Chapter 268: Unknown Realm

Clearly, the "great-nephew" swallowed by the thick fog before him had encountered an entity while fleeing in panic; and as the sole stroke of luck amidst his many misfortunes today, the entity he met was not "Ink Stain" or the "Carnival Crowd," but the gentle, harmless neutral entity "Grandma Tree."

As for why "Grandma Tree," who should have been wandering in an autumn forest, appeared in this thick fog, no one cared at this point... after all, all sorts of entities seemed capable of emerging from this strange fog.

"The detector found no trace of 'Grandma Tree'; it may have wandered elsewhere or dissipated on its own," a Deep Diver reported on the situation upon finding the trapped person. This soldier's power armor was still equipped with various additional support devices, appearing to be a support team member. "No traces of other entity activity were found at the scene, but some withered, broken branches were discovered around the trapped person. 'Grandma Tree' may have attempted to plant a tree to hang the trapped person; after the attempt failed, it stuck him to the wall..."

"What now?" A huge fox head poked out from beside Yu Sheng. The demon fox looked curiously at the crystal-clear resin crystal on the ground. "Should we smash this thing to get the person out?... Slurp, this looks like a piece of candy..."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng broke out in a cold sweat and immediately turned his head to cover the demon fox's snout: "You absolutely must not nibble on this!"

"We can't smash it directly; the person would shatter along with it," Xu Jiali also shook her head. "It's best not to move him further right now either, because according to my observation, this crystal has entered a fragile phase—next, we just wait. As long as we wait, Grandma Tree's resin will only seal a person for one to two hours; when the time is up, the resin will 'melt.' Judging by the crystal state, he should have been sealed for over an hour, so it's about time for it to melt."

"Alright, then we'll just wait nearby," Yu Sheng heard this and simply sat down on the ground beside them, leaning against Hu Lizheng's furry front paw. "Just right, I need a rest too... those two waves just now really exhausted me."

Hu Lizheng lowered her head to look at Yu Sheng leaning on her paw, used her other paw to gently touch the other party, then rested her head to the side and began closing her eyes to rest alongside Yu Sheng.

Xu Jiali watched this scene and couldn't hold back: "Wait... this is still an Otherworld, how can you two be so relaxed?"

"Normal. A silly fox relaxes only when beside Yu Sheng; Yu Sheng can relax anywhere," Irene also climbed onto Hu Lizheng's front paw at this moment, finding a comfortable position to lie down while waving at Xu Jiali. "Let me tell you, Yu Sheng is actually quite unhappy right now. The 'Ink Stain' encountered earlier split into ink stains that couldn't be eaten; later, the cluster of Celebrators died leaving a ground full of shredded paper that couldn't be eaten. He must be depressed... Ouch!"

Yu Sheng didn't even open his eyes; he delivered a knife-hand strike to the little doll's head, cutting off Bi Bi Ji's chatter.

Xu Jiali twitched the corner of her mouth, but having dealt with Yu Sheng's group a few times, he was relatively adapted to the eccentric style of these three "people," so he turned his head and continued on guard.

After all, anthropomorphic entities could lie flat, but he, leading a group of Deep Divers, dared not relax even slightly—this strange thick fog gave him a quite terrible feeling.

He always felt that something else might be hidden in this place—not just that more entities might emerge, but that the fog itself was far more sinister than it appeared.

Xu Jiali looked up and found that besides the warriors she brought, only Little Red Riding Hood nearby maintained a highly alert posture. The Phantom Wolf Pack appeared and disappeared beside her; occasionally, wolf shadows left or returned from the thick fog in the distance, seemingly continuously scouting the situation deep within the fog.

To be honest, Gao Zhongsheng is reliable.

"You ran all the way from that shopping mall to here, right?" he suddenly asked. "Did your wolf pack confirm exactly how large the range of this thick fog is?"

"Six blocks have been confirmed so far," Little Red Riding Hood said with a serious face. "Centered on Wanxiangji Mall, there are 'mirrors' of at least six surrounding blocks within this big fog, with the furthest reaching over to Taiyuan Road. And this isn't the limit—there is still solid ground and buildings further out, but the fog will become thicker than here; even the wolves' perception seems covered by something, making it impossible to see or hear anything beyond three meters. I dare not go deeper."

She paused here, reached out to touch a shadow wolf that materialized from the air, her expression grave.

"I suspect there are things in the fog in those places. My wolves... conveyed fear to me, but those things hiding in the fog do not seem to intend to come over."

"Are they entities?"

"Hard to say; the fog is too thick to see through anything," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "I'm afraid only your Director's 'Eye' can see the situation in the distance here."

Xu Jiali nodded with a face as still as water, then turned her head to ask: "What is the depth here now?"

Upon hearing this, a Deep Diver immediately raised his arm and quickly operated the controller on his arm armor: "Report, current depth L-2, fluctuating around twenty percent, overall stable!"

"Depth 2," Xu Jiali exhaled lightly. "Theoretically, this isn't an extreme environment; at least most physical laws align with the real world... but what I fear is that the depth distribution here is very uneven; we might just happen to be in the 'shallow water zone' of this Otherworld..."

Just then, a faint crackling sound suddenly came from the side, interrupting the burly man's muttering.

Yu Sheng, who had been leaning on Hu Lizheng's large paw with eyes closed to rest, instantly opened his eyes; several nearby gazes also fell on the direction where the sound came from almost simultaneously.

That pale yellow, crystal-clear "amber" was cracking rapidly, and mere seconds later, melting began around those cracks; the entire crystal dissolved rapidly like ice under the scorching sun.

The crystal turned into viscous resin, the resin quickly softened further, and the young man sealed inside fell to the ground; with the slight impact of landing, he finally took a sharp breath—then immediately woke up while coughing violently.

"Cough, cough, cough..." The young man struggled to rise from a pool of thin resin, seemingly trying to stand up instinctively, but because his posture couldn't generate force, he slipped in the resin immediately after getting up; it was precisely this fall that finally made him slightly more awake, then he sat there with wide eyes staring at the surroundings.

Power-armor-clad warriors fully armed.

Wolf packs shadowy in the fog.

A doll with glaring red eyes. A fox the size of two vans—just its head was larger than his entire body.

When sealed by the "amber," his mind could still function, yet that thick resin greatly interfered with his perception of the outside world—he could only see some blurry shadows wandering around, and now he finally saw what those shadows looked like.

The unlucky nephew thought for a moment, then "Gah!" and tried to sit backward.

But before he could fall halfway, Irene pulled him back directly with spider silk.

The chilling, bone-piercing spider silk could make an ordinary person have nightmares all night, but it was also truly refreshing; seeing the great-nephew about to faint, he instantly jolted awake as if drugged, then let out a perfectly enunciated exclamation: "Ah, wocao!!!"

"You're awake," Yu Sheng spoke up only then.

Little Red Riding Hood also nodded: "We've been waiting for you for a long time."

The young man blinked, seeming to notice Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood's faces only now—mainly because the images of the figures surrounding them were too impactful, so he hadn't noticed these two were present at all; only when familiar faces appeared did he suddenly snap out of his terror, and reason gradually returned to his mind.

But residual noise still echoed in his heart; various terrifying illusions, as if awakening from memory, entangled him, weaving into bizarre and colorful hallucinations at the edge of his vision.

He shook his head, vaguely hearing a tall figure in black power armor speaking nearby.

!

"Mild mental pollution, sanity reduced—0.5 units of mental protection agent, 1 unit of buffer mixture... do not use sanity blockers; he can't withstand it."

Someone came over and grabbed his arm; a slight stinging pain came from his skin.

"Medicine injected."

The young man's eyes, which had already fallen into chaos, regained clarity once more.

"I..." He blinked, his gaze sweeping around once more, finally landing on Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood again. "Am I saved?"

Then he saw that huge fox head poke out from behind Yu Sheng, emitting a girl's voice: "Yes, Benefactor brought people to save you!"

The young man instantly stepped back two or three steps, his legs going soft again: "Brother Yu, this... this doesn't eat people, right?!"

"Doesn't eat," Yu Sheng hadn't even spoken yet, but Hu Lizheng shook her head very seriously. "I love chicken legs, roasted mushrooms, and dishes cooked by Benefactor! And noodles..."

As she spoke, drool was about to fall; she looked down at Yu Sheng: "Benefactor, I'm hungry."

The young man opposite: "... (vibration mode)"

"The first contact with 'this side' of the world is like this; seeing anything easily scares people," Little Red Riding Hood wore a smile on her face, looking at the terrified and nervous young man with the air of an experienced person—although her own age was younger than his—then she waved her hand. "Anyway, welcome to the other side of the daily world; today is your first day officially crossing the boundary—everyone will understand any reaction, but whatever questions you have, let's discuss them after returning to the real world."

"Yes, this place is not suitable for staying long; let's go back first," Yu Sheng said while raising his hand to open the gate returning to Border City, then turned his head and saw Hu Lizheng trying to stuff her snout into the gate, immediately breaking out in a cold sweat. "Change back first! Can you even squeeze through that?"

Hu Lizheng quickly resumed her human form amidst a burst of light, but the young man opposite was dumbfounded once again...

He had been in a state of being unable to react from start to finish, and was still dazed now.

Yu Sheng then turned his gaze again to the burly man in power armor nearby.

"Let's go together? My gate feels much more convenient than your bunch of gadgets."

"No, no, no, we'll still use our own method to go back," Xu Jiali heard this and quickly waved her hands. "If Headquarters sees our 'Umbilical Cord' broken, they'll likely issue a sharp scream from top to bottom—then I'll really be buried on the spot by the Director when I return."

As he spoke, the figures of the Deep Divers behind him began to gradually fade, vanishing one by one into the thick mist.

Seeing this, Yu Sheng also let out a breath, waved to the remaining people beside him, and said, "Let's withdraw too!"

(End of this chapter)