The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 134

“Shen Ge!”

Deng Yuqi caught the blood-leather pouch Shen Ge threw to her. She knew he still had the teleportation device he’d taken from “You.”

While pursuing a fleeing enemy is often unwise, and eliminating the mastermind behind the capital’s supernatural disaster was crucial, Deng Yuqi believed the lives of their team members were more important.

Moreover, teleporting directly into enemy territory… if Shen Ge died at the hands of the Twelve Branches, it would be a massive loss for their branch, the entire Special Measures Department, and the nation!

But it was too late for Deng Yuqi to stop him. Shen Ge and the four-armed, eight-limbed creature vanished simultaneously in a flash of white light.

Deng Yuqi opened the blood-leather backpack Shen Ge had thrown her. Inside was a woman’s head wreathed in red aberration mist.

It was common knowledge that Aberration-energy was black. This red Aberration-energy was unknown—whether it was a higher form or something unique to these “humanoid aberrations” of the Twelve Branches.

Either way, the value of this head was self-evident.

Deng Yuqi, familiar with Shen Ge’s character, understood he wanted to eliminate the root of the problem, preventing the Twelve Branches from targeting him from the shadows again.

After all, Shen Ge wasn’t alone anymore.

Boom!
Boom!

At that moment, the comprehensive building collapsed further. Soon, piles of bricks were “pushed up” from below as a massive red aberration emerged. If Shen Ge had been there, he would have recognized it as the aberration that had devoured the Chong aberrations in the containment area.

Deng Yuqi had no time to overthink. She quickly stored the blood-leather backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and prepared for battle.

With only District 5 left unsealed in the capital, they couldn’t let these aberrations break out, or all their previous efforts would be wasted.

“It’s a Tier 3 aberration!” an aberration investigator scanned it with a device. Seeing its powerful Aberration-energy, his face paled.

Before he finished speaking, a figure charged forward with a Zanmato (horse-chopping saber).

“Old Fang!”

Old Fang rushed in with his saber, his ferocity leaving the two young investigators following him speechless.

Are the old-timers always this fierce?
A Tier 3 aberration, and he just charges right in?

Not far away, more aberrations were emerging from underground beneath the ruins of the comprehensive building. While Old Fang and the two others held off the Tier 3 aberration, Deng Yuqi rushed forward to block the two newly “unearthed” aberrations.

Just then, more aberration investigators broke through the aberration-space and entered the central area. Seeing Old Fang and the others locked in a difficult battle, they ignored their injuries and immediately joined the fight.

The seven-member elite squad now had five members successfully at headquarters. Each averaged four pieces of Aberration-energy equipment, more than enough to handle Tier 1 and 2 aberrations. The thorny problem was the Tier 3 aberration, also one of the main aberrations sustaining this aberration-space.

As everyone battled the aberrations, a dazzling white flash erupted from a silver metal device, roughly three meters in diameter, inside a haunted house at the distant Green Lake Wetland Park.

A thick layer of rotting flesh covered the top of the silver device, emitting dense black mist. With the white flash, the flesh sizzled with electrical sparks, and the Aberration-energy dissipated rapidly.

As the white light faded, the figure of the four-armed, eight-limbed creature appeared at the center of the device.

“Leader!”

“Leader!”

Several people dressed in Twelve Branches attire emerged from the side. One opened a case containing a black hooded sweatshirt.

The leader was now more like a “three-headed, five-and-a-half-armed” creature. The face of the young man on the front was cold and grim. Clearly, this operation had cost the Twelve Branches dearly without achieving its ultimate goal.

All thanks to that man!
The Special Measures Department had only one investigator with full-body attached armor—Shen Ge, the one who had ruined the Twelve Branches’ plans twice before!
Most hatefully, this guy had the blood of several Twelve Branches cadre members on his hands and had even chopped off one of the leader’s heads!
The two middle-aged heads on the leader’s left and right slowly shrunk, eventually turning into two red pustules on the sides of his neck. Simultaneously, the blood-hands on his left and right sides retracted into his body, leaving only the two “normal” arms at his shoulders, which slowly lost their reddish hue, returning to a normal skin tone.

The leader reached out, took the clothes from the case, and put them on. After donning the hood, the red character “子” (Zi) on it was particularly conspicuous.

“Any news from Yin, Mao, or You?” the leader asked.

The Twelve Branches were led by twelve cadres: “子 (Zi), 丑 (Chou), 寅 (Yin), 卯 (Mao), 辰 (Chen), 巳 (Si), 午 (Wu), 未 (Wei), 申 (Shen), 酉 (You), 戌 (Xu), 亥 (Hai).”

This operation was led by the leader “子” himself, assisted by five other cadres: “丑”, “寅”, “卯”, “申”, and “酉”.

In other words, this operation mobilized all available Twelve Branches cadres.

“Boss, I’m here.” A figure wearing a hood with the character “卯” (Mao) embroidered on it stepped forward.

“What’s the situation?” The leader looked at Mao.

Mao replied, “The weapon blueprints from the base have all been transferred. There were too many aberrations in the experimental area. Yin and I were outmatched. Yin covered my retreat and was injured. Later… after you took over, boss, we ran into You during our withdrawal. He had found the location of the giant aberration and went to control it to stop the Special Measures Department from entering. Currently… there’s been no word from him.”

A member with the character “刻” on his hood said, “Leader, after Teleporter No. 1 was destroyed, our deployment was completely disrupted. Support was delayed, communications were affected by multiple aberration-spaces, and in the end, we were almost all fighting individually, unable to coordinate.”

The leader couldn’t help but curse, “A bunch of useless fools! The location of Teleporter No. 1 was even more hidden than here. Why was it destroyed?”

“This…” The man was momentarily speechless, unsure how to answer.

The leader snorted coldly, “The items? Were they recovered?”

The man shook his head, “The personnel stationed at Teleporter No. 1 are out of contact. When we got there… the place was already sealed off by the Special Measures Department.”

“Where is Shen?” the leader asked, suppressing his anger.

The man replied, “The Special Measures Department was gathering aberration corpses in an open area in Haicheng District Park for disposal. Team Leaders Chou and Shen led teams to seize the corpses, trying to create a diversion to buy time for you, leader… But the Special Measures Department was well-prepared this time. Team Leader Chou managed to seize two aberration corpses, but his squad suffered heavy casualties. Team Leader Shen… is out of contact.”

“Useless! Useless! Useless!” The leader smashed things in a fit of rage. He couldn’t understand why such a meticulous plan kept failing.

He had thought this operation would cripple the Special Measures Department, allowing them to obtain the research reports and weapon blueprints. Instead, they fell into the enemy’s trap, losing half their cadres.

Yin severely injured, You and Shen out of contact, plus Xu, who was killed earlier by Shen Ge… the Twelve Branches had lost a quarter of its leadership.

Apart from a few weapon blueprints, none of the original objectives were achieved!
In fact, the losses were even greater. To ensure the success of the capital disaster plan, the Twelve Branches had also sent other cadres to attack other branches of the Special Measures Department.

In the assault on the Yanzhou Branch, not only was one cadre seriously injured, but a damaged teleporter was also taken by the Yanzhou Branch.

The leader wondered if the Special Measures Department had intentionally used the capital disaster to counter the Twelve Branches, setting a trap to wipe them out in one fell swoop.
He had many speculations, but he would never guess that the ultimate failure was due to “luck.” The destruction of Teleporter No. 1 was entirely due to Shen Ge’s sudden whim. His original goal was just to give the Twelve Branches a little scare, but the “color” was too strong, directly blowing up the teleporter.

Losing the primary teleporter meant Twelve Branches members trapped in the sealed zone couldn’t withdraw, completely disrupting the plan.

Shen Ge’s accidental actions created this situation, ironically giving the Special Measures Department an opportunity to perform well, allowing the headquarters investigators to fight effectively.

The out-of-contact You was dealt with by Shen Ge, and the headquarters team took out another, Shen.

Although the Twelve Branches failed to get the Haiya Research Institute data, suffering a major loss, the impact of the capital supernatural disaster was far from over. A huge mess was left for the Special Measures Department to clean up.

Supernatural incidents probably couldn’t be suppressed any longer!

The leader was considering whether to manipulate the exposure of aberrations when he suddenly felt a icy cold sensation on his neck.

Thwip!

The next second, a jet of blood sprayed from the leader’s neck, as if an invisible, sharp blade had slit his throat. The force didn’t stop after cutting a gash in the leader’s neck; instead, it struck the same spot several more times, deepening the wound.

“Leader!”

“Leader!”

The change happened too fast. The surrounding Twelve Branches members never dreamed their leader, who was just reprimanding them, would suddenly have his throat slit.

No, it wasn’t just a slit throat. Only when the leader’s head rolled gurgling to the ground did they realize he had been “decapitated.”

Simultaneously with the decapitation, two black Aberration-energy bullets shot from the leader’s vest, piercing his heart and also penetrating the bodies of several people standing in front of him.

This invisible enemy put everyone on high alert. As the leader’s decapitated body fell, Mao took out a remote control and decisively shouted, “Retreat!”

Then, as Mao pressed the remote, the silver teleportation device beeped and flashed red, as if initiating a self-destruct sequence.

The invisible enemy was, of course, Shen Ge. The moment he and the leader pressed the teleport button simultaneously, he immediately activated the “Unseen + Silent” dual attributes.

Everyone only saw a dazzling white flash, mistakenly attributing it to the leader’s bulky figure, not noticing it was two flashes. Shen Ge, playing it safe, used “Collapse” to burrow underground immediately upon arrival. After confirming the leader hadn’t noticed him, he emerged from a corner.

Now, the surprised ones weren’t just the Twelve Branches members; Shen Ge was equally shocked because after decapitating the Twelve Branches leader, he didn’t receive a system notification for the kill.

In other words, this guy might still be alive!

This was Shen Ge’s second time decapitating the leader. He had guessed that these “three-headed, six-armed” or “four-headed, eight-armed” types from the Twelve Branches wouldn’t die easily without having all their heads chopped off. So, during the sneak attack, besides using the butcher knife to decapitate, he also used the Aberration-hunting Revolver to attack the heart.

“Tch, still not dead!” With no prompt from the system, Shen Ge cursed inwardly and decided to deliver one final blow.

Mao had activated the teleporter’s self-destruct system. Shen Ge decided to “help” him. He silently injected fragmentation grenades and shrapnel, tore open the bag containing Xu’s head, and rolled the head, explosives, and Molotov cocktails all over the place.

Shen Ge picked up the head, pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade, threw it, then used “Collapse” on the “wall” to escape the haunted house.

The explosion of the fragmentation grenade instantly detonated the other explosives and Molotov cocktails. The Twelve Branches members trying to flee the corridor didn’t know that fragmentation grenades had been thrown there earlier.

Bang!
Bang!
Bang!

With a series of explosions, the haunted house was instantly blown to rubble.

[Host’s plan was ingenious and brilliant, setting a trap to kill a Tier 2 aberration (Attribute: Two Heads, Four Arms). Reward: System Points x100, Random F-grade Supply x1.]

…

[Host’s strategy was flawless, setting a trap to kill a Tier 2 aberration (Attribute: Two Heads, Four Arms). Reward: System Points x100, Random F-grade Supply x1.]

[Extract rewards?]

Several prompts appeared in a row, but notably absent were notifications for the “three-headed, six-armed” Mao or the “four-headed, eight-armed” Zi. Clearly, these two were still alive.

“Tch, the four-headed, eight-armed guy is down to two heads and five arms now, and he still won’t die. His vitality is ridiculously tenacious!” Just as Shen Ge was considering another way to finish the job, the roar of helicopters sounded in the distance.

Six black armed helicopters and a sky full of drones, a dark mass, flew towards the haunted house.

Headquarters, having received intel earlier about the Twelve Branches’ teleporter location at Green Lake Wetland Park, had dispatched troops to surround the area.

However, Green Lake Wetland Park was twice the size of Haicheng Park, making a thorough search impossible in a short time.

Thus, headquarters ordered troops to seal the periphery, sending in drones and soldiers for a carpet search. The drones picked up the explosion at the haunted house and immediately coordinated with the air force to seal the area first.

Seeing the armed helicopters approach, Shen Ge deactivated “Unseen + Silent,” retracted his armor, putting Little Seven on alert mode. He walked out from behind a shed holding a head in each hand and raising his Special Measures Department ID with the other.

The observers on the armed helicopters identified Shen Ge’s ID. Drones surrounded him first, scanning his credentials.

Headquarters, upon receiving the message, immediately established communication with Shen Ge via drone. Soon after, the rumble of tanks and armored vehicles could be heard approaching.

Upon learning that headquarters had already sent people to Green Lake Wetland Park, Shen Ge, exercising the authority of an aberration investigator during operations to mobilize troops, ordered the tank and air units to surround the haunted house completely. He commanded an “artillery barrage” to flatten the haunted house first.

Headquarters, informed that the Twelve Branches leader and numerous members were still hiding inside, immediately ordered the troops to cooperate with Shen Ge’s operation.

For a moment, Green Lake Wetland Park sounded like a holiday fireworks display as artillery fire rained down, instantly reducing the haunted house to rubble.

Shen Ge had the troops surround the ruins impenetrably—ground forces below, air forces above—not even a fly could escape.

When the Aberration-energy detection team from headquarters arrived, Shen Ge led a search of the ruins, attempting to find the remains of the Twelve Branches leader and cadres.

Unfortunately, after hours of searching, aside from digging up over a dozen corpses of ordinary members, they found no trace of the leader or Mao’s bodies.

Meanwhile, the Fifth District reported a victory. Thanks to the efforts of Deng Yuqi, Old Fang, and others, they successfully eliminated the red Tier 3 aberration, breaking the final aberration-space.

The blockade line advanced further. Investigators from various districts continued leading soldiers from the military, police, and special forces to search for and eliminate aberrations and the Parasitized hiding in the buildings of Haicheng District.

Shen Ge and his team searched Green Lake Wetland Park for two days. It wasn’t until Deng Yuqi and the others, having even cleared the aberrations from the headquarters ruins, arrived to join him that they reluctantly accepted the reality of the Twelve Branches leader’s “disappearance.”

After discussion, Shen Ge and Deng Yuqi decided to hand over the heads of “You” and the leader’s young female head to headquarters. The more intact head of the young man, decapitated when the leader canceled his “four-headed, eight-armed” state, was taken back to the Rong City branch.

The remaining cleanup work wasn’t Shen Ge’s concern. While the capital disaster seemed controlled, the thorny issue wasn’t the residual aberrations or Parasitized, but the complete exposure of “aberrations” to the public.

The nation, even the world, fell into chaos. Although the incident originated in China, years of peaceful life conditioned people to instinctively “obey,” following the arrangements of various departments. Ironically, China became the first country to bring the situation under control.

Even so, it took nearly a month.

By May 7th, lockdowns were gradually lifted across the country. People’s lives slowly returned to normal, gradually accepting the existence of aberrations and the Special Measures Department.

Using the authorities’ comforting words, aberrations were the new era’s “violent criminals.” Upon encountering them, the first thing to do was call the police and contact the Special Measures Department.

Shen Ge’s life this past month had been relatively “leisurely.” Mainly because, after the exposure of aberrations, more talent from the military and police were transferred to the Special Measures Department. The Rong City branch now had eleven aberration investigators.

Furthermore, based on the Haiya Research Institute reports Shen Ge brought back, Li Xiang developed a device capable of detecting faint Aberration-energy within a week of the capital disaster ending.

Simultaneously, as standard Aberration-energy equipment became more common, the Aberration-glove, Aberration-armguard, and bone-cleaver trio became the “standard issue” for investigators.

Therefore, under the leadership of Lin Yin, Potato Skin, and Potato Heart, the new investigators found their purpose. Now, even Tier 1 aberration incidents didn’t require Shen Ge’s intervention, let alone dealing with aberrations that hadn’t yet mutated or were in the process of mutating.

Shen Ge hadn’t spent this month just being lovey-dovey with Cheng Shengnan as a lazy layabout. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but Cheng Shengnan was even busier than him now.

After being promoted to Deputy Director of Logistics, and with the expansion of the Special Measures Department, Cheng Shengnan managed more and more affairs, living a fulfilling life.

With his work taken by newcomers and his girlfriend too busy for him, a certain “layabout” could only spend his days in the lab, assisting Li Xiang in attempting to upgrade the armor.

Only Shen Ge had control over the “LiXiang Type I Armor.” Without him, Li Xiang couldn’t even activate it, let alone upgrade it.

Now, with no shortage of aberration materials and Shen Ge being the branch’s top fighter, it was natural to upgrade the equipment, solve the Aberration-energy charging issue, and attempt to integrate the blood-leather backpack.

After all, the system lacked an “inventory space.” Shen Ge usually relied on the armor’s rotting flesh tentacles to stick equipment to himself.

This was fine for things like the butcher knife, but for items like Aberration-energy canisters, Mental Apples, grenades, and Molotov cocktails, sticking them to his body could make him a target.

While Shen Ge focused on upgrading equipment, Deng Yuqi investigated the Haiya Research Institute. According to headquarters feedback, although the Second Research Institute was established years ago, affected by the sunken First Research Institute, that area developed an aberration-space two years ago and was still under lockdown.

Most importantly, the intelligence on the Haiya Research Institute that Shen Ge brought back was from the “initial” period, before the Second Research Institute was even built.

Whether anyone conducted research covertly after that, the specific situation of the Second Research Institute, what exactly that humanoid aberration remnant was—remained completely unknown!
The past month’s [Logs] made Shen Ge realize how terrifying a true Tier 7 Aberration-domain was. The future Shen Ge, uniting with the Special Measures Department, fought for a month at great cost, sacrificing countless soldiers. Yet, aside from severing a few of the Unseen’s tentacles, they failed to inflict any substantial damage.

Severing a few of the Unseen’s tentacles was like plucking a few hairs from a person—painless and insignificant. Nearly half of Rong City was still occupied by the Unseen, and it was continuously expanding.

Shen Ge couldn’t help the future directly. The only silver lining was that the “Unseen” in his timeline had been absorbed by the system, meaning this world would no longer have the “Unseen” attribute, avoiding the need to face an invisible boss growing to Tier 7.

This solidified his resolve to strangle attribute aberrations in their cradle before they could grow stronger.

Time flew by to May 17th. Early that morning, Shen Ge was awakened by a call from Li Xiang. Research on the Twelve Branches leader’s head had made new progress. They might be able to use the red mist Aberration-energy to successfully upgrade the armor!