Chapter 1 Silence

After a moment, the once bustling and noisy interior of the bus, filled with chattering voices, fell silent. Even the snoring old man from before furrowed his brow and stopped making a sound, huddled in his seat as if he were dreaming of something terrifying.

"Okay, the last batch of 'offerings' is secured."

Having confirmed this, the tour guide, who had been babbling incessantly at the front of the bus, introducing the traditional myths of the Shan State, the legends of the Kachin Snake Valley, and various local tales, stopped his 'chanting' and released the 'hand seal' he had been secretly holding.

Scanning the entire bus, the Shan man with his local yellowish-brown skin, who had always worn a smiling face, gradually became expressionless.

"Catching over thirty offerings at once, the first grand operation in fifty years."

He exhaled and then whispered, "The organization's plan is only a little bit away from completion. It doesn't matter if we get discovered—Hey, Maoba, prepare to turn. The rendezvous point is just ahead."

"Yes, Lord Ge Ang!"

The young driver replied fervently, and soon he turned the steering wheel, causing the entire bus to swerve sharply off the road and crash directly into the lush, primeval forest!

At the same time, Ge Ang also raised his hand, his ten fingers intertwining bonelessly like snakes, forming an incredibly bizarre and sacred 'secret seal'. He chanted incantations, emitting sounds extremely similar to the 'spiritual sounds' that had hypnotized the crowd earlier, and his entire hand seal began to glow.

Just as the bus was about to crash into the primeval forest, as Ge Ang completed the seal, a faint green light spread out, and layers of shimmering, illusory light began to float in the air. The original scene of the dense forest rippled like water, completely engulfing the tourist bus and causing it to disappear.

The dense forest in this area was merely an illusion!

The engine roared, the bus accelerated, and leaped into the illusion, its wheels contacting not soft earth, but compacted gravel!

This was already a sparsely populated tourist route. The illusion disguised as a dense forest also contained magical traps, requiring specific hand seals to unlock. Passengers passing by in cars wouldn't notice it at all, and even locals rarely traveled here, wouldn't rashly enter unfamiliar primeval forests, and would never discover this.

The bus sped along the gravel road, and even though the road pavers had made preparations, it still bumped when leaving the highway.

But no matter how bumpy it was, not a single one of the thirty-five passengers woke up.

Whether old or young, men or women, everyone remained in their seats, frowning as if immersed in an unpleasant dream.

After the bus was swallowed, the surface of the dense forest illusion fluctuated with light, and soon returned to normal.

As if nothing had happened.

Leaving the highway, the bus sped into the forest.

Originally, even though the gravel road absorbed a lot of the vibration, the sound would have been enough to startle birds and cause a ruckus.

But now, the surrounding forest was deathly silent.

There were no birds, not even the cicadas that should have been chirping noisily in the summer. All that could be heard was the wind blowing through the trees, creating a dry, rustling sound.

Setting aside these strange occurrences, the bus, filled with unconscious tourists, soon arrived at its destination, a cleared area that had been artificially prepared.

Above the open space were green camouflage tarpaulins painted with forest patterns, used in conjunction with small illusion arrays to conceal the area, presumably to avoid detection by aerial reconnaissance or satellites unaffected by illusions as much as possible.

In the open space, the bus slowly came to a stop, and the Shan driver, called Maoba, began to turn the bus around to park.

Later, after the reception team came to transport the 'offerings' away, he would have to drive the bus to other parts of the scenic area to divert attention.

Next to the driver, the Shan mysterious organization executive, known as Ge Ang, continued to hold a secret seal, causing a faint green light to cover the bus, absorbing sound and suppressing the vitality of the surrounding living beings, ensuring that the operation would not be discovered due to accidents.

"It takes a lot of energy to suppress the soul and silence the sound all the way."

After arriving at his destination, Ge Ang exhaled and released the secret seal.

His expression was somewhat weary, and the green spiritual light around him was flickering, as if about to extinguish.

Then, the man who had previously acted as a tour guide, always smiling like a friendly uncle, casually reached out and pressed his hand on the head of a middle-aged man beside him.

Boom! In an instant, the green light blazed, and the man whose head was being pressed suddenly opened his eyes wide, his mouth agape, letting out a silent scream—his body still wanted to struggle, his hands and feet flailing, but under Ge Ang's suppression, the resistance grew weaker and weaker, until it disappeared.

Pop.

The sound of something breaking rang out, and wisps of white mist-like light could be seen flowing out of the man's orifices, eventually gathering in Ge Ang's palm and transforming into green spiritual light.

And the man's spirit was completely dead. His eyes rolled back, and saliva drooled from the corners of his mouth. Although his body still had the instinct to breathe, he was merely a living piece of meat.

Ge Ang's gaze was indifferent, and he even had a hint of a smile on his lips. He chuckled softly and swallowed the spiritual light in one gulp, and was once again refreshed, nodding to himself in satisfaction.

"One human soul is almost enough."

Maoba, standing to the side, showed no fear at this scene. He even vaguely revealed an envious expression.

For these two members of the mysterious organization, the people on the bus seemed to be nothing more than materials, nothing more than reserves of food, and not independent intelligent beings.

"If the organization's plan succeeds, there will be endless supplies of this 'food' in the future."

Feeling his revitalized spirit, Ge Ang thought of the organization's ongoing plan and couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. He began to fantasize about beautiful scenes: "With my secret techniques, it's not impossible for me to become the leader of the headquarters!"

His heart surged with excitement, and the Shan mysterious organization executive, fantasizing about the future, didn't have time to continue fantasizing about more wonderful futures.

Because a slender, clean, but very powerful arm had reached out from behind him, grabbing his neck with anger.

——Where did this come from?!

On the skin, which was originally flushed with excitement and starting to sweat, all the pores immediately closed and contracted in terror. Ge Ang suddenly felt a chill rising from the base of his spine, shooting straight to his forehead.

An extremely dangerous warning was ringing loudly in his mind—and as his mind moved, his body moved. His right hand immediately wriggled to form a seal, and a faint green light appeared. His left hand rose, preparing to elbow strike behind him, and his body also twisted incessantly like a snake, trying to break free from the arm.

In an instant, a thunderous mental shock was born from the seal, charging towards the person behind him!

The organization's inherited secret technique, created by simulating the sound of a ghost, the 'Soul Shocking Art · Serpent's Kiss', was enough to instantly make a healthy adult male fall unconscious, or even suffer irreparable soul damage!

An unprepared soul hit by this would be like a venomous snake inserting a fang filled with corrosive poison into a fingernail! In addition to the intense pain, it could also corrode the body and mind!

Ge Ang was certain that even the rare 'Awakened' within the organization would have difficulty taking such a blow head-on!

But when the secret technique was unleashed, although it hit its target, it didn't bring about the result that Ge Ang had imagined.

"Crap!?"

A cry of pain came, which made Ge Ang overjoyed.

But it was clear that the emotion contained in the pain was more surprise and anger than fear—the arm's owner's movements only slowed down for less than half a second, and then continued to contract and exert force with even greater speed than before!

Those who kill the innocent must be killed!

"Ugh-"

His neck was forcefully strangled by the sturdy arm, forcing out a breath. A series of movements flowed smoothly as if they had been practiced. Just as Ge Ang frantically screamed 'This is impossible!' in his heart, the arm swiftly and powerfully wedged itself under his chin, and hard muscles bulged!

The power brought about by this burst of muscle shattered Ge Ang's last resistance. His breathing was forcibly stopped, causing his eyes to bulge and his tongue to protrude.

And the arm suddenly exerted force and lifted upward, immediately causing the head of the mysterious organization executive, disguised as a tour guide, to tilt back, forced to look up. Then, with force in his shoulder and elbow, he twisted and wrenched—

Just as he was about to shout and his right hand was also transforming into a second hand seal, Ge Ang's entire body went limp.

——This, this is impossible... I still have hand seals, secret mantras, and snake Gu... I, I still have...

——Where did... this... Awakened... come from...