They say I'm a world-destroying anomaly.

Chapter 3 Initial entry into the field

An hour later, the spacecraft arrived at Jiangyue Campus of Chengxing University, located on the other side of Chengxing Star.

It's currently summer vacation, and there aren't many people on campus. After the fungal outbreak, the Anomaly Management Bureau's personnel quickly implemented control measures across the entire campus.

With the assistance and coordination of the school, a large number of residential and commercial areas centered on the Jiangyue campus were also cleared and relocated within 24 hours.

After disembarking from the spaceship, the personnel in charge of the escort led Cheng Xu and Fu Chen to the top building of the floating building complex, namely the administration building of the Jiangyue campus.

A soldier in standard light full armor stood in front of the administration building, straightening his back and saluting the two men.

"Good day, sir! My name is Sun Yin, and I am the captain of the action team dispatched to Chengxing City by the Chengmingxing Branch. During the mission, my team and I will be under your full command."

"You're too kind." Cheng Xu quickly stepped forward and shook hands with him. "Captain Sun, what's the current situation with the fungal tide?"

Sun Yin made a "please" gesture: "The current observation report is ready. Please follow me."

His gaze inadvertently drifted past Cheng Xu and landed on Fu Chen, who was half a step behind. Their eyes met, and they both nodded almost imperceptibly.

Being assigned to the "observation position" closest to Cheng Xu by the Anomaly Management Bureau, Fu Chen's identity is certainly not that of an ordinary branch special operations officer.

His true identity is the same as Hu Zhou's; he is the captain of the "Blazing Fire" action team, who is on par with "Worker Bee" and is active on the front line against dangerous anomalies year-round.

Sun Yin, standing in front of him, was the deputy captain of the action team and Fu Chen's right-hand man. All the personnel responsible for controlling this area were replaced by members of the Blazing Fire Action Team.

The three of them went to the top floor of the administration building, which was originally a large conference room but had been requisitioned as the temporary command center of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs.

Cheng Xu and Fu Chen sat down at the conference table. Sun Yin walked to the front of the conference room, activated the virtual projection, and outlined a miniature image of a floating building covered in fungi.

Sun Yin began to narrate:

"Five days have passed since the outbreak of the fungal wave. We have determined the general situation in the building through instrument scanning, live detection and other means."

His hands moved and pulled across the projection, adjusting the size and angle of the simulated projection.

"The biological activity of fungi increases from the lower to the upper floors of a building. Based on this information, we speculate that the anomaly that triggered this fungal proliferation is likely located on the top floor."

According to information provided by the School of Life Sciences, the building is the school's teaching building, and the upper floors contain several laboratories that mainly study fungi.

"According to the vice dean in charge of scientific research, the fungal species growing inside and outside the floating building are basically the same as the research subjects of the faculty and students of the college."

Cheng Xu frowned.

In other words, the wild-growing fungi did not originate from the outside world, but were originally distributed in various laboratories and rapidly multiplied due to abnormal influences.

"The fungus grows relatively slowly on the first day after the anomaly occurs."

"After the school discovered the problem, it took timely action and immediately sought help from the management bureau. With our cooperation, the school was able to remove the vast majority of valuable equipment and materials."

Sun Yin spoke at a moderate pace, but very steadily:

"The fungus is growing faster every day. After sending death row inmates into the building yesterday, its proliferation rate jumped dramatically."

"The toxic pollen released by the rapidly proliferating fungi spreads in all directions, but our isolation measures are still able to ensure the effectiveness of the barrier."

"However, according to the latest detection results, fungi inside the target building have begun to erode the protective layer of the anti-gravity device."

"If the anti-gravity device is destroyed, the floating structure will fall from the sky, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

Cheng Xu's heart sank. The anti-gravity device is the most important core of the floating structure, usually consisting of the main device and three sets of temporary emergency devices.

Sun Yin said there was a risk of falling, which meant that the protective measures of all four sets of equipment were already threatened with being compromised.

Cheng Xu looked around and saw that everyone, including Fu Chen and Sun Yin, had stopped what they were doing, looked at him quietly, and were waiting for his instructions.

This is one of the rules for field missions—as the person primarily responsible for the mission, he has the highest command and dispatch authority on site.

His instructions will be fully cooperated with and carried out, but correspondingly, the responsibility on his shoulders will be the heaviest.

Cheng Xu took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"On the way here in the spaceship, I watched footage of death row inmates entering the floating building, and I have a few thoughts to share with you."

"As we all know, anomalies can be seen as errors that occur in the normal operation of the world, which contradict the basic logic of the world's operation, and thus exhibit special attributes and abilities."

"But anomalies themselves also have their own inherent logic, and they all have observable and inductive patterns, characteristics, or mechanisms."

"Based on this premise, analyzing the deaths of death row inmates and combining it with the laboratory environment of fungal proliferation, I speculate that at least two taboo mechanisms exist in the anomalous field."

"First, it is forbidden to damage experimental equipment. A death row inmate was killed instantly after accidentally damaging the equipment and then met with a violent counterattack."

"The direct cause of death for death row inmates appears to be autophagy from fungi in their bodies when they lose their protective suits, but if we look at it from another angle, it points to another mechanism, namely, the prohibition of unprotected entry into the laboratory."

"If these two mechanisms hold true, the anomaly we are dealing with this time is very likely to be strongly related to the laboratory, or even to have mutated from part of the laboratory itself."

As a probationary employee who was able to pass the exam to become a staff member of the Anomaly Management Bureau, Cheng Xu's understanding of anomaly-related knowledge was quite solid, and his analysis was also very logical and reasonable.

Fu Chen and the group of executives looked serious, but a closer look would reveal that their expressions were subtly on the verge of breaking down.

Listening to the most dangerous anomalies being analyzed in a serious manner, revealing their inherent rules and mechanisms, feels somewhat abstract and ahead of their time.

"However, there's still one crucial question I haven't figured out. Captain Fu, Captain Sun, I hope you can accompany me into the anomalous area."

Cheng Xu had some guesses about the mechanism of the fungal tide, but he still had no clue about the most fundamental point - why exactly did the fungal tide occur?

The anomaly could be caused naturally or by external factors. Considering factors such as time, location, and level of danger, this fungal outbreak is most likely a product of external factors.

Throughout history, all acquired anomalies have a corresponding source.

This could originate from intense and pure emotions, a particular mystical ritual, or even large-scale disasters and deaths.

To figure out the cause of this anomaly, Cheng Xu needs to see the anomaly itself in its form and operation.

Fu Chen and Sun Yin were both taken aback. They hadn't expected that Cheng Xu would be preparing to go straight into the abnormal field as soon as he arrived.

Generally speaking, civilian staff members going on their first field mission tend to prefer sitting in command rather than going to the front lines themselves.

The embedded nano-earpieces worn by the two people vibrated slightly, as if someone was giving instructions.

Upon hearing the voice coming through their earpieces, the doubts on their faces vanished completely.

"Yes! We'll prepare immediately!"

Sun Yin saluted Cheng Xu and jogged away from the command room. Fu Chen waited beside Cheng Xu.

Sun Yin acted quickly. A quarter of an hour later, he returned to the command room: "Gentlemen, the combat equipment is ready."

Cheng Xu and Fu Chen donned higher-specification Type III standard protective suits, equipped with weapons including a heat-melting blade, an arm-protecting flamethrower, and a miniature stun grenade launcher.

In addition to these equipment, Sun Yin also carried a containment device and a bomb for emergencies.

"Set off!"

After boarding the aircraft, the three arrived at the sign for the "School of Life Sciences".

Even though he had decided to venture deeper into the field, Cheng Xu was still slightly nervous, because this was his first time entering an area under uncontrolled and abnormal influence.

Fu Chen and Sun Yin were even more nervous than him because they didn't know what unpredictable consequences would result from the "suspected terminal anomaly" directly contacting other anomalies.

Inside the headquarters and the Chengmingxing branch, those monitoring the situation were on edge, as a space-based weapon capable of destroying half the planet was poised to strike, ready to unleash its firepower on the ground should any unforeseen circumstances arise. No one wanted to see the worst-case scenario unfold.

Although he had seen images of fungal growth, Cheng Xu was still deeply shocked when he saw the sea of ​​fungi in front of him.

The wriggling hyphae, like twisted tentacles, covered every corner within sight.

Sensing the life force of the three people, the mycelium seemed to have been activated, sweeping towards them.

Having previously served as a guide for death row inmates, the three seemed quite adept at handling the situation.

Fu Chen and Sun Yin stood on either side of Cheng Xu, clearing a path with flamethrowers. Occasionally, mycelium would attack from above and to the sides, but Cheng Xu was perfectly capable of handling it himself.

During his onboarding training, he scored high on the test on "standard equipment combat in specific environments".

They arrived at the fourth floor without any obstacles. At Cheng Xu's instruction, the three of them first entered the laboratory where the death row inmate had died.

"puff--"

The familiar fog rolled in, and Sun Yin calmly activated the device pre-installed on the chest of his protective suit. A strong gust of wind swept through, instantly dispersing the fog and restoring his vision.

Due to time constraints and fungal contamination, the bodies of the condemned prisoners were not recovered and lay on the ground, barely recognizable as human.

After cutting off the large amount of fungus growing on the corpse, only scattered bone fragments remained inside the tattered protective suit.

Beside the corpse were cut-open experimental instruments, the wounds filled with gray mycelium, seemingly an attempt to repair the cracks.

No other useful information was left at the scene. After retrieving the molten cutting blade and the self-destructing chip from the condemned prisoner, the three men left the laboratory.

Over the next half hour, they briefly scanned all the rooms on the fourth floor.

Adhering to the two rules proposed by Cheng Xu, and with good equipment and mutual support, the fungus did not pose a substantial threat to the safety of the three.

Soon, only the final fifth layer remained unsearched.

Preliminary investigation and analysis indicated that the target anomaly was most likely located in the fifth layer, as this area has the strongest fungal vitality.

Upon arriving at the stairwell, a striking difference immediately comes into view.

If the fungi in the first four layers only showed an increasing growth rate, then the fungi in the fifth layer seem to have acquired a certain level of intelligence.

When the three men used a flamethrower to drive them away, the fungi would cower and hide. But as long as they weren't covered by the flamethrower, they would sneak up and pierce the invaders' bodies with their tough hyphae.

If they weren't careful, they could get entangled in these vine-like mycelium, and it would take some effort to break free completely, so the three of them were extremely cautious.

After breaking through another layer of blockade, Cheng Xu saw the view from the fifth floor.

The stairwell is flanked by completely altered passageways. The walls on both sides have long lost their original color and are now covered with a velvety fungal carpet, presenting a chilling pale white and grayish-green color that pulsates rhythmically like breathing.

The air was thick with spore dust, and strangely shaped fruiting bodies pierced out from the ground, walls and ceiling.

Stepping on the fungal carpet covering the floor, you can't hear your footsteps, only a sickening, damp, squelching sound, reminiscent of crushing dense insect eggs.

If you step too hard, you'll break through the fungal carpet beneath your feet, and wriggling hyphae will emerge from it. These hyphae don't rush towards you like the previous four layers, but rather spread gradually like a viscous tide over your feet, ankles, and calves…

The mycelium secreted an incredibly sticky sap, creating immense resistance with every step the three took. Simultaneously, the mycelium, as if possessing intelligence, began to penetrate the weaknesses in their protective suits, such as the seams at the joints.

Cheng Xu could even faintly hear a tearing sound, as if countless fine, sharp teeth were gnawing at the outer shell of the protective suit.

The good news is that the equipment worn by the three was, after all, advanced standard equipment designed and tested countless times. It could maintain the wearer's mobility and vital signs in extreme environments, and was more than capable of protecting against fungal invasion.

Using a hot-melt cutting blade and a flamethrower to clear a path, the three of them thoroughly searched the numerous laboratories along the way, finally arriving at the end of a corridor.

At this moment, Cheng Xu was certain that the three of them had found the location of the anomaly.

In the center of the field of vision is a silver-white metal door, without a single speck of dirt or grime, standing out starkly from the surrounding sea of ​​fungi.

He learned how to open the metal door from the personnel using the remote communication device built into his protective suit.

Triggering the special mechanism on the door, rapidly tapping on the projected keyboard phantom, accompanied by a creaking sound, the heavy metal door splits open from the middle and slides into the walls on both sides.

Fu Chen and Sun Yin flanked Cheng Xu, standing ready for action.

Once the gate was fully opened, the scene inside came into Cheng Xu's view.

This is a clean, tidy, and brightly lit laboratory, completely different from any other in the floating building, showing no signs of fungal erosion.

On one side of the wall directly opposite the main entrance, there is a set of containers resembling insulated boxes, with a distorted gray-green halo appearing on their surface.