Passing Through the Mist

Controlling the Yang Mirror, Chen Fan quickly surveyed the scene within the mist.

One expanse of white mist after another flashed past in his mirror.

It was all mist. Chen Fan kept switching views, but all he ever saw was mist.

It was as though there was nothing but mist within it.

The next moment, the image in the mirror suddenly cleared.

Chen Fan perked up. Had he found something?

But when he took a closer look at the image, his expression grew strange.

Why was he looking at a highway? It was perfectly clear, without a trace of mist, much like the scene where they had stopped, except there weren't as many people or vehicles.

Could there be an empty zone within the mist, where there was no fog and the highway was visible?

Otherwise, why...

Wait...

Chen Fan suddenly realized: had he passed straight through the mist and reached the other side by repeatedly switching views with the Yang Mirror?

In that case, the area covered by the mist probably wasn't very large. Otherwise, how could he have seen through it so quickly?

Perhaps this really would turn out to be a close call without any actual danger...

Chen Fan felt that he probably wouldn't see anything more by using the Yang Mirror on the mist, so he put the Yin-Yang Twin Mirrors away.

Although he hadn't discovered what was inside the mist, seeing that it didn't cover a large area made him feel much more at ease.

Up ahead, Nie Shufeng and Han Tai swapped positions. Then Nie Shufeng's SUV took the lead and drove into the mist.

Han Tai was a couple of beats slow and hurried to catch up.

With a calm expression, Chen Fan instructed Rongrong to follow.

The vehicles behind them followed into the mist one after another.

Inside the mist, everything was a sea of white.

It was so quiet that it made people uneasy.

Within the mist, the people driving were all right.

The ones who were truly afraid were those cycling and walking.

At least the drivers were inside their vehicles and didn't have to come into direct contact with the mist.

Those cycling and walking, however, had to move through the mist with their own bodies.

For some reason, the slightly damp, cool touch of the mist always made their skin crawl.

Their bodies always felt a little sticky.

It was as though, rather than being in thick fog, their entire bodies were wrapped in some unknown, slimy worm or tentacle-like thing.

They didn't dare dwell on it. The more they thought about it, the more horrifying images sprang to mind.

And the more they looked at the thick fog around them, the more suspicious they became, always feeling that something was hidden in it.

Xu Lü Lü couldn't help shuddering, the hairs on his body standing on end.

He forced himself not to look around and warned himself not to let his imagination run wild anymore.

He hunched his small, thin body and edged closer to his tall, lanky companion.

Xu Lü Lü looked up at his companion, A Zheng, and saw him gazing calmly ahead, his long legs still striding steadily forward. He couldn't help asking, "A Zheng, aren't you afraid?"

A Zheng, who had a buzz cut, a long face, and long, thin limbs, looked down at Xu Lü Lü and smiled faintly.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's quiet all around us, isn't it?"

Xu Lü Lü couldn't help looking around at the mist again. He lowered his voice and said, "This is mist we're talking about. Isn't it scarier the quieter it gets?"

A Zheng said calmly, "The apocalypse has been going on for so long that I'm used to it. Being afraid won't help anyway."

Xu Lü Lü looked at the other walkers ahead, behind, and on either side of him, and felt that everyone seemed a little nervous.

Although the fog blurred their appearances and made it impossible to see one another's faces clearly, they were noticeably closer together, clearly huddling on purpose to feel safer.

It was unlike when they had been traveling along the highway, when the walkers had been scattered, with at least two meters between each person.

Partly, they had disliked the unpleasant smell on one another.

They had also been wary of anyone with ill intentions.

A Zheng's composure eased some of Xu Lü Lü's anxiety.

He seemed to remember something and quietly asked A Zheng, "I heard someone say you're a transcendent, but you've been hiding among us walkers all this time. The captain tried to recruit you before, but you turned him down because you disdained to associate with them. Is that true?"

A Zheng was indeed a transcendent. His transcendent ability was [Triathlon], which wasn't very useful.

Earlier, after twenty-six hours of continuous travel, ninety percent of the convoy's walkers had fallen behind, leaving only A Zheng and a few others. Chen Fan had noticed A Zheng and spoken with him.

At the time, only the few people near A Zheng had known about it.

Xu Lü Lü had been among the walkers who fell behind, and had rejoined the convoy later when Chen Fan and the others went back.

So all he had heard about A Zheng being a transcendent were distorted rumors that had been embellished many times over.

Faced with Xu Lü Lü's curiosity, A Zheng chose to deny it.

"If I were a transcendent, I'd have gone straight to the captain and the others up front, eaten and drunk well, driven a car, and found myself a beautiful assistant. I definitely wouldn't be slogging along here on my own two feet."

Xu Lü Lü sighed when he heard that.

"True. What transcendent would have it as rough as we do?"

A Zheng's face was expressionless.

Xu Lü Lü stole another glance at A Zheng.

But A Zheng had only ever carried one small sports backpack and very few supplies, and he never seemed to get tired, no matter how far they traveled...

In the group of cyclists ahead, a young man with delicate features and a slender figure was pedaling a little blue bike with all his might.

But the somewhat handsome man now wore a fierce expression, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

It was as though he could see through the thick mist and make out what was happening in the line of vehicles ahead.

Reality was cruel: he hadn't awakened a transcendent ability, and no matter how hard he stared, his gaze couldn't penetrate the mist.

In fact, even some transcendents couldn't do that.

The reason he stared so hard ahead was that he hated them.

He hated everyone in the convoy of vehicles ahead.

He hated the transcendents who led them around at random.

He hated the bastards who did whatever they pleased and trampled on others' dignity just because they had a vehicle and plenty of supplies.

But he hated that woman even more.

His girlfriend, who had been his childhood sweetheart for sixteen years, but had climbed into someone else's vehicle because she was afraid after entering the mist, found the way it felt disgusting, and, on top of that, they had run out of supplies and hadn't eaten for two days.

"Woman..."

He Shangwu gritted his teeth.

His face was twisted with hatred, as though he wanted nothing more than to destroy the world.

Among the vehicles, a Wuling minivan drove slowly along with the convoy.

Zhao Xing sat in the driver's seat, driving with his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the fog lights of the vehicle ahead.

He was terrified that a moment's inattention would make him lose it and become lost in the mist.

If he really did get lost in the mist, he would be finished. No one would risk leaving the group to rescue someone in the mist.

Zhao Xin, meanwhile, was on full alert, constantly looking around through the windows.

She was on guard at all times for any danger that might be lurking nearby.

"It's so quiet in the mist, brother..."

Suddenly, Zhao Xin's eyes flew wide, and she stared fixedly in one direction.

For a moment, she seemed to stop breathing.

"Brother, brother, brother... look, what is that?"

Noticing that something was wrong with his sister, Zhao Xing hurriedly looked through the windshield in the direction she was pointing.

When he saw the scene outside, Zhao Xing shuddered all over.

His eyes went wide.

Disbelief was written all over his face.

For a moment, he even forgot to control the vehicle.

In the RV, Chen Fan was sitting on the sofa, playing on his phone, when a series of intermittent, somewhat jumbled voices came through the walkie-talkie.

"Everyone... look... right side... something's there..."

Chen Fan muttered under his breath, picked up the walkie-talkie, and tapped it.

"This piece of junk stopped working properly once we entered the mist."

Inside the mist, even walkie-talkie signals were affected. The signal became intermittent over a distance of just two or three vehicles.

Even so, he had heard the gist of what was said over the walkie-talkie.

There seemed to be something outside.

Could a monster be attacking?

Chen Fan hurried to the window on the right and looked out.

What he saw gave him a tremendous shock.

What an enormous thing that was...