Adhering to the principle of “well, we’re already here,” Shen Ge had made it to the entrance of this tallest landmark building in the city center. Naturally, he had to go in and investigate.

However, the building was surrounded by a thick wall, ten meters high. Inside the open area, various parasitized beings were densely packed.

The wall itself was overgrown with fleshy monsters, extending tentacles like patrons at a buffet, grabbing parasitized beings and stuffing them into huge, fleshy mouths on the wall.

After these fleshy monsters “digested” the parasitized beings they consumed, tumors would grow on the wall, sprouting new fleshy tentacles. It gave the impression that the wall itself was an anomaly.

“…Well, I’ll be damned. They really took the ‘fight anomaly with anomaly’ policy to the extreme? Raising anomalies near the sanctuary to deal with other anomalies?”

“This is just reckless…”

No wonder this place became the outbreak point for the anomaly incident in this “ending.” Raising anomalies at home? How could it not become the center of the outbreak?

Old American zombie movies have worn out this trope: conducting research within a quarantined zone, only for the virus to leak and turn the entire city into zombies. Who’d have thought someone would actually do it in reality? Even more absurd was directly “cultivating” living anomalies on the outer wall.

It’s important to remember that the cause of anomaly “mutation” was already clear. When non-human organisms inhale large amounts of anomalous energy and die, or are tortured to death, mutation occurs.

Even if the sanctuary relocated all “slaughterhouse industries” to outside areas, and even internally implemented measures to eliminate rats, cockroaches, and other groups prone to mutation, raising anomalies on the outer wall would constantly emit anomalous energy. This would either attract high-stage anomalies or cause animals in the surrounding areas to mutate.

If they were already implementing a sanctuary plan, it’s unreasonable to be unaware of such basic anomaly fundamentals. This struck Shen Ge as very strange.

Unless… someone did it on purpose.

Shen Ge thought of how the Twelve Branches created “12” to control wealthy businessmen, then used their financial power to collude with higher-ups. On the surface, they were contributing to the fight against anomalies, but in reality, they were secretly executing their own plans.

For example, at the banquet organized by Liu Zongrui that Shen Ge attended, several of Rong City’s influential figures were present. From the sanctuary plan proposed by Lu Xianze, one of those figures, it was clear he had been completely “brainwashed” by the Twelve Branches, deluding himself into becoming the underground ruler of Rong City’s sanctuary.

But in reality, the Twelve Branches manipulated them from behind the scenes, merely to amass research funds for the organization or to achieve their goal of covertly controlling the nation.

After all, the biggest difference between the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Branches was that the former looked toward the next civilization, while the latter only wanted to become the “gods” of the current one.

Assuming this “corncob” before him was the sanctuary built by Lu Xianze, then the Twelve Branches were undoubtedly plotting something again.

Shen Ge guessed there were two main possibilities. One: using the opportunity and “public funds” to build a research facility, continuing their research on freaks.

The other: treating the sanctuary as a large-scale training ground for freaks, creating various freaks like in Japan and Korea, ready to release them if the situation here spiraled out of control.

The logic wasn’t hard to understand. It was like asking when ancient “military generals” held the highest status. Naturally, it was during conflicts with enemy states.

As a freak organization, the Twelve Branches’ abilities against anomalies far surpassed ordinary soldiers. The threat of anomalies and freaks only highlighted their power and status.

Thinking of this, Shen Ge recalled Elder Fang’s investigation into the Twelve Branches replacing high-level officials at headquarters. At least the Twelve Branches only “replaced” people. The Freak Association, on the other hand, had “merged” with the Special Measures Department’s research institute much earlier. Over a dozen years, they had likely been completely “whitewashed.” Rooting them out would be a hundred times harder than finding the Twelve Branches.

Indeed, reality was more absurd than fiction.

Sitting on the edge of a shop rooftop, Shen Ge patted his forehead, deciding to stop thinking about these headache-inducing problems. A solution likely wouldn’t be found anytime soon.

Right now, the most important thing was finding a way to leave the dream world and, while at it, figuring out what was inside this “corncob.”

Going by ground meant facing thousands of parasitized beings. With his current strength, he couldn’t exactly mow them down like grass.

If he tried going over the wall, the fleshy tentacles on it were much tougher to deal with than the parasitized beings. The chance of success was almost zero.

“Sigh, if I could use my trait abilities, drawing negative anomalous energy from Yoona’s ‘Misfortune’ to call down a meteor strike on this perimeter, that would be so much easier.”

Shen Ge’s current mental energy certainly couldn’t achieve that level of controlling supernatural phenomena. After some thought, he decided on the simplest method: create a catapult device to “launch” himself in.

Creating a catapult for his size and weight wasn’t difficult. The hard part was landing safely to absorb the impact, avoiding an immediate “death reset” upon entry.

First, Shen Ge materialized a catapult. After several test launches of rocks aimed at the “corncob’s” fourth-floor windows, he found the glass seemed to be special bulletproof glass. But for a “sanctuary,” using bulletproof, shock-resistant glass wasn’t strange.

Using the rooftops of buildings in the peripheral commercial district, Shen Ge moved around, trying to observe the “corncob.” He actually discovered that a window on the fifth floor on one side was open.

After calculating the distance and height, Shen Ge went to the rooftop edge of a nearby eight-story building. He created a catapult device, launched a grappling hook to catch the window ledge, then slid towards the “corncob” on a safety ring.

As he neared the window, Shen Ge quickly materialized an “air cushion” to block his path, cushioning the impact as he collided with it.

Then, retracting the air cushion, he successfully jumped into the building’s interior.

Once inside, what greeted him was a blood-red corridor resembling an apartment hallway. A faint, bloody haze permeated the long corridor. Doors were neatly aligned on both sides. Shen Ge stood right at the “entrance” of this floor.

A warning sign was posted on the left wall, advising to wear “Anomalous Energy Protective Clothing” when entering or leaving areas below the tenth floor to prevent “pathological changes.”

Seeing this, Shen Ge couldn’t help but frown. From this warning… it seemed areas below the tenth floor had become hazardous zones.

“Generally, if an area becomes dangerous, the entire building should be evacuated and people transferred immediately. But the people here only advise wearing protective gear when entering, not prohibit entry… Why?” Shen Ge couldn’t quite figure it out.

Shen Ge took a few more steps forward. Suddenly, his foot kicked an empty soda can. The clatter-clatter rolling sound echoed in the long corridor, giving a valley-like reverberation.

Shen Ge picked up the can. It was an ordinary beverage brand, but the production date read “20320331.”

Judging from the March 31, 2032 production date on the can, the timeline here was clearly after 2032… This was the most distant “future” Shen Ge had encountered so far, whether in the [Logs] or the “time travel” during the Japan incident.

“No wonder they could buy out and develop the city center’s unfinished landmark building into a sanctuary. Looks like the ‘ending’ in this timeline survived quite a long time.”

Although Shen Ge wasn’t clear on the specific rules and details of “Earth Reset,” he knew it differed greatly from “parallel worlds.”

Parallel worlds were likely simultaneous timelines, where different “choices” due to some reason led to different outcomes.

For example, the outlaw Zhang San today makes a choice between “going out” and “not going out.” The former leads him to run into a certain Luo, landing him in prison for ten years; the latter lets him sleep peacefully at home. This would create two parallel worlds.

But “Reset” was different. It occurred after an “ending” was reached. Earth would reset and enter a new cycle, actively “avoiding” unfavorable factors from previous iterations, developing towards a “perfect world.”

While how it avoided proportional factors was unknown, the conclusion of “trending towards perfection” was a common finding among various organizations.

In other words, a “Reset” meant these worlds had already reached an ending.

So the question arose: if these were already “ended” worlds, what was Shen Ge’s situation appearing in them?

First, it was certain that the Japan “time travel” was exactly four years into the future. If it wasn’t a parallel world but a “reset” from some ending, why could he interact with people like Momoka and the others?

Shen Ge first ruled out the possibility of actual “time travel.” If it were real time travel, it would mean the Primordial Anomaly possessed time-travel abilities. Then, the “existence” that mastered the Primordial Anomaly’s power wouldn’t need to split Earth-2. Simply traveling back to strangle anomalies in the cradle and block Earth’s path to doom would be far simpler.

Therefore, in his view, the most likely scenario was… whether the “four years later” of the Japan time travel, the chaotic anomaly space, the twisted world, or the current “2032,” these should all be fragmented memories generated by “endings.”

Then, due to the splitting of Earth-2, the Primordial Anomaly’s energy caused distortions, twisting these memory fragments together into a chaotic world.

Take a Rubik’s cube as an example. In this chaotic cube, perhaps the first piece is a memory fragment from a certain period in 2028, the second piece is a memory fragment from 2032… This way, the spacetime disarray in the anomaly space could be explained.

Each space, due to different events, moved towards different endings, but within them, various clues could be found, and common points identified.

This world managed to “survive” beyond 2032, so naturally, it had its merits.

While pondering the anomaly space issue, Shen Ge tried opening doors along the way for inspection. The doors on both sides of the corridor were less than ten meters apart. The rooms inside weren’t large, only about ten square meters. They contained beds, wardrobes, and other furniture, looking like ordinary apartments.

Strangely, many rooms showed almost no signs of being lived in. Everything was brand new. Yet, judging from Lu Xianze’s proposed sanctuary plan, the people living here were the wealthy and powerful. This level of accommodation could be considered a “slum.”

The thought that “perhaps this wasn’t the sanctuary plan proposed by Lu Xianze’s group” flashed through Shen Ge’s mind. He wondered if this was actually a “formal sanctuary” built by the Special Measures Department, intended to gather Rong City’s survivors.

But combined with the “warning sign” at the entrance, thinking more darkly, it resembled a human experimentation base for imprisoning “experimental materials.”

Soon, this conjecture of Shen Ge’s was confirmed. Pushing open the door at the end revealed a research room several times larger than the previous “apartment rooms.”

Under the dim red light, the room was filled with experimental equipment and instruments. It felt less like an operating room or laboratory, and more like a torture chamber for extracting confessions, exuding an eerie and terrifying atmosphere everywhere.

Shen Ge pushed over a chair, climbing onto the operating table and cabinets to look around. Unfortunately, the place was spotlessly clean, with nothing—no experimental tools, not even a single record.

Just then, Shen Ge heard a faint rustling

sound, seemingly coming from a cabinet in the corner.

Shen Ge cautiously approached, then used a materialized long pole to open the cabinet door. Inside were rows of transparent bottles, about a foot tall, containing various internal organs fused with parasitic anomalies.

Shen Ge had seen a similar scene before in the specimen room of Rongshan Mental Hospital. These fused internal organs were seventy to eighty percent similar.

One heart was still thump-thump-thumping. Shen Ge could vaguely see worms wriggling within the membrane, as if they might jump out at any moment.

While Shen Ge was observing the bottles, the organs inside, employing a horror game trope, suddenly exploded.

Shen Ge instinctively stepped back. Looking at the cabinet over the chair, a series of pop-pop-pop blood bubble bursting sounds erupted as palm-sized bugs crawled out from the organs.

Shen Ge had seen these bugs before. In the villa where Liu Zongrui fused, the parasitic anomalies clinging to the ceiling and walls were of this type, though the ones before him were much smaller, only palm-sized.

These parasitic anomalies seemed to sense Shen Ge’s human presence, rustling as they crawled towards him. Shen Ge immediately materialized a spear, stabbing at the leading parasitic anomaly—

Squelch!

Under the dim red light, it was hard to tell if the blood these parasitic anomalies sprayed was red. It instantly gushed from the pierced wound.

The parasitic anomalies following behind didn’t continue crawling forward. Instead, they pounced on the blood, devouring it, and visibly grew larger.

In the blink of an eye, the originally palm-sized parasitic anomalies became as large as basketballs. One, seemingly unsatisfied with its growth rate, swished like a facehugger, pouncing on its own kind to gnaw on it, then grew another size larger.

“…Damn, you guys aren’t picky eaters at all. Darwin’s coffin lid won’t hold down anymore… Wait, they’re anomalies now, forget the coffin lid!” Watching the parasitic anomalies, now almost as big as himself after mutual devouring, turn their gaze towards him, Shen Ge quickly dashed towards the door on the opposite side.

Bang!

Shen Ge charged forward, simultaneously pulling the door handle to open it. What greeted him, however, was a dim red stairwell and a freak’s jump scare!

This monster’s entire body resembled an opened fleshy man-eating flower, each petal covered with sharp teeth.

From its back extended tentacles of rotting flesh, sticking to the surrounding ceiling and walls, as if fused with them.

But the most terrifying part was that in the center of its fleshy body, there was… a woman’s torso. Or rather, only the upper half remained, mostly rotten.

The woman gave the impression of being half-“swallowed” by the fleshy petals, but upon closer inspection, one could see her body had fused with them.

Half her face had lost its original appearance, only leaving skinless muscle tissue and “melted” flesh. The other half still recognizable as a human face wore a grotesque smile.

“…”

Lady, with a smile like that in the middle of the night, I’m wide awake now!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Almost instantly after the jump scare, the flesh petals lined with sharp teeth lunged to bite Shen Ge. But Shen Ge reacted quickly, immediately materializing an iron box on either side of his body to block.

Creating “barriers” outside anomaly domains was one of Shen Ge’s most commonly used abilities. Materializing and condensing barriers were similar in principle, making him proficient.

The materialized iron box blocked the attack. But seeing the now Shen Ge-sized parasitic anomalies charging from behind, Shen Ge didn’t have time to think. He accelerated into a slide, slipping under the rotting flesh tentacle extending from the left side of the fleshy freak.

The fleshy freak had already detected Shen Ge and was extending its fleshy tentacles to grab him. However, the parasitic anomalies from the room crashed into it first.

The fleshy freak wasn’t one to refuse “food” delivered to its door. The half-bodied woman’s torso seemed to split open, transforming into a gaping maw that bit down on the charging parasitic anomaly. The three-jawed mouth full of teeth snapped shut, swallowing it in one go.

While the fleshy freak was chewing one parasitic anomaly, its extending putrid tentacles weren’t idle either, simultaneously entangling the remaining few fleshy monsters.

The fleshy freak didn’t play favorites. While dealing with the parasitic anomalies, it didn’t forget about Shen Ge, the “dessert.” Its fleshy tentacle coiled towards him, only to hear a series of squelch-squelch-squelch sounds of flesh being cut. Shen Ge directly materialized a meat grinder, crunch-crunch-crunching several fleshy tentacles into sausage meat.

Shen Ge felt like he was making a cameo in “The Sixty Million Dollar Man”, but currently, he was more like Stephen Chow before getting the “super chip” implanted—his power (mental energy) was clearly insufficient.

Fortunately, the meat grinder wasn’t some ultimate weapon, not enough to make him dizzy or pass out. But facing the fleshy freak’s continuous attacks, the meat grinder was clearly becoming overloaded.

Shen Ge’s small frame probably wouldn’t even be a toothpick snack for this fleshy freak. Using the meat grinder to block the fleshy tentacles, he charged through the blocked area, scrambled to his feet, and ran upstairs.

The entire place seemed illuminated only by the bloody red light. Each floor looked identical, and the higher he went, the darker it became. Shen Ge originally intended to search floor by floor, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the chance—unless he was willing to have a chat with that fleshy freak. Because every stairwell on each floor had a similar fleshy freak blocking the door, like a “floor manager.”

Thankfully, Shen Ge had entered the building through a window. If he had chosen to clear the inner circle of parasitized beings and entered through the main entrance, he would have been blocked by such a fleshy freak right on the first floor.

But Shen Ge also noticed these fleshy monsters really were “floor managers.” Each was only responsible for its own floor. Though their rotting flesh tentacles could easily reach the floor above, they showed no signs of “crossing boundaries.”

The strangest was the fleshy freak on the tenth floor. It didn’t even dare stick its rotting flesh tentacles to the ceiling, as if something terrifying existed above.

Yet, this bizarre phenomenon only fueled Shen Ge’s curiosity. He came here to find the truth of the dream world. Even knowing the danger, he had to take this step.

Shen Ge kept running upstairs until he reached the eleventh floor.

Perhaps related to the warning sign’s ” Wear Anomalous Energy Protective Clothing when entering or leaving areas below the tenth floor,” there were no fleshy freaks blocking the door on the eleventh floor.

Here, the dim red light was almost close to “black”. Shen Ge walked to the door. As he reached for the handle, an intense feeling of fear suddenly washed over him.

This long-unfamiliar feeling of sinking into “deep fear” was something Shen Ge hadn’t experienced in a long time. Putting aside previous anomaly incidents, even after awakening his system, during the anomaly events he encountered, his reaction to disgusting, terrifying anomalies was more surprise than fright.

But now, Shen Ge’s entire body was trembling slightly. He hadn’t even seen what was behind the door, yet his legs already felt weak.

This fear was no less than hiding under a blanket reading a horror novel, relying on the “blanket sealing technique” to ward off ghosts, only to have Kayako pop her head out from under the blanket for a jump scare.

Shen Ge swallowed hard, forcing down the rising fear in his heart. The chill creeping up his back felt like being stared at by a evil spirit.

Click.

Click.

The sound of the doorknob turning felt like an invisible hand gripping Shen Ge’s heart, suppressing its beating and amplifying his fear.

Creeeak—

With a jarring thud, the door slowly swung open.

Behind the door, however, was no room at all. Calling it an “opening door” was an understatement; it was more like a giant, obese man, had ripped open his stomach, stuffing it with disgusting fat and entrails.

Terrifyingly, those fleshy, foamy fat particles had eyes growing from them. They had been staring at the center of the room, but now, with the sound of the door opening, they turned their gaze to Shen Ge in the doorway.

Shen Ge found his body completely frozen, fear was constantly devouring his consciousness, and he seemed unable to do anything except breathe.

Then he noticed, deep within the “room,” under the dim, dark red light illumination, a person sat lonely on a chair.

That person slowly raised their head, revealing a face identical to Shen Ge’s.

The ten-year-old Shen Ge, expressionless, looked towards the doorway, slowly spreading his lips into a sinister smile. “Found… you!”

The next second, the fleshy fat in the room suddenly extended countless rotting flesh tentacles, coiling towards Shen Ge. With a thump as the door slammed shut, Shen Ge’s consciousness completely vanished into darkness.