The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 171

Shen Ge, in the four-year future timeline, had only encountered the Weird “Trace-less” near the hospital after killing that Tier 4 Weird.

He had originally thought it was hiding elsewhere, waiting to play the “mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind” role after he dealt with the Tier 4 Lizard Weird. But it seemed now that it had been hiding within the hospital all along.

The people in the hospital appeared to have been evacuated. As Shen Ge entered the main hall of the general building, there wasn’t a single person in sight. The place was eerily quiet, with a foul, rotting stench hanging in the air.

Shen Ge’s eyes narrowed slightly. He was very familiar with this smell; it wasn’t the odor of ordinary Parasitized, but the stench of a Mutant.

Parasitized individuals only exhibited signs of decay and stench because, after being infected by a Parasitic-type Weird, some of their internal organs remained “alive” under the Weird’s control, while their bodies showed post-mortem characteristics.

Mutants, however, were the result of a successful “fusion” between a Parasitic-type Weird and a human. This fusion included previously deceased parts, resulting in a much more pungent smell – like flesh that had rotted for several months and was then used to make surströmming. The mere smell was enough to kill!

Shen Ge scanned the hall. The hospital had lost power and presumably switched to emergency backup power. The emergency lights flickered, making the lobby exceptionally terrifying.

The items on the reception desk were scattered and overturned. Large stains of blood were everywhere, and drag marks left by corpses were visible on the floor. The metal benches were knocked over, some even broken in the middle. Among the Parasitized, only a Tier 2 Mutant possessed such strength.

Shen Ge ordered the System to scan for Weird and Parasitized, while Little Seven monitored the surrounding Weird Energy. Soon, numerous red dots updated on the [Map].

Most were clustered around the hospital, small and densely packed – clearly the Parasitic-type Weird that had fallen from the sky earlier.

The largest red dot on the [Map] was in the basement. Shen Ge found the hospital’s emergency evacuation diagram at the reception desk. Comparing it with the red dot’s location, it seemed to be in the morgue.

The morgue also had the highest concentration of red dots in the hospital.

“Hmm, but there don’t seem to be any markers for Weird above Tier 2.” Shen Ge pondered whether the System still couldn’t pinpoint “Trace-less,” or if “Trace-less” at this stage was only around Tier 1 or 2, thus hiding among these smaller red dots.

If it was the former, finding it would be troublesome, relying entirely on “luck.” If it was the latter, he just needed to clear out the red dots on the [Map] one by one. If he cleared all the red dots, one of them had to be “Trace-less,” right?

Shen Ge headed towards the stairwell, evidently deciding to start searching from the area with the highest concentration of monsters.

The bloodstains on the corridor floor extended into the stairwell. Upon entering, he found several Parasitized, their heads transformed into fleshy, man-eating flower heads, crouched in a corner, gnawing on a few corpses.

Shen Ge really wanted to complain about why the emergency lights had to be red. It made the scene in the stairwell look like a scene from “Resident Evil”.

Just as he finished this mental complaint, one of the corpse-eating Parasitized heard his footsteps. Holding a handful of entrails, it performed the classic zombie “look back.”

“Gurgle.”
“Gurgle.”

Seeing Shen Ge, the Parasitized throats bulged more vigorously, as if they had spotted a delicious meal.

“Excuse me, coming through.” Shen Ge walked straight downstairs. Nearly ten Parasitized suddenly swarmed him. The next moment, SMACK – they were smashed into paste against the wall by a giant Bone Mallet.

“I told you not to block…” Shen Ge complained and was about to leave when he noticed the abdomens of the pulverized Parasitized corpses pulsating.

With a flick of his wrist, Shen Ge retracted the Bone Mallet. Little Seven coated his arm with the Rotten Flesh Armor, extending a bone spike to poke at the Parasitized corpse.

From the Parasitized’s collarbone to its lower abdomen, something seemed to be pushing outward, stretching the human skin, moving back and forth slowly.

Shen Ge aimed at the bulging area, inserted the bone spike, and sliced downward, cutting open the skin. Inside was indeed a Parasitic-type Weird about the size of a basketball.

But unlike previous Parasitic-type Weird, this one wasn’t an insect or monster, but a humanoid shape. It had no face or facial features; its entire head was wrapped in a membrane-like white skin.

“Tch, The Thing prequel, is it?” Shen Ge immediately understood. No wonder some Mutants looked like they were wrapped in a white, membrane-like human skin – turns out they were born that way.

Just then, the basketball-sized “blob” began to grow at a visible rate, and its growth direction was towards… Shen Ge.

Thud.

Shen Ge’s bone spike thrust forward, piercing the monster baby’s head. But it didn’t die. Instead, it raised its hands, grabbing the bone spike, seemingly trying to pull it out.

Shen Ge pulled out the bone spur and then stabbed it again, this time aiming at the “heart” of the monster baby. After piercing it, the monster baby stopped moving after a few stabs.

Shen Ge cut open the monster baby’s chest and found the “heart” among a cluster of squeezed-together internal organs. At first glance, the heart looked familiar.

It seemed to be… the red tumor-like growths on the necks of the Twelve Branches members.

Shen Ge stared at the tumor “heart,” lost in thought for a moment. Then, he cut open another nearby Parasitized corpse, extracted a Bone Whip, and used it to bind the monster baby.

Next, Shen Ge took out a military satchel filled with grenades from his Bloodskin Backpack, emptied the grenades, stuffed the bound monster baby inside, sealed it in a eerie Sleeping Bag, and stored it in the Bloodskin Backpack.

“Such good research material. It’d be a shame not to take it back for Li Xiang to examine.” Shen Ge suspected the Twelve Branches were using this method to cultivate materials that would grant their members the “multiple heads and arms” ability. If Li Xiang could uncover the key, they might find a way to counter the Twelve Branches’ “Transformation” ability.

After dealing with the monster baby in the stairwell, Shen Ge headed to the basement. Just as he exited the stairwell safety entrance, he saw black blood covering the floor.

Little Seven warned, “Master, detected strong corrosive properties and Weird Energy reactions in this black blood. It’s best not to touch it directly.”

While warning, Little Seven entered alert mode and began coating Shen Ge’s entire body with the Rotten Flesh Armor.

Shen Ge extended a tentacle to test the black blood. Indeed, as Little Seven detected, it was highly corrosive – stronger than the green acid in “Liu Zongrui’s” villa, but not as potent as the corrosive acid inside the Flesh Maw and the Lizard Weird.

Shen Ge stepped forward, but he didn’t directly step on the corrosive black blood on the floor. Instead, he stepped on an invisible barrier condensed by his Unmanifested Domain.

Based on his calculations, the mental energy consumed to maintain the invisible barrier for the walk to the morgue was far less than the consumption of wearing the armor and stepping into the black blood and corrosive acid.

Most importantly, the Rotten Flesh Armor’s Weird Energy recovery only had two methods: self-recovery and absorption/conversion of Weird Energy in Red Mist form. His mental energy, however, could be restored by eating a single Mental Apple.

Normally, Shen Ge would choose to save the Mental Apple, but now, pressed for time and racing against international anti- Weird organizations for “Misfortune,” he couldn’t afford to delay here.

The further he went, the darker the corridor became. Most peculiarly, the walls and ceiling became damp, “squeezing out” droplets of black blood that dripped onto the floor.

Drip.
Drip.

The sound of water dripping into the blood on the ground was extremely terrifying in the dark environment. The invisible oppression in the air made people almost breathless.

Shen Ge strangely found that with the sound of the dripping blood, his mind involuntarily recalled horror movies he’d seen before. Terrifying images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Little Seven detected that the closer they got to the morgue, the deeper the accumulated blood in the corridor became. By now, it was about ten centimeters deep.

Simultaneously, the stench of decay and the smell of blood in the air grew stronger. If not for Shen Ge’s special gas mask and the layer of Rotten Flesh Armor, he would definitely be vomiting by now.

Shen Ge walked through the dim underground corridor, his pace steady but not slow. While observing his surroundings, Little Seven also entered high-alert mode.

However, apart from the dripping sound of black blood, the corridor was eerily quiet. There were no signs of Weird, not even a shadow of a Parasitized.

“Did I end up inside another Weird stomach?” Shen Ge clicked his tongue and stopped at the sliding door of the morgue, trying to peer inside through the window.

The inside of the window seemed covered by a thick layer of black, viscous substance, completely blocking the view.

The morgue door was slightly ajar. The black blood seemed to be flowing out from inside; upon closer inspection, one could see it slowly moving.

Morgue… Corpse fluid?

“If this leads to some mutated corpse beetles, that would be the absolute worst!” Shen Ge slowly pushed the door open.

The moment the door opened, the morgue seemed flooded with black blood. As the door opened, the black blood surged out like a tidal wave, instantly submerging Shen Ge and then rushing down the corridors on both sides, as if a great flood had been unleashed.

Shen Ge remained standing in place, as if the impact force of the black blood tide had been completely neutralized by the Rotten Flesh Armor.

But in reality, Shen Ge sensed something was wrong.

When he arrived, the morgue door was already slightly open. If it was flooded with black blood inside, the blood in the corridor shouldn’t be so “shallow.”

“An illusion?” That was his first thought.

But he quickly dismissed it.

In the future timeline, Shen Ge had witnessed the illusions created by the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune’s” Domain and their effect on warriors like Hanabana. At that time, he hadn’t been affected by the illusions. If he could withstand the Domain environment of a Tier 8 Weird, a mere Tier 4 shouldn’t be able to pull him into an illusion.

If not an illusion, then what was this?

From the moment he entered the hospital, the System had been warning about information related to the “Tier 4 Weird ‘Trace-less’.” Little Seven had also been vigilantly monitoring the surrounding Weird Energy reactions.

But here in the basement, the System had been quiet for a long time, and Little Seven hadn’t issued any new warnings, meaning he should be safe for now.

Most importantly, Shen Ge noticed a detail: despite being washed by the black blood surging from the morgue, the Rotten Flesh Armor wasn’t consuming Weird Energy for defense.

“Little Seven, detect the black blood flowing from the morgue,” Shen Ge said.

Little Seven immediately replied, “Report, Master. Currently, no black blood is flowing from the morgue. The accumulated black blood on the ground is consistent with the state in the corridor.”

“But I saw black blood surge out like a tidal wave after opening the door, and it’s now rushing down both sides of the corridor, like a great flood.” Shen Ge briefly described what he was currently seeing.

Little Seven said, “Report, Master. No such scene as you described has been detected. However, your hormone levels are elevated, and your brainwaves show abnormal activity. Judged as unstable mental state.”

Unstable mental state?

Shen Ge really wanted to say he was perfectly fine, but he soon realized something was wrong. “When did my mental state start becoming unstable?”

As Little Seven had been on high alert, it naturally monitored Shen Ge’s every move and would immediately alert him or take emergency measures if any abnormalities were detected.

“After you entered the underground area,” Little Seven replied.

Shen Ge immediately understood it must be related to this area. The “fusion” of Weird with buildings was nothing new.

First, the Turtle Weird fused with the general building, then Liu Zongrui fused with his villa. Furthermore, some deep-sea Weird was attempting to fuse with the entire Sakura Island. So, encountering an Weird fusing with the hospital building now wasn’t particularly surprising.

“So, from the moment I entered the basement, I entered the Weird’s ‘stomach,’ which is why I’m affected by its conditions.”

“And the morgue is the location of its ‘heart,’ so it’s trying everything to stop me from entering?”

“Little Seven, detect for Weird Space reactions in the surroundings.”

As soon as Shen Ge finished speaking, Little Seven replied, “Report, Master. Detected dense Weird Energy reactions in the surroundings, but no Weird Space reactions detected.”

Shen Ge frowned upon hearing this and said, “System, detect for multiple Weird Spaces.”

[No Weird Space reactions detected in the surroundings.]

“…”

Ever since returning from the future timeline, Shen Ge had felt something was off. Now, he finally found the “source” of this feeling.

Before entering the Flesh Maw, he had lured all the Tier 3 Weird near Tokyo Tower into a chaotic battle. After returning, although Fang Mingyue and others had jointly eliminated two, four were still alive, meaning at least four layers of Weird Space should exist.

But strangely, from the Tokyo Tower area to the Kawashina ward, Shen Ge hadn’t encountered any Weird Space boundaries.

The Weird Space of a Tier 3 Weird couldn’t possibly “spread” this far. Moreover, there were Tier 2 Weird active in this area, so it was impossible for there not to be a single layer of Weird Space!

How could the Weird Spaces disappear just after one trip to the “future”?

Did something happen in the future that affected the present?

While in the future, Shen Ge had speculated that ” Weird Space” didn’t originally exist. The reason it appeared in his world was that the Weird Energy of the Weird distorted space, causing the current space to overlap with the future space. In reality, those entering the Weird Space were still in the original space.

It was just that the present and future worlds alternated, creating a situation with “unfixed entry and exit points.” But since people were still in the original space, unless the Weird had abilities like disrupting signals, the “signal” inside wouldn’t be significantly affected.

Why did the Weird Spaces disappear?

Shen Ge instinctively thought of the situation mentioned in the log: the battle between “Misfortune” and the deep-sea giant Weird caused the entire Sakura Island to sink.

If Sakura Island was gone in the future, the Weird Energy of the Weird in this world couldn’t distort the two spaces anymore, thus the Weird Spaces also disappeared.

According to the information obtained in the future, Weird Space was originally a “non-existent” concept. High-tier Weird only had the concept of “Domain,” not so-called Weird Space.

Since it wasn’t Weird Space, and he wasn’t affected by a ” Weird Space (Domain)” ability, it must be that this Weird’s interior had some special ability.

Although this illusion didn’t pose any real “danger,” the constant outpouring of black blood was really affecting his vision.

“According to Little Seven’s detection, I was mentally influenced upon entering the underground area, resulting in hallucinations.”

“Tch, I just realized the Rotten Flesh Armor handles physical defense quite well, but its defense against ‘men (magic) tal (spells)’ is almost zero.”

“It seems I need to remind Li Xiang to focus on upgrading the ‘Li Xiang III Armor’ in this direction when I get back.”

Shen Ge had already thought of a countermeasure by this time. Since he was not sure how the strangeness affected him, he could only guess that it was most likely related to the strange energy in the air detected by Xiao Qi. The best way was to directly cut off contact with the “air”.

The Rotten Flesh Armor could even convert Weird Energy; converting air was even easier. Otherwise, Shen Ge wouldn’t have survived sinking into the sea back then.

Thinking this, Shen Ge directly expanded his Unmanifested Domain, extending the invisible barrier condensed under his feet to envelop his entire body, blocking contact with the “air.”

Immediately, Shen Ge clearly felt the surrounding environment subtly change. The black blood surging from the morgue also decreased at a visible rate.

Soon, everything returned to calm.

Shen Ge raised his hand, extended a Rotten Flesh tentacle, and slowly pushed the door open.

Bzzz.
Bzzzt.

The emergency lights in the morgue flashed a dark red light, making the already terrifying morgue look like Sadako climbing a well.

Unfortunately, there was no Sadako in the morgue, but there were plenty of nurse-outfitted… Mutants.

These Mutants uniformly wore “nurse” outfits, their clothes tattered and torn, as if they had experienced a brutal fight.

Some held rusty scalpels, others iron awls, daggers, and similar weapons. Hearing the noise at the door, they all turned to look simultaneously.

Shen Ge then noticed that these nurse Mutants had no “faces.” Like the monster baby born from the Parasitized’s bellies, their faces were covered with a membrane-like white skin.

Crack.
Crack.

The sounds their necks made when they turned were like breaking the entire neck. The bone-cracking sounds, accentuated by the dark red lighting, were hair-raising.

Shen Ge calmly took out his phone, switched to camera mode, and snapped several consecutive photos of them. “This style, Wang Han would definitely love it!”

Whether Wang Han would like it or not was unknown, but it was certain these nurse Mutants were very attracted to the life aura on Shen Ge. Holding their weapons, they immediately converged on him.

Shen Ge pulled out his Anti- Weird Revolver and fired several shots at the nurse Mutants’ stark white hearts. The Weird Energy bullets easily penetrated their bodies, embedding into the morgue wall.

The number of nurse Mutants was greater than expected. Even with the Anti- Weird Revolver’s “Infinite” magazine trait and its fast Weird Energy recovery speed, the recovery rate couldn’t keep up with their swarming speed.

Shen Ge calmly waited for the bullets to regenerate while holding the Butcher’s Knife in his other hand, slicing open the nurse Mutants’ chests and piercing their hearts.

Under the influence of his Immovable Domain’s “Bullet Time,” all the nurse Mutants’ movements seemed like slow motion. Shen Ge moved in and out among them with ease.

To describe it in one sentence –

Elegance, never goes out of style.

A few minutes later, all the nurse Mutants in the morgue were lying on the ground.

[Host successfully eliminated Tier 2 Weird. Reward: System Points x100, F-grade Recovery Item x1.]

[Sell Tier 2 Weird corpse? Price: 500 System Points.]

The judgment was consistent with the Weird encountered outside the Self-Defense Force base earlier – also judged as Tier 2 Weird, not Tier 2 Mutant.

Cutting open one of the nurse Mutant’s abdomens revealed a Parasitic-type Weird inside, gnawing on her internal organs.

If the System judged them as Mutants, not only would the System Points be less, but the F-grade supply items would also be gone. So, Shen Ge actually preferred the System to judge them as Weird.

After selling the sixteen nurse Mutant corpses, Shen Ge gained a total of 9600 System Points, plus 16 F-grade supply items.

Then, Shen Ge wiped his hands, ate a Mental Apple to restore his mental energy, and searched the morgue.

Strangely, there were no corpses in the morgue, nor any trace of the Weird. However, he found a hole in the floor in the inner room.

“Master, there’s a very strong Weird Energy reaction below,” Little Seven warned just as Shen Ge received a System notification that he was approaching the Tier 4 Weird “Trace-less.”

Shen Ge jumped down the hole. It was several meters deep. After moving forward a short distance, he reached Kawashina Ward’s underground drainage system.

Shen Ge had traversed the sewers once in the future timeline, but due to the high concentration of Weird gathered there, he, Hanabana, and the others had climbed out early.

“So, is this ‘Trace-less’ a cockroach, a rat, or a pangolin?” Shen Ge followed the dug tunnel forward for about ten meters, arriving at a “cavern” roughly ten square meters in size.

In the center of the cavern hung an inverted, black, indescribable mass. It resembled a semi-human, semi-monstrous entity formed from congealed black sludge and blood, dripping black blood onto the floor. The entire cavern had at least ten centimeters of accumulated black blood, extremely disgusting.

The indescribable mass hanging there “dripping blood” looks like a lump of melting meat. It is so disgusting that it would be censored in any photo.

Its lower half was melting and dripping blood, while its upper half extended dozens, if not hundreds, of black blood vessels into the cavern walls, seeming to merge with them.

This was presumably the Weird “Trace-less.” It was currently using this special method to fuse with the hospital building, having only completed the fusion of the basement area so far.

Shen Ge estimated its Weird Energy level to be around Tier 2. He approached with the Anti- Weird Revolver and Butcher’s Knife, ready to deal with it.

Just then, the black blood on the floor suddenly boiled, followed by a hiss as white smoke rose, instantly forming a thick fog that filled the entire cavern.

Shen Ge clearly didn’t expect this sudden change. He couldn’t let a Trait Weird slip away, so he immediately charged forward.

However, strangely, the cavern was only about ten square meters, but Shen Ge charged forward for dozens of meters without “reaching the end.”

This experience was something he had gone through countless times fighting the Fog Weird in the future timeline – getting lost in the fog each time, unable to find its trace!

Shen Ge searched in the fog for nearly half an hour but still couldn’t find “Trace-less.” So, he simply expanded his invisible Domain, used “Collapse” on the ceiling above, and jumped out using the eerie Leather Boots.

Back on the surface, Shen Ge found the entire hospital block shrouded in thick fog. Indeed, the situation with the Fog Weird appearing had occurred again, just like in the future timeline.

Shen Ge immediately retreated outside the fog and contacted Deng Yuqi, Luo Jing, and Fang Mingyue separately from an unblocked area. The Weird Energy Dispersal Grenades he prepared earlier would come in handy now.

Deng Yuqi and Luo Jing still needed to “negotiate” with Sakura. Even if Deng Yuqi pressured them using the headquarters’ name, Sakura’s response wouldn’t be that quick. Therefore, the first to provide support was Fang Mingyue, who had been awaiting his orders.

“Investigator Shen, I have arrived in the airspace you mentioned.” Fang Mingyue was initially worried about encountering a Weird Space, but since Shen Ge told her to proceed boldly, she fearlessly compelled the Sakura pilot to fly the armed helicopter to a location a few blocks from the hospital.

“See the area covered by dense fog? Fire the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenades at it!” Shen Ge said into the communicator.

“Understood!”

As soon as Fang Mingyue spoke, the armed helicopter in the distance fired a Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade with a whoosh. It exploded within the thick fog, its special Weird Energy immediately dispersing the fog.

Shen Ge immediately expanded his invisible Domain, used “Collapse” to return underground, and instructed Fang Mingyue via the communicator, “If dense fog appears again at the hospital, don’t hesitate, fire the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade immediately!”

“Understood!”

After Shen Ge returned to the cavern where “Trace-less” was, the special Weird Energy released by the Dispersal Grenade seemed to have neutralized “Trace-less’s” Weird Energy.

And currently, “Trace-less” was just a small fry that had recently evolved to Tier 2. Naturally, it couldn’t resist something like the Weird Energy Dispersal Grenade.

Knowing it would be hard to find “Trace-less” if it escaped again, Shen Ge first sealed the cavern with his Unmanifested Domain, then stepped forward with the Butcher’s Knife and started hacking.

“Trace-less,” under attack, immediately released thick fog. But Fang Mingyue, stationed outside, fired a second Dispersal Grenade as soon as the fog appeared.

Thus, “Trace-less’s” life-saving ability was countered in advance by Shen Ge. Its Tier 2 combat power was insignificant before him, and the battle ended in just two minutes.

[Host eliminated Tier 4 Weird (Trait: Trace-less). Can sell the Weird corpse or let the System devour it to extract the “Trait.”]

[ Weird (Trait: Trace-less) – Value: 3000 System Points.]

[Devour the Weird to extract the Trait.]

“Devour!”

[Tier 4 Weird (Trait: Trace-less) devoured successfully. Trait “Trace-less” extracted. This Trait will “fuse” in a form more suitable for the host. Host’s attribute panel updated.]

[Trace-less: Activating the Trait envelops the user in “White Mist.” In this state, the user cannot be detected or sensed by any equipment or ability. Consumes 0.5% mental energy per second. Can be activated simultaneously with other Traits.]

“Well, first Boruto, now Mist Ninja, is it?” Shen Ge tried activating the Trait. Sure enough, a dense fog formed by Weird Energy enveloped him completely.

“…This.”

Seeing his current state, Shen Ge felt this ability was somewhat “hard to describe.” Although hiding in the fog blocked all detection, such a large “cloud of fog” was a dead giveaway to anyone with eyes, no detection needed.

Fortunately, Shen Ge had more than just the “Trace-less” Trait. He immediately activated the most commonly used “Intangible” Trait. The effect of Intangible instantly made the fog intangible as well.

Although “Trace-less” seemed bound to the “Intangible” Trait for Shen Ge, with “Intangible + Trace-less + Soundless” all active, not even ordinary anti- Weird investigators, let alone high-tier Weird, could detect his presence. His safety factor was maxed out.

[Crisis Mission 2: You are currently within the Domain created by the Tier 8 Weird (Trait: Misfortune). This area has numerous high-level Weird roaming due to the Tier 8 Weird’s influence. Within 15 days, find and kill at least 1 Trait Weird that is not “Trait: Misfortune” and choose to devour it.]

[Time Limit: 15 Days.]

[Reward: Trait Enhancement Point x1, System Points x1000, Random E-grade Supply Item x1.]

[Crisis Mission 2 Completed. Claim reward?]

“Yes!”

Shen Ge had received this crisis mission to hunt “Misfortune” and one non-“Misfortune” Trait Weird upon entering Takiguchi City.

From the mission, he inferred that Takiguchi City had more than one Trait Weird, and this Trait Weird was likely one the System urgently wanted to devour for its “Trait.”

Now, judging from both the crisis mission issued by the System in the future timeline and this one, it indeed matched Shen Ge’s speculation.

Clearly, the System believed that only after obtaining the “Trace-less” Trait would Shen Ge have a chance to defeat the Tier 8 “Misfortune.”

[Congratulations, host obtained E-grade Supply Item – “Mental Worm.” After consuming the Mental Worm, it decomposes within the host’s body, keeping the host in a mentally refreshed state for 10 minutes (i.e., no mental energy consumption).]

?
??
???

What?
Mental Worm?

In his astonishment, a white light delivered a plump “silkworm” about the size of a thumb. It looked fleshy and somewhat cute, but definitely something most people would find hard to swallow.

“Ten minutes of unlimited mental energy? This worm is something else.” Shen Ge stored the worm. Completing Crisis Mission 2 brought him the even more pleasant surprise of another Trait Enhancement Point.

Following his usual habit, he would save it for later use when needed. But now, facing the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune,” every bit of strength counted for insurance.

Shen Ge’s general choice for Trait Enhancement leaned towards “frequently used” and the ability’s uniqueness.

Currently, the four commonly used Traits – “Soundless,” “Immovable,” “Intangible,” and “Unmanifested” – had all been enhanced. Among them, “Soundless” and “Immovable” only awakened their Domains after a second enhancement.

However, from “Intangible” awakening two different forms of Domain after two enhancements, it was clear that the number of enhancements needed to awaken a Domain wasn’t fixed and depended more on “luck.”

Based on the Trait’s effects, Shen Ge could roughly guess what ability the awakened Domain might produce. But awakening a Domain usually mutated into new abilities.

Like “Collapse,” “Heart Snatch,” “Barrier,” “Bullet Time,” and other special abilities.

“Hey, is there any master from the Fengling Yueying Sect who can recommend me? I also want to join a sect and increase my characteristic enhancement points to 999+, so that I don’t have to worry about it.”

Shen Ge was torn between gambling for the “Type II” Domain of commonly used Traits or enhancing Traits that hadn’t awakened a Domain to get one.

“Trace-less’ main effect is self-concealment. Judging by conventional Domain abilities, it should probably create a concealed area. Doesn’t seem too useful for now.”

“Unburnable makes the user non-flammable. If it awakens a Domain, it would likely make an area non-flammable. But is this ‘unburnable’ simply ‘extinguishing fire,’ making materials within the Domain non-combustible, or controlling the temperature within the Domain to prevent it from reaching the ignition point?”

“If it’s the latter, then controlling temperature has some operational potential.”

After careful consideration, Shen Ge felt the “Unburnable” Domain might be worth the “gamble.” If it was ignition point control, it would be a god-tier skill.

Even if not, creating a non-flammable area was a decent ability. Combined with various incendiary items,eerie Fire, and other abilities, at the very least, it could instantly “extinguish fires.”

“Decided. Enhance ‘Unburnable’!”

“Trait Enhancement!”

[Use Trait Enhancement Point to enhance “Trait: Unburnable”?]

“Yes!”

[Trait “Unburnable” has been upgraded!]

Unburnable: Activating the Trait puts the user in a “Non-flammable” state. During the Trait’s duration, any burning damage is “nullified.” Consumes 1% mental energy per second. Can be activated simultaneously with other Traits.

Consume 1%-50% mental energy (related to the object’s volume and ignition point height), attach mental energy to an object, putting it in a non-flammable state.

[Awakened “Unburnable Domain.”]

“Unburnable Domain (Type I)”: After expanding the Domain, create an “Unburnable Domain” with a five-meter radius centered on oneself. Targets within this Domain enter a non-flammable state.

After expanding the “Unburnable Domain,” the host can decide the affected targets through will. Non-affected targets will not enter the non-flammable state.

“Ignition Point Control”

The host can consume mental energy to control a target’s ignition point, raising or lowering it. The ignition point quickly returns to normal after leaving the Domain.

Note: For targets whose ignition point is changed within the Domain, the Weird Energy consumed varies based on the original ignition point height.

The greater the change in value, the higher the mental energy consumption.

Consumes 1%-??% mental energy per second.

——————————

Although it wasn’t the temperature control Shen Ge had hoped for, being able to control the ignition point of targets within the Domain wasn’t much different from controlling temperature for him.

Because Shen Ge’s ultimate choice of “Unburnable” was actually a “gamble” on the mutated effect of the Domain, hoping to lower the ignition points of those Weird with naturally high ones.

After all, Shen Ge still preferred solving problems with fire.

Eager to test the effect of the Unburnable Domain’s “Ignition Point Control” on an Weird, Shen Ge returned to the surface and contacted Fang Mingyue via the communicator to pick him up.

Then, Shen Ge suddenly remembered the mental influence he experienced upon entering the basement, which caused hallucinations.

“Based on this, if I had enhanced ‘Trace-less,’ the resulting eerie Fog might not only block external detection but also cause hallucinations for those entering the fog?”

“Seems like the potential Domain effect of ‘Trace-less’ isn’t bad either.”

But Shen Ge didn’t feel regret. After all, he currently had six Traits and six Domains, with Intangible having a “Type II” Domain.

But among the six Domains, none were “useless.”

To be precise, after the System devoured the Weird, although it felt like the “Trait’s” ability was somewhat weakened, it actually manifested more flexible and practical abilities through the Domain.

Shen Ge couldn’t help but suspect whether most of the power of the Trait Weird devoured by the System was absorbed by the System itself, and he only obtained a small portion.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t joke each time about not feeding a eerie King.

But the abilities derived from the Domain were also more mysterious and versatile than the original Trait’s power. Perhaps the System also played a role in this.

“Crap!”

Shen Ge suddenly remembered a problem: every time the System devoured a Trait Weird, it would fall into a period of dormancy.

“System, detect the surrounding Weird.”

Sure enough, the System was now unresponsive.

“Sigh.”

Shen Ge sighed. Although the System’s [Map] function updated after Tier 3 saved him a lot of trouble, with Little Seven’s Weird Energy detection, losing the [Map] after the System went dormant wasn’t completely blind. He stopped worrying about it.

“Investigator Shen, do you need us to descend?” Fang Mingyue’s armed helicopter had arrived above the hospital. Shen Ge replied, “No need,” then used the eerie Leather Boots combined with Rotten Flesh tentacles to jump towards the inpatient building’s balcony, “flying” all the way onto the helicopter.

Fang Mingyue sat in the co-pilot seat, holding a gun pointed at the helicopter pilot. Noticing the confusion in Shen Ge’s eyes, she explained, “After going to the Self-Defense Force base, I first infiltrated the data department to check the pilots’ files. This person’s file records him as family-oriented, with a young child living in Shizuoka.”

Fang Mingyue used both carrot and stick. On one hand, she identified herself as part of the Joint Anti- Weird Force, here to assist Sakura in dealing with the eerie Disaster.

She mentioned discovering a very troublesome Weird in the Kawashina ward. If reported through the standard procedures layer by layer, the situation would definitely escalate.

And the Weird was moving towards Shizuoka. The pilot’s family was in Shizuoka. In other words, helping could not only save his own life but also his family and hometown.

Although Fang Mingyue had never coerced anyone before, since she promised Shen Ge to complete the task, she would stop at nothing to accomplish it!

“Investigator Shen, where are we heading now?” Fang Mingyue asked.

Shen Ge narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, “Tojō City.”

Tojō City, the lair of the Tier 8 Weird “Misfortune”!