The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 163

Midnight.

A mixed-use office building near Tokyo Tower.

Xiao Cheng, the support team from Korea, Natsumi’s group, and the missing support personnel from several vehicles earlier were all gathered, resting in an office area on one of the floors.

In the dimly lit corridor, corpses lay strewn everywhere – some were combat personnel, others were strange humanoids and weird entities. Bright red blood mingled with black blood, pooling across the floor, looking especially horrifying under the flickering light of the corridor lamps.

Inside the office area, Xiao Cheng stayed alone in a corner, while the others gathered in small groups.

Thirty minutes ago, everyone here had been “one big, happy family.” Many firmly believed they had come for the future of humanity, to help Japan resolve this supernatural disaster and nip the unknown threat in the bud.

However, when Japan deployed their supernatural energy dispersal bombs to temporarily clear the pervasive fog, they also attracted the monsters lurking within it. The group was forced to fight while retreating, and only then did they learn that “the ship of friendship can capsize in an instant.”

Because the parasitized individuals and the strange humanoids were highly sensitive to sound, the support team’s battles with the weird entities inevitably involved gunfire and explosions, which attracted more and more enemies.

Even though there were experts among them capable of taking on a hundred foes alone, their flesh-and-blood bodies couldn’t withstand the relentless onslaught of these fearless, death-defying humanoids.

It was at this point that some, in order to escape the encirclement, didn’t hesitate to lead the hordes of humanoids towards their “allies,” just to buy themselves a chance to survive.

There were also those like Gletz, who had impure motives for entering Takaguchi City from the start and seized this opportunity to break away from the main group and stir up trouble in the shadows.

The support team’s numbers dwindled with each battle. Under the control of the green-robed figure, the humanoids and weird entities successfully drove the remaining supporters into this building.

“Aish, we risked our lives coming to Takaguchi to help you resolve this supernatural disaster, and this is how you treat us? Turning on us at the last moment? Is selling out your allies all you’re good at?” Park Jung-hwan, the leader of the Korean support team, pointed at the Anti-Weird agent beside Natsumi and cursed loudly.

That person was the deputy leader of Japan’s reception team, named Watanabe Natsuhara, also Watanabe Natsumi’s older brother. Although he had joined the Anti-Weird Response Department alongside his sister, he ultimately ended up a rank below her.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that Watanabe Natsuhara was somewhat wronged by Park Jung-hwan’s tirade.

During the retreat into the Tokyo Tower district, an Anti-Weird agent from America faced hundreds of supernatural centipedes and deserted his post. Using a supernatural energy device that allowed brief flight, he escaped into a nearby building. The position he was supposed to hold was left empty, forcing Watanabe Natsuhara to face weird entities and humanoids from two directions.

Clearly not powerful enough to handle that, Watanabe Natsuhara could only fight while retreating, trying to join forces with Natsumi to break through from one direction.

His retreat shifted the pressure onto the Korean support team. In the end, they lost two Anti-Weird agents before Park Jung-hwan and the others managed to withdraw into the building.

Faced with Park Jung-hwan’s provocation and questioning, Watanabe Natsuhara obviously had no desire to argue. He was quietly discussing something with Natsumi.

“I heard Japan has recently developed several types of supernatural energy potions. There are so many wounded here; shouldn’t you bring them out to treat everyone?” said an agent from an international Anti-Weird organization.

“Yeah, we came risking our lives to support you, and you won’t even share a little of the supernatural energy potions? This is really disheartening!”

“Exactly!”

“Hey, Japan, are you really not even willing to provide medicine?”

“…”

For a moment, the office area was filled with questions from various countries, regardless of whether Sakura’s elites could understand the strange agents and combat personnel.

Seeing the growing resentment, Natsumi stepped forward and said, “Everyone, it’s not that we are unwilling to provide supernatural energy potions for support. It’s that these potions all have certain… negative side effects. We also have many wounded. If these potions were truly ready for use, would we stand by and watch them die without treatment?”

Natsumi wasn’t just making excuses. This building still housed many humanoids and weird entities. Japan’s combat troops had suffered heavy casualties covering the retreat of the Anti-Weird agents. Furthermore, during the retreat, one of Japan’s own Anti-Weird agents had been severely wounded. If the supernatural energy potions were as “miraculous” as the rumors suggested, the Japanese wouldn’t have simply watched him die.

Even so, many remained unconvinced and demanded that Natsumi produce Japan’s newly developed supernatural energy potions.

“Fine. If you insist on using the supernatural energy potions despite the side effects, we are willing to provide some for your use. But the condition is that they must be used immediately and cannot be taken out of this building.”

Natsumi understood that many people here had ulterior motives. Using the pretext of needing medicine for the wounded, they actually wanted to take the potions back to their own countries for research.

After all, supernatural incidents had been increasing exponentially in recent months. Takaguchi, a central city of Japan, had been wiped out just like that. Who knew if their country would be next?

America had initially partnered with Japan to establish the underground research base in Takaguchi. But back then, supernatural entities were almost like aliens – lots of talk but little action. It was purely out of a “better safe than sorry” mindset that they provided funds and personnel to assist Japan with human experimentation.

In the following years, supernatural incidents remained few and far between. Coupled with an accident a few years ago that temporarily halted experiments at the underground base, America had almost forgotten about the project. Then, this year, supernatural incidents multiplied.

From Yuzhou, to Dajing, and now Takaguchi City… America feared they might be next. So, they aimed to use this support mission as an opportunity to retrieve the experimental reports from the Takaguchi underground research base.

America wasn’t alone in this thinking. Otherwise, why would they choose this moment to pressure Natsumi and the others for the supernatural energy potions?

The international Anti-Weird organization seemed to have anticipated Japan’s tactic to prevent agents from taking the potions and had specially prepared “test subjects.”

Two Anti-Weird agents had pre-injected a special agent into their bodies. If they were injected with the supernatural energy potions, the potions could later be extracted from them.

Hearing Natsumi’s condition, one of the slightly injured “test subjects” stepped forward and volunteered to receive an on-site injection of the supernatural energy potion.

Xiao Cheng watched from the side as those Anti-Weird agents came forward to have the Japanese administer the injections. He had also sustained some injuries, but none were life-threatening.

And after hearing Natsumi describe the side effects of each potion – some even risked causing loss of control and transformation into fleshy monsters – he became even more determined not to use them.

While Xiao Cheng was sending their location and updates to Luo Jing via his communicator, Natsumi brought out several supernatural energy potions, which helped quell the crowd’s discontent.

Then, a Korean Anti-Weird agent looked at Xiao Cheng and said, “I heard the Great Celestial Empire’s Special Response Department sent their most powerful Anti-Weird agent this time. I heard of the famous ‘Weird Butcher’ Shen Ge back in Hanseong. Could you be the renowned Detective Shen?”

At the mention of Shen Ge’s name, the expressions of many present changed, especially those who had attended the Asian Anti-Weird Research Conference.

Back then, Shen Ge had attended as an accompanying combat personnel. However, later, for a certain auction item, he had his division head personally step in to “bargain” for him, revealing that he was one of the elite Anti-Weird agents who had resolved the Yuzhou supernatural disaster.

Then came the Dajing disaster, the Rong City disaster… This man’s figure always seemed to appear in the backdrop of every major supernatural disaster. Especially the Dajing disaster, which was later classified as an S-class disaster by the international Anti-Weird organization – a level that, if it spiraled out of control, could lead to the fall of not just a city, but potentially a nation.

Yet this man not only returned alive but also single-handedly repelled the Twelve Branches, killing three of their cadres, including their leader!

Thus, even though many present had never met Shen Ge, they had all experienced various supernatural incidents. A few months ago, a single Tier 2 weird entity could give them headaches, and a Tier 3 could paralyze an entire city district.

Those elite Anti-Weird agents still felt a lingering fear when recalling those terrifying monsters. Yet Shen Ge had repeatedly emerged unscathed from disaster zones overrun with weird entities and successfully resolved the crises!

To this day, the name “Shen Ge” remained a legend in the world of the supernatural.

And this was only the information available on the “surface.” Countries frequently spied on each other’s agents behind the scenes, and the intelligence they gathered related to Shen Ge was even more shocking!

“Sorry, I’m not Detective Shen,” Xiao Cheng replied calmly, showing no displeasure at being mistaken for someone else.

Just then, someone muttered under their breath, “I’ve heard of that Detective Shen. His record the past few months is indeed impressive. But even if he were here in Takaguchi today, he’d likely fall here too. Haven’t you all realized? The root of this disaster can’t be viewed through the lens of a conventional supernatural incident. I admit, he might be very experienced dealing with those past horrors, but can he handle a natural disaster with the same ease?”

These words plunged everyone into silence.

The most difficult to handle aspect of the Takaguchi disaster was the uncertainty of the “Misfortune.” Even now, not only the supporting Anti-Weird agents but also Japan’s own agents stationed in Takaguchi had no clear idea what the true form of the “Misfortune” even looked like.

Once you entered the Takaguchi city limits, you fell under the influence of the “Misfortune’s” supernatural domain. Things like falling flower pots, collapsing buildings, or sudden sinkholes became commonplace.

“Ha, you’re so capable? If you’re so capable, why were you the first to run when we were attacked by those weird entities earlier?” An agent from an international Anti-Weird organization directly retorted to the person who had mocked Shen Ge.

This immediately drew agreement from others. “Some people only dare talk big behind someone’s back when they’re not around. When Detective Shen gets here, why don’t you repeat what you just said to his face?”

“Say it again? Fine! We’re all Anti-Weird agents here; does that make him better than us?” The agent’s tone was full of disdain.

As the discussions buzzed, the flickering lights in the long corridor suddenly emitted a “zizzizziz” sound of electric current, followed by a sudden dimming of the light.

Flicker.
Flicker.
Flicker.

The corridor lights went out one after another. Even the office area was affected. The entire building was suddenly plunged into darkness.

The sudden change made everyone in the office area twitch nervously. They immediately realized something was wrong. Originally, in the Tokyo Tower area, because someone had stirred up trouble and attracted the high-level weird entities from the surroundings, the previously dispersed supernatural spaces had become overlapping supernatural spaces.

Yet, under the influence of the green-robed figure, they had managed to pass through these overlapping spaces without being affected by the uncertain entry and exit points, all appearing together in this building.

When they first entered the building, Xiao Cheng and the others had even suspected that the green-robed figure intended to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. But they waited for a long time without any movement.

Now, it was finally making its move!

“Where is it?”

“Where will it appear from?”

This was the foremost question on everyone’s mind.

“That person lured us into this building precisely to finish us off in one go. We can’t just sit here and wait for death… How about we split into teams and act separately?” someone suggested.

Hearing this, Xiao Cheng couldn’t help but snort inwardly. Splitting up instead of sticking together in a situation like this? Were they afraid they wouldn’t die fast enough?

“I think we should send a few people out first to scout the situation?”

“Right, at least we need to figure out what’s going on outside.”

“We blew up the only passageway on our way up. The elevators are useless now. Even if that green-robed guy sends the parasitized and weird entities in, they can’t get up here, right?”

“What about the weird entities themselves?”

“Don’t the humanoids ignore such restrictions?”

As everyone debated how to respond, Watanabe Natsuhara, the deputy leader of Japan’s reception team who had reviewed the files of everyone present and knew that Xiao Cheng’s records highlighted his exceptional scouting and infiltration skills, suggested that Xiao Cheng lead a team to investigate.

After all, being trapped here wasn’t a solution. If a high-level weird entity broke in, never mind the rest, the wounded would definitely be in danger.

The moment Watanabe Natsuhara “requested” Xiao Cheng’s assistance, others immediately chimed in their agreement. They didn’t care who went scouting, as long as it wasn’t them.

Xiao Cheng had actually been considering going to investigate himself, but there was a difference between going voluntarily and being forced. Since Watanabe Natsuhara wasn’t giving him face, he decided to drag a couple of others down with him.

“Fine. However… when it comes to scouting and counter-scouting abilities among all Asian Anti-Weird agents, if Miss Natsumi claims second place, no one would dare claim first. In that case, please have Miss Natsumi accompany me on the scouting mission.”

Upon hearing that Xiao Cheng wanted to bring Natsumi along, Watanabe Natsuhara’s face darkened. Before he could refuse, Park Jung-hwan, the Korean team leader, was the first to voice his agreement.

After some “bargaining,” a temporary scouting team was formed consisting of Xiao Cheng, Natsumi, Korea’s Kim Jae-gang, and America’s Kishua – four agents skilled in scouting. Their mission was to investigate the supernatural space situation. If they found an “exit,” they would contact the joint team for evacuation.

Natsumi spoke three languages. Xiao Cheng and Kim Jae-gang understood English. Kishua’s native language was English, and he also spoke Chinese. At least communication within the team of four wouldn’t be a problem.

The four entered the pitch-black corridor, each taking out their supernatural energy detection equipment to scan for any weird entities hiding in the darkness.

After walking for about ten minutes, they still hadn’t reached the stairwell at the end of what should have been a hundred-meter-long corridor, making them all feel that something was amiss.

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

Suddenly, a faint dripping sound became distinctly audible in the dark, silent corridor.

Xiao Cheng, using his flashlight, pinpointed the direction of the sound and instinctively swung the beam over. “Look at the ceiling over there!”

The other three looked up where Xiao Cheng’s flashlight beam shone. They saw black liquid continuously dripping from a corner of the ceiling. As the black drops fell, the four immediately smelled a pungent, bloody odor and felt the surroundings grow cold and damp.

Combined with the pervasive darkness, it created a suffocating sense of oppression.

Kishua, the large black man, seemed to use his size to bolster his courage. In such a situation, he actually dared to approach, flashlight in hand. He drew the Swiss army knife strapped to his calf, dabbed a bit of the black liquid, sniffed it, then tested it with his supernatural energy detection device.

“Seems to be… the blood of a weird entity?” Kishua’s voice held a note of uncertainty.

Kim Jae-gang said, “Could it be that someone is fighting a weird entity upstairs, wounded it, and its blood is seeping down from above?”

Xiao Cheng said grimly, “Take a closer look. There are no cracks in the ceiling. This blood is seeping out of the stone itself.”

“Is it really that strange for a weird entity’s blood to seep through stone slabs?” Kim Jae-gang argued.

Xiao Cheng couldn’t be bothered to explain further. He instinctively activated his supernatural energy equipment, preparing for combat. Natsumi, noticing his movement, also equipped her own supernatural energy gear.

Kishua swept his flashlight beam back the way they came and found that the corridor they had just walked through was “gone.” Instead, behind them was a spacious office area.

“What’s going on?” Kishua frowned.

Xiao Cheng said, “It’s probably an issue with the supernatural space… That green-robed figure has the ability to pull us all into a supernatural space simultaneously. It’s possible he also has the ability to manipulate the supernatural space itself.”

“But the ‘uncertain entry/exit’ problem of supernatural spaces has been a challenge faced by Anti-Weird organizations worldwide. How could that guy have mastered it?” Kim Jae-gang said.

Kishua agreed, “Right. My country invests huge sums of money and resources into researching weird entities to solve this problem every year, and we’ve still found nothing. Even if that green-robed guy is from the Twelve Branches, how could they be ahead of the entire world’s Anti-Weird organizations?”

“Is now really the time to dwell on that?” Xiao Cheng felt utterly speechless.

Natsumi then said, “There is one way he could make us all enter a specific location within the multiple overlapping supernatural spaces simultaneously, even without the ability to control the spaces themselves.”

“Oh? What method?” Even Xiao Cheng became interested hearing this.

Natsumi explained, “It’s simple. He just needs to pull us into his own supernatural space first. Then, he merges his supernatural space into the multiple overlapping spaces. That way, we wouldn’t encounter the random teleportation usually associated with entering a supernatural space.”

She briefly summarized a case Japan had handled earlier. There had been a supernatural incident in Binheng. Natsumi was the Anti-Weird agent responsible for tracking a Tier 2 weird entity involved. During the pursuit, that Tier 2 entity awakened its own supernatural space.

Coincidentally, their location was within a sealed-off area where several previous supernatural incidents had occurred, forming a triple-layered supernatural space.

As a result, when Natsumi and the combat team soldiers were pulled into the Tier 2 entity’s space, it collided with the multiple overlapping spaces, causing them all to enter the combined space. The original triple-layered space thus became a quadruple-layered one.

Xiao Cheng immediately understood Natsumi’s meaning. “So, the green-robed figure is actually an artificial weird entity that has mastered a supernatural space ability?”

After the Dajing disaster, the intelligence brought back by Shen Ge had confirmed that the Twelve Branches’ artificial weird entities possessed supernatural domains. So, learning that the opponent had the ability to pull them into a supernatural space wasn’t too surprising now.

“Correct. However, based on my knowledge, even if the green-robed figure uses this method to merge his space into the multiple overlapping ones, he shouldn’t have the ability to control the combined supernatural space. Because once merged, he becomes just one part of it – he’s subject to its effects, not the controller.”

Natsumi’s words made the three men breathe a slight sigh of relief. The ability to pull people into a supernatural space and merge it with others was alarming enough. If the opponent could also control the space, then they were utterly screwed.

On the “surface,” whether it was the Twelve Branches or the green-robed figure, their research and abilities regarding the supernatural had always been ahead of the Anti-Weird agents.

Setting aside Shen Ge’s hypothesis that the Twelve Branches were actually hidden within various national research institutes, there was a key reason for the current situation –

That was the issue of “bottom lines.”

The Anti-Weird departments of various countries, in their approach to dealing with the supernatural, still clung to their identity as “humans.” Of course, this was only on the surface.

But as long as they maintained this surface-level adherence to a human identity, it meant that various countries still held onto the final “bottom line” of being human.

The Twelve Branches, however, took a much wilder approach. They completely abandoned their human identity. From the very beginning, they aimed for a new humanity combining humans and the supernatural, relentlessly conducting human experiments on their own people.

Anti-Weird agents thought about maintaining their human identity, crafting the supernatural into various weapons and equipment to empower themselves.

But no matter how powerful supernatural energy equipment was, even someone with a human body at its limits like Feng Chengxiu was still flesh and blood, unable to directly contend with a weird entity.

Unless… Shen Ge’s Rotten Flesh Armor could be mass-produced.

But the Rotten Flesh Armor was a special case. Not even the Special Response Department, or even Li Xiang, could easily replicate it. They could only produce the shoddiest of imitations – the Supernatural Hide Combat Suit.

The Twelve Branches directly transformed themselves into artificial weird entities, turning their flesh-and-blood bodies into “humanoids” with high defense and regeneration capabilities like the weird entities.

Now, however, various countries were beginning to realize that their “bottom lines” were hindering progress in Anti-Weird efforts. Many had started gradually abandoning those lines.

The Takaguchi City supernatural disaster became the trigger!

Xiao Cheng and the other three searched the office area and found it somewhat different from the one where everyone had gathered earlier – larger and more oppressive.

“Miss Natsumi, if the green-robed figure can’t control the supernatural space, then why didn’t we encounter this situation immediately upon entering the building?” Kim Jae-gang asked, puzzled.

Natsumi sighed. “The abilities of the supernatural are mysterious and ever-changing. To this day, no country has fully comprehended supernatural spaces. We spent a long time researching this at the last Asian Anti-Weird Research Conference. Mr. Kim, as the host country representative, you should be more aware of the research conclusions than I am, right?”

Kim Jae-gang inwardly sighed. The chaotic space, time, and various changes influenced by the unique properties of weird entities within supernatural spaces – no country could properly explain them. So, it wasn’t strange that they hadn’t encountered this situation earlier but were facing it now. Even if the four of them experienced completely different phenomena, it wouldn’t be surprising.

The four spent two hours searching the office area but found no way out. Meanwhile, the black blood on the corridor ceiling, which had initially dripped sporadically from a corner, now fell like a light drizzle throughout the entire corridor. The flowing black blood had already seeped into the office area.

“Shh, there seems to be movement outside.” The detector in Natsumi’s hand showed activity, indicating the presence of a weird entity in the corridor.

She signaled for silence to the others, quickly moved to the doorway, and peered out sideways.

In the corridor, a pale-skinned humanoid over two meters tall was hunched over, slowly walking towards the office area.

The sticky sound of the humanoid’s feet stepping on the pooled black blood – “squelch, squelch” – created an illusion that it was tearing at skin.

Xiao Cheng and the other two didn’t yet know about the existence of “humanoids.” In their view, humanoid supernatural entities were either artificial creations of the Twelve Branches or parasitized individuals.

But Natsumi, being Japanese and having access to reports from the Takaguchi research base (even if she wasn’t directly involved), knew about the humanoids.

The “humanoids” corresponded to Tier 2 weird entities. Their presence here could explain why they encountered supernatural phenomena immediately after leaving the office area.

Thud.

Kishua, wanting to see what was outside, accidentally bumped into an object in the dark office area, producing a slight sound.

The humanoid was highly sensitive to sound and immediately detected the faint noise. Its throat bulged with a “gurgle, gurgle” swallowing sound, and it quickened its pace towards the office area.

“It’s coming!” Natsumi’s expression changed. She immediately drew her modified pistol loaded with supernatural energy bullets, activated the tactical flashlight mounted on top, and took aim.

Bang!
Bang!

Natsumi fired several shots. The supernatural energy bullets struck the humanoid’s chest. However, upon closer inspection, one would see the bullets only penetrated about a millimeter before falling into the bloody water on the floor.

Natsumi’s gunfire prompted immediate reactions from Xiao Cheng and the others. His weapons were a pair of black twin blades. While Natsumi drew its attention, he moved behind the humanoid and slashed at its throat with both blades.

Kishua utilized his advantage as a large black man. As Xiao Cheng went for the throat, he rushed forward, grabbed the humanoid’s arms, and pulled it towards himself.

This pull greatly aided Xiao Cheng’s effort. With a “thwump,” a spurt of blood gushed from the severed neck, and the head was cleanly cut off by Xiao Cheng.

“Its weak spot is the heart!” Natsumi, worried the others might think decapitation was enough, immediately rushed forward, shoved the headless body over, and fired repeatedly into its chest.

“Let me!” Kim Jae-gang’s weapon was a… power drill. The drill itself was ordinary, but the drill bit was made from the remains of a weird entity. With a “whirrr” sound, it quickly drilled a large hole in the humanoid’s chest.

The four of them joined forces and quickly dealt with the humanoid. Just as Kishua and Kim Jae-gang crouched to examine the corpse, Xiao Cheng, sensing something was wrong, looked suspiciously at Natsumi. “Miss Natsumi, it seems you’re not unfamiliar with this type of weird entity. You even knew its weak point is the heart?”

Natsumi hadn’t intended to hide information about the humanoids anyway. Omitting details about the Takaguchi underground experimental base, she briefed the three on the humanoids as if they were monsters that had appeared during this disaster.

Kim Jae-gang examined the humanoid corpse on the ground, recalling that among the horde of parasitized individuals driven by the green-robed figure’s centipede army, there seemed to be figures resembling these humanoids.

“Not that hard to deal with,” Kim Jae-gang said dismissively.

Natsumi said gravely, “…Based on my knowledge, usually, if one humanoid appears in an area, it means there are likely at least ten more nearby.”

“Really? You can’t be…” Before Kim Jae-gang could finish his fourth word, a loud “boom” came from the end of the corridor, as if something had collapsed.

Earlier, the four had tried traversing the corridor but always ended up back where they started… Had the supernatural space been broken because the humanoid died?

“Let’s go check it out.” Kishua again took the lead, charging towards the end of the corridor through the black blood.

Xiao Cheng swept his flashlight over the flowing black blood in the corridor. For safety, he activated his Supernatural Hide Boots and Combat Suit to protect against potential harm from the blood.

When they reached the end, they indeed found a large section of the wall had collapsed. Strangely, beyond the collapsed wall wasn’t the Tokyo Tower district but a dense, pitch-black fog.

The area below the collapsed floor wasn’t the lower level but a pool filled with black blood, where several pale humanoids floated.

Just then, Xiao Cheng heard a faint sound coming from a room on the right. He and Natsumi almost simultaneously raised their guns towards that room.

Click!
Click!

The sound of guns being cocked came from both sides.

But when their tactical flashlight beams illuminated the room, they revealed two familiar faces.

“Detective Luo! Detective Fang!”

“Detective Xiao!”

The two in the room were Luo Jing and Fang Mingyue, who had been searching for them. They looked visibly relieved to see Xiao Cheng. Luo Jing hurriedly said, “Quick, get inside! It’s dangerous out there!”

Xiao Cheng and the joint team had been pulled into the supernatural space by the green-robed figure, so they were all gathered in the previous office area. Luo Jing and the other three, however, had been following the coordinates Xiao Cheng provided, moving towards Tokyo Tower.

As a result, the four of them合力 (hélì – joined forces) to eliminate a Tier 3 weird entity, breaking the supernatural space that trapped them. But upon entering the chaotic multiple overlapping spaces created by Shen Ge’s actions, they encountered the most basic ability of supernatural spaces –

Uncertain entry and exit points.

The four were scattered across the multiple overlapping spaces. Fortunately, they all had communicators. Relying on the communicators’ signals, Luo Jing and Fang Mingyue were the first to breach this building.

Luo Jing had tried contacting Xiao Cheng but encountered attacking humanoids. She and Fang Mingyue had just used explosive traps to blow the pursuing humanoids down to the lower level when Xiao Cheng and the others arrived.

Luo Jing, holding her supernatural energy detector, said, “According to Detective Shen, this place originally should have been a seven-layered supernatural space. Our detectors initially showed ‘7’ when we entered. But strangely, even though we killed a Tier 3 entity, it still shows 7 now.”

“That’s probably related to the artificial weird entity that pulled us in…” Xiao Cheng relayed the situation Natsumi described to Luo Jing and Fang Mingyue, causing both women to frown deeply.

“Why would that person go to such lengths, even risking getting himself trapped in the multiple overlapping spaces, just to lure the joint team into this building?” Luo Jing couldn’t quite figure it out.

“That’s exactly what we can’t understand either,” Xiao Cheng said.

Natsumi said, “I recall the Yuzhou incident was the first to propose the concept of ‘multiple overlapping supernatural spaces.’ Detective Fang, since you experienced the Yuzhou incident, do you know how to resolve our current situation?”

Fang Mingyue said, “Find all the weird entities sustaining the supernatural spaces, then kill them. That will solve the problem of multiple overlapping spaces.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The others’ expressions became subtle truly giving a feeling of “listening to your words is like listening to your words” – a statement that said nothing new.

If not for Fang Mingyue’s utterly serious expression, without a hint of jest, they might have thought she was making fun of them.

To reinforce the feasibility of her proposed “solution,” Fang Mingyue specifically added, “That’s how Detective Shen does it.”

“…”

“…”

This time, not only Natsumi and the others but even Luo Jing and Xiao Cheng, her own teammates, struggled to maintain composure… Girl, not everyone is Detective Shen, capable of slaughtering their way through a supernatural disaster with just a butcher’s knife!

Seeing the awkward silence, Xiao Cheng quickly changed the subject. “But even if we wanted to find the entities sustaining the spaces one by one, the supernatural spaces are a maze. Even with detectors, it’s hard to navigate. We searched for over two hours and couldn’t find an exit.”

Natsumi agreed, “Yes. If we can’t find the hidden weird entities, then we have no way to break the supernatural spaces. Detective Fang, you’re familiar with Detective Shen. Did he tell you how to find hidden weird entities?”

Kim Jae-gang suggested, “Why don’t we just contact the Detective Shen you mentioned? Maybe he’s lost in the supernatural spaces too and needs our help.”

Luo Jing thought it over. They hadn’t contacted Shen Ge since leaving the Takaguchi underground base, and she was somewhat worried about his safety.

“Then… let’s try.” Luo Jing glanced at Fang Mingyue, who didn’t object, and took out her communicator to try reaching Shen Ge.

However, several communication attempts went unanswered, and the messages they sent seemed to vanish into the void.

“…Your Detective Shen, could he have… sacrificed?” Kim Jae-gang didn’t want to jinx it, so he used a more euphemistic term – sacrificed.

Fang Mingyue frowned. Shen Ge dead?

No.

Even if someone told her the “Misfortune” had already fallen to Shen Ge’s blade, she would find that more believable than the idea of Shen Ge dying.

Luo Jing didn’t share Fang Mingyue’s absolute faith in Shen Ge. After all, when they left the underground base, it was engulfed in fire and collapse, with many humanoids above. In such a situation, it was possible Shen Ge had ultimately died there.

“Detective Shen won’t be in trouble. He’s probably dealing with a high-level entity right now. And even if we contacted him, distant water can’t quench a nearby fire. Detective Shen often says, ‘Rely on yourself, not others.’ In a situation like this, he would never pin his safety on someone else’s help,” Fang Mingyue said earnestly.

Xiao Cheng said, “That’s true, but…”

“One must rely on oneself. We came here to support Japan and resolve the Takaguchi incident. Now we’re thinking about waiting for Detective Shen to save us? Then we might as well not have come, to avoid holding him back,” Fang Mingyue added, again with utmost seriousness.

“This…” Natsumi seemed to want to say something but stopped.

Kim Jae-gang said discontentedly, “We just wanted to ask him how to locate the weird entities. How did it become us expecting him to rescue us?”

Fang Mingyue glanced at him, her expression seeming to say, “Isn’t it?”

“…”

Forget it, no point arguing with this single-minded, foolish woman.

Unable to contact Shen Ge, the group discussed following the corridor to search further. After all, Luo Jing and Fang Mingyue’s “blasting method” had confirmed one thing –

This place could be damaged!

After some investigation, they found that areas covered in blood could not be damaged. However, the previous office area and the room they were currently in could be blown open.

It’s just that the level below seemed to be a blood pool. Whether in the office area or this room, blowing open the floor revealed the blood pool below.

Since going down wasn’t an option, Xiao Cheng used explosives to blast a hole in the office area’s ceiling.

Climbing up, they found the situation on this floor similar to the one below: a dark corridor, flickering lights with “zizzizziz” sounds, black blood seeping from the ceiling and pooling on the floor.

The air was filled with a putrid stench and the smell of blood, making anyone who took a deep breath feel nauseous.

The first thing to confirm was whether they had actually gone up one level or if, due to the spacetime distortion of the supernatural space, they were still on the same level.

Among them, Xiao Cheng and Fang Mingyue had the most full-body supernatural energy equipment. Fang Mingyue originally only had the Supernatural Hide Combat Suit, lacking leg protection.

But from the seven pieces of equipment Shen Ge obtained from killing Gletz, he “loaned” two to Fang Mingyue. One was a pair of Supernatural Hide Boots resembling riding boots.

Using their equipment for protection, Fang Mingyue and Xiao Cheng entered the blood-soaked corridor. Reaching the end, they found no signs of the previous explosion, confirming they had likely successfully ascended one level.

Strangely, the two continued walking along the corridor for nearly an hour, only to return to the office area door from the other direction.

It felt like… walking in a circle.

Looking at the increasingly pervasive blood on the floor, Kim Jae-gang grew irritable and muttered, “Aish, this corridor is damn disgusting. Walking around just brings us back to the start, plus this disgusting blood… It’s like walking inside a blood vessel. So gross.”

Hmm?
Fang Mingyue paused upon hearing Kim Jae-gang’s complaint. She looked again at the black blood flowing in the corridor – it’s indeed seemed to be flowing in one direction.

She couldn’t help but recall the time she and Shen Ge were trapped inside the body of a weird entity.

“You mentioned earlier that a green-robed humanoid pulled you into the supernatural space… Is it possible you weren’t ‘pulled in,’ but rather swallowed into its stomach?” Fang Mingyue shared her previous experience with Shen Ge with the group.

Comparing the two situations, many details indeed matched.

Kim Jae-gang frowned and said, “So you’re saying we’re inside the body of a weird entity now? Aish, that feels even more disgusting.”

“How did you escape last time?” Natsumi asked.

Fang Mingyue said, “Detective Shen found the ‘heart’ of that weird entity. After destroying the heart, we managed to escape.”

“So we need to find the heart of the weird entity…” Everyone fell into thought.

Easier said than done. How to find it was the problem.

Fang Mingyue again tried to put herself in Shen Ge’s shoes, thinking about what “Detective Shen would do in this situation”…

Then, her eyes fell on the grenades hanging from Kishua’s belt.

“Do any of you have explosives? The more powerful, the better!” Fang Mingyue looked at the others, her tone urgent.

Xiao Cheng said, “I have two high-explosive bombs.”

“I have fragmentation grenades.”

“I brought a supernatural energy bomb powerful enough to collapse a small building,” Kim Jae-gang said.

Fang Mingyue’s face lit up. “Perfect, I have a way to find the ‘heart’ now… Detective Shen often says, ‘When in doubt, blow things up first!'”