Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 626 - 586 Exit Appears

Chapter 626: 586 Exit Appears

Many people often experience illusions, seeing the protection of the ecological environment as protection of Earth itself, even constantly chanting the slogan "protect the Earth." But the ecosystem and the Earth are conceptually vastly different in scale.

For this enormous celestial body known as Earth, even the largest creatures are merely microorganisms clinging to its surface, and the ecosystem attached to it is akin to a layer of fungi. Ever since life began until today, the ecosystem has only operated on Earth’s surface, and although there is life underground, it remains at very shallow depths. Not only is it far from approaching the mantle, even the utilization of the crust is pathetically low.

Just as the collective unconsciousness of humanity, considered the narrow Naraku’s will, cannot be compared to the broad Naraku’s will that represents all life, the broad Naraku’s will cannot be compared to the natural will of the planets, let alone mixed up with it.

They are completely different in magnitude.

After hearing my words, Little Bowl seemed hesitant for a moment, but soon she became resolute and said seriously, "I can confirm that the Naraku Gospel is planet’s natural will. As for why Huang Quan refers to it as the broad Naraku’s will, I’m not very clear.

"Perhaps Huang Quan also misunderstood the truth of the Naraku Gospel, or it may be that both are indeed the same existence, but we are lacking in knowledge and information, making it temporarily impossible to link them together."

"Knowledge..."

I recalled the sealed information I had accessed in the Luo Mountain database, which alluded discreetly and cautiously to a piece of content: before the establishment of the post-mortem world, souls had other destinations... Could this have a connection to both the Naraku Gospel and planet’s natural will?

"No. 7, what do you think?" I asked another person.

"I’m very sorry, I’m not particularly clear on this either." No. 7 shook his head.

"Can I understand it as even the Master of Divine Seal cannot grasp the essence of Naraku Gospel?" I asked.

No. 7 was silent at first, then said, "You should also realize that the current Master of Divine Seal is not complete; he can only know most things happening in this world, and some things are beyond his scope. For instance, matters related to doomsday, and also..."

Even though she didn’t continue, I could roughly guess the rest. Matters concerning the post-mortem world are also beyond the detection or difficult to be detected by the Master of Divine Seal. After all, the Master of Divine Seal doesn’t even know the true origins of Little Bowl.

Then why does his grasp of the post-mortem world seem so vague? Is it because his omniscient power is also based on the principles of divination technique, thus makes it difficult to function in the post-mortem world? I am not particularly inclined to associate the omniscient power of the divine seal with divination technique, as it does not fit my mysterious impression of the powers of the divine seal. As for clues beyond this...

Could it be that the number of divine seal fragments in the post-mortem world is very few? Suddenly, I realized this direction.

The Master of Divine Seal once said that the number of divine seal fragments ranges from twenty-one to thirty-five. Considering that each Void Envoy is bound to at least one, combined with the number of Void Envoys in the real world and the number of divine seal fragments that can be counted so far... Adding the ones I’ve obtained with those held by Divine Light at the time of death amounts to eleven, how many have other Void Envoys and Lushan Great Impermanence collected?

The total number of divine seal fragments left for the post-mortem world must be very few. If the powers of the Master of Divine Seal are closely linked to the fragmented divine seal, then it is understandable why he cannot perceive much about the post-mortem world where the divine seal fragments are scarce.

I then brought the topic back on track.

"I believe in your conclusion, Little Bowl. Naraku Gospel is planet’s natural will. But if so, why is the symbol of Naraku Gospel the moon?" I once again had this question, "Shouldn’t its symbol be Earth itself if it is planet’s natural will?"

Little Bowl replied, "—Perhaps it is because the moon itself is the embodiment of Earth."

"Are you saying... because the moon is Earth’s satellite, it can be seen as an ’underling of Earth’?" No. 7 probed by asking.

Little Bowl shook her head and said, "That’s not what I mean. In the field of astronomy, there’s a widely regarded high-probability hypothesis known as the ’celestial collision theory’ to explain the moon’s formation.

"This theory posits that around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet roughly the size of Mars, called Theia, collided with the primordial Earth. Ultimately, the alien planet was absorbed and amalgamated with Earth, and the massive fragments of celestial bodies ejected during their collision were collectively thrown into orbit around primordial Earth, gradually forming the moon we know today.

"In other words, a significant portion of the moon’s material comes from primordial Earth, and even scientific tests on lunar soil reveal a high isotopic similarity between the moon and the current Earth. Judging by the reasons for its formation, it can directly be seen as a celestial body originating from Earth. That is why I call it an embodiment.

"As the touch extending planet’s natural will into the post-mortem world, the moon’s image couldn’t be more apt."

Perhaps because she has restored all her past memories, especially acquiring all the knowledge of Zhu Jiu and Zhu Shi from childhood, Little Bowl now not only seems very intelligent, but her knowledge has also suddenly become particularly abundant.

The evidence that Naraku Gospel is indeed planet’s natural will seems to be increasing.

On the road afterward, out of curiosity, I asked No. 7 about her subjective speculation on the Naraku Gospel. She couldn’t say anything definitive about the Naraku Gospel itself but had quite a bit of understanding regarding the Great Demons, who are embodiments of the Naraku Gospel. I definitely gained a lot from her insights.

About twenty minutes later, we finally reached our destination.

This place looked like a town area, yet it appeared incredibly wrecked. It was as if a hundred sky-high giants wielding shovels the size of skyscrapers had come and wreaked havoc everywhere. The surrounding buildings all looked broken and collapsed, the soil disturbed to an extent far beyond what could be described, utterly ruined and ghastly.

Many buildings, even their underground structures, were uprooted, reminiscent of carrots pulled out with brute force, scattered everywhere. The "15th Floor Basement" we found was like this too.

Little Bowl took me to a pile of concrete rubble, the size of a house, with exposed steel structures, and pointed at it, saying, "The basement should be inside here."

I summoned the Furnace Slag Straight Sword. As the sword light flickered, a doorway-sized square was cut out of the concrete wall. Then I gently pushed, and the square piece of concrete toppled to the ground, revealing the interior view clearly to my eyes.

A space two-thirds the size of a classroom, with gray concrete walls and floors, gray shelves akin to those of a closed-down convenience store, and a white candle quietly burning on the floor in the center...

This was indeed the 15th Floor Basement I had once entered.

In the past, I could only enter this place in a bizarre manner; now, I actually walked to the outside of this space, and forcibly "broke the door," as if I could just walk in normally. Such an enormous contrast filled my heart with a sense of wonder.

Little Bowl’s reasoning was not wrong; the 15th Floor Basement, which ought to exist in void, was simultaneously bordering on the post-mortem world!

If No. 7 was present with me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to encounter this place. Perhaps Little Bowl secretly made some adjustments, allowing No. 7 to be among those permitted to approach this site.

I was the first to step over the "doorway" and into the interior of this "basement," followed closely by Little Bowl. No. 7 also came in, looking around.

I picked up the white candle from the floor and watched its flickering flame.

It’s true that you might plant flowers intentionally but they won’t bloom, while trees you plant without intent grow to provide shade. Who could have predicted, from the start, that after leaving the 15th Floor Basement and painstakingly studying how to reopen its entrance through a ritual array, I would fail repeatedly? Instead, it was this ordinary white candle, forgotten in the basement, that became the indispensable key tool for returning?

I took out a piece of "furnace slag," placing it where the white candle originally stood. Although this "furnace slag" is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the Furnace Slag Straight Sword, it stores a tremendous amount of flame magic power in a compressed form.

The "furnace slag" itself won’t vanish when separated from me, and it has a restraining effect on flames. Given how much flame it contains, naturally dissipating it would take longer than four hundred centuries. Thus, this "furnace slag" can replace the white candle, serving as a signal marker left in the 15th Floor Basement.

"So... what do we do next?" No. 7 asked curiously. "How will you return to the living world from here?"

Little Bowl looked at me. I closed my eyes, recalling the drawing of the ritual array in the 15th Floor Basement. Though my memory is such that I don’t need to exert myself to remember, concerning matters related to this place, I don’t wish to treat them with a careless attitude.

Then, I opened my eyes, raised my hand, and pointed to the ceiling of the basement. As if returning to the past, my flames meticulously sketched the magic symbols missing from Agent Kong’s ritual array on the ceiling.

Even for me, it’s inevitable to feel nervous at this moment. Whether an exit will appear next depends on the elusive power of "fate." Is my connection with Mazao truly strong enough to allow me to break the boundary between life and death and return to her side?

After finishing everything, I anxiously looked ahead, waiting for the exit to manifest.

However, the exit did not appear.

Could it be that I drew the magic symbols wrong? Or is the power of connection between Mazao and me insufficient to manifest the exit?

As disappointment arose within me, I suddenly recalled something and deliberately took a few steps back.

A gray concrete staircase abruptly appeared where I had just been standing.

No. 7 looked surprised, carefully examining the gray staircase, then lifted her head to look at where it led.

Up there, a light brown wooden cover was embedded in the ceiling.

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