Shrouded Seascape

Inside the sealed warehouse, the Fhtagnist with limbs twisted into spirals circled around the woman who seemed to have become a sculpture herself.

He examined her for a while before sticking out his tongue, which had curled up like a large bubble gum, and saying, "High Priestess, it seems that there's a layer of hard bone beneath her skin, and it is completely restricting her movement."

"Hmm... Let me see..." Anna walked over and found that although she couldn't move at all, fear and nervousness were still visible in her eyes. She was still alive.

Anna looked down at the file provided by the Shattered God and found the Anomaly that the woman before her had absorbed.

The demon sculpture that she had absorbed was an art piece in a museum, but it wouldn't stop running around late at night. Bizarrely enough, it would cease all movement whenever it was in line of sight.

It ceases all movement when in line of sight? Why does that sound a bit familiar? Anna walked up to the power switch and pulled it down.

Anna turned the lights on again, and she saw that the woman's appearance had begun to change. Just a few moments ago, she was standing like a sculpture, but now, she was bent over, looking down at her own body.

As the lights flickered on and off, the woman moved rapidly frame by frame as if she were a flip book. Anna experimented for a while and concluded that she wasn't just moving in the dark. To be precise, she was teleporting in the dark.

Without line of sight, the woman could instantly appear in front of someone and snap their neck using her hands, which had become as hard as steel.

"Well, it's not bad. Thanks to all of you; those who are thinking of doing something to us will now have to think twice," Anna said, sweeping a satisfied gaze across the eight Fhtagnists kneeling before her.

"Everything is for Fhtagn! Long live the Great One!" the eight people shouted at once, casting a determined gaze at Anna.

The blonde, blue-eyed woman was not the only one who had obtained such a bizarre special ability. The others' special ability was as bizarre as hers.

One of them could transform into liquid form, while someone else could become weightless and fly. There was also someone with a stomach full of maggots that wouldn't stop squirming out of their navel. There was also someone capable of manipulating the emotions of other people.

The Anomaly that they had absorbed had become something like an additional organ. Unlike Anna, it was their first time wielding an ability, so they had to learn to cooperate with their companions.

The fusion ritual took quite a while to complete, and by the time everything was over, it was already five in the morning. Anna no longer wanted to go back to sleep, so she decided to help them adapt to their special ability.

The eight Fhtagnists were thrilled. Hadn't they abandoned everything for this?

They believed that they could no longer be considered human beings. In their eyes, they had transcended humanity.

Needless to say, the remaining Fhtagnists who weren't lucky enough to be chosen were full of envy toward them.

The adjustment period forced them to stay awake for another night. Finally, on the third day after they left for the fusion ritual, they could no longer hold on and fell asleep, including Anna.

Anna was shaken awake by Tobba. When Anna's bloodshot eyes shot wide open, Tobba was so startled that he staggered backward in fear.

"I didn't wake you up to tease you. I woke you up because that doll is calling," Tobba said.

Anna picked up the phone, and the Shattered God's jarring voice echoed from it. "Have you received my gift?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Mmhmm." Anna looked up at Tobba and pointed at the door.

Tobba wanted to watch the show, but he obediently walked out of the bedroom.

"That's good, but there was an unexpected issue with your final condition. If possible, I need you to provide us with some assistance."

Anna slightly furrowed her brows. However, she wasn't really surprised to hear that. After all, she had already discovered that the other party wasn't exactly reliable. "You know we have a deal, right?"

"Of course, I know. That's why I said, 'If it's possible.' However, I've already satisfied two of your three conditions, so is it really too much for us to ask for assistance with your final condition?

"You can choose not to help us. I'm not going to force you. It's just that it'll take us a bit longer to obtain the memory-altering Anomaly that you've requested." �

Anna's heart trembled upon recalling the long wait before the Shattered God had contacted her again after their visit to that factory. She had been waiting for so long that she truly no longer wanted to wait any longer.

"Tell me, then. Where exactly is the Anomaly that I want?"

"It's in the hands of a group of lunatics. Their abilities are quite bizarre, and I can't deal with them without attracting the attention of the IMF."

"Are they another cult? What do they believe in?" Anna asked, pacing back and forth in the room with the phone.

"They are not a cult. They're an ancient tribe in South America."

"Can't you negotiate with them? Do we really have to fight?"

"They are an isolationist group of people that rarely communicate with the outside world. If we want to obtain the Anomaly in their hands, violence is the only way to do so.

"We can work together and take what we need. If you feel like you are getting the short end of the stick, then don't worry. You will be doing us a favor by providing us with your assistance."

"We take what we need? Why do I feel like you're using me as a gun-for-hire?" Anna asked, immediately understanding the crux of the matter.

"Miss Anna, I'm sure you know that I paid a huge price to satisfy your other conditions. Besides, we're not going to make a move for my own sake here."

"Sigh. Tell me more about their level of strength, then. How strong are they?" Anna asked.

"They're not that strong. The only reason they're still out there is that they're great at hiding. However, we can easily deal with them by working together."

Anna couldn't say for sure whether the Shattered God's words were true or false, so she could only make a decision based on what she had gone through. In the end, Anna decided to agree and provide them with assistance.

Gao Zhiming's parents had already been prepared, and the boy was becoming more and more dependent on her, after all.

Not yet getting their hands on the method to fuse with an Anomaly, it was highly unlikely that the Shattered God would make a move against her.

Moreover, the Shattered God had already satisfied her two other conditions, so there was a low chance that the former would stab her in the back. After all, the pile of scrap metal had no need to go back on its word when they only had to satisfy Anna's final condition before the ball could finally get rolling.

"Set a time for us to meet, then. And I have to make things clear first—we will simply provide you with cover. Your people will be the vanguards," Anna said. With that, she ended the call and closed the flip phone with a click.

Three days later, Anna clad in a white dress and a pair of sunglasses rode a bus along with the Fhtagnists. Their destination was a certain tourist spot—a valley with excellent scenery.

The blue skies and lush greenery added only to the valley's beauty. It was such a beautiful place that one would never expect that it was housing an organization dealing with Anomalies.

The bus turned a corner, and the road ahead opened up. A small but lovely resort appeared before Anna. Lush greenery surrounded the old, sloped stone roof cottages, and there was ivy all over the roofs and walls.

The towering buildings, castles, and even small churches were made out of stone, allowing them to blend perfectly with nature.

Anna was now standing before her destination. More specifically, her destination—the so-called Blind Sisterhood—was in the lush mountains behind the resort.

Anna and the Fhtagnists mingled with a group of tourists and got off the bus.

Shutter noises echoed everywhere, and the excited murmurs of the tourists in many different languages created a cacophony of noises that pervaded the air. To avoid standing out, Anna and the others made the same moves as the tourists.

As Anna feigned took photos, she began observing the people in the small mountain village. Perhaps it was for the sake of the tourists, but the people here were dressed simply, and there were kind smiles tugging at their lips.