thank you," I said.

"There’s no need to thank me. I have betrayed you in the past. Even telling you this information now cannot make amends for my wrongs. I don’t expect that such a show of good intentions will change your opinion of me; I only want to feel a bit better myself," he said, "So, the fact that you’re willing to communicate with me and accept my insignificant apologies already comes as a great surprise to me. It is I who should be thanking you."

For me, the former Lu Youxun is already dead, and the current Lu Chan is just a familiar stranger, so I won’t hold Lu Youxun’s responsibilities against him. But since he said as much, I didn’t hold back: "Then, if you come across any more information later on, remember to pass it all on to me."

He replied without hesitation: "I understand."

"By the way, is all the information you mentioned earlier non-public? I don’t seem to have come across any of that in the Impermanence information I’ve collected before," I asked.

"Some of it is public, for example, the Undying Body that Ming Zhuo possesses is indeed known, but you could easily miss it in your information gathering. I thought this might happen, so I wanted to specifically tell you," he said, "Ming Zhuo is conservative and cautious in nature, not wishing too many to know his information. As an Impermanence, his thoughts subtly influence people’s hearts.

"Many pieces of information, even though not classified, turn out to be more difficult to obtain than actual confidential information, because investigators unconsciously forget to check those specific parts.

"King Zhuanlun is a classic example, the one among all Impermanences who hides the deepest. Logically, an Impermanence needs to actively form connections in the abnormal world to anchor itself and, being equivalent to a moving catastrophe, it shouldn’t be possible for it to hide to such an extent. Yet, now, many demon hunters doubt whether King Zhuanlun actually exists. If he doesn’t intend to ’retire,’ it means his personality is extremely dark and secretive."

King Zhuanlun... although I can now be certain he is not my enemy, the name still inexplicably catches my attention.

Perhaps because of exchanging too much information while his soul was still not completely stabilized, Lu Chan appeared a bit tired. I also felt it was about time to end the conversation, and said my goodbyes ahead of time. At the end, Lu Chan once again cautioned me in a warning tone.

"Even though I think you’re unlikely to listen to me, I truly advise you not to confront Ming Zhuo head-on. Especially don’t be deluded into thinking that because Ming Zhuo is currently injured, you have a chance to defeat him," he said earnestly, "An Impermanence, even gravely injured, remains an Impermanence, and is not on the same level as those of the Great Success Rank or qualified as an Impermanence.

"Moreover, Ming Zhuo, as an Impermanence with an unsolvable Undying Body, has one feature that sets him apart from other Impermanences: even if his soul is wounded, he can still exert a hundred percent of his combat ability.

"Do not think you can take advantage of someone’s plight—as he is now, he’s not in as much jeopardy as you imagine."

After the exchange ended, I silently digested the information I had just heard in my mind.