Given the giant rat’s massive size, its tail swipe should’ve packed tremendous force—yet Lin Yin blocked it bare-handed. In that moment, Shen Ge finally understood how the rumors of her “hand-tearing anomalies” came to be. At his current physical level, such feats were impossible.

As Lin Yin engaged, Captains Feng Chengxiu and Yu Tiexiong’s elite teams swiftly surrounded the creature, testing conventional firearms first. Bullets penetrated its flesh only to be expelled by swirling anomaly-energy, the wounds healing instantly.

Snipers positioned on distant rooftops switched to specialized anti-anomaly rounds, but even shots targeting its crimson eyes bounced off like steel.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

After firearms testing, Feng ordered three RPG launches. One rocket tore through the rat’s left leg before obliterating a courtyard wall; the other two explosions left meter-wide craters that quickly sealed with regenerating flesh.

While the battle raged, Shen Ge stood beside Director Deng Yuqi, casually observing.

“Why aren’t you helping?” Deng demanded.

“The department’s top combatant hasn’t moved. As a rookie, I’d be overstepping,” Shen Ge replied matter-of-factly.

“…”

Suppressing the urge to hurl him into the fray, Deng snapped, “Enough nonsense. Wrap this up so we can sleep.”

“Patience. I’m having Xiao-7 pull research data.”

…

Research for fighting a rat?

Though baffled, Deng trusted Shen Ge’s judgment and focused on coordinating the assault. Two minutes later, surveillance footage revealed the breach:

Technicians had fed the rat anomaly-flesh per protocol, but staff failures cascaded—unmonitored energy spikes, unupgraded containment, missed inspections. Most crucially, a distracted research assistant delayed logging the rat’s mutations while finalizing another project. The accumulated negligence allowed the creature to break containment, devouring several anomaly corpses during escape.

Relieved it wasn’t Wang Lao’s doing, Shen Ge finally armored up—only for Li Xiang to intercept him with a red syringe.

“Anomaly-suppressant prototype,” the researcher explained. “Effective against Stage-1 mutations for 12 hours. Let’s test it on this Stage-3 case.”

Nodding, Shen Ge activated partial armor—just anomaly-gloves and boots—and vaulted onto the rat’s back.

“Lin Yin! Freeze its legs!”

His cleaver plunged into the creature’s neck with butcher-precise strokes. Deng briefly wondered if his resume omitted “slaughterhouse work.”

As Lin Yin’s cryo-device immobilized the rat’s limbs, Shen Ge’s anomaly-stomach engulfed its head. They toppled the beast together, administering Li Xiang’s serum before decapitating it with dozens of coordinated hacks.

[Weekly Mission Complete: 300 System Points, 3×F-Class Recovery Items, 10% Free Attribute Points]

Even headless, the body kept regenerating. Detection teams moved in, recording:

“Anomaly-energy at 387%…388%…389%. Growth slowing—suppressant effective.”

“Wait.” Shen Ge borrowed an assault rifle and emptied a magazine into one spot, creating a fist-sized hole that healed visibly slower.

Li Xiang’s eyes lit up. “The serum’s outperforming expectations! Even marginal effectiveness against Stage-2s means we’ve partially solved conventional weapons’ uselessness. Higher concentrations could—”

“Not that simple,” Li Xiang admitted. “This uses energy extracted from those Korean lizard anomalies. Without more source material, mass production’s impossible.”

Deng understood the implications—such serum could finally let ordinary soldiers combat anomalies. But limited ingredients meant no quick solutions.

Post-containment, the 3 AM debrief covered two key points: disciplinary action for containment failures, and prioritizing serum research. Exhausted, Shen Ge nearly left when Li Xiang dragged him to a third containment unit.

Inside: the Anomaly-Car, Shen Ge’s third case.

“Remember this?” Li Xiang asked. “If anomalies stem from animals, what’s this?”

“Parasites.”

Nodding, Li Xiang explained the driver’s autopsy revealed mutated roundworms that had replaced his organs. “When you poured alcohol inside, it forced the parasite out—serendipitous burning.”

He then displayed comparative images: the rat’s post-feeding mutations, red pustules matching those on Wang Lao’s neck in battle footage.

“You think the car and Wang Lao are connected?” Shen Ge asked.

“Evidence suggests human trials using parasitic anomalies,” Li Xiang confirmed. “The driver failed; Wang Lao succeeded. I haven’t reported this—after my father died in those experiments, I won’t enable more.”

Their discussion lasted hours. Shen Ge returned to find Cheng Shengnan awake at 4 AM, scrolling videos of rising anomaly incidents nationwide.

“The new Animal Cruelty Act’s controversial,” she noted, “but you say it’s ineffective?”

“Band-aid solution,” Shen Ge agreed, tousling her hair. “Death causes more mutations than abuse. But shutting pet markets reduces controllable triggers.”

His hands wandered lower.

“After all that, you’re still—?”

“Small potatoes.” Shen Ge grinned.

“At least turn the lamp—ah!“

Cheng Shengnan’s protests dissolved as he demonstrated positional versatility, eventually complaining about torn stockings.

…..

Next Day – Department HQ

Deng Yuqi approved Cheng Shengnan’s logistics department transfer (“Better than idle confinement”) before addressing Shen Ge:

“Li Xiang told you about parasitic anomalies and Wang Lao?”

Shen Ge nodded. “Either shadow factions continue human experiments, or foreign actors infiltrate us. Either way, we’re blind to their motives.”

Deng slid two personnel files across her desk. “Consider mentoring recruits. This pair—’Potato Skin’ and ‘Tuber Core’—show promise.”

She referenced their anomaly encounters: one tank commander who crushed a mutated crocodile, another who improvised Molotovs against a smoking python.

“Test them yourself,” Deng said. “If they pass, either train them or convince Chen Ke to stop frontline fantasies.”

As Shen Ge left with files, Cheng Shengnan—now Assistant Zhang’s deputy—asked about dinner plans.

“New hotpot downtown? Movie after?”

She shuddered. “Every date triggers anomaly incidents. Let’s stay in.”

Shen Ge’s grin turned wolfish. “Home it is.”

“Wait! Suddenly hotpot sounds perfect!” (Tomorrow’s her first workday—wobbly legs would be embarrassing.)