Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 539 - 505 Wandering Souls Awakening

Chapter 539: 505 Wandering Souls Awakening

In the cartographer’s diary, the person whose manner of controlling fire resembles the Catastrophe Demon, is evidently the silent and withdrawn girl under the cartographer’s protection.

It turns out that the "fire-manipulating anomaly" that once attacked her team is indeed the Catastrophe Demon, and her fear of me stems from associating me with the Catastrophe Demon.

But why does she find my fire so similar to the Catastrophe Demon’s? At least in appearance, my orange-red flames should be completely different from the black flames of the Catastrophe Demon described in rumors.

Supposing that the Catastrophe Demon really is my future self, then in that scenario, would the Catastrophe Demon also have the Vermilion Bird Seed like I do?

According to the information I had before, it is impossible for two Vermilion Bird Inheritors to exist in the same era, just as it’s impossible for two sets of Divine Seal Fragments to appear in the same era. Even if I traveled from the future, this rule should hold.

Or perhaps in the chaotic Doomsday Era, even this basic rule has been shattered? Or could it be that my future self (the Catastrophe Demon) continued to maintain his power after losing the Vermilion Bird Seed?

Since my Flame Power can still function normally, it means the Vermilion Bird Seed is with me, not the Catastrophe Demon. Following this logic, the most reasonable conclusion is that the "present Catastrophe Demon" has already lost his power.

When paired with my previous analysis and speculation of the "Time Island Theory," the fact that the Catastrophe Demon and I were in different areas should also be seen as being in different time periods, meaning that we could indeed both possess the Vermilion Bird Seed in the Doomsday Era.

And this means that when the Catastrophe Demon and I appear in the same region, one of us would inevitably lose all of their powers...

I held my speculations at bay for now and continued reading the cartographer’s diary content.

"Like another child I took in, she was a severe Frenzy sufferer. She forgot her real name and much of her past. She lacked even the most basic self-sufficiency skills, and I could barely maintain her basic mental structure using my anomaly ’Guiding Directions.’

"Survivors severely infected by Frenzy often experience intense hallucinations and illusions, seeing moons in the night sky that aren’t there like the Blessed Monks, and vaguely hearing the Gospel. Most people assume survivors in this state are exceptionally fragile and dangerous, but sometimes, it is precisely this fragility and danger that bestow upon them a sensitivity unavailable to ordinary survivors—they can sense mana fluctuations, much like the Blessed Monks.

"The Catastrophe Demon’s fire is reportedly black, whereas Zhuang Cheng’s fire is clearly orange-red. Still, since she judged that their frequencies were very similar through her mana fluctuation perception, I can’t ignore this point.

"Legend has it that Great Demons are fallen Gods. They’re a king of anomalies that knows only destruction and cannot communicate. But Zhuang Cheng, whom I’ve interacted with, is rational and can speak human language, making it hard to believe he’s a Great Demon.

"However, he indeed seems to possess some traits of the Catastrophe Demon. For instance, when releasing power, there’s no mana fluctuation from him — only the flames he generates display them.

"Could he actually be the ’past Catastrophe Demon’? In this bizarre Doomsday World where even the river of time becomes shattered and chaotic, can such incredible miracles be shown?

"The idea of a God before transforming into a Great Demon... is something I’ve never heard of, at least not recorded in this diary...

"No matter what, it’s too far-fetched. To randomly pick up a Forgetful Blessed Monk who lost his memory from the outside and imagine him as a pre-fallen God is overly fanciful. I cannot immediately believe in this conjecture.

"But if Zhuang Cheng truly is a God..."

The diary ended at this point, as if the cartographer didn’t know how to express his feelings further at the moment, so he temporarily put down his pen to record later.

However, there was no "later" for him, as he was incinerated by me after turning into a Sin Demon.

Another question emerged in my mind.

From the diary’s text, it’s clear that the cartographer didn’t consider me as merely a "typical Blessed Monk who controls fire." Though he never fully believed I was the Catastrophe Demon, he never dismissed the suspicion. Yet, in later interactions and attacks against me, he seemed convinced I was fish on the chopping block, waiting for him to butcher.

In the abnormal world, caution is a basic trait for a demon hunter, and it’s all the more essential in the Doomsday Era. If an objective leaves you indecisive and you cannot fully discern its nature, the most appropriate action is to give up early, not to stubbornly advance.

In the end, he still chose to show me his fangs and served me poisonous food. This rash approach was somewhat brazen. It was certainly not a decision that an experienced survivor would come to after rational thought.

Unless he wasn’t acting on reason but was driven by a sentiment incomprehensible to people like Tan Xiang and me, who lived in the modern world.

I remembered his last words he spoke in the face of the fiery hand from the sky before dying.

Then, I continued to flip through the diary, wanting to see what events the cartographer had experienced previously and try to glean more knowledge about the Doomsday Era from it.

Regrettably, text records from the Doomsday Era and the memories of survivors are equally difficult to preserve, with the latter becoming fragmented and the former inexplicably damaged. The diary had many inexplicable blackened markings.

Some texts not blackened also contained analyses regarding these damages. The cartographer suspected at one point that he might be under Frenzy’s control, sleepwalking to black out his diary. But the blackening persisted even when there were no pens or inks nearby, and his experience was not unique among survivors. He ultimately attributed it to peculiar phenomena unique to the Doomsday’s onset.

"Some survivors believe in hidden regularities within the chaotic space, thinking that when we move, we’re not entirely randomly teleporting to different regions. To survive better, they attempt to analyze the space-time changes of their current area and record it on paper, calling it a ’map.’

"Of course, few survivors willingly undertake such labor-intensive and high-difficulty work, although it’s said the Evangelical Institute is actively advancing this project. Participants in this effort are referred to as ’Doomsday Mapmakers.’

"In the past, it seems I was one of them and was quite passionate about the job. Something must have happened later that led me to flee the Evangelical Institute, yet I never gave up on map-making, and so a long time passed... Long enough for my personality to iterate repeatedly under the soaking of Frenzy, and I couldn’t even remember who I used to be — only this map remained intact at my side.

"Perhaps the map isn’t that intact, actually quite ruined? Such a scribbled map, with messy, careless lines, would be difficult to detect even if altered randomly a few dozen times over.

"I not only lost the desire to make maps but also lacked the knowledge to decode this map. If a monk from the Evangelical Institute happened to find it, perhaps they could decode its contents, but such maps are likely outdated and obsolete.

"Though through the ’Guiding Directions’ superpower, a bit of it can still be deciphered, I have no interest in my past work results.

"I do not wish to recall my past."

Another diary entry passed as I flipped through. The further I went back, the more severe the blackening phenomenon was. This was considered some of the most well-preserved content.

As I continued to read, my understanding of the Doomsday Era increased, and I greatly benefited. But as I roughly finished reading, strange movements occurred nearby.

I set down the diary and looked beside me. A wandering soul let out a low moan, then slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the space above like someone with low blood sugar.

Moments later, clarity finally dawned in his eyes, and he abruptly sat up, surveying his surroundings, then fixed his gaze on Tan Xiang and me.

"Who are you...?" he uttered.

"You’ve finally woken up? Let’s start with some introductions. I’m Zhuang Cheng, he’s Tan Xiang."

I first pointed to myself and then to Tan Xiang, and asked him, "Who are you then? Do you remember your name?"

Upon hearing this, the wandering soul glanced at me, then at Tan Xiang, then covered his own forehead as if a nail still lingered in his brain, muttering, "My... name..."

Tan Xiang, standing by, quipped, "You look just like a mobile game player just getting into the prologue, at the stage of choosing your username. Don’t give yourself weird names, or you’ll regret it."

The wandering soul wore a strained expression as if searching for a lost thing in a swamp. Seeing this, I tried to remind him, "Isn’t your name ’Wandering Soul’?"

"Wandering Soul... Wandering Soul?"

He muttered the name repeatedly, and his demeanor gradually calmed down.

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