Chapter 69 Lu Chan's Travels 3 (Please Subscribe!)
Lu Youxun's gaze towards me wasn't that of someone looking at a human being, but rather like someone waking up on an ordinary morning, wearing pajamas, drawing back the curtains, expecting to be greeted by the usual blue sky, white clouds, and sunshine, only to find Godzilla's face right outside the window.
He seemed to have stopped thinking altogether, sitting awkwardly on the ground, staring at me with his mouth wide open, unable to recover for a moment.
Zhu Shi was taken aback by the sight and stood up, calling out, "Lu Chan?"
"Are you alright?" Since the whole thing started because of me, I quickly went to help him up.
As soon as he saw me approaching, he shuddered again, as if reflexively wanting to get away.
But this time, he seemed to regain his senses and stopped trying to move away. I reached out my hand, and he first tried to calm himself down, then obediently took my hand and stood up from the ground.
"What happened?" I asked curiously.
"Um... how should I put it..." He looked at me with lingering fear in his eyes, "...did you mean me no harm?"
No. Why would I harbor ill will towards you?
Actually, it's not that I'm without reason to harbor ill will towards him. In the search for Asahi, he and I are, in a sense, competitors. But on the one hand, precisely because I still need to find Asahi, I'll have to rely on his investigative skills later; on the other hand, so far, his words and actions haven't really made me feel any ill will towards him.
"Luckily you meant me no harm, otherwise I might have died just now." Lu Youxun's tone revealed a sense of relief at escaping death.
"Did I do something wrong before? For example, is there some taboo surrounding your ability to transmit information into the other person's consciousness, and I accidentally broke that taboo?" I asked.
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just…” he still seemed incredulous, “It’s just that your power is too great. Power that is too great, just by existing, creates an inviolable domain. I’m the one who really broke the taboo.”
Am I too powerful? Even if you suddenly praise me, I won't give you any benefits.
However, Zhu Shi had said something similar before. Because my power as a superpowered individual is too great, strange things will avoid me. Lu Youxun's "inviolable territory" seems to have a similar meaning.
“It seems you lack awareness of your own power.” Lu Youxun seemed to be slowly accepting what he had come into contact with, and his attitude towards me became more enthusiastic. “It’s alright. Unlike Zhu Shi, I have some experience in teaching and imparting knowledge. If you don’t mind, we can discuss this privately later…”
"Wait!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi immediately became anxious.
She quickly came to my side, clinging to my shoulders like a large dog guarding its food, and said very warily, "Senior Brother Zhuang... Zhuang Cheng is on my side, you can't take him away!"
"That's right, I'm on Junior Sister Zhu's side." I felt I should stand firm in my public stance.
"Senior brother? Junior sister?" Lu Youxun said to me, both amused and exasperated, "Wasn't Zhu Shi your mentor?"
I changed my tune: "I'm on Teacher Zhu Shi's side."
"I'm not..." Zhu Shi seemed to want to reflexively deny it, but then paused, her face flushed, and said, "I am!"
"Alright, I'm done joking. We can talk about the private conversation later. Let's get back to business." Lu Youxun sighed, then looked at Zhu Shi. "Although the target's whereabouts weren't transmitted to Zhuang Cheng's consciousness, you should have received it by now. From now on, you two will team up and deal with that monster together."
"Wait, don't you know Zhuang Cheng's level now? He doesn't need to be assessed anymore, so why do you still want him to participate in this incident?" Zhu Shi questioned.
“You are, after all, just a young woman. It would be more reassuring to have a powerful man by your side.” Lu Youxun seemed somewhat chauvinistic.
Before Zhu Shi could refute, he looked at me again: "Zhuang Cheng, you probably haven't actually killed anyone yet, have you?"
I thought for a moment, then nodded: "No."
Although it wasn't my first time fighting and winning, I'd never actually killed anyone. The first Fallen Witcher I encountered died inexplicably from organ failure, Agent Kong self-destructed, and the two men in black suits I killed when rescuing Chang'an weren't even human.
"Luoshan hopes to capture the monster alive if possible. There are still many things Luoshan doesn't understand about the source of the monster's power. Nobody knows where those people got the power to transform into monsters," Lu Youxun said. "But I think it's okay if you kill the target monster. The battlefield is unpredictable, and nobody can predict what cards the enemy will play. You must not put yourself in danger because of showing mercy."
"Zhuang Cheng, even you are no exception. Do not hold back. According to Luo Shan's investigation, those who have become monsters have been captured by the inhuman desire to devour souls. They are, in essence, 'humans who have turned into monsters'."
"Put aside all your reservations and kill the enemy."
Zhu Shi frowned upon hearing this, but did not refute it. He simply said, "I remember you have divination skills that allow you to extract information from the minds of the dead, right? If we obtain the strange man's head, can you get any useful clues from it?"
“No. Before a monster dies or self-destructs, the source of its power disappears from its body, and the spiritual information within it is automatically destroyed.” Lu Youxun shook his head. “If it were that easy to obtain information, Luo Shan would have already thoroughly investigated the secrets of the monsters.”
“Is that so…” Zhu Shi said, “Then, let’s set off first.”
"I wish you good luck," Lu You said.
-
After leaving the teahouse, Zhu Shi and I took a taxi together to our destination.
When we boarded the bus, it was still evening; by the time we got off, it was already dark. We arrived at the old town of Saltwater City and switched to walking. Zhu Shi told me along the way that Lu Youxun had obtained the "route that the target monster is likely to take in the future" through divination, and we were now heading towards that route.
No wonder Zhu Shi thought the clues in Chang'an were unimportant. It must be admitted that such a convenient method is indeed much more efficient.
I took out the photos of the clues I had received earlier from my pocket, and picked out Ma Zao's photo to examine it repeatedly.
In the photo, Asahi's left wrist is still wearing the intact red GPS bracelet. Clearly, Asahi hasn't realized the bracelet's true purpose; otherwise, it would most likely have been discarded or destroyed. If that's the case, why can't I receive a GPS signal?
Furthermore, since Lu Youxun possesses such convenient divination techniques that he can even predict the future movements of his targets, why is he unable to ascertain Ma Zao's exact whereabouts?
This could perhaps be explained by the fact that Lu Youxun's divination spell required prior clues to activate successfully; that's what I thought before. But now, walking down the street and thinking about it again, it still doesn't feel quite right. Luoshan is so big; surely there are a few more powerful divination practitioners, right? Even they couldn't grasp Mazao's movements?
Zhu Shi suddenly turned around and said seriously, "Zhuang Cheng, if we really encounter that girl with amnesia later, don't tell Lu Chan."
I put away the photos containing the clues. Although Zhu Shi's suggestion suited my taste, I still had to ask, "Why?"
“You must have witnessed the methods used by Lu Chan’s faction. For that girl whose morality is still unknown, they impersonated police officers to investigate everywhere and fabricated charges to smear her. It’s really not like they respect her basic rights,” she said. “I also hope that Luo Shan can study that girl with amnesia and find a cure for amnesia, because my mother suffers from amnesia.”
"However, this must be based on the premise that the other party cooperates voluntarily, rather than treating the other party as an experimental animal without dignity."
"That group of people probably saw huge profits in the girl with amnesia, which is why they're resorting to such unscrupulous means. I will absolutely not play along with that."
"So, Zhuang Cheng, you might think my ideas are a bit naive..."
She slowed her speech, seemingly pondering how to continue, while I took over the conversation first.
“I told you this from the beginning,” I said. “I don’t care about this mountain or that mountain, but I will stand by your side. Since you think we shouldn’t tell Lu Chan, then I will do as you say.”
Hearing this, she seemed deeply moved and nodded vigorously.
Seeing this, I felt a little guilty. After all, the reason I said that this time was not for Zhu Shi, but for Ma Zao, and ultimately for myself.
"Speaking of which, are you quite familiar with Lu Youxun? You seem to know a lot about him." I habitually changed the subject.
"I wouldn't say we're very familiar, just that we have some acquaintance." Zhu Shi shook his head. "Lu Chan was once a 'Cheng' level Wuchang, and his skills as a demon hunter were unparalleled. He was also very friendly to his colleagues. Many Wuchang had received his guidance, and I was one of them."
"Moreover, he didn't belong to the faction that believed witchers should become gods enslaving mortals, but rather to the faction I currently belong to."
I asked, puzzled, "If he's so capable, why isn't he on the front lines now?"
“Because he lost his former power…” she said with mixed emotions. “There are many organizations outside of Luoshan, some of which hate Luoshan and believe that the world should continue to be dominated by ordinary people. They feel that Luoshan wants to use strange powers to dominate the world, so they decided to strike first, using various methods to capture and imprison Luoshan’s witchers, and conduct inhumane experiments on them, intending to use science and technology to analyze the witchers’ power.”
"Two years ago, one of the most powerful underground organizations targeted Lu Chan at his weakest moment, spending countless resources and costs to finally capture, imprison, and study him for a full eight months."
(End of this chapter)
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