The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 164

After Momoka Kaede and her team received their mission and left the conference room, Watanabe Natsuhagi tapped his fingers on the table, then looked toward a fully armed soldier standing by the right wall.

“Inoue.”

“Captain.” Inoue Yoshino stepped forward. He was the best scout in the regiment, having been sent on covert missions to multiple countries and was an expert in tracking and counter-tracking.

Watanabe Natsuhagi said, “Follow Kaede’s team discreetly. Keep a close eye on Higashiki Taka. During the previous anomaly zone attack, some soldiers reported seeing him unaffected by it… I always felt he wasn’t as simple as he seems. Furthermore, to my knowledge, the underground research base in Takiguchi City doesn’t possess hibernation pods capable of putting someone to sleep for several years.”

As part of the younger generation in Sakura with real authority, Watanabe Natsuhagi and his sister Watanabe Natsumi naturally had access to more intelligence than the average person, including information about the Takiguchi City underground research base.

From what he knew, it was a human experimentation facility researching the fusion of humans and anomalies. If Shen Ge truly came from there, then he must be an “Aberrant.”

“Understood!”

After Inoue Yoshino left, Watanabe Natsuhagi stared thoughtfully at the closed conference room door. Whether Shen Ge was an “Aberrant” or not, the fact that he knew about the underground research base proved he wasn’t as simple as he appeared on the surface.

If he was an Aberrant, and could maintain his sanity as one, that meant the research at the underground base had succeeded. If they could master this technology, perhaps the scouts could survive in the anomaly zones until rescue arrived.

Even if Shen Ge wasn’t an Aberrant, his ability to ignore the effects of the anomaly zones was precisely what the scouts needed most right now, an essential means to survive in the current Takiguchi City.

To obtain this ability, Watanabe Natsuhagi didn’t mind using some underhanded methods, even if it meant treating this “comrade” as an enemy.

However, Watanabe Natsuhagi could see that Momoka Kaede was very interested in Shen Ge. If Shen Ge was willing to “play along,” it would save him a lot of trouble.

Now, he just had to wait for Inoue Yoshino’s investigation results.

…

…

Shen Ge followed Momoka Kaede and her team from the gymnasium around to the eastern dormitory area. He noticed that one dormitory building was under construction, with defensive fortifications being built around it.

“Are you planning to utilize these dorms?” Shen Ge asked.

Momoka Kaede shook her head. “There were already survivors living here before we arrived – some students from the school, and others who evacuated from downtown Takiguchi. At that time, our regiment still had over two hundred people, and there were over four hundred survivors here. After discussions between our Captain and their leader, it was decided that we would station ourselves in the western teaching buildings, while they stayed in this dormitory area.”

“Things were peaceful at first. But they recklessly consumed the resources from the campus shops. Within just a few months, they had cleared out the shops here and the surrounding stores. Initially, our Captain, upholding his duty as a soldier, would distribute some food to them. But these people became insatiably greedy, taking it for granted, leading to several conflicts with us.”

“Half a year ago, a horde of anomalies broke into the campus. The Captain sent troops to guard the eastern district, but those people, to save their own skins, led the anomaly horde towards our defended teaching buildings, trapping our soldiers between two fronts. That day, we lost over a hundred soldiers. They suffered over fifty percent casualties, and the two sides completely broke off relations.”

“Their leader, fearing our retaliation, led his people away from the campus within a few days. We haven’t seen them since.”

Shen Ge nodded in understanding. Most civilians, unlike trained soldiers, don’t know how to ration resources properly during a disaster. They often panic when resources run low, leading to worse decisions in their panic. In such situations, they tend to make some incredibly foolish moves.

Leading enemies towards your allies to save yourself? It takes a special kind of stupid to do that. Didn’t they consider that the soldiers, being far more capable fighters, were their best chance for long-term survival? If the soldiers were wiped out, how long could these ordinary people last?

The group walked through the eerie campus. Since both anomalies and Aberrants were sensitive to sound, they couldn’t use vehicles.

Even though St. Julianna Hospital was over ten kilometers away, they had no choice but to proceed on foot.

Along the way, Shen Ge and Momoka Kaede chatted about events that had occurred domestically and internationally during the years he was “asleep.”

Considering Shen Ge had been asleep for a long time, Momoka Kaede explained in detail, covering the situation in Sakura, the International Anomaly Response Organization, and what she knew about anomaly research.

Overall, the development of this world wasn’t too different from Shen Ge’s. The key difference was that the “Twelve Branches” hadn’t been exposed yet. In Sakura, they only knew that the previous anomaly disasters in Han Country and Daijing were orchestrated by someone behind the scenes, but the specifics were still under investigation by the International Anomaly Response Organization before Momoka Kaede entered Takiguchi City.

In this world, without Shen Ge’s involvement in the Daijing anomaly disaster, and since anomalies weren’t exposed prematurely, the authorities locked down Haicheng District citing a mysterious virus, and thoroughly suppressed online rumors related to anomalies.

Although this prevented the premature exposure of anomalies like in Shen Ge’s world, they also failed to resolve the disaster within 72 hours, leading to the intervention of the International Anomaly Response Organization.

Haicheng District remained locked down for half a year. During this time, incidents related to Aberrants began appearing sporadically alongside anomalies.

What puzzled Shen Ge the most was that, even without the Twelve Branches being exposed, the International Anomaly Response Organization had produced a comprehensive research report on Aberrants and anomalies.

Two months after the Daijing anomaly disaster ended, the International Anomaly Response Organization distributed a detailed research report on anomalies and Aberrants to the anomaly response departments of various countries. It detailed the relationship between the Parasitized and Aberrants, and for the first time mentioned that the anomaly disasters in Han Country and Great Celestial Dynasty were manipulated by a mysterious organization.

This mysterious organization had successfully researched a method to fuse humans with anomalies. By parasitizing ordinary humans with parasitic-type anomalies, if the parasitic anomaly took over the host’s consciousness, the host would become a monster similar to an anomaly – these were the Parasitized.

If a human and an anomaly achieved perfect fusion, they could undergo a secondary transformation, becoming “Aberrants.” This mysterious organization, by extracting tissue cells from Aberrants, successfully allowed their members to fuse with anomalies, creating “Artificial Anomalies.”

Besides Aberrants, the report also provided a detailed rating system for anomalies based on Anomalous Energy, as well as research on various “Characteristics” and “Anomaly Domains.”

In other words, what was proposed in Shen Ge’s world through the joint “Parasitized Report” by him and Li Xiang, became credited to the International Anomaly Response Organization in this world.

In this world, the International Anomaly Response Organization had always been the leader in anomaly response efforts, unlike the scenario in Shen Ge’s world where the Great Celestial Dynasty became dominant. Therefore, when the International Anomaly Response Organization presented this report, not only were there no doubts from other nations, but it was treated as “gospel,” used to classify anomalies and Aberrants.

As someone from another world, Shen Ge knew that the International Anomaly Response Organization couldn’t possibly have produced such a report on their own. Unless… the Twelve Branches provided it to them proactively.

This confirmation led Shen Ge to believe his previous suspicion was correct: the Twelve Branches had inserted their agents into various national anomaly response departments, and even the International Anomaly Response Organization itself.

The Twelve Branches were causing trouble worldwide. Whether their goal was world domination or something else, their primary aim seemed to be testing their developed parasitic anomalies.

If the International Anomaly Response Organization and national departments couldn’t contain the anomaly disasters, it wouldn’t benefit the Twelve Branches either. In this world, Shen Ge had only activated his system this year, was still in Rong City dealing with the Tier 7 Formless, and hadn’t grown strong enough to confront the Twelve Branches, let alone travel the world resolving anomaly disasters.

Therefore, in this world, the Twelve Branches themselves took the initiative to “support” the International Anomaly Response Organization, using them to leak information about Aberrants and anomalies to the world.

Shen Ge found the “motivation” of the Twelve Branches quite intriguing. If they wanted to control the world through anomalies, they could probably already do so.

If they wanted to destroy the world with anomalies, there would be no need to disclose information. Anomalies always developed faster than humans. As the Anomalous Eyes vision showed, humanity was doomed to extinction.

So, what was the ultimate goal of the Twelve Branches?
This was a question Shen Ge had never been able to figure out.

While Shen Ge was pondering the intelligence about the International Anomaly Response Organization in this world, a fingernail-sized piece of rotten flesh separated from the wristwatch on his left wrist. It quickly squirmed into Shen Ge’s left ear, forming what looked like a “wireless earpiece.”

Then, Shen Ge heard Little Seven’s voice: “Report, Master. Someone has been following you from the eight o’clock direction, 200 meters away in the bushes. This person has been tailing you since we left the base.”

Someone tracking them?
Following since the base likely meant it was someone sent by Watanabe Natsuhagi.

“But why would he send someone to follow us? Does he suspect my identity?” Shen Ge wondered if his prior use of abilities had been detected, or if Watanabe Natsuhagi knew about the Takiguchi underground research base and thus suspected his origins.

But regardless of the reason, Watanabe Natsuhagi himself would never have imagined that the regiment’s most elite soldier, Inoue Yoshino, who had completed numerous reconnaissance missions abroad, had been spotted the moment he left the base.

“Monitor his movements. See what he’s up to,” Shen Ge said quietly.

“Understood, Master.”

Just then, Momoka Kaede returned from scouting the route ahead.

“The main road to St. Julianna Hospital is full of Parasitized. There are also anomalies hiding in the surrounding buildings. Going straight through probably won’t be easy,” Momoka Kaede reported.

The vice-captain asked, “There are many Parasitized, but their mobility is severely limited. Is it possible to go over the buildings?”

Momoka Kaede shook her head. “Unlikely. The buildings there are spaced quite far apart, and the areas between them also have Parasitized activity. Even using the rooftops, we’d inevitably encounter Parasitized obstruction. Once engaged in combat, it could attract large numbers of them.”

A team member asked, “If above-ground and mid-level routes are out, what about below? If I recall correctly, the suburbs specifically improved the drainage system to prevent flooding from the inland sea. Why don’t we take the sewers?”

The vice-captain agreed. “Right. Even if we encounter Parasitized or anomalies in the sewers, any combat noise is less likely to immediately attract the monsters above ground.”

“That… should work.” Momoka Kaede thought for a moment and nodded.

Shen Ge, currently acting as a “team member,” naturally didn’t speak up casually during their route discussion. While they debated, he had the system scan the surrounding anomalies and Aberrants.

Unexpectedly, Momoka Kaede and the others had guessed correctly. The sewers contained no Parasitized, only some Anomalous Rats and Anomalous Cockroaches hiding deep within. By carefully avoiding them, they might not even trigger a fight.

As the scout team leader, Momoka Kaede wore an anomaly detection device that could detect the presence of Anomalous Energy in the surroundings, indicating potential anomalies.

Relying on this device, the team entered the sewers and navigated around several anomalies, encountering only four or five Tier 1 Anomalous Cockroaches.

To avoid prolonged combat attracting deeper dwelling anomalies, Momoka Kaede decisively ordered the team to eliminate the Tier 1 anomalies quickly with full firepower. Without time to retrieve the anomaly corpses, they placed delayed signal flares at the site and moved on rapidly.

About ten minutes after the team left, the signal flares detonated, gathering the anomalies attracted by the earlier combat noises in one place, buying the team time to escape.

…

…

Two hours later.

The sky was dimly lit at dawn. The fog-filled sky seemed to press down relentlessly, suffocating those walking beneath it.

The perimeter of St. Julianna Hospital was fortified with a fence and iron railings built along the outer wall, indicating that the hospital was occupied.

On a makeshift watchtower constructed from wooden scaffolding against the hospital’s inner wall lay a person, covered with a smelly animal hide.

He was clearly not a professional sentry. After casually scanning the Parasitized wandering the streets with binoculars, he yawned boredly and rested his head on his hands for a nap.

Consequently, this sentry failed to notice the manhole cover slowly pushing open 300 meters away in front of a shop. Several figures climbed out of the sewer and dashed into a street-side store.

Once inside the store, Momoka Kaede leaned against the wall next to the storefront window, observing the outside, and said quietly, “Why are there survivors here?”

The vice-captain had spotted the watchtower as soon as he emerged from the sewer. He reminded her, “They’ve set up watchtowers in several positions around the hospital. Ordinary survivors aren’t that organized. Could it be Takiguchi’s Self-Defense Forces from before the anomaly disasters?”

Momoka Kaede rejected the idea. “Unlikely. In the first three months after we arrived, the Captain tried various methods to contact the city’s military units. The Self-Defense Forces in Kawashimo and Akihabara responded, but they chose to remain at their bases rather than join us. Besides, the severely affected Kogoe City and Tokyo Tower were between us. And with our location being attacked by deep-sea anomalies, there was no reason for them to risk coming here.”

The vice-captain said, “Regardless of who they are, with people guarding the place, getting in to retrieve medicine won’t be easy. Also, we don’t know the status of the resources inside the hospital.”

Everyone understood the vice-captain’s implication. Getting past the guards would be hard enough. If they went through all that trouble only to find the medicine already depleted, it would be a wasted effort with significant risk.

“We still need to go in and check.” Thinking of the severely injured soldiers back at the base, Momoka Kaede decided to proceed as planned.

After discussion, they decided the vice-captain would take some men to create disturbances at two different locations on the main street, diverting the attention of the hospital’s guards.

Momoka Kaede, Shen Ge, and two other team members would circle around to the street behind the hospital and attempt to infiltrate from the opposite direction to steal the medicine. Regardless of which faction or force was stationed inside, they would grab the medicine and leave immediately, avoiding any entanglement.

Twenty minutes later, Shen Ge and Momoka Kaede hid on the rooftop of a two-story building on the street behind the hospital, observing the situation inside.

The occupants had reinforced the rear walls, but there were fewer watchtowers compared to the front facing the main street. They had also completely sealed the back entrance with a concrete wall.

The two hid behind a billboard on the rooftop, waiting for the vice-captain to draw the guards’ attention.

A cold morning wind blew through the quiet streets, stirring up long-settled dust. The area behind the hospital was just a narrow alley, which the occupants had deliberately blocked with debris to prevent anomalies or Parasitized from accidentally entering the alley and reaching the hospital.

Mindless Parasitized, their heads grotesquely transformed into fleshy, petal-like structures reminiscent of parasites, bumped into the obstacles, retreated a few steps, and repeated the process endlessly.

Shen Ge had witnessed the capabilities of Momoka Kaede’s team in the sewers. While not as strong as elite Anomaly Response agents in combat, their practical experience dealing with anomalies surpassed even Feng Chengxiu’s team. Trapped in the anomaly domain for over a year, they had honed their skills on the brink of life and death.

They didn’t possess much Anomalous Equipment, but they utilized anomaly corpses resourcefully – clothing from anomaly hides, armor from anomaly bones, etc.

While not as effective or capable as proper Anomalous Equipment, these items were quite useful against low-tier anomalies and Parasitized.

Therefore, even when operating separately, as long as their enemies were Parasitized or anomalies not exceeding Tier 2, they wouldn’t be in immediate danger.

Suddenly, an explosion sounded in the distance. The patrol guards inside the hospital received orders and moved to the front to standby, leaving only the sentries in the watchtowers at the rear.

Momoka Kaede, considering that Shen Ge wasn’t part of the scout regiment and his scouting abilities were unproven, asked him to stay and monitor the surroundings while she infiltrated the hospital to steal the medicine.

After Momoka Kaede left, Shen Ge had Little Seven run an Anomalous Energy detection scan of the area while simultaneously having the system lock onto surrounding anomalies and Aberrants. He planned to use his “Formless + Soundless” effects to earn some points by clearing the area, “incidentally” drawing some heat away from Momoka Kaede’s team.

While Shen Ge didn’t harbor any particular fondness for the people of Sakura, Momoka Kaede had treated him as “one of their own,” sharing this world’s intelligence with him unreservedly.

Shen Ge still intended to use Momoka Kaede and the team’s scouting abilities to help him find the Flesh Maw. He couldn’t let them get wiped out here.

Shen Ge had acquired seven pieces of Anomalous Equipment after dealing with Grotese. He had “lent” two suitable pieces to Fang Mingyue. The remaining five included two offensive types (bone spear and bone knife) and three functional pieces.

One was a sleeping bag made from an anomaly’s hide. Entering the sleeping bag consumed 1% Anomalous Energy per minute but blocked all life signs inside. With 100% Anomalous Energy capacity and a natural recovery rate of 10% per hour, one could sleep safely inside for two hours without worrying about detection by anomalies.

Shen Ge, with his high mental strength not requiring much sleep, initially thought to “lend” it to Fang Mingyue. But the sleeping bag, even folded, was the size of a basketball, making it inconvenient for Fang Mingyue to carry, so he simply stuffed it into his Bloodhide Backpack.

The other two functional items were: one, an armguard-like device that emitted a green corrosive gas instead of freezing agents; and another, a bone hammer that could enlarge. This Anomalous Equipment was originally one foot long with a fist-sized head, but by consuming Anomalous Energy, it could enlarge tenfold into a massive two-handed bone maul, harder than steel.

Shen Ge found this bone maul particularly effective against Parasitized. In its enlarged state, it could usually crush their parasitic, fleshy flower heads with a single blow.

Now, under the “Formless + Soundless” effect, he wielded the giant two-handed bone maul, smashing his way from one end of the street to the other, killing several anomalies.

This commotion also drew attention from the hospital area. However, since they couldn’t see the specific area, or if they could, would only see a large group of Parasitized and anomalies gathered, they would likely assume it was infighting among monsters.

A few minutes later, Shen Ge began hunting anomalies in the buildings surrounding the hospital. As he approached the hospital’s outer wall near the left-side street, Little Seven alerted him: an Anomalous Equipment reaction was detected beneath the left watchtower.

“Anomalous Equipment? Are there Sakuran Anomaly Response agents inside the hospital?” Shen Ge’s interest was immediately piqued. Plundering Anomaly Response agents promised much higher “rewards” than killing anomalies.

Just as Shen Ge decided to find an opportunity to target that agent, Momoka Kaede, who had infiltrated the hospital earlier, was discovered.

Thud!

Just after entering the hospital grounds, Momoka Kaede was kicked in the chest by a figure that suddenly lunged at her. She was sent flying back, crashing against a tree trunk, her gun flying from her hand.

Momoka Kaede reacted quickly, drawing the dagger from her boot and stabbing at the attacker’s head. A sharp clang rang out as the attacker drew a military knife, blocking the dagger. The clash of metal sparked.

Momoka Kaede, capable of leading the scout team and surviving in the anomaly domain for a year, was certainly skilled.

Her combat skills might not be the absolute best in the regiment, but after a year of life-and-death struggles, few in the regiment could best her.

Her dagger sliced towards the attacker’s throat, missing by a hair’s breadth as he dodged at the last moment.

Momoka Kaede’s dagger continued its downward arc, cutting the attacker’s chest, splattering blood on herself. As she prepared to deliver a finishing blow to the heart, a gunshot echoed.

Bang!

Momoka Kaede felt a bullet rip through her left shoulder.

In the quiet morning hospital, the gunshot was starkly loud, immediately alerting the resting guards nearby.

After being shot, Momoka Kaede quickly pinpointed the direction of the shot. Simultaneously, she reversed her grip on the dagger and thrust it towards the throat of the man in front of her. But he performed a backflip, retreating into the first floor of the hospital building.

Momoka Kaede wanted to pursue, but a primal sense of danger made her hesitate. Another gunshot followed. Fortunately, after the first shot, she was already alert. After her attack missed, she immediately charged towards the hospital building, crashing through a window into the corridor. The second bullet grazed her shoulder and hit the wall.

Meanwhile, beneath the rear watchtower, three men playing cards heard the gunshot from the building direction and immediately stood up, alert. Before they could act, the soldier among them possessing Anomalous Equipment suddenly clutched his throat in terror. An excruciating pain followed, and a spurt of blood gushed from his neck.

Blood splattered on his two companions’ faces, stunning them momentarily. Within a second, one had his head split open by an invisible blade.

In less than ten seconds, all three lay dead on the ground.

Shen Ge, still under “Formless,” had Little Seven scan for the Anomalous Equipment on the agent. It detected a pair of Anomalous Leather Shoes. He stripped them off and tossed them into his Bloodhide Backpack.

Then, he looked towards the hospital building. “Discovered already? That was fast.”

So much for the “strongest scout regiment in Sakura.” If this was their capability, their usefulness in helping find the Flesh Maw needed reconsideration.

[Crisis Mission Triggered: “The Hidden Anomaly” – A Tier 3 anomaly, on the verge of evolving to Tier 4, is hidden within this area. Should it complete its evolution, no one in the vicinity will survive. Locate and eliminate the hidden anomaly within two hours to prevent its Tier 4 evolution.]

[Reward: System Points x3000, Random E-grade Recovery Item x1, F-grade Recovery Items x3.]

A Crisis Mission?
Hearing the system prompt, Shen Ge initially thought it was the usual “warning,” but it turned out to be a Crisis Mission.

And the rewards were decent.

“A hidden Tier 3 anomaly?” Shen Ge scanned the area, wondering if it was inside the hospital or outside. Why would it hide?
Afraid of being noticed by “Misfortune”?
Or was there a high-tier anomaly nearby?

If a high-tier anomaly were nearby, even without a system warning, Little Seven should detect its Anomalous Energy fluctuations. Since neither alerted him, any high-tier anomaly present was likely “roaming,” not settled nearby.

In that case, the fact that this Tier 3 anomaly was actively “hiding” was peculiar.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Ge decided to start his search inside the hospital. He could also plunder the Anomaly Response agents there, lending a hand to his disappointing allies.

To be fair, Momoka Kaede was somewhat “unlucky.” The route she planned had a low chance of detection. However, she didn’t expect that besides the three slacking off under the watchtower, someone was dozing on a tree branch along the secluded shaded path.

Momoka Kaede might not have been spotted if she had proceeded normally, but she happened to climb over a vine-covered stone archway on that path. She missed the person in the tree, but he spotted her.

This man, along with the agents playing cards under the watchtower, were all former elite Anomaly Response agents from the Takiguchi Anomaly Response Department.

When the “Misfortune” anomaly domain erupted, they were trapped in Takiguchi City, unable to evacuate in time.

Initially, these agents tried to gather survivors and lead them to survive until rescue arrived.

But as time passed, power and environment gradually changed their mindset. Under the prolonged pressure of uncertainty, living day to day, they eventually lost themselves in the absolute control afforded by their enhanced abilities.

Different factions emerged among these elite agents. Some wanted to continue leading survivors, while others sought to dominate them. Ultimately, they parted ways.

A few came here and occupied the hospital. Like common tropes in post-apocalyptic stories, they exploited men for labor and women for pleasure, living day by day in the hellish anomaly domain.

In the backyard of the hospital, several emaciated men were digging traps under the watchful eyes of overseers, while the overseers and some guards were engaged in group activities with several women in a corner.

The collapse of order meant the erosion of morality. When power-hungry individuals took control, for those without strength, it became a living hell.

The agent Shen Ge killed instantly was one of the weaker ones among the group. But even he was considered a “skilled fighter” among the hundreds in the hospital, yet he died so ignominiously, without even seeing his killer.

The one who discovered Momoka Kaede was the least capable agent in the hospital group, just out for some air, never expecting to run into an infiltrator.

The shooter was the most skilled agent among the hospital group, the second-in-command of the hospital faction. He had heard the explosion from the main street and was on alert on the inpatient building’s rooftop with his weapon when he spotted Momoka Kaede fighting his comrade and intervened.

Seeing Momoka Kaede escape into the general hospital building, he immediately activated a special alarm inside the hospital, alerting others to the intruder.

Bang!

Another gunshot, but this time the target wasn’t Momoka Kaede or her team. It was the head of the hospital’s guard patrol.

The bullet shot out from a broken window of the general hospital building, hitting the patrol leader’s head, exploding it in a shower of blood and brain matter. Instant death.

“Ambush! Take cover!” a guard shouted.

Everyone quickly sought cover.

The shooter was a team member originally tasked with infiltrating alongside Momoka Kaede. They had taken a different route but, seeing their captain discovered, tried to draw some fire.

Inside the building, Momoka Kaede subdued the pursuing guards. Through observation, she located the sniper hiding on the inpatient building’s rooftop.

Knowing his location was useless, however, as she currently lacked any long-range attack options. Besides her position, no one else could see the hidden sniper.

Momoka Kaede could only relay the sniper’s position to her team via communicator.

Just then, a whoosh cut through the air. A rocket-propelled grenade, trailing fire, shot towards the sniper’s position.

BOOM!
A loud explosion tore a chunk out of the inpatient building’s rooftop.

Momoka Kaede was stunned. She couldn’t imagine who could have gotten their hands on a rocket launcher at a time like this. But she had just reported the sniper’s location, and he was hit – clearly, it was their side.

And that person was, of course, Shen Ge, who carried a personal arsenal.

BOOM!
BOOM!
Before Momoka Kaede could recover from her shock, two more rockets slammed into the inpatient building rooftop, collapsing that section entirely.

Shen Ge put away the rocket launcher, his deed unknown, and using the tentacles of his Rotten Flesh Armor in “Formless” state, began scaling the building to loot the corpses on the rooftop.

Thud!
Thud!
Suddenly, heavy, rhythmic thuds echoed from the distance, accompanied by thunderous, earth-shaking swallowing sounds, as if the cannon fire had angered a slumbering giant anomaly.

Simultaneously, Parasitized and anomalies from the surrounding streets, drawn by the commotion at the hospital, converged on the location like a tidal wave.

Explosions erupted one after another around the hospital, flames leaping towards the sky.

For the scout team stealing medicine, the more chaotic the scene, the better. As for extraction, Shen Ge wasn’t worried. He had scanned the surrounding anomalies with the system. They could retreat via the sewer in the back street, avoiding the anomalies beneath the hospital.

Of course, Shen Ge fired three rockets for more reasons than that. The anomalies around the hospital were scattered; hunting them individually would take too long. By gathering them, he could farm points efficiently. Additionally, creating a major disturbance was the quickest and easiest way to force the hidden Tier 3 anomaly into the open.

However, Shen Ge’s plan encountered a slight hitch. It didn’t flush out the hidden Tier 3 anomaly but instead attracted the attention of a Tier 4 anomaly roaming the neighboring district.

This anomaly stood over ten meters tall, resembling a lizard.

The Anomalous Lizard opened its massive maw, devouring Parasitized and low-tier anomalies in its path as it charged towards the hospital.

The sentries on the hospital watchtowers spotted the behemoth. Its size alone could reduce the hospital to rubble. They urgently reported the situation to their leader.

The leader had invested significant resources and effort into fortifying the hospital and couldn’t abandon it easily. He dispatched an Anomaly Response agent and a team to try and lure the Anomalous Lizard away using a vehicle to create noise.

Several men drove out in a modified military jeep, firing at anomalies along the road as they headed towards the lizard.

Minutes later, the jeep was within a hundred meters of the Anomalous Lizard.

The driver floored the accelerator, but the modified jeep’s speed was limited on the rough terrain. The lizard quickly closed in, its massive front foot stomping down. The driver swerved sharply, avoiding the foot that crushed a nearby building into rubble.

Flying debris pelted the jeep with loud thuds. Fortunately, the rocks weren’t large enough to overturn the vehicle. But evading the lizard’s pursuit, the driver slammed the brakes, turned around, and sped between the lizard’s legs.

The driver clearly underestimated the Anomalous Lizard’s agility. It swiftly turned its body, its tentacles instantly entangling the jeep.

Just then, a whoosh sounded. The Anomaly Response agent in the vehicle fired an Anomalous Energy round at the tentacles!

BOOM!
The blast severed the tentacles, saving the jeep.

“Well done!” a teammate praised, quickly accelerating again to escape from under the lizard.

Unfortunately, the Anomalous Lizard wasn’t diverted. It continued its path, consuming Parasitized and low-tier anomalies, heading straight for the hospital.

“Dammit, boss, it’s not working! What do we do?” the driver cursed.

Before the agent could respond, a man’s voice spoke from the back seat. The men turned in surprise to find a mysterious figure in Special Self-Defense Force attire, wearing a gas mask, sitting on the rear frame.

Shen Ge’s arms sprouted two rotten flesh tentacles, wrapping around the two in the back seat and hurling them from the moving vehicle.

Instantly, the surrounding Parasitized swarmed the two men, devouring them amidst their screams until they were a bloody, mangled mess.

The Anomaly Response agent in the passenger seat hadn’t even had time to react when he felt his hands lighten. The Anomalous Energy Launcher he held was snatched away by a tentacle from Shen Ge.

“This launcher isn’t bad. Where are the Anomalous Energy rounds?” Shen Ge reached out towards the agent, but was met with the barrel of a gun.

Bang!
A gunshot. The bullet hit Shen Ge’s forehead. But what spilled out wasn’t blood or brains, but squirming rotten flesh.

With a clink, the bullet was spat out by the flesh, hitting the jeep with a metallic sound. The agent stared, dumbfounded.

“Hand over the Anomalous Energy rounds for the launcher, and I’ll spare your life,” Shen Ge said.

The agent swallowed hard, thinking, Where did this monster come from? Appearing out of nowhere, and even a specialized anti-anomaly pistol can’t hurt him?

Trembling, the agent took two special rounds, each about three fingers wide, from his pouch and handed them to Shen Ge. Shen Ge took them, looking displeased. “Only three?”

The man nodded hastily. “We were only tasked to lure the giant anomaly, not fight it. So we only brought three.”

“I see.”

The man pleaded, “You said you’d let me go…”

“Oh, I lied.” Before the man could finish, a blade flash crossed his vision. His head tilted and slid off his shoulders.

The driver was terrified, losing control of the jeep, which crashed into a building ahead.

Shen Ge, wearing his Anomalous Leather Boots, leaped out. Mid-air, he extended a rotten flesh tentacle, grabbing the edge of a building’s rooftop, and swung towards the Tier 4 anomaly.

He loaded one Anomalous Energy round into the launcher and fired at the back of the Anomalous Lizard’s head. “Hey, don’t leave in such a hurry. Let’s chat.”

BOOM!
The Anomalous Energy round exploded harmlessly against the lizard’s head in a puff of smoke, clearly failing to draw its aggro.

Shen Ge used his flesh tentacles to swing and land on the lizard’s back. Then, he activated “Domain Containment,” creating an invisible barrier in front of the lizard.

Crack, crunch.

The barrier couldn’t stop the Anomalous Lizard’s advance. It shattered upon impact, breaking like glass.

Shen Ge created another one. It shattered again.

After two or three attempts, and due to the large area required, he had to munch on a Mental Strength Apple to recover while continuously casting the invisible Domain Containment barriers to block the lizard.

Just then, Little Seven gathered the Rotten Flesh Armor to form a circular Anomalous Shield on Shen Ge’s left side. A loud clang followed as a crimson tongue shot from the side, slamming into the shield.

Shen Ge felt as if he’d been hit by a truck. He was sent flying to the right, crashing through a building’s wall and buried under rubble.

Cough. “As expected of a Tier 4 anomaly. The power level is on a completely different scale from previous opponents.” Shen Ge sat up in the pile of debris, swallowing an Internal Injury Healing Pill, and swatted away a Parasitized trying to attack him. His gaze fixed on the approaching Anomalous Lizard.