Aberration

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Aberration
Original Name	诡异
Alias(es)	Aberration Creature; anomaly 5 186
Species/Race	Creatures native to the apocalyptic world; some can also arise through human transformation 186 217
Origin	Introduced to Earth by the apocalyptic world's phantom projection 186
Occupation/Role	Hunt living beings, particularly humans, until a planet becomes a new apocalyptic world 186
Power Range	Tier One through Level Nine; ancient-god-level Aberrations are expected after the worlds fully merge 186
First Appearance	A Tier One Ghost Shadow confronts Lin Yi 1

Power Progression

The documented advancements below concern individual Aberrations and Lin Yi's transformed forms, rather than a single shared progression.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Snow Woman — Level Six	1	Survives a nuclear attack and mutates through exposure to nuclear radiation. Her previous level is not specified.
Lin Yi's Aberrant Man-Dragon — Tier Two	138	Evolves after the Blood-Colored Giant Hand kills his transformed body with one punch.
Rotting Old Man — Level Five	217	Recounts becoming an Aberration after eating a human-faced fruit, then consuming humans and other transformed residents until he becomes Huamei County's last survivor.
Lin Yi's Aberrant Man-Dragon — Level Five	237	Reassembles within ten seconds after being dismembered by black saber energy, then completely devours the Rotting Old Man.
Aberration Old Man — Level Five	346	His aura rises through Level Four and settles at Level Five inside the Yellow Springs Hotel; the passage does not establish the precise trigger.
Lin Yi's Aberrant Man-Dragon — Level Nine	440	Repeated deaths drive successive evolutions to the highest ordinary Aberration level. His body occupies nearly half the City and develops solid flesh.

Background / History

Aberration Creatures reach Earth during its merger with the apocalyptic world. The phantom projection arrives first, bringing Aberrations, Sequence abilities, Anomalous Objects, biological mutations, and rule aberration zones. Aberrations are the principal threat during this early stage, while mutated creatures have not yet begun threatening humanity on the same scale 186.

The invasion is not confined to Earth. Wan Ying reports that her own world endured two mergers and was overrun within a year before its survivors merged into Blue Star. According to information spread by the Spiritual Cultivation Society, this latest merger is the world of Aberrations' final invasion; this claim comes from the Society's deity through its Omnipotent Stele 252.

Classification

“Tier” and “Level” are both used for Aberration ranks. Tier One is the weakest ordinary rank, and Level Nine is the strongest 186.

Rank	Documented examples	Details
Tier One	Ghost Shadow, Little Snowman, newly formed Aberrant Man-Dragon	The Man-Dragon begins at this rank but evolves whenever killed 1 105 186.
Tier Two	Zombies, Painted Skin	These are the examples given in the setting notes; the Zombies encountered during the Hunan escape are described as Tier One 74 186.
Tier Three	Rain Man, Zombie King, Snow Jellyfish, Aberration Centaur	Rain Men appear at Tier Three without needing to advance from a lower rank 41 74 99 327 186.
Level Four	Human-Faced Tree, Snowshadow Flower, Three-Headed Cat, Dread Woman	The Human-Faced Tree is the enormous corpse-covered tree in Zhenning County Town 5 186 215 259.
Level Five	Pasture Herder, Decayed Sand Whale, Ice Flood Dragon, Ghost Emperor, Rotting Old Man, Flesh-Ball Aberration	Level Five creatures are described as capable of easily destroying an entire city 186 217 235 378.
Level Six	Snow Woman	Reaches this rank through nuclear radiation; Level Six is the highest rank present at the time of the supplementary setting chapter 1 186.
Level Seven	Unnamed three-headed guardian	Guards yellow Seven-Color Flowers in the frozen City and attacks with a combined blizzard and whip-like arms 427.
Level Nine	Nine Nether; Lin Yi's evolved Aberrant Man-Dragon	Nine Nether accompanies He Butan; Lin Yi reaches this rank through repeated deaths while transformed 439 440.
Ancient-god level	No named example in the supplied passages	Expected to emerge through the rules once the two planets fully merge 186.

Appearance

Aberrations have no uniform body type. Documented forms range from floating shadows and humanlike figures to enormous trees and composite monsters 1 5 69.

• Ghost Shadow: Entirely black, floating, and emitting black smoke; resembles an oversized plastic bag caught on power lines 1.
• Human-Faced Tree: A gigantic tree whose branches pierce and suspend human corpses throughout Zhenning County Town 5 186.
• Snow Jellyfish: Drifting jellyfish approximately the size of a car 99.
• Aberrant Man-Dragon: An enormous bovine skull followed by a body composed of human heads and waving hands. At Level Nine, it develops solid flesh and a rotting dragon's head with bull horns 138 440.
• Aberration Centaur: A rotting, grayish-white human torso joined to a horse's lower body, carrying a huge bone club 327.
• Dread Woman: Appears to her marked victim as an exceptionally beautiful woman, then becomes whatever he fears most 256 259.

Behavior

Aberrations are attracted to concentrations of people. Large groups that remain in one place can draw multiple attackers: after the service station's Hunting Domain breaks, Liu Chuan detects six powerful Aberrations approaching within five kilometers 1 41.

Their appetite does not reliably end after feeding. The Rotting Old Man describes humans as irresistibly fragrant food and admits that he still wants to eat despite claiming to be full. When humans became scarce in Huamei County, its transformed inhabitants began consuming one another 217.

Some Aberrations demonstrate speech, deception, and caution rather than attacking mindlessly. The Rotting Old Man conceals his strength and withholds an attack when Lin Yi's aura frightens him. An Aberration Centaur similarly attempts to flee after sensing mortal danger from Lin Yi. Weaker aquatic Aberrations at Cloudpan City also appear to flee a much larger presence 24 217 235 329.

Abilities & Skills

Evolution

Aberrations have different methods of increasing their rank; there is no single advancement mechanism shared by every kind 41 186.

• Death-driven evolution: The Aberrant Man-Dragon reforms and advances after being killed, with an evolution time of roughly ten seconds and a maximum of Level Nine 105 138 186.
• Fear consumption: A Dread Woman becomes stronger by devouring fear and can evolve from Level Four to Level Five after accumulating enough 259.
• Feeding: The Rotting Old Man reaches Level Five through consuming humans and other Aberrations 217.
• Radiation-induced mutation: Nuclear radiation transforms the Snow Woman into a Level Six Aberration instead of destroying her 1.
• Fixed starting rank: Rain Men are Tier Three from the moment they appear 41.

Concealment and Illusions

Different Aberrations can hide their bodies, distort perception, or exploit environmental cover.

• Snow Jellyfish create illusions and can freeze people. Their illusion causes the convoy to circle through a city without making progress 99.
• Mist Slaves are closely connected to Gansu Province's fog. One approaches the Hummer without Blind Cheng sensing it and dissolves into white mist when struck 170.
• Dread Women cannot normally be seen or touched by bystanders; only their marked targets perceive them 256 259.
• Octopus Woman, an Aberration Symbiote, becomes transparent, although her mucus-covered tentacles and spilled blood can reveal her position 37 40.

Targeting and Rule-Based Killing

Some Aberrations kill through specific conditions rather than straightforward physical attacks.

• Dread Woman: Marks only men, locking herself and the victim into a struggle to the death. She transforms into his greatest fear and frightens him to death; overcoming that fear is identified as a way to resist her 259.
• Aberration Old Man: At Level Five, answering his telephone call causes death, but refusing to answer also causes death. He is immune to all damage inside the Yellow Springs Hotel 346.
• Octopus Woman's Hunting Domain: Prevents victims from leaving the service station by vehicle or on foot. The domain breaks when she dies 36 38 41.

Physical and Elemental Attacks

• Aberrant Man-Dragon: Crushes and absorbs victims into its body. After consuming Li Youyou, her head appears at the end of its tail 69.
• Rotting Old Man: Corrodes vehicles or covers them in eyes that assimilate their occupants; his attacks appear to activate through contact 217.
• Three-headed Level Seven guardian: Combines wind, snow, and ice shards into a blizzard while striking with elongated, iron-whip-like arms 427.
• Aberration Centaur: Uses powerful charges, hooves, and a huge bone club. Two Sequence Eight Transcendents struggle to withstand it 327 328.

Human Transformation and Symbiosis

Aberration Symbiotes

Aberration Symbiotes are humans who eat Aberration flesh, retain their human minds, and coexist with an Aberration in a transformed body. Named examples include Octopus Woman, Nikaido Yozo, and Sato Senma 186.

• Octopus Woman gains tentacles, devouring abilities, and Hunting Domain after eating Aberration flesh 38 105.
• Nikaido Yozo consumes Snowshadow Flower flesh and becomes an icy, spike-covered creature assessed as at least Tier Three 135.
• Sato Senma consumes Level Five flesh and becomes a Blood-Colored Giant Hand assessed as comparable to a Level Four Aberration. The flesh's rank does not automatically become the resulting symbiote's rank 137 280.
• Forced experiments at Farstar Fortress produce distorted, half-human victims who retain speech and attack their experimenters. The attempt to control them fails 131 134 135.
• Cao Yuan and Lü Xiangyang later pursue symbiote-based power at the Northern Settlement 278 280 282.

Other Routes

• Human-faced fruit: Everyone who eats the fruit that appears in Huamei County becomes an Aberration, including the Rotting Old Man 217.
• Fallen Act: A Sequence Eight [Fallen Death Row Inmate] can temporarily become an Aberration they personally killed and gain its abilities. Exceeding ten transformations makes the change permanent and irreversible 41 56.
• Symbiotes qualify for Fallen Act: Lin Yi uses a slain symbiote's devouring ability to consume the otherwise reviving Man-Dragon 56 105.

Countermeasures and Limitations

• Sequence abilities and special weapons: Early narration states that ordinary people cannot kill Aberrations. The enhanced Soul-Devouring Saw can injure them, but its early form becomes inadequate against Tier Two opponents 1 17.
• Concealment: A-Feng's Protective Shield hides those inside from Aberrations. It does not prevent Lin Yi from transforming into one after already entering 63 69 70.
• Perception is fallible: Watcher and Prophet abilities can locate many threats, but hidden symbiotes, fog-linked Mist Slaves, and the Dread Woman demonstrate exceptions 38 170 256 257.
• Illusion resistance: The Soul-Devouring Saw's resistance allows Lin Yi to guide the convoy through the Snow Jellyfish's illusion 99.
• Sealing or devouring: The Man-Dragon cannot be permanently eliminated by repeatedly killing it, but special abilities can seal or devour it 105 186.
• Using rival Aberrations: Lin Yi exploits a fight between the Yellow Springs Hotel's Aberration Old Man and another creature to reach the eighteenth floor 348.
• High rank is not absolute invulnerability: Lin Yi later kills Level Six and Level Seven creatures, including the three-headed guardian whose blizzard he neutralizes with an ability 361 427.

Distinction from Related Phenomena

Phenomenon	Difference from Aberration Creatures
Mutated creatures	Plants and animals altered by the apocalyptic world's influence. The two-headed black cat in Big Willow Village is explicitly identified as not being an Aberration 146 186.
Anomalous Objects / Curios	Objects altered by the apocalyptic environment, possessing special effects and usage costs. Their influence can resemble an Aberration's territory 186 189.
Rule aberration zones	Areas formed under special environmental conditions, with rules that must be followed to survive; they are not necessarily individual creatures 186.
Aberration Symbiotes	Former humans retaining their minds while sharing transformed bodies with Aberrations 186.

Cool City illustrates the difficulty of identifying these phenomena: its survival rules initially suggest a rule aberration zone, but Lin Yi instead suspects the influence of a powerful Anomalous Object. That explanation remains his inference in the supplied passage 189.