At a small convenience store

"How is it? Tasty?"

"Mm, mm." Bai Ling continuously stuffed snacks into her mouth, responding to Chi Xiaoyu unclearly. After all, for her now, only here could she normally eat human food.

Chi Xiaoyu lovingly patted Bai Ling's head and asked with feigned confusion.

"Do you know where Lin Bai went?"

"Don't know."

"Since meeting you, I haven't seen him at night. How strange, don't you think?"

"Really? I've seen him at night."

"Is that so?"

Chi Xiaoyu smiled, now very certain that Bai Ling was Lin Bai. But how such an unbelievable thing happened, she still lacked decisive evidence.

This night, the girls had a lot of fun, mainly because Bai Ling ate very happily.

Lying in bed back home, looking at that charming face before her, thinking that this girl might be her childhood friend Lin Bai, Chi Xiaoyu couldn't help but blush.

"What, what's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Bai Ling looked at Chi Xiaoyu, who had suddenly become strange.

"Nothing."

Chi Xiaoyu turned away, no longer looking at Bai Ling's face, and fell into deep sleep.

...

Morning

Seeing the empty bed with Bai Ling nowhere to be found, Chi Xiaoyu smiled and called Lin Bai.

"Training."

"Oh, okay."

Mutation Investigation Bureau

Conference room on the first basement level

Chi Xiaoyu wore a police uniform, tapping the blackboard with chalk.

"Training begins now. I'll tell you most of the public information about anomalies."

"Okay."

"First, you should know anomalies are generated from resentment and wishes. They can be any item or object, even non-existent ones. Recently, artificial anomalies have also appeared. We're still researching these and don't clearly understand their composition..."

"Then, anomaly levels are divided into D, C, B, A, S in ascending order. Above that are Anomaly Kings, and legendary Anomaly Gods, though none have been discovered yet."

"Okay."

"Now let me explain the currently public Anomaly King intelligence. They are: Mercy, Incompleteness, Compassion, Contract, Blood. Do you have any questions about Anomaly Kings?"

"No."

【After all, I explained it to Bai Ling before, so of course you have nothing to ask!】

"Then I'll tell you about the differences between anomaly levels."

"D-grade anomalies are the weakest, nothing special, just their inherent abilities."

"C-grade anomalies begin mastering anomalous domains. Domain strength depends on the anomaly's own strength."

"B-grade anomalies begin showing anomalous techniques. Most anomalies' strength gaps appear at B-grade. If anomalies can't reach B-grade, we generally won't contract them."

"A-grade anomalies begin mastering incantations. At A-grade and above, those favored by them can also use incantations as proxies. If it's an A-grade anomaly itself, they identify as avatars or walkers."

"S-grade anomalies have more powerful incantations and gain some incredible powers, like instantly creating piles of gold mountains."

"Anomaly Kings initially master the power of laws—shrinking distances, moving mountains and filling seas are all possible."

"Anomaly Gods... no records exist, but legend says the former Blood Witch was very close to Anomaly God level."

"Oh oh."

【I have something this strong sealed inside me?】

Chi Xiaoyu tapped the blackboard.

"Anomaly advancement generally requires meeting conditions. Different grades and anomalies have different difficulty levels. Some anomalies might need to kill several people, others might need special conditions. So when contracting anomalies, we also consider their advancement difficulty."

"Furthermore, each person can generally only contract one anomaly per level. If I've contracted C-grade, I can't contract another C-grade. And before this C-grade advances to B-grade, contracted D-grade anomalies also can't advance. Understand?"

"Understand."

"But you've already contracted a D-grade anomaly, so your next anomaly must be either directly C-grade or above, or you can only advance that anomaly to C-grade, then step by step up the levels. But I feel your anomaly is at most C-grade. Better not to advance it."

"Oh."

"You look down on me!" A little girl suddenly appeared and said angrily.

"Come back quickly. This sister means no harm." Lin Bai hurriedly recalled the little girl anomaly.

"Hmph."

The little girl returned to Lin Bai's body unhappily.

"Then, due to the director's special approval, I'll take you to contract an anomaly."

"Ah? Why?"

"I'm not sure either. The director said your relatives made significant contributions and this is your reward."

"Is that so?"

【Didn't my parents go abroad?】

Chi Xiaoyu brought Lin Bai to the contracted anomaly storage room downstairs. Inside the room were containers everywhere with various instruction sheets attached.

"Anomaly type: Attachment, Storage method: Refrigeration, Level: C-grade, Effect: Can transform into ice and attach to contractor's body."

Lin Bai looked from room to room until he saw an anomaly sitting on a sofa watching TV.

"Anomaly type: Standard, Storage method: No storage needed, Level: C-grade, Effect: Absorbs master's blood?"

"What are you staring at me for?"

A white-haired girl with an anomaly instruction sheet on her chest, holding a cup of red liquid, pouted. The man in front of her kept staring at her chest.

"No, why doesn't she need storage?"

"She came here herself. That day she suddenly came to our Mutation Investigation Bureau saying she wanted to reform and be a good anomaly, so she was brought here."

"Ah? There's this kind of operation?"

"Tch, what do you know? They provide food and lodging here. Outside I was sleeping rough, couldn't eat my fill or stay warm."

"Good lord, you've been here all along because no one contracted you?"

"I'm a blood-sucking anomaly—I need to suck blood regularly. If I go hungry too long I'll die. In battle I suck even more. Normal people would probably be drained dry by me before the enemy anomaly dies, right?"

"Does sucking blood make you stronger? I think I can contract you."

"You better think carefully. Someone contracted me before but canceled the contract after excessive blood loss." The girl swirled the wine glass in her hand as if challenging him.

"What are your advancement conditions?"

"Live to 100 years old then take a blood bath—a swimming pool's worth of blood."

"How old are you now?"

"99."

"Then of course no problem."

"Heh heh, human, don't regret this." The girl moved close to Lin Bai and sniffed.

"Your blood smells very delicious."

Afternoon

"Master, hungry hungry, food food."

The white-haired blood princess continuously tugged at Lin Bai's clothes, with a pitiful expression, begging for food.

"Come on girl, it's only been a few hours and you've already sucked my blood 5 times!"

"I don't care. Since you contracted me, you can't let me starve, right?"

"But I'm not having you fight anyone right now."

"I don't care. I'm hungry now!"

Lin Bai held his forehead helplessly. The contracted anomaly he chose, he had to pamper.