After finishing the meal, Ling Yi helped his second aunt clear the dishes before returning to his room to prepare for his afternoon nap.
Lying in bed, Ling Yi's mind was filled with that almost skin and bones, pale and lifeless arm.
I just couldn't fall asleep, no matter what.
Ling Yi pulled out his phone, intending to watch videos for a while to kill time and hopefully ease his mood.
The first video is a video of a young lady performing a hot dance.
Ling Yi simply slashed past.
It's obviously an electronically enhanced product with beauty filters. Those legs are as long as a compass; how could a normal person have legs that long?
That's so fake!
The second video is a video of the mountains and forests shot with a mobile phone.
Mist swirled among the mountains and forests, but this mist was rather strange; it wasn't white or grayish-white, but black, a dense black like Mozi.
People around were clearly Keep Running, as if the black fog was something terrifying.
The person filming was also running, which made the footage look very unstable and shaky.
All around were screams of terror, Roar like those of Beast, and occasional screams of agony emanating from the black mist.
Ling Yi frowned. What kind of lousy videos are these?
As the camera panned across the scene, it seemed that several figures were frantically tearing, attacking, and even biting into things within the black mist.
Just then, the video suddenly went black.
This work has been removed due to violations!
Ling Yi didn't take it too seriously.
Immediately afterwards, it automatically jumped to a new video.
It's still a video by a young lady.
Scrolling down further, there's another video about black fog, but this one was filmed from a much greater distance.
In the video, one can clearly see a large expanse of black fog, Shrouding the Heavens the sky and the sun, surging out from the distant Lin Zhong.
Anyone shrouded in the black mist was instantly frozen in place, as if their soul had been stolen.
The camera even zoomed in to capture the abnormalities on these people's faces.
Black lines, like veins, extended upwards from their necks until their eyes turned crimson. Then, like Beast, they began to frantically attack passersby.
Ling Yi checked the IP address of the video creator; it was from the neighboring city of Baihai City.
Just as Ling Yi was about to check the comments, the video went black again.
This work has been removed due to violations!
Ling Yi frowned, sensing that something was amiss.
I scrolled down through several videos, and six out of ten were about the black fog.
Half an hour later, the video about the black fog finally disappeared.
Ling Yi knew that it wasn't that the relevant videos were gone, but that they had all been taken down, or that uploading them was simply prohibited.
Although there were no more videos about the black fog, Ling Yi was able to glean some insights from those dozen or so videos.
For the time being, the black fog only appears in areas with mountains and forests.
The higher the mountain, the denser the forest, and the wider the area shrouded in black fog.
But the black fog won't Mountain Splitting.
Secondly, once someone is enveloped by the black mist, they will mutate, somewhat like a zombie, but much more ferocious.
In some videos, Mutant are shown catching up with moving cars and even crashing into them, causing them to overturn.
Its speed and strength are terrifying, far surpassing anything seen in the zombies of the movies.
Third, Mutant seem to be very afraid of sunlight, and most Mutant will not leave the black fog area.
However, cloudy or thunderstorms in some cities do not affect the Mutant' movements.
Fourth, being shrouded in black mist does not immediately turn one into Mutant; there is a process involved. Only when the pupils turn blood red does it signify a true mutation.
If the person had been rescued beforehand and exposed to sunlight, they would have recovered quickly.
Fifth, the cities where the black fog incidents occurred were all cities with nearby mountains and forests.
This is true not only domestically, but also internationally.
Those who survived the black mist invasion but did not mutate will experience a significant improvement in their physical abilities.
While not quite on par with Mutant, they aren't far off.
Some people, after discovering this, would repeatedly venture into the black mist in an attempt to gain greater power.
Many intelligent people have also summarized some patterns.
As long as you don't stay in the black mist for more than ten seconds, you won't mutate.
If you are taken away from the black mist within ten seconds and exposed to sunlight, your power will increase once the black markings on your body are dried off.
However, if the black markings haven't faded before it enters the black mist, the probability of mutation increases.
Some believe it is some kind of virus, while others believe it is a resurgence of Spiritual Qi.
But whatever it was, Ling Yi felt that something big was about to happen.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that the place where my second uncle and Xiao Li often went fishing was in the mountains and forests.
Immediately filled with worry, he rushed out of the bedroom.
However, Ling Yi breathed a sigh of relief after opening the bedroom door.
Second Uncle and Xiao Li have returned, and at this moment Second Xiao Li is scolding them in a low voice.
Perhaps worried about disturbing Ling Yi's lunch break, so she didn't speak loudly.
"Second Uncle, Xiao Li, are you alright?" Ling Yi asked.
"Brother, brother, you might not believe it, but black mist has risen from Red Maple Mountain!" Xiao Li saw Ling Yi and ran over to him as if he were her savior.
"Black mist? Where in this world is there black mist? If you're going to come up with an excuse, at least come up with a better one, okay?" Second Aunt rolled her eyes, clearly not believing her.
"You saw the black mist too?" Ling Yi asked worriedly.
He rushed forward and flipped up Xiao Li's collar, and sure enough, he saw the black lines on her neck that stretched upwards like blood vessels.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Xiao Li blushed immediately.
Who goes around looking at a girl's collar?
"My God, Xiao Li, what's that thing on your neck? Did you get a tattoo?" Auntie exclaimed.
Ling Yi then approached his second uncle and, sure enough, saw that there were black patterns under the collar of his second uncle's shirt.
"What's going on?" Auntie finally realized something was wrong and asked worriedly.
Just as Ling Yi was about to say something, a "ding" sounded in his mind.
[Ding, special energy detected. Infinite Passive Charging System activated.]
[Ding, expanding data panel. Host can open or close personal data panel by silently thinking.]
[ Infinite Passive Charging System 1.0 ]
[Host: Ling Yi ]
[Strength: 7 (Normal value is 10 for ordinary people, can be increased by consuming Energy Points )]
[Stamina: 8 (Normal value is 10 for an average person; can be increased by consuming Energy Points )]
[Spirit: 21 (Normal value is 10 for ordinary people, can be increased by consuming Energy Points )]
[Skills: None]
[Equipment: None]
[Energy: 0/5000]
[ Lottery: 0/0]
[Ding, energy matching the charging conditions has been detected. Demonic Qi?]
Ling Yi's pupils contracted; Demonic Qi?
This isn't Spiritual Qi revival, it's Demonic Qi revival?
Demonic Qi —it doesn't sound like anything legitimate.
[Ding, energy matching the charging conditions has been detected. Demonic Qi?]
Hearing the system's notification sound again, Ling Yi snapped out of his reverie.
I immediately selected "yes".
The next moment, the black markings on Uncle Er and Xiao Li's bodies receded like a tide, and they returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
[Ding, energy increased by 2 points.]
"Second Uncle, Xiao Li, do you feel like something's not right?" Ling Yi immediately closed the data panel; now wasn't the time to investigate this.
" Ling Yi, what's going on?" Second Uncle asked anxiously.
Ling Yi then recounted the video he had seen online, along with his own analysis.
"Wow, Spiritual Qi is reviving! Does that mean we can cultivate immortality?" Ling Li's eyes lit up.
He then clenched his fist and felt that his chin had indeed increased in size.
Tengtengteng ran to the side, bent down, and lifted the sofa.
"My strength has really increased!" Ling Li exclaimed in delight.
My second uncle also tested it, and sure enough, his strength had increased significantly.
"It's probably not as simple as the revival of Spiritual Qi. I have a feeling that the black mist isn't something legitimate," Ling Yi analyzed.
Ling Yi couldn't very well say that it was Demonic Qi.
"I think it's best not to approach the black mist before we figure out what it is. We should always maintain a sense of awe in the face of the unknown."
" Ling Yi is right. That black mist doesn't look like Spiritual Qi at all. Instead, it looks like the Demonic Qi that a great villain exudes when he appears in a movie," Auntie said.
Ling Yi gave his second aunt a thumbs up, immediately guessing the true nature of the black mist.
My second uncle nodded in agreement. "With such a big commotion, let's see what the authorities say. This can't be kept secret."
"What? It's clearly Spiritual Qi revival, who says Spiritual Qi can't be black? Nobody's ever seen it."
"With the resurgence of Spiritual Qi and the dramatic changes in the world, I think we can take advantage of this opportunity to become stronger, gaining an early lead and maintaining it!"
Clearly, Xiao Li's mind is now completely occupied with the revival of Spiritual Qi and the pursuit of immortality.
"You stay home and behave yourself. You're not allowed to go anywhere today."
"No, I want to cultivate immortality, I want to be Xiao Xian Nü."
"No what?!" Auntie grabbed Xiao Li's ear with lightning speed.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Xiao Li grimaced, trying to break free from her aunt's right hand, but then she remembered her sudden increase in strength and was afraid of hurting her aunt if she used too much force, so she could only flail her hands around in the air.
"Becoming an immortal, a Xiao Xian Nü? If you dare go out, I'll tie you up and beat you while you're hanging upside down," Auntie said Haki.
Don't doubt what your second aunt says; she really did it.
There was no way around it; Ling Li was just too mischievous as a child, and her second uncle had a rather gentle personality. If there wasn't someone in the family who could keep Ling Li in check, then this girl would be out of control.
"Mom, I was wrong! Be gentle, be gentle, it's falling off! Ears are made of flesh, made of flesh!"
Faced with her enraged second aunt, Ling Li could only obediently beg for mercy.
Auntie released Ling Li's ear and said solemnly, "Your brother is right. We must always maintain awe in the face of the unknown."
Let's wait for the official statement first, and then discuss other matters.
Second Aunt's status in the family was unquestionable; with Second Aunt keeping Xiaoli in check, Xiao Li naturally couldn't cause any trouble.
My second uncle is a steady person, so naturally he wouldn't take any risks.
"Turn on the TV and watch the news. If the authorities take any action, they will definitely announce it on the news. With such a big commotion, it's impossible for the authorities to have no reaction at all," Uncle said.