36. Two Paths

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Could even one severed finger of the Unremembered possess a Type III-3 anomalous strength?

Yet this was not entirely bad news. First of all, Ma En could confirm that the Unremembered had fingers, and that his former self had once injured him. This meant that his physical body was not especially strong.

Based on the information currently in his possession, Ma En had gradually formed a rough conjecture about the situation.

The Unremembered’s anomalous strength was certainly greater than his own, but his methods of attack were likely focused mainly on the mental level. That was why Ma En had not been injured.

Of course, he might also possess formidable physical attacks, but they clearly could not destroy Ma En’s psychokinetic mantle.

Otherwise, he would have died long ago.

In fact, the Unremembered should have been able to use his memory-erasing ability to make Ma En genuinely forget this technique. Then, all he would have needed to do was pull the trigger, and Ma En would have died in ignorance. Yet he had not done so.

Ma En was more inclined to believe that he had failed. As for why…

The answer was simple: the Anomaly Control Bureau.

Even if his self outside wrote down the Unremembered’s existence, he would be unable to see the words. Only here was there even the slightest possibility of a breakthrough.

That was also why the Unremembered’s first priority had been to make Ma En forget how to return here. Returning to the Bureau was the key reason Ma En could fight him.

The Unremembered had clearly become aware of the problem with memory somehow.

Afterward, Ma En had hidden here to prepare for dealing with the Unremembered. The reminder device he had created some time ago—the “alarm clock”—should have been something his former self had devised.

His former self must have refined the “alarm clock” until it was suitable for combat, then found or created an offensive technique capable of covering the surrounding space.

When Ma En returned to reality and the Unremembered confidently approached him, the alarm-clock device had alerted him to his opponent’s presence. He had then used some psychokinetic technique to sever one of the Unremembered’s fingers.

That was the spoils of that battle.

Afterward, the Unremembered had grown wary of Ma En. He no longer attempted to approach him, instead changing his method of attack to the erasure of memories.

Then he had appeared before the mirror in the bathroom…

This was merely a rough deduction based on the information available to him. Many of the details were certainly wrong.

Perhaps he had never used the reminder device at all. Perhaps they had fought several times. Perhaps the Unremembered had already died. Perhaps some crucial condition had never been recalled. Perhaps the battle had been far more complicated and difficult than he imagined…

Even so, Ma En felt that the general situation should not be far from what he had now inferred.

The fact that he had returned to the Anomaly Control Bureau was good news.

He had also figured out several of its main functions.

The first function:

Apart from containing anomalous entities, the containment chambers could extract their anomalous properties.

Ma En could then transfer those anomalous properties to members of the Bureau—in other words, to himself.

The number of properties that could be used depended on the strength of both the user and the properties. However, each property could be granted to only one authorized member.

At present, he could transfer memory erasure and appearance-recognition impairment to himself.

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By expending a large amount of anomalous value, he could even permanently stabilize certain anomalous properties and distribute them among multiple Bureau members, though this came at a cost.

The second function:

He could obtain anomalous value by “analyzing” anomalous entities. Anomalous value was a mixture of information and energy.

According to the records, he had already analyzed several patients suffering from Type III Beastification Syndrome, obtaining a total of 1.3 points of Type III anomalous value. One point had come from the first patient with Beastification Syndrome, because that patient had provided all the information concerning Type III Beastification Syndrome.

However, this analysis came with the destruction of the anomalous entity.

Ma En had also found information regarding the Victor Sanatorium.

[

Anomalous Entity: Victor Sanatorium
Anomalous Strength: Type V-2
Danger Level: Type V-1
Description:
A complex of buildings composed of multiple spaces possessing different properties and levels of strength. It includes at least four Type IV regions and two Type V regions. It was established in 1932 with the sponsorship of the renowned entrepreneur Victor.
Special Containment Measures:
More than thirty percent of the employees must be replaced with Bureau employees of Level Two or higher, and all directors and deputy directors must be included.

]

The underground floor was one of the known Type IV regions. It also contained records of how to leave, which were essentially consistent with the rumors they had heard. Once someone left, they would no longer be bound by the rules.

That was why Ma En had been able to kill Doctor Li.

However, if he was “in the process” of breaking the rules, he would not receive the corresponding protection.

Yet both his own messages and the facts had proven that the rules had once again taken effect upon him.

Perhaps the Unremembered had made the “sanatorium” forget that Ma En had already left once?

As for the employee passage mentioned in the message as a last resort, it was not actually a passage.

Rather, it was the Bureau’s third function: the Employee Department.

Through it, he could select suitable candidates and recruit them, granting different employees different levels of authorization. These permissions included using Bureau passages to project their minds here, applying to use anomalous properties, consulting information of varying levels, and…

Teleporting to the vicinity of other employees.

At present, the Bureau had no other active employees, and recruiting new ones carried an obvious risk.

It would expose the existence of the Anomaly Control Bureau—and Ma En himself—to the world. No matter how loyal these employees were, it would be difficult for them to keep such a secret in this world.

Mind reading, soul control, memory extraction, information reception…

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All kinds of abilities could be used to uncover information about Ma En.

Therefore, although his former self had already found two prospective employees through the Bureau who met all the necessary conditions—people with a certain degree of strength, suitable personalities, and a need for an organization like the Bureau—he had never formally recruited them.

Besides, ordinary superpowered individuals could not possibly be content to serve as Ma En’s subordinates.

The Bureau’s employees were merely “employees,” not slaves whose minds were under control.

If not for this matter, Ma En would have had no need for employees. Superpowered individuals with strength had no reason to obey him, while those who were especially weak would be of little use. Ambitious people might even covet this place.

Thus, this function appeared to have little significance for Ma En.

If he truly had a way to make a group of superpowered individuals work for him, he could simply create an overt faction instead of recruiting them into the Bureau.

All in all, the Employee Department could not secure anyone’s loyalty. Recruiting members at random might even expose information about the Bureau to dangerous individuals and organizations.

But if he wanted to create some kind of secret organization, the Employee Department would become extremely useful.

Moreover, if he wanted to teleport away now, he no longer needed to worry about the risk of exposure.

He could make his appearance impossible for newly recruited employees to perceive correctly.

That way, even if all the information in their minds were extracted, no one else would be able to determine what Ma En looked like.

The fourth function was the expansion of the Bureau.

[

Anomaly Control Bureau
Number of Containment Chambers: 5
Employee Dormitory Capacity: 10

]

If he wanted to increase the capacity of the containment chambers and employee dormitories, he first had to take control of other anomalous buildings, then assimilate them into the Bureau complex.

That was why Ma En would construct passages on the underground floor.

However, the Victor Sanatorium could not be directly controlled like other anomalous entities.

Therefore, for anomalous entities that could not be directly captured, the Bureau would provide corresponding containment measures. Unfortunately, this condition was currently impossible for Ma En to fulfill.

These were the Bureau’s basic functions.

Judging from this, he seemed to have no need to take the “employee passage” after all. The Bureau clearly recorded the route by which he had left last time, and if he departed through the underground level, he could once again escape the constraints of the rules.

After all, there was still an “informed person” alive in the hospital.

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