The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 105

Shen Ge arrived at the Technical Department, where an assistant informed him that Li Xiang was in the Abnormal Energy Equipment Testing Lab.

When he went to check it out—wow, the entire area was on lockdown! From the main entrance of the division to the lab door, two neatly lined-up teams stood guard.

One team was an elite squad led by Wang Han and Ma Chao, while the other was a security team personally commanded by the division’s safety supervisor.

Shen Ge was stunned by the heavy security. What’s going on? Is someone planning to kidnap Li Xiang?

“Investigator Shen!”

“Investigator Shen!”

No one stopped Shen Ge as he walked through. Instead, they saluted him respectfully.

As Deng Yuqi had put it, the division’s achievements in capturing abnormals over the past five years paled in comparison to Shen Ge’s contributions in just three months. If Shen Ge had ulterior motives, he could’ve easily hidden these abnormals instead of reporting them and then stealing them later.

After that incident, none of the Special Tactics and Strategy Department’s divisions placed any restrictions on Shen Ge—except for entering the underground containment rooms, where he had to be accompanied to prevent him from “devouring” the abnormals as rumors suggested.

“Investigator Shen, what brings you here?” Wang Han stepped forward to greet him as Shen Ge entered the division.

Shen Ge replied, “I need to talk to Li Xiang about something. But seriously, what’s with all this security? Is there a spy trying to kidnap him?”

“Director Li is reportedly researching a new type of abnormal energy equipment and requested this lockdown from the minister. As for the security team, it’s because Director Li has blown up the lab a few times before. They’re worried he might end up blowing himself up this time, so whenever he conducts a new experiment, they go all out with security,” Wang Han explained.

“…” Damn, this guy really lives up to his future reputation as the man who turns the Special Tactics Department into the Abnormal Headquarters. He’s single-handedly maxed out the department’s security alert level.

“Can I go in now?” Shen Ge asked.

Wang Han thought for a moment. “For you, it shouldn’t be a problem. Hold on, I’ll notify the technicians inside.”

He pulled out a communicator to contact the lab. Unexpectedly, it was Li Xiang who answered. The moment he heard Shen Ge wanted to enter, he eagerly urged him to come in.

“Investigator Shen, you’re just in time! I was about to send someone to find you,” Li Xiang said as soon as Shen Ge stepped inside, immediately pulling him into the inner area.

The cluttered lab housed four researchers and seven assistants besides Li Xiang. Aside from one recorder, the rest were all qualified to conduct experiments.

As they walked, Shen Ge asked, “The minister mentioned you used that pig-brain abnormal from the underground containment room to make abnormal energy equipment. Is there any left?”

“Yeah, but we can talk about that later. It’s not important right now,” Li Xiang replied. He walked over to a computer, tapped a few keys, and with a mechanical hum, the sealed lab door slid open. A machine extended a long, metallic rectangular case outward.

Shen Ge was speechless. To Li Xiang, the pig-brain abnormal was just research material, but to him, it represented a potential ability. If it had been used as ordinary experimental material, that would’ve been a waste.

Hiss—

With a release of pressurized air, the metallic case slowly opened, revealing a fist-sized chunk of rotting black flesh at its center, pulsing faintly like a heart. Upon closer inspection, the flesh seemed to encase several metallic chips, their circuitry spreading outward like the grooves of a brain.

“Is this the leftover charcoal-grilled pork from last night’s barbecue?” Shen Ge asked, his expression odd.

Li Xiang glared at him, looking utterly offended. “Charcoal-grilled pork? Philistine! This is my magnum opus—the product of countless sleepless nights! Behold, the LiXiang Type-I Armor!”

“…Uh.”

*Bro, did you just plagiarize the name “Mark-1”?*

Shen Ge kept that thought to himself, though, fearing he’d be branded “Philistine II” if he voiced it.

“So, you successfully merged all those abnormal energy equipment pieces I gave you?” Shen Ge had a rough idea of Li Xiang’s research direction and was genuinely intrigued.

Li Xiang raised a finger and wagged it smugly. “Not just that. I threw in every abnormal material the division had.”

“Huh?”

Shen Ge was stunned. He never imagined Li Xiang would go all out like this. More importantly—would Deng Yuqi even approve? If this failed, the division’s assets would be wiped out. Even if it succeeded, they’d only gain one extra suit of armor.

“The minister actually let you do this?” Shen Ge asked cautiously.

Li Xiang nodded. “At first, she refused, saying the risks were too high. But research is about exploring the unknown—there’s no such thing as a 100% success rate. Then I told her that if this experiment succeeded, it might give you the power to take on a third-tier abnormal solo. After that, she agreed.”

“This lump of meat is that powerful?” Shen Ge leaned in for a closer look. Aside from a faint rotten smell, it didn’t seem special.

“Watch this.” Li Xiang put on a black glove and picked up the rotting flesh. The moment it touched his palm, it began to melt, resembling a grotesque version of Venom’s symbiote bonding process.

Soon, the flesh condensed around Li Xiang’s wrist, forming a black sports wristband.

“Remember when I told you the turtle shell you brought back had the ability to merge with other abnormals? I tried combining it with all the abnormal corpses you collected and the extracted energy from those showing mutation symptoms. But there was a major problem—once merged, the corpses and energy lost their original forms.”

“Though it was still somewhat different from standard abnormal energy charging, I couldn’t figure out how to restore their original shapes. That meant no matter how much energy the turtle shell absorbed, it couldn’t achieve the multi-form transformation I envisioned.”

“After burning through a lot of abnormal corpses with no progress, I decided to study higher-tier abnormals—like the second-tier corpses in the underground containment room.”

“While researching them, I discovered that the pig-brain abnormal had properties that allowed targets to ‘revert to form.’ When I extracted its energy and injected it into other abnormals, it seemed to significantly enhance their memory capabilities.”

Shen Ge wasn’t surprised by this discovery. According to the system’s description, the pig-brain’s trait was “Unforgetting,” which obviously had something to do with memory.

“With this breakthrough, I merged the pig-brain with the turtle shell. After that, the forms of other merged abnormals could be ‘recorded.’”

“These chips at the center are the latest in cutting-edge technology, equipped with advanced AI computing power. After merging with the pig-brain, they underwent an incredible evolution, surpassing their original functionality. This is one-of-a-kind in the world. Now, it’s yours.”

“Once you set your authorization commands, you can switch forms with simple gestures. Without your password and gesture codes, no one else can use this equipment.”

Li Xiang tapped the sports wristband on his left wrist. Instantly, it melted and reformed into a sleek black wristwatch.

Then, he clenched his fist, and the watch expanded rapidly, morphing into a circular black shield about a meter in diameter, its surface etched with the distinct patterns of a turtle shell.

“The LiXiang Type-I Armor has six forms. I haven’t programmed the gesture controls for transformations yet, since I figured you’d be the final user. I’ll teach you how to set them up later.”

“Form 1: Full-Body Abnormal Combat Suit. This form can’t recharge abnormal energy. Its max capacity is 300%. Typical knife or gun wounds drain about 1%-2% per hit. Energy recovery matches the A-Type Abnormal Energy Canisters—roughly 10% per hour.”

As Li Xiang spoke, he tapped the wristwatch again. The turtle-shell shield shrank and spread across his body.

In Avengers: Infinity War, Iron Man’s nanotech armor took about 7-8 seconds to fully deploy. The LiXiang Type-I Armor, however, oozed over Li Xiang’s body like black sludge, taking a full 10 seconds.

The result? A nightmarish, Venom-esque suit—except instead of sleek alien symbiote, it looked like liquefied rotten meat had coated his body.

“Cool” was not the word. It was downright horrifying, the kind of thing that would instantly drain an ordinary person’s sanity just from looking at it.

Li Xiang opened a safe, pulled out a test handgun, and fired two shots into his own palm.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets were caught and promptly spat out by the rotting flesh.

Li Xiang tapped his wrist. “LiXiang Type-I Armor, report remaining energy. Oh, right—I haven’t named the AI yet. You can pick one later.”

“Abnormal energy remaining: 298%.“

Another tap, and the sludge retracted, reforming into the wristwatch in 10 seconds.

“Two shots, 2% energy drain—consistent with previous tests. The good news? It can tank 300 rounds from handguns, SMGs, or rifles. Even if the energy depletes, the armor shatters before the bullet reaches you. The bad news? Sniper rifles, cannons, or high-yield explosives? One or two hits will drain it completely. And if you don’t manually retract it, the armor only recedes slowly on its own.”

Next, Li Xiang tapped his wrist again. The watch melted over his hands, forming black gloves.

“Form 2: Abnormal Gloves. Once you grab something, the target can’t break free unless they destroy your hand. Post-merge, it’s not just grip strength—your palms gain adhesive properties.”

“Oh, and it works on feet too.”

Li Xiang touched his feet, and the sludge spread into “boots.” He then walked straight up the wall like a cat, even hanging upside-down from the ceiling.

“Form 3: Abnormal Boots. Enhances jumping power.” Li Xiang dropped from the ceiling, retracted the gloves and boots, then tapped his wrist again. The sludge enveloped his feet.

With a light jump, he effortlessly touched the ceiling. “The original boots boosted jumps by 3-5 meters. Post-merge, max height is 8-10 meters—but I don’t recommend going past 5. The knee strain is brutal.”

“Form 4: Abnormal Shield. Earlier, I demonstrated a circular shield, but you can mold it into any shape.” Li Xiang tapped his wrist repeatedly, and the sludge morphed into squares, rectangles, triangles, and more.

“Form 5: Abnormal Stomach.” Another tap, and Li Xiang pointed at a lab table. The sludge extended like a grotesque maw, “swallowing” the objects on the table, chewing them, then spitting out debris.

“Digestion speed hasn’t improved much post-merge, but honestly? It’s more useful as an extendable ‘hand’ than for eating things.”

He demonstrated a few more times—the “monster mouth” could snatch targets up to five meters away.

“Form 6: Combined Form. Fuses all previous forms, amplifying defense, jumping, digestion, etc. But… it drains energy fast. Not recommended for casual use.”

“I also considered merging your cleaver and the eyeball abnormal into it, but the cleaver’s material is indestructible—couldn’t even extract a sample. It’s definitely the hardest substance on Earth.”

“As for the eyeball, since its effect is blinding the target, I worried merging it might backfire and blind the wearer. That’d render the armor useless, so I didn’t attempt it.”

Li Xiang removed the LiXiang Type-I Armor, letting it revert to its pulsating, rotten state.

“Wear this glove to control the AI. Let me show you how it works…” Li Xiang handed Shen Ge the glove and the armor, then began explaining.

About half an hour later, Shen Ge had mastered the controls and assigned gesture commands for each form, eliminating the need to tap the watch for transformations.

“Any other questions?” Li Xiang asked.

Shen Ge hesitated. “About the armor’s name… any chance we can change it?”

“No.” Li Xiang’s tone was final. Then, he picked up the handgun from the lab table, loaded it, and chambered a round.

“Hey, I was just brainstorming! No need to get serious—” Shen Ge raised his hands in surrender. “So… really no changing it?”

Click.

BANG!

Li Xiang shot Shen Ge point-blank in the chest. Caught off guard, Shen Ge had no time to react—but a tendril of black sludge shot from his wrist, forming a palm-sized “heart guard” that blocked the bullet.

“That’s a hidden AI protocol I coded in. It’ll auto-defend against sudden attacks like gunfire. But AIs aren’t flawless—don’t rely on it too much.”

“…”

You bastard.

“And if the AI had glitched just now? What then?” Shen Ge demanded.

“Uh… a really big funeral?” Li Xiang ventured.

Snap!

Shen Ge activated the armor, encasing himself fully before grabbing Li Xiang by the throat and shaking him violently.

“I’LL GIVE YOU A REALLY BIG FUNERAL!”