Inside The Black Mist

When Tianyang and Lao Xu arrived, the soldier responsible for guarding here was lying on the ground, with his rifle already set up. Judging from his posture, he seemed ready to attack.

This was a new recruit, not much older than Tianyang. His face had turned pale due to fear, and his fingers were trembling lightly, making one worry that he might accidentally discharge the rifle.

Tianyang understood this reaction. No matter how instructors described the horrors of the Inverse Universe in class or even if you could watch the appearance of some dark creatures through video materials, experiencing it firsthand in the Inverse Universe was an entirely different matter.

The former at most felt like having a nightmare, while the latter was like the nightmare turning into reality.

So, for this new recruit, the face hidden inside his enclosed helmet, filled with fear, was understandable.

Lao Xu waved his hand in front of the soldier's eyes. "Hey, don't be in a daze. What did you see just now?"

The new recruit finally reacted, pointing ahead with a trembling voice, "There's something. I saw something over there."

"What is it?" Tianyang asked.

The soldier shook his head. "I don't know. It's in the darkness, but I can see a kind of light. It should be the light emitted by a Will Cage, and I feel like it's staring at me, or observing me. That feeling is like a scavenger animal staring at a fresh corpse. I... I don't want to die. I want to go back!"

He got up and actually tried to run back.

Lao Xu tripped him up with a kick and said to Tianyang, "You go check."

Tianyang nodded in agreement, lowered the muzzle, and cautiously advanced, keeping an eye on the surroundings.

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Lao Xu pulled the new recruit over and said, "Look into my eyes. You'll be fine. Stay calm! Even if you want to leave, you have to wait until after this mission. Right now, it's better for you to stay with us. Understand?"

After being scolded by Lao Xu for a few sentences, the new recruit seemed to calm down a bit, though his face still looked terrible, but at least he nodded.

At this moment, Tianyang stopped and illuminated the ground with the light on his rifle. On the ground, there was a handprint. Tianyang gestured; this handprint was slightly smaller than his, and it seemed to be the hand of a woman.

Then he discovered several sets of prints, both handprints and footprints.

From the distribution of these prints, an image of a woman crawling on the ground formed in Tianyang's mind.

At this time, Lao Xu came over and asked, "How is it?"

Tianyang swept the light over these sets of prints and said, "It should be a Mad Dog. Currently, it seems there's only one. I don't know if it passed by or if it detected the scout we sent to investigate."

Lao Xu shook his head. "If it's the latter, there might be a nest nearby."

"Let's wait for the captain to come," Tianyang suggested.

Lao Xu smiled and said, "Agreed."

Twenty minutes later, two Falcon armored vehicles emerged from the black mist and stopped at the temporary camp. Han Shu was the first to jump out of the vehicle.

Hearing about the discovery of a Mad Dog, Han Shu was very cautious. Despite his usual carefree demeanor, he was decisive when it mattered.

After looking at those sets of prints, Han Shu, along with Cang Du, Ji Yu, and two soldiers, went to track and investigate. The others stayed in the camp for updates.

After a while, gunshots faintly came from the distance. Tianyang and Lao Xu immediately looked anxiously in the direction of the gunfire.

However, the gunshots didn't last too long. After a few minutes, they disappeared.

After about ten more minutes, Han Shu and his team returned, each with some bloodstains, but it seemed to be the blood of the Mad Dogs.

Han Shu sat down and cursed, "Damn, it's really unlucky. There is indeed a Mad Dog nest ahead, but the number of the dog pack is not large, and there are no mutated ones. When we arrived, those things were busy with something; fortunately, I wasn't nauseated by them."

Tianyang looked confused and said, "Captain, what are you saying? I don’t understand."

Han Shu scolded, "Don't ask so many questions, kid."

Tianyang immediately understood. He guessed that when Han Shu and his team arrived, the dog pack was probably in the midst of mating.

This was also a terrifying aspect of the Inverse Universe; dark creatures reproduced their offspring in different ways. For example, Mad Dogs used a method similar to that of viviparous animals. As for Roamers, it was said they grew from a semi-plant, semi-organic "Death Tree."

Yes, they grew like fruits!

The ways these creatures were born in the Inverse Universe were often unimaginably bizarre, and some were even more terrifying than the limits of human imagination.

After a brief rest, Han Shu began to organize the work, "To complete the mission as soon as possible, we need to split into teams for exploration. Ji Yu and I will be one team. Cang Du, you go with Tianyang as another team, each team with two soldiers. The rest stay at the camp to guard the supplies. Any objections?"

Cang Du was the first to jump up. "Yes, Captain, why do I have to be in a team with this kid?"

"Because Tianyang is a newcomer and needs someone to guide him. Ji Yu is like a mute; do you think she would guide a newcomer?" Han Shu said without patience.

Cang Du pointed at him and said, "Then why don't you lead or Lao Xu?"

Han Shu scolded, "You know nothing. Lao Xu is always thinking about slacking off. Let him lead? With one old hand already enough, adding a new one, who can stand that? As for me, don't you see how old I am? I have a generation gap with Tianyang. Do you understand what a generation gap is? You are about the same age as Tianyang, and your experience is richer than his. You're not mute, and you're proactive. Who else should guide him if not you?"

Captain, your skill in evading responsibility is extraordinary...

Cang Du choked and couldn't say a word. After a while, he could only glare fiercely at Tianyang and say, "Don't drag me down later. Otherwise, I'd rather do it alone!"

As a newcomer to the team, Tianyang naturally had no objections.

So, Cang Du and Tianyang teamed up, bringing along Yan Bing and another soldier, leaving the camp.

They proceeded along the road and turned onto a street at an intersection. Buildings lined both sides of the street, with some reaching six or seven stories as they entered the street. However, the deeper they went, the lower the buildings became, mostly three or four stories.

These buildings in the town were much simpler compared to those in the fortress city, both in taste and style, showing a clear gap.

Moreover, the buildings in the town were obviously not planned uniformly. Tall and short buildings were crowded together, giving a chaotic and disordered feeling.

Cang Du signaled to the team to take a detour into a side alley to the left when multiple collapsed buildings blocked the street.

The houses in the alley were more dilapidated and lower. The ground was covered with a layer of dirty black mud; stepping on it felt like walking on the belly of a giant beast.

"No matter where you are, walk close to the side of the passage rather than on the central line; this way, the chances of being attacked are reduced by at least half," Cang Du said, casting a glance behind him.

Tianyang nodded and followed Cang Du, walking along the left side of the wall. Suddenly, Tianyang reached out and pressed on Cang Du's shoulder.

The man with the ponytail swept away his hand with displeasure. "What are you doing?"

Tianyang raised his gun, letting the light fall on a building ahead. "Look over there."

Several beams of light shot over, and Cang Du's breath slightly increased. On the front of the two-story building, the structure was enveloped in some kind of dark, sticky substance. Although those things had almost solidified, under the light, they would still occasionally slowly drip down...