Chapter 164: Chapter 154: The Door to the Source of the Mist RUMBLE...
The convoy of armored vehicles and tanks rumbled onward, their heavy, clamorous movement creating a continuous, low wave of sound that rolled through the Mist.
The Dragon Soul Squad and Chen Na sat inside an armored vehicle, fatigue etched on their faces. They had set out yesterday afternoon and had been on the move for nearly twenty hours, constantly fending off Nightmare Beast attacks that made it difficult to get any real rest.
To their credit, the reinforced armored battalion was well-equipped. Every Nightmare Beast that launched an attack was obliterated by heavy firepower, and the contingent of several hundred people had yet to suffer a single casualty.
But as for how long they would have to keep pushing forward like this, no one knew.
"Captain, is this kid leading the way really reliable?" Black Shark couldn’t help but ask. "What if he takes us down the wrong path?"
Dragon Soul replied, "He should be fine. After all, he possesses the ’Coordinate’ ability."
The person responsible for navigation was someone the officials had specifically found in the ability/item database. He possessed an ability called "Coordinate."
When activated, he just had to silently think of his desired destination, and by consuming Psychic Power, he would receive route guidance to the target location.
After the officials found him, they assigned him to this team. By having him silently repeat "source of the Mist’s spread," he could use his Coordinate ability to get the corresponding route guidance.
Right now, this person was in the Commander’s command vehicle, providing the route while the Commander directed the troops based on his information.
"I still don’t think it’s reliable," Black Shark grumbled. "We don’t even know if this Mist has a source. It might be just like that blizzard incident—the Fire Thief pulled all that snow out of thin air. There was no source to be found."
"If we don’t rely on him, should we rely on you?" Silver Fox teased. "If you’re so capable, why don’t you show everyone the way?"
"Hmph, I may not have any of those weird abilities, but in a fight, I could take on ten of him!"
"Without his ’weird ability,’ we’d just be running around like headless chickens on this mission. After all, we can’t use navigation equipment in this fog. Right, Night Owl?"
Flying Eagle looked at the young man with glasses sitting in the corner, who nodded and said, "It’s not just that electronic navigation is unusable."
As he spoke, he pulled an old-fashioned compass from his pocket. The needle was just spinning in circles.
"This fog is interfering with the magnetic field."
"Fucking hell, this is bizarre!" Black Shark cursed. "Who knows what planet this crap came from and ended up on Celestial Water Star."
"Try to be more optimistic," Flying Eagle said, clapping Black Shark on the shoulder. "Didn’t the experts say this is the first time we’ve confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life? It’s highly likely the Fire Thief is some kind of intelligent alien life form, not a ’god’ like so many people drone on about. Knowing that is something to celebrate."
"Celebrate my ass. I think..."
Suddenly, the Commander’s stern command crackled over the radio: "Giant Nightmare Beast detected nearby! All vehicles, halt immediately!"
As soon as the order was given, the numerous vehicles in the convoy came to an immediate stop.
Everyone fell silent, the quiet so profound they could almost hear their own heartbeats.
This wasn’t the first time the troops had encountered a Giant Nightmare Beast. They had run into one before—an arthropod-like creature. A single one of its segments was over twenty meters long, making its total body length impossible to estimate.
When that Nightmare Beast had slithered past the convoy, no one had wanted to open fire on it. Perhaps the armored battalion’s firepower could have killed such a Giant Beast, but it would have most likely come at a cost.
The Commander was well aware that their core mission was "exploration," not clearing out every Nightmare Beast they met in the Mist. So he ordered everyone to maintain silence upon encountering a Giant Nightmare Beast. It was best to let it pass, and only open fire if a confrontation was unavoidable.
Several hundred people, each with ten [Biological Signal Detectors], with each detector lasting about five minutes. By using them in rotation while on the move, they had enough to continuously monitor the tracks of any Giant Nightmare Beast for a long time.
With all the vehicles now stopped, Chen Na closed her eyes and silently activated her [Perception Realm] ability.
Once her Domain expanded, she clearly perceived a massive Nightmare Beast moving slowly about 170 meters away. But to her surprise, the creature wasn’t walking on the ground; it was suspended in the air.
She said in surprise, "It’s flying!"
Hearing this, Dragon Soul looked at Chen Na. "Did you use your ability? Is it a flying-type Nightmare Beast?"
Chen Na nodded with her eyes still closed. Then she suddenly froze, perceiving several other living beings hundreds of meters away. ’Are those... humans?’
...
Guan Tong walked through the Mist, sensing that something was strange.
Not a single Nightmare Beast had attacked him for a full hour.
This was definitely not normal. Based on his previous experience, while the Nightmare Beasts in the fog weren’t exactly swarming, there were still a good number of them. On average, he would be attacked every seven or eight minutes.
For things to be quiet for an entire hour, there had to be a reason.
Especially since the fog in his current location was even thicker than before.
It was now 12:30 PM, the brightest time of day, but visibility was just over half a meter. The fog had grown so dense that he was forced to summon a few Living Dead to walk ahead of him in a perimeter.
This way, if a Nightmare Beast launched a surprise attack, the Living Dead could act as a shield and create a buffer for him.
’But for there to be no Nightmare Beasts in a place with such thick fog... that’s impossible. Could there be some special circumstances?’
"BOOM!"
Suddenly, a deafening explosion echoed from nearby. Startled, Guan Tong instinctively looked toward the sound, but his vision was blocked by the dense fog.
’That’s artillery fire!’
He was certain he hadn’t misheard; it was the sound of human artillery.
’Is there an armed force near me?’
That first shot was like an overture, immediately followed by the continuous roar of dense cannon fire.
’That’s right, it’s an armed force! And a large-scale one at that!’
’Did they run into a particularly tough Nightmare Beast? Why else would they be making such a huge commotion?’