Emergency Situation

When Sun Hang woke up from his unconsciousness, the chilling stinging sensation had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

"Was it... a nightmare?" Sun Hang sat up from the sofa and looked down.

The metal nameplate, warmed by his palm, emitted a soft golden glow. He tried to pinch it gently with his fingernail, and a scratch immediately appeared on its surface.

Stainless steel isn't this soft, nor is it this heavy... This metal nameplate seems to have truly turned from stainless steel into gold.

"This... this is impossible, right?" Sun Hang's breathing became slightly heavier.

It was clear that this "turn steel into gold" miracle was his ability... but it was even clearer that this ability had nothing to do with the Taotie.

It couldn't be that the Taotie clone had first devoured an anomaly with this ability and then infected himself, could it?

Aside from having a slightly larger side effect, this ability could be described as a bug. An anomaly with such an ability... could the Taotie really devour it?

Sun Hang recalled what the white-coated man had said during his onboarding training at the Investigation Bureau... If this unknown anomaly were to be classified, it would most likely fall under "Class A Rule-based Anomaly."

Class A anomalies completely surpassed all other types of anomalies... because they were "rules" themselves.

"Wait... looking at it this way, the change in the hospital's light color before wasn't a coincidence?" Sun Hang was suddenly startled. Was his ability not "turn steel into gold," but "wish fulfillment"?

He decided to conduct an experiment.

He stared at the half-eaten apple on the coffee table, its flesh already yellowing and oxidizing at the edges. He desperately tried to recall the feeling of the stinging sensation surging, and silently chanted in his mind, "Float... float up for me."

The apple didn't move an inch, and the stinging sensation didn't appear either.

Only the robot vacuum cleaner silently glided out from under the coffee table, emitting a faint mechanical sound as it avoided Sun Hang's feet, as if mocking his wishful thinking.

"It seems to be a bit different from what I imagined..."

Sun Hang glanced at the oxidized part of the apple. As if suddenly remembering something, he abruptly looked up at the clock hanging on the opposite wall.

It was five minutes to seven in the evening, meaning he had been unconscious for almost two full hours.

Sun Hang immediately raised his arm and rolled up his sleeve.

The bracelet on his wrist was functioning normally; it didn't emit a piercing alarm, nor did its internal red warning light turn on.

"Strange... the bracelet didn't detect any anomalies?"

On the way over, Yang Qi had briefly explained the bracelet's functions to Sun Hang. When his heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and other indicators showed severe abnormalities, the bracelet would sound an alarm and transmit the abnormal data to the Anomaly Investigation Bureau and the Anomaly Research Institute immediately.

If the bracelet had detected Sun Hang being unconscious on the sofa for two hours, people from the Investigation Bureau and the Research Institute would have already broken down his door... but nothing had happened.

"Could this ability somehow fool the bracelet?" Sun Hang muttered to himself. "Or, in the bracelet's view, did I just 'sleep' on the sofa for two hours?"

Sun Hang went to the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face, then returned to the living room and turned on the television.

The evening news was playing. As the camera cut, a row of Peacekeepers stood rigidly in front of four white tombstones. A middle-aged woman in a black dress stood a little further away with a sorrowful expression.

The caption below read: "The four Peacekeepers who tragically sacrificed their lives in the Tianfu City Bloody Mary incident were buried today at the South City Public Cemetery. Representatives from the Xiazhou Federation Congress, the Tianfu City Management Committee, and leaders from the Tianfu City Public Security Bureau and the Anomaly Investigation Bureau laid wreaths at the graves."

"Cenotaphs..." Sun Hang clearly remembered that Wang Xiyi's fiery blast had evaporated all the blood plasma in the entire blood pool. The remains of Captain Huang, the intern Peacekeeper, and the Peacekeeper dragged into the blood pool later probably wouldn't even leave dregs... Only the Peacekeeper who died in the Blood Mist outside might have a relatively complete body.

Sun Hang glanced at the woman in the black dress again... judging by her age, she should be Captain Huang's widow...

Wait?!

Sun Hang rubbed his eyes forcefully because he noticed that the woman on the screen had suddenly become incredibly old... Her once-straight posture had become hunched, her skin, covered in age spots, sagged along the sides of her cheeks. Her cloudy eyes were deeply sunken, and many wrinkles that hadn't existed before appeared on her face.

It wasn't just her; the Peacekeepers in the picture also showed signs of "aging"... They, who were in their prime, instantly turned into elderly individuals, their hair beneath their peaked caps all turned white.

And in the next second, everything returned to normal.

Even as Sun Hang stared intently at the screen, the phone on the dining table suddenly rang.

It was Yang Qi calling.

"Sun Hang, it's an emergency!" Yang Qi's voice was extremely anxious. "A very rare anomalous situation has occurred at the South City Public Cemetery! In less than three hours, the entire cemetery has reverted to its undeveloped state from decades ago! And the most critical thing is that during the anomaly, the funeral and wreath-laying ceremony for the Peacekeepers who sacrificed their lives in the Bloody Mary incident was being held within the cemetery... Everyone participating in the funeral, including those high-ranking leaders, has disappeared!!"

"South City Public Cemetery? Wreath-laying ceremony? Disappeared?" Sun Hang turned to look at the TV screen again. "But, I can see them..."

"What did you say?!"

"I said, I can see them, those who disappeared," Sun Hang replied.

"What??! Where did you see them? How did you see them?!" Yang Qi's voice on the phone was extremely agitated.

"On TV, the seven o'clock evening news," Sun Hang replied truthfully.

"That's impossible!! Because of the anomaly, the evening news has canceled the broadcast of the funeral! That's absolutely impossible!!"

"Then I'll take a picture and send it to you."

After saying that, Sun Hang aimed his phone camera at the TV screen... However, through the camera, the TV image in the photo was just a screen full of white static noise.

Sun Hang suddenly realized that this news program had no sound at all from beginning to end—at first, he thought he hadn't turned on the speakers.

"Something's not right. I can't capture the image on the TV... or rather, this image can only be seen with my eyes. You should also know that I wouldn't lie to you about something like this."

"I'm coming to your place right away!" Yang Qi said decisively.

Not long after, the engine sound of the armored SUV could be heard from the villa entrance.

As soon as Sun Hang opened the door, Yang Qi rushed in, her gaze immediately falling on the television in the living room.

The news program had ended, and now the screen was showing some irrelevant content, with the sound returned to normal.

"What did you... see on TV just now?" Yang Qi asked Sun Hang, catching her breath.

Sun Hang didn't hide anything and described it truthfully.

After hearing Sun Hang's description, Yang Qi couldn't help but frown, "If the anomaly at the South City Public Cemetery was caused by an Anomaly, then this Anomaly... is very tricky. Based on my personal judgment, its ability is most likely related to 'time manipulation'."

"Time manipulation?"

"At first, I thought it was a 'Class G' environmental Anomaly... but now it seems to be at least a 'Class B phenomenon-type' Anomaly, and possibly even a 'Class A rule-type' Anomaly," Yang Qi's voice trembled slightly.

It was a mix of fear and excitement.

"Then why could I see scenes that weren't broadcast... or even filmed?"

"Because you are an infected person of the Anomalization Virus. Infected individuals and Anomalies sometimes generate a strange Resonance... but we haven't figured out the reasons or forms of Resonance generation yet," Yang Qi sighed and then said, "This mission will probably have to be carried out by you?"

"Why me?" Sun Hang was slightly taken aback. "Isn't Wang Xiyi the ace Hunter of Tianfu City?"

"She's not in good condition right now and can't enter Beast Transformation for a short period. Moreover, Class A and Class B Anomalies can't be simply eliminated by brute force." Yang Qi paused and continued, "The most important point is that she didn't resonate with the Anomaly that caused the abnormal situation at the South City Public Cemetery, but you did."