Anomaly

The strange phenomena were fleeting. Sun Hang hesitated for only a moment before his consciousness returned to the world beneath the Blood Moon.

The reflections that had been within arm's reach rapidly faded before his eyes until they vanished completely.

"What's going on?" Yang Qi walked over, asking urgently.

"Those shadowy figures, they looked like reflections of people," Sun Hang replied truthfully. "When I touched them, I saw the entire process of one person, from youth to old age, and then to death."

"...Resonance?" Yang Qi blinked, her eyes suddenly lighting up.

"I'm not sure," Sun Hang recalled. Although the images had lasted for less than the blink of an eye, he clearly remembered that the person had been wearing a dark blue suit in their middle age.

And in the news footage he had seen earlier, several of the leaders and officials attending the flower-laying ceremony had been wearing suits of a similar color and style.

Could this figure... be one of the missing officials?

Just as Sun Hang was about to observe the place where the figures had disappeared, a rich, sweet scent suddenly wafted over from his side and behind him.

He turned around and saw Wang Xiyi squatting on the ground, her arms clasped tightly across her chest, her face contorted as if she were enduring intense pain.

On her neck, small black scales were emerging from beneath her skin, emitting a metallic sheen.

"Night Fiend?!" Yang Qi also noticed Wang Xiyi's change and exclaimed, "When was the last time you injected the Inhibitor?!"

Sun Hang glanced up at the increasingly vibrant Blood Moon in the sky, remaining silent. He lunged forward and reached Wang Xiyi's side in a single stride.

Suppressing the urge to tackle her to the ground, he grabbed Wang Xiyi's arm and forcefully pulled her beyond the boundary.

The Blood Moon in the sky turned back into a normal moon, and the scales on Wang Xiyi's neck stopped emerging.

She held the Inhibitor syringe in her hand, but her fingers were incredibly stiff, making it impossible for her to inject herself.

"Help... me... inject..." Wang Xiyi gasped with difficulty.

Sun Hang forcibly pried her fingers open, took the syringe, removed the cap, and directly plunged the needle into her upper arm.

The glass bubble at the end of the disposable syringe, which contained compressed air, was crushed, and the clear liquid was immediately pushed into Wang Xiyi's body.

After about ten seconds, Wang Xiyi's stiff body finally softened again, and she slumped to the ground powerlessly.

Sun Hang looked at the empty syringe in his hand. It still carried a residual "cilantro smell" that made him feel nauseous. He shook his head in disgust and casually stuffed it into his outer pocket.

Yang Qi crouched beside Wang Xiyi and unzipped her collar slightly.

The fine scales that had emerged retracted, and her neck, wrists, and other areas returned to their original smooth, fair skin, which made Yang Qi breathe a sigh of relief.

"Is it because of the Blood Moon?" Sun Hang asked.

"Most likely... The Blood Moon's influence is like radiation; the higher the intensity, the faster and more severe the mutations in affected creatures," Yang Qi sighed. "From now on, until the Blood Moon disappears, neither you nor the Night Fiend are allowed to enter the anomalous zone."

"Are you planning to disobey superior orders?" Sun Hang chuckled. "Those people have decided to 'pay any price' this time."

"Because they're all idiots... If the Night Fiend loses control because of their 'orders,' forget the search and rescue operation, half of Tianfu City will be in danger!" Yang Qi said indignantly. "Besides, the search and rescue operation hasn't been suspended, and I'm still here... You should take the Night Fiend back to the Research Institute first, tell the Professor everything that happened here, and then come back after the Blood Moon disappears the next day. There's no rush."

After speaking, Yang Qi tossed the SUV's keys to Sun Hang.

Sun Hang didn't refuse. He directly took off his gun and handed it to 0401, who was still in a daze.

"Ah... What... What does this mean?" 0401 stammered, asking.

For some reason, after receiving the gun he had longed for, his sense of crisis increased significantly.

"Although there are no more Infected around you, there's no telling what you might encounter on your way to meet up with the main group. You can't hide behind a woman forever, can you?" Sun Hang said.

"..." 0401's lips moved, but in the end, he remained silent.

"Hurry up and go," Yang Qi urged. "The Inhibitor has only temporarily stabilized the Night Fiend's condition. She's still in a critical period and must be sent back to the Research Institute as quickly as possible! Don't worry about me!"

0401 and Sun Hang lifted Wang Xiyi into the car together. Sun Hang got into the driver's seat, glanced at the two people left behind in the rearview mirror, and then started the car.

On the way back, reports of a certain team being attacked intermittently came from the communication device in the car—it wasn't just the wild wolves; creatures throughout the entire anomalous zone had begun to mutate: abandoned stray dogs and cats, snakes slithering through the grass, and even the rats and insects at the bottom of the food chain had crawled out of the ground and started attacking everyone who entered the area.

Yang Qi and 0401 naturally encountered attacks from these mutated creatures. Fortunately, two newly merged teams arrived in time to provide support. Apart from 0401 scraping his knee while dodging, there were no casualties.

However, other teams were not so lucky—by the time Sun Hang arrived at the Research Institute, it was roughly estimated that the death toll had exceeded twenty, with injuries reaching triple digits.

The impact of this Blood Moon far exceeded everyone's estimations.

A dozen or so staff members who had been waiting at the entrance of the Research Institute took over Wang Xiyi. They lifted her into a "metal coffin" emitting cold air and then hurried away, leaving Sun Hang standing alone on the large steps outside the Research Institute.

"The Director needs to perform surgery on the Night Fiend immediately. Yang Qi has already reported the specific situation in the operational area," one of the staff members said to Sun Hang before leaving. "You are free to stand by for the next sixteen hours."

"And after sixteen hours?" Sun Hang asked.

"You should ask your direct supervisor, not me," the staff member said, leaving behind those words before walking away on their own.

The entire Research Institute was in a state of frantic operation. The few available field personnel had been dispatched to the South City Public Cemetery, and Wang Xiyi's sudden condition had forced those off duty to be pulled out of their beds—the faces of these white coats were almost all marked by heavy dark circles and the resentment of being forced to work overtime.

Sun Hang sat down on the large steps outside the Research Institute. At this moment, a familiar hunger surged from his stomach again.

He couldn't quite tell if the source of this hunger was the woman who had just been carried inside or the fact that he hadn't eaten in a long time.

The sky on the horizon was already showing a hint of dawn. Sun Hang took out his phone and checked the time; it displayed 4:45 AM.

The last time he had eaten seemed to be in the evening, when he had taken a bite of an apple at "home."