Chapter 66 Lu Chan's Travels 1

I carefully observed the Luoshan wanderer named Lu Chan in front of me.

He was handsome and dashing, no less so than Chang'an. He walked with a powerful stride and stood tall and straight. Although he was the former Impermanence who saved Detective Kong from a strange incident twenty years ago, he wasn't as mature as I had imagined. Judging by his face alone, he was at most a few years older than me, and it wouldn't be impossible for him to disguise himself as a student at Saltwater University.

The other party is, after all, a witcher; it's not surprising that they possess the soul of a forty or fifty-year-old beneath the appearance of someone in their twenties. In reality, there are also so-called "ageless beauties" who use makeup and health techniques to appear youthful. Compared to various supernatural abilities, this level of specialness can only be described as a skill in preserving youth.

"Hello, I'm Zhuang Cheng." I shook hands with him.

Lu Youxun's gaze shifted between me and Zhu Shi. He smiled and asked, "You two seem to have a good relationship. Are you dating?"

I said with feigned seriousness, "She is my guide."

"I see, they are teacher and student." Lu Youxun seemed to have taken it seriously.

"No, I'm not!" Zhu Shi blushed and quickly clarified, "I'm not at the level where I can teach and impart knowledge!"

"Those who have achieved something are my teachers," I said.

“Alright, let’s leave the jokes at that. Zhuang Cheng, I hope you don’t misunderstand me because of what Zhu Shi said earlier. I didn’t mean to trip you up.” Lu Youxun withdrew his hand and explained to me, “Kong Da became a corrupted demon hunter and was eventually defeated by you… This can only be described as karma. Although I am very sorry for his fall, I will never hold a grudge against you.”

"Who knows what you're really thinking?" Zhu Shi looked at him coldly. "If you really have no problem with Zhuang Cheng, why did you interfere in his becoming the Impermanence of Luoshan?"

“Isn’t this your problem?” Lu Youxun retorted, turning the tables on him.

Zhu Shi was taken aback: "Huh, me?"

“Your report on Zhuang Cheng clearly contains many vague parts, and as the patrolman of Luoshan, I cannot ignore them,” Lu Youxun pointed out first, then said to me, “You can rest assured that no matter what the outcome of this assessment is, I will agree to your becoming a newly promoted heretical demon hunter, after all, the ‘traces’ left by your power are still there in that abandoned construction site. However, I have the responsibility to monitor civilian demon hunters and must understand your true level.”

He paused for a moment, then added, "Moreover, I am personally quite interested in you."

"What are your interests?" I asked.

“No matter how powerful an ordinary fire-type user is, they would find it difficult to defeat a Fallen Witcher with no weaknesses in a one-on-one fight,” he said meaningfully. “At least in other cities, there has never been such a case.”

“You said ‘other cities’…” I had other ideas, “Are there also corrupt witchers like Agent Kong lurking in other places?”

He nodded first, then uttered words that were like a thunderclap.

“Luoshan now refers to this type of fallen witcher as ‘freaks,’” he said.

For a moment I wondered if I was hallucinating: "A weirdo?"

"Weird person" is another name for "karmic demon," who is a survivor who has become a monster due to madness in the post-apocalyptic era.

Isn't this a special product that only appears in apocalyptic times? Or is the strange person he mentioned just a coincidence in name with the strange person I'm thinking of, and actually a different kind of being?

No, I shouldn't dismiss this as a mere coincidence. Just like in the misty dream world, I suspected Asahaya was a friend of Number Two even before she revealed her identity, I should now connect this clue to Asahaya as well. Not for any other reason than that I am still caught in the vortex centered around Asahaya.

Looking back at his past battles with Agent Kong, he did indeed transform into a monstrous form. Although he didn't "forget his name and past" like the demon described by Asaho, I think it's worth assuming a connection between him and the "signs of the apocalypse."

Based on this, Ma Zao's act of taking Agent Kong's charred finger becomes intriguing.

From her perspective, it might not be an ordinary charred finger, but rather "the remains of a karmic demon that somehow appeared in this era." Combined with the clue that I had told her about my recent battle with "humans who had turned into monsters," she would likely think she should search for evidence of the impending apocalypse in Saltwater City.

No wonder she's still active in this city. To be honest, I couldn't find her for the past two days, and I even worried that she might have returned to the post-apocalyptic era. After all, she had previously been accidentally transported to the modern world due to spatial teleportation. Who can guarantee that she won't have another accident like the one that happened before when she was transported away from me? Now I can finally put one of the weight off my mind.

"Let's not talk on the side of the road. Let's find a place to sit down," Lu Youxun suggested.

-

We went to a nearby teahouse.

On the way, I checked on the "firefly" I had sent to the Zhu family mansion. I don't know if I should say "as expected," but that "firefly" has now disappeared without a trace. Zhu Shi had said that the Zhu family mansion had a special barrier for guarding against and defending against external enemies, and my "firefly" was ultimately just an insignificant spark, probably intercepted and destroyed by that barrier like a mosquito hitting an electric fence.

Just then, I was worried that my "firefly" might bring bad luck to Chang'an. This is good, it just so happens to have put an end to my thoughts.

At the same time, Lu Youxun gave me a brief overview of the progress of the investigation into the Fallen Witcher in Luoshan.

Regardless of his true opinion of me, at least on the surface, he spoke very politely and was very conscientious, making it difficult for me to feel any ill will towards him.

First, regarding the Fallen Witcher (hereinafter referred to as "the Monster"), Detective Kong concealed a lot from Zhu Shi.

The biggest concealment is that the strange crimes committed by this person are not limited to Saltwater City, but have occurred all over the country. Although not so frequent as to be widely known, there are still dozens, if not hundreds, of cases, dating back as far as eighteen months ago. With enough effort, it is certainly possible to make connections.

Detective Kong's previous task was to provide relevant information to Zhu Shi, but he deliberately suppressed this information, likely to prevent Zhu Shi from realizing that "there are more strange people." This concealment is certainly not a long-term solution. Perhaps he already had plans to abandon his detective identity and leave Saltwater City.

It wasn't until Lu Youxun took over this job that the complete data finally reached Zhu Shi's hands.

Incidentally, it was also Lu Youxun who used his divination abilities to gather those clues from the photos. This kind of investigative skill seems to be one of his specialties.

However, Zhu Shi didn't seem to have much affection for Lu Youxun, and it seemed that it wasn't just because Lu Youxun had interfered in my becoming a heretic.

Lu Youxun walked at the front, and I took out my phone at the back, secretly sending a text message to Zhu Shi, just like passing a note in class without the teacher's knowledge:

"You hate Lu Chan?"

Zhu Shi took out his phone, glanced at it, then looked at Lu Youxun, and started typing. After typing for a while, he replied:

"Lu Chan is on the side of the organization that 'witch hunters should become gods among men and turn all mortals into slaves,' and I don't get along with him."

Upon seeing this reply, I couldn't help but look at Lu Youxun's retreating figure once more.

You really can't judge a book by its cover!

Indeed, Detective Kong said that the faction he belonged to was "ideologically extreme," and Lu Youxun was Detective Kong's superior, so how could he be a moderate and peaceful person?

However, I now need Lu Youxun's help.

He obtained Asaho's photo through his divination abilities, and I've realized these past two days that I can't find Asaho on my own. Even if I eventually find Asaho with his help, she'll most likely be exposed to him, but now is not the time to worry about that.

We sat down in a private room at the teahouse. Lu Youxun took out photos from his pocket and laid them out in a row like playing cards. They were the same photos that Zhu Shi had shown me before.

“Currently, there are two demon hunters in charge of strange cases in Xianshui City: Zhu Shi, who is in charge of combat, and me, who is in charge of investigation,” Lu Youxun said. “Now we need to add one more person, and that is you, Zhuang Cheng. So, please join us in analyzing the case.”

"Okay." I nodded.

“In the past five days, two more local dignitaries in Saltwater City have been murdered by the strange man. Or to be precise, it’s actually four…” Lu Youxun took out two photos, each corresponding to one of the two murder scenes.

One of the locations was outdoors. The victim, who was probably a well-off elderly man, was found lying in the grass, his body torn beyond recognition, as if attacked by a wild beast.

Another incident occurred indoors, where the victim was a robust middle-aged man whose body was also torn apart, and the perpetrator's hysterical emotions were palpable. Nearby were two other bodies, belonging to a middle-aged woman and a boy, seemingly mother and child.

Unlike the elderly woman and the middle-aged man, the mother and son were both killed with a single blow. The cause of death appeared to be a severe blow to the head, with their skulls clearly deformed. It is estimated that they were family members of the middle-aged man and were killed by the murderer on a whim.

The scene inside was littered with messy, bloodstained footprints, not like those of a human, but rather those of a large wild beast. I mentally compared them to Agent Kong's transformed form—yes, these were definitely the footprints of a monster.

Lu Youxun briefly described what he had discovered. Just as the photos revealed, on what seemed like an ordinary day to the victim, a strange man suddenly broke in, brutally murdered the victim, and then left. The formation of both crime scenes was remarkably simple.

Then, he took out a third photo—a photo of Asaha walking on a street late at night.

"Zhuang Cheng, do you know who she is?"

"I know a little bit," I said.

"It must have been Zhu Shi who told you," he said. "So, what are your thoughts on this girl with amnesia?"

(End of this chapter)