Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 68 - 65 When the willows darken and the flowers brighten, another village appears

Chapter 68: 65 When the willows darken and the flowers brighten, another village appears

The girl in the photograph was eerily familiar, it was none other than Mazao, who haunted my dreams!

The picture must have been taken at night, as the background sky was dark. Mazao walked on the deserted street, with no pedestrians nearby, and the shops on both sides had already closed their doors. I recognized this street; it was the pedestrian street in the neighboring district. It’s usually a much busier place, but it looked deserted in the photograph, which meant it must have been taken in the early hours of the morning.

Mazao’s face, covered by a mask, did not reveal any emotion, and her gaze seemed to be searching the surroundings for something, her posture subtly conveying alertness and tension. Oddly, she didn’t seem to notice the person taking the photo.

Why would Zhu Shi give me a photograph that featured Mazao? Weren’t we talking about the Fallen Demon Hunter?

Luo Mountain has been searching for Mazao—could it be that Zhu Shi also has a task related to her? Am I being tested here?

But Agent Kong had said that Zhu Shi and the group searching for Mazao weren’t on the same side... No, that’s not right. Zhu Shi was only not aligned with "the group using extreme measures to find Mazao"; there could be more than one group searching for her. Moreover, Agent Kong is dead, perhaps the task which originally belonged to Agent Kong had now fallen upon Zhu Shi...

Perhaps I’m on the wrong track. The Fallen Demon Hunter incident and Mazao might not be unrelated. Mazao took the charred finger of Agent Kong from my house before she left, and Agent Kong was the last Fallen Demon Hunter...

"Zhuang Cheng, what’s wrong?" Zhu Shi’s voice suddenly cut in, "Is there something wrong with this picture?"

I jolted, my mind still not recovered from the shock, but my mouth naturally blurted out a lie, "Nothing, it’s just that this picture is different from the others. Who is this girl in the photograph? Is she related to the Fallen Demon Hunter?"

"Didn’t you once ask me who was the girl that Agent Kong disguised as a police officer was searching for? Although she’s wearing a mask, according to our analysis, she’s likely that girl," she seemed oblivious to the fact that I was acting.

"I see, so she’s the girl with soul loss that Agent Kong mentioned to me while he was alive..." This statement wasn’t a lie; Agent Kong had indeed talked to me about it.

"Since you’re aware, then there’s no need for me to explain further," Zhu Shi nodded, "This girl appeared while we were searching for new leads on the Fallen Demon Hunter. That being said, our people haven’t directly witnessed her either."

"Not witnessed her directly?" I asked puzzled, "But hasn’t a picture been taken?"

"Zhuang Cheng, does this picture in your hand seem like a screenshot from a street surveillance camera? But in reality, there’s no camera at this location on this pedestrian street," she explained, "This picture resulted from the divination and investigative talents of Luo Mountain’s demon hunters, who read the memories of the land along the possible routes the Fallen Demon Hunter might have used, coupling it with their ability of ’thoughtography.’"

"He originally intended to divine clues about the Fallen Demon Hunter, but unexpectedly, this girl showed up in the photo formed through divination and thoughtography."

No wonder Mazao didn’t notice the photographer; it turned out to be a "historic image."

I asked with concern, "Does Luo Mountain consider this girl to be the Fallen Demon Hunter?"

"Although she spent most of the time the Fallen Demon Hunter was causing chaos lying in a hospital as a vegetative person... Yes, we cannot rule out the possibility you mentioned," Zhu Shi actually said this, "because the Fallen Demon Hunter is clearly not just one person, and the sources and motives of their power are unknown. This girl with soul loss also possesses ’unexplained powers,’ and her motives for escaping the hospital and stealing guns and ammunition are unclear..."

As she spoke, she lowered her head, seemingly starting to mull over my words.

Oh no, did I inadvertently lead her down a peculiar line of thought?

I can understand why divining the Fallen Demon Hunter would reveal Mazao. Although I am not certain about the specific principles of Luo Mountain’s divination, Mazao did indeed possess the charred finger of a Fallen Demon Hunter.

And now, what relieved me most was the fact that "Mazao was still in Saltwater City."

These past few days, no matter how I searched, I couldn’t find Mazao. My biggest worry was whether Mazao had already performed a Space Transfer to another city. I had considered whether I should use the power of Luo Mountain to find her, but I wasn’t part of Luo Mountain yet and couldn’t come up with a good reason to do so. Yet, in the end, it was through Zhu Shi that I obtained a lead on Mazao.

From my perspective, perhaps Mazao was also searching for the Fallen Demon Hunter.

Her motive was unclear, but in such a big city, the fact that her sighting was on a "route suspected to have been taken by the Fallen Demon Hunter," coupled with carrying a Fallen Demon Hunter’s charred finger, made it hard to believe that she had no connection to the Fallen Demon Hunter’s current target.

Of course, another possibility was that her Broom Star Physique was attracting the "Fallen Demon Hunter incident."

The truth didn’t matter; what was most important now was that the two tasks of "searching for the Fallen Demon Hunter that threatens Changan" and "searching for Mazao" had merged into one.

Finding the former might lead to the latter.

How serendipitous—just when all seemed lost, a new path appears!

Suddenly, I sensed a discrepancy and asked, "Zhu Shi, are you showing me these pictures because you want me to act with you from now on?"

"Yes," Zhu Shi nodded agreeably.

"Has my application to become an Outer Path Impermanence of Luo Mountain been approved?" I inquired.

"No, not yet." She shook her head.

That was strange. While I really wanted to be involved in investigating this incident, given Zhu Shi’s extremely cautious nature when it came to supernatural events, she shouldn’t have dragged a stranger like me into it. Just because I was "capable" didn’t mean she would think I should take on "extra work"—that wasn’t how she operated.

"Actually, the reason I’ve come to you for this case is because it’s related to you becoming the ’Outer Path Impermanence,’" Zhu Shi seemed to be searching for the right angle to broach the topic, "Did Agent Kong ever mention to you that he was responsible for the area around Saltwater University? Now that he’s dead, naturally, someone new must take over the territory."

I caught her implication, "My becoming the Outer Path Impermanence is related to this new agent?"

"Yes, but the person who’s taking over our area isn’t an ’agent,’ but a ’Patrol,’" she said.

"Patrol?" I immediately made the connection, "Is it the same ’Patrol’ that’s synonymous with ’Patrol Deity’?"

"Exactly," she nodded.

In our country’s folk beliefs, there exist Day Patrol Deities and Night Patrol Deities who serve under King Yan, City God, and other deities of the nether world.

They are also known as day patrol and night patrol, charged with monitoring the good and evil in the mortal world.

"In Luo Mountain, ’demon hunters’ who deal with the supernatural are called ’Evil’; those in charge of investigating are called ’Patrols,’" Zhu Shi explained.

"What about ’probes’?" I inquired, "The agents also investigate the supernatural, right?"

She pondered for a moment, then asked me a question, "Zhuang Cheng, have you ever felt that compared to Evil and Patrol, terms like ’probe’ and ’agent’ seem too modern?"

"I do have that feeling," I admitted.

"In ancient times, agents were known as underworld emissaries, or ghost soldiers, and the like. Because they were actually ordinary people, Luo Mountain did not consider them part of their own, but rather viewed them as personal forces of the Patrol," she said, "In ancient times, as there were few Patrols, it was very difficult for them to monitor supernatural activities in their territories, so they had to cultivate their own power among the civilians. That is the origin of the agents.

"It was only in modern times that the agents were formally accepted by Luo Mountain. As agents are the part of Luo Mountain closest to the civilians, it wasn’t appropriate for them to refer to themselves as emissaries or ghost soldiers, so they adopted a name that fit the modern style."

"I see..."

I wasn’t entirely convinced by this explanation. Just because they couldn’t publicly call themselves emissaries or ghost soldiers, they chose "probe," a name that clearly objectifies? It seems to me that Luo Mountain might harbor some invisible discrimination against ordinary people.

"Do you mean that the Patrol is the superior authority over the agents?" As I spoke, I suddenly made a connection.

Agent Kong had mentioned that the reason he pretended to be a police officer to look for Mazao was because of an order from a superior.

Could it be...

"The Patrol now taking over the university’s area was Agent Kong’s superior?" I asked.

"Yes," Zhu Shi confirmed, "At the same time, the Patrol also has another duty, which is to monitor the activities of civilian demon hunters. And if there’s someone among the civilian demon hunters who is strong enough to become the Outer Path Impermanence, the Patrol also has the authority to assess them.

"I had hoped to use my family’s connections to help you bypass those procedures, but after that Patrol learned that you had defeated Agent Kong, he proposed using the Fallen Demon Hunter incident as an assessment to test your power levels."

After thinking it over, I asked, "Is the relationship between that Patrol and Agent Kong very good?"

"Very good." She said, "That Patrol just switched to being a Patrol last year and was previously a highly skilled Evil.

"I heard that twenty years ago, when Agent Kong hadn’t joined Luo Mountain, he was involved in a supernatural event and nearly starved to death in an evil spirit’s endless maze. And the one who saved him back then, who was still an Evil at the time, was that Patrol.

"I think that he might have some issues with you now and wants to trip you up..."

Before she could finish, I heard a voice coming from the side, "It’s not very nice to talk behind my back like that, Zhu Shi."

"Lu Chan?" Zhu Shi frowned.

I looked towards the source of the voice and saw a young man crossing the street. He was dressed in a deep blue outfit with a mix of modern and traditional elements.

"Seeing you leave in the middle of analyzing the case and not returning for so long, I came to find you myself," the man first spoke to Zhu Shi, then turned to me with a genial smile, "You must be Zhuang Cheng, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Lu Chan, the Luoshan Patrol."

He extended his hand toward me, but I was just observing him.

He was the one who had ordered Agent Kong to look for Mazao.

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