Yang Yi's consciousness descended upon this world.
He opened his eyes and realized the surrounding architecture was Japanese in style.
Neon signs flickered in his field of vision, casting alternating, strange colors across his face.
He keenly detected a bizarre aura permeating the air.
It was similar to resentment, yet mixed with something far more indescribable, like the sediment of countless chaotic emotions.
Yang Yi's consciousness lightly swept the area.
*This aura...* it had actually seeped into every corner of the surroundings, as if it were one of the fundamental rules of this realm.
He stood in place. Before him was a bus stop.
The electronic display on the platform flashed a string of numbers: 00:30.
It was exactly midnight. The entire street was completely deserted, and the tall buildings on either side cast massive shadows like silent behemoths.
The air was terrifyingly dead. Under these circumstances, if a serial killer or some eldritch anomaly suddenly sprang out from the street corner, Yang Yi would find it perfectly normal.
No wonder no one dared to wander the streets.
Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps and heavy panting emerged from a nearby alley.
A corporate drone in a crumpled suit and crooked tie rushed out, reeking of alcohol and stumbling on his feet.
Looking closely, his suit was stained with dirt and leaves. Yang Yi guessed he might have just fallen asleep in the landscaping.
When the man looked up and suddenly saw Yang Yi standing under the streetlamp with a pale face illuminated by the light, his expression instantly froze.
The color drained from the man's face in a flash, and he scrambled away in the opposite direction, practically crawling in his haste.
"Monster!"
"A ghost!"
The terrified screams quickly faded around a distant corner.
Yang Yi calmly withdrew his gaze.
It seemed this was a world where "anomalies" existed, and almost no one dared to come out at night.
Anyone who dared to linger outside at this hour was probably no different from a "monster" in the eyes of ordinary people.
Just as he was pondering how to experience the "local customs" of this world, the palm of his right hand grew slightly warm.
A Level 16 Energy Cube appeared out of thin air in his hand.
Yang Yi's movements paused slightly. He could sense a message transmitting from it.
*This energy... actually came from my "future" self!*
He had thought about this kind of thing before, but experimenting in other worlds would cause their timelines to collapse.
Yet, such a thing was actually feasible in this world.
The information was instantly decoded—this world was extremely special.
Not only did it allow "time paradoxes" to exist, but to some extent, it would even generate paradoxes on its own.
This was an extremely chaotic, turbulent world.
Past, present, and future—the three timelines intertwined and overlaid one another here.
No matter what mortals or Beyonders did in the past or future, or how massive a butterfly effect they triggered, the world itself would not collapse from it, ultimately restoring itself to its original state.
The corners of Yang Yi's mouth curled up. His past "vacations" seemed far too boring by comparison.
And here... this was simply a "playground" tailor-made for him!
He directly placed the Energy Cube into his transmutation tablet, and in the next second, his strength was restored to its peak.
His vast divine sense swept across the globe in an instant.
The whispers of Ancient Gods in the depths of the ocean. A bizarre Sharknado.
The Mountains of Madness in Antarctica. Ghidorah frozen within the polar ice caps.
Anomalies like the Danhuo hidden in the lands of Huaxia.
SCP-682 and the serial killer Jason in secret laboratories.
Countless eerie urban legends entrenched in the shadows of human cities.
The Hellstar hurtling toward Earth, and so on.
All this information was laid bare before his divine sense.
This world seemed to exist in many overlapping layers. What an interesting and accommodating world.
It was hard to imagine how humanity in this world was even still alive.
Yang Yi reopened his eyes and looked toward the end of the street.
There, a "thing" was walking toward him.
He turned around.
The footsteps drew closer, and a figure slowly emerged from the darkness of the alleyway.
It was a woman with a smoking hot figure, wearing a dark trench coat with a belt that perfectly accentuated her curves.
However, she wore a massive surgical mask that covered more than half of her face.
In her right hand, she held a giant pair of scissors.
As the scissors opened and closed, they made a sharp *snip-snap* sound.
*So it's Gwen (not), the Slit-Mouthed Woman, huh...*
Yang Yi observed her with great interest.
...
The Slit-Mouthed Woman slowly walked toward Yang Yi.
Her pace was very slow, as if she were savoring the fear of her prey before the catch.
The sharp scissors dragged across the rough ground, sending up a trail of fine sparks.
When she drew near and clearly saw the face under the streetlamp, her footsteps halted.
*How could anyone look so perfect?*
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's breathing beneath the mask suddenly grew heavy.
Her sickly pupils flickered with greed, obsession, and a madness that yearned to completely destroy and possess him.
"What a... what a perfect head..."
"I must add it to my collection!"
"I must!"
She stopped in front of Yang Yi, barely three steps away.
"Am I pretty?"
This was her rule, the prerequisite for launching her attack.
Just as Yang Yi was about to answer this classic question, a melodious yet mocking female voice suddenly rang out from the darkness on the other side.
"Pretty my ass!"
"You ugly freak!"
"You're so ugly it makes me want to puke!"
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's movements stiffened abruptly.
Yang Yi also looked toward the source of the voice.
A figure stepped out of the shadows of the opposite alley at a leisurely pace.
It was a young girl.
A young girl of absolute, unparalleled beauty.
Her long, pitch-black hair cascaded casually over her shoulders like the finest silk, and the moonlight spilled over her pale, almost translucent skin.
The most striking feature was the teardrop mole beneath the corner of her left eye.
Coupled with her previous words and the manic smile on her lips, a strong sense of a "crazy beauty" washed over them.
She completely ignored the resentful Slit-Mouthed Woman beside her and walked straight up to Yang Yi.
"Hey, handsome."
"All alone this late at night?"
She tilted her head, sizing Yang Yi up.
"Ignore this ugly bitch. Let's go do something fun."
The Slit-Mouthed Woman was enraged by Tomie's words.
She let out a piercing shriek, violently raising her scissors and stabbing fiercely toward the back of the girl's heart!
However, the girl merely tilted her head casually.
"By the way, handsome."
As if she had eyes in the back of her head, or as if she were just making a random gesture.
She licked her bright red lips and flashed an even more radiant smile at Yang Yi.
"My name is Tomie Kawakami."
At the exact same moment she spoke her name, her body twisted backward at an impossible angle.
*Bang!*
A muffled thud.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's inevitable thrust was effortlessly blocked by the girl.
Immediately after, the girl delivered a vicious whip kick right into the Slit-Mouthed Woman's waist!
*Boom—!*
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's tall frame was sent flying horizontally as if struck by a speeding truck, crashing heavily into the rolling metal door of a street-side shop.
The metal door caved in with an exaggerated dent.
Tomie retracted her long leg and dusted off her pants.
She turned back to Yang Yi, continuing their previous topic without the slightest change in her smile.
"I am Tomie, but I'm not like those other pieces of trash out there."
"I..."
She pointed her index finger at her temple.
"...will kill all the other 'Tomies' sooner or later."
Yang Yi's divine sense had already seen right through her.
The soul of this girl calling herself "Tomie" was indeed that of the immortal, undying "Tomie."
But this physical shell of hers was completely different.
This body carried terrifying muscle memory.
Every muscle, every nerve had undergone the most rigorous and grueling training.
This particular Tomie seemed to have parasitized an extraordinary body.
Even with Tomie's abilities, she hadn't been able to overwrite the memories of this body.
Yang Yi sensed it carefully; this seemed to be some sort of rule written into the body itself.