Chapter 52: Anonymous (Bonus Chapter for 5,000 Favorites)

The familiar login prompt automatically faded away, yet it stirred up raging billows in Shi Rang's heart.

It had been some time since he was last able to log into the headquarters website.

Objectively speaking, it had been a day or two; subjectively, it felt like several years...

Just when he needed to access the headquarters the most, to confirm whether he had been put on the homepage "activity column" and wanted by authorities, the website slammed its doors shut in his face.

Unexpectedly, he was back, using an entirely different method.

Could it be that he had never accessed the website via computer or mobile phone at all, and that everything was simply the result of his own abnormalities—his "supernatural power"? Was the webpage he saw merely an image projected onto his retina?

Was that why the website kept throwing 404 errors at irregular intervals?

Because he hadn't fully mastered his abilities yet?

The webpage presenting itself before his eyes was identical to the one in his memory. By focusing his attention on a certain spot, he could trigger a redirection just as if he were holding a mouse, entering the next page, the next "room" of stored information.

He carefully reined in his thoughts, avoiding the temptation to touch too much information, and plunged straight into the report concerning C-888.

Information flooded into his mind.

[...C-888 was not found in the Tenth District Yunling New Area; the identity of the unknown intruder remains unconfirmed.]

[Addendum: Field operatives were identified by Alliance personnel during their visits; the operation has been compromised.]

That was a relief.

The stone hanging in Shi Rang's chest could finally drop—at least for now.

Although he didn't know why the Administration hadn't found him, the fact that the reconnaissance team was fine and he was safe as well was the best possible outcome.

At that moment, a beam of light lit up at the "rear" of the page.

[All reconnaissance clues have been submitted]

[Beginning analysis of the anomalous item, please wait...]

That beam of light emerged from outside space, crashing straight into the website's domain and stirring up a splash of "water."

A new page was born amidst the collision.

Shi Rang followed the glowing stream of information and entered the newly created blank page.

[Distortion Phenomenon - Phantom Car]

[A large number of reports have been received recently stating that at Route 132, Section ██, District Nine ██, an unlicensed vintage Beetle car (hereinafter referred to as the "Phantom Car") appears out of thin air at the highway entrance, speeding along the leftmost lane at over 200 kilometers per hour until the end of the section, penetrating everything in its path, and finally disappearing at the highway's terminus]

[The Phantom Car will reappear 1 to 12 hours after disappearing]

[No cases of damage caused by the Phantom Car have been discovered so far; interacting with it on a physical level is impossible]

[According to the classification method of the "Standard Operating Procedures," it is suspected that the Phantom Car is not a distortion phenomenon; analysis requested]

All the information was listed haphazardly on the page, and as the entire page refreshed automatically, it transformed into the website's standard format.

[Lock-on successful]

[Estimated analysis time: 10 seconds]

Immediately following that, the analysis began.

Unlike when Shi Rang had handwritten the file for Kyle, the analysis process was as exquisite as an automated assembly line. The time, location, and specific characteristics reported were extracted individually and directly mapped onto a continental map containing massive amounts of information. Twelve closely adjacent major districts appeared before his eyes—mindful of his previous lesson, Shi Rang immediately distanced himself to prevent receiving the information.

When he was certain that the terrifying map had dissipated, he dared to look back.

The page had now switched to the archival format. Beneath the vacant [Item Number] and [Containment Procedures], the content of the [Description] was iterating over and over again.

The Phantom Car used the "Hazardous Item" template, with a hazard level of D.

[(Item Number Undefined) is a vintage Beetle car...]

[(Item Number Undefined) is a red Beetle car with slight scratches on the body. This model was discontinued in the year 1640...]

[(Item Number Undefined) will pass through at a speed exceeding 200 kilometers per hour...]

[Upon appearance, it will travel along the primary lane at a speed of 200-250 kilometers per hour...]

The vague and general descriptions were replaced bit by bit with precise "clinical jargon," and more details previously unmentioned in the reports began to emerge one after another.

Where did this extra information come from?

And who was patching them up?

Shi Rang could not understand, nor could he find the source of the information, just as he could not understand how the human brain could connect to the internet.

This fundamentally wasn't normal...

Could the headquarters itself be an anomaly?

He watched as the description was thoroughly completed, flashing a [Save] operation before being archived and locked down.

Then, another piece of external information flowed into the arena.

This time, the operation was clearly being performed by a person.

The rhythm of the other party's typing while compiling the containment procedures was distinct, occasionally pausing to go back and make revisions.

Shi Rang monitored the opposite side from "behind the screen," reading from the information stream that its source was a device named [Intelligence Department Class-B Revision Group] followed by a string of serial numbers, located physically very, very far away from him.

Was this what normal archive compilation looked like?

Headquarters was responsible for lock-on and analysis, while employees were responsible for revision, naming, and containment procedures... This was humanity utilizing anomalous items as tools to carry out work.

Although the Administration was an organization dedicated to containing anomalies, they were also exploiting them.

An anomalous website accessible anywhere in the world, ignoring signal environments?

To be able to analyze anomalies from afar simply by confirming their characteristics—it was too terrifying...

Shi Rang was certain that during those few days he had roamed the headquarters, he hadn't seen any items matching its characteristics; relevant information had likely been hidden by the Administration.

He stayed away from the Beetle's archive, returning to the domain belonging to "Dump Truck," hiding in his familiar "Personal Space" page in an attempt to find clues regarding the origin of his abilities.

Yet even with his brain connected to the website, the reality that Shi Rang was completely inept at programming hadn't changed.

He was a veteran internet user, true, but that didn't mean he knew how to code.

Faced with the colossal Administration headquarters, he had no choice but to honestly sift through this personal space for clues. Fortunately, his efforts paid off, and he indeed discovered many historical operation records that ordinary user interfaces couldn't see—very numerous and messy, but he could convert them one by one into content he could understand.

These things definitely couldn't be hidden from the Administration's information engineers...

With a feeling akin to reading a death sentence, Shi Rang read through them one by one.

On the day of his first visit to the Administration headquarters, he had left behind a great deal of operation logs. These things remained glaringly obvious in his data, except that they now bore the tag "Encrypted" beside them, with the operator listed as the "Head of Information Technology Department."

...Who on earth is this?

Next was the "Midnight Visitor" archive he had authored, followed closely at the very bottom by an unfinished operation report. The signature "Dump Truck" had already been concealed.

That's right, the technical director had helped him hide it again.

Although he didn't know why someone was helping him, that person was truly a good guy!

Further down, including Shi Rang's chat with Robin and his subsequent queries, all the operation information was "externally invisible," with the reason given as: "Permission verified. Operations by Level 5 permission holders are hidden from all visiting members."

At this point, Shi Rang was completely dumbfounded.

This wasn't his first time seeing this term.

On the day he first logged into the headquarters, thinking he was just a regular netizen, he had initially been bluffed. However, when he tried out of curiosity to easily open an archive marked with [The following content is protected by a meme-kill hazard, visible only to Level 5 clearance, and will cause unauthorized visitors to suffer cardiac arrest and die], he had thought it was just a narrative device used to build a sense of mystery.

I am a Level 5 permission holder?

Aside from me, who else is Level 5?

Following this verification prompt, Shi Rang found a list.

From S1 to S12, twelve mysterious accounts of the same rank as him were arrayed before his eyes.

...Why did they look so familiar?

Hadn't he accidentally barged into their online conference room earlier...?

The Administration's employee grades and anomalous item grades both used letters for hierarchical labeling, with employee grades ranging from S to E, and item grades ranging from S to D.

Without a doubt, S-class was the highest.

For a split second, Shi Rang truly suspected that he might be some bigwig within the Administration.

With so many anomalies already existing in the world, the trope of some powerful being losing their memories and wandering into the mortal realm didn't seem entirely impossible to play out...

Fortunately, he snapped back to reality quickly.

In Pingyuan City, he was quite certain he had been only a hair's breadth away from death and had almost been devoured by walking corpses.

What kind of bigwig could be so easily plotted against and killed?

Daydreaming couldn't save him. Shi Rang carefully searched for the location of "Dump Truck" and quickly found it.

Dump Truck lay in the data space on the flip side of the list, keeping company with a whole bunch of accounts. Right next to it were eclectic nicknames like "Intelligence Department Director's Assistant Harvey" and "Wild Cowboy"—all of them alt accounts.

These council members had quite a few alt accounts; Harvey turned out to be the vest of a council member as well.

Although most accounts had camouflaged, respectable identities, a few marched to the beat of their own drum. "Dump Truck" simply hadn't chosen to "hide operations" in time and had been acting far too conspicuously.

Judging by this, he should be safe for the time being.

No arrest warrant, no exposed location, and the inexplicable ability to sense anomalies and Administration equipment.

It seemed he didn't need to run away for now.

But how was he supposed to go and retrieve the reconnaissance team? The Administration must have blockaded the site.

Leaving the miniature people out in the wild overnight offered little guarantee that they wouldn't run into accidents.

Shi Rang looked back at Dump Truck's exclusive page.

Suddenly, a bold idea struck him.

Since the headquarters could locate anomalies and analyze them, and he could also add settings to stitched walking corpses through archives with the aid of the headquarters...

Could he analyze himself?

Could he rewrite his own settings?