Chapter 163: Chapter 153: Advancing in the Fog Yu Hong? How could it be her?
Guan Tong couldn’t believe his eyes, but he was certain he hadn’t been mistaken in that instant.
That mangled face, most of it eaten away by the Mist, was definitely Yu Hong’s.
’Do humans turn into Nightmare Beasts after being killed by one, or does the Mist itself transform them? The official announcements didn’t mention this. Is it because they haven’t discovered it yet...?’
Besides, the rules clearly stated that Nightmare Beasts are creatures from an Alien Planet... Yu Hong was a native of Celestial Water Star. When did she become an alien creature?
Guan Tong couldn’t figure it out. He’d actually had a pretty good impression of Yu Hong, thinking of her as someone who was very measured and proper. Seeing her turned into a monster and tragically killed made him feel deeply unsettled.
But this was just one of the countless tragedies that happened every day under the Apocalypse Rules... He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and continued walking forward.
He knew that since he had chosen to explore, there was no sense in turning back halfway. He just had to be careful. Unsure of why humans were being turned into Nightmare Beasts, he had to do his utmost to avoid inhaling even a wisp of the Mist.
Guided by the footprints of the giant Nightmare Beast, Guan Tong found that the farther he walked, the denser the Mist became.
Back near Mingdao Mountain, visibility in the Mist had been about four or five meters. Now, it had shrunk to two or three, a clear sign the Mist was thickening.
And as the Mist grew thicker, the attacks from Nightmare Beasts became much more dangerous, demanding increasingly faster reaction times from Guan Tong.
To be safe, he had to slow his pace considerably, all while keeping his ears pricked for any nearby sounds.
He had already encountered ordinary, small Nightmare Beasts several times, dealing with them all easily using the Silver Hunter. They were nothing to fear.
What truly terrified him were the gigantic Nightmare Beasts. In such a dense Mist, a sudden encounter would make for an extremely dangerous fight.
Guan Tong had discovered that although these Nightmare Beasts exploded into fragments like balloons upon death, as if they were very light, they possessed strength that matched or even surpassed their size while alive.
This was another one of the strange, counterintuitive phenomena he’d noticed: a creature could have great mass when alive, but the moment it died, all that mass would vanish. It would go from being "as heavy as a mountain" to "as light as a feather" in an instant... ’Is this what you’d expect from creatures from an Alien Planet?’ he thought. It was hard to imagine such a phenomenon existing in the biosphere of Celestial Water Star.
His mind filled with questions, Guan Tong pressed on. He believed that he would find answers to these problems once he found the source of the Mist.
But the source of the Mist seemed extremely far away. Guan Tong walked for hours, and apart from the Mist growing denser and the Nightmare Beast attacks becoming more frequent, nothing else changed.
Traveling by car would have been faster, but it was too dangerous to drive a normal vehicle through the Mist; it would be difficult to fight back if attacked inside. As for heavily armored vehicles or tanks with strong defenses, he couldn’t get his hands on one right now. He could only rely on his own two feet.
’I set out in the afternoon, and now it’s...’ Guan Tong glanced at the time on his phone. It was already eight in the evening.
The dense Mist had already made visibility terrible during the day. At night, with the added darkness, it was sheer torture.
Guan Tong could barely see more than a meter in front of him, and that was with a headlamp on, casting a powerful beam. Without the headlamp, it would probably be so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
But the way the headlamp’s beam illuminated the Mist, the intense white light mixing with the faint purplish-green of the vapor, created an extremely psychedelic color palette. Staring at it for too long gave Guan Tong a headache and made him lose focus.
This made him realize he couldn’t keep going like this. If his focus wavered in the Mist, he might not be able to handle an attack. To be honest, he wasn’t afraid of getting injured; he was afraid the Nightmare Beasts would damage his protective suit, exposing his skin to the Mist.
That was right. After being attacked by Nightmare Beasts multiple times, Guan Tong had discovered that they had no mouths or facial features. They didn’t eat people, nor did they kill them—to be precise, they lacked the subjective concept of "killing." The goal of their attacks seemed to be simply exposing their target’s skin to the Mist.
This gave Guan Tong the feeling that in this hunting game, the Nightmare Beasts were just supporting actors responsible for the "foreplay." The real star of the show, the one responsible for the "main act," was the dense, eerie Mist itself.
The Nightmare Beasts don’t kill people—the Mist does!
Guan Tong hesitated no longer. He took the Wordless Book from his storage, summoned his All-Purpose Sanctuary, and then used his Body Shifting ability to teleport inside.
He glanced at the remaining oxygen supply inside his helmet: 67 hours (Recharging).
Guan Tong took off his helmet and took a deep breath.
Coal Ball, who had been inside the whole time, scampered over, meowing a few times. Guan Tong gave him some food, resolving not to leave the sanctuary again until daybreak.
After feeding Coal Ball, he went to the bathroom and took a shower to wash away his exhaustion.
Although he had only been walking in the Mist for a few hours, he had been in a state of high tension and alertness the entire time. His muscles hadn’t been able to relax, and the combination of mental and physical strain left him deeply fatigued and in need of release.
After his shower, he sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and checked for any new information.
The authorities hadn’t posted any updates since their last announcement that conventional weapons could destroy Nightmare Beasts.
Guan Tong thought for a moment, then went to the intelligence section of the Ascender’s Home website and created a new post.
Information Regarding the Ninth Apocalypse Rule
In the post, he detailed how humans would turn into Nightmare Beasts after being exposed to the Mist for a certain period. He also listed the characteristics of the different types of Nightmare Beasts he had encountered.
Most users on the site had set the admin—him—as a special follow, so the moment his post went up, the replies started pouring in.
"An admin who posts free intel is a good admin!"
"The Admin finally surfaced! Judging by the post, did you actually go into the Mist?"
"Going into the Mist to explore when it’s so dangerous? You really live up to your name, Admin. The rest of us are all hiding in sealed shelters."
"This intel doesn’t seem very useful. We’re not going into the Mist anyway, it’s too dangerous."
"Now that conventional weapons can kill Nightmare Beasts, the governments of every country will definitely send out exploration teams into the Mist, right?"
"To the poster above, that’s a given. I bet all the governments have been holding in their frustration. In the previous rules, they had tons of modern weapons but no way to use them. Now they can finally flex their muscles, so they’ll definitely make a big show of it!"
"I heard some famous Ascenders have also been risking it and exploring the Mist. You think there’s something good in there?"
"The rule’s notes mentioned exploring the Mist... so there might be rewards. But I’m not risking it. I’ll just wait for official news. Since conventional weapons work this time, if there’s anything to be gained, the governments will be the ones to get it."
Guan Tong’s intel had some value, but unfortunately, most Ascenders had no intention of exploring the Mist, so it was useless to them.
Even the few explorers who might have wanted to see it likely couldn’t—after all, not every Ascender was like Guan Tong, carrying around an All-In-One Sanctuary that let him surf the web, shower, and sleep...
After posting, Guan Tong checked his private messages.