Chapter 389 Peeking Through the Hole 1

When Mingzhuo saw me, his expression was as if I owed him millions, even though he actually owed me quite a bit. His promise after his defeat included a large amount of material compensation to me, but I couldn't think of what kind of material compensation to ask him for, so I put it aside for the time being.

I'm quite curious why he's here. Could it be that he's also going to participate in the battle for the Humanitarian Division's main base?

When Fazheng first mentioned that besides the two of us, two more Great Impermanences would be needed for this battle, I assumed one of them would definitely be Jian Feixian. Now it seems Fazheng doesn't intend for Jian Feixian to participate. Perhaps it's because Xuanming and Xugou attacked two of their own Zhishizhuan bases recently, making Fazheng feel the need to leave someone behind to guard the home.

I'm not surprised that Shenzhao is coming; Fazheng told me about it last night. Besides wanting the technology to utilize the power of the Divine Seal fragments from Ying Lingyun, Shenzhao seems also interested in the fragments themselves. Fazheng and Shenzhao's agreement is that if an even number of Divine Seal fragments are found at the Humanity Department's headquarters, they'll split them 50/50; if an odd number is found, more will go to Fazheng.

The fragments of the divine seal that fell into Fazheng's hands during this battle are nominally owned by the ruling faction. Fazheng, Jian Feixian, and I only have the right to use them.

Speaking of which, when we last met, Jian Feixian gave me a token, saying that I should visit him whenever I had time, but I completely forgot about it.

Never mind, we'll talk about it later.

“Mingzhuo, like Shenzhao, is also interested in Lingyun’s technology, so he will participate in the battle this time,” Fazheng explained to me.

Ying Lingyun's resurrection technology shouldn't be of any help to Mingzhuo, since what Mingzhuo lacks isn't resurrection technology, but rather technology to extend lifespan. However, both technologies fall under the realm of life and death, so they can't be said to be completely unrelated. Furthermore, Ying Lingyun's technological direction combines science and mysticism, which might bring some new inspiration to Mingzhuo.

Mingzhuo's hope of making progress remains slim; conversely, he may have already reached a point where he has to personally intervene to grasp even such a slim hope.

"……snort."

Mingzhuo still looked annoyed and didn't respond. He just stood to the side and made a sound through his nose.

"Let me briefly explain the details of this operation."

Fa Zheng didn't care and continued, "This time we need to use the connection between Zhuang Cheng and his thermal energy mark inside the Humanitarian Division's headquarters as a medium to forcibly puncture the independent real space where the Humanitarian Division's headquarters is located with the power of the Divine Seal Fragment. You can understand it as us directly opening a portal."

"During the operation, Shenzhao will be responsible for providing technical and logistical support, and will remain outside the Humanitarian Division's main base to maintain the teleportation portal. This is because it is speculated that once the independent reality space is no longer connected to the outside world, the interior will once again become another closed reality where the power of the Divine Seal fragments can run rampant. The existence of the teleportation portal itself is indispensable, and only Shenzhao, who has the deepest mastery of the power of the Divine Seal fragments, can maintain it for a long time."

"My mission is to cut off Ying Lingyun and the other key figures of the Humanity Department from the outside. They are very likely aware of their predicament and have prepared an escape plan. Once they escape to the outside world, I can launch an interception immediately. Even if they teleport themselves to different regions, I can still intercept and kill them on the level of fate and cause and effect."

"Finally, it's Zhuang Cheng and Ming Zhuo's mission. You two are the main attackers, responsible for raiding the Humanitarian Division's main stronghold."

Upon hearing this, I immediately raised a question: "Me and Mingzhuo?"

"Me and Zhuang Cheng?" Ming Zhuo also spoke at the same time.

In Luoshan, I might join forces with anyone, but I cannot join forces with Mingzhuo. I suppose Mingzhuo has similar thoughts.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Fa Zheng seemed to have prepared his answer beforehand. “The reason is simple: the primary objective of this campaign is to eliminate the Humanitarian Division. Simply destroying the strongholds is useless; all the core members must be eliminated or imprisoned. Therefore, those who remain outside to block their escape routes are necessary; and those who remain outside to maintain the teleportation portals are also necessary.”

"Putting aside the fact that Shenzhao is irreplaceable, I doubt either of you would be willing to take on the task of blocking the enemy's retreat, would you?"

I must infiltrate the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau's main base to save Chang'an; I definitely won't change my location. As for Mingzhuo...

“You will collect technical data inside the Humanitarian Division’s main base in my place. This was agreed upon from the beginning, right?” Shenzhao said to Mingzhuo. “The Humanitarian Division’s main base may have a program that automatically destroys all data when it is captured. We can’t wait until the end of the battle to collect technical data. You shouldn’t want to end up with nothing.”

“You don’t need to tell me, I understand this perfectly well,” Mingzhuo said somberly.

I looked at the demon hunters dressed as Black Impermanence beside me and asked, "So what about their mission?"

“They are my people, responsible for assisting in collecting technical data,” Ming Zhuo said.

The highest-ranking of these demon hunters is only at the Advanced level, and their safety may not be guaranteed in the Humanitarian Division's main base, which is filled with unknown dangers. Logically, they should need at least one Advanced-level Impermanence as their leader, but now only Mingzhuo can go into battle on his own.

It seems I really have wiped out all the Great Completion level cultivators on his mountain. But I won't apologize.

When Mingzhuo saw me looking at those people, he seemed to have thought of the same thing, and his face became even more sour.

“I should have killed you the first time we met,” he said viciously.

"That was your own mistake. But, speaking of our first meeting..." I recalled what happened then, "When you saw Asahi's dream, you seemed very surprised by the scenery there, right? Why was that?"

Mingzhuo looked at me for a long time, and finally said, "...The dream she had was exactly the same as the afterlife."

The apocalypse and the afterlife are exactly the same—this was just a conjecture I made based on Meiju's reaction in the past, but now Meiju has finally admitted it himself.

Then, as if talking to himself, Mingzhuo said the next sentence: "The buildings there... look like Luoshan from more than a hundred years ago."

"What?"

His words made my thoughts pause for a moment.

The last time Ma Zao and I entered the apocalyptic dream, we entered a desolate and empty courtyard.

Asaho said that it was the building of the only large human force in the apocalypse—the Gospel House. But Mei-cho not only thought that the apocalypse looked like the afterlife, but also thought that the Gospel House looked like Luoshan from more than a hundred years ago.

Over a hundred years ago… I remember this time, it was at the end of the Qing Dynasty, a period when the Luoshan forces completely withdrew to the world of the living due to a prophecy by a fortune teller that the afterlife would be destroyed. Why would buildings from that period suddenly appear in the apocalyptic era?

Or is it true that a horrific event occurred in the future apocalypse, with the afterlife flowing into the world of the living, and the Luoshan architectural complex left in the afterlife more than a hundred years ago also flowing into the world we live in?

But why was that place occupied by the Gospel House? Could the Gospel House be a remnant force of Luoshan in the end times?

This hypothesis has considerable merit. It seems that some ordinary people survived after the apocalypse, so it's impossible that a force like Luoshan, which is full of demon hunters, could have been completely wiped out.

But why did Asa, who had spent a long time at Fukuinin, know nothing about Rozan at the beginning, and even seem to have never heard of the term "Witcher"?

The fortune teller once said that the end of the world will not happen in the future, but in the past...

I even had this absurd thought that might not have occurred in the future, but in the past, more than a hundred years ago; that Asa might not have traveled from the future to the present, but from the past to the present...

No, that's not right... There are still too many things that don't make sense. The easiest thing to think of is that although Asaha wasn't very familiar with modern appliances at first, she wasn't completely ignorant about them either. She herself admitted to me that she occasionally came into contact with modern appliances during the apocalypse.

I tried asking Mingzhuo again, but Mingzhuo seemed to hate talking to me and shut up after a few words.

Fazheng and Shenzhao walked to the center of the open space.

Intricate and profound formations were carved into the ground at the center using grooves. Fa Zheng took out two fragments of divine seals and projected them, embedding them in two different positions within the formation. Meanwhile, Shen Zhao arrived at the center of the formation, white light emanating from his hands.

The dazzling white light flowed onto the ground like liquid, and then, as if time had accelerated, it filled all the slots in the array in the blink of an eye.

It wasn't just the fluctuations of divine light's power; the arena also emitted a mysterious fluctuation reminiscent of the power emitted by Dr. Silver Mask when he used the power of reset in the past, a fluctuation unique to the power of the fragments of the divine seal.

“Zhuang Cheng, it’s your turn,” Fa Zheng said. “Stand inside the magic circle and then focus all your attention on sensing the thermal energy signature you left inside the independent reality space.”

"good."

Unable to pry open Mingzhuo's mouth for the time being, I followed Fazheng's words and went into the formation, then began to try to sense the thermal energy mark I had left in another space.

As I closed my eyes, the power of the divine seal fragments emanating from the formation began to concentrate on me, seemingly slowly strengthening the previously elusive connection between me and that thermal symbol, making it more stable and clear.

Gradually, I saw the scene of another space.

(End of this chapter)