Chapter 124: The Camera Anomaly

After leaving the office building, Adam and the possessed Samit made their way through many psychic modules in Samit's psychic world before finally encountering the root of his fear in front of a smart apartment complex.

This was a camera-like anomaly that was over 3.5 meters tall with an elongated praying-mantis-like body. Despite the remarkable length of its body, its waist wasn't even as thick as the average human, and it was standing at the foot of the apartment building, slicing open the chests and abdomens of all of the people who passed by.

It would then use its large "eyes" to slowly take photographs of its victims' skin, hair, internal organs, and even their fascia.

Its eyes consisted of a camera, and it was able to capture an image with every single blink. These images were then printed out of its body onto the street to produce one gorey photograph after another.

A fighter for justice in the real world, a demon in the psychic world...

Adam couldn't help but see the irony of the situation as he looked at the anomaly before him.

He knew that psychic anomalies were manifestations of what their hosts were most afraid of and what had hurt them the most, but in the past, the real-world equivalents of most of the anomalies that he had encountered were also quite deplorable, such as the anomaly in Kim Garcia's psychic world, and the clown anomaly that had plagued Twerking Karen's daughter, both of which had been manifested from nefarious characters.

Killing this anomaly will restore your peace of mind, which is much better than what you deserve, but thankfully, there are people waiting on the outside to take your organs!

With that in mind, Adam didn't waste any more time and immediately charged toward the anomaly.

At this point, most of the passersby on this street had already been killed by the anomaly, so Adam's approach naturally attracted its interest.

It turned around, then blinked a few times at Adam to snap several pictures of his body.

Adam paid no heed to this and lashed out with his carving knife.

The camera anomaly used its scythe arms to ward off the attack, but it was sent flying by the impact of the clash, crashing into a pickup truck to instantly reduce it to a pile of scrap metal.

Judging from the power displayed by the camera anomaly, Adam was able to determine that it was a level two anomaly.

A difference of a single level was an enormous, insurmountable gulf, so Adam wasn't viewing the anomaly as a threat at all, and he immediately rushed forward to put an end to its existence as soon as possible.

However, an unexpected turn of events subsequently unfolded.

Right as he was in the process of charging toward the anomaly a second time, his opponent blinked at him a few more times.

A flash of light appeared before Adam's eyes as if a camera flash had been set off right in front of him, following which he felt as if his body had been captured in a still frame. Everything around him had become faster, but he had become slower.

Upon noticing this change, Adam immediately began to struggle vigorously, and with his tremendous strength, he was able to shatter the air around him with a loud pop.

However, at the same time, his neck was struck by the camera anomaly's scythe arm, sending sparks flying in all directions, and he was forced to stumble back several steps to steady himself.

What just happened?

Adam was feeling rather perplexed. Just now, he felt as if he had somehow been fixed into place. Not only was he unable to move his body, even his thoughts seemed to have been blocked.

Adam was quite curious about this ability and decided to test it out once again.

Thus, he raised his carving knife and charged toward the camera anomaly for a third time. Initially, the anomaly tried to flee the scene, but it was no match for Adam's speed, and it was caught in less than 10 seconds. In that dire situation, it began to blink at Adam once again.

As the sound of a clicking camera shutter rang out, that feeling of fixation arose once again. However, Adam was already prepared this time, and he immediately struggled with his body to quickly free himself from the immobilizing effects.

However, due to how close the two combatants were, he was struck by another blow to the neck.

A loud clang rang out, and a gash was sliced into the bandages around his neck, revealing the steel-like skin underneath.

Adam was quite taken aback by the camera anomaly's offensive prowess. As a level two anomaly, its destructive capabilities already exceeded that of the vast majority of other anomalies at the same level. In fact, even Nie Yiyi wouldn't have been able to unleash such a powerful strike unless she was given time to charge up her attack.

Its abilities and offensive prowess are both exceptional, so its weakness must be...

Adam didn't give his opponent any more chances as he slashed his carving knife through the air to slice the anomaly's body into two.

The anomaly was completely powerless to resist and was instantly killed.

In terms of life force, it was inferior even to that superior of Samit's from before.

That thing had only been a half-anomaly, yet even it had survived a blow from Adam's carving knife. However, this was a level two anomaly, yet Adam hadn't even felt any resistance as his carving knife passed through its body. In terms of defensive prowess and regenerative ability, it was firmly at the bottom of the back among level two anomalies.

What a heavily skewed set of attributes! Even with its glaring weaknesses, it's still extremely dangerous. Against most other level two anomalies, it would most likely be able to kill its opponent in an instant.

The camera anomaly's offensive capabilities and abilities were both outstanding for a level two anomaly, but its weaknesses were also far too prominent. Not only were its defenses and life force downright pitiful, even its intelligence was sorely lacking.

Adam had encountered cunning anomalies before, such as the clown anomaly and the nun anomaly. If they were to encounter an opponent that they couldn't defeat, then they would run away at the drop of a hat. However, the camera anomaly was a complete caveman compared with them, knowing no other approach than to fight fire with fire.

In Samit's mind, this reporter who's determined to uncover the truth is probably as hardheaded as hardheaded can be. In his eyes, going against the National Medical Products Administration and such a major food company is probably no different from committing suicide.

Adam heaved a faint sigh as he instructed Nun to devour the anomalic power left behind by the camera anomaly.

At the same time, he took advantage of this opportunity to inspect his surroundings, and he just so happened to notice the photographs of himself that the camera anomaly had just captured.

He picked up the photograph to find that not only did it hold his visage, there were also some accompanying pieces of information.

"Prominent traits: extremely strong defenses, no psychological or physical weaknesses, mediocre abilities, average offensive prowess."

What kind of ability is this? Is it able to assess an opponent while also immobilizing them?

Adam turned to the camera anomaly's carcass with a stunned expression, astonished by how useful its abilities were. If it weren't for the fact that he was going to have to rely on Nun for his upcoming matches, he was even tempted to leave its anomalic power rather than allow Nun to absorb it.

Clearly, this anomaly was the more useful asset.

You'll be the next one that I develop.

Adam was very pleased to have obtained such an exceptional anomaly. It was going to be useful regardless of whether it was used as a fusion partner or as an independent invoked entity.

Its exceptional control and scouting abilities gave it the power to potentially topple opponents of a higher caliber than itself.

With so many formidable enemies and the battle royale on the horizon, the addition of this anomaly to his collection was only going to give him a significant boost.

While these thoughts were running through Adam's mind, Nun had already finished devouring the residual anomalic power in the area. After this influx of anomalic power, Nun had gone a long way to returning to its former peak, evolving all the way into a level two anomaly. At this point, the dark complexion of the possessed Samit had become even more pronounced, and his fingernails had become long and sharp, while his movement speed had also been increased by severalfold.

That's a job well done.

Adam was still mindful of the tense situation outside, and after making sure that there were no other suspicious entities in the area, he withdrew Nun and left Samit's psychic world.