Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 76 - 73 Break through 2

Chapter 76: 73 Break through 2

If this space has a "purpose," or rather a "design concept," the existence of the maze must carry some significance.

I am very aware that "purpose" and "design concept" are two different things. The fact that people can throw stones doesn’t mean that stones are designed for that purpose; nature doesn’t have stones that are designed. However, nature also doesn’t have corridors. Corridors are clearly man-made.

Of course, in strange incidents, even if man-made objects do appear, it doesn’t mean there is actually a designer behind them. Because the strange transcends common sense, it’s also possible for "naturally occurring man-made objects" to appear without reason. That’s why detective stories prohibit supernatural powers. Once supernatural powers appear, then truly anything becomes possible.

I can only propose it as a direction—since this space has corridors, has a purpose, and contains consumables that can involve people from the outside world (although this is just Zhu Shi’s way of speaking), it wouldn’t be surprising if there indeed was a designer lurking in the background. Whether that designer is the "Weirdo Maker" mentioned by the weirdo is another matter.

I will assume for now that this corridor-like maze has its significance, so what method should be used to catch a glimpse of its meaning?

Very simple, just destroy it. Many things, when they exist, are often difficult to notice in their significance; but when they disappear, people will realize they are irreplaceable. Now I am going to destroy the corridor before me.

I lifted my right hand again and condensed a fireball in the palm of my hand. This fireball, initially the size of a soccer ball, rapidly expanded into a massive sphere over five meters in diameter.

Clearly, such a huge object couldn’t fit in the corridor. The ceiling and the floor were burned to melting, revealing the levels above and below. Feeling that such a large fireball was temporarily sufficient, I aimed it at the wall next to me. The giant fireball, over five meters in diameter, was blasted out at high speed.

To prevent shock waves that might injure Zhu Shi, the giant fireball started out at the speed of a car, but as it traveled further and further, its velocity increased rapidly, easily surpassing the speed of sound.

Zhu Shi was shocked by the commotion on my side, glancing at me and then at the giant fireball disappearing into the distance, seemingly thinking that I was stimulated by the inescapable situation and issued a soothing voice, "Don’t worry, don’t worry, Senior Brother Zhuang. Although conquering Different Space isn’t my strong suit, I have already figured something out. I will definitely get you out of here."

As I was about to say there’s no need to worry about me... her following words captured my attention, and I asked curiously, "What have you figured out?"

"Even though this Different Space doesn’t belong to the real world, it’s very close to it," she said confidently, "Which means that once it’s destroyed, we’ll automatically return to the real world."

"You have a way to destroy Different Space itself?"

"As long as I can find a flaw..."

While speaking, she focused her attention on the air in front of her, apparently concentrating on observing the space itself. From time to time, she lifted her sword as though measuring where to cut.

She wouldn’t be hiding some sort of Shattered Void ability, would she?... I couldn’t tell what she planned on doing for a moment, so I had to focus my attention too, to perceive the giant fireball I had released.

And just by perceiving it, I immediately noticed something abnormal.

I then realized that the weirdo’s previous boast that it would take centuries to escape from this maze and that the space was infinitely large might not have been an exaggeration.

On the path formed by the rampaging giant fireball, I could see the scenes hundreds of meters away becoming ambiguously unclear in detail.

I could not possibly make out such distant details with the naked eye; I was seeing them through a special perception centered on the giant fireball. Even small "fireflies" allowed me to eavesdrop on the content of other people’s mobile phone calls from afar, and this giant fireball served as my external eyeball, able to exert a perception far beyond my normal state.

I found that the scenery around the giant fireball was normal, while the "resolution" of distant scenes significantly decreased, and even more distant scenery disappeared entirely.

The images that appeared in my perception reminded me of many open-world games on the computer. To save computing resources, those games would reduce or not display the quality of images at a distance from the player’s character. For example, when the character is indoors, the outdoor images would not load, or only partially load.

This Different Space, of course, is not a virtual world, but it seems to follow the same rules. If we move forward, the corridors far behind us disappear, and corridors in the distance ahead are created. The total amount of corridors is constant, and we are always located at the center of the maze.

If we walk honestly, we will never reach the end of the corridor. This is a kind of "infinite" in disguise.

We’ll set aside the weirdo fused with the maze space for now, but there should be about twenty "centers" currently in this maze. Two of them were me and Zhu Shi, and the rest were the giant fireball and the fireballs moving along the wall, as well as the dozen or so "fireflies" I initially released.

Why were those flames also considered "centers"? Was it because I could perceive the surroundings through the flames, or because the flames were part of my spirit? These questions are not important at the moment. What’s important is that, with this, the method of solving the maze has also surfaced.

Since there’s a need to save on "computing resources," that means there is an upper limit.

No wonder this "infinite" space needs to be filled with so many twists and turns of corridors. If someone saw a scene from so far away, it would immediately reveal the trick; the maze’s purpose lies in obscuring this point.

If I simultaneously create an overwhelming number of "centers" and spread them out in all directions, the "computing resources" of this space will be exhausted—at least that’s my hypothesis. The result still has to be tested in practice.

If it were the beginning, I might have been worried about what would happen if this space malfunctioned and collapsed, but since Zhu Shi said that destroying this space would automatically return us to the real world, then I’ll trust her.

My palm once again condensed a Fireball.

"I have a plan," I announced.

As I spoke these words, Zhu Shi shifted her gaze from the air before us, echoing the same sentence.

Then she registered what was happening and gasped in surprise, "Huh? So isn’t this supposed to be my moment to shine?"

It was too late, I had already sprung into action.

I was particularly eager to put my hypothesized "solution to the maze" into practice.

No sooner had my words faded that I smacked the Fireball onto my chest, igniting my whole body as I entered the Fire Element form. To simultaneously control a sufficient number of "Fireflies," the Fire Element form was essential. At the same time, a giant Fireball with a diameter of over five meters in the distance shattered instantly, turning into thousands of "Fireflies," which under my simultaneous manipulation, darted off in all directions at high speed.

A mere dozen or so "centers" were clearly insufficient to reach the maze space’s carrying capacity, but what if the number reached into the thousands?

Every single "Firefly" in the maze space was a "center," with countless corridors forming every moment. As the "Fireflies" dispersed, the ground of the maze space started shaking wildly, and the scene before my eyes became rapidly unstable and illusory.

"What have you done!?" the Monster’s voice rang out again, filled with panic, "The maze... the maze is collapsing! It’s impossible... unless the conditions set by the Weirdo Maker are fulfilled, the maze shouldn’t be solvable!"

Conditions set by the Weirdo Maker? So there was a "specific task to be completed before leaving" feature within the maze?

If this Monster was the "game master," it was clear that from the beginning, he never intended for us to solve his riddle. Therefore, it was perfectly fair to unravel the puzzle using our unorthodox means.

The ground’s tremors intensified, the corridors began to crack and break in great numbers. And then, corridors themselves completely shattered. Almost at the same time, everything went dark for me.

The darkness lasted only a second, just like when we entered the maze space, and quick to return to normal. I found myself standing on a soccer field, ahead lay the turf I had previously pummeled with a barrage of Fireballs, creating countless craters, and there stood the Monster, who resembled a demi-Demon, looking bewildered and lost.

I had successfully conquered the maze space from the inside, a sense of achievement and relief filled my heart.

The Monster’s gaze fixed on me.

Immediately after, his expression changed drastically, and he turned and fled. While running, he manipulated the nearby shadows to curl around him—clearly trying to enter the Shadow World and transport himself elsewhere.

Escape was an impossible task with me present.

I first glanced at the shadow he was manipulating and ignited it with my gaze. Although I couldn’t quite understand why shadows could be destroyed by high temperatures, they disintegrated like paper beneath the fire’s scorch.

Then I raised my right hand. In my current Fire Element form, my body could reshape at will. In other words, I had complete freedom to elongate and enlarge my arms as desired.

In an instant, my right arm stretched out nearly twenty meters, my hand growing immensely large, as I snatched the Monster, who hadn’t managed to get far, like a mouse scrambling to escape. Immediately, flames burst forth from my palm, vaporizing the Monster’s body below its head in an instant.

The Monster’s head fell from the fiery giant’s hand onto the ground, returning to an undamaged state in moments as it let out an unhinged scream, scrambling to flee away from me.

Just then, a figure in a straw raincoat, with a hat and a sword in hand, emerged from the night and blocked his path.

Eyes imbued with a piercing cold blue radiance slowly opened in the darkness.

The Monster, appearing not to have seen clearly, reflexively yelled, "Who!?"

"Luoshan Impermanence, Zhu Shi."

Zhu Shi stated calmly, confronting the Monster and slashing with her sword.

Four streaks of sword light severed the Monster’s limbs almost simultaneously, sending him tumbling awkwardly to the ground.

"I’ve told you it’s no use. I have many more counterparts elsewhere; injuries of this degree..." the Monster screamed hysterically as he lay on the ground.

Suddenly, he stopped speaking as if something had choked off his words.

Unlike any other time before, this time, his body did not recover.