“Damn.”
“This joke’s gone too far!”
Shen Ge quickly put the insect back into the bottle and sealed it properly. He was genuinely afraid that if he looked at it any longer, he really wouldn’t be able to resist swallowing it whole, then lose control completely and embark on the path of becoming an aberrant.
“System, run a scan on me.” Shen Ge initially wanted to see if the system’s scan could uncover some different clues. Little did he know, the extent of his aberration was far more severe than he had imagined!
[Shen Ge]
Rating: Tier 4
System Integration Rate: 100%
“System (Tier 4)”: Man-Made Weirdness Sequence 1. Characteristic: Devour – After killing a Weirdness, you can devour its corpse.
System Integrity: 49% (Every 10% represents one stage. Upon advancing to the next stage, the system enters a short hibernation for “upgrading.”)
Characteristic: “Devour”
——————————————
The system integrity had reached “49%”, which meant he was about to begin the Tier 5 aberration. In the past, Shen Ge would have been thrilled about this.
But things were different now. Firstly, as the progenitor Weirdness cells, the system’s integration with Shen Ge had already reached 100%. A system upgrade meant Shen Ge would undergo aberration.
When Shen Ge completed his first three aberrations, the feeling of physical change wasn’t as pronounced as it was now. But now, just on the verge of completing the Tier 5 aberration, he was experiencing a strange “hunger.” Didn’t this imply that as the number of aberrations increased, the features of Weirdness would become more and more apparent, and he would become less and less human?
Most importantly, based on the high-ranking aberrants seen in the “future” on Sakura Island, the success rate of aberration decreased the higher the tier.
To be precise, the likelihood of maintaining one’s humanity and consciousness after aberration decreased.
The higher the tier of an aberrant, the closer they got to being a Weirdness. At least so far, apart from the “fake high-ranking aberrants” in aberrant organizations – those nominally at Tier 4 or 5 but with actual combat power far below genuine Tier 4 or 5 Weirdnesses – Shen Ge had never seen a “normal” aberrant above Tier 5.
And this “hunger” he was experiencing now, right before the Tier 5 aberration, confirmed his hypothesis. The features of Weirdness were becoming increasingly distinct.
Besides the change in system integrity, Shen Ge’s attributes had also improved significantly.
[Basic Attributes:]
Strength: 257% (Host base value)
Agility: 234% (Host base value)
Physique: 225% (Host base value)
Weirdness Energy Intensity: 487% (Host base value) + 4392% (System attribute boost)
After your Weirdness Energy is boosted by the system attributes, the comprehensive value reaches 4879%, which is higher than the average comprehensive value of 2000% for a normal Tier 4 Weirdness.
When Weirdness Energy Intensity reaches 5000%, Tier 5 aberration will commence.
——————————————
First, Shen Ge’s three basic attributes – Strength, Agility, and Physique – had all made significant progress compared to before. Based on a normal person’s baseline, the increase was almost 0.5 times for each, getting closer and closer to the limit of three times that of a normal human.
Second, the most significant increase was in Weirdness Energy Intensity. When Shen Ge completed his Tier 4 aberration, his base Weirdness Energy was only 243%. Now, it had fully doubled.
Compared to Shen Ge’s own increase, the system’s Weirdness Energy Intensity had also doubled. However, Shen Ge distinctly remembered that in the past few months, he hadn’t devoured any “characteristic Weirdness” or high-tier Weirdness.
To be precise, before coming to the Great Capital, the system boost was only a little over 3000%, hadn’t broken through to 4000%. And this was just a matter of a few days…
The only possible explanation was that the problem lay in the Dream World.
Although it seemed Shen Ge couldn’t awaken the system’s abilities in the Dream World, in reality, “Materialization” and “Hypnosis” originated from the system.
The difference is that in the dream world, the system’s pitifully little ability to communicate is completely gone. In its place, Shen Ge is completely integrated with the system and has complete control over the power of the progenitor’s strange cells!
And the fact that items from the Dream World could be brought back to the real world showed that the things Shen Ge encountered in the Dream World were “real,” even if they came from different “outcomes.”
During this trip to the Dream World, Shen Ge had maintained a clear consciousness, cooperated proactively with Dr. Chen and the others, and successfully pushed the experiment to the third stage. This was probably the reason for the system integrity’s rapid increase!
“Grumble.”
“Grumble.”
The hungry growling of his stomach pulled Shen Ge back from his thoughts. He sighed helplessly. Acceptance or not, “aberration” and “features of Weirdness” were now a reality staring him in the face. He had to find a way to deal with it.
And the solution was simple: find a place to eat some delicious food and reawaken his human pursuit of good food.
So, when Fang Mingyue received Shen Ge’s call asking for food recommendations in the Great Capital, and later sat in a restaurant on the pedestrian street watching Shen Ge across the table order dish after dish from the menu like a crosstalk performer rattling off a list, she was completely dumbfounded.
“Alright, that’s it for now.” Shen Ge closed the menu and handed it to the waitress beside him.
The waitress glanced at the ordering tablet in her hand and asked hesitantly, “Sir, are you here for a team-building event? Maybe you’d like to switch to a more spacious table? This one by the window has a nice view, but it only seats four at most. It might get a bit crowded if more people come.”
In reality, the waitress’s real concern was whether the table could even hold everything Shen Ge had ordered. But since he seemed like a “big customer,” she chose a more tactful way to phrase it.
“No need, thanks.” Shen Ge declined with a smile.
Choosing a seat was clearly the customer’s prerogative, so the waitress didn’t press further. She said “Please wait a moment” and went to place the order.
“Uh.” Fang Mingyue hesitated, then asked, “Detective Shen, is someone else coming later?”
Shen Ge took out his phone to return a call to Cheng Shengnan and replied, “No, just the two of us. I don’t know many people in the Great Capital.”
“But if I remember correctly… you ordered enough for about ten people?” Fang Mingyue said, looking puzzled.
“It’s fine. It’s my first time in the Great Capital, so I naturally want to try all the signature dishes,” Shen Ge said.
Fang Mingyue tentatively asked, “Won’t that be too wasteful?”
“It’s okay, we can always take the leftovers home.”
Since Shen Ge was offering to “treat,” Fang Mingyue didn’t say much. But after several signature dishes were served, she realized she had been worrying unnecessarily.
Roast duck, steamed fish, meatballs… Fang Mingyue barely took one bite of each dish before Shen Ge started his cleanup operation, leaving only empty plates in the blink of an eye.
If you wanted to call it “gorging,” you couldn’t, because Shen Ge’s movements were perfectly normal – picking up food, chewing, swallowing – neither fast nor slow, yet he kept pace with the speed at which dishes were brought out.
The waitress assigned to their table also noticed something. She had initially thought Shen Ge ordered so much for a team-building event, but when she brought new dishes, the plates on the table were already empty.
Did he take the leftovers away himself?
The waitress carefully asked Fang Mingyue, “Miss, are you filming… a competitive eating video? The kind where you eat and then throw it up afterward? But the dishes you ordered are mostly Southern cuisine, quite flavorful, and all meat. That’s really hard on your stomach. You should be careful.”
Fang Mingyue was taken aback. Right, Shen Ge’s terrifying appetite had made someone mistake it for filming a competitive eating video, assuming he’d throw up afterwards!
“Uh, you’re mistaken. My friend… just has a big appetite,” Fang Mingyue said with a smile.
The waitress’s eyelid twitched. Just has a big appetite? In this short time, he’d eaten about six or seven times the amount of a normal person, right?
The waitress was genuinely afraid Shen Ge might have a health problem from eating so much, worried that one meal could cost him his job.
Shen Ge feasted on the delicious food covering the table, which was swept clean like a tornado had passed through, leaving only empty plates moments later.
“Why aren’t you eating? I think it tastes pretty good,” Shen Ge asked, puzzled, as he looked at Fang Mingyue staring blankly at him.
Fang Mingyue said, “Actually, I’m just about full. Um… Detective Shen, did something happen to you, or are you…”
Fang Mingyue didn’t know how to ask appropriately. Although in her eyes, Shen Ge was an “all-powerful”存在, that didn’t include eating the amount of eight people in one go.
Actually, Shen Ge was even more conflicted than Fang Mingyue right now. On the surface, he had indeed eaten a lot, but the “hunger” in his stomach hadn’t diminished much.
This situation was clearly not normal. He was still a “normal person” for now, leaving aside the question of whether the emergence of Weirdness features would truly turn him into someone who could only fill his stomach by absorbing Weirdness Energy.
The key point was that his “stomach” was only so big. In the past, even the amount for three people, let alone eight, would have made his stomach ache from being too full.
But the strange thing was, after eating the amount for eight people so far, his stomach still felt empty, at most one-tenth full.
Or perhaps, before he came to eat, he felt like he hadn’t eaten for half a month. Now, after eating eight people’s worth of food, he felt like he hadn’t eaten for seven or eight days.
He still felt “hungry,” just not as intensely as before.
Just then, the waitress brought another dish, another signature item: a secret-recipe steak.
The waitress set down the steak, took the empty plates away, and left. Shen Ge picked up his knife and fork, ready to try it, when he heard a soft “beep” from Fang Mingyue. Immediately, she called out nervously, “Detective Shen, please wait a moment!”
With that, Fang Mingyue took out a pair of “glasses” that looked like the Dragon Ball scouter and put them on. Then she scanned the plate of steak.
“Beep.”
“Weirdness Energy Intensity: 3.”
A voice similar to Xiao Qi’s AI-generated voice came through the glasses. Fang Mingyue’s expression changed upon hearing this, and she whispered, “Detective Shen, this is… strange meat.”
After Shen Ge reached Tier 4, the system’s “Weirdness Eye” had become a permanent ability. It was as if his own eyes had fused with the progenitor’s Weirdness cells, enhancing his ability to see faint Weirdness Energy.
Shen Ge could naturally also see the Weirdness Energy Intensity that Fang Mingyue’s “outdated Weirdness Energy detector” picked up. His lack of reaction, treating it like ordinary food, stemmed from two main reasons:
First, supernatural departments worldwide had long confirmed that some supernatural meats with low supernatural energy content were safe to eat as ordinary food. Countries with meat shortages, such as South Korea, had begun experimenting with supplying first-tier supernatural meat to the market, with a limit of 10 supernatural energy intensity.
The Weirdness Energy Intensity of the steak in front of them was only 3, clearly within the “very safe” range. It wouldn’t be a problem for ordinary people to eat it either.
Second, Shen Ge had already eaten enough for eight people without any effect; eating this “reasonable” amount of supernatural meat was obviously much more reliable than “experimenting” with the insects in his pocket.
Fang Mingyue, seemingly oblivious to Shen Ge’s lack of surprise, continued in a low voice, “I’ve heard that some countries have begun to try incorporating low-level monster meat into their daily supplies. Since our country doesn’t lack meat, we don’t have such plans yet, and selling monster meat openly is still illegal.”
“A Weirdness Energy Intensity of 3 means this cow had already shown signs of aberration, maybe even physical changes. Knowing it’s a ‘diseased animal,’ this restaurant not only failed to report the supply problem but also secretly processed it as food. There’s clearly something wrong.”
Shen Ge cut a piece of steak, put it in his mouth, and asked while chewing, “What are you going to do? Call people to shut the place down, or investigate undercover first?”
“I was thinking of finding an excuse to check out the kitchen… Huh? Detective Shen, why did you eat it?” Fang Mingyue was just thinking of an excuse when she saw Shen Ge’s plate was almost empty. She was stunned.
Shen Ge wiped his mouth with a napkin and said calmly, “Since counter-Weirdness research organizations in various countries all say that a Weirdness Energy Intensity below 10 won’t affect the human body, it’s probably not a big deal. Besides, I’ve already paid for it. It’d be a shame to just throw it away. Hmm, actually, it tastes no different from ordinary beef.”
“…” Fang Mingyue didn’t know how to respond for a moment.
But Shen Ge looked relaxed. Although this steak only had a Weirdness Energy Intensity of 3, eating a whole large plate of it was more effective in easing the “hunger” in his stomach than the previous eight-person meal of ordinary food.
This proved that what now affected his “hunger” was no longer the “quantity” of ordinary food, but the concentration of Weirdness Energy contained in the food.
At this rate, Shen Ge felt he might become one of those people “promoting the introduction of low-tier Weirdness meat into the market.”
“So, should we still investigate?” Fang Mingyue asked.
Shen Ge said, “Investigate, of course we need to investigate. At the very least, we need to determine the source of this store’s goods, and whether the source is a private individual operating secretly, or whether someone is supporting it behind the scenes.”
Fang Mingyue nodded at this. She beckoned the waitress over and asked, “The steak here tastes pretty good. Which ranch does the meat come from, or is it imported?”
“Huh?” The waitress was stunned. In her time as a waitress, she’d had customers praise the food and ask how it was made, and some who asked if there were seasoning packets for sale, but she’d never encountered someone directly asking about the “supply source” like this.
Fang Mingyue didn’t intend to waste words with the waitress. She took out her credentials and placed them on the table, saying, “Call your manager here.”
The status of the Special Operations Department in the country is self-evident. It’s like a street stall that should be managed by the city management, but a special forces unit comes instead. Wouldn’t that scare the small vendors to death?
The waitress didn’t dare waste words and quickly ran off to find the manager. The manager glanced at the credentials on the table, wiped cold sweat from his forehead, and asked cautiously, “Officer, is there something wrong with our food?”
Fang Mingyue picked up the plate that had been in front of her, placed it in front of the manager, and asked, “Where do you source this type of beef from?”
The manager took a look and quickly replied, “Officer, this signature steak uses premium ‘Australian beef,’ imported from the largest cattle ranch in Australia… and it passes through multiple layers of inspection. Oh, right, the certificate. Go get the inspection report and certificate for this batch.”
Fang Mingyue stood up and said, “No need. Take us to the storeroom for a look.”
