Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 555 - 521 Death Return

Chapter 555: 521 Death Return

The appearance of a handgun in such a setting is like a balloon-made club appearing on a battlefield where two million-strong armies are engaged in mad slaughter; it’s so out of place. To ordinary people, a handgun might be a symbol of killing and death, but on the battlefield of human gods and great demons, even bringing out space weapons would be laughable.

What could such a mere handgun achieve here? Moreover, from what I observed, it’s not even some magic treasure in the shape of a handgun; it’s really just an ordinary revolver.

I couldn’t bring myself to believe that the mysterious woman truly intended to use this handgun to shoot the distant Great Demon Xuanwu; I was just very curious about her purpose. Unlike me, the Great Demon Xuanwu clearly had no patience to wait for the mysterious woman to reveal the secret, and it fired another black water cannon.

Under this sure-kill strike, the mysterious woman seemed like an unfortunate insect that had flown into a factory, stupidly hovering in mid-air, about to be blasted apart by an industrial water jet.

Whether I could escape myself is another story, but at least I could react to this strike through greatly speeding up my mental processing speed. In the accelerated subjective world where time seemed to stop, the mysterious woman once again displayed a speed she shouldn’t have been able to.

At the same time, she also showed me the use of this revolver through her actions.

She "slowly" raised the gun muzzle upward, then placed it against her own temple.

Even at the Great Success Rank, the body is still made of flesh. As long as she abandoned all mana-based defenses, or even actively used mana to weaken her body’s strength, the bullet could penetrate her skull.

"Zhuang Cheng, if you want to return to your original time and space, want to know the truth of the ’Doomsday Era’... then come find me in the Tai Sui Army."

After saying this, a mysterious yet familiar invisible fluctuation erupted from her body.

She then pulled the trigger of the revolver without hesitation.

I heard the sound of her skull exploding and shattering, and at the same time, it was as if my own skull was blasted by the bullet; the world before my eyes collapsed like a television being turned off, contracting into a white flash that extinguished in an instant, leaving nothing in my vision but utter darkness.

Everything disappeared. Whether it was the surrounding scene or the mysterious woman, even the Great Demon Xuanwu, who should have been attacking me from afar, and its mana fluctuations vanished from my perception.

Perhaps what truly disappeared was actually me, or more precisely, my consciousness. Because I had fallen asleep, I couldn’t observe the outside world—and when this joking thought crossed my mind, I "woke up."

Coming to my senses, I found myself in a sparse dark forest.

The mysterious woman and the Great Demon Xuanwu were not around, and there were no animals in sight. Although it was supposed to be a forest, all the surrounding trees were withered. I attempted to summon a fireball to illuminate the area but could find no trace of green leaves or grass, at most only some token dry leaves hanging from branches. Most of the trees were disorderly toppled to the ground, as if they had just endured an unimaginable terrifying storm. I was standing here all by myself.

It might sound like this area would feel dry, but it’s not. This area seems to have been through a torrential downpour that lasted a day and a night not long ago, leaving the ground covered in water deep enough to submerge ankles, and so muddy it triggers a reflexive frown. In some depressions, there are ponds of unclear depth.

Additionally, quite a few chunks and fragments of reinforced concrete debris can be seen around, as if some inconsiderate person had treated this withered forest as a dumping ground for miscellaneous construction waste.

After glancing at it for a moment, I noticed these construction debris looked familiar. Upon careful inspection, I realized that these were remnants of the building from the abandoned Evangelical Institute where I was earlier.

I see, the location I am currently at is the area where the abandoned Evangelical Institute used to be. These building fragments, along with the surrounding pothole-like mud ponds and toppled trees, were all results of the Great Demon Xuanwu’s activities. Even though it only moved its hands and feet around here briefly, it was enough to cause earth-shattering changes to this area.

It seems the mysterious woman used her unique method to send me out of the battlefield just now; she likely withdrew from the battlefield in the same way, though it’s unknown where she is now.

This is probably not an ordinary space transfer, otherwise the Great Demon Xuanwu might pursue again, yet I can detect not the slightest trace of it.

At the moment the mysterious woman pulled the trigger, the mysterious yet familiar invisible fluctuation from her body was definitely the fluctuation of the Power of Divine Seal Fragments. Likely only such a level of power could enable her, a Great Success Rank character, to play the role of reversing the heavens and earth.

The fact that she was No. 7 is now crystal clear, and as she had declared herself, she truly ended the battle between me and the Great Demon Xuanwu.

After thoroughly confirming this, I finally relaxed my body and consciousness.

Perhaps because the appearance of Great Demon Xuanwu was already so sudden, when this battle ended equally unexpectedly, I didn’t feel much disappointment. From an objective standpoint, it can be explained as the mysterious woman saving my life. If the fight continued like that, it would have been me who ended up losing.

However, this is not a complete end, merely a "midway break." An enmity between Great Demon Xuanwu and me has already formed, and such an interruption will surely not mark the true conclusion of our battle. In the near future, it’s only a matter of time before we meet and clash again.

Taking advantage of this rare moment to catch my breath, perhaps I should consider how to turn the tables during our next fight.

Additionally, the "truth of the Doomsday Era" spoken by the mysterious woman before she left piqued my interest.

But before unraveling these mysteries, it’s imperative for me to find Yuhun and Tan Xiang first.

I summoned the Blessed Lantern from within my flames, held it in my hand, and arbitrarily chose a direction to advance.

I remember hurriedly transporting them to a distant spot from the site of the Abandoned Evangelical Institute during the battle. As long as they haven’t moved from that spot, under the same area conditions, I should be able to quickly reunite with them using the Blessed Lantern. But I’m unsure about Tan Xiang’s condition. The massive storm aftermath from earlier when Great Demon Xuanwu moved at a thousand times the speed of sound certainly wouldn’t kill Yuhun with his Undying Body, but Tan Xiang’s case is questionable.

Perhaps because I’ve become too powerful, I somewhat lack understanding of ordinary people’s survival capabilities, always feeling like they could easily perish.

Fortunately, reality soon proved the resilience of ordinary people’s lives to me, or perhaps Yuhun lent Tan Xiang a hand. It didn’t take much traveling before I found the two in a corner of the forest.

They were situated within a large two-story building fragment, which contained an intact room from the Abandoned Evangelical Institute. Yuhun somehow found a tattered waterproof cloth, spread it on the damp floor, sitting cross-legged with the Blessed Lantern by his side.

Tan Xiang sat on a chair not far away, though drenched to the skin and in a pitiful state, with bruises from falls on his face, he had at least not suffered fatal or crippling injuries.

Like a war refugee, he stared lost at the tip of his shoes, his face written with disbelief in life, seemingly affected by the enormity of the battle he’s been swept into, perceiving his own insignificance. It’s not hard to understand; the sense of powerlessness, akin to being an ant helplessly tossed about by the murky currents of fate, is quite unbearable. Those who’ve experienced such events easily fall into a cycle of reflecting on life’s value.

Upon hearing my unmasked footsteps, he raised his head in a hurry as if startled, and upon seeing it was me, he visibly relaxed somewhat, and quickly inquired, "Zhuang Cheng, you’re back... Where did that monster go? Did you kill it?"

"Regrettably, I cannot kill it. However, it won’t be chasing us for now," I replied.

"Even you have monsters you can’t kill?" Tan Xiang asked stunned.

Yuhun walked over and said, "That’s no ordinary monster, but a king of anomalies, a Divine Demon from myth and legend.

"You heard what that woman said right? It’s one of the Great Demons standing at the doomsday pinnacle, unlike any anomaly we’ve encountered before...

Tan Xiang murmured, "But... even so..."

Probably seeing my grandeur so many times in that period made Tan Xiang develop a misplaced confidence in me. Now realizing there’s an enemy even a God like me struggles against, and who almost killed him, he might feel as if his sense of footing is being violently shaken.

"Now you understand, accompanying me means inevitably facing countless dangers. It’s not just those weak Doomsday anomalies you’ll encounter repeatedly, such scenes as earlier will happen more than once. And next time, you may not be as lucky as this time," I said, "You still have time to leave my side."

After leaving me, Tan Xiang should no longer face such frequent dangers.

Though being by my side might still infect him with the curse of the Unfortunate people, I’ve had considerable experience interacting with the扫帚 star power and roughly explored some operational rules of this force. Firstly, those who have direct interaction and contact with Mazao are bound to be infected with misfortune, but whether "my companions’ companions" are affected depends on the relationship specifics.

Like friends as close as Changan being dragged into anomaly incidents certainly likely involve me too; based on such logic, Changan is certainly a target for misfortune contagion. Conversely, someone like Tan Xiang, whose death I wouldn’t particularly dwell on, is hard to infect with such misfortune.

The more emotional attachment one invests in a target, the more likely disaster occurs, which is the insidious nature of扫帚 star power.

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