If what had come after him had been anything normal, Zheng Yichen wouldn't have reacted so strongly. The Unicorn Mule might have been troublesome and crafty, but it was still a living creature with flesh and blood. Abnormal Creatures were still creatures; being abnormal didn't make them invincible.
They simply had more possibilities than normal beings. But now, something had appeared that had neither blood nor flesh. Not long ago, he'd experienced an invasion of skeletons into Longcheng through an anomaly, but back then, the unfamiliar allies beside him had been packing serious firepower.
Every aspect of the situation had made him feel safe. Now, though, he didn't have that kind of reassuring firepower. Zheng Yichen immediately jumped down from the tree. His strong, sturdy body could take the strain.
The Evil Spirit, which had been staring at Zheng Yichen with a sinister gaze, missed its pounce. Shattered branches and leaves scattered everywhere, and deep gouges appeared in the thick trunk that remained standing.
While waiting in the tree, he'd already loaded his shotgun with fresh ammunition. He fired repeatedly at the Evil Spirit as it lunged at him again. The pellets passed through its body and lodged in the tree trunk behind it. The Evil Spirit was immune to physical attacks.
When it drew near, Zheng Yichen tossed aside the shotgun and pulled out the Hand Cannon he hadn't used yet. As he dodged the Evil Spirit's attack, he fired at the ground where he'd been standing. The Small Grenade exploded on impact, and a flash of flame swallowed the Evil Spirit.
This time, the attack had a clear effect. The light and heat made the Evil Spirit's body look as if it had caught fire. When it burst out of the explosion, ash from burned paper still clung to it, and its grayish-yellow body had grown dimmer.
A long black spear pierced through the Evil Spirit's body. The charging Evil Spirit bent backward as if it had taken a punch, and its floating lunge came to a halt. Zheng Yichen could even feel the recoil through the Black Gun.
But the force wasn't great. He easily pushed it back.
"Oh?" Zheng Yichen raised an eyebrow as he looked at the Evil Spirit pierced by the Black Gun. He'd reacted so strongly because it was like seeing a ghost—and he even regretted not asking Tia before leaving whether the Twilight Chapel sold anything like holy water.
But the Evil Spirit he'd encountered might have been immune to gunfire, yet the Black Gun, formed from his own anomaly, could still affect it. And when he felt the same clear feedback as when he attacked a physical creature, his nerves settled at once.
Its immunity to gunfire was certainly a nuisance, but as long as other attacks worked, there was no need to panic and run for his life. The Evil Spirit's speed was within Zheng Yichen's ability to handle, and he could withstand the impact he'd just felt.
That single strike had already revealed quite a bit. This thing was much weaker than the mule. The mule could fling him around, but he could withstand the Evil Spirit's blows.
He didn't immediately use his own anomalous ability to try to "devour" it. Instead, he drew the treated tongue tied at his waist and lashed at the Evil Spirit, which was struggling with a grimace. The whip, barely over a meter long, swept across its body.
A Hissing Sound rang out. The lash didn't feel like it had struck empty air; it felt like hitting rubber. The Evil Spirit's struggling movements stiffened, and part of its body dispersed. It seemed the Hissing Sound made by the tongue as it swung had an added effect on spirits.
That was good.
The stiffened Evil Spirit quickly faded, until all that remained was a little ash-like dust falling from the air. Zheng Yichen shook the Black Gun in his hand. It dispersed, revealing the Fishing Rod wrapped inside.
The chilly feeling didn't disappear with the Evil Spirit's death. Zheng Yichen glanced behind him...
"Holy shit! Why are there so many?"
He didn't have time to fasten his belt. The Fishing Rod hooked the gun lying nearby, and he spun around and ran. He saw more than a dozen Evil Spirits like the one from before behind him. If there was any difference, some were bald while others had hair.
That difference didn't matter. The important thing was that he couldn't handle more than a dozen of them attacking him alone. They were light and could pass right through trees. He could deal with three or four, but a dozen... Thinking of the way the bodies he'd encountered earlier had died, Zheng Yichen decided it wasn't worth the risk.
The Evil Spirits were agile enough for Zheng Yichen to keep up with, but they were faster than him in a straight line. They ignored the terrain and passed through trees, while Zheng Yichen had to go around them. The Thermal Imaging function on his camera couldn't pick them up.
The camera could record the Evil Spirits just fine when filming directly, so clearly the ones Zheng Yichen had encountered weren't the sort that were naturally invisible to ordinary people.
Fortunately, the Evil Spirits spread out as they chased and tried to corner him, giving Zheng Yichen a few opportunities. If the Black Gun merely wounded one, it could weaken its presence. Four or five hits in a row were enough to destroy one.
The Hissing Sound made by his whip could also disrupt the Evil Spirits' movements, confusing them briefly.
But the confusion lasted only a moment, not long enough for Zheng Yichen to kill one with the Black Gun. When he stabbed Abnormal Creatures like Little Chicks or Giant Rats with the Black Gun, he could drain them dry in a second.
But to kill an Evil Spirit by relying on "blood-sucking damage," he'd need at least five or six seconds. That was more than enough time for the Evil Spirits to tear him apart. His skin wasn't as tough as tree bark.
Still, if he kept up this hit-and-run fight, he should be able to wear them down given enough time...
Huh? Zheng Yichen, sprinting through the Woods, felt a pressure closing in. The forest already blocked his view, and the fog made it even worse. As he ran, dealt with several Evil Spirits, and skirted a few large trees, the environment before him abruptly changed.
He'd encountered an anomaly.
Looking back at the Evil Spirits still hot on his heels, Zheng Yichen swung the tongue whip, making it produce a Hissing Sound that interfered with them a little. The noise was starting to irritate him too. It affected everyone indiscriminately. It hadn't bothered him at first, but after using it so many times, he was starting to have enough.
"Well, this is... great?" Zheng Yichen had always wanted to find an anomaly that wasn't sealed off, then go through and see the world on the other side. Whether out of ordinary human curiosity or because he was a transmigrator, he wanted to see more.
If he'd been an ordinary person after transmigrating, he shouldn't have expected much. First, he'd have needed to leave a city like Longcheng, where anomalies existed, then figure out how to live a decent life. The world was so vast; he shouldn't have kept his sights fixed on Longcheng.
But he wasn't an ordinary person now. The anomaly within him brought benefits, but it also had its drawbacks. An ordinary person's life was no longer suited to him.
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