The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile Chapter 155

The Black Bone Dagger beca a standard-issue weapon that the Special Response Departnt spared no expense to equip all Anti-Anomaly agents with, primarily because of its ability to penetrate anomaly energy defenses. Not only could it breach anomaly spaces, but it was also particularly effective against anomalies that used anomaly energy for protection.

The freak clearly relied on anomaly energy to enhance its physical hardness, which happened to be perfectly countered by the Black Bone Dagger. The dagger stabbed into the freak’s eyeball, splattering dark blood.

Fang Mingyue, mimicking Shen Ge’s technique with the butcher’s cleaver, gripped the hilt with both hands and forcefully sliced downward along the freak’s head!

However, the split-open head of the freak didn’t contain anything resembling a brain. Instead, there was a thumb-sized, pulsating “heart”!

Fang Mingyue reacted swiftly. Upon seeing the thumb-sized “heart,” she imdiately judged it to be the freak’s “weak point” and slashed down with her knife, severing the heart.

But what utterly surprised Fang Mingyue was that even with its head split open and the “heart” cut out, this freak could still move around vigorously!

The bone cage creaked and groaned as the freak tore at it. Fang Mingyue was acutely aware of her own capabilities. Once a freak of this level broke free from the bone cage, killing it would beco far more difficult.

Fang Mingyue activated her Anomaly-Hide Bracer, using the inflated airbag to push against the bone cage, jolting the freak and disrupting its attempts to tear the cage apart.

Then, she moved behind the freak, plunged the Black Bone Dagger into its back. The freak let out a piercing screech. The entire bone cage was now severely deford.

The freak gripped the bone cage with both hands, shaking it violently. The cage slamd into Fang Mingyue, causing intense pain as if struck by a sledgehamr. If not for the Anomaly-Hide Armor she wore, those impacts would have certainly caused severe internal injuries.

Fang Mingyue relentlessly stabbed with the Black Bone Dagger in one hand while tightly gripping the control end of the Anomaly-Bone Rod with the other, constantly consuming the rod’s anomaly energy to reinforce the defense.

Before the Anomaly-Bone Rod’s energy was depleted, the freak’s vitality was exhausted first by Fang Mingyue’s assaults. Watching the motionless freak in the cage, Fang Mingyue didn’t even have the strength to retract the Anomaly-Bone Rod. She leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

“Huff.”

“Huff.”

After resting for a while, Fang Mingyue’s gaze fell upon the “small heart” discarded beside the bone cage. After a mont’s thought, she used the Black Bone Dagger to pick it up, then took a fist-sized water bottle from her backpack, drank the water, and stuffed the “small heart” inside.

The half-body Anomaly-Hide Armor still had over three minutes of duration left. With only three anomaly energy canisters total on her, she wanted to conserve them.

Fang Mingyue returned to the location of the previous transparent barrier. Testing it with the Black Bone Dagger, she had assud the barrier would disappear after killing the freak, but the dagger was once again blocked by an invisible force.

Fang Mingyue had no choice but to retrace her steps. However, when she returned to the three-way intersection, the “intestinal” corridor was gone, replaced only by a door with a “heart” pattern.

Her eyes scanned the dark passages to the left and right of the intersection. She extended the Anomaly-Bone Rod into the passages to probe, but encountered the sa situation as earlier with the main hall entrance being blocked by black mist – an invisible “wall” stopped the rod.

But when they first arrived at the intersection, Shen Ge had tested the two dark passages with two flashbang grenades. Although the light source behaved strangely, it was confird that the flashbangs could be thrown in, aning there was no invisible “wall” at that ti.

“Forcing to take the middle door?” Fang Mingyue frowned. She pushed the heart-patterned door with the Anomaly-Bone Rod. Sure enough, with a grating “creak,” the double doors slowly swung inward.

When the “door” fully opened, utter darkness lay within, accompanied by a wave of nauseating rot that assaulted her senses, nearly making Fang Mingyue vomit.

Fang Mingyue shone her flashlight inside, but the beam of light vanished the mont it entered the room, just like when it was shone into the dark corridors earlier, disappearing inexplicably.

She tried probing forward with the Anomaly-Bone Rod again. The rod extended into the room smoothly without any obstruction.

Just then, the room ahead suddenly “lit up” with a dim red glow, similar to the previous two dark red corridors – terrifying and oppressive.

The room resembled a hotel office area, furnished in an old-fashioned style. Under the eerie dim red light, it gave off a feeling of a haunted office.

Fang Mingyue didn’t rush into the office area. Standing at the doorway, she used the Anomaly Energy Detector to scout. The detector beeped incessantly, its numbers constantly changing, indicating there was definitely more than one anomaly inside the office area!

However, Fang Mingyue didn’t have ti to consider how many anomalies were in the office area now. With only this path available forward, backward, left, or right, her only alternative was to stay put and wait for Shen Ge’s rescue.

Fang Mingyue wasn’t one to sit idly by, and moreover, she didn’t want to hold Shen Ge back. Shen Ge was the future of the Special Response Departnt; she would never allow Shen Ge to be endangered because of her. Even though she knew the terrifying, oppressive room was problematic, even if it were a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair, she had to brave it!

“If I can’t even overco difficulties like this, how can I talk about chasing after Investigator Shen’s footsteps!” Fang Mingyue’s eyes beca resolutely determined, and she stepped directly into the office area.

In the dim room, only the inherent dim red light allowed for visibility. At this mont, Fang Mingyue felt imnsely grateful for Shen Ge’s “cultivation.” If he hadn’t recomnded nurous horror movies to her in the past, rely stepping into this oppressive and terrifying room would have made it impossible for her to remain as calm as she was now.

That’s right!

After the Capital Anomaly Disaster, Fang Mingyue, rembering Shen Ge’s “teachings,” spent all her free ti outside of training catching up on films, even studying anatomy during als with Jigsaw and Jason, and having “The Witching Hour” help her sleep every night with assists from i and Kayako. Although she had been scared unconscious nurous tis during this period, that wasn’t the point!

The point was, after this long-term training, Fang Mingyue had also developed strong nerves, embodying the spirit of “dare to say, dare to practice.”

The oppressive light in the office area didn’t halt Fang Mingyue’s steps. Gripping the Black Bone Dagger tightly, she cautiously moved forward.

“Gurgle.”

“Gurgle.”

That familiar swallowing sound again.

The sound echoed throughout the office area, seeming to surge from all directions, yet also like an eerie noise emitted by the “office area” itself.

Fang Mingyue suddenly heard a sound different from the usual swallowing coming from a corner ahead, resembling the sound of bubbles popping.

Holding the Black Bone Dagger in one hand and the flashlight in the other, she adopted a posture ready to counterattack at any mont and carefully approached the corner.

Between the desk in the front right of the office area and the wall, on the empty floor, stood several black “wine jars,” each nearly half a ter tall.

As Fang Mingyue drew near, these “wine jars” made bubble-popping sounds, then their top “lids” slowly opened like the mouths of pitcher plants.

It was then that Fang Mingyue realized these weren’t “wine jars” at all, but fleshy, aty pots.

Next, Fang Mingyue watched as from within these at pots, a pale bone hand with fingers a full twenty centiters long slowly extended, followed by an arm covered only by a layer of skin, and then an entire emaciated, skeletal “person.”

“Gurgle.”

“Gurgle.”

These “freaks” stared at Fang Mingyue, making swallowing sounds like anomalies from their throats, then slowly walked towards her.

Although Fang Mingyue had long known that the Twelve Branches were researching thods to “incubate” artificial anomalies, witnessing it firsthand still filled her with imnse shock.

If the Twelve Branches were allowed to continue their research, it was possible that one day humans would no longer exist on Earth, replaced only by these inhuman monsters!

Fang Mingyue decisively raised her gun and fired. The assault rifle spat fire, rattling off bursts that struck the dry, shriveled heads of the freaks, splattering flesh and dark blood with sickening ‘thuds’.

When one freak’s head was blown apart and it fell, a nearby freak imdiately pounced on the corpse and began to devour it.

As the freaks cannibalized their kind, their bodies visibly “filled out,” covered by a layer of black skin, and began to grow barbs.

Fang Mingyue’s heart sank. She could see that if these freaks continued to eat their dead comrades, they would eventually transform into the three-ter-tall freaks like the one in the corridor earlier!

Dealing with just one such freak had been extrely strenuous for her. How could she allow them to continue evolving? She threw her two remaining grenades at the cluster of at pots, then used her rifle to prevent the other freaks from feeding on the corpses.

Several magazines were quickly emptied. Fang Mingyue switched to using her anomaly energy equipnt to deal with the remaining freaks. While firearms were convenient and fast, anomaly energy gear felt more natural in her hands.

The Anomaly-Hide Armor had depleted its energy and retracted back into its “bulletproof vest” form. Since these newly born freaks were far weaker than the previous three-ter-tall one, Fang Mingyue didn’t recharge the armor.

After killing all the freaks in the room, Fang Mingyue used the Black Bone Dagger to pry open their heads, retrieving fingernail-sized “small hearts.”

She used the dagger to pick up these small hearts and put them into the bottle containing the previous heart. But as soon as she dropped one in, the original thumb-sized heart opened up like a mouth and swallowed the new, smaller heart!

Fang Mingyue stared in stunned silence for a mont. Then, rembering how the freaks had cannibalized each other, it suddenly didn’t seem so surprising.

But… wouldn’t this potentially feed a higher-tier anomaly into existence?

Fang Mingyue was worried. She held the bottle and observed for a while. After the thumb-sized heart swallowed the fingernail-sized one, it returned to its original state and beca still.

After a mont’s thought, she added another small heart. The larger heart moved again, opening its “mouth” and consuming its counterpart once more.

“…” For safety’s sake, Fang Mingyue decided not to continue feeding it. If she accidentally created a boss, that would truly spell trouble.

She tore off a small piece of cloth, wrapped one of the fingernail-sized hearts, and dropped it into the bottle. This ti, the original heart showed no reaction.

Confirming this thod worked, Fang Mingyue proceeded to wrap each small heart in cloth and stuff them one by one into the bottle.

Soon, the bottle was full.

After storing the bottle away, Fang Mingyue continued searching for an exit in the office area.

As she approached the door of a small room deep inside, she suddenly felt a mysterious and eerie aura enveloping her. It felt as if sothing within the room ahead was watching her.

This oppressive, bizarre sensation made it hard for Fang Mingyue to breathe. Her face gradually paled, and her aura grew colder.

Boom!

Boom!

Suddenly, accompanied by the thunderous sound of collapse, the entire office area shook violently. The ceiling and floor near the door to the dark red corridor began to crumble first, quickly spreading inward through the office area.

Fang Mingyue had no ti to think. Ignoring the oppressive weirdness emanating from the room ahead, she slamd the door open with a ‘bang’ and swept her flashlight inside.

Seeing the situation inside the room, the color drained from Fang Mingyue’s already pale face, replaced by a look of horror. Around the large round table in the twenty-to-thirty-square-ter conference room sat nurous emaciated freaks, faceless like the anomaly-bus driver.

The mont Fang Mingyue opened the door, all the faceless freaks turned their gaze towards the entrance. Then, they slowly stood up, their eyes glowing with a crimson light.

With collapse behind her and a large group of freaks of unknown strength ahead, Fang Mingyue was caught between a rock and a hard place. But rather than be buried alive, she chose to fight desperately!

Just as Fang Mingyue charged into the room, ready for a life-or-death battle with these freaks, her vision blurred. The freaks suddenly plumted downward, their upper bodies sinking into the floor as if falling through it. Then, their heads grotesquely fell from their necks, as if severed by a sharp blade. Dark blood splattered, and the heads rolled and tumbled across the floor.

Simultaneously, the tremors in the area intensified further. The space within the conference room twisted severely. Although Fang Mingyue didn’t understand why the freaks had died so abruptly, with the conference room on the verge of collapse, she had no ti to ponder other possibilities.

Her only option was to use the Anomaly-Bone Rod to create a bone cage around herself and employ the Anomaly-Hide Bracer’s airbag for cushioning against the collapsing ceiling.

However, just as Fang Mingyue prepared to activate the Anomaly-Bone Rod, a figure materialized within the distortion (niǔ qū – twisted) space of the conference room. Shen Ge, clad in his full “Crimson Mist Form” battle armor, appeared abruptly on the conference table. In his left hand, he held a string of severed heads; in his right, his dripping butcher’s cleaver, still slick with black blood.

Seeing this, Fang Mingyue was instantly overjoyed, imdiately understanding who had killed the freaks in the conference room.

“Investigator Shen!”

Clearly, both Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue had been in this sa conference room, just in disjointed spaces and tis. Shen Ge, using his Trait Anomaly Domain, had slain these freaks first.

Shen Ge deactivated the “Crimson Mist Form” and jumped down from the table. He tossed the string of freak heads into a corner and looked at Fang Mingyue. “Are you okay?”

Fang Mingyue shook her head, then glanced up at the shaking ceiling. “Investigator Shen, this place seems like it’s going to collapse. I can use the Anomaly-Bone Rod to make a cage, combined with the airbag from my bracer. It should hold against the falling debris. But if we do that, we’ll be trapped underground.”

“Don’t worry. I found the anomaly’s ‘heart’ and destroyed it. The anomaly died, which is why this place is collapsing. Co here, I’ll get you out!” Shen Ge placed a hand on Fang Mingyue’s shoulder, activated his invisible Anomaly Domain, targeted the shaking ceiling with “Collapse,” and then, leveraging his Anomaly-Hide Boots, leaped upward.

Fang Mingyue felt her vision blur, and then she miraculously passed through the ceiling. By the ti she regained her senses, they were standing on the street in front of the hotel.

“This…” Fang Mingyue was speechless with shock.

After getting separated from her, Shen Ge had relied on his past experience to continue searching deeper into the anomaly’s body. Facing the traps set by the anomaly, he completely disregarded convention, which unexpectedly led him straight along the correct path to the innermost “ventricle.”

The anomaly, sensing danger, had created countless “antibodies” to block Shen Ge – those “freaks” – much like “Liu Zongrui” had done before.

Utilizing his Traits and the Rotten Flesh Armor, Shen Ge eliminated nurous antibodies, destroyed the heart, and found a door at the far end, which led to the conference room.

Once the anomaly died, the already precarious hotel completely collapsed, and the disjointed spaces began to repair themselves. Just as Shen Ge was worrying about how to find Fang Mingyue, she had fought her way to the conference room as well.

And so, the two of them erged from the hotel haunted by a 5th-stage anomaly, surviving the ordeal. Shen Ge also gained 8000 system points and 6 chances to draw F-grade supply items.

Out of danger, Fang Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief. She followed Shen Ge to a nearby supermarket to rest briefly, replenishing their energy with so food and drink.

“Earlier, I was blocked in the corridor, couldn’t go forward, so I had to turn back. Then I encountered a three-ter-tall freak. After killing it, I found this heart-like thing in its head. The emaciated freaks had them too, and they would cannibalize each other…” Fang Mingyue swallowed the biscuit in her mouth and took out the bottle containing the hearts to show Shen Ge.

Unexpectedly, Shen Ge simply pulled out a long string of thumb-sized hearts from his Blood-Hide Backpack and placed them on the table. “Oh, these? I collected quite a few myself… I saw they could consu each other, seed interesting, so I gathered so to take back for the R&D departnt to study.”

“…” Fang Mingyue looked at her small bottle, then at Shen Ge’s large string, feeling sowhat embarrassed.

“Eat up. We’ve left the anomaly space of the hotel now. Without the overlapping spaces as a ‘protective shield,’ we’re likely affected by the ‘Misfortune’ anomaly’s domain again. Let’s eat and drink our fill and get out of here before our luck runs out. Since Tokyo Tower is the epicenter, there are probably many high-level anomalies there, which ans overlapping spaces must exist too. Once we enter that area, we should be safe.” Shen Ge said.

“Okay!” Fang Mingyue nodded.

After a short rest in the supermarket, they each took so water and food, then moved through the streets, avoiding the parasitized individuals, and rushed towards Tokyo Tower.

Just after crossing two blocks, Shen Ge faintly heard a rumbling, booming sound coming from the distance.

Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue exchanged a glance, instinctively darting to the shelter of a wall and peering into the fog-shrouded streets ahead.

Under the dim streetlights, so massive shape seed to be running towards them from the other end of the street, colliding with buildings and vehicles along the way, creating chaotic noises.

When they clearly saw the gigantic running object, Shen Ge was utterly dumbfounded!

It was…

A hand?

“Oh my god, there’s a hand running down the street!” Seeing the thing clearly this ti, even Shen Ge couldn’t help but show an expression of astonishnt.