Creation

"Twenty meters?!" A Peacekeeper who was standing close by was so startled he immediately drew his gun.

"At this distance... I should be able to find a way to pinpoint its location precisely..." The researcher holding the equipment spun in a small circle. As he moved, the device kept emitting a "beep... beep..." sound... Finally, the researcher chose a direction and began walking forward step by step.

The frequency of the beeping intensified, meaning his direction was correct... The distance between the device and the Anomaly was steadily decreasing.

Behind the researcher, a group of fully armed Peacekeepers stood ready. Each of them suppressed their breathing and heartbeats with all their might. The scene was so quiet that only the beeping of the device and the sound of the researcher's boots on the ground could be heard.

The beeping grew more rapid, while the researcher's steps became slower and slower...

Finally, he stopped in front of a pile of shattered Tai Sui husks.

An Aberrant Long Blade, fifteen meters in length, was plunged vertically into the ground, its tip pointing straight into the sky.

The blade of this Aberrant Long Blade was covered in bizarre patterns—it wasn't forged or cast from molten metal, but rather made from countless steel bars twisted together and compressed into shape by an unimaginable force.

The force of the compression was so great that the atoms between the steel bars permeated each other, bonding tightly together.

"You're not going to tell me... that the Anomaly you detected is this thing, are you?" Sun Hang asked, following behind the researcher with a strange expression.

It couldn't possibly be that there were still "food scraps" left on the "cutlery," right? But the other party had repeatedly emphasized that the Tai Sui had been completely eliminated, and even if there were "food scraps," they wouldn't trigger the detection equipment.

The researcher didn't reply. He simply pulled out a cable with an electrode attached from the equipment and carefully placed the electrode onto the Aberrant Long Blade.

About ten seconds later, he turned around and nodded at Sun Hang.

Sun Hang immediately fell into thought.

This... this doesn't seem right?

Wasn't this thing just a "handy tool" I casually conjured up with my "ability"? How did it become an Anomaly?

Could this machine... really be malfunctioning?

"Preliminary judgment suggests it's a 'Self-Type: Artifact Anomaly'," the researcher said. "But specific information can only be determined after it's transported back to the institute for detailed study."

"How did this Anomaly appear here?" Yang Lian walked closer to the Aberrant Long Blade and asked Sun Hang, "Did you see the process of it appearing?"

See it? I conjured this thing myself... Sun Hang muttered inwardly, but he didn't say it out loud—Anomaly Hunters were not under the jurisdiction of the Investigation Bureau, and given their current identities and positions, Yang Lian had no right to demand that Sun Hang answer her questions.

Loose lips sink ships, Sun Hang decided it was best to remain silent for now.

If this Aberrant Long Blade is truly an Artifact Anomaly... does that mean I possess the ability to "create Anomalies"?

The ability of "Creation" already sounded incredibly impressive, but "creating Anomalies"... that was beyond impressive.

Sun Hang recalled the scene when he "created" this Aberrant Long Blade...

At that time, he just wanted to make a handy weapon that could effectively damage the Tai Sui. He didn't even think carefully about the material or shape of the weapon. Those steel bars automatically extracted themselves from the shattered concrete blocks, from the collapsed walls, and even from the concrete foundations, were drawn into the air, and then "die-cast" into this Aberrant Long Blade.

It was both a blade, and could be a sword, a spear, or something else.

To Sun Hang, its definition was purely "weapon."

Sun Hang suddenly remembered a sentence he had read somewhere—

"Only Anomalies can destroy Anomalies."

This sentence originally referred to Anomaly Hunters, who used Anomalies to fight other Anomalies, being infected by the Anomalization Virus themselves. The most obvious difference between them and Anomalies was that Anomaly Hunters possessed human self-awareness.

Hunters, in essence, were also a type of Anomaly—"Humanoid Anomalies."

Could it be that I was influenced by this sentence, subconsciously believing that the weapon used to eliminate the Tai Sui had to be an "Artifact Anomaly," and that's why I created this thing?

Sun Hang felt his guess was outrageous and absurd... but considering the current situation, this guess seemed to be the... "most reasonable."

Sun Hang ignored Yang Lian, quietly walked to the side, took out his phone, and sent Yang Qi a text message.

"Do Anomaly Hunters use Artifact Anomalies as weapons?"

Within a few seconds, Yang Qi's reply came back.

"Of course... Not only that, there are many. However, these Artifact Anomalies, used as 'Special Equipment,' are strictly sealed away when not in use. Several such Anomalies are stored at the Anomaly Research Institute in Tianfu City. By the way, why are you asking this?"

"What are the conditions for the generation of Artifact Anomalies?" Sun Hang asked again.

"That's hard to define... because there are too many types of Anomalies and ways of 'infection,' it's difficult to generalize," Yang Qi wrote in her message. "Some are naturally occurring Artifact Anomalies, while others are Artifact Anomalies formed after ordinary artifacts are anomalized. For example, if someone stabbed a person infected with the Anomalization Virus with a knife, and that knife got stained with the infected person's blood, there's a certain probability that the knife could become an Artifact Anomaly."

Before Sun Hang could type out his next message, Yang Qi sent another one.

"Of course, this probability is very, very low, lower than winning the lottery jackpot. Moreover, Artifact Anomalies generated this way are not really threatening... At best, their abilities just add some buffs to the holder. An Artifact Anomaly I studied before was a broken hunting knife. As long as you held the hilt, it would slightly enhance the holder's physical fitness, but the side effect would be to make the holder extremely bloodthirsty. If held for too long, it could even drive the holder completely mad, causing them to randomly attack everyone they saw."

"There are also some very powerful Artifact Anomalies. Although I haven't seen them with my own eyes, I've learned about them from documents. A Clepsydra is stored in the Anomaly Research Institute in Chang'an, and it's said to have the ability to briefly halt time... Are you asking me about these things because you're planning to apply for a certain Artifact Anomaly as a weapon?"