Chapter 495 Strange Reappearance 2

Tap, tap, tap...

I was probably the first person to hear those footsteps.

After I stopped moving forward, the cartographer looked at me with a puzzled expression, then his eyes changed slightly as he looked into the darkness beyond the reach of the light.

Sandalwood, already on edge, also stopped, looking at me and the cartographer with suspicion, and asked in a low voice, "What happened..."

The cartographer held up his index finger to his lips. Upon seeing this, Tanxiang quickly shut her mouth, shrinking back like a quail, glancing left and right.

Tap, tap, tap...

Before long, the footsteps approached to a distance where even sandalwood could hear them, and his face immediately became very stiff.

The cartographer silently raised the lantern high, and as if in sync with the action, the white light became brighter, and the illuminated area around it became larger.

A dozen meters away, a foot, its skin glistening with blood as if it had been stripped bare, stepped into the circle of light. Then, with another step, the monster revealed its gruesome and terrifying entire body.

This is the same strange creature that the cartographer had nailed to the outside of the drop tower in the abandoned amusement park. Just like the last time we met, it looked as if the human body had been turned inside out, with fat and internal organs all exposed and hanging on the surface. It seemed capable of touching the deepest taboos and fears in people's hearts. Encountering it in this eerie and dark place made people feel a chill run straight to the back of their head.

Sandalwood took a step back, then seemed to lose its balance and fell to the ground with a thud, its body trembling uncontrollably.

"What a persistent ghost."

The cartographer frowned and said something, then glanced at Sandalwood, “Luckily, he wasn’t the first witness to this strange creature… no, he doesn’t have much combat power either. Even if he had been the first witness, it probably wouldn’t have increased the creature’s power much.”

"On the contrary, if I were to become the first witness, things might turn out very badly. Although I have seen many strange things, I still cannot shake off my fear of these demons and monsters."

He sighed softly and said, "Compared to this, it seems that sealing it by nailing it to the wall was useless. It doesn't seem like it broke free on its own, and I don't think it used normal physical means to travel through the chaotic space to get here."

"Look, it's completely unharmed, with no trace of being pierced by steel bars or pipes. I think it must have 'refreshed' itself here in some way. No wonder the victims who encountered it in the past could never shake it off. If they could simply find a way to trap it and escape its pursuit, it wouldn't have become so troublesome."

“I’ll handle this one,” I said. “After all, I’m the one who brought this threat, so I have to take responsibility.”

"What are you planning to do?" the cartographer asked curiously.

"Do it this way."

I summoned a fireball and threw it at the monster in the distance.

It was as if the flame had met gasoline, and the monster was immediately ignited.

The flames I used this time were different from the ones I used to kill this strange creature; they were infused with my serious killing intent. If it were merely a form of mediocre immortality, this attack would be enough to kill it forever. Even some highly skilled demon hunters who pride themselves on their immortality would die as easily as any ordinary creature if they encountered this flame.

The monster was reduced to ashes in the flames.

The cartographer couldn't see the profound meaning behind the flame, and simply commented dismissively: "This level of power is not enough to kill this monster... Anyway, I never intended to eliminate it completely from the beginning. We can deal with it again when it revives."

"If all else fails, try to forget about it. That way, it won't attack us again."

"It's a pity that neither I nor my two other companions have the ability to remember. Perhaps we can only wait for the madness to erase your memory of this matter."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Sandalwood said with a look of fear on its face, "What on earth are these strange monsters...?"

"These are the apocalyptic embodiments of the destruction of human civilization... It's all these things that have made our world such a mess," the cartographer lamented.

"Apocalyptic beings... So, they're like zombies? Just like in horror movies where zombies destroy the world, our world was destroyed by these monsters?" Sandalwood said incredulously. "Could these monsters all be transformed humans...?"

The cartographer said wistfully, "Humans can certainly turn into monsters... but they're not quite the same as what you see here."

Perhaps limited by their own perspective, the cartographer, like Sandalwood, misunderstood something.

The apocalypse was not caused by these strange creatures.

This is also a consensus among the Luoshan Impermanence members, including myself.

In the modern world, as the prophesied end times draw ever closer, the number of bizarre events is increasing. Once a certain critical point is reached, demon-hunting organizations like Luo Shan will no longer be able to act as a firewall, and endless bizarre phenomena will engulf the world like a burst dam, making it impossible for human civilization to survive under this terrifying wave.

Therefore, from the perspective of post-apocalyptic survivors like cartographers, human civilization was destroyed by the supernatural beings, and the apocalypse was naturally brought about by them.

But that's not the case. It's not that the more strange things there are, the faster the apocalypse progresses; rather, the faster the apocalypse progresses, the more strange things there are.

If we compare the apocalypse to a natural disaster, these endless strange occurrences are like insects and animals frantically scrambling out of the gaps in the shade of trees, sensing the approaching earthquake and tsunami. Just like us humans, these strange creatures are also "victims" caught up in the apocalyptic catastrophe.

To put it extremely, if a massive amount of bizarre creatures could raise the curtain of doomsday, then I could simply spread my flames across the Earth's surface and establish a rule of "slaying only the bizarre," making it impossible for the curtain of doomsday to rise in the first place. Even if the Earth's soil and space were largely consumed as fuel, becoming less habitable, it would still be far better than the arrival of the apocalypse.

Even if I don't intervene, the other powerful beings each have their own methods. The idea of ​​an era where strange and bizarre things run rampant is nothing but a pipe dream.

Therefore, in Liu Shuying's doomsday prophecy, when the doomsday process advances to the final stage, not only will humanity be destroyed under the great calamity, but all living beings and all strange creatures will be destroyed, and in the end, even all matter will be reduced to nothingness.

This apocalypse is not the end of humanity, but the end of the world.

Although this era is called the apocalyptic era, and cartographers believe they are living in the end times, the real apocalypse is still on its way.

After the monster was dealt with, the cartographer pulled Sandalwood up from the ground, and then we continued moving in the darkness.

Along the way, strange creatures would occasionally rush over and attack us. They all looked bizarre and had their own unique terror and eeriness.

Instead of the cartographer who wasn't good at ranged attacks, I used fire to wipe them all out. Although I was eager to experience the wonders of these post-apocalyptic monsters, I didn't want the cartographer who was leading the way to suffer, so I always acted immediately to prevent these monsters from unleashing their bizarre abilities.

Even so, there were several unexpected incidents along the way, which I won't go into detail about here.

"Strange, why are there so many dangers on the road? It's like we've been cursed... This has never happened before," the cartographer muttered.

After seeing that all the strange things on the road had been eliminated, Tanxiang relaxed a bit and looked at me with great envy.

I changed the subject: "Compared to this...aren't we there yet?"

“It should be soon.” The cartographer sighed. “Speaking of which… Zhuang Cheng, you seem to be a fire-type user? Besides manipulating fire, do you have any other powers?”

Perhaps because he was closer to his base and his companions, he became more eager to find out more about me, this powerful stranger. I answered without hesitation, "I only have the ability to manipulate fire."

Although there are other powers such as refining slag and the power of words, refining slag is a skill that kills and refines souls, so it doesn't sound good; the power of words can't be used for the time being, so there's no need to talk about it.

And I'm not exactly lying. No matter how much power I acquire later, the core of my power will always be "flame".

"As the saying goes, 'One trick is enough to conquer the world,' and your destructive power is remarkable enough to deal with many enemies, just like now," the cartographer said. "However, you must be careful. Although fire abilities are extremely powerful, they are not good at defense. Many monsters are good at launching surprise attacks when you are not prepared. There are countless monsters that can cause fatal damage to humans just by witnessing their appearance or even hearing about them."

"And some treacherous survivors, when they want to attack you, will not first create distance and then launch a fair duel with you, but will sneak up behind you and take your life unexpectedly."

"Those who truly live long are never those who excel at attacking, but those who excel at surviving. Never let your strength make you complacent."

Perhaps because he felt I had lost a lot of my memory, he adopted a rather condescending attitude, like a senior who wanted to teach others.

I haven't been told "fire ability user this or that" in a long time. The last time I remember being told that was when I was chatting with Agent Kong. I can't say the cartographer was giving me pointers, since he was trying to advise me in a good way.

After walking for quite a while, we arrived at a dark pedestrian street.

“The safe house is on this street. Let’s keep our guard up for the last little bit of the journey,” the cartographer said, like a jungle guide.

Sandalwood breathed a sigh of relief and quickened its pace. The cartographer, however, slowed down, cautiously surveying his surroundings, seemingly puzzled.

Upon seeing this, Tanxiang's expression immediately changed, and she asked nervously, "Is there a problem nearby?"

"No, it just feels a bit strange..." the cartographer said suspiciously, "So much time has passed, why hasn't that monster revived and attacked us yet?"

(End of this chapter)