Chapter 599: Impostor

"Little Watermelon Rind! We're back!"

After the pollution subsided, older sister regained her vigor and, upon returning home, hugged the watermelon rind and rubbed against it for a while.

Having been out for about three or four days, she had eaten nearly one and a half bags of the three bags of pig feed, and Zhang Jie felt he had still been too conservative....

"Mmm...."

The watermelon rind offered no resistance, just lying there obediently, though its eyes never left the television.

The watermelon rind's legs were already showing signs of growing fully, but.... Zhang Jie always felt something was off about it.

"I... don't... want... to... call..."

"Watermelon Rind!"

She haltingly uttered these few words, Zhang Jie startled—didn't want to call the watermelon rind?

This is disdain for her own name being unpleasant to hear.

"Huh? Then what name do you want?"

Zhang Yan pinched her little cheek; this little creature had already shed the form of a snot worm and now looked somewhat plump.

Becoming more and more like a human....

But at this moment, Zhang Jie's Zhang Jie still hadn't realized just how terrifying this really was....

"Hmm...."

Watermelon rind is uncultured; she herself doesn't even know what name she wants.

"Um... um..."

She pointed at the caterpillar and butterfly on the TV, seeming quite interested in such things.

"Butterfly?"

Zhang Yan is cultured; she thought carefully, came up with a few options, wrote them on paper for the watermelon rind to choose from.

The watermelon rind crawled over, looked at the words on those slips, and directly grabbed whichever one looked pleasing.

"Hmm.... Qi Yu?"

"That could work."

"Yu Mian would also be fine, right?"

"Hey, show some respect for others' choices, okay!"

Thus, the name Watermelon Rind was officially changed to Qi Yu, which sounds rather literary, but you still like to call her Watermelon Rind.

Watermelon rind gradually became smarter; she began studying, studying voraciously, curious about everything, and Zhang Jie was happy to tell her things.

Three months passed in a flash; during this time Zhang Jie was pumped up like he'd taken chicken blood, relying on the supernatural ability Light Cone Vision, his efficiency in hunting anomalies skyrocketed, directly reaching the overall "Sales Champion."

Few have seen him this fierce as an investigator—tearing apart anomalies with his bare hands, ignoring anomaly abilities with a hand that knows no taboos—this has made countless people reevaluate this supernatural capacity.

Senior officials from the Anomaly Bureau have come by several times for visits, not just out of curiosity but also to check whether his will is normal.

"Lately, you'd better still be careful."

The lv4‑rank Internal Supervisor who came from the higher-ups patted Zhang Jie on the shoulder; this young man, they've investigated him many times, found nothing wrong, and they think highly of Zhang Jie.

"A strong mimic anomaly has appeared in the surrounding cities; you'd better buy some wide‑range supernatural items to defend your home."

Zhang Jie frowned. "What mimic anomaly?"

"Impostor?"

"I'm not talking about impostors; I mean a kind of entity that can mimic itself according to the surroundings and then fuse into something even more bizarre."

"It's suspected to be a new anomaly, completely different from impostors."

He said this and showed Zhang Jie a photograph.

In the photo was a body covered in seven‑colored patches, bearing the flesh of weeping humans all over; on it Zhang Jie saw roughly three familiar anomalies.

It is estimated to be based on a blood‑rainbow foundation, fused with a flesh mountain and the likeness of a weeper.

"Oh, you should also be careful about the impostors I mentioned—lately there have been many more, and some impostors can even disguise themselves as people with willpower levels."

"As the Sales Champion of Xingqiao District, you've got to pull through!"

"Of course."

The burden on Zhang Jie's shoulders seemed to have grown a bit heavier; he planned to purchase a batch of anomaly specimens to boost older sister's strength by another tier.

At this moment, the phone that occasionally emitted strange little‑task notifications suddenly had a new reaction.

"As a future Legendary Investigator! You must leave behind as much living strength for humanity as possible!"

"Mission: During this large‑scale impostor invasion, identify and slay! 100 impostors!"

"For this mission, the reward will be supernatural power!"

"This damn thing is finally over."

Zhang Jie put it away, returned to his own home, and as soon as he entered, he saw a watermelon rind sitting on the floor greeting him.

"You... came back... spicy!"

Looking at her appearance, Zhang Jie suddenly felt.... Was she imitating Yan's tone?

"I said this little thing was lying fine, why did it suddenly run to the doorway? Turns out it heard your footsteps from far away."

Yan scooped up the watermelon rind and scolded.

"Obviously I've always been the one who treats you best, so why do you keep clinging to my little brother instead?"

Yan seemed to have just taken a shower, her hair damp, but Zhang Jie stared at the watermelon rind, a doubt flashing through his mind.

"Zhang... Jie?"

The watermelon rind called out; Zhang Jie snapped back to look and saw the watermelon rind once again running to his side.

Learning the tones of those around her.... should be a pretty normal thing, right?

Zhang Jie once again activated his special vision to look at the watermelon rind, but.... still no change.

Even the older sister's face now bore a pattern, her body entwined with black substance, and the watermelon rind was even cleaner than she herself.

Forget it, I don't want to think so much.

How could something so small and unpolluted be similar to an impostor?

Watermelon rind, come, let me touch you!

I don't! Call! Watermelon.... rind!

Qi Yu gave a soft yet fierce reply, but her body still honestly moved closer to Zhang Jie to let him touch.

What's up, little brother?

Zhang Jie shook his head and lifted the watermelon rind clinging to his pant leg.

The supervisor above just said that the number of impostors has recently surged dramatically, telling us to be careful.

No, I should say... be more observant.

Zhang Yan froze, then mechanically nodded; she knew how terrifying this thing was, but she was already an investigator, so she... shouldn't fear it.

Oh right, older sister, impostors can now disguise themselves as humans with will.

Zhang Yan:???

Humans with will disguising themselves???

Alright, then... I'll buy some monitoring equipment...

For... surrounding people?

That is..... what?

West... cough, Qi Yu sat on the ground, her two short legs not fully developed, crouching like a kitten; although she still looked a bit strange, overall she.... resembled a normal thing.

That is a... uh... superb imitator, which mimics our appearance to do bad things.

In short, if you see that thing, you must notify us, okay?

Qi Yu nodded, half-understanding.

Oh....