Chapter 15: Terror

In the thick mist, the air was silent and stagnant, and Chen Chong stood in place, the back of his prison uniform already soaked with cold sweat.

“I clearly ran several hundred meters in a straight line, so why did I return to the starting point?”

Chen Chong’s expression was icy as he recalled every move he had made earlier:

“Did my sense of direction get confused and I unknowingly circled around in the mist, or is something else at work here?”

Chen Chong was certain that the rock before him was real and not some illusion, and his mind was extremely clear and calm at the moment, nothing like ghost walls or ghost possessions.

“Let me try again.”

Chen Chong forcibly suppressed the faint unease rising in his heart and once again began to sprint in one direction.

This time, Chen Chong’s speed was undoubtedly much slower. He glanced back from time to time, making sure the faint footprints on the ground maintained a roughly straight line.

A few minutes later, having maintained a straight path forward and not encountering that starting-point rock again along the way, Chen Chong’s taut nerves relaxed slightly, and he exhaled.

“It seems I was just too tense. What happened earlier might have just been a coincidence…”

Whoosh!

At that very moment, an extremely faint sound of something cutting through the air rang out. The hairs all over Chen Chong’s body suddenly stood on end, and an unparalleled sense of horror rose in his heart. Without any hesitation, he rolled away on the ground!

With a swish, a flash of cold light appeared. A thick, muscular arm suddenly thrust out from the thick mist beside him, holding an extremely sharp tactical dagger, slashing viciously past where Chen Chong’s neck had been! If Chen Chong’s reaction and movement hadn’t been extremely keen, that strike would have decapitated him directly!

“I’ve changed my mind!”

Johnson’s extremely oppressive and muscular frame burst through the mist and appeared. Then, his face full of the delighted surprise of having found prey, he stomped fiercely towards Chen Chong, who was rolling on the ground.

“You piece of trash! I’ve decided to bring your head back with me!”

However, Chen Chong had absolutely no intention of fighting Johnson to the death here in his heavily injured state. After rolling once, he used his intact right arm to push off the ground and shot forward, darting into the thick mist like a gecko, and then, under the cover of the omnipresent mist, he ran with all his might!

Bang!

Johnson stomped fiercely where Chen Chong had rolled across the ground, and the solid earth immediately burst into a small crater, showing how immense the enraged Johnson’s strength was! But luckily, although Johnson’s strength and defense were astonishing in this inflated, muscle-bursting state, his reaction speed and agility were clear weak points. After that single stomp, Chen Chong had already swiftly darted into the thick mist, his trail hard to find.

“Damn it!”

Seeing Chen Chong as slippery as an eel, having evaded two consecutive attacks without being caught, Johnson’s eyes were red with fury and desperation. He let out a frustrated roar.

…

“Huff, huff, huff…”

All he could see was gloomy white. Chen Chong, unable to distinguish direction, ran rapidly through the thick mist. Only after running about another kilometer did he slowly come to a stop.

Even after running a kilometer by feel in a straight line, he still hadn’t escaped this thick mist maze.

“What on earth is going on!”

Chen Chong slowed down and moved forward cautiously. The dense mist drifted, as if mocking him silently, filling his heart with an indescribable sense of agitation.

“What the hell is this godforsaken place!”

It was no wonder Chen Chong found it hard to stay calm. The strangeness of this thick mist area truly exceeded his understanding. He was like a trapped beast locked in a maze cage, and coupled with the unknown dangers still lurking, it all felt like a sword of death hanging over his head, making him feel that he might as well just go fight Johnson to the death.

“Johnson’s appearance just now was probably just a coincidence. If he could track my movements in the mist, he would have caught up by now.”

Forcibly suppressing the irritation in his heart, Chen Chong took a deep breath.

“There must be a way out. Having come this far, I will definitely survive.”

Forcibly pushing away the distracting thoughts in his mind, Chen Chong decided to continue moving in a straight line using the previous method of measuring his footprints.

However, he had barely taken a few steps this way when Chen Chong’s gaze suddenly froze.

Because as the thick mist was pushed aside, on his path forward, a very familiar rock appeared once again, stained with spots of blood.

It was still the rock from his starting point. He had returned to the starting point yet again!

Staring fixedly at this rock, Chen Chong felt a chill run through his entire body.

Two coincidences in a row were no longer coincidences, especially in such an extremely bizarre place!

Gurgle, gurgle…

Just as the chill was spreading in Chen Chong’s heart, the ground beneath his feet stirred, making strange sounds of flowing water, and a dampness came from his feet.

Chen Chong’s expression stiffened for a moment, and he looked down.

On the ground beneath his feet, a large amount of scarlet liquid was frantically surging out, like the tide rising on a seashore, quickly passing over the tops of his feet. The color of blood and the pungent smell of blood spread in all directions, blanketing everything!

What was surging out from beneath Chen Chong’s feet and rapidly flooding the ground was blood.

The earth seemed to have gained life, gushing out scarlet blood!

The pungent blood surged wildly from underground, transforming into a sea of blood in the blink of an eye, submerging Chen Chong. It formed a shocking, terrifying world of only two colors—blood and white—along with the white mist!

Is this… hell?

In the span of a few blinks, his entire body was submerged by the sea of blood. Within the sea of blood, Chen Chong’s consciousness became muddled and dazed, as if something was restricting his thoughts, making even thinking difficult.

Then, within the sea of blood, his hands and feet began to melt.

First his facial features, then his hands and feet, his torso… his skin began to fester, his muscles dripped away like melting candles, revealing white bones and internal organs… In this terrifying scarlet sea, Chen Chong’s entire body was like food swallowed into a stomach, beginning to decompose from head to toe!

Am I going to die?

His thoughts were extremely sluggish, every neural reaction process seeming to be infinitely stretched out. In the terrifying sea of blood, Chen Chong struggled to form a single thought.

His thoughts were even so slow and dull that he couldn’t even feel fear towards the slowly approaching death.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Chong’s skin and muscles completely dissolved and peeled away, leaving only a bloody skeleton. Yet the horrifying sea of blood, like a greedy wild beast, still hadn’t had enough of its delicious meal.

However, just as Chen Chong’s entire body was about to be completely decomposed and his thoughts were about to sink into total silence, within his mind, the originally dormant mysterious orb of light suddenly erupted with unparalleled, brilliant radiance!

This radiance seemed to contain the mysteries of heaven and earth, the truths of the universe, as if it could illuminate boundless time and space. It directly lit up Chen Chong’s spiritual world in magnificent splendor!

Sss!

In just an instant, the sea of blood that held infinite terror melted away like ice and snow.

“I…!”

In the next moment, Chen Chong’s soul trembled, and he abruptly opened his eyes!

There was no terrifying sea of blood. The surroundings were still the thick, impenetrable white mist. He was still leaning, as he had been, against a rock, and a stinging pain came from all over his body.

The source of the stinging pain was strange white plant roots that had broken through the earth’s surface and extended outwards. These roots, no thicker than a little finger at most, slithered and coiled over his body like pythons. Several of them had already pierced his skin and were sucking his blood!

“I understand now!”

Looking at the terrifying roots clinging to him like a bone-eating parasite, sucking his flesh and blood, a flash of insight suddenly cut through Chen Chong’s mind!

As if he had finally understood something, his eyes showed not fear, but a kind of delighted surprise. He laughed wildly.

“So that’s it!”

Rrrip!

Chen Chong grabbed and tore off the roots coiled around his body, abruptly stood up, and faced the impenetrable, gloomy thick mist with a ferocious expression.

“You want to eat me? I’ll eat you first!”