Chapter 17: One-Eyed

Rustle, rustle, rustle…

Footsteps sounded softly. Amid a vast, silent, and gloomy fog, Chen Chong gripped his tactical knife tightly with his intact right arm, walking alone in a certain direction.

There was no chirping of insects or birds, no sound of flowing water or wind. Heaven and earth were still. A dead silence filled the thick fog. He could hear no other sound besides his own breathing and footsteps. It was as if the mist was a forbidden zone for life, and he was the only living creature.

Maintaining the highest level of vigilance in his heart, Chen Chong pressed his lips tightly together. He felt the Main God in his mind become more restless, seemingly getting closer and closer to the target it pointed toward.

Crack! As if stepping on something, a shattering sound suddenly rose from under Chen Chong’s foot.

It was a pile of scattered, thick bones.

From the ferocious shape of the skull in this pile of bones, one could faintly tell that it had once been some kind of very strong and fierce beast. Judging by the size of the skeleton, it was comparable to an elephant. However, for some unknown reason, while the outer shape of these bones remained intact, their insides were riddled with holes as if decayed over a long, long time. A light step caused them to shatter and crumble.

“All the bones I’ve encountered along the way are like this. It seems those roots don’t just absorb flesh and blood, they can even drain the calcium from the bones.”

Chen Chong crouched down and picked up a piece of bone to examine it.

Ever since he started moving in the direction guided by the Main God Light Sphere in his mind, he had come across these kinds of bones more than once. Most of these bones were strangely shaped and incredibly ferocious, seemingly the so-called Radiation Species the prisoners talked about. Looking at the skeletons alone, these Radiation Species must have been more savage and dangerous than top predators like lions and tigers when they were alive. But judging by the marks around the bones, these Radiation Species had become fertilizer for the underground roots without putting up much of a violent struggle before death.

“Even beasts with completely different biological structures can’t escape it. This mist is even more powerful than I imagined.”

Chen Chong pondered for a moment. He sensed the Main God Light Sphere in his mind, still like a bright lamp illuminating his heart, and he relaxed a little. It seemed that because of the Main God Light Sphere, the situation he had previously feared, falling into illusions again, had not occurred, which eased his mind considerably.

Just as Chen Chong was about to stand up and continue forward, he suddenly lunged a step ahead. Then, without any hesitation, he swung the tactical knife in his hand in a reverse slash!

It turned out that several thick roots had silently burst out of the ground behind him, striking at his neck like venomous snakes. But Chen Chong, as if he had eyes on his back, detected them instantly!

With a few hissing sounds, the roots that had entangled toward him like venomous snakes were all severed, quickly retreating back underground. Pale red sap splattered, and the severed parts of the roots fell to the ground, twitching and writhing like a gecko’s tail.

“Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

Chen Chong stood up, a cold sneer on his face.

Now that the Mist’s greatest threat, its hallucinatory power, was useless against him, these terrifying-looking root attacks were truly unimpressive. Furthermore, the Ultra Divine Water had significantly stimulated Chen Chong’s bodily potential, bringing his speed, reaction time, and five senses to the peak of a normal human’s limits. These strange plants could no longer pose much of a threat to him.

This small episode did not affect Chen Chong’s advancing steps. Without pausing to linger, he gripped his tactical knife and strode forward into the fog.

Afterward, as the Main God Light Sphere grew more and more restless and he drew closer to the unknown target, Chen Chong discovered that the bones scattered on the ground ahead in the mist were becoming more and more numerous. They were almost everywhere!

Aside from that, the frequency of attacks from the underground roots along the way also grew higher and higher. Every ten or so meters he walked, waves of roots would fearlessly erupt from the earth, coiling toward Chen Chong!

“It’s very close! It’s right ahead!”

Schick! Schick! Schick!

The blade’s edge whistled through the fog at extreme speed. After rapidly cutting the tangled mass of underground roots like slicing through a knot of flax with swift movements, Chen Chong looked toward the depths of the mist, his eyes brightening slightly. “Do these plant roots seem to be stopping me from advancing? Are they trying to protect something? Is this instinct, or do they possess a low intelligence like animals?”

Feeling that intensely powerful, singular attraction ten times stronger than before, Chen Chong knew he was very close to the unknown target. His eyes filled with excitement.

“Let me see your true face!”

Chen Chong lifted his foot and stepped forward. He no longer walked steadily but sprinted fiercely toward the depths of the mist!

As Chen Chong sprinted at top speed, the thick fog flowed rapidly past him like clouds brushing his face. At that moment, a faint sensation of dense, countless vibrations came from the ground. Along the path he dashed through at high speed, dozens, then hundreds of sinister roots suddenly burst out of the soil!

However, compared to Chen Chong’s fierce charge, the reactions of these erupting roots were undoubtedly too slow. They simply could not stop Chen Chong, who was like an arrow shot from a bow. They could only writhe and dance wildly and helplessly in the thick fog!

A dozen or so seconds later, Chen Chong, running at breakneck speed, clearly felt that the surrounding fog was thinning. Ahead in his line of sight, a shadowy tree-shaped silhouette faintly emerged.

“That’s it!”

Seeing the shadowy tree-shaped silhouette ahead, Chen Chong’s heart pounded for no reason. After he charged forward another few dozen meters, he suddenly burst into an open area where the fog was extremely thin, almost non-existent. His vision suddenly cleared!

The moment he stepped into this area with thin fog and clear visibility, Chen Chong’s pupils constricted, and he held his breath.

Before him, ferocious bones of all shapes lay scattered everywhere across the space of several hundred square meters, as if forming a pool of white bones!

A pool formed by bones. In the center of this bone pool, created by who knows how many lives, stood a towering golden tree, thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around, filled with strange beauty. Faintly, one could see that this golden tree was covered in golden flowers. These flowers, like chimneys, continuously puffed out large amounts of white gas. This white gas rose and drifted in all directions, merging with the surrounding Mist.

In a sea of white bones like something out of hell, stood such a sacred-looking tree, glittering with golden light. Everything was filled with a contradictory and evil feeling that made one almost want to cough up blood, deeply shocking Chen Chong.

“So that’s how it is!”

The astonishing sight before him cleared Chen Chong’s mind amidst his shock.

“The hallucinatory Mist… it’s actually produced by this big tree! Then those roots are actually…”

It was at this very moment.

As if sensing the presence of Chen Chong, the intruder, a crack suddenly split open in the middle of the golden tree’s trunk dozens of meters away. A dead, cold light flickered within it, and it stared at Chen Chong with malice, like a human eye!

“Holy… crap!”

Meeting the gaze of this sinister, one-eyed crack on the tree trunk, Chen Chong, who had received a thorough atheist education in his past life, felt his face drastically change color. He finally couldn’t help but burst out with a national curse.