From the end of the world

Chapter 67 Lu Chan's Tour 2
Maybe it's because I feel guilty, but whenever someone asks me about my daily life, I always feel like they are spying on me.

Lu Youxun's eyes were focused on my face. This attentive attitude could be seen as both a courtesy and an examination.

Why did he ask me such a question? Did this patrolman, who was good at investigating things, find out something from me? I could hardly stop my wild thoughts.

"What aspect are you asking for?" I threw the question back.

"Since you have fought with Kongda, you should know that monsters have the ability to transfer space using shadows as a medium." He said, "Coincidentally, this amnesiac girl named Ma Zao may have disappeared from the hospital through space transfer. And now, in the process of investigating the monster incident, she appeared in our sight again..."

"You suspect she's a weirdo?"

"It is a possibility that cannot be ruled out."

After careful consideration, I gave my answer: "I think the possibility is very low."

"Why is that?" he asked curiously.

"I've actually fought monsters before, and I know their destructive power. They can throw street lamps as javelins, and they can manipulate shadows to attack enemies from a distance. In the eyes of such people, even real guns and bullets are toys that are not worth mentioning." I said, "But this amnesiac girl sneaked into the public security department and stole guns and ammunition from them. Would a real monster do such a thing?"

"That makes sense." He admitted, "But she must be inextricably linked to the strange incident, don't you think so?"

"Yes." I couldn't deny it.

"If you come into contact with the amnesiac girl on the front line, or get any clues related to her, I hope you can share them with me." He modestly offered the commission. "To be honest, I am responsible for finding the amnesiac girl. As long as you help me, I will do my best to repay this favor in the future."

It seems that in the matter of finding Ma Zao, Lu Youxun was not the decision maker on his mountain, but an executor.

I didn't answer immediately, but looked at Zhu Shi first. The latter replied expressionlessly: "Okay."

It was a promise without sincerity. I was afraid Zhu Shi had never thought of helping. But I felt the same way, so I replied, "Me too."

"Then let's get back to the case." Lu Youxun saw that the atmosphere was not right, so he brought the topic back. "Later, I will need to use divination to search for the murderer's whereabouts. In order to improve the accuracy of divination, I need to refer to your thoughts on the case. Can I hear your opinions?"

Perhaps worried that I didn’t understand, Zhu Shi added, “Lu Chan’s divination technique is essentially a prediction based on his own perspective. But if it’s only his own perspective, it will be one-sided, so he needs other people’s perspectives to supplement his divination.”

"Also, I have a question now." She looked at Lu Youxun again, "According to my memory, although the murderer targeted local dignitaries, he would not involve people other than the target, nor would he involve the target's family. Why did he suddenly change his ways this time?"

She pointed to the indoor scene photo where the middle-aged man, his wife and son were killed together. The three of them died with their eyes open.

This is the first time I have heard of such a thing. From this point of view, this murder scene is indeed a bit strange.

"This seems to be an accident." Lu Youxun gave his information, "The mother and son who were killed had originally planned to go out for a trip on this day, but because the mother had a fever, the travel plan was temporarily cancelled."

"Then the murderer mistakenly thought the target was home alone and broke in..." I thought, "If this direction is correct, the murderer is a relative or friend who knew the mother and son's travel plan?"

"Not necessarily. My mother has the habit of posting her recent schedule on the Internet. Even if it's someone we are not that close to, we can still find out if we investigate carefully." Lu Youxun shook his head.

"Since the murderer investigated so carefully, it means he really didn't want to get involved with the mother and son. If that's the case, why did he kill them when the time came?" Zhu Shi asked curiously, "It can't be because his true appearance was seen, right? After the monster transformed, he basically had a mask on, and even his original physical features couldn't be seen. There was no need to kill them to silence them."

Lu Youxun looked at the photo thoughtfully.

"Have you figured out the murderer's motive now?" I changed the direction of my question.

"That's very clear." Lu Youxun explained patiently, "Luo Shan has tried to capture strange people in the past. And the strange people seem to have a self-destruct mechanism. Every time we capture them, they will self-destruct. It seems that even they themselves cannot control this process.

"But through studying the wreckage, we still figured out the motives of the monsters to kill. They can devour the souls of their targets by killing them, and permanently transform them into their own power. This is the so-called ability to refine souls by killing.

"The more souls they devour, or the higher the quality, the stronger the power they can get. If they devour the souls of demon hunters, it will help them advance by leaps and bounds." Killing people to refine souls? Was the reason why Agent Kong attacked me in the past because he wanted to devour my soul?
I thought about it, and then asked, "If that's the case, why does this weirdo we are tracking now target the powerful people in Saltwater City? Wouldn't it be less risky to target ordinary citizens?"

"This is also the direction we are investigating. I even suspected that this weirdo was some kind of 'civilian anti-corruption hero', but among the dignitaries he killed, there were also officials who were very honest both in reputation and in nature. This victim whose wife and son were implicated." Lu Youxun pointed at the photo helplessly, "Before leaving, the murderer also took away the few valuables and cash left in this family, and there are records of valuables being stolen in previous cases. Maybe the murderer's motive is to seek wealth."

"Killing an entire family for money, this kind of evil person——" Zhu Shi showed strong anger, and then tried to calm his expression, and suddenly asked me, "Zhuang Cheng, what do you think?"

Why do you ask me what I think?
However, I do understand why she suddenly asked this.

She is a person with a firm moral stance, and she also cares about the moral stance of those around her. Maybe because I told her the truth last time that I think people with super powers are more superior than ordinary people, she now pays special attention to my feelings about people who do evil.

However, perhaps this will disappoint her, because I myself am a person who does evil for my own selfish desires, and I almost imprisoned an underage girl. The reason why I say "almost" is not because I felt guilty at the last moment and stopped, but because the girl escaped on her own.

Therefore, it is difficult for me to say that there is a clear line between myself and evil people.

Of course, if you ask me if I hate sex offenders, I definitely hate them. I also can't stand petty thieves, and I can't accept criminals who break into homes and even kill people for money. But I hate these people, not because they are evil, but because their motives are generally ugly and weak.

Regarding this point, I don't think it is a special thought that only I have. I believe that many people have been attracted by the strong and powerful villains in fantasy stories. They either have unique aesthetics, or have an unshakable heart, or have brilliant ideals. Some people may rebuke "only naive people will be attracted by such fictional villains", I can't deny this, because I do have a naive side.

So, if the motivation is based on seeking the truth, evil things are not unacceptable to me.

In fact, I know this very well. From other people's perspective, whether it is the so-called "motivation to seek truth" or the vulgar desire for money and sex, it is essentially "selfish desire", and the things done are undoubtedly evil. Objectively speaking, there is probably no difference between me and the weirdo who committed the crime. If there is any difference, it is that he succeeded and I failed.

The reason why I like to package myself as a good person and occasionally help others when I see injustice is not because I have a strong conscience, but because I want to be friends with good people. I definitely don’t mean to "think that good people are easy to bully" when I say this. After all, I have to admit that being friends with good people is more comfortable than being friends with bad people.

I pondered the differences, and the indifference, between myself and that weirdo.

As I was thinking about it, I suddenly wanted to meet that strange man. I wanted to ask him about his state of mind when he did evil things, and I wanted to know how he thought.

"Zhuang Cheng?" Zhu Shi called me again.

"Let's hurry up and defeat that weirdo before the next victim appears," I said.

"Ah? Yes!" She nodded vigorously.

Next, Zhu Shi and I discussed with Lu Youxun for a while. Lu Youxun seemed to think that he had absorbed enough opinions from others, so he stopped us and started to do the divination.

Although it was a fortune-telling assignment, he didn't actually take out a compass or other props. He just raised his hands and kept moving his fingers as if he was calculating numbers. This seemed to be a kind of palm divination. The palms of people have many lines and joints. The ancients believed that they contained people's destiny and could be used to calculate the future. The "calculation by pinching fingers" mentioned in some books originated from this.

After a few minutes, he stopped calculating, nodded, and said to us, "I have figured it out. I will transmit the result to your consciousness right now."

What does it mean to transmit into our consciousness?

Before I could think clearly, I saw him stretch out his hands, as if to shake hands with us. Zhu Shi generously stretched out his hand and shook hands with him. I followed suit and shook hands with Lu Youxun.

In my imagination, this should be some kind of method that can transmit information directly into consciousness, and I am very interested in this.

However, when I came into contact with Lu Youxun, I felt nothing.

Instead, he suddenly let out a strange cry, and quickly pulled his hand away as if he had accidentally touched a flame, and even fell off the chair.

Then he trembled all over and looked at me with horror, as if he had seen something horrible.

(End of this chapter)