Chapter 22: Misty Town

Flying to the International Airport of Balia City, Brazil, by plane, as they flew overhead, Yang Yi saw a thick white mist far below, covering an area of about fifty li.

The mist towered a hundred meters high, and the plane circled the Misty Town.

Because a plane had previously lost signal while passing over Misty Town and nearly crashed, the local government urgently changed the flight route over this area.

After disembarking at the International Airport of Balia City, they took a car to Misty Town.

"I really envy Yang Yi; she can fly over directly," Feng Liancheng said; he was the technical support for this mission.

"Once we arrive, you are responsible for 'taking over' their database to see if they are hiding anything." Before coming, Director Zhou had assigned everyone their tasks on the plane, and he emphasized them again this time.

"Understood! I am responsible for taking over Misty Town's database; Chen Chen Yushu and Wei Chang'an are responsible for investigating the situation around the perimeter of Misty Town; the Office for Abnormal Creature Prevention is responsible for analyzing various data from Misty Town. We must all be ready to handle logistics, removing all worries for Comrade Yang Yi." As Feng Liancheng spoke, he shrugged.

Yang Yi, while reviewing the documents, teased, "You only dare act this way because Director Zhou has a good temper; you wouldn't be so casual in front of Director Zheng."

"He keeps a stern face all day; I wouldn't dare!" Feng Liancheng sighed deeply.

After everyone laughed and chatted for a while, they fell silent simultaneously as they approached Misty Town.

Before even getting close, the white mist ahead, towering a hundred meters high, shrouded the space between heaven and earth.

From a distance, a canopy formed of mist descended upon the ground, resembling the oppressive prelude before an apocalyptic catastrophe.

A ring of military facilities was stationed on the outer edge of the white mist, guarded with extreme strictness.

Further out was a crowd of Brazilian citizens; some were families whose loved ones were trapped in the mist, their expressions filled with sorrow and anxiety; some were there to watch the spectacle; some were conducting video live streams; and some held homemade signs protesting Brazil's inaction.

There were even more reporters from various countries, carrying cameras to broadcast the situation at Misty Town to the whole world.

The Xia Country convoy approached slowly; the Brazilian military, having already received word, welcomed them inside the restricted zone, and the crowd outside suddenly erupted into commotion.

A middle-aged man with a broken expression suddenly broke through the military blockade, rushed to Yang Yi's car window, and shouted loudly, causing the driver to slam on the brakes.

Immediately, the middle-aged man was pulled away by the guards, and the convoy was able to continue moving forward.

"What was he shouting just now?" Yang Yi asked the translator.

The translator, provided by the Brazilian side, was a middle-aged woman who explained with a complex expression on her face: "He said: Please save my wife and children; they are all in Masara Town... Masara Town is the Misty Town ahead; now everyone has stopped calling it by its original name..."

After Yang Yi got out of the car, representatives from the Brazilian side were waiting for them; in the distance, reporters' flashlights began to crackle and flash, and lenses focused on Yang Yi.

"Look! It's Young Lady Superwoman!"

"Oh my god, has she come to save the people of Misty Town?"

"The people in Misty Town are saved!"

"Not necessarily; after all, the people in the town have been trapped for half a month; perhaps they might have already..." Before the words were finished, an angry family member of a town resident punched the speaker to the ground.

"I say, do you really believe she can solve this matter? This incident is not like the Fire Demon incident last time..." a person who seemed to know the inside story said mysteriously.

Just as everyone was talking loudly and discussing the matter, suddenly someone shouted desperately toward Yang Yi:

"Young Lady Superwoman! Please save my family! They are all inside Masara Town! I beg you..."

Following this voice came the relatives of the town residents:

"My father and mother are still inside!"

"My husband is inside! I beg you, save him!"

"My wife, son, and daughter are all inside; oh God, one is only 5 years old, and the other is only 3 years old!"

Hearing the urgent calls in her ears, Yang Yi looked at those desperate people. Sensing the heavy atmosphere at this moment, the translator spontaneously began to translate these people's pleas.

Gazing at the mist not far ahead, Yang Yi frowned deeply.

At the very edge of the mist, where the fog was thinnest, visibility reached about 5 to 6 meters; the deeper one went, the thicker the mist became, and gradually visibility dropped to less than 3 meters.

The white mist swirled, intertwining with each other as if alive.

Yang Yi moved her fingers, and the white mist deep within was suddenly stirred by some invisible force, then gradually returned to its original state.

Her expression tightened; the closer she got to the white mist, the more she felt her own power slowly increasing.

"Can you see clearly inside?" Yang Yi asked Feng Liancheng beside her.

"I am farsighted, not x-ray vision," he rolled his eyes, "but under the current situation, I'm afraid no kind of vision will work."

The Brazilian representative stopped the translator and invited Yang Yi and the others into a tent hastily set up.

The Xia Country Abnormal Creature Prevention Group began to intervene in their research work; the Strategic Analysis Group also began to study and analyze various data from Misty Town together with the Brazilian military; even Feng Liancheng took out his computer and, without further ado, connected to their database.

Chen Chen Yushu and Wei Chang'an, accompanied by the Brazilian military, went to investigate the surroundings of Misty Town.

Only Yang Yi remained silent, following behind Director Zhou, listening to the conversation between the two sides through the translator.

The Brazilian representative was named Maddock Barrotti, a general, a burly middle-aged white man. His skin was sunburned red, and his expression was weary; when he heard Director Zhou demand that the situation be investigated clearly before allowing Yang Yi to enter Misty Town, he began to grow anxious.

"If we could investigate clearly, we wouldn't be sitting here waiting idly! Everyone who went in has not come out! Drones and robots lost signal as soon as they went in!"

"We tied ropes to the people and police dogs who went in, agreeing to drag them back within half an hour, but the ropes were either untied or broken; we do not know what exactly happened inside!"

"We sent our own Awakened, one B-rank and three C-ranks; they went in and never returned! The United Nations dispatched a team composed entirely of five B-rank Awakened; they all disappeared inside!"

"Now, besides firing missiles into the white mist, we have no other option! But if we do that, we will be drowned by spit; the reporters watching from the perimeter will kill us with the news!"

"Please, Captain Yang, act quickly; there are more than 4,000 people inside! They are all in imminent danger!"

Director Zhou's expression remained calm and unshaken.

It was not that he lacked sympathy; standing in his position, he had to ensure that his own side suffered as little harm as possible. Moreover, this Misty Town was too eerie; he also had to guard against the possibility that it was a trap set by the other side in collusion with certain countries.

After all, Yang Yi was the only one; she was one of the most important strategic resources of Xia Country currently.

Director Zhou would not budge; Barrotti, suppressing his anger, kept urging, and the atmosphere in the room quickly became tense.

Yang Yi sighed inwardly and asked Feng Liancheng, "How is it? Did you find anything?"

Feng Liancheng's fingers flew across the keyboard; without turning his head, he said, "I have checked most of the data; they are not lying; they have shared most of the data. The only thing they are hiding is probably the analysis results of the white mist's composition."

"The analysis results of the white mist's composition?"

"Yes, the white mist contains a large amount of dark matter, which has immense benefits for ordinary people's awakening and for enhancing the abilities of Awakened; I think this is the reason they did not share this point. Perhaps, after resolving this Misty Town incident, they still want to use this white mist for something."

Yang Yi nodded; this might be the reason she felt her power amplification increase the closer she got to the white mist.

"I'm going out for a walk," she said, and walked straight out of the tent.

Maddock and Director Zhou stopped arguing and followed her out.

Yang Yi watched for a while, then flew up above the small town shrouded in mist.

The people below saw this scene and began to cry out in shock.

Yang Yi ignored these sounds and circled once around the perimeter of the mist.

The mist was extremely thick; the small town was completely shrouded within it, its whereabouts entirely invisible. She felt the mist seemed alive, every swirling and writhing motion like a breath.

Moreover, it was still continuing to "grow."

Looking down from the sky at its massive form, Yang Yi seemed to see a slow yet ferocious creature devouring life to nourish itself.

If it were alive, then what was its food?

Yang Yi narrowed her eyes.

Then, she returned to the ground and said to Director Zhou, "I'll go in for a bit!"

"But the situation hasn't been clarified yet..."

"They've been investigating for half a month and still haven't clarified it; we can't possibly clarify it just by arriving." Yang Yi said, "Besides, wasn't it already decided before we came?"

Director Zhou looked worried and gritted his teeth, saying, "If you discover something is wrong, come back immediately; do not take risks under any circumstances. You are our..."

"... important national resource, a strategic-level weapon, possessing irreplaceable value." Yang Yi shrugged and continued, "To be honest, I don't really like this metaphor."

Director Zhou patted her shoulder. "Of course, you are a person, our comrade, not some resource; I just wanted to express the organization's regard for you." Speaking thus, he emphasized again: "Do not take risks! The moment you find you cannot solve things yourself, come out immediately."

"Alright."

Yang Yi nodded solemnly, then flew directly into the air, found the very center of the mist, and dove straight in.

————

Ark Country, Xincheng.

"Chris, look! Our Lady of the Human World has started saving the world again!"

Having just finished filming a coastal highway racing scene, Chris wiped his sweat and stepped into the support vehicle. Assistant John held up a phone to show him a live news broadcast.

On the phone screen, an endless expanse of mist occupied a quarter of the frame; below, crowds were screaming and bustling, while at the very top of the mist, a tiny black dot was flying.

The high-definition lens zoomed in; that was Yang Yi's figure.

She wore her hair loose over her shoulders, still dressed in a loose white shirt, with gray suit trousers and white sneakers below. Because the clothes were very loose, when she flew, the wind billowed the fabric against her body, making her appear somewhat frail.

She patrolled, flying up above the mist; her figure became a black dot, almost impossible for the camera to capture, and then that black dot, without hesitation, charged into the oppressive, gloomy mist.

Chris felt his heart skip a beat instantly.

The crowd watching on television shouted, "She went in! She's going to save those people!"

"She's S-Class; she can definitely save those people!"

"I don't know how the people inside are doing, but with the Lady of the Human World taking action, at least this mist won't spread further, right?"

"Yes! If we let the mist here keep spreading, the entire Balia City will be in danger! My home is in Balia City; I don't want to move!"

The reporter spoke to the camera: "Miss Yang Yi, at the request of the United Nations and the country of Brazil, has come to rescue the mist-shrouded town. Just now, she entered the town's interior from above; we will continue to follow up..."

Chris remembered he had once asked her, "Are you afraid when facing monsters?"

She said, "Of course I'm afraid."

She said she would imagine those monsters as cabbages, so she wouldn't be so afraid.

She said she had nightmares, dreaming of monsters.

Chris stared at the phone; the mist in the footage looked so mysterious and dangerous.

Everyone was concerned about whether she could resolve this mist and rescue the people within it, but no one cared whether she felt just as afraid facing these terrifying things.