Chapter 649: Anomaly Appears
"What's going on with this town? It's so deserted."
It was currently nighttime, but this was the territory of the God of Night and Thunder. Even in the darkness, it should have been brightly lit, yet the place was eerily quiet.
"I'm not sure either. Let's go find Anna and the others first. They're staying at the inn here, so maybe they know something."
"That's probably the best course of action."
Loren led Laila into the inn, the very place where Anna and the others were staying.
"Would you like a room?"
Even at night, the innkeeper was exceptionally enthusiastic.
Although the territory of the God of Night and Thunder was perpetually shrouded in darkness, it still distinguished between day and night. At night, people here needed their rest too.
"Yes, prepare a room for the two of us."
Loren didn't want to tip anyone off, so he booked a room as normally as possible.
"Very well, please follow me."
The innkeeper cheerfully led Loren to the second floor, looking like a man with boundless energy.
Moreover, he didn't ask a single question, even though Loren and Laila appeared rather peculiar.
There weren't many guests in the inn, but quite a few were drinking. Even when their bottles were already empty, they showed no sign of leaving.
"You'll be staying in this room. Feel free to call me anytime."
After saying these words, the innkeeper left. It was only then that Laila began to converse with Loren:
"Loren, did you sense something off about that innkeeper?"
"I noticed it too, but let's find Anna and the others first. Maybe they know something."
"Alright, they're right here."
Laila led Loren to a door, the temporary residence of Anna and the others.
Loren didn't knock. Instead, he activated the High Tower card and phased through the wall to take a look inside.
Only after confirming that the people within were indeed the witches did Loren breathe a sigh of relief.
They were all waiting for him at that moment. Anna sat at the table, propping her chin up in sheer boredom.
Seeing this, Loren decisively deactivated the Hermit card's invisibility.
"Master Mentor?"
An overjoyed Anna immediately pounced on Loren, and the others quickly gathered around him as well.
"Yeah, I'm back."
Loren naturally embraced them all, only then going to open the door for Laila.
Just as he turned around, he caught Mirrorheart signaling him with her eyes.
Loren instantly understood what Mirrorheart meant and followed her into a small room.
"What happened here? Why are there so few people? And why do you need to speak with me alone?"
Everyone present was a witch. Logically speaking, Mirrorheart shouldn't have needed a private conversation with Loren.
"You noticed it too, didn't you? The people remaining here are all Pseudohumans."
"I only suspected it. I didn't expect it all to be true."
Loren had also sensed something was wrong but hadn't been certain. Now, through Mirrorheart's words, he was sure.
"If it were just Pseudohumans, there wouldn't be a need for us to talk privately, right? Pseudohumans can't replace witches."
"Pseudohumans aren't the main issue. Another anomaly has appeared here."
"What anomaly?"
It had been a long time since Loren last encountered an anomaly, which was normal. The number of anomalies had only increased significantly after the Divine War began.
"Anomaly 3-006, the Restless Meat Grinder."
"So it's that thing..."
Now Loren understood why Mirrorheart had sought a private conversation. Merely hearing about certain anomalies was dangerous in itself, like the Restless Meat Grinder that Mirrorheart had encountered.
The Restless Meat Grinder looked like an ordinary industrial-sized meat grinder, but it carried a causality effect.
As long as one harbored the fear of falling into the grinder, they would inevitably fall in. This was precisely why Mirrorheart hadn't told anyone else.
Moreover, this thing was indestructible. Given an anomaly's status, even Ceasefire couldn't shatter it.
An anomaly's effects weren't necessarily powerful, but its status was extremely high. Practically nothing could surpass an anomaly in terms of status.
After all, anomalies originated from the Observer, born from a momentary lapse in the Observer's attention.
"Are you alright?"
It wasn't surprising that Mirrorheart was unharmed. After all, the trigger condition was being afraid of falling in. As long as one wasn't afraid, it wouldn't matter.
Easier said than done though. The harder one tried not to be afraid, the more afraid they became.
But Mirrorheart was different. She wasn't a normal person, so it made sense she wasn't scared.
"I have your authority protecting me. The rules of these anomalies have no effect on me."
Mirrorheart's answer caught Loren off guard. He hadn't expected it to be because of that.
If that was the case, didn't it mean he could ignore the vast majority of anomalies?
"Is that so?"
"So what do you plan to do?"
"Forget about the Pseudohumans. We couldn't kill them all even if we tried."
Pseudohumans had started causing trouble here a long time ago. The Pseudohumans currently in this town were only a small fraction, so killing them would be pointless.
𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
"And what about the anomaly?"
Loren pondered. If he confirmed this thing had no effect on him, he could simply toss the Restless Meat Grinders into the sea.
The marine animals wouldn't recognize what the thing was, and it wouldn't affect them much anyway.
Some fish might mistake it for shelter and swim inside, but that wouldn't impact the sea's intelligent creatures.
"Forget it, I'll go deal with it myself. It won't waste much time, and it'll be safer that way."
After finishing their discussion, Loren and Mirrorheart left the room together. The moment they stepped out, they ran into Anna, who had been waiting for quite a while.
Without saying a word, she grabbed Loren and tried to pull him into the room.
"What are you doing?"
"Aren't we taking turns one by one?"
Loren couldn't help but knock Anna on the head:
"We were discussing an anomaly related to cognition. It's dangerous for you to hear about it!"
"Oh, oh! I was wondering why you were so fast this time. I thought you were trying to free up time for us..."
After receiving another knock on the head, Anna finally shut her mouth.
"You all stay here. Mirrorheart and I will go deal with the anomaly.
"This anomaly is quite dangerous. Only the two of us are unaffected, so don't follow us."
Before leaving, Loren made sure to emphasize this point.
...
"There isn't just one Restless Meat Grinder. They're scattered all over town, which is why there are no living humans left here now.
"The rest are all Pseudohumans. Pseudohumans aren't afraid of meat grinders, so they're fine."
"Is that so... So Pseudohumans do have their uses..."
A thought suddenly struck Loren. Even if the threat of the Orthodox Gods was eliminated, the threat of anomalies would still remain. After a new order was established in the future, they would still need to guard against anomalies.
If he could control Pseudohumans, dealing with anomalies would become much easier, since many anomalies had no effect on them.
"Once everything is over, I'll have Noah look into it..."
Ultimately, Loren decided to dump the problem on Noah. There was no rush. He could have it researched after dealing with the Orthodox Gods.
Then again, controlling Pseudohumans wasn't that troublesome. Loren could simply capture Gabriel and force him into servitude. Once that was done, the Pseudohumans would fall under Loren's control as a matter of course.