Frightening Joke: Above the Mist

"Aren't you afraid of being heard when you say that here?"

The "he" Ren Wudao referred to was naturally the "first lifeform that developed self-awareness."

After all, the other could speak in his mind all the time, perhaps standing right next to him without anyone knowing.

Zhou Tian shook his head: "It's okay, the voice you hear is just the remnants he left behind. Any human who enters the Fog Realm can hear it, his consciousness is not here."

Saying this, Zhou Tian's face showed a somewhat mysterious expression: "The first lifeform in the Fog Realm to develop self-awareness, is it still alive in the Fog Realm the moment it awakens? Judging from the result, he no longer is, after all...he is desperately trying to return to the Fog Realm, to return to that Mother Tree..."

"Alright, your doubts should be satisfied now." Zhou Tian looked at Ren Wudao, even though there was absolutely nothing there.

Ren Wudao clearly felt the other was staring at him, staring at his non-physical form.

"So you did deceive me." There was no surprise in Ren Wudao's voice.

The Fish Eye balance theory between the Human World and the Fog Realm might sound plausible, but it was too far-fetched.

Ren Wudao never believed it.

However... although he didn't believe it at all, he still had his principles. The person in front of him did save the life of his sister Yu Sheng, so no matter how obvious the trap was, he would still jump into it.

In some respects, Ren Wudao was indeed quite stubborn, and this might be one of the reasons Zhou Tian sought him out.

"You knew?" Zhou Tian realized he might have underestimated Ren Wudao.

"I have only one question," Ren Wudao didn't bother responding to Zhou Tian's nonsense, "why did you choose me?"

Zhou Tian paused, pondering the question himself.

After a long time, he answered: "Because we are very similar, both of us have someone we absolutely don't want to die. So... I believe only you can keep your consciousness from scattering, and this is very important to me."

"Any more questions?" Zhou Tian asked.

Ren Wudao said nothing more.

"Then let's begin."

Zhou Tian's words fell, and the keys he had collected over the years began to gather one by one in his hand.

The number of these keys far exceeds what is rumored!

"The meaning of the keys... is to open doors..." Zhou Tian murmured, "The door I want to open is the one between the Fog Realm and the Mortal World..."

"You are that door."

Zhou Tian looked towards the void.

Ren Wudao finally understood everything.

So it was like this... Zhou Tian's Fish Eye theory wasn't entirely deceptive.

He had indeed found a way to communicate between the two worlds.

That is... using a human as the door, using the connection between the human body and soul to link the two worlds together.

And at this moment, Ren Wudao, whose body remained in the Mortal World and consciousness arrived at the Fog Realm, was in exactly such a state.

"I don't know what that feels like, but remember what I said earlier, before the two worlds are completely connected, keep your consciousness from scattering, do it for Yu Sheng."

As Zhou Tian's words fell, the keys flew straight towards Ren Wudao!

"Buzzing—"

As if crashing into an invisible wall, the outline of a transparent human form emerged from the waves created by the impact.

"Let's begin."

————

In an instant, the sky above Ye City changed color.

A shocking red light suddenly appeared, covering the entire sky, as if smeared with bright blood, visible to everyone who looked up.

At the same time, everyone could see a gigantic tree reflecting in the blood-red sky.

A tree?

Everyone in Ye City was especially bewildered.

Why is there such a big reflected tree in the sky?

Soon everyone discovered that the tree was getting bigger!

It turned out the tree was continuously approaching the ground from the sky!

Gradually, the details of the tree became clearer, although under the blood-red light it looked somewhat strange, but everyone clearly saw...the branches and leaves of the tree were covered with countless twisted creatures like insects.

No...they were not insects, they were people!

The entire tree was crawling with countless people!

Although distorted, abnormal, naked, they were clearly human-shaped...

Their numbers were overwhelming, endless arms and legs intertwined and stacked together, twisted into a mass, like thousands of worms writhing in a snake's nest.

Weird, spine-chilling.

The sky over Ye City was completely dominated by the giant tree, and the human shapes crawling all over it caused everyone to temporarily lose their ability to think.

Is this... the apocalypse?

The end of the world?

Time seemed to be pressed on pause, and even sound almost disappeared.

Even the heartbeats seemed to stagnate within the chest.

But then, a voice appeared.

It was a man's voice.

"I am a creature from the Fog Realm."

"Our lifeform is closely related to humans."

"We have no substantial bodies, our lives are extremely brief, in your terms, we are born in the morning and die by night."

"However, once we merge with human bodies, a perfect symbiosis will form."

"We will endow humans with all kinds of extraordinary powers, powers that can alter reality with mere thoughts."

"And humans can provide us with longer lives."

"We will live and die with humans."

This voice temporarily cleared everyone's consciousness.

But soon, everyone felt something was wrong, how could there be such a good deal in the world?

A race claiming to be from another world wants to persuade humans to co-exist with them with just a few words.

How could this be possible?

Ye City wasn't filled with fools.

But just then, the voice spoke again.

And this time, it truly moved nearly everyone...

"Everyone, please look beside you."

"Has the person in your memory returned?"

This sentence pierced through the unwilling truth everyone almost didn't want to face like a sharp needle.

Yes...

Yes.

What happened before seemed like a dream, all those who had died returned, those you longed for, thought of, and loved came back...

They were right there beside you, yet at this moment, they appeared bewildered, as if they had no idea what was happening.

"This is us, but... we have no time, before dawn, the person beside you will turn to foam and completely disappear."

"No..."

"No!"

"She can't disappear!"

"What can be done..."

"What do we need to do?"

"..."

Voices erupted all over Ye City.

On one street, Bai Yanren turned to look at Xun Weimo.

And smiled.

"See, I'm succeeding, I am not alone."

"I knew him before any of you."

"Zhou Tian."

Bai Yanren withdrew his gaze, lowering his eyes.

It was when Zhou Tian and his wife first ventured into the Fog Realm, it was also when he... developed self-awareness.