Anomaly Embryo

Anomaly Embryo

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[The Headless Ghost Shadow before you was one of the puzzle pieces the anomaly needed.]

Seeing this prompt, Chen Yu finally understood.

"Since it needs it, I'll take it."

Chen Yu had barely stepped through the basement door.

When, in the next instant,

a chilling sensation crept across his neck.

When he reached up to touch his neck, wanting to find out what that chill was,

the scene before his eyes began to shift and spin uncontrollably.

Chen Yu's head fell to the ground and rolled several times, the view before his eyes spinning wildly.

His body, meanwhile, remained frozen in the motion of touching his neck.

That pose did not last long. Then came a muffled boom.

Chen Yu's consciousness gradually stiffened.

His mind went blank, and his body grew weightless.

As his consciousness dispersed, it meant that he had entered death.

Death had opened its arms and embraced Chen Yu.

[Buzz!]

[You are the most arrogant person I have ever seen.]

[Knowing there is a tiger on the mountain, why insist on walking toward it?]

[Death should be your final ending.]

[If you do not die, how will you convince anyone?]

[Goodbye. Oh, no, I hope we never meet again.]

At that moment, his phone vibrated, its words dripping with mockery and ridicule.

But right then,

the Time Ghost Eye in Chen Yu's right eye began spinning erratically.

An imperceptible anomalous glow flashed from Chen Yu's right eye and vanished.

The crimson indicator on the scarlet scale within his right eye suddenly jumped back from one mark to four, as though it had never passed through the second or third marks.

Boom!

An incomparable force erupted from Chen Yu's right eye.

That immense power restarted his consciousness and reformed his body.

His mind was no longer blank, returning to its former clarity.

"Hiss—"

Chen Yu drew a deep breath. His eyes flew wide open, bloodshot.

He had appeared once more at the basement entrance!

[Oh, my dear Old Baby, I told you we would meet again~ You are as strong as ever.]

[The Anomaly Ability of the Time Ghost Eye returned you to the save point from three seconds ago.]

[Perhaps you should cherish your life and stay away from danger.]

"I didn't expect to die again... Good thing I have the Time Ghost Eye..."

Chen Yu recovered from the terror of death.

His first trip into the basement had merely been to scout out the enemy.

This time, he would use the same move again and unleash the Slaughter Ghost Domain.

He took a deep breath, then violently shoved the door open. The Slaughter Ghost Domain immediately spread out!

Once the Slaughter Ghost Domain unfolded, everything around him became so familiar.

There were no colors, only black and white pressing against one another.

Everything around him slowed down.

The Headless Ghost Shadow in the basement also froze in the posture it had just maintained.

Chen Yu began searching for how he had died moments ago.

He looked around and finally discovered an arm of a Ghost Shadow protruding from the basement wall! The claws on its hand gleamed with dazzling cold light, while distorted black haze flickered over the arm.

So that thing had sliced off his head just now!

Impressive!

That hand had killed him, yet he had not noticed a thing!

In the next moment,

a startling killing intent burst from his eyes.

"Sever!"

With a thought from Chen Yu, the Ghost Butcher Knife in his hand flashed with blade light. A sharp, icy aura spread outward.

It locked onto the Ghost Shadow's hand and slashed down at it.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out.

The arm still maintained its original pose.

But as long as Chen Yu withdrew the Ghost Domain, that arm would instantly snap apart.

In the next moment, he stared at the Headless Ghost Shadow ahead.

With the Ghost Domain deployed, he prepared to kill the Headless Ghost Shadow outright with the Ghost Butcher Knife.

But the Headless Ghost Shadow was clearly no easy opponent!

An anomalous aura instantly spread out.

It forced Chen Yu to consume three to four times as much mental power to sustain the Slaughter Ghost Domain!

Mental power was what Chen Yu relied on to stay alive. He absolutely could not exhaust it!

"Withdraw!"

With that thought, Chen Yu immediately retracted the Slaughter Ghost Domain. Holding the Ghost Butcher Knife, he charged at the Headless Ghost Shadow.

The arm extending from the wall behind Chen Yu immediately broke apart.

The sound of the arm hitting the ground seemed to ring the bell for battle!

[Little rat, you want to kill me... I will play with your shadow...]

The Headless Ghost Shadow let out hoarse, sorrowful cries like Satan from hell. Not only was it unafraid, it charged straight at Chen Yu.

This was Chen Yu's first time seriously fighting an anomaly while wielding the Ghost Butcher Knife.

The Ghost Butcher Knife could cut through anything and was sharp enough to split gold.

Unfortunately, when he slashed at the Headless Ghost Shadow's shadow, it would briefly separate before quickly sticking back together and recovering!

"Can't cut it apart?!"

Chen Yu looked shocked and bewildered.

[Rat, why is the knife in your hand so powerful? It can actually make me feel fear?!]

Chen Yu was shocked, but the Headless Ghost Shadow was even more shocked.

In the past, no matter how serious its injuries were, it could recover quickly.

But this time, it did not recover immediately. The recovery took more than a second!

If it could heal, why was it afraid of his Ghost Butcher Knife?

Chen Yu was utterly baffled and swung again.

This slash directly severed the Headless Ghost Shadow's legs.

But then the legs healed rapidly at a visible speed.

Only this time, it took several more seconds.

[Rat, you have enraged me! I'll kill you!]

The Headless Ghost Shadow flew into a rage and charged at Chen Yu like mad.

But Chen Yu seemed to have already noticed the issue. A strange curve rose at the corner of his mouth as he swung again, cutting the Headless Ghost Shadow in half at the waist.

This time, the Headless Ghost Shadow recovered even more slowly.

[The Headless Ghost Shadow's Anomaly Ability is rapid recovery. It was originally impossible to kill.]

[Unfortunately, it underestimated you.]

[The Ghost Butcher Knife in your hand greatly needs it as a puzzle piece.]

[The upgraded Ghost Butcher Knife has gained a new power of rules. Matter severed by this rule power is extremely difficult to restore, or may never be restored.]

[The law-of-causality rule power after the Ghost Butcher Knife's upgrade has affected its Anomaly Ability.]

[Its Anomaly Ability is slowly collapsing and disintegrating.]

[It will not be long before it completely loses its ability to resist.]

"Causality rules?"

Prompt after prompt appeared, and Chen Yu understood instantly.

Knowing this, Chen Yu launched a frenzied assault.

The Headless Ghost Shadow was chopped into pieces by the Ghost Butcher Knife. Its rate of rejoining grew slower and slower until it could no longer rejoin at all!

[You actually crushed its Anomaly Ability and turned it into a real corpse!]

[How did you do it?]

The prompts from the Anomaly Era game seemed extremely astonished.

After chopping the Headless Ghost Shadow into pieces more than a dozen times, it finally stopped recovering. It appeared to be completely dead.

"Thankfully, the knife gained rule power after upgrading. Otherwise, I really couldn't have killed it..."

Chen Yu sighed in relief, put away the Ghost Butcher Knife, and began eating the Headless Ghost Shadow raw.

To others, the pitch-black mangled corpse scattered across the ground might have been frightening.

But to Chen Yu, it had color, fragrance, and flavor.

The Headless Ghost Shadow tasted very unusual. Unlike the other Ghost Shadow Clones, it was not like putty. Instead, it was like taffy—impossible to chew through and completely flavorless.

[You have devoured a new anomaly and obtained a new Anomaly Ability.]

[Look down at your shadow. Perhaps you will be greatly surprised.]

After the prompt appeared, Chen Yu looked down at his shadow.

He discovered that his shadow had changed!

It had become the shadow of the Headless Ghost Shadow from before!

[Congratulations. You have devoured a Level 5 Headless Ghost Shadow.]

[Potential: Nine and a half stars.]

[Anomaly Ability: You can control your own shadow, allowing it to break free from the restraints of your body and the restraints of light. It can enter any shadow, infect that shadow, and control it.]

[The feeling of death is unpleasant.]

[Targeted by the Headless Ghost Shadow, you nearly truly met the god of death.]

[Unfortunately, the Ghost Butcher Knife and the Time Ghost Eye are simply too powerful.]

[Although the Headless Ghost Shadow can control shadows, it cannot contend against time or against rules.]

[You survived.]

[And the Headless Ghost Shadow became part of your body, ready to serve at your command.]

[Perhaps it never imagined that one day, rather than being controlled, it would be devoured.]

"Right, what did that puzzle piece from before mean?"

Chen Yu was very curious and took out the Ghost Butcher Knife.

After devouring the Headless Ghost Shadow, Chen Yu was surprised to discover

that the originally gleaming Ghost Butcher Knife had begun turning pitch-black!

In the next moment, the Ghost Butcher Knife buzzed, conveying its thoughts to Chen Yu.

Chen Yu released his grip. The Ghost Butcher Knife danced through the air for a moment before landing in the Headless Ghost Shadow's hand on the ground.

[The Ghost Butcher Knife and the Headless Ghost Shadow form a puzzle piece.]

[When the Headless Ghost Shadow uses the Ghost Butcher Knife, it develops a deep obsession with cutting other people's necks!]

[The Ghost Butcher Knife will produce an ultimate severing effect against necks.]

Seeing the two combine, Chen Yu could not help but freeze.

The Headless Ghost Shadow liked cutting off people's heads, but it had used its fingers when it cut off his head earlier.

Now that it had such a divine weapon, would cutting off heads not become effortless in the future?

Moreover, the two were connected. The Ghost Butcher Knife's earlier performance had clearly restrained the Headless Ghost Shadow tremendously.

Could the Headless Ghost Shadow's head have been cut off by the Ghost Butcher Knife?

[Truly astonishing. You accidentally completed 2/8 of the puzzle.]

[Having completed the puzzle, you have awakened a new power.]

[With the Headless Ghost Shadow wielding the Ghost Butcher Knife, they have become more complete.]

"Two-eighths of the puzzle?"

Seeing this prompt, Chen Yu began to ponder.

It seemed that besides devouring anomalies, finding suitable anomalies to devour was one way to make himself stronger.

However, there had also been a reminder earlier.

Finding puzzle pieces depended on luck, and he could only rely on luck to find them in the future.

Chen Yu cast aside those thoughts and finally turned his gaze toward the Headless Ghost Shadow on the ground.

The Headless Ghost Shadow's Anomaly Ability allowed him to control his own shadow, thereby infecting other people's shadows. Chen Yu tried to move his body and activate the Headless Ghost Shadow's Anomaly Ability.

But after activating it, nothing happened at all.

"What's going on? Did it stop working again?"

Chen Yu looked utterly bewildered. He examined his hands and body, but there was no change whatsoever.

But when he looked at his shadow, everything became clear.

His shadow began to writhe like a snake. It stretched, extended, and widened, rippling and twisting across the ground like water.

His previous Anomaly Abilities had directly enhanced his body. Misled by that preconceived notion, he had assumed that all anomalies caused changes directly to the body.

Then, an inexplicable sensation appeared in his mind.

His consciousness was gradually divided.

It split into two parts.

One part controlled his body.

The scenery before the other part of his consciousness became flattened!

It was as if he were looking straight up at the ceiling from a ninety-degree angle!

Chen Yu was stunned. When he looked down, he saw his own legs and the body standing there.

And that standing body could still be controlled by him!

It lowered its head to look at the shadow on the ground—that was him!

"My consciousness actually split into two? One part is attached to the shadow, while the other remains in my body?"

Chen Yu looked shocked. The sensation of being divided layer by layer while still overlapping made his brain struggle to adapt.

After some experimentation, he discovered something!

His second consciousness was also controlled by the brain within his body.

He tried to command his shadow to leave his body.

His shadow detached from his body and slid across the ground like a long black venomous snake.

There were two scenes before his eyes.

One was the shadow's field of vision, while the other was his own.

"The Anomaly Ability description said that my shadow can infect other shadows?"

Chen Yu controlled his shadow and sent it slithering toward the shadow cast by a nearby table.

When his shadow burrowed into the shadow cast by the table.

The table's shadow began to twist violently!

It became an independent entity, but it still could not move or perform any action.

"Controlling shadows... does it have something to do with the medium casting the shadow?"

Chen Yu slowly explored its effects and discovered that if the original body of an infected shadow was an inanimate object, then even after infection, the shadow could not move. It merely existed independently.

In other words, if he wanted to control someone else's shadow and make it move.

The shadow's owner had to be something capable of movement. Even a cat or dog would do.

His shadow could slip anywhere, through any gap.

Whether it was a locked door or any kind of pipe.

As long as air could pass through, his shadow could pass through smoothly.

He tried using his shadow to attack an object.

The instant the object touched the shadow, it shattered into pieces, the damage incredibly high!

That was pretty damn awesome!

Chen Yu grew slightly excited!

He withdrew the shadow, and the other portion of his consciousness returned to his body as well.

By now, he had acquired five anomalies: [Time Ghost Eye], [Ghost Butcher Knife], [Ghost Pat Shoulder], [Ghost Stairs], and [Headless Ghost Shadow].

He had obtained all of these anomalies through devouring.

However, Ghost Pat Shoulder and Ghost Stairs had very limited uses. He would have to dig into them later; perhaps they would prove useful. For now, they were not much use.

But the other three were different.

The Time Ghost Eye in his right eye could reverse time, fast-forward time, and even create saves and reload them. It was simply an existence beyond bug-level.

The Headless Ghost Shadow came and went without a trace, making it useful for stealth and ambushes.

Moreover, while controlling his shadow, he discovered that he could merge his physical body into it. In other words, the consciousness in his shadow and the consciousness in his body could combine into one, turning his entire body directly into a Ghost Shadow!

(End of chapter)