Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 98 - 95 Reconnaissance 2

Chapter 98: 95 Reconnaissance 2

We arrived at a bustling street in the new district, and right across was our target location.

It looked like a luxuriously decorated bar, but the sign outside revealed that it was actually a members-only wine tasting club. Occasionally, a few people would come and go through the opulent entrance, all dressed to the nines. Even the attendants who received and saw off the guests were well-dressed and appeared well-trained.

This place was clearly a high-end venue where the unaffiliated had no business entering. In fact, ordinary people wouldn’t even think about trying to get in just by looking at the grandeur.

Although the Shadow Swapping Monster targeted local bigwigs to hunt, it seemed that he himself possessed a nontrivial societal status, rich or noble, as otherwise, he could not come and go from such a private club.

Or perhaps his identity was neither that of a customer nor an attendant, maybe he was the proprietor?

We didn’t approach rashly but first stood at a distance to observe carefully, while also keeping an eye on those entering and exiting the wine tasting club.

"Is this the place?" I asked.

Mazao confirmed without doubt, "This is it."

"Do you know what the situation inside is like?" Zhu Shi inquired.

"I don’t know. The images retrieved are too fragmented. If you gave me a few more days, I could piece them together. But with just one night, we can only know that ’the weirdo comes and goes here’ occasionally," Mazao said.

"From time to time...That means the weirdo might not necessarily be in there now," Zhu Shi reasoned.

"The weirdo doesn’t come every day; and even when he does, it’s mostly at night," Mazao thought for a moment, "However, I think there’s an eighty, no, ninety percent chance he’s inside the wine tasting club right now."

"On what basis?" Zhu Shi was curious.

"Because I am here," Mazao said matter-of-factly, "Since I’ve already come here drawn to the presence of something strange, the strange thing is bound to appear nearby. Although that weirdo seems to barely qualify as human, or at least has human self-awareness, he can also be categorized as something strange. It wouldn’t be surprising if he attacked right now."

If saying that I, before meeting Mazao, was bound to draw a blank when investigating paranormal incidents, then with Mazao, the opposite would be true—she was bound to encounter ghosts.

She didn’t even have to seek out strange incidents; instead, they would come seeking her.

The current situation was the same. If we considered tracking down the weirdo as an investigation into a paranormal incident, then the target location she found through her intuition was bound to be haunted. Calling it one hundred percent might be an exaggeration, but assuming a direct hit would probably not be far off.

Such an enviable physique. Thankfully, now I was able to benefit from it too.

Unlike me, Zhu Shi’s understanding of Mazao’s Broom Star Physique was mostly based on hearsay. She merely exclaimed "That’s preposterous," then took out her phone and contacted Lu Youxun. She passed on the name of the wine tasting club to Lu Youxun, requesting him to dig up some information.

True to his renown as a master of intel within the Luoshan Patrol, it wasn’t long after Zhu Shi hung up the phone that Lu Youxun sent over detailed information.

During this time, I also released "Fireflies" to infiltrate the interior of the club opposite us.

The current "Fireflies" had undergone an upgrade; not only could they store more preset instructions, but they could also store information about their surroundings, meaning they could record what they saw for me to review the "video" later.

Unfortunately, these newly added functions weren’t relevant right now. I merely manually manipulated a few "Fireflies" to infiltrate the wine tasting club. Even if someone spotted these "Mars" lights, it was unlikely to draw much attention, but to be safe, I didn’t send them directly through the main entrance but had them crawl through ventilation ducts and window cracks.

After a rough sweep inside with a few "Fireflies," I quickly got a preliminary grasp of the club’s internals.

The place was far less glamorous than its exterior suggested.

In a nutshell, it was all glitters on the outside but rotten on the inside.

Almost at the same time, Zhu Shi seemed to have grasped the true nature of the wine tasting club through the documents Lu Youxun sent to her phone.

"So this is actually a ’nightclub’..." Zhu Shi said with disdain.

"A nightclub?" Mazao puzzled.

"In simple terms, the outer area of this wine tasting club is exactly as its name suggests, a place for savoring fine wines, but deeper inside, there are many women who provide ’special services,’ as well as the full array of massage, bathing, and accommodation facilities," I said, observing the situation inside.

Whether out of privacy concerns or for the sake of ambiance, the customers inside wore all sorts of headgear, and some of the women wore flamboyant masks, hiding their true faces like a masquerade ball.

The customers’ headgear seemed to have voice modulators built-in, as their voices sounded quite peculiar.

Faced with Mazao’s youthful visage, it wasn’t easy for me to give a more direct description, so I glossed over it with "special services."

However, in the Doomsday Era, there might be women who traded "special services" for survival resources, possibly even more blatantly than in peaceful times. My brief explanation was enough for Mazao to nod in understanding, without any sign of shock or surprise.

"Can you see what’s happening inside?" she asked, even more curious about that.

I first simply explained my "Firefly" ability, then said, "Even if the Shadow Swapping Monster is in there now, he must be in human form, and I wouldn’t be able to tell him apart. Mazao, have you investigated what his human form looks like from that finger?"

"No," Mazao shook his head.

Even though people in the night club wear hoods and masks, I could capture their true faces hidden beneath by integrating my spirit into the surrounding heat. But without knowing the target’s appearance, there’s no way to proceed.

In that case, we could only try to track other features of the target.

Like "scars."

"You chopped off the hand of the Shadow Swapping Monster’s body last night, with a creature’s regeneration power, is it possible to fully restore the hand without any trace overnight?" I asked.

"If it were a Sin Demon from the Doomsday Era, it would be possible. But if it’s a monster from this era..." Mazao was somewhat uncertain.

Zhu Shi gave a definite answer, "According to the information from Lu Youxun, if it’s just a loss of the palm, monsters don’t even need half a night to fully regenerate."

Finding the target through scars seemed to be a dead end... While thinking, I asked Zhu Shi, "When the monster is in human form, can your ’Buzhou Mountain’ directly expose their true identity?"

"It can, but if we don’t know ahead of time who it is, we’ll have to check everyone one by one," Zhu Shi pondered.

"Sin Demons... Monsters are usually able to sense the aura of souls. Although they find it difficult to distinguish the differences in ordinary human souls, they are quite sensitive to the souls of those with powerful mana, allowing for precise identification," Mazao shook her head, "We have fought with monsters before, and they definitely remember our aura. If we check one by one, we might spook the creature before it’s his turn and he might run off first."

"Can’t this aura be hidden? You’ve said before that you could apply a state of hidden aura through meditation," I said.

Zhu Shi diplomatically offered her opinion, "Though I’m not incapable of hiding my aura, to a monster that can sense soul auras, having someone who doesn’t emit a soul aura suddenly appear and start checking suspects nearby would also trigger their alertness."

It seemed we had hit a snag.

I had the ability to observe everyone without being detected, but I didn’t have the eye power to see through monsters; Zhu Shi had that eye power but not the means to observe everyone without being discovered.

If only we could link my senses with Zhu Shi’s... No, even if there were such a method, it didn’t seem right to use it. Lu Youxun once tried to transmit information directly into my spirit, but was rejected by my own power, and he seemed to have been nearly severely injured. Trying to link my spirit with someone else’s could likely involve significant risks.

"Perhaps, I could just stake out here, waiting for that monster to walk out the door himself," Zhu Shi suggested.

"That’s probably not going to work," Mazao shook her head, "Although my investigation isn’t very clear, that monster hasn’t been using normal methods to move in and out of this place for the past two months... It doesn’t seem to be Shadow Transmission; the footage I traced didn’t have a sudden blackening process. He’s likely using the superpower of shadow-swapping to move between here and other places."

"Using that method is probably to create an alibi that he has never been to such a venue, to conveniently protect his social relationships in his human identity, I can understand that... But why not use Shadow Transmission instead of shadow-swapping?" Zhu Shi wondered, "Is it because Shadow Transmission consumes more energy... or even to monsters, entering the Shadow World is risky?"

"If he’s using the shadow-swapping superpower, then even if I monitor everyone inside with ’Firefly,’ I won’t be able to detect anything. His Shadow Clones can imitate human form, and there is no difference in posture between his body and the clone at the moment they swap places," I said, "But if that’s the case, maybe I could narrow down the suspect range to ’certain personnel who have not left the club for a long time.’"

"I can also continue to investigate that monster’s finger; in a few days, the identity of the target monster will definitely be grasped, but..." Mazao seemed to realize some other issue.

"That monster clashed with us last night; he must know now that he’s being targeted by Luoshan Impermanence. Will he really stay long in Saltwater City afterward?" Zhu Shi pondered.

"But if he really has that sense of crisis, why would he enter the nightclub to have fun at this time?" Mazao fell into thought.

I offered my male perspective, "Perhaps it’s precisely the immense pressure of survival that has triggered a need for solace."

Mazao nodded as if enlightened, "I see..."

Zhu Shi cast me a hesitant glance. Sister Zhu, if you have something to say, you can say it directly. Remaining silent like this instead hurts more.

I drew my attention back to the problem at hand.

If the Shadow Swapping Monster really opted to flee Saltwater City, we would not be able to track him down. Finding an enemy with the power of Shadow Transmission once they flee would be like finding a needle in a haystack. The clues related to the Weirdo Maker and the Human Bureau, as well as those related to the Doomsday, would also come to a halt.

Naturally, I was immensely curious about these clues. And on top of that, I had a personal grudge against the Shadow Swapping Monster.

I couldn’t accept that the culprit intent on harming Changan would just slip away.

At that moment, Zhu Shi’s cellphone rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, her expression a mix of surprise and recognition, and then she answered the call. I refrained from eavesdropping on the conversation using "Firefly", hence I had no idea what was said on the other end, but she soon displayed a look of shock.

"What?" she exclaimed, aghast, "My brother is missing?"

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