Chapter 717 - 675: Spoils of War - Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo - NovelsTime

Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo

Chapter 717 - 675: Spoils of War

Author: Book-eating Goblin
updatedAt: 2025-08-15

What I seek is an apocalypse that will bring destruction to everyone as the final outcome. Therefore, relying on others' power here inherently has some contradictions. It's not that I can't use other people's strength, but I should probably be more like a scheming villain who exploits others, rather than actually forming a sense of companionship with them.

Yet, upon hearing Little Bowl's resolute reply, I couldn't help but feel moved.

Xuanming's words echoed in my heart as he lay dying.

—— "You might not be as evil as you imagine yourself to be."

I pushed these words back into my memory, then stood up, reaching out towards Luoshan Headquarters far away, grabbed Little Bowl's small hand, and pulled her to my side.

Extending my hand outside the barrier was relatively easy; the resistance felt a hundredfold when pulling it back. The rule of "ease in, difficulty out" restricted my ability to bring back parts once extended beyond the barrier. Thus, I had to abandon most of the flames extending outside the barrier, preserving only the most basic part needed to bring Little Bowl over.

A ball of flame erupted in front of me, quickly dissipating, revealing Little Bowl's body.

Little Bowl first glanced around.

Even though the Fire Sea has dissipated after my battle with Xuanming, the land is still filled with high temperatures unimaginable for Earth's environment, with surface temperatures more akin to Mercury or Venus. The terrain is rugged and uneven, with lava visible everywhere, sizzling as hot air distorts the light's path.

With me here, this hostile high-temperature environment poses no threat to Little Bowl. All the heat submits to my will, deciding what should remain unharmed by looking at my face. Even harmful gases released during combustion retreat due to my natural privilege as Impermanence, while oxygen automatically gathers around Little Bowl and me.

A moment's thought revealed that such scenes might still be too intimidating for others, so I slightly altered the environment.

Commanded wordlessly by my thoughts, all excess heat on this land moved, near or far, into my soul, completely absorbed by the Ash Weapon. In just a second, the sizzling sounds abruptly stopped, the air ceased to warp, and the lava solidified into stone. From where we stood to the horizon's end, everything transformed dramatically and extensively.

Such achievements are obviously nothing to boast about for me; the difficulty is akin to taking a deep breath. Doing this alone would not stir any special thoughts in my mind. But with Little Bowl here now, I couldn't help but check her expression, hoping she'd react to my actions. Such childish sentiment.

Yet Little Bowl did not look around any further; her gaze had already fallen upon me. In terms of perception depth, except for a smaller range, she rivals or even surpasses me as Impermanence in many aspects. She seemed to clearly perceive my severely damaged True Spirit; her eyes focused solely on me.

"Brother Zhuang Cheng, you're surprisingly hurt so badly..." she said.

"So I must trouble you. Heal me, Little Bowl." I replied.

She cautiously stepped forward to support me, saying, "... Right now, you must find it hard even to stand properly. Let's find a place to lie down first, and then I'll heal you."

No public facilities were intact enough for us to rest here, yet I still used the Power of Word Spirit to craft a rough stone platform resembling a bed beside us, then lay down on it. Little Bowl also sat down, possibly because Mazao was absent, and once again she placed my head upon her lap, gently stroking my hair and cheeks.

Only now did I feel truly relaxed, an overwhelming exhaustion surging within, making it difficult to stand again.

To be honest, I'd love to sleep without waking. However, this area holds potential threats, preventing me from entirely lowering my guard. I must rally my spirit, safeguarding Little Bowl should any danger approach.

With night fallen, I summoned a fireball to hang several meters above us, functioning as a light bulb.

I could feel Little Bowl's gentle, rain-like power seeping deep within me, slowly repairing my severely damaged True Spirit.

During this process, the reboot phenomenon that happened once before did not recur.

The reboot should not happen again. Though just my personal conjecture, if it aims to absorb all souls into the dream network without exception, the trigger condition likely aligns with the city's surviving population reaching its utmost decline.

Now, having slaughtered all Taoyuan Village Cultivators and monsters within this city, and already transferred all survivors and demon hunters outside, the reboot hasn't occurred. Perhaps it's because it no longer serves any purpose.

The city's reboot and the reboot of past Human Bureau secret bases presumably share the same limitation, which is the inability to retrieve things that have left their domain through rebooting. The souls of Taoyuan Village cultivators and beasts inherently belong to the Dream Network, making retrieval unnecessary; whereas others remain outside the effective range, rendering the reboot meaningless.

Whether it's the Dream Network or the reboot of Limited Space, some vague shadows can be found in the consciousness network formed by Ying Lingyun in life through Lu Chan's "possibility avatar" and the independent reality space. Considering the secretive cooperation between Ying Lingyun and Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang, it's likely Ying Lingyun was involved in some design and construction of the "Paradise."

As I pondered over these matters, Little Bowl concernedly inquired about the details of my earlier experience. I took the opportunity to share the information I'd withheld, hoping to receive some analysis and advice from her, to see if there were parts of my experience I had overlooked.

Little Bowl first posed this question: "Xuanming told you the location where he hid all the Divine Seal fragments… such an important treasure, why wouldn't he carry it with him?"

I thought for a moment and replied, "You could say he carried it with him…"

From the information I gathered, Xuanming actually concealed all the Divine Seal fragments in a Different Space.

It was a Different Space he personally constructed using the Power of Divine Seal Fragments combined with array technology—a minor prototype of the Void Realm. With Weichi level array technology, a larger, more complete space could surely be created, but Xuanming could only achieve this level himself.

This small prototype Void Realm couldn't host the consciousness of the Void Envoys for meetings, nor accommodate any normal matter; it could only store Divine Seal fragments. Considering Xuanming's practical needs, there was actually no need to pursue better results.

After Xuanming died, if no other Void Envoys took over, this small prototype Void Realm would automatically disintegrate soon due to the lack of supplemental Power of Divine Seal Fragments.

Theoretically, the Divine Seal fragments stored within would then be exiled to the void, but hoping for the void environment to completely seal the fragments is likely wishful thinking. Ultimately, under the attraction of Karma Power, all Divine Seal fragments would end up in the hands of the Master of Divine Seal or the Seal Master, or perhaps other Void Envoys… The void couldn't even stop my return, let alone the flow of Divine Seal fragments.

And to retrieve Divine Seal fragments from this small prototype Void Realm, one can do so at any time, provided they know the correct method.

I attempted to output the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, combining it with my own Mana, and emitted a specific frequency signal. Then, I felt my consciousness connect to an obscure Different Space.

Not everyone can accomplish this; generally, this small prototype Void Realm would only acknowledge Xuanming's access requests. But because Xuanming passed his experiences and insights to me, this soul-level "material" could be viewed as a unique key, granting me access to the small prototype Void Realm.

This key was likely not something Xuanming designed spontaneously in his final moments; he had probably calculated the possibility of his failure in life, preparing plans to pass down his vital possessions.

I raised my hand, and Divine Seal fragments began to appear in the palm of my hand.

One, two, three, four… a total of ten ownerless Divine Seal fragments appeared in my hand.

The small prototype Void Realm emitted a force, causing these ownerless Divine Seal fragments to remain suspended, not directly contacting my palm.

Even though Little Bowl likely predicted that Xuanming owned numerous Divine Seal fragments in life, she was still shocked by this scene, her mouth slightly open.

"So many…" she said.

I then stored all the Divine Seal fragments inside the small prototype Void Realm and looked at Little Bowl's expression. Now, I was lying on her lap, under the illumination of the fireball in the sky, her face bent downward was shrouded in severe shadows.

"I didn't expect Xuanming to transfer all the Divine Seal fragments to Brother Zhuang Cheng… It's truly an open plot, incredibly dangerous," she sighed.

"You mean, having so many Divine Seal fragments would make us targets for the Master of Divine Seal and Seal Master?" I asked.

"Not only the Master of Divine Seal and Seal Master, but even other Impermanence might pose a threat to you," Little Bowl replied seriously.

I considered that this prediction wasn't entirely impossible, yet with a scrutinizing mindset, I asked, "Isn't this idea somewhat exaggerated?"

"There's absolutely no exaggeration," Little Bowl said solemnly, "Brother Zhuang Cheng, have you calculated how many Divine Seal fragments we possess now?"

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