Transcendent Gene
Chapter 126: Cult Encampment [4]

Chapter 126: Cult Encampment [4]

The woman led Gio out of the tunnel, bringing them into one of the connected areas Gio had seen in the pictures.

From the outside, this specific building looked like a dome made of concrete. It looked like a testing facility for Sequencers or some sort of bunker.

Gio was confused as to why "seeing the stars" was supposed to be done from such a space. It didn’t look much different from the inside.

The space was an amphitheater without an open roof. There were stands lining the walls while the central area was raised into a stage.

"Come with me," the woman said, still dragging him along.

She took him to the stage and let him stand on the platform. Leaving him there, she returned to the side of the corridor and pressed her hand into the wall. It pressed inward like a button, and in response, a great mechanical sound rang out.

DUUM!

The air was filled with the sound of motion. Gio looked up just in time to watch as the ceiling above his head split in two. The top of the concrete dome slid apart into the sides as if it was an ordinary retractable roof, and suddenly, it really was an amphitheater.

’These guys...’

Gio almost wanted to shake his head at the level of precaution they’d taken with every little thing.

’But, well, we’re literally trying to break in right now, so I guess their concerns are valid...’

Gio looked into the sky in wonder.

"Wow..."

He had to signal for Raymond.

"I see...stars..."

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

He alerted over and over again, bringing attention to himself.

"The stars...so bright..."

He spoke more as if he was becoming more comfortable, still using broken sentences. Gio repeated sentences about the stars over and over again until the team members finally understood what he was trying to say.

"Gio, have you found an opening?"

Ting!

"Got it. You’re at...isn’t that a concrete dome?"

"How...stars?"

Gio turned to the woman who arrived next to him.

"Silly," she said with a smile.

"Have you never seen technology like this? It makes sense. Those so-called Sequencers have ruined this Stratum. Perhaps you’ve never seen something so magical?"

She brushed his hair as she pointed to the sky.

"This is our safe space, a place where we can perform without judgement. There are bad people in the world who want to stop us, so we have to make a strong shield to keep them out, right?"

Gio nodded dumbly.

"Well, we also like to see the stars, so while the roof protects us from the bad people, we can also move it when the bad people aren’t here. That way, we can all see the stars and be happy."

"I see..."

Raymond’s voice followed.

"Is the camp the same? If so, it’s necessary for us to stay concealed until we decide to destroy it. Otherwise, we may not get another opportunity...Gio, make sure the roof stays open. Do you know how to reopen it if it’s closed?"

Ting!

"Will you be able to open it if we need you to?"

He hesitated. Doing so without being spotted...

Well, he could figure it out. He had to get it done or sneaking them in was impossible, after all.

Ting!

In the end, he responded positively despite his hesitation.

The woman kept her finger pointed at the sky, moving it between stars and telling him their stories. Gio wondered why she allowed him to come here at first, as the stars could be seen just as clearly from the main campgrounds until she showed him herself.

As she explained, the sky seemed to move along with her explanations, showing him exactly what she wanted him to see.

The technology was nothing more than a concave piece of glass that moved across the open sky above them to mimic the "zoom" effect, but it was impressive nonetheless.

While thinking about whether that would interfere with the team’s approach or not, Gio reacted splendidly to each new story the woman told, encouraging her to continue for some time before she decided it was enough.

"Alright, then," she said.

"Shall we go back?"

Gio didn’t have a choice but to follow her. She led him back to the corridor’s entrance, her eyes landing on the same button she pressed to lower the roof.

However, she did not press it again. They hadn’t sensed any real activity in the vicinity in some time. The last thing they noticed was just the slightest disturbance, which they determined to be caused by beasts that lived under the sands moving towards Gio’s dying body.

Gio’s eyes lit up at this fact. The rest of the minute of walking back to camp was done calmly.

’My role probably ends here.’

If the team could find their way in, he didn’t have to do anything else but blend into the crowd and wait for the action to happen.

’Good.’

He did exactly what when they reached the camp. He went back to the food, grabbed another piece of meat, and ate as if he truly was happy to be a part of this community.

On the other side, Raymond, who’d equipped the hoverpack Natalia discarded, was already giving orders.

"Jax, Natalia, your turn. If anything goes wrong, signal immediately. We’ll create a distraction."

"Copy."

Natalia was the only one who answered. The two Sequencers moved like shadows through the desert, passing by patrols who thought of them as nothing more than a piece of the brushing breeze.

They were waiting a distance from the camp for Gio to finish internal reconnaissance, but they started moving towards the amphitheater soon after the woman asked Gio if he wanted to leave.

They reached it only a few minutes after Gio and the woman left and scaled the walls that were now just slightly higher than the tallest stand, roughly around ten to fifteen feet above the ground. Jumping into the area, they hid within the stands and checked to make sure the area was still clear.

Several minutes passed before they confirmed that their presence didn’t alert anyone.

Ding!

A sound different from the one Gio made resounded through the comms. It was caused by the energy of a Sequence rather than Aether.

Raymond received confirmation that they’d breached. Gio’s eyes went to the cubby as he waited for them to enter.

’Will they be fine?’ He wondered, thinking about how open the cubby exit was.

However, his worries were quelled soon enough.

’Nice!’

Jax nodded to himself as they ran through the tunnel and strengthened their concealment by another level. Natalia was just a shadow at this point, a spot on the ground that could never draw attention.

As for Jax...

Well, he didn’t have any fancy abilities like that, but when he told Gio that he was fast, he downplayed himself more than a little bit.

The energy of his Sequence filled his body. Jax started vibrating as he made micromovements with such precision that it made his body look like a mirage.

He looked at Natalia, who raised her head out of the shadow and nodded.

"Go," she mouthed.

Whoosh!

Natalia’s shadow trailed the ground and entered the camp. Jax followed, immediately finding a crowd of cultists and standing in their midst.

They had too many drugs in their system to ever think of him as anything more than a hallucination, and in their midst, he was practically invisible.

Thanks to Gio, they’d entered the camp much more smoothly than they expected to.

But he couldn’t help them make what came next any easier.