Shrouded Seascape-Chapter 1077. Inferno

That lass is that strong on the battlefield? Seems like there's a lot more potential to her than I thought. Anna was genuinely surprised that Olivia had claimed so many lives so easily.

Just a while back, the young girl would hesitate for a good few seconds before killing an animal.

Before Anna could think any further of Olivia's potential, the ground beneath her suddenly gave way. She could feel that the gravity around her had increased threefold.

Just then, a black blur descended from the sky, aiming for Anna. Clearly, it was a perfectly coordinated ambush.

Anna had no idea what the shadowy figure was, but her instincts were sounding the danger alarms. Corruptive emerald flames flared out and formed a burning shield above her.

However, that was just a feint. The real threat came from her left. A beam of violet ray shot toward Anna at an extremely fast speed.

Anna had encountered this attack before. It could hit her even if she activated her high-frequency phase shift. At this critical moment, she seized her nearest ally—the host that the clown latched onto—into the beam's path.

Upon impact, the victim's body swelled grotesquely like a balloon before eventually bursting into a firework of blood and flesh. Through the red mist, Anna's multiple irises saw through the darkness and locked onto her attacker in the distance.

A wordless command was disseminated to all her flesh puppets. Those nearby immediately ceased whatever they were doing and surged toward that particular agent.

This seemed to be the last card up their sleeves. Even their best-coordinated strategy hadn't killed Anna. All hopes were gone.

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Realizing that only death awaited them if they were to stay, the IMF's Mobile Task Force decisively left a portion of people behind to buy time while the others scattered into the dark.

Anna detached the bloodied mask and slapped it onto the face of another corpse next to her.

"After them! Don't even let a single one escape!"

The ending was destined. If they couldn't outfight Anna as a group, then they sure as hell wouldn't be able to escape as a group.

Anna's strange eye could easily pick out every fleeing figure within the white snowstorm with ease. At the same time, Olivia's abilities worked like radar and could easily pinpoint those who tried to play dead or camouflage themselves in the snow.

"Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six..." Anna carefully counted the corpses on the ground. Every attacker had been accounted for—and that included the animals they brought along.

Beside her, Olivia crouched down with a withered stick in hand. She was sketching tally marks into the snow as she recalled the number of enemy memories she had gleaned.

On the desolate plain, snowflakes poured. Various strangely stitched together bodies were lined in tidy rows. Their faces were frozen in agony and disbelief. None of them had anticipated their demise. It had just been a simple mission to chase down two ordinary traitors.

They even accounted for Tobba and his potential threat. Then, they made thorough, methodical, cautious plans. However, they had never thought that they would run into Anna.

The corpses were soon piled together, and a spark of fire set the entire heap ablaze. Human fat was the best fuel, and in the heavy snow, the fire burned like a roaring inferno.

The flames cast their light upon everyone's faces. A calm and serene smile graced Anna's visage. She reached out and ruffled Gao Zhiming's hair as she remarked, "Smells good..."

Everyone else instantly turned their gaze onto Anna. Their expressions betrayed their thoughts. They were afraid that Anna was going to do something worse.

However, Anna didn't do anything.

Once the inferno had consumed everything and erased all traces of the massacre, Anna and her group flipped the overturned off-roader back onto its wheels.

They slapped on a fresh tire and were prepared to move out.

Before they set off, Anna reached her hand into the flames and pulled out a handful of scorched remains. She then circled the fire and started to etch strokes into the snow.

The result was a tangled ring of cuneiform-like script—each wedge-shaped glyph fused into the next, forming an unbroken circle. She then drew a twisted triangle outside the circle. The three black tips of the triangle were like thorns piercing the white snow.

There were no distinct spaces between the symbols. They defied comprehension, and it was impossible to decipher whether it was a message or a labyrinth map.

As soon as Anna finished the last stroke, the overhead sky dimmed for a split second before the light returned.

Anna climbed into the vehicle and instructed Jackal at the driver's seat, "Let's go."

Beside them, Tobba stood on his toes and pressed his nose against the rear window, watching the blazing wreck shrink as it faded into the distance.

"Was that even going to work?" Tobba asked, "Who would offer sacrifices after they're dead? You didn't even follow the correct steps. What a failure."

"I don't expect Him to get it. There isn't even enough material for an actual offering. I only drew it to mess with the IMF," Anna replied.

Li Lu was clearly confused as she asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Anna said, "Just a little sacrificial ritual for one of the Divinities in the Subterranean Sea. The Silent Sovereign of the Southern Seas. He's mute. So it doesn't matter. Might as well draw a simpler pattern."

Anna was clearly uninterested in continuing the topic. She turned toward Olivia and asked, "You combed through their memories just now. Did you find anything useful?"

Olivia shook her head with a bitter smile. "Nothing. All I saw was drills and blind loyalty. Those people were just soldiers."

"I remember there were a few squad leaders," Anna muttered in a regretful tone. "But I sniped them right away. Should've kept one alive."

Hearing Anna's words, Roy, cradled in Li Lu's arms, finally said, "They wouldn't know much anyway. Every department in the IMF operates independently. You can dream on about figuring out the IMF's movements through them."

Anna slowly raised her index finger and slid it into his open wound before hooking him toward herself gently. A searing pain coursed through Roy's body.

"Watch your place, kid. If it hadn't been for Tobba, you would have been a corpse already," Anna said in an icy tone.

But even as her finger dug deeper, Roy never let out any sound.

Suddenly, it occurred to Anna. Torture of this level was merely a daily activity for shadow agents like Roy. His weakness lay elsewhere.

The corners of Anna's lips curled up into a wicked smile. She yanked her finger free before reaching out to grab Tobba by the neck and lifting him up.

Tobba's soft pink face turned red and soon turned purple. His tiny, stubby arms and legs flailed wildly in the air.

Roy instantly got nervous. "Wait! I wasn't trying to be disrespectful. What I meant was that I have higher clearance than them in the IMF. My memories are much more valuable."

Anna released Tobba and tossed him back onto the seat like a discarded toy. "See, shouldn't you have said so earlier? You've already betrayed them, so what's the point of clinging onto that pointless loyalty? Now, start talking. What's going on in there now?"

"Based on the latest HQ directive, the IMF has entered Level-2 emergency protocol. All mobile task forces are on wartime standby while the higher-ups are secretly negotiating with the various governments."

"Say something that has more value. I could guess that much from watching the TV news."

The opposing forces to the IMF were stirring and would do sudden ambushes on containment sites. Of course, the IMF had to respond.

"They're gathering the Anomalies from every site," Roy began. "And transferring them somewhere."

"Now, be specific about this somewhere."

"I'm not sure. I don't have that high of a clearance," Roy admitted.

Anna let out a scoff. "I could guess that much. They're probably stuffing those Uncontrollable Anomalies into people and turning those lab rats into walking weapons."

Roy shook his head. "I thought the same initially. However, some of the Anomalies that were sent over... are weak. They could even be considered useless.

"And they're also sending special items that are not Anomalies such as..." A hint of pain flickered across Roy's face. "Such as my son."