First Encounter with the Strange

"I appeared in your bathroom, and now it's filled with mist." The humanoid anomaly was willing to communicate.

Because the light in the room was too dim, even though the two were sitting very close, Chen Miemie still couldn't see the specific appearance of this anomaly clearly. He could only tell from the silhouette that it was humanoid.

"I remember now. It must be that after draining the bathtub, I forgot to plug the floor drain. This mist really gets in everywhere."

"It seems you have bad luck; that should be a low-probability event." The anomaly actually comforted him.

"You belong to the friendly type, right? You didn't even attack me directly."

"Friendly? Hmm, how should I put it. Subjectively speaking, I am indeed quite friendly..."

Before a smile could even form on Chen Miemie's face, the humanoid anomaly added, "It's just a pity that, although it's not my intention, out of the hundreds of people who have encountered me so far, the mortality rate is 100%. No one has survived."

Chen Miemie: ...

"How did they all die?"

"Haven't you felt it yet? Your body should have already started changing.

Sigh, it's so hard to find someone to chat with. You are one of the rare people who isn't afraid of me and is willing to say a few words to me. I really wish we could chat more. As an anomaly, I get lonely too."

"Changes?"

Chen Miemie tried to raise his hand to look at his body.

But soon, he realized that it was difficult for him to even move.

His body seemed to have hardened into a fixed, stone-like material, and he had turned into a sculpture where only his eyes and mouth could move slightly.

"What's happening to me?"

"My real name is Qinghua, but you humans seem to have given me the title of White Porcelain Lady. Objects that come close to me are passively transformed into porcelain by my power."

"This ability of yours is quite impressive. Your family must be very rich." Chen Miemie's abnormal thought process began to show; in such a critical moment, he actually still had the mood to crack a joke.

"After I leave, you will shatter into thousands of pieces. I am very sorry about this. Time is almost up, and I don't want to hurt anyone else. I have to go back into the mist in the bathroom."

"What happens if you don't go back into the mist?"

"Then when the Sunless Day ends and the mist disperses, I will be left here. If that happens, I would have to walk out of this city all by myself, and I would kill countless people along the way."

"Why do you have to leave the city?"

"Because there is mist in the wilderness far away from the city. If I stay here, unless a powerful human finds a way to destroy me, the entire city will eventually be turned to porcelain by me."

"Wait! Didn't they say there is no mist where there is sun and moon? Is there mist in the wilderness normally?!"

The humanoid anomaly nodded. "The protection of the sun and the moon is only enough to shine on 100 cities. Outside the city, the mist will still appear intermittently. Huh? How can you still speak?"

Chen Miemie used all his strength, trying to raise his arm to look at the watch on it.

As a result, the porcelain arm barely moved, but the moment it did, it snapped off from his body. The entire arm fell to the ground with a crack and shattered into several pieces.

Chen Miemie: "My left hand shattered."

"You're really calm."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"I really have to go now. The mist is starting to disperse."

"Mm, okay. My name is Chen Miemie. There's a high probability I won't die, so if there's a chance in the future, I'll come find you to hang out."

Qinghua stood up.

She prepared to walk back into the mist in the bathroom, leaving together with the dispersing mist.

Crack.

Another crisp sound.

Qinghua tripped over the largest fragment of Chen Miemie's shattered arm.

It seemed very difficult for her to get up. When she finally managed to climb to her feet, she had lost her sense of direction.

"Ah! Quickly, tell me which direction the bathroom was! There's no time left."

Chen Miemie: "After all that, it turns out that in a pitch-black environment, you anomalies don't have night vision either. I can't turn my head right now, so you'll have to find it yourself."

"Ah! I can't find it, I'm doomed!"

00:00 arrived.

The light source in the room reappeared, and the moon above the roof emitted a pale red glow.

Ding, Xiao Hong is here again. Chen Miemie, your condition doesn't look too good?

'I encountered an anomaly that turns people into porcelain, and I got turned into porcelain.'

Minor issue. I'll help you connect to your essential existence, and the negative effects will be transferred over.

In another dimension.

On a boundless, massive yellow celestial body, the geological structure on the surface of a certain crater suddenly turned into porcelain.

The area of porcelainification continued to expand, spreading in all directions.

It expanded until it was almost the size of three Sixiang Cities before slowly stopping.

Three times the size of a city—what terrifying, city-destroying power.

But for this yellow celestial body, this area was simply a drop in the bucket, a single grain in the ocean, unable to make even the slightest splash.

Chen Miemie's body returned to its flesh and blood state.

"Ah!!! It hurts, it hurts, my hand!"

The pain of his severed arm only appeared now; he hadn't felt anything when it was turned to porcelain earlier.

Do you need the pain transferred over as well?

'Yes, yes, hurry!'

Pain has been transferred.

Chen Miemie instantly stopped hurting and immediately regained his facial composure.

Only then did he have the time to clearly see the guest in the room who had missed the last train home.

Qinghua, or the White Porcelain Lady, was truly a woman made of white porcelain material. Even the clothes and shoes on her body were made of porcelain.

Her skin gleamed with the cold light of porcelain glaze, delicate and flawless. Every inch of her texture was like the highest grade of imperial kiln masterpiece. Her whole being exuded a quiet elegance, so beautifully fragile that one wouldn't dare to touch her.

The White Porcelain Lady in the dark.

"You're actually pretty good-looking."

"Thank you for the compliment. You're also very impressive. You're the first person who has been able to reverse my porcelainification."

"Are you going to turn this entire building into porcelain next?"

"I was going to, but not anymore. Your body completely drained all my porcelainification energy. So you are one of my kind too. What kind of anomaly are you?"

Chen Miemie: ???

"I am human, not your kind."

"Oh, then you are a supremely powerful human. By the way, blood is still spurting from your severed arm. Is it really okay?"

Chen Miemie looked down. Having lost the warning signal of pain, his arm was still silently bleeding profusely.

A large pool of red had already stained the floor. If quantified, it could probably fill up his large bathtub.

This amount of blood loss was probably already two or three times all the blood in his body.

Chen Miemie found it a bit strange. Where did he get so much blood?

Your current Immortality level is 9, and your hematopoietic ability is top-notch. Bleeding at this rate wouldn't run dry even in a year.

'Then can my severed hand grow back?'

It can, but it would be faster if you just reattached the hand on the floor right now.

Under Qinghua's slightly astonished gaze.

Chen Miemie started gathering the shattered pieces of his arm from the floor.

"Move your foot, you're stepping on my hand."

"Oh." Qinghua quickly moved aside, making way for the piece of hand bone that had tripped her earlier.

Thanks again to the carpeted floors of this world's interiors, the few shattered pieces were relatively large and quickly gathered.

Chen Miemie followed Xiao Hong's instructions.

He pieced the shattered arm together on the dining table and then brought it into contact with the stump of his own arm.

Visible to the naked eye, fleshy granulations sprouted between the two, connecting and intertwining until they merged into one.

Soon, his precious left hand was restored to its original state.

He waved his hand. Excellent, a hundred percent original condition.

"Qinghua, according to what you said, you're temporarily no longer destructive. What are your plans? Do you want me to escort you out of the city?"

A faint blush actually appeared on Qinghua's flawless, jade-like face. She asked cautiously:

"Um, Chen Miemie, if possible, could I wander around the city? I haven't gone shopping in decades."

Chen Miemie hesitated a bit. "When will your porcelain-transformation ability recover? If it suddenly comes back while we're on the street, it'll hurt people."

"It's recovering every single moment. It's just that because I'm with you, whatever recovers is fully absorbed by you."

"So, I've become the safety lock for a dangerous item like you."

Chen Miemie muttered in his heart: Xiao Hong, can I withstand her porcelain transformation forever?

[Yes for now, but I have to sleep during the day. After 6 AM, there will be no one to help you transfer the porcelain transformation effect.]

"Qinghua, I can take you out for a stroll right now, but I have to send you away before five o'clock."

The white porcelain beauty's face filled with disappointment. It was currently the early hours of the morning, and almost all the shops were closed. Shopping had to be done during the day.

She wasn't just disappointed about missing out on shopping; she was also a bit reluctant to part with Chen Miemie.

Chen Miemie was the first person who wasn't afraid of her, wouldn't be killed by her, and was willing to talk to her nicely.

Anomalies were all different. As a humanoid anomaly who spent years alone in the wilderness without even someone to talk to, she was incredibly lonely.

[Congratulations, Chen Miemie. You have broken through and ranked up.]

Chen Miemie: ???

[Chen Miemie (Xiao Hong's Blessing Version), [Mystery]: 1, [Immortality]: 9, Abilities: Moonlight, Self-Healing, Berserk, Corrosive Infection, Witch's Luck, Eternal Moon (Newly Activated)]

Hmm? A new ability called [Eternal Moon] appeared? he wondered.

[You have personally made contact with an anomaly. Your [Mystery] has broken through from 0.99 to 1. [Eternal Moon] is your innate ability and the foundation of all your mysteries.]

[Ability [Eternal Moon]: Walk the world on behalf of the Eternal Moon. Waxing and waning, illuminating a hundred cities.]

What a bizarre ability description. It's too abstract, basically telling me nothing. Forget it, I'll figure it out slowly on my own, he thought.

Chen Miemie was studying his new ability in his mind, but to Qinghua, it looked like the silence of someone who couldn't help her.

She cautiously tugged at the corner of Chen Miemie's clothes. "Then let's leave the city now."

Snapping back to reality, Chen Miemie looked at Qinghua's pitiful expression and subconsciously blurted out:

"Sigh, if possible, I'd be willing to take you in."

Qinghua's eyes lit up, and a brilliant smile appeared on her smooth, jade-like face. "I'm willing too."

[!!!!!!!]

[What have you done!!!]

[This is the [Invitation of the Moon]!!! You have already activated [Eternal Moon], which means you represent the Eternal Moon. Do not casually make contracts with mysteries!!!]

Xiao Hong was incredibly agitated, making a huge racket.

But at this moment, Chen Miemie had no time to pay attention to it.

Endless yellow silk threads sprouted from his body, completely wrapping Qinghua up like a spider spinning silk around its prey, forming a yellow cocoon.

Then, radiating yellow light from within like a chick breaking out of its shell, Qinghua's light burst through the silk cocoon. Ignoring buildings and terrain, a pillar of light shot straight into the sky.

After a long time, the light dissipated.

Chen Miemie's head was spinning, and he felt extremely drowsy.

Qinghua, on the other hand, had fallen straight into a coma.

[You're about to pass out too. Well, what's done is done. Sigh, rest assured, from now on you won't have to worry about this white porcelain woman causing harm.]

Mmhmm, then I can rest easy. I'm going to sleep first, Chen Miemie thought.

After saying this in his heart, Chen Miemie couldn't hold on any longer and immediately fell asleep.

Just as Chen Miemie and Qinghua were fast asleep...

Across the entire world, one hundred cities were in an uproar.

This day was the final day of the Seventh Epoch, which had lasted for 3,783 years in this world.

This day was also the first day of the first year of the Eighth Epoch.