Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 94 - 91 Go home2

Chapter 94: 91 Go home2

Before I knew of the existence of Great Impermanence, I always believed I had the power to contend with the whole world on my own. Even if I couldn’t defeat the other side, I wouldn’t be defeated by them either. Although I had no ambition to oppose the whole world, there was a certain confidence—or perhaps arrogance—in my heart that I couldn’t quite define as confidence or recklessness.

However, Zhu Shi had told me that the Great Impermanences of Luo Mountain could manipulate energy on a scale equivalent to hundreds to thousands of atomic bomb explosions—large-scale natural disasters. Compared to such inconceivably powerful beings, I was obviously inferior, so after that, I never again entertained the notion of comparing myself to the whole world. Assuming that the Great Demons of the Doomsday Era were fallen beings transformed from Great Impermanence level entities, my guess would be that the Disaster Demon was myself in the Doomsday Era, which was clearly an overestimation of my abilities.

That kind of speculation is not something I could voice to others, as it sounds like a middle schooler fantasizing about becoming some impressive villain after "turning dark." I would definitely mock such thoughts privately. However, my guess wasn’t entirely baseless. Even though I am far from reaching the level of Great Impermanence now, my powers have not stopped growing. Who’s to say that the future me won’t grow into a being of Great Impermanence level, and then fall to becoming a Great Demon?

Of course, it’s better not to fall if possible. Although I really like the plotline that "the future me is a notorious supervillain character," but...

Upon reflection, there’s no significant "but" after all. Since I won’t tell anyone else, I might as well admit to myself. I really am naive, secretly harboring expectations for such a plotline.

As for my earlier question, Mazao gave a negative answer—she couldn’t remember if she had seen Zhu Shi during the Doomsday Era.

Affected by the madness of the Doomsday Era, besides her daily companion, the No. 2 small bowl, she couldn’t remember the faces of many people. There might be a chance of recognition if she saw them again. Or she might just feel a sense of familiarity—this is what she told me.

Mazao was gradually becoming calmer now, as if she had also noticed some problems that went undetected in the chaos of earlier moments.

"Zhuang Cheng, may I take another look at your Divine Seal Fragment?" she asked.

I had no objections, and once again, I took out the Divine Seal Fragment, offering it to her openly.

She only glanced at it a few times before returning it to me, with a very puzzled look on her face.

"Is there something unusual about this Divine Seal Fragment?" I wondered.

"It’s not so much that there’s something unusual on this fragment..." she said, utterly perplexed, "but rather the existence of the fragment itself is an anomaly. The Divine Seal I’m looking for shouldn’t be like this..."

"This isn’t the Divine Seal Fragment you’re looking for?" I asked in surprise.

"I did say that I wanted to find the Divine Seal, but I never specified that I’d start from its fragments," she said, quite puzzled, "According to the Doomsday Era’s records of the Divine Seal, it broke after Doomsday arrived. In other words, the Divine Seal of this era should still be intact."

Intact? I immediately caught on. That’s right, the Divine Seal’s relation to the advent of Doomsday is because of its world-altering power. Therefore, the Divine Seal of this era must be complete. Only a complete Divine Seal has the power to change fate.

So how should I explain this Divine Seal Fragment in my hand? I acquired it from the basement of the room on the fifteenth floor; could it be that this room’s basement actually connects to the future after Doomsday?

That speculation was a bit of a leap. And if so, how then did No. 1 and No. 4 Xuanming come to possess their Divine Seal Fragments?

After pondering, I ventured a guess, "Could it be that the Divine Seal of this era was broken from the start, and it was simply collected in its entirety later on? Then, upon the arrival of Doomsday, it fell into pieces once more?"

"...Based on the materials I’ve encountered, the Divine Seal should have only broken once, which was during Doomsday. There shouldn’t be an earlier instance of it breaking..." she responded.

Lost in confusion and thought, Mazao fell silent.

After a long while, we finally arrived back at our doorstep, and she seemed to have surfaced, for the moment, from the mire of her contemplations.

I opened the door, welcomed her into the entrance, and turned on the lights. Since she had only been gone for three days, everything in the living room remained virtually the same.

She took off her cat whiskers mask and looked around at the familiar living room with a hint of nostalgia.

"Welcome back," I said, trying to create the ambiance of home, "Would you like to eat first, or take a bath?"

"There’s no need for a bath. Zhu Shi should have explained my abilities to you; I can use them to clean my own body and clothes," she replied, "As for food, I don’t need to eat. I can reset my own hunger with my abilities. However..."

As she spoke, she seemed tempted. It was very likely she hadn’t eaten anything for the past three days. Seizing the moment before she could say "never mind," I immediately offered, "I’ll cook something for you to eat."

"Um..." she nodded, a bit shyly.

I took the ingredients out of the fridge, put on an apron in the kitchen, and cooked for Mazao just as I had on those previous days. Engaging in these familiar steps, I couldn’t help but feel like a train that had lost control was finally back on track; the heavy stone in my heart seemed to finally touch ground.

Mazao had finally come back...

I couldn’t help but relax my entire body; my always tense and rigid thoughts instantly became lively.

Whether it was the potentially toppling Doomsday or the unfathomable Luo Mountain, neither was as important to me as Mazao, who truly had changed my life.

Actually, I had thought about it—if Doomsday was destined to come, I just needed to sit at home and wait to greet the grand adventure. But is the future really predetermined?

What if Doomsday never came? What if, while I foolishly waited at home, Mazao or someone else stopped it? After all, Doomsday is a matter of the future, uncertain by nature. To me, it’s no different from a bad check.

Even though I now believed in the existence of Doomsday and could seriously ponder its details, I still couldn’t wait wholeheartedly. Nor could I compare it to the very real Mazao, whom I could touch with my own hands.

The same went for Luo Mountain. In the past, Zhu Shi told me that unless I could figure out the reason behind my repulsion to the supernatural, even becoming a member of Luo Mountain wouldn’t enable me to bond with the supernatural. Although the reason is now clear, I still haven’t found a solution. I would just be repeating the same mistakes.

Truthfully, I am somewhat curious about such developments. Now that I’ve connected with Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun and have become an Outer Path Impermanence of Luo Mountain, how would the repelling effect manage to push me out of this supernatural world? That should be impossible.

But I’m not impulsive enough to explore this mystery through practice. There’s that saying—I know the difference between being full for a meal and full for every meal. To unravel this not-so-thrilling mystery at the expense of returning to a normal future is unacceptable to me. At most, I just think about it.

In my worst imagination, if I could never find Mazao again, perhaps the world around me would return to normal. "Demon hunter Zhu Shi" would disappear, and in the future, only "female university student Zhu Shi" would be in front of me. The Zhu family would no longer be a family of demon hunters but merely a wealthy but invisible local family. Characters like Lu Youxun and others would vanish and never appear before me again.

I understand such changes defy common sense, yet if my inability to connect with the supernatural is itself a kind of supernatural trait, then expecting it to operate logically is undoubtedly wishful thinking.

Even if it’s not that bad, like when I worked with Agent Kong to investigate the deserted construction site—when even a soul-attracting charm was used to no avail, the evil spirits didn’t appear. Simply that is unacceptable to me. This means that wherever I go, I would only be a dead pond, ineffective even if I were with someone who could encounter the supernatural.

Speaking of which, when I was with Agent Kong back then, I should still have been under the influence of Mazao’s Broom Star Physique... does that mean there really were no evil spirits in that place?

At this moment, my phone rang.

I was stewing meat at the time and was able to free my hands, so I took out my phone and looked down at it.

It was a call from Zhu Shi. I decided to step into the corridor before answering. Her voice came through from the other side, saying she had already given the severed hand to Lu Youxun.

"How did Lu Youxun react?" I asked.

"He’s not having much luck," she sighed. "That strange person indeed has anti-divination abilities. Lu Chan and I analyzed it and think the problem might lie with that shape-shifting superpower.

"Unlike the last supernatural being who could only transfer harm elsewhere, this one can passively transfer all effects and causality directed at itself to another place. Our Divination Skill might be affected by this superpower’s properties, which might have caused our misjudgment previously.

"In short, we can’t rely on Lu Chan this time. Mazao mentioned before that she could also use her ability to track targets; could you ask her about it later?"

"Sure, I’ll ask," I said.

"And don’t forget to remind her to be careful not to be discovered by Extraordinaryism," she said seriously. "It’s best not to let Lu Chan know we have found her."

"I understand," I said. "Also, I have a very important question to ask you."

"What question?" she was curious.

"You said before that I can’t encounter the supernatural because my power is too strong, and that the Great Impermanences have the same issue, right?" I asked.

"Yes, to be precise, besides the Great Impermanences, there are also a very small number of exceptionally powerful demon hunters who face the same problem," she answered.

"So, how did they solve this problem?" I asked.