Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 80 - 77 The Strange Man Closed His Eyes

Chapter 80: 77 The Strange Man Closed His Eyes

Having great power, he considered himself superhuman, even aspiring to become a god in the mortal world, enslaving ordinary people.

The words spoken by the head at this moment were truly in line with the principle of Lu Youxun’s sect.

Zhu Shi glanced at Lu Youxun, whose expression remained unchanged, as if the head’s words had nothing to do with his own group.

"If it weren’t for you hypocritical Luo Mountain people, I would kill when I want to kill, violate when I want to violate, freely...if it weren’t because of you!" The head still ranted loudly.

Zhu Shi said with particular disgust, "You claim to be superhuman, but you have to prey on the souls of beings, otherwise, you will eventually go mad and lose control. What kind of existence exceeding humanity are you? You are clearly just a parasitic vampire clinging to humanity!"

"It’s just a different way of speaking. It’s a food chain, a predatory relationship. Lions and tigers would starve if they cannot hunt, but even so, they are still prouder than their prey because they are higher up in the food chain," the head said disdainfully, "Besides, isn’t the world we live in just like this? Not only do animals eat animals, but people also eat people, it’s just that the latter’s method is different, their manner is just more ’civilized’."

"You compare yourself to animals, at least you’re conscious of being a bloodthirsty beast," Zhu Shi seemed to get competitive. "The civilization you look down upon is built by countless ordinary people, and the technological conveniences you enjoy in daily life are also developed by countless ordinary people.

"By comparison, what can you, who proclaim yourself superhuman, actually achieve? Can you build a civilization alone? Or develop technology alone? You can do nothing."

"Those dressed in fine clothes are not silk farmers, this world ultimately values the more violent ones as more noble. Don’t you even understand this basic principle?" the head said unshaken, "I was also preyed upon in the past, squeezed hard by my superiors, treated like an animal. Now I am more powerful than them, I can eat whoever I want."

"Given the power you demonstrated earlier and the description of the monster’s power in the files, you must have killed someone before, right?" Zhu Shi asked coldly, "How many people have you killed previously?"

"Not many, just less than ten. Those who oppressed me in the past, who acted high and mighty over me, who only saw me as a sucker...their souls have all become my nourishment," the head revealed a cruel smile.

"So many people dead, but no related reports have been filed yet... Did you dispose of all the bodies?" Zhu Shi asked.

"That’s right. All those bodies have been sunk into the Shadow World," the head answered plainly, "As long as the bodies can’t be found, they can only be temporarily considered as missing persons."

"You, a villainous criminal who dares to commit crimes but not admit them..." Zhu Shi seemed unable to find harsher words, and turned to me instead, "Senior Brother Zhuang, say something!"

Ah, me? Should I, someone who nearly escaped imprisonment?

I thought about it, then also pulled out some photos from the murder scene: "Then...what about the family of three you killed recently? Did they have any grudge against you?"

In the photo was a middle-aged man whose body had been torn apart, killed by a brutal method, and not far from him, a mother and child killed in one blow.

"I didn’t know them before, they were just prey," the head said.

"Since they had no grudge against you, why did you kill them?" I asked, "I’m not saying you shouldn’t kill innocent people—that would be pointless to say to someone like you. Based on my observation, your power isn’t as much as Agent Kong’s, so you haven’t reached your limit yet, right? If so, why choose such high-risk targets like local dignitaries instead of homeless people by the roadside?"

"Because I needed to test myself," the head said solemnly.

"Test?" I asked.

"I am now superhuman, yet I still can’t help but respect these police officers and high-ranking officials. I know why, it’s because of the social teachings ingrained in me since childhood, the so-called ’morals and laws’ constrain me. How absurd is that?" the head said, "I had to kill at least one person of power to prove that I truly transcend the ordinary."

"It seems your test still failed," I said.

"You said what?" the head said darkly.

"You painstakingly researched the background of that family of three, patiently waited for the day the target’s wife and child would leave home before making your move, likely to avoid involving that mother and child," I recalled the previous case analysis and continued. "But the mother and child hadn’t gone on vacation as planned, you realized during the execution phase that all three family members were present...

"No, initially you might have thought only the target was home. If you knew from the start that all three were together, you would have likely waited to catch the target alone since that’s how you operated before.

"And after using brutal methods to kill the target, the sick mother and child, hiding in the room, appeared before you. You only realized something was wrong then and immediately killed them... I must not have guessed wrong. Why did you change your mind then? Was it because they saw your true face?"

My guess seemingly got the situation right, but this time the head couldn’t answer and just opened his mouth, revealing a confused expression: "I... don’t know."

Seeing him give such an answer, Lu Youxun looked surprised.

"Of course, not because they saw your true face, since you were in a transformed state at the time," I looked at the head, "but, you felt that you were seen, right?"

"What’s going on here?" Zhu Shi puzzled.

I stood in the position of the criminal and thought it over.

Assuming I was this monster, I would want to kill my prey without involving their family, yet changed my mind at the last moment; what reason could there be? Not because the prey wanted revenge, as their revenge seemed insignificant from my perspective; and definitely not because they saw my true appearance, as not just my face, my own body had transformed.

However, before the rational judgment that "there is no need to worry about exposing the true self" came to mind, the first thing that surged up was a more direct emotion.

He had killed a husband of a wife, a father of a child, with brutal means; and at that moment, the wife and child of the man unexpectedly appeared before him.

Their eyes, filled with confusion, fear, and hatred, reflected his bloody and terrifying figure.

At such times, what would he think about, and what would he do?

The truth might not be so complicated.

"You don’t have time to think about why you must kill them; your body just starts moving on its own... right?"

"I..." The bewilderment in his head grew thicker, even gradually turning into pain.

Unlike Zhu Shi, I didn’t particularly want to condemn him from a moral or legal perspective, since I myself lacked reverence for morality and law. However, I generally wouldn’t self-promote this attitude. I think it’s somewhat rebelliously childish to emphatically mention one’s disregard for morality and law.

Even if it’s rebelliously childish, if a person is aware of the karma of his actions and can fully accept them, then he can do anything he wants. Save, kill, help, violate—anything is possible. Diving irrationally into a cave with no return is also possible. If one can laugh heartily even at the moment of death, that too is a kind of boldness.

But, I think, he doesn’t seem to be the type who could laugh till the end.

He couldn’t become a good person, and he most likely couldn’t become a thoroughly bad person either.

He was probably just an ordinary person who despised himself.

"Do you regret it?"

I really wanted to know his answer.

"..."

His head painfully closed its eyes, even trembling, yet he still gave no answer, merely keeping silent consistently.

After a moment, he fell from the air and crashed onto the ground.

Lu Youxun picked up the head from the ground.

After examining it repeatedly, he said, "Times up, he’s completely dead."

Hearing this, I felt a sense of disinterested curiosity.

"Although I don’t know what all was said, Zhuang Cheng, it seems like you managed to stop him in his tracks?" Zhu Shi seemed still somewhat puzzled but nevertheless cheered up, "Well, seeing him in such distress just now was somewhat satisfying!"

Lu Youxun also looked at me and exclaimed, "Although your deduction about his crime process was somewhat speculative, I didn’t expect you to really touch upon his inner thoughts in the end. Perhaps this is also a talent. Maybe you have the potential to become a criminal... I mean, a detective."

You just said criminal, didn’t you?

"Well, I’ll take this head back with me first. He mentioned that he met another odd individual, and I want to try to divine their point of contact and the other odd person’s possible future routes," he continued, "Only... there might be some obstacles."

"Is there a problem?" Zhu Shi asked concernedly.

"We came here by divining through a series of local elite mishaps that occurred in the past, and this odd person supposed only killed that one family of three, with the main culprit being another odd person," Lu Youxun explained, "So in terms of cause and effect, the one divined should also be that other odd person. However, the results were not as such.

"The other odd person might possess the power to obstruct divinations. Even if I can divine him, it would likely take a lot of time. It won’t be possible tonight."

"Can you do it tomorrow?" Zhu Shi asked.

"I will notify you once the results are out," Lu Youxun said, "Let’s all head home tonight."

"Alright... then you guys go ahead," Zhu Shi could only nod, "I need to stay here to do some work."

"What are you going to do?" I asked curiously.

"Just some things," Zhu Shi evaded the question, then seeming to realize, "No, wait, Lu Chan, you must stay too until Zhuang Cheng has left before you can go."

"Why is that?" Lu Youxun also asked curiously.

Zhu Shi declared firmly, "Of course, to prevent you two from meeting privately!"

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