Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 544 - 510 Mazao’s situation

Chapter 544: 510 Mazao’s situation

If the "Firefly" that helped me escape the ocean of void and come ashore in the Doomsday Era is truly the Catastrophe Demon, then a difficult-to-explain contradiction arises.

The foremost issue is, why could the Catastrophe Demon connect with me, who had fallen into the void? Or rather, knowing that in that state, I couldn’t contact even half of the countless "Fireflies" I had personally set up in the modern world, why was the Catastrophe Demon, existing in the Doomsday Era, able to do so?

Is it because the "signal strength" of the Catastrophe Demon is far higher than those little sparks known as "Fireflies"? If that’s the case, why, even though I am already within the Doomsday Era, hasn’t the signal connection strength with the other party further increased? The connection within the same era should be stronger than that of intra-world or inter-world connection.

Moreover, according to the vague perception feedback, I can analyze that the "Firefly," as the signal source, hasn’t moved an inch. At least since I traversed into the Doomsday Era, the other party has remained in the same coordinate location. If that were the actively hunting Catastrophe Demon targeting Little Bowl, then such a motionless state wouldn’t make sense.

Unfortunately, the most I can analyze is just this level. Despite knowing that there has been no change in the other party’s coordinates, I don’t know the specific position of those coordinates. More insidiously, I cannot judge even which direction the other party is. Otherwise, I would have moved toward that direction long ago.

After the preparations were completed, we left this pedestrian street.

As we journey forward, the surrounding time and space unknowingly changed again. Although the lamp and the fireball I summoned provided illumination, the darkness still covered and enveloped us like a vast curtain in the distance. The scenery, lurking in the darkness, changed unpredictably, and when it appeared next, it presented a completely different appearance from the previous moment.

At times, the scene becomes a wilderness; at times, it transforms into a town, making it completely impossible to judge how far we are from the previously occupied pedestrian street. This chaotic change isn’t just spatial; it’s temporal as well. Who knows, my current time might have shifted to before I arrived in the Doomsday Era or when "another self" was enjoying toxic meals in a cartographer’s safehouse.

As expected, we indeed encountered multiple attacks by peculiar entities along the way. I won’t describe the details; these attacks were mostly resolved by me. Occasionally, a couple of anomalies stealthily approached with their mysterious powers, intending to attack the weakest member of the team, Tan Xiang, but were timely intercepted by Youhun and then killed by me.

As a Blessed Monk at the Residence Level, Youhun possesses considerable movement and reaction abilities. Although not comparable to oddities of the same level, he can perform ultra-fast movements akin to a bio-mechanized person from a sci-fi movie.

In contrast, Tan Xiang is not only unable to keep up with our movements, but he’s also the only one among us who truly needs food and water. Needless to say, Youhun, relying on his Undying Body, seems capable of resetting his state through suicide revival when sufficiently hungry or thirsty. Abnormalities like hunger, thirst, and injuries won’t persist.

Tan Xiang appears increasingly anxious about this. To be blunt, he is nothing but useless in this three-person team. In my heart, whether he is present makes hardly any difference — even if he dies before me, I wouldn’t experience any psychological fluctuation. However, considering future interactions with Little Bowl for impression purposes, it’s better to keep him protected by my side.

Though I could act as if I failed to shield him and let him be killed by oddities, Little Bowl has the ability to discern lies and pretense, so it’s best not to play such petty tricks. Also, personally, I’m not fond of such insidious scheming and don’t particularly want to indulge in such sinister tricks.

The amount of food and water Tan Xiang collected from the safehouse ruins isn’t abundant and will soon be exhausted. So, I checked my personal belongings to see if there was food and water.

Although I don’t need to eat or drink, there are indeed some food and water in my flame, meant for my idle nibbling whenever I’m feeling peckish. Besides, many miscellaneous items are there — sometimes I don’t know what’s inside until I seriously examine them.

Among them, there is even an ownerless Divine Seal fragment.

This is one of the divine seal fragments given to me by Divine Light during his lifetime. Because I didn’t know where to hide it, this seal fragment has been kept by my side. In theory, upon coming into contact with my mana, the ownerless divine seal fragment should bind with me, but the wooden box appended by Divine Light isolates external communication, making it possible to store it within my consciousness without touching the consciousness itself — such an absurd feat.

Otherwise, should I discard this ownerless divine seal fragment roadside in the Doomsday Era, allowing the Master of Divine Seal to never gather all the fragments? Although such thoughts arise, as my understanding of the power called "fate" deepens, I increasingly feel that "hiding the ownerless divine seal fragment somewhere" is a flawed decision.

As long as the Void Envoy consciously operates, the divine seal fragments are destined to be entirely collected, even if thrown into the ocean. In the Doomsday Era, No. 7, an envoy possibly allied with the Master of Divine Seal, exists — carelessly discarding the ownerless divine seal fragments will most likely let them be picked up by the opposing side. The safest storage location is still at hand.

Meanwhile, Tan Xiang seems to want to disperse his attention amidst anxiety and actively seeks conversation with Youhun: "Since you once worshipped the God called ’Tai Sui,’ why are you not together with Tai Sui remnants?"

"The Tai Sui remnants underwent multiple divisions under Evangelical Institute’s eradication; perhaps I escaped during one of those times," Youhun said indifferently. "Moreover, it is said that the Tai Sui remnants also provoked the Great Demon Xuanwu and are currently being hunted by him; perhaps they have already been entirely annihilated."

"Did you say Xuanwu?" My attention was caught. "Why did they provoke Xuanwu?"

"Perhaps just bad luck," Youhun said. "I don’t know much more."

The flesh and blood of the Great Demon Xuanwu is the only method to completely heal Mazao’s soul. If I will return to the modern world in the future, then hunting him before returning is necessary — at least obtaining a part of his body.

Although I don’t know where the Great Demon Xuanwu is, it seems that finding this so-called "Tai Sui remnants" will allow one to lay in wait for the Great Demon Xuanwu to deliver himself.

Yet, I cannot be sure whether I am a match for the Great Demon Xuanwu.

At the same rank, the suppression of Vermilion Bird Inheritor by Xuanwu Inheritor is irreversible. Even I, at the Great Success Rank stage, wasn’t a match for Water Navy Xuanwu and only defeated him as a result of the pressure brought by the magnitude after becoming Impermanence.

And the Great Demon at the very least is the ultimate monstrosity on par with the human god.

The wandering soul silently watched me.

"Do you have something you want to say to me?" I asked curiously.

"You are exceptionally powerful, eliminating all the strange apparitions along the way. Even in the Evangelical Institute, it is rare to encounter a Blessed Monk as strong as you." The wandering soul spoke with a calm tone.

"Thank you for the compliment. So?" I asked.

The wandering soul seemed to be organizing its words, then said, "Earlier you told me your goal is to find Little Bowl and offer her protection... Is that serious?"

"Of course, it’s serious." I replied.

"But... are you really able to protect her, instead of causing her harm?" the wandering soul retorted.

Surprised, I asked, "Did I somehow behave badly for you to suspect I have malicious intent towards Little Bowl?"

"This has nothing to do with your subjective will," the wandering soul said, "I have already seen that what you say is true. As long as we move together, apparitions continuously emerge, attacking us. This aura of misfortune is completely opposite to when she is accompanied by that girl.

"Though it’s not really polite to speak this way to a benefactor, you are practically like an unfortunate person. Once you are together with her, her ’luck’ is likely to be weakened by your ’misfortune’, perhaps even completely overshadowed.

"So, if you truly are her friend, please stay away from her and stop thinking about being together."

Upon hearing this, I scrutinized the wandering soul.

He looked suspicious and asked, "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"No, how should I put it... I am merely a bit emotional." I said.

The wandering soul just called me an unfortunate person, but I did not feel anger. For me, being favored by unfortunate star power is a kind of luck, not misfortune. However, I couldn’t help recalling what Mazao had described before, her past experiences.

Though it’s still unclear what’s described as the "Evangelical Witch" in the cartographer’s diary, Mazao seemed to be seen by many survivors as an unfortunate person spreading disaster for a long period, met with deep disgust and fear. Even someone like the wandering soul, who disregards his own life, would presumably spare no effort to persuade her to stay away from those scarce beautiful things.

The reason she would self-exile and live away from other survivors is probably because she heard similar words again and again.

What I’m facing now is probably the same predicament that Mazao once faced.

"Besides... even if you really reunite with Little Bowl, what can you accomplish?" the wandering soul continued, "Not just me, even the powerful demigods are insignificant to the Catastrophe Demon. Approaching her side would only force her to share part of her luck with you, making matters worse."

Tan Xiang directly voiced his opposition: "So what? That guy called the Catastrophe Demon might be formidable, but can he be more formidable than Zhuang Cheng?"

The wandering soul furrowed his brows, saying, "You don’t understand the power of the Great Demon, it is the offspring once esteemed as a God. Only a human god can contend with it..."

"But isn’t Zhuang Cheng also a God?" Tan Xiang retorted.

"What did you say?" The wandering soul was taken aback.

At that moment, from the distant darkness, came a strange sound.

It was a nervous footstep akin to walking on muddy ground.

Unexpected emotions arose within me, Tan Xiang widened his eyes in surprise, and the wandering soul’s face suddenly changed dramatically, looking toward that direction.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.