Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo

The neighborhood was now deeply quiet at night, and dark clouds obscured the moonlight, plunging the surroundings into deeper darkness. The street lights flickered nervously, like they were about to fail, and suddenly went out with a snap. A breeze wafted through the green belt, causing the trees and bushes to rustle.

In this scene that seemed almost prophetic, a darkness emerged from the bushes, a darkness even denser than the night itself.

It was a very strange shadow. At first glance, I thought it was filthy stagnant water and planned to bypass it. But the shadow moved as if alive, blocking my path. That's when I realized something was off and I immediately stopped.

What is this?

Having experienced even more incredible things before, my mind hadn't yet broken free from the strange atmosphere. If it had been me before, I would have been greatly shocked, but now, even seeing such a bizarre sight, I was only slightly surprised. I, now, could accept any unimaginable changes.

This unknown shadow must have come for me, and the changes were clearly not going to stop there. Suddenly, an incredibly thick arm stretched out from the shadow that reminded me of stagnant water. Like struggling up from a lake, the arm then fell and supported itself on the nearby ground. Just this action alone shattered the concrete surface, with the palm sinking deep into it.

The owner of this arm then extracted the rest of its body from the ground; its head, another arm, torso, right leg, left leg... The figure swiftly revealed its terrifying entirety.

It was a demon with a black goat's head, as if it had walked out of an oil painting. Its nearly three-meter-tall naked body blocked my path, like an indestructible wall of flesh. Its reddish skin and muscles seemed to bulge with intense rage.

The demon's goat-like face looked incredibly ferocious. Speaking of goats, many might think of gentle white lambs, but there are also ugly and terrifying adult Damascus goats among goats, and this demon resembled them. Moreover, its mouth had no lips, with teeth and gums fully exposed, making it look bloodthirsty and cruel.

"Zhuang Cheng," it uttered in a voice as sharp and hoarse as nails on a chalkboard.

I couldn't help but focus all my attention on this horrifying monster.

"You know my name?"

From the way it appeared, it was clear this was no actor in a costume trying to scare passersby.

But the demon didn't answer my question. Instead, it spoke with a cold tone that belied its ferocious appearance, "I am here to take your life."

"To take my life..." I observed its entire body closely, "Rather than that, what kind of creature are you? Seeing that you can speak human language, you must possess intelligence no less than that of humans...

"I never imagined that on this world there would be strange races like you. Are there others like you elsewhere? What is your race called, and where do you mainly reside?"

I knew it was inappropriate to ask these questions at this moment, but I was genuinely curious about this non-human intelligent life form. Following the cave in the fifteenth floor's room, another monster appears, and it seems that an unknown and magical adventure is slowly approaching me.

At the same time, I was not without my guards. This monster kept saying it was here to kill me, yet it had openly started talking to me after showing up boldly. Was it planning to let me die knowingly, or was it deliberately standing in the open to attract my attention? I moved my left hand behind me and quietly lit a "Firefly."

With the "Firefly," I was able to sense my surroundings in 360 degrees without any dead angles. At this moment, I sensed the reason for its bold appearance in front of me. About ten meters behind me, a shadow was slowly approaching me, like a poisonous snake attempting to ambush its prey.

A careful observation revealed that this shadow was connected to the demon's foot by a black shadowy thread. Under the cover of night, it was something human eyes could not capture.

Rather than clumsily attempting an ambush with that huge body, it was a feint... Was this its strategy?

Why does it need to use such a cautious strategy against an "ordinary person" like me? Does it know I'm a supernatural power user?

Will that shadow suddenly turn into a spike and impale me? Or transform into a marsh and drag me into another space? Or perhaps take on even more bizarre changes?

I looked forward to the unfolding events and formulated potential countermeasures in my mind. Despite appearing serene, I still maintained a considerable sense of crisis. Regardless of my strength, the dangers brought by strange beings might ignore the differences in power. The cave in the fifteenth floor's room was a lesson for me.

But compared to the sense of crisis, there was a more intense feeling of incredibility surging in my heart at the moment. Perhaps I was about to engage in a life-and-death battle with an unknown enemy, something that had never happened in my past life and was a scenario I had always longed for.

Faced with my questions, the demon seemed a bit stunned and then asked, "Aren't... aren't you afraid of dying?"

"How do you plan to kill me?" I pretended to be unaware of the shadow and curiously inquired, "And why do you want to kill me? Have we met before somewhere?"

Hearing this, the demon emitted a sound filled with immense resentment, "Perhaps you have completely forgotten, but I have not forgotten for a moment the things you did to me two years ago..."

"I'm sorry, I really can't remember. Could you be more specific?" I was completely perplexed, "When exactly, where, and what did I do to you?"

I don't remember ever having done anything to a non-human creature to deserve such hatred, especially since this was the first time I had laid eyes on an intelligent being other than humans.

I am more inclined to believe it came for the matter of the room on the fifteenth floor, and this idea is also supported by probabilities.

Today, I encountered two bizarre creatures I had never seen before. One was the previous "cave," and the other is the current "Demon." To call their appearance a mere coincidence would be far-fetched. It made more sense to assume there was a connection between them.

Cave, ritual array, Fallen Demon Hunter... The clues I obtained during the day emerged in my mind as if drawn from a drawer. I couldn't help but suspect—was this "Demon," who could speak human language, really a non-human race?

Could it actually be a human, or more specifically, could it be a Fallen Demon Hunter who had transformed? Or perhaps a monster summoned by the Fallen Demon Hunter?

Speaking of "two years ago," the memorable incident at that time involved assisting the official forces in eliminating a local feudal superstition power based on the clues of children disappearing in other provinces and folk tales. Could this Demon be claiming to be that Sect Hierarch or related personnel?

But I recalled that the Sect Hierarch was supposedly burned to death by his followers due to bankruptcy, so it couldn't be that he had reincarnated as a Demon to start a second life after going to hell. Besides, I had never revealed my superpower to anyone during that incident.

This "two years ago" mentioned by the Demon was likely a smoke bomb, meant to mislead my thoughts.

"So close to death and yet you ask so many questions!" The Demon emitted an unpleasant laugh, "This is the end for you, you won't even know why you lost..."

While speaking, it lowered its center of gravity, its voice suddenly booming, "—you will die at my hands!"

As its words fell, it lunged towards me with terrifying momentum. However, knowing its scheme beforehand made this overly preparatory thrust somewhat conspicuous. It clearly hoped to keep my focus on it with such an exaggerated act. The real killer move was actually the shadow's sneak attack from behind.

As the attack commenced, the flat shadow suddenly transformed into a three-dimensional blade, thrusting rapidly towards me from behind.

I extended my left hand, which had been hidden behind me, and the "Firefly" resting on my fingertips suddenly expanded.

The "Firefly" was essentially a small flame I had summoned. At this moment, I added extra Spiritual Power as fuel to it. Just as if pouring a large amount of gasoline into a brazier, the "Firefly" instantly turned into a Fireball.

The Fireball immediately burst, sending out a scorching, dazzling stream of flames in all directions, assaulting both the Demon in front and the shadow behind. The excessive brilliance was enough to blind any ordinary bystander.

Fortunately, there were no other bystanders here besides the Demon and myself, and I myself was unharmed by the flames and the intense light. Essentially, both the flame and the light and heat it emitted were transformations of my Spiritual Power. So, unless I intended to harm myself, this power would not affect me.

Anticipating my counterattack, the Demon instantly jumped back cautiously the moment the situation changed, never entering the range of the fire.

The shadow attacking me from behind immediately collapsed back to the ground, then leapt from the left side of my feet, transforming into a blade once more from an angle the fire had not reached, and swiftly thrust at me again. Though it was merely a shadow, the strong light couldn't disperse it—truly a miraculous skill. Amidst this realization, I swiftly dodged to the side.

In fact, given the speed of this thrust, it would have been impossible to dodge under normal circumstances. However, because I had detected it early, and the opposition clearly hadn't anticipated my early detection, I miraculously managed to avoid it.

Even if I hadn't, taking that hit wouldn't have mattered much.

"—So it's Flame Ability!"

The Demon was not blinded by the intense light; it landed next to a street lamp and then let out a laugh full of confidence, "You're done for, Zhuang Cheng... The next strike will end your life!"

While speaking, it grasped the street lamp and actually pulled it straight out of the ground, then hurled it viciously at me.

You should know it wasn't throwing a javelin but a whole, heavy street lamp, thrown with a speed matching that of an athlete throwing a javelin. This was no longer a personal weapon but a siege weapon, and the visual was terrifying enough that even I reflexively dodged again.

My foot hadn't even landed when the street lamp brushed past my cheek, and the Demon had already reached me at a terrifying speed.

At the same time, its arms transformed, turning from flesh-and-blood into white bone blades like those of a praying mantis, moving incomparably faster than its previous attack.

Judging from this stark contrast in behavior, it was probably just cautious of my unknown power initially, hence the feint; now, however, it was utterly certain of victory and unleashed its full power without restraint.

Its vicious face loomed large in my vision, and I simply watched it.

Then, my gaze ignited its body.