Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 51 - 48 Outer Path Impermanence 2

Chapter 51: 48 Outer Path Impermanence 2

Impermanence could single-handedly destroy an entire nation—

Forgive my incredulity upon hearing this statement; it came from Zhu Shi’s mouth, as outrageous as a government official openly admitting that "the five permanent members of the United Nations are actually puppets controlled by the Rothschild family," reminiscent of some street stall literary nonsense.

Then I came to my senses.

"When you say ’entire nation,’ do you mean a small country in Africa? Or an ancient nation before the development of industrial civilization?"

"It’s the nation we’re currently in," Zhu Shi pointed at the ground.

"Are you serious?" I questioned.

"I am serious," she said, then thought for a moment and added, "I haven’t actually seen Impermanence seriously fight, but at least from what I’ve learned, Impermanence is capable of such things.

"History’s Impermanence could summon tsunamis and floods, cause earthquakes and droughts, along with other natural disasters like typhoons. If they get serious, the scale of the disasters is colossal enough to be recorded in history books.

"Even concentrated nuclear bombings can’t kill Impermanence, because they either possess defenses that transcend worldly logic or have an Undying nature that allows them to rise again even if their body and soul are completely destroyed.

"In the myths and legends that have been passed down to this day, some of the prototypes of gods are actually Impermanence who once brought disaster to the land or brought benefits to a region."

Tsunamis and earthquakes, floods and droughts...

I didn’t know whether Zhu Shi was telling the truth. Although I was sure she wouldn’t deceive me, were those records credible? My knowledge of natural disasters was scarce, but at least I knew some common sense. For instance, major earthquakes that leave their marks in history have energy scales equivalent to at least hundreds or thousands of Hiroshima atomic bombs as a starting point.

The same went for tsunamis and typhoons. Nuclear weapons were indeed hailed as the ultimate weapons of modern civilization and a keystone for major powers to maintain peace through mutual restraint, but when it came to the total energy compared with mega-scale natural disasters, they were far from sufficient.

It made sense that Impermanence who could manipulate such large-scale natural disasters would not fear nuclear weapons.

However, this was very perplexing. Why were Impermanence, capable of such feats, still nominally subservient to state guidance?

Or to put it more bluntly—since these people already had such formidable might, why establish something like Luo Mountain? Why didn’t they set up the Heavenly Court instead?

Why would they quietly handle bizarre occurrences in a world beneath the water’s surface, instead of stepping onto the stage to rule the world?

After all, if our nation harbored individuals who could literally shake heaven and earth, why would history still be marked with twists that are hard to stomach?

I hurled all my questions at Zhu Shi.

And she displayed a helpless expression: "I can’t answer you."

"Is this also a secret of Luo Mountain?" I asked.

"No, it’s not like that... It’s not a secret, in fact, it’s common knowledge here," she seemed to be choosing her words carefully, "I’m not answering you, not because I don’t want to, but because including myself, all the demon hunters I know do not have the answer."

My confusion deepened: "You mean to say Luo Mountain doesn’t even know why it does what it does?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Why we don’t reveal the existence of demon hunters and the bizarre to civil society, and why we don’t become the rulers of this nation... We don’t know the fundamental reason behind our inaction."

"So, if you stand not from the perspective of the organization, but from your personal standpoint, why do you think you choose to act as you do now?" I pressed.

"Because everyone around me does so, I simply follow suit," she answered directly, "After all, I have no desire to command others, nor do I seek fame and glory; protecting the innocent is all that matters to me."

"This..." I felt as if I was enveloped in doubt, "At least the core leadership of Luo Mountain knows why they act this way, right? They—meaning Impermanence—have concealed their true intentions from all of you and forcefully demanded that you do so. Over time, you’ve become accustomed to it... Is that it?"

This time, her words plunged me even deeper into the fog: "It’s not like that, even Impermanence doesn’t know the truth."

I countered, "How can you be certain whether Impermanence knows the truth or not?"

"Because in the past three years, Impermanence has been in conflict over this very issue," she said, "Do you remember what I told you the other night? Luo Mountain is now in turmoil and conflict, everyone is gradually realizing that what they do isn’t so self-evident, that they could reveal their true selves to society, could become this nation’s rulers, or even attempt to do more."

"It sounds like all demon hunters throughout history were under some inexplicable hypnotism, and now, for some unknown reason, the spell has finally been broken," I remarked, half in jest.

She neither confirmed nor denied it, saying, "The ’hypnosis hypothesis’ is also popular in Luo Mountain, but it’s hard to imagine that even all the Impermanences from history and present could be hypnotized."

I had just been making a casual remark, with no thought that she would actually fail to firmly deny it.

So that was it, no wonder the last time I asked her why Luo Mountain wanted to hide the truth about strange beings from society, she spoke vaguely. It’s because she truly didn’t know how to explain.

"Hang on, you just said that this chaos has been happening over the past three years..." I pondered her words carefully, "Why has this chaos lasted for three years without ending? Can’t the Impermanences easily conquer this country?"

Not just this country—if there are no supernatural organizations of equivalent scale in foreign countries, then the Impermanences, capable of manipulating large-scale natural disasters, could take over the world if they wanted.

Perhaps it was because I had touched upon a very crucial point that Zhu Shi’s gaze suddenly became very serious.

"Before answering that question, Zhuang Cheng," she began, "I would like to ask you—"

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but focus and take her question seriously.

She intentionally waited for me to be mentally prepared before tossing out her own question:

"What do you think of the world as it is now?

"How do you view supernatural power users like yourself and ordinary people without superpowers?

"Do you believe that supernatural power users are a group that is superior to ordinary people? Do you feel that you should become a ruler of the world, making those without power submit to you, treating you as a God?"

Hearing these words, I instantly understood the kind of chaos currently taking place inside Luo Mountain.

And what she was throwing out now was probably a matter of stance.

Inside Luo Mountain, there were likely at least two voices of unceasing contention at the moment: one voice, as previously mentioned, believed that demon hunters should be exalted, becoming gods of the mortal world, ruling over all living beings; while the other voice believed that demon hunters should rejoin the existing social system in some relatively peaceful way.

Given Zhu Shi’s personality, her thinking was very likely the latter. And since I had to join Luo Mountain through her, I should say something that aligned with her preferences. In other words, it was a matter of political stance, something to be taken seriously.

I opened my mouth to tell a lie, but suddenly felt unbearably sick of these politically-charged questions and just let out the blunt truth.

"Yes, I do think that supernatural power users are superior to ordinary people," I said, straightforward.

This was not something I made up on the spot.

Ever since awakening my superpower and gradually becoming stronger, I had repeatedly contemplated how to approach my relationship with society if my superpower never left me. Specifically, whether I could consider myself superior to ordinary people.

The answer was affirmative. I was a supernatural power user, and I had violence far beyond ordinary people. I was indeed superior.

In the past, when others around me criticized me, sometimes they would say unpleasant things. The reason I didn’t use my superpower to trouble them, apart from genuinely not feeling the mood for it, might also be because I could kill them at any time if I wanted. Precisely because I held the high ground in terms of power, I could afford to be exceptionally tolerant towards them.

For a while, I even wanted to imitate the mighty figures in fantasy novels, who decide the fate of others and adopted an aloof stance and a detached tone of speech.

Only, I often forgot that I had set such a role for myself; if someone near me told a joke or did something funny, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Over time, I just thought, "Forget it." Even though I truly had the power to lord over others, I didn’t particularly aspire to that kind of life.

On the other hand, while reaching the conclusion that "supernatural power users are superior," I also couldn’t avoid feeling some doubts.

Indeed, if another supernatural power user appeared in front of me and merely by his power proclaimed his superiority over ordinary people, I would acknowledge him, too. Violence is important. The history of humanity is a history of the contest of violence. Since time immemorial, those with the most potent violence have claimed legitimacy. The criticism of weapons is never as powerful as the weapons of criticism.

However, truth be told, I always felt that approach was a bit tasteless.

Or to use a popular phrase nowadays, it’s "lacking in style." Violence can indeed force people to acknowledge one’s superiority, and one can eliminate all those who refuse to acknowledge it, but that just conquers them verbally. I think a person who is truly more noble than ordinary people should possess a kind of persuasive power that wins people over both in heart and voice—not just physical superiority, but ideally also superiority in thought and taste.

I also shared this latter part with Zhu Shi.

The more she listened, the more silent she became, until at last, she voiced her own feelings: "... Overall, you still think that supernatural power users are superior to ordinary people... Is that correct?"

"That’s about right," I admitted.

"Then why did you become friends with your brother? Isn’t he also, in your mind, a ’human of lower status than yourself’?" she asked.