The three anomalies wearing red veils stood silently, surrounded by swirling mist. As gusts of eerie wind blew past, they let out strange laughter together...
Just then, the anomaly representing deception moved. She suddenly flashed behind Bai Ling, reaching for her neck.
Seeing this, Chi Xiaoyu nearby lifted her right foot and executed a spinning kick toward that anomaly. The moment Chi Xiaoyu struck the anomaly, she found it had disappeared.
'Was that just an illusion?'
"Ouch, why did you kick me? It hurts!"
Bai Ling crouched on the ground, holding the back of her head with a face full of grievance.
"I'm sorry! That anomaly representing deception can make people see illusions. I just saw her behind you..."
"In that case, could the three anomalies each have different abilities?"
"It seems so."
The other two anomalies hadn't moved yet.
The one named Deception kept circling around them, constantly flickering, and from time to time everyone would see images of teammates being attacked. Sometimes these were real, sometimes fake.
After a while, everyone had some injuries... all from attacks by their own teammates.
"This won't work."
Chi Xiaoyu panted.
"I can't take it anymore, meow."
Maomao began to grow larger, transforming into a giant over 10 meters tall. She stomped toward the distant anomaly named Deception.
Just then, the anomaly named Self-Blame moved.
She rushed over and blocked Maomao's giant foot, then burst into a cloud of smoke, teleporting with the Deception anomaly to a distant spot...
Seeing the second anomaly move, Bai Ling looked back at the one named Jealousy. She still stood quietly in place. After thinking, Bai Ling said:
"The Deception anomaly controls illusions, the Self-Blame anomaly protects teammates. Now we just need to know what the Jealousy anomaly is jealous of."
The giant Maomao kept stomping at the constantly moving anomalies, destroying nearby houses...
Seeing Maomao chasing the anomalies and getting closer to her, Bai Ling ran while shouting:
"Stop stomping! You've been deceived!"
In Maomao's view, Bai Ling was the Deception anomaly. Just as Maomao was about to stomp down with all her might, five small cats came out of Bai Ling's backpack.
"Meow?"
Seeing those cats, Maomao suddenly realized her mistake and pulled back her foot.
"How are we supposed to fight like this, meow?"
"Meow meow!"
"That works!"
Everyone had a cat attached to them. Anyone with a cat was one of their own.
Now able to identify targets, Maomao charged toward the Deception anomaly again. Bai Ling also concentrated a beam of blood light and kept firing at her.
At first, the anomaly just kept dodging, but then music began to play around the small village—the sounds of a wedding ceremony came floating through the air.
The three anomalies glowed red and smiled sinisterly. Bone spikes shot from Deception's hands toward Chi Xiaoyu.
Seeing this, Bai Ling stood in front of Chi Xiaoyu and was pierced by several bone spikes.
Bai Ling winced, covering her wounds.
"Are you okay?!"
Chi Xiaoyu hurried forward to support Bai Ling.
"I'm fine. It'll heal soon."
Bai Ling's wounds healed at a visible rate, leaving a pool of deep red blood on the ground.
Just then, the anomaly named Jealousy moved. She made a series of grinding teeth sounds...
"Why did you save her!"
Her red veil lifted slightly, and a bone spike extended from her mouth, reaching dozens of meters in length. Bai Ling quickly dodged to the side, but was still pierced by the incredibly fast bone spike. Bai Ling's shoulder was impaled, leaving a pool of blood... She fell unconscious.
Seeing this, Chi Xiaoyu quickly called out:
"Thunder Anomaly!"
A black smoke rose, and a female anomaly covered in thunder clouds appeared.
"Kehehe, you finally decided to summon me."
Chi Xiaoyu endured intense dizziness.
"Help me buy some time!"
"Fine."
Thunder clouds began to sweep through the entire small village. Masses of black fog surged forth, and the three anomalies were also enveloped in this black fog. No one could do anything to each other.
Maomao had chased the Deception anomaly far away...
As Chi Xiaoyu was calling out to Bai Ling, festive music could be heard from around them.
The three female anomalies emitted a ripple of blood energy, dispersing the surrounding fog. The three female anomalies sat together, and their veils were slowly removed—revealing three faces half-eaten by maggots, with maggots squirming in their eye sockets and blue lips. They were clearly three corpses, but half of the face of the middle one representing Jealousy had already turned into normal skin...
"So the Jealousy anomaly is your main body now."
"Hehehe, you're all about to die anyway, so what does it matter if you know? I'm going to turn you into my flesh and blood."
The Deception anomaly said carelessly.
Maomao returned for a sneak attack and stomped toward the Jealousy anomaly.
"Take that, so smug, meow!"
"Oww, that hurts."
Maomao felt as if she had stepped on nails and quickly lifted her foot. She couldn't even maintain her giant form anymore and crouched on the ground, trembling...
"Hmph, a C-grade anomaly, you dare stomp on me?"
Just as the three anomalies were about to attack, the sound of a helicopter came from above.
"Captain Chi, your exoskeleton!"
A box was thrown down, and then the helicopter continuously fired at the anomalies from high above.
Chi Xiaoyu quickly stepped into it. A series of mechanical collision sounds were heard as a full-body exoskeleton armor formed. She drew the large sword from the back of the armor.
"Thunder Anomaly, attach!"
The anomaly wrapped in lightning attached to the armor. The originally silver-white mech now shone with waves of lightning.
With each step, it left a black electrical burn mark on the ground.
"Thunder Slash!"
With Chi Xiaoyu's shout, her form flashed like lightning, leaving only an afterimage in place. A slash imbued with thunder struck the head of the Jealousy anomaly. A crisp bone-breaking sound was heard as the head crashed to the ground.
Seeing this, the Deception anomaly suddenly laughed.
"Heehee, she's dead."
The Deception anomaly picked up the head with half a face and frantically devoured it, maggots and all, gobbling it down. She then grew two-thirds of a face.
"Now I'm halfway to becoming a B-grade anomaly!"
"Aren't you the same person?"
Chi Xiaoyu frowned, asking the strengthened Deception.
"We are the same person. You killed this main body, so now I'm the main body, heehee."
The Self-Blame anomaly looked at her dead companion on the ground and emitted a series of cries.
The sound seemed to pierce through people's minds, making Maomao and Chi Xiaoyu cover their ears.
Just as the anomaly tried to approach Chi Xiaoyu who was covering her ears.
The blood that Bai Ling had shed on the ground began to gather. Bai Ling slowly stood up, sitting on a throne formed of blood... She slowly opened her eyes, those crimson orbs filled with disdain and killing intent.