Chapter 329: Tide of Grey Mist, The Choice

The lone smoke of the vast desert rises straight, the long river reflects the round setting sun.

At dusk, under the orange-red sky, cooking smoke curls upward from the edge of the Life Continent.

Dan watches the scene before him with a faint smile, nodding from time to time to the crowd returning fully loaded, who are laughing and chatting with faces full of smiles, carrying giant, still-leaping fish beasts, crab beasts, and lizard beasts unique to the desert.

Whoosh—

Wisps of wind, mixed with the increasingly chilly temperature of the desert nightfall, scrape against the people on the Hunting Ship, and the sky grows increasingly grey and dark.

Looking into the distance, one seems to be able to see a few shadows of thick grey mist... Wait! Grey mist?!

In an instant, Dan widens his only remaining right eye to look at the grey mist appearing in the distance, his thoughts racing, his expression changing drastically.

"Ren! Sound the horn!!"

"Activate the Anti-Spirit Barrier! The Grey Mist is here!!"

This sentence is roared out by Dan, who has just realized the situation!

The loud roar, carrying a trace of a voice crack, travels far across this orange-red, desolate world, and the anxiety contained within it cannot help but make one shudder.

"Quick! Quick! The Grey Mist has descended again, get back on the ship quickly!"

In an instant, the crowd on the Hunting Ship's gangway, who were laughing and chatting, stop their smiles, their expressions changing abruptly as they wave their large hands to urge the companions beside them.

Woo—!!

The atmosphere, which was happy and harmonious just a moment ago, is shattered in an instant by the urgent, warning-filled long blast, vanishing without a trace!

"Grey Mist?"

Having spent a wonderful day with her Mao Mao and the big sister from the Witch Doctor Team, Zhou Xiaoxiao, who was happily hopping along and about to head home, freezes. She looks at the crowd around her, whose expressions have become anxious, with some confusion, not understanding what has happened.

There are many others around her doing the same; they are all survivors from the Lingdi who have only just integrated into the Sand Castle. While confused, their bodies, driven by the psychology of following the crowd, help their anxious companions return to the Hunting Ship more quickly.

At this moment, even Baichuan feels that the situation is very wrong. He keeps scanning the expressions of the crowd, and he bites the corner of the stunned girl's clothes, pulling her to wake up and run toward the deck.

"Grey Mist" seems to be a very dangerous thing!

Meanwhile, after his initial roar, Dan has already set off, running toward one of the core locations of this Hunting Ship—the Anti-Spirit Room!

At this moment, Dan recalls that a full two years have passed since the last Grey Mist invasion!

The Grey Mist, which normally only descends every two years and three months, has actually arrived three months early this time!

Damn it!

Cursing under his breath, he quickens his pace, his Tier 2 strength allowing him to sweep toward the Anti-Spirit Room like a gust of wind.

Earlier, after Dan's roar, "Ren," who had been guarding the Anti-Spirit Room, also acted out of anxiety, first triggering the Hunting Ship's long alarm, then continuously directing and urging the personnel inside to operate the equipment. Don't let the fact that this Hunting Ship looks very ancient and primitive fool you.

But don't forget, this is a vast world where countless different civilizations have fallen; this Hunting Ship is the crystallization born from the mysterious combination of a certain civilization and this world! Its operation is not as primitive and simple as it looks, and naturally, it is not something just anyone can control!

At this moment, everyone is busy, even if some of them don't understand what happened at all. But even without understanding, just by being infected by the anxious and heavy emotions of those around them, they have a faint premonition in their hearts and follow suit, becoming busy as well.

A large amount of equipment and tents previously set up at the edge of the Life Continent begin to be dismantled, moved by strong, tall men working together, mixed with various beast roars, shouts, and urgings—an endless, noisy scene!

Amidst this, Zhou Xiaoxiao, who has already returned to the Hunting Ship, also quietly breathes a sigh of relief and begins to observe her surroundings. Although the girl still doesn't know what happened, in her heart, the concept that the Hunting Ship is safe has already taken root.

Baichuan is also frowning, slowly approaching the edge of the deck. Watching the Grey Mist, which is getting closer and closer—and even has wisps being blown over by the cold wind because it is too thin—he extends a front paw and gently touches the Grey Mist.

In an instant, a burning pain emerges directly from the left paw he used to touch it, and the fur at the point of contact withers and falls off at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Immediately after, his heart and body seem to develop a slight restlessness, and he feels a strong urge to roar out and destroy something!

In an instant, Baichuan retracts his paw as if electrocuted, retreating repeatedly in vigilance, and even pulls back the girl who was curious and wanted to learn from him by touching it.

The Grey Mist is very dangerous! At the very least, it is harmful to living beings!

This is the information Baichuan understands in an instant.

He looks around vigilantly and discovers that those who are still nervously but orderly rushing back to the Hunting Ship are also constantly reminding their companions who are unaware of the situation not to touch the Grey Mist.

Time flows slowly as everyone nervously retreats.

In less than half an hour, as the Grey Mist grows thicker and slowly presses in, all personnel, carrying their respective equipment, have returned to the Hunting Ship.

The next instant, as the last person steps onto the deck, with a crisp, vibrating sound, the entire ship suddenly shudders, retracting the lowered gangway, and a transparent barrier rises rapidly, wrapping the entire Hunting Ship within it.

Afterward, all the Grey Mist is blocked out by this transparent barrier; even the small amount of Grey Mist that drifted onto the Hunting Ship melts away like ice and snow at this moment.

Within a few breaths, a familiar, clear assembly chime sounds.

Everyone cannot help but straighten up and slowly gather toward the plaza in the center of the deck.

Not long after, Dan, wearing an eyepatch over his left eye and looking solemn, returns to the center position with his greatsword on his back. His expression is unusually solemn, even heavy and worried!

Having stayed for a long time during this period, the survivors from the Lingdi have discovered that, in fact, this giant man who looked very terrifying at first is a very gentle person in daily interactions.

Some of them had once interrupted him repeatedly, even making him roar and threaten them, yet he never truly killed anyone. The only show of force was when he ignored their dignity several times and threw them off the Hunting Ship to fend for themselves.

If this were any other gathering place, they would have already been killed as an example to others, and even if they hadn't made a mistake at the start, some power-holders might have proactively dragged one or two out to kill as an example.

However, such a gentle captain is unusually serious today, and coupled with the "Grey Mist" they just experienced, as well as the unusually heavy mood of the crowd, those who have just joined have a bad premonition in their hearts.

"Where is Brother? Where did he go?"

Amidst the crowd, an extremely faint mutter sounds, catching Baichuan's attention.

He turns his head and realizes that the girl beside him is looking around, searching for something. He also suddenly reacts—it seems Zhou Yun is missing?!

Thinking of a certain possibility, he also keeps looking around, searching for the figure of the young man.

"I know that many of you must be very curious right now about what exactly happened. I am very sorry about this, but now is not the time to talk about it..."

Dan, above, speaks. His expression carries a trace of apology, his single eye scanning the crowd below, and he says slowly in as gentle a tone as possible. After explaining a little, his expression turns serious, "... The sudden attack of the Grey Mist has caused everyone some panic. Now that the Anti-Spirit Barrier is up, each team leader, please take a headcount..."

"Logistics Team leader, You Yu! Take a headcount of your personnel!"

"Yes!"

"Witch Doctor Team leader, You Ling! Take a headcount of..."

"Yes!"

"..."

Under his serious face, one orderly command after another is issued by Dan and implemented, until the final, "Earth Sand Team leader, You Fei! Take a headcount of your personnel!"

However, the booming voice he imagined did not respond to him; there was only dead silence!

Dan's heart skipped a beat, and he had a certain premonition; with a somewhat grim expression, he kept scanning the crowd, yet he could never find that lean figure, while at the same time, bad news kept coming from the captains of various squads!

"Report! Two people missing from the Logistics Team..."

"Report, one person missing from the Witch Doctor Team..."

"..."

At this moment, Baichuan was also having a bit of a headache; beside him was a petite girl who couldn't find her brother, suddenly realized something, and was clutching a portion of his fur while on the verge of tears—for this, he rarely did not avoid the girl's helpless reliance.

He looked outside at the sky, which had become a grey haze interspersed with flickering, eerie Light Points; he could even vaguely see figures of people and beasts, larger than the Hunting Ship, walking within the grey, misty fog in the depths!

He had thought that leaving Lingdi Gucheng would mean safety, but he hadn't expected the outside to be even more dangerous.

Even if it was just a fleeting glance, the moment he saw those sky-high human and beast shadows, an abyss-like aura rushed toward him, making Baichuan's hair stand on end.

That was the instinctive reaction of a living being facing a more terrifying existence and the fatal crisis it brought.

The deepest parts of his flesh and blood were wailing, trembling, and terrified... wanting to escape!

Even Baichuan's will could not currently change the instinct brought about by this body.

Baichuan had not felt this way even when facing the Tier 2 Dan; although it was related to Dan not revealing his aura, the gap in strength was indeed quite large.

At this moment, the Hunting Ship was like being trapped in the center of a storm, with fatal dangers everywhere, and they had unfortunately suffered personnel losses.

Baichuan, who did not know what he was pondering, slowly looked toward the front of the crowd, at the tall, one-eyed giant, Dan.

"Fifteen people, and they are the most outstanding juniors..." Dan's face turned dark; listening to the reports coming in his ear, he murmured in a heavy, low voice, his expression shifting constantly, his heart feeling bitter and regretful. This was his negligence; if he hadn't misjudged the arrival time of the Grey Mist, such a dangerous situation would never have occurred...

He hadn't expected that the Grey Mist, which hadn't had a Time anomaly for over thirty years, would start descending early again, and at such a tense moment...

After a long while, he painfully closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, then suddenly opened them; a sharp light flashed in his eyes, full of determination and perseverance, and he then walked back toward the Anti-Spirit Room.

"Captain, the Hunting Ship is leaving..." Ren, the second-in-command of the Hunting Ship, who was very familiar with Dan, saw what was about to happen and hurriedly followed, trying to dissuade him.

"No," Dan shook his head, blocking Ren's hand, then the corners of his mouth curled into an arc as he turned his head to stare into Ren's eyes, "Ren, you should know my character; my Sand Castle juniors have all fallen into crisis because of my mistake, how could I just give up now?"

"But..." Ren still wanted to say something.

"If even I give up, then who else will save them? What difference would this Sand Castle have from the one of the past? Wouldn't our hard work and efforts be in vain?"

"The position of Captain and Castle Master certainly allows the person who sits in it to be a cut above others and enjoy special privileges; it is a symbol of status and power. But its true meaning is: when danger and disaster arrive, I will block everything for you, keeping safety and warmth behind my back."

"Back then, you chose to follow me, wasn't it precisely because of this?!"

"Yes!" Ren nodded heavily, unable to speak; at this moment, he, who had wanted to dissuade Dan, could no longer say anything, because it was precisely for this reason that they had gathered together, "Then let me go with you..."

"Alright, Ren, say no more; if I cannot do it, then more people will be of no avail." Dan interrupted the other's words; during their exchange, they had already returned from the Anti-Spirit Room to the high platform of the deck plaza.

He slowly turned his head, looked at the crowd below, and suddenly said loudly: "Ren, Vice-Captain! From this moment on, everything on this Hunting Ship is left to your decision! You Yu, You Ling... you must listen well to Ren's orders. Ren, once the Time has passed one hour and I have not returned, set sail and return to Sand Castle."

"Gathering of the sands, Sand Castle endures forever!"

"Yes! Gathering of the sands, Sand Castle endures forever!"

"Yes!" Ren responded painfully in a loud voice, "Gathering of the sands, Sand Castle endures forever!"

Under Dan's caution since he took office, the Grey Mist would usually stop all dangerous activities one or two months before its appearance; because of this, the younger generation on the Hunting Ship had not been lost in the Grey Mist for a long time, and they simply did not understand the terror of the Grey Mist that only those captains knew!

He understood that even though Dan had reached Tier 2 and could initially manifest his surging Blood Qi to display miraculous power, he was still in great danger in this Grey Mist!

As he finished speaking, Dan jumped lightly off the high platform and, amidst the crowd's confusion, walked step by step to the relatives of the missing personnel, comforting them one by one in a low voice. Those missing youths were all outstanding juniors of Sand Castle, and they were not alone on this Hunting Ship.

"Little Zhou, don't worry, I will definitely bring your brother back for you!"

After a long while, the tall giant came to the side of the somewhat helpless girl, slowly squatted down, and said to her gently but firmly in a low voice.

"R-really?"

The girl's eyes were red as she clutched the soft fur of the big cat and asked in a small voice.

"Yes! It will be fine!"

"C-can I go with you?"

"Sorry... that won't do."

Dan was silent, subconsciously gripping the grey, palm-sized heart in his hand.

Beside him, Baichuan squinted his eyes and carefully watched this seemingly rugged giant for a while, especially the grey heart that the other had specifically gone into the cabin to retrieve; it was obtained from within the bodies of those "human shadows" in the Lingdi.

Dan had once said that one of the most important resources in the Lingdi was the Spirit Organ. Was one of its functions related to the Grey Mist?

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Baichuan looked again at the girl who was somewhat helpless and lost after discovering that her only relative had gone missing within a single day.

After a long while, he sighed inwardly...

(End of this chapter)