Yang Yong was scared out of his wits. He scrambled to the bus, dug out a coil of thick hemp rope, and bound the survivor tightly to a nearby tree.
But even with the ropes cutting into his flesh until it split open, the man kept struggling desperately, strange rasping sounds coming from his throat, as though something were churning inside his windpipe.
His eyes stayed fixed on the roiling mist. His limbs stretched rigid in a twisted posture, as though he might snap the ropes at any moment and plunge into that dense darkness that devoured everything.
What the hell was this thing!
It was terrifying!
Neither man dared let his guard down for a moment. They stayed beside the bound survivors, not sleeping all night.
Whenever someone's struggles grew more violent, they immediately rushed over to reinforce the ropes. The cold sweat from their palms soaked the hemp, and its slippery feel made their stomachs churn.
By the time the sky began to pale, both men were utterly exhausted, drenched in cold sweat and barely able to stand.
Cao Xianming, meanwhile, had been crouching beside the lake since dawn, writing and sketching in a notebook.
The scratching of his pen across the paper sounded especially grating in the deathly still morning. His expression was thunderous.
"What was that last night?"
Yang Yong rushed over, his voice trembling.
Those people who had been controlled were still out cold like dead pigs, without so much as a twitch of their eyelids.
Cao Xianming shook his head and said gravely, "I don't know. That kind of Eerie was somewhat like a Sea Demon, but even Sea Demons don't have such powerful control. If it really were a Sea Demon, knocking them unconscious would probably have saved them!"
"Then what do we do now?"
"Finish breakfast, then leave immediately!"
Cao Xianming left the rest unsaid.
Once they had entered this place, there was no turning back.
Going back now meant a 100% chance of death. Moving forward, they might run into a man-eating Eerie at every step, but at least there was still a chance of survival.
Just then, Wang Ying, who had been missing for half the night, climbed out of the driver's seat of an off-road vehicle.
Yang Yong looked over, and his heart sank.
There was something very wrong with her.
Dark circles ringed her bloodshot eyes, and an unnatural redness glimmered in their depths.
Her face was almost translucently pale. The skin at the corners of her mouth was stretched taut, and what seemed to be tear tracks that had yet to dry still lingered on her cheeks.
Had she been crying?
Zheng Xiaofeng, the most thoughtless of them, blurted out, "Sister Ying, were you crying?"
Seeing that it was the big oaf asking, Wang Ying took no offense. She simply nodded silently, her voice terribly hoarse. "That Eerie... can magnify the unfulfilled longings in the hearts of those it affects..."
She left the rest unsaid.
But everyone could imagine just how much willpower it had taken her last night to forcibly suppress the obsession deep in her heart and keep that mist from luring her away.
A wave of belated fear washed over Cao Xianming, and cold sweat broke out across his back.
Wang Ying was the convoy's strongest fighter. If they lost her, their chances of survival would drop by at least half!
"Get ready. The convoy leaves immediately!"
"All right."
Wang Ying made no fuss. She turned to fetch a hard, dry cracker and nibbled at it.
Then, at Old Cao's command, the convoy slowly set off.
The lakeside was too dangerous. Even without Old Cao saying so, everyone knew they had to leave this damned place as soon as possible.
The convoy's first objective was to get away from Mirage Lake.
The wheels crushed the withered yellow grass as they sped along. Only when they had left that ominous lake far behind did everyone's tense nerves ease a little.
Only then did Old Cao slowly speak and tell them the truth.
"From here on, nowhere is completely safe! I can only choose the route with the best chance of survival... Everyone, do your best to stay alive!"
At those words, a chill instantly shot up everyone's spine, and their blood seemed about to freeze.
All along the way, they had escaped death time and again entirely thanks to Old Cao's predictions and plans.
Now Old Cao was saying his ability was no longer much use?
Wasn't that the same as the sky falling?
For a moment, a deathly silence filled the vehicle. Everyone looked utterly grim, clearly unable to accept this cruel reality.
Fortunately, after a pause, Old Cao added something else.
"Although we stumbled into this new world, that doesn't mean we're certain to die!"
His words immediately drew everyone's attention, a faint light kindling in their eyes.
This was no time to stand on ceremony. Everyone pricked up their ears, afraid of missing a single word.
"Do you see that transparent wall behind us?"
Everyone turned to look behind them at once. There, on the distant horizon, stood a transparent wall that could neither be seen nor touched, yet truly existed.
Like an invisible barrier, it held the roiling mist firmly on the other side, the scenes within and beyond it sharply divided.
"We'll follow the edge of the wall and look for a chance to return to our original world!"
Cao Xianming spoke with conviction. After a pause, he emphasized, "Since one passage between the two worlds could appear, there must be others. And as time passes, more and more of these passages will appear!"
Buzz!
His words jolted them awake.
The convoy instantly erupted into a clamor, voices rising one after another.
"That's right! We can return to our original world! Life wasn't easy there either, but at least we had a way to survive!"
"If we follow that wall, we'll definitely find a way back!"
"As long as we're alive, there's hope! We have to keep going!"
For a while, much of the despair lifted. Everyone encouraged one another, the fire of survival rekindling in their eyes.
Old Cao watched it all with satisfaction, though a shadow passed through his eyes unnoticed.
Good. Just focus on staying alive.
As for the truth...
He would only tell the Transcendents.
After all, even if ordinary people knew, it would be of little use. It would only cause more panic and trouble.
After resting and regrouping, the convoy set off again.
As planned, the convoy kept close to the transparent wall, always staying within sight of it and not daring to stray at all.
They traveled like this for an entire day. The journey was uneventful, and it seemed that no danger had arisen.
Until night fell.
The nights in this world had no stars, no moon-only an immense Blood Moon hanging high in the ink-black sky.
The Blood Moon was a dazzling, uncanny red. Its light shone several times brighter than the moon of their original world, bathing the land in scarlet.
Everything in sight was shrouded in a bloody haze, as though a rain of blood had just fallen, exuding an indescribable eeriness that made the skin crawl.
This was their first night since entering this new world and leaving the lakeside.
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