The Palace of Fate

The pristine maiden floated in the air, her milky-white hair swaying behind her, further highlighting her ethereal purity.

Bai’s vacant eyes gazed at the room the cat-girls had entered.

Her eyes appeared vacant because Bai could perceive an overwhelming amount of information with a single glance.

When Bai looked at the house before her, its size, shape, and color constituted less than one ten-thousandth of the information she received.

Therefore, to those without her ability, unable to comprehend the essence of her being, Bai’s eyes—focused on the distant past, the fleeting future, and the true inner workings—would appear unfocused, hollow, and devoid of expression.

In Bai’s vision, she saw the house’s external form: minute cracks, slight peeling paint, its history of standing there for over a decade, the countless figures who had come and gone, and its impending destruction in the near future.

Naturally, with her unique power, she also saw inside the room, within the walls, the plant life that spread throughout the entire house like a network of bones and veins.

Despite being plants, their roots did not anchor in soil but coiled around the ceiling.

Their vines and foliage grew within objects, extending downwards, replacing the internal structure of everything that came into contact with the house.

This was, in fact, Bai’s first direct confrontation with an anomaly.

Previous encounters had only involved derivatives or observations through surveillance.

Facing an anomaly head-on for the first time, Bai seemed to sense something profoundly different.

Logically, this shouldn’t be the case.

Regardless of the method, as long as Bai used her ability to glimpse an entity’s existence, she could effortlessly perceive almost everything about it.

‘Is this anomaly special?’ Bai wondered, distinctly feeling something unusual when she faced it directly.

“Bai, there’s a victim here. See if you can save them.”

Wei the Cat led two cat-girls, assisting a man who walked between them.

The man’s expression was a complex mix: confusion from encountering something so far beyond common sense, fear of the physical changes happening to him, and a glimmer of hope that he could still be saved.

There was also the awkwardness of being supported by three young women.

He watched the pure-white maiden, floating in the air, a stark contrast to the cat-eared, tailed cat-girls around her.

Her eyes, as profound and enigmatic as an abyss, retracted from his house in the distance and looked down at him.

“Gulp…” The man felt a surge of nervous dread, swallowing hard.

Bai observed the man before her.

His body was being eroded by the same creeping plant life found in the house.

Fortunately, it had only replaced a small portion of his muscles and subcutaneous fat, so his life was not yet in danger.

“Ero…sion… Overwrite,” Bai murmured softly.

This was the same symptom as Yun Juan’s, even if their manifested effects differed greatly; in Bai’s eyes, the essence of these alienations was identical.

Bai extended her hand, her fair, delicate palm gently resting on the man’s head.

An undisguised wave of mental energy enveloped him, instantly filling him with a sense of peace and tranquility.

A ethereal, soft voice drifted slowly to his ears, a beautiful sound as if from a dream.

“Contract with me, and you shall no longer be human; from this point, you will be non-human.”

“You may face temptation, betrayal, prejudice, fear, and other such calamities, and your destiny will intertwine with mine.”

“Do you agree?”

****[Photosynthesis: Grow leaves, allowing you to replenish energy by sunbathing.]

A faint glow illuminated the faces of several cat-girls.

Soon, the number of cat-girls here increased to five.

The newly transformed cat-girl had green hair, with several leaves adorning the sides and top of her head.

Currently holding her phone to use as a mirror, she frantically reached up, trying to yank off the accursed leaves.

“Nyaa-ow-ow-ow! It hurts, it hurts! Ugh…”

The fear of her recent transformation made her actions merciless.

When she pulled, the leaves, inherently growing from her head, naturally caused pain.

The intense pain, more jarring than pulling out hair, made her tail stand rigidly upright, her fur bristling as she let out an instinctive shriek.

“These are after-effects.”

“We’ve had cases before; they won’t significantly impact your future life,” Wei the Cat explained, acting as an excellent narrator.

The previous case involved Yun Juan with a petrified arm.

“Then what about my appearance?” The plant cat-girl curiously stroked her ears and tail repeatedly.

“…This is the cost of treatment.”

“You’ll understand everything later,” Wei the Cat said, picking up her walkie-talkie.

She called for the perimeter guards and the colleagues responsible for evacuating people to take the plant cat-girl back.

“Now for the main event. What are your thoughts?” The primary objective of this mission was practical combat.

To serve as training, Wei the Cat turned to the two cat-girls assigned to the task.

“Judging by the recent victim, it seems to be a beast-type plant anomaly.”

“The inside of the house has likely been completely replaced.”

“However, it doesn’t appear to be actively aggressive, though we can’t rule out the possibility of it attacking if provoked.”

“My suggestion is to prepare for suppressive fire and then directly incinerate the house.”

The questioned cat-girl considered for a moment before replying.

Wei the Cat nodded.

Their luck was good; this type of anomaly was relatively simple.

Collecting a few leaves for containment would suffice, and then burning the rest was the most effective disposal method.

Just then, Bai, who had been contemplating something, arrived at a hypothesis.

‘My contract can halt erosion.’

‘It might not be a replacement; being transformed into a cat-person after a contract is essentially a form of information erosion.’

‘Yet, even though both are erosion, mine can overwrite the original, and even the erosion from an anomaly can be altered.’

‘Perhaps my information priority is higher than the anomaly’s.’

‘If my erosion priority is higher than the anomaly’s, then direct contact with the anomaly should theoretically yield the same result.’

Bai was a cat-girl who acted on her thoughts.

She immediately floated towards the house, extending her hand to touch the exposed roots on the roof.

[Unique Marker Detected]

Bai froze.

She had only intended to test if direct contact could influence the anomaly, but the instant she touched the roots, a tiny, infinitesimally small piece of information from the anomaly was imparted to her.

Looking at the anomaly again, nothing seemed to have changed, but that special feeling she had experienced earlier had vanished.

Bai tilted her head adorably.

‘Well, that solves another problem,’ she thought, beginning to study the piece of information.

This small fragment of information held no inherent meaning, yet it possessed a uniqueness Bai had never encountered before—like a distinct serial number, singular and irreplaceable in this world.

Aside from that, the information had no other special qualities.

‘Why did it bring about that particular feeling?’

Uncomprehending, Bai set the tag aside in her mind and looked at Wei the Cat, who was rushing toward her.

“Bai? How is it? Is there anything unusual?”

“No…” Bai softly answered her companion’s question, shaking her head.

She lowered herself, embraced Wei the Cat, and leaned in close to her twitching cat ear.

Wei the Cat’s ear instinctively twitched, trying to evade the attack, but how could it escape Bai, who perceived everything?

Forcibly suppressing the tingling sensation of Bai holding her ear in her mouth, Wei the Cat hung onto Bai, receiving envious glances from her companions.

‘Wait, why are they envious of this?’ she wondered.

‘…Hmm… Do they find Bai especially cute and want to be close to her?’

“What are you looking at? Let’s begin the operation,” Wei the Cat said, despite the strange feeling of having her ear held, she had no intention of resisting.

Fortunately, Bai merely wanted to playfully get close to her companion.

After a moment, she released her embrace, snuggled deeper into the cat nest-like flying device, and began to sleep soundly.

Wei the Cat averted her gaze from Bai’s sprawling, inelegant sleeping posture.

She sat on the edge of the cat nest, watching the distant house burst into roaring flames.

The firelight illuminated Wei the Cat’s face, turning it crimson, and reflected in her eyes, flickering brightly.

Reading the newspaper headline, “Suburban Residential House Catches Fire, Sole Occupant Missing,” The Director sighed.

He still harbored some concerns, not distrust in Bai, but rather about future anomaly victims, potential failed operations by the Countermeasure Team members, or even informed individuals who might covet Bai’s power of rejuvenation.

This victim was a lone individual, making the situation relatively easy to handle, and the cat-girl herself was quite content with her current state.

After explanations and the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, the plant cat-girl was now training and attending classes with the cat-girls as a probationary member.

Her new, peculiar appearance (referring to the leaves growing on her head) intrigued the other cat-girls.

Training and chatting with her companions, she had completely shed her past life of confusion, openly stating that she was now quite happy and satisfied.

But what about the future?

What about ordinary people with families and careers, or even prominent public figures?

Should they be saved or not?

Should a standard be set?

The Director rubbed his temples, a headache brewing, and ultimately decided to pass this problem up to his superiors.

At worst, they would stall.

If it truly became exposed, they would announce it as a special anomaly.

Oh, this announcement was intended for other countermeasure organizations, as exposure to ordinary people was virtually impossible.

It was a matter of information asymmetry.

Ordinary people were unaware of anomalies; any absurd event could be explained away.

If all else failed, memory loss or distraction-type anomalies could be used.

However, with various informed organizations, each having their own preventive measures, fooling them would be difficult.

Nonetheless, even if it came to that, protecting Bai at all costs was a necessary decision, if for no other reason than the report Dr. Sun had just submitted.

‘To simply glance and instantly comprehend an anomaly’s characteristics—what kind of concept is that?’

In the Countermeasure Bureau’s history of anomaly containment, the emergence of such an ability could only be described with two words:

‘Overpowered.’

Anyone would go to great lengths to protect such a talent.

This little cat was truly a delightful surprise; her unique abilities seemed endless.

“Ah, right, speaking of which, we haven’t given her a disguised containment number yet.”

A simple contract, sealed with a single sentence, was enough to completely alter a person’s destiny.

Her other peculiar abilities were enough to change the fate of this world.

The Director put down his pen, looked out at the night sky, and thought of the art of stargazing.

“Her codename shall be… Fate Palace.”