Stitch Nurse

A piece of bad news.

Chen Miemie was lost.

First of all, this was an outskirt area he had never been to before. Secondly, there was thick fog everywhere, so getting lost was perfectly normal.

Qinghua and Bobo, following their past habits, just wandered wherever their feet took them. They didn't have the habit of remembering directions either.

"Do you guys know the direction back to Sixiang City?"

"No idea."

"Then we're doomed. I just hope that by the time [Sunless Day] ends, we won't be too far from the city."

In the fog, the watch had lost its functions for sending messages and making transfers. Its only remaining use was displaying the time.

It was now 3:56.

They had been in the fog for four hours.

A village appeared ahead.

"Huh, a new city? Why is it so small? It doesn't even have city walls."

"This is not a city. A city is a city, and a village is a village."

"What's the difference?"

"The 100 cities are inhabited by the Seven Great Races, while the villages are inhabited by Anomalies."

Chen Miemie felt very fortunate to have Qinghua and Bobo, two veteran Anomalies, by his side.

Setting aside their combat power, the intelligence they provided along the way was invaluable.

If you don't know something, just ask. There's no shame in asking your own Anomalies.

"Anomalies actually live in groups? Together in a village?"

"No, Anomalies don't live in groups. Even though Bobo and I became friends before, we wouldn't live together. At that time, our passive skills would have harmed each other."

"Then what about this village?"

"There should be an Anomaly settled here. The village is just the 'decoration' for its home."

The implication was that neither Qinghua nor Bobo knew this Anomaly.

"Did you guys have your own homes before?"

"I did. My home was a massive world of porcelain." This was Qinghua.

"I didn't. I just wandered and drifted aimlessly in the fog." This was Bobo.

"Bobo, that wasn't drifting. You were actively looking for people or Anomalies to eat you, so you could turn them into roast chickens.

Chen Miemie, Bobo is actually a famous 'great demon' in our Anomaly circles in Sixiang City.

Take those brains in a vat from just now. If Bobo was willing to waste time with them, it could just keep feeding itself into the water and eventually turn them all into roast chickens."

Chen Miemie felt a surge of profound respect, completely changing his view of this pineapple roast chicken.

So the evil final boss was right beside me all along?

The two "people" and one chicken walked into the village.

The village was full of simple, crude single-story houses.

The windows were finally no longer eyebrow windows, but rather large, hollowed-out holes. The kind that would let the wind blow right through without any glass to block it.

Looking closely, the houses were very rough, showing that the Anomaly's architectural skills were quite mediocre.

Because of the surrounding fog, they could only see four or five nearby houses.

This Anomaly didn't play any psychological games. It—or rather, she, or they—soon appeared.

Sensing outsiders entering the village, the entire village immediately came to life.

Out of every house walked a woman wearing tattered white clothes.

Their hands were not empty; they held syringes, scalpels, tweezers, stethoscopes...

They looked quite young, wearing bloodstained nurse uniforms. Except for slight differences in hair and eye color, their appearances were almost identical.

The most unusual thing was their legs.

Everything above the thighs was normal, but below the knees, they had no calves. Replacing their lower legs were two long, slender, and sharp needles.

As they walked, the needle tips tapped against the ground, making a "ding ding" sound.

Stabbing someone with those needles would definitely be bloody and cruel.

In a flash, dozens of needle-legged nurses surrounded Chen Miemie and his two companions.

At a distance of seven meters, the nurses stopped advancing.

The ground just in front of where they stopped had already turned into porcelain.

For a rookie facing an Anomaly, especially a humanoid one, the first choice wasn't to roll up their sleeves and fight, but to attempt communication.

"I want to see your village chief," Chen Miemie shouted.

The dozens of people spoke in perfect unison: "Intruders, state your purpose."

The voices of dozens of people were actually completely in sync, as if a single entity was controlling them all.

Chen Miemie coughed lightly and began his performance:

"We've recently entered the Eighth Epoch. This is a new era for the rise of the Fog Anomaly race.

Humans have societies, and it's time for us Anomalies to form our own society.

Seeing you build a village and construct houses, I can tell you are a reasonable humanoid Anomaly who yearns for civilization. Congratulations on passing our organization's preliminary test. I hereby sincerely invite you to participate in the second round of interviews."

Chen Miemie played a little mind game, directly handing the Anomaly in front of him a pass for the first round. This way, if she refused, there would be a sunk cost.

The Anomaly wasn't buying it.

"You yourself are not an Anomaly. You are human."

"That's too narrow-minded. The leader of our society, Huangyi, said that our society is all-inclusive and follows the grand path of heaven. How could we be constrained by mere race?

If we didn't have this kind of capacity, how could the Fog Anomaly races, whose differences from each other are even greater than their differences from humans, live together in harmony and advance hand in hand?"

"Huangyi?"

"Yes, our leader. He is the Moon Envoy personally appointed by the Eternal Moon. He has a brilliant mind and is the most handsome person in the world."

Chen Miemie gave a meaningful look.

Qinghua and Bobo were forced to chime in with their support, cheering loudly: "Lord Huangyi is the best in the world!"

"Leave. I'm not interested."

Having finally encountered a humanoid Anomaly after suffering the torment of slimes and floating brains in water, how could Chen Miemie give up so easily?

"Anomaly, what is your name?"

"Loop."

Loop? What kind of weird name is that? Anomalies are so terrible at naming themselves. Qinghua must be the highest standard among them.

"Alright, Loop. Our society offers many benefits for joining. One of the most important ones is helping members connect with the Eternal Moon and become a faction under the Eternal Moon's command."

"What use is that?"

"Belonging to the Eternal Moon allows you to control your own passive abilities, enabling you to join the civilized world from then on. Never mind. There are millions of Anomalies in the world. Since you have no intention of joining, forget it. Let's go."

Chen Miemie turned around and led Qinghua and Bobo toward the outside of the village.

He walked very slowly.

There was a strategy to his steps. He acted like someone haggling over a price who pretends to walk away when the deal fails, just waiting for the seller to yell out, "Please wait."

The dozens of needle-legged nurses present stared at the backs of the three as they were about to walk out of the village.

What Chen Miemie said about "controlling your own passive abilities and joining the civilized world" was undoubtedly a massive temptation for any rational, humanoid Anomaly.

The fact that a human could stand comfortably alongside two Anomalies was also strong proof of "controlling one's passive abilities."

Should she give it a try? Loop was somewhat tempted.

"Wait."

Chen Miemie stopped.

He turned around.

He thought he was waiting for an "I am willing to join," but what he got instead was "Kill them."

Dozens of crazed, bloodthirsty faces lunged forward, and dozens of pairs of sharp, long needles struck sparks against the ground.