Chen Feng coughed several times, wiping rainwater from his face as he spoke:
"The smell of blood here is too strong. This isn't a place to talk. Follow me."
Staggering to his feet, he swayed unsteadily toward a hotel building outside the Mist Zone.
"Let's go." Lu Yunping jerked his chin at Han Ning.
The building leaned dangerously, one side of its wall covered in spiderweb-like cracks, though the main structure remained relatively intact.
The trio and their lizard companion waded through murky floodwaters, climbed the hotel's slippery exterior protrusions, and entered through a broken second-floor window before making their way to a fourth-floor guest room.
"Snowflake, stand guard at the door." Han Ning patted the wet head of his reptilian companion and gave the quiet order.
"Roar!" Snowflake obediently remained at the entrance, eyes alertly scanning the surroundings.
Inside the room:
Chen Feng collapsed into a soft chair, breathing heavily as he rummaged through his backpack for bandages and a small bottle of disinfectant, gritting his teeth as he treated his still-bleeding wounds.
Han Ning stood by the door, scanning the room for threats before entering.
Though Awakened possessed physical abilities far surpassing ordinary humans, Han Ning had prevented the wooden spikes from penetrating too deeply into Chen Feng's body.
Despite his bloodied appearance, Chen Feng's injuries were mostly superficial and not life-threatening.
After catching his breath, Chen Feng looked at Han Ning leaning against the doorframe with complex emotions: "Those things you encountered earlier—we call them 'Mirage Worms.'"
"Mirage Worms?" Han Ning raised an eyebrow.
"Correct."
Chen Feng nodded, his voice low,
"They're the most troublesome creatures in this Mist Zone—specializing in attacking human minds."
"Like parasites, they burrow into corpses, especially recently deceased ones with relatively intact brains, feeding on decaying brain matter. Using the deceased's memories, they unleash mental assaults capable of driving people mad."
He pointed to his temple:
"We Awakened may have enhanced physical abilities, but mentally... we're not much different from ordinary people."
"Unless you're specifically specialized in mental fortitude or have special defensive abilities, entering is practically suicide."
"You're the first Awakened I've seen who can both break illusions and maintain formidable combat capabilities."
Han Ning recalled the lingering screams of agony in his mind and said with lingering fear: "So White Egret Port is inside?"
"Not confirmed yet."
"We've attempted entering the Mist Zone from every direction but never reached the actual White Egret Port."
"However, we speculate the port lies at the core of this Mist Zone."
Chen Feng's tone grew grave,
"This Mist Zone is like an enormous maze—the deeper you go, the more terrifying the monsters become."
"Our deepest penetration only reaches about 500 meters into the white mist. No one who went further has ever returned."
"As for the berthing area of White Egret Port, whether ships remain, or the exact situation there... we simply don't know."
"Only 500 meters deep?" Han Ning frowned deeply.
"What did you expect?"
Hearing Han Ning's skeptical tone, Lu Yunping couldn't help interjecting,
.
"The Mirage Worms are the weakest monsters in the Mist Zone, and the ever-present white mist itself carries hallucinogenic effects. The deeper you go, the thicker the fog becomes, making it easy to lose your way."
Han Ning fell silent for a moment before continuing:
"If White Egret Port is so dangerous, why insist on pushing through here? Aren't there other ports and shipyards in Egret City? Like East Port or South Sand Port?"
"You think those places are any safer?" Chen Feng scoffed.
"From the intelligence we've gathered and the accounts of refugees from other areas, we've pieced together that the monsters in the city follow a distribution pattern."
"Go on," Han Ning said, intrigued.
"The closer you get to the city's outskirts—the wasteland—the stronger and more varied the monsters become. In contrast, the downtown areas near densely populated zones have relatively weaker monsters."
Seeing Han Ning's puzzled expression, he explained:
"We suspect it might be related to the so-called 'Black Tide' erosion. The region where Egret City descended is likely situated on land. The rainfall caused by the Black Tide is easily absorbed by the soil, making land inherently less dangerous."
"But over time, as water accumulates and rivers, lakes, and seas swell, flooding the land, even the terrain becomes increasingly hazardous."
"Monsters spreading from the wastelands naturally have to pass through the city's outskirts before reaching the interior."
"Honestly, these are secondary reasons. The most important one is... the Mist Zone isn't so dangerous as to be hopeless. It's more like a double-edged sword—bringing immense peril while also helping us grow stronger."
"Grow stronger..."
Han Ning's mind flashed to the slight increase in his Mental Power.
A gleam flickered in Chen Feng's eyes:
"You already know that hunting these monsters and absorbing the Energy they release upon death makes us stronger."
"But you might not have noticed—hunting monsters in different zones seems to emphasize different 'enhancement directions'!"
He tapped his temple:
"Killing Mirage Worms in this Mist Zone and absorbing their Energy not only strengthens the body but is especially effective at resisting mental shocks and sharpening perception."
"At first, we couldn't even venture 100 meters in. Now, elites like us can operate in areas 200, even 300 or 400 meters deep for a while."
"What does that mean? It means this Mist Zone is like a massive training ground!"
"The Energy properties of the monsters here happen to temper our weakest aspect—the mind."
"By growing stronger here, we earn the right to explore deeper areas, including White Egret Port."
"According to accounts from refugees from other zones, East Port is infested with water serpents that manipulate currents. They're absurdly fast and have massive attack ranges—many people were shredded before they could react."
"South Sand Port is even weirder. The waters are teeming with Slime Monsters that secrete potent acid. Ships dissolve on contact, and even a splash will rot flesh."
"Compared to those, the Mist Zone, while eerie and perilous, at least doesn't have such a high fatality rate."
All these ports are uniformly dominated by formidable monsters.
Monsters were pouring in from the outskirts, and facilities like ports and shipyards were mostly located at the city's periphery.
"Rather than charging blindly into potentially more terrifying areas with unknown risks, why don't we concentrate our efforts and thoroughly explore this region we've already begun to understand?" Chen Feng countered.
Lu Yunping cleared his throat and interjected:
"Ahem... just to add, while Old Chen makes a good point, ever since we arrived here until now, over 50% of the Awakened who explored White Egret Port and other areas have already fallen..."
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