Chapter 219 Footsteps of Change
Two days have passed since the battle that took place at the old Humanitarian Division stronghold.
According to the information from Mr. Zhu, the Witcher forces captured the vast majority of researchers and some of the monster guards with minimal casualties. Although two researchers remain missing and their fates are unknown, the Witcher forces can be considered to have achieved a resounding victory.
Zhu Shi also retreated from the front lines unscathed, and then went to retrieve Chang'an, which I had placed far away. The old Humanitarian Division stronghold was hundreds of kilometers away from Xian Shui City, and since Ma Zao and I had already gone far away, Zhu Shi naturally could no longer use that convenient black mist vortex teleportation portal. He could only bring Chang'an back through other methods and give it a full diagnosis. I will elaborate on the details of this later.
News of my killing of the sharpshooter spread quickly within Luoshan, reportedly causing quite a stir. It seems the two demon hunters I released have done their tasks well. The name "Zhuang Cheng" immediately resounded throughout Luoshan.
Even my challenge to the Great Impermanence became common news. I don't know how those two demon hunters interpreted my statement back then; I only intended for them to pass on the message privately. Or perhaps it was their ulterior motive. But none of that matters.
Lu Youxun initially told me they were just knives, and although I refuted him, there's a part of it I have to admit. Regardless of the objective conclusion, in my heart they were indeed knives. After being disarmed, they were broken, and they were thrown away. At first, I did have the thought of killing them all, but after witnessing Lu Youxun's spiritual death, a sense of disinterest arose, and I easily forgot that thought.
Perhaps this is the mindset of a superhuman; in other words, I might be similar to Lu Youxun and Shenqiang to some extent. I didn't consider those two demon hunters as human beings. Zhu Shi mustn't know this. I wasn't always this extreme; I know very well that this is probably due to the psychological impact of my indifferent manipulation of superpowers to kill indiscriminately. I used to be so arrogant, thinking my heart wouldn't waver because of killing, but in the end, there was still some subtle change.
Could my decisive killing of the Sharpshooter and even using the two Witchers to provoke the Great Impermanence have been influenced by this? Perhaps there were smarter, more submissive options available at the time, but I overlooked them; if I were transported back in time, would I have made a different choice?
That's not the case. Perhaps there were smarter options at the time, but that wasn't the path I should have taken. Simply put, I'm the kind of person who would make that choice in that situation, and I fully accept that version of myself and all the possible consequences. To expect me to show mercy to someone who intended to harm Asao is utterly impossible; let alone running away in terror—that's absurd.
After completely leaving the area of the former Humanitarian Division's stronghold, I held the unconscious Asahi in my arms and finally calmed down enough to seriously consider the next steps.
Although the plan is to actively seek out Lu Youxun and the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Spear, I don't actually know who they are. We're not entirely without clues, but it's true we can't go there immediately. If we attack the wrong person, not only will we unjustly accuse them, but we'll also needlessly make enemies, which is the worst possible outcome.
The opposing side might not be able to tolerate the provocation and would come knocking on our door. Given that I've demonstrated the power to instantly kill a Grandmaster-level opponent, the hostile Great Impermanence might personally intervene. This is certainly exactly what we want, but it's inconvenient for me to leave Masao's side right now; if things get that way, Masao will inevitably be dragged into it. If possible, I should naturally seize the initiative in the attack.
Ma woke up not long after, and I told her about the current situation. Her expression was very serious.
I might go against the Great Impermanence because of her, something I've told her face to face before. Now, she won't try to persuade me to abandon her anymore. But verbal agreements and actual actions are two different things. I don't know exactly what she's thinking, but if she's secretly pleased and at ease with my protection, then I'll be happy too.
In addition, she revealed the details of how she had previously contracted the virus.
While Lu Youxun had clearly made thorough preparations for kidnapping Mazao, the fact that Mazao fell for it so easily made me suspicious. As expected, Mazao had deliberately fallen for it. While being hypnotized, she used her power of return to break the hypnosis, then pretended to be completely unconscious before being sealed in the crystal coffin. Whether Lu Youxun noticed or not is unknown; he might have been planning to go along with it.
By the time she finished explaining, we had already left the forest and were walking along the road at night. I asked in surprise, "You've been unhypnotized? But I thought you were unconscious."
“Strictly speaking, to avoid being exposed, I only dispelled part of the hypnosis,” she explained. “At that time, I was in a low-frequency consciousness mode similar to sleepwalking, which allowed me to sense the danger in the outside world and decide whether I should activate the power of return to escape.”
Could she have overheard Lu Youxun talking about "GPS" while she was sleepwalking...? This thought crossed my mind, but I didn't dare mention it. Instead, I continued to ask, "Why didn't you just run away?"
“Because I wanted to know where they planned to take me,” she said.
"You want to know if they're planning to find a cure for amnesia, right?" I asked.
“Yes. If they just want to find a cure for my amnesia from me, and they’re using such brutal methods to beat other powers to it… then it’s not unreasonable for me to cooperate with their research.” She said, “It doesn’t matter which power develops the cure first, the important thing is that amnesia patients can be cured.”
At this point, her voice softened: "...In that case, Zhu Shi's mother could also be saved, right?"
It seems that although she appears indifferent to Zhu Shi, she actually quite agrees with him. Or perhaps she's simply not good at dealing with kind people; once someone approaches her with strong goodwill, she easily succumbs. However, she always considers her jinxed nature and adopts an extreme avoidance strategy.
She was too kind, putting her own safety second. Although I hoped she could at least inform me beforehand, things happened so suddenly that there was no time to contact me, and it was a great opportunity to infiltrate the enemy camp, so she went ahead and did it.
No, even setting that aside, she might not have even thought to consult me. To some extent, I do want to treat her like a personal accessory; to put it extremely, I hope to keep her under my wing forever, so she can just focus on attracting strange events for me. But fundamentally, she's an extremely opinionated person, and a particularly independent lone wolf. Even knowing I wouldn't agree, she wouldn't hesitate when given the opportunity; she'd just go for it.
In this respect, she and I are similar. Whether there is danger or whether those around us will agree are secondary and unimportant. If I were in her shoes, I would definitely do the same.
Putting everything else aside, infiltrating enemy territory is truly thrilling. I genuinely enjoyed this operation to infiltrate the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau's secret base. However, I did it because I enjoyed it, while she mostly did it for negative reasons.
She always carried immense pressure and guilt, believing deep down that she shouldn't associate with others and even that she shouldn't continue living. Her constant desire to act in order to save others likely stemmed from a sense of atonement. And the ultimate goal of saving others was undoubtedly "saving the world."
The image of Silver Moon's "illusion" flashed into my mind, along with the scene of her being my enemy.
"Where are we going next?" she asked.
"Let's go to the city and find a place to spend the night," I said.
If the goal is to avoid being pinpointed by Lu Youxun and the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Spear, it would be best to go somewhere secluded. We don't need to eat or sleep, so finding a remote wilderness wouldn't be out of the question. However, the enemy is one of the rulers of Luoshan; finding someone is a simple matter, and they have plenty of methods like divination. We're no longer at the stage of multiple factions vying for power over trivial matters like "Where is the girl with the amnesiac soul?" We'd be better off maintaining normal eating and sleeping habits and preserving a good mental state.
Mazao seemed to have other ideas, but after thinking about it, she followed him.
Using our phone's map, we quickly found a nearby city. It was 10 PM, the peak time for late-night snacks, but there were hardly any shops open on the streets. We finally found a restaurant with lights on, but there were only two or three customers inside. While we were eating, we overheard people chatting at a nearby table, and they seemed to be nervously discussing topics like "nuclear bombs" and "world war."
It was only then that I realized what was happening, and I used my phone to connect to the internet and check the news.
As expected, the battle with Silvermoon had been incredibly commotion; Silvermoon had even used a nuclear explosion. This was something the country couldn't hide. Although it happened only an hour or two ago, it had already become a major topic of discussion among netizens. According to comments, the nuclear explosion was of strategic nuclear scale. Some people were terrified, thinking it was an American nuclear attack, while others believed it was a nuclear weapons test. It seems even foreign websites are discussing the matter.
In terms of destructive scale and total energy, the Great Impermanence, capable of manifesting as natural disasters, possesses power many times greater than the nuclear explosion summoned by Silver Moon. However, in terms of the degree to which they shake people's hearts, the relationship is reversed. Until now, Luo Shan has always maintained a wait-and-see attitude, and the Great Impermanence have also kept their existence hidden from the world. Yet, this is ultimately an invisible and fragile tacit understanding, one that could easily vanish at any moment. Now, this tacit understanding has been torn apart by my battle with Silver Moon.
The bizarre world is gradually revealing its existence to the world, and the footsteps of changing times are getting closer.
(End of this chapter)
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