Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 456 - 426 Manipulate Light

Chapter 456: 426 Manipulate Light

The subsequent plans were quickly finalized. Xiaoqiao would follow the mysterious man’s arrangements to head to the abandoned construction site, and I would accompany her.

And since I would be there, Zhu Shi’s combat abilities wouldn’t be necessary. However, how Zhu Shi would actually be arranged still needs to be decided privately later.

I have deeper thoughts about this possibly mysterious event involving these strange individuals. Rather than capturing the enemies at once, I want to explore the depths of the incident. Therefore, if possible, I hope to gather as much information as possible from the enemies before any direct confrontation.

Although taking the enemy’s body to Mazao for historical retrospection isn’t impossible, it is ultimately a secondary method. Rather than saying it’s a proper method of intelligence collection, it’s more like a backup plan for when regular intelligence methods can’t work.

It seems that Xiaoqiao has also relaxed a lot, but she seems to still worry about whether there is a power gap between us and the enemy. I didn’t bother to explain to someone who knows nothing about the abnormal world what Impermanence is, what demon hunters are, or what strange individuals are. Verbal explanation lacks a basic frame of reference for her. Even if I told her my power is strong enough to knock down a mountain in one strike, without demonstrating it in front of her, it’d just seem like I’m boasting.

Even if she reluctantly believes it, she might wonder, "What if the opponent has strange ’rule’ abilities like those in comics?" To be honest, when I first entered the abnormal world, I often had such thoughts. Many things can’t feel real unless seen with one’s own eyes.

Moreover, even now, I don’t think such thoughts are entirely unreasonable.

"To make the other party drop their guard, I’ll follow and be invisible beside you when the time comes."

While saying this, I dispelled the fireball I held.

Like dispersed attention, released with the disappearance of the fireball, Xiaoqiao seemed to realize just then that the earlier fireball was publicly conjured, hurriedly looking around, seemingly concerned if the scene was noticed by others.

Luckily, it was not during meal time in the cafeteria; only a few people were around, and none looked over when I conjured the fireball—which calling it "by chance" is a bit pretentious, as the reason nobody looked over was probably largely due to my intent to stay unnoticed.

Xiaoqiao breathed a sigh of relief, then focused on what I had just said.

"Invisible?" she asked in surprise, "Is the senior’s power not limited to just flames?"

"That’s right. Like this."

I didn’t correct her, instead, I stood up and manipulated the light.

Control over light is part of my ability, which I once used against Chen Long. Because light is an edge element in my domain of abilities, and combined with its ephemeral nature, controlling it used to be difficult for me. If it’s light created by my ability, that’s one thing, but natural light is tough to wield.

After achieving Impermanence, I can interfere with causality and fate, so the difficulty of controlling light logically decreased.

I grabbed at the light and pulled it around me. As if tugging at a mirror-like fabric or shifting the space itself. The scene wrapped around me, and I seemed to have stepped back from the stage to behind the curtain.

Similar to optical camouflage in sci-fi works, altering light to achieve the visual effect of being undetectable. With the naked eye, my body vanished, even I couldn’t see myself.

Xiaoqiao widened her eyes, looking at where I "disappeared," then couldn’t resist reaching out to touch. Of course, I hadn’t truly vanished, so she naturally touched my stomach.

I manipulated the light again, covering her with the scene. Just like me, she disappeared, uttering a somewhat unsteady sound.

Zhu Shi watched our transformation calmly.

I withdrew my power, light returned to normal, and we both reappeared.

"If a danger arises that even I can’t handle, I’ll make us invisible to escape together. Now you can feel at ease, right?" I asked.

Xiaoqiao nodded excitedly.

It’s just optical camouflage, a very basic invisibility ability. Strange individuals have keen hearing and smell and can sense souls to some extent. However, Xiaoqiao lacks that knowledge, and experiencing something is different from not experiencing it. Entering an invisible state seemed to give Xiaoqiao newfound confidence.

We agreed to meet tomorrow, and then Xiaoqiao said goodbye. Just in case, I also gave her a "firefly" to prevent the mysterious man from appearing a day early and causing harm.

Zhu Shi didn’t pick up the black guitar case to leave as well. Maybe due to their relationship as an engaged couple, Xiaoqiao wasn’t puzzled by Zhu Shi staying, instead gave a mysterious smile, made a cheering gesture, then left with light steps.

"Why are you still carrying that guitar case?" I was curious, "Isn’t it a tool for hiding the Yama Sword? Now you can summon the Yama Sword anytime, so you don’t need this cover anymore, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi placed the black guitar case on her lap and opened it, revealing an actual white guitar inside.

"I carry a guitar case not just to cosplay a band girl; I really can play the guitar," she boasted, "After all, carrying around a guitar case all day invites questions, so I occasionally need to pull out a real guitar from it to prove I’m not faking it.

"I was even invited by Xiaoqiao during high school to join her band as a guitarist. But ever since starting university, the demon hunter work increased, and now I mostly have to decline Xiaoqiao’s invites to play guitar." She spoke with some regret by the end.

It turns out she was really a band girl in high school?

But right now, I’m more concerned with something else.

"Why don’t you help Xiaoqiao yourself?" I asked, "With your Great Success Rank power now, even though I don’t know what level of strange individual is troubling Xiaoqiao, besides Chen Long, I don’t know of any higher-ranking individuals. Even if there are, they wouldn’t show up in such remote places. It would be easy for you to eliminate them, wouldn’t it?"

"Well, there are two reasons," Zhu Shi said. "The first reason is luck. Xiaoqiao mentioned it to me first, just vaguely starting to talk about it, but before explaining the details to me, you happened to come by.

"The second reason is also related to luck. When she told me she wanted to consult you, I had a premonition, and when you coincidentally appeared, that premonition turned into certainty.

"You hadn’t shown up at the university for so long, and when you do, it’s such a coincidence to get involved in this event, without giving me a chance to act first... I wonder if the event itself is trying to draw you in?"

I asked, "Are you saying this is another event drawn by Mazao’s power?"

Zhu Shi nodded.

She seems to have developed an understanding of the illogical flow of Mazao’s Broom Star Physique, first thinking of it when encountered with such things.

I had similar thoughts, which is why I’m taking this incident more seriously, trying to dig more carefully for information. I don’t believe Mazao’s Broom Star Physique would only lead me to a "trivial incident." Most likely, it looks minor but hides great danger, or maybe little danger but is part of something bigger, a dangerous tendril.

Zhu Shi apologized, "Sorry, this is a danger encountered by my friend. Originally, I should have dealt with the situation first..."

"Do you mean to say I’m drawn into this now? Don’t think that way. Since it’s an incident brought on by the Broom Star Physique, there’s no avoiding it, so better to face it positively," I said, "Besides, you should know my nature by now, right? I was feeling a bit too idle recently, so these matters are better resolved by me. Don’t say you ended it first; it’s better if they’re all brought to me.

"Also, when do you plan to tell your friends the truth about yourself?"

Zhu Shi seemed hesitant about revealing her true self to her friends. Honestly, I don’t understand why one would hesitate to open up to friends about being a powerful, skilled, mysterious demon hunter.

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