"I know." Zhu Shi nodded confidently, "At the moment he was engulfed by Zhuang Cheng's fmes, he used his ability."

  "What is his ability?" I was also very curious about this question.

  "Well... let's call it 'Shadow Swap' for now."

  With that, Zhu Shi began expining in detail what she had observed about the "Shadow Swap" ability.

  This supernatural ability, in essence, is quite simple.

  The previous Oddities was able to transfer damage to his clone, while this one can swap positions with his clone regardless of spatial distance.

  For convenience, let's refer to the former as the 'Undying Oddities' and the tter as the 'Shadow-Swap Oddities.'

  Both the Shadow-Swap Oddities and the Undying Oddities share a common trait: their abilities will automatically activate when they receive a fatal injury, instinctively saving their lives.

  The moment I inflicted a lethal blow on the Shadow-Swap Oddities's real body, it automatically swapped pces with a clone located elsewhere.

  This passive-triggered swap even possesses the power to alter causal retionships.

  Originally, the Shadow-Swap Oddities's real body was indeed burned by me, but once the ability activated, the burned consequence was transferred to the clone, making it so that "the one burned by me was the clone from the very beginning."

  After hearing this, I was quite surprised, whereas Ma Zao, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed.

  "Is this kind of reality-altering, causality-changing power common?" I asked.

  "It’s not exactly common, but it's not all that unusual either. In fact, the Oddities we dealt with st night had an ability called 'Damage Transfer,' which is also a power that shifts the burden of causality onto his clone," Zhu Shi expined.

  "Because he transferred the causality of his injuries away from himself, he was able to go from being gravely wounded and on the brink of death to completely unscathed without any warning. That, too, is a phenomenon with reality-distorting properties."

  "Anomalous phenomena that involve reality alteration and causality reversal have become retively frequent in the post-apocalyptic era," Ma Zao nodded.

  "As humans, we tend to subconsciously rank the concepts we encounter," Zhu Shi said.

  "The reason we find ideas like causality and space-time far more profound than tangible things like fire is because those concepts are well beyond our natural intuition."

  "If we could adopt a more natural perspective, we might see them as just another part of nature's many elements, and that humans are simply overreacting."

  "Anomalies do not follow common logic, nor do they conform to human intuition. The same goes for supernatural abilities—powers involving causality and space-time can sometimes appear in ordinary monsters and demon hunters as if they were completely normal. Even so, that doesn’t necessarily mean those monsters and hunters are truly powerful."

  "For those who are truly strong, altering reality and causality is nothing more than fancy tricks. The Great Wuchang would still be the Great Wuchang even without such abilities, because true rules are always established by sheer, overwhelming power. So, Zhuang Cheng, there's no need for you to be so amazed by those abilities. Your fire-controlling power is actually far stronger than theirs."

  "...Actually, I have a skill simir to divination," Ma Zao said after some thought.

  "Since you've already seen through my blessing power, I'll be straightforward. When I use my blessing, I can trace back through the past experiences of a target with my consciousness. So, this severed hand is useful to me as well. However..."

  "However?" Zhu Shi asked.

  "I don't mind giving you the hand, but I want to keep one of his fingers. Is that okay?" Ma Zao suggested.

  "That's fine," Zhu Shi nodded without hesitation.

  Ma Zao took the severed hand out of the pstic bag, summoned her phantom recurve bde, and chopped off the thumb.

  She then handed the remaining part of the hand to Zhu Shi.

  I gnced around and, thankfully, there were no other pedestrians passing by.

  On a dimly lit street at night, a middle-school-aged girl and a university-aged beauty exchanging a bloodied human limb—this scene was beyond bizarre.

  If someone happened to walk by and snap a picture, spreading it online, who knows what kind of strange urban legends might emerge.

  And I, as a firsthand witness to this budding urban legend, couldn't help but feel an odd sense of excitement and satisfaction.

  After receiving the severed hand, Zhu Shi turned to Ma Zao and said, "Alright, I’ll hand this over to our patrolling scouts. Where do you pn to stay for the night? If you don't have any other pce..."

  "Of course, Ma Zao will stay at my pce for the night," I said without hesitation.

  "You really didn't hesitate at all..." Zhu Shi said in disbelief.

  "Normally, would anyone so casually invite the opposite sex to stay over at their pce? I’m not suspecting you of having ulterior motives, but shouldn’t you at least be a little mindful of appearances?"

  "This is a choice based on the process of elimination," I replied seriously.

  "First of all, Ma Zao obviously can't sleep outdoors. She doesn’t have an ID, so she can't stay at a hotel or inn. Your home has Chang'an and your grandparents, so it's inconvenient to bring Ma Zao there. On the other hand, I live alone, and Ma Zao has experience staying at my pce. Therefore, having her stay with me is the most logical option."

  Of course, these were all just excuses I came up with on the spot.

  The truth was, I simply didn't want Ma Zao to leave my sight.

  "Why does the fact that I have my brother and grandparents at home mean she can't stay with us?" Zhu Shi still seemed puzzled.

  But Ma Zao had already understood. She immediately said, "I told you before, didn't I? I'm a walking disaster magnet... Honestly, just talking to you like this already puts you in danger. I do want to rely on your strength to gather evidence of the approaching apocalypse, but if you can't accept me and believe that I will bring misfortune upon you, then..."

  As she spoke, her expression grew darker and darker.

  Suddenly, Zhu Shi interrupted loudly, "It's fine!"

  "Eh?" Ma Zao flinched, startled by the sudden increase in volume.

  "The reason you left Zhuang Cheng in the past was because you were afraid of dragging him into trouble, right?" Zhu Shi pced both hands firmly on Ma Zao's shoulders, staring directly into her eyes.

  "Y-Yeah..." Ma Zao looked flustered and cast me a pleading gnce.

  "But you don’t have to worry about affecting me!" Zhu Shi decred righteously.

  "I am Mount Luo's Wuchang. My duty is to sweep away anomalies and protect society. If you can lure out all the lurking anomalies hiding in this city, I would actually be more than happy. Likewise, I will protect you and keep you safe from these threats."

  "Uh... I can protect myself," Ma Zao said in a rare, hesitant tone.

  "And... you're gripping my shoulders a little too hard."

  "Oh, sorry." Zhu Shi quickly let go and continued, "Anyway, you don’t need to worry about putting me in danger. You can cooperate with me without hesitation."

  "I feel the same way," I added.

  "I'm now the External Wuchang, and External Wuchang is still a Wuchang. If you're ever in danger, Ma Zao, you can come to me for help."

  Zhu Shi sighed and muttered, "Honestly, Zhuang Cheng, I think you might be one of the dangers around her..."

  "Danger? From Zhuang Cheng?" Ma Zao looked puzzled. "Why?"

  "Maybe because she thinks it’s inappropriate for us, as members of the opposite sex, to live under the same roof," I said.

  "I see. It's fine," Ma Zao said to Zhu Shi.

  "Honestly, I was a bit worried about that at first too, but Zhuang Cheng doesn’t have any of those kinds of thoughts about me."

  "I’ll be staying at Zhuang Cheng's pce tonight. Thanks for your concern."

  "...Alright," Zhu Shi reluctantly accepted.

  Ma Zao studied Zhu Shi’s face carefully and suddenly asked, "By the way, have we met somewhere before?"

  "Huh? No, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?" Zhu Shi looked puzzled.

  "It just feels like I've seen your face somewhere before..." Ma Zao said, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint where.

  I silently took note of her strange behavior.

  Since Ma Zao couldn’t provide any further details, Zhu Shi let the matter drop and went her separate way, saying she needed to take the severed hand to Patrol Lu.

  Meanwhile, Ma Zao and I headed in the opposite direction toward my pce.

  After walking some distance, we both stopped at the same time.

  It was time to talk about things we didn’t want Zhu Shi to overhear.

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