Chapter 159: I Am Afraid

"This better be important. I had to cancel going to my best friend's birthday party." Chenger, a lady in her early twenties opened the door, grumbling as she entered.

Though, upon entry, she was stunned to see Rhizen buried under a pile of papers, unaware of her arrival. She placed her slippers at the entrance, gently locked the door, and tiptoed towards him, peeking to see what he was doing.

Lying in a pile beside him were countless photos of various blurs. And, written behind each photo was a paragraph detailing the respective incidents, the date and time at which they happened, and the number of deaths.

Rhizen was making a large chart of the world map that he had printed out from a nearby shop. He made a bulletin board out of it and began to pin the photos at various locations. Every photo was a recorded incident.

He used tiny rings to highlight forest areas and places where animals and the likes would be present in great numbers. And, there was also a pin on its centre, stamped with a paper that had a detailed description of the habitat, the flora, and fauna present there.

Upon seeing how serious and immersed he was at the task and gazing at his frown, Chenger didn't express her distaste in being called so urgently. 'I should have known in advance. He wouldn't have called me if the situation wasn't urgent enough.'

And, as she looked at the images that he had rendered out based on the clues, she shuddered. For, he had even printed out 3D models of them for realistic purposes. The models resembled the regular animals she had known at first glance, but a subtle observation detailed otherwise.

"Just…what are…these?" She muttered.

Suddenly, Rhizen turned around in alarm upon hearing the sound, flinching as he got a scare before visibly relaxing upon seeing that it was his girlfriend, "You scared me there. You should have said something if you had arrived."

"I was pretty much shouting as I entered…" She then shook her head, "Anyway, what is this?"

"Take a seat, I'll explain." Sighing, Rhizen slowly got up and cracked his stiff joints, approaching the computer as he pulled up an image. As he had connected the screen to the TV, it allowed her to see everything on a larger screen.

The first was a news article. It talked about a man in Deison City that was clobbered to death by a Pomeranian.

"Wait, this seems familiar…" Chenger said while frowning.

"This happened two days ago." Rhizen said, pulling up another image, "And this…was the image taken at the scene by one of the onlookers. It seemed he had been filming the scenery when this incident happened."

"What the heck? That's…a Pomeranian?" Chenger was alarmed. For, the Pomeranian had teeth that jutted out like a shark's while its tail resembled a whip now, looking sturdy. It had grown a head taller in size, still on par with an average dog in size. But, its eyes expressed a sort of bestiality only displayed by the most brutal of hunting dogs.

"This happened in Deison City. Pretty close by," Rhizen said, pulling up another news article, showing the incident that happened a week ago in a farther city. "By the time the press managed to reach the area, everything was already wrapped up by the police. To prevent any panic, this was done. But, that's because the officials think this is just a rare case that happened due to unfortunate food habits, drugs…you name it."

"They don't think this is anything to worry about. After all, there have been cases of animals growing differently from the rest of their species. There are also examples like the liger that are possible in nature. So, they just label it on cross-breeding and close the file." He sighed, "After all, cross-breeding is common among all the pets these days."

He then continued to show her numerous articles taken from newspaper clippings, those that had just been mentioned in passing, rumours collected through the internet, video clippings that were recorded in passing that managed to capture some anomaly, etc.

The more she saw them, the more flustered Chenger became when he showed the final video, one that had the greatest video clarity of them all and had been captured in a first-person perspective.

"Wait, what the heck is that?" Chenger jumped up from the sofa the moment she noticed the fish opening its mouth to reveal a squirming tongue that slammed out like a frog's, wrapped around the leg of the one capturing the video before pulling him into the water.

Moreover, highlighted in the water, forming a dark shadow was a massive body that shouldn't exist for such a head. But there it was, shocking her, causing her to stammer as goosebumps formed on her skin, "W-W-What is…w-who was…"

"This happened when Cransen was showing me something new he had discovered…" Rhizen said.

"That was Cransen?" Chenger's eyes moistened as she looked at him, "Then…why, I mean, can't you…"

She was unable to articulate her words, for everything came off too much as a shock for her.

Rhizen then dropped the bomb, "Even since Cransen and my family died, I have been investigating about them. After all, the deaths of all of them were related to animals that had mutated. I sent anonymous emails to the authorities about the information I collected, but since there has been no response, it is safe to say that they had just ignored it or labelled it as spam."

"What…are you planning to do next?" After some time passed, Chenger barely managed to digest everything, hugging Rhizen to console him, "You've been enduring a lot. You should have at least told me something. I would have shared your burden."

She then sighed with a self-deprecating smile, "I might not be smart, but the least I can do is support you, you know."

Upon her words, Rhizen teared up immediately, hugging her tighter, "Just that alone is enough."

The two remained in an embrace for some time before he wiped his tears, saying, "I'm selling this house in two days. We'll head towards the villa I'll buy in the outskirts. We'll train ourselves to fight and head out to fight them."

He then whispered, "From what I found out, someone that managed to kill one of these animals and ate their flesh became stronger overnight. It may or may not be credible. And honestly, I feel like I am jumping the gun about this without enough verification. But…"

"Will you trust me on this?" He asked with a hopeful expression. After all, she was the only one living among those he truly cared about.

"Do you even need to ask?" Chenger said as she trembled, her face pale, full of fear. But, she grabbed hold of his hand, "I am afraid. But, I'll face it together with you."

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Author's note: December month's mass release quota:

Golden Ticket: 1 bonus chappie for every 12 GT

Magic Castle: 2 extra bonus chappies for every Magic Castle

Spacecraft: 5 extra bonus chappies for every Spacecraft

Read 8 chappies in advance in Privilege

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