Chapter 622

"I think it's most likely the latter—it completed its mission and then vanished." Gao Jie Ming set down the salt grain and turned to face the other witches. "I wanted to ask earlier—where is its true form?"

These words silenced everyone in the room for an instant.

The male witch in the deep blue robe walked to the stove and lightly tapped the wooden edge with his fingers. "Indeed, that finger was merely a terminal."

"Strictly speaking, a disposable medium," the curse witch nodded.

Her earlier analysis was precise—the finger established genetic links and wrote the curse into the victim's soul.

Once the writing was complete, its task ended.

"So Karl's sudden outburst earlier was because the finger released its final signal before disintegrating."

Gao Jie Ming looked at the burly male witch, who nodded in confirmation.

"Then it vanished," Gao Jie Ming concluded. "Because it was temporarily created by some force. Once its purpose was fulfilled, it had no reason to persist."

Low murmurs rose in the kitchen.

The curse witch lifted her head; pale gray eyes peered from beneath her hood at Gao Jie Ming. "You mean the anomaly has no physical form?"

"At least not that finger," Gao Jie Ming said. "The finger is merely its tool, just as we use witching artifacts to cast spells."

We can store a witching artifact after use, but the artifact is not my true form."

"Makes sense," the slender male witch pinched the bridge of his nose. "The finger's genetic material closely matches the Hans family—suggesting it was created on-the-fly after reading the relevant data."

The witches nodded in agreement.

The reasoning chain was solid; each had verified it against their own knowledge systems and found it the most plausible hypothesis.

"So the question returns to its origin," the deep blue-robed witch crossed his arms. "Where is the anomaly's true form?"

»

"I suspect it has no fixed form," the curse witch said. She walked to the window, opened it, and a breeze stirred the edges of her cloak.

Outside lay the town's streets—cobblestones, low houses, the distant spire of the hospital—all serene and peaceful.

Yet beneath this calm lay an indescribable unease.

"Do you recall the basic intelligence Agent Ostun sent?" she continued. "In his mission report, he described these anomalies' rule phenomena as 'seeping' in. 'Seeping'—that word is critical."

Gao Jie Ming pulled up the mission report on his magic net terminal and reread Ostun's original words.

"Several unusual rule phenomena seeped in and infected my backyard."

Seeping. Infection.

"So this anomaly—" Gao Jie Ming said slowly, "or rather, most anomalies aren't independent entities. They're more like… a virus. Without a form of their own, they merge into the environment and use everything around them to spread."

"Exactly," the curse witch nodded. "Normally, they have no concrete form—they simply integrate into the surrounding environment. The range should center on this town, though the exact boundaries are unknown."

"Only when certain conditions are met does it manifest physically—like that finger," the young witch added. "Then it kills according to its own rules."

"What are those conditions?" the burly male witch asked.

The witches fell into thought again.

"Genetic material," Gao Jie Ming said. "Or rather, the concept of 'family.' Have you noticed? It only targets one household at a time. The Hans family, and the previous forty-seven dead—they likely died in family groups. It doesn't attack the whole town at once. It moves house by house."

"So it's not that it 'likes' playing," the slender male witch recalled Old Herman's notes. "It's simply a rule restriction."

"How do we find it?" a witch who had barely spoken spoke up. "If it has no form and blends into the environment, and we can't just flip the whole village upside down, how do we locate it?"

"Wait for it to appear again," Gao Jie Ming said. "Before it kills, it must manifest—those fingers. The moment the finger appears is when it's most vulnerable. We can lock onto its true form—or at least its position—during that instant."

"But we don't know how fast the curse writes in after the finger appears," the young witch frowned. "If it's instantaneous, by the time we spot the finger, it might already be gone."

"Then we prepare before it appears," Gao Jie Ming said. "We don't have to wait for it to show up in the salt shaker."

"We can actively create the conditions for its appearance."

"You mean—" the curse witch's eyes brightened.

"Genetic material," Gao Jie Ming nodded. "Every time it manifests, it borrows the target family's genetic information. If we use a person's genetic material as bait, and set up a closed, controlled environment, we might lure it into manifesting voluntarily."

"Makes sense, but we need time to design the experiment," the deep blue-robed witch said. "Before that, we must do something else."

He scanned the room, his gaze passing over the other eight witches.

"Prevent it from escaping."

No one objected.

Though from Agent Ostun's intelligence, most anomalies exhibit traits similar to earth-bound spirits—with limited mobility.

But no one could guarantee this anomaly wouldn't suddenly relocate.

If it left this town and moved to another, continuing its killings, the nine witches would lose all face.

"Deploy a barrier," the deep blue-robed witch decided. "Use an array to isolate the entire town and a large surrounding area. The energy level shouldn't be too high—but with our skill, we can compensate for insufficient power."

"I'll handle the barrier design," the young witch raised her hand. "I'm familiar with energy shield arrays."

"I'll assist you," the slender male witch said. "My micro-structural analysis can help optimize the barrier's node distribution."

"I'll set up the outer framework," the burly male witch flexed his fingers; dark green glimmers flashed from rings on his hands.

"I'll take the east side for fine construction," another witch said.

"I'll take the west."

"I'll handle the south."

"I'll cover the north."

In an instant, all eight witches had their assignments.

Finally, all eyes turned to Gao Jie Ming.

"You stay here," the deep blue-robed witch said. "I noticed earlier—you've used some techniques tied to fate-related knowledge. You're best suited to set the bait and monitor."

"But for now, don't deploy the bait yet. Your task is to remain at the town center, extend your spiritual sense, and constantly monitor every corner of the town. The moment that finger reappears, notify us immediately."

Gao Jie Ming nodded.

The arrangement made sense.

As the witch said, Gao Jie Ming had already begun mastering fate-related knowledge, and with the help of the Destiny System, he could rapidly filter anomalies from the flood of information.

If that finger appeared anywhere in town, he should detect it first.

"How long will the barrier take to complete?" Gao Jie Ming asked.

"Slowly, an hour. Quickly, within half an hour," the young witch estimated. "We must ensure energy levels don't exceed limits—many areas require precise techniques instead of brute force, so it'll take longer."

"Then give us one hour," the deep blue-robed witch glanced out the window.

Amber light still evenly bathed the land; this realm had no day or night—time here had no reference.

"One hour from now, regroup at the town center. We begin the baiting operation."

The witches said nothing more. Each dissolved into streams of light and flew off in different directions.

Gao Jie Ming stepped out of the blacksmith Hans's house and walked to the town's central square.

At the square's center stood an ancient stone fountain; the water was clear, and several red koi swam lazily within.

The square was paved with stone slabs, and stone paths extended in all directions, leading to every corner of the town.

The square was empty now.

Occasionally, a resident passed by, glanced curiously at Gao Jie Ming by the fountain, then continued on his way.

After all, due to the anomaly, the entire town was on edge—no one had energy left to care about anything else.

Gao Jie Ming sat cross-legged on the stone rim of the fountain.

He closed his eyes; his spiritual sense surged outward like a tide, spreading in all directions.

Wherever his spiritual sense passed, every house, every street, every tree, every person appeared in his perception with extreme precision.

He sensed a housewife chopping vegetables in her kitchen—the blade of her knife slightly chipped; he sensed an old man dozing in a rocking chair, his breathing steady; he sensed two children chasing each other down an alley, one's shoelace loose.

His spiritual sense continued to expand, covering the entire town, then extending beyond to the fields, forests, and rivers.

Meanwhile, the Destiny System activated.

The incense-god network's information-processing system spun at high speed within his consciousness, analyzing every stream of data captured by his spiritual sense.

Drawing on his knowledge of fate-related arts, Gao Jie Ming perceived countless causal threads weaving and colliding in a virtual network.

His gaze, deep and focused, sifted through the threads—any anomaly was immediately flagged.

Gao Jie Ming sat motionless beside the fountain.

Like a spider weaving a net, waiting for prey to touch the strands.