The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 142

“Gurgle.”
“Gurgle.”

Yin let out low, swallowing sounds. The next second, he charged at Shen Ge with extreme speed, moving so fast he left an afterimage.

“?”
Bang!

Shen Ge was only stunned for a moment before Yin slammed into him, sending him flying through two walls before being buried under the collapsed rubble.

What surprised Shen Ge wasn’t just Yin’s terrifying speed and strength, but the fact that even after being controlled by “Eerie Eye (Invisible),” he could still accurately pinpoint Shen Ge’s location.

The force of this blow was even greater than a speeding car. It could have severely injured or killed Deng Yuqi, but for Shen Ge, it was just a bit painful.

Rumble!

Shen Ge stood up from the pile of rubble. The armor covering his body flowed like mud, quickly “repairing” itself.

The next moment, Yin charged again.

This was the first time Shen Ge encountered a situation where “Eerie Eye (Invisible)” failed. Could it be that with three heads, it only controlled one?

“Collapse!”

Shen Ge immediately reached out and deployed his intangible domain. Even though Yin was fast, once the direction of his charge was covered by the domain, his body rapidly sank downward.

As half of Yin’s body sank into the floor, Shen Ge charged back at him, driving the Black Bone Dagger into Yin’s forehead, gripping the hilt with both hands and slicing downward.

Simultaneously, the armor on his right arm condensed into a tentacle, snatching back the “Eerie Eye (Invisible)” stuck to Yin’s head.

Since the Eerie Eye had no effect on him, there was no need to keep using it. If this guy escaped with a teleportation device, wouldn’t he be down one Eerie Eye?

Just then, the floor beneath Shen Ge suddenly gave way. Yin’s two arms smashed through the floor, grabbing his ankles, and both of them fell downward.

Bang!
Bang!
Bang!

During the fall, Shen Ge and Yin exchanged blows. The former attacked with the Black Bone Dagger and the Pig-Slaughtering Knife, while the latter’s punches were blocked by intangible barriers condensed from the eerie domain.

Thus, every time Yin’s fist hit Shen Ge, it sounded like “crack, crack,” as if bones were breaking, but it was actually the intangible barriers shattering.

After landing, Shen Ge was unharmed, while Yin was covered in wounds.

“Gurgle.”
“Gurgle.”

Yin opened his mouth and roared. But the moment he opened it, a revolver wrapped in black, rotting flesh was shoved into his mouth.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The eerie energy bullets from the Anomaly-Killing Revolver fired rapidly. Under Shen Ge’s control, they pierced through all three heads. Yet, after being shot, Yin only froze for an instant before all six arms simultaneously reached out to grab Shen Ge.

Shen Ge retreated, raising his hand to spew Black Flame at Yin’s heads.

At the same time, a blade light flashed “swish.” One of Yin’s outstretched arms was severed by Shen Ge’s Pig-Slaughtering Knife, spraying a large amount of black mist-like eerie energy.

“Ah—”

Yin’s three heads opened like the “man-eating flower” heads of the Parasitized, emitting furious roars. Then, he stomped hard and leaped upward.

Boom!

Yin crashed through the ceiling back to the level of Deng Yuqi’s office. Ignoring Shen Ge’s pursuit, he rushed quickly toward the office.

“Hey, running away because you can’t win is going too far!” Shen Ge, wearing the Eerie Leather Boots, jumped up through the hole Yin had made in the ceiling. Yin was too fast; afraid he couldn’t keep up, Shen Ge even activated “Crimson Mist Form.”

But even then, he was much slower than Yin. He only saw Yin break off one of his own arms and charge into Deng Yuqi’s office. The broken arm transformed into a black-spear emitting black mist.

Then, Yin, with his four arms, wielded the black spear and stabbed at the heavy hatch door of the safe room, simultaneously attaching a mechanical device to the door.

It took Shen Ge only a few seconds to jump up and chase into the office, but he was a step too late. As soon as he entered, he heard a loud boom; the hatch door seemed to have been blown open.

Then, the entire office filled with eerie energy black mist. Shen Ge was also sent flying out of the office by a huge impact.

As he flew backward, he seemed to see a flash of white light in the office.

After stabilizing himself, Shen Ge immediately charged toward the safe room. However, there was only a hole a few fingers wide left in the safe room door; the hatch hadn’t been blown open, and Yin was nowhere to be seen in the office.

“Did he teleport?” Shen Ge had a bad feeling. He knocked on the hatch door, calling out for Cheng Shengnan and Deng Yuqi, but there was no response from inside.

Shen Ge used “Crimson Mist Form” to absorb the black mist eerie energy in the room. After converting it, confirming Yin had indeed teleported away, he pulled open a bookcase next to the office and entered the code.

Hiss—

The heavy hatch door slowly opened. Apart from some lingering black mist of eerie energy, there was no sign of Deng Yuqi or Cheng Shengnan inside.

Shen Ge’s expression darkened. While having Little Classmate Seven scan the surrounding eerie energy, he rushed out of the main building.

When he reached the first floor, he saw two assistants from the logistics department running out of a hallway. One of them looked familiar; she seemed to be Cheng Shengnan’s assistant.

“Stop!” Shen Ge called out to them.

Neither of them had seen Shen Ge’s “Crimson Mist Form” before and thought he was a red anomaly. The younger one immediately collapsed in terror, crying and struggling, crawling toward the main entrance on her hands and knees.

Cheng Shengnan’s assistant, however, tried hard to pull the terrified woman up. Shen Ge felt this person’s reaction was somewhat off.

Calm, and expressionless.

Not many people in the branch knew about “Crimson Mist Form.” While being scared stiff might be an exaggeration for a member of the Special Measures Department, being expressionless was even more suspicious.

Shen Ge reached out. The armor on his left arm immediately turned into a fleshy tentacle, wrapping around Cheng Shengnan’s assistant and pulling her over.

Shen Ge had only been suspicious, but upon pulling her closer, he indeed found a fist-sized red pustule on her neck.

Bang!

Shen Ge taking advantage of the momentum slammed Cheng Shengnan’s assistant against the wall. The wall collapsed, and the assistant was knocked unconscious.

“Ah—”
“Ah!!!”

The woman on the floor cried and screamed. Shen Ge retracted his helmet, revealing his face. “Quiet, it’s me!”

“E-Explorer Shen.” The woman cried even harder. When she first saw Shen Ge, she had been terrified by the armor’s frightening appearance and hadn’t recognized his voice.

“The alarm hasn’t been lifted. Why did you leave the safe room?” Shen Ge’s left arm tentacle still held Cheng Shengnan’s assistant by the neck as he dragged her over to the woman.

“W-we were hiding in the safe room together, her and me. Sh-she said the gunfire outside had stopped and w-we should come out and look. Xiao Li, she…” The woman stammered her answer, wanting to ask about Cheng Shengnan’s assistant’s condition but swallowing her words upon seeing Shen Ge’s tentacle arm.

Shen Ge said coldly, “This person is a mole. And you, she told you to come out so you did? Didn’t safety training say you must wait for the voice notification before leaving the safe room?”

“Y-yes, it did.” The woman sobbed in reply.

Shen Ge pushed open a nearby office door and glanced inside. “Go hide in there. Don’t come out no matter what you hear.”

“Yes.” The woman quickly scrambled up, leaning against the wall, and ran into the office.

Shen Ge wasn’t sure if there were other moles in the branch. If he encountered Yin again, having this woman with him would be unsafe.

After settling the woman, Shen Ge grabbed “Xiao Li,” Cheng Shengnan’s assistant, by the neck, stomped down, and crashed through a window out of the main building.

The fight outside, led by Lin Yin, was nearing its end. Over a dozen “Ke” members had been killed, and the rest were captured.

After Yin left, the eerie space enveloping the main building disappeared. Shen Ge had someone take “Xiao Li” to the interrogation room for questioning.

“Explorer Shen, where’s the Director?” Lin Yin came forward and asked.

Shen Ge said, “When I got to the Director’s office, the Twelve Branches’ captain ‘Yin’ was attacking the safe room hatch. If it were just the Director, she probably wouldn’t have chosen to retreat into the safe room. Most likely, she was with Cheng Shengnan or someone else. But after I drove off Yin and opened the hatch, there was no one inside.”

“No one?” Lin Yin was stunned by this answer.

Shen Ge said, “Yin used teleportation to escape. He also used an eerie energy device and a strange mechanical device to try and break into the safe room. The Director was probably teleported too.”

“Explorer Shen, what should we do now…” Lin Yin’s expression darkened. With Deng Yuqi missing, Shen Ge held the highest actual authority in the branch.

“Earlier, I caught Cheng Shengnan’s assistant ‘Xiao Li.’ She had the Twelve Branches’ characteristic red pustule on her neck. Gather everyone and check their necks,” Shen Ge said in a low voice.

“Yes!”

Lin Yin knew Shen Ge wanted to investigate secretly. Together, they first confirmed that Feng Chengxiu and others were clear, then had them gradually check everyone else.

Half an hour later, everyone living in the dorms and on standby had been checked. Three people were missing, and one other, like “Xiao Li,” had a large pustule on their neck.

Shen Ge had Little Classmate Seven review the Special Measures Department’s surveillance records but found no evidence of when these two had been “replaced.” Interrogation also yielded no useful information.

Based on previous encounters with the Twelve Branches’ teleportation devices, Shen Ge deduced the teleportation distance was likely around Rong City. He ordered the military and police to conduct a city-wide search.

The Twelve Branches’ abilities were as varied and unpredictable as anomalies themselves. In just over two months, they had come up with new tricks.

Even though the Rong City branch had been extremely careful and thorough in its defense, they had still found a way in.

Shen Ge had prepared many good items for Cheng Shengnan, even a life-saving “trump card” that could protect her briefly and allow Little Classmate Seven to lock onto her position.

But it seemed Cheng Shengnan hadn’t used it. Shen Ge guessed she was probably with Deng Yuqi, so for now, she was safe.

Even so, they couldn’t let their guard down. They had to find the teleportation location quickly.

After four hours of city-wide search, the detection team of the Special Measures Department was the first to detect an eerie space reaction at Deer Lake Waterfront. Shen Ge, Lin Yin, and others rushed over and indeed detected multiple eerie spaces.

“Explorer Shen, I’ll go in with you,” Lin Yin said.

Shen Ge said, “No, I’ll go in first. You stay on standby outside.”

“With Chen Ke and the others outside, there won’t be a problem. The Twelve Branches clearly came prepared this time. We’re not comfortable with you going in alone,” Lin Yin said.

Shen Ge glanced at Feng Chengxiu and others assisting with setting up the cordon. “We still don’t know exactly what the Twelve Branches want. Chen Ke and Xiao Dou will guard the branch. The city still needs you to protect it. If we all go in, it would be dangerous if a high-tier anomaly appears.”

“But…” Lin Yin was still somewhat worried. After all, Deng Yuqi was likely trapped in this eerie space, and the detector had detected at least three overlapping eerie spaces.

“Report!” At that moment, a soldier from the information department came forward urgently. “Explorer Shen, Explorer Lin, we’ve received reports of anomalies appearing in all five urban districts requesting support!”

Lin Yin’s expression changed upon hearing this. It was exactly what she feared.

Although Shen Ge had anticipated that the Twelve Branches’ goal wasn’t simply to attack the Rong City branch, causing anomaly incidents in five districts simultaneously felt like a prelude to the capital’s anomaly disaster.

The Twelve Branches might have had motives for creating the capital’s disaster, but the Rong City branch was poor; the most valuable things were on Shen Ge himself.

If they wanted him, they could lure him out and target him alone. There was no need for such a large-scale operation.

What benefit did creating an anomaly disaster bring them?

Shen Ge gave Lin Yin a few instructions, telling her to form several anomaly combat teams with Tu Doupi, Yang Yuxing, and other elite anomaly investigators to handle the incidents in the city first. He would handle Deer Lake Waterfront. They needed to suppress the anomaly incidents quickly to avoid a disaster like the capital’s.

Shen Ge arranged the work for the elite investigators, handed command over to Chen Ke, and stepped into the multiple eerie spaces of Deer Lake Waterfront.

Shen Ge appeared on the villa island in the center of the artificial lake. Looking at the dim lake water, withered plants, and Parasitized wandering around, he felt a sense of familiarity.

The multiple eerie spaces with accelerated time flow from the Chongqing incident.

The capital’s anomaly disaster, with hundreds of thousands of citizens controlled by the parasite anomaly…

Suddenly, the information related to the Twelve Branches and anomalies in Shen Ge’s mind seemed to connect. He seemed to have “guessed” the Twelve Branches’ intention!

The Chongqing incident was Shen Ge’s first experience with multiple eerie spaces. At that time, the Twelve Branches hadn’t surfaced yet, and they thought it was a problem with the pet market.

But now it seemed likely the Twelve Branches were behind it, creating that disaster to test multiple eerie spaces.

After that, complex multiple eerie spaces appeared in the capital’s disaster. There, the Twelve Branches tested the parasite anomaly, creating a large number of Parasitized.

After that, the strength of the Twelve Branches’ captains increased rapidly. “Yin” had mutated like an anomaly, his combat power almost catching up to the four-headed, eight-armed leader.

Besides the leap in physical prowess, most importantly, “Yin” also gained the ability to envelop the main building in an eerie space.

In other words, every time the Twelve Brances caused trouble, their anomalous abilities kept changing. Clearly, the “tests” conducted during each disaster were successful.

Shen Ge guessed that the Twelve Branches’ actions in Rong City this time were likely testing some anomaly-related ability again. He had to find Deng Yuqi and Cheng Shengnan quickly.

Just as Shen Ge was about to start searching through the villa area, the system suddenly issued a series of prompts.

[Warning! Host has entered a multiple eerie space region. Scanning eerie space now.]

[Scanning—]

[Current multiple eerie space layers: 3]

[Current multiple eerie space maintainers: Tier 5 anomaly (Trait: Three Heads, Six Arms), Tier 3 anomaly, Tier 3 anomaly.]

[Marking anomalies in current region—]

As this system prompt sounded, a green information screen, similar to a status panel, appeared before Shen Ge’s eyes, gradually displaying a map of Deer Lake Waterfront.

On the map, the villa island in the center of the lake was covered in a thick black mist, labeled [Tier 5 Anomaly (Trait: Three Heads, Six Arms)].

The center of the artificial lake to the east was marked [Tier 3 Anomaly]. The area covered by its black mist was larger than the island’s, but the concentration was lighter, at least allowing a view of the surrounding environment’s layout, unlike the island’s map, which was completely shrouded in black mist, making even the number of villas invisible.

At the very bottom of the map, the south gate of Deer Lake Waterfront was marked [Tier 3 Anomaly], with an even lighter concentration of black mist than the artificial lake.

The locations of the Tier 3 and Tier 3 anomalies had a red dot the size of a fingernail marking them, but the villa area on the island only had black mist, no large red dot.

[Scanning anomalies now—]

After the system reminded again densely packed small red dots appeared on the map. Shen Ge looked toward the greenery belt near the villa ahead according to the nearest few small red dots and saw exactly four Parasitized wandering aimlessly.

“Could this be the new function of the system’s Tier 3 evolution? The ability to scan eerie spaces and mark anomalies not exceeding the system’s level?”

The [Map] function could be zoomed in and out. Zooming in allowed a clearer view of the location and number of small red dots.

Shen Ge roughly counted: fourteen Tier 1 anomalies, and the number of Parasitized was in the four digits, dense-packed everywhere.

“Good grief, system, have you finally stepped up?” Shen Ge had complained more than once about the system’s lousy warnings and its inability to scan anomaly locations, worse even than Little Classmate Seven.

He never expected that after reaching Tier 3 evolution, it could directly scan the map within the eerie space and mark the locations of anomalies.

[Within the current multiple eerie space, a new crisis mission has been detected—]

[Crisis Mission: You are currently within a multiple eerie space created by a Tier 5 anomaly (Trait: Three Heads, Six Arms). Influenced by the Tier 5 anomaly, many low-tier anomalies roam here, making it extremely dangerous! Please eliminate all anomalies in the shortest time possible and kill the Tier 5 anomaly (Trait: Three Heads, Six Arms).]

Time Limit: — None. Note: When killing the Tier 5 anomaly (Trait: Three Heads, Six Arms), you must ensure all low-tier anomalies in the entire eerie space have been eliminated.

Reward: Trait Enhancement Point x1, System Points x1000.

“?”

Holy crap?

Trait Enhancement Point?

System, you’ve really stepped up!

However, the number of anomalies in the current eerie space was too high, and they were too scattered. Cleaning them all up would probably take considerable time.

The primary goal now was definitely to ensure whether Cheng Shengnan was here and safe.

Shen Ge wondered if there was a way to gather all these low-tier anomalies while also attracting Cheng Shengnan and Deng