“Shen Ge!”
Fang Mingyue’s consciousness slowly cleared. Subconsciously, she looked down at her hands—they hadn’t been devoured by the Mist Python like in her hallucination.
“Oh no! Run! Get out of here, quick! The miasma here is extremely severe—once you step into this area, it’ll erode your mind. That’s what happened to them. Forget about me, just run!”
She tried to push Shen Ge away, shoving him aside. Her frantic actions caught Shen Ge off guard, and he thought to himself, “That’s so you.” Even in a moment like this, when she was in danger, she was still thinking about others and telling them to flee. It seemed that even though the timeline had changed and her personality might have shifted somewhat due to different experiences, the core of who she was—that person—remained the same.
“Don’t worry. I’ve found a way to block the miasma’s erosion. Get up—I’ll take you out of here first.” Shen Ge reached down and helped her to her feet.
Fang Mingyue was stunned. She realized that the miasma wasn’t affecting her anymore. Beyond her surprise, she was even more curious about how Shen Ge had managed to do it.
In all their past battles against aberrations, the one thing soldiers feared most was the erosion of the miasma. Once you stepped into a domain, it meant you weren’t coming back out—whether it was the hallucination-inducing miasma or the horrifying aberrations themselves, both were lethal to any fighter.
But not only could Shen Ge ignore the miasma’s erosion, he could actually “pull” people back from its grip. How could she not be shocked?
As Shen Ge helped her toward the perimeter, Fang Mingyue spotted her teammates writhing on the ground in pain. She grabbed his arm urgently. “Can you… save them too?”
“Yeah, I can. But let’s get you out first.” Shen Ge kept moving forward. Although Fang Mingyue hesitated for a moment, she chose to trust him in the end.
With Fang Mingyue and several other scout squad members down from the miasma’s erosion, the rest didn’t dare act recklessly. They could only stand at the edge, anxiously watching.
After Shen Ge helped Fang Mingyue to safety, he turned to leave, but she caught his sleeve. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Just stand here and don’t get in the way,” Shen Ge said flatly.
His words left everyone speechless. There was a time when they had looked down on the city defense team for holding them back, but never once had they imagined that one day, they would be the deadweight—and the worst part was… they couldn’t argue.
None of them could claim they’d walk into that miasma zone and come out unscathed, let alone drag the wounded out with them.
“Then… be careful.” Fang Mingyue didn’t know what else to say.
Shen Ge nodded and turned back into the miasma zone. But unlike the patience he’d shown with Fang Mingyue, he had none for the other scout squad members. He simply grabbed them by their collars, put them under hypnosis through domain influence, and tossed them toward the group outside.
“…”
“…”
The scout squad froze for a second—until the first body thudded onto the ground. Then they snapped out of it, scrambling together to “catch” the rest. They’d rather survive the miasma than end up crippled from being thrown.
Saving one or saving ten, it was all the same. Shen Ge figured he might as well toss out the city defense team members who had been trapped in the domain as well.
As he picked up the last two, Fang Mingyue shouted from behind: “Shen Ge! The miasma above you—something’s wrong!”
He looked up and saw a mass of miasma gathering right over his head, as if all the surrounding darkness was converging there.
Then, that thick clump of miasma morphed into the head of a massive python, its jaws wide open, lunging down to swallow him whole.
“Shen Ge!”
Fang Mingyue immediately whipped out her miasma submachine gun and sprayed the black fog above. But the bullets vanished into the darkness without a trace.
She knew full well that miasma weapons were useless against the fog itself. Otherwise, in all their past operations, they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to avoid dense pockets of it.
But the next second—
Boom!
The gathered miasma exploded outward, torn apart as if a cyclone had ripped through it from below. Shen Ge stood right where he’d been, not even having moved an inch.
“…” Fang Mingyue’s warning died in her throat. Clearly, his strength was already at a level where such dangers meant nothing to him.
Shen Ge pointed at the dissipating fog scattering in all directions. “Stop staring. Get everyone to evacuate now. If that miasma gathers again, no one’s leaving.”
She quickly glanced down at the miasma detector strapped to her waist and barked orders: “Team 1, head to 2-1 for support. Team 2, bypass this area and go to 2-2. As for Defense Line 3… I’ll check it out with Shen Ge. Follow the original plan—priority is evacuating survivors!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The rest of the scout squad knew there was nothing they could do here. Their standard protocol in such situations was to “detour” around eroded domains. Shen Ge was the anomaly—the only reason they even had a second option.
Fang Mingyue wanted to pull Shen Ge back and retreat together, but there were still a few city defense soldiers lying ahead. They were members of the shelter, and she didn’t want to interfere with his rescue efforts.
Then, she noticed the miasma swirling above was growing thicker—an enormous black mass, like storm clouds gathering overhead.
Just as Shen Ge was about to grab the last two city defense soldiers and toss them out, he suddenly withdrew his hand, turned around, and walked back toward Fang Mingyue.
“Shen Ge? Why…?” Fang Mingyue had been ready to catch them. She didn’t understand—after saving over a dozen people, why give up on the last two?
If Shen Ge were an old-timer with a grudge against them, that’d be one thing. But he was a complete newbie—there was no reason for this.
Even though they’d only known each other for one night, Fang Mingyue believed he wasn’t the type to abandon anyone.
“They’re dead,” Shen Ge said.
Fang Mingyue froze. “Dead? That’s… impossible. They were part of the support team for Defense Line 3. At most, they left only an hour before us. Normally, with the miasma’s erosion speed, without aberration attacks, it’d take days for them to starve to death…”
“Scared to death,” Shen Ge sighed. When he’d approached them, he’d confirmed they had no pulse. Based on their facial expressions and symptoms, they’d died of sheer terror.
“…” Fang Mingyue never would’ve guessed that. City defense soldiers underwent training—they weren’t veterans by any means, but they’d faced aberrations multiple times. To be “scared to death” within mere minutes of being trapped in a domain? Who could’ve predicted that?
“Move!” Shen Ge looked up at the sky. Above the oppressive “storm clouds,” there seemed to be a massive shadow.
If the clouds were an ocean, then that shadow was like a giant whale gliding through the depths—an overwhelming, terrifying pressure bearing down on them.
Fang Mingyue felt that dread for the first time. She was shocked to find her legs trembling uncontrollably.
She’d faced level-four and even level-five aberrations before. The scar on her face came from a battle with a level-five aberration. Although the horror of that encounter was still vivid in her memory, she’d never been so paralyzed with fear. This reaction was just too strange.
Had the miasma affected her without her realizing it?
She was about to bite her tongue, hoping the pain would snap her out of it, when Shen Ge grabbed her arm and started running.
Stumbling from the sudden pull, she nearly fell. She thought her weak legs would give out, but the moment Shen Ge took hold of her, the invisible pressure in the air seemed to lessen—a strange and inexplicable sensation.
She looked instinctively at the man’s back. He was mysterious and peculiar in every way, yet he gave her an indescribable feeling.
It was as if they’d once fought side by side. They’d only known each other for one night, but she trusted him with her back.
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
Gunfire erupted from the block to their right—intense fighting. And that direction was their destination:
Defense Line 3.
“Shen Ge, things don’t sound good over at Defense Line 3. How about I scout ahead first?” Fang Mingyue asked tentatively.
Technically, Shen Ge was part of her scout squad, so she had the authority to direct him. But one, his strength had far exceeded her expectations. And two, he’d saved her life—she couldn’t repay that by sending him into danger.
Besides, according to frontline reports, Defense Line 3 was in terrible shape. He’d just joined; she couldn’t send him to die just because he was powerful.
And third—most importantly—whenever she was around Shen Ge, she felt an unconscious urge to let him take command. It was almost instinctual, and she couldn’t explain why.
But Shen Ge, using his Aberrant Eye, saw that the “whale” hidden in the miasma overhead was “swimming” toward the source of the gunfire. Yet his Aberrant Eye couldn’t make out its true form—even his system scan couldn’t lock onto its position.
This had only happened once before: when he was tracking the trait aberration “Wraith”—the one that couldn’t be targeted.
“Could this be a trait aberration too?” Shen Ge thought. He never let a potential trait aberration slip by. Even if it was just a guess, he had to check it out.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
Fang Mingyue was deeply moved. She mentally praised his dedication—he’d just joined and already had that level of resolve. Now that’s captain material.
Little did she know that in that brief moment, Fang Mingyue had already imagined him as a selfless superhero, and was already planning to write a recommendation letter to make him a squad leader.
Defense Line 3 was built on the ruins of the collapsed “Yellow Bee Factory,” reinforced with some buildings to form “corridors.” When Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue reached one of the entrances, they saw city defense soldiers scrambling out in a panic—but after a few steps, they’d spin around, faces twisted in terror, and fire wildly behind them.
But there were no aberrations behind them. Instead, there were other soldiers fleeing just as frantically. Those stray bullets tore through entire groups of their own men.
By the time Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue arrived, the entrance passage was soaked in blood, littered with bullet-riddled corpses.
“Cease fire! Everyone, stop shooting!”
“It’s just hallucinations! Stop!”
“Stop!”
Fang Mingyue yelled at the top of her lungs, but the entire line had gone mad. They couldn’t tell friend from foe—if someone moved, they opened fire.
Her voice didn’t snap them out of it—it only drew their attention. Soldiers on balconies, on walls, on broken ledges all turned their terrified faces toward her and Shen Ge, shouting and pulling triggers.
“Oh no!”
Fang Mingyue saw them aiming at them and instinctively threw herself at Shen Ge, trying to knock him down and out of the line of fire.
Even though he’d saved her, her reaction was purely instinctive—she didn’t even think about her own safety.
But when she crashed into him, he didn’t budge an inch. Before she could even register her surprise, bullets were already upon them—only to be stopped midair by an invisible barrier, falling harmlessly to the ground.
“Th-this…” Fang Mingyue was stunned speechless.
She’d wanted to ask, “Why didn’t you dodge?” when she failed to push him. But now she didn’t need to ask—four words flashed through her mind:
“Because he’s not afraid.”
And it wasn’t just bravado. The bullets literally couldn’t touch them.
Being super strong? Fine—could be a physical anomaly. Ignoring miasma erosion? Maybe a strong willpower explanation. But ignoring bullets? Come on, man—were you reincarnated as Superman or something?
Shen Ge didn’t notice her expression. He just kept dragging her deeper into the corridor, ignoring the soldiers shooting at them.
The walls of the Yellow Bee Factory’s converted defense line were packed with soldiers, all firing wildly. Many had run out of ammo but still kept clicking their triggers.
Bang!
Bang!
Two heavy cannon-like shots rang out, followed by a volley of sniper rounds aimed at Shen Ge’s head. Without his Red Mist Armor, he instinctively used his invisible barrier for defense—even miasma sniper rounds couldn’t touch him.
“Yellow Wind Ridge, eight hundred miles—packed with rats packing snipers…” Shen Ge muttered a line, then rapidly expanded his domain outward. Wherever it spread, the soldiers—some contorted in fury, others in agony—suddenly froze, their expressions going blank before they collapsed stiffly to the ground.
Wherever Shen Ge passed, it was like he was spraying poison. Soldiers dropped in droves. Fang Mingyue stared, dumbfounded.
Just as she was about to ask what was happening, she saw Shen Ge pull out a bright red apple from who-knows-where and take a casual bite. His expression was perfectly at ease, as if the two of them were strolling through a busy market rather than a hailstorm of bullets.
“…”
