Shen Ge’s flashy move earlier might have looked cool, but it had burned through a ton of miasma energy. He had no choice but to bite into a Spirit Apple to recharge.
He hadn’t meant to show off—but from Fang Mingyue’s perspective, it definitely came across as a little disrespectful toward the domain itself.
Now wasn’t the time for jokes, though. Fang Mingyue swept her gaze over the city defense soldiers that Shen Ge had taken down, and asked with a hint of concern, “Shen Ge, are they…?”
Shen Ge replied, “Relax, they’re not dead yet… But whether they pull through depends on their own willpower. All I could do was yank them out of the miasma’s grip. The experience takes a heavy toll on their minds. Waking up again is entirely up to them.”
“I… understand.” Fang Mingyue nodded. She couldn’t ask Shen Ge to try and snap those soldiers out of it—he’d only joined the shelter today and had immediately thrown himself into rescue work, pulling people out of the domain without holding back. Just that alone spoke volumes about his character.
In truth, Shen Ge could wake up those trapped in deep hallucinations. But it would require one-on-one hypnotic intervention, possibly even entering their dreams to pull them out—similar to what he’d done with Wang Han. That wouldn’t just drain a massive amount of miasma energy—it would also require Dream Fragment power for domain invasion. Shen Ge didn’t have that kind of time, nor was he willing to spend such precious resources on a world that had already reached its “ending”—especially for complete strangers.
He wanted to keep tracking the “giant whale” in the sky, but noticed that after he’d expanded his domain, the creature had climbed higher, and the thick “storm clouds” had grown even heavier, as if the whale was releasing more miasma to bulk up its defenses.
“Is it aware of me? Or… something else?” Shen Ge pondered for a moment, then turned to Fang Mingyue.
“Have you ever seen the hidden seven-tier aberration in the capital?” he asked.
Fang Mingyue replied, “We’ve seen it… but the Aberration King has always stayed hidden inside the miasma, so to this day, we don’t know what its actual form is.”
As she spoke, she looked up at the pitch-black, heavy sky. In her mind, the colossal aberration lurking in those clouds was most likely the Aberration King.
Shen Ge understood what she was implying. He gazed upward, but his brow furrowed slightly. If the Aberration King of the capital is a seven-tier entity, then that “giant whale” up there definitely isn’t it. Sure, the miasma density is high, but it’s at most around tier five—not even close to six…
Fang Mingyue noticed that the oppressive chill around them had lessened considerably. She assumed Shen Ge was behind it, but not wanting to pry into his secrets, she tentatively asked, “Shen Ge, has the domain around here been broken?”
Shen Ge shook his head. “The domain’s still there. It’s just that the aberration maintaining it seems to have shifted its focus—pouring more miasma into defending its own body instead.”
“It’s right there.” He pointed at the clouds above.
Fang Mingyue was taken aback, then quickly grasped what he meant: “You’re saying… the Aberration King is hiding in those clouds?”
“I don’t know if it’s the Aberration King, but one thing’s for sure—the aberration that created this domain is currently up there,” Shen Ge said.
Fang Mingyue was stunned. “That’s… impossible. The Aberration King can fly? That’s insane!”
Up until now, the shelter had always assumed the Aberration King was lurking in some ruin or underground—after all, flying aberrations were rare.
Wait!
She’d been so shocked by the idea of the King being airborne that she’d nearly missed the key detail in Shen Ge’s words.
“Shifted its focus? Abandoned reinforcing the domain in favor of reinforcing its body’s defenses? It… it’s afraid of something?” The conclusion hit her like a thunderbolt. She instinctively looked at Shen Ge, clearly crediting him for this.
She desperately wanted to ask what was going on, but couldn’t find a good opening. She couldn’t just blurt out, “Did you do all this? Is your strength on par with the Aberration King?” That would essentially confirm him as an Aberrant—and as far as she knew, only Aberrants could go toe-to-toe with the King.
For the first time, Fang Mingyue—who’d been ready to write that recommendation letter—found herself doubting Shen Ge’s true identity. If an Aberrant became a shelter squad leader, that would be a disaster!
Meanwhile, as the “giant whale” actively pulled back, the intensity of the domain’s erosion gradually lessened. The city defense soldiers Shen Ge had saved began regaining consciousness one by one.
At the same time, fighters from the Aberration Hunters and Scout Squad arrived at the only route to Defense Line 3, helping to evacuate the wounded.
This aberration incident—which had struck swiftly and retreated just as inexplicably—had thrown the shelter’s carefully laid plans into disarray. No one could figure out what kind of wind had blown the Aberration King out for a stroll before sending it back home.
After Shen Ge returned to the shelter with the main force, the three factions—Aberration Hunters, Scout Squad, and City Defense—joined forces to tally the wounded. Though the shelter had anticipated that the fight between the Aberrant Rats and the Aberrant would trigger a chain reaction, no one expected the “attack” on the shelter to come not from the Aberrant Rats, but from what seemed to be a sleeping Aberration King turning over in the middle of the night. The commotion had thrown the entire shelter into panic.
Thanks to Shen Ge’s intervention, the shelter had minimized its losses—but the number of wounded still exceeded a hundred. That was a heavy blow.
To think that an entity could inflict over a hundred casualties without even showing its face—it was a chilling reminder of just how terrifying high-tier aberrations could be.
As a “newcomer” to the Scout Squad, Shen Ge’s strength was known only to Fang Mingyue and her team—and even her team hadn’t seen much. They hadn’t witnessed the spectacular sight of city defense soldiers dropping in droves wherever Shen Ge walked in that corridor.
So, strictly speaking, the only person who had any real understanding of Shen Ge’s power was Fang Mingyue. She even firmly believed that the Aberration King’s retreat had something to do with his appearance.
Now she was torn about whether to report this up the chain. Doing so would definitely alarm the higher-ups—especially since the New God Cult was already making a fuss about Shen Ge being an Aberrant.
But if she didn’t report it, and Shen Ge really was an Aberrant, letting one infiltrate the shelter could be catastrophic.
Shen Ge noticed her worried expression but didn’t bother asking what was troubling her. Instead, while helping tend to the wounded, he took the chance to wander around the Scout Squad’s area, getting a feel for the layout.
After a sleepless night, the next morning, Fang Mingyue, Deng Yuqi, Liu Jiayi, and other Scout Squad leaders found Shen Ge in the team dormitory.
Fang Mingyue had agonized all night but ultimately decided to report Shen Ge’s situation to Vice-Captain Deng Yuqi. After hearing about his “extraordinary” abilities, Deng Yuqi’s first reaction was also that Shen Ge might be an Aberrant. She was still weighing how to handle it when Liu Jiayi arrived with a notice from the Council.
That was when Deng Yuqi learned that Shen Ge had already been flagged by the New God Cult before even arriving at the shelter—and that his unintentional display of power had led them to label him an “Aberrant.”
But both the Aberrant Hunters and the New God Cult had tested him, and found no Aberrant-related reactions whatsoever. Even the Aberration King couldn’t conceal its miasma energy that perfectly.
Unless Shen Ge was stronger than the Aberration King—perhaps even a “King of Aberrants”—an entity like that could destroy their shelter with a flick of the wrist. Why would it lower itself to actually show up in person?
For a moment, Deng Yuqi and the others couldn’t figure out what Shen Ge was after or what his “true identity” might be. After some discussion, they decided to wait and see.
After all, according to Fang Mingyue, Shen Ge had spared no effort rescuing the wounded last night, and hadn’t done a single thing to harm the shelter.
“Shen Ge, we came to confirm something. You and Fang Mingyue were the ones handling the passage incident yesterday. According to her, you… could see the aberration hiding in the air?” Deng Yuqi asked, phrasing it gently—but there was a clear probing edge to her words.
Even in this post-apocalyptic world of year 28, technology was actually behind the “reality” Shen Ge came from. Aberration detection still relied on instruments. If he could spot aberrations with his bare eyes, then his true nature was obvious.
Shen Ge wasn’t about to fall for that. Before joining the Special Strategy Department, he’d been a master at dancing around questions from people like Deng Yuqi—so much so that she’d once nearly blacklisted him.
He casually pulled the miasma detector from his waist and said, “I mentioned to Fang Mingyue before that I used to be an Aberration Agent in the Special Event Management and Security Strategy Department. This is a miasma detector our organization equipped us with—the latest model crafted by a genius researcher…”
Shen Ge spun a half-true, half-exaggerated tale about Li Xiang, heavily emphasizing the “died too young” angle. That neatly shut down any follow-up questions Deng Yuqi and the others had in mind.
After all, if the guy was dead, digging deeper was pointless.
“Would you… mind if we took a look?” Deng Yuqi didn’t use her authority to demand he hand it over. For one, based on Fang Mingyue’s account, Shen Ge was too powerful to offend. And two—even though this was a different world, the changes from Shen Ge’s “reality” weren’t as drastic as one might think. Deng Yuqi here was remarkably similar to her counterpart there.
Back when Shen Ge was still an “ordinary person,” Deng Yuqi had never looked down on him—let alone now that his identity was shrouded in mystery.
“Of course.” Shen Ge generously handed over the device. As a frontline fighter, he knew nothing about research—he couldn’t explain its principles if asked. But if they could figure it out on their own, he didn’t mind.
Even if this was an “already-ended” world, if he could leave the survivors here a little more “hope to survive,” that was a good thing.
Deng Yuqi and Liu Jiayi examined the miasma detector inside and out, marveling at it from time to time. Though neither was a researcher, both were squad leaders with years of frontline experience, so they could immediately tell how advanced it was.
Most importantly, they realized that while it shared similarities with the shelter’s own detectors, it was several versions ahead—capable of precisely detecting even faint traces of miasma.
When it came time to return the device, Deng Yuqi was visibly reluctant. If the Scout Squad could be equipped with such advanced detectors, their survival rate would undoubtedly improve.
But Shen Ge waved his hand and said magnanimously, “I’m new here. Mingyue’s been good to me, and the team vibe feels familiar—so consider it a joining gift. In my hands, it’s just one piece of detection gear. If the research division can replicate it and produce more, that’d be a far greater boost to the entire squad than me keeping it.”
Deng Yuqi was taken aback—she hadn’t expected such generosity. A top-tier miasma tool, given away without a second thought. But the way he spoke, the casual tone… it was almost as if he was old friends with them.
“Wait… we’re the ones who should be giving you a joining gift, not the other way around,” Liu Jiayi said, half amused and half exasperated.
“It’s all the same. No need to be polite,” Shen Ge said with a smile.
Liu Jiayi glanced at the detector in Deng Yuqi’s hand, then shot Fang Mingyue a look—one that seemed to carry an unspoken understanding. She gritted her teeth, as if she’d just made a major decision, and nodded: “Alright, I approve this. As long as you from now on—”
Deng Yuqi, who knew Liu Jiayi better than anyone, understood that her captain’s brain worked in ways most people couldn’t follow—and that she’d clearly misinterpreted the situation. She gave Liu Jiayi a sharp elbow to the ribs, cutting her off mid-sentence, and said with a polished smile, “What the captain means is: welcome to the Scout Squad.”
And just like that, Shen Ge managed to “clear his name” using a miasma detector that was standard issue for every Aberration Agent back in his “reality.”
Liu Jiayi and Deng Yuqi both appreciated his straightforwardness. The former even pounded her chest—an impressive 36D—and swore that if the New God Cult dared to mess with Shen Ge, they’d have to deal with her.
After everyone left, Fang Mingyue lingered behind. Her conflicted, hesitant expression made Shen Ge feel more than a little uncomfortable.
Compared to this, he much preferred the straightforward “ameba” from his own reality—sure, her thought process was hard to follow, but at least he never had to guess what she was thinking. Whatever he did, she’d follow without hesitation. Clearly, this world’s Fang Mingyue didn’t yet understand the golden rule: “Agent Shen is right. Agent Shen is always right.”
