Strange Phenomena Appear in the Sky

The car drove out of the underground garage and turned onto the main road.

Many onlookers had already gathered by the roadside.

"What are they looking at?" Honglian asked.

"Holy crap... focus on driving first..." Wang Baihu stuck his head out of the sunroof, propped himself on the roof, and stared in disbelief in the direction the crowd was looking.

A blood-red wasteland was reflected in the sky.

Compared to the thin white clouds and blue sky around it, it was so striking, like a long, slender scroll painting. Many people witnessed this strange phenomenon, pulling out their phones to take pictures of the horizon, their faces unusually excited.

This was completely different from past invasions... He could already imagine the despair of the logistics team cleaning up the mess.

"No way..." Honglian soon noticed the anomaly in the sky through the gaps between the tall buildings. "What the hell is that!?"

"I'm not sure, but it looks like it's raining over there... and the rain is blood-red..." Wang Baihu squinted and murmured. His eyesight was the best on the team; he could clearly see the denomination of a coin from five hundred meters away with the naked eye. "What do we do now? The whole city is probably going to see this!"

"More than the whole city," Honglian rolled her eyes silently. "In a few minutes, the whole world will know about this."

Past pollution intrusions were usually limited to a single door, a house, or a contained "space," and most of these spaces had a traceable origin. For example, the No. 98 intrusion they encountered last time had a medieval French background, so the connection point appeared in a shop on a replica of the Champs-Élysées.

Therefore, to concentrate the intrusions, they had spent a fortune building a massive Window of the World on the outskirts of the city. With international travel becoming increasingly easy, amusement parks that replicated famous landmarks from around the world were obviously a bit outdated. Honglian remembered many newspapers "criticizing" the construction of this park at the time, unaware that its purpose was not to attract tourists at all.

But why would an intrusion anomaly suddenly occur in the sky, where there was clearly nothing?

Wang Baihu got back into the car and turned on the radio. All channels were broadcasting the same station.

"...A rare optical phenomenon is appearing in our city's sky. Experts claim it's a special mirage caused by the refraction of light as a cold air mass from the north is partially blocked by Lu Mountain. Please remain calm and enjoy the view in an orderly fashion. Here are a few recommended viewing spots from our radio reporter..."

"A mirage? That's a good one," he praised. "The logistics team is quite quick."

"It'll only fool them for a while," Honglian said dismissively. "Invasions bring more than just strange sights; they bring anomalies. If we don't handle this properly, the secret that this world has long been riddled with holes will probably be exposed."

After speaking, she took out a police light from the glove compartment and attached it to the car roof.

Instantly, the siren wailed, and the vehicles ahead slowly moving forward made way.

"Hey, that's against the rules, we're not--"

"No time for details! If this keeps up, the road will be completely blocked. Are we going to run there on foot?"

Wang Baihu had to admit she had a point. The onlookers weren't the only ones attracted by the anomaly; the drivers were too. The speed of traffic was noticeably decreasing, and many people were simply parking their cars on the roadside to get out and watch the rare "mirage." It was foreseeable that all the main roads in the city would soon be gridlocked.

"Don't worry, traffic police won't bother checking us now; they've got their own hands full," Honglian gripped the steering wheel and floored the accelerator. "Hold on tight, I'm speeding up!"

In less than fifteen minutes, the two arrived at Heping Avenue in Tianlu District like lightning.

Directly below the anomaly was a small, landscaped park.

It wasn't quitting time yet, so there weren't many people wandering in the park, only a few dozen at a glance. They were directly beneath the "mirage," and could see the spectacle tearing through the sky just by looking up.

Wang Baihu felt his breathing quicken.

He had to admit that observing the anomaly from a distance was completely different from standing directly beneath it and looking up. Firstly, there was the size. When it was directly overhead, it occupied more than half of his field of vision, creating an immense sense of pressure. Secondly, at the edge of the anomaly, he clearly saw several clouds being cut in half, their white wisps falling into the anomaly as if the blood-red land was absorbing everything in this world. It hung high in the sky, yet resembled a bottomless abyss.

"Take this and go get those people to leave," Honglian tossed something to him.

Wang Baihu caught it and saw it was a police ID, with his photo on it.

"Where did you buy this?"

"Pinduoduo."

"That's against the rules--"

"Hmm?" Honglian raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll go."

"No, I'll do it," Wang Baihu quickly stopped her and nimbly got out of the car. Although dispersing the onlookers was for their own good, her colleagues' disregard for rules was also evident, not to mention she had just suffered a major setback and was looking for an outlet.

"Hey, it's not safe here, you guys need to leave quickly!" he said, holding up the police ID and quickly approaching a couple holding up their phones.

"Didn't they say it was a mirage?"

"Yeah, what's unsafe about that?"

"Do you think I'd lie to you!" Wang Baihu shook the ID in his hand for emphasis. "They're going to cordon off the park soon, so you better get out!"

Perhaps due to the credibility of his police status, the couple heeded his warning and left, looking up at the sky with every step.

He then ran towards the second group of people.

But at that moment, a sharp scream suddenly rang out!

Everyone heard the scream and looked in its direction. They saw a young woman, about twenty years old, sitting on the ground, twisting her body frantically as if trying to escape, but unable to move away from the ground due to fear. She clutched her left wrist tightly, blood dripping from her fingertips.

Wang Baihu's heart leaped, and he rushed to her side.

In front of the woman was only a pet dog with a collar.

The dog was lowering its head, licking a pool of strange, golden blood, completely ignoring the woman's screams. At its feet lay a severed hand, still with skin on it.

He recognized it as the woman's hand at a glance.

At this moment, the dog also looked at him—not by lifting its head, but by moving both eyes to the same side, staring at him side-by-side! Its mouth also opened wider, splitting almost from the tip of its nose to its neck.

Wang Baihu felt a chill run down his spine.

Mutation... happened to a dog?

He no longer hesitated, drawing the gun hidden at his waist and firing at the pet dog!

With a soft whoosh, the bullet precisely struck the dog between its eyes.

This was no ordinary pistol, but a special weapon issued by the organization. It looked like a toy, and the bullets it fired were powerful tranquilizer darts. The advantage was that even if seen by the public, it wouldn't cause much alarm... The downside, however, was as seen now. The pet dog showed no signs of being tranquilized. It merely paused for a moment before opening its mouth and biting the ground!

Biting the ground?

Wang Baihu suddenly noticed the grass beneath his feet wriggling.

In the blink of an eye, a dog's maw burst from the ground and clamped down fiercely on his calf! Incredibly, the pet dog hadn't moved from its spot. It was as if its head was buried in the earth, with its body still three to four meters away from Wang Baihu!

Seeing this bizarre scene, the woman let out a whimper and fainted from fright.

However, the dog's jaws couldn't sever his calf. They even shattered several of its sharp teeth, sparks flying where they bit.

Wang Baihu easily pulled his leg free. He took a quick step back to create distance, scooped up the unconscious woman, and ran towards the car, "Honglian, MZ3 bullet!"

"Ten seconds to detonation," came the calm reply from his earpiece, "Run faster."

"Can't you delay it by a few more seconds—" Before he could finish speaking, the explosion behind him drowned out any reply.

BOOM!

Blown by the concussive force of the explosion, Wang Baihu stumbled. He looked back to see only a scorched patch on the grass, along with the dog's mangled lower half.

Now, no one dared to linger in the park. In an instant, everyone had fled.

"Saves some trouble," he muttered. "Just wonder what logistics will say."

"What else can they say? Gas pipe explosion," Honglian walked over. "What did you shoot just now?"

"A dog."

"What?" She frowned.

Wang Baihu still couldn't quite believe it, saying, "That dog... gained an ability."