The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 166

After Kaede Momoka and the others received their mission and left the conference room, Watanabe Natsuhagi tapped his fingers on the table, then looked towards 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 secret missions to multiple countries and was an expert in tracking and counter-tracking.

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

As part of the younger generation of 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 Tokoguchi 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, it meant the research at the underground base had succeeded. If they could master this technology, perhaps the scout regiment could survive within the anomaly domain until rescue arrived.

Even if Shen Ge wasn’t an Aberrant, his ability to ignore the effects of the anomaly domain was precisely what the scout regiment needed most right now, a necessary means for surviving in the current Tokoguchi 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 Kaede Momoka 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 Kaede Momoka’s team as they circled from the gymnasium to the dormitory area in the east. He noticed that one of the dormitory buildings there was under construction for defensive fortifications.

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

Kaede Momoka shook her head: “Survivors were already living here before we arrived. There were students from the school, and also survivors who evacuated from downtown Tokoguchi. 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 teaching buildings in the west, while they would reside in this dormitory area.”

“Initially, things were peaceful between both sides. But they recklessly squandered the resources from the campus shops. In just a few months, they had cleared out the shops both on campus and in the surrounding area. At first, our Captain, upholding his duty as a soldier, would distribute some food to them. But these people became insatiably greedy, taking it all for granted, leading to several conflicts with us.”

“Half a year ago, a horde of anomalies broke into the school grounds. The Captain dispatched troops to guard the eastern district. But those people, to save their own skins, led the anomaly horde towards our garrisoned teaching buildings, putting our soldiers in a pincer attack. 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 school grounds within a few days. We haven’t seen them since.”

Shen Ge nodded in understanding. Most civilians, unlike soldiers, haven’t received professional training. During disasters, they often don’t know how to ration resources properly, only panicking when resources become scarce. The more they panic, the more chaotic things get, and the more chaotic, the more they panic. At times like these, it’s easy for them to make some incredibly foolish moves.

Leading enemies towards your allies to save your own skin? You’d need a severe lack of foresight to do something like that. Didn’t they consider that the soldiers’ combat effectiveness was far superior to theirs? If the soldiers were wiped out, how long could they, ordinary civilians, possibly last?

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

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

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

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

Overall, the development of this world wasn’t too different from Shen Ge’s. The key distinction 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 manipulated by someone behind the scenes, but the specific identities were still under investigation by the International Anti-Anomaly Organization before Kaede Momoka entered Tokoguchi City.

In this world, without Shen Ge’s involvement in the Daijing anomaly disaster, and since anomalies hadn’t been exposed prematurely, the authorities blockaded the Haicheng District under the pretext of a mysterious virus and thoroughly suppressed online rumors related to anomalies.

Although this didn’t lead to the premature exposure of anomalies like in Shen Ge’s world, they also didn’t resolve the disaster within 72 hours, eventually requiring intervention from the International Anti-Anomaly Organization.

Haicheng District was blockaded for a full six months. During this time, incidents related to Aberrants began appearing sporadically alongside anomalies.

What puzzled Shen Ge the most was that, even with the Twelve Branches unexposed, the International Anti-Anomaly Organization managed to produce a comprehensive research report on Aberrants and anomalies.

Two months after the Great Capital Disaster ended, the International Anti-Spectre Organization issued a detailed research report on weirdness and monsters to the anti-specttreat departments of various countries. It detailed the relationship between the parasites and monsters, and mentioned for the first time that the weird disasters in South Korea and China were controlled by a mysterious organization.

This mysterious organization had successfully researched a method to fuse humans with anomalies. By寄生 parasite-type anomalies into ordinary people, if the parasitic anomaly took over the host’s consciousness, the person would turn into a monster similar to an anomaly, becoming one of the Parasitized.

If a perfect fusion between human and anomaly was achieved, a secondary metamorphosis could occur, turning the person into an “Aberrant.” This mysterious organization successfully allowed its members to fuse with anomalies by extracting tissue cells from Aberrants, 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 “Report on the Parasitized” by him and Li Xiang, became credited to the International Anti-Anomaly Organization here.

In this world, the International Anti-Anomaly Organization had always been the leader in anti-anomaly efforts. The situation where the Celestial Empire dominated alone, as in Shen Ge’s world, didn’t occur here. Therefore, when the International Anti-Anomaly Organization presented this report, not only were there no doubts from various countries, but it was also treated as “gospel,” used to classify anomalies and Aberrants.

As someone from another world, Shen Ge knew that the International Anti-Anomaly Organization couldn’t possibly have produced such a report unless… the Twelve Branches provided it to them.

This confirmed Shen Ge’s earlier suspicion: the Twelve Branches had inserted their agents into the anti-anomaly departments of various countries, and even into the International Anti-Anomaly Organization itself.

The Twelve Branches were causing trouble worldwide. Whether their goal was to control the world or something else, their primary aim seemed to be testing their manufactured parasite-type anomalies.

If the International Anti-Anomaly Organization and national anti-anomaly departments couldn’t stop 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 outwitting the Tier 7 Formless, and hadn’t grown strong enough to deal with the Twelve Branches, let alone travel the world resolving anomaly disasters.

Therefore, in this world, the Twelve Branches themselves “supported” the International Anti-Anomaly Organization, using it 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 leak information. The development of anomalies always stayed one step ahead of humanity. Just as the Anomalous Eye showed, humanity was doomed to extinction.

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

As Shen Ge pondered the intelligence about the International Anti-Anomaly Organization in this world, a fingernail-sized piece of rotten flesh detached from the wristwatch on his left wrist, quickly squirming into his left ear and forming a sort of “wireless earpiece.”

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

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

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

But regardless, Watanabe Natsuhagi himself would never have imagined that Inoue Yoshino, the most outstanding soldier in the scout regiment, who had completed numerous reconnaissance missions in various countries, had been spotted the moment he left the base.

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

“Understood, Master.”

At that moment, Kaede Momoka 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. Probably won’t be easy to get through directly,” Kaede Momoka reported.

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

Kaede Momoka shook her head: “Not very likely. The buildings there are somewhat spaced apart, and there are Parasitized in the areas between. Even if we take the roofs, we’re bound to encounter resistance from Parasitized. Once engaged in combat, it could attract large numbers of them.”

A team member asked, “If above and through the middle aren’t feasible, 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 there are Parasitized or anomalies blocking the way in the sewers, any fight that happens won’t immediately draw the monsters from above with the noise.”

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

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

Unexpectedly, Kaede Momoka and the others’ gamble turned out to be correct. There were no Parasitized in the sewers, only some Anomalous Rats and Anomalous Cockroaches hidden deep within. If they were careful to avoid them, a fight wasn’t inevitable.

As the scout team captain, Kaede Momoka wore an anomaly detection device that could sense the presence of anomalous energy in the surroundings, helping determine if anomalies were nearby.

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

To avoid prolonged combat attracting anomalies from deeper in, Kaede Momoka 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 spot and quickly advanced.

About ten minutes after the team left, the signal flares detonated, gathering the anomalies attracted by the earlier combat noise and buying the team time to escape.

…

…

Two hours later.

The sky was dimly lit, the foggy sky seeming to press down incessantly, making it hard to breathe for those walking beneath it.

The perimeter of St. Julianna Hospital was fortified with a wire mesh and iron fence built along the outer wall. This alone showed that the hospital was occupied.

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

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

Thus, the sentry failed to notice the manhole cover slowly pushing open in front of a shop three hundred meters away, and several people climbing out of the sewer, dashing into a street-side store.

After hiding in the store, Kaede Momoka leaned against the wall next to the floor-to-ceiling window to observe outside, whispering, “Why are there survivors here?”

The vice-captain had noticed the watchtower when climbing out of the sewer and reminded her, “They’ve set up watchtowers in several positions around the hospital. Ordinary survivors aren’t this organized. Could it be Tokoguchi’s Self-Defense Forces from before the anomaly disaster?”

Kaede Momoka denied it: “Unlikely. In the first three months after we arrived, the Captain tried every means to contact the troops in the city. The Self-Defense Forces in Kawashimo and Akihabara responded, but they chose to hold their bases instead of joining us. Besides, the severely affected Hakaejō City and Tokyo Tower were between us. And with our location being attacked by deep-sea anomalies, there was no need for them to risk coming here.”

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

Everyone understood the vice-captain’s meaning. With guards, obtaining medicine would be difficult. What if, after all the effort and risk of getting in, they found the medicine had already been used up? It would be a wasted effort and highly dangerous.

“We still have to go in and check.” Thinking of the severely injured soldiers back at the base, Kaede Momoka decided to proceed with the original plan.

After some discussion, it was decided that the vice-captain would take some people to create disturbances at two different locations on the main street, trying to divert the attention of the hospital’s guards.

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

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

The people occupying the hospital had reinforced the rear wall, but there were fewer watchtowers compared to the front facing the main street, and the back door had been completely sealed off with a concrete wall.

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

A chilly morning wind blew across the quiet street, stirring up long-settled dust. The area behind the hospital was just a narrow alley. The occupants had deliberately filled the entire alley with debris to prevent anomalies and Parasitized from accidentally entering the alley and reaching the hospital.

Mindless Parasitized, with their fleshy, petal-like heads reminiscent of parasites, bumped into the debris, took a few steps back, and repeated the action endlessly.

Shen Ge had witnessed the capabilities of Kaede Momoka’s team in the sewers. While their combat strength might not match that of elite Anti-Anomaly agents, their experience in dealing with anomalies was even greater than 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 have much anomalous energy equipment, but they utilized anomaly corpses reasonably well, such as clothes made from anomaly hide, armor from anomaly bones, etc.

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

So, even though they were operating separately now, as long as the enemies were Parasitized or anomalies no higher than Tier 2, they wouldn’t be in grave danger.

Just then, an explosion sounded in the distance. The patrol guards inside the hospital received orders to assemble at the front, leaving only the sentries in the watchtowers at the rear.

Kaede Momoka, considering that Shen Ge wasn’t part of the scout regiment and his reconnaissance skills were yet to be verified, asked him to stay there and monitor the surroundings while she infiltrated the hospital to steal the medicine.

After Kaede Momoka left, Shen Ge had Little Seven run an anomalous energy detection on the surroundings, while also having the system lock onto nearby anomalies and Aberrants. He planned to use the “Formless + Soundless” effect to earn some points by clearing the area, “incidentally” helping Kaede Momoka’s team by drawing some fire.

Although Shen Ge didn’t have much fondness for Sakura people, Kaede Momoka treated him as “one of their own,” sharing this world’s intelligence with him unreservedly.

Shen Ge still intended to use Kaede Momoka and the others’ reconnaissance capabilities to help him find the Flesh Maw, so he couldn’t let them get wiped out here.

Shen Ge had previously obtained seven pieces of anomalous energy equipment after dealing with Grotess. He “lent” two suitable ones to Fang Mingyue. Of the remaining five, two were offensive-type bone spears and bone knives, and three were functional anomalous energy items.

One was a sleeping bag made from an anomaly’s hide. Entering the sleeping bag consumed 1% anomalous energy per minute to block the life aura inside.

The Anomalous Sleeping Bag had 100% anomalous energy capacity. Factoring in a 10% hourly anomalous energy recovery rate, one could sleep safely inside for two hours without worrying about being detected by anomalies.

Shen Ge originally thought that he didn’t need to sleep because of his high mental strength, and originally planned to “lend” it to Fang Mingyue, but the strange sleeping bag was the size of a basketball when folded up, and it was inconvenient for Fang Mingyue to carry it, so he simply stuffed it into the blood-skin backpack.

Of the other two items, one was an armguard similar to a freezing device, but it emitted a green corrosive gas instead of freezing spray.

The other was an Anomalous Bone Hammer that could change size. This anomalous energy weapon was about a foot long, with a hammerhead originally the size of an adult’s fist. But by consuming anomalous energy, it could enlarge tenfold, becoming a massive two-handed bone hammer, harder than steel.

Shen Ge found this Anomalous Bone Hammer particularly effective against Parasitized. In its enlarged state, it could almost always crush their parasite-formed fleshy petal heads with one hit.

Right now, under the “Formless + Soundless” state, he was wielding the two-handed giant bone hammer, smashing his way from one end of the street to the other, having killed several anomalies.

The commotion also drew attention from the hospital area. However, since they couldn’t see this area, or if they could, they would only see a large group of Parasitized and anomalies gathered together, they would likely assume it was infighting among the 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 that it detected an anomalous energy equipment reaction below the left watchtower.

“Anomalous energy equipment? Are there Sakura Anti-Anomaly agents inside the hospital?” Shen Ge immediately became interested. Looting Anti-Anomaly agents offered much better “rewards” than killing anomalies.

Just as Shen Ge decided to find an opportunity to strike against that Anti-Anomaly agent, Kaede Momoka, who had infiltrated the hospital earlier, was discovered.

Thud!

Just after entering the hospital grounds, Kaede Momoka was kicked in the chest by a figure that suddenly rushed out. She flew backward, crashing into a tree trunk nearby, her gun flying out of her hand.

Kaede Momoka reacted quickly, drawing the dagger from her calf and stabbing at the attacker’s head. A sharp clang rang out as the attacker drew a military knife, blocking the dagger. The collision of the two blades produced a grating sound and a shower of sparks.

Kaede Momoka, capable of serving as the scout team captain and surviving in the anomaly domain for over a year, certainly had her skills.

While her combat skills might not be top-ranked in the regiment, after a year of life-and-death struggles, only a handful in the regiment could beat her.

Kaede Momoka’s dagger swept towards the attacker’s throat, missing by a hair’s breadth. At the critical moment, the attacker managed to dodge.

Kaede Momoka’s dagger continued its downward arc, slashing the attacker’s chest. Blood splattered over her. As she prepared to deliver a finishing blow to the heart, a gunshot suddenly rang out.

Bang!

Kaede Momoka felt a bullet pierce her left shoulder, passing straight through.

In the early morning at the hospital, the gunshot seemed particularly sudden and the noise was so loud that it instantly woke up the guards who were resting nearby.

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

Kaede Momoka wanted to pursue, but a sense of danger made her instinctively duck. Another gunshot followed. Fortunately, after the first shot, she had been alert. After her attack missed, she immediately charged towards the hospital building, crashing through a window into the corridor. This second shot barely missed her shoulder, hitting the wall.

Meanwhile, the three men playing cards under the watchtower at the hospital’s rear heard the gunshot from the building direction and immediately stood up alertly. But before they could act, the soldier among them who possessed anomalous energy equipment suddenly clutched his throat in terror. A searing pain followed, and a column of blood spurted from his neck.

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

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

Shen Ge, under the “Formless” state, had Little Seven scan for the anomalous energy equipment the man carried. It detected a pair of Anomalous Leather Shoes. After pulling them off, Shen Ge tossed them into his Bloodhide Backpack.

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

So much for the strongest scout regiment in Sakura. If this was their capability, then whether he needed their help to find the Flesh Maw was also questionable.

[Crisis Mission Triggered: “The Hidden Anomaly” – A Tier 3 anomaly, on the verge of evolving to Tier 4, is hidden within this area. Once it completes its evolution, no one in the current area will survive. Host must find 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 “early warning,” but unexpectedly, a crisis mission had been triggered.

And the rewards were pretty good.

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

If Shen Ge were near a high-tier anomaly, even without a system warning, Little Seven could detect the anomalous energy fluctuations. Since neither was alerting him, it meant that even if there was a high-tier anomaly, it should be of the “roaming” type, not settled nearby.

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

After a little thought, Shen Ge decided to start from the hospital and rob the enemy agents in the hospital, which could also be regarded as helping the allies who disappointed him.

However, Kaede Momoka was somewhat “unlucky.” According to her planned route, the chance of discovery was very low. But she didn’t expect that besides the three slacking off playing cards under the watchtower, someone was dozing on a tree branch along the relatively secluded wooded path.

Kaede Momoka might not have been discovered if she had proceeded normally, but she happened to climb over the vine-covered stone frame along the path. She didn’t notice the person in the tree, but he noticed her.

This person, along with the Anti-Anomaly agents playing cards under the watchtower, were all former elite Anti-Anomaly agents from the Tokoguchi City Anti-Anomaly Response Department.

When Misfortune’s anomaly domain erupted, they couldn’t evacuate in time and were trapped in Tokoguchi City.

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

But as time passed, power and the environment changed their mentality day by day. Under the prolonged pressure of not knowing if they would see the next day’s sun, they ultimately lost themselves in the absolute control afforded by their powerful abilities.

Different voices emerged among these elite Anti-Anomaly agents. Some were willing to continue leading the survivors, while others wanted to dominate them. Eventually, they parted ways.

A few came here and occupied the hospital. Like common plots in post-apocalyptic stories, they exploited men for labor and enjoyed women’s bodies, living day by day in the apocalyptic anomaly domain.

In the backyard behind the hospital, several emaciated men were diligently digging traps, while overseers and a few guards were engaged in a joyful group activity with some women in a corner.

The collapse of order meant the erosion of morality. When this place was controlled by those who believed in power above all, for those without strength, it was like hell.

The Anti-Anomaly agent Shen Ge instantly killed was one of the less capable among them. But even so, he was considered a “master” among the hundreds of people in the hospital. Yet, he died so ignominiously, without even seeing his enemy.

The one who discovered Kaede Momoka was the least skilled among the hospital’s Anti-Anomaly agents. He had just stepped out for some air and unexpectedly encountered an infiltrator.

The one who fired the shot was the most capable Anti-Anomaly agent in the hospital, also the second-in-command of the hospital faction. He had heard the explosion from the main street and was on alert with his weapon on the inpatient building rooftop when he happened to see Kaede Momoka fighting with his comrade, so he intervened.

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

Bang!

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

The bullet shot out from a broken window of the general building, hitting the guard captain’s head, exploding in a spray of blood. He died on the spot!

“Ambush! Take cover!” the guards shouted.

Everyone quickly sought cover.

The shot was fired by the team member originally tasked with infiltrating alongside Kaede Momoka. They had taken a different route than her but, seeing their captain discovered, tried to draw some fire to help.

Inside the building, Kaede Momoka took down the pursuing guards. Through observation, she located the sniper hiding on the inpatient building rooftop.

But knowing his location was useless. She currently lacked any long-range attack means, and besides her position, the others couldn’t see the hidden sniper.

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

Just then, a sudden whoosh cut through the air. A rocket, trailing a line of fire, shot towards the sniper’s hiding spot.

Boom!
With a loud explosion, a chunk of the inpatient building rooftop was blown away.

Kaede Momoka was stunned. She couldn’t figure out who could get their hands on a rocket at a time like this. But she had just reported the sniper’s position, and he was hit immediately, clearly the work of an ally.

And that person was, naturally, Shen Ge, who carried an entire arsenal with him.

Boom!
Boom!
Before Kaede Momoka could recover from her shock, two more rockets flew towards the inpatient building rooftop, directly collapsing that floor.

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

Thud!
Thud!
Suddenly, loud booms came from the distance, accompanied by thunderous, earth-shaking swallowing sounds, as if the cannon fire had angered a slumbering giant anomaly.

Simultaneously, the Parasitized and anomalies in the surrounding streets, hearing the commotion at the hospital, converged on the area like a tide.

For a moment, explosions erupted continuously around the hospital, flames leaping towards the sky.

For the scout team stealing medicine, the more chaotic the scene, the better. As for evacuation, there was no need to worry. Shen Ge had scanned the surrounding anomalies with the system. As long as they entered the sewers via the back street, they could avoid the anomalies beneath the hospital.

Of course, Shen Ge firing three shots wasn’t just for that reason. The anomalies around the hospital were scattered. Hunting them individually would waste time, so he wanted to use this to gather them all for a points farming session. At the same time, to find the hidden Tier 3 anomaly, creating a big disturbance was undoubtedly the fastest and most efficient method.

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

This anomaly was over ten meters tall, resembling a lizard-based creature.

The Anomalous Lizard opened its bloody maw, devour everything in its path – Parasitized and low-tier anomalies – as it charged towards the hospital.

The sentries on the hospital watchtowers noticed this behemoth. Its size could turn the hospital into rubble. They quickly reported the situation to their leader.

The leader had invested many resources and effort into fortifying the hospital and couldn’t abandon it easily. So, he dispatched an Anti-Anomaly agent and a team, attempting to lure the Anomalous Lizard away by creating noise with a vehicle.

Several people drove out of the hospital in a modified military jeep, firing at anomalies along the road as they headed towards the Anomalous Lizard.

A few minutes later, the jeep was less than a hundred meters from the Anomalous Lizard.

The driver floored the accelerator, but the modified jeep’s speed was limited on the complex terrain. It was quickly caught up by the Anomalous Lizard. Its massive front foot came down. The driver swerved sharply, avoiding the descending foot. The Anomalous Lizard’s foot crashed into a nearby building, flattening it.

Flying rocks hit the jeep with loud thuds. Fortunately, rocks of that size weren’t enough to overturn the vehicle. But to evade the Anomalous Lizard’s pursuit, the driver slammed the brakes, turned around, and sped through the gap between the lizard’s legs.

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

Just then, a whoosh sounded. The Anti-Anomaly 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 Anomalous Lizard.

Unfortunately, the Anomalous Lizard wasn’t lured away. It continued its path, devour 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 Anti-Anomaly agent in the vehicle could answer, a man’s voice spoke up 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 back seat frame.

Shen Ge’s arms extended two rotten flesh tentacles, wrapping around the two men in the back seat and throwing them out of the vehicle.

Immediately, the surrounding Parasitized swarmed over the two, chewing them into a bloody mess amidst their screams.

The Anti-Anomaly agent in the passenger seat hadn’t even had time to act when he felt his hands lighten. The anomalous energy cannon in his grasp was snatched away by a tentacle extending from Shen Ge.

“This hand cannon isn’t bad. Where are the anomalous energy rounds?” Shen Ge reached out towards the Anti-Anomaly agent, but was met with the muzzle of a gun.

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

Clink! The bullet was deflected by the rotten flesh, hitting the jeep with a metallic sound. Seeing this, the Anti-Anomaly agent was dumbfounded.

“Hand over the anomalous energy rounds for the hand cannon, and I’ll spare your life,” Shen Ge said.

The Anti-Anomaly agent swallowed hard, wondering where this monster came from. Appearing out of nowhere was one thing, but even a specialized anti-anomaly pistol couldn’t hurt him?

The Anti-Anomaly agent tremblingly took three finger-sized special bullets from his waist pouch and handed them to Shen Ge. Shen Ge took them and asked disdainfully, “Only three?”

The man nodded hastily: “We were only tasked with luring the giant anomaly, not fighting it, so we only brought three.”

“I see.”

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

“Oh, I lied.” Before Shen Ge finished speaking, the Anti-Anomaly agent only saw a flash of blade light before his head slid off misaligned.

The driver was terrified, and the vehicle veered out of control towards a building ahead.

Shen Ge, wearing his Anomalous Leather Boots, leaped into the air, extending rotten flesh tentacles to grab the edge of a building’s rooftop, then swung towards the Tier 4 anomaly.

While in the air, he loaded an anomalous energy round into the hand cannon, then aimed at the back of the Tier 4 anomaly’s head and fired: “Hey, don’t leave in such a hurry. Let’s chat.”

Boom!
The anomalous energy cannon shot exploded into a puff of smoke on the Anomalous Lizard’s head, but the damage was almost negligible, clearly failing to draw its aggro.

Shen Ge extended his rotten flesh tentacles, leaping and swinging several times to land on the Anomalous Lizard’s back. Then, he used “Domain Containment” to create an invisible barrier in front of the lizard.

Crack, crunch.

The Domain Containment barrier clearly couldn’t stop the Anomalous Lizard’s advance. It cracked upon impact, then shattered like glass.

Shen Ge simply created another one, which was also shattered.

After two or three attempts, and because the area he needed to cover was relatively large, he had to munch on a Mental Apple to restore his mental strength while continuously casting the invisible Domain Containment barriers to block the Anomalous Lizard.

Just then, Little Seven quickly gathered the Rotten Flesh Armor to form a circular anomalous shield on Shen Ge’s left side. Simultaneously, a clang echoed as a crimson tongue shot from the side, slamming into the shield.

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

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