"Wait, I think I found a better target!" I suddenly noticed something new and quickly stopped Adrian.
There was a reason for this. According to what the officer said earlier, the people who just had blood drawn in the square were supposed to follow a guide onto a bus and go to a quarantine area.
But there was a problem with this group. Not far from us was a middle-aged man in a white shirt. At first glance, he didn't stand out, just following the crowd. But on the way to the parking area, this guy kept glancing towards where Adrian and I were standing. It made me suspicious.
We'd been invisible since entering the controlled area. Unless there was direct physical contact, normal Earth people shouldn't be able to notice us at all!
But this guy seemed to sense exactly where I was, acting suspiciously several times! After watching closely, I felt like I could smell a faint trace of dark element from him. This was a big problem!
In any world, it's rare for normal humans to be connected to the dark element. Looking at his appearance, this middle-aged man seemed no different from a regular Earth person. His clothes looked normal, and he even knew how to use a smartphone.
Could I be imagining things? After discussing with Adrian, we decided to follow this guy and see what happened.
"Wait here in line to get on the bus. I have something urgent to do. We'll leave when I get back!" Just before boarding the bus, the female guide suddenly looked at her phone and told the crowd. Then she turned and left.
"Good chance! We're lucky. Let's sneak on too!" Maybe because we were closer now, the dark element smell from the white-shirted man seemed stronger. Now that the person in charge was gone, we had a chance to blend in!
"You're right! But the space on the bus is really tight. With so many people, if we stay invisible, we might bump into someone and get discovered!" Adrian agreed right away. Getting on the bus together was easier than following behind, and they weren't checking IDs anymore. Plus, these people didn't really know each other.
We quickly went to a place where no one could see us, became visible, and casually joined the end of the line to get on the bus.
"Alright, everyone's here! Let's go!" We didn't have to wait long on the bus. The guide came back quickly. She got on the bus, nodded to the driver in military uniform, and the bus slowly left the community square.
The bus drove on empty streets. Since the controlled area wasn't that big, the quarantine place shouldn't be too far. So we'd probably get there in 10 minutes.
"Miss, where are you taking us for quarantine?" After a few minutes, one auntie couldn't help asking the guide.
"Not too far! Don't worry, we're almost there!" The guide answered with a smile. Maybe I was being too careful, but when she finished speaking, her eyes suddenly glanced towards where I was sitting for no reason.
Adrian and I were sitting in the back corner of the bus, where people don't usually notice. The guide's look made my heart skip a beat. I felt like maybe we'd missed some detail.
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"That guy in the white shirt hasn't done much. He's been looking at his phone since he got on the bus. He doesn't seem suspicious for now," Adrian whispered to me.
"That's good. Let's just follow these people to the quarantine place and see what happens!" At this point, that was all I could decide. Whatever we might face later, with this low level of dark element, it shouldn't be a big threat to Adrian and me.
Five more minutes passed, and the bus suddenly turned into an alley.
The alley was very narrow, just wide enough for the bus to slowly squeeze through. After going down the alley for a few dozen meters, we saw an iron gate. Behind it was a huge warehouse.
"We're at the quarantine place!" It looked like this used to be some old factory. While I was wondering about this, the guide started calling out loudly, telling all passengers to take their belongings and get off.
"This is the quarantine place?"
"Where are the medical staff?"
"Did the driver take a wrong turn?"
"Are they just going to lock us up in this overgrown yard?"
After getting off the bus, even slow people could tell something wasn't right. At first, I naively thought maybe they'd fixed up the warehouse for quarantine. But after going through the gate, I realized that was nonsense!
Old rusty machinery, pipes and metal frames scattered in every corner, weeds as tall as a person everywhere. Clearly, this place hadn't been used in a long time.
"This isn't a quarantine place at all. Let us go!" Some people realized something was wrong and turned to leave. But then they saw the driver get off the bus - holding a gun!
"Hurry up and get in the warehouse! Otherwise, don't blame me for being rough!" With the threat of a gun, everyone just shut up. Several dozen people obediently turned around and walked towards the warehouse, not daring to make a sound.
"That guide is suspicious too!" Adrian had figured it out and reminded me in case I didn't understand.
"Sorry, you two need to stay behind. Come with us!" But when we were about to enter the warehouse with the crowd, someone stopped us. It wasn't the driver with the gun or the female guide. It was the middle-aged man in the white shirt we'd been watching!
This guy had been mixed in with the crowd before, not saying anything. But now he turned around and came right up to Adrian and me.
"I guess I was right. You noticed us early on!" I couldn't help letting out a cold laugh as I watched the warehouse door close not far ahead.
This result wasn't really surprising. If I could sense the dark element aura from him, even if it was very faint, he could probably sense the light element aura coming from me too!
After advancing to eight wings, all my abilities naturally increased a lot. Even though I didn't have my wings out now, the light element aura from my body was way stronger than normal level 2 or 3 mages.
"Come with you? What if we refuse?" Adrian frowned. Seeing that I didn't want to fight right away, he tried to get more information from the guy.
"Refuse?" The middle-aged man suddenly looked contemptuous when he heard this.
"Do you have that right? You're just a normal person. Even if your friend is a light mage, you're still no match for us!"
He knew I was a light mage? Though this guess wasn't exactly right, with how tightly information was controlled, not many normal H-country people would know about this.
"Since we lured you here, did you think we weren't prepared at all?" By now the female guide and driver had come over too. They were all working together! So the reason this bus came to this place was because of Adrian and me!
"They say light mages are very powerful. But since you've come to Earth, you must have a lot of limitations in a different world. And we have the advantage of numbers!"
Clearly, the man in the white shirt was their leader. He waved his hand lightly, and suddenly more than 10 strangers appeared from hiding places around us!
These people obviously didn't come on the bus with us. They all had very faint dark element auras too, hard to notice if you weren't paying attention. In comparison, the female guide and driver had the weakest auras, almost no different from normal people.
"You think you can trap us with just this many people?" I couldn't help laughing a little at this situation. It's true that without my wings out, my power would drop a lot. But even so, it should be more than enough to handle this.
And I had Adrian with me too!
"Isn't it enough?" Seeing that I still looked calm, the man in the white shirt was stunned for a moment. But he seemed to think I was just pretending to be calm and was actually scared inside! He suddenly looked a bit hesitant.