Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 430 - 401 Changan Awakens

Chapter 430: 401 Changan Awakens

Regarding my question this time, Gua Tianshi did not offer any explicit response; however, his ambiguous attitude seemed to convey some genuine thoughts.

It seems I’m not the only one questioning the history of the world we’re in, and it’s not just Gua Tianshi either; other Impermanence and many sharp individuals might have similar feelings.

However, in the abnormal world, there are indeed too many forces and phenomena that can alter history. From the distant Shan Liangyi, known for Reincarnation into the past and future, to the nearer Yinyue, who also possesses the power to change history and once demonstrated it to me at Moon Concealing Mountain. The history of our world could never be pure, and it must have suffered from countless manipulations.

Perhaps those who previously made wishes to the divine seal also interfered with history. The fragmented feeling we have about our history might stem from this. However, lacking clues to continue speculating about the motives behind this, I had to change my direction temporarily.

I left Gua Tianshi’s residence and continued pondering over issues related to King Zhuanlun on the way.

I wished to understand if King Zhuanlun was truly a friend or foe to me. Although it was likely he was the one who bestowed a significant amount of White Tiger Killing Power to Ying Lingyun, even if this was proven, it wouldn’t really mean anything. It was merely support for Ying Lingyun, and Fa Zheng was even a sponsor of the Human Bureau.

At least upon the stance against Shan Liangyi, King Zhuanlun and I should be aligned. However, the enemy of my enemy might not necessarily be a friend. If King Zhuanlun harbors the same thought as Water Master Xuanwu, seeking to first capture the Power Seeds from the other Liangyi inheritors to strengthen his own power, I might have to determine a victory with him first.

The same goes for the Taoyuan Village Master. Even though we had brief hostile interactions before, there should be a lack of sufficient antagonistic motives between us. If he is indeed the Green Dragon Inheritor, then it’s not impossible to turn enemies into allies regarding the matter of Shan Liangyi.

However, he seems to have quite in-depth research on Shan Liangyi’s Power Seeds, and he might develop the same approaches as Water Master Xuanwu. Besides, I can’t forget the recent incident of being overpowered by his force. Rather than forming alliances, I actually prefer to challenge him as a later adversary and consider cooperation afterwards.

The Liangyi inheritors from Water Master Xuanwu’s generation managed to unite concerning the Shan Liangyi issue, a point at which our generation is likely to fall short.

Speaking of Water Master Xuanwu, there is indeed something important that hasn’t been addressed.

Water Master Xuanwu might still be alive.

To be precise, he might have been resurrected.

When I learned of this news, I doubted my own eyes. I found this in the materials confiscated from the Human Bureau’s central base by others.

The extensive materials at the Human Bureau’s central base were gathered by the forces under Ming Zhuo’s command. There was an agreement between Ming Zhuo and Divine Light that they would completely share these materials. Since one of my ongoing objectives is to delve into apocalyptic clues with the Human Bureau as a target, I greatly desired these materials.

If I directly requested them from Ming Zhuo, he’d likely reject me without hesitation, or even if I got them, they’d probably be scraps. So I asked Divine Light and things went very smoothly. From Divine Light’s perspective, he merely wanted the research materials on the Divine Seal Fragment for Ying Lingyun to use against the Master of Divine Seal; seeing me as an adversary of the Master of Divine Seal, he was more than willing to share the Divine Seal Fragment’s technology with me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand that part of the materials at all. Ying Lingyun was analyzing the Divine Seal Fragment with the most advanced scientific technologies, and I lacked expertise in this area. Surprisingly, Divine Light could actually comprehend it.

Since he even shared the highest value parts, he naturally didn’t withhold the other parts either. It was within the latter that I found records related to Water Master Xuanwu.

To put it simply, to revive the true Yinyue, Ying Lingyun made rather comprehensive preparations before his death, including testing his own resurrection techniques. Just as medicines can’t be released onto the market without extensive animal and even human trials, before applying the resurrection techniques to revive Yinyue, it appears that Ying Lingyun first used Water Master Xuanwu for a test.

The difficulty of reviving Water Master Xuanwu was by no means lower than reviving Yinyue; both were at the Great Success Rank, requiring a living sacrifice equivalent to their counterparts and, at least, an immense amount of energy ten times that of Impermanence.

Regardless of how the former could be achieved, regarding the latter, according to the records, Ying Lingyun didn’t intend to expend such enormous resources, so this resurrection was likely never aimed at succeeding—just to collect some test data.

As a result, somehow, Water Master Xuanwu seemed to have been successfully revived during the ritual—whether the revived entity was truly his former self, or a reborn individual with pre-mortem memories, remains unknown.

After his revival, he was placed in a state of severe weakness at another Human Bureau base for recuperation. Since all Human Bureau bases have been destroyed, he seems to have somehow survived the cataclysm and went missing afterwards.

I am extremely interested in this possibly genuine or false Water Master Xuanwu.

Not only because I deeply admire Water Master Xuanwu’s trustworthy nature, but also because, whether this "Water Master Xuanwu" is genuine or not, at least from the materials, it’s clear he’s inherited the memories Water Master Xuanwu had before his death.

In the realm concerning Shan Liangyi and the Liangyi inheritors, he evidently possesses a vast amount of knowledge and information, some of which I may very well need in the future when confronting Shan Liangyi.

Furthermore, regarding why the living Water Master Xuanwu collaborated with Ying Lingyun and what exactly the favor he owed Ying Lingyun was—these are mysteries unsolved even up to his death. I also have the intention to find this "Water Master Xuanwu" to get to the bottom of things.

While pondering deeply, I returned to my residence at the Luoshan Headquarters, then habitually walked to the room where Changan was sleeping.

A week has passed already. Judging from Mazao’s recovery report, Changan should be waking up soon. Zhu Shi seemed to have calculated the timing and said she planned to stay by his side today waiting for her brother to wake up, to avoid Changan feeling neglected by his family.

Changan, outwardly, never reveals to others around him that he feels his sister resents him in her heart, as he mentioned to me in a dream. I told Zhu Shi about this afterwards. Perhaps Zhu Shi intends to show her affection through actions. I also hope Changan can open his heart and feel the close proximity of familial warmth.

Thinking of these things, I pushed open the door of the room casually and saw a shocking scene.

Changan had vanished from the bed, replaced by a girl with long white hair and golden beast eyes, whose beauty seemed otherworldly. She wore a blue cotton pajama, her hands on her hips, standing barefoot and spirited on the bed.

And Zhu Shi stood not far away, staring in shock at the white-haired, golden-eyed girl on the bed, nervously brandishing the Yama Sword in her hand; Mazao sat on a nearby chair, watching all this without a ripple.

Who else could it be there if not Yinyue?

Has Changan been replaced by Yinyue again?

The white-haired, golden-eyed girl quickly turned her head to look at me upon hearing the door open, her face going rigid.

On reflex, I began summoning fire, when suddenly "Yinyue" let out a strange cry, hurriedly raising both arms above her head in the shape of a large cross, then shouted loudly: "It’s me, it’s me... it’s me, Ah Cheng!"

As she spoke, a bizarre white mist exploded around her body, then instantly dispersed, revealing the figure inside.

The image of Yinyue vanished, replaced by Changan in a blue cotton pajama.

Actually, seeing that "Yinyue" and the calm Mazao sitting beside her, I realized immediately the situation wasn’t unfolding as I feared most. It’s just that I’ve burned Yinyue often enough that seeing Yinyue’s face instinctively made me want to unleash a fire.

"So... what’s going on?"

I lowered my hand, carefully observing Changan, and analyzed the residual mana fluctuations in the air in-depth.

There was no feeling of Yinyue; now standing there was undoubtedly the Changan I knew.

I finally let my heart settle down.

"I just woke up... When my sister saw me, she bombarded me with questions about my brain, my body’s condition, and whether I could stand up on my own to try..."

Changan sat back onto the bed honestly and explained: "As she questioned, she started asking whether the demon power within my body had become chaotic, and whether I could control it... I got curious and stood up to try..."

"So, you were just testing your powers," I said. "What you have should be the power of Illusion Technique, allowing you to change into the appearance of others."

"Yeah, yeah." Changan nodded vigorously.

"Why transform into that specific appearance?" I asked.

Changan chuckled awkwardly: "I was just trying to give my little sister a surprise..."

"What surprise? It was shocking without the surprise!" Zhu Shi exclaimed with a loud retort.

I’m now more concerned about another matter. Previously, as a precaution, I had Changan’s image of Yinyue captured in Mind-Written Photos for Zhu Shi, so she’d recognize Yinyue’s appearance, and her reaction just now was likely a reflex.

Then how did Changan know Yinyue’s appearance?

"Changan... do you have Yinyue’s memories?" I asked.