Evans wiped his face.
He roughly smoothed out the overflowing black liquid, which quickly retracted like a living thing and burrowed beneath his skin.
His flesh solidified once more, and his skin gradually regained a healthy color.
At least his face looked normal now.
He stood up irritably, and a tentacle whipped out from the black liquid at his feet, pulling the door open with a loud bang.
“Morning, lazy—”
Outside the door, the Sword-man's greeting was cut short, the word “bones” dying in his throat at the sight before him.
“Holy crap!”
The Sword-man let out a cry of shock.
In Ren Yi's perception, the Sword-man was standing at the doorway, one hand still raised in a knocking position, while the other dragged a massive burlap sack.
The sack was bulging, stuffed with an unknown quantity of items, its mouth tied shut with a thick hemp rope. Rustling sounds came from within, as if living things were crawling around inside.
But the Sword-man's attention was completely elsewhere now.
His expression was, honestly, one of the most priceless looks Ren Yi had ever seen on his face.
His eyes were wide as saucers, his mouth gaped open wide enough to fit a fist, and he was leaning backward at a nearly forty-five-degree angle, just a hair's breadth from falling flat on his rear.
“What on earth are you doing?!”
The Sword-man's voice cracked, skyrocketing from his usual lazy, deep baritone straight into a panicked soprano as he pointed in terror at the scene inside the room.
“Why did you explode??”
"Evans" was everywhere in the room, covering the floor, walls, and ceiling, making the entire space look like the innards of some colossal organism.
The surface of the black liquid churned and boiled, occasionally swelling into massive bubbles before collapsing back down, resembling a vat of boiling asphalt.
Right in the center of the room, a thin black pillar about the width of an arm rose from the floor, extending straight up into midair.
Resting on the very top of the pillar was a head... Evans's head.
The head balanced on the pillar like a meatball skewered on a chopstick, floating there and glaring toward the doorway with an utterly disgruntled expression.
To be perfectly honest... the sight was indeed quite a shock to the system.
Even the Sword-man, who was well-accustomed to all kinds of bizarre anomalies, felt his heart skip a few beats at this moment.
Evans's expression twitched slightly. His head rotated a quarter-turn on the pillar and rolled its eyes.
It simultaneously conveyed his annoyance of "Are you out of your mind, pounding on the door this early?" while maintaining his haughty attitude of "I can't be bothered to argue with you."
“And whose fault is it that someone started pounding on the door so early?” his floating head grumbled irritably. “I haven't finished getting ready yet. Give me a minute.”
Before he could even finish speaking...
Bang!
The door slammed shut with such force that it rattled in its frame, nearly flattening the Sword-man's nose.
Inside the room, Evans rapidly began "getting ready."
The head dropped from the pillar and rolled in the black liquid. The fluid surged and swelled, propping the head back up.
He swiftly rose from the sea of black liquid, which obediently receded from his skin, contracting and vanishing until he quickly regained a complete human form.
Ren Yi hovered in midair, watching the performance.
When Evans had opened the door earlier, Ren Yi had astutely shrunk into the blind spot behind the door, pressing his misty form flat against the wall.
The two of them exchanged a brief look.
Once Evans was finished "getting ready," Ren Yi very sensibly hid inside an inconspicuous lining of Evans's clothes.
Within ten seconds, the entire room transformed from a horror movie set back into a mundane rented room.
Evans adjusted his collar, brushed off nonexistent dust with a great sense of ceremony, and pulled the door open.
“Come in.”
The Sword-man was still standing at the door, frozen in his backward-leaning posture.
He blinked, hesitated for a moment, and peeked inside. The room was spotless, the walls clean, and the bed neatly made.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a warm yellow patch on the floor. Everything was as normal as could be.
He stepped inside.
He looked outside, then back inside, opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately said nothing.
Only then did Evans notice the massive burlap sack the Sword-man had dragged in.
The sack was heavy, leaving a faint drag mark on the floor. The Sword-man had dumped it onto the ground upon entering.
Right now, the sack was squirming and twisting on the floor, as if something inside was struggling.
“What is all this?” Evans frowned.
The Sword-man slumped into a chair, the terror on his face finally fading, replaced by a look of deep resentment.
“What is it?” He arched an eyebrow, gesturing with his chin toward the writhing sack on the floor. “Your breakfast, of course.”
Evans was taken aback, but quickly realized. These were the "supplements" Pops had promised him—namely, the Anomalies they had no use for.
“This many?” He crouched down, squeezing the sack. Feeling the hard, solid shapes inside, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
“This looks like way more than ten.”
“Don't worry,” the Sword-man said with a proud look. “I went and asked Pops, and then I grabbed all the 'trash' in the warehouse for you.”
He held up two fingers in a peace sign.
“Not a single one of them is of any use. You can eat them all!”
Evans stared at him, utterly speechless.
How on earth was that reassuring?! And since when was that something to be proud of?
He sighed, squatted beside the sack, untied the hemp rope, reached his hand inside, and pulled out an Anomaly.
It was a transparent glass bead only the size of a cherry, perfectly round and smooth, refracting delicate rainbows in the sunlight.
Sealed in the center of the glass bead was a tiny red spider. Every single leg was visible in exquisite detail, its eight legs slightly curled in a lifelike posture.
“What is this?” he asked, holding the glass bead up to his eyes and turning it around.
At the same time, Ren Yi's Assessment System panel began to flicker, rapidly scrolling through lines of text.
【Anomaly File: A-051】
【Anomaly Danger Level: A-rank】
(Note: Who on earth categorized this thing here? Does it even deserve this rank? Well, considering the massive death toll it has caused, it is somewhat justifiable.)
【Alias: Beauty Bead】
【Physical Description】:
A transparent glass bead approximately 1.5 cm in diameter, containing a sealed red eight-legged arthropod (suspected to be a mutant species of the spider genus).
【Containment Record and Anomalous Properties】:
1. This Anomaly possesses the trait of parasitizing the human body. The method of parasitism is oral ingestion; it cannot infect through any other transmission route.
Once parasitic, it is virtually harmless and does not cause any physiological damage to the host.
Upon the host's death, the Anomaly can be retrieved from the corpse completely intact without affecting its subsequent use.
2. Upon successful parasitism, the Anomaly will significantly enhance the host's attractiveness to other individuals, as well as their mating desires and appetite.
Special Note: This applies to any individual with self-will (regardless of gender, species, or whether they possess a physical body), including but not limited to humans, animals, and conscious Anomalies.
【Containment Procedures】:
No individual is permitted to make contact with this Anomaly alone. A locked muzzle must be worn at all times during contact, with the key kept in the hands of an external supervisor.
Following contact, a minimum of 72 hours of isolation and observation is required. Restrictions may only be lifted after confirming there is no abnormal behavior.
【Utility Potential Assessment】: Medium
Ren Yi's tentacles curled silently inside the clothing lining.
His attention was somewhat uncontrollably drawn to the final few lines of the "Anomalous Properties" section in the file.
Enhance attractiveness... mating desires... appetite... any individual with self-will... regardless of species...
How did these traits lead to a "massive death toll"?
Rate on N.U.
