Chapter 172
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Chapter 172: Anomaly
As the sun set, Nian finally descended from the middle of the sky.
Looking at Vine, who had followed him all day, the Captain felt a twinge of guilt.
Flying above while his teammate trudged below—was that right?
But it couldn’t be helped; his powers had limits, and he couldn’t treat living beings as he would inanimate objects.
These two reasons combined meant they hadn’t made much progress today.
“Captain, you should rest well. I can handle the night watch alone.”
“There’s no need for that. Since we didn’t travel very far today, I can take the second half of the night. You choose whether to take the first half or the second half.”
Vine, hearing this, didn’t hesitate to reply. After thinking for a moment, he said,
“I’m really a bit tired. Traveling every day and creating the safety zone takes a toll on my abilities and stamina.”
“Okay, then I’ll handle the first half of the night. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.”
After finishing their division of labor, they gathered again to study the flint.
With Nian’s object control ability assisting them, they quickly started a fire.
After eating the warm nutritional paste, Nian began the night watch.
This was his first time taking the first half of the night, and it felt a bit new.
As he watched the moon slowly rise, he passed the time in boredom.
Using his ability, he pulled up some dry grass around him, and finally, he waited for the midnight shift to begin.
Confirming that Vine was in good condition and alert enough, he happily crawled into his sleeping bag.
As he closed his eyes and turned to his side, he instinctively sensed something hard pressing against his chest.
Reluctantly, he pulled out the notebook and paused for a moment, feeling a hint of discord around him.
But overwhelming drowsiness surged like a tidal wave, slowing his thoughts until they froze on a single point.
—
His nose—it felt a bit itchy.
A slight tingling sensation woke Nian up. He opened his eyes to see a vibrant red sun in the sky above him, while the dried tall grass around him swayed gently in the breeze, brushing against his body.
“Did I… fall asleep?”
Nian shook his head, trying to shake off the sluggishness in his mind. Looking at the tall grass around him, he felt a chill at the thought of how easily he had drifted into sleep last night.
He tried to move, but found his whole body wrapped tightly in the sleeping bag.
The sudden sense of unease made Nian furrow his brow.
He should have collapsed from exhaustion and fallen asleep, but how could he be inside the sleeping bag?
He tried to recall the memories from the previous night, but all he could picture was himself floating above the tall grass, riding the wind.
That vision was monotonous, like an endless tape slowly playing in his mind, bringing a strong hypnotic effect.
He quickly shook off that feeling and forcibly recalled his task.
His task—what was it?
Nian froze, realizing he seemed to have forgotten something important.
Suddenly feeling a bit panicked, he spun around, surveying the tall grass around him.
At times, he even shouted, as if confirming his existence, but the only response was the grass rustling in the wind.
The repeated cycle of frantic outbursts and silent despair drained his sanity.
“What is it? What is the task?
“Where am I? Who am I?”
Nian clutched his head, swaying back and forth, when suddenly a Hard-shell Notebook fell from the chest of his combat suit.
“What is this…?”
He trembled as he reached for the notebook, like it was a lifeline. He found the familiar metallic eternal pen and opened to a blank page.
He gently flipped through the previous pages, forcing himself to calm down and read the records he had written down.
“According to this, today is September 19th. I am… I am a superpowered individual. What am I supposed to do?
“Oh right, I need to go north, to explore northward. This is my task, yes, that’s it…”
Finally remembering everything, Nian both cried and laughed as he rediscovered the meaning of being alive.
After venting his fears, he regained his composure.
Picking up the metallic pen from the ground, he turned to a new page in the notebook and carefully wrote:
[Superhero team, continue north.]
Closing the notebook, Nian felt like the thoughts in his mind suddenly became clear. He looked at the scattered equipment around him, noting sample jars, nutritional paste, a sleeping bag, a fire-starting device, and adrenaline…
After organizing these important items, he discarded some unnecessary burdens and looked back toward the south, where Hope City lay. The superpowered individual’s ability erupted instantly.
He dashed through the two meters of dry grass, his expression resolute as he faced north, then soared forward with unwavering determination.
Meanwhile, on the ground behind him, the Hard-shell Notebook and the metallic pen lay quietly along with a pile of other items.
—
Hope City, September 19th.
Today was the day the exploration team was set to return, but only a few citizens in the inner and outer city knew about it.
After all, it was the first exploration in over twenty years, and no one knew what might happen.
If the team encountered dangers outside, they might return late—or worse, not at all.
With such uncertainty, informing the unaware citizens of the scheduled return time might only lead to yet another unwarranted crisis of trust.
But as time ticked by, the faces of those waiting in the joint command room of the research institute and the General Staff Headquarters grew increasingly grim.
The Listening Device had malfunctioned four days ago, meaning that even the specially reinforced equipment from the research institute couldn’t break through the barrier of that unknown force to send information back.
From the beginning to the end, the only audio file Hope City received was from the first day during daylight, and aside from the portion near Hope City, which had little value, the parts that were truly worth studying amounted to only four or five hours.
During those four or five hours of audio, one word was mentioned repeatedly: “grass.”
The frequency of this word was so high that those who had heard the audio file couldn’t possibly ignore it.
After days of research, combined with existing documentation, “dry grass” had now become synonymous with the “thick fog” from twenty years ago, marking it as a very dangerous and crucial point of concern.
“How many of these strange things could there possibly be? Hope City can’t withstand…”
“Something’s happening!”
One observer’s announcement interrupted the quiet whispers of several high-ranking officials.
“What’s going on? Speak!”
“An anomaly was detected three kilometers outside the northern gate of the outer city; it seems to be human.”
