Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

The Murder Plans. Hitori thought, or he hoped, for it to be a novel, but the warning letter on the back side of the title page told him otherwise:

'If you reading this, it means I am dead. If I am not dead and you are reading this, then I request you to drop it, cause you would not be able to look at me in the eye after reading this. You might even grow to hate me and you will think Satan had taken over me, thank god he died, you might think.'

Hitori thought for a second after reading the warning on the back page. He put the paper at the end and turned to the next page.

The title on that page read: The First Murder Plan

Hitori continued reading. Throughout the chapter, Hitori's mouth dropped open. He remembered he had never gripped a book so tightly in his hands as he had that time.

He felt an intense knot in his chest, something that hurt him, but made him feel satisfied at the same time. As he reached the midpoint, he was filled with suspense.

He wondered whether Kamiya would have tried these murder plans. If he had, then would his plan have worked? The first plan was not much complex, but thoroughly satisfying for Hitori.

When he flipped the pages and read the first plan in two minutes, he was left with overwhelmingness. He let out a sigh, then covered his mouth and glanced around. He held his breath and listened. No. No one had heard him.

"This is a treasure. Akemi-san needs to see this," Hitori muttered.

He pulled the pages he had read and arranged them in the sequence as they were before. After setting 'The Murder Plans' as the first page, he covered it with a blank page.

Hitori grabbed the time capsule and stuffed the pages into it. He looked around him before closing the box. He found a diary in the corner of the room. He grabbed it.

He dived onto the floor to take a look under the bed, but nothing was to be found. He still went under the bed and touched the plank from below. He felt something against his fingers, then it made a rustling sound.

His hand touched a metal-like thing, it was rigid, and it was hard to touch. He felt the iron cuboid before removing his hand.

He lay on the floor, grabbed the bed's corner, and pushed himself under the bed. He saw the plastic-wrapped gun sticking upside down from the bed.

Still, he wanted to make sure. He untapped the plastic and pulled the plastic bag. It was the gun's barrel he felt when he had put his hand under the bed, he thought it was a wand.

But after unwrapping the plastic, he saw it was a gun. A black handgun with bullets is packed in the plastic bag. "What the…" He looked at the metal box in which Kamiya's draft was stored. "You were serious the whole time?"

Hitori jumped off the floor. If he had found a gun, then more surprises were waiting for him. And he had to hurry. Hitori scanned the room for any sign of a secret compartment as he put the bullets in his suit's inner pocket.

Hitori checked the gun's safety, it was locked. Then he checked the magazine. His eyes widened when he saw bullets in the SIG Sauer. "It is loaded."

He counted the ten rounds of ammunition in the magazine, loaded the gun, and checked the safety again before putting the gun in the back of his pants.

His eyes fell on the door in the room that stayed sealed with planks. It suggested there might be something inside it, so Hitori went for his neck and pulled a keychain with a silver chain and a red miniature katana dangling as he walked.

The chains moved on their own and wrapped themselves around Hitori's hand. When he pressed the katana's core, it enlarged to its normal size.

Hitori took a step back and raised the katana above the wooden planks. He touched the tip against the first plank, then sliced the rest of the planks in a single go.

The followthrough took him to the floor, the next instant he was going to cut the floor when he pressed the core, and the katana reduced in size, but the chains were still tight.

"Release," he commanded, and the chains loosened.

Hitori watched as the cut made through the middle of the planks enlarged and soon the planks swung to the other sides.

Now he just hoped the door was not locked. When he grabbed the handle and twisted it, the door opened without any problem. But what greeted him was loneliness.

He felt a sudden burst of loneliness when he saw a piece of paper lying alone in the whole cupboard. Hitori watched the paper from a distance as he wore the katana keychain.

A paperweight was kept on the paper and the rest of the cupboard was empty. Hitori raised his hand but stopped. He pulled a photo from the side wall and threw it in the closet. Nothing happened.

After verifying, he put his hand in the closet, moved the paperweight, and took the paper (which turned out to be an envelope) out of the closet.

The front of the envelope read: Only for Akemi-nee-chan. If you are not Akemi, please do not read it, it would not make any sense to you. If you do not know who Akemi is (which means you found this hundred years after my death), then keep it where you found it. But if you know Akemi, please send it to her (if she is alive). Thanks.

Hitori checked the closet again. Then he went to the bed and put the envelope in the box. He rose from the box to glance around for the last time.

Hitori went to the wall beside the door and took one of Onogi's and one of Kuzu's clear photos off the wall. He stuffed them into the box and finally closed the lid.

"We need to go upstairs."

"I told you to look for another way," Senso said.

"We are taking the stairs. It has been fifteen minutes since he and Kamiya's father is gone. We need to hurry."

"He is right," Eya said, "we do not know what his father will do to Hitori-san… or has done already."

Senso sighed. "I will wait downstairs with Atama sensei. If things go wrong, teleport and disappear. We will follow."

Kakashi and Eya nodded. Senso led them to the stairs. Three men standing at the end of the hall noticed them making their move.

"Hey, where do you think you are going?" one of the men asked.

Kakashi turned and gave them an intimidating vibe. But Eya jumped in and explained, "We were about to leave, so we thought we should better talk with Kamiya-san before leaving?"

They exchanged glances. "Only two at a time," the person with board shoulder said.

She nodded. They led them upstairs. Kakashi was ready to fight them the moment things go wrong, but he held his horses. Eya was worried about Hitori more than she was worried about the three guild members.

Hitori extinguished the torches and grabbed the box in his hands as he moved towards the door.