Chapter 488 One After Another
I carefully examined the rotting corpse of the homeowner, while simultaneously scratching my head.
Besides damaging my brain tissue, the strange attack also harmed my soul. Although the damage was negligible on my own, it was enough to instantly kill most advanced demon hunters. Moreover, damage to a biological brain is a fatal wound for most demon hunters, and even some advanced demon hunters would find it difficult to ignore.
Even though my perception is greatly limited now, it is unbelievable that it was able to catch me off guard and make me fall for it.
I retrieved the memories I had stored within the flames, retracing the entire process of the attack. Just as my perception of space had become chaotic, my perception of time, fate, cause and effect, concepts, and so on had also become unsatisfactory. These aspects all exhibited a chaotic phenomenon.
What is chaos to me seems to have been perfectly suited to the strange phenomenon from before; perhaps that strange phenomenon was originally born from chaos. It was precisely by following the incomprehensible flow of space and causality that its power was able to strike me so precisely.
Fortunately, after careful analysis, I can observe that the chaos occurring in this abstract realm is not complete; faint traces of order remain. This cannot be considered an accident. If the concepts and rules of the world were completely plunged into chaos, the matter around me would not even be able to manifest in this seemingly normal form. Perhaps, given enough time, I can gradually adapt to the "temperature" of this alternate dimension and perceive my surroundings as I would in the real world.
It's no wonder the homeowner was so neurotic about locking up the doors and windows. If the outside world is full of such bizarre things that just witnessing their existence would instantly destroy your brain, then it's certainly not advisable to have any form of contact or observation with the outside world.
Furthermore, the one who actually attacked me was neither the rotting corpse of the homeowner nor the "monster" I initially thought it was.
What just happened should just be a strange "phenomenon". Whether it was the tall black figure I witnessed or the inexplicable movement of the rotting corpse of the homeowner behind me, they should just be the work of that strange phenomenon that seems like a curse.
I may have simply triggered the "murder mechanism" of this strange phenomenon lurking nearby while observing the outside world. At this moment, this mechanism seems to have temporarily stopped working. I consciously waited for a while, then went to the window and looked in the same direction several times as before, but the strange phenomenon did not occur again.
Is this a phenomenon that won't recur on the same person after being triggered once? Or has the strange phenomenon moved away? At the very least, it doesn't seem to be the kind of strange phenomenon that won't stop until the target is killed.
I glanced back at the motionless, rotting corpse of the homeowner, then casually cremated it before heading to the entrance hall and kicking the heavily sealed front door down with one foot.
Then, after vaulting over the railing of the residential building's corridor, they landed on the ground, more than ten stories above the ground.
I looked again at the night sky, which had no stars or moon.
The fireballs I launched into the sky earlier, even though I didn't order them to return, had somehow landed on the ground some distance away. Perhaps due to spatial distortion, the fireballs' direction and distance perception were distorted. Furthermore, the farther away they were, the higher the noise level of the information they transmitted, rendering them ineffective as "reconnaissance aircraft." So I simply extinguished the distant fireballs as well.
Although I initially treated this place as an alternate dimension, another possibility lingered in my mind. The eerie darkness, the sky devoid of stars and moon, the land where strange things could be encountered at any moment... these were all characteristics of a post-apocalyptic era.
If it were just hearsay, I wouldn't have actually suspected it was a post-apocalyptic era. But the problem is, I have actually seen the night sky of a post-apocalyptic era with my own eyes before.
That happened at the Fufeng base in the past. In order to test the ability of the fake Moon in the Water to invade the target's soul, Asaho volunteered to be the test subject. After invading Asaho's soul, I briefly arrived in the desolate courtyard inside the Gospel Institute in the post-apocalyptic era within her mental dream world.
That was also the first time I clashed with the turbidity of fate, but those past events are unimportant now. What matters is the night sky that appeared in that dream. I dug it out of my memory and compared it with the night sky I see now. Both are incredibly monotonous dark skies, like a vast expanse of black iron suspended in the sky, instilling feelings of despair and suffocation just by looking at them.
I can't tell the difference between the two.
Something like a "night sky devoid of any light" is easy to replicate perfectly. Even if the difference is indistinguishable, it's not enough to prove this place is the apocalypse. However, my journey here was fraught with mystery, and considering Asahi's jinxed power, even the most absurd things happening to me seem to have a degree of plausibility.
Moreover, I was previously in the void outside of the world.
At that time, I existed independently of both the spatial and temporal axes of the original world. Assuming I could return to the real world, how could I guarantee that I would return to the "original time"? Even if I accidentally entered the past or the future, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable, would it?
After realizing this possibility, I felt a surge of burning anticipation and excitement, but also a sense of bewilderment and fear.
What frightens me is not the potential dangers of the apocalypse. While that is certainly something to be afraid of, what I truly find difficult to face is the fact that Asahaya is no longer by my side.
The inability to sense Asaho's presence made me incredibly uneasy. It felt like I was back in the time when Asaho first "ran away from home," and my heart was filled with anxiety.
Disconnecting with Asahi means disconnecting from the power of the jinx. That was the "golden finger" that allowed me to continuously experience adventures.
According to Asahi's previous statement, simply separating from her wouldn't immediately neutralize the jinx's power. If one had spent one or two weeks with her, then one would need to separate from her for one or two weeks before the person affected by the jinx's power could escape the vortex of misfortune.
The time I spent with Asahi was far more than just a week or two, or even a month or two. I should be alright for now… no, not necessarily. The time I spent in the void is unknown, and the void itself doesn't allow any power to exist. Perhaps the power of the jinx vanished completely the moment I entered the void…
besides……
After discovering that I am "missing", what kind of emotions and reactions will Asaho, who always pretends to be strong but is also extremely afraid of being alone and easily lonely, have?
A profound unease, so different from the fear of "losing the favor of the jinx," gripped my heart.
I took a deep breath, trying to examine the changes in my fate and cause and effect, to see if the jinx power had truly disappeared, but I couldn't do so for the time being due to the chaos of spacetime. However, considering that I had just been attacked by a strange phenomenon, it was enough to show that I had not yet returned to the state before I met Asaha, when I was completely isolated from the strange world.
Moreover, if this really is the apocalypse, then the concept of the Great Impermanence and the Lost World should not exist here. Even if I have neither the blessing of a jinx nor any special connections in this place, I probably don't need to worry about being rejected by this strange world.
I walked along, lost in thought. Perhaps I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't notice my surroundings for a second or two. When I looked up again, I found that my surroundings had changed.
I should have been still inside that desolate neighborhood just a moment ago, but when I came to my senses, I found myself in an amusement park. Even if I was distracted, the environment shouldn't have changed so drastically. It seems my initial impression of this place when I entered the bedroom was correct; it's true that if you're not careful, your location can easily become a completely different place.
The amusement park looked desolate, as if it had been abandoned for years, completely devoid of lighting. Without the floating fireballs acting as personal light bulbs, it would be pitch black. At the same time, utter silence reigned; not even the sound of insects could be heard. The more a place is usually bustling with activity, the more unsettling it becomes when it becomes deathly quiet—a principle also applicable to "the school at night." Therefore, this element is a frequent feature in horror games and movies.
As I passed by amusement rides such as the carousel and drop tower, I noticed that the surfaces of those rides were covered with a lot of dark, unidentified liquid and residue, which appeared to be dried blood plasma and bits of flesh.
An ordinary person, weak and helpless, would likely be so terrified they couldn't even stand up straight. But I have more than enough strength to protect myself, allowing me to focus my energy on positive thinking. For example, what should I do next?
First, I should figure out whether this is just another dimension or the apocalypse I'm thinking of. If it's the latter, then maybe I can find survivors wandering among the ruins. After all, even in an apocalypse, it doesn't mean all of humanity will be wiped out; I can get the information I need from the survivors.
Then, although at this stage it can only be considered a hypothesis... if this really is the end of the world, how should I return to the era I originally lived in?
No, ultimately, if this really is the apocalypse...
As my thoughts raced, I suddenly noticed an unexpected clue.
(End of this chapter)
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