The Aberration Entities Below

Li Qinghe smiled as she spoke:

"That said, this fountain pen is only a D-grade Aberration Entity — it isn't particularly dangerous. It was first discovered at an educational institution in Nanming City. A tutoring instructor was using it as he always did, and that day the pen carved characters into his stomach. He was fortunate — it could have been far worse. His life wasn't in danger. Afterward, the local Night Watchmen took custody of it and escorted it to headquarters."

"D-grade Aberration Entity? They come in multiple grades?"

Lu Yuan was curious.

"Mm. D-grade is the lowest tier — Aberration Entities at that level can only affect ordinary people, not Gene Warriors. Take this fountain pen: if a normal person picks it up, the effect activates. But if a Gene Warrior picks it up, it's just a regular pen. C-grade Aberration Entities can threaten Gene Warriors of Battle General rank. B-grade can harm those at Battle King Rank. A-grade puts even Battle Sovereigns in extreme danger. S-grade corresponds to the Battle Emperor level. As of now, the most powerful Aberration Entities ever to appear on Great Qi Star are S-grade. Legend has it that SS-grade also exists, capable of affecting Battle Saints, and SSS-grade Aberration Entities are dangerous even to War Gods. If a civilization encounters an A-grade Aberration Entity and fails to contain it in time — and that civilization has no Battle Sovereign-level powerhouse — that civilization is finished. At that tier, an Aberration Entity can utterly annihilate an entire civilization."

A chill shot down Lu Yuan's spine.

He thought back to the Soul-Devouring Orb, his eyes narrowing:

"Qinghe, that Soul-Devouring Orb from Xili City — was that an S-grade Aberration Entity? Wouldn't it take a Battle Emperor to deal with something like that?"

Li Qinghe smiled. "Some Aberration Entities need a certain growth period to reach full maturity. As long as you stop them before that point, even someone below Battle Emperor can handle them. The Soul-Devouring Orb was exactly that kind of case. Had we let Xue Ren keep devouring souls, the Orb would have fully assimilated him and eventually reached a terrifying Battle Emperor-tier of power — on top of its soul-absorption ability. If a civilization without a Battle Emperor had to face something like that, what could they possibly do? And even a civilization *with* a Battle Emperor might not have been able to stop it."

Lu Yuan gave a slow nod, a heaviness settling over him.

In that case, given the recent surge in Aberration Events, if several S-grade Aberration Entities appeared at once — or something above SS-grade — wouldn't Great Qi Star be finished?

Noticing his silence, Li Qinghe smiled and spoke up reassuringly:

"You don't need to worry too much, though. While there is historical precedent for Aberration Entities destroying civilizations, such cases are extremely rare. Throughout the universe, every race shares the same stance on Aberration phenomena. If Great Qi Star ever faced an Aberration Entity we couldn't handle on our own, we could call for aid from White Cloud City, and powerful warriors would come to help. We're also on good terms with a number of strong races — Shuangyue's tribe, for instance, has Battle Saint-level powerhouses. If they heard we were in trouble, they wouldn't just stand by and watch."

Lu Yuan furrowed his brow. "Why would every civilization in the universe agree on this? If an Aberration doesn't affect your own race, wouldn't it be effortless to sit back and watch an enemy civilization get wiped out?"

He knew full well that even within the Human Race alone — setting aside other races entirely — the conflicts between humans and Gnolls were numerous and deep-rooted. Would Gnolls really lend a hand in something like this?

And it wasn't just within the Human Race. The Mechanical Race and the Human Race were tangled in their own web of clashes and competing interests. Why would any of them rush to someone else's aid when it posed no threat to them?

Li Qinghe shook her head.

"There was a precedent once. An S-grade Aberration Entity appeared within a civilization that had a Battle Emperor. Their Battle Emperor was unable to contain it, and they sent out a call for aid through the Land of Origin — but few took it seriously, and no one came. The civilization was destroyed. After consuming that civilization, for reasons no one has ever understood, the Aberration Entity evolved into SS-grade and proceeded to destroy several neighboring civilizations in succession, turning an entire star system into a dead zone. From that point on, no race in the universe has dared dismiss Aberration phenomena. No one knows whether, had the destruction continued, the Aberration Entity might have evolved to SSS-grade. If it ever had, the consequences for the entire universe would have been catastrophic."

Lu Yuan stared at her. "Aberration Entities can evolve?"

Li Qinghe nodded, her expression grave. "They can. No one has managed to understand the mechanism behind it, or what conditions trigger the evolution."

Lu Yuan fell silent.

*Wait — I can also evolve, can't I…?*

He glanced at the Evolution Cube. *Don't tell me this thing is an Aberration Entity?!*

But no, that couldn't be right. Aberration Entities exerted a profound influence on the minds of those they affected. The Evolution Cube had never disturbed Lu Yuan in any such way — it simply helped him evolve his genes.

If it *were* an Aberration Entity, he should have been plagued by all manner of strange compulsions by now.

If it wasn't an Aberration Entity, then what exactly was it?

The Evolution Cube's metamorphosis required the unknown aura found within Aberration Entities or Aberration creatures — so some connection clearly existed.

But if it wasn't an Aberration Entity itself, what was the nature of that relationship?

The same origin as Aberrations? Or something fundamentally opposed to them?

And why had the Evolution Cube appeared on *him* of all people, and not someone else?

Lu Yuan's thoughts churned in circles, a weight pressing heavy on his chest.

Seeing his expression shift, Li Qinghe assumed he was simply shaken by everything she'd described. She smiled and offered some comfort:

"In practice, most Aberration Entities rank below B-grade — C-grade is by far the most common. The total number of S-grade Aberration Entities that have ever appeared on Great Qi Star is countable on one hand. You really don't need to worry about encountering anything overwhelmingly powerful. What we should actually fear is the Aberration Tide. The kind of threat that suddenly corrupts an entire region without warning and then launches an all-out assault on civilization itself — that's the truly terrifying scenario."

"…"

The more Lu Yuan heard, the more convinced he became that this world was far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.

Until now, his understanding of Aberrations had been superficial at best — nothing more than rough outlines.

There wasn't even any detailed, publicly available information about it.

*Probably to keep ordinary people from panicking and disrupting normal life*, he reasoned. *If everyone knew the apocalypse could arrive at any moment, who would still go to work in the morning?*

And honestly, even if they did inform the general public, it wouldn't accomplish anything. Aberration Entities could only be handled by Gene Warriors.

When he thought about it that way, even Spatial Rifts — the kind that could appear without warning — started to seem almost quaint by comparison.

*At least Spatial Rifts aren't actively trying to obliterate an entire civilization.*

He let out a rueful smile. "Looks like I need to train harder. Otherwise, if an Aberration Tide shows up someday, I'll be in real trouble."

"Hehe~ Let's both work hard, then! When the time comes, your big sis here will be the one protecting you — rest easy."

Li Qinghe gave his shoulder a smug pat.

Lu Yuan inwardly rolled his eyes. *She's probably not even my match anymore.*

After all, even though Li Qinghe had broken through to Battle Sovereign and inscribed a Sovereign Grade gene, she only had one Sovereign Grade gene to her name.

Lu Yuan had six.

Combined with his formidable Gene Armament, his combat power had reached a truly staggering level.

And once he fully tempered his Gene Chain to perfection, he would be even stronger.

Even so, an unease still gnawed at him. The Aberration threat was far greater than he had assumed — a single fully matured S-grade Aberration Entity was already beyond what he could handle. An Aberration Tide would simply be the end.

*Still not strong enough.*

He sighed inwardly.

Then something crossed his mind. He took a few steps toward the room's door.

As he drew closer, the Evolution Cube vibrated intensely. A moment later, a cool, refreshing stream of energy seeped into his body and flowed into the Cube.

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up, a flash of delight crossing his face.

*Just as I thought — even this Aberration Entity carries the unknown aura. I can absorb it.*

He scanned the dense rows of storage rooms, something close to excitement stirring in his eyes.

*If I absorb the unknown aura from every single Aberration Entity in here, would that be enough to trigger one metamorphosis of the Evolution Cube?*

He smiled and spoke up. "Qinghe, let's keep going and look at all of them. Give me a rundown on each one — I'm genuinely curious about these Aberration Entities."

Li Qinghe scratched her head. "There really are quite a few, you know. Going through all of them will take some time."

"There's only the two of us here anyway," Lu Yuan said with a grin. "Isn't that kind of nice? We could call it a date."

Li Qinghe's mouth twitched. "Who goes on a date looking at Aberration Entities?!"

"Then let's go on a real date next time. Call it compensation."

Lu Yuan smiled.

Li Qinghe froze. What had she just done — basically admitted they were on a date?!

Her face darkened. After a beat of silence, she muttered, "I feel like I just walked straight into your trap. Infuriating!"

"I just want to spend a little more time with you, Qinghe," Lu Yuan said, still smiling.

That was the truth. He wasn't lying.

Li Qinghe rolled her eyes. "…Fine, fine. Let's look at everything."

And so the two began moving from the outermost section inward, examining Aberration Entity after Aberration Entity.

The sheer variety left Lu Yuan wide-eyed.

One D-grade Aberration Entity was a full-length mirror. Anyone who looked into it would find an identical copy of themselves step out from the surface — and that double would be driven to kill the original and take over their life. A year later, it would hunt down and slaughter the original's entire family.

Over the course of several years, the mirror had claimed the lives of dozens of families, leaving behind an extraordinarily brutal string of tragedies. At first, the Night Watchmen combing the city couldn't find the perpetrator no matter how thoroughly they searched — until one Night Watchman happened to glance into the mirror and noticed it showed no reflection. That was when he realized something was wrong.

Being D-grade, it had no effect whatsoever on Gene Warriors.

Another was a C-grade Aberration Entity: a piece of pork.

Yes — an ordinary-looking slab of pork.

Anyone who ate it would grow progressively fatter, and at a certain threshold, they would begin consuming their own flesh — carving pieces away until they bled to death. After the victim died, the pork would reappear somewhere else in the city, neither too close nor too far from the previous location.

Without that limitation, the Night Watchmen of the time would never have been able to track the thing down.

Lu Yuan couldn't shake the feeling that everything Li Qinghe described sounded like something out of a horror story — utterly bizarre.

In truth, many Aberration Entities were exactly that horrifying.

Some of them were the kind you wouldn't even see coming until it was already too late.

The weight in his chest grew heavier.

Then again, he reminded himself — if he was ever near an Aberration Entity, the Evolution Cube inside him would vibrate. That was, in its own way, an early-warning system.

That thought brought something else to mind: Si Tingfeng's fiancée.

His mood darkened all over again.

In the real world, so far, the Evolution Cube had only vibrated in the presence of Aberration Entities.

And it had vibrated in the presence of that woman — Tong Menghan.

Before, he wouldn't have had a good way to investigate the matter.

But now he did.

The Sovereign Grade gene: Shadow Dominion.

The Shadow Clones it summoned possessed exceptional concealment capabilities, and as long as he chose to, he could share the perceptions of any of them. Covert, undetectable surveillance was entirely within reach.

*When I get back, I'll find a chance to look into Tong Menghan's situation.*

Otherwise the unease would never leave him.

Lu Yuan made his decision.

The Aberration Entities in the basement followed a clear arrangement: all D-grade occupied the outermost section, with grade increasing the deeper one went — D, then C, then B, and finally A and S at the core.

D-grade and C-grade made up the bulk of the collection. From B-grade onward, the numbers dropped sharply.

But from B-grade onward, the Aberration Entities grew dramatically more dangerous.

B-grade, after all, was comparable in threat to a Battle King Rank warrior.

And given the uncanny, inscrutable nature of Aberration Entities, even a Battle King might not prevail against a B-grade specimen.

Lu Yuan came across one B-grade Aberration Entity in particular: a pair of bloodstained scissors.

So long as the scissors had made contact with a target's blood, snipping a single strand of that person's hair would slice their entire body clean in two.

Unless your own power exceeded the Battle King threshold, there was essentially no defense against the scissors' strange effect.

Three Battle King-rank powerhouses had once fallen victim to these scissors — dying in bewildering, inexplicable circumstances, without ever knowing what had killed them.

From C-grade onward, Aberration Entities developed a rudimentary form of cognition. At B-grade, they could produce eerie, insidious whispers capable of coaxing others into carrying out their will.

The bloodstained scissors couldn't move on their own — but they could manipulate a Battle King's family members. With just a drop of blood and a single strand of hair, they could arrange the death of a Battle King with terrifying ease.

Deeply, profoundly terrifying.

And these were the kinds of things B-grade Aberration Entities were like — dozens of them.

Lu Yuan couldn't even begin to imagine how many lives had been lost in the effort to collect them all.

Before long, the two arrived in a section that looked unmistakably different from everything before it.

The previous areas had been constructed entirely in black alloy. This section was built entirely in platinum-white alloy.

Where the two materials met, it looked like the boundary between two separate worlds.

Li Qinghe's expression turned grave.

"Beyond this point is the core zone — A-grade and S-grade. Even Battle Kings can find themselves in danger if they aren't careful inside. Stay close to me and don't touch anything. Whatever you hear, don't listen."

Lu Yuan could already sense something wrong about this area. He nodded, his tone serious.

"Understood, Qinghe. Don't worry."

Li Qinghe smiled and nodded.

At that moment, a series of soft, rhythmic knocks came from behind one of the room doors in the core zone.

**Knock.**

**Knock.**

**Knock.**

"Is there anyone out there?"

A soft, delicate voice drifted through the door.