Chapter 194 Keeping Up

Chapter 194: Keeping Pace

"Mr. Bai," Feng Zhe began, "we've been circling in this dense fog for ages, unable to find the right path. Rather than continuing to wander aimlessly, we'd be better off following you." As he spoke, his gaze wasn't fixed on Su Bai, but rather on Jin Zheng and Jin Yi, who walked behind him.

Jin Zheng, usually unable to keep quiet, wore a hesitant expression, his eyes darting evasively.

Though Feng Zhe didn't know what secret the Jin brothers were keeping, he could discern that despite Mr. Bai's perpetual smile, his eyes held an unspoken aloofness. While deciphering expressions isn't easy and often leads to misinterpretations, Feng Zhe's keen intuition told him that Mr. Bai wasn't merely unwilling to burden them; he simply had no desire to travel with them at all.

Meanwhile, the Jin brothers remained utterly silent, not even acknowledging Ke Dapeng or the others they knew.

This struck Feng Zhe as odd. According to Ke Dapeng, these "twin" brothers weren't particularly strong. In a survival situation within the foggy area, they should have sought out a larger, more powerful team. Yet, Jin Zheng and Jin Yi had bypassed Feng Zhe's group of eight, choosing instead to unhesitatingly follow Mr. Bai alone.

Did this imply that, in the Jin brothers' estimation, Mr. Bai alone was worth all eight of them? Even stronger than all eight? More likely to find a way out of the foggy area?

Once this thought solidified in Feng Zhe's mind, he wasted no time in leading his companions to follow Su Bai's footsteps. As Feng Zhe himself admitted, while he could clear the fog in a limited area, their team had been lost for a long time, aimlessly drifting. They might as well take a gamble and follow the peculiar Mr. Bai; perhaps it would lead to something worthwhile.

"Feng Zhe?" Although Feng Zhe was the team's anchor, his teammates hesitated when he signaled them to follow these unfamiliar players.

"We can't keep going in circles like this," Feng Zhe said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "We entered the foggy area hoping to find a way to escape this cursed Fog City early, but we've stumbled into an even stranger place."

Feng Zhe's words answered Su Bai's earlier question. He had been wondering why Feng Zhe and his team were willing to clash with patrol officers just to enter the foggy area. Now, it seemed Feng Zhe believed that since time in Fog City had resumed its flow, they should venture deeper into the fog to find a loophole for escape.

Such a thought wasn't uncommon among players; even Xia Anan and Lei Ming, who had lit the Eternal Lamp ahead of time, shared similar hopes.

However, everyone had underestimated the fog. No one could have predicted it would be a labyrinth from which one could enter but not leave.

"We can also exchange information with Mr. Bai while we're at it," Feng Zhe decided, overriding any unspoken reservations from his teammates. "Everyone, be on guard for potential sneak attacks from ghosts."

As Feng Zhe spoke, transparent wind blades once again shot from his hands, instantly scattering the surrounding fog. This time, many noticed meows and the fleeting shapes of several cats in the mist, but the ghosts that had been lurking were significantly fewer than before.

Any stray ghosts not ensnared by the cat spirits were quickly dispatched by Feng Zhe's teammates.

The fog cleared by Feng Zhe would inevitably return within two seconds. While it offered a momentary glimpse of attacking ghosts, the constant shift from clarity to blur only heightened confusion and disorientation. This was likely one reason Feng Zhe and his team had been utterly lost in the foggy area.

Su Bai no longer prevented Feng Zhe and his team from following. He could feel the bead bracelet on his left wrist continuously absorbing the dissipating energy from the defeated ghosts. The cat spirits' power was limited; even if they could handle weaker ghosts, the energy provided to the bracelet was minimal. But as Feng Zhe's teammates began to help eliminate ghosts, the bracelet's energy absorption rate accelerated significantly.

In other words, regardless of whether Su Bai or strangers killed the ghosts, as long as there was residual energy nearby, Su Bai's bracelet could absorb it. Bit by bit, it accumulated, eventually becoming new merchandise in the shop and a new source of power for Su Bai.

With this realization, Su Bai no longer viewed Feng Zhe and his team as a complete nuisance.

"Mr. Bai, don't you find this area within the fog very strange?" Feng Zhe asked Su Bai, simultaneously helping to disperse the fog and deliver finishing blows. "Just a few hours ago, this was an ordinary street, but now it's littered with bizarre ruins."

"..."

"Is it merely the ghosts' destruction?" Feng Zhe cleared the fog in one area, revealing a building that, at first glance, appeared ordinary.

Since the fog would quickly re-gather, Feng Zhe directly invited Su Bai and the Jin brothers to approach the building. As they drew closer, they saw that the structure, now once again shrouded in fog, was a strange ruin composed of jumbled architectural styles.

If Su Bai remembered correctly, the street they were on was once a commercial thoroughfare, meaning both sides should have been lined with modern shops. But now, before them stood the dilapidated walls of a siheyuan, with faded lanterns hanging at the entrance. The walls were layered with yellow, temple-like structures, and crooked European-style stone pillars were embedded within. Above the walls were the completely ruined shops.

It was a bizarre spectacle that no amount of ghostly destruction could have created.

"Could it be an illusion caused by the fog?" Jin Zheng and Jin Yi had also pondered this, but since it was both perplexing and seemingly unimportant, they hadn't dwelled on it.

"Perhaps the Fog City within the fog is the real Fog City?" Feng Zhe offered his speculation. "Look, even the seemingly ordinary Fog City residents shed their disguises in the fog, reverting to their ghostly forms. Could it be that even the buildings in Fog City are fake?"

"But why?" Feng Zhe still couldn't grasp it. "What exactly is this fog? Why have the surrounding buildings transformed into a jumbled heap of different architectural styles?"

"Perhaps we'll know once we leave the fog," Su Bai said, turning to continue forward. "After all, the truth is often hidden where the fog is less dense, isn't it?"

In the thick fog, the human players from both teams followed closely behind Su Bai, moving in a specific direction. Gradually, even Feng Zhe's teammates noticed that Su Bai's way of advancing was different from theirs. This enigmatic Mr. Bai never hesitated or lost his direction. The smooth progress along the way made everyone feel—

It seemed they truly could escape the foggy area.