From the end of the world

Chapter 525: Small Bowl Confluence
Listening to the other person's light footsteps and guessing whether the other person was Xiaowan, I couldn't help feeling nostalgic.

It seems that most of the occasions when I meet Xiao Wan are similar. I wait for her to arrive at a certain place, listen to her footsteps and guess whether she is the little girl I am waiting for. However, this time, the place where I am waiting is no longer in the virtual world, but in the real world.

A short man wearing a shabby black cloak and a hood covering his face approached me slowly from a distance, his movements were quite cautious, and he seemed to be trying to use the night and dead trees to cover his body and spy on me in secret. Unfortunately, the man's stealth skills were more than one dimension behind the mysterious woman before. With my eyesight and hearing, I could see the man's figure and movements clearly.

"Is it a small bowl?" I asked directly.

Hearing my voice, the other party quickly shrank behind a dead tree in the distance, as if he was pretending to be ostrich and pretending to be ignorant. Then, he seemed to react belatedly and made a childish and hesitant voice.

"Is... is it Mr. Number Three?" she asked.

Because I and other people cannot distinguish each other's appearance in the virtual world, my memory of Xiaowan is more based on her voice, so it is easy to distinguish that the person coming is Xiaowan. Xiaowan is probably similar to me, and can identify my identity by voice.

But the more important reason was probably the text that the wandering soul had written on the map. It probably mentioned briefly that I, Zhuang Cheng, was waiting here.

"it's me."

In order to increase my persuasiveness, I summoned a fireball. The dazzling firelight illuminated Xiaowan's figure in the distance. She was obviously frightened by the appearance of the fireball, and it seemed that she wanted to turn around and run away.

Only then did I realize that the fluctuations of my own mana were almost the same as those of the Great Demon of Disaster, and Xiaowan was being hunted by the Great Demon of Disaster. If I rashly displayed the fluctuations of my mana, it would of course cause stress on the other side.

Fortunately, Xiaowan had also been exposed to my magic power fluctuations when the virtual realm was destroyed. She immediately calmed down, moved towards me, and took off her hood.

Her appearance also appeared in my eyes.

It was exactly the same as the appearance I had confirmed in the photo that Ma Zao had read and written, and it was also exactly the same as the young Zhu Shi—Zhu Jiuxiong—that I had seen in my dream in Chang'an.

Neat and clean black medium-length hair, fair and delicate skin, adorable looks... the real Xiaowan is simply another Zhu Jiuxing.

Could it be that Xiaowan's true identity was not the incarnation of Zhu Shi's dream? I once again had this doubt.

I stood up from the stone that served as a stool, walked up to Xiaowan, and said, "Long time no see, Xiaowan... or should I say, is this our first meeting?"

"Long time no see, Mr. No. 3..."

Xiao Wan first seemed to say it subconsciously, then looked at my face with an incredulous look and said, "Mr. No. 3, have you really traveled to this era? Am I dreaming?"

“This is reality,” I said.

"So, what about Sister Ma Zao? There must be a strong bond between you two... Could it be that she also traveled to this era with you?" Xiaowan asked.

"It's a pity that she's not with me." I looked at another place, "Didn't the letter from the wandering soul say that?"

Xiaowan followed my gaze and looked over. The body of the wandering soul was lying not far away. When Xiaowan saw the body, he was stunned for a moment, then fell silent and walked to the side of the body.

She sighed softly, then clasped her hands together, as if she was praying earnestly for the other person's soul.

"He asked me to tell you - 'Thank you for fulfilling my wish,'" I said.

Hearing this, Xiao Wan showed a complicated expression and said, "Thank me..."

"Now that you have joined me, even if the Demon of Disaster attacks later, I can help you block it. But why do you know that as long as the wandering soul recovers its memory, I can help you escape from the crisis?" I was curious.

"I just had this vague intuition." Xiaowan looked at the remains of the wandering soul, "'If we do this, things might turn out well' - that was about the extent of my foresight. I didn't expect that Mr. No. 3 would cross over and join me.

"I don't know if this is the right thing to do. After all, I paid the price of Mr. Youhun's death after taking the Three-Life Stone Powder in exchange for my own safety. And for this, I don't even feel much shame or guilt. Instead, I feel relieved and happy that I can reunite with you, Mr. No. 3, and that I have a chance to continue to survive.

"Mr. Three, will you hate me for this?"

Her words sounded sentimental, and while there might have been some truth in them, there was also probably some desire to observe my emotions.

Xiaowan and Mazao are completely opposite in many ways. It's not just that Mazao is slow and clumsy in many ways, while Xiaowan is very smart. Mazao looks like a vigilant and calm doomsday survivor, but in fact, she is overly naive and kind. This may be because she has strong enough power and lives a life away from people most of the time, so she has not been exposed to so many intrigues.

Xiaowan, on the other hand, looks innocent and kind, but actually has a alert and calm heart. This may be because she is weak and easily hurt, and she may die if she is not careful. She knows how to find a protective umbrella for herself in an unfamiliar environment, is good at understanding the minds of people around her, knows how to express herself, and sees through the superficial words and deeds of others.

Compared to Ma Zao, this ten-year-old girl may be more like a cold-blooded doomsday survivor. After all, I am a person who traveled from the modern world to this era. She may think that I may have different values ​​from her and have some opinions about her behavior. Although I have discussed many things with her in depth in the past, and she knows a lot about me, it was just verbal communication in the detached and monotonous environment of the virtual world. Now we are really beginning to understand each other.

"The wandering soul wanted to be freed, and you helped point the way. He provided help to repay the favor. It's just such a simple thing. There's no need to take it so seriously." I said, "I plan to bury the wandering soul's body now. Is there anything special about this in the apocalyptic era?"

"If you want to bury the body, then cremation is the best option." Xiao Wan gave his opinion, "Not to mention that burial may lead to strange phenomena such as corpse resurrection, the body will also be eaten by maggots after a period of time.

"In the apocalypse, there are no normal animals. Maggots growing from corpses are a common and bizarre phenomenon. They are not real maggots, but more like a phenomenon that symbolizes death and corruption. Therefore, the survivors who eat those maggots without any care will also be infected and cursed, and will either become weak or die.

"I don't think Mr. Youhun would want to be devoured by something like that after he dies."

Since she said so, I summoned fire and cremated the wandering soul's body into ashes in one go, then packed its ashes in a wooden box.

I made this wooden box improvised from dead wood nearby, and used it as an urn. Under these conditions, there is no way to ask for more. I originally wanted to bury it on the spot, but after thinking about it, I decided to put it away first. Maybe I can find another beautiful place to bury it in the future, which can be regarded as a reward for the help of the wandering soul.

Maybe I will even try to return to the modern world in the future. Since the wandering soul's true wish is to return home, it is probably most appropriate to bury it in the modern world.

After completing the simple processing, Xiaowan and I moved on to the next topic.

"Mr. No. 3...how did you come to this era?" Xiaowan asked.

"Before I explain this matter...are you still going to call me 'Mr. No. 3'?" I said, "This is not a virtual world. There is no need to hide each other's identities."

And I guess all the apostles in the virtual realm already know my real name.

It's not that I have any problem with the name "Mr. No. 3". Rather, I like this kind of title in the style of the number of the mysterious organization, but it feels a bit wrong when it is separated from the supporting background. I may meet other people in the future, and if I use this title again, I may attract some strange looks.

"Just like I call you Xiaowan, you should also call me by my name," I said.

Xiao Wan blinked, then tentatively called out, "So...Brother Zhuang Cheng?"

Being called that by her in such a sweet and childish voice, I felt a little embarrassed, so I said, "Just call me Zhuang Cheng directly."

"But I always call Sister Ma Zao 'sister', so of course I should also call Brother Zhuang Cheng 'brother'," said Xiaowan.

It seems to make sense, and when I think about the fact that it is a name that matches Ma Zao, I think it is not bad either.

"Okay, that's it." I nodded in agreement.

Xiao Wan smiled slightly, and then said: "Then Brother Zhuang Cheng, regarding the topic just now..."

"Well, here's what happened..." I explained in detail how I came to be in the apocalyptic era.

After listening to this, Xiaowan seemed to slowly digest his emotions about my coming to the apocalyptic era, and then he showed a serious expression.

"The underworld that banished you to the void at the cost of its own life, and the 'firefly' that appeared in the void..." She said thoughtfully, "Let's not talk about the former, the latter seems to be more mysterious... Could it be that the true form of this 'firefly' is the Great Demon of Disaster?"

"I don't think that's possible." I said, "This 'firefly' is always motionless, and the Great Demon of Disaster is always chasing you, right?"

"Yes, according to my intuition, the Great Devil of Disaster is also searching for where I might be at this moment." Xiaowan said calmly, "However, even if the real body of this 'firefly' is not the Great Devil of Disaster, it should be an existence that has some connection with the doomsday era."

In order to help him sort out his thoughts, I deliberately asked, "Why do you think so?"

"Because you, Brother Zhuang Cheng, came to the Doomsday Era just to chase this 'firefly'." Xiao Wan said, "Since the connection between you and this 'firefly' has not deepened after you officially arrived at the Doomsday Era, it means that the coordinates of this 'firefly' are probably not within the time and space of the Doomsday Era.

“Having said that, if you are simply in the void, then it is very likely that it will not be able to guide you to the end times.

"So this is what I was thinking. Could this 'firefly' be at the border between the apocalypse and nothingness?"

"Border area?" I had never thought about this direction. "But even if your hypothesis makes sense, how can we verify it?"

"It's very simple, Brother Zhuang Cheng." Xiao Wan said, "Next, I will strengthen the connection between you and this 'firefly', and you will try to see if you can directly observe the specific scene where the other party is in."

(End of this chapter)