Stronger with Crimson Modifier

Chapter 127: Gray Mist [4]

Half a minute later.

Thirty levels underground, the area was a complete wreck.

A massive hole had been blasted through several of the floors above, and the personnel who had been working there were almost all dead or wounded.

Beneath a collapsed structure.

Covered in blood, Jiang Zuo lay silently in a pool of his own making, his eyes wide open, unable to rest in peace.

His body had been torn into four or five pieces—a truly gruesome sight.

To the side, Helinta knelt on one knee, her single blade propped against the ground, her expression cold and severe.

Her body was covered in wounds, some so deep they reached the bone.

Any one of these injuries would have been instantly fatal to an ordinary person.

But Helinta seemed to feel nothing at all.

She muttered under her breath, "Master, it seems I’ve won after all. You may not have recovered from your injuries, but I haven’t broken through to the Qi Sect level either. That’s fair, isn’t it..."

The horrifying wounds on her body were already healing at a visible rate.

Outside, Anshan City was now completely shrouded in gray fog.

The once-bustling streets, with their endless streams of traffic, had become hazy and indistinct under the fog’s blanket.

Skyscrapers seemed to be wrapped in a gray veil, their outlines barely visible.

The streetlights cast a faint glow in the fog, like lost fireflies.

From time to time, the sound of crashing explosions echoed from various parts of the city.

However, due to the obscuring fog, only the blasts could be heard, with no flames in sight.

Prior to this, Anshan City had issued a city-wide broadcast through all communication channels, warning people to stay inside buildings and not to wander around, as a massive gray fog was about to descend.

Unfortunately, it was the afternoon rush hour, a peak time for foot traffic.

Furthermore, it all happened so suddenly that some people weren’t looking at their phones or TVs and were completely unaware of the situation, leaving them no time to prepare.

Of course, many others simply didn’t take the announcement seriously.

’Even if there is a dense fog, how fast can it really arrive? I’ll just drive a little slower. What’s the danger?’

But to their surprise, just a few minutes after the announcement, they witnessed the most unforgettable scene of their lives.

An endless curtain of gray fog appeared on the distant horizon, blotting out the sky and sun.

It rolled in like a raging tide from all directions, swallowing everything in its path at an astonishing speed and quickly enveloping the entire city.

Within the gray fog, visibility was severely limited to a maximum of ten meters.

Anything further was completely invisible.

Moreover, the fog’s density was visibly increasing.

In less than half a minute, visibility dropped to within five meters.

Under these conditions, it was inevitable that some vehicles would crash into pedestrians or storefronts, causing violent explosions.

In less than half an hour, the death toll in Anshan City had reached nearly ten thousand.

Fortunately, as time passed, the number of deaths caused by vehicle collisions gradually decreased.

After all, to continue driving in such conditions was undoubtedly a death wish.

Most people had already taken shelter indoors.

They were panicked and confused, with no idea what was happening.

Some tried to call the police, but in this situation, all communication devices were useless. There was no signal at all; the calls wouldn’t go through.

Helpless, people could only wait for the gray fog to dissipate.

In their eyes, this was, at worst, a natural disaster. They just had to wait it out.

Unfortunately, the reality was not as simple as they imagined.

On a certain street, two figures walked slowly forward, hand in hand, feeling their way along a wall.

"Don’t worry, Ah Xin. Don’t be afraid. I’m right here."

Her boyfriend’s voice reached her. Although they were holding hands, less than a meter apart, his face was still a blur in the gray fog, and his voice sounded slightly distorted.

But hearing him gave Liu Xin a profound sense of security.

She couldn’t help but tighten her grip on his hand.

"Brother Yi, I trust you."

The two had been introduced by a matchmaker. They got along well and naturally became a couple.

If all went well, they would soon be discussing marriage.

Today happened to be the weekend, and the couple, still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, had planned to see a movie to grow even closer.

They hadn’t expected to run into such a dense fog so soon after leaving home.

Fortunately, her boyfriend was with her.

It gave her a powerful sense of safety, and she had already decided that after this was all over, she would give herself to him completely.

However...

Just as she was thinking this,

her boyfriend, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

Seeing this, she looked up in confusion.

Just as she was about to say something,

a warm liquid suddenly spattered across her face.

When she reached up to wipe it away and her vision cleared, she realized it wasn’t liquid at all. It was blood.

And her boyfriend’s head was gone.

Intense panic twisted her features.

She opened her mouth to scream.

Suddenly, the gray fog before her roiled, and a monster emerged. It was covered in black fur, its face a savage grimace, its skin crawling with veins.

It reached out a massive claw, grabbed the woman’s head, and gave it a gentle twist.

With a sickening SNAP, her terrified head was torn clean off.

Then, it tossed the head into its mouth.

As its sharp teeth clamped down, flesh and blood splattered everywhere. It was a terrifying sight.

The gray fog swirled back in,

covering the two headless corpses on the ground.

In the next moment,

the faint, ghastly sound of chewing drifted from within the mists, incredibly unsettling.

And this was not an isolated incident.

The people, who had just begun to calm down, were now discovering the Black Blood Species roaming within the gray fog.

But not everyone reacted with terror.

For example, some delusional teenagers were thrilled, as this scenario was strikingly similar to the apocalyptic worlds in the novels and comics they read.

They weren’t zombies, but the general idea was the same.

"It’s the apocalypse! A real apocalypse! I’m going out to kill monsters and level up, and hoard food while it’s still the Early Stage!"

These kids clamored, ignoring the protests of their parents and friends.

They were convinced that everyone else was an idiot and that they were the bearers of Celestial Mandate. After preparing weapons and strapping on protective gear, they set out to kill a monster, hoping to awaken a System or a Superpower.

The results were, of course, predictable. Either they got lost in the fog and found nothing,

or they had the misfortune of being devoured by a Black Blood Species hiding in the mists.

After all, the Black Blood Species were not the slow, rotting zombies from movies and novels, created when humans were infected by a virus.

Combined with the fog that severely limited human sight, it was impossible for ordinary people to be a match for these creatures.

Only Secret Martial Artists—who had cultivated their Qi and Blood, possessed keen perception, and had powerful physiques—or some well-equipped and rigorously trained ordinary people could put up a fight.

As for confronting the even more powerful Lower-Rank Black Blood Species, that would require the intervention of the Martial Arts Families.

POW!

A thick, powerful hand shot out from the gray fog and threw a casual punch.

A Blood Slave, which had been hiding in the fog with a savage sneer, was hit as if by an express train.

It didn’t even have time to scream. With the sound of shattering bones, its entire body turned into a cannonball, smashing violently against a distant concrete wall and exploding into an unrecognizable pile of gore.

"Courting death!"

Hu Qi’s expression was indifferent.

He looked at the surrounding gray fog and frowned.

’This situation is clearly the result of some kind of Mutation. Based on what Helinta said earlier, it must be related to that Earth Core Passage. But Eldest Senior Brother Du Wang, a newly promoted Qi Dao Grandmaster, is guarding that place. Logically, something like this shouldn’t have happened. Now, even though two Qi Dao Grandmasters, Chu Feng and Li Xia, have gone to deal with it, I still feel uneasy. It’s as if some kind of danger is silently approaching.’

This was a warning from his Three-Eyed Primordial Serpent Bloodline.

Besides, those two had already rushed over, yet the gray fog blanketing Anshan City hadn’t weakened in the slightest.

On top of that, Blood Slaves had appeared, and he could even sense the presence of a Lower-Rank Black Blood Species within the fog.

’Forget it. I’d better get out of here.’

Hu Qi reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Although the arrival of the fog had led to a surge in the number of Black Blood Species, the sense of danger was also growing stronger.

For safety’s sake, he was more inclined to leave first and deal with things later.

As for the so-called mission assigned by his Second Senior Sister, Helinta, he had naturally pushed it to the back of his mind.

’Nothing is more important than saving my own skin.’

With that thought, he didn’t linger any longer. He stomped on the ground, and his figure blurred into an afterimage, speeding toward his villa.

The gray fog could obstruct the vision of ordinary people, but it was largely useless against him.

Although his sight was somewhat hindered, it was nothing to worry about.

What’s more, with his powerful perception, the surrounding scenery would appear in his mind even if his eyes were closed.