Chapter 268: Unknown Territory
It was clear that the "big nephew" who had been swallowed by the thick fog had run into an entity while fleeing in panic—and as the one lucky break in his long string of bad luck today, he hadn't run into "Ink Stain" or the "Carnival Crowd," but the gentle, harmless neutral entity "Granny Tree."
As for why Granny Tree, who should have been roaming in the Autumn Forest, had appeared in this thick fog—no one cared about that anymore. After all, it seemed like any kind of entity could pop up in this strange fog.
"The detector didn't find any trace of 'Granny Tree.' It may have wandered somewhere else or dissipated on its own," reported a deep diver who was describing the scene when they found the trapped person. The soldier's power armor was hung with many extra auxiliary devices, making him look like a support team member. "No signs of other entity activity at the scene, but some withered, broken branches were found around the victim. 'Granny Tree' might have tried to grow a tree to hang him, but when that didn't work, it glued him to the wall..."
"What do we do now?" A huge fox head poked over next to Yu Sheng. The fox demon gazed curiously at the translucent resin crystal on the ground. "Should we smash this thing and get him out... *slurp*... it looks like a piece of candy..."
Yu Sheng broke out in a cold sweat at that and immediately turned to hug the fox's muzzle. "Don't you dare bite that!"
"We can't just smash it—the person would shatter too," Xu Jiali also shook his head. "It's best not to move him right now either. From what I can see, this crystal has entered a fragile stage. Now we just wait—all we have to do is wait. Granny Tree's resin only seals people for one to two hours, and when the time's up, the resin 'melts.' Judging by the crystal's condition, he's probably been sealed for over an hour, so it should be about to melt."
"Alright, let's wait by the side then," Yu Sheng said, sitting down on the ground and leaning against Hu Li's fluffy front paw. "I could use a rest too—those two waves just now were exhausting."
Hu Li lowered his head to look at Yu Sheng leaning on his paw, then carefully nudged him with the other paw before laying his head down next to him and closing his eyes to rest along with Yu Sheng.
Xu Jiali watched this and couldn't help but say, "Seriously... this is still an alien realm, you know. How can you two relax like this?"
"It's normal. That silly fox relaxes as long as he's near Yu Sheng, and Yu Sheng can relax anywhere," Ai Lin said, climbing onto Hu Li's front paw as well. Finding a comfortable position to lie down, she waved at Xu Jiali. "Let me tell you, Yu Sheng is actually pretty unhappy right now. The 'Ink Stains' that split off earlier were nothing but ink blots—inedible. Then the carnival revellers we ran into later all turned to scraps of paper when they died—also inedible. He must be really bummed about it... Hey!"
Without even opening his eyes, Yu Sheng struck the little puppet's head with a knife-hand chop, cutting off her chatter.
Xu Jiali twitched the corner of his mouth, but having dealt with Yu Sheng's group a few times, he was somewhat used to their unconventional style, so he turned back to keep watch.
After all, the human-like entities could slack off, but he and the deep divers he'd brought couldn't afford to relax for a second—the eerie thick fog gave him a terrible feeling.
He had a nagging suspicion that there might be other things hidden in this place—not just more entities that could pop up, but that the fog itself was far more sinister than it appeared.
Xu Jiali looked up and noticed that aside from the soldiers he'd brought, only Little Red Riding Hood remained highly alert. The phantom wolf pack materialized and vanished around her, with wolf shadows leaving or returning from the distant fog, as if they were constantly scouting the depths of the fog.
To be fair, high school students were reliable.
"You came all the way from that mall, right?" he suddenly asked. "Have your wolves confirmed how large this fog actually is?"
"So far, we've confirmed six blocks," Little Red Riding Hood said seriously. "Centered on Wanxiangji Mall, this fog covers at least the 'mirror images' of six surrounding blocks, with the farthest reaching Taiyuan Road. And that's not the limit—beyond that, there are still solid ground and buildings, but the fog gets even thicker. It's like something is blocking even the wolves' senses—they can't see or hear anything beyond three meters. I didn't dare go too deep."
She paused, reached out to stroke a wolf shadow that emerged from the air, and looked grim.
"I suspect there's something in the fog out there. My wolves... they conveyed fear to me, but whatever's hiding in the fog doesn't seem to be coming over."
"Is it an entity?"
"Hard to say. The fog's too thick—can't see through anything," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "I'm afraid only your director's 'eyes' could see far from here."
Xu Jiali nodded gravely, then turned to ask, "What's the current depth here?"
One of the deep divers immediately raised his arm and quickly operated the controls on his gauntlet. "Reporting, current depth L-2, fluctuating about twenty percent, overall stable!"
"Depth 2," Xu Jiali let out a light breath. "In theory, that's not an extreme environment—the laws of physics mostly align with the real world. But the worry is that the depth here might be unevenly distributed. We could just be in a 'shallow area' of this alien realm..."
Just then, a faint crackling sound came from nearby, interrupting the big man's muttering.
Yu Sheng, who had been resting with his eyes closed against Hu Li's big paw, opened his eyes instantly, and several other gazes simultaneously landed on the source of the sound.
The pale yellow, translucent "amber" was rapidly cracking. Within just a few seconds, the cracks began to melt around the edges, and the entire crystal dissolved like ice under a scorching sun.
The crystal turned into viscous resin, which then quickly softened further. The young man sealed inside fell to the ground. With the slight impact of landing, he suddenly gasped sharply—then woke up violently, coughing hard.
"Cough, cough..." The young man struggled to get up from the thin layer of resin, instinctively trying to stand, but couldn't get any leverage and slipped in the resin as soon as he rose. That fall helped him sober up a little more, and he sat there, staring wide-eyed at his surroundings.
Fully armed soldiers in power armor.
Shadowy wolves flickering in the fog.
A doll with glaring red eyes.
A fox the size of two vans—its head alone was bigger than his entire body.
While sealed in the "amber," his mind had still been working, but the thick resin had greatly interfered with his perception of the outside world—he could only see vague shadows moving around. Now he finally saw what those shadows really were.
The unlucky nephew thought it over, then let out a "gah" and started to fall backward.
But before he could fall halfway, Ai Lin yanked him back with spider silk.
The freezing, piercing spider silk was enough to give an ordinary person nightmares, but it was also incredibly bracing. On the verge of fainting, the nephew gave a sharp start, instantly sobering up as if he'd taken drugs, and let out a perfectly enunciated cry: "Holy sh*t!!!"
"You're awake," Yu Sheng finally spoke.
Little Red Riding Hood also nodded. "We've been waiting for you."
The young man blinked, finally seeming to notice Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood's faces—mainly because the other figures around him were so visually overwhelming that he hadn't even registered the two of them. Now that familiar faces appeared, he snapped out of his terror, and rationality gradually returned to his mind.
But residual noise still echoed in his heart. Terrifying hallucinations surged up like memories awakening, weaving into bizarre visions at the edges of his vision.
He shook his head and vaguely heard a tall figure in black power armor nearby speaking.
"Mild mental contamination, sanity decreasing—0.5 units of mental protection agent, 1 unit of buffer compound... Don't use rationality blocker; he can't handle it."
Someone grabbed his arm, and a slight sting came from his skin.
"Injection administered."
The young man's already confused eyes regained clarity once more.
"I..." He blinked and swept his gaze around the area, finally landing back on Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood. "Am I saved?"
Then he saw the huge fox head poke out from behind Yu Sheng and speak in a girl's voice: "Yeah, the benefactor brought people to save you!"
The young man immediately stumbled back two or three steps, his legs going weak again. "Brother Yu, this... this thing doesn't eat people, right?!"
"It doesn't," Yu Sheng hadn't even spoken yet when Hu Li shook his head seriously. "I like eating chicken legs, grilled mushrooms, and the benefactor's cooking! And noodles..."
As he spoke, he started drooling and looked down at Yu Sheng. "Benefactor, I'm hungry."
The young man opposite: "... (vibration mode)"
"The first time you encounter 'this side' of the world is like this—it's easy to get scared by everything you see," Little Red Riding Hood said with a smile, looking like an old hand at the terrified, anxious young man—even though she was younger than him. Then she waved her hand. "Anyway, welcome to the other side of everyday life. This is your first official day crossing the boundary. Everyone will understand whatever reaction you have, but save any questions for after we return to the real world."
"Right, we shouldn't stay here long. Let's head back first," Yu Sheng said, already raising his hand to open the portal back to . Then he turned and saw Hu Li trying to stick his muzzle through the door, and broke out in a cold sweat. "Change back first! Do you even think you can squeeze through that?"
Hu Li quickly returned to human form in a flash of light, leaving the young man stunned again...
He had been unable to keep up the whole time, and he was still dazed.
Yu Sheng then turned his gaze to the big man in power armor.
"Want to come along? This door of mine is way more convenient than your gear."
"No, no, no, we'll use our own method to go back," Xu Jiali quickly waved his hand. "If headquarters sees our 'umbilical cord' cut, they'll probably scream all the way down the chain of command—I'd be buried alive by the director on the spot."
With that, the deep divers behind him began to fade, one by one disappearing into the thick fog.
Yu Sheng let out a breath and waved at the remaining people beside him. "Let's get out of here too!"