Return

Chapter 35: Return

"Welcome back."

Zhou Li looked at the four of them—Bai Yanliang and his group—who still appeared somewhat dazed, a flicker of admiration crossing his eyes.

The third group had only lost one person, and what's more... they had spent less than a day!

The gazes of the others turned fervent as they looked at the four; after all, in the Mist Gathering, having smart and reliable companions was of paramount importance.

Zhou Li's voice pulled them back to reality, yet to the surprise of everyone present, Li Yuejun, Xu Zhi'an, and Jiang Li all turned their eyes toward Bai Yanliang simultaneously.

Li Yuejun, her surprise mixed with disbelief, said happily, "Bai Yanliang, you did it!"

Bai Yanliang glanced around briefly, finding himself the target of everyone's inexplicable stares.

He smiled, not saying much: "Just luck."

It was him!

It was actually this newcomer who solved it!

Bai Yanliang's expression remained unchanged, but he could clearly feel the gazes focused on him intensify. Among them... were several that made him want to turn and investigate, but he held himself back.

"Since everyone is back, we have one minute left. Once time is up, the Mist Gathering will eject us. Bai Yanliang, Qi Nian, congratulations on surviving here. Please memorize this string of numbers. We are scattered across the country and usually keep in touch via mobile phone." As he spoke, Zhou Li recited a sequence of digits.

Bai Yanliang memorized them silently, though, come to think of it, he didn't even own a phone yet...

Unlike Bai Yanliang's calm demeanor, Qi Nian had only just regained his senses, yet his expression remained somewhat vacant.

"We will share the details of the mission once we are back in reality. This is crucial for understanding the rules of the Mist Gathering. To be honest, all the rules we know now were summarized through repeated brushes with death." Zhou Li's voice carried a hint of melancholy.

The Mist Gathering was not a system; it would not inform everyone of taboos or rules in their minds. Everything... was learned only after paying a heavy price.

Even so, the Mist Gathering remained mysterious and unfathomable to everyone; no one knew... what exactly it was.

"Oh, by the way, Bai, you're from Ye City, right?"

Zhou Li suddenly looked at Bai Yanliang.

Bai Yanliang nodded, though he didn't quite understand the implication.

Zhou Li smiled and turned his head toward a corner: "That big celebrity is coming to your city."

A celebrity?

Bai Yanliang followed his gaze, but could only vaguely make out the silhouette of a woman amidst the mist.

"See you in a month, everyone."

Zhou Li seemed to sense something and blurted out the words quickly.

In fact, it wasn't just him; Bai Yanliang also felt an incredibly powerful repulsive force. He finally understood what Zhou Li's strange analogy had meant earlier.

They were truly like swim rings being forcibly pushed underwater; once the force applied to them vanished, they were immediately rejected.

Just like that, Bai Yanliang felt his vision blur. The two scarlet lights in the gray sky of the Mist Gathering seemed to shift, as if... a pair of eyes were blinking.

When he regained his focus, he was standing in what was clearly a young girl's room.

After a quick glance, he confirmed this must be the room of Yang Wanlong's daughter, who was still in school, so he stepped back out.

"Phew..."

Bai Yanliang slumped onto the sofa, feeling drained, and glanced at the clock on the wall.

Time hadn't moved forward even half a step.

Yet, in the world of the Mist Space, he had already spent twelve hours.

The Mist Gathering... it really was a bizarre place, as if it had pressed the pause button on the real world and thrown them into the past.

No, perhaps it wasn't the real world that was paused, but merely their group of people.

Bai Yanliang fished the key out of his pocket and watched it quietly.

He knew very well that he was different.

His door hadn't been pushed open by himself; it had been unlocked with a key.

And this antique key was a relic left behind by Bai Yanren.

"Brother... just how many secrets were you hiding..."

Bai Yanliang gripped the key in his palm, feeling its icy temperature, a rare trace of bewilderment flashing through his heart.

He leaned back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling.

Although his emotional fluctuations were minimal, he was still a normal person.

The bizarre Past World and the fierce, unsolvable ghosts had suddenly appeared in his life. Even though Bai Yanliang hadn't shown it, he still felt a deep sense of exhaustion.

Especially... after experiencing everything in the Mist Gathering, he could be certain that Yanren's death was definitely not simple...

It wasn't the kind of "not simple" he had imagined while at Ye City Psychiatric Hospital; Yanren's death involved something much deeper.

Chaotic thoughts swirled like snowflakes in the sky. Bai Yanliang closed his eyes, trying his best to enjoy the tranquility after leaving the bizarre world of the Mist Space.

Creak—

At this moment, the door opened.

Hearing the sound, Bai Yanliang sat up straight and looked toward the entrance, just about to greet Yang Wanlong, only to realize that... it didn't seem to be Yang Wanlong.

A girl radiating youthful energy from the Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital was staring at him with wide, round eyes, looking terrified.

Bai Yanliang locked eyes with her, but it was clear that she had misunderstood something.

"Ah!!!"

She leaned against the doorframe and let out a piercing shriek.

"Wait..."

"Ah!!!"

"I am..."

"Ah!!!"

"Please, listen to me..."

"Ah!!!"

Bai Yanliang gave up; this young girl was impossible to communicate with, as her throat seemed capable of nothing but screaming at the moment.

"Yang Yiyi!"

Bai Yanliang shouted sharply.

"Uh..."

Her throat seemed to be suddenly choked off, and she looked at Bai Yanliang with a strange expression: "You... who are you? Do you know me?"

Bai Yanliang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling deeply that dealing with women was harder than dealing with ghosts.

He gestured toward his luggage and said: "I am your father's guest. He went out to buy groceries. If you don't believe me, you can just stand there and wait for him to return."

Yang Yiyi looked at Bai Yanliang with half-belief, still standing at the doorway without entering, and asked: "You... you're lying. I know all of Dad's friends, but I've never seen you before! What is your name?"

Bai Yanliang suddenly realized that the thing he said most often was introducing himself.

"Bai Yanliang."

He looked at Yang Yiyi helplessly and repeated the three characters he had already said several times: "My name is Bai Yanliang."

"White-eyed Wolf?"

Yang Yiyi seemed to have misheard and repeated it subconsciously.

But then, as if she suddenly remembered something, her eyes lit up as she looked at him: "You are Bai Yanliang? Dad's mysterious informant?"

Informant?

Bai Yanliang was stunned. Yang Wanlong had actually talked about him to Yang Yiyi? Just what kind of identity had he assigned to him...

Seeing that Bai Yanliang did not deny it, Yang Yiyi finally confirmed it. She rushed in with a look of pleasant surprise and tossed her schoolbag aside: "Dad said you've helped him solve many cases!"

Bai Yanliang finally understood what kind of existence he was in Yang Wanlong's eyes.

Over the past few years, whenever Yang Wanlong came to visit him at the psychiatric hospital, he would occasionally bring up some thorny cases, and out of boredom, Bai Yanliang would offer some of his own perspectives.

So that was it...