Transcendent Gene
Chapter 124: Cult Encampment [2]

Chapter 124: Cult Encampment [2]

Gio maintained his illusion of unconsciousness even as he felt the woman walk away from where he was previously hidden. He twitched occasionally, giving off the impression that the warmth the woman was giving him was bringing him back from the dead.

"Poor, poor child," the woman said. Her voice was sweet. Her every word dripped like honey. There was an emotion in her voice...something like love? However, it was a false motherly affection that seemed to drip with as much poison as it did honey.

From Gio’s perspective, they moved for a period through the cold desert before a wave of heat enveloped him. A minute after the warmth touched his body, his body touched a soft bed that was comfortable enough to put him to sleep.

He forced himself to stay awake. The woman slowly removed his clothes and covered his body in some sort of oil. When it was absorbed into his skin, he felt his body get lighter. The "injuries" he’d created on his body started to refill, leaving him with only an empty stomach and the urge to open his eyes.

No, rather than an urge, it was more like a command.

Gio’s eyes fluttered open under the influence of that command. He tried to raise his hand over his head to avoid the light shining down on him, but his arms were currently weak.

’I can’t bring myself back to normal in front of her...’

Gio looked at the woman for the first time. With ordinary brown hair and green eyes, she looked no different from a woman one would pass on the street. There wasn’t a hidden glint in her eyes. There wasn’t an ounce of hidden intention in her expression when she smiled at him warmly.

"Good morning, dear," she said like a mother waking up her child.

"Whe..."

Gio’s words cut off. His throat was more than just hoarse.

"Where...?"

He squeezed out the word, looking at the woman with widened eyes.

Her expression seemed to melt at his desperate attempt to speak. She held his hand warmly as she spoke.

"Child, you need not worry any longer. You are safe now. Nothing can hurt you when you are here."

"P...ain?"

Gio played his part well. He spoke in broken sentences, his eyes jittery even though he’d just opened them. He truly looked like a child who’d somehow stumbled upon the camp by sheer luck.

And without any of his gear on him, there was no way for her to tell otherwise.

’It’s a shame.’

He hid his weapons and armor deeper in the sand in preparation for a situation where he had to stop the mission from being compromised. His clothes had been roughed up by the drastic changes in his body heat, and his hair and skin received the same treatment from the sand.

In the end, everything lined up in his favor.

He allowed the woman to coddle him, slowly bringing his body back to a healthy state while showering him with kind words.

He slowly relaxed into her arms until she finished her treatment. He didn’t know what she was doing, nor did he trust it, but he did have to admit that his body felt better.

With the woman’s support, he was able to stand on his feet and walk. They were in one of the colorful tents Gio saw from the aerial images taken during the original reconnaissance mission.

When they left the tent, the true scale of the camp was revealed to his eyes.

It was much bigger than he thought. It was an entire small town’s worth of empty space decorated simply by colored flags, mattresses, and various pieces of cloth.

’I’m in...’

Gio took in the scenery with a look of wonder plastered on his face. The woman’s smile widened when she saw his expression.

"This is your new home. You see all those people?"

She pointed out in front of them. There were several tens of people lounging in the sand, dancing, singing, and enjoying themselves. They didn’t have a single care in the world. They lived happily in this very moment and this moment alone.

"This is your new family," the woman said when Gio looked at them.

"We will stay by your side regardless of what happens, so don’t worry and be happy. Would you like to eat?"

He nodded his head vaguely. After all, he was no longer wholly focused on her voice.

"Gio, are you there?"

Ting!

Raymond wasn’t in the sky anymore. The commotion in the vicinity made staying in the sky too risky, so he was forced to land. He had been worried about Gio’s situation, but everything changed when Gio entered the camp.

He now had a vantage point that none of them could gain. He would inevitably have to become a much more important part of the mission.

"What do you see?"

Ting!

Right, he couldn’t speak much without alerting the people around him.

Raymond changed his question.

"Are you safe?"

Ting!

The single ring was a good enough answer.

"If there’s anything you can say to clue us into your situation, say it. Otherwise, respond or get our attention with the signals. We’ll support you from the outside until you can find a way to let us in."

"...here we are. It looks good, doesn’t it?"

"Food..." Gio muttered, his stomach grumbling as if it had been waiting for the timing.

It wasn’t just a platter or a feast. It was something more than a feast. All kinds of meats, all kinds of sides, all kinds of breads, rice, and noodles...any variation of food one could think of had to be present on the thirty-or-so foot table where the feast was set.

Gio looked at the woman to ask for permission. She shook her head, rustling his hair and pushing him forward.

"Go ahead and eat, child. Nobody will stop you."

"Gio, is there anything noticeably off about the food?"

Ting!

The food looked like it came out of a commercial. Everything looked too perfect, to the point where he questioned if they were illusions. However, when he reached down and grabbed the leg of some bird beast, he confirmed that it was real.

"Can you get away with not eating it?"

Ting! Ting!

It was obvious the woman was waiting for him to take a bite. Gio could feel Raymond hesitating on the other side of his earpiece, but he couldn’t wait for a decision to be made.

If a hungry child hesitated for even a moment upon glimpsing food, something was suspicious.

Gio sunk his teeth into the meat. It was succulent and tasted decent enough, but the source of the fuzzy feeling spreading through his body didn’t come from meat.

After one bite, it felt like he’d grown a coat of fur that was now brushing against his skin. After two, his body felt incredibly light as if he weighed nothing at all. When three bites turned into four and into five; when five bites turned into a young child devouring a bird leg the size of his head, Gio lost almost all of his senses.

His head was in the clouds. His mind was laughing with the angels while his body floated through the galaxy’s rivers and rode their tide like it was nothing.

Raymond’s voice came from above the water he was submerged in. He almost couldn’t make out a single word of what was said.

’Gio...’

He cried out to himself in his own mind.

Before anything could be done, he had to regain his senses.

That was the only way to ensure the mission’s success.

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