When Shen Ge emerged from the rock stratum, he left several high-yield Anomaly Energy bombs within the gathered black mist of Anomaly Energy. The moment he was clear, he detonated them.
The “Heart” had sensed that Shen Ge posed a significant threat. After sending 4th-stage “Antibody” mutants to deal with him failed, it had switched to a defensive mode.
Forced to retreat from the “Heart,” Shen Ge knew that the fusion mutant’s greatest weakness was its heart. Without destroying the heart, killing the fusion mutant was impossible.
However, this fusion mutant was far more powerful than the New Aberrant King No. 2 encountered in Korea. At the very least, Shen Ge’s attempts to ignite it by controlling the ignition point of his “Non-Combustible Anomaly Domain” had failed.
Forced out of the heart, Shen Ge pinned his hopes on the new Anomaly Energy high-explosive bombs recently developed by the Special Countermeasures Department. Even if they couldn’t directly destroy the heart, completely shattering the rock stratum and the protective black mist of condensed Anomaly Energy would create an opportunity for him to damage the heart.
What Shen Ge hadn’t anticipated was the explosive power of the Anomaly Energy bombs far exceeding his expectations. They not only successfully shattered the rock stratum but also reacted with the Anomaly Energy black mist, creating a spatial distortion.
Therefore, the moment Shen Ge exited the “Heart,” several deafening booms shook the entire area violently.
Following that, corrosive liquid gushed out from the “Heart,” surging through the corridors like a tidal wave, seemingly endless. It flooded one floor before rushing down the stairwell to other levels.
Fortunately, Shen Ge could achieve high-speed movement using his Corrupted Blood Tentacles and Anomaly Leather Boots. When in danger of being submerged by the corrosive liquid, he could use “Collapse” to instantly jump between floors.
However, the chaotic spatial structure within the hotel became even more complex. Previously, going down meant going up, just in the “opposite” direction. Now, everything was completely scrambled.
One moment he was on the 39th floor, the next he blinked to somewhere in the forties. Going down one more floor could land him in the teens. It became impossible to judge the distance to the ground floor or rooftop simply by going “up or down.”
The most troublesome part was that Shen Ge couldn’t approach windows or the edges of floors to attempt leaving the hotel by using “Collapse” to phase through walls.
Whenever Shen Ge entered a room trying to reach a window, the room would expand like the corridor, becoming impossible to cross. In the blink of an eye, he’d find himself back in a stairwell. The entire hotel’s space was now completely disordered.
The whole hotel shook violently as if it might collapse at any moment. Debris began falling from the ceiling, and cracks gradually appeared on the floor.
As the corrosive liquid flowed through the corridors of each floor, it was like blood circulating within a giant’s body. When all the “blood vessels” became active, it signaled the giant’s awakening!
The hotel shook with such force that an ordinary person couldn’t even stand steadily. Luckily, Shen Ge’s Crimson Mist Armor integrated with the Anomaly Gloves “Unrelenting.” Using their special properties, he used the Corrupted Blood Tentacles as suction cups, barely avoiding collapsing areas and moving to other floors to escape the corrosive liquid.
“Report, Master. Detected that this corrosive liquid has extremely high Anomaly Energy corrosion properties. If fully submerged, the Crimson Mist Armor’s current Anomaly Energy reserves can last a maximum of three minutes!” Little Seven reminded.
Although that was the estimate, Shen Ge had no desire to be covered by the corrosive liquid for even a second. Depleting the Crimson Mist Armor’s Anomaly Energy meant losing his strongest defensive guarantee.
“Go across the ceiling!” As soon as Shen Ge spoke, he controlled the Crimson Mist Armor to morph, transforming into an octopus-like form. Using the “Unrelenting” Anomaly Gloves’ effect to stick to the ceiling, he avoided the surging corrosive liquid below.
“Master, the Anomaly Energy high-explosive bombs can only partially break the heart’s Anomaly Energy defense. But you have another method to breach its defense!” Little Seven suddenly stated.
Controlling the Crimson Mist Armor’s movement, Shen Ge asked in return, “Another method? What is it?”
“The characteristics of this fusion mutant are almost identical to Korea’s New Aberrant King No. 2. Even if not created by Celestial Stem, it was likely made using the corpse of a Primordial Anomaly. Since it’s the same type of mutant, the Anomaly Energy Transducer given to you by the Celestial Stem member can breach the fusion mutant’s Anomaly Energy defense!” Little Seven replied.
“Right! How could I forget about that thing!” After returning from Korea to Rong City, Shen Ge had reported the situation, and the Anomaly Energy Transducer had been taken by Li Xiang for research.
He remembered Li Xiang mentioning that the device was made from Primordial Anomaly bone. If integrated into the Crimson Mist Armor, it could enhance the armor’s defense to some degree and improve Anomaly Energy synthesis and transfer capabilities.
However, the fusion process hadn’t gone smoothly. Since Shen Ge was often on the move, Li Xiang had returned the Anomaly Energy Transducer to Shen Ge for safekeeping when not under research. This allowed Shen Ge to use it against powerful anomalies encountered in the field, transferring their Anomaly Energy to lower their defenses.
But no high-level anomalies or mutants had appeared recently, so Shen Ge had tossed the transducer into a corner of his Bloodskin Backpack and forgotten about it. Only now, reminded by Little Seven, did he remember its existence.
“Why didn’t you remind me when we were bombing the heart earlier?” Shen Ge asked, frustrated, as he had to turn back. However, the surging corrosive liquid left only narrow paths for movement, making contact with it unavoidable.
Although Little Seven warned that the Crimson Mist Armor could withstand submersion for at most three minutes, the armor could also absorb and convert Anomaly Energy, so the actual time would be much longer.
“Report, Master. I was solely focused on analyzing escape routes earlier and forgot about the Anomaly Energy Transducer equipment. Besides, you forgot too, didn’t you?” Little Seven stated matter-of-factly.
“…”
Shen Ge had a bad feeling. The AI crisis seemed to be getting closer. Little Seven was now even learning to tease its master.
Fortunately, Little Seven had recorded the return route. With the help of his Anomaly Domain, Shen Ge successfully made it back to the floor housing the “Heart.”
However, the entire floor was now submerged in corrosive liquid. The Crimson Mist Armor’s Anomaly Energy was down to just over half, enough for about two more minutes at most.
“Huff.”
Shen Ge took a deep breath, controlled the Crimson Mist Armor to charge into the corrosive liquid, used the Anomaly Energy Transducer to transfer the heart’s Anomaly Energy defensive mist, and then deployed his Non-Combustible Anomaly Domain.
“Master, Crimson Mist Armor Anomaly Energy below 30%… You also need to reserve energy to swim out of the corrosive liquid!” Little Seven reminded.
“I know!” Shen Ge gritted his teeth, fighting against the dizziness from his body’s Anomaly Energy depletion. His combat prowess relied on special traits and his Anomaly Domain; his physical body was as fragile as paper. Without the Crimson Mist Armor’s protection, he would be devoured by the corrosive liquid in moments, leaving not even a trace.
Fortunately, in this critical moment, the Anomaly Energy Transducer proved its worth, successfully transferring the heart’s defensive Anomaly Energy black mist. Then, affected by the ignition point control of the Non-Combustible Anomaly Domain, Shen Ge used the Anomaly Lighter “Unextinguishable” to spark it—
Whoosh!
The heart ignited into raging flames from within. Seeing the Crimson Mist Armor couldn’t hold much longer, Shen Ge dared not stay. Before leaving, he delivered a final “Heart-Rending” strike to the heart and swiftly retreated.
Two minutes later, having descended several floors, Shen Ge felt the hotel’s shaking grow even more violent. Previously, only debris fell from the ceiling; now, entire floors were collapsing.
To buy time for the Crimson Mist Armor to recover Anomaly Energy, Shen Ge couldn’t just run along corridor ceilings. He had to seize opportunities to take shelter in rooms with relatively less corrosive liquid.
It was then that Shen Ge discovered, to his surprise, that the previously “unreachable” windows were now accessible.
“Collapse!”
Without overthinking, Shen Ge’s first action upon reaching a window was to smash through it and jump out. With the Crimson Mist Armor’s protection, as long as there were surrounding buildings, he could use the Corrupted Blood Tentacles and the “Unrelenting” Anomaly Gloves to prevent fall damage.
Crash!
hen Ge smashed through the window and jumped out of the hotel. Little Seven, meanwhile, retrieved the rotting blood that had enveloped Hu Tinglan, and instead extended more rotting blood tentacles to increase the success rate of absorbing surrounding buildings.
Having jumped up and down within the hotel, even with the full-body protection of the Crimson Mist Armor, Hu Tinglan had long since lost consciousness and was now hanging on by a thread.
However, the situation inside the hotel was extremely complex. Shen Ge was barely able to protect himself, and having Little Seven extend the Red Mist Armor to envelop her was already the greatest help he could offer.
If Hu Tinglan hadn’t been enthusiastically helpful during the Korea incident, he might not have even bothered with her survival.
However, now wasn’t the time to worry about Hu Tinglan. The moment Shen Ge jumped out of the hotel window, he realized something was wrong.
Although it was Shen Ge’s first time in the neighborhood near Peace Hotel, he had roughly memorized the surrounding buildings when passing by in a car that afternoon.
Outside the hotel, the world was at dusk. The sky was hazy, but there was enough light to see the dilapidation of the surrounding neighborhood.
This is not the bustling city center of Dajing; instead, it resembles an abandoned city that has been desolate for ten years or even longer.
What puzzled Shen Ge most was the significant change in the layout of the surrounding neighborhood’s buildings. The structure somewhat resembled the “Apocalyptic Rong City” he had seen in the dream world.
In the distance, a spire even taller than those in “Doomsday Banyan City” stood majestically, appearing particularly terrifying in the dim twilight!
Little Seven’s extended, blood-red tentacles gripped the railing of the opposite building, swinging Shen Ge towards the rooftop of a shop below.
The surrounding buildings and alleyways were crowded with parasites—monsters that had once been humans—mechanically repeating their former human actions.
Some, whose heads had transformed into fleshy man-eating flowers, still retained the consciousness of having a head, constantly trying to feed rotting bones into their mouths. Others wandered aimlessly on the streets, fiddling with speakers, appliances, and other items used to attract customers in front of shop…
If it weren’t for the eerie and terrifying atmosphere around us, and the fact that these strange people have no heads and are just mechanically repeating human actions, one could still see the former prosperity of this place.
“Damn, where did this send me?” Shen Ge muttered, looking at the bizarre scene around him, momentarily unable to tell if he was in reality or the dream world.
If this were the dream world, both the system and Little Seven’s earlier analyses concluded that the spatial distortion range of the Anomaly Hotel was only the size of the hotel itself. In other words, upon exiting the hotel, he should have left the Anomaly space and returned to reality.
Shen Ge had only been trapped in the strange space for a few hours, which was clearly insufficient for the entire neighborhood, or even the entire capital city, to be reduced to apocalypse in such a short time.
“So… the exit is in that distant spire again?” Shen Ge looked towards the gloomy spire in the distance, but this experience was different from the last one.
Last time entering the dream world, it was Shen Ge’s “consciousness”—his mind entered the space after falling asleep. Death there didn’t mean real death, only loss of some memories.
But now, not only had his “physical body” entered the dream world, but he had also brought an “unconscious” Hu Tinglan along.
Regardless of whether the spire was the exit, it was currently Shen Ge’s only destination. Taking advantage of the relative “safety” of his surroundings, he rested on the rooftop, waiting for the Crimson Mist Armor to recover Anomaly Energy. Meanwhile, he had Little Seven check on Hu Tinglan. She had some injuries but they weren’t life-threatening.
“Shen, Detective Shen? We’re… out?” Hu Tinglan gradually woke up, opening her eyes to see the dim sky, realizing she must have left the hotel.
Standing at the rooftop edge, Shen Ge looked back at Hu Tinglan. “I have good news and bad news for you.”
“Huh?” Hu Tinglan was stunned; clearly, her confused consciousness and the pain throughout her body left her momentarily disoriented.
Shen Ge got straight to the point. “The good news is, we are indeed out of the Anomaly Hotel. The bad news is… we’ve fallen into an even more complex Anomaly space.”
Given that his relationship with Hu Tinglan wasn’t particularly close, and considering that she was from headquarters and he was only helping her out of consideration for Fang Mingyue, he obviously wouldn’t reveal much about the dream world to her.
Hu Tinglan got up and walked to the edge of the rooftop to look down. When she saw the densely packed parasitized people crowding the road, she was so frightened that she fell to the ground.
It’s over. This is really over!
The familiar buildings transformed into an “apocalyptic” state instantly reminded her of past reports on Anomaly spaces.
If she remembered correctly, the most severe case was the Chongqing incident, where just Dongyu Village alone claimed the lives of many Anti-Anomaly operatives.
But she was just logistics personnel!
After observing for a while, Shen Ge concluded that to find a way out of the dream world, he must had to go to the central spire.
Going to the spire naturally meant he couldn’t continue carrying Hu Tinglan. After brief analyzing the situation, Hu Tinglan sensibly agreed to stay behind.
Therefore, Shen Ge found a relatively safe spot for her. The entrance to this building’s rooftop had collapsed, but the rooftop itself had a “courtyard house” built on it, likely a “private villa” created by some big shot.
There were no signs of anomalies or mutants inside. Shen Ge left some food for Hu Tinglan, temporarily resettlement her there, and set off for the spire alone.
The closer he got to the spire, the more Shen Ge noticed the “layout” here bore a striking resemblance to the Apocalyptic Rong City from the dream world. If not for the different landmarks, he might have thought he had returned to downtown Apocalyptic Rong City.
The same “high walls,” the same “iron fences,” even the identical “moat.”
