From the end of the world

Chapter 1 Picking up the Doomsday Girl 1
Mid-September, 10 a.m.

Most people are at work or school, but I asked for leave from my school and stayed in this off-campus rental house. I have something far more important to do today than go to class.

I am fully aware that what I have done is something that cannot be told to others.

Feeling guilty, I didn't open the window this morning. When I walked to the window, I only dared to open the curtains a little. The dazzling sunlight hit my face, and the scenery of the community in the early morning came into view.

The outside world is peaceful and no one knows that there are two people who are not tolerated by society lurking in this house.

I picked up the cold metal object on my right and held it in front of my eyes.

This is a pistol.

I don't know the specific type and model. In my past life, I have never touched real guns and ammunition, let alone know anything about this. The only thing I can tell is that this is definitely not a toy model gun I played with when I was a child, but a real gun that can blow someone's head off and put you in jail for life if you pull the trigger.

It was easy to verify the authenticity. I unloaded the magazine awkwardly, and found three cold yellow metal bullets inside, with another already loaded with murderous intent. There was no doubt that this was real bullet.

The legal provisions I found on the Internet automatically came to my mind:
Whoever illegally possesses or hides firearms or ammunition shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or control; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

After looking at the killing weapon in my hand for a long time, I turned to look at the beautiful girl who was fidgeting on the bed.

"Let me repeat what you just said. You mean, the future world is plunged into an unprecedented catastrophe, strange phenomena appear one after another, monsters roam everywhere and kill people, and human civilization is shattered under the impact of countless supernatural forces..." I sorted out the information I just heard and my emotions, "And you are a survivor of the doomsday world, from the distant future, across time and space to this point in time?"

She nodded.

"Then, what is your purpose now?" I continued to ask, "Do you want to prevent the coming of the end of the world in this era?"

"Right..." She looked at the gun in my hand, "So can you give me my gun back?"
-
I first met this strange and dangerous girl last night when I went to a nearby abandoned construction site to investigate a ghost story.

Ghost story investigation is my hobby. The specific content is to conduct on-site investigations to see whether the ghost stories and urban legends circulating in the community are true or not.

This kind of verification behavior itself is not unconventional, and everyone has curiosity. Some schools circulate ghost stories, and students there may spontaneously verify the truth of the rumors. What I do is not fundamentally different from that.

If there is anything special that draws a decisive line between me and others, it is that I have done this thing from a small beginning to a big one.

Since I was a child, I have been obsessed with the magical stories described in books. I like to imagine experiencing those ups and downs of adventure in person, and fighting against powerful enemies that can destroy the world. I am also keen on the incredible anecdotes in reality, such as the unsolved mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, the wild man of Shennongjia, or the popular slender ghost and slit-mouthed woman on the Internet. Those unrealistic existences that are so far away from my real life make me fascinated.

Similarly, I also very much like concepts with a strong unrealistic and mysterious color, such as Feng Shui, Qi Men Dun Jia, black magic, etc., and I am not reluctant to practice them myself to verify their authenticity.

Needless to say, my personal experience has almost always ended in falsification or inconclusiveness, and my exploration of strange stories and legends has earned me a bad reputation.

Whenever I heard that someone in the local area had witnessed a supernatural phenomenon that could not be explained by science, I would try to pay them a visit to verify the truth. However, the people I was verifying with might have made a mistake, some were superstitious believers who lacked even basic scientific knowledge, some were vague or evasive, and occasionally I would get angry and embarrassed when asked questions.

Some people, after being frustrated by me, would say indignantly to the people around them: "Zhuang Cheng is just a Ye Gong who loves dragons but is afraid of them. If he encounters the real thing, he will definitely be scared to death!" Some listeners also agree with me.

In the university, I was also considered a maverick by most people. Although I didn't cause much trouble, it was rare to find normal classmates who interacted with me. My only friend in the university was also confused by my efforts to go to the void, and he once pried into my inner thoughts and persuaded me.

"Since you have never seen real supernatural power, why do you keep investigating ghost stories and legends?" my friend probably asked at the time. "No matter how enthusiastic you are at the beginning, you should have cooled down after a few failures. But I heard that you have been doing this since you entered junior high school. Isn't this strange?

"I see you're not doing some kind of ghost-hunting livestream. There's no income, not even a little bit of success. There has to be some positive feedback... some relevant evidence or clues to be able to persevere. Don't you think that makes sense?"

I heard his hidden meaning and went straight to the point: "Don't beat around the bush. If you have anything to say, just tell me directly."

Hearing this, he stopped beating around the bush and spoke frankly about his thoughts: "I think it would be better for you not to continue taking risks to investigate ghost stories in the future."

"Why? Are you like those people? Do you think I'll be scared to death after seeing the real thing?"

"I'm not worried about that, I'm just afraid that you'll break the law." He complained, "Sometimes you exude a lawless temperament that scares me. You won't rob ancient tombs or participate in cult sacrificial activities just for the sake of excitement, right?"

"..."

"You won't?" His voice changed.

Regardless of whether I planned to do that, maybe he wasn't really afraid that I would break the law, but he used exaggerated words to avoid conflict because I asked sharp questions. You know, I have always been a law-abiding citizen.

All in all, he didn't convince me in the end. And just recently, I turned my attention to the abandoned construction sites near the university.

It is said that the place is haunted, and the evil spirits of those who died in construction accidents in the past will appear in the middle of the night covered in blood and kidnap female students passing by.

The same night I heard about this, I simply grabbed a large flashlight and walked over there alone.

The incident took place in an abandoned building. Due to the interruption of construction, there were no doors or windows installed on the walls. When I passed through the dark doorway, there were only unsightly gray concrete walls in all directions, and dust and construction waste were everywhere.

Even homeless people didn't approach this place, and mosquitoes didn't seem to be willing to enter this barren land. The lights and noise of the outside world were gloomily isolated, and there was only dead silence and darkness in the air. The only thing that accompanied me was my lonely heartbeat and breathing.

The beam of light from the flashlight can only illuminate the front of you, while the darkness behind you seems to have a physical body pressing down on your back, making you want to look back. Once you look back, you will worry about whether something has appeared in front of you, and you will be nervous and look around all the time.

This unreal atmosphere made me feel creepy but also familiar.

There is some truth in what my friend said. One cannot always be enthusiastic in a direction where there is no hope.

I don't know when I started to understand a truth without any guidance: the real world is not as bizarre as fantasy stories, and the truth of many puzzles is always vulgar and monotonous. People who say they can use magic are just proficient in magic, people who claim to be good at divination are just good at psychological skills, Taoist priests who can bless peace are just good at eloquence, and believers are good at self-deception. For a period of time, I did fall into a quagmire of depression.

But, people will die eventually.

Rather than dying in a peaceful life, I would rather die in an adventure as bizarre as a story.

I want to make my life out of control, and imagine that monsters suddenly broke into the classroom and killed the teacher and students in public. If such a ridiculous situation really happened, how would I react? Maybe I would burst out with courage that I didn't expect, or I might be more cowardly than I could imagine - I want to know, I want the world I live in to be out of control.

What really makes me unable to stop is not the narrow-minded monsters and demons, but the unpredictable and incredible adventures that completely transcend my experience and life.

Although I don't expect to encounter a truly bizarre experience this time, I still try to sharpen my vigilance as much as possible. A truly bizarre experience will definitely bring dangers beyond imagination. Even I can't guarantee that I can escape unscathed.

As I moved deeper into the ruins, I concentrated on scanning every detail of the environment with the beam of light from my flashlight, imagining that deadly dangers were lurking in those imperceptible corners, like ferocious beasts holding their breath and lurking, waiting to pounce on me and bite off my throat the moment I relaxed and blinked.

Monster, if you really exist, please show yourself before me.

I will prove that I am not a hypocrite.

Suddenly, there was a sound of a violent collision of hard and heavy objects nearby.

This space was originally quiet enough for one to clearly feel one's own heartbeat. When that noise came, it was like a bolt of thunder out of the blue, striking my heart hard.

I woke up suddenly, immediately grasped the direction of the sound, and ran towards it as soon as possible.

It was only a corridor away, and I quickly arrived at the target location, and with the help of lighting, I could clearly see the source of the sound.

It was a scaffold that had fallen to the ground. So that's how it was. When such a heavy object fell, it would indeed make a loud noise. But the scaffold would not fall to the ground for no reason. Someone must have knocked it to the ground.

I quickly noticed with my peripheral vision that at the edge of my vision, in a dark corner, there was a vague black figure sitting on the ground with his back against the concrete wall.

The blood flowed on the ground like several small snakes winding forward, slowly, slowly swimming from the darkness into the light illuminated by the flashlight.

I heard that the ghosts that appeared in this abandoned construction site were those who died in construction accidents in the past and were covered in blood.

The feeling of suffocation gripped my throat. It turned out that I had held my breath unconsciously. The isolated and helpless situation made my hands and feet as stiff and cold as a corpse.

With trembling and eagerness, I slowly moved the flashlight beam to illuminate the vague black shadow.

What appeared before my eyes was indeed a person covered in blood.

But it wasn't the scary ghost I imagined.

Instead, she was a girl wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, with slender hands and feet and a beautiful face.

(End of this chapter)