Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 49 - 46th Heavenly Time’s Dream

Chapter 49: 46th Heavenly Time’s Dream

I am Zhuang Cheng.

More than four years had passed since I awakened my superpower, and I reevaluated my current level of ability.

To assess my own level, it was necessary to have clear standards. The concept of "superpower" is extensive, so if someone’s superpower is the "Mind Reading Technique," it is not appropriate to judge their level based on "how sturdy a material they can destroy." However, my superpower excels at destruction and combat, so here I used my ability to contend with powerful enemies as hypothetical judgment material.

Assuming—a fully armed and well-trained army from the cold weapon era appeared in front of me, determined to fight me to the death. Whether this army had a scale of a hundred thousand or a million, in the end, the victory would only be mine. Even if all the world’s armies were gathered together, I could not imagine a reason for my defeat. This was the nature of my superpower; straightforward physical attacks had no chance of harming me.

What if it were a modern army dominated by firearms? I still didn’t believe I would be defeated. Bullets, artillery shells, missiles, chemical weapons, and biological weapons—all of those were ineffective against me. Even nuclear bombs couldn’t kill me.

However, I had never actually been hit by a nuclear bomb, so to adhere to this conclusion was somewhat groundless. It might be like some science fiction stories suggest, that the human soul is electromagnetic in nature, and the explosion of a nuclear bomb could disrupt the electromagnetic field, thus also destroying the soul.

Moreover, the wisdom of scientists should not be underestimated. In monster movies, there occasionally appears a plot where a seemingly flawless ultimate lifeform is discovered by human scientists to have a fatal weakness. Sometimes I couldn’t help but put myself in the monster’s shoes, thinking that if I truly believed my superpower was unbeatable, I might unexpectedly meet my Waterloo in unforeseen circumstances.

As for how it would be to have enemies who are other supernatural power users, that was truly difficult to judge. As mentioned before, there are simply too many types of superpowers. What if an enemy could directly attack my soul? How would I defend against it?

I am not a violence-crazed individual who constantly thinks about battling, but in an "adventure beyond reality," conflicts with others, even among my own kind, must be anticipated, and many fantasy stories have similar plots.

I think that if there really were a supernatural power user skilled in the Mind Reading Technique, frequently reading my thoughts might lead them to wonder why I always mention "fantasy stories."

Or rather, how exactly do I define an "adventure beyond reality"?

I often make a clear distinction in my mind between "pursuing supernatural things" and "pursuing adventures beyond reality" because in my heart, "beyond reality" does not necessarily require the "supernatural."

Everyone’s reality is different. Ancients thousands of years ago would consider modern airplanes surreal; fools ignorant of science would think quantum mechanics phenomena are surreal, and people living in peaceful countries might feel that the chaos in war-torn countries is different from the reality they experience. The "adventure beyond reality" that I consider is one that transcends my experiences and life, unpredictable and incredible adventures.

So, not long ago, when Mazao appeared before me covered in blood with a real gun, even though she had not shown any supernatural signs then, I couldn’t help but take her back home.

Yes, adventures beyond reality don’t necessarily exist only in fantasy stories; they most certainly exist in the real world too. War correspondents venturing into dangerous areas for stories, explorers zipping through mountains and jungles, mercenaries living on the edge of life and death, or even criminals destabilizing societal peace—all these people, without any superpowers or strange phenomena, are experiencing absurd adventures in the real world.

Even in the fields of politics and business, there are legends generation after generation; just because the reality I face is dull and monotonous, doesn’t mean the reality faced by everyone in this world is the same.

I actually figured this out when I was fourteen, however...

I had a dream.

It was a dream I had shortly before awakening my superpower. Among all the dreams I ever had, this dream was not unusual. In it, I found myself standing in a long corridor, surrounded by gray concrete on all sides.

It looked like the corridor of an abandoned building, without even light bulbs, yet I bizarrely could see my surroundings like a character in a horror game, but only nearby; farther away was as dark as the mouth of an abyss.

A vague premonition emerged in my mind, prompting me to walk forward. Before long, I found a metal door beside the corridor. Opening it, within was an empty room. In the center of the room was a wooden table and chair set. In the chair facing the door sat a person.

Perhaps because this was a dream, I couldn’t describe the person’s appearance and attire in detail; I only knew it was a man. Upon seeing him, my premonition intensified. This strange person could fulfill my wishes.

"Do you want power?"

The strange person asked me.

"Power?"

I asked in return.

"Yes, power."

"The power of dreams, the fantastical power that matches the adventure beyond reality that you envision in your mind."

The strange person tempted me like the Devil.

I hoped I could firmly refuse him. Because I had already realized that the adventure beyond reality didn’t need to be pursued in dreams.

The real world had its own excitement; all I needed was to abandon the fantasy, recognize reality, and strive towards that place.

However, back then, I definitely wasn’t strong enough...

Four years later, I had the dream again, finding myself on that dark, dilapidated corridor.

I could recognize it as a dream I had had before and could even vividly recall all the details from the last conversation with the strange person. This time, without the guidance of any strange premonition, I walked down the corridor relying solely on my memory, quickly finding the old iron door and opening it.

Inside the room, there was only the wooden table and chairs from that year, but the strange person was no longer there.

I entered the room and casually closed the iron door behind me before sitting on the wooden chair, idly observing my surroundings.

Shortly after, footsteps echoed from outside the door, growing louder as they approached.

Someone opened the door and walked in.

It was a boy about fourteen years old, with a face both familiar and unfamiliar to me, his eyes wary and his body tense, exuding a temperament that rejected others.

It was me, another me, the me who had not yet grown up.

His gaze focused on me, silently urging me to quickly state my name.

I didn’t introduce myself, but recalled my past conversation with the strange person, and then posed a question.

"Do you desire power?"

"Power?" he asked back.

"Yes, power..." I deliberately used a seductive tone, "The power you dream of, the power of fantasies, the power that matches the adventures beyond reality you envision..."

Hearing this, he fell silent, seemingly caught in an internal struggle.

I stopped speaking and silently awaited his response, hoping he would give a different answer from last time.

However, this time, I didn’t receive his answer.

For some reason, a gray fog began to appear in the enclosed room.

The fog quickly grew thicker until it was difficult to see anything, no longer revealing the boy with the familiar yet unfamiliar face, or even my own body.

My vision gradually darkened amid the thick layers of fog.

Until I opened my eyes and awoke from the dream.

-

A day had passed since the real death of the Fallen Demon Hunter—Agent Kong.

During the later part of our fight with Agent Kong, although I didn’t understand why he suddenly screamed out "Impossible, I don’t accept it" in despair, he ultimately used a particularly clever move, prompting me, in a moment of excitement, to unleash a powerful counterattack.

Calling it a "move," in fact, I don’t really have any particular finesse in using power; it was simply a matter of concentrating a lot of flames and blasting them out. The result was that I accidentally split a derelict building into two halves, and the shockwave even shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

Such a huge commotion naturally attracted Zhu Shi, who was still dealing with a room on the fifteenth floor at a distance.

I had no choice but to inform her of Agent Kong’s death and gathered most of his shattered remains from the explosion. Thankfully, the residual warmth of my flames still clung to them, making them somewhat easier to find. Actually, it wasn’t my attack that caused this; I had deliberately held back, but who could have expected him to explode in mid-air after being blown away, making the whole incident utterly baffling from start to finish.

Self-destruction aside, his corpse even reverted back to its human form, making it look as though I, out of control, had murdered the innocent Agent Kong. At first, I didn’t know how to explain it to Zhu Shi and could only tell her the truth upfront.

Fortunately, Zhu Shi didn’t suspect me; she carefully examined the fragments of Agent Kong’s corpse, and that focused gaze reminded me of the last time she determined my superpower didn’t originate from devil or ghostly bloodlines. After a while, she seemed to reach a conclusion, acknowledging that Agent Kong indeed was a Fallen Demon Hunter. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

However, regarding the other parts I mentioned, she exhibited an attitude of incomprehensible shock.

"So you’re saying... you personally split this building in two. You can even turn your body into flames, and it wouldn’t matter if your head fell off. Even if Agent Kong attacked you from behind, you wouldn’t have any issues..."

"That’s right." I nodded, "Can I join Luo Mountain now?"

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