Chapter 89 Mutual Exchange 3

Since I previously suggested to Asao that she use Luoshan's power to investigate the apocalypse, it's unavoidable that Asao and Zhushi will continue to have contact. Therefore, it's necessary for me to tell Zhushi about Asao's jinxed nature, making her understand the risks of continuing to contact Asao.

Besides, even if I don't say it, Asahi will tell me on her own; it's impossible to hide it.

Once spoken aloud, Zhu Shi's true motives become readily apparent.

I explained Ma Zao's jinxed constitution in just a few words. Sure enough, after listening, Zhu Shi paused for a long time. At first, she was puzzled, then she suddenly understood, and finally, as if she had figured out many mysteries, she showed a look of enlightenment.

“I see…I see!” she said. “In the past, you were repelled by strange things because of your overwhelming power, but recently you have become able to interact with strange events normally…I knew there must be a big reason for this change. It turns out it was because you came into contact with that girl with amnesia!”

"Yes." I nodded.

"The reason you took her in, treated her so well, and even gave her a GPS bracelet is because she can fulfill your wish!"

“That’s right,” I admitted.

"Now everything makes sense..." She suddenly felt refreshed, but couldn't help complaining, "But no matter what, GPS bracelets are still a bit..."

I sincerely confessed: "I made a mistake, and I will not do it again."

"Why don't you tell her the truth?" She observed my reaction and then said, "Is it because you've lied too much before and are carrying a burden, worried that telling the truth will ruin the image you have in her mind?"

Having already come this far, I stopped pretending and simply accepted her guess: "That's pretty much it."

Asaho is a post-apocalyptic survivor with a strong sense of vigilance towards her surroundings. During our interactions, I often sensed her wariness and defensiveness. However, in the end, the process of building a closer relationship between us was relatively smooth. This is because she has a stereotypical view of humans living in peacetime, or rather, unrealistic fantasies. I, on the other hand, went along with her preconceived notions and played the role of a kind-hearted person.

In other words, her trust and affection for me were likely built on that false image.

Although I had once concealed my superpowers from her, that was still somewhat justifiable. After all, superpowered individuals in this era are typically in a state of concealment. Until she proved her superpowers, it was perfectly reasonable for me to hide them.

However, if I concealed my true motives for taking her in, the situation would be quite different. She would doubt my character.

Worst of all, I know very well what my true inner nature is like. If I were to reveal it to the public, not only Ma Zao, but even Zhu Shi would likely distance himself from me, and Chang'an would be greatly disappointed in me.

How could I be the kind person that Asahi imagined? I'm clearly a villain whose primary motivation is his own selfish desires.

"You're actually worried that revealing your true self will ruin the image you've worked so hard to cultivate in the eyes of the opposite sex? Senior Brother Zhuang, are you some kind of lovesick girl..." Zhu Shi was taken aback at first, then said, "Besides, I don't think you need to hide anything. Why don't you just be honest? As long as you're honest enough, the other person will definitely accept it."

"More importantly, secrets can't stay hidden forever. As long as you continue to associate with each other, she will definitely find out about your pursuit of strange things from other places and then realize the purpose of your association with her."

“I understand, I will find a way to explain it to her,” I said. “So I hope you can cooperate with me in the coming days and not tell her the truth.”

Upon hearing this, she hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing, "Okay... since you've been honest with me, I can help with this small favor."

"Now it's your turn to answer me..." I looked at her seriously, "When you were talking to Asao just now, you secretly used 'Mount Buzhou,' right? In your opinion, is Asao's talk of the apocalypse and time travel true or false?"

She admitted directly: "Everything she said was the truth."

"Do you believe her?" I asked.

"...To be honest, it's hard to believe." She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Perhaps she had a way of hiding it from me; or perhaps she had apocalyptic nightmares during her amnesia and believed them to be real after waking up; or perhaps amnesia itself has the effect of causing mental derangement in patients..."

She paused for a long while before saying with difficulty, "...But since she is so convinced of her own ideas, I can't just dismiss her words as empty talk and laugh them off."

From her perspective, she probably hopes to simply view Asahi as a patient who has awakened from a mental illness and find clues to cure the mental illness from him.

Her mother suffered from amnesia, so it's inevitable that personal feelings would be involved.

However, she was still forcing herself to make a calm analysis.

"Will you report her situation to your superiors?" I asked.

"Of course. We can't be completely sure yet whether she's a pure soul traveler. Perhaps her soul travel is related to her amnesia." She analyzed, "Maybe other amnesia patients, after waking up, will also think, like her, that they lived in a post-apocalyptic world."

“It’s simple to verify this hypothesis,” I suggested. “She has a friend in the apocalypse. If Luo Shan shows her all the photos and information of patients with amnesia and helps her identify those who match her friend’s characteristics, it means that the souls of the other patients with amnesia may have traveled to the apocalypse she’s talking about.”

“You’re right!” she exclaimed, perking up, then adding doubtfully, “Wait a minute, didn’t you mention her friend to her before? Also, since you gave her the GPS bracelet and she didn’t even realize it, does that mean you’ve always known her location?”

"I can't say how I met her friend right now," I said. "As for the GPS bracelet... for some reason, it stopped giving me a signal after she left me, and I'm really wondering what happened..."

She didn't dwell too much on my interactions with Asaho's friend, but after hearing the rest, she thoughtfully said, "It's probably related to her abilities..."

"What is her ability?" I was very curious about it. "You mentioned 'the power of return' earlier, is that the name of her ability?"

“Yes,” she explained. “Her ability is ‘return,’ or more easily understood as ‘reset.’”

"She can reset her state in time and her position in space. So even if she is injured, she can recover instantly, or she can transfer herself to a route she has been before."

"At the same time, this ability should also be able to be used on objects she comes into contact with, including clothes or accessories. If I'm not mistaken, the reason that GPS bracelet isn't sending a signal right now might be because she reset it to a state where it's not yet paired with your device."

"Her superhuman athleticism was probably achieved using this ability, but it seems to involve a more complex application. At the time, I was mostly focused on the monster and didn't see clearly how she actually did it."

After listening, the doubts that had been hanging over my mind immediately dissipated.

Since the GPS bracelet was reset in that way, the thermal energy record I left inside her body was likely reset in the same way.

This also means that if Asa wants to escape from my side, I can neither forcibly stop her nor secretly leave any meaningful backup plan.

Using bait number two as bait to lure the fish out of the water was indeed the right approach.

As for why she chose to reset her GPS bracelet immediately after leaving me three days ago, I can only think of one reason for now... It wasn't because she discovered there was something wrong with the bracelet, but because I had taken her to too many places on our "date." She might have been sweating, hungry, or simply wanted to regain her strength, so she reset her entire body.

Last night, the strange person with the "damage transfer" ability said that he had successfully escaped from Asaha's pursuit. The reason why Asaha did not use spatial transfer was probably because the strange person ran in a direction she had not scouted.

Many perplexing mysteries are actually quite simple once solved.

Zhu Shi removed the sound-isolating barrier and then returned to Ma Zao's place with me.

"Have you finished talking?" Mazao looked at us. "So, what are you going to do with me next?"

“Let’s work together from now on,” Zhu Shi said kindly. “We need to solve the strange man incident, and you need to use the strange man to gather evidence that the apocalypse is approaching. It’s beneficial for both of us to work together. Also, we’ll need your cooperation in the investigation of the Soul Loss Syndrome later. Is that alright?”

As if she had expected this, Ma Zao nodded without much hesitation: "Okay."

“Well then, without further ado, could you provide a clue?” Zhu Shi said. “It’s about that strange man who escaped earlier. Actually, we lack clues about him. You were chasing him, which means you must have enough leads to track him down, which is why you were able to find him. Is that right?”

“No, I don’t have any clues either.” Mazao shook her head. “I was just wandering around outside and happened to run into him.”

"Just wandering around... and coincidentally..." Zhu Shi was stunned, then couldn't help but ask, "Is this how you investigate the apocalypse?"

“Yes,” Asaho said matter-of-factly, “I have a constitution that attracts strange things. As long as I travel around outside, strange things will come to me sooner or later. What’s wrong with that?”

“Uh…” Zhu Shi looked at me, at a loss.

I had previously speculated about how Asaha planned to investigate the apocalypse. I originally thought that as a time traveler, she must possess some clues that I was unaware of, which gave her the confidence to investigate the apocalypse single-handedly. I never expected her approach to be so simple and brutal.

“I also have a question for you.” Ma Zao looked at Zhu Shi. “You said you could see through other people’s abilities, so do you know how that karmic demon… or rather, that strange person who escaped earlier escaped?”

(End of this chapter)