You and I Are Both Anomalies

"Was this really a newbie?"

When Jiang Cheng's mangled body, along with those twisted tentacles, collapsed weakly to the ground, Yang Jia mysteriously appeared at the entrance to the men's restroom.

Seeing Xiao Xiao standing before Jiang Cheng with a shard of mirror in hand, she looked somewhat surprised.

Taking advantage of that time, she had checked outside and confirmed that no one else was showing signs of "Shedding Skin" before hurrying over to help this clueless newbie deal with the trouble. She had even taken her gun in hand, only to unexpectedly discover that Xiao Xiao had already solved the problem himself. Moreover, his face showed none of the tension or panic she had expected. He stood calmly, even coldly, before Jiang Cheng, gripping a bloody shard of mirror.

He hadn't even forgotten to finish him off...

That decisiveness and efficiency had far exceeded Yang Jia's expectations.

She had unexpectedly discovered this newbie and naturally wanted to observe his potential, so she had left him alone with the monster for a little while.

Naturally, she hoped his potential would be as high as possible, but now that she saw this...

...Wasn't it a little too high?

The moment Xiao Xiao saw Yang Jia enter his field of vision, he immediately looked up with a whoosh. His fingers tightened around the shard of mirror, and every nerve in his body tensed.

Only after confirming that it was Yang Jia did he relax slightly in an almost imperceptible instant.

He didn't know why Yang Jia had a surprised expression on her face, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with what he had done.

It looked as though he had escaped and counterattacked in an instant, but to him, it had been the result of prolonged thought and psychological preparation. He had decided to kill the monster in order to protect himself.

Since he had decided that, he naturally had to carry it through to the end.

Only after confirming that the monster before him was dead... at least that its ruined heart was no longer beating, did he slowly stand up. He lowered his head to look at the shard of mirror in his hand, then abruptly threw it aside.

His heart pounded heavily like a war drum, while the feeling of lingering fear and tension rose from the depths of his heart.

"Clap, clap..."

Just then, Yang Jia's applause rang out. She slowly walked into the restroom and looked at Xiao Xiao with a strange glint in her eyes. "Your performance was quite good."

"I..."

A belated tension entered Xiao Xiao's voice. "I killed someone?"

"You didn't kill a person."

Yang Jia calmly walked over to Xiao Xiao, took out a medical patch, and placed it over the wound on his hand. In a soft voice, she said:

"This isn't over yet. You've only temporarily postponed the crisis."

"But you just displayed your anger. Even these monsters will be slightly suppressed by it..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao felt the blood vessels in his brain throb again. The exhaustion after killing someone, the headache from his thoughts exploding into overdrive, and these bizarre terms all left him deeply bewildered.

"Oh my, why do you two have so many secrets to whisper about?"

Just then, a laughing voice suddenly sounded. Xiao Xiao turned his head, and his entire body froze.

Jiang Cheng was climbing up from the floor. The torn skin on his body and the wounds Xiao Xiao had stabbed into him were slowly healing, while the writhing tentacles retracted into his body. By the time he stood up, he had already returned to his previous appearance. He walked over to the sink as if nothing had happened, washing his hands as he laughed. "Back in school, we always thought there was something going on between you two. Did I guess right?"

Listening to him, Xiao Xiao felt that this world had become utterly unreal.

It was as if the terror and incredibly dangerous resistance he had just experienced had all been an illusion.

He instinctively moved a little farther away from Jiang Cheng and looked up at Yang Jia, only to see her smiling as she calmly explained to Jiang Cheng, "There were too many people inside. No one could hear what we were saying."

"Isn't that what class reunions are like?"

Jiang Cheng smiled, dried his hands, and said, "Come on, let's go back together. You two have been gone so long that, by rights, you should be punished with drinks."

Xiao Xiao returned to the private room with Yang Jia and Jiang Cheng. Sure enough, everyone began making a fuss and demanding that they drink as punishment.

But everything before Xiao Xiao's eyes felt bizarre and surreal. He saw that his classmates' attitudes had improved considerably. Although there were still occasional displeased glances, whenever they spoke to him, they all wore smiles. Some even raised their glasses to him from a distance. Even Jiang Cheng was speaking grandly, still somewhat arrogant, but far friendlier than before. Everything seemed fake.

Only the wound in his palm, still faintly oozing blood, proved that all of this had really happened.

The classmates were all having a great time. Although Xiao Xiao seemed unable to blend into the atmosphere and somewhat dampened everyone's mood, no one said so. Instead, they suggested going singing later.

However, Yang Jia, the center of everyone's attention, seemed to have no interest.

After chatting and laughing with the people present for a while, she declined, saying, "We'll skip the singing. Xiao Xiao and I made plans, and we still have something to do later."

"Huh?"

The classmates present were all surprised, and who knew how many envious looks they cast at Xiao Xiao.

Yang Jia hadn't contacted her classmates for four years, so how was she still so familiar with Xiao Xiao?

Many of them lost interest, so they paid the bill together and left the hotel. When Yang Jia took Xiao Xiao into her black SUV, the classmates watched enviously, and someone even whistled.

Everything was absurdly normal.

"What exactly is going on?"

After they had gotten far away from those classmates and the car entered the streets glowing with brilliant neon lights, Xiao Xiao rolled down the window and let the cold night wind blow against his face. He asked in a low voice.

"I can't explain it to you. I can only give you the answer."

Yang Jia held the steering wheel with one hand and took out a cigarette with the other. Tilting her head, she lit it and said softly, "Just as you've seen, everyone living around us is no longer human in essence."

"Your friends, your family—they became another kind of creature long ago... Perhaps they should still be called creatures. You can understand them as demons or monsters if you like. That's fine, too. They still wear their former human skins and exist in the forms you remember. They even possess the memories and self-awareness of the people you know. But in reality, they've all become twisted and loathsome monsters..."

"Normally, they still disguise themselves and live ordinary lives around you."

"But whenever this city begins to harbor malice toward you, you'll see their true forms..."

"..."

At that moment, it was as if an electric current surged through Xiao Xiao's mind. He remembered his mother's cold gaze and thought of the strange phenomena everywhere in the city.

"Then what about us..."

He opened his mouth as if he had countless things to say, but he could not form a coherent question.

"This world changed and forgot to bring us along..."

Yang Jia seemed to know what he wanted to ask. The corner of her mouth curved into a mysterious smile as she said softly, "This place is not our homeland. You and I are both Anomalies..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao didn't know what to say. After a long while, he took the cigarette from Yang Jia's lips and put it between his own.

He normally didn't smoke, but now he needed something to help settle his chaotic emotions.

It was difficult for him to accept what Yang Jia had just said. It was too terrifying and too insane. He would almost rather believe that he had gone mad and that everything he saw was an illusion.

Seeing Xiao Xiao cough from smoking, Yang Jia couldn't help smiling. She said, "I know it's difficult for you to accept."

"Everyone who has just awakened is like you. They'd rather believe they've gone mad than accept such an absurd reality. But you can't deny that perhaps you sensed something abnormal about this world long ago."

"..."

The mint-flavored cigarette made Xiao Xiao cough violently, but he continued smoking anyway.

He couldn't help thinking about Yang Jia's words. Had he really noticed long ago that this world was abnormal?

Or perhaps, to go back even further, was he the abnormal one...

Four years ago, his parents had chosen to divorce, and his family had fallen apart. At the same time, Xiao Xiao's mind seemed to have shattered that summer.

He began to be overwhelmed by immense fear for long periods of time, plagued by severe dizziness. His thoughts seemed to break apart inch by inch, making it difficult for him to form effective thoughts or normal perceptions.

He had gone to the hospital, but they had found nothing. For a time, his parents and even the doctors thought he was pretending.

He had no way to describe the suffering he endured to anyone else. He could only hole up in his bedroom and spend four years learning to focus his attention.

He read books and played games. Sometimes, he simply sat in a chair all day, learning to adapt to everything and learning to control the loss of perception brought on by that intense fear.

Finally, after four years, he had decided to return to this world.

And now someone was telling him that this world had already been transformed by some unknown force into something utterly unfamiliar?

"All right, I know you still have many questions, but as a newbie, there are simply too many things I need to help you deal with. I can't explain them all at once."

While letting Xiao Xiao sink into his chaotic thoughts, Yang Jia stared ahead. After a long while, she gave a small laugh and said, "How about this? I'll take you home first."

"I need to make some preparations, properly introduce you to this world, and tell you how to survive in it."

"..."

"Go home?"

A powerful resistance suddenly rose in Xiao Xiao's heart. He thought of his mother's cold gaze and everything he had encountered on the road, and his entire body turned cold.

"Don't be afraid."

Yang Jia noticed the tension in his eyes and felt that this was how a newbie ought to look. She smiled and said, "I told you, after you dealt with Jiang Cheng, this world's malice and rejection toward you would ease slightly."

"Of course, this is only temporary. At most two days, or perhaps only a few hours, before that malice returns—and it may be even stronger than before."

"It isn't just Jiang Cheng. Perhaps everyone you meet will want to kill you!"

"..."

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao's body stiffened slightly. "Then what should I do?"

"Stay calm."

Yang Jia smiled. "Act as if nothing happened and wait quietly. I'll come find you again."

"Stay calm?"

For a moment, Xiao Xiao even found it absurd. "In a world filled with monsters, you're telling me to stay calm?"

Hearing his words, Yang Jia suddenly laughed. "In a world filled with monsters, what else can you do besides stay calm?"