The Anomaly Expands

"Are you here to kill the anomaly, sir? Our backup will be here soon. We can help you," Wang Ningshui ventured cautiously.

"Help me?" The young man smiled again, though this time a hint of disdain slipped naturally into his smile. "No need."

As he spoke, he turned to look outside. It was gloomy out there, and the sky seemed darker than when they had arrived.

"It's going to rain."

Wang Ningshui glanced at his watch. It did say rain was due in a few minutes, but he didn't understand what the young man meant. He ventured, "Are you worried it'll be inconvenient to get back later? We can go back together. You saved our friend, and we're very grateful. Please don't turn down this small favor."

"Or... are you worried the rain will make this anomaly stronger, sir?"

The young man shook his head and stepped closer to them. Only then could they make out his features.

He looked like a gentle young man with fair skin. His medium-length black hair was tied into a small braid at the back of his head, his brows and eyes sloped slightly downward, and the corners of his lips curved faintly upward, giving him a clean, fresh appearance. Only his eyes were an odd shade of green, as though they belonged to someone other than the owner of this body.

Had he not been standing there with a knife in hand, his presence strange and unpredictable, they would have taken him for some young master raised with endless affection. He was spotless, nothing like someone who had fought his way through anomalies.

As for themselves... never mind. Better left unsaid.

The young man spoke in a gentle voice. "I mean—the anomaly is about to expand."

The moment he finished speaking, the crisp patter of water sounded all around them. Droplets fell from high above, striking with a clear echo.

Wang Ningshui looked outside. Sure enough, it was raining.

Rain fell hard and without warning, quickly soaking the ground and forming a curtain of gray pearls before the entrance.

The sky grew gloomier, and visibility inside the building dropped a little further.

Rain was nothing unusual in this era. Many anomalies caused weather abnormalities in small areas: sunshowers, snow in sunshine, thundersnow, and so on. In just a few years, they had seen every kind of weather.

But for some reason, listening to the patter of rain here and now gave them the creeps. It was as though all their clothes had taken on a damp smell with the weather, so wet they could wring water out of them.

"What's that smell?" Tao Yu suddenly sniffed, then frowned and looked around behind her. "A damp, moldy smell?"

Wang Ningshui looked back. Perhaps the rain outside made it seem even quieter in here. He pressed a hand to his racing heart, a vein throbbing at his temple, as though he had a premonition that something was about to happen.

Something was wrong. What had happened to the dripping water?

When had the sound of water moving in the pool disappeared?

"Watch—"

He had barely made a sound when a great wave suddenly surged up from the pool!

The wave was unnaturally large. Instead of falling back down, it hung high in the air, weaving a canopy of water across the room.

"Tap."

A drop of water fell from above onto Tao Yu's clothes. Her eyes widened as she watched that patch of fabric melt into the drop. The water took on the black of her clothes, gradually becoming like melted candle wax before sliding down the front of her jacket.

This time it wasn't an illusion!

"Go!"

Without a second thought, Tao Yu and the team member beside her grabbed the unconscious Fang Yue and ran outside. Wang Ningshui whipped around to look at the young man in black. For an instant, he seemed to glimpse a flash of red hidden in the young man's hair.

Before he could wonder what the red was, he caught sight of the unchanged, gentle smile in the young man's green eyes. He decisively grabbed another team member, who had not forgotten to dismantle the recorder, and ran outside.

The five had barely left the swimming pool building when rain hit them in the face, instantly soaking and weighing down their clothes. Fortunately, the rain outside wouldn't melt them, so they felt a little more at ease getting drenched.

Tao Yu wiped the rain from her face and shivered, then took a deep breath to celebrate having kept her life.

Squinting, she saw no sign of the young man coming out and hurriedly asked, "Captain, where is he?"

"Still inside. He didn't follow us out."

Tao Yu frowned. "But it's dangerous to leave him in there alone. Breaking an anomaly's killing rules means death or injury. That water ghost stayed in the pool before, so we were fine as long as we didn't jump in. At most, it could scare us with illusions."

She showed Wang Ningshui her melted clothes. "But I just noticed its power has grown. It's not just illusions anymore. It's gone from a rule-domain-type anomaly to a mobile anomaly that attacks on its own. Its danger level has shot up. And this rain... it's making me uneasy."

The team member supporting Fang Yue nodded too. "I feel it too. The timing of this rain is too much of a coincidence."

Wang Ningshui frowned at the silent swimming pool building. He didn't dare imagine how dangerous it had become inside, but even if they went back in, they wouldn't be much help.

"How long until backup gets here?"

The team member glanced at his watch. "Team Five's backup is still ten minutes away, but the Calamity Crossing Team just accepted our distress signal. They happen to be on a mission here! They'll be here in under three minutes!"

"The Calamity Crossing Team? It's really them? That's great!" Tao Yu was delighted. It was the most famous team in their area. Its members were all youngsters who had only just come of age, but they were incredibly strong and had never lost. They often brought home unexpected victories and were legends in the Containment Bureau.

And they had actually killed anomalies.

Inside the swimming pool building, the young man in black watched the curtain of water hanging from the ceiling at his leisure and said with a smile, "Main body, should I make a move now?"

Far away in the residential district, Lin Nieran opened his eyes as he watched over the little shop. He stared at the message relayed by the system's flying ball. "Wait a little longer. The most important audience hasn't arrived yet."

The young man in black nodded and smiled at the restless water overhead. His green eyes narrowed as he regarded it like a particularly lively fish on a chopping board, full of patience. "Hang in there a little longer. I'll send you on your way soon."

The water ghost anomaly seemed enraged by him. As the water struggled and churned, its color grew darker.

But no matter how furiously it struggled, it didn't dare actually attack him. It sensed a strong, higher-order rule on him, one more powerful than itself.

Even though he was only a human.

The water ghost hesitated for a long while. Suddenly, it set its sights on the sky outside. The water silently dissolved the plaster and seeped outward...

Outside the swimming pool building:

In the distance, a white-haired youth ran through the heavy rain, splashing through the water.

His long hair was woven into a long scorpion braid down his back. A few loose white strands hung over his forehead and fluttered beside his cheeks as he ran. He held a black bamboo-woven umbrella steadily over his head, keeping the rain off.

"Sir, we're over here!"

The white-haired youth swept up beside the five of them like a gust of wind. He looked around with a cool expression, and when he saw no danger, the tension in his face eased slightly.

"What happened? How did he get hurt so badly?" He frowned at the battered Fang Yue. On the way, he had already learned about their mission: a water ghost whose rules were known. Its danger rating wasn't actually that high.

"Mr. An Ying!" The group called out with heartfelt emotion, all of them looking as though they had found someone to rely on.