Chapter 113 Ready

Ma Zao had told Lu Youxun that the trauma to her soul could not be healed without the intervention of the Great Impermanence.

The concept of "Great Impermanence" was something I casually mentioned last night when I was discussing the Humanitarian Division and the creator of monsters with her.

“It’s true.” Ma Zao nodded. “As for whether it really requires the intervention of the Great Impermanence to cure him, I’m not really sure. Because I don’t know if the Great Demon of the Apocalypse and the Great Impermanence of this era are at the same level.”

Zhu Shi asked us what the Great Demon was, and I explained it to her carefully, mentioning that one of the Great Demons of the Apocalypse, the "Calamity Demon," was said to be the transformed form of the traitorous Great Impermanence "Xuanming." After listening, she revealed a mood that was hard to describe as optimistic, and then, with Ma Zao's permission, she used "Mount Buzhou" to carefully observe it.

After observing, she gave her opinion: "If what burned Ma Zao's soul in the past was really Xuanming's flame... then even the Great Impermanence might not be able to cure it."

I can't help but be concerned about this topic: "Why?"

“Even among the Great Impermanence, there are differences in strength. Xuanming is a powerful figure known for his destructive power, even among the Great Impermanence. Many people believe that he is the God of Fire who has survived since the time of myths and legends.” She said, “I told you last time that when Xuanming betrayed Luoshan, he attacked two Great Impermanences. One of them died and the other was seriously injured.”

"The one who was seriously injured was named 'Mingzhuo'. It is said that his body is still being burned by the Xuanming Fire, and he has tried everything he can to get rid of his serious injury."

Her implication was quite clear.

I looked at Asaho, who nodded and said, "The flames of the Calamity Demon do indeed have the characteristics of a curse. The few survivors who manage to escape from its clutches will soon die from the ever-deepening burns and the flames that inexplicably reignite from the burns. If my blessing power is not 'Return,' the same outcome will certainly occur."

"It sounds somewhat similar to Senior Brother Zhuang's flames..." Zhu Shi muttered to himself first, then said, "The power of the Great Impermanence cannot be resisted by clever supernatural abilities. Their excessive power can easily override the rules, to the point that the power itself transcends its original inherent attributes."

"If the Great Void is fire, it can even burn away cause and effect; while if it is ice, it can even freeze time."

"Therefore, 'time reversal' is powerless in this regard. Originally, it wouldn't even be able to treat the symptoms, let alone the root cause, but your superpower seems to be exceptionally strong, so it can barely treat the symptoms."

Ma Zao lowered her head.

Seeing this, Zhu Shi couldn't help but comfort him, "Don't be so pessimistic. The flames that Xuanming burns your life and the flames that the Great Demon burns you might be different in intensity. Maybe there's a way to deal with the latter? Let's search together in the future."

“That’s not what you just said…” I retorted first, then looked at Asao, “Do you have any ideas on how to heal this trauma?”

After thinking for a moment, Mazao said pessimistically, "It's not that there's no way to cure me, but the condition for healing me can't be met if it's not in the apocalypse. And even if we could really go back to the apocalypse, meeting that condition would be as difficult as climbing to the sky."

"What are the conditions?" I pressed. "Tell me first, maybe we can collect them all in this era?"

“In the apocalyptic era, there was a great demon called ‘Genbu’,” Asaho said. “It is said that if you use his body tissue, you can heal the wounds left by the fire of the calamity demon… But I only heard about this secondhand, and it may just be an unreliable rumor.”

Zhu Shi looked thoughtful: "Xuanwu? There's no such person in the Great Impermanence... This nickname shouldn't be considered very rare among demon hunters..."

No wonder Asaho said that those conditions could only be achieved in an apocalyptic era. After all, in this era, let alone a great demon called "Genbu," the very concept of a great demon had not yet been conceived.

However, judging from Zhu Shi's words, could it be that my previous speculation was wrong, and that the great demons of the apocalypse are not necessarily all corrupt and impermanent?

Zhu Shi continued to ponder, while Ma had already finished resting and picked up the head of the Shadow-Changing Monster again to investigate.

Without any further clues, I had no choice but to temporarily pull my attention away from Mazao's trauma and find something else to do. That being said, I really didn't have anything important to do right now, so I could only explore my superpowers.

Recalling the feeling I had when I fought the Shadow Man, a feeling that was enough to burn away "cause and effect," I want to see if I can now perceive the various causes and effects that exist in my daily life.

Unfortunately, this time I was not aware of the cause and effect around me.

I don't believe I've lost the ability to perceive causality. Although this is just my personal feeling, it's likely related to differences in external conditions. Just as a person can't accurately perceive the temperature of the air when the room temperature is close to their body temperature, I can't perceive causality itself unless the external causal relationships are abnormally altered.

As the saying goes, "If you live in a room full of orchids for a long time, you won't smell their fragrance; if you live in a fish market for a long time, you won't notice its stench." Precisely because it is a cause and effect in daily life, I have instinctively become accustomed to it.

As for the subtle abnormal changes that occurred in my superpower after I killed someone, I also carefully sensed them. Although I still couldn't figure out the specifics, at least one thing I could tell from my intuition was that it wasn't changing for the worse.

As evening approached, Mazao finally put down the head of the Shadow-Swapping Monster and said as if it were a matter of course, "We've found the target location."

-

On the way to the destination, Zhu Shi performed some checks on me and Ma Zao, as well as on herself.

Having experienced the setback of being spied on by Lu Youxun using an electronic telescope, Zhu Shi was now clearly more vigilant. She scanned the distance with her sharp eyes to make sure no one was following or spying on us, then applied some counter-surveillance magic to us and checked whether we had been fitted with any technological tracking devices.

“Lu Chan even used an electronic telescope last time, so he might use some kind of technological gadget on us this time too.” Zhu Shi glanced at me as she said this.

Feeling guilty, I shifted my gaze: "Lu Youxun is one of our own, he wouldn't use those kinds of methods on his own people, would he?"

Zhu Shiyou said quietly, "Who knows? Some people even install GPS devices on the people around them..."

“Zhu Shi is right. In my past, betrayal and being betrayed were not uncommon. Some people lost their lives because they neglected to be wary of those around them.” Ma Zao said earnestly, “Zhuang Cheng, I know you are a good person who trusts your comrades, but now that you’re on the battlefield, you can’t stay so naive. …Hmm? Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?”

While all of these statements are true, Ma Zao, the GPS bracelet I gave you is still on your wrist.

Zhu Shi sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Getting back to the main point, considering Lu Youxun's deep-seated hatred for the Humanitarian Bureau and the creators of the monsters, the possibility of him acting irrationally is not zero. Moreover, it is precisely to prevent him from irrationally going to the front lines that we are acting while keeping his whereabouts a secret.

At Zhu Shi's suggestion, Asahi used the power of reversion to reset our status. This meant that even the magical and technological tracking markers on us would no longer be effective, just like the thermal markers and GPS bracelets I used in the past.

To prevent any unforeseen circumstances during the upcoming operation, and to facilitate timely support should an emergency occur, I then offered to implant thermal markers on both of them. This time, I had no ill intentions, and Zhu Shi readily agreed.

Not only did Asahi not hold any grudges, but she also seemed to have similar thoughts to mine.

She took a red cartoon sticker out of her pocket, showed it to me first, and then stuck it on my shoulder.

"What is this?" I asked curiously.

“This is my ‘mark’,” she explained earnestly. “I can teleport myself to the location of this mark and provide you with support at crucial moments.”

It's true what they say, what goes around comes around. This time it's my turn to be marked by Ma Zao!

"Can't you only teleport yourself to places you've been in the past?" I asked, puzzled.

“That’s right.” She nodded. “So I stepped on this sticker. Oh, don’t worry about it getting dirty. I stepped on it barefoot, and I washed my feet beforehand. I smelled it, and it doesn’t smell.”

Because I stepped on the sticker, the surface of the sticker became "where I walked"? I never knew it could be used like that! This is truly eye-opening.

Zhu Shi seemed to have strayed off-topic: "The stickers you stepped on barefoot... Luckily, Senior Brother Zhuang isn't a pervert like the Shadow Changer, otherwise you would have been out of the game if you had done that..."

"Why?" Asahi was stunned for a moment.

"Nothing, nothing," Zhu Shi quickly shook her head, then asked expectantly, "What about me? Aren't you going to give me a sticker?"

The reason Mazao didn't give Zhu Shi a sticker was probably because she didn't completely consider Zhu Shi one of her own. Since Zhu Shi wasn't one of her own, it would be impolite to mark her with her own personal mark. However, since Zhu Shi asked for it, she took out another blue cartoon sticker and slapped it on Zhu Shi's chest.

Zhu Shi turned around like an adult being rewarded with a red flower by a child, pretending to be childish, and proudly showed it to me, saying, "How about that!"

What kind of response are they expecting from me? I can only reply with a simple, "Very suitable."

All preparations for the battle were complete. We took a taxi to the old town and finally arrived at our target location.

Just as the Shadow Changer described, it looked like a clinic, situated on a deserted street. There are quite a few such quiet streets in the old town.

We lay in ambush nearby, secretly waiting for the monster's creator to arrive.

(End of this chapter)