From the end of the world

Chapter 95 Investigation 1
The three of us met at the pedestrian street in the new city area.

Ma Zao and I live in the new city area, and it takes less than 20 minutes to walk from home to this place. Zhu Shi's home is located on the edge of the new city area, and you need to take a taxi to get there. When we arrived, Zhu Shi had already arrived by taxi.

Ma Zao put on a cat whisker mask for the time being. Although she didn't mind being discovered by the Transcendentalists, she was still charged with stealing guns and ammunition. She hid her true face probably to avoid being troubled by that and hindering our joint actions.

As soon as we met, Zhu Shi looked at Ma Zao who was beside me, or to be exact, at Ma Zao's left wrist.

Then she looked at me speechlessly.

Needless to say, Ma Zao has not taken off her GPS bracelet yet. It's not that I persuaded her to keep wearing it, but she seems to like the first gift she got after the time travel very much, and I can't find a suitable reason to persuade her to take it off.

However, Zhu Shi may not understand it in the same way. Maybe I brought Ma Zao with me wearing a GPS bracelet. In her eyes, it was like a pervert who lied that the collar was a necklace and gave it to an ignorant girl. Even if it was exposed, he didn't care and continued to bring the girl with the collar around. How blatant, shameless, and morally corrupt - but I swear that I definitely don't have such dirty motives. I hope Zhu Shi can understand my dilemma.

This GPS bracelet is also a minefield that may be triggered at any time. As Ma Zao's knowledge of modern society deepens, I believe she will sooner or later realize that this red bracelet is definitely not an ordinary decoration. How should I argue then? My past self-righteousness has now turned into retribution, which may come upon me at any time.

In order to prevent Zhu Shi from talking nonsense, I got straight to the point: "How is Lu Youxun's divination going?"

"Lu Chan's side is still completely useless. We can only rely on the clues found by Ma Zao." Zhu Shi looked at Ma Zao.

The latter nodded and said, "I can take you to the place where weirdos often go now."

"Then let's go." Zhu Shi once again showed his concern for Ma Zao, "How is your body now? The trauma of the soul shouldn't be that easy to regenerate, right?"

"I'm trying to use the power of blessing to heal it, but the injuries caused by the demon are completely different from ordinary injuries. It's just the physical... The damage on the material level can be easily recovered, but the damage on the soul level is not so simple." Ma Zao touched his chest, "But at least it's much stronger than a week ago, and I can barely fight."

"Your recovery should be a time-traveling recovery. The power of the Doomsday Demon can even affect time..." Zhu Shi thought for a moment, "Speaking of which, I was concerned about a question before. Since the mechanism of your space transfer is to teleport you to a place you have been to before, why were you able to transfer yourself out of the hospital when you just arrived in this era? You hadn't been outside the hospital at that time, right?"

"I don't know. At the time, all I could think about was saving my friends and returning to the place where the demon attacked me and my friends, but the power of blessing teleported me to the streets of this city..." Ma Zao recalled, "Perhaps my power was unable to teleport me to the future, and after the activation failed, it resulted in a random teleportation; or perhaps the original owner of this body had been to the streets of this city, and the power of blessing determined it as the destination of my teleportation."

"The identity of this body of yours is indeed a resident of Xianshui City." Zhu Shi deliberately followed her words and said, "The hospital she used to work in is the same hospital my mother works in."

"Your mother?" Ma Zao asked.

Zhu Shi hesitated for a moment, but still did not immediately tell her that her mother was also suffering from amnesia. What was she troubling? Did she feel that if she told her, it would seem like she was blackmailing Ma Zao morally?

After a short pause, she changed the subject: "Ma Zao, the clothes you are wearing now seem to be similar to what you wore last night. Doesn't Zhuang Cheng have other clothes to change for you?"

"I bought too little," I said, "but didn't you change it yourself?"

Zhu Shi is now wearing the same white blouse and black skirt as always, with a large black guitar case on her back. Actually, she should have changed her clothes, but the styles are the same. Maybe she has many identical white blouses and black skirts in her closet.

She seems to like this simple outfit, but based on my impression of women, unless it is an occasion where they have to wear a uniform, many women will not wear the same clothes every day even if they are satisfied with their current outfit. This idea of ​​just making the same choice because they are too lazy to think about their outfit is more common among many men.

The impression I had of "Junior Sister Zhu" as a woman with a soft and feminine temperament was obviously her acting, and now she is closer to her true self. She is not a little girl who hides in the back and trembles when a crisis comes, but a warrior who will majestically chop off the enemy's head.

In some places, she was even more "manly" than me. She would concentrate the responsibility of handling strange events on herself as much as possible, and even suggested that I stay away from this mission and handle it alone. When I was trapped in the maze space, even though she knew that my strength was much stronger than hers, she would always pay attention to my emotions, try her best to make me not panic, and promise to take me out of the predicament.

Just like the name "Demon Hunter Zhu Shi", which makes it difficult for outsiders to distinguish her gender at first glance, under her beautiful face that reminds people of ink painting, there seems to be an inexplicable hard edge. I can't just see her as a woman, but on the other hand, I feel a strange charm from her.

We moved forward while talking, with Ma Zao walking in front of us, leading us to the place where the weirdo often came and went.

"Zhuang Cheng, before you came here, did anyone from Luoshan come to your house or call to inform you?" Zhu Shi asked.

"No." I thought about why she asked that. "Have you reported Ma Zao's matter?" "Yes. Logically, the mountain where I am should send someone to talk to you about amnesia, such as when to let Ma Zao come over to cooperate in the research of a cure for amnesia..." She seemed a little confused. "It wouldn't be surprising if they came to your door before dawn, or at least they should have called you first. How come no one came?"

After she said that, I also felt it was a bit strange. Could it be that the mountain she was in was also like the mountain of transcendentalism, with all kinds of wrangling, making it impossible to carry out specific actions?
Thinking of transcendence, I told Zhu Shi about Ma Zao's decision to act openly last night. After listening, she asked Ma Zao, who was walking in front of her, whether it was true, and the latter nodded in affirmation. Zhu Shi frowned deeply, and relaxed after a moment.

"...Ma Zao's analysis makes sense, and even if something happens, maybe I can try to use your tiger skin to get what I want." Zhu Shi said to me.

"My tiger skin?" I hadn't expected this.

"Yes." She nodded. "Perhaps you cannot understand what a strong person like you means in Luoshan. Let me put it this way, as long as you are willing to show your true strength to the forces in Luoshan, the only ones who can suppress you in terms of momentum are probably the Great Impermanence."

"Even if I'm alone?"

"In Luoshan, it's not the strong who rely on the powerful, but the powerful who rely on the strong." She said very seriously, "A truly strong man is an army, and even if he is alone, he is enough to become a force. So, Zhuang Cheng, you should not think of yourself as a dormant person, but as a dormant powerful force.

"Originally I didn't want to tell you this, because I hope you can stay away from weird things in the future, but the situation is different now. In the future, you need to make enough connections in the world of demon hunters, and I will do my best to help you. Letting Ma Zao pull your tiger skin banner may be a way to show off, and it can also have the effect of protecting Ma Zao. You just need Ma Zao to stay by your side..."

Ma Zao, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and asked curiously, "Zhuang Cheng needs me to stay with him? Why?"

Zhu Shi realized that he was almost exposed, and he coughed twice. I immediately patched it up: "Because you were out alone for the past few days, I was very worried about you. I couldn't eat or sleep well. Now that I have found you, I can finally eat well and sleep well."

"Yes, that's it!" Zhu Shijing also joined my side.

"You're actually worried about me, a person you've only known for a few days, to this extent..." Ma Zao seemed a little embarrassed and turned his face away, "You're really a hopeless pushover."

She didn't suspect anything... But I didn't lie. I couldn't eat or sleep well before I found her.

"You don't have to worry so much about me. If it causes you trouble, I will leave by myself then." Ma Zao said.

"Don't be so polite now. We are partners in investigating the doomsday together, right?" I said seriously, "Or do you still think I don't believe in the doomsday? Or do you think I will remain indifferent even if I know the doomsday is approaching, and I am a person who just sits and waits for death?"

I hold the fragment of the divine seal that is closely related to the doomsday, and have come into contact with No. 2 Xiaowan who is in the doomsday era. From Ma Zao's perspective, besides herself, I am probably the one who believes in the existence of the doomsday the most. Now she must no longer think that I don't believe in the doomsday.

As expected, she was persuaded by me: "This..."

"Let's save the world together." I said seriously.

She turned around again and looked at my face very carefully.

After a moment, she nodded slightly: "...Yeah."

Perhaps it was not until this moment that she finally stopped thinking of me as someone she had gotten herself involved with, and instead began to see me as a person with the same aspirations as her.

Zhu Shi was confused and seemed to think that I was lying again. He whispered, "Brother Zhuang, you will be punished by God sooner or later..."

Don't talk as if it has nothing to do with you, Junior Sister Zhu, now you also have a share.

I didn't look away.

After a while, we arrived at our destination.

(End of this chapter)