Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 59: The Disappearance of the Doomsday Girl 1

Chapter 59: The Disappearance of the Doomsday Girl 1

Having entered my Fire Element form, I had essentially overcome all the physical weaknesses of a normal human being.

Because my body was composed of flames, even if my head were blown off or my heart pierced, it would do little more than temporarily distort me. Poisons were of course ineffective, and chemical weapons were useless as well.

I was still fully capable of seeing and hearing normally and could pick up objects as long as I so intended. Since whether flames would damage an object depended on my volition, I didn’t have to worry about causing destruction when handling things.

In this form, I could even merge my spirit with the natural thermal energy in the environment.

It was said that the former Soviet Union once used a nuclear bomb to extinguish a fire, although I’d mostly forgotten the exact principle. However, even in extreme situations where someone used a super-powerful weapon to snuff out all the flames that made up my body, I would still not die. I could take refuge in the heat of the surrounding environment and reignite my existence.

Physically ensuring my irreversible demise would probably only be possible by creating a massive area of absolute zero temperatures, unless I had set up "Fireflies" or other flamant derivatives elsewhere.

Trying to assassinate me with a sneak attack before I could enter my Fire Element form was also futile, something Agent Kong had already attempted. It is actually imprecise to divide my state into "normal form" and "Fire Element form." Since the first time I entered the Fire Element form, I’d become flame itself. My normal bodily form could more accurately be described as a flame mimicry. An external surprise attack causing fatal damage couldn’t truly be fatal, it would only push me from the first form into the second form.

If there was any room for debate, it would be the endurance time of this form.

Not that the endurance time was insufficient; on the contrary, I could maintain the Fire Element form for a very long time. The longest was over two months without feeling my limit, even losing a sense of the exact limit for a time. During this period, I didn’t even need sleep. If it wasn’t for the conspicuousness of the Fire Element form and the roaring sound it produced, I would have liked to use this form for uninterrupted surveillance of Mazao at night.

You would think that since I had become flame itself, there would be no question of endurance. However, in the Fire Element form, my sensations were far from as comfortable as in my normal state. Like a person prone to motion sickness being forced into a car, they would feel unwell throughout their body even if the car hadn’t started moving yet.

Perhaps because my spirit still belonged to the human realm, the Fire Element form could impose an invisible burden on my spirit. But usually, there was no need to worry about this.

In short, this was my entirety, which I had fully revealed before Mazao.

"Elementalization..."

Mazao looked at me incredulously, her breathing seemingly labored.

"A few days ago, I fought here against a human who had turned into a monster. You may think that was another strange danger you attracted, and I have no evidence to refute that possibility," I said. "But as you see, I didn’t die, nor was I injured. I defeated him, and then I returned home as usual. You likely didn’t even notice that I’d been in a fight."

"You’ve seen this place in the news before. The news reported it as a gas explosion accident, but that’s not true. This is where I fought my opponent, and I personally cleaved this building in two.

"I’m not telling you all this to flaunt my power. I just want to let you know I have the strength to help you and that I won’t die because of the catastrophes you attract.

"I did indeed hide my power and lied to you for which I owe you an apology. But I truly want to be with you, to help you prove the reality of the approaching Doomsday to the public. I swear to you, this is my genuine, unfeigned desire.

"I hope you can accept me, so we can fight together."

I’d finished my lengthy speech and waited for her response.

As she listened to me, the disbelief on her face slowly receded, giving way to a gaze of contemplation and scrutiny.

After a long while, she still shook her head.

"To possess such strength... Even among all the strong in the Doomsday Era, you would undoubtedly stand out. But the bizarre dangers I attract aren’t the kind that can be surmounted by sheer strength alone."

Her point wasn’t without reason; the Different Space beneath the cave wasn’t a difficulty that I could simply overcome with brute force. But in this situation, I couldn’t afford to display weakness and continued with an unwavering tone, "No, I can overcome it."

"If you wanted, you could live as you please in this era." She didn’t seem upset or doubtful because of my concealment. Instead, she spoke with an unprecedented gentle voice, "That’s exactly why you can’t be with me. With me, you’ll eventually lose all happiness and peace of mind, leading to ruin.

"I know how you feel... I’m very sorry to you, but this is also to avoid involving you."

That statement, for some reason, felt familiar, as if it had once passed through my heart.

"I will prove the existence of Doomsday to society, or find the divine seal and end Doomsday’s arrival," she said, stepping back toward the edge of the rooftop, "Go back to the life you were meant to have, Zhuang Cheng. The darkness ahead belongs only to me."

The divine seal? What was that?

As I reflexively questioned it, she took another step back and her body departed from the edge of the rooftop, plummeting downward.

"Wait—"

She was leaving. The moment I realized that, I sprinted toward her, reaching out to grab her body.

But it was too late. The moment my fingers touched her, her body shattered like the reflection of the moon on water, vanishing without a trace.

Mazao had escaped with Space Transfer!

I stood at the edge of the rooftop, futilely grasping at the air, struggling to come to terms with this reality for a moment.

It took me over a dozen seconds to finally retract my hand and then revert from my Fire Element form, exhaling a long sigh.

It had come to this after all...

Persuasion was useless, showing my social and intelligence value was useless, even revealing the truth about being a supernatural power user was to no avail. Mazao’s stubbornness in her solitary struggle and her fear of bringing harm to those around her seemed particularly thorny.

Perhaps conveying to her how "very powerful" I am was the wrong move, solidifying her resolve that she shouldn’t stay by my side.

And if I expressed the opposite, telling her how "weak and feeble I am, unable to survive without her," maybe she would be willing to stay, just like the ten-year-old girl she mentioned. Despite experiencing the brutal Doomsday Era, Mazao still seemed to have a rather kind heart—perhaps appealing to her sympathy was the right approach.

But how could a young man like me, healthy and living in a peaceful society, convince her that I couldn’t live without her? Should I say that I fell in love with her at first sight and couldn’t bear to be separated for over a day without resorting to cutting my wrists? That would be too heavy and pathological... although it wasn’t impossible for me to do so if pushed.

No use dwelling on what had already happened; rehashing past mistakes was futile. I had to deal with the present.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. I had prepared for this scenario with my thermal energy marker and GPS wristband. Since she took such extreme actions, I had to be even more extreme. Capture her first, then figure out how to confine her somewhere out of sight.

Engaging in such morally corrupt acts was not my wish, but when my desires came up against morality, I would unhesitatingly choose my desires.

I was a villain who prioritized my own wishes over morals.

With this continuous self-examination, I closed my eyes and began to sense the location of the thermal energy marker.

However... things were not as I had expected.

I couldn’t sense the location of the thermal energy marker.

It was as if the thermal energy marker had gone to some distant place beyond my perception, or had vanished entirely.

A terrible feeling welled up inside me.

Wait, wait...

No, this couldn’t be possible!

How could I not sense my own thermal energy marker?

In the past, I had conducted numerous tests on my superpower, such as testing the limits of the spiritual connection between the "Firefly" and myself. One of them involved going to an international airport and placing the "Firefly" on a flight to Argentina.

The farthest country from our own was Argentina, literally on the opposite side of the Earth. If I were to drill a hole straight down from Saltwater City and emerge on the other side of the planet, I’d be in Argentina. If I could sense the "Firefly" in Argentina from Saltwater City, it meant that on this planet, the spiritual connection between the "Firefly" and me could not be broken due to distance.

I indeed could.

And the spiritual connection between me and the thermal energy marker was no different from that with the "Firefly." What was possible with the latter should be possible with the former. If I couldn’t sense it now, it meant...

I could only come up with two hypotheses:

First, Mazao was no longer on Earth, either having truly gone to another planet (although I hadn’t tested whether my spiritual connection could extend to other planets), or to some sort of "nonexistent space" like an underground bunker that’s not part of the real world;

Second, Mazao had discovered the thermal energy marker and had managed to erase it by some supernatural means.

The first scenario seemed unlikely because Mazao’s objective had to be on Earth, had to be in the real world to be carried out... So could it be the second? There was a possibility, as I had long suspected that she might be able to sense the "Firefly" and the thermal energy marker.

Even if it was the second case, it didn’t matter; luckily, I had the foresight for such an event, having equipped her with the GPS wristband.

I pulled out the mobile phone paired with that wristband and checked Mazao’s current location by the GPS signal.

But once again, the situation slipped out of my control.

The phone failed to display Mazao’s current location.

The GPS signal had disappeared.