The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 109

How was the handover handled?

In truth, when Shen Ge went to the technical department to retrieve the combat armor that day, Li Xiang had indeed mentioned the function of the “chip” and the latest AI technology.

However, since this equipment was designed to combat anomalies, both Li Xiang and Shen Ge had focused primarily on its anti-anomaly capabilities.

“These chips integrate our nation’s most advanced technology—artificial intelligence, voice mimicry, full-language translation, information retrieval… It’s like carrying a supercomputer with you. According to Li Xiang, these were all ‘memorized’ through the anomalous pig brain in the underground containment chamber, making them one-of-a-kind worldwide. Insert the USB drive, and it will automatically authenticate with the chip,” Deng Yuqi explained.

Following Deng Yuqi’s instructions, Shen Ge plugged the USB drive into the wrist device. A black thread of decaying flesh separated and “crawled” to Shen Ge’s left ear, enveloping a small chip to form an earpiece.

Then, Shen Ge heard the AI’s voice through the earpiece: “USB drive detected. Beginning information retrieval.”

After the AI verbally relayed the information related to Lin Yin, a palm-sized screen extended from the center of the wrist device, displaying a map with marked locations.

“This is intelligence from my informants in Korea. The marked location is where Lin Yin last contacted us. Shen Ge, this operation must remain covert. If Korea discovers it and escalates the issue to espionage, we’ll be in a difficult position,” Deng Yuqi said gravely.

“Little Seven, pull up Lin Yin’s personal information,” Shen Ge said to the wrist device.

The AI immediately responded, “Please wait. Retrieving data now.”

“That name… Did you come up with it?” Deng Yuqi asked with a strange expression.

Shen Ge replied seriously, “I wouldn’t dare. I asked Li Xiang how to activate the AI, and he said I just needed to assign a name. But I’m terrible at naming things, so I consulted someone else. I asked Director Chen what the most iconic name in our Special Response Division was, and he said, ‘Little Seven—it’s a name that strikes fear into the hearts of those at headquarters.’”

“Are you sure you and Director Chen weren’t talking past each other?” Deng Yuqi was exasperated.

Shen Ge said, “How could you say that? This AI system represents our nation’s most advanced technology. Of course, it deserves the most iconic name.”

As Shen Ge spoke, the AI “Little Seven” finished retrieving Lin Yin’s personal information. The ID photo in the file showed a delicate-looking young woman.

Her resume was impressive: before joining the Special Response Division, she worked in a factory after graduating from technical school. At 16, she entered the factory, and at 19, Deng Yuqi recruited her. After five years of covert training in the division, she became a junior field agent at 24, making her one of the original members of the Rong City branch.

Now 28, she could independently handle Tier 2 anomaly incidents. In terms of combat ability, without anomaly-energy equipment, she could fight Deng Yuqi to a standstill.

Lin Yin had participated in every anomaly incident since the Rong City branch’s establishment. Veterans like Feng Chengxiu and Ma Chao owed their lives to her several times over.

This was why, after Lin Yin went missing, Deng Yuqi didn’t even inform Chen Ke and only called Shen Ge to her office to discuss the matter.

If Feng Chengxiu and Ma Chao learned their savior was in trouble, they’d risk their lives to storm the research facility and rescue her. That wouldn’t just be a problem for the Rong City branch—it would escalate into an international conflict.

Even now, the old guard was pressuring them to abandon Lin Yin. If things escalated, they might abandon the Rong City branch altogether to “preserve the greater good.”

“Shen Ge, it’s up to you,” Deng Yuqi said earnestly.

“Watch me carry the team!” Shen Ge declared confidently—and he meant it. He fully intended to “carry” his way through Korea’s research facility.

Korea wasn’t even as big as a single province in China, so anything important was likely concentrated in Seoul. According to Lin Yin’s report, the lab storing the research data was in the Seoul base.

For others, infiltrating a base might be difficult, but with “Invisibility + Soundlessness,” Shen Ge could easily sneak in, steal data, swipe a few anomaly corpses, and farm some system points.

Rescuing Lin Yin along the way would earn him favor with the NPCs, turning the Rong City Special Response Division into his personal “safehouse.” Even if he couldn’t stop the apocalypse in three years, he’d at least have a refuge when it arrived.

Deng Yuqi left the room first to ensure the hallway was clear, then guided Shen Ge along a route that avoided surveillance cameras. The path had been preloaded into the USB drive, and Little Seven guided Shen Ge flawlessly, steering him clear of all potential camera angles.

For trickier spots, Deng Yuqi had already arranged for them to be handled.

Shen Ge left the conference hotel without issue. Though it was nearly midnight, the downtown area was still bustling with nightlife.

As he walked, Shen Ge activated the AI’s voice-mimicry function. A black thread extended from his wrist device to his throat, attaching a voice-modulation chip and covering it with a decaying-flesh “tattoo” for disguise.

“Little Seven, simulate the voice of a 30-year-old Korean man to check into a hotel,” Shen Ge whispered.

“Understood. Voice modulation complete.” Little Seven responded in Korean, mimicking the tone and cadence of a Korean man in his thirties.

“Not bad,” Shen Ge remarked. Since the chip was on his throat, the simulated voice sounded as if he were speaking.

“Little Seven, sing a Jay Chou song.”

Little Seven immediately began singing in a pitch-perfect imitation of Jay Chou’s signature slurred delivery:

“…Watch me, fingers relaxed, eyes sharp as a dragon. When the enemy’s weak, my tactics are endless. My offense is like the wind, riding straight into the palace, crushing your despairing face!”

“System, open your eyes and see what a real ‘system’ looks like. You’re just a useless lump!” Shen Ge taunted.

Little Seven’s mimicry was even better than a Jay Chou impersonator. If Shen Ge left it on the street tomorrow, the entertainment industry might crown a new “AI-generated” singing sensation.

Shen Ge made his way to the hotel Deng Yuqi had arranged two blocks away. With Little Seven’s voice modulation, he checked in under his new identity without a hitch.

After entering the room, Shen Ge scanned for hidden cameras or bugs. Finding none, he collapsed onto the bed to rest.

He slept until noon the next day, then began scouting the area. Starting too early would draw suspicion, so he waited until foot traffic picked up.

Lin Yin’s last known location was a downtown mall, where she’d been tailing a target to obtain access codes for the research facility.

Given Lin Yin’s skills, even if she’d been discovered, she wouldn’t have been captured without a fight. Deng Yuqi wanted Shen Ge to search the mall for clues.

[Warning! Host has entered an area with high anomaly activity. Multiple high-tier anomalies have detected the host’s presence! Flee immediately to preserve your life!]

The system’s alert blared as soon as Shen Ge stepped into the mall. Ahead, near the entrance, was a pet store selling hamsters, turtles, rabbits, and other small animals. A crowd of children surrounded the cages, feeding the animals.

Shen Ge noticed faint anomaly energy emanating from the rabbits in the cages—the very ones the children were enthusiastically overfeeding.

“Seriously? Are they trying to stuff them to death?” Shen Ge muttered, watching the kids shove food into the cages.

The anomalies showed no signs of mutation, so Shen Ge saw this as a prime opportunity to farm points.

As he entered the store, the system warned again:

[Warning! Host has been locked onto by multiple anomalies. Do not recklessly enter an anomaly nest!]

An anomaly nest?

That suggested the number of future-anomalous animals here was significant. Shen Ge eyed the cages.

“Sir, what kind of pet are you looking for?” a clerk asked in Korean.

Shen Ge didn’t understand, but Little Seven responded automatically. The clerk smiled and gestured for him to browse, eagerly offering recommendations.

With Little Seven handling the conversation, Shen Ge focused on selecting animals with faint anomaly energy.

After weaving through the store, he triggered the “Braving the Anomaly Nest” reward three times, netting 150 system points.

He then used Deng Yuqi’s “operational funds” to place a deposit and had the clerk deliver the animals to Deng Yuqi’s room.

[Host’s fearless valor in subduing ten Tier 1 anomalies rewards 50 system points.] x3

Shen Ge was used to the system’s delayed notifications, so he milked the opportunity by “helping” the clerk pack the animals, earning another 150 points.

In just this short time, he’d gained 300 points, bringing his total to 2,431. If he didn’t get a chance to spend them during this mission, he’d find an opportunity later.

Leaving the pet store, Shen Ge continued through the mall, following Little Seven’s markers to the café where Lin Yin had disappeared.

Ordering a coffee, he sat and observed.

Given Lin Yin’s combat skills, if she’d been captured here, it wouldn’t have been without a struggle—at least half the mall would’ve been wrecked.

If Shen Ge were caught during infiltration, he’d at least give the Seoul Fire Department some overtime by torching the place.

While Shen Ge searched for clues, Deng Yuqi was in her room working when a knock interrupted her. Expecting a colleague, she opened the door to find two pet store employees in uniform, offering polite smiles.

“Excuse me, are you ‘Ms. Seven’?” the male employee asked in Korean.

Deng Yuqi put on a translator earpiece. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“We’re from the ‘Cutie Pets’ store in Gangnam Mall. A customer purchased several pets for you, but the hotel wouldn’t let us bring them up, so we came to confirm with you first,” the employee explained.

Someone bought me pets?

“Sorry, you must have the wrong person. I’m here on vacation and don’t know anyone locally,” Deng Yuqi said skeptically.

The employee handed her a note. Her eye twitched as she read:

“Delivery”
—The Hottest Dude

Rubbing her temples, Deng Yuqi sighed. “Where are the animals?”

“At the hotel entrance.”

“Take me there.”

She couldn’t believe it. Shen Ge had somehow managed to stumble upon a trove of anomalies while casually scouting.

On the way, she knocked on Room 308, summoning Feng Chengxiu, Wang Han, Ma Chao, Zhang Hu, and Zhao Long to help carry the “delivery.”

Though the hotel had a no-pets policy, Deng Yuqi’s status allowed her to negotiate an exception.

The animals Shen Ge had bought were small—mostly hamsters, lizards, and turtles, plus two rabbits the size of a hand.

Back in her room, Deng Yuqi had Li Xiang scan them. As expected, they showed faint anomaly energy, just like the pre-mutation creatures Shen Ge had found before.

The note’s shameless signature left no doubt about the sender. Even a villain wouldn’t be this brazen.

The others assumed the animals were from Deng Yuqi’s informants, unaware Shen Ge was responsible.

“Director, what should we do with these?” Feng Chengxiu asked.

“What else? Find an excuse to take them back as ‘souvenirs,’” Deng Yuqi said.

Li Xiang added, “We’ve run out of pre-mutation materials at the branch. This isn’t much, but it’ll last us a while.”

Deng Yuqi’s expression was complicated. Before Shen Ge joined, even “ten” anomalies would’ve been a windfall. Now, Li Xiang called it “not much.”

Though most of the materials ended up in Shen Ge’s hands, the Rong City branch’s strength had skyrocketed. Even with credit shared across the southwestern divisions, they’d risen to become a top-three branch nationwide.

If Li Xiang’s “Li Xiang Type-I Combat Armor” were revealed, it would cause a global sensation. But for both Li Xiang’s and Shen Ge’s safety, this groundbreaking invention had to remain hidden—for now.

While Deng Yuqi and the others debated the animals’ fate, Shen Ge finished scouting the mall and returned to his hotel for Little Seven to analyze the data.

According to the informants’ intel, the mall had operated normally after Lin Yin’s disappearance, with no closures or renovations. Surveillance footage showed no signs of her being transported from the parking lot.

Smuggling a person out wasn’t hard, but Lin Yin wasn’t just anyone—she was a trained operative who’d spent five years in the Special Response Division.

She was cautious and unlikely to fall for something as simple as drugged food.

At least, that was Deng Yuqi’s assessment. Whether Lin Yin lived up to it remained to be seen, but given Director Chen’s faith in Deng Yuqi’s judgment, it was probably accurate.

Shen Ge suspected the mall might hide an underground lab, a trope straight out of movies and novels.

Before investigating that theory, he had one more stop: Lin Yin’s Seoul apartment. Checking it would reveal whether she’d been compromised.

At dusk, Shen Ge took a taxi to Lin Yin’s neighborhood, disembarking a block away to approach on foot.

The six-story apartment building showed no signs of lockdown. Shen Ge entered the adjacent unit, climbed to the second-floor landing, and confirmed there were no cameras or electronic locks before activating Invisibility.

His weekly and daily rewards had boosted his Spirit stat past 300 (now 301%), allowing five minutes of Invisibility.

He carried five anomaly-energy canisters, though the branch had only produced 13 this month due to shortages.

Five minutes should be enough to search Lin Yin’s third-floor apartment—assuming no ambush awaited.

At Lin Yin’s door, Shen Ge used “Invisible Domain’s” collapse effect to phase inside, leaving him with three and a half minutes of Invisibility.

No surveillance, no bugs. The door lock and subtle traps in the living room suggested no one had entered since Lin Yin left.

Snap.

With a flick of his wrist, Shen Ge’s full-body armor activated. He canceled Invisibility and continued searching.

Even if cameras spotted him now, it didn’t matter. The armor would likely register as an anomaly, and if Korean forces arrived, he could just reactivate Invisibility (and Soundlessness) to slip away.

After turning the apartment upside down, Shen Ge—far more skilled in traps than Lin Yin—located a hidden USB drive sealed beneath the bed’s floorboard.

Like Deng Yuqi’s USB, it was rigged to detonate if inserted into unauthorized devices.

“Little Seven, scan if this USB is compatible with the chip.”

Shen Ge pressed the USB against the wrist device.

“Scanning… The USB is readable. Proceed?”

“Yes.”

The wrist device extended a tendril of flesh to envelop the USB. Three seconds later, a holographic map of Seoul’s downtown projected from it, zooming in on the Gangnam Mall before diving underground.

The mall’s parking garage had three levels, but the map continued past the lowest floor—through a security booth—descending another 30 meters to reveal a tri-level subterranean structure.

“A damn Hive?” Shen Ge muttered. His hunch had been right—the mall hid something below. Lin Yin likely hadn’t vanished in the mall but was captured after infiltrating the underground facility.

After saving the map data, Shen Ge destroyed the USB and left.

He returned to the mall, ate at a barbecue joint, and waited until closing time to head to the parking garage’s lowest level.

Hiding in a secluded spot, he activated Invisibility and crept toward the security booth marked on the map—a large monitoring station manned by six guards, two of whom were armed and smoking outside.

Ordinary security booths didn’t have gun lockers or armed personnel.

“This has to be the entrance,” Shen Ge thought, observing from the shadows. If this booth led underground, someone would eventually pass through.

Four hours later, near midnight, a black sedan pulled up. Three people—two men and a woman—entered the booth.

Shen Ge activated Invisibility and followed.

Inside, the woman spoke to the guards. One pressed a button on a cabinet, opening a hidden floor hatch. The trio descended.

Shen Ge trailed them down a five-minute staircase to a sealed elevator. The woman pressed the bottom button, and the elevator descended for a full minute before opening into a vast hall.

Sucking on an anomaly-energy canister, Shen Ge slipped past the trio’s access card swipe and into the facility.

The lab beyond was bustling with dozens of researchers. Shen Ge wandered invisibly, finding nothing recognizable—just pharmaceutical equipment and indecipherable diagrams.

Eventually, he ducked into an empty restroom stall and deactivated his abilities.

“Little Seven, translate the trio’s conversation from the booth to here.”

A few seconds later, the earpiece replayed their dialogue in simulated voices.

Their talk was mundane—just chatter about an important project needing completion for an upcoming conference.

This underground lab belonged to Korea’s largest conglomerate, staffed by global medical experts. Their research material? Anomaly corpses, supplied by the Korean government—though, in a country ruled by conglomerates, the distinction was meaningless.

Reports indicated they were extracting “healing factors” from regenerative anomalies to create rapid wound treatments.

Testing on mice two weeks ago had backfired: low doses caused mutations, high doses caused explosions.

“If they’re researching anomalies, they must have a containment area,” Shen Ge mused. Perfect for a heist.

“Little Seven, flag any intel on anomalies or Lin Yin.”

“Understood!”

Re-activating Invisibility, Shen Ge resumed his search. For restricted areas, he waited near doors until someone passed through.

This was time-consuming and drained his anomaly-energy canisters. With only two left, he had to hide periodically to recharge—at a sluggish 10% per hour.

After eight hours (and a nap), Shen Ge reached the lowest level.

The first equipment room was stocked with Type-B anomaly-energy canisters. Since they were non-rechargeable, Type-A and Type-B were interchangeable for Shen Ge. He swapped his empties for full ones, restoring his exploration efficiency.

At the deepest containment chamber, the system confirmed three anomalies inside: one Tier 2, two Tier 1.

“Pathetic.” Shen Ge had hoped for at least a special-trait anomaly or a Tier 3. Korea’s small size apparently limited its anomalies too.

He didn’t kill them yet—doing so would alert the facility.

In the archives, Shen Ge had Little Seven record all research files. If this was pharmaceutical research, maybe Tang Jinze or Li Xiang could reverse-engineer an “Internal Injury Recovery Pill.”

Leaving the archives, Shen Ge found a heavily guarded metal door. Peering through its window, he saw a muscular man—easily 6 feet tall, with arms as thick as Shen Ge’s calves—chained in a corner.

Blood matted his hair, dripping steadily. He’d clearly been tortured recently.

“Test subject? Why such heavy chains?” Shen Ge muttered, turning away.

Then he heard a stream of furious Mandarin—delivered in a distinctly southern feminine voice.

Shen Ge froze.

The hulking prisoner looked up, revealing a delicate face incongruous with his build—Lin Yin.

“Big sis, were you Ne Zha in a past life? How the hell did you get so jacked?” Shen Ge groaned.

He retreated to the equipment room, now nearly emptied of its 30+ canisters, and grabbed the remaining ten.

Hiding in a storage closet, he planned his next move: create chaos, free Lin Yin, and escape.

“Guns, explosives, Molotovs.” Releasing the three anomalies should do the trick.

“System, don’t let Little Seven show you up. Give me something good.” Shen Ge prepared to roll for explosives.

“System, 10x draw!”

A lottery wheel appeared in his vision:

[Daily Supplies (50%)]
[Weapons (20%)]
[Consumables (15%)]
[Free Stat Points (10%)]
[Vehicles (4%)]
[??? (1%)]

PS: Higher ratings unlock more categories.

“Wait—what?”

Shen Ge stared. The probabilities had shifted: Daily Supplies dropped from 80% to 50%, while Weapons, Consumables, and Free Points increased. Most importantly, new categories had appeared!

His Tier 1 rating had granted him the ability to see faint anomaly energy. Tier 2’s bonus—aside from +1 Trait Enhancement—was this store upgrade.

Vehicles might seem useless, but spending 100 points for a chance at a car wasn’t bad.

Humming “Congratulations” under his breath, Shen Ge spun the wheel.

Ding-ding-ding—

[Free Points (3%)]
[M134 Minigun + 5,000 rounds]
[Free Points (2%)]
[High-Explosive Grenades x5]
[Molotov Cocktails x20]
[Instant Noodles x2 (cases)]
[Free Points (2%)]
[Free Points (2%)]
[Extendable Batons x2]
[Timed Explosives x3]

“Not bad! Nine free points, 5,000 minigun rounds instead of 1,000, doubled consumables—even the noodles came in two cases. Feeling threatened by Little Seven, System?” Shen Ge teased.

Reviewing the lab’s layout, he’d need 2-3 more bombs to blast through doors during the escape.

With his current haul, single draws were more efficient.

“Draw!”

[Free Points (3%)]

Not bad.

“Draw!”

[Instant Noodles x2 (cases)]

“Forgot my lucky draw BGM. Again!”

This time, he hummed The Gambler’s Entrance Theme.

[K2 Black Panther Main Battle Tank x1]

“…”

BOOM.

A deafening explosion rocked the facility as a green tank materialized before him.

Shen Ge’s jaw dropped.

Alarms blared.

“System, what the hell? A tank counts as a vehicle?!”

Well, technically, yes.

But when he saw “Vehicles,” he’d expected cars or motorcycles—not a goddamn tank on his first try.

How was he supposed to explain this back home? A tank under his bed?

No time to panic. Shen Ge tossed his loot onto the tank, climbed into the turret, and faced a new problem:

He had no idea how to drive a tank.

“Little Seven!”

“Here!”

“Can you drive a tank?”

“Yes.”

Music to his ears. Little Seven extended multiple tendrils to the controls, and soon the tank’s engine roared to life.

Its treads crushed through the wall into the main lab.

“Head to the anomaly containment cells. Blast the doors open and release them. Shoot anything in our way,” Shen Ge ordered.

“Understood!”

As Little Seven piloted the tank toward the cells, Shen Ge manned the machine gun, mowing down guards.

The tank’s armor shrugged off small-arms fire.

But Shen Ge forgot about the hallway dimensions. The K2 Black Panther, though smaller than some tanks, was still too large for the narrow passages leading to the cells.

“Little Seven, hold off the guards here. I’ll blow the doors!” Shen Ge yanked off the wrist device, tossed it into the tank, and activated Invisibility.

At the containment area, he planted timed explosives on the doors and blew the control panel with a grenade.

The doors burst open, releasing gurgling growls as the three anomalies emerged.

Shen Ge sprinted back to the tank, reattached Little Seven, and ordered it to bombard the hallway blocking Lin Yin’s cell.

The lab’s reinforced walls crumbled under the tank’s firepower. Korean forces, unable to flank the behemoth, called in heavier weaponry.

No one knew how a tank had appeared underground, but stopping it was the priority.

At Lin Yin’s cell, the tank provided cover while Shen Ge eliminated the guards and blew the door.

Inside, Lin Yin—bloodied but grinning—looked up:

“Hah! Do Koreans celebrate New Year’s by blowing up their own homes?”

“Lin Yin?” Shen Ge asked.

She frowned. “Who’re you?”

“Director Seven’s new recruit.”

Lin Yin’s eyes lit up. “Oh! You’re the new guy—Xiao Shen? Get these cuffs off! Let’s wreck these bastards! Those two researchers didn’t betray us—the Koreans kidnapped their families!”