Eerie Transformation: You Almost Scared Me

By the time we left the Black Killing Style School's dojo, the rain had almost stopped.

Cheng Sheng stood in front of a small shop along the street, sucking on the straw of a soda bottle, casually watching the pedestrians coming and going on the street.

After the last ritual, his figure became even more slender and well-proportioned. Although the muscles of his body, which had been meticulously sculpted by a certain succubus, were hidden under his long clothes and trousers, they were already quite beautiful just by looking at the outline.

His originally unremarkable face shape and features have probably been slightly modified. With his black hair hanging down to his eyelids and the crocodile tattoo faintly visible from the half-open collar of his shirt, he exudes an indescribable domineering and wicked charm.

"What are you looking at, you student! Go home and do your homework!"

Cheng Sheng made a threatening gesture as two high school students in school uniforms walked past him, their eyes constantly glancing at him.

The two were so frightened that they immediately took off running.

After running for a while, he turned around and shouted at him, "There's Black Tide today, school's closed, Shark Arm!"

After saying that, she spat at him and ran away.

Cheng Sheng pretended to be furious and waved his fist, but he didn't chase after him; instead, his eyes were full of smiles.

Every time he sees someone wearing a high school uniform, he can't help but think of Song Cai and himself from a little over a month ago. It feels like a lifetime has passed even though only a short time has gone by.

"It's almost time..."

The owner of the convenience store behind me had already started closing up shop.

Cheng Sheng glanced at his watch, tossed aside the soda bottle in his hand, and began to wander aimlessly along the road.

Although it had already rained, the sky was still terribly overcast.

The sky in the distance was shrouded in a layer of gray mist, and that grayness was gradually spreading towards Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng's phone had over a dozen unread text messages. Some were from his mother, Wu Li, while the rest came from the weather bureau, mobile phone operators, and bank account managers...

Each text message reminded him—at 4 PM today, please stay home, do not wander around, lock doors and windows, and wait for dawn, or the official all-clear announcement...

Yes, after more than a month, the Black Tide has finally "visited" Qingsha City again.

Furthermore, according to the meteorological bureau's forecast, the impact of this Black Tide will be even greater than the last one, with the Strange Mist potentially spreading into the city. All shopping malls and primary and secondary schools were already closed yesterday...

Where is the experience tour that my parents brought? It seems to be near Sucha Street?

Cheng Sheng wasn't worried at all.

The area near Sucha Street in Kunsha District, close to the city center, is the least likely place to be affected by the Strange Mist.

The so-called "Black Tide Experience Tour" never actually takes you into the Strange Mist zone to confront Evil Spirit and Black Tide creatures. The travel agencies have a well-established procedure: they arrange for people to dress up in various bizarre costumes, pretending to be ghosts or Black Tide creatures, so that tour members can experience it up close...

To put it simply, it's similar to the haunted houses of the past, but more realistic and immersive. The experience is thrilling and exciting, and the tourists' money is well spent.

In just over ten minutes, there were almost no people left on the street.

Cheng Sheng found a narrow alley and went inside, passing the time by counting the cigarette butts and betel nut residue on the wall and the ground.

Before he knew it, the alley had become so dark that he could hardly see anything. Cheng Sheng walked out, and the streetlights on both sides of the road came on. There was no one on the road, and the whole world seemed to be immersed in a still and silent stagnant water.

Cheng Sheng had experienced a Roaming the Strange Mist, and looking at the scene before him, his eyes were devoid of emotion.

"This isn't the Strange Mist Zone yet..."

Cheng Sheng took out his phone and checked the last text message he received. "We still need to go a little further north."

As long as Cheng Sheng doesn't run into the Black Tide creatures as unlucky as last time, the Strange Mist Zone isn't actually that dangerous for him. The real danger lies with the Evil Spirit that awaken from the Strange Mist.

"Now that I'm in my Body Sha, and with the Hell Plague Fly at my disposal, even if I encounter Black Tide creatures, I can at least escape..."

Cheng Sheng thought to himself, and based on the weather bureau's last brief report, headed towards the northern district shrouded in Strange Mist.

Throughout the journey, he kept a close eye on the movements of the Primordial Mark in his mind.

Soon, Cheng Sheng saw a flowing, drifting blackish-gray mist before his eyes. His eyes flickered slightly, and he strode forward to meet it.

Just as Cheng Sheng was about to step into the area shrouded in Strange Mist, some wandering mist on the edge suddenly seemed to be drawn by some force and swirled towards him.

Cheng Sheng was instantly surrounded by wisps of mist. He raised his right hand in surprise and was shocked to find that a thick ring of Strange Mist had gathered on his right wrist where he had stored the Plague Fly. At first glance, it looked as if he was wearing a semi-illusory mist ring.

"What's going on? Are the Hell Plague Fly attracted to the Strange Mist?"

Cheng Sheng flicked his wrist, and the mist on his wrist dissipated, but not long after, the same "mist ring" reappeared.

Cheng Sheng carefully observed the attracted mist and discovered that some of it was seeping through the wound on his wrist and penetrating his skin.

"Hell Plague Fly are absorbing energy from the Strange Mist!"

Cheng Sheng could already feel a slight itch on his wrist. The Plague Fly, which was still in its maggot stage, was growing on its own, but the energy carried by the Strange Mist seemed to be too little for it, and the growth rate was extremely slow.

"The Hell Plague Fly are products of the Abyss, so why are they able to absorb energy from the Strange Mist?"

Could it be that the Black Tide is related to the Abyss?

Cheng Sheng frowned. After thinking for a moment, he simply took the Plague Fly out of his wrist and placed it in his palm.

Without the restriction of flesh and blood, the Plague Fly's absorption speed of the Strange Mist increased many times over. In just a dozen seconds, Cheng Sheng watched as the Plague Fly in his hand was enveloped by the dense Strange Mist and turned into a gray cocoon.

He tried pinching it with his fingers, and to his surprise, it was quite sturdy. So he simply stuffed the cocoon into his pocket and let it absorb and grow on its own.

"Now, it seems I have yet another reason to explore the Black Tide..."

Having witnessed the strange changes of the Plague Fly within the Strange Mist, Cheng Sheng had a strange premonition that figuring out the origin of the Black Tide might bring unexpected benefits to his future path as a sorcerer.

"This discovery is quite alarming. We need to quickly find two Evil Spirit to absorb their energy and calm our nerves..."

Cheng Sheng shook his head and strode deeper into the Strange Mist- shrouded streets.

It went more smoothly than I had imagined; soon, the Primordial Mark in my mind began to stir.

Cheng Sheng pressed his throbbing temples and followed his senses, but...

"How did I end up here?!"

Ten minutes later, he stood at the gate of the old campus of Qingsha No. 3 Middle School, looking somewhat bewildered.

The Primordial Mark clearly told him that the omen of the Evil Spirit came from an abandoned school building not far away.

"I even held several rituals here, but I never imagined the Evil Spirit legend of the old No. 3 Middle School campus was actually true..."

Cheng Sheng's eyes flashed, and he walked familiarly along the old road into the old campus. At this moment, he had a strong urge to tell Song Cai about this major discovery and his best friend A Bang, who had disappeared without a trace.

"It's so painful to discover a truth but not be able to share it with anyone..."

Cheng Sheng entered the teaching building, the throbbing between his eyebrows intensified, indicating that the Evil Spirit he encountered this time was far more powerful than the one he had met at the movie theater last time.

"The signal seems to be coming from the fourth floor..."

Cheng Sheng squinted and looked up at the building, then walked up the stairs.

But just as he reached the corner of the stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, "whoosh—"

Behind me, a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky and crashed heavily onto the concrete ground outside the teaching building with a "thud"!

Cheng Sheng turned around abruptly, strode down the steps, and looked towards the spot where the thud had just come from.

The cement floor was covered with some water, but otherwise it was clean and there were no signs of anything falling on it.

"It looks like the work of Evil Spirit, just like the time the movie started playing automatically in the theater..."

Cheng Sheng understood this and turned around calmly.

And just as he turned around—

"Call------"

A strong, eerie wind blew vertically down from the direction of the rooftop, followed closely by...

A dozen or so blurry figures in blue and white school uniforms, hand in hand, fell one after another behind him like dumplings being dropped into a pot!

"Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang..."

The open space in front of the teaching building erupted in bursts of water, the dark pools slowly spreading outwards like blood.

The entire teaching building was eerily empty and quiet.

Cheng Sheng stood frozen in place.

This time, however, he did not turn back.

"Interesting..."

A few seconds later, Cheng Sheng sniffed lightly, and his eyes returned to normal.

"It almost... scared me."

He calmly continued walking upstairs, casually tapping the rusty iron handrail with one finger as he went, producing a clear "clang clang clang" sound.

I'm still asking for monthly votes at midnight!