BFET Chapter 2

Anomaly

Anomaly

God said He loved the world and so shed a tear. – New Collection Electronic Newspaper, Vol. 16, Front Page, “Doomsday Theory”

“Huff… huff…”

A black-hooded youth gasped for breath, running swiftly amidst the ruined walls.

Not far behind him, a dark shadow was closing in.

Suddenly, the youth cried out in alarm, stumbled, and pitched forward, his hood falling off from the momentum, revealing a head full of snow-white hair.

Before the youth could react to the sharp pain of his knees hitting the ground, a hoarse screech pierced his eardrums—

Behind him, a mud-gray creature over ten feet tall reared up, its head splitting open to reveal rows of sharp teeth, arching its back for a moment before lunging at him!

In the blink of an eye, the thing was right behind the youth!

The change happened in that instant.

The thing’s open mouth twisted, emitting a shrill cry, its entire body inexplicably crashing into the nearby ruins.

Dust and debris from the collapsing ruins filled the air, and a figure flashed past.

Then, the creature in the ruins abruptly began to struggle!

The sounds of collapsing walls intertwined with the creature’s piercing cries.

Dust billowed, enveloping the surroundings.

Gradually, the sounds from the creature weakened, and its frantic struggles quieted.

As the dust settled, the hidden scene in the ruins was revealed.

The mud-gray creature lay in the ruins, its tail twitching faintly before falling still.

Standing near its head was a person.

The person was dressed in black, one foot on the mud-gray creature’s body, a gloved hand gripping a knife, which was now stabbed firmly into the creature’s head, tearing towards its abdomen. The ruins beneath him were covered in thick, tar-like blood.

A stench like festering pus spread outward from the center.

Confirming that the thing beneath him was dead, Xie Yi forcefully pulled the knife from the corpse.

With his movement, more tar-like blood gushed out of the corpse, and the stench in the surrounding air seemed to intensify.

Shaking his hand, Xie Yi stepped back in disgust, his gaze falling on the corpse.

A Mud Nicra, a low-level subspecies of Mutated Entity.

Judging by its size, it was an adult, but the mucus it secreted lacked corrosive and toxic properties, indicating that it had not fully completed its adult transformation.

Why would something that lives deep in the Mid-Section Zone appear in the Peripheral Zone?

Xie Yi turned his gaze away from the corpse, glancing at the person he had just saved, about to speak when a rustling sound, like a soft-bodied creature quickly passing by, reached his ears!

Reflexively, Xie Yi leaped backward.

The next moment, a Nicra two or three times larger than the previous one crashed out of a pile of rocks, hissing as it slammed down on Xie Yi.

Perhaps because it had missed its intended prey, the Nicra grunted in dissatisfaction and swung its massive body before slowly rising.

With its movement, the area it had attacked was revealed.

It was damp and slowly emitting gray smoke.

The stench in the air seemed to thicken again.

The Nicra had no eyes, and it made several hissing sounds.

Its entire head to its upper abdomen split open, revealing dense, sharp teeth, facing Xie Yi as if it were staring at him.

Xie Yi still held the knife, and out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the figure still sitting on the ground.

He slightly rotated his wrist, the black blade facing outward, and a faint blue color slowly spread across his exposed wrist.

Before he could act, Xie Yi suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping to the side.

Soon, several equally massive Nicras emerged from the rubble, mouths gaping, revealing their sharp teeth, all staring at him.

Xie Yi: …

Eight adult Nicras, wasn’t the Mid-Section Zone enough for these things to roam?

Xie Yi clicked his tongue, quickly thinking as he retreated, but suddenly stopped.

He subconsciously turned his head.

Out of the corner of his eye, the figure who had been not far behind him was gone!

–When!

In that instant of Xie Yi’s distraction, as if it were a signal, the closest Nicra lunged at him, saliva dripping from its mouth!

As it moved, the other Nicras also rushed at Xie Yi, eager to be first!

As if if they were a second late, the food in their mouths would be gone.

The moment the intensely concentrated stench surrounded him from all directions, Xie Yi’s face could be described as colorful.

He deftly evaded the Nicra’s attack, his blade ruthlessly cutting through the creatures, and after stabbing through two Nicras whose mouths were almost touching his face, quickly broke free from the encirclement.

Xie Yi stood on the ruins, his expressionless face somehow conveying extreme displeasure.

There were obvious scorch marks on his clothes, covered in some thick liquid, and his face was also stained with a thin layer of blue, different in that this blue layer vaguely rippled with scale-like patterns.

Xie Yi looked at the Nicras that were charging again, noticing that their numbers had somehow increased since earlier.

With no intention of getting entangled, he turned and retreated towards the depths of the ruins.

The Nicras, having missed several times, shrieked in anger and chased after Xie Yi in a swarm.

Running without looking back towards the depths of the ruins, Xie Yi tapped his smart terminal and made a call. Soon, the sound of connection came through his earpiece: “Extraction halted, a lot of Nicras have appeared on the periphery. You retreat first, I’ll lead these things back to the Mid-Section Zone.”

The further into the ruins, the more remaining buildings there were, some of which were relatively complete.

Wild grass and vines, growing from some unknown crevice, relentlessly enveloped the remnants of the old city.

Xie Yi moved through these buildings as quickly as possible, using the terrain to maintain some distance from the Nicra swarm behind him.

Fog had risen around him at some point, and the previously numerous complete high-rise buildings in his field of vision were once again replaced by endless ruins, with countless towering trees with plank-like roots rising from them, and strange, withered vines intertwining and spreading across the ground.

As soon as he entered this area, Xie Yi immediately noticed that the sounds behind him had quieted down.

He stopped and turned around.

Less than fifty meters away, the group of Nicras that had been chasing him stopped, standing upright, anxiously looking at him from a distance, but no longer approaching.

Xie Yi pondered for a moment, then turned and entered the forest behind him, found a tree nearby to climb, used the dense branches and leaves to hide himself, and looked out at the Nicra group through the gaps again.

After they could no longer see him, the group became even more agitated. Xie Yi faintly heard them making continuous low growls, but they soon faded away.

They remained in place, not taking another step forward.

Xie Yi watched in silence for a long time, then turned to look behind him.

A black jeep was parked by the roadside.

A girl with a high ponytail leaned against the car door, looking down at the terminal on her wrist, then turned her head to look at the end of the road behind the car—

There, a dense iron fence blocked the way, covered with signs densely written with words like restricted area, no passage, enclosed zone, and danger.

After the girl looked down and turned her head countless times, a click finally came from the end of the road.

“Creak—”

With an old, grating sound, a gap opened in the dense iron fence, and then it was pushed open completely, and a tall figure walked out.

“Xie Yi!” The girl’s eyes lit up when she saw the person, and she jumped towards him.

However, she braked suddenly, covering her mouth and nose, and took a few steps back, saying in shock, “Why do you smell so bad!”

After saying that, she remembered the previous call and looked at Xie Yi with disbelief, “You actually went head-to-head with the Nicras, only you!”

“You Xue, if you say another word, you can walk back to the team later.” Xie Yi closed the fence behind him, scanned it with his terminal, and strode towards the jeep.

“?” You Xue covered her mouth and nose and followed Xie Yi, her voice muffled, “Why should I walk back? You should walk back! Me and the car are clean, you’re the source of the pollution!”

Ignoring You Xue’s mutterings, Xie Yi pulled open the driver’s side door and waved at her, saying with a smile that wasn’t a smile, “Are you sure?”

You Xue was about to reply with a “of course.”

She saw Xie Yi raise his hand, a string of keys hanging from his slender fingers.

“!!!” You Xue: Shameless! How could I be teammates with someone like you!

The jeep steadily drove onto the road back.

Forced to accept her fate, You Xue wore a mask that she pulled out from somewhere and sat huddled in the passenger seat, thanking her lucky stars that her biological evolution wasn’t in the direction of smell, listening to Xie Yi concisely explain what had happened in the enclosed zone.

The smart terminal on his wrist projected a virtual screen in front of her.

You Xue deftly tapped and drew on it with her fingertips: “So these things ended up staying in the Peripheral Zone?”

Xie Yi hummed in agreement.

“Strange.” You Xue flipped through the data in the terminal, “According to the collection results from the Fengjiang Enclosed Zone in the last six months, all sections have shown no anomalies in pollution indicators. Why would these things suddenly leave the Mid-Section Zone where they’ve been living for so long, and even be afraid to get close?”

Xie Yi’s fingers rubbed the steering wheel, and he suddenly asked, “Did you notice anything unusual in the Peripheral Zone?”

You Xue shook her head: “No, there were no anomalies in that area. The initial pollution value wavelength was also normal, so normal that it felt like we didn’t even need to do the next analysis.”

“File an application.” Xie Yi was silent for a moment, “We’ll go to the Central Zone this afternoon, including the Source of Pollution.”

Enclosed Zones are generally divided into the Peripheral Zone, Mid-Section Zone, and Central Zone.

The three zones are divided by pollution concentration. The further in, the higher the pollution indicators and the greater the concentration, and the higher the level of Mutated Entities. The Source of Pollution in the Central Zone is the extreme value of pollution for the entire Enclosed Zone.

Understanding Xie Yi’s suspicion, You Xue nodded: “Okay.”