The Black Mist Descends

Bai Yi put away the revolver, thoroughly satisfied with this modification—it had solved every one of the gun's weak points.

After wrapping up all the work, Bai Yi did not dare delay any longer and directly upgraded the shelter.

[Upgrade shelter?]

"Yes!"

As flesh and bone points decreased, the nest began to contract. Tentacles surged into every room, while the walls formed of bone grew thicker and heavier.

With his ear pressed against them, he could even hear the continuous flow of flesh within the walls.

[Fleshweb Bone Nest (Egg Cell)]

[Level: 7]

[Flesh: 178005/10000]

[Bone: 74080/10000]

[Capacity: 252,000/300,000]

[Traits: Flesh, Bone]

[Upgrade: Flesh: 178,000/150,000, Skeleton: 74,000/100,000]

[Facilities: Workshop, Modification Room, Digestion Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Storage Room, Water Storage Room, Flesh Fungal Carpet]

[Description: Keep your distance from it if you don't want to play bondage!]

[Workshop Upgrade: Equipment crafting speed increased, and the number of items crafted at once increased.]

[Modification Room Upgrade: Modification limit raised to 15 points, organ slots +1]

(The genes of powerful creatures could raise the modification limit.)

This upgrade did not bring any drastic changes. It was merely a routine upgrade.

As for level eight, although Bai Yi already had enough flesh, he did not intend to upgrade for the time being. On one hand, he was still far short on bone points; on the other, he needed to keep some reserves.

Before he knew it, it was already 16:06 in the afternoon.

Bai Yi looked out the window. By now, the white mist outside had completely transformed into black fog.

At a thought from him, a soft white glow shone from the shelter's ceiling. It came from the light-emitting organs of the fireflies Bai Yi had brought back from Wang Ziyi.

The light brightened the shelter, yet when its rays entered the black fog, there was no reaction at all. It was as though even light had been swallowed by the black fog.

Bai Yi did not rush to the Modification Room. Right now, he desperately wanted to know what exactly was inside the black fog.

He walked to the window and carefully observed the black fog.

He did not know whether it was an illusion, but Bai Yi felt that the black fog seemed alive. It was slowly approaching the shelter.

No, it was not an illusion. The black fog was getting closer and closer to the shelter.

Bai Yi's expression turned grave. The ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger, yet there was nothing he could do. That helplessness made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

Finally, the black fog touched the bone walls. Then, as though it were sticky, it clung tightly to the walls.

Immediately afterward, a warning sounded in the log.

Bai Yi hurriedly checked it and saw that the shelter's flesh and bone points—its durability—were slowly decreasing.

[Current Flesh: 178005/10000, Bone: 74080/10000]

The durability was declining very slowly, so Bai Yi did not panic. He opened his personal information panel and looked at the "Abnormal Status" section.

[Bai Yi: Healthy]

[Abnormal Status: Where the Heart Finds Peace, Wail of the Dead, Insulation Ward, Dark Erosion]

"Just as I thought!"

Bai Yi's guess had been confirmed. The first danger brought by the black fog did not come from unknown aberrations, but from these strange "abnormal statuses."

[Dark Erosion]: All food in the black fog decays 200% faster, and the black fog will erode shelters by percentage. The higher the level, the slower the erosion rate. (Level 6: 10% per hour; Level 7: 5% per hour; Level 8: 1% per hour; Level 9: Immune)

Bai Yi's heart tightened. This was undoubtedly an abnormal status designed to kill players.

Although shelter durability could be restored through various means after level six, the despairing part was that no one knew how long the black fog event would last.

No matter how many resources they had, they could not withstand years of constant consumption, let alone the fact that "Dark Erosion" also affected players.

Thinking of this, Bai Yi opened the team chat. Sure enough, Xie Xu had already provided more detailed data:

Players could last at most one minute under the black fog's corrosion.

If you encounter ads such as "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any codes or send text messages!

It was foreseeable that in the days ahead, the price of crude iron needed by ordinary shelters to restore durability would likely rise sharply.

Combined with the temporarily opened forum and plaza, no one knew how many players would die in despair afterward.

Bai Yi shook his head. Although his special shelter did not depend on those resources, and he had stored more than dozens of times its durability during the final preparation period—

In black fog of unknown duration, where players could not go outside, it would only mean dying a little later.

"Still, I don't believe the system would leave players with no chance at all. There should be corresponding measures."

Bai Yi analyzed the situation inwardly. At the same time, the log update notification sounded.

[1. The event "Black Fog" has descended.]

[2. "Wilderness Treasure Chests" will soon refresh (Countdown: 11:59:59)]

[3. The concept of "day and night alternation" has been eroded; Misty Land has entered eternal night.]

[4. The system shop has been updated.]

[5. Players, please explore on your own.]

"It's here!"

After reading the update, Bai Yi did not hesitate and opened the system shop in the plaza.

[System Shop:

1. Teleportation Scroll (Permanent, 100 Mist Coins)

2. Teleportation Scroll (Temporary, 200 Mist Coins; provides immunity against curses such as loneliness, lasts 10 hours)

3. Shelter Fusion Scroll (10,000 Mist Coins; after fusion, unaffected by the loneliness curse)

4. Faint Candlelight (100 Mist Coins; once lit, can dispel the two abnormal statuses "Dark Erosion" and "The Displaced." Once lit, it will not go out. Each candle burns for 1 hour)]

A new item, "Faint Candlelight," had been added to the shop, which had previously contained only three items.

Bai Yi bought ten without hesitation.

One thousand Mist Coins vanished, replaced by ten candles neatly arranged on the table.

Bai Yi picked one up and examined it. "Why does this feel a little familiar?"

The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed. Bai Yi went upstairs. As he approached, the flesh-and-blood table automatically opened a drawer, revealing an identical candle lying quietly inside.

Bai Yi picked up the candle. What had once been an ordinary candle now displayed a name: [Faint Candlelight].

Bai Yi had never gotten around to using this candle. At first, it was because he had no lighter and could not light it.

Later, when he did get a lighter, the shelter had already unlocked a fireplace. So he never used it and had kept it until now.

"I thought it was just an ordinary candle. Who knew it would come in handy now?"

Bai Yi fell into thought. He did not know whether this counted as a hint from the system. But he did not dwell on it for long and instead finished what was in front of him first.

He sent the information to both the team chat and the regional channel.

The regional channel at that moment (58/100):

"The black fog keeps gnawing at my shelter. Its durability is dropping so fast."

"One candle costs 100 Mist Coins? Why don't they just rob us?"

"Lone Wolf: The candle that was sitting on the table when we first transmigrated was 'Faint Candlelight.'"

"You still kept that candle from back then?"

"Thanks for the reminder. I still have my candle, hahaha."

"Damn it, I thought that candle was useless, so I used it to make a wish."

"Huh? Dog Bro is in this region too?"

"I noticed too. Dog Bro, carry me."

(Names are displayed in channel chat.)

After sending the messages, Bai Yi did not linger. After greeting his teammates, he began selecting his equipment.

Bai Yi's thinking was simple: in the early stages of the black fog's arrival, even if there was danger, it would certainly be less dangerous than what came later.

He wanted to use the time before the treasure chests refreshed to explore the surrounding area first!

At the request of our many readers, we have now launched an ad-free VIP membership feature.

Click to view