Chapter 93 Night Talk 1

Zhu Shi paused for a moment, then burst out laughing: "You're only asking now?"

I should have asked this question sooner, and it's not such a difficult problem to notice. It's just that when people are swayed by their emotions, their perspective narrows.

Previously, my attention was entirely focused on Maya, and my mind was filled with the thought that without Maya, I would be shut out of this strange world. But now I've finally relaxed, and my perspective has broadened, allowing me to see other directions.

If the Great Impermanence beings were like me in the past, unable to normally access the supernatural and things related to it, then they would not be able to rule Mount Luo.

I've encountered Luo Shan members like Zhu Shi before, but back then I couldn't recognize her as a demon hunter, and she couldn't recognize me as a superpowered individual. She had previously suspected I might be involved with strange entities. If she had used "Buzhou Mountain" to observe me even once, out of suspicion and curiosity, she would have immediately realized I was a superpowered individual.

But she didn't, not even once. This shows that my past inability to access the supernatural world wasn't just due to dimensional reasons like "I'm too strong, and strange things are afraid of me and dare not approach," but also influenced by a matter of fate. Therefore, even those supernatural events that exist merely as phenomena, I never encountered even once.

Humans who manipulate strange powers are clearly also within the scope of this influence, and Luoshan is a place where such humans gather. How are the Great Impermanence able to contact each other?

Zhu Shi seemed to organize his knowledge on the other end of the phone before replying after a few seconds: "Unfortunately, even the Great Impermanence do not have a permanent solution for this kind of effect that is mutually exclusive with the strange."

"If it can't cure the root cause, then at least it can treat the symptoms?" I pondered. "Could it be that the methods used by the Great Impermanence are the same as mine, treating the symptoms by associating with people who can attract strange beings? Or do they have tools that can attract strange beings?"

“I don’t know exactly how many methods the Great Impermanence used, but there is one method they have definitely used, and they are still using it now,” she said.

"What method is it?" I asked curiously.

“It’s ‘connection’,” she replied. “Most of the Great Impermanences weren’t Great Impermanences from the beginning. They are different from you in one way: they all went through a process of growing from weak to strong in the strange world. In this process, they formed connections with the people of the strange world and left their own footprints.”

"If a ship wants to anchor, it must anchor itself. If the anchor is not strong enough, the ship will be swept away by the waves; conversely, if there are enough anchors, it can stay where it wants to stay."

After listening, I quickly understood.

The repulsion effect will sever the connection between the Great Impermanence and the strange world. Since that's the case, let's forge more connections than we can sever.

That's a really simple and straightforward approach.

Although this is certainly not something that can be done overnight, I should probably try this method.

In the past, I only saw Luoshan as a platform to encounter the supernatural, but I wasn't interested in participating in the activities within the organization. That approach was probably flawed. If I want to anchor myself like the Great Impermanence, I need to cultivate enough connections within Luoshan.

Is this the very reason why the Great Impermanence (a powerful deity) established Mount Luo? Ancient emperors could issue decrees mobilizing massive numbers of people to carve roads through mountains and dig canals—a testament to the power of human civilization. The Great Impermanence, like deities, could wield such power on their own, seemingly without needing to gather a crowd. However, if it's to prevent themselves from being excluded from the strange world, then the necessity of gathering a crowd seems to arise.

Just then, a sudden thought flashed through my mind, and I realized a terrifying possibility—

Today, the power of the divine seal no longer interferes with secular society and the supernatural world; the latter can influence the former at will, and is even exerting its influence more and more intensely. In other words, the supernatural world will eventually become indistinguishable from secular society.

However, the effect of the Great Impermanences being rejected by the supernatural world did not disappear, and the proof is myself. The power of the Divine Seal disappeared three years ago, and I was still unable to contact the supernatural until I made contact with Asaha this month.

In the past, when the Great Impermanence lost its anchor with the strange world, it merely returned to secular society, losing only half of the world; if the Great Impermanence does the same in the future, it may be completely rejected by both humanity and the strange world.

Re-examining the question of "Luoshan's desire to rule secular society" along this line of thought seems to reveal more.

But if they are truly rejected outright, how will the Great Impermanence exist in this world?

How will I exist in this world?

“Zhu Shi, have there ever been instances of great impermanence that lost their anchor in the past?” I asked.

“There were some. After all, not all the Great Impermanences have a reason to stay in this world, nor do all the Great Impermanences like to form karmic connections with others. Over time, those Great Impermanences disappeared,” Zhu Shi said.

"Does your Luoshan region still have a way to find those Great Impermanences?"

“We can’t find them, we can’t even confirm whether they’re alive or dead.” She seemed to shake her head. “But most of them should still be alive, right? The huge typhoons or unexplained earthquakes that swept the globe in the past few years… those natural disasters were considered to be the work of some unsettled, capricious force.”

From Luo Shan's subjective perspective, it seems that the Great Impermanence, which has lost its anchor, is less a human being and more an unpredictable divine power itself.

Just as the ancients personified unpredictable natural disasters and worshipped them as gods, once such "anchoring" was lost, the gods reverted to being just natural disasters.

In the past, Zhu Shi said that the Great Impermanence were the prototypes of some gods in myths and legends, but I didn't really feel it. Now, I actually feel the divinity of the Great Impermanence from such a strange perspective.

With this inexplicable feeling, I told Zhu Shi all my previous speculations.

After listening, she fell into a long silence, and then said, "...It seems that my previous considerations were too shallow."

"What were you thinking about before?" I asked, puzzled.

“I originally wanted to persuade you to give up dating Asaha after this incident. After all, unlike us, you have the means to leave the supernatural world unscathed. But I knew you probably wouldn’t agree, so I’ve been hesitant about how to tell you…” she sighed. “But if the outcome is that you are rejected by both the supernatural and human worlds, I should probably persuade Asaha to stay by your side and help you gain a foothold in Razan.”

"Persuade Ma Zao..." I felt my mind suddenly opened up.

Just now I felt that being rejected by both the supernatural and human worlds was a huge crisis, but many times a crisis is also an opportunity.

I'd thought before about imitating Little Bowl No. 2, making Asao believe I couldn't live without her. But I struggled with how, in this peaceful modern society, how could a perfectly healthy man like myself convincingly portray an inability to live without her? And isn't this situation the perfect excuse? I don't even need to lie; I just need to tell the truth!

I could even present it as my initial motivation for taking her in… No, that still won't work, because I knew nothing about the supernatural world before I met her. And this method also relies on her believing I'm not a bad person… I need to solve that problem first before we can discuss anything else.

It seems a bit wasteful to just hug her waist and say "How can I live without you?" Should I ask Zhu Shi to say it for me? Or would it be better to tell her the background information first and then subtly guide her to reach this conclusion herself?

There's no need to rush to play this card right now. We can use our brains more to think about how to maximize this opportunity.

After exchanging a few more words, I ended the call with Zhu Shi and then plated the prepared food and put it on the dining table in the living room.

Mazao was sitting on the sofa, observing the Shadow-Switch finger she had obtained earlier. Seeing me bring out the fragrant food, she immediately withdrew the unsightly finger and rushed over impatiently.

She skillfully sat down across from me at the table, picked up her bowl and chopsticks, and started eating with me. It's really unbelievable; just the addition of another person sitting across from me made the table feel completely transformed.

For the past three days, I haven't even had the appetite to cook. At most, I've just ordered a few takeout meals to make do. At least I've eaten something. But now I have this inexplicable feeling, as if I haven't really eaten a meal in the past three days, and only now am I finally having a hot meal.

After finishing the meal, Ma Zao showed a satisfied expression. It seemed that just seeing that expression motivated me to cook again next time.

"Is it good?" I asked.

She nodded vigorously and said, "Delicious!"

After washing the dishes, I returned to the living room. She sat back on the sofa and examined the Shadow Man's fingers again.

"Last time you took that charred finger from my house, was it also to use your abilities to track down the monster?" I asked.

“Hmm? Yes… Speaking of which, that charred finger should be the remains of the ‘human who turned into a monster’ that you mentioned to me on the rooftop of the abandoned building, right?” She said, looking puzzled. “At first, I wanted to use that charred finger as a clue to investigate the monster, but after using the power of blessing to investigate, I could only see the original owner of the finger wandering around the city, and I couldn’t find any useful clues at all.”

It's highly likely that Agent Kong originally delegated all the actions of the freak to his puppet, while he himself only took on the duties of an agent.

"When you first found the charred finger in my house, you didn't know I was a superhuman, right? Didn't you ever have any doubts about the origin of the charred finger?" I asked.

"Suspicion... well, not really suspicion." Asaha seemed to be recalling her emotions at the time. "I thought you were probably just affected by my constitution, and it wouldn't be strange if you inexplicably picked up something from outside..."

I don't even know what to say about her.

Considering that she previously relied solely on her jinxed nature to investigate strange people, could it be that she only appears to be very vigilant about many things, but is actually someone who "will things work themselves out"?

"Have you figured anything out from this finger?" I asked.

(End of this chapter)