Inside The Black Mist

In the holographic image, the scene shifted. The thing that was in the corner, covered in a fungal colony, was now clinging tightly to a Frost Cloud Guard soldier.

It held the soldier's helmet in its hands, but since it was facing away from the camera, the soldier's condition couldn't be seen.

"Shoot! Shoot!" Zhou Wang yelled in the image, but the soldiers seemed either too scared or too worried about hitting their comrade. Despite several guns being aimed at the fungus-like creature, no one fired.

Finally, a transcendent warrior of the War God class dashed forward and decapitated the fungus creature with a single sword stroke. The body holding the soldier fell rigidly to the ground, no longer moving.

As for the soldier who had been grabbed by the creature, his helmet's visor had been corroded, leaving a teacup-sized hole exposed.

Inside the helmet, the soldier's expression was terrified, his eyes unfocused, but he seemed otherwise unharmed.

However, with his helmet corroded, if he didn't receive immediate treatment, prolonged exposure to the black mist would be life-threatening.

The transcendent warrior sheathed his sword and commanded, "Take him back."

Outside in the small plaza, Yunze hurriedly called out, "Quick, prepare the medical pod!"

Tianyang was taken aback, admiring the wealth of the Qingtian Yun family for having a medical pod in their vehicle.

The soldier was quickly taken away, but then cries of alarm were heard again in the image.

Yunze's face darkened. "What's happening now?"

In the holographic projection, blurry shadows flickered, accompanied by gunfire and Zhou Wang's angry cursing.

Moments later, the image stabilized, revealing the fungus creature had somehow reattached its head and was now clinging to the wall motionless.

Yunze lost his composure and yelled, "Zhou Wang, what’s going on?"

Breathing heavily, Zhou Wang faced the camera. "As soon as we took our eyes off it, it suddenly moved, and very quickly too. But strangely, when we look at it, it stops moving."

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The transcendent warrior next to him added, "I don't know where its will prison is. The safest way might be to burn it."

Yunze said gravely, "Then do it quickly!"

This time, the team didn't dare take their eyes off the fungus creature. Several soldiers kept their gaze fixed on it while Zhou Wang sprinkled some powder on it, then stepped back and snapped his fingers.

With a snap, a small flame appeared at Zhou Wang's fingertips. He flicked it toward the powder-covered creature.

Boom!

A burst of orange-red flames erupted, and from within the flames came a faint, eerie screeching.

The creature fell from the wall, writhing and struggling desperately.

Thick smoke rose from the flames, and after a while, the creature inside the fire stopped moving entirely.

It had been burned to death.

Yunze finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat down, and said, "What is that thing?"

He looked at Adam. "Have you seen this kind of dark creature before?"

Adam's face was solemn as he shook his head. "Never. This is my first time seeing such a thing."

However, Kong Zhang, standing nearby, said, "Maybe it's not a dark creature, or rather, it once was."

"Why do you say that, Lao Kong?" Yunze asked, confused.

The botanist crossed his arms, his expression serious. "In nature, some fungi can parasitize living organisms and even control their behavior. This Inverse Universe fungus might have similar abilities, parasitizing a type of dark creature."

"Maybe that dark creature was already dead, but the fungus can still control its body to perform certain actions."

"So I suspect that the creature didn't stop moving because it was being watched, but because it was affected by light. I’ve done some research before; most plants in the Inverse Universe respond to light. Unlike our plants, Inverse Universe plants activate a protective mechanism and their cells stop functioning when exposed to light."

"This could explain why the creature stopped moving when exposed to light and started moving again once the light was removed."

Yunze suddenly understood. "So that's it. Lao Kong makes sense; this explains the creature's behavior better."

Tianyang also felt that the explanation of the reaction to light made more sense than Zhou Wang's idea of it being affected by being watched.

The team continued exploring the building. This time, no fungus creatures were found on the second floor, confirming the safety of the temporary camp.

However, the soldier who was sent to the medical pod died. The cause of death was suffocation, clearly not caused by the Inverse Universe black mist.

The black mist only polluted the human life system, causing multiple organ failure and death, or its evil power could mutate humans into creatures similar to dark creatures.

But it didn’t cause suffocation. Scans revealed some foreign objects in the soldier's respiratory tract.

Fungal filaments!

These filaments had somehow invaded the soldier's respiratory system and multiplied rapidly. In just a short time, even filaments were coming out of the soldier's eyeballs.

The eerie vitality of the fungus shocked everyone.

Ultimately, the soldier's body was burned to prevent the filaments from forming a fungal colony and transforming the body into a fungus creature.

After an hour of rest in the temporary camp, Lao Kong planned to collect some fungal samples, and Adam naturally led the team to protect him.

Tianyang took this opportunity to conduct his own investigation. He followed Adam out of the camp but separated from the main team once they reached the street.

The young man didn't notice that Zhou Wang quietly observed his actions.

After leaving the main team, Tianyang explored on his own. Gemstone Town wasn't big; even alone, he could cover the whole town in a day.

So Tianyang wasn't in a hurry. He was just worried that the overgrown fungal colonies might obscure the secret that Su Lie hid in the town.

Tianyang believed that Su Lie’s secret was hidden in the short phrase he left behind, "Under the cross, the sky shines."

So the boy paid attention to various shapes in the town, especially anything resembling a cross.

As he walked, his thoughts wandered.

Why did Su Lie go to such lengths to hide that piece of paper on the cover of his diary and left a set of Inverse Universe coordinates and a short phrase?

This must be related to the torn pages of the diary. Perhaps those ripped-out contents contained some secrets.

Going deeper, did Su Lie do this because he was facing some kind of danger at the time?

And because of this danger, he disappeared, leaving his mother to live in the lower district?

If so, Tianyang wanted to find the culprit responsible for the danger. If it weren’t for them, his mother might still be alive.

And living well!

Fungal colonies.

They were everywhere.

As he ventured deeper into the town, Tianyang found these things almost omnipresent. He encountered several wanderers parasitized by fungal colonies, but they hadn't been fully covered yet.

Some wanderers even peeled off the fungi from their bodies and put them into their mouths, resisting the fungal invasion in their own unique way.

In this town, gradually submerged by fungal colonies, Tianyang finally discovered something related to the shape of a cross.

It was a building that was quite different from the other buildings in the town. This house had a spire, and on the spire stood a cross-shaped symbol.

Tianyang couldn't understand it. It didn’t look like a lightning rod or a signal transmission device.

Why would the residents of the Inverse Universe erect such a thing on their roofs?