Shrouded Seascape

"Hurry, hurry, hurry up! Everyone follow me! Surveillance shows that 315 is attempting to release 350 on Level -13! We must subdue her before she causes more trouble!"

A combat team was rappelling down the holes that Anna had created on the floor.

"She has absorbed 681's ability. Ordinary physical attacks are no longer effective on her. Coyote, remember to use 214 to counter her new ability when the time comes.

"No one is allowed to get to her. The target can summon a highly corrosive flame. Touch it once, and you will die.

"Replace all grenades with anesthetic smoke bombs. 315 must be taken alive."

Upon hearing that, a female team member looked at her team captain in surprise. "The highest threat level has been raised, Captain Li, but we're still not allowed to use lethal weapons?"

"Stop spouting nonsense, and just focus on your job! We're soldiers, and we just obey orders!" Li Biao said. He didn't tell his team members, but he was aware of the reason the higher-ups had ordered non-lethal measures against 315.

315 was actually capable of absorbing Anomalies despite having a completely human body. The other party actually had a way of absorbing anomalies into the human body, and it was a fact that infinitely increased 315's true value.

If the IMF somehow managed to obtain the method to absorb Anomalies from 315, the world would surely change in no time.

Li Biao couldn't even imagine the earth-shattering changes that would happen all over the world if human beings obtained mastery of the Anomalies' special abilities. The military, scientific, and medical fields would definitely change the most.

There was a reason why Anomalies were dangerous to society, and it was the fact that they were extremely unstable. Except for a small number of Controllable Anomalies, the majority of Anomalies were both dangerous and irrational.

The IMF had to spend a vast amount of resources and manpower to contain those Anomalies, but a method to get rid of them without any apparent side effects had just appeared, no wonder the higher-ups were tempted.

He was just the captain of the most basic combat team, but even he was delighted and excited at the infinite possibilities of such a method.

Just then, they touched solid ground. A short member among the more than a dozen team members pressed his hand against the steel wall beside him. He then tapped on the metal keyboard on his arm.

Every light source on the floor of Level -15 flickered briefly before turning off. The members of the combat team then turned on the thermal and night vision features of their helmets.

Li Biao waved downward with his left open palm, and then he pointed his middle finger to the ground, wriggling it gently to signal. "Formation A; move quietly."

Their boots were clearly made for professionals, as they made no sound while walking through the pitch-black corridor. Everyone gripped their weapons and hunched their necks as they cautiously moved forward.

After about five minutes, a team member on Li Biao's left raised his left hand before making a series of hand signals. "Captain, 419 spotted. It's swimming on the ceiling at 3 o'clock."

"Ignore it as long as it doesn't hinder us. Our mission priority is to contain 315. Turn left up ahead. Area 2 has been examined by 'Phoenix.'

"Everyone, we're picking the pace up. We can't let it go down any further. I'm sure all of you are aware of what's on the bottommost floor and the consequences if it breaches containment."

Everyone's heartbeat increased upon receiving their captain's orders, but they quickly obliged and picked up the pace.

The corridor was becoming narrower and narrower as they moved. Just as they were about to turn a corner, Li Biao suddenly raised his hand and clenched his fist.

Everyone instantly stopped, and they quickly understood why they had to stop.

There were faint noises from around the corner. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else here, so how come there were noises in this pitch-black corridor?

Li Biao cautiously peeked out from the corner, and his pupils instantly constricted to needle points. He saw a thin, fragile-looking woman whose face was covered in her own dry, whitened hair.

One of the woman's arms was completely severed up to her elbow, exposing her white, sharpened bone to the air. She had applied a tourniquet to the wound, but it seemed that her wound hadn't been given a chance to stop bleeding.

The woman looked absolutely famish. She was hunched over a corpse and was tearing at it as if she were a zombie. Sticky blood slid down her chin and dripped onto her clothes, soaking her bosom.

Li Biao had seen many gruesome scenes as the leader of a combat team, but the scene unfolding before him still left him reeling. He had read 315's file, and it said that the target was a beautiful woman, but the woman before him was anything but.

Two seconds later, Li Biao snapped back to reality and recalled his mission. He took out a gas cylinder from his waist and opened it. A colorless and odorless gas pervaded the air.

It was an attack that anyone would find difficult to detect, and by the time it was detected, it would be too late by then.

However, their expectations were betrayed. While they were waiting patiently for Anna to fall to the ground, the wall next to them parted like a curtain, and an individual wearing a red suit and a hideous clown mask rushed out.

Swoosh!

A King of Spades face card flew out and swept past a team member's neck. The next moment, the team member's head rolled to the ground.

Li Biao and the others could no longer hide after the ambush. They opened fire to fight back, and the deafening gunshots shattered the silence of the pitch-black corridor.

Upon hearing the distant commotion, Anna stopped to wipe her mouth clean. She had yet to eat her fill, but she knew that she could no longer stay here.

Anna picked up the corpse before her and reassembled it into something else. In no time, two tattered dolls spliced from made flesh and parts of a sofa wobbled toward the commotion in the distance.

This was Anna's new ability, and it allowed her to splice things together to "create" life. The dolls were not strong, but they could barely act as rearguards.

Anna knew that she absolutely couldn't let herself be hampered at this point.

Who could say for sure how many people were chasing after her at the moment?

However, she was also aware that it would be unrealistic to escape by herself. If she wanted to escape from this site, then she had to breach the containment of as many Anomalies as possible—an enemy of an enemy was a friend, after all.

Anna's figure trembled at a high frequency once again, and she sank into the floor.

As soon as she landed on Level -16, Anna turned and rushed toward an iron-sealed door next to her. Green flames manifested and burned a hole in the almost two-meter-thick door.

Anna walked into the cell and saw a towering woman with no facial features except for a large, exaggerated mouth. The tall woman was tied to a bed and was clad in a thick straitjacket.

"Go! Get out! Escape! Cause as much chaos as you can!" Anna untied the straitjacket and slashed at the bandages wrapped around the tall woman.

Eight pale spider legs sprang out of the straitjacket, and they all lifted the tall woman off of the ground.

As Anna released more and more Anomalies, the usually quiet and desolate Level -16 became increasingly chaotic. The combat team making a beeline for Anna had no choice but to face the Anomalies in their way.

"No, this isn't enough! More chaos!" Anna's figure melted into the floor, and she landed on Level -17.