Global Fog Survival

“Lord, it seems there’s no more noise.”

Hearing the low whisper of his first servant, Colin snapped out of his daze. The second floor—or rather, the entire church—was eerily silent, as quiet as a morgue.

“Really? It’s finally over.”

Colin rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit disoriented, as if his brain had turned to mush. But fortunately, the task was finally complete, and he could return to his cabin for a well-deserved rest.

However, just as Colin was about to wrap things up, something unexpected happened. He looked at the quest log on the parchment and noticed a question mark that made his expression freeze.

“What’s going on? Didn’t I kill them all?”

A flood of questions filled Colin’s mind as he opened the quest list and saw the progress bar was over 99%. This indicated that there was still one “wailer” left.

But at this moment, Colin couldn’t hear any “wailer” cries, which was highly unusual. Almost all the “wailers” had been awakened earlier, yet one had somehow slipped through.

This last “wailer” must be special; there was no other explanation. Colin couldn’t convince himself that the remaining “wailer” was simply deaf or hard of hearing and had slept through the commotion. A gut feeling told Colin that something big was amiss.

Seeing Colin’s increasingly serious expression, the second servant also sensed the gravity of the situation and spoke quietly, “If this task is too dangerous, please let us handle it. We are always ready to sacrifice for your will.”

“It’s not that dire,” Colin laughed, feeling relieved by his subordinates’ loyalty and determination. Even though he knew their loyalty was pre-programmed and somewhat forced, it still felt reassuring. Without these two, facing the fog alone would be unbearably stressful. In a place like this, mental breakdowns can happen in an instant.

“Maybe we missed one. Let’s search carefully; we should find it.”

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Colin raised his lantern: “You believe the blood in the lantern can burn for another 33 minutes.”

“Almost an hour has passed?”

Colin remembered the lantern had over an hour and twenty minutes of burn time when they started. Now, nearly an hour has passed. But with the blood collected in his inventory, totaling over 100 milliliters, he had enough time.

Starting from the end of the second-floor corridor, they checked every corner, behind doors, on the ceiling, in the corners, and even outside the windows, but found nothing.

“You realize you’ve thoroughly searched the second floor and haven’t found the last ‘Howler.’ It might be on the first floor somewhere.”

“The first floor… the only place I didn’t thoroughly check is behind the podium in the main hall.”

Reflecting on his first-floor exploration, Colin noted that the “wailers” indeed thinned out the closer he got to the back, almost as if something more dangerous was there. Soon, Colin and his servants reached the main hall and quickly walked to the deepest part of the church. At the end of the red carpet was a lectern, which was empty.

When Colin arrived, he didn’t see any “wailers” or even any bones. Everything seemed normal, but this normalcy was the most abnormal thing of all. Given the “wailers’” habits, they should have ventured into this area.

Increasingly convinced that something had been here, Colin noticed a statue that his first servant pointed out. Raising his lantern, Colin saw an incredibly lifelike statue at the base. As his gaze traveled upward, the statue’s detailed and shocking image became clear. It was a gaunt, naked man bound to a thorny tree in an exaggerated, tortured pose. His hands and feet were twisted into thorny vines, merging with the spiked tree. Yet, despite his painful stance, the man’s face was peaceful, his gaze benevolent, as if looking kindly at Colin and his servants.

When Colin’s eyes met the statue’s, he felt huge pressure, his breath hitching. Suddenly, a distant and grand male voice echoed in his ears: “My sins…”

The voice was ethereal and fleeting. With its appearance, Colin felt as if the statue might come to life. “An extremely tormented statue. You believe it relates to ‘suffering,’ but you cannot understand its exact significance. You only know it is not the ‘Mother of Suffering and Thorns’ you’re familiar with.”

Colin’s hand holding the lantern trembled slightly. He looked away, taking deep breaths to calm down. He realized that in that short moment, cold sweat had soaked his back. Yet, after regaining his composure, the statue didn’t seem as terrifying; it was just eerily strange. “It appears sinister, but you believe it’s just a statue.”

This reassurance from the system calmed Colin a bit. The system had never lied—its information was either trivial or accurate. His servants seemed unaffected, likely having heard nothing.

“It looks like the last monster isn’t here…”

There were few places to hide behind the statue, and he found nothing. “Does this mean I need to solve some kind of puzzle?”

Colin frowned; he disliked games requiring too much thinking, especially when his mind felt like mush. “One, two, any thoughts on this?”

His servants were surprised and flattered by Colin’s query but had little knowledge of such matters. In their stereotypical view, evil things often happen in basements. Dragons hide treasures in basements, villains do bad things in basements, criminals are imprisoned in basements, cults perform evil rituals in basements, and the rich hide their loot in basements. So they suggested:

“…The basement?”

Colin raised an eyebrow. If this were just a game, it wouldn’t be impossible. It was a classic element. But if there really was a hidden basement… Where would the entrance be?

“You notice that the bricks under the lectern seem different, and you boldly guess this is the basement entrance.”

Following the hint, Colin quickly instructed, “Move the table and tap the bricks to see what’s beneath.”

Thud, thud…

Hollow sounds.

“Lord, there really is a basement!” One beamed with joy. The Lord’s perception was sharp!

Of course… Colin grinned, feeling a sense of closure. This game, or this world’s people, were still naive. Their knowledge needed improvement—there was no real challenge.

Shaking his head, Colin directed his servants to lift the red carpet and open the stone slab, uncovering the path to the basement. But just then, a chill ran down Colin’s spine.

“Big brother… are you looking for me?”