Chapter 172 Re-entering 2

Those who have attained infinite life will inevitably have a different perspective on problems compared to humans with finite lives, and their spirituality will likely take on a completely different form. However, this difference has not yet manifested in me.

Sometimes I think that a hundred years from now, all my friends will be dead, and I'll probably still be the same. However, I don't dwell on the melancholy of worrying about the length of our lives. The reason is simple: I'm ultimately destined for adventure, and I might just die a violent death on the roadside in the near future. Life expectancy is irrelevant; I might even die earlier than the average person.

I always have this feeling that if I were to truly choose to give up adventure and accept an endless lifespan, my mental state might undergo a drastic change at that moment, perhaps even transcending the realm of "humanity." The reason I'm still maintaining this outdated mental state is perhaps because I haven't relinquished my obsessions as a human being.

Getting back to the point, because Junior Sister Zhu's eyes were a bit scary, I immediately transformed back into my nearly twenty-year-old form.

"Ah," Zhu Shi said with regret, "Senior Brother Zhuang, are you really not going to stay like that for a little while longer? Look, Ma Zao seems a bit disappointed too..."

Upon hearing this, I involuntarily turned to look at Mazao, who said without changing her expression, "...I have no regrets. Really."

She sounded a little disappointed. Could it be that she wanted me to look younger?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to occasionally change my appearance in front of her alone.

As for Zhu Shi, I think it's best to be cautious in my words and actions.

"Ahem, let's get back to the main topic," Lu Youxun interjected. "What other thoughts do you have about that strange secret outpost of the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau?"

“I don’t understand their opinions either.” Zhu Shi regained his serious expression. “However, there are many demon hunters there who are under the threat of the Humanitarian Division. The demon hunters that Zhuang Cheng helped to liberate earlier have probably already been discovered to be abnormal by the Humanitarian Division. We must find a way to help them.”

Asaho, unusually, joined the discussion.

“I think that base might be located in a ‘space outside of reality’,” she said.

The concept of a space outside of reality reminds me of a basement on the fifteenth floor, and it makes me itch with curiosity.

"Why?" Lu You asked.

“I tried to transfer myself to Zhuang Cheng’s side before, but I failed,” Ma Zao said calmly. “At first, I thought maybe there was a barrier preventing me, but considering the various strange phenomena Zhuang Cheng mentioned that he encountered there, I think the possibility of another dimension is higher. And right now, it is indeed difficult for me to teleport myself into another dimension.”

"Hmm? Wait a minute, Mazao..." I thought for a moment, "When I teleported myself there, I don't think I took your marking sticker with me... So why were you able to try teleporting?"

There I was only wearing a white straitjacket, without any anesthetic stickers on my shoulders, which would have been noticed by the researchers and "prison guards" if I had.

“Because I held you in my arms at night,” Mazao said earnestly. “It’s much harder to pinpoint your place of return to a living person than to an object. The reason I held you in my arms when we slept was to position your body as ‘where I used to be.’”

Huh? So the reason she kept hugging me for two nights in a row the other day wasn't because of bad sleeping posture, but because she did it on purpose?

I had somehow unknowingly been marked by her?

She looked at me with an air of self-righteousness, seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that she had done anything wrong. While I, someone who secretly injected thermal markings into someone's internal organs, have no right to say this, I did find her actions rather abnormal. Perhaps it was because she had very little contact with people in the past, and her concept of "partnership" differed from that of most people, leading to an excessive lack of boundaries.

But the thought that she did this because she considered me a partner made me actually a little happy.

"Senior Brother Zhuang, do you and Ma Zao sleep together?" Zhu Shi's gaze pierced me, a potential criminal, like a sharp sword. "This is different from what you told me before..."

Then she looked at another person: "And Ma Zao... don't you think that as a girl, you should maintain a little social distance from men?"

"Is there a problem with this?" Mazao asked, puzzled. "Zhuang Cheng and I are partners, what you would call a 'community of shared destiny'?"

"What community of shared destiny?! Does that mean not only Senior Brother Zhuang, but you are also gravity system?! Are you two a binary star system?!" Zhu Shi complained.

“This isn’t the time to talk about that.” I quickly changed the subject. “If that secret Humanitarian Division base isn’t in the real world, then what happened there might all be illusory events like a dream. Whether it’s ‘people like those from two years ago,’ ‘the girl Lu Chan,’ or ‘distorted scenes that don’t look like research facilities,’ none of them are real… Can I understand it that way?”

"Right, if the female Lu Chan and other demon hunters are creations from another dimension, then that explains why the Humanitarian Division can capture dozens of demon hunters so easily as experimental subjects!" Zhu Shi suddenly realized. "They couldn't do this in the real world, but they can do it in the dream dimension! Hmm? Wait, something's not right..."

"...Yes, that's impossible." Lu Youxun shook his head after thinking for a moment. "No matter what kind of strange power the Humanitarian Department wants to study, in the end, it will have to be studied using scientific methods. Since it is science, it is destined to use objective and real materials as its research object. What is created using dreams is just a repetition of known information, which is meaningless."

"Of course, alternate dimensions aren't just dream-like. They could indeed be spaces different from the real world, making it quite secluded and reasonable to set up a base there. But the materials they study must be real, living people."

Upon hearing this, I immediately realized a clue and asked Ma Zao for a blank copy of the photo.

This is my first time using photo reading, and it's really convenient. You just need to hold the photo and imagine it in your mind.

The face of the first stranger who spoke to me inside the Humanitarian Division's secret outpost was written down, followed by the face of the witcher I rescued and freed. I couldn't quite remember the faces of the others, so I could only use these two for now.

Then, I handed the photo to Lu Youxun.

"Do you recognize these two faces?" I asked.

“Yes, I recognize them.” He stared intently at the two photos. “They were the demon hunters who were captured with me at the Humanitarian Division’s secret hideout two years ago. But… they had already died in the Humanitarian Division’s inhumane human experiments. I saw it with my own eyes; there’s no way it could be fake.”

First, the research materials from the Humanitarian Affairs Department must be real living people; second, the two people in the photo are both dead; and finally, they were both alive at least two years ago.

Based on the above three conditions, was the secret Humanitarian Division base I went to really two years ago?

"...I'm almost fully recovered."

Lu Youxun let out a breath and then said, "Zhuang Cheng, assuming that place is indeed another dimension, then there should be an 'entrance' or a 'method of entry.' Please help me find it so that Luo Shan can conquer that place. If it is the real world, please also find its address and assist Luo Shan in his campaign against the Humanitarian Division."

"If it really is 'two years ago,' then at least Chenlong and Dr. Silver Mask who appeared there are 'people of the present.' They may have found a way to travel through time. Please investigate the truth when that happens."

"I see."

The situation may seem complicated, but my prey has always been clear: Chenlong and Dr. Silver Mask. The former has the "whereabouts of Chang'an," while the latter has "clues to the apocalypse."

As for "helping Lu Youxun avenge himself," that's merely a secondary goal for me. However, I have a good impression of Lu Youxun, and he has helped me before. I would be quite willing to stand on his side and help him get revenge.

Just then, Lu Youxun's pocket suddenly emitted an electronic notification sound. He took out his phone, glanced at the message, and seemed to reflexively frown.

"Is there any bad news?" I asked.

“The sharpshooter responded to my request, but he’s not an easy person to get along with,” he said. “Zhuang Cheng, you have to be careful. Although I was the one who asked him to do it, considering the special circumstances we’re in, someone might take this opportunity to ask him to do something else.”

As he finished speaking, he glanced at Asao intentionally. I immediately realized his unspoken meaning—the sharpshooter might be at a disadvantage against Asao.

This possibility wasn't beyond my expectations. What surprised me more was that Lu Youxun would remind me—was he planning to side with me? Because I would later help him take revenge on the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau?

After further organizing and analyzing the previous situation, he went through the bathing and purification process again. During this time, I added a preset instruction to the "fireflies" on Asao's body—when the impermanence of the Great Accomplishment level appears around Asao, it should self-destruct.

I can also sense the presence of the "fireflies" from the other side. Once the divine spear appears nearby, regardless of whether the other party is hostile, I will immediately transmit back through the thermal energy signal in Asahi's body.

Perhaps it would have been a better choice to let Mazao step aside beforehand, but now that she has come into the open, it would be too naive to think that she can still be hidden away.

After bathing and purifying his mind, Lu You made his way to the reception room.

“Then let’s begin again.” He extended his right hand to me.

I grasped his hand, and he immediately threw the white jade counting rods he was holding in his left hand to the ground again, activating his divination. And this time, unsurprisingly, it went smoothly, just like before. He once again saw the image of the Humanitarian Division's secret base, and then transmitted it into my consciousness.

I vaguely saw a room, a place that seemed to be filled with various sophisticated equipment and instruments, like an operating room.

In the center of the operating room, there was a hard bed made of metal machinery. The bed surface seemed to have a human-shaped concave design and appeared to be connected to a number of restraint props.

Staring at the blurry image, I activated Flame Teleportation.

(End of this chapter)