Yu Hong? How could it be her?
Guan Tong couldn't believe his eyes, but he was certain he hadn't mis-seen in that instant.
That face, mostly corroded by the fog, leaving only a mutilated remnant, was indeed Yu Hong's.
"Does a human become a Nightmare Beast after being killed by one, or does this fog itself transform humans into Nightmare Beasts? This information wasn't included in the official release... is it because they haven't discovered it yet..."
Moreover, the rules clearly mentioned that Nightmare Beasts are creatures from an alien pla... Yu Hong is a native of Tianshui Star through and through, so when did she become an alien creature?
Guan Tong couldn't figure it out. But his impression of Yu Hong was actually quite good; he thought she was a very measured person in her actions. Now, seeing her transformed into a monster and dying miserably, he felt very uncomfortable inside.
But this is the kind of tragedy that happens who-knows-how-many times every day under the Doomsday Rules... He took a deep breath, forcing his emotions to calm down as quickly as possible, and continued forward.
He knew that since he had chosen to come out and explore, there was no reason to give up halfway. However, he had to be careful. Without knowing why humans were being turned into Nightmare Beasts, he had to ensure he didn't inhale even a trace of fog as much as possible.
Guided by the footprints of the giant Nightmare Beast, the further Guan Tong walked, the more he felt the fog gradually thickening.
Previously near Mingdao Mountain, visibility in the fog was about four or five meters, but now it had shortened to two or three meters, a direct indication of the increasing fog density.
And as the fog grew thicker, attacks from Nightmare Beasts became much more dangerous, placing higher demands on Guan Tong's reaction speed.
For safety's sake, he had to slow his pace considerably while also pricking up his ears, listening carefully to the nearby movements.
He had encountered ordinary small Nightmare Beasts several times already, easily dealing with them using Silver Hunt. They were nothing to fear.
What truly frightened him were those massive Nightmare Beasts. In such dense fog, a sudden encounter would make combat extremely dangerous.
Because Guan Tong had currently discovered that although these Nightmare Beasts would explode into fragments like balloons after dying, seeming very light in mass, before death, they possessed strength matching or even exceeding their size.
This was another phenomenon that struck him as strange and counter-intuitive: a creature having significant mass while alive, yet all that mass disappearing at the moment of death, going from "as heavy as Mount Tai" to "as light as a feather" in an instant... Should he say this is what makes them alien pla creatures? It's hard to imagine such a phenomenon existing in Tianshui Star's biosphere.
Carrying a heart full of unanswered questions, Guan Tong pressed on. He believed these questions would find answers once he located the fog's source.
But the fog's source seemed extremely distant. Guan Tong walked for several hours, and besides the fog getting thicker and Nightmare Beast attacks increasing, there were no other significant changes.
Driving might be faster, but ordinary vehicles moving through the fog were too dangerous; it would be hard to fight back if attacked inside a car. And as for those heavily armored vehicles and tanks with strong defensive capabilities, he couldn't get his hands on them now, so he had to rely on walking for the time being.
"I set out in the afternoon, and now it's already..." Guan Tong glanced at his phone. It was 8 PM.
During the day, the thick fog already made visibility extremely poor. At night, combined with the darkness, it was pure torture.
Guan Tong could now barely see just over a meter in front of him, and that was with his headlamp on and strong light shining. Without the headlamp, it would probably be pitch black.
However, the fog illuminated by the headlamp's beam, with the intense white light mixing with the fog's faint purplish-green hue, created an extremely psychedelic color atmosphere. Guan Tong would get headaches and lose focus from looking at it for too long.
This made him realize he couldn't continue like this. If his mind wasn't focused enough in the fog, he might be unable to handle a sudden attack—frankly, he wasn't afraid of getting injured himself; he was afraid those Nightmare Beasts would damage his protective gear, exposing his skin to the fog.
That's right. After experiencing multiple Nightmare Beast attacks, Guan Tong had discovered that these beasts had no mouths, no facial features. They didn't eat people or kill people—to be precise, they didn't have the subjective concept of "killing." Their purpose in attacking seemed to be to expose their target's skin to the fog.
This gave Guan Tong a feeling that in this hunting game, the Nightmare Beasts were merely supporting characters, only responsible for the "prelude." The real main character, responsible for the "main event," was this thick, bizarre fog itself.
The Nightmare Beasts don't kill people; the fog is what kills people!
Guan Tong hesitated no longer. He took out the Wordless Book from his Storage Box, summoned his All-purpose Shelter, and used the Body Swap ability to teleport inside.
He glanced at the remaining oxygen level inside his helmet: 67 hours (Recharging)
"Hah..."
Guan Tong took off his helmet and took a deep breath.
Coal Ball, who had been staying indoors, scurried over and meowed a few times. Guan Tong fed it some food, deciding not to leave the shelter again before daybreak.
After feeding Coal Ball, he went to the bathroom to take a shower and relieve his fatigue.
Although he had only walked in the fog for a few hours, during those hours his entire being was in a state of high tension and alertness. His muscles couldn't relax, and the accumulated fatigue from both psychological and physical strain was significant, needing release.
After showering, he sat at the table, turned on his computer, and checked for any latest news.
Since the official release of the intelligence about thermal weapons being able to eliminate Nightmare Beasts, there had been no further updates during this period.
Guan Tong thought for a moment, then entered the intelligence section of his Ascendant Home website and posted a thread.
"Intelligence Regarding the Ninth Doomsday Rule"
In the post, he clearly described the situation where humans, once exposed to the fog for a period, would transform into Nightmare Beasts. He also listed the characteristics of the several different Nightmare Beasts he had encountered.
Most users on the site had set him, the Administrator, as a special follow, so as soon as his post went up, the number of replies immediately skyrocketed.
"An Administrator who shares free intelligence is a good Administrator!"
"The Administrator has finally surfaced! Judging by the post content, has the Administrator gone into the fog?"
"Daring to explore in the fog when it's so dangerous? That's our Administrator for you. The rest of us are all hiding in sealed places."
"This intelligence doesn't seem very useful. We're not going into the fog; it's too dangerous."
"Now that thermal weapons can eliminate Nightmare Beasts this time, official agencies from various countries will definitely send out fog exploration teams, right?"
"User above, definitely. I bet the official agencies of various countries are all holding their breath. The previous rules left a ton of modern weapons with no use for them; this time they can finally show their strength and are sure to make a move!"
"It seems some famous Ascendants have also taken the initiative to risk exploring the fog. Are there good things in the fog?"
"The rule's footnote mentioned something about exploring the fog... there might be gains. But I don't want to take the risk anyway. I'll wait for official news. Now that thermal weapons are usable, any gains should probably be obtained by the officials."
Although Guan Tong's intelligence had some value, unfortunately, most Ascendants had no intention of exploring the fog, so it wasn't useful to them.
The few explorers who might want to see it probably couldn't anyway—after all, not every Ascendant was like Guan Tong, carrying a fully-functional shelter with inter, showers, and a place to sleep...
After posting, Guan Tong checked his private messages.
Those contacts from major organizations and groups who had previously been urgently requesting to purchase hidden intelligence about the new rules had all quieted down.
Probably related to the discovery that thermal weapons could harm Nightmare Beasts.
These contacts represented organizations and groups with significant power. How many of them wouldn't have channels to acquire some modern firearms?
Thus, the demand for hidden intelligence from these organizations wasn't as great anymore. Only a few contacts sent new private messages, not to buy intelligence, but to seek deeper cooperation with Guan Tong.
Like the private message from the person claiming to be a Suroma Empire contact, who had sent several messages hoping Guan Tong would become an imperial advisor. For this, any price could be negotiated; gold and beauties were not worth mentioning, and even granting a large fiefdom was no problem.
Guan Tong knew that the Suroma Empire still had the concept of "fiefdoms." The king was the supreme monarch, ruling over a total of fifty-nine major fiefdoms, each controlled by a local lord family.
Before the Doomsday Rules, each lord family was considered illustrious and overbearing.
But after entering the Doomsday Rules era, they were undoubtedly not doing well. Now, this contact could even offer the hereditary private fiefdoms of other families as hiring incentives, showing that the Suroma Empire was willing to spare no expense to gain a leading position in the Doomsday Rules era.
These conditions might be extremely tempting to others, but unfortunately, Guan Tong had no plans to become a lord. Besides, in the Doomsday Rules era, it often happened that one rule brought boundless glory while the next brought sudden death.
No one could guarantee their tomorrow would come. Therefore, the most enticing power and status of stable times held little importance for many people in this era.
Guan Tong closed the webpage and lay on the bed, turning his head to look out the window.
Apart from the pervasive fog, he could see nothing.
"Time to rest."
Guan Tong didn't want to think too much. Getting enough sleep and maintaining abundant energy tomorrow morning to continue exploring deeper was important.
He closed his eyes. Thanks to the shelter's safety, he quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.
However, noises that came from time to time would occasionally startle him awake.
Those impact sounds, slapping sounds, friction sounds... would come from the door or outer walls at regular intervals.
But the destructive power of these Nightmare Beasts wasn't enough to breach the shelter made of special sturdy stone material. So their actions, aside from occasionally waking Guan Tong and making him roll over to sleep again, had no other effect on him.
He slept until after 5 AM the next day. Getting up, he inadvertently glanced at the window, and his heart skipped a beat.
Several blood-red handprints were smeared on the window, and in the middle of those handprints, a blurred red human face imprint remained.
It seemed that at some point while he was asleep, someone or some Nightmare Beast had pressed against the window, watching him...
For the first time, Guan Tong felt that the windows newly appearing after the shelter upgrade weren't all benefits. At least the original wooden hut with only one door didn't have to worry about external peeping issues.
"Forget it. Whatever demons or ghosts, if I encounter them, I'll send them all off with a single shot."
Guan Tong wasn't about to be scared by a few bloody prints on the window.
He got up, washed up, ate something, and after it brightened outside, he put on his oxygen-filled protective gear, left the shelter, and continued following the Nightmare Beast footprints on the ground, advancing toward the direction of the fog's source.
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