The King of Black Fog

The rest area, Li Changzhou watched the black fog and tried to establish contact once again.

This had become his daily routine, much like some people have the habit of using the bathroom before bed, he now had a habit of chatting with the black fog before sleeping.

The result was still a failure.

He recalled the white Identity Card, gazing at the blue flames of text upon it.

[Skill: 'Concentration' (D-level), 'Dragon Blood Tree Style·Qilin Blood Exhaustion' (C-level), 'Photo Transmission' (B-level), 'Healing' (C-level), 'Earth Tunneling' (B-level), 'Gardener Bird Style·Gardening' (E-level)]

He was considering whether to replace 'Healing'.

Previously, he'd always thought that a skill that healed injuries as long as he ate something might come in handy at some point.

Moreover, the injuries he sustained during regular training were healed by having a meal after training, so he had kept it until now.

But today's attack by the inexplicable 'turn-based game' and the 'Invisible couple' that even Yang Qinglan had not detected filled his heart with a sense of crisis.

In the real world, he could take his sister and Yang Qinglan into 'Honey Jar World,' but what if it was in the game? 'Honey Jar World' was off-limits in the game.

Even in the real world, there might not be enough time.

And simply hiding in 'Honey Jar World,' burying oneself in the mud like a turtle, was absolutely not an option.

Without going through trials and tribulations, death in some game would come sooner or later.

Besides, 'Honey Jar World' would only be an idyllic haven if one could enter freely, but being trapped inside was like imprisonment. Similarly with games, playing by choice is a game, but being forced to play is torture.

Having considered all this, even though Li Changzhou thought 'Healing' was quite nice, he still decided to exchange it.

Among the piles of Identity Cards seized in Prague, those suitable for battle skills or instincts had been set aside separately, aiming for 'Death God's Descent'.

[Name: Death God's Descent]

[Type: Skill]

[Quality: B]

[Special Effect: Summon a White Bone Death God from the void to fight on your behalf]

[Minimum Use Conditions: Intelligence 6, Charm 6, Perception 4]

[Introduction: The scythe of the Death God only cuts living things; attack range is 5 meters]

[Note: If there are no other living creatures around, it's best not to meet with the Death God alone, unless you want to walk with It]

This was one of the instincts of Sobek, who once attacked Yafeiluna.

With only himself around, Li Changzhou took out a fish from the 'Honey Jar World.'

This fish was unusual, an inherent life form of 'Honey Jar World,' all silver and with no fishy smell. It was very delicious eaten raw, and even better grilled or used to make soup.

As the fish thrashed about on the ground, full of vitality, he summoned the Death God.

The void shattered like a mirror, and the White Bone Death God, clothed in tattered black, nearly two meters tall, with a gigantic White Bone Scythe nearly three meters long on its shoulder, appeared.

Chill winds swept through the rest area, and the lively silverfish, which had been bouncing around just moments before, now lay stiff and motionless under the icy blast, its lips still instinctively opening and closing.

Li Changzhou observed for a while and issued a command in his mind.

The Death God shifted the scythe from 'shouldering' to 'holding' and delivered a strike, drawing a straight line on the wall of the rest area that glowed like white light.

The wall remained intact, unharmed, confirming that it truly could only cut living things.

Li Changzhou's gaze then returned to the fish on the ground, ordering the Death God to kill it.

The Death God did not move.

Is the fish already dead?

Li Changzhou looked at the silverfish and confirmed it was still alive, then puzzledly turned his gaze to the Death God, floating in the air, its figure as massive as a white bell.

The Death God was trembling.

The Black Mist was flying around it.

At this moment, Li Changzhou experienced the emotions of Black Mist for the first time—amusement.

It was like a child in an amusement park, circling a toy.

The Black Mist extended a "hand" and, like breaking off a piece of bread, snapped the white skull from the Death God's body and stuffed it into its "mouth."

The body of the Death God without its skull trembled slightly, just like the silverfish on the ground.

(Don't eat me!) Li Changzhou subconsciously shouted in his mind.

However, more than the Death God, he was happy to see changes in the Black Mist.

So far, other than occasionally stopping to stare at something, the Black Mist had only changed once—in Ming City's Technology Plaza, it adopted the appearance of a swarm of dark, cloud-like mosquitoes and possessed a corpse.

Afterward, no matter how Li Changzhou commanded, pleaded, manipulated, or threatened, the Black Mist never possessed any corpse again.

Now there was a new change—it was eating the Death God.

It was uncertain how many Death Gods there were; if this one was eaten, whether it would still be possible to summon a second one.

Just as Li Changzhou was thinking about this, the Black Mist suddenly spat out the white skull it had found distasteful.

The white skull was stained with black streaks, like mysterious runes, but Li Changzhou was more convinced that it was just the "saliva" of the Black Mist, like when Bi ate lollipops, always leaving a lot of saliva on them.

The brain reeking of 'saliva' was placed back, the Black Mist lost interest in the Death God, settled on the ground, and continued to stare blankly at the wall.

Unconsciously, Li Changzhou recalled the blue flames that outlined the white identity card, forming new words with 'Black Death God's Descent' (B-level).

[Name: Black Death God's Descent]

[Type: Skill]

[Quality: B+]

[Special Effect: Summons a White Bone Black Death God from the Void to fight for oneself]

[Minimum Use Conditions: Intelligence 7, Charm 8, Perception 10, consumes one point of Wisdom every three minutes (Player 'King of Black Fog' does not need any conditions)]

[Introduction: The scythe of the Black Death God only destroys the souls of living beings; Black Death God is immune to physical attacks; Attack range 5 meters]

[Remark: Death God "blessed" by mystery, lucky one among Death Gods (Mystery: Taste bad, not recommended for consumption)]

Under Li Changzhou's command, the Black Death God swung its scythe, and a white light as bright as moonlight fell upon the silverfish.

There was not the slightest trace left, only the eyes were ablaze with white fire, turning pale until the fish stopped breathing, and the rest of its body remained intact.

'What does it take to heal a soul wound?'

As Li Changzhou gained strange powers, he also thought about how to deal with such strange powers if they were directed at him.

He put away the Black Death God and tossed the fish's body into the 'Honey Jar World' to fertilize the giant tree.

Lying on the simple iron-framed wooden bed, he closed his eyes ready to rest, but his brain was still thinking.

He needed to find a Healing Skill he could use for regular training, or have Li Qianxia or Yang Qinglan learn one because 'Qilin Blood Exhaustion' ultimately has the limitation of blood; one cannot lose too much blood.

Additionally, once "Honey Pot World" is renovated, "Gardener Bird Style·Gardening" will be replaced with "One Device Through," allowing the Emerald Bee Sword to grow.

After thinking about future matters for a while, he simulated tomorrow's battle in his mind, military vehicles, landmines, turn-based games...

Remember to steal gasoline—he reminded himself.

"Flame Wave" was no longer in the skill bar, but had become even more intimate with him.

◇

The mansion courtyard.

"Two less!" The girl by the pool table suddenly shouted, coincidentally just as Li Qianxia and Yang Qinglan entered "Honey Pot World."

"Dead?" the man drinking asked.

"Not sure," the girl responded, looking at the rack area where the balls symbolizing the number of players had decreased from thirteen to eleven.

"Miles, try again, and this time include the nun," the smoking man glanced at Miles.

"Wait... just a moment! Almost there!"

◇

Naples, the largest city in southern Italy.

Just two days after the Prague event, Yafeiluna had already become the new boss of the Camorra.

In a lavishly decorated European-style conference room, Yafeiluna was holding a meeting.

"Boss, the Glorious Society and Sicily have agreed to talks."

"The location?"

"They propose to hold the meeting in the birthplace of the Mafia—Sicily."

Yafeiluna remained silent. She was reluctant to leave Naples, her stronghold, but she knew that to accomplish certain things, she had to take risks.

"Boss," one of her subordinates sensed her hesitation, "we must go. Once Camorra stands alone without support, the Catholic knights will set our realm ablaze."

"I understand. Go prepare..."

Just then, the five strands of grey mist standing behind Yafeiluna suddenly let out a silent howl, boiling tumultuously.

The atmosphere instantly became tense and chaotic, and everyone stepped back in fright, drawing their guns.

The scene from two days prior, when Yafeiluna, accompanied by the grey mist, massacred the Gomorrah, killing the previous boss and his cronies, was still vivid in their minds.

Yafeiluna didn't back down, staring intently at the mist.

An anomaly in the grey mist indicated only one thing: there was an issue with the "lover" she followed.

Had the King of Black Fog died?

Anxiety involuntarily crept onto Yafeiluna's face.

As just a mistress, with her "lover" present, she could lead Naples' largest Mafia—Camorra—with composure.

But with her "lover" in trouble, she didn't even dare to raise her voice.

Her fate was determined by her "lover," and all she could do was choose to be someone's mistress.

The members of the Camorra knew about her supernatural abilities. If these "subordinates" ran into trouble...

They exchanged glances—who would be the next boss?

One of them sent a look that conveyed a message to everyone—take out Yafeiluna first!

As the air grew heavier and breathing became ragged with heat, fate hung in the balance, awaiting Judgement Hammer's stroke.

The grey mist raised its head in a silent roar, each strand painfully drawing out a grey scythe from the Void, their blades sharp and eerily beautiful.

Bang!

The man named Busida, dressed in black, aimed and shot at Yafeiluna.

The grey mist flashed by, splitting the bullet in half with the scythe, and in another flash, it appeared in front of Busida.

A line of grey light was drawn; the gun, the hand, the tie, the suit, Busida's body—all were symmetrically bisected.

The "Commander of Grey Mist" had evolved into "Death God's Commander of Grey Mist."

Before, the mist was impervious to bullets, but it could not block them; now, it could cleave or deflect bullets with a scythe.

With a sharp scythe, the efficiency of killing had also greatly improved.

"It seems I need to worry about more than just Catholic knights," Yafeiluna said with a cold smile, looking at her subordinates.

With hair red as blood gemstones, as long as she had a powerful lover, she could even become a queen.

Sweating profusely, everyone dropped their guns and swore loyalty once again.

The grey mist, holding a scythe, floated above the conference room, like a Death God herding sheep as a Shepherd.

Yafeiluna smiled as she listened, but her thoughts were on Li Changzhou—

The King of Black Fog had grown stronger, could this be the power of Death God, perhaps Sobek? Was it exchanged from the game event? She wondered if she could ask the great one for help in subjugating the other two mafias.

◇

Hemick Island, 2:50 AM.

Li Changzhou released the two from "Honey Pot World"; Li Qianxia held out a cup of warm milk for him with her left hand and offered an egg and a duck egg with her right hand.

"Here," she said.

"You guys," Li Changzhou glanced at the items and took them, "seem rather leisurely?"

"We can't just not eat, can we?" Li Qianxia said as a matter of course.

"If we don't milk the cows, they'll get sick," Yang Qinglan even turned around to lecture him.

"Mmm-hmm!" Li Changzhou was drinking the milk. It wasn't clear what he was saying; it might be gratitude, or perhaps it was muffled indignation.

He didn't mention anything about the black fog and the Death God to prevent eavesdropping.

After finishing breakfast, Zheng Qing came knocking at the door.

At 3 AM, everyone gathered on time.

"Bon voyage!" Academician Lü said solemnly.

Zheng Qing didn't speak, but simply saluted.

The team tasked with stealing military vehicles left first.

After running a distance, Xiao He looked back to see Xiao Yun, Yang Liu, Tan Ke, and Xiao Zhang, who had been assigned to the evacuation team, still maintaining their salutes, watching them leave.

Seeing half of Xiao Yun's left sleeve empty, he resolutely turned back and joined his companions as they charged into the deepest darkness before dawn.