Xiao Lin re-entered the Spiritual Internet and left a message for Lin Niannian online, asking her to reply immediately upon seeing it. But forty minutes passed, and he received no message from her.
The unease in his heart grew stronger. He decided to go to the town and ask around.
But just as he came outside the institute, Xiao Lin froze. In the direction of the Satellite Town, he could no longer see any trace of the town at all. There was only churning, sky-obscuring gray mist.
What was going on? Was this a new barrier set up by Bai Xiaoyun?
Xiao Lin closed his eyes, transferring his consciousness to the satellite "Eye of the Deep Space," with his vision facing the Satellite Town.
It was a foggy area covering an extremely large surface, perfectly shrouding the entire Satellite Town, and the boundaries were very distinct, not looking like a natural formation.
Xiao Lin turned back to the institute, brought along his Tang sword and pistol, and strapped on a dagger, then hurriedly headed towards the Satellite Town.
It took twenty minutes for Xiao Lin to reach the boundary of the gray mist.
Standing here, the churning mist looked like a colossal wall.
His pupils began to dilate and differentiate, entering the Demon of Wisdom vision to observe the mist.
It didn't spread outwards, showed no signs of thinning, the thickness was uniform across all areas, and it was dry.
Most importantly... this mist seemed to have no physical form; it was merely visible.
Indeed unusual...
Although his body had good resistance to extreme environments, Xiao Lin still didn't rashly charge in.
He first probed the mist with one hand. His essence wasn't consumed, so it should be non-toxic and harmless.
Xiao Lin took a deep breath and stepped into the mist.
Inside the mist, heaven and earth were chaotic, silent, and nothing could be seen except a vast grayness.
He tried to use the Demon of Wisdom vision to acquire information, but to no avail.
The isolation capability of this mist seemed extremely strong. The deeper he went, the stronger the sense of alienation became.
It felt as if he was no longer in the real world.
He didn't know how long he had walked, perhaps five minutes, perhaps longer. He began to hear the sound of rain, and the air became humid.伴随着 (accompanied by) the rain growing louder, Xiao Lin finally walked out of the mist.
Under the dim sky, lightning and thunder clashed. A violent curtain of rain constantly scoured the entire Satellite Town. Huge raindrops fell onto the bluestone ground, splashing up massive ripples.
The atmosphere seemed somewhat wrong. Not only was it empty, but there was no sign of living people, as if this town had been dead for a long time.
Satellite Town, what happened?
Xiao Lin drew his Tang sword and held it in his hand, slowly stepping into the heavy rain. His clothes were quickly soaked through.
Not only that, the heavy rain also affected his Demon of Wisdom vision. The chaotic trajectories of the surging rain streams made it difficult to capture details of the surroundings.
He seemed to see traces of human existence, but when he looked around, there was nothing there.
Xiao Lin steadied his mind and continued walking forward like this.
When he reached an intersection, he stopped. Five or six tall wooden pillars stood at the crossroads, and on each pillar hung a bloody corpse.
Most of these corpses were incomplete and deformed, a mess of flesh and blood. Scarlet and black liquids mixed with the rain and constantly streamed down.
Among these people, Xiao Lin saw a familiar face—Zhou Zheng, the most senior member of the Law Enforcement Squad.
He was still alive; his chest was still heaving slightly, and his mouth was moving, but his entire body was already unrecognizable.
His legs were gone, and strange fleshy tumors had grown all over his body. Severe ascites made his belly abnormally swollen.
Xiao Lin subconsciously wanted to approach, but immediately stopped.
No... Zhou Zheng was already dead. The heaving of his chest and the movement of his mouth were merely illusions created by the wriggling of the tumors growing inside him.
Just like a... trap specifically displayed for people to see.
Just then, dense splashing sounds came from within the rain curtain. He turned his head.who knows when, a group of people had appeared behind him.
There were men and women, each wearing dirty gray robes, barefoot, with sunken cheeks and dark eye sockets, so thin they looked like skin stretched over bones.
The most striking feature was that they were all hunched over, with huge fleshy tumors growing on their backs. The tumors had a translucent texture, and something seemed to be wriggling inside them.
"Tricked another livestock..."
"They are really stupid..."
"Catch him, don't let him run."
"Cut off his legs, peel off his skin, hang him up as a new lure..."
Those people muttered while slowly approaching Xiao Lin.
They were all holding weapons, but those weapons were extremely primitive—a wooden long stick with a blackened bone spearhead tied to it.
Xiao Lin did not speak. He simply raised his Tang sword.
Raindrops fell on the blade but didn't linger for a moment, instead turning into trickling streams flowing downwards.
"Livestock wants to resist..."
"Livestock will surely become food for the god..."
"Its body will become a breeding ground for the god's expansion..."
They continued to mutter. Those whispers penetrated the rain curtain into Xiao Lin's ears, making him feel quite uncomfortable.
He glanced back at the corpses hanging high up. He thought, better to just kill these people.
But suddenly, Xiao Lin's peripheral vision caught a massive figure.
That figure was nearly three meters tall, wrapped in a pitch-black leather coat, wearing a top hat and a mask.
In his left hand was a battle axe, and in his right, a sharp iron hook. He looked extremely terrifying. The moment Xiao Lin's peripheral vision captured him, this massive figure suddenly lunged at Xiao Lin, while Xiao Lin swung his blade without hesitation.
His style had always been offense only, no defense!
The extremely sharp blade sliced through the rain, forming a cold glint. That giant figure seemed somewhat surprised and immediately blocked with the axe handle.
The two weapons collided, creating a bright spark in the sky for an instant. In the moment of engagement, Xiao Lin realized this guy didn't seem to have malicious intent. Moreover, his eyes looked somewhat familiar.
"Two, livestock..."
"All,return to the god..."
The murmuring rose again, gradually turning into a uniform low chant. Several spears came through the air, churning the wind and rain, powerful and heavy, drawing several dark trajectories.
Xiao Lin and the giant turned almost simultaneously, swinging their weapons. Xiao Lin's technique wasn't great, but the Demon of Wisdom vision gave him extremely strong dynamic vision. The movement trajectories of the spears were crystal clear in his vision.
He easily blocked a few of them, while the rest were all parried away by the giant swinging his axe, the massive power stirring up a strong current of air in the heavy rain.
Xiao Lin flicked his blade, about to charge into the enemy ranks, but the giant suddenly hooked his sword-wielding arm with the iron hook.
"Don't fight them, we retreat," the giant said, his voice low and terrifying.
Xiao Lin frowned slightly but still chose to retreat.
Those strange people seemed like they still wanted to attack, but the heavy rain suddenly seemed to intensify. In a flash, those strange people were isolated by the rain curtain and disappeared from their sight.