Chapter 9: Scaring Oneself.

“Has the S3-level anomaly been unsealed?”
“Which esper was brave enough to do that?”
“Let me see... What the—It’s a rookie? How dare she? Is she truly fearless or trying to drag others down with her?”
“I watched the playback; this newcomer seems to have stumbled into it by accident.”
“Stumbled into it by accident?”

The entire assessment office was thrown into a commotion. Everyone quickly stood up and switched their focus to Di Qiu’s screen.

“Xiangxiang, what’s this girl’s background?” Zhang Lei turned to ask Deng Jingxiang, who was in charge of the registration list.

“She’s a student from Dan Dan Village. Along with her, Sikong Lu unusually passed into the Central Micro Bureau just yesterday,” Deng Jingxiang replied calmly.

“That Hope High School really produces a lot of talent.”
“Well, looks like this assessment is doomed to fail completely this time,” someone muttered.

This wasn’t the first time an S3-level anomaly had been unsealed in the assessment arena. Sometimes it happened by accident while dealing with other anomalies.
Other times, S3-level espers, desperate to earn an A-grade rating, recklessly challenged S3 anomalies.
Thankfully, all anomalies in the test field were illusions.

Thanks to Deng Jingxiang’s mirroring ability, she could summon the shadows of defeated anomaly spirits, inheriting all their habits and skills, including those of S3-level anomalies.
Within that domain, only the city itself was real; everything else was a mirage created by espers.
This was why everyone present could calmly watch an esper trigger an S3 anomaly and still sit there without fear.

“No, that esper named Di Qiu still has an anomaly following her,” Deng Jingxiang suddenly said.
As the master of the illusion, she could sense every movement within it with just a slight perception.

“Where? I don’t see it.”
“It’s invisible. You won’t see it through the screen,” Deng Jingxiang frowned slightly.
Anomalies that had been unsealed all shared one trait—they had invisibility skills.

Normally, ordinary people couldn’t see anomalies; only espers who had awakened their hidden third eye could perceive their true forms.
Di Qiu had acted as if unaware of the anomaly following her from the start.

She snapped her fingers, and everyone in the office appeared above a black sphere, using their third eye to closely observe everything below.

Beneath the black sphere lay the city where the espers were being assessed.

“No way! That rookie has a hundred anomalies following her?”
Zhang Lei’s jaw dropped as he stared at Di Qiu’s movements.

“But she didn’t know how to unseal anomalies, right? How did she attract so many unsealed anomalies?”

Deng Jingxiang calmly recalled everything happening within her domain before answering, “It must be from the oden she ate just now at the convenience store.”

“I remember there was an S-level anomaly parasitizing a ceramic bowl in that convenience store. The condition to unseal it was saliva from a person with blood type O. That rookie must have triggered this mechanism,” Deng Jingxiang said thoughtfully.

“...”

“...”

The room fell silent at her words.
They were all too familiar with this case—it was so bizarre it had become a textbook example.
It was even reported on national news.

That ceramic bowl, parasitized by the anomaly, had been sealed away in the convenience store for years without being sold.
One night, a new clerk working the late shift, who happened to have blood type O, inadvertently picked it up from a corner of the shelf while preparing a snack.
Unexpectedly, the mirrored anomaly was unsealed again in exactly the same way.

Higher-level anomalies were more intelligent. Usually, after being unsealed, they first observed human reactions. If humans acted as if they couldn’t see them, the anomaly would remain invisible, silently following them and only emerge to enjoy food when night fell.

These groups of anomalies also displayed strange solidarity. When one anomaly was unsealed, it would seek out others who had been unsealed. There was a quirk: an unsealed anomaly could unseal others.

They watched the playback.
Di Qiu had just ridden a little donkey around half the city, which was an anomaly assessment zone, so it was easy to see how many anomalies were following her along the route.

“Should we end this assessment now?” one esper asked.
“Wait a moment. That S3 anomaly hasn’t acted yet. Ending early would be unfair to the other students.”

“By the way, Xiangxiang, what’s the ability of this S3 anomaly?”
“Codename Devour. It can infinitely consume and create indistinguishable environments during the process. That rookie, followed by so many anomalies, triggered the awakening of this S3 anomaly sealed in a statue the moment she walked up on foot.
Now she’s caught. Let’s see if the anomaly will launch an attack on others.”

...

Di Qiu withdrew her left foot, feeling a strange chill behind her. She turned to look at the empty space behind her and the deserted city, then rubbed the back of her neck and breathed out lightly, feigning calm:
“Just scaring myself.”

Yet the sunlight was bright, but the warmth seemed absent on her skin.

Di Qiu had to be a bit more cautious, but then she reminded herself that her goal wasn’t to pass this test. At worst, she’d be eliminated.
She didn’t believe the Central Micro Bureau’s entry assessment was truly life-threatening.
Otherwise, for rookies like her who had no idea what they signed up for, wouldn’t they all have died here?

Given how she always felt hungry, this might all be an illusion created by the Central Micro Bureau.
Thinking this way, her courage grew.

She looked toward the Taoist temple. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the incense smoke seemed thicker.
After a moment’s hesitation, she lifted her right foot, about to step inside.

[You resolved the villagers’ crisis and departed swiftly, your immortal heart unburdened, racing toward the sect to report truthfully. However, fatigue surged. Suddenly, ahead appeared a dilapidated thatched hut shrouded in faint immortal aura.]

[Side Quest Triggered]

[Side Quest: Rest at the thatched hut, meditate for an incense stick’s time to stabilize your immortal foundation and prepare for your immortal path ahead.]

[Reward: Restore stamina, receive a Physique-Enhancing Pill.]

In the quiet atmosphere, a string of system narration suddenly popped into her mind. Di Qiu jolted and instinctively withdrew her foot.

“...You startled me.”

She patted her chest, took a deep breath, and opened the task panel with her mind, confirming the mission details.
Her gaze fell on the words “thatched hut,” then shifted to the temple before her. The system’s timing was impeccable.

As for the reward... restoring stamina, huh.
Taking a moment’s rest here, how could her spirit not recover?

It suited her perfectly; she was already thinking of finding a place to nap since the drowsiness was creeping in.
Di Qiu yawned in response.

More intriguing was the Physique-Enhancing Pill.
This system had been active for less than a day and had issued four tasks. Only the morning’s talisman mission was real, but now there was an actual medicinal pill too.

Pills in the cultivation world...

Without hesitation, Di Qiu stepped over the threshold she had hesitated at and entered the temple.