Chapter 91 Going Home 1
Under the streetlights by the roadside, Ma Zao spoke to me with a solemn yet nervous tone, her voice a mixture of anticipation and unease.
“Zhuang Cheng, it’s time for you to tell me the truth.” Ma Zao was observing my expression intently. “Zhu Shi has already gone far away, and there are no other passersby who could hear our conversation. I don’t know why you couldn’t explain my friend’s situation in detail before, but now that it’s just the two of us here, there’s no need to keep hiding it anymore.”
“You’re right, I need to make things clear to you.” I nodded. “Before that, I need to ask you a question. Did you mention before that you witnessed fragments of the divine seal during the apocalypse?”
Although she seemed a little puzzled, she honestly answered my question: "Yes, I have seen it."
"What do the fragments of the divine seal look like?" I asked.
She paused for a moment, seemingly wondering why I was asking such detailed questions, and whether she should even mention it. But perhaps remembering that she needed my help, she finally spoke: "...From its appearance, the fragment of the divine seal is a black, hard substance, irregularly shaped, and feels like jade. And for some reason, it doesn't feel hot or cold to the touch, as if it has no concept of temperature..."
"You've even touched the fragments of the divine seal?"
“My friend and I obtained a fragment of the Divine Seal by accident,” she replied. “However, shortly after that, we were attacked by a great demon and were forced to separate.”
"You don't have the Divine Seal Fragment, which means it's in your friend's hands... Is it really okay for you to tell me such important information?" I asked, puzzled.
“No problem. Rather, I want to ask you to take care of my friend,” she said. “We once considered abandoning the Divine Seal Fragment because keeping such a valuable item with us would actually pose a great danger to us. However, there seems to be some kind of strong bond between the Divine Seal Fragment and my friend, and we can’t abandon it even if we want to.”
“If you truly value the fragments of the Divine Seal, then I hope you can keep my friend by your side. She is just a weak and helpless little girl, unsuitable for this strange world, and even less suitable to stay by my side.”
It turns out she wanted to entrust her orphan to someone else.
In the past, during the apocalyptic era, she kept her friends by her side because she would die if they left her. But if her friends also came to a peaceful era, that compelling reason no longer applies, and she must get rid of her friends as soon as possible. And in this unfamiliar peaceful era, the only person she can rely on is me.
Since I'm going to live with her friend, it'll be hard to keep the matter of the Divine Seal fragment a secret. So, it's better to just say it openly.
Perhaps she sent me this message to test me. If I showed any desire, she would run away with her friends. With her teleportation skills, escaping my grasp would be a piece of cake.
“But, in the end…” Asaha’s voice softened, “At least in the end… could I see her one last time? I want to talk to her. After that, I won’t see her again…”
“I’m sorry, I can’t arrange for you to meet her,” I said.
"What?" She was stunned.
"The fragment of divine seal you described earlier should be this thing, right?" I took out my own fragment of divine seal from my pants pocket and showed it to her.
"A fragment of the Divine Seal!" She was struck dumb. "Why do you have this? Did my friend give it to you? Impossible, this shouldn't be able to be transferred to anyone else. Could it be—"
She quickly looked around, seemingly trying to find the third party, but couldn't find her no matter how hard she looked.
Wait, could it be that she thinks the fragment of the divine seal in my hand belongs to her friend, and that her friend is dead, which is why I can have this fragment? Seeing her becoming increasingly panicked, I quickly added, "Your friend didn't come to this era. This is a different fragment of the divine seal."
"Huh?" She stopped as if she had been struck on an acupoint.
"This is what happened..."
I briefly explained the ins and outs of how I entered the misty dream and came into contact with her friend.
"...She is still wandering alone in the ruins of the apocalypse, and has even forgotten her own name. In ten days at most, she will become a demon?" Mazao said helplessly.
“To be precise, there are only seven days left,” I said. “So, what is her name? Tell me now, and I can pass it on to her when I enter the Misty Dream again.”
“Xiao Wan, her name is Xiao Wan! Xiao as in small and big, and Wan as in bowls and chopsticks!” She gave the answer immediately, then asked eagerly, “Zhuang Cheng, when will you be able to enter that misty dream again?”
"This is beyond my control..." I first wrote down the name, and then started calculating in my mind.
My first encounter with the Misty Dream was in the basement of the fifteenth-floor room, when Number One and Number Two, Xiao Wan, also entered the Misty Dream; the second time was the night after Ma Zao left, when they and Number Four, Xuan Ming, also entered the Misty Dream. The interval between the two times was about four days, and now three days have passed since the second time.
If the Misty Dreamland can be entered every four days, then I should be able to enter tomorrow. Of course, due to the small sample size, this prediction has very low reliability. But surely it shouldn't be that I won't be able to enter again for another seven days?
I tried to comfort Ma Zao, and she seemed to know that there was no point in rushing things, so she could only try to suppress her anxiety.
Instead of staying put and talking, we continued moving towards home.
"Speaking of which, isn't the name 'Little Bowl' a bit strange?" I tried to change the subject. "Did you name her that?"
"I guess I took part of it too..." Ma Zao said vaguely, seemingly still thinking about the number two small bowl.
"So, do you remember the name 'Xuanming'?" I asked, turning the question around. "Number Four in the Misty Dreamland calls herself 'Xuanming,' and Number Two... Xiaowan also has a peculiar reaction to this name, as if she's afraid of something. Do you know why she's afraid?"
Her reaction immediately turned very grim: "The number four you mentioned earlier is Xuanming?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?" I asked curiously.
“I told you before that in the apocalypse, survivors consumed by madness become karmic demons; and the reason Xiaowan and I were forced to separate was because of the attack by the Great Demon… The so-called Great Demon is actually the highest-level individual among the karmic demons.” She said somberly, “In a sense, becoming a karmic demon is one of the possible fates for humanity in the apocalypse. Since it’s a fate, it means there’s no way to move forward. Once someone becomes a karmic demon, they basically have no way to continue becoming stronger on their own.”
"Therefore, the power of a karmic demon largely depends on the strength of the person in their previous life. If they were weak in their previous life, they will at most possess some strange and unusual abilities after becoming a karmic demon; while the stronger they were in their previous life, the stronger they will be after becoming a karmic demon."
I grasped her implication: "In other words, only those who were the strongest in life have the chance to become the highest-level karmic demon after death?"
“That’s right.” She nodded. “In the apocalypse, there were no more than ten Great Demons. The Great Demons that attacked us were called ‘Calamity Demons’.”
"The Calamity Demon is a great demon skilled in manipulating fire. People in the apocalypse believe that it is the form of a powerful being named 'Xuanming' who fell into the form of a karmic demon. It is this great demon that burned my soul."
Calamity Demon...
The character “灾” is composed of a roof radical and a fire radical, signifying a natural fire.
If one is qualified to become a Great Demon, it must be a powerful figure like Xuanming, who is at the level of Great Impermanence. So what about the other Great Demons?
Asahi said that there would be no more than ten Great Demons in the apocalypse, a number that particularly interests me. There would also be no more than ten Great Impermanences. Could it be that all the Great Demons of the future will be transformed from Great Impermanences?
"Ma Zao, how many years before you traveled back in time were you in the present era?" I asked.
“I don’t know. Time and space are very chaotic in the post-apocalyptic era. Some people believe that the apocalypse has been going on for more than a hundred years, while others believe that the apocalypse has only been going on for a short time.” Asahi shook his head.
"What about Zhu Shi? You seemed to find Zhu Shi familiar before. Did you see her in the post-apocalyptic era?"
When I raised this question, I couldn't help but think of myself.
Perhaps Asahi still hasn't gathered enough evidence that the apocalypse is imminent, but the numerous clues I've encountered indicate that the existence of the apocalypse is not unfounded. This makes the feeling of the apocalypse increasingly real in my mind. Many things I would never have considered in the past, I now seriously consider.
For example, where would I be after the apocalypse, and what would I be doing?
From Asao and Little Bowl No. 2's descriptions, we know that although the post-apocalyptic world is desolate and dangerous, a few survivors still struggle to survive in the ruins. Among them are "blessed monks" like Asao and ten-year-old girls like Little Bowl No. 2, who are powerless to even kill a chicken. Although we don't yet know the specific form the apocalypse will take, I don't believe that I would die so easily in a disaster where even ordinary people have a chance to survive.
People in the apocalyptic era believed that the Calamity Demon was the manifestation of depravity, as Asaho put it. But since it's described as "belief," it implies there might be no irrefutable evidence to prove this inference. Just as a living person wouldn't say, "I believe I'm still alive," things that are truly self-evident don't require belief; they can simply be accepted as they are.
So, although such speculation might make me seem too arrogant—is it possible that the calamity demon is not actually a declaration, but rather my future self?
If not, then where am I?
(End of this chapter)
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