Chapter 5: The Descent of the Mist

“What do you say now? We’ve been all over this small town more than once and found nothing. Just when we finally had a bit of a breakthrough, that blasted rabbit got away again.”
Zhong Ye was clearly bothered by the matter.

“Forget it. There’s no point in searching further. Let’s see if those two have had any luck.”
Ding Xiang smiled faintly.

“Ye Cangyi is one thing, but that chef—he’s a rookie. What could he possibly have?”
Zhong Ye was puzzled. He thought it was questionable whether that guy could even survive this dungeon world.

“No one should be underestimated.”
Ding Xiang shook his head with a smile.

“True, Aokeding’s team brought someone in to lower their rating, but why was it this chef and not someone else?”

“They’re all no good!”
Zhong Ye muttered bluntly. He was straightforward, both in personality and in battle, and he felt playing mind games was dirty.

The captain of that mythic team, Aokeding, was like that, and Ding Xiang beside him was much the same.

Ding Xiang had no idea that the burly man beside him thought that way about him; he simply instinctively felt that Murong Xun was no ordinary player—he wasn’t just a casual or a rank-zero player.

It wasn’t that he had discerned anything special, but more a reflection of his own nature.

Just as Ding Xiang and the others began preparing to look for someone, all four of them unexpectedly converged in the town center.

The current state of the town was such that every household had their doors and windows tightly shut. Whenever they tried knocking, no one answered, let alone opened their doors for business.

Fortunately, there were many vacant houses. They picked one, tidied it up, and settled in without issue.

As for food, each with their own space, they had all stocked some supplies.

Only after finding a place to rest did they begin exchanging information.

“We circled the town twice and only know it’s called Fairy Tale Town. We encountered a one-eared rabbit, but it escaped before we could catch it.”

One-eared?

Murong Xun frowned. There were too many fairy tales; he couldn’t possibly know every story.

“We actually have some information,” Ye Cangyi said after sharing a side quest he had just received, then recounted earlier events.

“Obviously, Little Red Riding Hood must have died after entering the mist. But no one knows what happened to her inside.”

After listening, Ding Xiang offered his view.

“This fairy tale world seems vastly different from the stories we’ve known. I think we must abandon our preconceived notions about these characters and tales, or we’ll only be misled.”

“I believe to uncover the truth, we have to leave the town and explore. The problem is, the mist is surely dangerous. Danger itself isn’t the fear—the unknown dangers are. The mist only partially dissipates on full moon nights when the blood moon appears.”

Murong Xun still advocated tackling the mist directly, since obviously, both Little Red Riding Hood and others are connected to it.

“The mist must be explored, but not now.”

Ding Xiang spoke confidently.

“This mission has no time limit, so we can be patient. We know nothing about the mist. Charging in blindly would leave us helpless in danger. It’s better to scout the town for now and only consider exploring the mist when we exhaust all other options.”

Murong Xun said nothing; this was a prudent choice.

Still, he sensed the townsfolk were tight-lipped about Little Red Riding Hood’s affairs. Finding a breakthrough would not be easy.

Whether in the stories or as Pinocchio had mentioned before, there was one character who always emerged: Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.

Of course, also the wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood!

In the stories, the wolf ate the grandmother and disguised itself as her. There are two versions: one where Little Red Riding Hood outwits and kills the wolf-grandmother, and another where the wolf-grandmother eats Little Red Riding Hood.

Pinocchio had also said that before the mist appeared, Little Red Riding Hood was the town’s hunter, slaying many wolves, harboring a deep grudge with them. After the mist came, it was feared the wolves might have undergone unknown changes.

Another mystery: after the mist appeared, why did Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother still live outside the town instead of moving inside? Knowing the outside was unsafe, her staying out was clearly abnormal.

And one final question: why were they so sure that the one who came back after Little Red Riding Hood’s accident was not the real Little Red Riding Hood?

Questions circled their minds, but no answers came.

“Where are you going!”

Suddenly, Ding Xiang shouted, a roar like a lion bursting from him.

He dashed out swiftly, but someone was faster.

“Qian Dong. Boundless Universe!”

Zhong Ye plunged a massive eight-sided banner into the ground and charged out like a gale, far surpassing Ding Xiang in speed.

Seeing this, Ding Xiang’s eyes narrowed—he hadn’t expected the seemingly rough Zhong Ye to be so formidable.

His exact strength was unknown, but one thing was clear: his explosive power was beyond Ding Xiang’s reach.

Ye Cangyi, who had already stood, retracted his spear and sat down slowly. Since the other two had taken action, there was no need for him to waste effort.

What surprised him more was that despite Zhong Ye’s strength, he had never heard of such a master in the Rank One Zone.

Like a bolt of lightning, Zhong Ye dashed out of the dilapidated house, but to the shock of both him and Ding Xiang, the white rabbit they had glimpsed before had vanished again—like it had never been there at all.

Its disappearance was not due to speed but seemed utterly complete.

Such speed was terrifying.

“Teleportation? Or translocation?”

They were puzzled. In theory, such abilities shouldn’t exist in this world.

Space and time manipulation are very advanced skills possessed only by formidable individuals.

“Wow, how scary, how scary!”

At a street corner in the town, a white rabbit suddenly appeared. One ear flicked as its face displayed surprisingly human-like expressions, now looking utterly terrified.

Its front paw clenched tightly onto a golden button, refusing to let go.

“What to do, what to do?”

It was clearly anxious. Unlike last time, when chased by the Queen of Hearts, it was calm and graceful. This time, it was truly panicked, having just encountered terrifying foes that might kill it!

Death!

What a dreadful thing!

Fairy Tale Town was immortal; it did not understand death. But upon seeing those people, it felt as if it might die if it didn’t run fast enough!

Meanwhile, Ding Xiang and the others returned to the house dejectedly after coming up empty-handed. Facing Murong Xun and the others’ gazes, they felt utterly ashamed.

“That guy actually has space-type equipment.”

Zhong Ye grumbled indignantly. He had wandered through so many worlds and never encountered such a thing!

“Looks like a troublesome adversary has set their sights on us.”

Ding Xiang sighed. He had hoped to leisurely gather intel in town but now had to accelerate the process, hoping for some success.

As night fell and the sky darkened, they gathered some materials and built a fire.

Murong Xun prepared a meal for them. Now that he could freely activate or deactivate his Dark Affinity talent, he was able to make edible food; otherwise, the others would have refused to eat his cooking.

After eating, they sat quietly around the fire, holding bowls of soup.

Half a day had passed since their arrival via teleportation. Apart from accepting a side quest, they had gained nothing.

The scarcity of people wandering the town also troubled them greatly.

Judging by the buildings, the town still had many intact structures. Doors and windows were closed tight, obviously occupied, but no one opened up for entry.

This raised one question: why were all doors and windows bolted so early in the evening?

“Do you guys feel it’s getting colder?”

Among the four, Murong Xun had the lowest attributes, so he was the most sensitive. At first, the cold was barely noticeable, but now, even sitting by the fire, he felt chilled—a strange sensation, especially since his attributes were several times that of an ordinary person. The surrounding environment wasn’t snowy or harsh.

“Cold?”

The other three were puzzled. Ye Cangyi even stood and looked outside, and his expression changed immediately.

“Look!”

Hearing his shout, the others followed his gaze. Outside, a thin fog was drifting over the town.

“What the hell? How did this fog get into the town?”

Ding Xiang tossed a puppet into the mist.

This was a common scouting puppet, invented by life players to explore dangerous environments on their behalf.

Since it was unclear if the fog was harmful, sending the puppet to test was necessary.

After quite some time, Ding Xiang finally relaxed.

Seeing his expression, the others understood the danger wasn’t great and eased up.

“How is it?”

Impatient Zhong Ye asked quickly.

“This fog is a diluted version of the mist. It slowly drains life, but very gradually. It took ten minutes to reduce a small amount. Given our vitality, we can recover, so it’s not a big problem.”

Ding Xiang answered their concerns, but his face grew serious again.

“However, if even this diluted fog is so potent, the mist itself must be far more dangerous. Exploring it won’t be easy.”

At this, all felt a chill in their hearts, as they had also considered this possibility.