From the end of the world

Chapter 542 Meeting with Number
Although Xiaowan said it was okay for me to fall asleep on her lap, I didn't really fall asleep.

On the one hand, it was because I didn't need to sleep. The thought of letting Xiaowan take so much trouble to treat herself while I was soundly sleeping on her lap made me feel ashamed. On the other hand, we were currently in the base of an unfamiliar force after all, and we didn't know whether the power of the unlucky star would suddenly lead to a dangerous situation. As a protector, I shouldn't let my guard down.

In this way, I actually spent half a day resting my head on the little girl's thigh. Even though I was receiving treatment, I couldn't help but feel unspeakable emotions. What was even more difficult to say was that this feeling, as if soaking in hot water, was really good. And Xiaowan was probably able to sense the various psychological changes here.

Her tender little hands gently stroked my hair and occasionally my cheek. Although I didn't see her expression, I felt that she seemed to be smiling slightly.

When there was a knock on the door, I straightened up reflexively, as if I was about to discover a shameful scene that must not be seen by others.

Xiaowan blinked her eyes and looked at her empty knees, her expression seemed a little regretful. I also felt a sense of regret for some reason, and at the same time, I had a sense of luck that I had finally found an opportunity to be liberated, and then I looked at the door.

"Who?" I asked.

"It's me, Mr. Zhuang Cheng. I'm the guide who brought you to this room before." A familiar voice came from outside.

"Come in," I said.

The door was gently pushed open, and the guide walked in humbly, like a waiter in a high-end hotel pushing a cleaning cart to clean the rooms of important VIPs. By the way, did these people forget to bring food to Xiaowan and me?

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"The leader has just returned, and she is currently undergoing routine inspection procedures. I reported your arrival to her, and after listening, she asked me to be responsible for informing you of her return." The guide answered fluently, as if he had secretly rehearsed it.

Is the mysterious woman back?

Xiao Wan and I looked at each other, and then I asked curiously, "What does 'routine inspection process' mean?"

"This is the internal rule of the Tai Sui Army."

Xiaowan seemed to know about this, and took the initiative to explain to me before the guide, "Any member who has carried out activities outside the monitoring range of the Tai Sui Army base will be subject to strict inspection by the Tai Sui Army after returning. This is a measure to prevent enemies or monsters from pretending to be our own people and sneaking into the Tai Sui Army.

“At the same time, members who have been active outside for a period of time may also be infected by madness and approach demonization without knowing it, or after being completely transformed into a demon, they may maliciously change into a human form and sneak into the organization.

"Although it's called 'routine inspection process', the steps are very complicated. There is no higher-level inspection process than this within the Tai Sui Army."

The guide seemed surprised at Xiaowan's extensive knowledge, but did not raise any related questions. Instead, he added: "Not only that, the soldiers operating outside may also be infected with some strange curses, or trigger some strange killing rules. If we don't make a good confirmation, devastating and dangerous situations may be attracted to the interior of the Tai Sui Army.

"Last time, a member violated this taboo and unfortunately slipped through the inspection process. According to subsequent investigations, he encountered a monster disguised as a suicide note. The human who read the suicide note will leave a suicide note with the same content before going to sleep next time and commit suicide. The suicide note left behind will also have the same effect, manipulating other humans who have read the suicide note to do the same thing, and so on...

"In the end, the leader personally executed all the members who were strangely infected by the suicide note, and the situation ended."

The tone of his voice when he spoke did not reveal any heaviness, but rather a commonplace attitude, as if he was merely citing a "recent example."

There are many strange things about the doomsday. No matter what kind of inspection process is prepared, it is impossible to prevent them perfectly. Not to mention these ordinary blessed monks, even I, the Great Impermanence, sometimes can't guard against them. It is also possible that the Tai Sui Army just happened to encounter this type that is difficult to detect.

Their strict precautions against the apocalypse anomalies, and the fact that they were unable to prevent them and could only helplessly accept them as commonplace, made me realize anew how dark and dangerous the apocalypse era is for mankind.

The guide continued humbly, "Please move to the conference room first, Mr. Zhuang Cheng. The leader will move there after completing the routine inspection process to have a formal conversation with you."

I nodded and walked out with the small bowl.

The guide glanced at Xiaowan. Although he might be a little bothered by why I brought this child to such a formal conversation, he didn't seem to dare to say anything in front of me. He could only honestly complete his task and lead us to move in the corridors inside the Tai Sui Army base.

After a while, we arrived at the meeting room he mentioned and entered, while he left first.

All the rooms in the Tai Sui Army base are pragmatic, or rough and primitive, like rough-cut houses. Because it is a base integrated with the mountain, one or two walls of some rooms directly expose the rock layer of the cave.

The guest room that entertained us just now was quite neat, and it seemed to have been simply renovated before our arrival, and the bed was also soft. I guess they didn't want to incur the wrath of me for the reason that "the reception room is too unsightly". The conference room in front of us is a typical interior space of the Tai Sui Army, with only a long table and a few chairs, a bookcase with piled files in the corner, and the deepest wall is an uneven gray-brown rock surface.

Although I had some thoughts at first, "What kind of makeshift base is this?", I changed my mind and thought that I might actually like this rough and primitive interior space style. This may also be considered a "period style". If it was a pretentious interior scene like a government or company meeting, it would be a bit disappointing.

I found a chair and sat down, while Xiaowan continued to look around. While waiting for the mysterious woman to finish her inspection, I also checked the progress of my true spirit repair again.

The result is that it is almost good.

Originally, this level of injury might take at least a week to recover, but with Xiaowan's power, it only took about half a day to heal to this extent. This was the first time, and Xiaowan himself was obviously not very familiar with many things, and there was probably a lot of room for further acceleration.

And to be more precise, it wasn't "about half a day" before. Judging from my physical sense, in about two hours, my true spirit had been repaired to the point where I couldn't even sense any problems. But neither I nor Xiaowan could really sense the existence of the true spirit directly. Therefore, maybe we just couldn't feel it, and there was actually some hidden damage somewhere.

Just like a patient who has healed a severe leg fracture, he will worry about whether his bones are still unstable at first, so he will extend the recuperation period, try not to put too much pressure on his legs during this period, and eat more calcium-rich foods. With this mentality, Xiaowan spent the next few hours doing this kind of "just in case" work, and somewhat forcefully let me continue to lie on her knees.

After a while, the door of the conference room was pushed open from the outside.

A woman with burgundy hair and wearing a black tight-fitting tactical outfit and a black full-face mask strode in.

Xiaowan looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded.

The other party was the mysterious woman I met in the abandoned Tai Sui Gospel Temple.

She actually came to us without any hindrance, and there seemed to be no unexpected twists and turns on the way, at least no unexpected twists and turns that would involve Xiaowan and me...

The biggest surprise is that there is no accident. This means that Xiaowan's luck temporarily overwhelmed the bad luck of the power of the broom star. Although the power of the broom star is currently in a state of rootless duckweed, it is normal for it to be overwhelmed by Xiaowan's luck. However, the power of the broom star seems to have the property of doubling back when it is oppressed, which means that we may face a greater crisis in the near future.

He must have thought of this, as Xiaowan's expression suddenly became serious.

The mysterious woman raised her hand and took off the mask on her face, revealing a charming and beautiful face. With her tall and well-proportioned figure and neat and sassy outfit, she reminded people of the versatile and deadly female agents in action movies who were like Swiss Army knives.

Her eyes moved back and forth between me and Xiaowan.

"…This should be the second time we meet, Zhuang Cheng."

She first stared at me for a moment, as if trying to observe something from my face. After a few seconds, she looked at Xiaowan again, "And... are you number two?"

Xiaowan paused, as if considering her words, and then said politely: "Nice to meet you, Ms. Hongcao. I'm number two, you can also call me Xiaowan."

The mysterious woman groaned and said, "Xiao Wan? This doesn't sound like a real name... Have you forgotten your original name?"

Her attitude of knowing nothing about Xiaowan may seem natural at first glance, but it is actually thought-provoking.

Number 7, who lives in the apocalyptic era, should not know that my name is Zhuang Cheng even if she knows that I am Number 3 in the virtual world. My initial reasoning is that since Number 7 has a potential connection with the Lord of the Divine Seal, she is likely to have obtained my offline intelligence through the Lord of the Divine Seal's "ability to know most things in this world", which is close to omniscience.

Similarly, since she can obtain information about me, Zhuang Cheng, in this way, then it is natural that she can also use this method to ask the Lord of the Divine Seal for information about Xiaowan's true identity.

Unless she didn't ask, and the Lord of the Divine Seal didn't say - but this shouldn't have happened.

Thinking from No. 7's perspective, among all the Void Apostles, the most special one is neither Xuanming and Shenzhao, who are the Great Impermanence, nor me, who is the "mysterious invader", but Xiaowan, who is in the doomsday era like me. This is because the other five Void Apostles may be the ones she cannot contact until she dies, but Xiaowan is the "kind" she may contact. It is impossible for her not to be curious about Xiaowan.

So, I have had this idea before - to find out Xiaowan's true identity directly through No. 7.

I can't really give Xiaowan the Sansheng Stone Powder that will kill him if he takes it, and I don't really want to ask the Lord of the Divine Seal for the Divine Seal fragments when the Void Realm is established again in the future. Since the mysterious woman has prompted me to go to the location of the Tai Sui Army in the past, and used such important things as "the truth of the doomsday era" and "the way to return to the modern world" as bait, it is very likely that she wants to ask me for something, and she will not refuse to answer my other questions. If I want to know Xiaowan's true identity, it is most convenient to ask her.

And she didn't even know... This reaction can lead to two possibilities in my mind:
First, even the Lord of the Divine Seal does not know Xiaowan’s true identity;

Second, the mysterious woman in front of him is not No. 7, but someone related to No. 7.

Let’s try the second possibility first.

"Before we get into the real topic, answer me a question first," I said, "Why do you know that Xiaowan and I are number three and two respectively? Who are you? Are you number seven, or..."

The mysterious woman seemed to smile, then replied: "I'm number seven."

While speaking, she raised her hand, and a piece of suspended black jade appeared in the palm of her hand, which was the fragment of the divine seal.

However, the fragment of the divine seal bound to me did not produce any vibration reaction.

(End of this chapter)