The King of Black Fog

Li Changzhou grabbed the main parachute handle and yanked it hard, and immediately, there was a whooshing sound behind him as the large parachute opened.

Li Changzhou felt a "whoosh" as if his body might shoot upward again.

Although their destination was an isolated island, the area where they landed was desolate, with swirling dust and sand filling the air.

In the sand, a few decrepit buildings stood sporadically, resembling the remains of bodies in a desert, with the sand serving as their shrouds.

In Li Changzhou's mind emerged information about Hemick Island—it was economically backward, one of the least developed areas in the world. Due to the natives' rampant deforestation, half of the island had become a desert, often experiencing sandstorms in the summer.

In his field of vision, a point of white light suddenly flickered, as if someone were reflecting sunlight with a mirror. He descended towards that spot.

Zheng Qing and the others landed within a three-meter radius centered on Yang Liu, while Li Changzhou and his two companions were further away.

Li Changzhou at five meters, Li Qianxia at fifteen meters, and Yang Qinglan, who had the poorest athletic ability despite having high attributes and intelligence, ended up running nearly thirty meters away.

It was rare to see her embarrassed, but unfortunately, everyone was wearing masks that day and couldn't see each other's expressions—Li Changzhou thought to himself as he watched Yang Qinglan walking back from the sandstorm.

But had they not been wearing masks, he probably wouldn't have thought that way. With Yang Qinglan's charm, emerging from the sands, she would have seemed like a celestial being from Dunhuang, far from embarrassing.

Nine people and one dog regrouped.

"Remember, the mission is the priority," Zheng Qing said.

"Understood!" five soldiers responded quietly.

Zheng Qing spread her hands and said to Li Changzhou and the other two, "You aren't soldiers and don't have to obey my orders. Prioritize your own safety and act accordingly."

"Understood!" Li Qianxia also responded quietly, imitating Yang Liu and the others.

Zheng Qing smiled at her, and a sniper rifle appeared in her waiting hands.

Her expression hardened, her voice as firm as steel: "Move out!"

Nine people and one dog ran towards the distant jungle at high speed, leaving trails of dust behind like galloping horses.

Scholar Lü and his group were all hiding in the jungle, fortunate to have sent coordinates back home before they lost contact, or else just finding them would have been difficult.

"There must be many magical plants in our country too," Li Qianxia imagined.

"We are still in the research phase, but the best and safest way to evolve is still through the game," Yang Qinglan said.

The two women ran side by side, their speed far surpassing Yang Liu and the others, maintaining their current pace was like a leisurely jog, comfortable and easy.

This run lasted over an hour.

Even with the players' physical constitution, continuing to run would affect their combat ability.

Before entering the jungle, they entered a dilapidated village to temporarily rest.

The village was poor, most houses being patched together with wooden planks, some were merely pieces of fabric, wobbly and uneven, worse than some dog houses in their own country.

Here, even wooden planks were a scarce resource.

The village seemed deserted at first glance, only some simple household trash was scattered around.

Li Changzhou looked at Yang Qinglan, who gently shook her head, indicating that she noticed nothing unusual.

"Poison," Zheng Qing looked towards Poison.

Poison had already closed his eyes.

Zheng Qing explained to the three, "Poison has a skill similar to God's Eye View, which allows him to see the surroundings from a high vantage point within a hundred meters, more covert than a drone."

"If he can't even outdo a drone, I can't imagine what else Poison is good for," Thigh mocked.

"Everyone seems to have a particular skill?" Li Qianxia asked with interest as she looked at them.

"Of course," Zheng Qing nodded, "Take this time to get to know each other a bit, you guys should know that now the main focus is still on sniping."

She then patted Storm's head, saying, "It's good at tracking and tearing. You guys, introduce yourselves."

The last sentence was directed at Yang Liu and the others.

"Yang Liu, adept at agile close combat."

"Big Thigh, a true man."

"Bullshit true man." Scholar first commented, then said, "Scholar, knows a bit of Daoist Skill."

"Bullshit Daoist Skill, it's just a nature-based skill." Big Thigh retorted.

"Tan Ke, defense is pretty decent."

No specific skills were mentioned, just a general direction; some basic abilities like special forces expertise in shooting, combat, and stealth weren't mentioned either.

"True man?" Li Qianxia curiously looked at Big Thigh.

"His instinct is 'Military Soul,'" Zheng Qing explained, "As long as he's fighting alongside warriors from Xia Country, he can increase their strength, constitution, and agility by 1 point each."

"That's amazing!"

Big Thigh said nothing, just rubbed the tip of his nose with his thumb, his eyes looking disdainfully at Scholar.

Yang Qinglan looked at Li Changzhou, curious to see what expression the brother had when his sister admired someone else.

Indeed, Li Changzhou's gaze sharpened, his face full of killing intent.

Li Changzhou noticed her mocking gaze and elbowed her arm, Yang Qinglan subtly elbowed him back without a change in expression.

Li Changzhou elbowed her again, and Yang Qinglan retaliated.

Their little interaction ended there, no more elbowing, but under their gas masks, both of their faces bore smiles.

"How about you guys?" Scholar ignored Big Thigh's arrogant pride and asked the three with curiosity.

Yang Liu, Big Thigh, and Tan Ke also looked at the three of them.

Players who could participate in a rescue mission of this level, according to other team's experience, were definitely experts from national teams, not just having high attributes but possessing inhumanly strong instincts and skills.

Or they were simply experts who had broken through their limits.

"Just give a rough idea, no need to be too specific," Zheng Qing told the three.

"Pigeon," Li Changzhou introduced himself, "Good at... fighting, a bit like Yang Liu, but more strength-oriented."

Actually, his strength was the weakest, only 8 points if it weren't for the boost from 'Great Strength Bull Fist.'

But still, these 8 points, in the current game time, already made him seem like a strength-oriented player to others.

"I'm Mosquito, not Wenzi, Mosquito," Li Qianxia quipped, "Can turn into an owl, which has a pretty good hoot. I use a gun, good at, um, not sure what, but feels like everything is quite okay."

Everything is okay… is it that nothing is impressive, or is everything impressive?

And what exactly is 'wenzi'?

"Little Qing," it was Yang Qinglan's turn, "Perception is not bad."

Her voice was quite pleasant, its clarity making Yang Liu and the others take another look even though she was wearing a mask.

Li Changzhou's voice wasn't bad either, but unfortunately, the world loves beautiful women, and even some women find beautiful women a pleasing sight.

After a brief rest and deepening each other's understanding, nine people and a dog set out again.

As the trees became denser and the jungle thicker, they proceeded with even greater caution, periodically, Poison activated "God's Eye View" and Storm sniffed around everywhere.

Qing Lan also silently sensed everything around her, while Changzhou and Li Qianxia stood guard by her side.

With these measures, they adopted a strategy of avoiding prolonged combat. Although they encountered a few unavoidable fights along the way, their progress was relatively smooth.

"This is the last rest before we reach Scholar Lü," Zheng Qing said.

The day had turned to dusk, casting shadows all over the forest.

The shadows of some nearby jungles gradually darkened with the night, making suspicious corners seem as if a person were squatting there.

"Can we contact Scholar Lü?" Changzhou asked.

"No," Scholar shook his head in response. "Once they activate communication, it would expose their coordinates, and those unknown forces would immediately locate them."

Changzhou nodded, his sleeve suddenly tugged gently by Qing Lan.

The next moment, Storm suddenly spoke, "There's a human scent from the southeast."

The air in the jungle instantly tensed up. Zheng Qing first glanced at Poison, who was in the 'God's Eye View' and seeing no reaction from him, confirmed that these people had not yet come within a hundred meters.

"Stay hidden," she ordered softly. "If we are discovered... prepare for combat."

Everyone concealed themselves in the dark silently.

Poison kept his eyes shut and soon saw a group of armed militants with light weapons, seemingly either patrolling or searching.

He made a gesture indicating they were ordinary people.

Li Qianxia breathed a sigh of relief, while Zheng Qing and the others remained motionless in the shadows, giving the impression that they were no longer there.

The footsteps grew louder, accompanied by the militants' raucous laughter.

Ratatat!

Sudden fierce gunfire rang out, making everyone's heart tighten.

But no bullets came their way. The footsteps also moved from near to far, the militants were merely firing randomly, occasionally tossing hand grenades into the forest casually.

Once the noises had faded, Zheng Qing took a deep breath, "Everyone, rest up quickly. We leave in five minutes and press on without stopping!"

◇

A mansion in a courtyard.

On this extremely poor island, the mansion stood out like a brand new Mercedes in a junkyard.

Its interior and paintings could be described as belonging in an art museum, and even the bathtubs were made of gemstones.

In the mansion's courtyard, a group of players gathered.

Some were swimming in the pool, others drinking at the bar stocked with fine liquors, some smoked, while others engaged in dalliances with women.

"They're here," a teenage girl suddenly spoke near the pool table.

The smoking man glanced over, lighting a cigarette, then asked, "How many?"

The girl scanned the pool table. The spot for racking balls, initially holding only three balls, suddenly had ten more.

"Ten," the girl replied, her tone excited.

"That's quite a few," the drinker laughed, then shouted to a man engaging with a woman, "Miles, we've got action!"

"Ah!" Miles cried, ending his play with the woman.

He stood up, pulling up his trousers and casually picked up a dart from the table.

Just as he was about to throw the dart, Miles asked, "Is the nun going?"

"Let's try just us first." The person from the pool came over, a woman not in a swimsuit but regular clothes.

As she stepped out of the pool, the water churned as if boiling, fiercely rushing into her back, even the water on her clothing trembled and flew towards her.

Miles threw the dart, hitting the bullseye.

"Success rate ten percent..."

The group exchanged glances, then turned their eyes to the woman who had come out of the pool.

"I'll notify Larena," said the woman, turning towards the study. Each step she took, the pool water followed, creating a water tornado that hovered over the basement floor.

"I'll play with them first," the pool table girl exclaimed excitedly, picking up her cue stick and rubbing the tip with chalk.

Then, she bent over, sticking out her round youthful backside and took her shot.

Bang!

The cue ball shot out, hitting the outermost number 13 ball.

The ball bounced off, but it didn't pocket.

"Too bad," the girl still smiled broadly, continuing to rub the cue tip with chalk, "Your turn, number 13."

◇

As Changzhou was running, he was suddenly hit by a powerful force, uncontrollably flung outwards.

Bang!

He crashed into the jungle, smashing a tree like a cannonball, sending branches, leaves, and vines flying everywhere.

"Enemy attack!"

"Stay alert!"

Zheng Qing's legs sprung slightly as she swiftly found a sniping point like a spider, with Storm close at her heels.

The rest of the soldiers backed each other up, adopting defensive postures, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

Li Qianxia and Qing Lan rushed to Changzhou's side.

"What happened?" Li Qianxia asked anxiously.

Changzhou rose from the branches, his combat suit and gas mask smeared with green sap, making his figure appear somewhat bizarre.

"It's nothing, just a game," he said, twisting his hips and throwing a punch into the air.

Bang!

The surrounding branches, leaves, and vines were flung away by his punch, swirling like a spiral tornado.

◇

In the basement, on the pool table.

The number 13 ball, as if suddenly struck by a great force, slammed into the cue ball.

The cue ball shot out like a bullet, leaving streaks of afterimages on the table as it constantly hit the cushions.

Finally, the cue ball slowly stopped near a pocket, just missing falling in.

The girl took a deep breath, her body trembling with fright. She quickly picked up her cue stick, steadied her breathing, and shot the cue ball back to the break spot.