But even if she wanted to go find Shen Ge, she simply didn’t have the strength to spare. Seeing the ghost cockroach charging at her again, Fang Mingyue steeled herself and decided to bet everything on one desperate move — detonating a high-explosive charge right beneath it.
Just then, a figure dropped from above, landing on the cockroach’s head with a heavy thud. A flash of silver light followed, and the creature’s head rolled clean off its body.
“Hey, Xiao Fang, I think you were right. When we get back, I’m going to ask the Minister for a whole month off. I’ll go travel, clear my head, and just slack off for a solid month!”
Shen Ge cracked his neck, not even bothering to glance at the decapitated Tier 3 anomaly at his feet as he hopped off its corpse.
“You… this… it…” Fang Mingyue knew Shen Ge was strong, but she’d never imagined he was this strong — killing a Tier 3 anomaly with a single strike.
Shen Ge didn’t waste any more time with pleasantries. “There are plenty of anomalies hiding in the old buildings around here. The situation’s way more complicated than you think. Your decision-making is fine — keep the team moving along the planned route. Leave the anomalies in this area to me.”
With that, Shen Ge leaped into the air, using a series of mid-air steps to reach the rooftop of a nearby shop, then vanished into the building, disappearing from Fang Mingyue’s sight.
“Shen Ge!” Fang Mingyue didn’t even have time to finish her sentence before he was gone. At this point, all she could do was trust him.
When Fang Mingyue reached the entry point, she found the manhole cover had already been pried open — meaning some of the other team members had entered the sewers ahead of her.
She dropped down into the hole, landing about several meters below. After a short stretch, the tunnel opened up into the vast, sprawling network of pipes and passageways that made up Dajing’s underground drainage system.
No sooner had she touched the ground than she heard gunshots echoing from the street above — they sounded like they were from a revolver — followed by the low growls of anomalies.
Though Fang Mingyue was worried about Shen Ge, she knew the priority was completing the mission. The safety of the entire shelter depended on it.
The sewers were pitch black — she couldn’t see a thing. Without knowing how many anomalies might be lurking in the darkness, she didn’t dare call out to her teammates. She could only move forward cautiously, flashlight in hand.
After walking for a few dozen meters in the general direction of the Penguin Building, Fang Mingyue arrived at a cavern about a dozen square meters in size.
Hanging upside down in the center of the cavern was a lump of dark, indescribable matter. It looked like a mass of black sludge and coagulated blood, vaguely shaped into something half-human, half-monster. Black blood dripped from it drop by drop, pooling on the floor to a depth of at least ten centimeters. It was utterly revolting.
That unnameable thing hung there, “bleeding” — from a distance, it looked like a hunk of melting flesh. Its lower half was dissolving into dripping gore, while its upper half extended dozens of pitch-black blood vessels into the cavern walls, as if fusing with the stone itself.
“What… is this?” Fang Mingyue had never seen such a disgusting anomaly before. Almost instinctively, she pulled out her ghost-energy detector and scanned it.
“Tier 4 ghost-energy intensity!”
Fang Mingyue clearly hadn’t expected something so repulsive to actually be a Tier 4 anomaly. She immediately began backing away carefully, terrified of alerting it.
But she’d only taken two steps back when she bumped into someone. The person, apparently not expecting her to retreat suddenly, instinctively reached out to grab her throat.
The beam from Fang Mingyue’s flashlight caught the movement. She reacted quickly, leaning back to dodge, then swung her dagger upward, aiming for the attacker’s throat. She missed by a hair — but in that split-second, he managed to evade.
Fang Mingyue let the dagger slide downward, slashing across the man’s chest. Blood splattered all over her. Just as she was about to drive the blade into his heart, a gunshot rang out — bang.
The man had somehow produced a pistol, and the bullet tore straight through Fang Mingyue’s shoulder. The shot slowed her momentum, giving him just enough time to avoid the killing blow.
“City Defense uniform — you’re with the City Defense Force? Who are you!” Fang Mingyue had spotted the City Defense combat suit beneath the torn outer jacket.
Since the City Defense Force’s primary duty was maintaining order within the city — unlike the Exploration Corps and Hunters’ Guild, who frequently operated in ghost-energy-contaminated zones — the R&D department had modified their uniforms significantly.
Unlike the Corps and Guild suits, which were built primarily for ghost-energy defense, the City Defense gear had weaker anti-ghost protection but offered better resistance against bullets and melee weapons.
That was why, even though Fang Mingyue’s first strike should have pierced his chest, her dagger had only sunk in about a fifth of the way.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The man fired several more shots. Fortunately, Fang Mingyue had already anticipated that he was targeting her — her earlier question had just been a distraction. While speaking, she’d already turned off her flashlight and retreated back into the cavern where the anomaly lurked.
Judging by the sound, Fang Mingyue could tell he was using a standard-issue City Defense sidearm. His magazine was probably empty, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility of spare magazines or other firearms. She didn’t dare charge out recklessly. Instead, she stayed silent, listening to the sounds from the tunnel, waiting for an opening to counterattack.
Just then, several gunshots rang out from the other end of the passage. Fang Mingyue recognized the sound immediately — it was the same revolver she’d heard earlier on the street.
Was it Shen Ge?
Or had the person shooting on the street not been Shen Ge at all, but rather this man’s accomplice?
Fang Mingyue couldn’t tell whether the newcomer was the shooter’s ally or backup. Clutching her wounded shoulder, she crouched low against the wall, continuing to listen for movement in the tunnel, ready to defend against a sudden assault.
But then — thud — a heavy object landed at her feet. Just as she prepared to strike back, a familiar voice spoke up: “Looks like someone doesn’t want you guys to complete your mission. Or maybe they just don’t want us getting back alive.”
It was Shen Ge. After dealing with the anomalies lurking in key positions on the streets above, he’d dropped into the sewer as well — and the moment he’d entered, he’d heard gunfire.
Playing it safe, Shen Ge had activated “Invisibility + Silence.” Once he confirmed that the shooter wasn’t Fang Mingyue or one of her teammates, he’d taken out the man’s arms and legs with a few well-placed shots, then tossed him at Fang Mingyue’s feet.
Click-click — both Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue turned on their flashlights at the same time, one aimed at the floor, the other scanning the area.
“Shen Ge!” Though Fang Mingyue had never really doubted that Shen Ge would be fine, seeing him standing there unharmed still filled her with relief — and a surge of emotion.
“Let’s see who this guy is.” Shen Ge crouched down beside the man, pulling off his mask. Beneath it was a gaunt, haggard face, as if he hadn’t eaten in a long time — his eyes were sunken deep into their sockets.
“Priest Lu?” Fang Mingyue recognized him immediately. He was one of the high priests of the New God Cult — and supposedly a former captain of the City Defense Force.
“Priest? So he’s from the New God Cult, huh? I heard you guys worship anomalies as your new gods? Looks like your gods didn’t do much to protect you.” Shen Ge quipped.
Priest Lu glared at Shen Ge with icy eyes but said nothing. For one, he hadn’t expected the anomalies and his hidden underlings outside to fail at stopping Shen Ge — he’d barely had a chance to strike at Fang Mingyue before being caught. For another, Shen Ge had disabled both his arms and legs. He was now a lamb awaiting slaughter, and nothing he said would change that.
“Did the Archbishop send you?” Fang Mingyue pressed her dagger against Priest Lu’s throat, trying to force him to reveal why he’d been tailing her.
But Priest Lu kept his mouth shut. Even as the blade drew blood, he just clenched his teeth and glared venomously at Shen Ge.
“Why are you looking at me? She’s the one asking the questions. Didn’t your Archbishop teach you that it’s polite to look at the person speaking to you? Tsk, you local cultists have zero manners.” Shen Ge gave Priest Lu a look of pure disdain — the kind of look you’d give garbage — which made the man so furious he spat out blood.
Whether it was because Priest Lu had been brainwashed by the New God Cult or because he truly was unyielding, no amount of pressure from Fang Mingyue could make him talk.
Seeing this, Shen Ge crouched down as well. He raised a hand and pressed his fingertip against Priest Lu’s brow, channeling ghost energy into a hypnotic attempt. “Let me handle this!”
Shen Ge’s ability to hypnotize others was still in its early stages. So far, he’d only used it on people like Fang Mingyue when they were trapped in ghost domains — and even then, only to pull them out of those domains.
He’d wanted to create an effect similar to a truth serum, making Priest Lu answer Fang Mingyue’s questions honestly. But after several attempts, he found it wasn’t working.
Since the “gentle” approach wasn’t getting results, Shen Ge resorted to more forceful methods — he’d plunge Priest Lu directly into his own ghost domain and make him experience true “horror.”
The experience Shen Ge chose was a recreation of his own “encounters” at Rongshan Psychiatric Hospital. Even though those events hadn’t actually scared Shen Ge at the time, that was because he had a naturally high resistance to ghosts. Any ordinary person — whether facing the old man under the bed or the head-spinning director — would be lucky to last a few minutes, let alone months.
Sure enough, Priest Lu barely held on for three minutes before he began thrashing violently, screaming things like “Stay back! Don’t eat me!” Just as Shen Ge was about to wake him up so Fang Mingyue could continue her interrogation, the man’s legs kicked out once — and then he went still.
“?!”
Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue both froze. Neither of them had expected that outcome.
Fang Mingyue stared at Shen Ge in bewilderment. “Shen Ge… did he… pass out from fear?”
Shen Ge checked the man’s breathing, then pressed a finger to his neck. Looking at Fang Mingyue with an awkward expression, he said, “Uh… looks like he’s dead?”
“…” You’re the one who did it — how do you not know whether he’s dead?
Seeing the helpless look in Fang Mingyue’s eyes, Shen Ge felt even more exasperated. “I didn’t think a high priest would have such a weak psyche! He died just from a little scare.”
“What exactly did you do to him?” Fang Mingyue asked curiously.
Shen Ge ventured cautiously, “I used to work at a hospital before the apocalypse, and I know a tiny bit of hypnotism. That’s reasonable, right?”
Even as he said it, he felt it was a stretch — but to his surprise, Fang Mingyue actually nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty reasonable.”
“Alright then. I was trying to hypnotize him to lower his resistance so you could interrogate him. Who knew the shock would be too much and just kill him outright? Sigh. If a guy like this can become a high priest, it’s not hard to see what kind of outfit the New God Cult really is.” Shen Ge even took the opportunity to trash-talk the cult, hoping to steer Fang Mingyue’s attention away from his abilities.
But Fang Mingyue’s focus had never really been on Shen Ge’s powers — she was more confused about why the New God Cult would send a priest to secretly tail her, let alone try to kill her.
“Damn, never mind the cult for now — Shen Ge, let’s go! This is a dead end. There’s a Tier 4 anomaly in the cavern behind us!” Fang Mingyue had realized the moment she spotted the Tier 4 anomaly that her teammates couldn’t have taken this route. Their mission wasn’t to clear this sector of anomalies — it was to reach the Penguin Building as fast as possible, lure the anomalies there, and then carry out the rescue operation.
Besides, a Tier 4 anomaly was more than the entire Corps could handle — let alone just her and Shen Ge.
“Uh, I know. I came here looking for it,” Shen Ge said matter-of-factly, with no trace of exaggeration. In his plan, the best move was to take out all the Tier 3 and Tier 4 anomalies in the area before heading to the Penguin Building. That way, they wouldn’t pop up at the worst possible moment and cause trouble — or worse, feed another high-level anomaly into existence.
“…” Fang Mingyue’s eyelid twitched. She seriously wondered if she’d heard him wrong. That was a Tier 4 anomaly — you weren’t supposed to seek it out, you were supposed to avoid it!
“Um… can I ask — what exactly did you do for work at that psychiatric hospital?” Fang Mingyue asked, genuinely curious. She couldn’t imagine what kind of person wouldn’t be afraid of a Tier 4 anomaly.
“Oh. I was the one being studied.”
With that, Shen Ge walked toward the cavern.
“…”
Fang Mingyue could almost hear a voice whispering in her ear, “He’s messing with you.” Who on earth works at a psychiatric hospital just to be studied?
Shen Ge stepped into the cavern and swept his flashlight around, observing the surroundings.
“Shen Ge, I know you’re insanely strong, but this is a Tier 4 anomaly. If we wake it up, we’re in serious trouble,” Fang Mingyue warned in a hushed tone.
Shen Ge replied, “Relax. This anomaly seems to be in a dormant state.”
“Dormant?” Fang Mingyue was surprised.
Shen Ge nodded. “When an anomaly has absorbed enough ghost energy, it enters a state of dormancy before its next stage of transformation. It needs time to slowly convert the absorbed energy into its own before it can evolve further. Usually, they choose a relatively safe place to sleep during this period, which makes them very hard to find.”
“Then this one…?”
“Anyone who’s been eaten by anomalies enough times knows that even when a gluttonous anomaly is dormant, its body will instinctively devour anything that intrudes. This one’s no exception.”
“Huh?” Fang Mingyue clearly didn’t follow what he meant. And that phrase — “anyone who’s been eaten by anomalies enough times” — was so full of holes it was practically a sieve. If they weren’t in such a dire situation, or if Shen Ge were her subordinate, she’d have chewed him out on the spot.
“Simply put, everything you’re seeing is an illusion. We’re probably already inside the anomaly’s stomach. Don’t look at me like that — this thing is just really good at hiding. It might have merged with the entire neighborhood, or maybe just the sewers. Either way, the moment we jumped down here, we were already in its belly!”
