Chapter 12
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The morning sun shone through the curtains, waking up people from their good dreams. In the bedroom, the young man buried his head in the quilt, his half-naked upper body revealing a thin layer of well-defined muscles, and the large green pajamas with red flowers he took off last night were half hanging off the bed.
Lou Yan covered his ears with the blanket, but Li Sanxin knocked on his door, calling out, “Yanzi, breakfast is ready!”
After several knocks, Lou Yan crawled out of bed with a suffocating expression on his face, his hair all over the place. “Got it.”
They slept late last night, so they all woke up late. Lou Yan thought it was only around eight or nine in the morning, but when he checked his phone, it was almost noon.
He sat on the edge of the bed for a while, then put on his slippers and went to the bathroom to freshen up.
Lou Yan was a frequent guest in Li Sanxin’s house, and his toothbrush, cup, and towel were neatly placed together in the bathroom.
As soon as the super-strong mint toothpaste touched his mouth, Lou Yan instantly woke up. After washing up, he went out to see that the others were already in the kitchen helping out with breakfast.
Li Sanxin was cooking. For breakfast, he made lean pork and preserved egg congee, big meat buns, and homemade pickles, all of which smelled delicious and made everyone’s mouths water.
It can be noticed that Lu Haoxiu had secretly cried last night, and his eyes were swollen like big red walnuts. But he still looked spirited, constantly praising Li Sanxin’s cooking from various angles, “Brother Li, how come you’re so talented? Whenever you have time, you should teach me! I don’t know how to do anything except cook instant noodles. Your skills are good enough to open a small stall. You could easily buy a house and a car with it. I’ve never seen anyone who can make big meat buns at home, not even my mom…”
Suddenly, he stopped talking non-stop and his face dimmed.
Everyone else acted as if they hadn’t heard. Li Sanxin handed him a bowl of porridge and smiled, saying, “If it tastes good, eat as much as you want. Put the porridge on the table first.”
Lu Haoxiu came back to his senses, “Okay!”
Lou Yan walked over slowly, stood next to Li Sanxin, and whispered, “Find a chance to give him some psychological counseling. I remember you studied psychology, right?”
Li Sanxin pondered, “Does pet psychology count?”
“…Pets have psychology too?” Lou Yan was speechless, then said, “Comfort him the way you comforted me when my father died.”
Li Sanxin glanced at him, not seeing any negative emotions on Lou Yan’s face, and nodded, “Okay.”
“And that Duan Zege,” Lou Yan frowned, instinctively feeling that Duan Zege was someone with a story, not simple, “Don’t trust him too much for now.”
Li Sanxin whispered to him, “I also feel like there’s something off about him. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him for a few days.”
After the four of them finished breakfast, they began to follow Lou Yan’s instructions and gather information about anomaly resurgence online.
Lou Yan, drinking coffee, occupied the most comfortable spot in the study with the computer, taking control of the situation, “The initial stage of anomaly resurgence is the easiest time to gather information. The internet isn’t chaotic yet, and there’s no time to suppress news. We can’t miss this opportunity. Gather as much information as possible, look at local forums and groups, regardless of whether it’s true or false, just note it down for now.”
Lu Haoxiu, munching on a meat bun, raised his hand while browsing his phone, “Brother Lou, I saw someone saying they encountered a farting doll on the roadside last night. Should we also record such strange supernatural phenomena?”
“…” Lou Yan’s temple twitched, and he asked with a forced smile, “What do you think?”
Lu Haoxiu hesitated, “Should we? Shouldn’t we?”
Li Sanxin suppressed a laugh and earnestly suggested, “We should record it. What if it’s like that Seize Life Phone, capable of killing people through farting?”
Lu Haoxiu actually believed it, slapping his thigh excitedly, “That makes sense!”
Duan Zege, playing with his phone while wearing a hat, chuckled, “If we record everything, won’t our hands get sore?”
Lou Yan suddenly remembered something he seemed to have forgotten, and after Li Sanxin finished speaking, he reacted immediately, his expression changing slightly, muttering, “F*ck.”
He almost forgot about the Seize Life Phone incident.
Lou Yan was about to get up, but coincidentally, a message popped up on the forum page on the computer, causing him to freeze in place.
“[There was a paranormal incident at Chengjiang University last night. It seems that thanks to this person, the students were able to survive. I’m telling the truth! Chengjiang University is really haunted!!! Everyone absolutely mustn’t go near Chengjiang University recently! If you can, leave immediately, Chengjiang City isn’t safe anymore!!!]”
Below was a blurry picture, likely taken in extreme panic.
In the background of the photo was a gloomy university building, littered with corpses, blood everywhere. In the remote corner of the lower left corner of the picture, there was a figure that Lou Yan was extremely familiar with. Silver long hair, slender figure, even though the features were blurry, those cold and merciless eyes, like a monster, pierced through the picture and brought Lou Yan’s attention to the person.
“Fu Xuezhou…”
Lou Yan’s hands slowly clenched into fists, staring at the picture. The despair and anger of being betrayed before death once again overwhelmed him, and intense emotions filled his mind, with only thoughts of killing Fu Xuezhou.
The power within him began to surge, and the boiling resentment in Lou Yan’s heart grew stronger. He involuntarily used that dangerous and unstable power, a sudden sensation of heat spreading throughout his body, as if he were on fire.
[Spiritual Power: 40/50]
Because of the full rest last night, his spiritual power instantly decreased by one-fifth.
Lou Yan suddenly woke up from his hatred, what happened?
Lu Haoxiu, sitting on the sofa, suddenly raised his hand, “Brother Lou, I saw someone saying they encountered a farting doll on the roadside last night. Should we also record such strange supernatural phenomena?”
Lou Yan frowned and looked at Lu Haoxiu. Didn’t he just ask this question?
He thought Lu Haoxiu was joking, but Li Sanxin, as if hearing it for the first time, made a reliable expression and joked, “We should record it. What if it’s like that Seize Life Phone, capable of killing people through farting?”
Lu Haoxiu suddenly realized, “That makes sense!”
… What’s going on?
Repeated words, repeated expressions, this scene completely overlapped with the previous one. Lou Yan’s temples throbbed, momentarily confused. Was this scene something he had already experienced or his illusion?
Could it be…
Lou Yan immediately turned to look at Duan Zege, his gaze sharp as a knife.
If all this was something he had just experienced, then the next thing would be Duan Zege speaking.
Duan Zege chuckled, “If we have to record everything, won’t our hands get sore… Lou Yan, what’s wrong?”
Li Sanxin and Lu Haoxiu looked at Lou Yan, seeing that his expression wasn’t right. Li Sanxin immediately stood up and walked quickly to Lou Yan’s side, “What’s wrong? Are you feverish? Why is your face suddenly red?”
Lou Yan didn’t answer him, his eyes fixed on the forum page on the computer.
After a few seconds, a message suddenly popped up on the forum with a picture and a sentence: “[There was a paranormal incident at Chengjiang University last night, it seems that thanks to…]”
Lou Yan immediately looked at the time in the lower right corner, one minute, from when Lu Haoxiu spoke to when this picture popped up, exactly one minute had passed.
Lou Yan slumped back in his chair, his breath hot, the lingering heat throughout his body reminding him that everything wasn’t just his imagination.
Li Sanxin frowned, reaching out to test Lou Yan’s forehead temperature.
Lou Yan still stared at the computer screen, his voice hoarse, “Is it very hot?”
“Yeah,” Li Sanxin’s face was serious, “Your face and neck are all red. Wait here, I’ll get some fever-reducing medicine and a cooling patch.”
He hurriedly left, and Lou Yan rubbed his temples, walking to the mirror in the bathroom.
In the mirror, he saw his own reflection, his long, narrow eyes, abnormally reddened lips, and slightly reddened skin, looking like he had just taken a hot bath. Lou Yan unbuttoned his shirt due to the heat, then washed his face and neck with cold water. The fiery sensation all over his body gradually subsided, but Lou Yan’s heart remained uneasy for a long time.
Fu Xuezhou is actually a student at Chengjiang University.
It turns out that at this time, Fu Xuezhou was actually in Chengjiang City, right beside him.
Footsteps hurriedly approached from outside, and Li Sanxin brought medicine and water for Lou Yan to swallow. Then, he took out a thermometer to measure Lou Yan’s temperature.
After Lou Yan finished measuring his temperature, all discomfort in his body had disappeared. Li Sanxin, puzzled, muttered to himself while turning the thermometer, “He didn’t have a fever… that shouldn’t be, is the thermometer broken?”
“The thermometer is fine,” Lou Yan said thoughtfully, “It should be because I used the anomaly power.”
The intense heat he just felt was the cost of using the anomaly power.
Time reversed one minute…
Lou Yan clenched his fists.
He had previously mentioned that talents related to time and space were extremely rare, and Lu Haoxiu’s “telekinesis” was already very rare. Being able to reverse time, undoubtedly, was a terrifying and extraordinary power. But Lou Yan knew that this kind of power was not enough to kill Fu Xuezhou.
The anomaly power he assimilated was so powerful that it could destroy the world. Lou Yan didn’t believe that merely reversing time by one minute was all it could do.
He still knew too little about the anomaly he assimilated. He just tried to search for information about the abandoned factory on the computer, but found nothing.
What exactly was the anomaly he assimilated? Why hadn’t he heard about this anomaly during the initial stages of anomaly revivals in his past life?
Most importantly, what abilities did this anomaly possess?
Lou Yan had a lot of questions but didn’t know where to find the answers.
Wait…
Lou Yan looked at Duan Zege, who stood at the back of the crowd with his hands in his pockets, seemingly isolated from them.
He still regarded Duan Zege, who mysteriously appeared at the abandoned factory, with caution. However, he had to admit that Duan Zege’s talent for “divination” was exactly what he needed right now.
“Duan Zege, can you help me divine the situation of the anomaly creature I assimilated yesterday?”
“Sure,” Duan Zege didn’t refuse. He took out tarot cards from his pocket and walked to the living room, “This is also a question I’m curious about.”
Duan Zege drew three cards from the tarot deck for Lou Yan. After examining the cards, he remained silent.
Li Sanxin’s right eyelid twitched twice, and he asked first, “How is it?”
“Wait a moment,” Duan Zege, without changing his expression, took out his phone and spent three yuan to buy an electronic interpretation of the tarot cards online. He compared the interpretation with the cards, “I suddenly forgot the meanings of these three cards.”
Everyone: “…”
Lou Yan’s mouth twitched, starting to doubt the reliability of Duan Zege’s talent.
After reading the interpretation, Duan Zege’s tone became more serious, “From the cards, it doesn’t look good. Lou Yan, the anomaly creature you assimilated last night is very terrifying, extremely terrifying.”
Lu Haoxiu asked cautiously, “How terrifying is it?”
Duan Zege looked at the cards seriously and said in a deep voice, “Its power is very complex. It should have assimilated many other anomaly creatures. You seem to have only assimilated one anomaly, but in reality, you have assimilated countless anomaly creatures. The anomaly power you are currently using is actually just the power of one of the anomaly creatures assimilated by this anomaly.”
Lou Yan furrowed his brows, feeling his heart sink.
Lu Haoxiu didn’t quite understand, “What does that mean? Is it good or bad?”
“It means that there is not just one anomaly waiting to revive inside of him.”
Duan Zege stared directly at Lou Yan and calmly said this terrifying sentence like a bombshell, “Undoubtedly, it’s more bad than good. This means that the danger of your anomaly revival is far greater than others, and the process of anomaly revival will be much faster than others. The anomaly power inside your body is currently maintaining a delicate balance. Once this balance is broken, the result will be very frightening. In the end, as long as there is one anomaly revival, all the anomaly inside your body will revive along with it.”
Li Sanxin cursed, “This is like carrying a bunch of bombs hanging on you.”
Lou Yan understood Duan Zege’s meaning. The power inside him was too powerful, so it was difficult to control. Just using the power to reverse time by one minute caused his spiritual power to instantly decrease by one-fifth. If Lou Yan wanted to use more anomaly power, then as long as he used this anomaly power once, his spiritual power would instantly drop to zero, and then the anomaly revival would happen, transforming him into an anomaly in an instant.
“Is there any way to slow down the speed of my anomaly revival?”
Duan Zege said, “I don’t know. But if you can reduce the number of times you use anomaly power, perhaps you can slow down the pace of anomaly revival.”
Lou Yan pursed his lips.
No one didn’t want to live, and Lou Yan also wanted to live very much. But in this dangerous world, wanting to live meant that one couldn’t avoid using extraordinary powers.
This couldn’t be solved by just running away.
Moreover, every day he didn’t kill Fu Xuezhou, sooner or later, everyone in this world would die in the fire he ignited.
“A single bomb is still a bomb, and a group of bombs is still a bomb,” Lou Yan said, “When it’s necessary to use it, I think I won’t have a choice.”
Li Sanxin knew Lou Yan’s temper and understood that this statement meant Lou Yan’s unwavering determination. Li Sanxin was angry but couldn’t muster the strength to scold Lou Yan. Lou Yan was right. When it was necessary to use this power to survive, how could he not use it because of fear of future anomaly revivals?
“This d*mn world,” Li Sanxin sighed, “I haven’t even witnessed the anomalies you guys are talking about, and I already feel like the apocalypse is approaching.”
Lou Yan patted his shoulder and smiled, “You’ll awaken an impressive talent too.”
Li Sanxin didn’t believe it, “Really?”
Lou Yan held up a big thumb to him, “Guaranteed.”
With that, Lou Yan stood up as if nothing had happened and returned to the computer desk.
In reality, his heart was not as calm as it seemed on the outside. Anyone who knew that there were countless anomaly creatures hidden inside their body would be restless and unable to ignore it. People were sometimes strange creatures; even though they had prepared to die, when there was a deviation between the planned death and the actual death, they still felt confused, afraid, and uneasy.
Will I turn into that anomaly creature?
Lou Yan recalled the anomaly in the abandoned factory, feeling a sincere aversion and fear.
Bloated, pitch-black flesh, covered in bone spurs all over the body, no semblance of humanity, and a stench of black water.
Sitting slumped in the moldy, crowded abandoned building, unable to speak a word, like a lump of meat paste.
It was too terrifying.
For Lou Yan, who had always been meticulous in his eating, dressing, and living, and had been pampered since childhood, such an ending was even more terrifying than death.
But when he saw Fu Xuezhou’s photo on the computer page, all this confusion, fear, and unease turned into a firm determination to kill.
As long as he could kill Fu Xuezhou and let him experience the despair of death, what else was there to fear?
However, the harsh reality was that his current anomaly power couldn’t kill Fu Xuezhou either.
What else could kill Fu Xuezhou?
Lou Yan’s desire to kill Fu Xuezhou became stronger and stronger. He couldn’t wait any longer. He knew he had to kill Fu Xuezhou as soon as possible.
This period of the initial anomaly revival was also the weakest time for Fu Xuezhou. If he couldn’t kill Fu Xuezhou during this time, d*mn it, in the later stages, Lou Yan would have an even harder time killing Fu Xuezhou.
Deep in thought, Lou Yan suddenly saw that the pictures of Fu Xuezhou on the forum were suddenly deleted, along with the discussions about the haunting of Chengjiang University.
It seemed that the higher-ups had realized it and started suppressing the information.
Lou Yan suddenly remembered something, stood up and left the study, quickly walking back to the bedroom.
Seize Life Phone!
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