The “Silkworm” was Shen Ge’s greatest hidden trump card. He had originally planned to save it for emergencies — at the very least, to use it to save his life when facing a seventh or eighth-order anomaly.
But now, he had been trapped in this dream world for several days. Time in the dream world flowed according to its own whims, completely different from the passage of time in reality. These few days might be just a few hours in the real world — or they could be over ten days, maybe even months!
At present, his investigation into the Monster Association had just begun to show some clues. The situation on the Sakura side, with people infiltrating Dàjīng to deal with domestic anomalous disasters, along with the Twelve Branches causing chaos in the shadows and the monster organization that had infiltrated the upper echelons of power… From every angle, it looked like this Asian Anomaly Research Conference was heading for a major catastrophe.
Shen Ge had never considered himself so righteous that he needed to protect world peace, but the monster organization had always been a thorn in his side. If he didn’t completely uproot and destroy them, those bastards would keep coveting his abilities and might even threaten those close to him someday. So he had to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots!
The “Silkworm” only lasted for ten minutes. Shen Ge figured that if he could find that “room” and collapse this dream world in the shortest time possible, he might still have a chance to snatch a few more fragments while the drug’s effects lasted.
With that thought, Shen Ge immediately pulled the thumb-sized, plump “Silkworm” from his blood-skin pouch. Watching it wriggle on his fingertip, he didn’t need to chant “Hakuna Matata” this time and just swallowed it directly.
In the next second, the anomalous energy that the system had nearly drained for his power amplification was instantly restored to full. And in his status brackets, a special condition appeared: “Invigorated Spirit.”
“Heh!”
“Your boy’s got cheat codes now!”
“Watch me tear you apart with my bare hands!”
At this point, it was clear this wouldn’t end with just killing one sixth-order anomaly. Shen Ge naturally wanted to slaughter as many as possible!
With his anomalous energy now “infinite” for ten minutes, Shen Ge began continuously amplifying his attributes. This time, it wasn’t just his strength — he amplified his agility and constitution too.
The numbers skyrocketed upward. Shen Ge’s physical power suddenly swelled to an unprecedented, terrifying degree. In the very next second, he performed a show of brute force — tearing the “Heart” wrapped in sixth-order anomalous energy apart with his bare hands!
Boom!
The anomalous black mist was directly blasted apart by the colossal anomalous energy surging from Shen Ge. The “Heart’s” outer defense might as well have been negligible.
[Host is divinely brave and unmatched, single-handedly slaying a sixth-order anomaly. Reward: System Points x8000, E-rank Recovery Item x1, F-rank Recovery Item x3.]
[The anomaly corpse can be sold — Value: 15000 System Points.]
It can be sold directly?
Hearing the system’s prompt, Shen Ge’s heart leaped with joy. Being able to sell it directly meant the system could “devour” it. After being devoured, the sixth-order anomaly’s body would be completely shattered. In that case, he wouldn’t even need to waste time finding a way out.
“Yes!”
As soon as Shen Ge spoke, the “Heart,” now torn into chunks of flesh before his eyes, was enveloped by a white light and vanished from his sight.
And as the “Heart” disappeared, the anomaly’s corpse began to gradually collapse. The internal structures crumbled, and the flesh slowly turned black, then disintegrated into powder. Almost in the blink of an eye, this super anomaly, which had been as massive as several conjoined buildings, was utterly pulverized and gone.
Shen Ge only then realized he was standing inside a gigantic, endlessly vast crater — the space where the enormous anomaly had once sat. This gave him a sense of just how incredibly massive its true body had been!
“Gurgle.”
“Gurgle!”
At that moment, a peculiar swallowing sound unique to anomalies echoed like thunderous drums through the colossal crater beneath the pitch-black night sky.
Not far away, a sixth-order monster, now freed from the grip of the sixth-order anomaly, let out a furious roar. It was in horrendous shape.
Its entire body was mutilated and incomplete, clearly having received the anomaly’s “special attention.” The powerful anomalous energy had nearly devoured it completely.
This sixth-order monster had been on the verge of giving up when Shen Ge, against all odds, destroyed the mega-anomaly and rescued it from being consumed by that anomalous energy.
But it was obvious this sixth-order monster didn’t know the meaning of gratitude. Catching the scent of a living being on Shen Ge, it hungrily, impatiently wanted to swallow him into its belly.
The next second.
Splat!
Shen Ge, clad in his Crimson Mist Battle Armor, became an afterimage of red mist. Like a One-Punch Man, he directly punched through the sixth-order monster’s heart, killing it instantly!
[Host is divinely brave and unmatched, single-handedly slaying a sixth-order monster. Reward: System Points x3000, E-rank Recovery Item x1, F-rank Recovery Item x3.]
[The monster corpse can be sold — Value: 8000 System Points.]
Monster rewards were always a tier lower than anomaly rewards. Shen Ge was already used to that, though he hadn’t expected this monster to provide the same recovery items as a sixth-order anomaly.
Still, Shen Ge had no intention of starting any lottery draws right now. With over seven minutes left on the “Silkworm” effect, he had to urgently locate the “exit.”
At this moment, Shen Ge’s sprints, jumps, and dashes were no different from flying. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the tower, which was now reduced to rubble.
“The room I found before was on the tower’s 11th floor. Judging by the height of this rubble, it’s over eleven floors. I just hope that ‘room’ wasn’t destroyed.”
Currently, the only method Shen Ge was certain of to actively leave the dream world was destroying that room and making the dream realm collapse. If the room was gone, he’d be at a loss for a better solution for a while.
Earlier, Shen Ge had needed to climb up floor by floor. Now, standing outside the ruined tower, he simply jumped and leaped directly to the height of the 11th floor. He kicked a wall to pieces and landed in the corridor inside.
However, the center of this floor had collapsed, and rubble blocked the path. Shen Ge threw a punch directly, smashing the floor and sending a massive amount of debris cascading down to the next level. Then, holding up a large piece of stone beside him, the moment he dropped it, his figure flickered — like the Flash, he darted straight through.
“Tch, this feeling’s really not bad.” Shen Ge was thoroughly pleased with the over-a-thousand-fold amplification to his strength and agility, almost wishing this was a permanent buff.
“Master, would you like me to play ‘Sweet Dreams’ to brighten the mood a bit?” The Xiao Qi system, detecting the emotional lift in Shen Ge, thoughtfully suggested.
“Sweet Dreams” was commonly known as the “Quicksilver Happy Song.” Given that Shen Ge’s agility buff was still skyrocketing, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was experiencing Quicksilver’s joy firsthand.
“No need. I’m a rather low-key person. Even if I were going to play something, it’d have to be my own exclusive BGM!” Shen Ge replied.
The Xiao Qi system immediately responded, “Understood, Master. Now beginning to filter suitable BGM for you from the vast Chinese music library.”
“…”
Tsk tsk, the Xiao Qi system is just so efficient. Hey, System, you’d better take some notes!
While chatting, Shen Ge had already reached the stairwell once again. Behind the door was his “old friend” — the half-human, half-anomaly being with blood-flesh piranha plants sprouting from its body.
Smack!
The “old friend” had its body directly blasted apart by a single devastating punch from Shen Ge. After casually selling the corpse, Shen Ge proceeded to the room at the end of the hall.
Bang!
“Your gourmet delivery has arrived!” Shen Ge kicked the door open. Instantly, an intensely familiar, powerful wave of fear rushed at him, but it was scattered away in the next second by the surge of his own explosive anomalous energy.
Inside the room, fatty flesh like bloody foam covered every surface. The entire room was full of eyeballs, all of them swiveling in unison to stare at Shen Ge in the doorway.
“Heh, found you!” This time, Shen Ge seized the initiative. Before that eerie voice could emanate from within the room, he beat them to the punch and spoke their line first.
Although the tower had been mostly destroyed, as long as this crucial room remained intact, there was effectively no difference for Shen Ge.
“Now then — it’s demolition time!” Shen Ge slammed his fist into the surrounding fatty, decaying flesh. Even with a hundredfold amplification, his strength could previously turn flesh into mincemeat. Now, with over a thousandfold amplification, a single punch nearly obliterated half the room.
After that punch, the room’s ceiling and walls began to collapse. The surrounding space rapidly shrank inward and compressed.
“Xiao Qi, is there anything this time?” Shen Ge asked.
“Report, Master. Full scan complete, but unfortunately, nothing resembling an anomalous eye was found within the shredded flesh this time,” the Xiao Qi system reported.
Could it have been a one-time-use thing?
Or… had the item already been devoured by another anomaly before I arrived, or perhaps transferred away by those eyeballs?
Shen Ge’s suspicion wasn’t unwarranted. Because when he arrived in the room this time, he hadn’t experienced any “hallucinations,” nor had he heard that familiar voice saying “Found you.”
Considering the entire Great Kyoto had become a ruined city, it was entirely possible that anomalies had already passed through here and devoured anything related to the progenitor anomaly.
In any case, even though he didn’t obtain any extra rewards, successfully triggering the world’s collapse at least achieved his original objective.
The collapse around him intensified dramatically. Space began compressing at an extreme speed. Relying on his amplified agility, Shen Ge flashed and was already in the first-floor lobby.
“Come on, fall apart faster already.” As Shen Ge watched mirror-like cracks appear across the sky, he was itching for this entire world to shatter immediately.
The “Silkworm” effect had less than three minutes remaining. He wanted to use his infinite anomalous energy to fight for as many anomalous energy fragments as possible.
As the cracks across the sky grew more and more distinct, that familiar vertigo washed over him again. With the world spinning, Shen Ge was plunged into the darkness enveloped by the black anomalous mist.
But this time, the wave of vertigo had barely impacted Shen Ge’s mind before being dispersed by an endless eruption of anomalous energy. Immediately after, an invisible barrier formed by his Immovable Anomaly Domain took shape around him, generating a defense that kept the black anomalous mist at bay.
In that moment, Shen Ge couldn’t help but wonder just what exactly that “Silkworm” was, enabling him to possess an infinite, inexhaustible supply of anomalous energy in such a short time!
However, before Shen Ge could dwell on the thought, he saw the surrounding black anomalous mist coalesce into a giant hand. It gripped his barrier tightly, aiming to crush it!
Yet, no matter how much force the giant hand outside exerted, the invisible barrier remained utterly motionless.
“Hey, didn’t you have your dinner? Put some effort into it, will ya?” Standing inside his barrier, Shen Ge stretched provocatively. It was clear that in this contest between his erupting anomalous energy and the external black mist, he held a solid upper hand.
Just then, within the shattered sky, a rapidly flickering sequence of countless glass-like fragments, pieced together from different worlds, appeared once more.
But strangely, during the previous two times these collapsing scenes had appeared, glowing fragments had emerged from within the broken imagery. Yet this time, when Shen Ge scanned across, he couldn’t find a single glowing dream fragment.
Most importantly, the shattering itself stopped at this moment, as if the whole world had been put on pause — inexplicably frozen in place!
“What’s going on?” Shen Ge looked up at the sky, trying to find the source of the problem.
The Xiao Qi system answered, “Master, the anomalous black mist that had been gathering around us seems to be flowing upward now. Preliminary suspicion: the collapse of the sky is being obstructed by this anomalous black mist, effectively being held back.”
“So, they can’t handle me, so now they’re saving their energy to patch the sky?” Shen Ge swept his gaze around. Sure enough, he noticed that the surrounding anomalous black mist had thinned considerably. In contrast, massive amounts of anomalous black mist were surging around the cracked scenes in the sky, like “glue” attempting to mend the fractured firmament.
“What’s the big idea?” Shen Ge saw the Silkworm’s duration ticking down to less than a minute. He couldn’t care less if the other party knew he was running on a cheat code and was deliberately stalling, waiting for his VIP subscription to expire. He decided to make one last desperate push while he still had time.
Otherwise, once the Silkworm’s effects were gone, he might just get trapped by that anomalous force in the dream world for another long stretch of time.
Shen Ge first released his anomalous energy, spreading his Immovable Anomaly Domain as far as possible. Influenced by the Silkworm at this moment, his anomalous energy was so mighty it felt as if a progenitor anomaly itself had unleashed its power. The domain’s range wasn’t limited to a few meters or a few hundred meters — it instantly blanketed the entire city.
Wherever Shen Ge stepped, an invisible platform formed. His figure flickered, leaving trails of afterimages. In the blink of an eye, he had appeared in the cracking sky.
He had first deployed the “barrier” of the Immovable Anomaly Domain to pave a path for himself, as well as to leave himself a road of retreat.
Because if the “Silkworm” was Shen Ge’s trump card, then his trait “Misfortune” was his ultimate killing move — the kind of final, cataclysmic technique where he’d drag his enemy down with him even if it meant mutual destruction!
“Let’s see how long you can hold out!” Shen Ge, during the final few dozen seconds, madly unleashed his anomalous energy, channeling every drop into the effects of the “Misfortune” trait.
Earlier, when Shen Ge had used “Misfortune” for a transfer relying solely on his own power, he’d already managed to achieve an effect similar to a “Meteor Spell.” Now he wanted to see just how ridiculously exaggerated an “Infinite Mana”-buffed “Misfortune” could become!
30 seconds!
20 seconds!
Shen Ge mentally counted down the remaining time of the “Silkworm.” He had been continuously fueling the “Misfortune” trait for over ten seconds already.
To be precise, the “Misfortune” trait had been siphoning his anomalous energy for over ten seconds. Previously, in his 4th-order state, he could barely withstand “Misfortune” for just 1 second.
In other words, “Misfortune” would drain him dry in 1 second.
But now, it had been draining him for over ten seconds and was still going. Shen Ge’s status panel was going haywire, the anomalous energy values jumping wildly like it was broken.
At that moment, the Xiao Qi system suddenly warned: “Master, an immensely powerful anomalous spatial reaction has been detected above the shattered sky!”
Shen Ge finally noticed that a much larger crack had appeared above the already fractured sky. Then the crack grew wider and wider, opening up into an enormous rift.
Next, a “sphere” with no visible edges came hurtling straight toward the ground.
“Whoa, what the hell is that?!” Shen Ge was shocked.
The Xiao Qi system said, cautiously, “Master, it might be… the moon?”
“…”
Boom! Rumble!
Right then, amidst two earth-shattering booms, an even more terrifying scene unfolded!
The ground in the distance suddenly split open, and two colossal hands, each like the arm of a giant, shot upward. They reached toward the “moon” flying out of the sky’s rift and pushed against it, holding it back and preventing the moon from crashing down!
“?”
What the hell?!
The Earth came to life and sprouted hands?!
