The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile Chapter 171

Shen Ge, in the four-year future tiline, had only encountered the Weird “Trace-less” near the hospital after killing that Tier 4 Weird.

He had originally thought it was hiding elsewhere, waiting to play the “mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind” role after he dealt with the Tier 4 Lizard Weird. But it seed now that it had been hiding within the hospital all along.

The people in the hospital appeared to have been evacuated. As Shen Ge entered the main hall of the general building, there wasn’t a single person in sight. The place was eerily quiet, with a foul, rotting stench hanging in the air.

Shen Ge’s eyes narrowed slightly. He was very familiar with this sll; it wasn’t the odor of ordinary Parasitized, but the stench of a Mutant.

Parasitized individuals only exhibited signs of decay and stench because, after being infected by a Parasitic-type Weird, so of their internal organs remained “alive” under the Weird’s control, while their bodies showed post-mortem characteristics.

Mutants, however, were the result of a successful “fusion” between a Parasitic-type Weird and a human. This fusion included previously deceased parts, resulting in a much more pungent sll – like flesh that had rotted for several months and was then used to make surströmming. The re sll was enough to kill!

Shen Ge scanned the hall. The hospital had lost power and presumably switched to ergency backup power. The ergency lights flickered, making the lobby exceptionally terrifying.

The items on the reception desk were scattered and overturned. Large stains of blood were everywhere, and drag marks left by corpses were visible on the floor. The tal benches were knocked over, so even broken in the middle. Among the Parasitized, only a Tier 2 Mutant possessed such strength.

Shen Ge ordered the System to scan for Weird and Parasitized, while Little Seven monitored the surrounding Weird Energy. Soon, nurous red dots updated on the [Map].

Most were clustered around the hospital, small and densely packed – clearly the Parasitic-type Weird that had fallen from the sky earlier.

The largest red dot on the [Map] was in the basent. Shen Ge found the hospital’s ergency evacuation diagram at the reception desk. Comparing it with the red dot’s location, it seed to be in the morgue.

The morgue also had the highest concentration of red dots in the hospital.

“Hmm, but there don’t seem to be any markers for Weird above Tier 2.” Shen Ge pondered whether the System still couldn’t pinpoint “Trace-less,” or if “Trace-less” at this stage was only around Tier 1 or 2, thus hiding among these smaller red dots.

If it was the forr, finding it would be troubleso, relying entirely on “luck.” If it was the latter, he just needed to clear out the red dots on the [Map] one by one. If he cleared all the red dots, one of them had to be “Trace-less,” right?

Shen Ge headed towards the stairwell, evidently deciding to start searching from the area with the highest concentration of monsters.

The bloodstains on the corridor floor extended into the stairwell. Upon entering, he found several Parasitized, their heads transford into fleshy, man-eating flower heads, crouched in a corner, gnawing on a few corpses.

Shen Ge really wanted to complain about why the ergency lights had to be red. It made the scene in the stairwell look like a scene from “Resident Evil”.

Just as he finished this ntal complaint, one of the corpse-eating Parasitized heard his footsteps. Holding a handful of entrails, it perford the classic zombie “look back.”

“Gurgle.”

“Gurgle.”

Seeing Shen Ge, the Parasitized throats bulged more vigorously, as if they had spotted a delicious al.

“Excuse , coming through.” Shen Ge walked straight downstairs. Nearly ten Parasitized suddenly sward him. The next mont, SMACK – they were smashed into paste against the wall by a giant Bone Mallet.

“I told you not to block…” Shen Ge complained and was about to leave when he noticed the abdons of the pulverized Parasitized corpses pulsating.

With a flick of his wrist, Shen Ge retracted the Bone Mallet. Little Seven coated his arm with the Rotten Flesh Armor, extending a bone spike to poke at the Parasitized corpse.

From the Parasitized’s collarbone to its lower abdon, sothing seed to be pushing outward, stretching the human skin, moving back and forth slowly.

Shen Ge aid at the bulging area, inserted the bone spike, and sliced downward, cutting open the skin. Inside was indeed a Parasitic-type Weird about the size of a basketball.

But unlike previous Parasitic-type Weird, this one wasn’t an insect or monster, but a humanoid shape. It had no face or facial features; its entire head was wrapped in a mbrane-like white skin.

“Tch, The Thing prequel, is it?” Shen Ge imdiately understood. No wonder so Mutants looked like they were wrapped in a white, mbrane-like human skin – turns out they were born that way.

Just then, the basketball-sized “blob” began to grow at a visible rate, and its growth direction was towards… Shen Ge.

Thud.

Shen Ge’s bone spike thrust forward, piercing the monster baby’s head. But it didn’t die. Instead, it raised its hands, grabbing the bone spike, seemingly trying to pull it out.

Shen Ge pulled out the bone spur and then stabbed it again, this ti aiming at the “heart” of the monster baby. After piercing it, the monster baby stopped moving after a few stabs.

Shen Ge cut open the monster baby’s chest and found the “heart” among a cluster of squeezed-together internal organs. At first glance, the heart looked familiar.

It seed to be… the red tumor-like growths on the necks of the Twelve Branches mbers.

Shen Ge stared at the tumor “heart,” lost in thought for a mont. Then, he cut open another nearby Parasitized corpse, extracted a Bone Whip, and used it to bind the monster baby.

Next, Shen Ge took out a military satchel filled with grenades from his Bloodskin Backpack, emptied the grenades, stuffed the bound monster baby inside, sealed it in a eerie Sleeping Bag, and stored it in the Bloodskin Backpack.

“Such good research material. It’d be a sha not to take it back for Li Xiang to examine.” Shen Ge suspected the Twelve Branches were using this thod to cultivate materials that would grant their mbers the “multiple heads and arms” ability. If Li Xiang could uncover the key, they might find a way to counter the Twelve Branches’ “Transformation” ability.

After dealing with the monster baby in the stairwell, Shen Ge headed to the basent. Just as he exited the stairwell safety entrance, he saw black blood covering the floor.

Little Seven warned, “Master, detected strong corrosive properties and Weird Energy reactions in this black blood. It’s best not to touch it directly.”

While warning, Little Seven entered alert mode and began coating Shen Ge’s entire body with the Rotten Flesh Armor.

Shen Ge extended a tentacle to test the black blood. Indeed, as Little Seven detected, it was highly corrosive – stronger than the green acid in “Liu Zongrui’s” villa, but not as potent as the corrosive acid inside the Flesh Maw and the Lizard Weird.

Shen Ge stepped forward, but he didn’t directly step on the corrosive black blood on the floor. Instead, he stepped on an invisible barrier condensed by his Unmanifested Domain.

Based on his calculations, the ntal energy consud to maintain the invisible barrier for the walk to the morgue was far less than the consumption of wearing the armor and stepping into the black blood and corrosive acid.

Most importantly, the Rotten Flesh Armor’s Weird Energy recovery only had two thods: self-recovery and absorption/conversion of Weird Energy in Red Mist form. His ntal energy, however, could be restored by eating a single ntal Apple.

Normally, Shen Ge would choose to save the ntal Apple, but now, pressed for ti and racing against international anti- Weird organizations for “Misfortune,” he couldn’t afford to delay here.

The further he went, the darker the corridor beca. Most peculiarly, the walls and ceiling beca damp, “squeezing out” droplets of black blood that dripped onto the floor.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound of water dripping into the blood on the ground was extrely terrifying in the dark environnt. The invisible oppression in the air made people almost breathless.

Shen Ge strangely found that with the sound of the dripping blood, his mind involuntarily recalled horror movies he’d seen before. Terrifying images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Little Seven detected that the closer they got to the morgue, the deeper the accumulated blood in the corridor beca. By now, it was about ten centiters deep.

Simultaneously, the stench of decay and the sll of blood in the air grew stronger. If not for Shen Ge’s special gas mask and the layer of Rotten Flesh Armor, he would definitely be vomiting by now.

Shen Ge walked through the dim underground corridor, his pace steady but not slow. While observing his surroundings, Little Seven also entered high-alert mode.

However, apart from the dripping sound of black blood, the corridor was eerily quiet. There were no signs of Weird, not even a shadow of a Parasitized.

“Did I end up inside another Weird stomach?” Shen Ge clicked his tongue and stopped at the sliding door of the morgue, trying to peer inside through the window.

The inside of the window seed covered by a thick layer of black, viscous substance, completely blocking the view.

The morgue door was slightly ajar. The black blood seed to be flowing out from inside; upon closer inspection, one could see it slowly moving.

Morgue… Corpse fluid?

“If this leads to so mutated corpse beetles, that would be the absolute worst!” Shen Ge slowly pushed the door open.

The mont the door opened, the morgue seed flooded with black blood. As the door opened, the black blood surged out like a tidal wave, instantly subrging Shen Ge and then rushing down the corridors on both sides, as if a great flood had been unleashed.

Shen Ge remained standing in place, as if the impact force of the black blood tide had been completely neutralized by the Rotten Flesh Armor.

But in reality, Shen Ge sensed sothing was wrong.

When he arrived, the morgue door was already slightly open. If it was flooded with black blood inside, the blood in the corridor shouldn’t be so “shallow.”

“An illusion?” That was his first thought.

But he quickly dismissed it.

In the future tiline, Shen Ge had witnessed the illusions created by the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune’s” Domain and their effect on warriors like Hanabana. At that ti, he hadn’t been affected by the illusions. If he could withstand the Domain environnt of a Tier 8 Weird, a re Tier 4 shouldn’t be able to pull him into an illusion.

If not an illusion, then what was this?

From the mont he entered the hospital, the System had been warning about information related to the “Tier 4 Weird ‘Trace-less’.” Little Seven had also been vigilantly monitoring the surrounding Weird Energy reactions.

But here in the basent, the System had been quiet for a long ti, and Little Seven hadn’t issued any new warnings, aning he should be safe for now.

Most importantly, Shen Ge noticed a detail: despite being washed by the black blood surging from the morgue, the Rotten Flesh Armor wasn’t consuming Weird Energy for defense.

“Little Seven, detect the black blood flowing from the morgue,” Shen Ge said.

Little Seven imdiately replied, “Report, Master. Currently, no black blood is flowing from the morgue. The accumulated black blood on the ground is consistent with the state in the corridor.”

“But I saw black blood surge out like a tidal wave after opening the door, and it’s now rushing down both sides of the corridor, like a great flood.” Shen Ge briefly described what he was currently seeing.

Little Seven said, “Report, Master. No such scene as you described has been detected. However, your hormone levels are elevated, and your brainwaves show abnormal activity. Judged as unstable ntal state.”

Unstable ntal state?

Shen Ge really wanted to say he was perfectly fine, but he soon realized sothing was wrong. “When did my ntal state start becoming unstable?”

As Little Seven had been on high alert, it naturally monitored Shen Ge’s every move and would imdiately alert him or take ergency asures if any abnormalities were detected.

“After you entered the underground area,” Little Seven replied.

Shen Ge imdiately understood it must be related to this area. The “fusion” of Weird with buildings was nothing new.

First, the Turtle Weird fused with the general building, then Liu Zongrui fused with his villa. Furthermore, so deep-sea Weird was attempting to fuse with the entire Sakura Island. So, encountering an Weird fusing with the hospital building now wasn’t particularly surprising.

“So, from the mont I entered the basent, I entered the Weird’s ‘stomach,’ which is why I’m affected by its conditions.”

“And the morgue is the location of its ‘heart,’ so it’s trying everything to stop from entering?”

“Little Seven, detect for Weird Space reactions in the surroundings.”

As soon as Shen Ge finished speaking, Little Seven replied, “Report, Master. Detected dense Weird Energy reactions in the surroundings, but no Weird Space reactions detected.”

Shen Ge frowned upon hearing this and said, “System, detect for multiple Weird Spaces.”

[No Weird Space reactions detected in the surroundings.]

“…”

Ever since returning from the future tiline, Shen Ge had felt sothing was off. Now, he finally found the “source” of this feeling.

Before entering the Flesh Maw, he had lured all the Tier 3 Weird near Tokyo Tower into a chaotic battle. After returning, although Fang Mingyue and others had jointly eliminated two, four were still alive, aning at least four layers of Weird Space should exist.

But strangely, from the Tokyo Tower area to the Kawashina ward, Shen Ge hadn’t encountered any Weird Space boundaries.

The Weird Space of a Tier 3 Weird couldn’t possibly “spread” this far. Moreover, there were Tier 2 Weird active in this area, so it was impossible for there not to be a single layer of Weird Space!

How could the Weird Spaces disappear just after one trip to the “future”?

Did sothing happen in the future that affected the present?

While in the future, Shen Ge had speculated that ” Weird Space” didn’t originally exist. The reason it appeared in his world was that the Weird Energy of the Weird distorted space, causing the current space to overlap with the future space. In reality, those entering the Weird Space were still in the original space.

It was just that the present and future worlds alternated, creating a situation with “unfixed entry and exit points.” But since people were still in the original space, unless the Weird had abilities like disrupting signals, the “signal” inside wouldn’t be significantly affected.

Why did the Weird Spaces disappear?

Shen Ge instinctively thought of the situation ntioned in the log: the battle between “Misfortune” and the deep-sea giant Weird caused the entire Sakura Island to sink.

If Sakura Island was gone in the future, the Weird Energy of the Weird in this world couldn’t distort the two spaces anymore, thus the Weird Spaces also disappeared.

According to the information obtained in the future, Weird Space was originally a “non-existent” concept. High-tier Weird only had the concept of “Domain,” not so-called Weird Space.

Since it wasn’t Weird Space, and he wasn’t affected by a ” Weird Space (Domain)” ability, it must be that this Weird’s interior had so special ability.

Although this illusion didn’t pose any real “danger,” the constant outpouring of black blood was really affecting his vision.

“According to Little Seven’s detection, I was ntally influenced upon entering the underground area, resulting in hallucinations.”

“Tch, I just realized the Rotten Flesh Armor handles physical defense quite well, but its defense against ‘n (magic) tal (spells)’ is almost zero.”

“It seems I need to remind Li Xiang to focus on upgrading the ‘Li Xiang III Armor’ in this direction when I get back.”

Shen Ge had already thought of a counterasure by this ti. Since he was not sure how the strangeness affected him, he could only guess that it was most likely related to the strange energy in the air detected by Xiao Qi. The best way was to directly cut off contact with the “air”.

The Rotten Flesh Armor could even convert Weird Energy; converting air was even easier. Otherwise, Shen Ge wouldn’t have survived sinking into the sea back then.

Thinking this, Shen Ge directly expanded his Unmanifested Domain, extending the invisible barrier condensed under his feet to envelop his entire body, blocking contact with the “air.”

Imdiately, Shen Ge clearly felt the surrounding environnt subtly change. The black blood surging from the morgue also decreased at a visible rate.

Soon, everything returned to calm.

Shen Ge raised his hand, extended a Rotten Flesh tentacle, and slowly pushed the door open.

Bzzz.

Bzzzt.

The ergency lights in the morgue flashed a dark red light, making the already terrifying morgue look like Sadako climbing a well.

Unfortunately, there was no Sadako in the morgue, but there were plenty of nurse-outfitted… Mutants.

These Mutants uniformly wore “nurse” outfits, their clothes tattered and torn, as if they had experienced a brutal fight.

So held rusty scalpels, others iron awls, daggers, and similar weapons. Hearing the noise at the door, they all turned to look simultaneously.

Shen Ge then noticed that these nurse Mutants had no “faces.” Like the monster baby born from the Parasitized’s bellies, their faces were covered with a mbrane-like white skin.

Crack.

Crack.

The sounds their necks made when they turned were like breaking the entire neck. The bone-cracking sounds, accentuated by the dark red lighting, were hair-raising.

Shen Ge calmly took out his phone, switched to cara mode, and snapped several consecutive photos of them. “This style, Wang Han would definitely love it!”

Whether Wang Han would like it or not was unknown, but it was certain these nurse Mutants were very attracted to the life aura on Shen Ge. Holding their weapons, they imdiately converged on him.

Shen Ge pulled out his Anti- Weird Revolver and fired several shots at the nurse Mutants’ stark white hearts. The Weird Energy bullets easily penetrated their bodies, embedding into the morgue wall.

The number of nurse Mutants was greater than expected. Even with the Anti- Weird Revolver’s “Infinite” magazine trait and its fast Weird Energy recovery speed, the recovery rate couldn’t keep up with their swarming speed.

Shen Ge calmly waited for the bullets to regenerate while holding the Butcher’s Knife in his other hand, slicing open the nurse Mutants’ chests and piercing their hearts.

Under the influence of his Immovable Domain’s “Bullet Ti,” all the nurse Mutants’ movents seed like slow motion. Shen Ge moved in and out among them with ease.

To describe it in one sentence –

Elegance, never goes out of style.

A few minutes later, all the nurse Mutants in the morgue were lying on the ground.

[Host successfully eliminated Tier 2 Weird. Reward: System Points x100, F-grade Recovery Item x1.]

[Sell Tier 2 Weird corpse? Price: 500 System Points.]

The judgnt was consistent with the Weird encountered outside the Self-Defense Force base earlier – also judged as Tier 2 Weird, not Tier 2 Mutant.

Cutting open one of the nurse Mutant’s abdons revealed a Parasitic-type Weird inside, gnawing on her internal organs.

If the System judged them as Mutants, not only would the System Points be less, but the F-grade supply items would also be gone. So, Shen Ge actually preferred the System to judge them as Weird.

After selling the sixteen nurse Mutant corpses, Shen Ge gained a total of 9600 System Points, plus 16 F-grade supply items.

Then, Shen Ge wiped his hands, ate a ntal Apple to restore his ntal energy, and searched the morgue.

Strangely, there were no corpses in the morgue, nor any trace of the Weird. However, he found a hole in the floor in the inner room.

“Master, there’s a very strong Weird Energy reaction below,” Little Seven warned just as Shen Ge received a System notification that he was approaching the Tier 4 Weird “Trace-less.”

Shen Ge jumped down the hole. It was several ters deep. After moving forward a short distance, he reached Kawashina Ward’s underground drainage system.

Shen Ge had traversed the sewers once in the future tiline, but due to the high concentration of Weird gathered there, he, Hanabana, and the others had climbed out early.

“So, is this ‘Trace-less’ a cockroach, a rat, or a pangolin?” Shen Ge followed the dug tunnel forward for about ten ters, arriving at a “cavern” roughly ten square ters in size.

In the center of the cavern hung an inverted, black, indescribable mass. It resembled a semi-human, semi-monstrous entity ford from congealed black sludge and blood, dripping black blood onto the floor. The entire cavern had at least ten centiters of accumulated black blood, extrely disgusting.

The indescribable mass hanging there “dripping blood” looks like a lump of lting at. It is so disgusting that it would be censored in any photo.

Its lower half was lting and dripping blood, while its upper half extended dozens, if not hundreds, of black blood vessels into the cavern walls, seeming to rge with them.

This was presumably the Weird “Trace-less.” It was currently using this special thod to fuse with the hospital building, having only completed the fusion of the basent area so far.

Shen Ge estimated its Weird Energy level to be around Tier 2. He approached with the Anti- Weird Revolver and Butcher’s Knife, ready to deal with it.

Just then, the black blood on the floor suddenly boiled, followed by a hiss as white smoke rose, instantly forming a thick fog that filled the entire cavern.

Shen Ge clearly didn’t expect this sudden change. He couldn’t let a Trait Weird slip away, so he imdiately charged forward.

However, strangely, the cavern was only about ten square ters, but Shen Ge charged forward for dozens of ters without “reaching the end.”

This experience was sothing he had gone through countless tis fighting the Fog Weird in the future tiline – getting lost in the fog each ti, unable to find its trace!

Shen Ge searched in the fog for nearly half an hour but still couldn’t find “Trace-less.” So, he simply expanded his invisible Domain, used “Collapse” on the ceiling above, and jumped out using the eerie Leather Boots.

Back on the surface, Shen Ge found the entire hospital block shrouded in thick fog. Indeed, the situation with the Fog Weird appearing had occurred again, just like in the future tiline.

Shen Ge imdiately retreated outside the fog and contacted Deng Yuqi, Luo Jing, and Fang Mingyue separately from an unblocked area. The Weird Energy Dispersal Grenades he prepared earlier would co in handy now.

Deng Yuqi and Luo Jing still needed to “negotiate” with Sakura. Even if Deng Yuqi pressured them using the headquarters’ na, Sakura’s response wouldn’t be that quick. Therefore, the first to provide support was Fang Mingyue, who had been awaiting his orders.

“Investigator Shen, I have arrived in the airspace you ntioned.” Fang Mingyue was initially worried about encountering a Weird Space, but since Shen Ge told her to proceed boldly, she fearlessly compelled the Sakura pilot to fly the ard helicopter to a location a few blocks from the hospital.

“See the area covered by dense fog? Fire the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenades at it!” Shen Ge said into the communicator.

“Understood!”

As soon as Fang Mingyue spoke, the ard helicopter in the distance fired a Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade with a whoosh. It exploded within the thick fog, its special Weird Energy imdiately dispersing the fog.

Shen Ge imdiately expanded his invisible Domain, used “Collapse” to return underground, and instructed Fang Mingyue via the communicator, “If dense fog appears again at the hospital, don’t hesitate, fire the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade imdiately!”

“Understood!”

After Shen Ge returned to the cavern where “Trace-less” was, the special Weird Energy released by the Dispersal Grenade seed to have neutralized “Trace-less’s” Weird Energy.

And currently, “Trace-less” was just a small fry that had recently evolved to Tier 2. Naturally, it couldn’t resist sothing like the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade.

Knowing it would be hard to find “Trace-less” if it escaped again, Shen Ge first sealed the cavern with his Unmanifested Domain, then stepped forward with the Butcher’s Knife and started hacking.

“Trace-less,” under attack, imdiately released thick fog. But Fang Mingyue, stationed outside, fired a second Dispersal Grenade as soon as the fog appeared.

Thus, “Trace-less’s” life-saving ability was countered in advance by Shen Ge. Its Tier 2 combat power was insignificant before him, and the battle ended in just two minutes.

[Host eliminated Tier 4 Weird (Trait: Trace-less). Can sell the Weird corpse or let the System devour it to extract the “Trait.”]

[ Weird (Trait: Trace-less) – Value: 3000 System Points.]

[Devour the Weird to extract the Trait.]

“Devour!”

[Tier 4 Weird (Trait: Trace-less) devoured successfully. Trait “Trace-less” extracted. This Trait will “fuse” in a form more suitable for the host. Host’s attribute panel updated.]

[Trace-less: Activating the Trait envelops the user in “White Mist.” In this state, the user cannot be detected or sensed by any equipnt or ability. Consus 0.5% ntal energy per second. Can be activated simultaneously with other Traits.]

“Well, first Boruto, now Mist Ninja, is it?” Shen Ge tried activating the Trait. Sure enough, a dense fog ford by Weird Energy enveloped him completely.

“…This.”

Seeing his current state, Shen Ge felt this ability was sowhat “hard to describe.” Although hiding in the fog blocked all detection, such a large “cloud of fog” was a dead giveaway to anyone with eyes, no detection needed.

Fortunately, Shen Ge had more than just the “Trace-less” Trait. He imdiately activated the most commonly used “Intangible” Trait. The effect of Intangible instantly made the fog intangible as well.

Although “Trace-less” seed bound to the “Intangible” Trait for Shen Ge, with “Intangible Trace-less Soundless” all active, not even ordinary anti- Weird investigators, let alone high-tier Weird, could detect his presence. His safety factor was maxed out.

[Crisis Mission 2: You are currently within the Domain created by the Tier 8 Weird (Trait: Misfortune). This area has nurous high-level Weird roaming due to the Tier 8 Weird’s influence. Within 15 days, find and kill at least 1 Trait Weird that is not “Trait: Misfortune” and choose to devour it.]

[Ti Limit: 15 Days.]

[Reward: Trait Enhancent Point x1, System Points x1000, Random E-grade Supply Item x1.]

[Crisis Mission 2 Completed. Claim reward?]

“Yes!”

Shen Ge had received this crisis mission to hunt “Misfortune” and one non-“Misfortune” Trait Weird upon entering Takiguchi City.

From the mission, he inferred that Takiguchi City had more than one Trait Weird, and this Trait Weird was likely one the System urgently wanted to devour for its “Trait.”

Now, judging from both the crisis mission issued by the System in the future tiline and this one, it indeed matched Shen Ge’s speculation.

Clearly, the System believed that only after obtaining the “Trace-less” Trait would Shen Ge have a chance to defeat the Tier 8 “Misfortune.”

[Congratulations, host obtained E-grade Supply Item – “ntal Worm.” After consuming the ntal Worm, it decomposes within the host’s body, keeping the host in a ntally refreshed state for 10 minutes (i.e., no ntal energy consumption).]

?

??

???

What?

ntal Worm?

In his astonishnt, a white light delivered a plump “silkworm” about the size of a thumb. It looked fleshy and sowhat cute, but definitely sothing most people would find hard to swallow.

“Ten minutes of unlimited ntal energy? This worm is sothing else.” Shen Ge stored the worm. Completing Crisis Mission 2 brought him the even more pleasant surprise of another Trait Enhancent Point.

Following his usual habit, he would save it for later use when needed. But now, facing the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune,” every bit of strength counted for insurance.

Shen Ge’s general choice for Trait Enhancent leaned towards “frequently used” and the ability’s uniqueness.

Currently, the four commonly used Traits – “Soundless,” “Immovable,” “Intangible,” and “Unmanifested” – had all been enhanced. Among them, “Soundless” and “Immovable” only awakened their Domains after a second enhancent.

However, from “Intangible” awakening two different forms of Domain after two enhancents, it was clear that the number of enhancents needed to awaken a Domain wasn’t fixed and depended more on “luck.”

Based on the Trait’s effects, Shen Ge could roughly guess what ability the awakened Domain might produce. But awakening a Domain usually mutated into new abilities.

Like “Collapse,” “Heart Snatch,” “Barrier,” “Bullet Ti,” and other special abilities.

“Hey, is there any master from the Fengling Yueying Sect who can recomnd ? I also want to join a sect and increase my characteristic enhancent points to 999 , so that I don’t have to worry about it.”

Shen Ge was torn between gambling for the “Type II” Domain of commonly used Traits or enhancing Traits that hadn’t awakened a Domain to get one.

“Trace-less’ main effect is self-concealnt. Judging by conventional Domain abilities, it should probably create a concealed area. Doesn’t seem too useful for now.”

“Unburnable makes the user non-flammable. If it awakens a Domain, it would likely make an area non-flammable. But is this ‘unburnable’ simply ‘extinguishing fire,’ making materials within the Domain non-combustible, or controlling the temperature within the Domain to prevent it from reaching the ignition point?”

“If it’s the latter, then controlling temperature has so operational potential.”

After careful consideration, Shen Ge felt the “Unburnable” Domain might be worth the “gamble.” If it was ignition point control, it would be a god-tier skill.

Even if not, creating a non-flammable area was a decent ability. Combined with various incendiary items,eerie Fire, and other abilities, at the very least, it could instantly “extinguish fires.”

“Decided. Enhance ‘Unburnable’!”

“Trait Enhancent!”

[Use Trait Enhancent Point to enhance “Trait: Unburnable”?]

“Yes!”

[Trait “Unburnable” has been upgraded!]

Unburnable: Activating the Trait puts the user in a “Non-flammable” state. During the Trait’s duration, any burning damage is “nullified.” Consus 1% ntal energy per second. Can be activated simultaneously with other Traits.

Consu 1%-50% ntal energy (related to the object’s volu and ignition point height), attach ntal energy to an object, putting it in a non-flammable state.

[Awakened “Unburnable Domain.”]

“Unburnable Domain (Type I)”: After expanding the Domain, create an “Unburnable Domain” with a five-ter radius centered on oneself. Targets within this Domain enter a non-flammable state.

After expanding the “Unburnable Domain,” the host can decide the affected targets through will. Non-affected targets will not enter the non-flammable state.

“Ignition Point Control”

The host can consu ntal energy to control a target’s ignition point, raising or lowering it. The ignition point quickly returns to normal after leaving the Domain.

Note: For targets whose ignition point is changed within the Domain, the Weird Energy consud varies based on the original ignition point height.

The greater the change in value, the higher the ntal energy consumption.

Consus 1%-??% ntal energy per second.

——————————

Although it wasn’t the temperature control Shen Ge had hoped for, being able to control the ignition point of targets within the Domain wasn’t much different from controlling temperature for him.

Because Shen Ge’s ultimate choice of “Unburnable” was actually a “gamble” on the mutated effect of the Domain, hoping to lower the ignition points of those Weird with naturally high ones.

After all, Shen Ge still preferred solving problems with fire.

Eager to test the effect of the Unburnable Domain’s “Ignition Point Control” on an Weird, Shen Ge returned to the surface and contacted Fang Mingyue via the communicator to pick him up.

Then, Shen Ge suddenly rembered the ntal influence he experienced upon entering the basent, which caused hallucinations.

“Based on this, if I had enhanced ‘Trace-less,’ the resulting eerie Fog might not only block external detection but also cause hallucinations for those entering the fog?”

“Seems like the potential Domain effect of ‘Trace-less’ isn’t bad either.”

But Shen Ge didn’t feel regret. After all, he currently had six Traits and six Domains, with Intangible having a “Type II” Domain.

But among the six Domains, none were “useless.”

To be precise, after the System devoured the Weird, although it felt like the “Trait’s” ability was sowhat weakened, it actually manifested more flexible and practical abilities through the Domain.

Shen Ge couldn’t help but suspect whether most of the power of the Trait Weird devoured by the System was absorbed by the System itself, and he only obtained a small portion.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t joke each ti about not feeding a eerie King.

But the abilities derived from the Domain were also more mysterious and versatile than the original Trait’s power. Perhaps the System also played a role in this.

“Crap!”

Shen Ge suddenly rembered a problem: every ti the System devoured a Trait Weird, it would fall into a period of dormancy.

“System, detect the surrounding Weird.”

Sure enough, the System was now unresponsive.

“Sigh.”

Shen Ge sighed. Although the System’s [Map] function updated after Tier 3 saved him a lot of trouble, with Little Seven’s Weird Energy detection, losing the [Map] after the System went dormant wasn’t completely blind. He stopped worrying about it.

“Investigator Shen, do you need us to descend?” Fang Mingyue’s ard helicopter had arrived above the hospital. Shen Ge replied, “No need,” then used the eerie Leather Boots combined with Rotten Flesh tentacles to jump towards the inpatient building’s balcony, “flying” all the way onto the helicopter.

Fang Mingyue sat in the co-pilot seat, holding a gun pointed at the helicopter pilot. Noticing the confusion in Shen Ge’s eyes, she explained, “After going to the Self-Defense Force base, I first infiltrated the data departnt to check the pilots’ files. This person’s file records him as family-oriented, with a young child living in Shizuoka.”

Fang Mingyue used both carrot and stick. On one hand, she identified herself as part of the Joint Anti- Weird Force, here to assist Sakura in dealing with the eerie Disaster.

She ntioned discovering a very troubleso Weird in the Kawashina ward. If reported through the standard procedures layer by layer, the situation would definitely escalate.

And the Weird was moving towards Shizuoka. The pilot’s family was in Shizuoka. In other words, helping could not only save his own life but also his family and hotown.

Although Fang Mingyue had never coerced anyone before, since she promised Shen Ge to complete the task, she would stop at nothing to accomplish it!

“Investigator Shen, where are we heading now?” Fang Mingyue asked.

Shen Ge narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, “Tojō City.”

Tojō City, the lair of the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune”!