Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 504: Spell of Calling Friends 474

Chapter 504: Spell of Calling Friends 474

Judging from the mana fluctuations, the dust humanoid transformation here belongs to Liu Shuying.

At first, he only had a rough humanoid outline, which gradually gained detailed facial features and clothing shape, eventually transforming into Liu Shuying’s own appearance and attire.

It’s rather peculiar—when he was just a vague humanoid silhouette, it actually gave me a strange sense of déjà vu. As if I had seen this "indistinct figure without clear features or attire" somewhere before. If I were to pinpoint a place where I frequently encountered this type recently, it would undoubtedly be in the Void Realm.

Considering the potential connection between Liu Shuying and the Divine Seal, his association with the Void Realm doesn’t seem completely impossible. Reflexively, I mentally compared the figure in front of me with the other six Void Envoys, even with the Master of Divine Seal, yet none of them matched. However, once Liu Shuying fully revealed his form, the strange déjà vu sensation abruptly receded.

Despite fully manifesting, his entire figure was still completely gray, as if he had casually used roadside dust to construct a "duplicate."

He glanced at the Great Success Rank Impermanence lying on the ground and asked, "Have you encountered difficulties here? Is it that you can’t extract information during interrogation?"

I briefly explained what had happened earlier. He responded, "If my main body were here, I could provide technical support, but I’m currently too occupied to assist."

"It’s fine; I already have a plan to resolve the issue," I said. "Are you still pursuing Xu Gou now?"

"So that guy is indeed the infamous Xu Gou? I didn’t expect that while you were pretending to be a Void Envoy, a real Void Envoy would attack from elsewhere..."

Apparently, Liu Shuying wasn’t aware that I wasn’t an impostor Void Envoy. He first expressed his surprise and then answered my question: "Yes. My main body is still chasing him; this here is merely a duplicate. Apologies—earlier when I saw you being trapped in a Different Space by Xu Gou and unable to escape, I decided to intervene. Was my help unnecessary?"

"Also, I noticed that Xu Gou seems to wield the power of Gold and Slaughter... Are you certain he isn’t the White Tiger Inheritor?"

"Absolutely not. If you hadn’t acted, I would’ve been forced to reveal my true power and identity before him," I replied. "I can confirm he isn’t the White Tiger Inheritor. If he were, given the Five Elements relationship where Vermilion Bird suppresses the White Tiger, I wouldn’t have struggled this much in battle."

"Makes sense... Now that you mention it, Xu Gou’s power indeed appears vastly different from the system here at Luo Mountain. It’s even less likely he belongs to the Shan Liangyi’s Four Symbols and Five Elements system..." Liu Shuying pondered. "I’ve heard that outside Luo Mountain’s vast sphere of influence, which spans Asia and parts of Europe, Africa, and Oceania, there exist mysterious lineages comparable to Impermanence in terms of peak power...

"Although their systems are entirely unrelated to Luo Mountain’s, their pinnacle figures go by a different title than Impermanence, with power forms and ideological cores being fundamentally different. However, it’s said that the Human Bureau had absorbed some technical information from those systems and even received funding support from beyond Luo Mountain’s sphere of influence.

"Perhaps Xu Gou’s design by Ying Lingyun also incorporates elements of those external technologies.

"Hmm... Organizations in the abnormal world are generally highly closed off and steeped in rigid feudal mentalities. This might stem from the unique cultures formed during the era when the abnormal world and the mortal world adhered to a policy of non-interference. Consequently, instances of technological fusion are exceedingly rare. Even with Doomsday’s warning signs emerging, there’s still no visible evidence of cooperation. At the end of the day, the prevailing mentality remains ’disbelief in Doomsday’...

"However, in another two or three years, the frozen channels of communication should reopen..."

He seemed deeply interested in that topic, and his thoughts appeared to drift afar.

I was more concerned about the present matters. "More importantly, Liu Shuying, you previously infiltrated Xu Gou’s Different Space and are now pursuing him—could this draw the attention of the Master of Taoyuan Village?"

"...Oh, that? No worries." Liu Shuying returned to his senses. "Previously, I used the lingering high-temperature mana fluctuations you left on this land as cover to infiltrate the Different Space. Precisely because I couldn’t exert much power, the infiltration took longer.

"The internal closure of that Different Space is also exceptionally robust, so the commotion from battles inside won’t translate to the outside world. Although I’m currently chasing Xu Gou in the real world, I’m also limiting my power usage as much as possible.

"You’ve already suppressed your mana fluctuations during the attack on the branch base, correct? I merely adopted the same approach."

During my strike on the branch base, I did suppress my mana fluctuations to avoid detection by Luo Mountain Headquarters’ Impermanence figures—at best, ensuring they wouldn’t sense activities from a thousand miles away unrelated to them. However, since this base belongs to Ming Zhuo’s faction, there’s a chance Ming Zhuo himself could notice it. Whether he acts depends on the importance of this base in Ming Zhuo’s eyes.

Meanwhile, Liu Shuying’s attempts to chase Xu Gou—a target likely relying on the Power of Cutting to randomly teleport—inevitably require a greater suppression of mana fluctuations, along with a significant reduction in his overall power output.

It’s remarkable that he can simultaneously pursue Xu Gou and create this dust duplicate here to converse with me. His true abilities evidently surpass both mine and Xu Gou’s by at least one rank.

However, while he can suppress his power, he has no control over Xu Gou’s bursts of mana fluctuations. Beyond Xu Gou’s potential connection with the Master of Taoyuan Village and whether this will trigger their awareness, Xu Gou’s battle with an unidentified Impermanence alone could already set off alarms for the Master of Taoyuan Village.

Liu Shuying seemed to perceive my concerns and offered an explanation: "Rest assured, I’m merely trying to entangle Xu Gou to keep him occupied. This level of interference shouldn’t be sufficient to alert the Master of Taoyuan Village.

"There’s a high chance Xu Gou will send a signal to the Master of Taoyuan Village or directly teleport to one of their Taoyuan Village branch bases. To prevent such outcomes, I’m currently using my Heavenly Law Manifestation to trap him."

"Wait..." I asked, "You can trap him using your Heavenly Law Manifestation? Trap an Impermanence?"

"My Heavenly Law Manifestation is rather unique."

Liu Shuying only offered that cryptic reply without further elaboration. Instead, he began wrapping up the conversation. "I’ll keep focusing on Xu Gou to buy us more time. You should interrogate this Great Success Rank to try locating the true whereabouts of the Master of Taoyuan Village.

"You’re impersonating a Void Envoy to search for Divine Seal Fragments. In the absence of such fragments, you’re likely to keep the captive alive for interrogation. Thus, even if the Great Success Rank’s seed of the heart hasn’t returned to the Master of Taoyuan Village yet, they wouldn’t suspect anything. You shouldn’t worry about this.

"Once you obtain results—whether good or bad—crush this object to contact me, and I will reply immediately."

With that, he raised his right hand, and all the dust composing his duplicate rapidly gathered into his palm, ultimately forming a dark gray stone.

The duplicate disappeared, and the stone fell downward into my palm.

I couldn’t help but wonder about his unique Heavenly Law Manifestation. The most peculiar one I know of so far belongs to Gua Tianshi, capable of influencing the destinies of all mortal life. Yet even such divine wonders proved ineffective against other Impermanence figures. Liu Shuying speaks like he’s willing to share everything, but secrets emerge one after another.

Still, I have no right to complain about others harboring secrets—finishing the current task takes precedence. Liu Shuying likely won’t buy much time, so efficiency will be crucial.

My solution, on the other hand, is quite straightforward. Since I can’t suppress the Great Success Rank Impermanence’s seed of the heart while hacking into their spirit simultaneously, I simply need to find an ally adept at spirit intrusion.

The first person I thought of was Mazao, but this operation requires strict concealment from Liu Shuying, so I had to pass on that idea. Though tracking the true location of the Master of Taoyuan Village is important, Mazao’s safety outweighs it by tenfold in my heart.

The next person that came to mind was Changan, who possesses the power of Silver Moon Illusion Technique.

I glanced toward Luo Mountain Headquarters, a thousand miles away. Through the firefly stationed with Changan, I saw his surroundings clearly.

Changan was obediently sitting in a room, listening to Mr. Zhu lecture. Upon closer listening, Mr. Zhu was teaching Changan foundational knowledge related to demon hunters.

Changan is slated to join Luo Mountain Academy, which has distinct class levels—ranging from elite classes formed by students already possessing demon hunter powers and foundational knowledge, to regular classes for those originally ordinary individuals.

It seemed Mr. Zhu hoped Changan could join the elite class, which was easily achievable given Changan’s current achieved-level strength. However, the foundational knowledge remained indispensable. Recently, Mr. Zhu had been tutoring Changan relentlessly, delegating other teachers to fill in when unavailable.

Though Changan is my good friend, seeing him forced to endure daily tutoring while I live leisurely outside, freely doing as I please, brought me an unexpected sense of schadenfreude.

"Mr. Zhu, apologies for interrupting—I’d like to borrow Changan," I said.

Upon hearing the unexpected voice from an unknown source, Mr. Zhu was momentarily startled. He then nodded and said, "Alright, you may borrow him."

Before Changan could react, I reached out my right hand, traversing the vast distance to grab his collar and drag him to my location.

"Gah?" Changan made a silly sound.

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