Chapter 1 A Situation Far Worse Than Imagined

The anomaly triggered by the Ajanta Caves had, in the span of a single day, spread throughout India, then slowly diffused toward South Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Numerous religious temples and structures, as well as ancestral shrines, minor god temples, shrines, and Nuo god temples, experienced expanding halos, engulfing the surrounding areas.

The Global Supernatural Alliance and official organizations in various South Asian regions urgently mobilized to maintain order, effectively evacuate, and minimize losses as much as possible.

However, the initial wave of damage had already been done.

By the third day of the anomaly, the confirmed number of missing persons had risen to the million level, primarily concentrated in India, with the remainder scattered across Southeast Asia and other regions.

For those three days, news media around the world reported on this unprecedented disaster.

The Special Affairs Bureau and the Special Incidents Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other official organizations, dispatched large numbers of personnel to India to assist local agencies and the Global Supernatural Alliance in controlling the situation.

At the same time, they accelerated the Urban Tower Project in their respective countries, concentrating the population within towers with stronger security and more anti-anomaly devices.

Li Ang was also paying attention to the Ajanta Caves incident. The Zerg Hive was secretly advancing the Gene-Stealers project in India, parasitizing and recruiting a large number of casual believers.

The power of faith generated by these believers every day had previously surpassed the Zerg Hive's cerebrates.

But this anomaly disrupted the Zerg Hive's plans.

Official organizations and civilian guilds in various regions shifted their attention to South Asia.

No one wanted to see the anomalous disaster expand further.

Inevitably, there would be a large-scale review of the Indian population—census taking, disaster victim relocation, the establishment of temporary collective residences, and even the relocation of entire rural villages and towns to the outskirts of cities.

This would lead to a reduction in the area covered by anomaly prevention measures, thereby saving manpower and increasing efficiency.

During this process, there would inevitably be physical examinations and identity verification procedures for the Indian people.

The Zerg Hive's cerebrates had made considerable plans for the Gene-Stealers project.

However, they still had to guard against the diverse special abilities of the transendents from all over the world, to prevent being discovered by them.

So, for the time being, they had to temporarily suspend the Gene-Stealers and go into full hibernation.

————

"The Buddha's light in various parts of South Asia caused by the Ajanta Caves has also swallowed up some of the Gene-Stealers,"

In the cabin of the Longqing Group's cruise ship, Li Ang supported his chin with his left hand, sensing the data sent by the cerebrates in the psionic network.

His right hand scrolled through the forum for first-hand information about various places in South Asia.

This time, the Ajanta Caves anomaly was very strange. The spread of the Buddha's light was almost unreasonable. As long as it was a religious building, regardless of the religion, it would respond to the anomaly and produce Buddha's light.

East Asia and South Asia had already fallen, and Central Asia and West Asia could not escape.

Even churches in Eastern and Central Europe began to show sporadic Buddha's light.

Even if religious buildings were temporarily demolished, spherical Buddha's light would appear on the ruins.

For ordinary transendents, this situation was undoubtedly just the beginning of a disaster anomaly.

But for believers in various regions, the current situation could be described as devastating—no one could understand why this was happening.

The Vatican's Inquisition, Britain's Royal Knights of the Church of England, the Clock Tower, and organizations such as the Knights Templar, couldn't bear it any longer on the fourth day of the anomaly. They dispatched elite troops to India.

They wanted to completely resolve the Buddha's light anomaly.

"Those Buddha's lights can indeed isolate any form of internal and external communication.

Psionics, arcane arts, magic, witchcraft,

Or even near-Earth orbit satellites, shortwave radio communications, and signal cables.

All the missing Gene-Stealers are also missing, and have failed to send back useful information."

Li Ang muttered as he scrolled through the webpage.

Everyone felt panic and confusion in this situation of complete ignorance.

The manpower of official organizations and civilian agencies, as well as mercenaries who came after hearing the news, were now concentrated in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, which was relatively close to the Ajanta Caves.

Tens of thousands of transendents gathered together could easily destroy all the surface buildings of any small country.

But they were all huddled in the city, limited by the highly mysterious Buddha's light.

It wasn't that no one was willing to walk into the Buddha's light to explore in person.

However, the seemingly gentle Buddha's light was like a black hole. Even players above Lv20 who stepped into it would have no way out.

The steel cables attached to their bodies silently melted by themselves.

The whole person disappeared into the vast white light.

In this situation, panic spread and accumulated day by day, until...

"Michael appeared?"

Li Ang stared at the latest live text and image post on the forum, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

Michael, who had been missing from the public eye for a long time, finally appeared in the urban area of Mumbai.

He was still dressed in the standard armor and sword outfit. After descending from the sky, he talked to the personnel of the Global Supernatural Alliance for a few words.

Then, against the dissuasion, he stepped into the Buddha's light of the Ajanta Caves alone.

Michael disappeared for more than three minutes. During these three minutes, all the personnel waiting on the periphery of the Buddha's light were in unimaginable torment.

Fortunately, after three minutes, he finally appeared, and publicly informed the Global Supernatural Alliance personnel of the solution—to form several teams of top transendents, led by him, to directly enter the Ajanta Caves and kill the Shivi king who caused the anomaly.

"Godslaying..."

Li Ang put down the mouse and pondered silently.

As a very low-key ordinary transendent, Li Ang had no intention of wading into this muddy water.

What happened in South Asia and India had little to do with him. Even if some of the Gene-Stealers were swallowed up by the Buddha's light, it would not affect the overall situation—the Zerg Hive also had layouts in South America, Africa, and other places.

The power of faith could be replenished in a while.

There was no need to take risks to solve the Buddha's light anomaly thousands of miles away.

The Special Affairs Bureau should also be able to guess his thoughts. It's just that they sent their own people to India to control the situation—Buddha's light also appeared in East Asia.

They didn't send Xing Hechou, Bai Haozheng, and others to find Li Ang to take action.

"I don't know what Michael saw in the Ajanta Caves, but even she has to gather all the manpower to be sure of godslaying...

Just how strong is that Shivi king?"

Li Ang was silent for a moment, clenched his fists, and sensed the vast divine power in the god mark, as deep as an abyss.

During this period of time, he had been accumulating divine power, and finally fully recovered to his peak state.

And after the last conversation with the Side of Truth, he obtained a lot of psionic information.

He also made some breakthroughs in mental abilities, and could use more kinds of weird and unpredictable abilities, and make some small props infused with psionics and with special effects.

Buzz—

The friend list vibrated.

From Hohenheim, whom he had contacted in the Box World before. The information exchanged was also very simple.

Michael had found Lost Control, Hohenheim, Side of Truth, and others, and invited these strongest people on Earth to slay the god together, including Li Ang.