Shrouded Seascape

As one vampire collapsed, more vampires soon followed. They fell to their knees and mirrored the same actions. They tore open their own throats and vomited torrents of water along with their intact internal organs.

What's going on?

Before Anna could react, the expelled water gathered to form a stream and surged toward the nearest drinking faucet.

Within seconds, the previously empty water bucket of the faucet was filled to the brim.

Silence engulfed the room.

The vampires who had been suffering moments ago now lay still and motionless. Even with their strong regenerative abilities, they were beyond saving. After all, even their hearts were gone.

The few surviving vampires stood in terror next to Anna, Gao Zhiming, and Jackal.

They could only lock their gazes on the water bucket. None of them understood what had just happened.

It was too bizarre for them to process. They couldn't even see their enemy. They had no idea about their modus operandi.

Yet even with her enhanced perception granted by the Anomaly she had absorbed, she discovered nothing. Apart from the scene of carnage, she spotted not a trace of anything that could have caused this horror.

"Move! We leave here now!" Anna shouted. Realizing that the situation was amiss, she decisively retreated.

Regardless of what had caused the vampires' death, her mission was already complete. Now, she only had to get out.

From beneath the floor, Anna activated her ability. The massive, three-meter-tall brass mirror—along with Jackal and Gao Zhiming—sank into the floor.

They phased through the cement and arrived on Level -4.

Arriving at what resembled a conference room, a massive rectangular table dominated the center. At the front of the room, there was an oversized white projection screen.

Just like the floor above, the vampires had already been through here and completely ransacked the place, leaving a mess in their wake.

Anna didn't bother acknowledging the vampires, who were startled by their sudden appearance.

Under her command, Gao Zhiming and Jackal used every ounce of strength to haul the heavy brass mirror toward the stairwell.

She wasn't just watching from below, either. From beneath the floor, she held up the mirror with both hands to help push it forward.

With her help, they successfully moved the mirror through the doorway, shoving it past the frame even though it was slightly too large.

Finally, they reached the stairwell. Instead of struggling to carry it, they titled the disc-shaped mirror and started to roll it forward, saving them much strength.

They were also able to advance faster with this method.

As the mirror spun like a wheel, the "fairies" living within the crimson mist swayed along with its motion.

Floor after floor, they ascended the stairs. The higher they climbed, the more destruction they saw. Vampires were running rampant everywhere, causing chaos wherever they went. ṚἁꞐ∅ΒÊŞ

However, for all the chaos raging around them, Anna actually felt a sense of relief. Whatever that water from before was, it no longer mattered.

With all these vampires around, she had enough cover to escape as soon as she could.

But just as they reached the ground floor and were about to make their exit, Jackal suddenly grabbed Gao Zhiming's hand when he was about to reach for the door handle.

"Hold on! Something's wrong. It's too quiet," Jackal hissed under his breath.@@novelbin@@

His words served as a cold reminder. Gao Zhiming immediately straightened up. Jackal was right. Every other floor had been filled with a cacophony of noises. Yet here, on the ground floor, where things should be the most chaotic…

It was silent.

"I'll go first," Jackal volunteered. "If anything happens to me, be prepared."

With that, he pushed the door open and was greeted by a world of red.

All three of them froze. Blood. Crimson blood coated everything—the walls, the floors, the ceilings.

Organs.

Limbs.

Judging from the single, half-severed palm right before them, these were likely the remnants of the vampires that had been here. And at this moment, every single one of them was dead.

"This…" Jackal whispered, his eyes widened in alarm. "What happened?"

"What happened? This is IMF's countermeasure! As a former IMF staffer, how would you not know?" Anna snapped, her alertness raised to the maximum. With her multiple pupils, she scanned the room in search of their enemy but still discovered none.

"No. I know every defensive measure in this facility. None of them could cause this!" Jackal said, slightly leaning his upper torso out to take a look.

"It must be something else."

As soon as Jackal's words fell, the door swung shut, trapping him between the frame.

His breath hitched—his eyes were still on the other side.

Just then, he saw a sharp pen float into the air before it began to spin at a rapid speed and flew straight for his eye.

The pen wasn't the only strange item. Every other sharp object rose into the air and shot toward him with killing intent.

If even a fraction of them struck, he'd be skewered—pierced from every angle, impaled in a merciless storm of blades.

Horror painted Jackal's face. He thrashed and struggled in an attempt to escape. However, the only thing he could feel was the rigid doorframe scrapping against his face.

Just as the sharp tip of the pen was a mere thirty centimeters from his pupil, his figure shuddered at a high frequency, and he phased through the door.

He landed and collapsed in the stairwell.

Of course, it had been Anna's doing. She had pulled him back. She didn't plan on letting him die so easily—not when he was still useful.

"What the hell is going on?!" Anna asked with brows furrowed.

"Everything inside the room came alive! They were trying to kill me!" Jackal spat out between ragged gasps.

Bang!

The tightly shut door swung open. All three of them instinctively snapped their heads toward the doorway to see the wall across from them bulging outward.

The bulge rolled upward, and the next moment, an enormous eye appeared before them.

The massive eyeball was utterly devoid of emotion.

No malice.

No amusement.

Just calm indifference...

"No leaving. No leaving."

Before Anna or the others could react, the floor beneath them split apart. Along with the brass mirror, the three of them plummeted downward.

Anna twisted in midair and grabbed Gao Zhiming with one hand and Jackal with the other. She then forced the boy into the older man's grasp.

With the sickening crunch of bones snapping, followed by Jackal's sharp groan of pain, they crashed onto the lowest floor.

Anna immediately phased into the floor. She tried to pull the other two with her but realized that her movements were extremely slow.

Not only her body moved slowly. Even her thoughts as well.

What… is… going…on… Anna struggled to turn her head. Finally, she saw a man in a pristine white coat standing silently on the other side of the room watching them.

Then, the door beside him swung open, and more figures, all dressed in the same shade of white, entered the room.

They completely ignored Gao Zhiming and Jackal, both still sprawled on the floor, and greeted the first man with enthusiasm.

"Hey, lighten up, man! Smile when you should."

"Yeah! Else, you're gonna get wrinkles before your time. How about a drink later?"

The man sighed in annoyance as he spat back, "Do you not see that there are still intruders on this floor! Be serious!"

One of them waved him off casually and let out a chuckle. "Come on. It's just two people. One of them is just a patient. We don't even have to lift a finger. Mipha can handle it. Right, Mipha?"

Hearing its name being mentioned, the wall slightly writhed. Within a few moments, a giant infant face, easily over four meters tall, emerged on the wall.

Its oversized mouth peeled open to reveal only three jagged teeth.

Then, it let out a hearty laughter.