Shen Ge ignored the attempts of the half-bodied Liu Zongrui emerging from the ceiling and walls to stop him. Instead, following Little Seven’s guidance, he charged straight for the upstairs bathroom.
He was now identified as an intruder here, and Liu Zongrui, acting as an immune entity, would naturally try every possible means to keep him.
But the moment Shen Ge reached the upper floor, he sensed the surrounding air distorting and shimmering again. Based on previous experience, this area would soon become chaotic, and reaching the bathroom wouldn’t be easy.
However, Shen Ge wasn’t anxious now. The Rotten Flesh Armor could absorb weird energy, and both inside and outside the villa, he and Deng Yuqi were teaming up to wreak havoc. Comparatively, Liu Zongrui was the one under greater pressure.
Just then, three bloody openings tore open in the fleshy wall of the second-floor corridor. Three burly “Liu Zongruis” stepped out and began pursuing Shen Ge.
When Shen Ge first encountered this complete version of Liu Zongrui, he had mistaken it for the “main body.” Now it seemed these were also “clones,” just more powerful ones.
Not daring to underestimate them, Shen Ge immediately entered “Red Mist Form.” Coupled with the Formless and Immovable dual domains, he engaged all three.
Liu Zongrui’s attack patterns were relatively simple, but their vitality was formidable. Even when Shen Ge sliced off the long worms on their heads, it didn’t hinder their combat ability. Moreover, within three to five minutes, a new head-worm would regrow.
Shen Ge had to resort to his previous “Serpent’s Heart Snatch” tactic, taking them down one by one. He used the Immovable domain to trap two first, then focused on dealing with the third.
But just as his hand turned formless, reaching for the heart of the Liu Zongrui in front of him, the other’s burly body split down the middle as if cracking open, transforming into a gigantic, gaping mouth that lunged to bite Shen Ge.Shen Ge was completely caught off guard by this move and was swallowed unprepared. He had intended to grab the opponent’s heart, only to find that the inside of Liu Zongrui’s body was just like the previous worm-mouth, lined with concentric circles of teeth.
“Dammit!”
Is this even fair?
You’re really playing a dirge on a grave—just full of ghostly nonsense!
Fortunately, Shen Ge had a backup plan. Activating the “Non-Ignition” trait, he directly released red “Red Mist Flames” inside Liu Zongrui’s body.
Thwump!
The next second, the Pig-Slaughtering Knife burst through the top of Liu Zongrui’s head, then cleaved him in half from behind.
“Thanks! It would’ve taken forever to chop through you normally. You splitting yourself open meant I only had to cut through half. Saved me time and effort.” After finishing off one Liu Zongrui, Shen Ge walked straight up to the second one and let himself be swallowed. Once inside, he used “Red Mist Flames” to burn from within, then sliced out from the back, splitting it in two.
After dispatching the three Liu Zongruis, Shen Ge horizontally deployed the Formless domain and used “Collapse” on the distorted space.
The weird spaces collided, and Shen Ge’s prevailed, allowing him to successfully pass through the distorted area.
It seemed like he had only moved forward a meter or two, but based on the previous experience of being trapped in the living room, covering that distance could have taken two or three hours.
Shen Ge had found the trick. Liu Zongrui—or rather, the Tier 5 weird maintaining this space with the “Trait: Triple Threat”—could no longer trap him using this method.
By repeatedly using “Collapse” to pass through the distorted spaces, Shen Ge successfully reached the bathroom door adjacent to the bedroom where he had first discovered the worm-mouth weird.
Liu Zongrui seemed to sense the danger and attempted to distort space again to throw Shen Ge out of the villa. But Shen Ge was prepared this time, using the “Immovable Domain” to create an invisible barrier, blocking the effect.
“Again?”
If he fell for the same trick twice, he really would have wasted all those hours struggling inside for nothing.
Shen Ge had already deciphered the rules of Liu Zongrui’s weird space. Furthermore, even with the temporal chaos inside the house due to spatial distortion, Liu Zongrui’s actual strength fell short of Tier 5, peaking at most at Tier 4.
Bang!
Shen Ge smashed the bathroom door open with the Pig-Slaughtering Knife, once again revealing the closed lips, with circles of teeth visible behind the door.
The oral cavity wriggled and swallowed slightly, accompanied by faint gurgling sounds. Looking inside, there seemed to be no visible “end.”
Shen Ge stood boldly in front of the worm-mouth, leaning in to look. “Hey! Delivery’s here! Swallow me! Come on, swallow me!”
Gulp!
The worm-mouth seemed never to have heard such a bizarre request. Naturally, it wouldn’t refuse a meal delivered to its doorstep. Its mouth gaped wide and swallowed Shen Ge whole.
After a series of gurgling swallowing sounds, the worm-mouth began to close. But then, whoosh!—a wave of red flames erupted, blasting the closing mouth open.
The power of the “Red Mist weird Flames” was several times greater than the Black Mist Flames. Not only did it stew the inside, but Shen Ge also combined it with the Formless domain’s “Serpent’s Heart Snatch” and “Collapse,” transforming into a humanoid meat grinder that slaughtered his way deep into the worm’s body.
…..
On the other side, Deng Yuqi piloted the attack helicopter to “harass” the weird fused with the villa. Although the damage from machine guns and explosives was negligible, it was common knowledge that mosquitoes, while not strong, were incredibly annoying and frustrating—much like how even a certain invincible bald hero couldn’t deal with them effectively.
The attack helicopter buzzed around the villa, its weapons “scratching” the surface. Even though the weird lacked intelligence, it was driven to fury by the torment.
The uprooted villa monster chased the helicopter throughout the villa complex. However, Deng Yuqi’s piloting skills surpassed her driving; dozens of agile tentacles couldn’t touch her.
“Director, we’re almost out of projectiles and ammunition,” Cheng Shengnan shouted to Deng Yuqi after firing the last submachine gun round.
“How much is left?” Deng Yuqi asked.
Cheng Shengnan replied, “One grenade, one high-explosive bomb, two Molotov cocktails.”
“I’ll get closer. Throw them into that chimney-like worm-mouth on the roof!” Deng Yuqi instructed.
“Okay!”
As soon as she spoke, Deng Yuqi pushed the stick down, diving sharply to avoid several tentacles, then banking sideways to give Cheng Shengnan the perfect throwing angle.
Cheng Shengnan pulled the pins and tossed the remaining projectiles into the worm-mouth. With a diameter over two meters and at such close range, missing was nearly impossible.
Boom!
Boom!
With several loud explosions, the chimney-like worm-mouth on the roof suddenly spewed a pillar of red flames into the sky. Startled, Deng Yuqi quickly pulled up to evade.
Then, they watched as the “villa” slowly dissolved into a pile of fleshy mud. Red flames erupted from the chimney, igniting the entire “villa.”
“Woo-hoo—”
A red figure flew out from the flames, landing on the grass several meters away.
“Shen Ge!”
Recognizing the figure, Deng Yuqi and Cheng Shengnan were overjoyed. Deng Yuqi landed the helicopter on a nearby patch of grass.
…..
[Host has eliminated Tier 5 weird (Trait: Triple Threat). Reward: 1000 System Points, 3x F-Grade Supplies. The weird corpse can be sold for System Points to draw various equipment and items.]
[ weird (Trait: Triple Threat) – Value: 7000 System Points.]
Huh?
Hearing the system prompt, Shen Ge was momentarily stunned.
After entering the worm-mouth, Shen Ge had released “Red Mist weird Flames,” fighting his way to the center. Despite Liu Zongrui creating countless clones, none could stop him from reaching and destroying the “heart.”
Once the “heart” of the villa-fused Liu Zongrui was destroyed, it could no longer generate enough weird energy to resist the Red Mist Flames, which ultimately consumed it completely.
Shen Ge had thought that, like before when eliminating the “Xu” and other Branch Twelve captains, there would either be no reward or a Tier 2-level reward. Surprisingly, this time there was a reward, and the corpse could be sold. Did this mean “Liu Zongrui” was different from the previous Branch Twelve captains?
Another oddity: “Liu Zongrui” was a Tier 5 weird, and one with a trait at that, yet the system prompt only offered a sale option, not absorption.
Was it because “Liu Zongrui” was an artificial weird, or was there another reason?
[Crisis Mission Completed: Eliminated “Tier 5 weird (Trait: Triple Threat)”. Reward: 1000 System Points, 1x Trait Enhancement Point.]
While Shen Ge was pondering, the system announced the mission completion.
…..
“What do you plan to do with the corpse?” Deng Yuqi asked as she approached.
After learning that Shen Ge’s weird Elimination System could sell weird corpses, Deng Yuqi had handed over the disposal rights to him.
“This weird corpse seems different from the previous Branch Twelve captains. It feels like it combines traits from their recent experimental subjects. Most importantly, it possesses weird energy with effects similar to the weird from the Chongqing incident. This ‘fusion’ ability is very rare. I think we should take it back for Li Xiang to study first, then consider selling it to the system for points later,” Shen Ge explained.
The system points he had saved up were nearly depleted. According to the original plan, he needed to go to the Haiya Research Institute area to test drawing trait equipment, which required a large sum of points.
But he didn’t want to miss the fusion weird energy from “Liu Zongrui,” so he decided to let Li Xiang study it first to extract maximum value before selling.
“That works,” Deng Yuqi nodded.
Once the weird space dissipated, Shen Ge immediately contacted the branch, Lin Yin, and others via communicator. Soon, Chen Ke, stationed at the branch, responded.
Two days had passed since Shen Ge entered Lahu Shuicheng. Thanks to the efforts of Lin Yin and the elite weird investigators, Rong City had not suffered a catastrophic outbreak like Beijing.
Moreover, Headquarters reacted swiftly this time, immediately dispatching support from surrounding areas. Reinforcements from Qian and Yu provinces arrived quickly, so the damage in Rong City wasn’t severe.
Of course, the root cause lay in Lahu Shuicheng. The area where Branch Twelve concentrated their efforts was contained by Shen Ge and the others, nipping their plan for a major disaster in the bud.
Lin Yin led the team to continue cleanup and patrols. Shen Ge, along with Deng Yuqi and others, assisted the Containment Department in transporting Liu Zongrui’s corpse back to the branch.
Upon learning that Deng Yuqi and Cheng Shengnan had been trapped in the weird space for over sixty days, Chen Ke, despite the branch’s heavy workload, insisted the two women return to their dorm to rest.
Shen Ge was also initially included in the “rest” group, but feeling still energetic and needing to accumulate points for his trip to the Haiya Research Institute, he joined Lin Yin’s cleanup squad instead.
…..
On Sunday, April 24th, the Rong City branch held a post-disaster meeting regarding the “Rong City weird Incident.” After three days of intense effort, the branch had successfully brought the city’s weird events under control.
Among them, Soundless, Immovable, and Formless had been upgraded once. Soundless and Immovable were upgraded using the system’s full-trait upgrade reward upon reaching Tier 1. Formless was upgraded using the Trait Enhancement Point rewarded at Tier 2.
When he obtained his first Trait Enhancement Point, Shen Ge had considered two approaches: strengthen frequently used traits, or upgrade traits that hadn’t yet manifested a domain.
The first approach was straightforward: stronger abilities for common skills. The second aimed for broader capability coverage.
However, recalling the system’s full-trait upgrade reward at Tier 1, which improved the effects of Soundless and Immovable but… did not grant domains, left him conflicted.
If he used a Trait Enhancement Point on “Soundless” or “Immovable,” it might just further modify the trait’s ability, like slightly reducing energy consumption. It felt somewhat wasteful.
After all, the versatile and potent domain abilities of traits were more desirable.
This was why Shen Ge, after reaching Tier 3 and receiving a Trait Enhancement Point, still hadn’t decided where to allocate it.
Simply put, he was suffering from choice paralysis.
Among the five traits, aside from “Non-Ignition,” where he couldn’t immediately envision the potential changes or possible domain upon upgrade, the other four were under consideration.
Formless was obviously the most frequently used.
Unleashed, with its adept “blocking” ability, could instantly change the battlefield.
Soundless, although not related to physical silence but rather erasing sound related to oneself, still had decent usage frequency.
Finally, Immovable… the second trait he acquired, used the least.
It wasn’t that “Immovable” was useless, but the fact that both he and the target couldn’t move after activation was a fatal flaw.
“The ‘Immovable’ trait initially required pulling the target into its weird space to immobilize them. This meant if the target also had spatial abilities, spatial distortion could potentially break the control. After the Tier 1 full upgrade, I gained the option to choose whether to pull the target into the space or not.”
“Looking at it this way, upgrades do seem to address the trait’s ‘flaws’… If I upgrade further, maybe it can solve the fatal flaw of both parties being immobilized?”
After careful consideration, Shen Ge decided to use one point for an “experiment.” Trait Enhancement Points were precious, but traits were even more so. Letting a powerful control skill like “Immovable” go underutilized was truly a waste!
“Trait Enhancement!”
[Use Trait Enhancement Point to strengthen “Trait: Immovable”?]
“Yes!”
[Trait “Immovable” has been upgraded!]
“Immovable”: The user can control their shadow to restrain targets. The mental strength consumed per second varies (10%-50%) based on the target’s tier, quantity, and distance (maximum 20 meters).
When using “Immovable” to restrain a target, the user can choose whether to pull the target into the “Immovable” weird space. Outside the weird space, the restraint effect still applies.
[Awakened “Immovable Domain”.]
“Immovable Domain (Type I)”: Upon deploying the domain, create an “Immovable Domain” with a five-meter radius centered on oneself. Entities entering this domain slow down or become immobile.
“Bullet Time.”
Consumes 10%-50% mental strength per second.
…..
Shen Ge examined the upgraded effects of the “Immovable” trait and was thrilled. His months of experimentation and deduction had paid off; he had gambled correctly!
With the flaw of “Immovable” removed, he no longer had to worry about being stuck playing a staring contest with an immobilized enemy.
…..
[Shen Ge]
Tier: 3
[Basic Attributes (Baseline for adult male: 100%):]
Strength: 161%;
Agility: 151%;
Constitution: 153%;
Spirit: 695%
[Traits:]
“Soundless”
“Immovable”
“Formless”
“Unleashed”
“Non-Ignition”
[Abilities:]
“Formless Domain (Type I)”: “Collapse”
“Formless Domain (Type II)”: “Serpent’s Heart Snatch”
“Unleashed Domain (Type I)”: “Barrier”
“Immovable Domain (Type I)”: “Bullet Time”
[Owned weird Energy (Trait) Equipment:]
“Li Xiang II Armor * Red Mist Form (Little Seven)”
Pig-Slaughtering Knife (Trait: Indestructible)
weird Eye (Trait: Invisible)
weird Eye (Trait: — )
weird Elimination Revolver (” weird Energy Magazine” Trait: Infinite)
Black Bone Dagger
[System Points]: 1752
[Freely Distributable Points]: 0
[Trait Enhancement Points]: 1
…..
Just as Shen Ge was pondering whether to use the remaining Trait Enhancement Point on “Formless” to see if he could develop more domain abilities, or on “Soundless” to unlock its domain, the sound of a key turning came from the door.
After working continuously for several days, it would normally be rest time if not for the meeting. So, after the meeting concluded, Cheng Shengnan was “off work.”
Entering the room, Cheng Shengnan saw Shen Ge standing motionless in the living room and found it strange. “What are you doing standing there?”
“Perfect timing you’re back.” Shen Ge took an ordinary Model 92 pistol from his weird Skin Bag and handed it to Cheng Shengnan, asking her to stand five meters away and shoot at him.
Cheng Shengnan looked at the pistol in her hand, then at Shen Ge with a peculiar expression. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, testing a new ability.”
Cheng Shengnan was one of the few at the branch who knew about Shen Ge’s “Li Xiang II Armor * Red Mist Form” and the full AI system “Little Seven.” She was also one of the two-and-a-half people who knew about his weird Elimination System—the other one being Deng Yuqi, and the half being Li Xiang.
Although Cheng Shengnan knew ordinary firearms couldn’t harm Shen Ge even with a sneak attack, the idea of shooting at him still felt awkward.
“Don’t worry, just shoot. Oh, and rapid fire is best,” Shen Ge reminded.
Cheng Shengnan nodded, raised the pistol, and aimed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Her actions were swift, giving him almost no preparation time.
“You could at least say ‘start’!” Shen Ge complained while simultaneously activating the Immovable Domain. Instantly, a strange sensation filled the five-meter radius around him.
It felt as if everything had slowed down. Shen Ge could even clearly see the bullet trails cutting through the air in slow motion.
For a moment, it felt like being on the set of The Matrix.
Outside the domain, Cheng Shengnan remained unaffected, still pulling the trigger—bang! bang! bang!—but the moment the bullets entered the domain, they entered slow-motion mode.
Shen Ge imitated Neo, swaying left and right, leaning back, effortlessly dodging each bullet. From outside the domain, Cheng Shengnan was initially surprised by his slow-motion movements, but seeing him dodge every bullet with ease the next second amazed her!
In simple terms, time inside the domain flowed differently from outside. Cheng Shengnan saw Shen Ge normally, but for Shen Ge, everything was slowed down.
To test a hypothesis, Shen Ge leaned forward and even attempted to imitate Fire Cloud Evil God by pinching a bullet between two fingers!
Click!
The bullet was easily caught, clamped between his fingers. Cheng Shengnan was stunned, even forgetting to continue firing!
What the…? Did he master “nothing is faster than me” overnight?