Ren Yi was just about to ask more when something suddenly brushed against his chest. It was a sensation of fullness, like an overflowing warmth spreading through his entire body.
It felt as if he had just inhaled a lungful of warm air.
Ren Yi froze. "...Brother, I feel a bit strange."
Ren Man, who was pouring water, looked up at him upon hearing this.
Ren Yi stared at his hands for a moment but found nothing unusual. Then, a thought struck him, and he hurriedly opened the Anomaly Web.
【Name: Ren Yi
Rank: E (Progress 0/100)
Rules and Abilities: Not Recorded
Family: Ren Man
Profession: Cub
Status: Advancing, Energy Overflowing】
Ren Yi's eyes immediately locked onto that bright, clear 'E.' He was stunned for three seconds. "Brother... I think I... leveled up?"
Ren Man leaned over to look at the screen. Both brothers fell into a long silence.
"Indeed." Ren Man scrutinized Ren Yi for a long time before slowly asking, "What did you eat?"
"I didn't eat anything! I didn't do anything at all!" Ren Yi insisted that he was being wrongly accused. Aside from speaking, he hadn't even opened his mouth.
"Maybe you accidentally ate something," Ren Man concluded. "Wait for the results."
He was right. The test results were about to be released anyway, and they would soon find out what he had accidentally "ingested."
Ren Yi continued to refresh the results page. According to the official announcement, the results were supposed to be released at ten o'clock.
However, it was now 10:01 AM, and the interface still read: "Results generating, please refresh and try again."
Ren Man frowned.
10:05 AM.
10:10 AM.
10:15 AM.
The interface was more stable than Ren Yi's humanoid form. Wait, was that a bad analogy?
Ren Man took out his phone and tapped a few times. Ren Yi saw the words "Dr. Lin" appear in large characters on the screen.
Ren Man turned on the speakerphone. After a few rings, there was a click as the call was picked up. Dr. Lin's extremely tense voice immediately blared through the speaker.
"Uh, Ren Man, stay calm first. Listen to me."
Ren Man looked at his phone, then at Ren Yi.
"I am very calm."
Ren Yi detected a faint, almost imperceptible trace of confusion in his brother's steady voice.
"Good, stay calm. I know... something went wrong with Xiao Yi's test results, but don't panic."
"I'm not panicking." Ren Man looked even more bewildered.
"In any case, I'm at the clinic. The hospital is closed today, so bring him over here right away." Dr. Lin spoke at a rapid-fire pace, seemingly not hearing a word from the other end.
"...Okay," Ren Man replied.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to get him promoted to E-rank!" Dr. Lin vowed loudly over the phone.
Ren Yi couldn't listen anymore and spoke into the phone, "Dr. Lin, I've already—"
However, the call had already ended with a series of dial tones. "...reached E-rank."
The line was dead, leaving the two brothers staring at each other.
"Did something major happen on Dr. Lin's end?" Ren Yi asked Ren Man in confusion.
"He means something major happened to you."
Ren Man summarized, looking Ren Yi up and down until he felt a bit creeped out.
"Let's go see him." Ren Man quickly withdrew his gaze and stood up, gesturing for Ren Yi to get ready. He also looked somewhat perplexed. "At the very least, we need to figure out what your 'food' is."
The brothers headed out quickly, hopped onto the electric scooter again, and arrived at Dr. Lin's clinic twenty minutes later.
The clinic's glass door was ajar, and the place was empty. After knocking and receiving no answer, Ren Man familiarly pushed the door open and walked in.
They searched through three rooms before finding a helpless-looking Dr. Lin amidst a pile of bottles and jars. When he saw Ren Man, his blank expression gradually turned into one of utter despair.
He glanced at Ren Man, then jerked his gaze away as if pricked by a needle, focusing instead on Ren Yi. "Xiao Yi..." Dr. Lin said with a long face, "I've failed you."
"Dr. Lin," Ren Yi said, somewhat exasperated. "You're being too dramatic... I'm already E-rank."
"Huh...?" Dr. Lin froze for a few seconds, looking Ren Yi up and down before suddenly springing up from the floor. "Wait, you really are! How did you do it? That's impossible!"
"I was just waiting for the test results, and then I leveled up for no apparent reason," Ren Yi explained.
Even now, talking about this fantastical level-up process made him feel a bit speechless. What was the difference between this and "leveling up while lying down"?
"Impossible!" Dr. Lin suddenly shouted. "The Alliance couldn't possibly have your energy crystal!"
At that moment, Ren Man, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up calmly. "What is Xiao Yi's food?"
Dr. Lin flinched. He pondered for a moment before saying to Ren Yi, "Xiao Yi, go outside for a bit. I need to talk to your brother."
Ren Yi's mouth twitched. "Dr. Lin, what's with that expression? You look like you're telling a family member that I have a terminal illness."
Suddenly, Ren Yi felt the surrounding temperature drop slightly.
"...I'm really going to hit you," Ren Man said gloomily.
Ren Yi saw Dr. Lin shudder, as if recalling a very unpleasant memory. "Fine, fine, I'll talk. Xiao Yi, you know what our Anomaly food is, right?"
"Energy born from following certain rules?" Ren Yi answered.
"Correct. Our strength as Anomalies is built on following our own rules. There are roughly a few major categories." Dr. Lin nodded, seemingly getting into the spirit of things as he began a long explanation.
"The first type, and also the most common, is the Rule-triggering urban legend."
"To give a few simple examples: some Anomalies have a behavioral pattern where 'anyone who looks into its eyes will have their throat slit.' Others are 'heartless people shall have their hearts gouged out,' or 'powerful people will be struck by lightning.'"
Good grief, what was that last one? A heavenly tribulation?
"Their characteristic is that their rule-based abilities can only be used against those who trigger the rule."
"For this type of Anomaly, triggering the rule is their way of feeding. Each successful execution of a rule counts as one meal."
"The power ceiling and floor for this category vary wildly. The weak ones are easy to handle, but the strong ones are utterly unreasonable."
Ren Yi listened with great interest, so much so that he ignored the slight trace of resentment in Dr. Lin's tone.
"The second type is what we call the Ammunition-type. Simply put, every time they fulfill a rule, they obtain a 'bullet' of energy to use their ability."
"This ability doesn't have to be executed immediately, and the target can be chosen freely. It isn't limited to the individual who triggered the rule."
"I'll tell you about some powerful ones. For instance, 'every time someone lies to it, it accumulates one chance to Rewrite Reality,' or 'for every secret it learns, it can erase an object, a living being, or even a concept.'"
"It's worth noting that there is a limit to their ammunition capacity."
"The 'food' for these Anomalies is essentially their ammunition. For the two I just mentioned, they feed on 'lies' and 'secrets.'"
"You can think of each reload as one meal."
"The abilities of this type are very interesting, but they aren't actually very efficient. They are generally responsible for dealing with worlds that have powerful individuals."
Dr. Lin commented casually.
Rate on N.U.
