From the end of the world

Chapter 171 Entering Again 1
I briefly explained the existence of the girl Lu Chan and my own speculation about her.

"... Let me make it clear in advance, I am a man. I have neither been reassigned to a man nor have I ever been reassigned to a woman. I was born a man." Lu Youxun said with a frown on his face, "And... Zhu Shi, what are you laughing at over there. You have known me for several years, right? Can you also testify for me?"

Zhu Shi tried hard to hold back his laughter and said with difficulty: "I'm sorry, I can't confirm it either."

"What?" Lu Youxun was shocked.

"Maybe you are actually a girl, but because you are too embarrassed to admit it, you usually only use the male 'possible avatar' to show yourself to others..." Zhu Shijing said seriously, "Look, don't you occasionally make remarks that look down on women? Maybe you have some gender identity disorder, so you have to resort to this desperate measure..."

"I see……"

Zhu Shi opened my mind——

Thinking about it this way, the reason why Lu Youxun was able to escape from the heavily guarded secret base of the Humanitarian Department might be because he summoned "the self who could escape from the desperate situation" there, and that "self" was of the opposite gender to the girl's original body.

The reason why he was able to hallucinate the scenes there was not because of his innate advantage in using divination, but because he still maintained a network of consciousness with his original body.

However, this speculation has an obvious contradiction, that is, Lu Youxun, who hated the Humanitarian Department, had no need to lie or conceal anything in this regard. Even if he wanted to lie or conceal something, he could not hide it from Luo Shan and Zhu Shi.

Is it possible that the girl Lu Chan (assuming she is the real person) summoned a "possible clone who thinks he is the real person"? The possibility is extremely low. Regardless of whether it is necessary, Lu Youxun who returned to Luoshan always has objective evidence to confirm whether he is the real person, and there must be someone close to Lu Youxun who knows his real person.

On the other hand, if there were no such physical and personal evidence, Luo Shan would not admit that the one who escaped was the real Lu Chan. Even if the amount of physical and personal evidence he provided was not enough, there would be loopholes in the evidence that he had used magic to deceive people, and Luo Shan would be even less likely to trust him.

In the end, if Luo Shan wanted to confirm whether he was the real body or the clone, there must be many ways. Even the monster maker had to pair the "possible clone" with his own clone to barely deceive Zhu Shi's eyes, and this was based on the premise that Zhu Shi's "Buzhou Mountain" was not fully activated. Lu Youxun, who hurriedly fled the base, had no conditions to deceive.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that Lu Youxun’s true identity cannot be that girl.

"Hey, why are you thinking so seriously over there..." Lu Youxun was shocked, "Could it be that you also suspect that I was a woman in the past?"

"That's not the case." I quickly changed the subject. "Compared to this, Lu Youxun, can you help me teleport to that place again now?"

Zhu Shi also put away his teasing expression and became focused.

"--Can."

Lu Youxun seemed to check his condition, and then said, "But you have to wait for me to adjust for a few minutes. I don't know why the previous vision was so smooth, but it was indeed an extraordinary performance for me, so it over-exhausted my energy. I don't know if it will be so smooth next time."

I had no intention of explaining Ma Zao's unlucky physique, so I just said vaguely: "It will definitely work."

"Okay, I believe you." He said, "Also, I am grateful that you came back so quickly to clear my suspicion, but this matter itself is very strange. According to your description, it seems that you were forced to return while using the power of fire... Did you do anything else at that time?"

"It's just killing a researcher and freeing a demon hunter." I couldn't figure it out either.

Zhu Shi proposed a guess: "Could it be that Zhuang Cheng's mana fluctuations were detected by some mechanism inside the secret base of the Humanitarian Department, and then that mechanism expelled Zhuang Cheng?"

"Absolutely impossible." Lu Youxun denied, "The Humanitarian Department will not allow outsiders who have entered their base to leave at will. It would be even more unreasonable to actively drive them away, which would only expose the existence of the secret base.

"Moreover, even if Zhuang Cheng was really driven away, he should have been driven outside the secret base. There is no reason for him to be automatically sent back to the place before the teleportation."

During the conversation, the stationed agent had already delivered the "information of people with the same name as me" that Lu Youxun had requested earlier. It was indeed a convenient modern society. It was easy for Luo Shan to investigate a few people.

Lu Youxun took a quick look and told me the answer directly: "There is no junior high school student, elementary school student or high school student with the same name as you in Xianshui City. But if the name range is expanded to 'Zhuang Chengmou' or 'Zhuang Moucheng', and the age limit is removed, and the geographical range is expanded to the whole country, then there are still quite a few people with the same name."

As he spoke, he handed me the tablet computer displaying the information, and I looked around. Across the country, there were a few people with the same name and similar age, but their appearances were completely different from me when I was twelve years old.

As expected, I was a "person who shouldn't exist" in the secret base of the Humanitarian Department.

And if that was really the case two years ago (now it seems that the possibility is very low), then I should have been around seventeen years old there, and could not have gone back to twelve.

Furthermore, I had not yet awakened my superpowers when I was twelve, and my body there was formed by flame mimicry from the beginning, and I would not be wrong about this. Rather than saying that it was "the twelve-year-old me", it would be better to say that "the current me has shrunk to the appearance of a twelve-year-old." Zhu Shi also came closer to take a look, and then asked: "Zhuang Cheng, what did you look like when you were twelve? Can you read it out for us to refer to?"

Hearing this, Ma Zao was about to take out a blank photo to read.

And I said, “No need.”

After saying that, I stuffed the tablet into Ma Zao's arms and then transformed my body. Flames suddenly emerged from my body and then wrapped around my entire body. My vision quickly became lower and my body became lighter.

After the flames died down, I looked like myself at twelve years old.

“That’s about it.”

I showed myself now.

The size of the clothes is not right, the sleeves are longer than the palms, the trouser legs touch the ground, and the belt and shoes are loose. It is still a difficult challenge for me to make adjustments in the process of reconstructing external objects.

Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun were both dumbfounded. Even Ma Zao seemed to be under a spell, staring at me intently.

"You can actually transform yourself!?" Zhu Shi shouted in disbelief.

"It's possible..." I said.

I don’t know if he was still affected by the previous topic, but Zhu Shi looked at me with a subtle expression: “So, becoming a beautiful girl is also…”

"That won't work."

I've always been able to change my appearance, it's just not as easy as it sounds.

Reshaping your appearance is a very delicate job, just like painting and sculpting. People without relevant skills cannot draw realistic faces or sculpt lifelike human bodies. Even in video games where you can customize the appearance of characters, it is easy to create a weird face. Not to mention reshaping your body with super powers, no one can be my teacher in this regard.

So I said I can transform, but it is difficult to change into the form I want. At most, I can make some adjustments based on my original form. From the fourteen-year-old self who first awakened superpowers to the current nineteen-year-old self, I can easily transform. As for the twelve-year-old self, although it is a bit difficult, because I have personal experience this time, I can also easily transform.

"Female self" is not completely unfeasible. Except for some organs and endocrine system, which cannot be reproduced 100%, it is nothing more than making some minor additions and subtractions on the basis of the original form. But at most, the form will be similar to the current self. Anyway, I don't think it is likely to be a "beautiful girl".

In order to avoid being teased, I'll keep this secret to myself. And unlike some people I've seen online who like to say things like "I wish I could be reborn as a beautiful girl," I've never had any special yearning for such things, and I've never been dissatisfied with the way I am now. I'm already good enough.

Suddenly, Zhu Shi grabbed my shoulders.

"——Senior Brother Zhuang."

"Uh...Junior Sister Zhu?" I was startled.

For some reason, her breathing suddenly became a little heavy, her eyes were fixed, and the corners of her mouth seemed to be still holding back a strange smile. She also inexplicably called out "Senior Brother Zhuang".

Junior Sister Zhu, you are a little scary now.

"Can you keep this look on for a while?" She tried to look serious. "No... How long can you keep it on for?"

“It should be fine as long as it takes…” I said helplessly.

Strictly speaking, after becoming a flame aggregate, I no longer have a "real appearance".

I just took on the appearance of myself before I mastered the elemental transformation. The reason why I am still growing is simply because I am instinctively simulating the growth process. After all, I was still in the middle of puberty when I mastered the elemental transformation, and I don't want to stop growing just like that.

Male puberty seems to end completely at the age of 20, and I plan to stop simulating normal changes in the body after that, and I probably won't age in the future. In other words, I have already obtained the fruit of immortality that the protagonists in many fantasy novels pursue from the beginning.

(End of this chapter)