We Are All Anomalies

"Is he really a newbie?"

As Jiang Cheng's broken body, along with those twisted tentacles, fell limply to the ground, Yang Jia mysteriously appeared at the entrance of the men's restroom.

Seeing Xiao Xiao standing in front of Jiang Cheng, holding a piece of mirror, her expression seemed somewhat surprised.

Taking advantage of this moment, she checked outside to make sure no one else was exhibiting "Shedding Skin" symptoms before hurrying over, ready to help this clueless newbie out of trouble. She even had her gun in hand, but was surprised to find that Xiao Xiao had already solved the problem himself. Moreover, his face completely lacked the tension and panic she had expected. He stood calmly, even coldly, in front of Jiang Cheng, holding a piece of bloody mirror in his hand.

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

This efficiency and decisiveness took Yang Jia completely by surprise.

She had discovered this newbie by chance and naturally wanted to observe his potential, so she had given him some time alone with the monster.

In her heart, she naturally hoped that his potential would be as high as possible, but looking at it now...

...was it a little too high?

The moment Yang Jia entered his field of vision, Xiao Xiao "whipped" his head up to look at her, clutching the mirror shard tightly, his whole body tense.

After confirming it was Yang Jia, he relaxed slightly, almost imperceptibly.

He didn't know why Yang Jia had such a surprised expression on her face, nor did he feel that he had done anything wrong.

It might have looked like a momentary escape and counterattack, but for him, it was the result of long contemplation and mental preparation, deciding to kill this monster in order to protect himself.

If that was the case, then of course he had to carry it out thoroughly.

Only after confirming that the monster in front of him was dead... or at least that its tattered heart was no longer beating, did he slowly stand up, look down at the mirror shard in his hand, and throw it aside violently.

His heart was beating heavily like a drum, and a feeling of lingering fear and tension rose from the bottom of his heart.

"Clap clap..."

Just then, Yang Jia's applause rang out. She slowly walked into the bathroom, her eyes looking at Xiao Xiao strangely. "Your performance was very good."

"I..."

Xiao Xiao's voice was filled with a belated nervousness. "I killed someone?"

"You didn't kill anyone."

Yang Jia walked calmly to Xiao Xiao's side, took out a medical patch, and helped him stick it on the wound on his hand, softly saying:

"The matter isn't over yet. You've only temporarily averted the crisis."

"It's just that you showed your anger just now, and even these monsters will be slightly restrained..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao only felt the blood vessels in his brain throbbing again. The exhaustion from just killing someone, the headache from his mind running like crazy, and these strange terms all made him feel deeply confused.

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

Just then, a laughing voice was heard, and Xiao Xiao turned his head to look, completely stunned.

He saw Jiang Cheng climbing up from the ground. The torn skin on his body and the wounds he had stabbed were slowly recovering, and the wriggling tentacles were retracting into his body. As he stood up, he had actually returned to his previous appearance, casually walking to the sink, washing his hands, and laughing, "We thought you two had something going on back in school. Did I guess right?"

Listening to his words, Xiao Xiao only felt that this world was extremely unreal.

It was as if the fear he had just experienced, the extremely dangerous resistance, were all just illusions.

He subconsciously moved away from Jiang Cheng a little, looked up at Yang Jia, but saw her smiling, calmly explaining to Jiang Cheng, "There are too many people inside, and it's hard to hear what people are saying."

"Isn't that how class reunions are?"

Jiang Cheng smiled, dried his hands, and said, "Let's go back together. You've been out for so long, you should be punished with a drink."

Xiao Xiao, Yang Jia, and Jiang Cheng returned to the private room together, and everyone was indeed teasing them to punish them with drinks.

But Xiao Xiao only felt that everything in front of him was bizarre and confusing. He saw that his classmates' attitudes had become very good. Although there were some occasional dissatisfied glances, they all had smiles on their faces when they spoke to him. Some people even raised their glasses to him from afar, and even Jiang Cheng was talking eloquently, his attitude still a bit arrogant, but with a lot more friendliness. Everything seemed fake.

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

The classmates were all enjoying themselves. Although Xiao Xiao didn't seem to be able to integrate into the atmosphere, which was a bit disappointing, no one said anything. They even suggested going to sing karaoke later.

However, Yang Jia, the center of everyone's attention, didn't seem to be interested.

After smiling and chatting with the people present for a while, she declined, saying, "We won't go to karaoke. Xiao Xiao and I have made plans. We have some things to do later."

"Oh?"

The classmates present were a little surprised, and many envious eyes looked at Xiao Xiao.

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

Many people lost interest, so they paid the bill together and left the hotel. As Yang Jia led Xiao Xiao into her black SUV, the classmates watched enviously, and some even whistled.

Everything was absurdly normal.

"What exactly is going on?"

When he was far away from those classmates and the car drove onto the street between the bright neon lights, Xiao Xiao opened the car window, letting the cold night wind blow on his face, and asked in a low voice.

"I can't give you an explanation, only an answer."

Yang Jia gripped the steering wheel with one hand, took out a cigarette with the other, tilted her head to light it, and said softly, "Just like you see, everyone around us is no longer human in essence."

"Your friends, your family, they've long since turned into another kind of creature... or perhaps it should be called a creature. You can think of them as demons or monsters if you like. They still wear the skin of their former selves, exist in the image you remember, and even possess the memories and self-awareness of those familiar people. But in reality, they've all become twisted and detestable monsters..."

"Usually, they still pretend, living normally around you."

"But whenever this city starts to harbor malice towards you, you'll see their true faces..."

"..."

At that moment, it felt like an electric current surged through his brain. Xiao Xiao remembered his mother's cold eyes and the ubiquitous strangeness in this city.

"Then we..."

He opened his mouth, as if he had countless things to say, but found it difficult to form an effective question.

"This world, it forgot to call us when it changed..."

Yang Jia seemed to know what he wanted to say, a mysterious smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she whispered, "This is not our home, you and I are both Anomalies..."

"..."

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

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

He found it hard to accept what Yang Jia had just said. It was too terrifying and too crazy. He'd rather believe that he was the one who had gone mad and that everything he saw was an illusion.

Yang Jia watched Xiao Xiao cough from the smoke and couldn't help but smile, saying, "I know it's hard for you to accept."

"People who have just awakened are all like you, preferring to believe they've gone mad rather than accept such an absurd reality. But you can't deny that you may have already sensed the abnormality of this world."

"..."

Xiao Xiao was choked by the menthol cigarette, but he continued to smoke.

He couldn't help but think about Yang Jia's words. Had he really noticed the abnormality of this world long ago?

Or rather, was it himself who was abnormal?

Four years ago, his parents chose to divorce, and his family fell apart. And Xiao Xiao's brain seemed to have suddenly broken down that summer as well.

He began to be overwhelmed by a huge sense of panic for long periods of time, and intense dizziness plagued him. His thoughts seemed to break apart inch by inch, making it difficult to form effective thoughts and normal perceptions.

He went to the hospital, but nothing was found. His parents, and even the doctors, thought he was faking it for a while.

He couldn't tell others about the pain he was suffering, so he could only hole up in his bedroom, spending four years learning to focus his attention.

He read books, played games, and even just sat in a chair all day long, learning to adapt to everything, learning to control the sense of loss of control that the intense feeling of fear brought him.

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

But someone was now telling him that this world had been turned into a completely unfamiliar place by some unknown force?

"Alright, I know you still have a lot of questions in your heart, but there are too many things I need to help a newbie with, and I can't explain them all in a short time."

Letting Xiao Xiao sink into his chaotic thoughts, Yang Jia looked ahead. After a long while, she laughed and said, "How about this, I'll take you back first."

"I need to do some preparation, to properly introduce you to this world, and to tell you how to survive in this world."

"..."

"Go back?"

Xiao Xiao suddenly felt a great sense of resistance in his heart. He thought of his mother's cold eyes, and everything he had encountered on the road, and felt a chill all over his body.

"Don't be afraid."

Yang Jia noticed the nervousness in his eyes, thinking that this was how a newbie should be, and smiled, saying, "I said, you solved Jiang Cheng, and the malice and rejection of this world towards you will be slightly alleviated."

"Of course, this is only temporary. At most two days, or even just a few hours, that malice will come again, even more intense than before."

"Not only Jiang Cheng, perhaps everyone you meet will want to kill you!"

"..."

Listening to her words, Xiao Xiao's body stiffened slightly: "Then what should I do?"

"Relax."

Yang Jia smiled and said, "Just like nothing happened, wait quietly, and I'll find you again."

"Relax?"

For a moment, Xiao Xiao even felt it was ridiculous: "In a world full of monsters like this, you want me to relax?"

Listening to his words, Yang Jia suddenly smiled and replied, "In a world full of monsters like this, what else can you do but relax?"