Steal the Footage First

Zheng Yichen wondered whether this kind of video could serve as proof.

More like selling it and using it as proof at the same time. Hunters were supposed to deal with abnormalities, not act as cameramen. To use it as proof, he would probably have to set up a camera himself and then use his own strength to smash whatever anomaly appeared... That seemed a little difficult.

Another team of civilian Mist Walkers had chosen a different approach from Zheng Yichen. He could even see a few other "fellow hunters."

This was near the suburbs, not some uninhabited wasteland. When an anomaly appeared nearby, plenty of people would choose to stay away, but there was no shortage of people whose curiosity got the better of them.

Zheng Yichen's estimate had been pretty accurate. The anomaly was indeed less than three hundred meters from his hotel. Once he got closer, he could see a "fissure" in the thick fog more clearly. The surrounding mist poured into it like a waterfall, but the fissure itself was shrouded in fog, making it impossible to tell what color it was.

Was this really an anomaly? Zheng Yichen's eyes widened. This was his first time getting so close to one of Longcheng's fog anomalies. Before this, he had only ever seen a few clips online.

Facing the surging, churning fog, he felt a tense pressure spread through his body. Zheng Yichen held his phone steady.

He was nervous, but he still knew exactly why he was there.

In the churning fog, he could make out several enormous shadows writhing. They seemed to be trying to crawl out through the "collapsed" fissure. The fog didn't block out sound, and as the shadows squirmed, he could hear a few cries of alarm from farther away.

Then came a sharp dog's bark.

Woof, woof, woof—Awooo!

The barking turned into something like a wolf's howl.

?

Zheng Yichen looked toward the sound. Four people were running, with a dog chasing them. It had been an ordinary stray, but now it had mutated, the fur all over its body wriggling faintly as though it were alive. The mutations that occurred in animals after they became abnormal came in all shapes and sizes, but what he was seeing was still within Zheng Yichen's range of understanding.

At least, it was still a dog.

Even if it had grown much bigger, and its torn flesh exposed powerful, crimson muscles, it was still a dog, right? A dog with a lot of teeth?

A piercing cat's cry rang out next. When Zheng Yichen saw what had made it, the corner of his eye twitched. Whose leopard had gotten loose? That thing was much more dangerous than the dog.

It seemed that all the small animals in the anomaly's range had changed noticeably. What about people? Zheng Yichen quickly felt his chest. Everything still felt normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He continued quietly following the civilian Mist Walkers being chased by the dog, ready to go after it.

At the same time, he could see the difference between civilian Mist Walkers and official ones. No wonder the authorities didn't encourage civilians to go searching for anomalies in the fog.

If official Mist Walkers had been here, they would probably already have hit back. In Longcheng, having a gun generally required a suitable status. Ordinary people certainly couldn't carry one.

The owner of the chicken farm could carry a gun because he owned a chicken farm. That was a suitable status.

Just as Zheng Yichen was preparing to launch a shameless sneak attack, a Giant Rat suddenly darted out. It was bigger than an ordinary cat, and the tubular tongue inside its open mouth made it unmistakable: this thing had become an Abnormal Creature too. The Giant Rat lunged straight for Zheng Yichen's lower leg.

Before it could reach him, a lithe, silent figure flashed past and sank its teeth into the back of the Giant Rat's neck.

That cat!

Then several more Giant Rats rushed out of the fog, staring at the cat menacingly. The cat held the Giant Rat it had already caught in its mouth and leaped gracefully, using the streetlamp as a springboard to land on the wall beside it.

Zheng Yichen looked away from the bent streetlamp and immediately made a strategic retreat. The few Giant Rats brought even more with them, and they came squeaking after him.

Meanwhile, the other Mist Walkers had run into problems of their own, and the whole area fell into chaos.

A running Giant Rat was impaled through the head by a long black rod and lifted into the air. Its body quickly shriveled before it was flung to the ground and smashed to pieces.

"Not as good as a chicken." Zheng Yichen spat and shook the Fishing Rod in his hand. His thrusts were quite accurate, mostly thanks to the practice he'd gotten hunting small animals earlier. Those mutated animals weren't big, but they were fast.

The remaining Giant Rats sniffed around the chunks on the ground, their crimson eyes fixed on Zheng Yichen as he prepared to run again and keep them at bay. Then they slowly retreated.

When Zheng Yichen found the dog, it was staring restlessly at the fissure in the fog, agitated and uneasy. Seeing that, Zheng Yichen couldn't help but pause. "Did those people run in there?"

"Awooo!" The abnormal dog didn't answer. It howled and charged at Zheng Yichen.

Before it could get close, a Black Gun more than two meters long pierced through its mouth. When fighting most Abnormal Creatures, unless they had some way to extend their attacks, long-handled weapons had an undeniable advantage. Find the right opening, and it was easy to kill them in one hit.

Abnormal Creatures were still creatures.

Zheng Yichen let out a breath and looked at the fissure in the thick fog. Someone really had run inside in a panic. He glanced at the wild dog's corpse beside him, which looked like a dried-up husk. All he had to do now was take it back to get his proof. A dog was definitely worth more than a chicken, and he'd also learned something new.

Abnormal Creatures were more likely to appear near anomalies in the fog.

That was a new fact he hadn't learned from the news or the internet.

Inside the fissure in the fog, Zheng Yichen saw the enormous shadows gradually shrink. It seemed this anomaly wouldn't last much longer, which left him a little disappointed.

But then a shadow stepped out of the churning fog, dragging several "corpses" behind it. It saw Zheng Yichen too, then looked at the dog's corpse. "A local warrior? Then I'll leave these people to you. Don't let them cause us any more trouble."

Zheng Yichen could understand what it said, but the person standing there had a huge dog's head. For a moment, he thought it might be a relative of the dog, coming after him for revenge. But the dog-headed figure merely tossed back the few unconscious people, said one last thing, and hurried back into the fog.

As the dog-headed figure left, Zheng Yichen stared at the fissure in the fog, deep in thought. So was this fissure really just an anomaly? He couldn't help thinking of a few clips he'd seen online that looked like they'd been Photoshopped.

That gave Zheng Yichen the urge to go inside the anomaly and investigate for himself. He also checked the few unlucky people the dog-headed figure had brought out. Aside from having been bitten by the dog twice, leaving some gruesome-looking wounds, they didn't seem to have suffered any other injuries.

He could hear sirens in the distance, too. Longcheng reacted extremely quickly to areas where anomalies appeared.

Zheng Yichen hesitated, then headed deeper into the fissure. He'd already been prepared to deal with an abnormality, so he might as well learn a little more about the situation.

As he approached the anomaly's core, Zheng Yichen felt a powerful pressure. It made him feel short of breath, like he was suffering from altitude sickness, and he felt he could pass out at any moment. Then that strange sensation vanished, replaced by the lightness he felt after taking off weights following a training session. The fog in his field of vision gradually cleared as well.

Click—

A pair of hands took his Fishing Rod and Backpack. At the same time, a pair of handcuffs snapped around Zheng Yichen's wrists. He saw the dog-headed figure, who adjusted what looked like a police cap. "Why is it you? Never mind, cuff him and take him away first!"

"Wait! I don't even know what happened. Where is this?"

"You don't know what happened? You know you trespassed illegally, right?" The dog-headed figure looked a little puzzled. "You adapted pretty well. Let's take your statement first. I'll explain the rest to you all later."

All?

At the temporary holding center, Zheng Yichen discovered he wasn't the only one who'd been brought in.