Becoming a White-Haired Witch in a World Full of Anomalies

Chapter 69 : Cognitive Filter

"Time to get off work! I'm exhausted."Bai Ling happily swayed her hands, preparing to leave this place.

"Wait."

Chi Xiaoyu grabbed her hand.

"Huh?"

Bai Ling turned back puzzled, looking at Chi Xiaoyu.

"I haven't gone shopping with you in a long time. Let me take you out to have fun tonight, okay?"

"Mm, sure!"

Bai Ling showed a smile. Chi Xiaoyu had been very tired this past week and hadn't relaxed in a long time.

"After this incident, Terminus should quiet down for a while. These tainted objects are probably quite rare for them too."

Chi Xiaoyu pondered and sighed.

"Precious rest time~"

Chi Xiaoyu brought Lin Bai to the once-bustling commercial street. Seeing the street still lively and prosperous, both felt happy in their hearts. That this place remained so prosperous was not without their contribution.

"Say, why don't they stuff a tainted object here?"

"Our people patrol here almost twenty-four hours a day. Actually, they've stuffed quite a few here before."

"Is that so?"

"Let me take you to see a movie."

"Yes, yes!"

The two were still on their way to the cinema when a dozen people walked past them, running urgently together.

"What are they doing, so many people?"

"Those people are all contracted anomaly users." Chi Xiaoyu pulled Bai Ling close and whispered.

"So many? Aren't they from the Investigation Bureau?"

"No, they seem to be independents."

Bai Ling's phone kept vibrating. She secretly took it out behind Chi Xiaoyu's back - it was messages from the anomaly chat group.

"@All Members, hurry come help, my dog is going crazy."

"Didn't you say your dog mutated last time? Why didn't you deal with it?"

"I've raised it for over ten years, I couldn't bear to."

"Hilarious, keeping a mutated one and now you know you were wrong?"

"Stop talking, come help quickly. Commercial Street Building 5, Room 1202. It's scratching at my door, come quick, I'm scared."

Bai Ling immediately felt speechless. It was already mutated last time and they still kept it?

Bai Ling pulled Chi Xiaoyu to follow them to the twelfth floor doorway.

"New faces? Are you two also from the group?"

"Mm-hmm."

"So there really are beauties in our group!"

"I told you, maybe some group member you chat with is actually a beautiful girl, but you didn't believe me."

"Group member, who are you? Can you tell us your name?"

"No."

"Alright then."

Just then, although the door wasn't open, scratching sounds came from behind it.

"Scratch scratch."

"Damn it, just a beast. Watch me."

The leading man covered his fist with a metallic sheen and punched without hesitation, breaking through the door. Suddenly his expression changed. With his scream, he pulled his hand back - his bloody hand was missing the palm.

"Ah! My hand!"

"Holy crap, that's brutal."

Everyone retreated some distance, not expecting this beast to be so fierce.

While the man was wailing, the door was suddenly broken open and a robust blood-red hunting dog pounced out, knocking the handless man to the ground. Everyone fled, with only a few helpful group members pulling out weapons to attack the anomaly.

"What are you standing around for? Help out!"

A helpful group member shouted.

Hearing this, several group members who had fled also surrounded them, attacking the blood-red hunting dog together. The dog was beaten back and fell to the ground. The handless man got up and walked toward the dog.

"Dead?"

The handless man approached and kicked the hunting dog. Suddenly the dog got up again and bit toward his leg. Heart-wrenching pain came, and the man couldn't help but cry out:

"Ah! My leg!"

Seeing this, everyone quickly continued attacking the hunting dog. Through their persistent efforts, they finally killed this D-grade anomaly.

"How is this D-grade anomaly so fierce?"

"It's because of that Terminus Cult's tainted objects. The anomalies born from them are all a notch stronger."

"And there's this stupid group member, keeping a mutated dog without killing it, raising it so fat."

The armless, lame man on the ground got up, enduring the pain and cursing angrily:

"Should have known not to come, damn it."

"Pfft."

Someone couldn't help but laugh, and others immediately joined in laughing.

"All of you shut up! I'm so angry, my hand!"

Another man approached and pushed open the door. The room was filled with the smell of blood, with blood everywhere. In the bedroom inside, everyone discovered the group member's corpse.

"What a pity..."

"He's dead, who's going to send us lewd pictures now!"

"Don't say such things!"

Chi Xiaoyu, who had been following behind, kept frowning. Bai Ling also scratched her head somewhat speechlessly - why did these people seem so ridiculous?

"Looks like it's resolved. Let's go."

Chi Xiaoyu pulled Bai Ling away from there, coming downstairs. She thought for a moment and said earnestly:

"Be careful of those people. Several of them didn't really help at all. At least 2 of them are B-grade contracted anomaly users who were just pretending."

"So they were all hiding their strength?"

"Speaking of which, how do these wild contracted anomaly users come about?"

"Ordinary people, if they're not targeted by anomalies, probably won't discover anomalies exist in their lifetime. Our Anomaly Investigation Bureau has a device that can deceive people's cognition, equivalent to putting a cognitive filter on all ordinary people, making them unaware of anomalies' existence."

"This can reduce the birth of new anomalies caused by fear, and also avoid being noticed by certain unknown entities."

"These wild contracted anomaly users are probably people who experienced anomaly incidents, survived, and contracted anomalies. But most are weak and don't receive professional training."

"So those B-grade ones are probably people with identities."

"You can understand it that way. In any case, it's best to keep distance from them."

Bai Ling looked up at the sky.

【So we've always been living in a false world】

【I also didn't know anomalies existed in the world before I was eighteen】

【Now thinking about it, the stories I heard as a child and some strange incidents - could they all be related to anomalies? But because I was an ordinary person then, in a state of deceived cognition, I didn't notice the problems】

"Let's go, let's watch a movie!"

"Mm, okay!"

Even in chaotic times, one could steal a night of leisure. The girl didn't want to think about so much right now, just wanted to rest well for one night. She had really been too tired these past few days.

【If this cognitive filter was removed, the entire world would fall into chaos】

【Maybe all the anomalies from novels would emerge. By then, even a roadside dog would be an unspeakable thing, and ordinary people eating a meal would have the meat in their bowls begging "don't eat me"】

Bai Ling couldn't help but shiver. If it really became like that, could this world still be livable?