Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 56 - 53 Apocalypse Girls Date 2

Chapter 56: 53 Apocalypse Girls Date 2

Relying on postponing Mazao’s departure day after day was not enough to truly keep her by my side.

Surely, she had her own deadline in her heart. The initial "three days" was like a food’s shelf life, with a buffer period between it and the actual expiration date. Once this buffer period vanished, the room for sweet-talk disappeared as well.

This morning, after she woke up and had breakfast, she watched television with me in the living room. The TV was broadcasting local news, discussing the "mysterious explosion of an unfinished building" near Saltwater University, which I had caused. Experts declared it a gas explosion with finality. Regardless of Luo Mountain’s current stance on "whether to keep hiding the strangeness," it seemed the official forces certainly hoped to continue the secrecy.

When the show went to commercials. Mazao proposed that she leave. Her expression was not one of consultation but rather a duty-bound notification.

Of course, I was not ready to just let things go at that.

Moreover, during this time, I had thought through how to make her want to stay willingly.

This was the first time I had put so much effort into enticing a girl; previously, I also had many unfamiliar areas. As the saying goes, practice reveals true knowledge; after these days of practice, I slowly deduced the tricks.

Initially, my idea was to lure her with delicious food or make her stay at my home by giving her an upset stomach, or say that a courier would only arrive tomorrow. These tricks were minor, only useful for a slight delay.

The reason she had previously been willing to stay at my place was because she genuinely believed she needed to heal and hide here. But now, she no longer faints unexpectedly, doesn’t trip while walking, and her complexion has improved significantly. It wouldn’t be surprising if she could even use Space Transfer power. I, as a person, no longer seemed so essential to her.

As the saying goes, "A thousand books aren’t as good as one piece of truthful advice." What I needed to do now was simple: make her believe that I was indispensable.

With the correct approach in mind, I felt my inspiration and intellect rapidly flow; bad ideas emerged one after another, forming a detailed plan. Could it be that I had a talent for seducing girls? I’d never expected my brain to become clearer after some setbacks. I repeatedly pondered the increasingly solid plan in my mind, feeling ever more confident.

By then, Mazao had already stood up from the couch.

She was no longer wearing my gray T-shirt and long pants but clothes and shoes I had bought online for her.

Even though I had laughed at Changan’s poor taste in outfits, I myself didn’t understand the nuances of clothing combination, had only a vague grasp of color coordination, and was even less adept at matching women’s fashion. However, I had a superficial trick: when in doubt about what color to wear, choosing black was always safe.

She was now dressed in a black printed hoodie and a short skirt, her nice-looking legs wrapped in black cotton tights, wearing black ankle-length Doc Martens. On her left wrist, she wore the red GPS bracelet I had gifted her—an exception in this dark-toned outfit. To my aesthetic sense, it was safe to say that there were no fashion blunders, and she had not expressed any displeasure.

Seeing the beautiful girl dressed in clothes I had personally selected brought an unprecedented freshness to my heart, and I couldn’t help but think about further optimizing her outfit.

At that moment, seeing Mazao heading to the hallway and pulling down her hood to cover her face, I spoke up, "Let’s go out together."

"Together?"

She stopped in her tracks. Clearly, over the past few days, she had developed a resistance to my sweet words, and when I spoke, she turned around and looked at me very cautiously.

"There are many unfamiliar places for you in the outside world; I can introduce them to you." I also stood up from the couch, "Let’s eat out, wander around, and then part amicably; that would be a fitting end. It can also serve as a farewell from me to you."

"If other people see you with me, a wanted criminal..." she still had reservations.

"It’s fine, just wear this."

I took out the pre-prepared face mask—a black cotton mask adorned with the pattern of a white cat’s whiskers.

She was skeptical, "Walking outside wearing something that covers my true face isn’t that more suspicious?"

"Don’t worry, in recent years, it’s quite normal to wear a mask when going out," I reassured.

After a moment of consideration, she nodded in agreement, put on the cat’s whiskers mask, and left with me.

After we got downstairs, the morning sunlight lit her up completely. She looked up at the sky, seemingly emotional about the vastness that she hadn’t seen in a long while.

My emotions were peculiar now. Even though we had spent several days together, this was the first time we walked together in the sunshine. I absolutely had no intention of alienating Mazao in my mind—what I felt was similar to taking cats and dogs outside for the first time without a leash, always fearing that she might suddenly run away to a place where I couldn’t catch up.

She glanced back at my home, then at me, her eyes clearing.

"What’s wrong?" I was puzzled by her stare.

"Nothing..." she said, though after a couple of seconds, she still revealed her thoughts, "Don’t laugh at me. Although I’m small and not very curvy, I think my face is quite attractive—at least that’s what I believe. So, how should I put this... I’ve always had a little suspicion."

"What are you suspicious of?"

"That you might actually be a pervert who wants to imprison me. That you were so nice to me because you fancied my body..." she said, "Looking at it now, it seems I was mistaken about you, sorry."

"..." I didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Although I wasn’t the type of person she thought, I had indeed thought about imprisoning her, and it was my final plan.

I changed the subject, also as a probe, "Compared to this, is your body okay? You’re not suddenly going to fall over, are you?"

"I’m much better now. Although the damage to my soul won’t heal that simply, I could even run now without any problem."

"But I noticed you’ve been spacing out a lot lately."

She suddenly gave an unexpected answer, "That’s because I’m meditating."

"Meditation?" I was startled.

Isn’t that the legendary state of meditation I read about in books but could never achieve even with all my practice of superpowers?

"Meditation helps my soul recover and can also conceal my aura. The effect even lasts for some time after the meditation ends. And it can be done in any circumstance or position, which is ideal for my current situation," she explained. "My soul is damaged now, easily leaking excess aura. The last guy who attacked me probably found me through this trail..."

"The guy who attacked you?" I caught a key phrase.

She then realized it and immediately stopped, not revealing more information. Perhaps she was afraid of getting me involved. Now she was like a dark hero, intent on shouldering everything alone.

Once she switched into this mode, she wouldn’t disclose any more pertinent information, so I just made a mental note to investigate further later.

We walked out of the residential area and onto the streets outside. It was the morning rush hour, filled with hurried office workers and students. At a roadside food cart, I bought two bagged sweet soy milk, intentionally displaying the transaction details in front of her.

She noticed that I took out my phone and scanned a QR code. Maybe she had seen similar scenarios on television before, but if she really was a Doomsday Transcender, this should be her first time witnessing it. At that moment, she showed a curious look towards the unfamiliar.

I handed her one of the sweet soy milks and moved away from the food cart, explaining to her, "What I just did is called mobile payment, you need a mobile device and scan a QR code to complete the transaction."

"Mobile payment, mobile devices... so, you just need a phone for those?" she asked inquisitively.

"There’s more to it. You also have to download the relevant app and link it to your bank account, which needs to have money in it. To get a bank card, you have to go through certain procedures, including providing personal identification," I said.

"Personal identification..." she pondered the information, "Can a wanted criminal get a bank card?"

"Of course not," I replied, "Now, electronic mobile payment is the mainstream in society, people are gradually moving away from cash payments, especially so in big cities. It’s hard to survive and function in this society without it. Many elderly people who find it difficult to adapt to this trend often encounter problems. You might have seen this in the news, right?"

While talking, I watched her reactions. She lifted the lower half of her mask to sip the sweet soy milk, her eyes reflecting deep thought.

Emphasizing the problems she couldn’t overcome quickly but had to, and needed my assistance for... this was my current plan. Now, I was like a cunning interviewer, trying to soften her tough heart.

And this was just the first step.

I needed to further elevate my value by providing some additional, necessary information she was in need of. Like the fact that not only official forces were tracking her, but also hidden organizations like Luo Mountain; or that the body she was using once belonged to a girl suffering from soul loss.

Soul loss was something only demon hunters knew about, and according to Mazao’s testimony, she still hadn’t encountered this hidden world of our era. Thus, it was likely she wasn’t aware of the existence of soul loss.

I was curious how she would react once she learned about the concept of soul loss, but in sharing information, I had to be extremely cautious. Because to her, I was just an ordinary person, and I needed a good excuse to reveal these secrets.

After preparing my excuses mentally, I started lying again.