Poisonous Blood

Every Anomaly has its own distinct personality.

Some are timid, some are socially anxious, some are bloodthirsty, and some are cruel. But the reason Anomalies strike fear into the Seven Great Races, aside from their passive abilities, is that almost all of them share a common trait: no Anomaly is truly afraid of death.

This includes the timid ones. Timidity is merely a personality trait or a behavioral pattern; they might flee, but deep down, they do not fear death.

Without the fear of death, there is no reverence, and without reverence, they cannot be subjugated for one's own use.

Even the Church of the Mist only treats Anomalies with an attitude of exploitation and transaction, never truly considering them as one of their own.

The reason the Water-Shaped Artist called for a truce was not out of fear of being beaten.

It had slaughtered countless powerful beings and had long since become indifferent to life and death. It would not submit simply because someone was stronger than it.

The Water-Shaped Artist had the word "Artist" in its name. It didn't kill the strong just for the sake of killing, but more to craft them into what it considered works of art.

The reason Chen Miemie made it change its attitude was the sheer beauty of the water curtain hanging upside down from the sky under the mighty power of the sky-filling tides. This unprecedented, unimaginable scene left it shocked and mesmerized.

In this scene, it saw the ultimate form of art.

The water-shaped humanoid lowered its head. "You have shown me the ultimate art. I have no regrets in this life, and I am willing to follow you."

Yellow moonlight enveloped the Water-Shaped Artist, gradually seeping into its body.

The surface of its water-composed body was unexpectedly covered with a layer of moonlight as thin as cicada wings.

The Invitation of the Moon was complete.

"Huh? I feel like some changes have occurred in my body. It seems... I can now control the urge to drain human blood."

"Yes, as my familiar, your passive trait has now become a controllable ability. Come, let me teach you how to open your status panel."

Following Chen Miemie's instructions, the Water-Shaped Artist fumbled and brought up the panel.

A line of yellow text appeared before its eyes.

Water-Shaped Artist - Mystery: 6.5, Immortality: 7.5. Abilities: Water State, Mimicry, Evaporation and Freezing, Eternal Moon Familiar.

Chen Miemie felt a surge of joy.

The Water-Shaped Artist was the hardest to kill among all the Anomalies he had encountered so far, and it also possessed the highest level of Mystery.

With its addition, the power of their household had grown significantly.

"Calling you Water-Shaped Artist all the time is a bit of a mouthful. Do you have a shorter nickname?"

"You can just call me Pure Water."

"Alright, Pure Water. Since you've joined my big family, and you are an elder, you can just call me by my name, Chen Miemie, or Miemie for short."

"Okay, Miemie."

Having happily acquired a fierce new general, Chen Miemie was in a very good mood.

After wandering outside for a few hours and successfully completing his mission, he headed straight home.

Pure Water transformed into a large, water-shaped bird and flew back to Sixiang City with him.

Upon returning home, Pure Water's arrival drew the curious gazes of the three Anomalies in the house.

Qinghua crafted an oversized porcelain basin for Pure Water to settle in.

Once inside the basin, Pure Water collapsed from its bird form and turned back into a basin of incredibly clear water.

This basin of anomalous water looked exactly like ordinary purified water; its disguise was even better than Bobo's.

Loop was a bit worried. "Pure Water, you shouldn't casually slip into the cups around the house, or Chen Miemie might just pick one up and drink you by accident."

Pure Water was very old, but its voice was crisp, much like a young child whose voice hadn't yet broken, making it impossible to tell its gender.

"I am actually drinkable."

Chen Miemie wasn't afraid of drinking it; eating Bobo every day had already broken his bottom line anyway. He was more concerned about other aspects.

"Pure Water, I want to carry you with me. What is the smallest size you can shrink down to?"

"The smallest? I can probably condense down to about 20 liters."

Everyone in the house frowned.

20 liters didn't sound too big, but put into bottles, it was roughly the volume of a whole crate.

Such volume and weight did not meet the requirements for being carried around easily.

Just as everyone was sighing softly.

Pure Water added, "I can merge into an equal volume of water."

The group didn't quite catch the meaning behind its words.

Pure Water glanced at Chen Miemie, who had reverted to his human form. "Let me just demonstrate. Miemie, open your mouth."

Chen Miemie subconsciously opened his mouth slightly.

Pure Water transformed into a thin stream of water and shot directly into Chen Miemie's mouth.

In less than a second, before anyone could cry out in surprise.

The large basin of water completely disappeared.

"I'm inside Miemie's body," Pure Water's voice echoed from within Chen Miemie.

"What do you mean by inside his body?" Loop, acting as a nurse, quickly stepped forward to check on Chen Miemie's physical condition.

"I am now Chen Miemie's blood."

Good heavens, everyone couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief.

Talk about "carrying it with you"—it had literally gone straight into his body.

Chen Miemie stood up from the sofa and did a couple of small jumps. "I can't feel a thing! Pure Water, this isn't scientific. Two portions of water became one; where did the weight and volume of the other portion go?"

"When I merge into new water, I can control whether to make the original water content disappear. This is part of my ability."

Right, right, whatever science can't explain is just blamed on Mystery. Classic.

"Can you still use your powers while in my blood? You won't need me to cough up three liters of blood just to come out, right?"

"Bleeding a little is inevitable, but it won't take that much. Oh, by the way, from now on, your blood is a part of me, which means it is 'poisonous'."

"How poisonous?"

"I can manipulate blood. If a biological creature with blood gets tainted by me, unless their Immortality is high enough, they're pretty much doomed."

"This was your passive ability from before, wasn't it?"

"That's right."

"This is a human city. Don't activate it unless absolutely necessary. Only use it when we encounter enemies."

"Oh, okay."

Just as the family was preparing to eat some cheese roast chicken to celebrate the joining of their new member.

A knock came from the door.

Chen Miemie opened the door.

Joker was standing in the doorway, holding a gauze bag.

"I found my severed hand. Could you please help me reattach it?"

Chen Miemie enthusiastically invited him inside.

"Come in, come in! I haven't seen you in a few days. Why don't you sit down and eat with us? It's a new flavor of roast chicken."

Joker hastily shook his head.

Not only would he never eat the roast chicken from Chen Miemie's house, but he also refused to eat from the newly opened pineapple roast chicken shop downstairs.

He was all too familiar with the aroma and appearance of the roast chicken from that daily-booming shop downstairs; it was purely the exact same chicken from Chen Miemie's house.

Often, Joker would sigh in relief that Chen Miemie wasn't a member of the Church of the Mist. Otherwise, just by selling roast chicken, he could wipe out half the city's population.

"What do you mean by that?! Are you disrespecting me, or are you looking down on the great Bobo?!" The roast chicken angrily jumped up from the porcelain plate.

"Yeah, since you've joined us, you'll have to get familiar with your colleagues sooner or later, right?" Chen Miemie persuaded with a smiling face.

The white porcelain beauty, Qinghua, pulled out a chair at the dining table for him. "Please have a seat, Mr. Joker."

Loop gently closed the front door that Joker and Chen Miemie had just walked through.

Joker: ...

It seemed that eating it today was absolutely unavoidable.