The First Encounter, A Feline Anomaly

Bai slowly opened her eyes, feeling a profound sense of bewilderment.

Though she didn’t fully grasp the concept of this world, she intuitively knew this journey would be incredibly long, stretching far into the unknown.

Upon opening her eyes, Bai was indeed met with a host of novel sights!

Pristine white walls, a gleaming white ceiling, a glaringly bright, pure white light bulb, and a group of humans in large white robes staring at her, utterly dumbfounded.

One of them, spotting a large red button on the wall, slammed their palm onto it with a resounding smack.

Immediately, a shrill, synthetic siren wailed through the room.

‘Eh… Where am I?’

The cat looked around curiously, wanting to approach the humans.

Yet, they seemed incredibly resistant.

Whenever she moved closer, the people in that section would scramble backward, practically flattening themselves against the wall.

They remained silent, not daring to meet Bai’s gaze.

“…Meow?” The cat slowly let out a questioning cry.

Using her abilities, Bai could only perceive a torrent of chaotic wails and fears, like a screen flooding with messages: ‘Misfortune, misfortune,’ ‘Help me,’ ‘Didn’t they say this was just for research?’

Now, Bai herself began to feel at a loss.

Faced with a multitude of futures where her every action caused the scene to spiral out of control, she chose the calmest path: to simply sit still and begin grooming her fur.

Soon, the sealed room’s door burst open.

A group of people, clad in heavy protective suits with clumsy, opaque masks and carrying strange trays and rods, rushed in.

The door was then immediately sealed again.

Well, that was great.

Now there were even more onlookers, making Bai feel a little uncomfortable.

Quietly and swiftly, they distributed small masks to the white-robed individuals who weren’t already wearing helmets.

A discussion, inaudible to Bai, unfolded among these masked figures.

“Doctor… what’s going on?”

“We’re not sure yet. Our experiment hasn’t even begun. It appeared suddenly, right on our laboratory’s chemical bench, without any prior warning.”

“Is it a new anomaly?”

“Most likely. We don’t yet know its hazardous manifestations or inducing factors. We can only apply the countermeasures for other feline-shaped anomalies: no sound, no eye contact, no close proximity.”

“So, how do we handle it now?”

“Let’s try the standard tests first. Do not initiate an attack; we’re worried it might be one of those harmless counterattacking types,” the man’s voice, muffled by his mask, sounded incredibly somber.

The captain in charge of this small team nodded knowingly.

From a team member behind him, he took a silver-white metal box that looked remarkably high-tech.

With a snap, a fresh fish and a bloody, reeking chunk of meat were tossed before Bai.

“Meow?” Bai tilted her head, confused.

‘What is this? Are they feeding me?’

She leaned in, sniffing the sweet meat and the seemingly decent fresh fish.

Bai saw the consequences immediately: choosing the bloody meat differed significantly from choosing the fresh fish.

She wasn’t sure which was better, and since she wasn’t hungry, she opted not to eat at all.

“…” The captain and the doctor exchanged a look, then nodded.

“It doesn’t seem to be a beast-type, does it?”

“Don’t be careless. If it’s an illusory type, it’s even harder to deal with,” the doctor cautioned, remaining vigilant.

“Understood. Next step of the test.”

The captain used a hook to try and retrieve the two pieces of meat.

Seeing no reaction from Bai, he successfully retrieved them, then rummaged in the box again.

Bai watched the humans, perplexed, as they threw food at her, only to change their minds and take it back.

Her tilted head swiveled in the other direction, silently observing their strange behavior.

This time, the captain tossed over several identical small boxes.

Bai curiously examined the pile of black boxes.

Without even using her abilities, she could tell at a glance that one of them was different; it held the faint aura of a soul.

After confirming the box was harmless, Bai could no longer contain her curiosity.

She rose and approached the box with the aura, extending a paw to open it.

The box was quite sturdy; she pushed it around on the ground, even trying to bite it, but it wouldn’t open.

Suddenly, the captain, who had been still, tossed another box over.

This box also emanated a peculiar soul aura.

With a click, both boxes made a sound simultaneously.

This time, Bai saw it.

The boxes could be easily opened, but one of them would explode upon opening.

The cat paused, then reached a paw towards the other box.

The captain, observing this, quietly pressed a remote control in his hand.

The future abruptly shifted; the exploding box changed.

Bai immediately froze her eager paw, looking around in confusion, then tentatively reached for the other box.

The captain pressed it again, and the future in Bai’s eyes changed once more.

This time, Bai felt something was definitely amiss.

Her pupils contracted as she focused on more specific information.

‘Oh… you little scamp, you want to play games with a cat, do you?’

Bai instantly saw through the trickster.

Treating it as a game, she crouched low, her tail wagging widely, eager to pounce.

The captain, seeing the standard feline attack posture, gripped his shield tightly.

In the next instant, Bai, with lightning speed, dashed forward and swatted open the non-exploding box.

Then, she sat proudly on the ground, head held high, looking at the man dressed in all black before her.

“Confirmed, Doctor. This creature possesses at least a precognitive intuition-type ability, and it can sense souls, but it doesn’t show a strong acquisitive tendency.”

“Hmm, I see it. It also seems intelligent. Look, it appears to be showing off to you,” the doctor said, watching the proud cat with amusement. “We won’t learn anything more from further tests. Let’s proceed to the final step.”

“Meow?”

Everyone began to withdraw from the cat’s sight.

Seeing that they were all leaving, the cat initially wanted to follow, but a lone remaining team member extended a hand to stop her.

He knelt down, removed his mask, took off his gloves, and with a sense of resignation, reached out deliberately – gently stroking the cat’s head.

Bai had never refused human affection.

Though they had been quite perplexing moments ago, they were, to some extent, friendly.

At least, that’s what the information Bai perceived indicated.

So, Bai obediently rubbed against his hand, her fur faintly glowing.

“Note it down! An anomalous phenomenon has occurred!”

The man clenched his fist.

‘Was it ultimately an anomaly that activated upon direct contact? No wonder it looked so cute and harmless.’

Normal feline anomalies typically exhibited beast-like characteristics, and a small portion with illusory traits were the same.

Their triggers included eye contact, making noise, fleeing, and direct physical contact.

However, after everyone prepared for the team member’s sacrifice and a forced assault, no further anomalous phenomena occurred for a long time.

It was as if the anomaly was merely the cat glowing.

The team member petting the cat, who had been prepared for sacrifice, felt his tense and fearful heart suddenly calm.

He savored the silky touch beneath his palm, the comforting feel of soft, smooth fur entwining around his fingertips, and the subtle, unknown fragrance that entered his nostrils, soothing his strained mind.

Occasionally, he felt the bounce of her springy ears.

The team member suddenly felt like crying.

Working under such high-pressure, tense conditions, witnessing the terrifying anomalies concealed by the world, the accumulated negative emotions had, for some unknown reason, finally found a release.

Knowing his comrades were still watching, the team member awkwardly rubbed his eyes with his forearm.

After struggling to find the right posture, he finally managed to lift the large white cat, making two gestures towards the camera – one a fixed signal, the other a temporary signal agreed upon before the operation.

This was to prevent control by certain manipulation-type anomalies, and of course, further psychological tests would be conducted afterward to rule out hypnosis-type anomalies.

Getting back on track, these two gestures meant: currently safe, attempt containment.

“Hoo…” The captain’s tightly clenched hand subtly relaxed a little.

He disconnected from the team mic and connected to a two-person mic with the team member.

“What are you doing? Who are you?” The captain asked two questions first.

“9795, containment, high-tech, human,” the team member answered instantly without hesitation.

No delay, indicating at least for now, no mental issues.

“What happened? Why were you crying just now?”

“Ah, that,” the team member said, feeling a little embarrassed by the captain’s question, but understanding the need for a serious report, he immediately straightened his posture. “Report, the target feels incredibly good to the touch… ah, no, after direct contact, no physical abnormalities were felt, and direct observation also revealed no anomalies. Request direct AI comparison after exiting the facility. Mentally, I felt an incredibly reassuring sense of calm and peace. After contact, I feel completely relieved of stress.”

“This…” The captain pondered, simultaneously gesturing for the containment equipment to be brought over.

They couldn’t afford to be careless; the abilities of anomalies were bizarre and sometimes beyond human imagination.

There was a previous anomaly that could distort the human body’s structure, yet neither the person nor anyone around them could detect it, only discovered through remote surveillance.

This one had appeared directly in the Anomaly Countermeasure Bureau’s research lab, essentially their headquarters.

If this turned out to be a dangerous entity, half of the Bureau’s experts would be wiped out.

Now, he was being told that this strangely appearing entity was a harmless (for now), possibly even positive, anomaly.

It was quite unbelievable; the suspicious captain, for one, didn’t quite believe it.

Even if he didn’t believe it, there was little he could do.

The higher-ups’ directive was to contain anomalies that posed little danger whenever possible, rather than attempting complete destruction lightly.

‘Damn it, isn’t there still a risk in testing if an anomaly is dangerous? And after containment, they stack human lives to test its characteristics. Are death row inmates not people? Who can continuously endure watching their comrades die, mutate, and go mad in all sorts of bizarre and sickening ways?’

Sometimes, in urgent situations and frontline containment, his own team members had to take risks.

Every time this happened, Wei Hongzhi wanted to curse.

The containment device was quickly ready, and the captain waved, giving the command.

“Everyone, through the disinfection gate. Anomaly Countermeasure Team 1 members, escort the device to the containment area first, then proceed to Sector D-3 for inspection. Research members, follow me directly for inspection.”