Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
As soon as Shen Ge retracted his “Immovable Domain,” the bullets struck the wall behind him, leaving several holes.
“You… how did you…?” Cheng Shengnan stared at Shen Ge in astonishment, her eyes fixed on the bullet held between his fingers, a rare look of shock on her face.
Shen Ge briefly explained the ability’s effect. Then, he had Cheng Shengnan step within the five-meter range for another test and activated the “Immovable Domain” again.
From Shen Ge’s perception, Cheng Shengnan still raised the gun, aimed, and fired, but the bullets slowed down, allowing him to dodge each one effortlessly.
After deactivating the “Immovable Domain,” Shen Ge asked Cheng Shengnan about her experience inside the domain. Surprisingly, she hadn’t sensed any domain at all.
In her perception, everything was “normal”—she raised the gun, aimed, fired. Even in her cognition, the bullet speed was normal; it was just that Shen Ge dodged them with exceptional speed.
In other words, whether inside or outside the domain, the attacker themselves and their “view” of Shen Ge remained normal. Only Shen Ge could perceive the change in speed.Just as Shen Ge was about to ask Cheng Shengnan to help with a few more rounds of testing, Little Seven reminded him: “Master, the security team has surrounded the dormitory.”
“…”
Shen Ge had been so focused on testing the “Immovable Domain” that he forgot after the recent Branch Twelve attacks, even the sound of a dropped knife would bring the security team running, let alone gunshots.
By the time Shen Ge went to open the door, the security team outside was already preparing to break it down. When they learned Shen Ge was testing weird energy equipment, their expressions turned peculiar.
A couple testing weird energy equipment at home?
Are you two the legendary Mr. & Mrs. Smith?
After confirming Shen Ge was fine, the security personnel left.
“Shall we continue testing?” Cheng Shengnan asked.
Shen Ge thought for a moment. “Let’s not use guns. Try using fire instead. Little Seven, grant her secondary permissions. Test the Immovable Domain with weird Fire and perform data analysis.”
“Understood, Master.” Little Seven acknowledged and then detached from Shen Ge’s wrist, attaching itself to Cheng Shengnan’s wrist.
Most of Cheng Shengnan’s contact with weird energy equipment had been through reports; this was her first time actually using any, and it was the most advanced intelligent weird energy armor in the entire Special Response Department.
Shen Ge briefly explained how to use it and instructed her to wear the weird Fire Gauntlet and attack him to test the effect of weird Fire within the Immovable Domain.
Snap!
To his surprise, Cheng Shengnan snapped her fingers and donned the full-body Adhesive type armor. The covering of rotten flesh slurry didn’t disgust her; instead, she found it novel.
Thus, a long-legged, female version of Venom appeared before Shen Ge.
“…You.” Shen Ge looked at the long-legged monster in front of him, his expression turning mysterious.
Cheng Shengnan examined herself with fresh interest, even going to the full-length mirror by the living room to take a look. “Feels pretty interesting.”
“…”
Ahem.
Cheng Shengnan cleared her throat and looked at Shen Ge seriously. “When I watched those movies before, I always thought Iron Man’s suit was interesting. I just wanted to try what it feels like to wear one. Come on, let’s continue the test.”
After this minor interlude, Shen Ge and Cheng Shengnan continued testing the “Immovable Domain” until his mental strength was depleted, a process that took about two hours.
After removing the armor, Cheng Shengnan rubbed her shoulders and sat down on the sofa.
“Tired? Want me to give you a rub?” Shen Ge offered.
Cheng Shengnan looked at him suspiciously. “A proper rub?”
“Who rubs properly?” Shen Ge said matter-of-factly.
Looking at his deadpan expression, Cheng Shengnan didn’t know whether to be angry or not. She mustered her strength and pinched his waist hard. “Get lost—!”
Despite her words, Cheng Shengnan ended up getting the rub. Not just a rub, but a thorough one that led all the way to the bathroom, including a bath.
Cheng Shengnan, being carried, bit Shen Ge’s shoulder. “Are you an animal? Don’t you ever run out of energy?”
“Oh, based on my tests, the consumption rate of energy is far lower than the recovery rate. So strictly speaking, energy indeed never runs out,” Shen Ge said, holding her in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Bas-tard!”
“Oh.”
“…”
…..
Two hours later.
Shen Ge sat on the sofa, flipping through TV news channels. The news anchor adhered to the fine tradition of reporting only good news. Even when discussing the weird incidents the public was most concerned about, it was mostly glossed over.
Domestic weird incidents were under the control of the Special Response Department. Abroad, apart from major countries with rapidly developing anti- weird departments, smaller nations suffered severe weird disasters. Even though many large countries sent anti- weird investigators for support, many areas still became playgrounds for weird.
For a time, weird elimination mercenaries became a hot “industry,” with many countries’ anti- weird departments openly pricing their services for resolving weird incidents.
“Among developed countries, the US has surprisingly become the least affected. It’s embarrassing that Branch Twelve hasn’t even released a few weird to play with at the American Anti- weird Research Association,” Shen Ge commented while watching the news.
Cheng Shengnan, squatting in a corner unpacking a pile of packages as high as a small hill, replied without looking up: “You’re wrong about that. Half a month ago, there was also an weird incident at the American Anti- weird Research Association. They just handled the cleanup better, so the incident wasn’t exposed.”
“Which area is the most severely affected right now?” Shen Ge, being frontline personnel, naturally didn’t have access to as much information as Cheng Shengnan.
Cheng Shengnan replied, “Currently, the Asian region is the most severe. Our situation can rank in the top three. Next are some small countries. Lacking the capacity to develop anti- weird departments, once weird incidents occur, they are almost always fatal. However, with the addition of ‘mercenaries’ working for money, it’s slightly better than before.”
“There have only been two weird incidents in Rong City these past few days, right?” Shen Ge asked.
After the Lahu Shuicheng disaster, only two weird incidents had occurred over several days, both Tier 1, resolved by teams led by Yang Yuxin and Tu Doupi.
It seemed that after each Branch Twelve operation, the frequency of weird incidents would decrease to some extent, making it hard not to suspect a connection.
“That’s right. After the recent shake-up, many of those people from the ‘wine circle’ have been replaced or arrested. The department has been busy assisting the military and police in dealing with them these past two days. But… Lü Xianze escaped. Did you know?” Cheng Shengnan asked.
Shen Ge put down the remote and turned to her. “Not surprising he escaped. As a Branch Twelve informant, it’s not strange they helped him. It also means this person still has value, or has already been turned into experimental material by Branch Twelve.”
“The Information Department is investigating, planning to follow the lead of Luo Baoguo,” Cheng Shengnan said.
Shen Ge nodded and dropped the topic. He walked over and squatted beside Cheng Shengnan to help unpack. “What did you buy all this?”
Cheng Shengnan continued unpacking. “Some daily necessities I bought a while ago. Been too busy lately to look at them.”
“Oh.”
“Bought them a week ago. After Lahu Shuicheng, Rong City seems back on track, but actually, all industries are severely affected. Many physical stores have closed recently. I figured… better stock up on more,” Cheng Shengnan explained.
“Right.” Shen Ge also started helping unpack.
For him, it was somewhat like the joy of opening blind boxes.
“Stockings?” Shen Ge unpacked a package of stockings.
Cheng Shengnan snatched them back with a stern face. Since being with a certain animal, the damage rate of her stockings had increased tenfold, forcing her to buy more as backup.
“Huh, this is…” Shen Ge unpacked two sets of clothes. But he knew Cheng Shengnan usually had high standards for clothing; even her work suits were custom-made. She generally didn’t buy clothes online.
“Hey, don’t you have anything to do today? I remember around this time every day, you go on patrol,” Cheng Shengnan said, making a move to grab them.
Seeing her slightly flushed face, Shen Ge wasn’t particularly interested initially, but her attempt to snatch them back indicated the clothes had a “story.” He dodged and stood up.
“I checked the reports when I got back. No weird energy fluctuations detected city-wide today. Plus, Xiao Tu and the others are divided into four teams guarding the four directions. They can handle it if anything comes up,” Shen Ge replied while unwrapping the package.
Cheng Shengnan grew anxious. “Aren’t you saving up system points to go to the Haiya Research Institute?”
“Random event rewards are minimal and not very meaningful at this stage. That’s why I stayed home today to research traits… Tsk tsk, your attempt to cover up only makes me more interested in these clothes.” As he spoke, Shen Ge finished unwrapping, revealing a short black cheongsam.
Shen Ge was taken aback. “So short? Can you even wear this outside?”
Cheng Shengnan grabbed the cheongsam back and snorted. “I never planned to wear it outside… Alright, hurry up and go do your work. I don’t need your help here.”
“Hmm?” Shen Ge instantly understood, raising an eyebrow. “I think these clothes look pretty good. No time like the present. Trying them on now seems very appropriate.”
“…” Cheng Shengnan, remembering the previous two hours, gritted her teeth and tried to push Shen Ge out of the room, only to be scooped up into a hug.
“I think we can try.”
“I disagree.”
“How about rock-paper-scissors?”
“Fine, best two out of three.”
…..
So the two engaged in a rather childish game of rock-paper-scissors. Unsurprisingly, Cheng Shengnan lost two rounds in a row and was forced to take the clothes into the bedroom.
Before closing the door, she glared at Shen Ge. “Using your trait ability to cheat, have you no shame? Is this how you waste mental strength?”
“No problem, it regenerates automatically,” Shen Ge said calmly.
“You did use your ability!”
“Uh…”
Thump!
A pillow flew out from the bedroom, hitting Shen Ge square in the face. The next second, the bedroom door nearly slammed shut on him.
Fortunately, Shen Ge’s greatest virtue was his speed in admitting mistakes. He promptly promised not to use the “Immovable Domain” during rock-paper-scissors in the future.
Soon after, Cheng Shengnan came out wearing the first outfit.
Shen Ge leaned against the doorframe, his gaze purely appreciative, without a trace of ulterior motive, looking her up and down. The black cheongsam reached only mid-thigh, perfectly showcasing Cheng Shengnan’s advantages.
“Just the slit is a bit low…” After a long moment, Shen Ge offered his first comment.
Cheng Shengnan glanced coldly at the slit that reached almost her waist and directly launched a reverse pillow throw, hitting Shen Ge out of the room. “Get out!”
“That won’t do. I said no time like the present. We’ve chosen the day, now it’s time for the… impact.”
“…”
It took Cheng Shengnan a moment to get the pun, by which time she was nearly “impacted” into pieces throughout the night.
——–
…
…
…
Peace persisted in Rong City for over half a month. By early May, weird incidents began to resurge, gradually increasing in number.
Shen Ge monitored the progress in the [Log] daily. His future self was still locked in a stalemate with “Formless,” which also indicated that once a weird reached Tier 6 or above, capable of converting nuclear energy into weird energy, it entered an almost “invincible” state. Killing them then would be extremely difficult.
His future self had been struggling with “Formless” for months. Rong City’s resources were largely depleted in dealing with it, resulting in heavy casualties. Moreover, the scale of the disaster in Rong City kept expanding. Since “Formless” was invisible, they didn’t even know if their plans were effective against it.
Shen Ge couldn’t help his future self. Besides, he was already on a completely different path. Given the current development speed of the Special Response Department, unless a Tier 6 or 7 weird incident appeared out of thin air, everything was indeed under control as the news claimed.
If things continued this way, whether the future would lead to “doomsday” was uncertain.
Time flew by, and it was June. As weird incidents increased, Shen Ge spent more time patrolling the city. But since that incident, he developed a love for buying clothes for Cheng Shengnan, showing a trend towards becoming a uniform obsession.
On June 3rd, while Shen Ge was at home having lunch with Cheng Shengnan and picking out clothes, he received an urgent notification from the department.
Initially thinking it was a serious weird disaster somewhere domestically, it turned out to be their neighbor, the land of the rising sun—Japan.
Arriving at the conference room, Deng Yuqi handed the latest materials to Cheng Shengnan, while Assistant Xiao Zhang distributed copies to everyone.
The meeting gathered the most excellent anti- weird investigators and senior officials from the branch. They were also video-conferenced with the Headquarters and several other strongest departments of the Special Response Department.
After analyzing the reports and mission documents, Cheng Shengnan quickly compiled the information and played three videos sent from Japan on the central screen.
The first video was shot from a satellite. The capital city of Takaguchi was shrouded in thick black mist. Drones, planes, helicopters, etc., continuously flew into the area, but none were seen coming out.
The black mist enveloped the entire city of Takaguchi. Currently, it showed no signs of spreading, and no method or device could establish contact with anyone inside the city.
The second video showed a bustling intersection with vehicles and pedestrians orderly waiting for the traffic light. Suddenly, the sky darkened, and the signal was interfered with.
The third video depicted vehicles seemingly out of control, crashing into surrounding pedestrians or nearby shops.
Panicked fleeing pedestrians were hit by falling flower pots, buried under collapsing walls or billboards, fell into manholes while running, or slipped on drinks or fruits that flew out from the hands of those killed by billboards…
If separated from the context of “disaster,” this video could almost be mistaken for a “comedy skit.”
In summary, every person and every death in the video reeked of “misfortune.”
Deng Yuqi said gravely, “A very severe weird disaster has broken out in Takaguchi. Unlike the Beijing disaster which affected only one district, the entire city of Takaguchi is shrouded in weird energy black mist. According to feedback from their anti- weird department and reports submitted to the Asian Anti- weird Organization, various weird incidents had actually been occurring sporadically within the city for half a month prior.”
Cheng Shengnan controlled the laptop to bring up several images. “These are photos uploaded to the internet two weeks ago, before Takaguchi was enveloped by the weird energy black mist. According to the uploaders, the northern part of Takaguchi was suddenly filled with floating human-head balloons overnight.”
“These human-head balloons are somewhat similar to the flying parasite weird from the recent Lahu Shuicheng incident. The difference is that when citizens are infected by this parasite weird, their heads detach from their bodies and transform into a flying weird. They grow larger as they consume more living beings.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
After Cheng Shengnan analyzed the various bizarre events in Takaguchi from the initial weird incidents to the complete out of control, Deng Yuqi tapped the report with her finger and scanned the attendees.
“According to intelligence provided by Takaguchi’s anti- weird department, the appearance of the pervasive weird energy black mist and its eventual envelopment of the entire city took approximately seven days. Starting from the first day, when faint weird energy black mist began permeating the air, a strange phenomenon occurred throughout the city…”
“Anyone entering Takaguchi would become extremely unlucky. The slightly fortunate might trip on flat ground while walking; the more unfortunate might encounter various weird. As Director Cheng mentioned, the human-head balloons were just the most common type. There were also women appearing in the mist capable of swallowing a whole person, ‘strange people’ who could survive dismemberment, etc…”
“We have reason to believe this is the fourth major weird disaster event orchestrated by Branch Twelve, following Chongqing, Beijing, and Rong City. Takaguchi has officially declared the situation out of control and has requested assistance from the Asian Anti- weird Organization. A rescue team will be organized to enter.”
“As one of the top three departments in capability within China, it has been decided that our Rong City branch will lead this support mission for the Takaguchi weird disaster. Later, I will discuss with Investigator Shen, Investigator Lin, and Section Chief Chen to decide the support team roster.”
“Any questions?” Deng Yuqi asked.
The Information Department Chief, skilled in intelligence analysis, was most concerned about the intelligence regarding the Takaguchi disaster: “Director, so far, based on information gathered by us and departments nationwide, there has never been a case affecting the ‘luck’ of an entire city’s population.”
The newly appointed Deputy Chief of the Information Department, Liu Jiayi, a short-haired woman with great presence, had a good working relationship with the Chief. She spoke up directly: “Actually, it’s not completely unheard of. As far as I know… the Rong City branch previously handled an incident where a weird turned most of a building ‘invisible.’ The operation codename in that report was ‘Formless.'”
“If we compare the affected ‘invisible’ half of the building in that incident to the people in Takaguchi, isn’t it similarly a large-scale affecting weird event?”
Deng Yuqi nodded. “Chief Liu is correct. Director Li from the Research Department has been conducting in-depth research based on Investigator Shen’s ‘ weird Trait Theory.’ According to current information, weird can potentially develop certain ‘special abilities,’ which we refer to as traits.”
“For example, rapid regeneration, fusion, physical enhancement in weird can all be considered their ‘traits.’ Some weird harbor more advanced trait abilities, which typically fully awaken after they evolve to ‘Tier 4.'”
“Like the previous ‘Formless’ incident, although that weird had just transformed to Tier 2, the weird space it created already demonstrated the effects of such a trait.”
“Therefore, combined with the Takaguchi report, we suspect this is a high-tier weird that has awakened a trait capable of making people unlucky, a trait of ‘misfortune.'”
The Information Department Chief had indeed seen Li Xiang’s “Trait Report” before. But even with Deng Yuqi and Liu Jiayi’s reasonable explanations, the Takaguchi disaster was still too unique.
Making people “unlucky”—misfortune itself is a very metaphysical concept.
If a weird with such a trait truly existed, especially considering the Chinese emphasis on “fortune” and “luck,” it could almost be called a “conceptual god.”
“Director, the Asian Anti- weird Organization has sent a new video report…” Cheng Shengnan, standing by the laptop, noticed a flashing icon in the lower right corner and clicked to play it.
In the video, a Takaguchi anti- weird investigator, after dealing with over a dozen human-head balloons, was surrounded by a group of the parasites. Just as he activated the power of his weird energy equipment to counterattack, a giant meteorite suddenly fell from the sky, leveling the entire block.
“…”
“…”
“…”
For a moment, the conference room fell into dead silence.
That Takaguchi investigator’s skill wasn’t top-tier, but being able to handle two or three weird plus a large group of parasites was still quite capable.
But so what if you can deal with weird? Affected by fortune, a meteorite to the face—even Shen Ge would be finished!
Conceptual traits are terrifying indeed!