Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 77 - 74 The Emerging Shadow of the Enemy 1

Chapter 77: 74 The Emerging Shadow of the Enemy 1

"No, not restored!?" the creature screamed incredulously, "Why were the injuries not transferred? This is impossible!"

Zhu Shi swung his sword through the air, flicking the blood from the blade, and without a trace of pity, glanced at the creature lying on the ground, "Zhuang Cheng, stop his bleeding."

At his words, I looked at the creature and suddenly flames burst forth from the severed limbs. The wounds were scorched to a crisp, stopping the blood from spurting out.

He let out a dreadful scream but still clung to life, trying to manipulate the shadows around him. However, as soon as these shadows stirred, I destroyed them with fire, rendering them utterly useless.

It seemed now he also could no longer trap us in a maze of space. It was quite likely, as Zhu Shi had conjectured, that the creature had relied on consumable items to achieve what he had done before. Now, he was truly defeated.

But how did Zhu Shi manage to prevent the creature from restoring his body? I couldn’t achieve this no matter what I did. It didn’t seem like the creature’s "Life Quantity" had been exhausted. I wondered if Zhu Shi would be willing to tell me the answer if I asked him privately later.

Zhu Shi’s eyes, previously a piercing blue, returned to their normal color, and her indifferent expression faded.

I also reverted from my Fire Element form and walked up to her, "Sorry for stealing your chance to shine."

"I was just saying that offhand, I didn’t really mean to complain," she said quietly, adding softly, "Although I really did want to show off in front of you..."

"You are performing quite well now, aren’t you?" I said, looking at the creature on the ground.

Zhu Shi also looked at the pitiful enemy on the ground, but she showed no signs of pride or accomplishment, just sighed complicatedly.

"You are the creature who has been killing the local nobility over the past two months, right? We have some questions for you," she said.

However, the creature turned a deaf ear, mumbling crazily, "Impossible, impossible, why... why wasn’t it restored, why was the maze destroyed..."

"Are you talking about how to destroy the maze? It’s actually very simple, I..." I was about to explain when I was sharply glared at by someone nearby.

Zhu Shi purposely said in a fierce tone, "Senior Brother Zhuang, can you please refrain from explaining your methods to the enemy?"

Why did she choose this moment to call me Senior Brother Zhuang... I had no choice but to swallow my explanation.

Honestly, I knew the harmful impact of my actions; I did it fully aware of the consequences. But even if I said that, she wouldn’t accept it. Since her stance was so clear, I would restrain myself in the future. After all, it wasn’t my first time doing this; it was akin to fulfilling a wish list. Giving in a little for the sake of a friend on such a trivial matter isn’t too bad.

Zhu Shi seemed weary and sighed again.

"So, what do we do with him now? Taking him alive isn’t an option, is it?" I asked.

Before she could respond, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly came from afar, "Since he hasn’t self-destructed yet, let’s just interrogate him for now."

Zhu Shi and I looked towards the voice and saw a young man dressed in a mix of modern and traditional dark blue attire approaching us from across the field.

"Lu Chan, what brings you here?" Zhu Shi was surprised.

I hadn’t sensed Lu Youxun when I first transformed into the Fire Element; he must have arrived after I reverted to my normal form.

"With such intense and frequent mana fluctuations coming from here that suddenly disappeared, I had to come and check," Lu Youxun said with a smile, then his expression turned serious as he looked at the creature on the ground, "Is this the creature?"

Zhu Shi nodded, "Yes, but he seems unwilling to answer our questions honestly. Do you have a way to make him talk?"

"Leave it to me. This is my current duty." As he spoke, Lu Youxun pulled a black ring from his pocket and put it on his right middle finger.

As he approached, I could see the ring clearly. It was a black ring that seemed to be made of twisted wire, with some bloodstains on the surface. After putting it on, his right hand became ghostly and indistinct, like a phantom’s hand.

The creature continued to struggle as Lu Youxun moved in front of him, then crouched down and thrust his spectral right hand directly into the creature’s chest.

Despite the creature being blasted apart by me and slashed by Zhu Shi, his body should have been extremely tough. Yet before this right hand, the creature’s body was as defenseless as tofu.

No, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t that the creature’s body was penetrated; Lu Youxun’s right hand had entered the creature’s body as if passing through a wall. From the entry point, it appeared he had grabbed the creature’s heart deeply inside the chest.

The creature was suddenly immobilized, like a cat gripped by the back of its neck.

"I have grasped his heart," Lu Youxun stated calmly. "From now on, he cannot lie to us, nor remain silent about our questions."

Was this the effect of the ring he wore? To think such a tool existed.

While I was still amazed, Zhu Shi showed no surprise and began to question the creature, "Did you attack my brother... did you attack Zhu Changan?"

The creature’s eyes darted around, seemingly looking for a way to escape, but his mouth moved involuntarily, "Zhu Changan? Who is that?"

"Not you?" Zhu Shi was startled.

I took out my phone from my pocket, pulled up a photo of Changan, and showed it to him, then asked, "Do you recognize this person?"

The monster seemed to be struggling to control his mouth but still uncontrollably answered, "I don’t recognize..."

Zhu Shi and I exchanged glances.

There was no doubt that the monster had attacked Changan, but the monster in front of us didn’t know Changan’s name and didn’t recognize his face.

In other words, there were indeed more monsters in this city.

Lu Youxun, using his free left hand, took out a photo from his pocket. I caught a glimpse of the photo—it was a close-up and it showed Mazao’s face. Agent Kong had produced the same photo when he first visited.

He showed the photo to the monster and then asked, "So, do you recognize this girl?"

I was just as eager to know the answer. But under the scrutiny of Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun, I couldn’t appear too desperate or concerned. Thankfully, Lu Youxun had asked the question early on.

However, if the monster actually had a clue, it meant that Lu Youxun would hear it as well—there was no avoiding that.

After seeing the photo clearly, the monster’s eyes widened, "It’s her!"

"Have you seen her?" I immediately asked.

"Last night, I was hunting prey in the new district when she suddenly appeared from the dark and attacked me..." the monster spoke with his uncontrollable mouth, "The damage I inflicted on her, she could recover instantly; but the damage she inflicted on me, for some reason, I couldn’t heal it right on the spot.

"Moreover, in front of her, for some unknown reason, I couldn’t even enter the Shadow World. I just kept running and running, not knowing how long it took before I finally got away..."

He really had seen Mazao!

But why had Mazao attacked him?

Could it be that, in Mazao’s view, the monster was a sign of the apocalypse? Was she attacking the monster because she wanted to investigate evidence of the impending apocalypse?

It seemed that Mazao also possessed some kind of ability to heal injuries and could even prevent an enemy from using their powers. But why didn’t she heal herself when she was with me? Was it because she could only heal visible injuries, or because her injuries were so severe at that time she couldn’t even use her recovery abilities until recently?

I immediately asked where in the new district he had seen Mazao, and the monster truthfully told me.

Besides, I noticed another detail, "She uses Space Transfer, are you sure you got rid of her?"

"Space Transfer?" The monster looked confused, "No, she didn’t use Space Transfer in front of me..."

"The fact that she wounded you badly enough to make you run away suggests that the soul loss girl had at least Residence Level skills. But are you sure you really got away?" Lu Youxun pondered, "It’s very difficult to shake off someone with Space Transfer abilities by just moving normally, especially since the soul loss girl seemed to purposefully not use her Space Transfer abilities in front of you... Are you sure she wasn’t following you?"

Following was the method I had originally planned to use on this monster; I never imagined Mazao might also consider doing the same.

But indeed, it was possible. Since I thought of tailing the monster to draw out Mazao, she could also think of tailing the monster to investigate clues related to the apocalypse.

In other words, might Mazao be nearby right now? I looked around but saw no trace of others. I hadn’t sensed anyone else when I had elementalized earlier. Still, I couldn’t be sure Mazao wasn’t monitoring this place from somewhere farther away.

Not just me, Lu Youxun and Zhu Shi also seemed to be discreetly observing the surroundings.

At that moment, the monster made a new move.

Perhaps driven by a strong desire to survive, he demonstrated an exceptional level of perception and seemed to see an opportunity for a final attempt. He suddenly let out an incredibly loud roar, drawing our attention to him. Almost simultaneously, the shadows at our feet darkened and enlarged rapidly, and the ground momentarily turned as soft as a marsh.

He was trying to pull us into the Shadow World.

Even then, I never let my guard down against this move. His final attempt was destined to fail. Even Lu Youxun didn’t show any sign of surprise but quickly withdrew his unstable right hand, seeming to prepare for something.

Among us, Zhu Shi was the quickest. Her expression unchanged, she swung her sword and thrust it toward the ground like lightning.

The shadow, as if stabbed in its vital point, receded as swiftly as a tide going out, reverting to a completely ordinary shadow.

Seeing this, the monster finally showed a truly desperate expression.

His strong and bizarre body rapidly deformed and shrank, transforming into the likeness of an ordinary human; and in stark contrast to this normalization, the next moment, his entire body gruesomely swelled, as if about to explode from the inside.

He was going to self-destruct!

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