The System Arrived Four Years Early, but the Anomaly Is Still a Juvenile - Chapter 55

“Got it.” In less than five minutes, Deng Yuqi received the supermarket’s purchase records and transaction details from the intelligence department.

“There were two shipments of these octopuses. The first batch was imported from Japan—three crates totaling 200 octopuses, distributed to Tom’s Supermarkets nationwide. The second batch came from a domestic seafood company in the province, labeled as ‘deep-sea octopuses’ bred locally. The intelligence department is still investigating the specifics of that company.”

“Rong City’s Tom’s Supermarket initially received 20 octopuses from the first batch, followed by 7 from the second. Later, after Japan’s wastewater discharge scandal, seafood from the country took a massive hit. These octopuses sat unsold for over half a year. Some died and were disposed of by the manager, while the remaining ones were relabeled with domestic batch numbers.”

Shen Ge fell into thought. Though he still didn’t fully understand the origins of the anomalies or what caused their mutations, he suspected that The Invisible most likely came from the Japanese shipment.

“Can we find out how the manager disposed of the dead seafood?” Shen Ge asked.

Deng Yuqi replied, “Working on it.”

Two minutes later, she updated, “The manager said that two months ago, when they packed the dead seafood into barrels for disposal, the dead octopuses inside had already vanished. They assumed stray dogs or cats had dragged them away and didn’t bother investigating further. The remaining seafood… was turned into frozen stock.”

Stray animals took them?

More likely, the manager couldn’t be bothered to look into it. Why would strays ignore the other seafood and only take the octopuses?

Both Shen Ge and Deng Yuqi immediately sensed something was off.

“Director, have the supermarket kill the remaining six octopuses, bag them, and send them here—” Before Shen Ge could finish, he noticed the balding middle-aged man he’d dragged to the stairwell was now sliding to the right.

He distinctly remembered that when the 21st floor began collapsing earlier, the mother and child’s position had also started rotating right.

“Shit, this place is about to go—move!” Shen Ge grabbed Cheng Shengnan and bolted for the exit.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

The moment they reached the hallway outside, the same glass-shattering noise echoed from the left. With the left stairwell now inaccessible, they had no choice but to run right.

The cracking sound grew closer. Based on their earlier experience, only the current floor would collapse—the one above should remain intact.

“Stay close to the railing and head up!”

Cheng Shengnan didn’t understand why Shen Ge insisted on going up instead of down when he said the building was collapsing, but she trusted his judgment.

They had barely climbed a few steps when the cracking reached their feet. Shen Ge reacted instantly—one hand gripping the railing, the other reaching for Cheng Shengnan.

“Ahhh!!!”

Cheng Shengnan’s footing gave way beneath her. Just as she began to plummet, Shen Ge caught her arm.

This was the first time Shen Ge had seen the usually icy, composed Cheng Shengnan look genuinely terrified. Unfortunately, he had no time to tease her—because the moment the floor collapsed, the railing followed.

And they only had one minute before it did.

“Don’t move. As long as I’m holding you, you won’t fall.” With one hand on the railing and the other gripping Cheng Shengnan, Shen Ge couldn’t use the freezing device.

“Hold onto my legs!” Shen Ge clamped his legs around Cheng Shengnan, freeing a hand to pull out the freezing device and spray it toward the right.

Thanks to Shen Ge’s quick thinking, they had already started moving upward, putting them much closer to the next intact floor—less than half a meter away.

Cheng Shengnan clung tightly to Shen Ge. Though her face was pressed against an awkward spot, survival instincts overrode any embarrassment.

“Grab my hand!” Once the freezing device coated the stairs in frost, Shen Ge reached down. Cheng Shengnan immediately seized his arm with both hands.

Swinging her with all his strength—his arms screaming in protest—Shen Ge relied on the Unrelenting effect of his anomaly gloves to ensure he wouldn’t lose his grip.

“Up!”

With a forceful toss, he hurled Cheng Shengnan onto the frosted stairs. Then, bracing himself against the railing, he leaped toward the steps.

After landing, Shen Ge helped Cheng Shengnan up, and they continued their mad dash upstairs.

Holy hell, that was intense!

“Now I get why people are into extreme sports!” Shen Ge felt exhilarated, his adrenaline fueling his sprint.

Cheng Shengnan, on the other hand, felt like she’d left half her soul behind. She never wanted to experience anything like that again.

Just then, Huo Yu’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie: “Director, two more people just fell from the building—a balding middle-aged man and a woman. Both landed on the safety airbags and lost consciousness. Medical teams have already moved them.”

“Understood. Deploy more airbags—cover as much of the surrounding greenery as possible,” Deng Yuqi ordered.

“Copy that.”

Shen Ge kept moving upward while asking, “The two who fell—was the woman wearing pink fuzzy pajamas? And was there a ten-year-old child?”

“The woman was in casual wear, around twenty years old, short hair. No sign of a child falling yet,” Huo Yu replied.

Shen Ge frowned. So… the mother and child from the 21st floor were unharmed?

Did that mean only the hallways and stairwells collapsed, while the rooms remained safe?

Though he suspected as much, Shen Ge wasn’t about to test it. The stairwell at least gave them a one-minute buffer between floor and railing collapse. If a room caved in with nothing to hold onto, their only hope would be landing on an airbag.

Still, he relayed his observations to Deng Yuqi: “Director, based on current patterns, the stairwell connects to random ‘floors.’ When the current level starts rotating right, collapse follows, preceded by a glass-cracking sound. The floor gives way about a minute before the railing.”

“The bathrobe guy who fell first and the mother-child pair from the 21st floor are family. When I left, the two were still in their room—only the man fell. So I suspect collapse is limited to hallways and stairwells. Rooms might be safe.”

“Received. The tech team is analyzing the patterns now. Also, the octopuses you requested have arrived,” Deng Yuqi said.

Shen Ge continued, “I suspect the anomaly is a mimic octopus that feeds on its own kind. Why it only targets dead ones and not live ones is still unclear. But since we can’t see it, I’ll try luring it out with dead specimens.”

“However, delivering the bait presents two problems: First, entry is randomized—whether they find me depends on luck. Second, without anomaly gloves, surviving a collapse is extremely risky.”

“My suggestion is to split the bait into two packages and send in no more than two operatives with the climbing skills of Jackie Chan in ‘Rumble in the Bronx.’”

Deng Yuqi considered this. “Understood. I’ll arrange it.”

Shen Ge and Cheng Shengnan kept ascending. Since there was no telling when the next collapse would happen, Shen Ge decided to just keep moving up.

After climbing three more floors, a flash of red light suddenly crossed Shen Ge’s vision.

[WARNING!]

[Host has approached a Tier-7 anomaly: “The Invisible.” At the host’s current strength, survival odds are one in ten. Cease all reckless behavior immediately and evacuate!]

Only one in ten? Not no chance in hell or certain death?
Looks promising!
Great fortune!