From the end of the world

Chapter 113 Ready
Ma Zao had told Lu Youxun that the spiritual trauma she had suffered could not be cured except by the intervention of the Great God of Death.

The concept of Great Impermanence was something I mentioned casually when I was discussing the Humanity Department and the Monster Maker with her last night.

"It's true." Ma Zao nodded. "As for whether it is really necessary for the Great Impermanence to cure it, I'm actually not sure. Because I don't know whether the Great Demon of Doomsday and the Great Impermanence of this era are of the same level."

Zhu Shi asked us what the Great Demon was, and I explained it to her carefully, and mentioned that one of the Great Demons of Doom, the "Disaster Demon", was said to be transformed by the rebellious Great Impermanence "Xuan Ming". After listening to it, she showed a mood that was hard to say was optimistic, and then asked for Ma Zao's permission to use "Buzhou Mountain" to observe it carefully.

After observing, she gave her own opinion: "If it was really Xuanming's flame that burned Ma Zao's soul in the past... then even the Great Impermanence may not be able to cure it."

I couldn't help but wonder: "Why?"

"Even among the Great Impermanence, there are strong and weak ones. Even among the Great Impermanence, Xuan Ming is a powerful figure known for his destructive power. Many people believe that he is the God of Fire who has survived from the mythological era to the present day." She said, "I told you last time that when Xuan Ming rebelled against Luo Shan, he attacked two Great Impermanences one after another, killing one of them and seriously injuring the other.

"And the seriously injured Great Impermanence is called 'Ming Zhuo'. It is said that his body is still being burned by the Xuanming Fire. No matter what he does, he cannot get rid of his serious injury."

The implication of her words was obvious.

I looked at Ma Zao, and he nodded and said, "The flames of the demon do have cursed properties. The few survivors who managed to escape death from it would soon die from the deepening burns and the inexplicable rekindling of the flames from the burns. If my blessing power was not 'Return', it would definitely have the same ending."

"It sounds a bit similar to Senior Brother Zhuang's flame..." Zhu Shi first muttered quietly, and then said, "The power of the Great Impermanence cannot be countered by clever supernatural powers. Their overly powerful power can easily override the rules, so that the power itself transcends its original inherent attributes.

"If the Great Godless uses fire, he can even burn away cause and effect; and if he uses ice, he can even freeze time.

"So Time Rewind is powerless to do anything about this. Originally, it couldn't even treat the symptoms, let alone the root cause. But your supernatural power seems to be exceptionally strong, so it can barely treat the symptoms."

Ma had already lowered his head.

Seeing this, Zhu Shi couldn't help but comfort him, "Don't be so pessimistic. The intensity of Xuan Ming's flame burning the life turbidity and the flame that the great demon burned you should be different. Maybe there is a way to solve the latter situation? Let's look for it together in the future."

"That's not what you said just now..." I complained first, then looked at Ma Zao, "Do you have any ideas about how to heal this trauma?"

Ma Zao thought about it and said negatively: "It's not that there is no possibility, but the conditions for curing me cannot be met unless it is in the Doomsday Era. And even if we can really return to the Doomsday Era, it will be difficult to meet that condition."

"What are the conditions?" I asked. "Tell me first, maybe we can gather them together in this era?"

"In the apocalypse, there was a great demon named 'Xuanwu'," said Ma Zao. "It is said that if his body tissue is used, the wounds left by the fire of the disaster demon can be healed... But I only heard it from hearsay, maybe it's just a rumor that is not credible."

Zhu Shi looked thoughtful: "Xuanwu? There is no such person in Da Wuchang... This nickname should not be a very rare type among demon hunters..."

No wonder Ma Zao said that it was a condition that could only be achieved in the doomsday era. After all, in this era, let alone the great demon named "Xuanwu", even the concept of the great demon had not yet come into being.

However, after listening to what Zhu Shi said, could it be that my previous speculation was wrong, and the great demons of the doomsday era are not necessarily all the fallen mortals?
Zhu Shi was still in deep thought, but Ma had already finished his rest and picked up the head of the Shadow-Changing Monster again to investigate.

Without any further clues, I had to temporarily withdraw my mind from Ma Zao's trauma and find other things to do. Having said that, I really didn't have anything to do right now, so I had to explore my superpowers.

Recalling the feeling of burning away "cause and effect" when fighting the Shadow-Shifter, I want to try whether I can now perceive the various causes and effects that exist in daily life.

Unfortunately, this time I failed to perceive the cause and effect around me.

I don't think I have lost the ability to perceive cause and effect. Although this is just my personal feeling, it should be related to the difference in external conditions. Just like when the room temperature is similar to human body temperature, people can't feel the coldness and heat of the air very well. When the external cause and effect relationship is not abnormally modified, I can't feel the cause and effect relationship itself.

As the saying goes, "If you live in a room full of orchids for a long time, you will no longer smell their fragrance; if you live in a market full of abalones for a long time, you will no longer feel their stench." Precisely because this is a cause and effect in our daily lives, I have become accustomed to it instinctively.

As for the subtle abnormal changes in my superpowers after killing someone, I also carefully felt them. Although I still couldn't figure out the specific situation, at least I could tell by feeling that it was not changing for the worse.

By the evening, Ma Zao finally put down the head of the shadow-changing monster and said as if it was a matter of course: "We found the target location."
-
On the way to the target location, Zhu Shi did some checks on me, Ma Zao, and herself. After the setback of Lu Youxun's spying on our intelligence with an electronic telescope, Zhu Shi was obviously more alert now. She used her sharp eyes to scan the distance to make sure that no one was following or spying on us, then performed some anti-detection spells on us and checked whether we were equipped with technological tracking props.

"Lu Chan even used an electronic telescope last time, maybe he will use some technological props on us this time." Having said that, Zhu Shi glanced at me.

I moved my eyes away with a guilty conscience: "Lu Youxun is one of us after all, he wouldn't use that kind of method on his own people, right?"

Zhu Shi said quietly: "Who knows, some people will even install GPS for the people around them..."

"Zhu Shi is right. In the era when I lived in the past, betrayal and being betrayed were not so uncommon. Some people lost their lives because they neglected to guard against the people around them." Ma Zao said earnestly, "Zhuang Cheng, I know you are a good person who believes in your partners, but now that you are on the battlefield, you can't be so naive all the time. ... Hmm? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

Although these words are all true, Ma Zao, you are still wearing the GPS bracelet I gave you on your wrist.

Zhu Shi held his forehead and sighed.

Let's get back to the point. Considering Lu Youxun's deep hatred for the Humanitarian Department and the Monster Maker, the possibility that he would do something irrational is not zero. Besides, we are only taking action on the basis of concealing him in order to prevent him from going to the front line irrationally.

Ma Zao also used the power of return to reset our status at Zhu Shi's suggestion. In this way, even if we have magic and technological tracking tags on us, they will no longer work. Just like the thermal markers and GPS bracelets I used in the past.

In order to prevent accidents from happening in the next operation and to facilitate timely support when accidents occur, I then took the initiative to propose implanting thermal energy markers on the two people. This time I didn't have bad intentions, and Zhu Shi nodded in agreement.

Ma Zao not only had no grudges, but seemed to have similar ideas to mine.

She took out a red cartoon sticker from her pocket, showed it to me, and then put it on my shoulder.

"What is this?" I was curious.

"This is my 'mark'." She explained seriously, "I can teleport myself to the location of this mark and provide you with support at the critical moment."

What a turn of events, this time it's my turn to be marked by Ma Zao!
"Can't you only teleport yourself to places you've been to in the past?" I wondered.

"That's right." She nodded. "So I stepped on this sticker. Oh, don't worry about it getting dirty. I stepped on it barefoot, and I washed my feet before I did it. I smelled it, and it didn't have any smell."

Because I stepped on the sticker, the surface of the sticker became "the place I walked on"? I was really surprised to see that there is such a use for it.

Zhu Shi seemed to have his mind wandered to something else: "A sticker that has been stepped on barefoot... Fortunately, Senior Brother Zhuang is not a pervert like the Shadow Changer, otherwise you would have been eliminated if you did that..."

"Why?" Ma Zao was stunned.

"Nothing, nothing." Zhu Shi quickly shook his head, then asked expectantly, "What about me? Won't you give me a sticker too?"

The reason why Ma Zao didn't give Zhu Shi a sticker was probably because she hadn't completely considered Zhu Shi as one of her own. Since he wasn't one of her own, it would be impolite to put her own exclusive mark on him. But since he asked for it, she took out another blue cartoon sticker and slapped it on Zhu Shi's chest.

Zhu Shi turned around and showed me his red flower, pretending to be childish, like an adult who was rewarded with a red flower by a child. He said proudly, "How about it!"

What kind of response was expected from me? All I could say was, "It's a good fit."

All preparations before the battle have been made. We took a taxi to the old town and finally arrived at the target location.

Just as the Shadow Changer had described, it looked like a clinic, located on a deserted street. In the old city, there were quite a few such unpopular streets.

We lay in ambush nearby, secretly waiting for the arrival of the monster maker.

(End of this chapter)