Chapter 100: The Grand Stage of Mists

Boom!

The engine of the armored vehicle roared like a beast as the convoy slowly set off, passing through the North City Gate. Outside the gate lay a wide, deep trench, with a retractable steel bridge spanning it as the only passage into the city. Two supply trucks were positioned in the middle of the convoy, while armored vehicles guarded the front and rear.

Qi Chen sat in the passenger seat, gazing at the scenery outside with great interest. The edge of the city still fell within the range of the high tower’s lights, so the fog was not yet dense, allowing him to clearly see the towering city walls receding into the distance. Since arriving in the World of Mist, this was his first time leaving the city.

"Although your mental strength is high, I suggest you put on your mist filter soon," Nuan Nan said, his voice deep. He was already wearing a filter himself. His own mental strength was nowhere near as freakish as the person beside him, who had actually uttered the insane remark about wanting to breathe the air outside the city. Dammit, did having high mental strength mean one could just do whatever they wanted?

Qi Chen gave a perfunctory "mm" in response and continued to admire the view with excitement.

By now, the convoy had crossed the steel bridge and reached a wide concrete road. Thanks to its proximity to City No. 3, the relevant municipal departments and the city garrison regularly maintained the roads on the outskirts. This stretch of concrete was relatively smooth, and with the high tower’s lights still faintly reaching this far, the convoy maintained a decent speed.

However, after half an hour, the entire convoy slowed down. The walls of City No. 3 were no longer visible in the rearview mirror, replaced only by a faint, warm glow that began to blur as they pressed onward. Suddenly, the entire world was engulfed in thick, dense fog.

The vehicles in the convoy all switched on their bright yellow fog lights. These specially modified lights could penetrate and illuminate about sixty meters of fog ahead—enough to provide a warning, but not enough to allow for high-speed travel.

Qi Chen noticed the road beginning to become rugged and uneven. The enhanced vision of a "Weirdness Walker" proved its worth here; the fog that shrouded the world seemed to grant certain privileges to these walkers, allowing them to see further than the naked eye of an ordinary human. The vegetation growing wildly along the roadside came into his view, its thick stems and thorns clearly unlike anything that could grow within the city.

He looked up at the sky... it remained a hazy, foggy expanse, devoid of any light. The sun, the moon, and the stars were all things of history.

...

After traveling for over an hour without incident, Qi Chen finally put on his mist filter. It wasn't out of fear that his mind would be affected, but because a peculiar, mixed odor began to permeate the air—an indescribable stench that instinctively triggered discomfort.

"Hey, I told you to put it on earlier, but you wouldn't listen. There’s all sorts of things in the mist. It's not like in the city where the administration office forces sanitation workers to clean up. Who’s going to look after things out here? Rotting plants, the corpses of mist beasts, their excrement... tsk, tsk, this is no place for humans."

Having experienced it firsthand, Qi Chen fully agreed with Nuan Nan. He looked down at his map and asked, "Are there wanderers in the mist? Is it only in the settlements that people live?"

"Of course not. People in settlements and cities are only a small fraction of the broader human population. How could there be enough resources to house everyone?" Nuan Nan gripped the steering wheel. "I remember reading in the Research Institute's files that after the mist descended, the Old World fell into chaos very quickly. Even though the various governments of the Old World did a lot, the technology to deal with the mist wasn't mature at the time; it was impossible to take care of everyone. Later, for various complex reasons, it became even harder to rescue those stranded in the mist."

Qi Chen sighed softly, thinking of how many people had lost everything due to the sudden onset of the mist, which had fundamentally altered the face of the world.

"What’s the deal with this Yellow Stone Town we’re heading to?" Qi Chen asked, curious about the settlement.

"It’s a settlement that is, for the most part, on our side. You have to understand, while City No. 3 has many affiliated mist settlements, the vast majority are duplicitous. After all, the rules of the city and the rules of the mist are completely different. We lean toward order, but chaos is the mainstream in the mist. Both transport groups and official personnel from our city have gone missing in the mist—and it happens often. Sometimes it’s because of mist beasts or 'Weirdness,' but more often than not, it’s because they were attacked by people living in the mist."

As he spoke, Nuan Nan’s expression was one of helplessness and sorrow. City No. 3 had lost many personnel in the mist; aside from "Weirdness," the greater portion of those sacrifices came from these very human conflicts.

Suddenly, the voice of a special operations team member crackled through the headset.

"Report! We have followers behind the convoy! Requesting instructions!"

"Followers?" Qi Chen was slightly startled. He hadn't sensed a shred of "Weirdness" energy, which meant it wasn't a supernatural entity. What could it be?

"Observe them and confirm what they are!" Nuan Nan commanded into the headset, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. "Heh, with our formation, we’re a very lucrative target in the mist. But we’re also a force no one dares to underestimate. I doubt it's people from the mist; it’s highly likely to be mist beasts. These animals don't have much sense—they catch the scent of humans and get ideas!"

Normal wild animals would never dream of provoking a convoy made of steel, but mist beasts, whose minds had been twisted to the extreme, were different. They didn't fear firepower; brutality was synonymous with them. In many settlements and even some cities of the Alliance, there were dedicated arenas where mist beasts were the main attraction, and wealthy individuals often paid high prices to hire bounty hunters to capture these ferocious creatures.

"Go to the rear of the convoy and take a look. If the special ops team opens fire, it might attract more unnecessary trouble."

The fog blocked sight, but not sound. To prevent the gunfire from drawing more problems, Nuan Nan signaled for Qi Chen to handle it.

The convoy slowed down. Qi Chen unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed the door open. His "Overlord" manifested, lifting him onto the roof of the armored vehicle. With a few practiced leaps, Qi Chen smoothly reached the rear of the convoy.

In an instant, he saw dozens of glowing, scarlet eyes staring at them from within the fog.

It really was a pack of mist beasts.