Chapter Ninety-One: Complete Release

"Headquarters! The mental-intensity monitoring team at Livelihood Mall has urgent intelligence! The anomaly's mental intensity is surging again! The readings are climbing at an alarming rate!"

"What? Wasn't it already leveling off?"

At the headquarters of the Anomaly Response Department, the intelligence officer on duty stared blankly at the growth chart sent back by the frontline team. A wave of panic spread through him. Even seasoned professionals with years of experience were stunned by this latest result.

"It has already broken the eight-thousand mark! Requesting an upgrade of the target anomaly's mental-intensity rating to C-plus! N-no... no... the value is still rising!"

The reporter from the frontline team could not keep his voice from trembling. He looked again and again at the monitoring device before him, trying to confirm whether it had malfunctioned, but after repeated checks he found that the instrument was perfectly fine, while the anomaly's mental intensity continued to surge wildly.

"Wait! The source of the rise isn't the Livelihood Mall anomaly previously identified. A new anomalous source has appeared inside the mall!"

"Mental intensity—B-rank!!!"

"Notify Captain Fu at once!"

...

In truth, there was no need for headquarters to relay the message. Inside the cordon, Fu Ying, Warmhearted Man, and the others had already felt that sudden burst of mental intensity, which in an instant had soared to an unimaginable level.

Anomaly walkers are born with a sensitivity to anomalies far beyond that of ordinary people. More than cold numbers on a display, they can directly feel the heart-stopping, oppressive aura of the uncanny.

And a B-rank anomalous aura was enough to affect even the city guards at the edge of the cordon in a way visible to the eye. Fear climbed across every soldier's face, and the professional training they had received over the years seemed to vanish in that instant.

Instinctive terror made them forget even the weapons beside them. Even if an order to fire were given now, no one would obey.

They had even forgotten how to flee.

Director Qiu, whose body had been empowered by Fu Ying's ability, also stopped moving. Under the influence of that suddenly emerged, brutal anomalous aura, he was sprawled on the ground, shaking violently. The frenzy in his eyes had dimmed by more than half, and with trembling fingers he could barely keep trying to write his report on the floor.

But what he wrote were only crooked, distorted marks.

"F-Fu sis..." Zhuguang shrank his neck and gripped Fu Ying's hand tightly, trembling as he asked, "What's going on? Why has such a powerful anomalous aura suddenly appeared inside the mall? We... we can't handle this at all!"

Fu Ying gave no answer, but Warmhearted Man had gone deathly pale, his eyes already red. He paid no attention to the others and kept muttering under his breath:

"Damn it... damn it, my partner! My partner! Qichen... please don't let it be you losing control. Please, don't lose control!"

He could feel it. This terrifying anomalous aura was strangely familiar. It belonged to Qichen, to the Tyrant.

...

"Embrace us! You will make us stronger! We will make you all-powerful!"

With the White-Faced Mask's final words still ringing in his ears, Qichen finally made up his mind and completely opened his heart.

In the past, he had indeed kept some wariness toward the Tyrant. But it was not aimed entirely at the Tyrant itself; as the White-Faced Mask had said, he was simply afraid of becoming a madman with nothing left in his heart but rage.

He did not want that.

Yet the White-Faced Mask's words made him realize something. Perhaps there was no need to worry about it.

After all, reality had already proved that even after he and the Tyrant had become one, there had been a time when he remained fully rational.

And more than once, beneath the Tyrant's fury, which seemed able to burn the whole world, he had sensed another, gentler thing hidden within.

Why not believe in it, just this once?

Even during that first, somewhat out-of-control fusion with the anomaly, it seemed that neither he nor the Tyrant had harmed a single innocent person.

"ROAR!!"

Within the wild roar was a trace of release and relief that had never been there before. His already exaggerated body swelled even further, and by now Qichen looked like a giant three meters tall.

All the clothes on his body were torn to shreds by the expanding frame, though below the waist there now appeared a skirted armor much like the Tyrant's, resembling the armor of an ancient elite warrior.

This muscle-bound monster looked coldly at the amber anomaly not far away. When his gaze touched that twisted black-and-white mask, a humanlike fear actually surfaced on the amber creature's face.

It was afraid.

Boom!

So fast that even a lingering afterimage could not be seen, the fist had already landed on the amber figure before the ear-splitting crack of the sonic burst reached them.

The amber anomaly was smashed straight into the ground, driven several meters deep. Trembling all over, it tried to crawl out of the pit, but a foot wrapped in immense force came down immediately and stomped on it.

A sunken footprint instantly appeared on its body.

Only after he completely let go of himself did Qichen realize that the Tyrant also possessed its own unique power, and its own anomalous domain.

There can be only one tiger on a mountain. The Tyrant's special ability was to inflict double damage on other anomalies within its domain.

Its power was designed to counter anomalies.

In an instant, some sticky, unidentified liquid began seeping from beneath the amber anomaly, and the mental intensity that had been rising steadily before suddenly began to fall.

"Hiss!" With its face twisted, it opened its mouth and emitted a sharp screech. One could vaguely hear a pleading note within it. The amber anomaly raised both hands and kept slapping at the foot pressing down on it like the hand of a great mountain, but whether it struggled with its own strength or launched a mental-force attack, the foot upon its body remained motionless, like a tower.

Pfft!

Its arms actually began to melt on their own, and the melted parts were all sprayed toward Qichen by the amber anomaly.

He did not dodge. He let it splash all over him. A sweetness of extraordinary richness blossomed in his heart, so beautiful it nearly made Qichen set aside the fierce killing intent burning within him.

Yet before his eyes flashed the children who had eaten candy with truly innocent smiles.

"Your sweetness is filthy."

Crack!

He drove down with furious force. A B-rank mental intensity held an almost overwhelming advantage over C-rank, not to mention that the Tyrant was itself the pure embodiment of brute force.

With a single stomp, the amber anomaly was nearly torn apart.

Two streams of tears, carrying a sweet scent, slid from its eyes. The human emotion shown by this anomaly was astonishing.

But Qichen's expression did not change. In a calm yet merciless voice, he said:

"What are your tears worth?

"When the citizens were crying, what were you doing? Squeezing every last drop of flesh and blood out of them?"

Images rose in his mind of what he had seen on the way to Livelihood Mall: the people wailing and sobbing, the victims huddled in corners in silent tears, the special task force officers and security personnel gritting their teeth and holding back their own tears while still fighting on the front line.

Compared with their tears, the amber anomaly's tears only made Qichen want to vomit.

Its tears were sweet, but the sweetness was bitter.

"ROAR!!!"

A rough, thunderous roar shot straight into the sky, and then the mall slowly fell silent.