Compared to its terrifying aura, the appearance of this anomaly was completely silent.
A black shadow seeped up from beneath a manhole cover in the street like some kind of liquid. Though it did not seem to move quickly, it took less than half a second to spread onto the buildings by the roadside and begin crawling up their walls.
"This thing infiltrated the city through the underground pipes... It might be a Phenomenon-type or spectral-type anomaly. Judging by its appearance, its actual size could be enormous." Ye Jiu also leaped to higher ground and said to Sun Hang with a frown, "I even have a feeling that once this thing fully spreads out, it might swallow the entire city."
Sun Hang drew his pistol and pulled the trigger at the shadow on the ground.
Bang!
The bullet flew from the muzzle and struck the asphalt, leaving a shallow crater the size of a fist—but the shadow anomaly appeared completely unaffected.
Judging from the sound, the shot had hit nothing except the layer of asphalt.
"Preliminary assessment: it has no physical body." Ye Jiu continued. "Then I was right..."
Sun Hang noticed that wherever the shadow covered—whether the ground, buildings, or anything else—was rapidly "aging." Sidewalk tiles weathered and cracked, metal streetlamp poles became covered in rust, brightly colored billboards instantly lost all color as though a black-and-white filter had been applied, and the small plastered advertisements on them became brittle and peeled away, turning to dust at the slightest breeze.
Directly beneath where Sun Hang stood, the Golden Arches mascot statue that had been pierced by the helicopter rotor had been reduced to nothing but its inner metal frame. The frame was made of lightweight aluminum alloy and had not rusted, but its surface was now covered in a