Witnessing the Giant Monster

Not far from Chen Fan's convoy stood a colossal creature that even the fog could not conceal.

It had four enormous legs that towered into the clouds.

Above them was a massive body large enough to cast a shadow through the fog.

At the front of its body, where its head should have been, countless thick tentacles grew outward, thrashing menacingly.

Some were so thick that they looked almost as large as its enormous legs.

The tentacles were so large that Chen Fan and the others could see them with the naked eye despite their great height.

Even so, the fog kept them from seeing clearly. They could only make out the shadows those enormous limbs cast through it.

The monster was so immense that calling it a small mountain would not have been an exaggeration.

As Chen Fan's convoy of several hundred people passed beneath it, they looked like a colony of ants moving house.

Yet when Chen Fan had used the Yin-Yang Twin Mirrors to investigate the fog earlier, he had found no trace of this colossal creature.

Nor had Wang Bing divined any information about the monster beforehand.

Chen Fan remembered that Wang Bing had said over the walkie-talkie that it was very difficult to divine more information about the fog.

Could this thing's presence be interfering with every means of divination and investigation?

Then just how high was its rank?

Wasn't this definitely a high-rank monster?

The one bit of good news amid their misfortune was that, at least for now, the monster seemed to be asleep.

It stood motionless in the fog like an unimaginably enormous stone statue.

If it really moved and attacked the travelers passing by...

Chen Fan dared not imagine how many of them would make it out of the fog alive.

Nie Shufeng's voice came through the walkie-talkie in fits and starts.

"Tell everyone... stay quiet... absolutely mustn't... disturb... speed up, keep moving... bad walkie-talkie signal... pass it back... I've already sent people... out of the vehicles to spread the word..."

Chen Fan didn't know whether it would help. Once the survivors began noticing the colossal creature in large numbers,

panic would spread rapidly.

By then, no matter how much they told everyone to stay quiet, it would probably do no good.

Still, he passed the message back as Nie Shufeng had instructed.

At the same time, he arranged for Qian Lei to take Yan Kuan to the back of the convoy on his little electric scooter and tell all the survivors to keep quiet.

He didn't know how much good it would do, but they could only do their best and leave the rest to fate.

In the convoy behind them, a black SUV bearing four rings broke out of the line of cars and drove into the cyclists' ranks, an unusual move.

Many cyclists hurriedly swerved out of its way.

They cursed one after another.

"Fuck, the fog's this thick and you're driving into a crowd? What's wrong with you?"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? In a hurry to reincarnate?"

"Fuck your **!"

Ignoring them, the SUV drove through the cyclists and back, then made a U-turn and pulled up beside He Shangwu, who was riding a little blue bicycle.

It slowed down and kept pace beside him.

The window rolled down, and a thick-faced man with a scruffy beard and greasy, unkempt hair glared at He Shangwu. "Fuck your mother, you and your woman are playing tricks on me, huh? Kid, where did you hide your girl? Did you really think I wouldn't dare come looking for you in the fog?"

When He Shangwu saw the thick-faced man, his eyes filled with hatred.

"Didn't Xiao Liu go looking for you? Why are you asking me?"

The man grew even angrier. "Quit fucking pretending. After that bitch was done, she took some food and started sucking up to me, saying she'd switch seats and drive for me. While I was getting out to switch places with her, she vanished. She must've taken the food back to feed you, you pretty boy. Spit it out! Where is she?"

He Shangwu's face turned livid, but at the same time, doubts stirred in his heart.

Had Xiao Liu really come back to find him?

Could she have wandered around in the fog and lost her way?

Just then, cries of alarm rang out from the crowd.

Some people even wailed, "Mommy!" and collapsed onto the ground.

More and more people had spotted the colossal creature standing motionless.

The man in the SUV saw it through the window too.

"Holy fucking shit!"

Terrified, he said nothing more. He shifted gears and sped back to the convoy of cars.

At that moment, all he wanted was to get closer to the superhumans. He no longer had the mind to pursue a little food and a woman.

At first, He Shangwu was somewhat baffled, until he caught a glimpse of it.

His entire body shuddered violently.

His face turned deathly pale in an instant.

A moment later, he turned stiffly and pushed his bicycle forward with difficulty.

He only hoped the terrifying monster would not set its sights on him.

But deep in his heart, alongside the fear, he also felt a trace of satisfaction.

"That woman must have gotten out of the car to suck up to that guy and run into danger in the fog... serves her right. I only hate that I couldn't do it myself..."

Farther back, among the people traveling on foot, A Zheng looked around, visibly anxious.

He called softly, "Xu Lü Lü? Xiao Xu?"

The teenage boy had been following beside him just a moment ago.

He remembered Xu Lü Lü saying he was a little tired, then slowing down and falling a couple of steps behind him.

Then, after two minutes had passed without the talkative Xu Lü Lü striking up another conversation with him,

he turned around, only to find that Xu Lü Lü had disappeared.

A Zheng kept turning his head, searching in every direction.

Suddenly, he froze.

He saw it: a massive figure in the fog.

A Zheng's body remained frozen there for twenty or thirty seconds.

Only when someone else who had seen the enormous monster stumbled backward in panic and bumped into him

did he snap out of it.

Once he came to his senses, he could think of nothing else. He simply lowered his head and hurried onward, his steps frantic.

Inside the Wuling van, Zhao Xing saw the enormous figure.

Then, in his brain, his consciousness erupted.

He felt his entire field of vision expand rapidly, somehow passing through layer after layer of fog.

He saw the enormous monster clearly from the front.

Countless writhing tentacles surrounded an indescribable, unnamable face at their center.

The instant Zhao Xing saw that face, he felt as though a red-hot iron rod had been driven into his brain,

stirring it to pieces like soft tofu.

In the van's driver's seat, Zhao Xing let out a scream. Blood streamed from his nostrils, the corners of his eyes, and his ears.

He fell to the floor like a carp out of water, clutching his head as he convulsed and rolled.

With his hands off the steering wheel, the van began to veer wildly out of control.

"Brother!"

Zhao Xin cried out. She had no idea what had happened or why her brother had suddenly become like this.

When she had seen the enormous monster, she had been momentarily stunned, but only because of the instinctive fear of seeing such a creature.

Once she came to her senses and suppressed the fear in her heart, she felt nothing else unusual.

But why was her brother like this?

In a panic, Zhao Xin hurriedly grabbed the steering wheel and brought the van under control.

She then tried to pull over so she could check on her brother.

But at that moment, Zhao Xing overcame the chaos and distortion in his mind through sheer willpower. He waved a hand at Zhao Xin and roared, "No! Don't worry about me. Keep driving, we can't fall behind! If we fall behind and stay here, we'll die!"

Her face full of conflict, Zhao Xin looked at her brother lying on the floor in agony.

In the end, she chose to listen to him.

She resumed driving through her tears and caught up with the convoy.

Chen Fan had not waited long in the RV when Qian Lei brought Yan Kuan back on the little electric scooter.

From Yan Kuan, Chen Fan learned what had happened at the back of the convoy.

"Some strange incidents did occur among the survivors at the back. A few survivors vanished without explanation, though there weren't many. As you instructed, we told everyone to keep quiet.

"At first, it didn't do much good, just as you expected. A lot of people suddenly saw such a huge monster and were so frightened they lost their heads. They couldn't hear a word anyone said.

"A few were even driven mad with fear and rushed into the fog.

"But more and more people noticed that the monster wasn't moving. We also told them that if they kept quiet and didn't disturb it, they could leave safely. Slowly, the word spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred, until all the survivors stopped making noise.

"The reason it gradually worked was that they were genuinely afraid. When they were frightened and panicking, all they needed was to hear a seemingly workable method, and they would try it as if clutching at a lifesaving straw.

"Once the entire convoy had fallen silent, any individual who wanted to break that silence would face a great deal of psychological pressure."

Chen Fan nodded. "It's like when we were kids at school. Once one student spotted the teacher at the back door of the classroom, the whole class would quickly fall silent.

"Some students might not know what had happened, but when everyone else was quiet, they wouldn't dare be the only one making noise, no matter what."

"That's right," Yan Kuan said.

Chen Fan praised him. "I didn't expect you to know a little behavioral psychology, Old Yan."

Yan Kuan shook his head. "I'm just getting old. It's nothing more than a little life experience."

Chen Fan looked out the window at the enormous figure.

"I hope we can make it safely out of this fog..."

About another ten minutes passed.

Nie Shufeng's, Han Tai's, and Chen Fan's vehicles were the first three to pass through the fog and reach the road on the other side.

The scene here was exactly the same as what Chen Fan had seen earlier in the Yin-Yang Twin Mirrors.

"We really did make it out after that close call..."

Watching the entire alliance emerge from the fog, Chen Fan spoke with feeling.

He just didn't know whether everyone keeping quiet afterward had actually helped at all...