From the end of the world

Chapter 14: Broom Star 2
Sure enough, after hearing this question, Ma Zao's expression immediately changed.

"Why do you ask this suddenly?" She observed my expression, "Could it be that you have previously..."

"It's not what you think." I responded in a leisurely tone, "It's just that I need to confirm it in advance just to be on the safe side."

"How can we prevent this kind of thing from happening?" She frowned. "And didn't you completely disbelieve what I said before? Why are you suddenly asking so many in-depth questions now..."

"I find it hard to believe your talk about the end of the world, not your description of yourself attracting disaster. Seeing how much you care about the bad luck you may bring, I can't completely treat it as a joke. And..."

She asked suspiciously, "...and what?"

"I can't believe you, but I want to believe you." I looked into her eyes sincerely, "Ma Zao, can you let me believe you?"

This is indeed the truth. Whether it is the end of the world or her unlucky physique, they are things that I find hard to believe, but I want to believe that they really exist.

But let me be honest. I never thought that such a ridiculous line would come out of my mouth one day. I don't know who once said that when people play a role they are not familiar with, they will always involuntarily reflect their stereotypes of this role. Maybe I read too many comics. When I want to play a good guy, I always say such over-exaggerated lines.

Maybe she was disgusted, but Ma Zao couldn't help but back away again. This time, she backed away to the wall, and said in amazement, "You are really, really weird... How can there be someone like you?"

"So, will your physique that attracts disasters affect the people around you?" I couldn't help but escape back to my original question.

She fixed her expression, thought for a moment and then answered: "I'm not sure either."

"You don't even know it yourself?" I wondered. "Shouldn't you be the one who knows best about this kind of thing?"

"You can understand it with just a little imagination. In the apocalyptic era I live in, weird things are everywhere. Although the survivors will try their best to avoid monsters, anyone may be discovered by the monsters and fall into danger at the next moment." She explained, "In this case, I can't actually tell which monsters are attracted by my unlucky physique and which monsters are just my bad luck."

"Since everyone has a high chance of being attacked by strange creatures, how can you be sure that there are strange creatures that attack because of your fault?" I did not miss this question.

"…It's statistics." Her tone became depressed. "Combined with the information I got from communicating with other survivors, I found that the frequency of my encounters with strange things is obviously abnormal, and this abnormality will gradually be brought to the people who cooperate with me... Some of them may have lived longer. It is obviously me who should die..."

By the end, she could no longer hide her negativity and frustration.

It seems that this incident has caused her a really serious trauma, and she exudes an aura of fragility and world-weariness.

Seeing this, I tried to divert her attention: "I understand. Just like black paint is most conspicuous when painted on white paper, but it is hazy when painted on black paper, your physique that attracts disasters can only be observed as a result of seeing flowers in the fog in an environment full of disasters. Is that the reason?"

Having said that, perhaps even in that environment, as long as the number of experiments is sufficient, a more accurate conclusion can still be obtained. However, that also means that more lives will be consumed, which is obviously not something Ma Zao would do.

"Yes..." Ma Zao took a deep breath, seeming a little tired.

Suddenly, her legs went weak, she staggered, and almost fell to the ground again.

I rushed forward to support her. She had fainted before, and now it seemed that she was going to have the same symptom again.

Fortunately, she did not faint this time. Instead, she held my arm and supported her body.

I helped her to the sofa and let her sit down.

"Are you okay?" I recalled the hospital gown she was wearing at the beginning. "Are you sick? If you need any medicine..."

"No, this is not a physical illness." She said seriously, "Didn't I say before that my soul was severely damaged by the Doomsday Demon, and I can't even use the power of blessing. Now I fall into a coma all the time because of my soul..."

Before she could finish her words, her stomach suddenly made a rumbling sound.

She fell silent.

"Are you hungry?" I suddenly realized what I felt I had forgotten before going home.

I forgot to feed Ma Zao!

I haven't seen her eat anything since I picked her up last night, and she has been in a weak state.

It was the first time for me to leave someone at home for such a long time, so I didn't think about the other person's food and drink at all. It was like the first time I had a cat or dog and had no experience, so I forgot to prepare food for the cats and dogs at home, and just left the person at home and followed Chang'an away.

No wonder Ma Zao was dissatisfied when she saw me come back. She probably thought I would be back soon, but she didn't expect that I would leave her hungry at home for so long.

I feel very ashamed about this.

"I'm sorry, it's my negligence. You must be very hungry now, right?" "Nothing, I'm used to it." She looked used to it, but her hand couldn't help but touch her stomach.

Having said that, I feel even more sorry for her.

"I didn't expect you to be so hungry that you passed out..."

"It's not because of hunger!" She first argued with a frown, then couldn't help touching her stomach, "I just said, it's soul trauma. As for food, I ate yesterday. I was just hungry for a day. I wouldn't faint from hunger. I fainted because of soul trauma... Wait, what's that look in your eyes?"

"Yeah, I understand. Soul trauma, right? I understand."

"No, your expression doesn't show that you don't believe me at all... Don't look at me with such sympathetic eyes! Didn't you just say 'I want to believe me'?"

It seemed that she cared more about being looked at with sympathy from me than being embarrassed by being hungry, and she was so angry that she seemed to want to bite me hard.

I immediately changed the subject: "But isn't there still food in the refrigerator? There are also some snacks in the bedroom, right? Have you touched them?"

"You mean the fried meat and rice in the refrigerator? Those are your food." She said matter-of-factly, "I have to hide here for the next three days. How could I take your food and water on my own initiative? If someone does that, it's his own fault even if he gets killed."

"This isn't the apocalypse. No one deserves to be killed for such a small mistake." I hoped she could relax here. "It's my fault this time. I didn't think it through in advance. From now on, you can use the things in my house as you like. Just treat it as your own home. My things are yours. You can eat and drink as much as you want. If you don't have enough, you can tell me."

Far from being happy about this lenient treatment, she showed a suspicious look: "How can this be possible?"

"You're only staying for three days, aren't you?" I said this to dispel her doubts, and then walked to the refrigerator. "Wait a minute, I'll cook for you right away. Just in case, let me make sure you're not unconscious due to hunger? Are you really okay?"

"No problem." She didn't seem to be lying.

"Then I'll make you some fried rice, but remember to chew slowly." I took out the food from the refrigerator.

This is what I ordered last time because I ordered too much takeout. Because there are big discounts on the takeout app, I often order a lot of boxes of food, store the leftovers in the refrigerator, and stir-fry them in the pan when I'm hungry. Now there are stir-fried pork with green peppers and rice, stir-fried shredded potatoes, and a few eggs left. I plan to mix them all together and make fried rice for Ma Zao.

Actually, I have another question I want to ask her, but let’s fill her stomach first.

However, she seemed to see something from my attitude.

"You probably have other questions for me." She stopped me and repeatedly observed the plastic box of food in my hand. "I didn't answer your last question properly, so it can't be exchanged for food. You can ask me another question."

"If I ask, will you answer?" I asked back.

"I can't guarantee that. It depends on your problem." Her attitude remained unchanged.

I put the plastic box containing the food on the dining table next to me.

"Okay... Well, first of all, the time point when you traveled from the apocalypse to now was yesterday, right?"

"That's what I said last time."

"The policeman who knocked on my door this morning said that you are a serial killer and have killed five people in the past two or three months. What do you think of this?"

"I didn't do it," she said firmly. "Before yesterday, I wasn't even in this era."

Yes, that was the alibi she could claim.

Someone between Ma Zao and Agent Kong must be lying. It is more likely that Ma Zao is lying because there is a record of Ma Zao's headshot in this era.

But I know there is a possibility that can make both testimonies valid at the same time.

Ma Zao is a time traveler, and "time travel" is originally a fictional concept in literature, which refers to the phenomenon that the person moves to another time and space for some reason. This phenomenon can be roughly divided into two forms: one is that the person moves to another time and space with his soul and body; the other is that only the soul moves to another time and space. In many literary works, the time traveler whose soul moves to another time and space often possesses other people.

Ma Zao once said that she came to this era after the space transfer failed. So I subconsciously thought that she moved to this era with her soul and body.

However, assuming that Ma Zao is not using his original body now, and the original owner of this body is the real serial killer, then most of the puzzles can be solved.

"Ma Zao, is this body of yours really your own body?"

(End of this chapter)