Apocalypse Circular-Chapter 457: The Lost Noah! (Updated Today!)
Within the world of the Doomsday Disc, Noah awakened somewhat groggily.
He was at the location on the Doomsday Disc where the Devourer of the S-02 Sequence resided.
This time, the Doomsday Disc that appeared was much larger than before.
The size of previous Doomsday Discs was, at most, equivalent to the area of two or three soccer fields combined.
But this time, looking out from Noah’s position, he couldn’t even see the disc’s edge.
The former Doomsday Discs, like virtual objects suspended between illusion and substance, had ground beneath them resembling some kind of hardened, transparent medium.
But the current Doomsday Disc possessed a texture akin to a stone-like material.
When Noah stepped on it, the energy within his body fluctuated in response.
He didn’t know where he was, nor what Lu Luo’s ability truly was.
"Where is that guy Lu Luo?" Noah muttered, looking around as if trying to find a trace of him.
Though he hadn’t won the previous battle, Noah felt he hadn’t lost either.
His ability had thoroughly suppressed Lu Luo, and he had nearly turned the tables.
However, Lu Luo possessed the Doomsday Disc, a BUG-level item that grew in power, so... the battle could only be considered a draw.
Even now, situated in the Disc World, Noah still believed he had a chance to turn defeat into victory.
Surrender, in any case, was impossible.
"Where the hell did that guy go? Forget it, I’ll check out the environment first," Noah decided. Since he had arrived in this strange place and Lu Luo was nowhere to be found, exploring his surroundings was the priority. After all, a second battle with Lu Luo could erupt at any moment; maintaining his physical condition was paramount.
"Apocalypse!"
The energy in Noah’s hand pulsed faintly, but his expression shifted.
He tried again, "Apocalypse? Apocalypse?"
After several tests, Noah’s face darkened completely. Within the Doomsday Disc’s world, he could no longer connect to the space he had constructed. Many of his belongings were stored there, a space similar to Noah’s Star, only far more powerful.
He’s isolated my world? A remarkable ability indeed, but my strength isn’t limited to just this.
Noah crouched, placing one hand on the ground. "Smelting."
Lightning spread across the Doomsday Disc’s surface, but it caused no damage. The interlocking black and purple ground even absorbed some of the lightning’s radiance.
What’s going on? Is there no metal, or are my abilities ineffective here?
Noah attempted to extract metal from the ground, something he could usually do anytime, anywhere, but now he failed. The current couldn’t penetrate the ground; these seemingly ordinary black stones appeared to have power-insulating properties. He just didn’t know if they insulated only his power or everyone’s.
"Lu Luo, did you do this? Get out here!" Noah shouted in frustration a few times, but no one responded.
Helpless, he could only walk onward, and onward he walked.
Noah had no idea how long he’d been walking. Without his mechanical body, he’d lost his precise sense of time. Moreover, he discovered a problem: as a human, if one didn’t consciously track time, the concept of its passage quickly faded. The result was that he didn’t know how long he’d been here.
One day? Three days? Or a week?
As an Eighth Order being, his energy reserves depleted very slowly; he wouldn’t die even if he went without food for a year. But Noah truly didn’t want to stay here for a year.
The boundless, empty environment made Noah feel anxious for the first time.
Humans are different from machines. Machines, if left in one place for hundreds of years, might only rust and age. But if a human with an infinite lifespan were placed in an uninhabited location for centuries, the outcome was utterly unpredictable and unimaginable.
This was Noah’s first time experiencing such a desolate space in human form. He clearly felt anxious, and he didn’t like this feeling.
"Whew... deep breaths," he told himself. "It’s no big deal. I’ve lived for over four hundred years; why would I care about a little time like this?"
Having lost his grasp on time, Noah continued to wander in the Doomsday Disc’s world. He was, after all, a former top-tier powerhouse. Though his human mentality was still unstable, his strength and cultivation level were undeniable. The moment he realized something was amiss, he began to control his emotions.
This control was temporarily effective, until...
He saw a house, a house existing in this vacant world.
A house? Is this some trick of Lu Luo’s?
Though wary and puzzled, Noah felt an innate yearning for something beyond the emptiness. He wanted to see something different; with this thought, he walked over.
"Um, hello? Is anyone there?" Noah chose his words carefully. Despite his anxiety, he decided to remain polite, as he didn’t know what he would encounter next.
SQUEAK!
The door opened. From the sound, it was wooden. This inexplicably gave Noah a slightly favorable impression.
He didn’t know where this good feeling came from. Maybe, probably, possibly... because wood represented life?
I’m actually starting to crave living things? Then what do my past four hundred years count for?
Noah shook his head, then saw a woman emerge from the house. She was very beautiful, though dressed in plain clothes without any adornments. Noah could only see her profile, but even that was, in his opinion, quite beautiful.
"Hello, may I ask where this is?" Noah called out from a distance, but the woman seemed oblivious, completely ignoring him and continuing with her tasks: drawing water from the well beside the house, then washing clothes on the spot.
This simple scene gave Noah an unusual feeling. He felt a strong urge to approach her, and his purpose for doing so felt less than pure.
Have I been affected by some sort of mental ability? Why am I having such immature thoughts?
Suppressing the strange notion, Noah called out again, "Hey, woman, do you know where this is? If you tell me everything, I’ll give you a considerable reward."
Noah spoke again but still received no response. The woman remained seated, washing clothes, completely ignoring him.
Being ignored twice, Noah felt a surge of anger born from embarrassment. He rushed over, grabbed the woman’s arm, and pulled her up. "Hey, woman! Don’t be ungrateful!"
Noah’s fierceness startled the woman. She looked terrified, as if fearing he would hurt her, yet amidst the fear, there seemed to be other emotions. Perhaps surprise and curiosity? These flickered too briefly for Noah to be certain of their meaning.
"AH! UGH! UGH!" The woman, mouth agape, gestured at Noah. She pointed to her ears and mouth, then waved her hand.
Her gestures seemed to indicate she could neither speak nor hear.
When Noah understood her gestured explanation, his heart suddenly felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. It was a stifling feeling, one he couldn’t express. He was angry, yet he didn’t know what he was angry about. This emotion felt wrong, different from simple rage. This anger was more a form of self-blame.
Am I blaming myself? How could I possibly blame myself?
Noah denied it to himself, but he was certain of one thing: he was the one at fault in their recent encounter, not the deaf-mute girl before him.
"I’m sorry."
This was the first, and perhaps the only, time Noah had ever seriously apologized to someone. He released the girl’s arm and even lowered his head slightly. "I’m truly sorry. I didn’t know you couldn’t hear."
Seeing Noah’s apologetic demeanor, the deaf-mute girl seemed to calm down a bit. She gestured to him while waving her hand, indicating she was alright.
Noah looked around. For such a peculiar place to appear in this endless, empty world—it was definitely suspicious, no matter how he looked at it. It was very likely a trap set by Lu Luo. Even so, Noah had no intention of destroying this place.
A living person! How rare!
"Do you know where this is?" Noah gestured again, asking the mute girl about the place and its location. After tilting her head for a moment, she took Noah’s hand and pulled him towards the house.
Looking at the nearby cottage, Noah suddenly felt a sense of danger well up inside him.
"Don’t touch me."
The mute girl, pushed away by Noah, fell to the ground due to her frail build. She looked at him with confusion and sadness, seemingly unable to understand why he had done that.
Noah, too, realized the inappropriateness of his recent action. He shook his head, then signaled for the girl to open the door first. "You open the door first."
"ER!" The mute girl seemed to understand. She nodded and opened her door.
It was just an ordinary wooden hut, very plain, even drafty in places. But the room was very clean; at least no dust was visible.
After a moment’s hesitation, Noah finally stepped into the cottage. The room was very small; with two people inside, there was barely any room to move. As the mute girl tidied up, her body inevitably brushed against Noah’s. This made Noah feel very uncomfortable and ashamed.
Years of accumulated knowledge allowed Noah to understand what was happening. But when he was a member of the intelligent machine race, he had always considered such human emotions as mere primal urges for reproduction and release. He had thought that after becoming human, he could easily control these feelings, and indeed, during his two to three years in the Imperial, he had managed it well. This had led Noah to believe, for a time, that he was a species superior to other humans; that he was more complete, and his self-control far stronger than that of ordinary people.
But unexpectedly, after arriving here, just a simple encounter, a few light brushes, and his inner desires were starting to become uncontrollable.
This isn’t normal. Far from normal.
The mute girl carefully tidied her bed for Noah, then signaled that he could sit there.
He was an Eighth Order Monarch of the Exotic Species! A Monarch should have a Monarch’s pride. This woman before me is just a flawed human. I shouldn’t be showing such emotions. This is wrong, and not good! The human body... it truly has many troublesome aspects.
Such almost uncontrollable outbursts of emotion made him feel a vague resistance in his heart.
After a while, the mute girl poured him a glass of water, made a few hand gestures he couldn’t understand, and then went out to continue her laundry.
Noah raised his hand, wanting to say something, but communication was incredibly difficult; besides, even if he called out, the mute girl couldn’t hear him. So, Noah didn’t bother calling out, deciding instead to calm himself in the room.
A few minutes later, Noah felt much calmer. He stood up and began to observe the room’s interior.
His eyes stopped on something resembling a stove. He saw a knife—a kitchen knife.
The kitchen knife wasn’t anything special; it wasn’t a Sequence-enchanted tool. But here, it was still very special because it was the first metal object Noah had seen in such a long time.
A metal object! This means opportunity!
He could melt down the knife to make some special micro-mechanisms, like surveillance equipment or small detection devices.
But just as Noah picked up the knife, he hesitated again.
If I take this knife and melt it down, what will the mute girl do? This is probably the only piece of metal here. I’ll have to leave this place sooner or later. After I leave, if she loses her kitchen knife, will she be unable to survive?
Right, there’s well water, but well water doesn’t provide food. Without food... how has she survived in this place?
Noah looked up at the window, where several pieces of dried meat hung. He approached and sniffed them, his heart suddenly lurching in shock!
This meat... it’s from an Exotic Species? Can this woman kill Exotic Species?
Noah was certain this woman was an ordinary person. How could an ordinary person possibly kill an Exotic Species? Moreover, Exotic Species meat itself was practically a deadly poison to ordinary humans.
How on earth has this woman survived?
The thought had barely formed in Noah’s mind when the girl suddenly burst through the door.
"AAAH!" she yelled at Noah, seemingly gesturing for him to get on the bed.
Noah was taken aback for a moment, and then the door was violently hit.
BOOM!
The aura of an Exotic Species manifested outside the door! 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Noah’s heart skipped. Are there really Exotic Species?
He didn’t react immediately, wanting to assess the situation.
But the mute girl had already retrieved a wooden spear from behind the door and thrust it through a hole in the door panel!
PSHCHT!
The mute girl’s gaze was firm and brave, radiating the intense charisma and quality of an ordinary person.
In that moment, Noah too was inspired by the mute girl’s courage!
This girl... she’s quite heroic!
