Restlessness

Regarding Anomaly designations, the logic is very simple, for the ease of public memory—the name of the relevant city is used as a prefix, followed by a number based on the order in which they are observed by the relevant departments.

For example, the silver spider eliminated this morning has been officially registered as Xingchuan City Anomaly No. 214.

Of course, sometimes multiple Anomalies appear simultaneously, leading to discrepancies between the public’s name for an Anomaly and the official registered order.

In such cases, the designation will generally follow the public name (mostly from media outlets and online forums).

After all, apart from facilitating research and statistics, the main purpose of Anomaly designations is for public understanding.

Anomalies are not just research material unrelated to the populace, but rather disasters that are intimately connected to their lives.

Xingchuan City is a well-known Anomaly hotspot.

In just over a year since the first Anomaly appeared, 214 have emerged.

This is a terrifying rate on a national scale, and it has caused a severe blow to the city’s economy and population.

Of course, cities like this are few; most have yet to break one hundred.

For example, in March of this year, an Anomaly appeared in Yungu City, officially designated as Yungu City Anomaly No. 35.

Its characteristic was a transparent black bat that could hide in shadows and control corpses with some unknown power.

“Xiaoxiao’s father was a colleague from my class, always working on the front lines.
One day, he received a call about someone going berserk on the street and attacking people.
He and his colleagues went to stop them, but no amount of persuasion worked.
He even got bitten himself.
So, his colleagues had to make a judgment call and shoot the person dead.”

“Afterward, he went to the hospital to have the wound dressed.
For frontline officers, getting scratched or bitten while subduing a suspect is a common occurrence.
No one, including him, paid it much mind.
Although I advised him to stay in the hospital for a while, he said his family was having a rare dinner gathering that day and he had to get home early.”

“At that time, Xiaoxiao’s younger sister was studying in another city and had come home for some reason, so the family was having a rare meal together.
Xiaoxiao, however, had an urgent investigation report to finish.
She was still busy past eight o’clock.
I was the one who specially went over to approve her leave and tell her to hurry home.”

“But when Xiaoxiao got home, what she saw was her reanimated father and… and her mother and sister being devoured.”

The chief’s voice trembled slightly as he said this.

The surrounding officers seemed to know this story; they all maintained a solemn silence.

But Ye Huasheng and Lilia stopped in their tracks upon hearing this, looking at the chief with shock.

Even Bai Hai subconsciously clenched his fists.

“I can’t comprehend how Xiaoxiao managed it at that moment.
I don’t dare to ask.
I only know from the detailed report she submitted later that she was attacked, restrained her father with her service handcuffs, and then saw her reanimated mother and sister while calling for backup.”

“She realized immediately that it was an Anomaly invasion.
To prevent more victims, after finding that shooting was ineffective, she used a fire axe from the hallway to break their joints and locked them all in a room in the house.
Then, she immediately notified all the residents in the complex to seal their doors and windows and not to go outside.
Anomaly No. 35 had appeared.”

“Dozens of incidents like Xiaoxiao’s occurred that night.
All over the city, there were sightings of reanimated zombies attacking the living.
Those who were attacked and eaten would also reanimate after a period of time.
Due to a lack of information, the funeral homes and autopsy centers suffered the most severe casualties.
Post-incident statistics showed that the death toll from Yungu City’s Anomaly No. 35 was over 1,200 people…”

“How terrifying…” Lilia gasped.

Although she had become a magical girl half a month earlier than Xia Cheng, she had never encountered an Anomaly that caused such massive casualties.

Yesterday’s silver spider was one, but it had only resulted in about a dozen deaths.

“What happened to the Anomaly in the end?”

An angry expression appeared on Ye Huasheng’s face.

She tightened her grip on her magic wand and said through gritted teeth, “Did a magical girl destroy it?”

The chief gave her a meaningful look.

“Yes, that’s right.
A magical girl destroyed it.
Her name is Morningstar.
The next morning, everyone witnessed the scene of Morningstar defeating No. 35.
Powerful magic swept across the entire city’s sky.”

“And so, the whole city cheered.”

“So cool!”

Ye Huasheng pumped her fist in excitement.

She naturally knew of the magical girl Morningstar.

A cool and handsome figure ranked fifth on the Magic Site’s popularity chart, an idol to countless people.

It was said that the battle that cemented her status was in Yungu City!

However, Lilia glanced at the people around her and felt that the atmosphere was not quite right.

Everyone was silent, and even Bai Hai shot Ye Huasheng a glare.

Ye Huasheng immediately quieted down.

For some reason, she was a little scared of Bai Hai, afraid he would yell at her.

“And after that?”

Bai Hai continued to press.

Although he didn’t like to reopen old wounds, it was clear that things weren’t that simple.

If the Anomaly had really been eliminated, what was this thing that had appeared now?

“After?
After that, the police came to clean up the mess.”

The chief laughed self-deprecatingly.

“The magical girl is responsible for eliminating the Anomaly and receiving the cheers, while we have to handle all the aftermath, tally the casualties, and restore order.

The fatal problem was that although Anomaly No. 35 was ‘eliminated,’ it left behind over 1,200 reanimated corpses!”

“We couldn’t handle these bodies.
They remained in a constant state of agitation, attacking anyone who came near them.
We tried cremation, but the resulting gas was severely toxic; any plant or animal that came into contact with it died instantly.”

“We tried dismembering them, but the dismembered body parts remained active.
Even if buried underground, they would try to dig their way out to continue attacking humans.”

“Later, someone proposed cryonic burial.
This method did work.
Under ultra-low temperatures, the bodies, though not losing their activity, had their movements greatly reduced.
However, according to experiments, the required freezing conditions were extremely harsh.
The order from the higher-ups was that it exceeded the budget and was not to be implemented.”

“The most terrifying part was that no matter the method, as long as the bodies entered the natural cycle, they would cause contamination.
One thousand two hundred bodies…”

“The final solution was to build a secure funeral home on the outskirts of Yungu City, place all the bodies inside under control, and dispatch a large number of police to guard it.
As long as they couldn’t escape, there was no danger.”

Hearing this, Bai Hai instantly understood the reason for Liu Xiaoxiao’s strange expression earlier in the car when she mentioned her sister.

He said in a low voice:

“Don’t tell me her parents and sister…”

“Their bodies are still… restless to this day.”

Silence.

An eerie silence.

Everyone fell into a deathly quiet.

Even the usually boisterous Ye Huasheng just tightened her grip on her magic wand, imagining if her own parents had turned into something like that…

A chill ran up her chest, followed by a wave of intense sorrow.

The chief sighed.

His voice had gradually calmed.

After all, six months had passed since the incident.

It seemed short, but it had only been a year since Anomalies began appearing in this country.

He wasn’t the only one who had experienced such things, and he had experienced them more than once.

“We left Yungu City afterward because Xiaoxiao believed that the restlessness of the bodies must be because Anomaly No. 35 had not yet been eliminated.
She suggested a thorough study of the bodies to analyze the Anomaly’s movements and prevent new victims.”

“However, her words were dismissed as the obsession of someone who just wanted revenge for her family.
First, everyone had seen it—Magical Girl Morningstar had eliminated the Anomaly.
Second, the attitude of the scientific community toward Anomalies is… ‘the Master does not speak of strange occurrences, feats of strength, disorders, or spirits.’
They believe Anomalies can never be understood, and any research is just a waste of effort.”

“Moreover, to study an Anomaly that has already been eliminated?
New Anomalies are constantly appearing.”

“So, under a great deal of pressure, Xiaoxiao and I took the initiative to leave Yungu City and come to Xingchuan City, the place with the most frequent Anomaly appearances… all so we could save a few more victims.”

The chief finished in one breath.

He was very vague about the latter part, but no one present was tactless enough to press for details.

They just silently moved forward, searching every suspicious room.

Where were these reanimated corpses hiding?

Everyone searched with this question in mind.

“No wonder she rushed out so frantically…”

Bai Hai raised his head.

He now understood the reason for Liu Xiaoxiao’s series of abnormal actions.

“She must want to witness the destruction of Yungu City’s Anomaly No. 35 with her own eyes!”