Outside a certain dissection lab, Su Aoxue hung up the phone after speaking with Ling Feng.
His expression gradually turned solemn as he walked up to the old man working as the guard. “Hello, sir. I’m here to see someone—Bai Min.”
The guard nodded. “Looking for someone? Personnel control has been quite strict lately, so you can’t go inside. I’ll call her out for you.”
“However,” the guard added, “leaving in the middle of a shift to handle personal matters results in a pay deduction. Are you sure about this?”
Su Aoxue felt a surge of irritation. ‘So they even deduct pay for such small things? No wonder Mom rarely comes home!’
Suppressing his frustration, he replied, “Yes, I am. Please, hurry!”
“What was the name again?”
“Bai Min.”
Once Su Aoxue answered, the guard nodded and began turning the dial on the telephone beside him.
……
About 10 minutes later, a figure walked out.
It was Su Aoxue’s mother.
After pulling Su Aoxue to the side, she looked at her son with a confused expression. “Did something happen at home?”
“Um… maybe more than just home.” Su Aoxue met her eyes. “Mom, stop working for now and come back with me.”
“Go home?”
From Su Aoxue’s serious expression, Bai Min realized that something major was happening.
She knew her son’s personality well; for him to look this grave, the situation was definitely not simple.
Without thinking twice, she grabbed Su Aoxue’s hand and said, “Then let’s go quickly.”
She didn’t even consider going back into the Research Institute to ask for leave, despite knowing she would face both pay deductions and disciplinary action.
Compared to her family, none of that mattered.
……
Soon, they arrived back home.
Su Muqing, who was waiting by the door, froze for a moment when she saw her mother.
“Eh? Mom, why are you back too?”
Bai Min walked over, turned Su Muqing’s wheelchair around, and pushed her into the house.
“Let’s go inside first. Your brother has something important to say.”
After seeing that Su Muqing was perfectly fine, Bai Min understood that the “incident” hadn’t happened to her daughter. It was something else entirely.
Sure enough, once she sat on the sofa, Su Aoxue knelt down in front of the two women.
He reached out and took his mother’s and sister’s hands in his own.
His voice was incredibly heavy as he spoke. “A City-Destroying Grey Mist Tide is about to break out…”
In the next instant, Bai Min gripped Su Aoxue’s hand tightly.
Her eyes filled with panic as she gasped, “You… what did you say? Are you certain?”
Su Aoxue’s mind raced as he quickly explained, “A City-Destroying Grey Mist Tide is imminent. Do you remember the teacher who came to our house yesterday? She was the one who told me. The information is highly reliable.”
Although it was Shen Yan who had first mentioned the tide, Ling Feng’s reputation carried far more weight.
Hearing this, Bai Min didn’t doubt it for a second.
She merely whispered to herself, “A City-Destroying Grey Mist Tide? Why is it another City-Destroying level…”
As if triggered by a painful memory, her eyes turned red.
Seeing this, Su Aoxue and Su Muqing both panicked and tried to comfort her.
However, their mother suddenly stood up.
“Don’t worry about comforting me. Your mother is stronger than you think. Quickly, let’s pack up our valuables.”
She began to pace. “Hurry, pack everything…”
Suddenly remembering something, she looked at Su Aoxue.
“Xiaoxue, did you rent a car? Go rent one right now! Once the City-Destroying disaster breaks out, the rental shop owner might not even survive anyway. We can’t escape without a car.”
“The scholarship check you gave me is under the pillow in our room. Remember to buy as much Fire Crystal Ore as possible!”
As she spoke, she was already rummaging through the house for useful, portable items.
The two siblings looked at each other and immediately sprang into action.
Su Aoxue was swept up in his mother’s frantic urgency, becoming just as tense.
At the same time, he realized his mother was right. ‘Why didn’t I think of that? Renting a car to make the escape easier!’
In the old days, cars were likely called “cars” because they ran on gasoline.
Today, they were still called cars out of habit, but they no longer used gasoline for power.
Instead, they used the more efficient, compact, and long-lasting Fire Crystal Ore as their power source.
Su Aoxue hurried into the bedroom shared by his mother and sister and found the check under the pillow.
However, just as he opened the front door to head out, he found Ling Feng standing there, her hand raised as if about to knock.
“It looks like you’re already moving.”
Ling Feng glanced into the house before speaking again. “I brought a vehicle. Move everything into my car.”
“It’s an SUV with plenty of space. I’ll be riding with you from now on,” Ling Feng said concisely.
To protect Su Aoxue, she had naturally chosen to stay with his family, which was why she had rented a large-capacity SUV.
Since Hunting Squads often used SUVs to hunt Grey Fog Creatures and needed space for carcasses, standard SUVs were already extended and widened.
The one Ling Feng had chosen was a “plus” model.
Ling Feng leaned against the doorframe.
“I’ve already had someone in the organization report this. The highest-level alarm should sound soon, followed by the evacuation orders. However, since we need to scout the exact direction the tide is coming from, we have to wait for the Scout Team to return before the evacuation plan can be executed.”
……
Meanwhile, 20 kilometers away from the Base City, a brutal battle was taking place.
A Hunting Squad consisting of six B-rank Martial Artists was currently surrounded and attacked by over twenty Grey Fog Creatures.
Although no Elite-level creatures had appeared yet, the sheer number of enemies was unnervingly high.
At first, there were only a few, but they had soon been mysteriously surrounded.
The Mist Wraiths had actually used luring tactics — it was as if these monsters had gained intelligence!
“Captain, if we don’t force a breakthrough now, we’re all going to die here!”
“Shut up! Do you think I don’t know that? With the small barrier up, we’re safe at least until the Fire Crystal Ore runs out. But if we charge out now, there will be casualties!”
“Do you want to die?”
Hearing the captain’s roar, the newcomer who had just joined the Hunting Squad fell silent.
“How long has it been since we sent the distress signal?”
In the center of the squad, a pillar of white light shot straight into the sky.
It was released by a member who had Awakened as a Light-Element Esper.
It could penetrate the visual obstruction of the Gray Mist to a great extent, reaching a maximum visibility of 30 kilometers.
In a world covered by Gray Mist, it was an excellent distress signal, but it also acted as a beacon for Grey Fog Creatures.
The team member responsible for maintaining the beam gritted his teeth. “Captain, it’s been about 3 minutes.”
“Wait! We’re only dozens of kilometers from the Base City. Reinforcements will be here soon!”
Just then, the roar of an engine echoed through the air.
Cheers immediately broke out among the squad. “Someone’s here!”
However, an unexpected scene unfolded.
The vehicle didn’t seem to have any intention of helping.
Instead, it drove right past them, the sound of the engine gradually fading into the distance.
At that moment, one of the members noticed something wrong. He pointed ahead with a trembling finger.
“Captain… something isn’t right!”
“The number of Grey Fog Creatures… they’re increasing!”
……
“The Heavens are truly on my side! I thought I was a dead man, but then I ran into something like this. Sorry, guys, but I have to stay alive too!”
Inside the car, Zhao Jun looked at the ore sitting on the passenger seat. A look of greed slowly crept onto his face.
Earlier in the canyon, greed had eventually overridden his reason.
Zhao Jun had realized that returning empty-handed was no different from being dead, so he had doubled back into the cave to dig out the ore.
After hiding for a while, he had seized an opportunity to drive out, but he was still spotted by Grey Fog Creatures.
They had been relentlessly pursuing him, and just as they were about to catch up, he had seen someone’s distress beam!
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