Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo

Things that defy the common sense of the world cannot exist, just like a flame cannot continue to burn without fuel.

Yet, my "Firefly," although a creation that defies the common sense of the world, is by no means a baseless illusion.

It was able to exist continuously because there was a spiritual connection between it and me, my Spiritual Power constantly fed it like adding firewood along the connection.

However, the cave before me was like it was covered with an invisible, intangible barrier. As the "Firefly" descended, though the invisible barrier did not obstruct it directly, it mercilessly severed the spiritual connection between us. It was as if it declared that the "space of reality" and the "space that should not exist within reality" were as clearly divided as yin and yang, and people of the yang could not defy common sense, audaciously overstep the laws of heaven and earth, and establish a free passage with the yin.

"So what do you plan to do?" Changan had not noticed the anomaly on my side.

He first asked for my opinion and then showed a look of unease, "I think we should hurry up and close the lid, just in case there is something filthy lurking underneath..."

"Let's not rush." After some thought, I asked, "Do you have a Bluetooth camera or something?"

"You mean to throw a Bluetooth camera down there to replace your own eyes?" he quickly realized then regretfully shook his head, "But I don't have one."

"No worries, give me your phone."

He obediently handed his phone to me, and I took out my own phone, opened WeChat, and initiated a video call to Changan's phone.

After the connection, I went to the kitchen, got a broom, and took out some rubber bands that came with a barbeque takeaway he had before. I secured both my phone and a flashlight to the end of the broom, turning it into a glowing selfie stick, and squatted on the floor to explore down into the cave.

"There is actually such a method!"

Changan's eyes lit up, leaning in to look at his own phone, wanting to see the video being transmitted from below.

Immediately, he let out a sound of confusion and disappointment, "…Huh?"

Regrettably, no video came through.

Because as soon as my phone entered the cave below, the network signal automatically cut off.

I first retrieved my phone, changed the network connection to share a data hotspot from Changan's phone, and tried again to lower my phone into the cave, but it still didn't work, the network seemed to be cut off by an invisible barrier.

It seemed not only the spiritual connection but also the electronic signal connection was impeded.

I once again retrieved my phone, then took a deep breath, bracing myself mentally.

This time, I directly extended my arm into the cave below!

Changan couldn't stop me in time, only exclaiming, "What are you doing!"

I turned a deaf ear to his voice, focusing entirely on sensing my own arm.

The human perception and manipulation of their own body ultimately rely on electronic signals. If this cave even blocked electronic signals, then I shouldn't have been able to control my own arm now.

But this time, the signal wasn't blocked, and I could clearly sense my arm and smoothly move my hand.

"Both 'spiritual connection' and 'electronic signal connection' are ultimately 'wireless connections', and judging from the current situation, since the brain's physiological connection with the arm works, does it mean that other forms of 'wired connections' would work too?

Or does the flesh of life bear some mystical qualities, just like how many fantasy stories describe spatial storage items that uniquely cannot store life, this cave also uniquely cannot cut off life signals?

If it's the latter, I have no choice but to enter myself.

Hold on, it seems I was sidetracked by the disappearance of the "Firefly" at the beginning.

If I just want to know what's inside the cave, there's actually no need to fuss about whether it's a wired or wireless connection, simply setting the phone to record mode and repeating the same method would suffice, right?

I understand now why I didn't think of such a simple method initially, I was too eager to explore the phenomenon of connections being severed between the inside and outside of the cave. Encountering such an incredible occurrence for the first time, I couldn't help but focus on probing into its specific mechanism.

Seeing me unharmed, Changan breathed a sigh of relief, then hurriedly grabbed me, trying to keep me away from the cave.

"You are too reckless! Didn't you think you might be in danger!?" he said, still shaken.

"Changan, let's try once more," I turned and shared my intentions with him.

After listening, his first reaction was, "You really just want to use the phone to record and see what's below, not planning to go down yourself, right? After watching, you should be satisfied, right?"

"..."

"Why are you turning your head away?" he stared at me.

Changan's intuition was right; I could not be satisfied by just looking inside. Even if there were some "filthy things" below, I would still insist on proceeding.

I began thinking about how to persuade him, or otherwise distract him.

While it wasn't impossible to directly venture into the cave, he might follow me in. What if there was danger inside? Although he might have encountered this strange event probably because of my involvement, I had no intention of dragging him in.

Perhaps the best approach was to feign agreement here and later return to investigate alone. After all, he wasn't living in this house now.

It seemed I couldn't further investigate for the moment.

"Changan, I..."

Before I could finish speaking, a sudden development interrupted our conversation.

Thud, thud, thud.

There came an uninvited knock at the entrance.

I could only reluctantly close my mouth. Why did it feel like people had been knocking all day? This was already the third time, right? Although this time it wasn't my door being knocked.

"Who?" Changan shouted.

But the person outside did not respond, just kept knocking on the door.

I simply got up and walked to the entranceway, while Changan grabbed the black plush carpet rolled up next to him and temporarily covered the cave with it. Although it was not a delicate secret, when dealing with supernatural matters of unknown danger, perhaps it really shouldn't be exposed to unrelated passersby.

Only, this time the person appearing outside the door, let's not talk about relevance, was at least not a stranger.

When I opened the door, the person outside also saw me.

"Hmm?" The person was first puzzled and surprised, and after a moment, finally recognized my face, "…do you live here? That's not right, is it?"

It was the police officer who had recently knocked on my residence, investigating witness clues for a serial killer case.

He had come here for his inquiries?

"No, my friend lives here." I suppressed my surprise, then turned back into the house and called Changan over.

Changan immediately rushed over and introduced himself to the officer.

The officer looked at me doubtfully and then spoke to Changan, "It was you, wasn't it? The false alarm the night before last."

"I didn't report a false alarm," Changan said, his neck stiffening.

"People at our station checked afterwards; there had been a very severe homicide here before in this house, and the murderer has not yet been caught," the officer asked seriously, "You said there are ghosts here, is it just ghosts? Repeat what you found before."

It turned out this officer was here to investigate a homicide case from eight months ago.

I heard that official forces do take homicide very seriously, upholding the motto "Every murder case must be solved," but that was a murder from eight months ago. Could the official forces really pursue a case with such determination?

I recalled reading online that some wanted criminals, after the heat died down, attended a Jay Zhou concert but were plucked from the crowd and captured onsite by official forces. Compared to this, the tenacious focus of official forces on a murderer who was still at large didn't seem that strange.

But as far as I remembered, this police officer had been dealing with recent serial killer cases, and now he's taking the time to enquire about another case? Was this running back and forth typical for them, or was it…

"There really is a ghost!"

Changan, eager to prove himself, let the officer inside the house and went to the black plush carpet, lifting it in one go.

"Look!" He pointed at the Magic Array on the floor, "Look, there really is… really…"

His voice trailed off.

All that could be seen was a bare space on the floor; where was the cave? Only the Magic Array drawn with black ink remained, even the wooden cover was gone.

Not only Changan, but I too was terribly shocked. The cave had disappeared?

What was going on? The last time Changan reported to the police, and the cave vanished; today the police came, and the cave had disappeared again.

Could it be that the police possessed an authoritative righteousness, and the cave was some malevolent entity, hence, the cave cowered and hastily hid its presence? Impossible!

Faced with reality, I could only tell myself not to panic. The cave wasn't appearing and disappearing for the first time; perhaps this was also part of the bizarre phenomena I needed to explore.

"Where's the ghost?" the officer asked emotionlessly, "Make it appear."

"Gho… ghost…" Changan stammered, not daring to continue.

The officer sighed, then seemed to notice something and immediately walked to the Magic Array and squatted down, touching the paint of the edge lines with his finger.

He rubbed his fingers thoughtfully, his expression growing more serious, and after a moment, he muttered to himself, "…blood?"

-

Though he hadn't seen the strange cave, upon contacting the Magic Array, the officer's attitude had clearly changed; his already somber demeanor intensified.

He led us downstairs and then asked Changan, "Do you have another place to stay?"

"What?" Changan hadn't caught on yet.

"The house you've rented, from now on, must be locked down as the scene of the crime again, you can't go back there to stay, at least not today and tomorrow," the officer stated in no uncertain terms.

"Ah? But…" it seemed Changan originally wanted to say something.

However, he suddenly fell silent, glanced at me, then firmly told the officer, "No problem, I wasn't planning to go back to that place to stay anyway. Please make sure the scene is protected well, don't even let a mouse in!"

Labeling me as a mouse was really going too far.

He said this to prevent me from entering the cave, didn't he? Totally unnecessary concern. If I was determined to enter that cave, no amount of ordinary people, no matter how tightly guarded, would make a difference.

"Going back to it, why protect that house?" Changan finally asked, "Is it because of the homicide from eight months ago? But that was eight months ago, maybe the murderer has already fled to another place."

"You can't talk like that, this is a murder case. It's not just any case, but a very brutal one with serious circumstances. Our department has always taken this case very seriously. And…" the officer seemed to consider whether or not to reveal what came next.

After a while, looking at Changan and then at me, he finally spoke, "Moreover, the murderer is still roaming around in Saltwater City, even continuing to create trouble."

"What?" Changan was alarmed.

And I, gleaning from his expression and combining with my previous suspicions, made an assumption.

"Is the serial killer who has been active in the city for the last two months the same one who murdered the former tenant in that house eight months ago?"

Images of Mazao floated into my mind.