Not only Hela, but both of them stopped at that moment.
"What... what's going on..." Keke looked around in horror.
Suddenly, thick fog rose from all around, silencing everyone completely.
The dense fog seemed to plunge the entire world into darkness, turning the once clear sky into an endless night.
"This is definitely not normal!" Seeing that everything around her was covered in mist and she couldn't see anything, Han Xiaoxiao became alert.
Suddenly, Hela stretched out her hand and pointed in a direction, "There."
Whoosh--
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a huge figure shrouded in smoke burst forth from the mist.
"Ah--!"
The figure was at least four meters tall, with eyes that glowed with a faint blue light, and its appearance was obscured by smoke.
And it looks like... there's a human figure hanging near its mouth?
" Ye Yiqing?!" Keke exclaimed in surprise after seeing the person clearly, and Han Xiaoxiao's pupils also dilated.
After stopping, the Mist Variant kept shaking its head, as if it wanted to shake off Ye Yiqing, who was still hanging on its lips.
Ye Yiqing, however, held tightly to the bone knife that the Variant was biting, preventing it from throwing it away.
Click!
The sound of bones breaking rang out, and the bone knife in Ye Yiqing's hand snapped in two.
A flash of anger crossed Ye Yiqing's eyes. Then, he swiftly swung the half-broken bone knife twice in mid-air, and two streaks of light flashed past.
A bloody cross-shaped scar was left on his face.
"Ooh--!" The Variant howled in pain, and the smoke around it immediately burst out like an explosion.
The powerful impact sent Ye Yiqing flying.
It flew right up to Hela and her two companions.
After regaining his footing, Ye Yiqing swiftly swung his sword twice at the Variant Variant, sending two beams of light flying straight at it.
The Variant let out a low growl, then twisted its body forcefully, unleashing a blade of smoke from Variant tail.
The three sharp blades collided violently, and a huge shockwave came crashing down on them.
The Variant creature pressed its advantage, quickly pouncing on the four people, baring its sharp teeth and preparing to tear everything in its path to shreds.
Ye Yiqing thought to himself, "This is bad." But then a thick bone whip suddenly appeared from behind and attacked the Variant.
A look of horror flashed in the Variant's pair of dark blue eyes, before it was struck heavily by the bone whip.
In an instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere; the skin and flesh of the Variant creature were forcibly torn off.
"Woof!" the Variant let out a miserable cry, and a large amount of smoke began to rise from its body, enveloping it.
Seeing the situation was dire, Ye Yiqing swiftly slashed down with his sword. A sword beam resembling a shark fin cleaved the smoke in two, but the Variant creature was nowhere to be seen.
"It got away." Ye Yiqing sighed softly and slowly lowered his hand.
"Are you all alright?" Ye Yiqing asked the three of them.
But they found that, apart from Hela who was still standing steadily, the other two were slumped on the ground.
Ye Yiqing was slightly taken aback upon seeing this. "What's wrong? Did I scare you?"
After saying that, he went to help Keke and Han Xiaoxiao.
"Yeah, I was really startled. This is the first time in my life I've ever seen a real Variant."
Keke said with a slight tremor, but after Ye Yiqing helped her up, the fear on her face quietly disappeared, replaced by a shy blush.
After helping Keke up, Ye Yiqing went to help Han Xiaoxiao up as well.
"Don't come any closer!" But as soon as he reached out, Han Xiaoxiao slapped his hand away.
"What's wrong?" Ye Yiqing clearly sensed that something was amiss.
At this moment, Han Xiaoxiao was panting heavily, her whole body was trembling violently, and tears were slowly overflowing from the corners of her eyes.
This is clearly more than just being frightened.
" Xiaoxiao, what's wrong?" Ye Yiqing's expression slowly turned serious as he tried to wake Han Xiaoxiao.
Han Xiaoxiao, however, stared intently at the bone whip extending from Hela's back, her chest heaving violently.
"No... no... brother." The constant fear and pain relentlessly assaulted Han Xiaoxiao's heart, gradually eroding his will.
Han Xiaoxiao eventually lost consciousness and fainted.
Hela, standing behind her, quickly reached out to support her, while slowly retracting the bone whip behind her back.
" Xiaoxiao!" Keke rushed over when she saw Xiaoxiao faint.
"What's wrong with her?" Keke shook Xiaoxiao, but she still didn't react. Instead, she frowned and looked like she was in a lot of pain.
"I don't know, she probably fainted from shock."
"Let's take her to a shady spot to sit for a while. I should rest too." Ye Yiqing then calmly wiped the blood from his forehead.
Keke and Hela nodded repeatedly, and then Hela carried Han Xiaoxiao to the base of a big tree.
After settling Han Xiaoxiao down, Ye Yiqing also sat down against the tree.
Hela and Keke sat down as well, but Hela looked at Han Xiaoxiao lying on the ground with a pained expression and for some reason felt as if her internal organs had been rubbed inside her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
I felt an urge to do something for Han Xiaoxiao.
" Han Xiaoxiao should wake up soon. Tell me about your experiences first." Ye Yiqing placed the half-bone knife on the ground and smiled again, a smile that seemed to warm people's hearts.
Keke nodded, and then told Ye Yiqing everything that had happened to them that day, and that this was a special training program.
"I understand, thank you." Ye Yiqing thanked her after hearing this, and then glanced at Han Xiaoxiao, who was still unconscious.
"Let's wait until Han Xiaoxiao wakes up before we tell her about what happened. If she's still not awake in an hour, I'll tell you first, okay?"
Hela and Keke both nodded, indicating that there was no problem.
"But I'm still a Xiaoxiao worried. I don't think Xiaoxiao would faint from fright even if she encountered Variant."
"She's much braver than me," Keke scratched her head, puzzled.
"I think so too. So I believe that Han Xiaoxiao might have fainted because some things that happened earlier triggered some unpleasant memories for her." Ye Yiqing began to analyze.
"She was clearly not in a good mood just now, and she said some strange things."
It seems the word 'older brother' was mentioned in it.
"Brother?" Keke stroked her chin and began to recall, " Han Xiaoxiao doesn't seem to have mentioned having a brother."
She didn't seem to have mentioned her family at all. Keke felt increasingly uneasy.
"If that's the case, then I've roughly figured it out."
Hela and Keke both looked up to Ye Yiqing.
" Han Xiaoxiao's family was most likely killed by the Variant, and she herself was also injured by Variant, leaving her disabled."
"Furthermore, her brother or other family members are very likely also Night Star; otherwise, it would be impossible for a disabled person like her to participate in basic training camp."
"So..." Keke covered her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at Han Xiaoxiao.
"So it's very likely that after seeing the Variant, she recalled the murder of her family and her own near-death experience. That's why she reacted so strongly."