Mountain of Mist

In East Gate Park, more than a dozen Police Cars and several Firetrucks were parked. Large numbers of firefighters and police officers had sealed off the roads leading into the mountain. Long cordons had been set up along several roads and across the park plaza. A large police presence was maintaining order, yet they still could not drive away the intensely curious crowds.

Even at night, huge numbers of people remained gathered in the park, unwilling to leave. Under the streetlights, they crowded together, talking animatedly and pointing up the mountain. All kinds of horrifying rumors, along with legends passed down by elders or drawn from mythology, became steeped once more in an air of mystery and the supernatural as they passed from mouth to mouth.

"Why haven't you rescued them yet?!"

"Hurry up and go save them!"

"How long has it been already? Are you police really just going to stand around and do nothing?"

Many relatives of the missing had gathered there as well, anxiously questioning the officers again and again. Quite a few tried to break through the cordon and enter the woods, while several middle-aged women wailed and screamed at the top of their lungs. The scene was complete chaos.

"Dozens missing? How many is dozens? Do we have an exact number?" The speaker was a highly capable-looking police officer in his forties. He looked somewhat thin, but exceptionally sharp and efficient.

Even officers from the Criminal Investigation Brigade had arrived, because the first group of police officers who had entered earlier had also vanished. The higher-ups realized this was no ordinary incident, so the Criminal Investigation Brigade had been urgently summoned overnight to take over the case.

"Team Leader Zhou! So far, we've confirmed and received reports of forty-two people. Including those who originally lived in the mountains, there are seventy-six people in total." She was a female officer with a ponytail. Her somewhat stiff-looking uniform still could not hide her lovely figure.

"Additionally, the dozen or so officers and firefighters who went in earlier still haven't come out. Everyone lost contact as soon as they entered the depths of the fog. They drove in, but after entering the winding mountain road, they never emerged again. Even our infrared drones lose their signal the moment they enter the thick fog." Holding a tablet in one hand, she read out the intelligence currently available. She stood ramrod straight, with a heroic bearing between her brows that most men lacked.

Team Leader Zhou nodded. "What about from the air? Can we see anything?"

Lin Shu shook her head. "It's too dark. And with fog this thick, we wouldn't be able to see much even during the day!"

The police present kept studying the thick fog on the mountain, discussing it in hushed voices. The fog was like a giant maw that had swallowed dozens, perhaps over a hundred people. And this was not some remote wilderness—it was in the middle of a bustling city. Even seasoned officers had never encountered anything like this.

The mountain fog and moonlight reflected off one another, making all of Yellow Goat Mountain seem layered with shadows, eerie beyond measure.

Lin Shu also stared into the pitch-black depths of the forest. "Captain, perhaps we should consider acting after daybreak. We can deploy helicopters to assist us then. Going in now would be far too dangerous and leave us at too great a disadvantage!"

Team Leader Zhou shook his head. "We can't wait. Dozens of people are missing. Anything could happen in a single night. If something goes wrong, the chief will skin me alive by morning!"

"There have been far too many strange incidents lately. First, those three terrifying killers appeared out of nowhere, then some kind of superpowered person showed up. And now this is even stranger."

Team Leader Zhou took a drag from his cigarette and slowly exhaled. Then he waved his hand. "Xiao Huang, A Kai, Da Tou... you three come in with me. Everyone else stays here and waits for orders!"

Lin Shu immediately said, "Team Leader Zhou! I request to join you!"

Team Leader Zhou shook his head. "You stay outside."

Then Team Leader Zhou gave Yellow Goat Mountain a long look. The mountain was neither particularly large nor particularly small. It was divided into three peaks and a lake, but with fog this thick, it was perfectly normal for dozens or even hundreds of people to get lost inside.

As the Police Car's siren sounded, it entered the fog and gradually faded into the distance. Even the siren grew fainter and farther away, until nothing could be heard.

Team Leader Zhou and several officers under his command followed the winding mountain road forward. At first, everything was normal. Though the fog was heavy, they continued along the road, their headlights illuminating the way ahead. Nothing unusual happened.

"Everything's normal. Bzz... bzz, everything's normal?" Team Leader Zhou held up his phone and reported their situation to those outside. They had only just entered the fog, yet static had already begun to disrupt the call.

"Even if we get lost, as long as we follow the road..." He carefully watched his surroundings, but still found nothing unusual.

Team Leader Zhou drove while chatting with the officers around him. But halfway through, a swirl of thick fog passed over them, and he immediately sensed something was wrong. The concrete road ahead had disappeared, replaced by an ancient forest floor blanketed in fallen leaves.

"Where's the road?"

Team Leader Zhou and his four subordinates opened the car doors and got out, looking ahead and behind them. Then they discovered that the road behind them had disappeared as well.

At that moment, they were trapped in a forest. There was no road ahead or behind them, while the concrete mountain road they had come along had already vanished without a trace.

That strange and terrifying sight sent a chill rising through every one of them.

As a wave of mist drifted past them, they discovered that the fog which had filled the depths of the forest, omnipresent and clinging to them like a shadow, was gradually thinning and disappearing.

Moonlight shone down from the sky, and only then did they notice their surroundings. They were standing on a mountain ridge.

They drew their pistols and cautiously made their way through the woods. Before they had gone forty or fifty meters, the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing the foot of the mountain below.

"Team Leader Zhou, we're out!" Da Tou, a burly-looking officer, braced himself against a pine tree and excitedly pointed down the mountain.

Yet there was no joy on the others' faces. The young officer named A Kai was even chattering his teeth. "Where the hell are we?"

Below them, where East Gate Park should have been, there now stretched vast fields. Narrow ridges crisscrossed between the plots, haystacks stood piled nearby, and faint, dim candlelight glimmered from ancient wooden houses and earthen brick dwellings.

The scene looked as though it had come from several centuries ago, as if the five of them had stumbled into the depths of a hidden paradise.

Team Leader Zhou lowered the hand holding his gun as well. His eyes could no longer remain calm. He knew Yellow Goat Mountain's terrain by heart, yet a place like this could not possibly exist there. In fact, nowhere in the entire city was there such a place. "How is this possible?"

The five men held pistols, but the bizarre situation before them was no longer something guns or force could solve.

"Team Leader! Team Leader!"

"Can you hear me?"

Lin Shu called into the fog again and again, frantic with worry. Team Leader Zhou had been in the depths of the fog for over four hours, with no response and no sign of emerging.

In another two hours, dawn should break. Lin Shu knew she absolutely could not panic now. No matter what, they had to wait until daybreak before acting. Yet her heart refused to settle. Standing at the foot of the winding mountain road, she paced back and forth, staring at the fog blanketing the road uphill.

The park was beginning to empty out. Only the officers and firefighters stationed there remained, along with some relatives of the missing who still refused to leave, staying behind to await news.

"Don't worry. We'll take action as soon as day breaks!" Lin Shu kept reassuring an elderly woman in her sixties. The woman's husband had been among the first group organized by park security to enter the mountains for rescue operations.

"Everyone, rest assured! We've contacted helicopters. After daybreak, we'll conduct a thorough search of the entire mountain area. This mountain isn't large. I believe that once it's light, everyone will be able to see their family and friends again!"

At that moment, a figure ignored everyone and simply entered from a side path in the park. He passed through the blockade and cordon, as though none of the other police officers had noticed him.

"Stop right there!"

"There's danger on the mountain! No one is allowed to go up there right now, do you hear me?!"

"Stop right there!"

Lin Shu strode forward and shouted at the figure, but it was as if he had heard nothing at all.

Only when she drew closer did Lin Shu clearly see what he looked like, and she froze in an instant.

He was a man dressed in a white Taoist robe, with silver-white hair. Even his sword-like brows carried a translucent, pure-white hue.

His features were exquisite and steeped in an ancient elegance, as though he were an Immortal who had stepped out of an old painting.

His moon-white, cloud-patterned Taoist robe seemed to emit a faint glow. As he walked, his feet appeared not to touch the ground, his entire body hovering lightly above the grass.

A black cat stood on his shoulder. It was an exceptionally lively black cat, and under the moonlight, its eyes looked almost human, filled with an eerie mystery.

The man's gaze swept casually over Lin Shu, yet he still did not stop. As he walked, he and the black cat gradually turned into a cloud of white mist. The mist curled and swirled, drifting into the woods in a beautiful posture.

Faced with this scene, Lin Shu was scared senseless. She had watched videos before and heard all kinds of strange rumors, but seeing it firsthand was completely different.

"An... Immortal?"

Lin Shu's earlier shouting had drawn far more than one or two people. A whole group of police officers and the families of the missing had witnessed the scene as well.

They too stood with their mouths hanging open, staring in disbelief at the White-Robed Taoist as he vanished with the wind.