Inside The Black Mist

"Did I hear it wrong? I think I heard a dog barking."

Xiaoniao lowered her voice, her face full of confusion, clearly unable to understand how there could be barking sounds underground.

Yan Bing nodded inside his helmet. "You didn’t hear wrong. I heard it too. Sir, could it be Mad Dogs?"

Tianyang made a sound of agreement. "It’s possible. Let’s go check it out. Mad Dogs aren’t native to the underground. If they manage to get in, we can follow their trail and find a way out!"

This news lifted Xiaoniao’s spirits. Although the Inverse Universe was already a suffocating place, the underground felt even more oppressive. The girl had been wandering in these cave tunnels for hours and had longed to breathe some fresh air.

Hearing that the Mad Dogs left a trail they could follow, Xiaoniao instantly felt a surge of energy.

Tianyang reminded them, "Mad Dogs are different from prowlers. They react to light and sound. Let’s turn off the tactical lights. There are fog crystals everywhere down here, enough to light our way."

Neither Xiaoniao nor Yan Bing had any objections. The latter simply switched off the lighting accessory on his rifle. The light suddenly dimmed, but after a few moments, they adjusted to their surroundings.

The fog crystals scattered throughout the tunnel emitted a faint purple glow, providing just enough light to see.

Tianyang activated the infrared vision mode of his tactical eye, making his sight much clearer. With everything prepared, he signaled that he would take the lead.

Yan Bing walked in the middle, ready to cover Tianyang at any sign of danger.

Xiaoniao was responsible for the rear. She wasn’t carrying a gun, but her thin sword could release chilling frost energy, far more powerful than a rifle.

The three of them stuck close to one side of the tunnel, feeling their way through these twisted, chaotic underground passages.

After walking for a short while, they heard several more barks. The sound was clear, and Tianyang quickly identified the direction, leading the team into a cave.

“What is this...?”

After only a few steps, Tianyang stopped, as if he had discovered something.

Curious, Xiaoniao leaned over to look. Following Tianyang’s gaze, she saw a root-like plant protruding from the upper part of the cave tunnel.

The thing crossed the tunnel and burrowed into the wall on the other side. This root was extremely thick, and under the dim purple light of a nearby cluster of fog crystals, they could tell its diameter was at least twenty or thirty centimeters.

Its surface was rough, its texture complex, and it had an oval-shaped pod-like growth. The pod emitted a faint red glow, with something seemingly flowing inside, causing light wrinkles on its surface.

The three of them exchanged glances, unsure what it was. Suddenly, more barking sounds echoed from ahead.

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“Let’s go, ignore it for now.”

Not long after, they indeed found a Mad Dog. It looked like a grotesque hybrid of a dog and a human, caught in a difficult situation.

Dozens of plant roots had ensnared it. These roots not only tightly wrapped around the Mad Dog’s body, but some had even pierced into the dark creature.

However, there were no signs that these roots were like those of necrotic trees that drain blood and flesh. Perhaps the roots that pierced into the Mad Dog were simply for securing it more effectively?

Why did they think that? Because the three of them clearly saw the roots trying to pull the Mad Dog upwards, even though the dark creature was struggling with all its might.

Tianyang looked up, and through his tactical eye, he saw a thick root adhering to the ceiling of the cave.

As the roots dragged the Mad Dog toward the larger root, a section of it suddenly split open. Thin, wiry tendrils intertwined, tearing apart and snapping one by one.

The split root opened up a nearly two-meter-wide gap, from which oozed a black, mud-like sludge. It trickled down the cave walls like ink splashed on a pale canvas, slowly filling the space.

The air was thick with the smell of decay, nauseating to the point of sickness.

Yan Bing, wearing a helmet, didn’t notice, but Tianyang and Xiaoniao’s noses suffered terribly.

Just as their brows furrowed in disgust, the Mad Dog let out a few pitiful howls before being pulled into the root’s split opening.

The gap-sealed shut and the root swelled and shifted as if the Mad Dog was struggling inside.

Unfortunately, its struggle didn’t even last a minute before it ended.

No more sounds echoed through the tunnel, the silence as still as a graveyard. Had Tianyang’s group not witnessed this with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have believed that a Mad Dog had just been "eaten" by that root!

“What is this thing? I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Xiaoniao whispered.

Tianyang's voice grew solemn. "Whatever it is, it hunts, and it won’t even spare dark creatures. Looks like we’d better be cautious and stay away from it."

Both Xiaoniao and Yan Bing agreed with this suggestion.

Carefully keeping their distance from the strange plant, Tianyang inspected the ground nearby and, sure enough, found traces of the Mad Dog. These tracks were scattered all over the ground, and if they followed them back, they should be able to find an exit.

Just as Tianyang was about to signal the others to leave, he suddenly saw a red glow. The light was coming from the plant root on the cave wall. The oval pods on its surface, both large and small, began to light up.

Gurgle, gurgle—

There was the sound of water flowing inside the root as if the thing had hollow channels. Now, water was flowing through it, just like the sewage drains that crisscrossed the lower city beneath the fortress!

"Ah!" For some reason, Xiaoniao cried out in shock.

Tianyang turned to her, and the girl was pointing at one of the pods on the root, her face filled with terror. "I think I saw someone inside."

"Someone?" Tianyang looked up and focused on one of the pods.

But no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn’t see anything inside, only streams of bubbles.

Just as he was about to look away, suddenly, a man’s face pressed up against the surface of the pod!

This face had been partially eaten away by something. The left side of his face was mostly gone, leaving only bone, and through the empty eye socket, a faint glimpse of something gray and white could be seen.

That was probably his brain...

The terrifying, mutilated face appeared and disappeared just as suddenly. In the span of one or two seconds, it seemed to be carried away by the flow of water through the hollow channels in the root, drifting off to some unknown distance.

The sound of the water continued for almost a full minute before stopping. Tianyang followed the root with his eyes, seeing it attached to the cave wall and extending down into the depths below.

The red glow from the pods gradually faded, and after a moment, they returned to their previous dim, almost imperceptible, state.

But the scene they had just witnessed was already deeply etched into their minds. For some reason, the flow of water inside that eerie plant made Tianyang and the others think of one word, feeding.

Tianyang thought for a moment and said, "I’m going to go down and take a look."

He pointed in the direction where the root extended. "This thing doesn’t seem natural, and we haven’t come across any underground dark creatures as we’ve been walking."

"But if this thing hunts, why would it grow in a place with no prey? So, I think something strange is down there. Otherwise, this kind of plant wouldn’t grow for no reason."

Xiaoniao agreed. "Maybe dark creatures have something hidden down there. If we make a discovery, it would be a big achievement."

Since they agreed, the three of them changed direction and followed the plant along its path, deeper into the underground.

Along the way, the sound of water flowing through the plant root came again, and this phenomenon happened three times in total.

Each time the sound of water appeared, the pods on the root would light up with red light, like a series of glowing red bulbs.

What reassured Tianyang somewhat was that the thing didn’t seem interested in humans. They had been following it for so long without being attacked.

Two hours passed, and just as Tianyang began to suspect that the root might lead all the way to the core of the Inverse Universe, the end appeared without warning.

Turning a corner, the space ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a wide underground cavern. In the center of the vast space, a figure appeared in Tianyang’s view without warning.

The boy immediately stopped and signaled the other two to be on alert.

But upon closer inspection, they realized it wasn’t a person at all, but some kind of plant.

It was made up of countless intertwined roots, towering up to seven or eight meters high. Strangely, whether intentional or not, it had been shaped into the form of a human.

That was why, at first glance, Tianyang had thought it was a person.

From his angle, it looked like a woman. The countless dangling roots resembled the woman’s "hair."

At what looked like the shoulders, the roots were coiled into balls, which from a distance, appeared like a child’s head resting on the woman’s shoulder.

The thick root they had been following all this time connected to the large "woman’s" body, reminding Tianyang of an umbilical cord.

The boy held his breath and observed for a moment. After confirming there was no danger, he gave the signal to move forward.

The three of them walked quietly toward the plant-shaped "woman" sculpture. When they got closer, they realized it was actually a "pregnant woman."

Her belly was round and bulging, protruding prominently.

Two arms, made from tangled roots, were held out in front of the belly as if cradling it.

The "woman’s" legs were spread apart as if she were about to give birth at any moment. The massive sculpture, along with its bizarre form, and the fact that they were deep underground, made the whole scene feel eerie and sinister.

Tianyang glanced back at the other two. Xiaoniao and Yan Bing both looked pale.

Why had these plants intentionally taken on this shape? Was the image of a pregnant woman about to give birth purely coincidental, or was there some deeper meaning?

Tianyang cleared his throat, snapping the other two out of their thoughts. "We should leave. Let the command center study this strange thing. We’ve already done our duty, and there’s no need for us to stay here any longer."

"Besides, we’re not botanists. Even if we stayed, we wouldn’t be able to figure anything out."

Xiaoniao hugged her arms to her chest, looking around nervously. "I agree. This place is too weird, and there’s only this creepy thing here. I'd rather run into dark creatures than deal with this…"

Before she could finish her sentence, faint barking sounds came from the darkness ahead.

Xiaoniao froze. "No way, did we really run into the dark creatures? My jinxed words came true so fast!"