Shrouded Seascape

"Ah!!" An agonized scream echoed, and a trembling Gao Zhiming saw someone being torn in half by a swarm of bats in midair. The brutal scene left him frozen in place, and he went numb all over.

Regardless of what he had experienced so far, he was still just a child.

The scene was too shocking for him.

"Big sis… I feel like vomiting…"

"Hold it back, you can do it," Anna said, comforting Gao Zhiming while staring at the buildings in the distant city center.

According to the vampires' intel, the IMF site consisted of three one-hundred-meter tall buildings aboveground and five underground levels, along with a subway system that allowed people to move elsewhere.

Judging from the earlier explosions, the subway system had to have collapsed at this point.

"Don't be scared. Those guys are our allies for now. It looks like they're in a stalemate, and this is a good opportunity for us to make our move," Anna said.

Gao Zhiming gnashed his teeth and nodded vigorously before moving forward.

The IMF was clearly prepared, as there were thick metal plates covering every corner of the building. They were also armed to the teeth with a huge variety of modern weapons.

It would be more apropos to call it a steel fortress rather than just a building.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A myriad of bullets fired at a high speed beamed down on the vampires, claiming their lives in an instant. The enemy's bullets seemed to be laced with something that countered the vampires' high regeneration rate by killing them instantly upon getting hit.

It seemed the IMF had the upper hand, but the difference in numbers between the two sides was just too great.

The swarm of bats in midair converged into a terrifying black cloud.

The IMF's haphazard attacks barely made a dent in the cloud. In addition, the battle wasn't just a simple exchange of bullets, as both sides made use of controllable Anomalies, leaving all sorts of bizarre traces on the ground.

An example of it was a mercury-like liquid bubbling in front of Anna, and a group of crystal centipedes curled up on the ground. Despite her extensive knowledge of relics from the Subterranean Sea, Anna couldn't identify every Anomaly. ȑ𝘈Νő𐌱Ê𝓢

Just then, a coffin emerged from the swarm of bats in midair and plummeted to the ground. Before it could hit the ground, however, it was shredded to pieces by the IMF's machine guns.

A deep purple viscous liquid emerged from the debris and slammed onto the ground. It bounced once and stuck to the fortified walls of the IMF's building.

The way it wriggled on the wall made it clear that it was capable of consuming metal, but before it could take more than a few bites, its viscous figure stiffened. Then, it went limp and fell to the ground as if it were a mere piece of plasticine.

Clearly, the IMF had made quick work of the Anomaly, but no one had any idea how and when they had done it. It seemed that the IMF truly deserved its reputation as a fearsome organization in the eyes of anomalous organizations.

While Anna was busy observing the battle from afar, hundreds of black bats rapidly coalesced into a towering man in a suit.

He stood next to Gao Zhiming, and stared at him as he asked, "You're just watching from here, Miss Bandages? Time is of the essence. The IMF's reinforcements could arrive at any moment. You know that their air fleet is astoundingly fast, right?"

Anna wasn't familiar with the man, as this was their first meeting, but the fangs at the corners of the tall man's mouth proved his identity.

"Hmph, your family can only do this much despite its long history? You guys can't even break through those steel plates?"

"Of course, we can break through them. Do you really think that we can't attack them from underground?" the tall man asked. As soon as his words fell, the machine guns in the distance came to a halt. @@novelbin@@

It seemed that they were fighting someone inside the building.

"We're running out of time. Even a second can drastically increase our chances of victory, and the faster we win, the sooner you'll obtain your reward. However, if you try to take advantage of the chaos from behind, then sorry, our agreement will be null and void.

"And if you really do something like that, I'm afraid the entire Blood Clan will be very displeased," the tall man remarked. It seemed like Magnus had long guessed Anna's intentions and had just decided to send someone to remind her of her job.

Under Anna's instructions, Gao Zhiming looked at the towering man.

"Why the hurry?"

Moments later, Gao Zhiming charged toward the corner of the high-rise building ahead of him.

Beams of bullets kicking up plumes of dust swept toward Gao Zhiming, and they all poured down on him. As soon as they collided with Gao Zhiming, Anna made him vibrate at a high frequency.

The bullets all phased through Gao Zhiming and struck the ground instead.

A smoke grenade landed and exploded on the ground. Gao Zhiming started coughing vigorously from the smoke, but Anna took advantage of the smoke's cover to press her hand—engulfed in green, corrosive flames—on the steel plate.

The strong and durable steel plate that the vampires were struggling to destroy corroded rapidly and transformed into a pile of ashes on the ground. When the smoke dissipated, everyone saw a huge hole in the impregnable fortress.

The black cloud circling in the air stopped. The next second, they whirled and howled, pouring into that hole like a torrent.

Soon, the machine guns went silent, and no more bullets came out of their barrels.

"We're going in," Anna said, "If they get too carried away and end up killing Jackal as well, things are going to become troublesome."

The building was already cramped to begin with, and the sudden influx of so many "visitors" made it extremely tight and claustrophobic.

The two groups fought each other in the tiny space. A cacophony of noises reverberated, making it seem like the building was about to go up in flames.

The battle seemed like it would soon reach a critical point.

However, the chaos within the building was exactly what Anna needed. The more chaotic the battle was, the easier it would be for her to obtain what she wanted.

"Don't go upstairs. We're going down. That freckled girl said that she was underground when she met Jackal at the time."

Gao Zhiming had a hard time adapting to the chaos, but he still did as Anna requested. The fact that he could help his big sister was more than enough for him.

The few underground levels were a bit quieter than above, but the keyword was "a bit." If one turned the wrong corner, one could unexpectedly become a part of a tiny skirmish between vampires and the IMF's combat team members.

Gao Zhiming walked through them all by himself, making him appear as if he were just a passerby.

After a few minutes of wandering, Anna finally found the map of the entire building. The map told her that the inpatient ward was on Level -3.

Anna held Gao Zhiming in her arms as they rapidly phased through the walls and soon arrived on Level -3. It was eerily quiet here, as the vampires had yet to reach this floor.

There were only a few IMF staffers in the inpatient ward. It was empty and quiet to the point that it was actually a bit scary. It was unknown whether the people here had fled after hearing the commotion up above.