Supreme Hair Art Anomaly

Anomalies themselves are synonymous with illogical, twisted, and dangerous phenomena. Due to repeated incidents where guardians were devoured by sudden expansions of Anomaly domains, or were lured and actively entered Anomalies, losing their lives, the investigation team began to reduce the number of ordinary people without self-preservation abilities guarding discovered, unresolved Anomalies.
However, Anomalies frequently appear everywhere, and investigators are perpetually understaffed. They can't possibly send the main force of investigators to act as live guardians; that would be too wasteful of manpower. Thus, as scientific and technological advancements continuously improved, the investigation team began to guard unresolved Anomalies by using cordon lines to seal off the Anomaly domain, real-time surveillance, and remotely calling out to deter approaching ordinary people, among other methods. This increased efficiency while also lowering the mortality rate of guardians.
For example, the previous villa complex, mistakenly identified as a Level Two Anomaly teleportation gate, employed the method of cordon line blockade and surveillance cameras hung on trees.
This time, the barbershop didn't have yellow cordon lines. Instead, two black-on-white strips of paper were pasted across the two glass doors, forming an 'X' shape as a seal. On it, written in traditional characters, was the year, month, and day it was sealed, looking extremely solemn and serious, as if the shop owner could be put in shackles and led to the execution ground at any moment.
A camera was mounted on the opposite wall, facing the shop door. A red dot indicated it was working.
Not only that, but a U-shaped lock directly secured the two sliding glass doors tightly. Ye Yu looked up and saw that the red posters pasted on the outer side of the glass door completely covered the barbershop's advertisements on the inner side of the glass.
The content on each poster was enlarged and bolded. It read: 'There's an unscrupulous merchant here! Run!' 'Before I went in, I was a pretty cool, fresh-faced college guy. After I came out, I became that guy...'
'He cut my hair into this pathetic mess, and he still dared to ask me for money! And he wanted eighteen hundred! Although after I came out, I realized I wasn't short on money in my account, I still want to say, where did he get the courage?!'
'Haircutting, our Divine Land's only legal gamble. I gambled with great joy and lost miserably!'
'The wind on the rooftop is so strong, my heart is so cold, and my shaved scalp is even colder, QAQ, in short... Run!!!'
Ye Yu's eye twitched. She pointed at the indignant words on the posters: "Are these also posted by the person responsible for guarding this Anomaly?"
"No, it seems it was a strong request from that student who escaped before being hypnotized to forget this memory. And this lock was also his friendly contribution." Gu Ming Ri said with a hint of amusement. "It seems that guy really regretted going into this shop."
An Cheng Xi casually tore open the seal, took out a key, opened the U-shaped lock, and led the two inside. Compared to her initial naive and helpless encounter with an Anomaly, Ye Yu's emotions were very calm at this moment.
"All the other shops are closed and empty, and it's as dark as a haunted house around here. This shop is the only one still operating normally. Didn't that person feel something was off?"
Gu Ming Ri shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he thought all the other shops were closed, and only this one remained standing, so he felt the barber here was a hidden master?"
Under the warm yellow lights, the barbershop's interior was small and narrow. The environment was relatively clean and tidy. The left and right walls were covered with mirrors. On the shelves, a row of bottles, jars, scissors, hairbrushes, hairdryers, and other items were neatly arranged. However, for some reason, there were no chairs for customers.
Only behind the counter, opposite the glass door, was a black swivel chair. A low-statured figure, with only the back of its head visible above the chair, was vaguely discernible. As someone entered the shop, the owner slowly turned around in the swivel chair. Along with the whirring sound of the chair's rotation, a flat, emotionless, icy voice echoed in the narrow barbershop.
"Is the customer a member? If not, please get a membership card."
"Members get a 10% discount. If you get a card today, there's an additional offer: a hundred yuan off for every eight hundred spent."
"If all three of you get cards, how about I personally pay out of my own pocket and give each of you a bottle of hair treatment oil?"
Ye Yu / An Cheng Xi / Gu Ming Ri: ... What a hardworking Anomaly Tony.

Gao Yang secretly descended the escalator, feeling a bit uneasy in the dark and messy underground first floor, unclear why those three people, full of energy, came here. He saw the three enter a shop from afar.
In this dark area, the warm yellow lights of the barbershop were particularly eye-catching. Because Gao Yang didn't dare to follow too closely, and the light was dim, he only saw An Cheng Xi tearing off paper from the door, but didn't realize it was a seal.
This broken place was all empty, wasn't it? How could there still be a shop open?
Due to the distance and angle, Gao Yang, standing by the escalator, couldn't see the situation inside the shop clearly. He was genuinely curious about what those three wanted to do, so he took a few more steps closer, secretly peeking.
The result was not knowing until he looked, and when he looked, he was startled. He saw the three people who had just entered—one man and one woman standing at the counter. And the other girl, whom he thought was prettier and more charming, was actually holding a dagger, slowly walking towards the man sitting on the swivel chair behind the counter!
What were they going to do? Murder? Assassination?!
Gao Yang's breathing quickened, yet he didn't run away and report it like a normal person. Instead, he excitedly pulled out his phone. However, due to the woman's movement, her figure was quickly obscured by the posters covering the glass door.
Gao Yang cursed under his breath, but was unwilling to miss this good opportunity. On an impulse, he directly pushed the door open with his phone and entered!
Inside the investigation team's control room, several staff members stared intently at the surveillance screens. Upon discovering an abnormal individual in a certain surveillance feed, one immediately raised an alarm.
"Who?! Wait, stop, this shop is not to be entered casually!"
A stern warning came from the surveillance probe, but Gao Yang's speed was too fast. In a blink, he entered the Anomaly's domain. The staff member's voice was blocked by the Anomaly's domain. Gao Yang only felt as if he heard some sound, but listening carefully, it was gone. It was probably an illusion.
Inside the barbershop, because this low-level Anomaly was found for Ye Yu to practice on, An Cheng Xi and Gu Ming Ri merely stood to the side, ready to assist, waiting to see how Ye Yu would deal with this Anomaly.
Ye Yu thought that the basic rules of this Anomaly, as stated in the mission information, had all been analyzed. She didn't need to hide her capabilities too much, so she chose to slightly reveal her fierce side, directly digging out the core and resolving this Anomaly with the most straightforward method.
Unexpectedly, just as she raised her dagger, she heard footsteps as someone pushed the door open. Turning her head, she saw the previously mentioned Gao Yang holding up the latest model of a major brand's phone, its screen facing her.
"Hahaha, look what I've captured!"

Looking at the photo he took, Gao Yang laughed smugly, exceptionally proud. "I thought you were some kind of righteous good people, but I didn't expect you to be doing this kind of thing behind the scenes. Now I've caught your weakness, haven't I?"
He wasn't too stupid; as he said this, he remembered to step back, keeping one hand on the doorknob, ready to flee immediately if Ye Yu and the others suddenly turned hostile. After all, upstairs was a bustling shopping mall. He didn't believe these three would dare to lay hands on him in public.
"But don't be afraid, after all, I'm not a good person either." Gao Yang smirked and shrugged. "As long as you promise to listen to me from now on, I won't report you. Not only will I not report you, I can even pay to settle things with this man, so he won't report you either. If you agree, first put down the knife and kick it over to me. If you don't agree, then I'll just have to say sorry. Attempted murder... how many years would that get you?"
With these few photos as leverage, wouldn't these three have to do whatever he said from now on? If he told them to go east, they wouldn't dare go west. If he told them to hit a dog, they wouldn't dare chase a chicken.
What was stealing Zhao Yan Chun's phone and deleting videos compared to this? If he wanted, he could even instruct Zhao Yan Chun's three friends to slip a famous watch or diamond ring into Zhao Yan Chun's bag. Then he would directly report Zhao Yan Chun for stealing his things.
Zhao Yan Chun dared to send him to the detention center, so he would send Zhao Yan Chun to eat prison food for a few years! Haha, that way, Zhao Yan Chun wouldn't even have a university degree and would have a criminal record for theft. He'd probably only be able to work at a bubble tea shop for the rest of his life!
Gao Yang grew more and more excited, feeling at this moment that he was incredibly cool, just like those high-IQ villains in movies and dramas. Not every bad guy in this world was as smart as him!
However, after a moment of smugness, Gao Yang suddenly noticed that the barbershop was very quiet. Not only did the man who was supposed to be murdered remain seated in his chair throughout, but even the three people whose murder attempt was interrupted were remarkably calm. They showed neither great shock nor murderous intent. The three of them looked at him expressionlessly, as if they were looking at... an idiot?
And behind the counter, the short man sitting in the chair spoke again. "Another customer? Which customers arrived first? Are you here for hair treatment, straightening, or perming and dyeing?"
His voice had no intonation, devoid of emotion, just like the earliest intelligent voice synthesizers from years ago, making it distinctly different from natural human speech.
Because of this voice, Gao Yang finally dared to look closely at the man's face. He then discovered in horror that this man did not have normal human facial features. His exposed face was identical to the heads of plastic mannequins in clothing stores. He had eye sockets without eyeballs, pale lips the same color as his skin, a nose without nostrils, dry, vibrant yellow plastic short hair like a doll's, and a neatly trimmed yellow plastic beard. All signs clearly indicated that he was not a real person at all!
Gao Yang's body stiffened. He instinctively grabbed the door, as if to flee, but he quickly realized that the glass door, which had been so easy to push open just now, would not budge no matter how hard he pushed or pulled!
Gao Yang's attempt to escape startled the Anomaly. The whirring sound of the swivel chair's rotation rang out again. The man sitting in the chair slowly slid out from behind the counter.
"A customer who just entered wants to leave without spending? Is this an insult to my skills? Don't let my small storefront deceive you; I am Jinyang City's famous barber, nicknamed Supreme Scissor Hand Tony. Customer, just tell me your request, and I will surely help you achieve a perfect transformation."
"Don't come here! Don't you dare come here!"
Gao Yang found the door wouldn't open. He turned around, looking in terror at this man who was both shop manager and Tony... No, this monster didn't even have a human form. Its plastic mannequin-like head was directly attached to that black swivel chair!
And from the inner side of the swivel chair's backrest extended several white plastic hands. At this moment, this monster waved at Gao Yang, signaling him to sit on its body.
"It's not human... You weren't trying to kill someone?! A monster, no, an Anomaly! There's an Anomaly here! Let me out, quickly let me out!"
Earlier, Gao Yang had mistakenly thought Ye Yu and the others were committing murder, and not only was he not afraid, but he even thought he had caught their weakness. Now that he discovered there was a monster, he panicked. He furiously kicked the glass door, trying to escape.
Gu Ming Ri was surprised: "You actually know about Anomalies? Where did you learn that? Are you a superhuman?" He didn't look like one.
An Cheng Xi warned: "Don't move around. The door won't open. The more you kick the door, the more it will target you."
"Of course I know about Anomalies; my brother is an Anomaly investigator. He specializes in dealing with these ghostly things!" Gao Yang saw that the door truly wouldn't open. After hearing An Cheng Xi's words, he stopped kicking the door. Seeing the monster getting closer and closer to him, he ran behind Gu Ming Ri, trying to use Gu Ming Ri as a shield.
"It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have entered this cursed place! Are you crazy? Why would you run into this kind of monster's lair?" Gao Yang, after blaming them, belatedly realized the problem. "Wait, how do you know about Anomalies and superhumans?"
An Cheng Xi and the other two were displeased by Gao Yang's unreasonable words. Gu Ming Ri slapped away Gao Yang's hand that was tugging at his sleeve and walked to the other side to wait. An Cheng Xi, though disgusted with Gao Yang, still showed her investigator's badge, speaking officially.
"We are investigators from the Jinyang City Investigation Team. We are currently handling this Anomaly incident. If you say your brother is an investigator and knows about Anomalies, then please remain calm and temporarily cooperate with us..."
"How can I cooperate with you? I'm not an investigator; I'm just an ordinary person. You should be fully protecting me, shouldn't you?"
Gao Yang, upon hearing that the three were investigators, immediately interrupted An Cheng Xi, righteously stating that it was precisely because the investigation team had not taken proper measures that he, an ordinary person, had mistakenly entered such a dangerous place. The three of them must do their utmost to protect him.
Because they had just had a conflict not long ago, Gao Yang, putting himself in their shoes, continued to hide behind Gu Ming Ri while warning: "Don't think of taking this opportunity to harm me! My brother has two superhuman abilities and was specially recruited as an elite investigator by Jiuan City. I heard that even the head of their investigation team has to give my brother some face."
"The standards of the Jiuan City Investigation Team are not comparable to a rural place like Jinyang City. If you dare to take this opportunity to harm me, my brother will definitely avenge me, and then the entire Jiuan City Investigation Team will not let you off!"
Gu Ming Ri, who had no intention of harming him, was almost driven to laughter by this simpleton. He deliberately made a face at An Cheng Xi, making a gesture with his thumb against his neck.
"So he's that dual-ability user's younger brother? No wonder they're brothers; their temperament is so unusual. If he says so, wouldn't we disappoint him by doing nothing? How about we..."
An Cheng Xi rolled her eyes, telling him not to talk nonsense.
"A customer who just entered wants to leave without spending? Is this an insult to my skills? Don't let my small storefront deceive you; I am Jinyang City's famous barber, nicknamed Supreme Scissor Hand Tony. Customer, just tell me your request, and I will surely help you achieve a perfect transformation."
"Customer, please come and sit down; I will cut your hair."
"A customer who just entered wants to leave without spending? Is this an insult to my skills..."
The chair monster repeated its words incessantly, approaching Gao Yang again. Gao Yang shrieked in terror, pushing Gu Ming Ri forward: "Quick, quick, protect me, it's coming again!"
Gu Ming Ri turned back to glare at him angrily, then suddenly heard Ye Yu next to him say: "If he's so scared... why don't we send him out first?"
Gu Ming Ri scoffed. Combining the previous student's escape experience with the current situation, it was clear that this Level Two Anomaly had extremely low danger. If it wanted to chase Gao Yang, let it chase; no one would die.
However, before he could speak, Gao Yang's eyes lit up: "You can send me out first? That's great, quick, quick, quick! I want to leave now! But... the door won't open. Do you have any way to get me out?"
Ye Yu: "If your brother is an investigator, I wonder if he ever told you about the Anomaly's death rules and survival rules..."
Gao Yang directly interrupted her: "Of course I know that. Do you know this Anomaly's survival rules?"
An Cheng Xi was stunned, while Gu Ming Ri immediately understood what Ye Yu intended to do. He quickly tugged at An Cheng Xi's sleeve, making a face at her, waiting for the show.
Ye Yu opened her phone, displaying the mission information related to this Anomaly.
"Yes, this Anomaly is very weak; we've already thoroughly investigated its survival rules. Actually, it's very simple; just look."
【Supreme Hair Art Barbershop】
Level Two Anomaly...
Suspected death rule: Suspected to be for refusing a haircut, questioning the barber's skill.
Confirmed survival rule: Express praise after the barber cuts your hair in the shop, and pay before leaving.
Suspected core location: Suspected to be within the barber's body.
"It's that simple?" Gao Yang was suspicious: "Are you sure you're not lying to me?"
"Yes, it's that simple." Ye Yu smiled. "This is the information the investigation team gave us. I have no reason, nor the time, to re-edit it to deceive you."
Ye Yu's last sentence convinced Gao Yang. His decision to follow Ye Yu and the others was a spur-of-the-moment greedy thought. They naturally wouldn't have had time to prepare a deception for him. In other words, this information was all true!
His judgment was indeed very accurate; this almond-eyed girl was indeed the kindest among the three!
Seeing that Gao Yang was somewhat swayed, Ye Yu immediately smiled and added fuel to the fire.
"Of course, you can also choose not to believe it. Wait until we've resolved this Anomaly, then you can leave with us. However, by then, when we're fighting this monster, we probably won't be able to look after you. Also, this Anomaly is clearly targeting you now. If you keep refusing, who knows if it will trigger some dangerous rules."
"But don't worry, although the danger is strong, and I am only a Level One investigator, since I hold this position, I will definitely do my best to protect you."
"What? You're only Level One? The lowest level?" Gao Yang was shocked and disgusted. He originally wanted to ask what levels the other two were, but thinking that birds of a feather flock together, these two young men and women didn't look like very experienced or powerful investigators either.
Saying she would do her best to protect him, but what if her best wasn't enough to protect him? Gao Yang immediately felt that he was in great danger within the Anomaly.
He had a father and a brother to protect him, spent large sums of money every day, and had juniors flattering him. His life was as carefree as could be; he, a person so precious, couldn't die here!
Gao Yang's mind was subtly made up, but facing the chair monster's appearance, he was still a bit scared. So he said to Gu Ming Ri: "You go try first."
Gu Ming Ri's face was cold: "No."
Gao Yang immediately looked at the other two women. Ye Yu shook her head, refusing: "Following the survival rules will allow you to escape, but we are here to completely resolve this Anomaly. Until it's resolved, we cannot leave. If you can't make a decision, then wait until we've resolved it and leave together."
"However, my strength is too low; if we fight, I probably won't be able to look after you. Remember to hide far away, so you don't get caught in the crossfire."
As she spoke, Ye Yu picked up her dagger and walked towards the chair monster, which was still repeating its words like a broken record. Gao Yang looked at this narrow barbershop, smaller than his own bathroom. He thought, in such a tiny place, if a fight really broke out, where would he hide?
He finally no longer hesitated, raising his hand to call out to Ye Yu. "Wait!"
Gao Yang took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sat down on the chair monster's body. "It's just a haircut. I'll get it!"
As Gao Yang sat down, the chair monster's plastic human head revealed a stiff, raised smile. Seeing this scene in the mirror, Gao Yang's scalp tingled. His butt couldn't help but want to lift slightly, but he was suddenly embraced by two plastic hands on the chair.
"Esteemed customer, thank you for choosing Supreme Hair Art. I am the senior general manager of this shop, Supreme Scissor Hand Tony. Please state your needs."
Ye Yu: ... This shop only has you, and you're a senior general manager. Do you also have titles like 'senior chief', 'artistic director', 'design director', and so on?
After the baptism of Jinyang Xiehe Hospital, Ye Yu and the other two felt that this Level Two Anomaly chair monster was nothing strange. But Gao Yang, although he had an investigator brother, was just an ordinary person himself. Sitting on that cold chair, tightly embraced by two pale plastic hands, he felt a chill down his spine. He no longer had his usual arrogance.
He stammered: "Just... keep this wolf-tail hairstyle, just trim it a bit."
"Very well."
The chair monster picked up the clippers on the table. The next second, the clippers buzzed, black hair flew, and a deep furrow immediately appeared on Gao Yang's scalp, as if a wheat field had just begun to be harvested.
Gao Yang really liked his cool and stylish wolf-tail hair. Even in the hot summer, he wouldn't trim it, even if his neck sweated. Seeing this scene through the mirror, his eyes suddenly widened.
No... you said just trim it a bit?! You're harvesting it, why don't you just dig out the roots?!
The chair monster seemed to sense Gao Yang's emotions. The plastic human head's smile widened: "Customer, do you think this length is acceptable? If I've done anything poorly, you may offer criticism."
If it were any other day, any barber who dared to cut Gao Yang's hair like this would have had their shop trashed by his juniors. But facing this non-human monster, recalling the death rule he had just seen, he could only swallow his teeth. He forced a stiff smile.
"No... it's very good... continue..."
An Cheng Xi was amused, but as a professional investigator, she held back. Gu Ming Ri was clearly not professional enough; he covered his mouth, snickering, and made a face at Ye Yu. He whispered: "Well done!"
Ye Yu's lips curved slightly as she whispered back: "Oh, it's nothing, it's all thanks to Senior's excellent teaching."