From the end of the world

Chapter 20 Zhu Shi 1
I am Zhu Shi, the demon hunter of Luoshan.

My brother, Zhu Changan, may have recently become the target of the Fallen Demon Hunter. Although I feel that this possibility is very low, we do not have enough clues to track down the Fallen Demon Hunter.

I just never expected that he would come to the hospital to visit his mother. Although I was happy that he had this kind of heart, what if the fallen demon hunters really attacked and affected the surrounding areas? It was difficult to explain to him why even the military hospital was not safe. I was not good at lying, and I couldn't find a suitable reason to send him away for a long time.

It was also uncomfortable to be in the same room with him. There were several agents watching him, and I had to pretend to be an artistic female college student in front of him. The agents' gazes were a bit scorching. So I found an excuse to go outside to get some fresh air and relieve my tired spirit. Not only was there someone watching him, but I also deployed my magic. The inpatient department was also covered by my perception, so I didn't have to worry about being taken advantage of.

When I left, he asked me why I brought my guitar bag. It actually contained my spiritual gear, but I could only say that I was going to play guitar in the yard. I had no intention of telling him about my job at Luoshan.

As soon as I walked out of the inpatient department, I saw Agent Kong coming towards me from the opposite side. He must be preparing to switch shifts with other agents.

In Luoshan, the official name of the agent is "Probe". Their main job is to detect clues related to strange events and notify the demon hunter to come and deal with them. They will also do other miscellaneous tasks.

Agent Kong is an elite among them. He has a richer understanding of strange events than I do. The university I am currently attending is also in the area he patrols, and we have worked together many times. I heard from others that he is now forced to work too hard by his superiors and has to pretend to be a police officer and run around everywhere.

Many demon hunters look down on agents, thinking that agents are defective products that cannot become demon hunters. This statement sounds like if you can't become a demon hunter, you are inferior to them. Yes, they really think so. So they also look down on ordinary people. I'm afraid that Agent Kong's superiors also have the same view. I really don't get along with them.

There was still half an hour before the shift change, so we went to the gazebo in the yard and sat down to chat for a while. Agent Kong was a man in his thirties, so he naturally couldn't talk to me about daily topics, so we could only talk about work. Soon we talked about the abnormality in the room on the fifteenth floor mentioned on the phone during the day.

"The reason for the appearance of the cave mentioned by Zhu Changan is still unclear. Although I asked you if you have time to deal with it, are you really okay?" he asked worriedly.

“We have to try it to know if there is a problem or not. And we don’t know if the cave is a strange phenomenon that affects those who come into contact with it regardless of distance. He is my brother and I must protect him.”

"But your specialty is combat, right? If you really can't do it, you can ask other demon hunters who are better at this."

"I can't ask other demon hunters to deal with strange phenomena that I don't even know the details of..."

"Well, since you've said that, I won't persuade you any further." He sighed and changed the subject, "But while you're dealing with the cave, you can also go and test Zhuang Cheng."

"Zhuang Cheng? Do you still think he has something to do with the appearance of the cave?"

"That's a secondary reason, and the possibility is very low." He explained, "My main point is that he may have already come into contact with our world. In the past two years, strange events have occurred frequently. Don't you think it's strange that someone like him who persists in pursuing strange events has always been safe and sound? Perhaps he has mastered some kind of self-protection power."

He said something similar last time, but this time I heard a different meaning: "Are you saying that we should recruit Zhuang Cheng as a partner?"

"Even if he can't become a combat force, he can definitely become an excellent agent, which is a dream come true for him." He smiled. "It was originally my job as a probe to discover people with potential from the public, but if you do it, you can be his guide and let him assist you. Even if he doesn't have magical powers, he is still an excellent talent and will definitely be able to help you."

"Thank you for your kindness, but..."

Although I admit that Zhuang Cheng is an excellent talent, some facts may be different from what Agent Kong thinks.

I recalled the past when I met Zhuang Cheng.
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It was around my first year of high school when I heard about Zhuang Cheng from my brother.

Unlike ordinary families, my Zhu family is a family of demon hunters. I heard that our ancestors had a great demon, but now they are in decline. My elder brother was supposed to inherit the family's magic weapon and become a demon hunter, but due to an accident, I became the heir, and he lost his childhood memories. My family also blocked him from knowing anything about the demon hunter world.

Although he was said to have lost his memory, it seemed that he had not completely lost it. Some fragments and vague impressions still remained. Therefore, he believed in the existence of strange things since he was a child, and claimed to people around him that he had seen and touched strange things.

Naturally, his family would not admit what he said, and people outside would not believe him. When he was in junior high school, he was laughed at and bullied by his classmates, and the teacher often talked to him. People are easily influenced by the environment, especially during adolescence, when personality grows and changes rapidly, and denial and recognition from the outside are even more crucial.

In addition, after losing his memory, he never came into contact with strange things again. Over time, he may have slowly accepted that those fragmentary fragments and impressions were just his childhood delusions, and finally stopped mentioning those things.

However, he must still have some dissatisfaction and expectations in a corner of his heart, and he hopes to find an opportunity to vent them to the outside world.

I feel very sorry for my brother, but at the same time, I envy him very much.

I thought I would never become a witcher.

One day, he suddenly mentioned a person to me during dinner. He said that in his high school, there was a weirdo named Zhuang Cheng who was keen on investigating urban legends. This person was a bit like my older brother in the past. Although he did not publicize the existence of weird things to people around him, he was also trying hard to verify their existence, and was even more radical than my older brother in the past.

I thought my brother was about to rekindle his interest in weird things. For reasons that cannot be explained to outsiders, my family and I did not want him to be exposed to this world, so I criticized this topic from the perspective of ordinary people, saying that "it's a waste of time". After a moment of silence, my brother agreed with me.

Later, I investigated Zhuang Cheng. He did not start investigating ghost stories in high school, but showed an extraordinary enthusiasm since junior high school at the latest. His classmates were all impressed by him, but basically no one was close to him. I had a senior in high school who was his junior high school classmate. When she mentioned Zhuang Cheng, she looked terrified.

"That person often brings candles to school."

"Candle?"

"Yes, candles. He would take candles out of the desk drawer whenever he wanted, and then stare at the candles with a very scary look, as if he was possessed by a demon. Doesn't he like ghost stories very much and often go to haunted places to explore? He must be possessed by some dirty thing..."

In addition, I also learned from others that he used to focus on studying concepts such as Feng Shui and metaphysical rituals, and often carried a compass and divination tools with him for practice. After a while, he seemed to lose interest and turned to other fields, all of which were related to mysticism. Most people think that this person is either mentally ill or immature, and the criticisms he makes about him are even more severe than those made by his brother in junior high school.

However, he was completely oblivious to the people around him. It seemed that the voices of people around him could not reach his ears at all, and he did everything as he pleased.

When I was in high school, there was a girl in my class who liked novels about supernatural and romance, and she developed some strange fantasies, wanting to package herself as a "supernatural girl" and say that she could "see". As a result, he followed the smell and caught the girl "on the spot", and all her acting skills were ruthlessly exposed.

There was even one time when a Feng Shui master from overseas approached a local wealthy man to defraud him. He, a high school student, somehow smelled something and went over to expose the impostor on the spot.

After a few years, he had seen countless fake supernatural things, but he was still so "sick in the brain" and "immature in thinking".

Although this is just my own speculation, my brother might have been attracted by this point.

So later when I criticized Zhuang Cheng in front of him, he no longer agreed with me hypocritically as he did in the past, but stood on Zhuang Cheng's side.

It was only after I arrived that I discovered that he had been secretly following Zhuang Cheng's movements since he first mentioned him to me, collecting information about him like a fan.

His tone became more and more excited when he mentioned Zhuang Cheng, as if he regarded the other person as another possible self.

"Do you know? When he was about to graduate from high school, he went to another province to investigate a missing child case. It was said to be related to local folklore, similar to Japan's Kamikakushi Kaidan. In fact, it involved a certain evil force behind the scenes..."

Having heard similar topics many times, I have to admit that he is indeed a "legendary figure".

But it's dangerous, too dangerous.

One day, Zhuang Cheng will fall into an irreversible desperate situation, and die in regret for the things he has been pursuing relentlessly.

About two or three years ago, organizations related to the supernatural all over the world noticed that the supernatural things that were hidden in the dark side of the world began to move frequently for some reason, and the space-time distortion phenomenon that was rarely seen in the past was also increasing. Its degree increased year by year, and reports of ordinary people dying due to supernatural phenomena piled up.

Some people in Luoshan even made a heretical prediction, saying that this was a sign of the coming catastrophe.

If the history of mankind so far is defined as the "era of mankind", then starting from today, within ten years, the prosperous history of mankind will come to an end.

Afterwards, not only all humans, but also all living creatures and all strange things will be destroyed in the catastrophe.

Eventually, all matter will vanish.

And the next era...probably there won't be a next era.

If we have to give it a name, it would be "The Age of Doomsday".

(End of this chapter)