“…”
After listening to Deng Yuqi recount the events of the past two days, Shen Ge was momentarily speechless.
The good news was that the monster organization hadn’t made any visible moves. They hadn’t pulled off some grand surprise while he was unconscious. The bad news was—
His wife was gone.
Shen Ge hadn’t expected that in just over a year, Cheng Shengnan’s position at the Rong City branch would rise to the level of serving as the primary assistant speaker for the Asian Paranormal Research Association’s conference.
In his view, keeping her at the Rong City branch or sending her to Dajing didn’t make much difference in terms of actual danger. But her being dispatched here was indeed unexpected.
More importantly, she had “disappeared” without a trace.
“Where’s the hotel where the incident happened? Take me there,” Shen Ge said, sitting up from the bed and pulling out the tubes and monitors attached to his body.
Deng Yuqi hesitated. “You’re going now? What about your body… are you sure you’re alright?”
“There are still some lingering issues, but it’s nothing serious. Whatever Li Xiang injected me with seems to have worked pretty well. Got any more? Give me a few for backup,” Shen Ge said, holding out his hand toward Li Xiang.
Li Xiang casually placed an empty syringe from the table into his hand and said in an exasperated tone, “Do you have any idea how much manpower and resources the research department poured into just this one dose? It’s the only agent that’s successfully suppressed the spread of Stage 4 monster cells. Its research value is on par with a Stage 5 anomaly. If it weren’t for you, I would have kept this agent without hesitation and let a Paranormal Investigator ‘die a hero’s death.’”
Though Li Xiang’s words sounded cold, they were nothing but the blunt truth. To a researcher, a drug that could shift the balance between humanity and anomalies was worth far more than a single investigator. It was like choosing between saving one person or saving the entire world. No matter how cruel, a decision still had to be made.
Shen Ge glanced at Deng Yuqi. “Chief, later on, make sure you check whether this guy has been skimming off the top. Eighty percent of the branch’s budget goes to their department. Months of closed-door work and all they produce is one dose? I seriously suspect he’s been pocketing plenty.”
As he spoke, Shen Ge swung his legs off the bed and continued, “Take me to the hotel where they went missing. I might have a way to find them.”
In truth, after hearing Deng Yuqi’s account of how Cheng Shengnan and the other two women disappeared, Shen Ge already had a rough guess. They had probably been pulled into an anomaly space, just like the earlier incident at the Ping’an Hotel.
Setting aside Yang Yuxin, an investigator at captain-level strength, Yun’er—who was on the brink of a Stage 4 transformation—was not to be underestimated.
Yet the scene showed zero signs of struggle. Moreover, the last message Tu Doupi sent before losing consciousness mentioned detecting an anomaly spatial reaction at the hotel.
All these clues pointed to one possibility: just like the Ping’an Hotel case, Cheng Shengnan and the others were trapped inside an anomaly space.
Shen Ge could now use his own anomaly domain to actively enter an anomaly space in a specific area. If he returned to the room where the three women had been staying, he might locate them that way.
He trusted Yang Yuxin and Yun’er’s strength. Even if they were caught inside, as long as they didn’t face anything above a Stage 5 anomaly or get swallowed by a fusion monster, their safety wouldn’t be an immediate concern.
“Who says I spent months working just to make this one dose? Look at this!” Li Xiang pulled over a large case.
Inside lay a half-meter-high mass of sludge-like “flesh,” resembling something like a Grimer.
“What is this?” Shen Ge asked, intrigued.
Li Xiang replied, “This is made from the monster samples you brought back from Korea, the primordial anomaly cells, and… those things you gave me before. I fused them with the putrid flesh of the Red Mist Battle Armor. You mentioned before that during battle, to protect Director Cheng, you had Xiaoqi attempt to control the Red Mist Armor to separate into secondary armor for protection. I thought that was a good idea, so I worked on isolating part of the armor’s fusion ability.”
Cognizant that Deng Yuqi was nearby, Li Xiang avoided stating Shen Ge’s “secrets” bluntly, using the more tactful phrase “those things you gave me before.”
Shen Ge immediately understood. Li Xiang was referring to the cells and blood extracted during those earlier experiments he’d agreed to.
In other words, this was a suit of secondary armor fused with Shen Ge’s own “flesh and blood.”
“Simply put, I added more anomaly materials, combined them with the primordial anomaly cells to expand the Red Mist Armor’s capacity. That way, you can wear one suit in combat while Xiaoqi controls the other—or use it to protect someone important to you.”
“Unfortunately, it’s missing an ‘Anomaly Brain’—what you call the ‘Unforgetting’ trait. Without Xiaoqi controlling it, the secondary armor can’t take shape.”
“It’s still in the testing phase, but without you and Xiaoqi, we can’t proceed with the follow-up tests, so I brought it along directly.”
“Have Xiaoqi take control of the Red Mist Armor for the fusion. Both contain the same monster cells, so merging should go smoothly.”
“By the way, I’ve added a host of new features to this secondary armor. Theoretically, it’s achieved full dominance across land, sea, and air. Let’s see you complain now!”
Shen Ge’s eyes lit up. “Heh, not bad, old Li. You actually pulled off tri-environment dominance. Chief, I take back what I just said.”
“Oh, and I didn’t come empty-handed this time. You told the Chief you obtained a ton of research materials from the anomaly space. Where are they?” Li Xiang extended his hand, with an attitude that said, without those materials, Shen Ge wasn’t getting the secondary armor.
Shen Ge used his putrid-blood tentacles to pull out the captured monsters and parasitic anomalies from the blood-skin backpack. At the same time, he added, “Be careful with the anomaly sleeping bag. The monster inside is still alive. Its current rating is roughly approaching Stage 4.”
Deng Yuqi was stunned. “A Stage 4 monster, and you just stuffed it into an anomaly sleeping bag?”
“Approaching Stage 4, not Stage 4 yet,” Shen Ge corrected.
Li Xiang nodded with certainty. “That’s genuinely excellent research material. Although Yun’er’s value is even higher, she’s technically half under the Special Strategy Department, so we can’t just kill her.”
“…” Deng Yuqi’s eyelid twitched involuntarily, and she let out a weary sigh.
She had long grown accustomed to the “abnormality” of these two.
Shen Ge summoned Xiaoqi and instructed it to control the Red Mist Battle Armor to begin fusing with the secondary armor. But the moment the armor extended its putrid-blood tendrils toward the secondary piece, Xiaoqi abruptly halted.
“Master, this secondary armor seems to be transmitting a signal. I’m also detecting an unusual anomaly energy reaction from it,” Xiaoqi reported through the earpiece so only Shen Ge could hear.
Li Xiang was still studying the large pile of parasitic anomaly bottles on the floor and didn’t notice Xiaoqi’s fusion progress. Deng Yuqi, however, saw the tendrils stop and asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the fusion?”
Shen Ge thought for a moment, then decided to be honest. “Xiaoqi says there’s an unidentified signal source and an anomaly energy reaction coming from the secondary armor.”
“What?” Not only was Deng Yuqi startled, but even Li Xiang, absorbed in the parasitic anomalies, froze.
Shen Ge had Xiaoqi relay exactly what it detected. Hearing the details, the two immediately understood—someone had tampered with the secondary armor.
Once Shen Ge’s Red Mist Armor merged with it, even if the perpetrator couldn’t wrest control from Xiaoqi as the primary controller, they could still plant a tracker on Shen Ge to monitor his movements.
It was also possible they had hidden something else inside the armor, a flaw that could cause a critical error during his battle with the monster organization. Everyone knew the primary reason Shen Ge was so troublesome to the organization was his nearly indestructible putrid-blood battle armor.
An artificial intelligence on high alert 24/7, combined with armor capable of blocking even artillery shells, was a nightmare for anyone trying to kill him.
Li Xiang’s voice deepened. “The secondary armor was tampered with? That’s impossible! I handled every aspect of this armor’s research personally. Even the few other researchers on the team were only responsible for data calculations and material monitoring. Even if they defected, the most they could do was alter data to sabotage the project. They had no way to physically access the armor, let alone plant a tracking device.”
Shen Ge chose to share Xiaoqi’s findings openly, demonstrating his trust in both Deng Yuqi and Li Xiang. He didn’t believe Li Xiang would go to such lengths just to undermine the Red Mist Battle Armor he himself had created.
The armor’s design and research were entirely Li Xiang’s work. If he wanted to tamper with it, he wouldn’t need to go through the roundabout method of using secondary armor fusion. He could just ask Shen Ge to leave the armor for an “upgrade.” Why go to all this extra trouble?
After all, for both Deng Yuqi and Li Xiang, a problem with the Red Mist Battle Armor—one of Shen Ge’s most significant “trump cards”—would be a massive loss.
“Wait!” Deng Yuqi suddenly recalled something. She told Shen Ge about the days when she received that message from Fang Mingyue and went to discuss the meeting roster with Li Xiang.
“On the surveillance footage, he acted like a completely different person?”
“And after he woke up, he had no memory of it?”
Shen Ge frowned. His thoughts mirrored Li Xiang’s original assessment. If this was the monster organization’s doing, why wouldn’t they use this ability for assassination or to obtain more valuable intel? Why just steal some monster sample data?
And another thing—had this ability to control Li Xiang been used only that one time, or had it already happened several times in secret?
Li Xiang had no memory of being controlled. The only reason it was discovered this time was because Deng Yuqi cross-checked information with Cheng Shengnan and noticed the discrepancy.
If it was true that no one but Li Xiang could access the secondary armor, and he even tested every material personally, then based on the current evidence, Li Xiang being “controlled” wasn’t just a one-off. It likely happened multiple times before.
But that brought the same question back around: If the enemy had such a powerful “ability,” why waste it on such trivial matters instead of something more valuable?
For a moment, Shen Ge couldn’t figure out the motive. After discussing it with Deng Yuqi and Li Xiang, they decided to maintain “surveillance” on Li Xiang until the issue could be resolved.
Li Xiang had no objections. He was also worried that while in that “controlled” state, he might threaten the safety of his teacher and junior sister. Being “monitored” by captain-level personnel was actually a form of protection in disguise.
“Can Xiaoqi do anything about the problem with the secondary armor?” Li Xiang asked.
The most pressing matter was the armor fusion. If it couldn’t be resolved, they’d have to abandon it. Shen Ge still needed to enter the anomaly space to find the missing women, and there was no time to waste.
“Master, I can first attempt it with blood spiders. Even if the secondary armor consumes the spiders, it won’t affect the Red Mist Armor,” Xiaoqi said.
Shen Ge nodded. “Alright, do it your way.”
After Xiaoqi took control of the Red Mist Armor, it released several blood spiders that crawled onto the secondary armor. But the spiders were quickly swallowed by the putrid flesh.
“Master, I’ve located the tracker.” The moment Xiaoqi finished speaking, a blood spider emerged from the putrid flesh, carrying a fingernail-sized chip in its mouth.
“This is…” Li Xiang noticed the small chip, picked it up with tweezers, and studied it closely.
Deng Yuqi asked, “Does it look familiar?”
“This was the main project of another team in our department. It’s a new type of AI designed with Xiaoqi as a reference. The idea was to use it to control the newly developed anomaly-energy mecha units for the Special Strategy Department. But while the AI met the requirements, the mecha couldn’t fully operate on ‘commands’ alone. Ultimately, they still needed manual piloting, so the project was shelved,” Li Xiang explained.
Shen Ge pondered. “So this new AI couldn’t control the anomaly mecha properly, but there’s no issue using it to take over the Red Mist Armor. The person who planted this chip not only knew your goal for the secondary armor but also planned to have this AI wrest control from Xiaoqi during the fusion process… Tsk, looks like we’ve got another mole in the branch. Chief, maybe we should just rename our department ‘The Winery.’ Everyone except you seems to have the potential to be a ‘spy.’”
“…” Deng Yuqi was utterly speechless. Counting the previous monster invasions by the Twelve Branches, the Special Strategy Department had indeed experienced several internal mole incidents.
Deng Yuqi sighed. “The problem still traces back to the headquarters’ plan to absorb the Haiya Research Institute all those years ago. Aside from the few who proposed the plan, no one knows who was on that list. On paper, they were all just recruited researchers, but no one knows whether among them were members of the monster organization.”
Shen Ge asked, “That list of the Haiya Institute’s first batch of researchers I brought back… have you finished investigating? Found anything?”
Deng Yuqi shook her head. “Too much time has passed. Even with initial help from higher-ups, tracing this ‘infiltration plan’ is harder than climbing to heaven.”
As they spoke, Xiaoqi was still using the blood spiders to examine the secondary armor further. It discovered the chip wasn’t the only one.
Staring at the chip in Li Xiang’s tweezers, Shen Ge suddenly asked, “What do you think… is it possible to use Xiaoqi to counter their ‘tracking plan’? We might be able to use it to drag out the person hiding behind the scenes. Follow the trail, and maybe we can finally track down those people from back then!”
