abnormal mutation

Chapter 55 Gravity Wasteland
Roland was startled; the name was completely unexpected.

“Caius?” he repeated, feigning confusion.

"He's our boss. We're from White Bear Labor Service Company. Boss White Bear has connections everywhere. You'd better not mess with us." The short, thin man was all bark and no bite.

"What is he planning to do?" Roland thought with a sneer. If it weren't for the other party's strength and influence, he would have already gone to their doorstep.

"I don't know. He just told me to keep an eye on your movements and not to disturb you."

"Where is Caius now? Where does the polar bear live?" Roland pressed down harder on his foot, causing the man's face to contort in pain.

"The boss should be home. He lives in the southernmost room of the first row of dormitories behind headquarters. I really don't know where the boss lives." The short, thin man was sensible and dared not anger Roland any further.

At that moment, two law enforcement officers appeared on the south side of the street and were running quickly toward them.

"Hey--"

Roland lifted his foot and stood aside, straightening his clothes, but couldn't help feeling disgusted. When good people are being assaulted, the police are never there; as soon as bad people are caught, the police arrive. Whom does the law actually protect?

The short, thin man struggled to his feet, hid behind the law enforcement officer, and pointed to his drooping shoulders and bloody nose, saying, "Someone's robbing people in the street—"

The middle-aged law enforcement officer in charge grabbed him by the collar, pulled him in front of him, and angrily shouted, "You slut, do you think I don't know you? Don't try to fool me. Tell me, what's going on?"

"Slutty dog" is obviously a nickname, generally referring to dogs with an outstanding sense of smell who are good at sniffing and tracking.

"I'm the victim..."

The short, thin man tried to argue, but another young law enforcement officer slapped him on his injured shoulder, and the man collapsed to the ground, his breathing stopped and he trembled from the pain.

"Roland, what did he do to you?" The middle-aged law enforcement officer glanced at the holster under Roland's arm, his tone very gentle.

“He said he was ordered to follow me, and the boss’s name was something like Caius…” Roland said truthfully.

The two law enforcement officers exchanged a glance, their expressions turning somewhat grim.

"Don't worry, Roland, I'll take him back for a thorough interrogation right away." The middle-aged law enforcement officer took out handcuffs and, ignoring the short, thin man's cries of pain, cuffed his hands behind his back.

Do you need me to give a statement?

"No need, no need." The law enforcement officer waved his hand repeatedly, grabbed the man, and left in a hurry.

As he watched them slowly disappear into the distance, Roland seemed to be deep in thought. There must be something going on here!

Is the polar bear up to something, or is Caius acting on his own initiative? Does the law enforcement agency know something?
Since it concerned his own safety, he didn't eat and deliberately avoided other people's gazes, quietly finding Caius's residence. Unfortunately, the door was locked, and when he used his mental power to probe inside, there was no one there; the fireplace was cold, matching the room temperature.

'He didn't come back last night,' he immediately concluded.

The White Bear headquarters, just across an alley, was bustling with people as usual, showing no signs of anything major happening.

He was at a loss and decided to go eat first, but as he walked down the street, he felt like someone was watching him, like a passerby glancing at him unintentionally. He felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Once home, the feeling of being watched vanished immediately. Roland sat by the fireplace, his mind churning with thoughts, but lacking information, all his anxiety seemed like needless worry.

Am I being overly sensitive, or is my intuition warning me?

He simply took his bullets and weapons and went to the snowfield west of the Frost River to practice shooting. Thanks to his excellent body control and reaction speed, after firing thirty bullets, his shooting skills were already somewhat decent. At least he wouldn't miss when shooting large targets at close range.

There was no sense of being spied on in the snowy plains, and he felt much more relaxed after practicing his shooting.

At dinner, the cabin returned to its usual atmosphere. Roland's self-control had improved, so he no longer put too much pressure on ordinary people.

After dinner, he read for a while, then went to bed early and entered the spirit world. The others were used to it, assuming that their eldest brother had not yet recovered, and kept their voices down so as not to disturb his rest.

The spirit realm remained unchanged. The cracks on the chessboard seemed to have shrunk slightly; Roland wasn't entirely sure, but it appeared to have recovered a bit, as there was one more spiritual glimmer than expected gathered today. 'We're going to play something big today.'

He manipulated the invisible chessboard, drifting it in one direction at a moderate speed. The man and the two wolves were fully focused, keeping a close eye on the outside world from three different directions.

Roland's strength increased dramatically, and his courage grew as well, leading him to decide to initiate a hunt. He had already temporarily abandoned the hunting option based on the contract, as the cost was too high.

This direction wasn't chosen randomly; it was precisely the direction from which the swarm of needle-like mayflies had flown. The creatures of the spirit world have all sorts of strange personalities, and they also tend to live in groups.

Several tens of minutes later, the scene in the dream realm became unfamiliar. During this time, he encountered a strange, giant black tree with roots pointing upwards, swaying wildly and drifting very fast. Before the chessboard could even get close, it had already moved far away.

The situation was unclear, and Roland hesitated for a moment before deciding not to chase after them.

'If only there were a compendium of spirit world creatures,' he sighed inwardly. But he felt that even if such a compendium existed, the number of spirit world creatures included would be nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the spirit world itself.

As the light and shadow shifted, a massive mountain range appeared high in the distance, thousands of meters high and stretching for hundreds of kilometers, its end nowhere in sight. Its upper part consisted of normal hills, while its lower base was a flat wasteland, with gray vegetation growing upside down and rivers meandering.

A shadow fell over the chessboard. Roland looked up at the wasteland above him and had a strange feeling that he was upside down.

"Om-"

With a familiar buzzing sound, the "gray turf" rose from the ground, turning into a cloud of gray smoke, bypassing the edge, rushing up the hill, and colliding with a cloud of red smoke. From a distance, it looked like things were falling down.

"Damn, get closer!" Roland urged excitedly.

He had already recognized them; they were two swarms of flying insects, the gray ones being the same spiky mayflies from yesterday. What had fallen were likely corpses; normally they should have floated in the air, but the hill had gravity, which was why they appeared to be falling.

The chessboard suddenly sped up, but it was too fast to reach the goal in time. By the time they arrived, an hour had passed, the battle was long over, and most of the corpses had been taken away. The remaining limbs emitted a faint glow, indicating that they were not far from being decomposed by the spirit world.

As soon as the chessboard got close, it was captured by the gravity of the hill, which grew stronger the closer it got. To be on the safe side, he could only order the chessboard to leave the hill and hover at the edge.

Killy and Freddie flew out to collect the corpses, while Roland kept watch for them. After a while, they collected a pile of limbs. The chessboard swallowed them and gained seven spiritual glimmers, which was better than nothing.

Roland was not disappointed; his goal was the mayfly, which "grows" like grass on the wasteland.

He glanced around and then fixed his gaze on the two wolves: "Kiri, Freddy, it's up to you whether you get meat or soup."

The two wolves understood each other, leaped off the chessboard, and hid at the edge of the grassland. While defying gravity, they howled and taunted the now quiet swarm of insects from afar.

"Ouch——"

This tactic worked; a small swarm of flying insects transformed into a cloud of gray smoke and pounced on the two wolves. Killy and Freddy retreated while yelling, and only when the swarm reached the edge of the bubble did they slip into the chessboard.

As expected, the swarm of insects fell for the trap and foolishly rushed in, displaying their species' intelligence to the fullest extent.

The two wolves pounced excitedly, engaging in a "life-or-death struggle." This time, the swarm was larger in number and more coordinated. With a single unleashed attack, their needles flashed like lightning. Roland was prepared this time and blocked the attack with his force field in time; otherwise, the two wolves would have been severely injured, if not killed.

Low-sequence extraordinary beings can only run away when they encounter them. The chessboard has domains, and as long as their numbers are not too outrageous, it is enough to control them.

As usual, each wolf gets one to satisfy its craving, while the rest are all taken into the energy pool. As countless particles of light flow in, the energy grows wildly.

Spiritual Glimmer: +3, +3...

Exceptional Trait: +0.1, +0.1...

The spiritual glimmer increased by 81 units, and the extraordinary trait increased by 0.8 units. After accumulation, the extraordinary trait of this type reached 1.2 units.

The cost to summon a chess piece is enough!
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(End of this chapter)