At the edge of the restricted zone, before the eerie spatial anomaly—

“Hey.” Deng Yuqi called out to Shen Ge, who was about to enter the anomaly with three technicians.

Shen Ge turned to look at her.

“Come back alive,” Deng Yuqi said seriously.

Shen Ge replied, “If I come back alive, can I get a month off?”

“Fine. Paid leave.”

“Generous.” Shen Ge gave her a thumbs-up, then walked to the entrance of the anomaly. Before stepping in, he glanced back at Deng Yuqi and added, “If I lose contact after entering, buy me 30 days. If there’s no response after that, do whatever you need to. But try not to send more people in before then—no need for extra casualties.”

“…”

The moment Shen Ge said this, the other agents standing behind Deng Yuqi nearly lost their composure.

Bro, have you considered that you might be the one walking into certain doom right now?

Where do you even get the confidence to say that about others?

“Come back alive,” Deng Yuqi repeated with a nod. Right now, all she could do was trust Shen Ge—trust that he could resolve this Level 4 supernatural event.

The anomaly they were dealing with was unusual. Unlike typical spatial distortions that required specific methods to breach, this one was more like an open invitation—easy to enter, impossible to leave.

No special preparations were needed. All Shen Ge and the others had to do was step inside.

Unlike Shen Ge, the three technicians weren’t quite as nonchalant. Though they were prepared to sacrifice themselves as soldiers, facing a space that “consumed” people still unnerved them.

Before they could fully brace themselves, Shen Ge strode straight in without hesitation, leaving them no time to hesitate.

“Hey!”

The three technicians hurriedly followed.

Given the unpredictable nature of these anomalies, even if they entered together, there was no guarantee they’d end up in the same place. Each technician carried equipment to set up a signal relay station.

As expected, the four of them appeared in different locations upon entering.

“A parking lot?” Shen Ge swept his rifle-mounted tactical flashlight around, revealing a dark, oppressive underground parking structure.

But it wasn’t quite a parking lot—more like an emptied-out office building, though the architecture was unlike any normal office.

“Hey, Director? Boss? Can anyone outside hear me?” Shen Ge tried contacting Deng Yuqi and the others via comms, but there was no response.

Next, he attempted to reach the three technicians using the special communicator provided by the Dianzhou division. Still nothing.

He had expected this outcome.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

A faint, rhythmic tapping echoed from ahead. Shen Ge aimed his flashlight down the seemingly endless corridor but saw nothing.

Suddenly, with a mechanical hum, rows of fluorescent lights flickered on overhead, illuminating the parking structure in a sterile white glow.

Yet, despite the brightness, the space remained eerily hazy, as if obscured by an unseen fog.

Then, for a fleeting moment, Shen Ge glimpsed a towering figure at the far end—so tall its head nearly brushed the ceiling, easily two or three meters in height.

Something that tall, in a place like this?

Definitely not human.

He checked through his rifle’s thermal scope. No heat signatures. When he looked back with his naked eye, the shadow was gone.

Rifle at the ready, Shen Ge advanced cautiously. The silence was suffocating, the oppressive atmosphere making it hard to breathe.

Further ahead, he noticed deep scratches covering the walls—like tally marks, methodically etched over and over.

“What is this?”

A count?

Could it be those mercenaries from the “Ghost Hunters”?

That was his first thought. Mainlanders usually tallied with the character “正,” not random slashes like this.

Shen Ge moved on.

After walking for nearly half an hour, he found no exit, no branching paths—just an endless stretch of corridor.

Then, faint voices reached his ears. One in particular stood out—one of the technicians who had entered with him.

He stopped, scanning the area, but saw no one. The voices lingered like whispers right beside him.

If he closed his eyes, it was as if they were standing there, talking.

Frowning, Shen Ge pressed forward.

Suddenly, his vision blurred. For a split second, he saw the three technicians ahead of him.

“Hey!”

“Stop!”

Click. He raised his rifle and fired a warning shot at the ground near one of them.

“Stop! Hey!”

They didn’t react, continuing their conversation as they walked.

Then, in another disorienting flash, they vanished—as if they had never been there at all.

Hallucinations weren’t uncommon in these anomalies.

But something felt off. Shen Ge had distinctly heard them discussing the signal relay station.

Meaning, the three might have actually regrouped and were attempting their mission.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Ge stood still, raised his right hand, and aimed his palm at the ceiling.

Invisible Domain—Collapse!

The space around him warped, turning translucent. Above, the ceiling cracked like shattering glass.

With a leap enhanced by his supernatural gear—the “Ghost Shoes”—he vaulted through the collapsing breach into the floor above.

Release.

Once his domain dissipated, Shen Ge surveyed his new surroundings. The layout was similar to the floor below, but with more twists and turns.

An office building?

Unlikely. No landlord would design something so unnervingly oppressive.

Rifle in hand, he continued exploring, only to loop back to his starting point within half an hour.

This floor had more branching paths, but no matter which direction he took, he always ended up where he began.

Ahead, a rusted chair sat in the middle of the empty hallway. Shen Ge righted it and took a seat.

Three hours in, and aside from the maze-like corridors, he hadn’t encountered a single person—or even a supernatural entity.

After a brief pause, he expanded his domain again, shattered the ceiling, and leaped upward—only to find himself back in the original parking structure.

The wall covered in tally marks stared back at him.

“Was this left by someone who kept looping back and marked it each time?” Shen Ge counted—over four hundred slashes.

Assuming each loop took hours, this was likely left by one of the earlier teams—possibly the mercenaries.

Either way, staying trapped here wasn’t an option.

“If you won’t let me out, I’ll just have to make my own exit.” Shen Ge pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade and tossed it forward.

BOOM!

The explosion rocked the structure, blasting a chunk out of a nearby pillar. But then, something horrifying happened—

Black liquid oozed from the damaged stone.