The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 53

The man was on the verge of tears. He had thought he’d found a savior, only to realize the other party wasn’t playing by the rules at all… I’m filing a complaint. Once I get out of here, I’m going straight to the embassy to report this!

Shen Ge walked to the corner of the elevator lobby, then turned back to look at the man. “If you don’t want to die, go back inside and stay down. Once I deal with this, I’ll get you all out.”

With that, he turned and “vanished” from the man’s sight.

The man gulped, unnerved by the inexplicable situation. He hesitated, unsure whether to trust Shen Ge’s words.

From the man, Shen Ge had learned they were on the 21st floor. To reach Cheng Shengnan on the 17th floor, he needed to descend four levels.

Shen Ge returned to the stairwell and continued downward. After descending four floors, he arrived at what should have been the 17th floor. But when he stepped into the elevator lobby, there was no one in sight.

“Cheng zong, I’m on the 17th floor. Can you see me?” Shen Ge asked into the phone.

Cheng Shengnan replied, “No… I’m standing in the living room, and the elevator lobby is to my left, but I don’t see you.”

“What about the neighbor from earlier?” Shen Ge asked.

“He fainted when the floor disappeared. He’s still lying unconscious in the middle of the elevator lobby,” Cheng Shengnan answered.

“Got it.” Shen Ge didn’t see any unconscious person in the lobby, meaning this wasn’t actually the 17th floor.

Following his memory of the building’s layout, Shen Ge felt his way along the wall and knocked on each of the four apartment doors on this “17th floor.” Unfortunately, there was no response.

Shen Ge was certain he had descended exactly 23 steps per floor—there shouldn’t have been any miscalculation. He backtracked to the stairwell and tried going up one floor instead.

As soon as he stepped into the stairwell, he was startled to see the “wife-abandoning” man trembling against the wall of the elevator lobby.

The man’s face lit up with relief when he spotted Shen Ge. “Comrade! Have you come back to get me out?”

Shen Ge frowned. He had gone down four floors and then up one—there was no way he should have ended up back where he started. Clearly, this ghost space was even more complex than he’d thought.

He relayed the situation to Deng Yuqi over the walkie-talkie and decided to resort to the most straightforward method:

Search floor by floor.

Just then, Shen Ge noticed the man’s wife and child, still lying motionless inside their apartment. Though they hadn’t moved, the space around them gave the eerie illusion of slowly rotating to the right.

It was as if Shen Ge and they were trapped in separate Rubik’s cube tiles, shifting independently as the cube turned.

The woman clutched her child tightly, screaming in terror as she felt the ground beneath her “move.”

“Stay down! Don’t move!” Shen Ge shouted at them.

The woman and child lifted their heads, mouths open as if calling out to the man in the elevator lobby. Strangely, though their lips moved, no sound reached Shen Ge’s ears.

“I need to get out! Get me out of here!” the man yelled in panic as he watched the space “rotate.”

Suddenly—

The man tried to step toward Shen Ge but misjudged his footing. With a sharp whoosh, he plummeted downward.

Then, in an instant, he vanished from sight!

Shen Ge froze for a split second before instinctively activating the freezing device and spraying the ground. A crackling layer of frost spread across the invisible floor—except for one spot.

A large, gaping “hole” remained unfrozen, right where the man had been standing. The frosty mist passed straight through it, revealing empty space below.

So that’s where he fell.

Is this the Ghost Domain?

Shen Ge recalled the system’s warning when he first approached Tom’s Supermarket: “Affected by the Ghost Domain, the current area’s terrain will shift according to the ghost’s traits—swamp, lava zone, quicksand, etc.”

Here, the ghost’s trait was “intangible,” creating an invisible space that was constantly changing.

That’s why descending four floors from the 21st didn’t take me to the 17th.

Because while I was moving, the entire ghost space was shifting around me.

“This is getting tricky,” Shen Ge muttered, brow furrowed. If the terrain kept changing, reaching the 17th floor—let alone finding the source—would be nearly impossible.

Just then, Huo Yu’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie: “Director! Someone just fell from the 13th floor of your building—straight out of thin air! Landed in the greenery below.”

Shen Ge asked, “Was he wearing a checkered bathrobe?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the guy from Unit 1, 21st floor. When the ground started rotating, he tried running toward me and suddenly dropped.”

Deng Yuqi cut in, “Ghost space distortions usually take hours to shift. I didn’t expect it to happen this fast… Shen Ge, prioritize locating the source. If you find an opening to escape, retreat and we’ll reassess.”

Shen Ge replied, “I don’t think we’ll get that chance. The floor ahead is collapsing—fast.”

As he spoke, he sprayed freezing mist around him, testing the ground as he retreated to safer spots. But the collapse outpaced him. In seconds, the crumbling floor reached his feet.

With no time to think, Shen Ge spun around and bolted for the stairwell. Relying on memory, he lunged for the railing, his ghost-gloved hands—enhanced by the “Unyielding” trait—locking onto it with a death grip.

Crack!

The staircase beneath him shattered like glass and vanished, leaving him dangling in midair.

Thankfully, the “Unyielding” trait ensured he wouldn’t fall unless he let go.

Crack!

Crack!

Another series of fractures echoed—this time from the railing he clung to.

[Warning! Warning! Warning!]

[The current area is severely contaminated by the Ghost Domain! Localized collapse detected! Host is advised to evacuate immediately!]

Oh, sure. You try evacuating from this.

Shen Ge would’ve rolled his eyes if he weren’t busy reenacting Mission: Impossible. The system’s warnings were always a step behind.

Holding onto the railing with one hand, he aimed the freezing device upward and sprayed. A patch of frost crystallized on a surviving section of stairs about a meter to his right.

Gritting his teeth, Shen Ge adjusted his grip, braced his feet against the railing, and pushed off—launching himself toward the frozen steps.

His hand caught the edge. Unyielding activated.

Who knew I’d get to experience Tom Cruise’s Dubai Tower climb for real?

With no time to waste—who knew when these stairs would vanish too—he hauled himself up and updated Deng Yuqi on the ghost space’s rapid deterioration.

“Understood. We’ve deployed inflatable crash pads below the building, covering as much of the greenery as possible,” Deng Yuqi responded.

Given the Korean man’s earlier fall, more people would likely plummet as the intangible ghost space kept shifting. Whether the pads would help or not, preparations had to be made.

Back in the stairwell, Shen Ge used the freezing device to test each step, ensuring he didn’t step into empty air.

As he entered the elevator lobby, he spotted a bald middle-aged man lying on the ground a short distance away. A few meters behind him, suspended in midair, Cheng Shengnan stood waving.

“Shen Ge?”