Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 33 - 32: A Celestial Omen Appears

The car drove out of the underground garage and turned onto the main road.

Many bystanders had already gathered along the roadside.

"What are they looking at?" Honglian asked.

"Oh my god... just focus on driving first..." Wang Baihu poked his head out of the sunroof, lying on top of the car, looking incredulously in the direction that the crowd was gazing.

A blood-red wasteland was reflected in the sky.

Against the sparse white clouds and blue sky, it stood out so clearly, like a slender picture scroll. Many people witnessed this peculiar scene, taking out their phones to snap photos of the horizon, their faces filled with excitement.

This is completely different from the invasions of the past... he could already imagine the logistical team’s despair when it comes to cleaning up.

"No way..." Honglian soon noticed the anomaly in the sky between the gaps of tall buildings, "What the hell is that!?"

"I’m not sure, but it seems like it’s raining over there... and that rain is blood-red..." Wang Baihu murmured, squinting his eyes. His eyesight was the best on the team, able to clearly see the face value of a coin from five hundred meters away, "What should we do now? I’m afraid everyone in the city will see it soon!"

"Not just the city." Honglian rolled her eyes silently, "In just a few minutes, this would spread worldwide."

Past invasions were often just a door, a building, or a limited volume of "space," and most spaces were traceable. For example, the last infiltration, numbered as invasion 98, had a background set in medieval France, so the point of connection appeared in a store on a replica of the Champs-Élysées.

Therefore, to make the invasion more concentrated, they spent a fortune building a massive Window to the World on the outskirts of the city. Given that international travel is becoming increasingly easy, theme parks like this, which replicate famous landmarks from various countries, are clearly outdated. Honglian still recalled many newspapers "criticized" the construction of the park at the time, little knowing its purpose was not to attract tourists.

But why did an invasion anomaly suddenly occur in the clear, open sky?

Wang Baihu ducked back into the car and turned on the radio, which was broadcasting the same station across all channels.

"...A rare light and shadow phenomenon has appeared over our city. Experts claim it is a special mirage caused by the refraction of light as the northern cold air mass moves south, partially blocked by Lu Mountain. Please do not panic and observe it in an orderly and civilized manner. Here are a few recommended viewing spots from our station’s reporters..."

"A mirage? That’s a nice touch," he praised, "The logistics team reacted pretty quickly."

"It’s just a temporary cover-up." Honglian was dismissive, "Invasion brings more than just wonders; also mutations. If we don’t handle this properly, the secret that the world is already riddled with holes will be revealed."

After speaking, she took a police light from the glove compartment and stuck it on top of the car with a flick of her wrist.

The sound of sirens blared, and the cars in front quickly made way.

"Hey, that’s against the rules. We aren’t—"

"No time to worry about details! At this rate, the roads will soon be completely blocked. Are we supposed to run there on foot?"

Wang Baihu had to admit she had a point. The anomaly attracted not just bystanders but also drivers. The flow of traffic was noticeably slowing, with many people simply parking their cars along the roadside to get out and watch the rare "mirage." It was foreseeable that a city-wide traffic jam would soon occur.

"Don’t worry; the traffic police are probably too busy to bother with us now, they’re overwhelmed themselves." Honglian gripped the steering wheel, flooring the accelerator, "Sit tight; I’m speeding up!"

In less than a quarter of an hour, they had raced to Peace Avenue in the Celestial Ridge District.

A small landscaped park lay directly beneath the anomaly.

It wasn’t yet the end of the workday, so there weren’t many people wandering the park, only about a few dozen. They were right beneath the "mirage," able to see the sky-tearing spectacle with just a glance upward.

Wang Baihu felt his breath quicken.

He couldn’t deny that experiencing the anomaly from a distance and standing beneath it, head held high, were completely different. First was the size: when it was right overhead, it could take up more than half of one’s field of vision, an intense sense of oppression. Then at the anomaly’s edge, he clearly saw clouds sliced in half, with white tufts falling into the anomaly as if that blood-red land was sucking up everything from this world. Though suspended in the sky, it resembled a bottomless abyss.

"Take this and get the people to leave." Honglian tossed an item to him.

Wang Baihu caught it and saw that it was a police badge, with his photo on it.

"Where did you get this?"

"Pinduoduo."

"You’re breaking the rules again—"

"Huh?" Honglian raised an eyebrow, "Then I’ll go."

"No, I’ll do it." Wang Baihu quickly stopped her, darting out of the car. Although evacuating the onlookers was for their own good, the disdain his coworker had for the rules was obvious to all, not to mention the frustration she’d been holding from an earlier failure, with no place to vent.

"Hey, it’s not safe here; everyone needs to leave!" he shouted, waving the badge as he briskly approached a couple holding up a phone.

"Didn’t they say it’s just a mirage?"

"Yeah, what’s unsafe about it?"

"Do you think I’d lie?" Wang Baihu shook the badge for emphasis, "The park is about to be cordoned off; you need to get out now!"

Presumably convinced by his police identity, the couple heeded his warning, leaving while frequently looking back.

He then ran toward the next group.

But at that moment, a sharp scream suddenly rang out!

Everyone heard it and turned towards the sound, seeing a young woman in her twenties sitting on the ground, frantically squirming as if trying to escape yet too scared to move. Her left hand was tightly clutching her right wrist, from which blood was dripping.

Wang Baihu was shocked, dashing immediately to her side.

There was only a pet dog with a collar in front of the woman.

The dog was lapping at a strange puddle of shimmering golden blood, ignoring the woman’s cries, and beside it lay a severed hand with skin still attached.

He recognized it at once — it was the woman’s hand.

Then the dog looked at him — not by raising its head, but with both eyes shifting to the same side, stacked above and below, staring at him! Its mouth also gaped wider, almost splitting from the tip of the nose to the neck.

Wang Baihu was horrified.

A mutation... had occurred in the dog?

Without hesitation, he drew a gun from his waist and fired at the pet dog!

A faint whizzing sound was heard as the bullet precisely hit the dog’s brow.

This wasn’t an ordinary handgun but a special weapon issued by the organization, resembling a toy, firing potent tranquilizer darts. The advantage is that even if seen by civilians, it wouldn’t cause much alarm... The downside, though, as in this situation, was that the pet dog showed no signs of sedation, only pausing for a moment before biting into the ground!

Biting into the ground?

Wang Baihu suddenly noticed the grass at his feet starting to writhe.

In the blink of an eye, a dog’s mouth burst out from the earth, biting fiercely into his calf! Oddly enough, the pet dog hadn’t moved from its spot; it was as if it had buried its head in the ground, its body still three to four meters away from Wang Baihu!

The woman witnessing this bizarre scene let out a sob before fainting from fear.

However, the dog’s bite failed to sever his calf, even chipping several sharp teeth, sparks flying from the point of contact.

Wang Baihu easily freed his leg, leaping back to put some distance, then scooped up the unconscious woman and dashed toward the car, "Honglian, number mz3 round!"

"Countdown: one second," his coworker’s calm voice came through the earpiece, "Run faster."

"Can’t you delay it a few seconds—" Before he could finish, an explosion drowned out any answer.

Boom!

Wang Baihu stumbled from the blast wave, looking back to see only scorched earth where the grass had been, as well as the lower half of the pet dog blown to bits.

Nobody dared to stay in the park anymore, and in no time, everyone had fled.

"At least it saved us some trouble." He muttered, "But I wonder what the logistics team will say about this."

"What else can they say, a gas pipe explosion," Honglian walked over, "What did you shoot just now?"

"A dog."

"What?" she frowned.

Wang Baihu, still somewhat incredulous, said, "That dog... gained abilities."