Chapter 38 Fallen Witcher VS Superpowered Individuals 1
I am Kongda, the probe of Luoshan.
In the workplace, I am usually referred to as "Detective Kong".
Looking at Zhuang Cheng lying in front of me, I changed my arm back to its original blade form.
“I warned you long ago, Zhuang Cheng.” I took out a handkerchief, casually wiped my hands, and then threw the dirty handkerchief onto the other person’s corpse. “The weakness of fire ability users lies in their margin for error. As long as they are ambushed even once, they will be doomed.”
Yes, I am the true fallen witcher.
At this moment, Zhuang Cheng was undoubtedly dead. His head had been severed and fell to the ground, his eyes had been destroyed by the sharp blade, and the slash had even penetrated deep into his skull, completely destroying his brain tissue.
My palms still held traces of blood and brain matter that I couldn't wipe away. Having killed so many people, I no longer felt any sorrow for taking others' lives, but this sticky, disgusting feeling was truly unpleasant.
This is also a drawback of physical enhancement. Unlike some ability users who use firearms and power, or kill silently, physical enhancement demon hunters must kill with their bare hands. Sometimes they even have to listen to the screams of the dead and watch their agonizing faces up close.
If I possessed fire abilities like Zhuang Cheng, I could probably kill people much more cleanly and efficiently. Of course, if you were to offer me a superpower that only excels in attack, I would absolutely not trade it.
The current situation is the best reason. Zhuang Cheng's superpowers are extremely powerful; he could destroy any clone I summon with just a glance. Even if I were to personally confront him, the outcome wouldn't be much better. But what's the point?
Killing an opponent with a single blow is never something to brag about; it's simply a given.
In ancient battlefields with cold weapons, a fatal blow could be delivered by piercing an enemy's vitals with a sword or spear; in modern battlefields with firearms, victory is achieved simply by firing first. Even in street fights, a single elbow strike can sometimes be fatal. In human-on-human combat, overkill is commonplace, and the idea that "one-hit kills" is powerful is merely a game-like mentality.
The truly important thing is to strike first. Even if you're wielding a dagger and your opponent has a cannon, as long as you hit your target first, you win. Someone like Zhuang Cheng, a complete novice in combat, probably can't understand this.
So what if he can kill with his gaze? He can just ambush someone from behind. An ordinary person could kill him if they wanted to. In this bizarre world, there are countless skills even more overpowered than this. And this is already considered a skill with an easily identifiable counter.
...But then again, when he unleashed his all-around fire attack to kill those clones and accidentally dragged me in, I was so scared I almost transformed on the spot. I thought I'd been exposed, or that he'd gotten so caught up in the fight he'd forgotten I was his "ally." Turns out his fire could distinguish friend from foe, and he'd completely forgotten to warn me beforehand. What a lack of consideration for his comrades.
I have done a simple analysis of his personality. In my eyes, he is a very typical person who becomes arrogant after gaining great power.
Many people might assume that such individuals, once empowered, would act recklessly in society, but that's not necessarily the case. Based on my observations over the years, at least half of these people simply believe they are superior to those around them, and still maintain a degree of awe towards powerful nations and collectives.
They mostly feel more detached than ordinary people and have a certain degree of indifference towards human life. This is perfectly normal. Anyone who possessed the power to kill with a mere glare and lived for years with the awareness that they could kill at any time without consequence would inevitably develop a distorted mindset. As the saying goes, "When you hold a hammer, everything looks like a nail," and "Possessing a sharp weapon naturally breeds murderous intent" is no exaggeration.
He likely frequently rehearses killing scenarios in his mind, and might even want to try actually killing someone. Not because he has any motive, but simply because he believes he can do it. A ruthless glint lies in his eyes, and he might even be contemplating how to retaliate in a conflict with the police or military. He appears humble and cautious on the surface, but is actually very confident in his abilities. Although he won't actively cause trouble, he firmly believes deep down that "even if we really fight, I will definitely win."
In the absence of conflict, he would try his best to conceal his superpowered identity; but if he couldn't hide it any longer, he would reveal himself without any qualms. Zhu Shi mentioned in his report that he witnessed him at the scene of battle and communicated with him, and he did not conceal his actions in any way. This is because deep down he harbored a desire to reveal his special abilities to those around him.
The mundane life was so unfree for him that he wanted to go to the extraordinary world, like a fish thrown on land wanting to return to the water. Perhaps he thought that was the world he should live in.
This is an audacious and ignorant wish.
-
My first encounter with the world of the supernatural and the Witcher was twenty years ago.
Back then, I was very young and fascinated by the incredible phenomena meticulously recorded in books. Things like ghost ships where all the crew members mysteriously vanished, hellish sounds coming from the world's deepest drilling well, ghostly mazes, paranormal photos, doppelgangers, and so on. From as far back as I can remember, I had an interest in these kinds of supernatural and bizarre things that surpassed anything else.
These inexplicable experiences, defying common sense, completely transcended my life and experience, filling me with both fear and fascination. I imagined how I would react if I actually encountered these events, whether I could be as resourceful and courageous as the characters in the stories, and even whether I could gain superhuman strength after overcoming the difficulties.
Similarly, I also enjoy metaphysics and spiritual knowledge. Meditation, channeling, exorcism, divination... For a time, I secretly tried these things behind the backs of my family and friends, practicing them as if I truly believed in them.
If my family and friends knew what I was doing, they would probably think I genuinely believed it. Of course, I didn't truly believe it; I just hoped these things would make me believe. It was these things that allowed my mind to temporarily escape the tedium of studying and working, and to enter a magical world of imagination. As time went on, I became increasingly obsessed with it, even to the point of fanaticism.
However, this happy period didn't last long. When someone becomes truly obsessed with something, it inevitably leaves traces in their life. After my family and friends discovered my secret, they all started giving me strange looks, treating me as an eccentric oddball, and gossiping about me behind my back.
In truth, I've never considered myself a special person. If I were to lay bare my true feelings, I think most people, if not everyone, could resonate with them. The desire to escape the gravity of reality and journey to incredible times and spaces, experiencing wondrous encounters and adventures, is a dream countless people have had in their youth. Even those who mock fantasy and claim to be realistic secretly hope that their fantasies are real. I'm simply more honest about my desires and have made this dream last a little longer than those around me.
After graduating from university, I didn't give up these hobbies; in fact, I even found some new like-minded friends. External criticism doesn't always make people give up their hobbies; instead, it can make people more persistent and united. We started using our free time and holidays to investigate clues about urban legends and supernatural forces, sharing the clues we found and the failures we experienced along the way.
Finally, one day, I encountered the supernatural event I had been dreaming of.
In a supposedly haunted, deserted dead-end alley, a few friends and I, with a casual "let's take a look" attitude, ventured in. Little did we know that this seemingly insignificant exploration, which would have been an absolute disappointment, harbored a genuine evil spirit.
At first, we reached the end of a dead end and found nothing. The strange thing happened on our way back. We walked and chatted, then gradually realized that no matter how long we walked, we couldn't see the entrance to the alley we had come from. By the time we finally realized something was wrong, it was too late.
We frantically searched for a way to escape, but our companions disappeared one by one. The sounds of the bustling city outside the alley gradually faded away until they vanished completely. The neon lights and stars of the city above also went out without us even noticing. The dead-end alley gradually transformed into a demonic realm far removed from civilization.
When I came to my senses amidst my dark and terrifying imaginings, all my companions were gone, and I was the only one left abandoned in this eerie dead end.
This place is really haunted!
In a fit of extreme panic, I took off running, sprinting towards the exit.
However, no matter how long I ran, it felt like I was going nowhere. What should have been a straight dead end had now become a Möbius strip with its ends connected, and I was an ant running futilely on the surface of this strip.
Even the high walls on both sides showed inexplicable changes. I tried to leave the alley by climbing the walls. Putting aside my lack of experience in urban climbing, when I racked my brains and used all my strength to climb to a relatively high position, the height of the walls was visibly increased.
I had no choice but to return to the ground and try to move towards the exit. However, I had already given up hope of succeeding.
Time ticked by, like grains of sand forming a tower. Countless hours passed, and the dead end remained shrouded in terrifying darkness, as thirst and hunger gradually crept in.
I don't know how much time passed, maybe a day or two, but the burning thirst finally reached the unbearable red line.
I couldn't tell whether it was my physical strength or my willpower that was exhausted first, but I finally couldn't walk anymore. The prolonged anxiety and panic had made my mind extremely numb, like a piece of meat that had completely lost its elasticity.
After a long period of numbness, I finally broke down and cried out in despair in a dead end with no end in sight.
I regret it.
I hate who I am now.
Why did I enter this strange place?
Why was I so reckless as to pursue such strange things?
The life that I once found so tedious, that boring, uneventful but safe life, now seems so warm and dazzling to me.
All I want is to go back there, back to my home, back to that soft, comfortable bed, and get a good night's sleep, forgetting everything that happened here today. After that, I'll focus on my work and life, and never think about those unrealistic things again.
So please, let me go... I beg you, let me go back...
I knelt and kowtowed before the ghost that was watching me from who-knows-where, and I didn't know if it was watching me at all, and I wept uncontrollably.
But no response came from the darkness, and my heart was swallowed by despair. Perhaps I would die here, losing all my dignity and honor, dying here worthlessly like a starving animal.
Fortunately, in the end, I didn't die there.
I fell into a coma due to hunger, and then I was awakened.
It turns out that while I was unconscious, a new visitor entered this dead-end alley. This visitor personally destroyed the evil spirit that was entrenched in the alley. And that's how I was unwittingly saved.
After rescuing me, the man asked me about my past experiences. I was exhausted, but I still forced myself to tell him everything.
After forcing myself to finish speaking, I couldn't help but ask, "...Who exactly are you?"
“I am impermanent,” he replied.
"Impermanence...is that your name?"
“No, Impermanence is my identity. In Luoshan, the demon hunters responsible for dealing with strange things on the front lines are called ‘Impermanence.’” His attitude was quite friendly.
Luoshan, the Witcher, the Impermanent... My mind is still reeling from the nightmare, making it difficult to process these concepts.
Suddenly, I remembered the friends who had entered the dead end with me, and asked the "impermanence" in front of me if I had seen them.
“I didn’t see them; they must have all been devoured,” he said. “You’re the only one who survived. I guess you were placed last in the evil spirits’ devouring order, which is why you were lucky enough to survive.”
"Only...I was alone..." Fear made me tremble like refluxed stomach acid. "How...how did you destroy that ghost?"
"You asked me how to eliminate it... I just found it normally and slashed it with my sword," he said. "This evil spirit itself doesn't have much power; it's just good at invading people's minds and manipulating panic to create illusions. It's fine for dealing with ordinary people like you, but it's impossible for it to deal with us demon hunters with its magic power. We're completely immune. And even if ordinary people encounter it, as long as they keep their minds at ease, they won't be harmed by it."
"Take you as an example. If you hadn't let fear control your mind in that dead end, you wouldn't have been trapped for so long; or if you could face death calmly and see it as an acceptable outcome, that level of illusion would be ineffective against you."
"However, on the other hand, whether it's being able to resist fear when you're helpless or facing death with equanimity, those are things that even many demon hunters can't do. Asking an ordinary person like you to do that is indeed asking too much..."
Upon hearing this, I silently lowered my head.
Yes... that wasn't my fault.
Anyone who realizes they will be alone in a remote place until death will eventually break down. Because humans are social animals, absolute loneliness and death are unbearable.
Those who live in solitude are either gods or wild beasts.
Humans stripped of their social cloak are all beasts succumbing to instinctive fear, and I am no more than one of those beasts.
No matter who you put in my position, they will eventually become just like me.
(End of this chapter)
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