From the end of the world

Chapter 38: Fallen Demon Hunter vs. Psychic 1
I am Kunda, the probe of Roshan.

At work, I am usually addressed as "Agent Kong."

Looking at Zhuang Cheng falling in front of me, I changed my arm that had turned into a sharp blade back into its original shape.

"I've already warned you, Zhuang Cheng." I took out a handkerchief, wiped my hands casually, and then threw the dirty handkerchief on the other person's body. "The weakness of a flame ability user lies in the error tolerance rate. As long as it's like this, if someone plots against you even once, you will be doomed."

Yes, I am the real fallen demon hunter.

At this moment, Zhuang Cheng was undoubtedly dead. His head was chopped off to the ground, his eyes were destroyed by the sharp blade, and the cut even penetrated deep into his head, completely destroying his brain tissue.

There was still some blood and brain matter on my palms that I couldn't wipe off. I had killed so many people before, and now I no longer feel sad about taking other people's lives, but this sticky and disgusting feeling is really unpleasant.

This is also the disadvantage of the physical enhancement type. Unlike some ability users who use guns and power to kill people invisibly, the physical enhancement type of demon hunters must use their hands to kill. Sometimes they even have to listen to the screams of the dead and watch the painful faces of the dead at close range.

If I had the fire ability like Zhuang Cheng, I might be able to kill people more easily. Of course, if I were to be traded with a superpower that only had an attacking ability, I would definitely not trade it.

The current situation is the best reason. Zhuang Cheng's superpowers are very strong. He can destroy the clone I summoned with just one look. Even if I resist it myself, the outcome will not be much better. But what's the point?

Being able to kill an opponent with one strike was never something to brag about, but something that was taken for granted.

In ancient cold weapon battlefields, you could kill an enemy by piercing his vital points with a sword or a gun; in modern hot weapon battlefields, you could win by raising your gun before the enemy. Even in street hand-to-hand combat, sometimes someone is accidentally killed by an elbow. In the fights between humans, overflowing attack power is a common phenomenon, and thinking that "emptying the health bar with one strike" is great is just a game mentality.

What really matters is to strike first. Even if you are holding a dagger and your opponent is holding a cannon, as long as you hit first, you will win. A layman like Zhuang Cheng probably can't understand it.

What if he can kill with his eyes? He can just sneak attack from behind. If he wants to, ordinary people can kill him. In this strange world, there are countless skills that are more foul than this. And this is already a skill that is easy to crack.

…But then again, when he used his all-around fire attack to kill those clones and dragged me into it, I was so scared that I almost transformed on the spot. I thought I was exposed, or he was so distracted that he forgot that I was his "companion" on the field. It turned out that his fire could identify the enemy and me, and he actually forgot to remind me in advance. What a guy who lacks a sense of companionship.

I have briefly analyzed his character. In my eyes, he should be a very typical person who thinks highly of himself after gaining great power.

Many people may think that this type of people will do whatever they want in society after they gain power, but this is not necessarily the case. Based on the cases I have observed over the years, at least half of this type of people just think that they are more amazing than the people around them, and they still have some respect for the powerful national collective.

They probably think they are more detached than ordinary people, and have a certain degree of indifference to human life. This is quite normal. If anyone has the power to kill someone with just a glare, and lives for several years with the consciousness that they can kill at any time without any cost, their thinking will definitely be distorted. As the saying goes, if you hold a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail, and if you hold a sharp weapon, you will naturally want to kill.

He probably often rehearses killing people in his mind, and even wants to actually kill someone. He does it not because he has a motive, but simply because he can do it. There is a lawlessness lurking in his eyes, and he might even think about how to fight back if he encounters a conflict with the police and the army. He seems modest and cautious on the surface, but he is actually very confident in his own strength. Although he will not take the initiative to cause trouble, he believes from the bottom of his heart that "even if a real fight happens, I will definitely win."

In the absence of any conflict, he would try his best to hide his identity as a superpower; but if he really couldn't hide it, he would expose himself without any psychological burden. Zhu Shi mentioned in the report that he witnessed him at the scene of the battle and communicated with him, and he did not hide anything about his actions. This is because he has a desire in his heart to expose his uniqueness to the people around him.

Ordinary life is so unfree for him, so he wants to go to the extraordinary world, just like a fish thrown on land wants to return to the water. He may think that is the world he should live in.

This is an unrealistic desire.
-
My first exposure to the world of weirdness and demon hunters was twenty years ago.

I was still very young at that time, and was keen on all kinds of incredible phenomena recorded in leisure books, such as ghost ships with all the passengers mysteriously evaporated, the sound of hell coming from the deepest drilling well in the world, or ghost walls, strange photos, doppelgangers, etc. Since I can remember, I have been more interested in these kinds of weird things than anything else.

These experiences that cannot be explained by common sense completely surpass my life and experience. I am terrified and fascinated at the same time. I imagine how I would react if I really encountered these events, whether I could be as smart and brave as the characters in the story, or even gain strength that transcends reality after overcoming the difficulties.

Similarly, I also like those metaphysical and spiritual knowledge. Meditation, spiritualism, exorcism, divination... For a period of time, I secretly tried these things in private without telling my relatives and friends, and practiced them in person as if I really believed in them.

If my friends and family knew that I was doing those things, they would probably think that I really believed in them. Of course, I didn’t really believe in them, but I just hoped that these things would make me believe in them. It was these things that allowed me to temporarily escape from the boring study and work and go to the magical world of imagination. As time went by, I became more and more obsessed with them, even to the point of fanaticism.

However, the good times didn’t last long. When a person is truly obsessed with something, it will inevitably show clues in his life. When my family and friends found out about my secret, they all looked at me strangely, treating me as a maverick weirdo and pointing fingers at me behind my back.

In fact, I never thought I was a different person. If I were to tell everyone what was in my heart, at least most people would be able to resonate with it. I don't know how many people have dreamed of escaping the gravity of reality and going to an incredible time and space to experience wonderful encounters and adventures there. Even those who laugh at fantasy and claim to be realistic, haven't they secretly hoped that fantasy things are real? I am just more honest with my desires and have dreamed this dream longer than those around me.

After graduating from college, I still did not give up these hobbies, and even found some new friends with the same interests. External criticism sometimes does not necessarily make people give up their hobbies, but may make people more persistent and more united. We began to use our free time and holidays to investigate clues of urban legends and supernatural powers, and share the clues and failed experiences we got in the process.

Finally one day, I encountered the supernatural event I had always dreamed of.

In a dead end that was said to be haunted and no one cared about, I and a few friends who had met offline went there with the relaxed mood of "taking a look by the way". But I didn't expect that this exploration, which was not worth mentioning among all the failed experiences, hid a real evil spirit.

At first, we walked to the end of the dead end and found nothing. The change happened on the way back. We walked and laughed on the road, and then slowly realized that no matter how long we walked, we could not see the entrance of the alley when we came in. When we finally realized that something was wrong, it was too late.

We panicked and searched for ways to escape, but our companions disappeared one by one. The sounds of the bustling city outside the alley gradually faded away until they disappeared. The neon lights and stars above also went out without us noticing. The dead end gradually turned into a magical place far away from civilization.

When I came back to my senses with the dark and terrifying imagination, all my companions were gone, and I was the only one abandoned alone in this strange dead end.

This place is really haunted!
In extreme panic, I ran towards the exit.

However, no matter how long I ran, it seemed like I was standing still. The dead end that was supposed to be a straight line now became like a Möbius strip with its head and tail connected. I was an ant running in vain on the surface of this strip.

Even the high walls on both sides showed incomprehensible changes. I tried to leave the alley by climbing the wall. Not to mention that I didn't have much experience in urban climbing, when I racked my brains and tried my best to climb to a higher position, the height of the wall was actually raised to a degree visible to the naked eye.

I had no choice but to return to the ground and try to continue moving towards the exit. However, I had given up hope on my actions. Time passed by minute by minute, and the sand accumulated into a tower. After that, I don't know how many hours passed, the dead end was always in the terrifying darkness, and thirst and hunger gradually emerged.

I don’t know how much time had passed, maybe one day or two, but the burning hunger finally reached the point where it was unbearable.

I couldn't tell whether it was my physical strength or my morale that was exhausted first, and I finally couldn't walk anymore. The long period of anxiety and panic had made my mind very numb, like a piece of meat that had completely lost its elasticity.

After a long period of numbness, I finally broke down and cried loudly in despair in a dead end with no end in sight.

I regret.

I hate myself for who I have been so far.

Why did I enter this weird place?

Why am I so ignorant as to pursue such weird things?

The life that once bored me so much, that boring, uneventful, but safe life, now seems so warm and dazzling to me.

I just want to go back there, back to my home, back to that soft and comfortable bed, have a good sleep, and forget everything that happened here today. After that, I will work and live well, and never think about those unrealistic things again.

So, let me go... Please, let me go back...

I knelt down and kowtowed to the ghost who was watching me from somewhere, and I didn’t know if he was watching me at all, and I cried uncontrollably.

However, there was no response from the darkness, and my heart was swallowed by despair. Perhaps I would die here, losing all my dignity and respect, dying here worthlessly like a starving animal.

Fortunately, in the end, I didn't die there.

I fell into a coma due to hunger and was then awakened.

It turned out that during my coma, a new visitor entered this dead end alley. This visitor personally eliminated the evil spirit entrenched in the alley. I was saved in a confused way because of this.

After saving me, the man asked me about my previous experience. I was exhausted, but I still held on and told him everything.

After forcing myself to finish, I couldn't help but ask: "...Who are you?"

“I am Impermanence,” he replied.

"Impermanence... is this your name?"

"No, Wuchang is my identity. In Luoshan, the demon hunter who is responsible for dealing with monsters on the front line is called 'Wuchang'." His attitude was quite friendly.

Luo Shan, Demon Hunter, Impermanence... My mind has not yet escaped from the nightmare, so it is difficult to digest these concepts.

Suddenly, I remembered several friends who had reached a dead end with me, and asked the "Impermanence" in front of me whether he had seen them.

"I didn't see them, they must have all been devoured." He said, "You are the only one who survived. I guess you happened to be the last one in the order of the evil spirits' devouring, so you were lucky enough to survive."

"I'm alone..." Fear made me tremble like the regurgitation of stomach acid. "How did you...how did you kill that ghost?"

"You asked me how to destroy it... I just found it normally and killed it with my sword." He said, "This evil spirit itself doesn't have any strong power. It is just good at invading people's hearts and manipulating panic emotions to create illusions. It can deal with ordinary people like you, but it is impossible to deal with us demon hunters with its magic power. We are all immune. Even if ordinary people encounter it, as long as they control their hearts, they will not be harmed by it.

"Take you as an example. If you had not let fear control your state of mind in that dead end, you would not have been trapped for so long. Or if you could face death calmly and regard it as an acceptable outcome, that level of illusion would not be effective on you.

"But then again, whether it's not being controlled by fear when you're helpless, or being able to face death calmly, these are things that even many demon hunters can't do. It's really too much to ask an ordinary person like you to do them..."

Hearing this, I lowered my head silently.

Yeah…it wasn’t my fault.

Anyone who realizes that he will die alone away from everything will eventually collapse, because human beings are social animals and cannot endure absolute loneliness and death.

Those who live alone are either gods or beasts.

Human beings stripped of their social cloak are all beasts that succumb to their instinctive fears, and I am just one of those beasts.

No matter who is put in my position, they will end up like me.

(End of this chapter)