At seven in the morning, the 8:00 AM biological clock Ren Yi had cultivated over two lifetimes woke him up.
He reflexively tried to use his hands to push himself up from the bed, only to realize... he didn't have any hands.
As his memories flooded back, Ren Yi began to recall the world-shattering events of yesterday.
After his brother had heartlessly refused to help him yesterday, it hadn't taken more than a few seconds for him to collapse back into a "blob," and then he had simply snapped and fainted.
The sound of pots and pans clattering in the kitchen was exceptionally clear to his brand-new senses. After taking a few minutes to organize his thoughts, Ren Yi decided to go out for breakfast first.
Besides, he had many things he needed to ask Ren Man.
However, he suddenly realized that in his current state—lacking both hands and feet—the bed, which was only half a meter high, was like a natural chasm to him.
He reflexively intended to call for Ren Man to save him, but only managed to let out a series of "woo woo" sounds.
Great. He couldn't find his mouth again.
Creak. Just as Ren Yi was struggling, he heard the sound of the door being pushed open.
Ren Yi's 360-degree vision clearly showed Ren Man walking in, carrying a steaming breakfast.
"Come, eat," he said in his usual slow, mild tone.
"..." How exactly was he supposed to eat?
Ren Yi tried to control his body to swing, wiggle, or make any sound, but having just woken up, he was physically a disorganized mess.
He could only pull, pull, and pull his perspective toward Ren Man, using his gaze to grab onto him for help.
Ren Man placed the breakfast on the nightstand and looked down at his grotesquely shaped younger brother.
He understood.
Then he said flatly, "...I can't."
The silence in the air was enough to make anyone panic.
Ren Yi even began to suspect that Ren Man had temporarily turned off his "human empathy" function as well.
In that eerie silence, Ren Yi's phone rang.
Ren Yi's perspective automatically switched toward the sound, as if there were a surround-view camera installed in the room. The experience was so strange it made his scalp tingle, but he no longer had the energy to stay panicked.
Video Call: Old Lu, My Son.
Ren Man glanced at Ren Yi's obvious "answer it, answer it, answer it" gaze and let out a soft sigh.
He answered the phone and, following Ren Yi's frantically swinging perspective, knowingly placed the phone by the bed at an angle that would absolutely not capture Ren Yi's current appearance.
"Hello?" Lu Zihan's voice came through the phone.
Ren Man looked at the phone, then at Ren Yi, realizing he had been played.
"...Just this once."
As he spoke, he reached out and fumbled with Ren Yi's body. Soon, with a soft click, a mouth module was automatically "loaded" onto Ren Yi's face.
It was as if an electronic component had suddenly been plugged into a socket; the organ switched from a "not callable" state to "enabled."
Ren Yi took a breath, nearly startling himself with his sudden ability to breathe.
"You two talk," Ren Man said before stepping out and gently closing the door.
Ren Yi used his current perspective to peek at the phone from an impossible angle.
The screen was black, but the camera light indicated it was on.
The voice from the other side came through.
"Hello? Stool? I... uh... my phone camera is broken."
So fake.
Ren Yi sneered inwardly.
Trying to sneak a peek at my current look? In your dreams.
He tested the waters: "Oh, my screen seems stuck too. Why am I just seeing the ceiling? Forget about that for now. How was the test, Old Lu?"
Lu Zihan fell silent for a second before his tone turned forcedly casual. "Cough, it wasn't ideal. My parents put me through the wringer. You know, yesterday they... haha... well... what about you?"
"Me?" Ren Yi looked "down" at himself and decided to be somewhat honest. "I got beaten 'flat' by my brother."
"I see..." Lu Zihan made a sympathetic sound. "Me too. My parents 'twisted' my head off."
"Oh," Ren Yi responded emotionlessly. He knew Lu Zihan wouldn't be able to hold back for long.
Sure enough, Lu Zihan soon couldn't contain himself. "So, Stool, you saw that thing, right? The Alliance letter."
Ren Yi decided to stop teasing him. "Fine. If I hadn't seen it, your parents and my brother probably wouldn't have let us call each other."
"So what do you look like now? Let me see."
If Ren Yi had a head right now, it would be covered in black lines.
"You turn on your camera first."
"Haha," Lu Zihan laughed awkwardly before his tone shifted, sounding a bit lost. "Stool, you've always been the one with the ideas. What do you think we should do?"
Ren Yi was silent for a moment before answering, "I don't know."
"I'm not doing much better than you, Old Lu."
"But... I trust my brother."
"Yeah," a slow response came from the other end. "I trust my parents too, but..." Lu Zihan's voice suddenly sounded a bit grit-teethed.
"Stool, you have no idea. My parents put on this huge performance in front of me yesterday. My mom turned into a monster, couldn't control her body, and was crying while saying she was going to eat my dad. I tried to go hug her, only to find that I... I... anyway, they were still laughing at me this morning."
"Uh, that just means your family atmosphere is pretty good." Ren Yi mentally offered a prayer for his best friend. Luckily, his own brother... wait, no!
He suddenly realized. Those eyes, the thing blocking the sun, making him watch the news... was that all just his brother messing with him?
The more Ren Yi thought about it, the more he—or rather, his Anomaly self—felt unwell.
He gave Lu Zihan a brief summary of his experience, which naturally earned him Lu Zihan's pity. "Looks like we really are brothers in misery."
"Let's not talk about those unhappy things. Stool, have you surfed the web yet?"
Lu Zihan instantly reverted to his usual boisterous self.
Ren Yi's heart stirred. "What, you've already checked it?"
"Yeah! Go browse it quickly. The stuff on there is so interesting!" Lu Zihan said with unusual excitement.
You think I don't want to browse? Ren Yi wriggled sadly.
But he suddenly realized something. This beast Old Lu probably had hands!
Comparison was the thief of joy. He was jealous!
They spoke for a bit longer before Lu Zihan realized Ren Yi was eager to go, so he quickly ended the conversation.
"Oh, right," Lu Zihan suddenly said before hanging up. "My mom told me to tell you that I'm still going to that summer job at my uncle's place. There's a spot left for you. She said to ask your brother if he wants to come check it out."
Wait, isn't the speed of returning to normal life a bit too fast?
Or was this also a part of returning to normal life?
Ren Yi's heart skipped a beat. "I'll ask my brother. Thank your mom and uncle for me."
"No problem. Bye."
The call ended. During the conversation, Ren Yi had finally managed to "tidy" himself up. He extended two tentacles to pick up his phone and breakfast.
Today's breakfast was a scallion pancake. It seemed Ren Man had considered Ren Yi's current situation; if it had been congee or noodles that required "complex tools," Ren Yi would have been at a loss.
Ren Yi opened his mouth and bit into a corner of the pancake. The scene was so bizarre he almost wanted to call the police on himself.
A lifeform with a shape so weird it defied logic, using non-existent mechanical structures to grab food and swallow it bit by bit.
What was even weirder was that this lifeform was using tentacles to scroll through a phone.
The browser icon hadn't changed, but the familiar apps had turned into Anomaly-hu, Anomaly-ba, Anomaly-station, Anomaly-bo... He realized his change in "vision" probably wasn't just limited to his sight.
He first clicked on Anomaly-bo, and saw that the top trending topic was:
《Understand "Anomaly Grading" in Five Minutes》
Rate on N.U.
