Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 79 - 76 The Emerging Shadow of the Enemy 3

Chapter 79: 76 The Emerging Shadow of the Enemy 3

Lu Youxun had always been amiable and graceful, always speaking and acting genteelly as if he was never capable of anger. Therefore, when Zhu Shi mentioned to me about his tragic experience of being captured and researched by an underground organization, it was hard for me to associate it with the man I knew in reality. He seemed like a person who had always had a smooth and stable life, matching his stable emotional state.

But at this moment, he displayed unprecedented hatred and rage, with bulging veins on his forehead and a fierce, bloodshot gaze, looking like a completely different person. If the man wearing a silver mask in the photo were to appear before him, I had no doubt he would pounce like a demon, biting off his face and ruthlessly tearing apart his flesh.

"What is the Human Bureau?" I asked Lu Youxun, although I had already speculated.

Zhu Shi glanced at the completely engrossed Lu Youxun, seemingly hesitant to explain in Lu Youxun’s presence.

But Lu Youxun, taking deep breaths as if trying to calm his rage, then said, "It is a mysterious organization operating outside the usual order of Luo Mountain. They capture folk monks... folk demon hunters, and even Luoshan Demon Hunters across the country, all to decipher the powers of demon hunters using scientific technology.

"Their goal is to create Extraordinary Soldiers who completely obey civilian societal management and follow the commands of civilian leaders.

"Luo Mountain’s destiny is to become the ruler of the secular world, but they refuse to accept this future, acting against the tide of the era like madmen."

It appeared the Human Bureau was the underground organization that once captured and researched Lu Youxun.

Lu Youxun’s words clearly had a biased stance, and I selectively absorbed and digested them, then continued to ask, "Is the Weirdo Maker a member of the Human Bureau?"

"Yes. I had encounters with the Silver Mask, the Weirdo Maker himself. Even if he turns to ash, I would recognize him." Lu Youxun said, his anger still not fully abated, "Indeed, the one who turns people into monsters and uses the ’seed of the heart’... That certainly sounds like something the Human Bureau would do."

It seemed the monsters were indeed creations of the mystical organization, the Human Bureau.

At the same time, the monsters seemed to have a connection with Sin Demons that appeared in the Doomsday.

However, according to Mazao, Sin Demons were not transformed from human bodies, but were rather the result of survivors being corrupted by a mysterious substance called "Madness" that spread across the Doomsday World...

Could "Madness" also be related to this mysterious organization called the Human Bureau?

The ability of Madness to infiltrate the human body, causing gradual memory loss and loss of self, eventually turning people into monsters, actually felt like a "highly contagious virus," and it involuntarily reminded me of several apocalyptic horror films.

In those films, a terrifying virus that could turn humans into zombies or other monsters suddenly becomes widespread worldwide, ultimately leading to the destruction of human civilization. Sometimes, such viruses are connected to conspiracy theories, speculated to be forbidden creations accidentally produced by some large organizations researching biological weapons or technologies for immortality.

From this thought, it’s not hard to assume "the Human Bureau is directly responsible for the onset of Doomsday."

But could it really be that simple? In the Doomsday described by Mazao, Madness seemed merely a side character. Rather than being the main cause of Doomsday’s arrival, it was like one of the many bizarre groups rampaging across the Doomsday World. Just as many viewers of apocalypse films believe that even if a zombie virus truly emerged, it wouldn’t destroy human civilization, I found it hard to believe that Madness alone could lead to the end of human civilization.

Lu Youxun finally seemed to regain his composure and grace; his breathing stabilized, he once again addressed the head before him, "Where is the Weirdo Maker?"

The head, seemingly intimidated by the previous outburst of rage, honestly replied, "I don’t know."

"You must have used some consumable item to draw us into the labyrinth space, was that item given to you by the Weirdo Maker?" Zhu Shi asked.

"Yes," the head answered.

"Why did he give that item to you? Don’t tell me it was just for your self-defense," Zhu Shi questioned.

The head gave an unexpected answer, "To deal with someone named ’Kong Da.’"

"Agent Kong?" Zhu Shi exclaimed.

Lu Youxun pressed, "Isn’t Kong Da just like you, a monster transformed by the Weirdo Maker? Why would the Weirdo Maker instruct you to go against him?"

"Because Kong Da recently reached the limit of his power. The Weirdo Maker hoped he could break through to the next stage," the head answered. "For a monster to break through to the next stage, it must elevate its soul.

"Although this elevation could be forcibly achieved by devouring a large number of souls, the Weirdo Maker wanted Kong Da to elevate his soul by overcoming his own inner demons. Thus, he gave me the one-time key to the labyrinth space a week ago, instructing me to find an opportunity to trap Kong Da inside.

"The Weirdo Maker set the criteria to pass the labyrinth as ’breakthrough from Residence Level to Achieved Level.’ Although I don’t know what the labyrinth space has to do with Kong Da’s inner demons, unless Kong Da meets the conditions, he will surely starve to death inside.

"Just didn’t expect that before I could find him, he had already disappeared. Since you all know he’s a monster, I assume you must have killed him..."

"What is a maze space?" Lu Youxun asked us.

Zhu Shi explained it to him, and after listening, he pondered for a moment and then let out a long sigh, "So it’s like that. I actually never managed to truly save him... Until his death, his spirit was trapped in the ’ghost-hitting-the-wall’ from twenty years ago..."

After a moment of thought, I asked the skull, "I don’t quite understand, can’t you weirdos also summon avatars from shadows? If you summon enough avatars in the maze space, can’t you ignore the clearance conditions and forcefully break out?"

"The maze space only considers individuals with spirit and perception as the core. Although the avatars we summon have a certain degree of intelligence, they don’t have a real spirit, and we can’t share senses with them," the skull replied. "Kong Da could be considered an exception. The Weirdo Maker told me that Kong Da’s superpower is ’creating substitutes.’ He can temporarily bestow his seed of the heart to others, turning them into avatars controlled and dominated by him, and share senses with them.

"However, he can only control one avatar at a time, and to cause the maze space to overload and collapse, at least two thousand entities with perception are needed to disperse within it. We weirdos can summon no more than ten avatars at a time, I being somewhat special can summon up to several dozen. Two thousand is a number far beyond our reach as weirdos.

"There is another not so traditional way to crack the maze space, which involves unleashing tremendous firepower inside, at least on the scale of a gas explosion like those recently around Saltwater University. The maze space would be temporarily breached. But that level of power is also beyond what we weirdos can achieve..."

So, the maze space could also be cracked by brute force.

I even racked my brain over it.

"Agent Kong can temporarily bestow his source of strength?" Zhu Shi suddenly realized, "No wonder I never realized he was a weirdo, even though he often loitered in front of me."

I don’t know what came to mind, but Lu Youxun’s expression turned grim, "You weirdos can summon avatars from shadows... I do remember seeing this in the records..."

"Are there other weirdos in this city?" I asked the skull, "Apart from you and the deceased Agent Kong, how many others are there?"

"Only one." The skull replied.

"What is his real identity? Where does he reside?" I inquired.

"I don’t know. I’ve only been a weirdo for ten days, and although I’ve had contact with another weirdo, I don’t know their real identity. It was the Weirdo Maker who told me Kong Da’s real identity as a weirdo, a fact that I only learned from him, and before that, I hadn’t even met Kong Da," the skull explained, "I only know the other weirdo probably lives in the new district, other details I am not clear about."

The one attacking Changan, must be the other weirdo he mentioned.

And if I wanted to find Mazao, I would have to start in that direction.

When Lu Youxun heard he had been a weirdo for only ten days, it seemed to prompt further realization, "So you’re saying that the weirdo killing local dignitaries in recent months isn’t you, but that other weirdo?"

"Yes." replied the skull.

"That’s odd, we were tracking the weirdo killing local dignitaries, and that is how we ended up finding you," Lu Youxun mused, "I even used divination, at least your connection to these events should have been significant..."

He took out photos of two recent murder scenes from his breast pocket to show the skull, "Did you do these two?"

The two murder scenes, one of an elderly individual killed alone outdoors, and another of a husband and his wife and son murdered together.

The skull’s gaze focused on the latter

After a moment, it responded, "...The scene where the family of three was killed, that was my doing, the other wasn’t."

"Is that so..." Lu Youxun seemed still perplexed, but didn’t voice his questions, mulling over them silently.

Zhu Shi stared intently at the skull, asking seriously, "Did you become a weirdo voluntarily? Or did the Weirdo Maker force you?"

"I did it voluntarily," the skull said.

Zhu Shi asked further, "Did he tell you beforehand that after becoming a weirdo, you’d crave human souls?"

"He did," the skull confessed openly, "He even told me that if I didn’t kill people and consume souls for a long time, I’d go berserk and become a demon that knows only to greedily devour souls. And if I didn’t want to become a weirdo, he would have just walked away."

"And you just agreed like that?" Zhu Shi said, unable to comprehend.

"What else? It was a great opportunity!" At this, the skull seemed to recall the emotions of that time, and his voice became passionate, "To become an existence that transcends humans—to become superhuman! How could I possibly miss such an opportunity? Absolutely not!

"Now, I am a life that reigns above the masses. If transported back to ancient times, I could even tell those ignorant mortals that I am a god descended to the mortal world, and those mortals—they should all obey me, worship me, and become my slaves!"