The three of us met up at the entrance of the pedestrian street in the new district.

  The pce where Ma Zao and I currently live is also in the new district, and it takes less than twenty minutes to walk here from home.

  On the other hand, Zhu Shi’s house is located on the outskirts of the new district, so she had to take a taxi.

  By the time we arrived, she had already gotten there first.

  For the time being, Ma Zao still wore her cat whisker mask.

  Although she cimed not to mind being discovered by the Transcendentalist faction, she still had the charge of stealing firearms and ammunition hanging over her head.

  Concealing her identity was probably to avoid attracting trouble from that matter, which could otherwise interfere with our joint operation.

  As soon as we met, Zhu Shi’s eyes immediately fell on Ma Zao’s left wrist.

  Then, she gave me a speechless look.

  Needless to say, Ma Zao still hadn’t removed the GPS wristband.

  It wasn’t because I persuaded her to keep wearing it—rather, she seemed to have taken quite a liking to this first "gift" she received after arriving in this world.

  I simply couldn't find a suitable reason to convince her to take it off.

  However, Zhu Shi likely didn’t see it that way.

  To her, I was probably like some perverted guy who deceitfully cims that a colr is just an accessory, gifts it to an unsuspecting girl, and even when called out, shamelessly continues to parade her around while she wears it.

  How btant, shameless, and morally filthy—but I swear I have no such dirty intentions.

  I could only hope Zhu Shi would understand my predicament.

  The GPS wristband was like a ticking time bomb, and I had no idea when it would explode.

  As Ma Zao’s understanding of modern society deepened, it was only a matter of time before she realized that the red wristband was far from an ordinary accessory.

  When that moment came, how should I expin myself?

  My past cleverness was now turning into my present karma, ready to strike at any moment.

  To prevent Zhu Shi from making unnecessary remarks, I got straight to the point: “How’s Patrol Lu’s divination progress?”

  “Lu Chan’s side is still completely unreliable. We can only count on the clues that Ma Zao has uncovered,” Zhu Shi said, turning her gaze to Ma Zao.

  The tter nodded and replied, “I can take you to the pce where the Oddities frequently visits right now.”

  “Then let’s go.” Saying this, Zhu Shi once again expressed her concern for Ma Zao.

  “How is your condition now? The trauma to your soul shouldn't be so easy to recover from, right?”

  “I’ve been trying to restore it using my blessing power, but the wounds inflicted by a Great Demon are completely different from ordinary injuries. The damage to the physical, material level is actually quite easy to heal, but the soul-level damage... not so much.” Ma Zao touched her chest.

  “Still, I’m much better than I was a week ago. I can at least manage to fight.”

  “Your recovery is based on a time-reversal mechanism, right? The power of an Apocalyptic Great Demon can even affect time itself…” Zhu Shi pondered for a moment.

  “By the way, there's something I've been curious about for a while. Since your teleportation works by sending you to pces you’ve been before, how did you manage to teleport out of the hospital when you first arrived in this era? You hadn’t been anywhere outside the hospital yet, right?”

  “I don’t know. At that time, my mind was entirely focused on saving my friends, wanting to return to the pce where the Great Demon attacked us. But the blessing power ended up teleporting me to a street in this city instead…” Ma Zao recalled.

  “Maybe my power can’t send me into the future, and when the teleportation failed, it resulted in a random destination. Or perhaps the original owner of this body had been to this city’s streets before, and the blessing power determined it as the nding point for my teleportation.”

  “The identity of your body’s original owner does belong to a resident of Xianshui City,” Zhu Shi said, following Ma Zao’s train of thought.

  “The hospital she was in is actually the same one where my mother is currently staying.”

  “Your mother?” Ma Zao asked.

  Zhu Shi hesitated for a moment but didn’t immediately reveal that her mother was also a victim of Soul Loss Syndrome.

  Was she worried that bringing it up would seem like she was trying to guilt-trip Ma Zao?

  After a brief pause, she changed the topic: “Ma Zao, the clothes you’re wearing now look almost the same as the ones you wore st night. Doesn’t Zhuang Cheng have any spare clothes for you to change into?”

  “I didn’t buy enough,” I replied. “But didn’t you also not change?”

  Zhu Shi was still dressed in her usual white blouse and bck skirt, carrying a rge bck guitar case on her back.

  She probably did change clothes, but only into an identical outfit.

  It wouldn’t be surprising if her wardrobe was filled with nothing but white blouses and bck skirts.

  She seemed to like this simple style, but based on my impression of women, unless they were required to wear a uniform, most wouldn’t wear the exact same outfit every day, even if they were satisfied with their current look.

  This kind of thinking—choosing the same thing every day out of ziness to consider other options—was more commonly seen in men.

  The “Junior Zhu” I once knew, who seemed full of gentle femininity, was clearly just an act.

  The person she was now felt much closer to her true self.

  She wasn't the type to cower in the background when danger struck; she was a warrior who would boldly cut down her enemies.

  In fact, in some ways, she acted more "manly" than I did.

  She always tried to shoulder the responsibility of dealing with supernatural incidents herself, even suggesting that I should stay away from this mission and let her handle it alone.

  When we were trapped in a byrinth space, even though she knew my power far exceeded hers, she constantly kept an eye on my emotions, doing her best to prevent me from panicking and promising to get me out safely.

  Just like the gender-neutral title of "Demon Hunter Zhu Shi," behind her ink-painting-like beauty y an indescribable, steely edge.

  I couldn’t purely see her as a woman, yet at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a strange allure from her.

  As we talked, we kept moving.

  Ma Zao walked ahead, leading us toward the pce the Oddities frequently visited.

  “Zhuang Cheng, before you came here, did anyone from Mount Luo contact you, either by visiting or calling?” Zhu Shi asked.

  “No.” I thought about why she might be asking. “Have you already reported Ma Zao’s situation?”

  “Yes. Normally, my organization should have sent someone to talk to you about the Soul Loss Syndrome, like arranging for Ma Zao to cooperate in researching a cure...” She seemed puzzled.

  “It wouldn’t have been surprising if they showed up before dawn, or at least contacted you by phone. How could no one have reached out?”

  Now that she mentioned it, I also found it a bit strange.

  Could it be that her organization, like the Transcendentalist faction, was bogged down by all sorts of internal bureaucracy, making it difficult to take concrete action?

  Thinking of the Transcendentalist faction, I told Zhu Shi about Ma Zao's decision st night to act openly.

  After hearing this, Zhu Shi turned to Ma Zao, who was walking ahead, and asked if it was true.

  Ma Zao nodded in confirmation. Zhu Shi furrowed her brows deeply but soon rexed.

  “…Ma Zao's analysis makes sense, and even if something unexpected happens, perhaps we can try leveraging your reputation,” Zhu Shi said to me.

  “My reputation?” I hadn’t considered that.

  “Yes.” She nodded.

  “You might not realize what someone of your level means to Mount Luo. Let me put it this way—if you were to fully reveal your strength to the forces in Mount Luo, the only ones who could overshadow you in terms of power would be the Great Wuchangs.”

  “Even if I’m just by myself?”

  “In Mount Luo, it's not the strong who depend on organizations; it's the organizations that depend on the strong,” she said seriously.

  “A true powerhouse is an army unto themselves. Even alone, they are a force to be reckoned with. So, Zhuang Cheng, don’t think of yourself as someone lying low, but as a dormant yet formidable force.”

  “I originally didn’t want to tell you this because I hoped you could stay away from the supernatural world in the future. But now, things are different. You need to build enough connections in the Demon-Hunting world, and I will do my best to help you. Letting Ma Zao use your name as a banner might actually serve as a way to introduce yourself and could help protect her. Besides, you also need Ma Zao to stay by your side…”

  Hearing this, Ma Zao suddenly turned back and curiously asked, “Zhuang Cheng needs me to stay by his side? Why?”

  Realizing she had nearly exposed something, Zhu Shi quickly coughed twice to cover it up, while I immediately patched things up: “Because you were out there alone for the past few days, I was constantly worried about you. I couldn’t eat or sleep well. Now that I’ve found you, I can finally eat and sleep properly.”

  “That’s right, exactly!” Zhu Shi surprisingly joined in on my excuse.

  “You're worried about someone you’ve only known for a few days to this extent…” Ma Zao seemed a bit embarrassed, turning her face away.

  “You’re such a hopeless soft-hearted person.”

  She didn’t suspect anything... But I wasn’t lying either.

  When I couldn’t find her, I really couldn’t eat or sleep properly.

  “You don’t have to worry so much about me. If I end up causing you trouble, I’ll leave on my own,” Ma Zao said.

  “Don’t say such distant things at this point. We’re partners in investigating the apocalypse, aren’t we?” I said seriously.

  “Or do you still think I don’t believe in the apocalypse? Or that even if I knew it was coming, I’d just sit back and do nothing?”

  I possess a Divine Seal fragment closely tied to the apocalypse and have even come into contact with No. 2 Xiao Wan, who exists in the apocalyptic era.

  From Ma Zao’s perspective, aside from herself, I’m probably the person who believes in the apocalypse the most.

  She definitely couldn’t think I don’t believe it anymore.

  Sure enough, my words swayed her. “I…”

  “Let’s save the world together,” I said solemnly.

  She turned to look at my face seriously.

  After a moment, she gave a small nod. “…Alright.”

  Perhaps it was only at this moment that she finally stopped seeing me as someone dragged into all of this and began to see me as a like-minded companion.

  Zhu Shi, not understanding the context, whispered, “Senior Zhuang, you’re bound to be struck by divine punishment one day…”

  Don’t act like this has nothing to do with you, Junior Zhu. You're in on it too.

  I kept my gaze straight ahead.

  After some time, we arrived at our destination.

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