The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 160

At an intersection about a kilometer from Tokyo Tower, several giant anomalies were locked in combat. The fantasy of Ultraman battling monsters had finally become a reality on Japanese soil.

Shen Ge, however, was clearly not one to let a good crisis go to waste. He lured one anomaly after another into the fray. After all, this was happening on Japanese turf; no matter how much chaos he stirred up, no one would hold him accountable.

“Inspector Shen!”

Just as Shen Ge emerged from a cluttered street, a familiar figure came running towards him.

After receiving Shen Ge’s message, Fang Mingyue had immediately joined the “anomaly-herding” effort and had lured a Tier 3 anomaly from the eastern district over.

The equipment Fang Mingyue carried offered “mobility” not much worse than Shen Ge’s Anomaly Leather Boots. With her versatile, shape-shifting Anomaly Bone Staff, her grappling gun, and the bouncy pneumatic pads of her Anomaly Leather Armguards, she navigated effortlessly between the buildings in the district.

“This way!” Shen Ge leaped down from a building, a tentacle extending from his arm to wrap around a nearby stone pillar, then swung himself onto the main street.

Shen Ge had intended to wait for Fang Mingyue to arrive, then use his tentacles to carry them both to a distant rooftop, leading the Tier 3 anomaly chasing her into the main battle zone.

But Fang Mingyue, swinging over with her grappling gun, showed no sign of stopping. Instead, she scooped Shen Ge up mid-swing and carried him onward.

“…”

Fang Mingyue obviously didn’t notice Shen Ge’s subtle expression, and subconsciously asked, “Detective Shen, why did this strange fog suddenly disappear?”

Shen Ge replied, “The support team just messaged. The Japanese side used some kind of Anomaly Energy Fog-Dispersing Shells that can clear the fog for a short time.”

“I see.” Fang Mingyue nodded. Following Shen Ge’s directions, she landed on a building, and the two of them worked together to lure the Tier 3 anomaly into the ongoing battle.

Fang Mingyue asked, “Should I go and lure the anomaly from Eastern District 2 over now?”

Shen Ge used his [Map] to confirm the locations of the anomalies maintaining the Seven-Fold Anomaly Space. The original plan was to gather all seven together to break the anomaly space.

He was about to nod when his communicator buzzed with a new message. Opening it, he found a report from Luo Jing about the underground facility, specifically highlighting the issue of the surveillance monitors.

“An underground facility similar to the one in Korea?” Shen Ge’s interest was instantly piqued. It wasn’t surprising that countries worldwide were conducting secret research since the appearance of anomalies.

But with the emergence of the Twelve Branches, this mysterious organization’s research into anomalies was second to none globally.

Not even China or the US, with their rapidly advancing anomaly research, could confidently claim their understanding surpassed that of the Twelve Branches.

Take “human experimentation,” for example. China had learned this lesson the hard way, suffering significant losses before strictly prohibiting continued research in this area.

Yet the Twelve Branches hadn’t just succeeded; their so-called “Zihao Captains” were brazenly using the “results” of their human experiments to wreak havoc worldwide.

Could a single “organization” like the Twelve Branches truly achieve a level far surpassing the rest of the world? This was something Shen Ge had never quite understood.

Until the exposure of the Haiya Research Institute. It occurred to Shen Ge that the Twelve Branches didn’t necessarily need to run their own research facilities.

They could easily plant their people within various national research institutes through various means, whether as researchers or even test subjects.

“Inspector Shen, is there a problem?” Fang Mingyue asked, noticing Shen Ge staring distractedly at his communicator.

Shen Ge said gravely, “Luo Jing just reported an underground research facility beneath the Tokyo Tower area. The control room inside has surveillance over a large area. Apparently, it’s a research base built earlier by the US in collaboration with Japan. As for what they were researching… Luo Jing hasn’t figured that out yet. But… I suspect this place has some connection to the Twelve Branches. Otherwise, I can’t think of who else would turn their own city into a testing ground like this.”

“Then… should we head to the underground facility now?” Fang Mingyue asked.

Shen Ge nodded.

The two jumped down from the shop roof onto the street. The surrounding infected immediately turned their grotesque and terrifying heads towards them and began converging on their position.

Shen Ge had Little Seven analyze and scan the information sent by Luo Jing, then cross-reference it with the [Map], quickly identifying a route.

Fang Mingyue, watching the dense swarm of human-headed balloons flying in the sky, said urgently, “Inspector Shen, the commotion from these infected is attracting the aerial balloons.”

Shen Ge suspected these human-headed balloons were a new type of parasitic anomaly developed by the Twelve Branches. He had seen several survivors being chased by them.

A tentacle-like rope hung beneath each balloon. When this tentacle ensnared a survivor, it would strangle them, then haul the corpse into the air. The balloon would then open a large, bloody maw, swallow the body, and the balloon’s face would transform into that of the consumed victim.

Shen Ge had noticed that anything originating from the Twelve Branches always had traces linking back to them.

“Don’t waste time on them. Let’s go.” Shen Ge extended a tentacle from his left arm, its tip forming an Anomaly Stomach that bit into a distant stone pillar, pulling him forward.

Another tentacle from his other arm wrapped around Fang Mingyue’s waist. She was accustomed to this mode of “transport” and knew how to stabilize herself using the tentacle’s support.

They were effectively retreating through the “air,” which attracted the attention of a large number of human-headed balloons. The low-level anomalies and infected on the ground also had no intention of letting them escape, swarming towards the direction of their retreat.

Just then, a series of popping sounds echoed in the air. Fang Mingyue looked up and saw a giant balloon floating towards them.

Calling it a human-headed balloon wasn’t quite accurate, as its head was cube-shaped, with numerous tentacle-like filaments drifting beneath it.

Wherever this large “balloon” passed, it swallowed the surrounding human-headed balloons. As it consumed more, the square-faced anomaly grew larger and larger.

“Inspector Shen, there’s a big one,” Fang Mingyue called out.

Shen Ge replied in a calm tone, “There’s an even bigger one further away.”

Before his words faded, a earth-shaking roar erupted, and a distant building collapsed. A colossal figure burst forth from the ruins.

“Tsk, this thing looks really unique, like an alien hybrid.” Shen Ge complained and deliberately stayed on the roof for a few seconds.

The airborne “Square Head” immediately floated towards them, and the giant anomaly on the ground also noticed Shen Ge and the aerial Square Head.

Shen Ge had simply chosen the shortest route to leave, but he had inadvertently drawn out the remaining two high-tier anomalies.

Perfect. Now all seven high-tier anomalies were gathered near Tokyo Tower. Probably, even before this anomaly disaster ended, plans for Tokyo Tower’s reconstruction could already be drawn up.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The giant anomaly charged towards Shen Ge with massive steps, crushing buildings, bricks, and rubble that stood in its path into powder.

Using his Anomaly Leather Boots and tentacles, Shen Ge carried Fang Mingyue over the streets crowded with infected. The giant anomaly and the Square Head collided. The allure of the Tier 3 anomaly’s energy clearly outweighed the temptation posed by Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue. Without any further provocation needed, the two anomalies began fighting.

In just over ten minutes, the entire district was reduced to ruins.

By this time, Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue, following the route provided by Little Seven, arrived at an electronic components factory near Tokyo Tower.

Entering the factory, they were immediately hit by a nauseating stench of decay and blood. Pushing open a large iron door further in, they found a workshop spanning several hundred square meters, piled high with the corpses of infected who had been skinned. Low-level anomalies were feasting on the bodies.

This place was like a factory for feeding anomalies. Various kinds of anomalies, centipedes being the majority, were present in numbers enough to trigger trypophobia.

Shen Ge had no intention of wasting time on these anomalies. He and Fang Mingyue skirted around them and made their way to the innermost office.

The area around the office was also piled with skinned corpses, thrown there like feed for the anomalies to consume.

Entering the office, the environment instantly reminded Shen Ge of the disguised toll booth monitoring room in Korea. Monitors showing the factory surroundings covered the wall. Several headless corpses lay slumped over the control consoles, long dead.

“Search the area. There should be some mechanism like an elevator here,” Shen Ge said. While he could use Collapse to reach the underground directly, without knowing the depth, taking an elevator was preferable.

Both were veteran agents of the Special Countermeasures Department, so finding hidden mechanisms was second nature to them. Soon enough, they found a switch in the corner, revealing an elevator leading underground.

Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue took the elevator to the lowest level. Outside was a long, narrow corridor, with a locked hatch at the end.

Shen Ge didn’t know the password, but with his Intangible Anomaly Domain active, he simply used “Collapse” to pass through the door. For him, keys were unnecessary.

The spacious laboratory area gave Shen Ge a distinct sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of the underground lab base in Korea. He and Fang Mingyue began searching the area, discovering that this was a base dedicated to human experimentation.

To speed up the search, Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue split up, entering corridors on the left and right. Shen Ge used “Collapse” again to pass through a wall into a sealed room. Inside, he found hundreds of surgical tables, each bearing a skinned corpse, but none of the bodies were intact.

Shen Ge even recognized familiar “anomaly” body parts among them—rotted flesh, tentacles, various flesh-petal heads, and so on.

Shen Ge had Little Seven photograph the laboratory’s contents and transmit them, along with the experimental reports, back to the branch office. Whether the Special Countermeasures Department used this information to extort Japan or for some other political maneuver was beyond Shen Ge’s concern.

Meanwhile, Fang Mingyue found a similar laboratory. Suppressing her revulsion, she proceeded to a room at the far end, which appeared to be a management office. The room contained at least a hundred monitors, all currently dark.

Fang Mingyue searched the room and found a map of the laboratory and an access card. Following the map’s indicator for the main control room, she located the backup power switch.

Click.

Fang Mingyue turned on the backup power. The lights in the laboratory area flickered on. When she returned to the office, the surveillance feeds on the wall also activated.

Unlike the main control room where Luo Jing was, which primarily monitored the city above, the feeds Fang Mingyue found showed scenes from within the underground facility.

One particular feed made Fang Mingyue’s scalp crawl. It showed a laboratory holding thousands of infected individuals.

The restoration of power and the sounds of various instruments starting up had awakened the previously dormant infected.

They were frantically pounding on the laboratory’s blast-proof glass, the walls, and even cannibalizing each other.

Simultaneously, various mechanical devices in the laboratory sprang to life—skinning, deboning, dissecting, and dismembering—creating a scene straight out of the deepest pits of hell, horrifying to behold.

As Fang Mingyue wasn’t part of the research staff, she only knew how to activate the power, not how to control the machines or activate the defense systems.

The awakened parasites broke through the blockade of the experimental area and poured into various parts of the research institute. Fang Mingyue was blocked in the office area.

She and Shen Ge had chosen to search the underground labs separately and hadn’t planned to regroup so soon. After informing Shen Ge of the situation via communicator, Fang Mingyue used the map to find the administrator’s emergency escape route and used it to access another section of the laboratory.

But before she could get far, the infected and anomalies pouring into the lab area broke down the office door and pursued her into the escape passage.

Seeing the infected dropping into the escape passage one after another like dumplings into a pot, Fang Mingyue lost all desire to fight and simply ran forward.

BOOM!

With a loud crash, the floor of the office area even collapsed under the weight of the surging infected, sending more and more of them tumbling into the lower levels.

The power supply in the lower area does not seem to be the same as that in the upper area. The power supply in the upper area has been restored, but it is still pitch black below. The passages are complicated and there will be a fork in the road after running for a distance.

After running a distance, Fang Mingyue found emergency lights spaced at intervals, providing just enough illumination to see the path ahead.

Reaching the end of a corridor, she found a locked gate. Lacking Shen Ge’s wall-phasing ability, she had to resort to the simplest method:

Demolition.

Using explosives would inevitably attract all the nearby infected, but Fang Mingyue had no choice. She took several explosives from her pack, set them at the gate, and blew it open. A dark passageway was revealed, branching left and right, with a staircase leading directly downwards ahead.

Hearing the rising and falling sounds of monstrous swallowing and the approaching infected behind her, Fang Mingyue didn’t hesitate and chose to go down the stairs.

She turned on her flashlight and descended the dark staircase. Feeling spiderwebs on the iron handrail, she shone her light on it, revealing extensive rust.

According to the information Luo Jing passed to Shen Ge, Grotz claimed this place had only been abandoned for two or three years. Given Japan’s technological level post-2020, especially for an underground facility built to research anomalies, it was impossible for it to fall into such a state of decay, resembling a building abandoned for over a decade, in just a few years.

“Could this be an anomaly space with distorted time?” Fang Mingyue immediately considered this possibility, as it was one of the most common characteristics of anomaly spaces.

Fang Mingyue reached the bottom of the stairs. Ahead was a sealed iron door. She swept her flashlight around, confirming the absence of traps, then tried pushing the door.

With a grating screech, the door swung open.

Fang Mingyue’s flashlight beam found a switch on the wall. She pressed it, and with a series of soft clicks, energy-saving lights flickered on one after another overhead.

The place appeared to be a long-abandoned warehouse. Items originally stored here had been cleared out, leaving only a few large, container-like iron boxes in the corners.

The ceiling was covered in cobwebs, and a thick layer of dust settled on the broken wooden boxes piled in the corner. The floor tiles were loose and creaked when stepped on, creating a dead, gloomy feeling like a dark basement. It seemed like the place had been abandoned for a long time, and the air was filled with a strong smell of dampness.

There were several corpses in the corner of the underground warehouse, but they were already dry and had been gnawed away, as if they had been eaten by some canine animal. In addition, there were many body parts scattered around the warehouse, such as hands, feet, and half-body parts.

The entire warehouse was filled with dampness and the stench of death, enough to make one gag.

Fang Mingyue looked around and heard a faint scraping sound coming from one of the containers in the corner, like the noise of some animal moving.

She cautiously approached the iron container and peered through a crack in the door. Inside coiled a giant centipede, its body covered in blood-red, lumpy tumors!

Fang Mingyue slowly backed towards the warehouse entrance, then gently closed the iron door. She estimated the centipede’s tier to be around 2-3. She didn’t even want to risk verifying it with an Anomaly Energy Detector. Since it hadn’t noticed her, the best course was to make a quick escape.

As Shen Ge had said, their purpose here wasn’t to pick fights with disgusting anomalies, but to find clues related to the Twelve Branches and intelligence concerning this anomaly disaster.

After all, based on Shen Ge’s speculation, since Tokyo Tower was one of the two most severely affected areas in the Takaguchi City anomaly disaster, and there happened to be an underground research facility here, there must be some connection.

Shen Ge even suspected that whether it was the four-armed, eight-armed leader of the Twelve Branches or the frequently disruptive Zihao Captains, they might just be a “facade.”

The real “Twelve Branches” might be right beside them, possibly within China’s Special Countermeasures Department, or Korea’s Anomaly Response Department, or Japan’s anomaly department…

Perhaps the “Twelve Branches,” seizing the opportunity presented by the emergence of anomalies, had long since infiltrated the anomaly-fighting departments of various countries unnoticed.

Otherwise, how could one explain why “research labs,” potential time bombs, were established within cities like Seoul in Korea, Takaguchi in Japan, and even Daijing and Rong City in China?

Daijing City and Takaguchi City were prime examples. Once the anomaly departments were breached, it inevitably escalated into a full-blown anomaly disaster!

Rong City might have also experienced a major anomaly disaster, but unfortunately for the Twelve Branches, their assault wasn’t strong enough, or perhaps they tried but were ultimately thwarted by Shen Ge and Deng Yuqi.

After the first sneak attack on the Rong City branch, Deng Yuqi had invested heavily in defenses. Even if the Twelve Branches had infiltrated, they couldn’t shake the foundation.

These repeated “incidents” made Shen Ge realize that perhaps the “Twelve Branches” they had been pursuing had no fixed target.

Because they might be hiding within the anomaly organizations of various countries themselves!

After leaving the underground warehouse, a sense of foreboding washed over Fang Mingyue. A thought struck her.

The underground warehouse was sealed. Apart from a few ventilation shafts sealed with iron bars, there were no other entrances or exits.

And before she entered, the main warehouse door had been locked.

How did that giant anomalous centipede get inside?

Was it intentionally reared there by the researchers, with failed experimental subjects being fed to it as food?

That would provide the underground facility with a method for disposing of bodies while also allowing them to cultivate a powerful anomaly for research.

Tch.

Indeed.

Humanity’s greatest enemy will always be its own insatiable “thirst for knowledge.”

After discovering this secret, Fang Mingyue immediately reported the situation to Shen Ge via communicator. At the same time, in Area 1, Shen Ge had stumbled upon a terrifying experimental plan document.