Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 1088: The Surface World

Vibrating at a high frequency, Anna lay motionless within the soil while waiting silently.

Suddenly, a voice crackled through her earpiece.

"Target incoming. Five seconds till it's overhead," Jackal reported.

Anna then raised the pistol equipped with a silencer in her hand and pressed it against the dirt above her. Then, she gently pulled the trigger.

The bullet spun out of the barrel and punctured the gas tank of the vehicle on the ground.

With a thunderous boom, a fireball erupted as the car exploded.

After doing her part, Anna made no further move and remained still, waiting in silence.

Even through the layers of soil, she could still hear the barrage of gunfire up above.

She was just lying in ambush as a failsafe plan. The others—Roy, Li Lu, Olivia, Jackal, and Gao Zhiming—would carry out the actual operation.

This time, he made use of the method Jackal had taught him to negate the recoil.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bursts of crimson and clouds of white mist bloomed across the desolate woods like deadly fireworks.

The old Gao Zhiming would be nervous and panicky, but the current Gao Zhiming was a different story. Humans always had strong adaptability. In his eyes, the current scene had become just another routine.

Just as he aimed the gun at a jittery old man in his scope, the target's head suddenly tilted to the side, and the man collapsed to the ground.

Gao Zhiming turned to his side and lamented, "Sis, can you stop stealing my kill? That's the third one already."

However, Olivia didn't even hear him. She was busy popping heads off and muttering furiously under her breath.

"Oh my God, these people are monsters. They even kill kids.

"How disgusting. Letting them die just like that is too merciful!

"How can you do such a thing?! Can you still call yourself human? Even the devils in hell are kinder than you!"

Perhaps Olivia had seen too many vile memories, but her once timid and cautious persona changed significantly, now nowhere to be seen.

Beside them were Roy and Li Lu. Having fully recovered, Roy had joined Anna's group for Tobba's sake.

Fortunately, they had only been killing hunters recently, lessening the guilt weighing down on him.

Seeing that Olivia hadn't heard him, Gao Zhiming had no choice but to pick another target. When he turned his eyes back onto the battlefield, he realized that the skirmish was over.

Under the orchestrated ambush led by Anna, the ragtag group of hunters didn't stand a chance.

Anna emerged slowly from the pile of corpses and began to examine one of them.

While the others gave quick reports of the skirmish, Anna constructed the battle sequence in her mind before offering corrections and pointing out flaws in their execution.

When it came to combat experience, the others were still lacking. They needed more real combat practice.

According to the latest intel circulating in Subterranean London, the other factions had started their assault. The IMF had already lost four containment sites.

With new Anomalies flowing into Subterranean London, the turbulent waters were further stirred. Yet for Anna and her group, it was the perfect storm.

They were hunters hunting hunters. To put it in plain terms, they were robbing the robbers and killing the killers.

It could be said that Anna was a natural at this brutal game.

They wouldn't get anything important from looting any random individual, but looting hunters? The returns were hefty.

Putting aside their stolen goods, there was a higher chance that hunters carried valuable Anomalies.

"Clean up the battlefield," Anna instructed. "We're leaving. The gunshots will easily attract the police."

While her companions scoured bodies and packs for loot, Anna dragged the corpses into the deeper parts of the soil to cover all traces.

Actually, she wasn't afraid of being caught. She just found it inconvenient. After all, those who ended up as hunters rarely had clean records.

Even if the crime scene were discovered, the case would eventually be transferred to the IMF's external affairs division.

Perhaps the IMF had the energy to look into such things in the past, but they were busy fighting fires everywhere at the moment. Where would they get the time to police the looting and killing between hunters?

Through Olivia, Anna had also rooted out several IMF spies hiding in Subterranean London. As per her expectations, a hunter was a perfect cover.

The spies took on many assignments, but monitoring hunters was not one of them.

There were just too many hunters fighting tooth and nail just to survive in Subterranean London. It was good enough that the IMF hadn't encouraged them to tear each other apart; why would they police their behaviors?

Back inside a cargo truck, Anna and the others were tallying their latest haul. Apart from a few crates stuffed with U.S. dollars, they only managed to find one Anomaly.

"Only one?" Anna scowled, clearly dissatisfied with their loots. "That's too little!"

"I know why!" Tobba couldn't wait to chime in from the side. "When those hunters died earlier, I saw black Origin Essence leaking out of their bodies. Those folks must've already absorbed the Anomalies into themselves. The more they absorbed, the less we find!"

Anna let out a regretful sigh. There were indeed pros and cons to her spreading out the absorption ritual.

The downside was that too many Anomalies were now absorbed into human hosts, leading to fewer Anomalies available for them to steal.

"Actually, I have a solution for this," Tobba suggested. "You could have someone stand by just before you kill. Once the Origin Essence leaks out, perform the absorption ritual and transfer it into someone else."

Anna gently smacked Tobba's chubby cheek with her palm. "No one would mistake you for a mute even if you stayed quiet.

"First of all, what are the odds of things happening so conveniently? Secondly, God knows what kind of Anomaly is inside their bodies. You dare to shove that into someone else? How about I let you absorb two first, and we see if it works?"

Tobba flashed a sheepish smile. "Ah… I didn't consider that. Ignore what I said, then."

Anna ignored him and focused her attention on the small metal case in front of her. Inside was a red ceramic goblet. Seeing that it was being stored in a metallic box, it was clearly an Anomaly.

It had golden, cloud-like patterns coiling up from the stem, making it look rather exquisite and regal.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that documented the details of this goblet. She had no idea of its name or power, making it difficult to use or sell.

Still, it wasn't a major issue. As long as something could be traded, there would be a market for it. Subterranean London also had services for identifying anomalies.

They weren't that far away. After all, if they wanted to ambush hunters, they would need to stay close, or they wouldn't run into any.

They boarded the nearly empty, lightless subway that headed for Subterranean London. As soon as they entered the sewer and turned the corner into a street, Olivia immediately warned Anna that there were IMF scouts stationed at the entrance again.

Anna's instincts were immediately on high alert as she instructed Olivia to check the agent's memories to see what they were after.

"High Priestess, he's keeping track of the number of normal humans going in and out each day."

"Why does the IMF want to keep track of that?"

"According to that person's memory, now that more and more secrecy protocols are being breached, more and more normal people are learning about the IMF and the existence of Anomalies.

"That's why they're monitoring the percentage of normal civilians entering Subterranean London," Olivia concluded.