The Name of Fear
"My name is Shadow Demon, representing Destruction, and now it is the Snake Woman who represents Hatred, and finally, it is the King of Fear Dark River, who represents fear," Shadow Demon said, emphasizing the King of Fear.
After learning about fear from the Shadow Demon, Li Yuanfeng felt a sense of dread creeping into his heart. A suffocating fear spread through him, and he could feel something watching him from the unknown darkness.
In reality, this is the effect of the mask. Lu Li's aura of fear, originating from his Avatar King of Fear Dark River, spreads outwards. However, the aura of fear is currently only around Lu Li, far away from Li Yuanfeng. Originally, even if he knew the name of the source, the aura of fear would not have spread into his heart, but he is still wearing the mask.
Because of the connection between the mask and Lu Li, as long as someone utters the name of fear around the mask, the aura of fear will spread through the mask's connection, and Li Yuanfeng was thus affected.
Only when he was so terrified that he forgot the name and forced himself to stop remembering it did the fear gradually subside. He then realized he was huddled in a corner, trembling uncontrollably. He glared angrily at the Shadow Demon: "You did this on purpose!"
"Hahaha, that's right, I just wanted you to know what you're going to encounter." Shadow Demon chuckled in a low voice, "This is just his name. If you were next to him, and you looked him in the eye, you'd probably be scared to death."
"Then what are we going to do? We might as well just wait to die. Judging from the situation, you're no match for him either, right?" Li Yuanfeng wanted to discard the mask, but his Greed prevented him from giving up this treasure. At the same time, he knew that running away was the worst way to deal with the situation, so he forced himself to calm down and began to test the Shadow Demon.
"The King of Fear is the most powerful of us all, and I certainly cannot defeat him now, but it's not without a chance." Shadow Demon frankly admitted that he was no match for the King of Fear: "You are the host of Greed, so do you know the saying? When profits reach 300%, they dare to risk being hanged. When your Greed reaches a certain level, you can ignore fear."
"So you found me?" Li Yuanfeng asked.
"That's right. There are other Mask Host who will also stand on the opposite side of fear. At that time, fear will no longer be terrifying." The Shadow Demon's figure turned into black smoke and slowly faded back into the mask. His last words gradually disappeared. "What you should do now is wear my mask and blend in with the other Mask Host. Don't let me be revealed."
Li Yuanfeng breathed heavily, finally making up his mind. He wanted to be someone important; he didn't want to continue living an ordinary life. He knew that it would be too difficult to succeed in this society if he relied solely on himself. This mask was his shortcut to success, so he took the risk.
Lu Li suddenly sensed a trace of legend entering his heart, and that trace of legend was about the King of Fear Dark River. It seemed that someone had already spread the word about this name. Thinking about it this way, spreading this name might yield some good results.
Lu Li took two breaths, and the aura of slaying the Flood Dragon on his body was subdued. This passive aura had been gradually brought under Lu Li's control over the past few days, and he was able to suppress most of it. Of course, if anyone got too close, they would still be startled by that aura.
"Let's go, we should go out for a walk." Lu Li said to Lilith, then noticed his phone on the table and realized it was out of battery and shut down. He had been out of touch with reality for a while, and this base didn't have electricity, so he had to go out and find a place to charge it.
Lilith transformed into black smoke and returned to her mask. Lu Li changed into a black hooded jacket, carried a single-sided backpack, and the mask on his face turned back into shadow and dissipated, revealing Lu Li's somewhat pale face. His body was still constantly transforming into a shadow creature, and the damage from sunlight and other factors was continuously increasing.
Fortunately, it was a cloudy day and it was getting dark soon, so Lu Li didn't open the Oil-Paper Umbrella. Instead, he put it away and held it in his hand. He put Lilith's mask into his backpack, quietly walked out of the stronghold, and saw the empty streets. He knew that the serial murders in recent days had caused widespread panic, so most people chose not to go out at night.
Lu Li found an internet cafe. The manager glanced at Lu Li, a slight sense of panic flashing through his mind. He then Lu Li, still wondering to himself how strange that person had been, giving him a feeling of being stalked by a venomous snake when he was a child.
Lu Li plugged his phone into the charger and turned it on. He found that his uncle had called a few times, replied to one text message, and then ignored him.
He started looking into things that had happened in Leping City recently and a year ago, but most of what he found online was just hearsay. News from a year ago was basically useless, and most of the recent news was about serial murders, which Lu Li knew much more about.
However, Lu Li still managed to find some news snippets, such as the following: <In recent years, increasing social pressure has led to mental hospitals being overcrowded.>
According to this news report, mental hospitals around Leping City have been receiving an increasing number of mental patients over the past year, and have also raised concerns about the growing number of people with eccentricities in society, highlighting issues such as high social pressure.
"Perhaps there are issues related to social pressure, but more likely it's because some entity almost descended upon this place, causing some kind of impact." Having found nothing, Lu Li shook his head, seemingly lost in thought, before disembarking and heading towards Wu River Bridge.
Walking past the blind spot of the surveillance cameras, a mask woven from Shadow Magic appeared on his face. He opened the Oil-Paper Umbrella in his hand, channeling Shadow Magic into it. The water vapor from the Wu River began to rise under the influence of the Flood Dragon Spine, as if a thick fog was rising, enveloping the entire Wu River Bridge.
The water vapor was drawn into the Flood Dragon Spine 'Flood Dragon Spine, which seemed to contain an infinite amount of water vapor. Under Lu Li's control, the water vapor was released again.
The reappearing moisture was all tinged with black Shadow Magic, drifting like black mist and gradually enveloping the entire bridge.
Although it was already seven or eight o'clock, the strange phenomenon still attracted many people. First, a thick fog enveloped the bridge, and then the fog turned completely black, churning and swirling as if it were condensing something.
Then, the Black Mist actually condensed into a rough human figure, and the figure formed from the black mist spoke in the next moment:
"I am King of Fear Dark River! Foolish mortals, feel fear!"