A few hours later, the joint search-and-rescue team had successfully pulled out most of the soldiers who’d gone missing during the anomaly incident at Defense Line 3. But now they faced a second problem: what to do with the high-tier anomaly, the “chimeric beast,” that was still rampaging through the ruins near the Penguin Building.
According to the intelligence Qian Weiguo had provided, the New God’s Church had stockpiled a large amount of strategic resources in their temporary base. Although they’d succeeded in luring the chimeric beast away from that base using the armored vehicle plan, given the beast’s current destructive power, it was only a matter of time before the area above the base was flattened as well.
And once that happened, getting underground to retrieve those resources would become a whole lot harder.
So Deng Yuqi believed they had to find a way to lure the chimeric beast away from Defense Line 3, to pave the way for eventually seizing the New God’s Church’s temporary base.
Just as Deng Yuqi was racking her brain over the chimeric beast problem, a scout suddenly reported that the beast had dropped dead on the spot—and then, with a flash of white light, it vanished before everyone’s eyes.
“Vanished?” Deng Yuqi frowned.
The scout nodded quickly. “Yes, vanished. It just—poof—disappeared into thin air, along with that white light.”
“How could something so bizarre happen?” It wasn’t just Deng Yuqi—the other squad leaders present had never witnessed anything so strange either.
Regardless, the chimeric beast’s disappearance was excellent news for the joint rescue team, and for the shelter as a whole.
Deng Yuqi stopped dwelling on why the beast had vanished. She immediately assembled the joint rescue team and, with Qian Weiguo leading the way, headed for the New God’s Church’s temporary shelter.
By noon the next day, after arranging patrols around the temporary shelter, Deng Yuqi brought in a construction unit from the shelter to build defensive fortifications.
The previous night, after inspecting the New God’s Church’s temporary base, she’d realized that this facility—built atop a research institute—had tremendous strategic value. Many of the research facilities there were too heavy to move and far too valuable to abandon. So she decided to convert the place into an forward outpost for the exploration team.
But this was, after all, the New God’s Church’s base. Getting approval to claim this strategic location while under pressure from above was next to impossible. So Deng Yuqi decided to ask for forgiveness rather than permission—once the fortifications were complete and the exploration team had fully moved in, she would file the paperwork afterward.
As for why she needed to pull the construction crew out of the shelter, her excuse was simple: after the chimeric beast had wreaked havoc in the city, deeper rescue operations would require the construction team’s expertise.
Since this operation was being kept under wraps, Deng Yuqi used only veteran exploration team members. Even the construction workers weren’t told what they were actually building.
Just as the construction crew was methodically building the fortifications, two patrolling soldiers stopped a man trying to enter the work zone.
“Halt! Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
The man was about to answer when one of the patrolmen recognized him. “Shen Ge! It’s Shen Ge! You’re alive!”
“Uh… you are?” Shen Ge didn’t immediately recall who this man was, but the guy acted like they were old buddies.
The patrolman quickly said, “Oh, you probably don’t remember me. I’m a member of Fang Mingyue’s squad. I had the honor of working with you the night before last—I saw with my own eyes how you walked right into that anomalous black mist, completely unfazed, and pulled those trapped soldiers out like it was nothing. Then yesterday, I heard you went alone to back up your comrades against a rank-4 anomaly. Are you some kind of god descended from heaven? That’s absolutely insane!”
“…” Shen Ge didn’t know how to respond. He’d been gone for just one night, and somehow he’d already been turned into some kind of superhero legend?
The patrolman grew more excited as he talked, and Shen Ge gathered from his rambling that after Fang Mingyue had returned to base, she and Deng Yuqi had sent extra personnel to search for him.
Even after a full night, Fang Mingyue was still insisting on searching for Shen Ge, even wanting to bring in the construction crew to dig around the Penguin Building ruins—determined to find him, dead or alive.
After excitedly sharing last night’s developments, the patrolman led Shen Ge into the “Exploration Team’s New Command Center” set up atop the New God’s Church’s former base. Deng Yuqi was in the middle of discussing how to remodel the temporary base with Qian Weiguo—who’d just joined the exploration team—and Tu Dupi, a liaison officer from the Anomaly Hunters. When she saw Shen Ge walk in, she was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to contact Fang Mingyue, who was still out searching.
“Shen Ge, it’s great to have you back! You were gone for as long as Captain Fang searched for you. She hasn’t slept a wink in over ten hours.”
“Yeah, Shen Ge. But man, you’re something else—daring to go near a high-tier anomaly all by yourself to rescue people, and actually pulling it off.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Shen Ge, thank you for your help. We’ve accepted Commander Deng’s invitation—from now on, we’re part of the exploration team too.”
“Looking forward to working with you.”
“Shen Ge, I’ve heard so much about you.”
“…”
As Shen Ge entered the temporary command post, everyone who’d heard of his heroic deeds crowded around, eager to befriend the shelter’s new “rising star.”
Fortunately, Shen Ge was no stranger to this kind of attention back in “reality,” and he handled it with ease, brushing them off with just a few words.
But when Deng Yuqi asked about his experiences last night, Shen Ge didn’t tell the whole truth. He only mentioned rescuing Qian Weiguo, then going after Priest Jiang and successfully taking him out.
As for what happened after—taking down the chimeric beast, spending hours trying and failing to hunt down the “giant whale,” then accidentally falling into the anomaly rat’s burrow and seizing the chance to kill it—he glossed over all of it in a single sentence.
Just then, a soldier ran in and reported: “Sir, the Saintess candidate has heard that Shen Ge is back. She’s asking to see him—says she has something important to tell him.”
“Important?” Deng Yuqi furrowed her brow slightly. After Qian Weiguo had brought Liang Yin in, their exchanges had been cordial, and the girl had expressed interest in joining the exploration team.
Deng Yuqi had been thinking that Shen Ge might have some plans involving the Saintess candidate, so she hadn’t given Liang Yin a direct answer. Instead, she told her to think it over carefully and outlined all the dangers that came with joining the exploration team.
Deng Yuqi felt their conversation had gone well. So she was a bit surprised that when Liang Yin had “something important to report,” her first thought wasn’t to come to her—but to Shen Ge.
“Mind if I come along?” Deng Yuqi asked Shen Ge. Her tone wasn’t that of a superior addressing a subordinate—more like she was asking for his permission.
Shen Ge nodded. Following the soldier, they arrived at a temporary camp and found Liang Yin in a tent built among the ruins.
Liang Yin hadn’t expected Deng Yuqi to come with Shen Ge, and she visibly froze at the sight of her. Deng Yuqi noticed her hesitation and tactfully said, “I came to discuss your joining the exploration team. You two go ahead and talk—I’ll wait outside. We can catch up when you’re done.”
After Deng Yuqi, her personal guard, and a senior exploration team captain left, the tent fell silent with just Shen Ge and Liang Yin.
Seeing Liang Yin hesitate, Shen Ge grew curious about what she wanted to tell him. In his view, Liang Yin might not even know that he was the one who’d saved her. So it was unlikely she wanted to thank him, or ask for his help.
“What do you need from me?” Shen Ge asked.
Liang Yin hesitated, biting her lip, then said nervously, “I… I know… I know you’re not… human…”
“?”
What the hell?
Shen Ge was thrown by her bizarre opening. Even if Liang Yin had deduced from his uncanny abilities that he was some kind of “freak,” so what? Was she trying to blackmail him into doing something for her?
If Liang Yin were one of Priest Jiang’s people, or loyal to the New God’s Church, Shen Ge could see that as a possibility. But she was filled with hatred for the Church—it was unlikely she’d want him to do their bidding. Unless, of course, she wanted to use him to destroy the Church entirely.
Shen Ge would welcome that outcome. If things went that way, it’d be even easier for him to use Liang Yin’s Saintess candidate status to manipulate the Church from the inside, clearing the path for Deng Yuqi, Fang Mingyue, and the others.
Liang Yin swallowed, as if trying to calm her nerves. After a few seconds of silence, as if steeling herself, she looked up at Shen Ge and said, “I… I saw that you have the same kind of aura as Priest Jiang and his people. I know you’re not human, but… but I also know you’re different from them.”
“Oh?” Shen Ge raised an eyebrow. He felt her words weren’t as simple as they seemed. What did she mean by “the same kind of aura as Priest Jiang”?
Was she referring to his uncanny abilities?
Or… anomalous energy?
If it was anomalous energy, that would mean Liang Yin had the ability to see it. And that wasn’t a power an “ordinary person” could possess—it would mean she was likely a “freak” too.
But when Shen Ge had first entered the armored vehicle where Liang Yin was held, he’d kept his anomaly eyes active the whole time and hadn’t detected any anomalous energy reaction from her.
Liang Yin steadied herself and said firmly, “I… I want to cooperate with you. If… if you can help me, then I’ll… I’ll tell you where to find something that can make you even stronger!”
Though Liang Yin tried her best to sound calm, her voice and expression gave her away completely. Shen Ge could tell she had no real confidence in “threatening” him—in fact, she seemed to be placing all her hopes on him.
“Something that can make me stronger?” Shen Ge asked.
Liang Yin nodded quickly. “Yes! It’s… it’s the same kind of thing Priest Jiang and the others use. The stuff that lets them take their powers a step further.”
“Powers?” Shen Ge pressed.
Liang Yin blinked, unsure if Shen Ge was playing dumb or genuinely didn’t know, but she answered honestly: “Like Priest Jiang’s ability to ignore attacks. I know that before, he could only ignore damage from cold weapons. But after he started using those things, his influence grew wider and wider, and he could withstand more and more damage.”
“You—last night—you suddenly appeared in the armored vehicle out of nowhere. That must have been some kind of special ability too, right? The thing I’m talking about can make you even stronger—make your teleportation go farther, and more powerful—maybe even let you teleport from one city to another!”
Liang Yin grew more and more excited, as if terrified that Shen Ge might refuse, desperately trying to sell her only bargaining chip.
Shen Ge shot back, “How do you know my ability is teleportation?”
“Huh? Isn’t it… I mean, suddenly appearing from one place to another—what else could that be?” Liang Yin said confidently.
“…” Shen Ge could now be certain that Liang Yin was just guessing blindly about his abilities—and she was way off.
In fact, her “bargaining chip” might have been completely made up too. Liang Yin was probably just trying to trick Shen Ge into attacking some member of the New God’s Church, or one of their strongholds, by dangling a “phantom reward” in front of him to get him to take revenge on her behalf.
Shen Ge lowered his head in thought, as if seriously considering her proposition. After a moment, he looked up and asked, “So this thing that can make abilities stronger—is it in the hands of one of the Church’s priests, or is it at their main headquarters?”
“It’s at one of the New God’s Church’s secret research facilities. They conduct inhuman human experiments there—turning ordinary people into superhumans like Priest Jiang. Every Saintess candidate is sent to that facility too. If they successfully gain superpowers, they survive and wait for the selection. If they fail, they become playthings for the priests.” Liang Yin’s voice grew more agitated, her eyes burning with resentment and defiance.
Shen Ge had initially planned to brush Liang Yin off with a few casual words, to make this young girl who was trying to use him as a weapon give up on her delusions. But he realized things weren’t as simple as he’d assumed.
“Wait—you’re a Saintess candidate now. So according to what you’re saying, you were also sent to that secret facility, underwent their experiments, and successfully gained superpowers?” Shen Ge asked.
Liang Yin nodded instinctively, as if it were obvious. “Of course. That’s why I can see that you have the same kind of power as Priest Jiang.”
Huh?
Shen Ge blinked. So she wasn’t bluffing after all?
Apparently, Shen Ge had assumed all along that Liang Yin was just fishing, trying to use him to get revenge on the New God’s Church. But it turned out she actually did have some kind of superpower?
“You can see anomalous energy?” Shen Ge suddenly thought it over, and it clicked—Liang Yin’s words strongly suggested she could perceive anomalous energy.
As he spoke, he gathered a faint, invisible wisp of anomalous energy in his palm.
Liang Yin’s gaze locked onto his palm and she nodded, using her fingers to indicate its size: “I can see it—it’s about this big, a ball of energy… I can also see the anomalous energy flowing through your body. But I have to focus really hard to do it. If I look too long, my eyes get really sore and uncomfortable.”
“???”
Holy crap!
A humanoid anomaly energy detector!
