Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 519 - 488 came one after another 2

Chapter 519: 488 came one after another 2

Amid the dried and degraded bloodstains scattered throughout the surrounding amusement facilities, I noticed a relatively vivid splash of color. This, too, was a bloodstain, speckled near the ground by the "Pirate Ship" amusement ride not far away—a clear sign of fresh blood.

On the bloodstain were traces of shoe prints, extending forward along the path. Only one type of footprint could be found, likely left by the bleeding individual themselves.

This suggests that not long ago, a living human may have passed through here.

If I can find this person, I should be able to glean some clues related to this place. Holding onto this hope, I attempted to track the trail of footprints.

Possibly due to the bleeding individual having a small wound and managing to block it, the fresh bloodstains ended after just a short distance. The footprints smeared with blood also quickly disappeared. Using vision far sharper than the average person’s, I traced faint dust marks on the ground to continue tracking the prints, but before long, I found myself at a dead end. It was as if the owner of those footprints had vanished into thin air.

Could they have been swept into spatial anomalies and transported out of this abandoned amusement park? I attempted to analyze the situation. If that’s the case, further tracking would be futile. Spatial anomalies causing displacement are beyond even my ability to predict or control.

Just then, I heard a sound nearby resembling footsteps.

Suspicious and unsettling footsteps, reminiscent of someone trudging through muddy terrain, tinged with an abnormal nervous energy. I immediately turned my head and looked toward the source of the sound. Roughly twenty meters away, a bizarre silhouette had quietly appeared without my noticing.

It wasn’t human. It may have been alive, but it wasn’t human. Everything about it screamed that it was a blood-soaked, terrifying monster.

This monster defied simple description. If I had to characterize it, imagine a naked, short-statured human being turned completely inside out like a gutted bullfrog. Muscles, bones, blood vessels, nerves—everything that comprised its "inner" body was exposed on the outside. Even its yellow fat and varied-colored organs hung from its frame, pulsating, twitching, and emitting heat while exuding an evil vitality.

Despite its grotesque physiology, it continued to walk for reasons unknown—its exposed, skinless lower limbs teetering unsteadily, as though ready to collapse at any moment, shuffling toward me. The rough ground scraped open its fragile, unprotected feet, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints. Viscous bodily fluids oozed from every inch of its body, forming sticky threads that dripped onto the floor.

Yet another aberration haunting this place.

I could sense malicious and ravenous intent emanating from the creature—like a salivating predator yearning to ravage and shred its prey into pieces before swallowing it whole. Though its fangs or mouth weren’t readily visible, its aggressive nature was undeniable.

"Can you understand my language?"

Unsure whether communication was even possible, I decided to ask anyway: "Have you seen any living person around here? They might be injured and were in this vicinity not long ago. If you’re willing to tell me, I’ll be grateful."

The creature offered no response—not through actions nor gestures—and continued its slow, unwavering approach toward me.

"Was my message unclear? Or are you pretending not to understand human speech?" I asked. "If you don’t stop right now, I’ll attack you."

Still, no reaction. Seeing this, I resigned myself to the inevitable and raised my hand.

If it had been a demon hunter, perhaps I’d have played along, stood still, and "politely" allowed them to land two or three hits to analyze their capabilities. But this was clearly an aberration, leaving no room for compassion. Even the weakest of creatures could occasionally demonstrate superpowers beyond human comprehension. While I may represent Impermanence, it doesn’t mean I can afford to underestimate aberrations.

Before the creature could get any closer, I extended my finger and pointed at it. Fire coalesced at my fingertip, manifesting into a small projectile that shot directly toward the aberration.

The fiery bullet struck the monster but did not pierce it; instead, it detonated, engulfing the creature in flames. No scream emerged—perhaps it lacked the ability to scream—and in an instant, the grotesque form turned to ash.

It seemed weak.

However, it could be that it hadn’t had the chance to reveal its supernatural nature, or perhaps its ordeal wasn’t yet over.

I stood still for a while longer, confirming that there was indeed no residual threat from the creature and no other enemies nearby. Then, I stepped forward to examine the footprints it had left behind.

At the very least, I could determine that the shoe prints I had been tracking earlier didn’t belong to this grotesque being; after all, it didn’t even wear shoes.

Knowing the source of the clues wasn’t some incommunicable, nauseating monster offered me slight relief. I turned away from this spot and continued my search for the owner of the shoe prints. While it was very likely they had been transported elsewhere, they may not have been moved beyond the confines of the abandoned amusement park.

Plus, as the old saying goes: "Where there is one, there is two." Aside from myself and the owner of the shoe prints, it wasn’t impossible that others might still be alive within this deserted park. It was too soon to give up.

I wandered through the abandoned amusement park for a long time, convinced that I had searched nearly every corner of the park yet still found no trace of any living person.

It seemed pointless to continue searching here. Perhaps I should move on to other places. Would I be able to consciously leverage spatial anomalies to transport myself directly? Although that method would lead only to random destinations, perhaps leaving the park on foot was the better strategy?

As I deliberated whether I should experiment with this notion, another set of footsteps echoed nearby. Turning my head, I saw yet another grotesque, blood-soaked creature emerge—eerily similar to the one before.

Like the first aberration, this one stumbled toward me, radiating repugnant, parasitic intent to consume.

I was about to destroy it once more when I noticed something unusual.

This creature seemed far too similar to the last one.

It didn’t appear to merely be the same "type" as the previous monster; it seemed to be the same exact entity.

I immediately accessed the records within my memory for comparison and quickly confirmed my suspicion. The two monsters matched each other perfectly in terms of size, skeletal structure, the arrangement of exposed fat and organs, the pattern of blood vessels and nerves—every feature identical to the last detail. The resemblance was too precise for this to simply be coincidence.

Perhaps aware of my earlier attack method, the creature suddenly accelerated as it reached a certain proximity. Though I had initially intended to destroy it like before, I changed my mind upon realizing it seemed capable of revival. Containing and studying it instead might yield better results.

"—Stop." I activated the Power of Word Spirit.

But, to my surprise, the creature didn’t stop. It wasn’t a case of my power being ineffective against it; rather, my senses revealed that the Power of Word Spirit had never actually activated at all. Objectively, it was as though I’d merely uttered meaningless words.

The aberration lunged forward, splitting its body open mid-air, revealing that its entire torso functioned as a vertical maw filled with erratically sprouting sharp white fangs.

I had planned to incinerate it again, but instead changed my mind. At nearly the same moment, I heard the sound of wind slicing through the air—a projectile hurtling toward the airborne creature. It was a steel rod. Like a bird struck by an arrow, the aberration was impaled by the rod and carried ten meters away, its body pinned against the side of the drop tower.

"What are you doing?"

From the direction where the steel rod had come, a human voice called out inquisitively.

Turning my head, I saw a figure cloaked in burlap, carrying an old kerosene lamp, walking slowly toward me. As if signaling no hostile intent, the figure stopped some distance away and removed the hood from their head.

It was a man with a weathered face, likely in his forties, his short black hair speckled with freckles. Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that those weren’t freckles—they were numerous fine scars, as if etched by the edge of a blade.

Although this man had "saved" me, his gaze was filled with suspicion. His demeanor was less like someone meeting an unidentified person and more like someone questioning whether the individual before him was even human. Evidently, he hadn’t approached rashly out of caution.

I was relieved to finally encounter a living being who could communicate in this strange and inexplicable place.

"...Can you talk?" the man asked warily. "Please say something to confirm you’re capable of communication."

"Of course I can talk," I replied.

The tension in his expression relaxed slightly.

"And, in response to your earlier question, I’m lost," I said. "May I ask what this place is?"

The man seemed to glance around using his peripheral vision as he replied, "I can’t answer that. It’s my first time here as well. It looks like... an amusement park? I’ve only ever read about such places in books about the Old Civilization..."

"—’Old Civilization’?"

The term caught my attention, and after a moment of thought, I said, "Let me put it another way. According to my memory, I should have been living in a bustling and peaceful city with intact public facilities.

"But for some reason, the city suddenly became unfamiliar and desolate—I can’t encounter a single living person, and terrifying monsters and eerie phenomena now roam everywhere..."

Hearing this, the man interrupted me in shock, saying, "You... have even forgotten Doomsday?"