Fog

Ye Xinglan glared at him. "What are you saying? Do you want to fight them to the death?"

Xie Xie sighed. "I wish I could, but we can't even beat one of them, let alone both. And you know Gu Yuena is always with Anping."

He didn't really mean it. He knew better than to pick a fight with Anping and Gu Yuena. They had only brought him trouble every time they met. But he liked to vent his frustration in private.

A puzzled voice interrupted him. "Are you talking about the two who beat you at Sun Moon Academy? Can you get them to come out? I want to challenge them." It was Wu Siduo, who had also joined the mission.

She had become the class leader after Tang Wulin was dismissed by the academy. Most of the first graders thought she was the strongest among them. Tang Wulin had won the position of squad leader more by strategy than by strength.

Xie Xie snapped at her. "The five of us couldn't beat them. What makes you think you can?"

Wu Siduo looked at him with contempt. "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean I can't. I have my own martial soul fusion skill, you know."

Tang Wulin intervened. "Let it go. We're here in Slysea City for the academy's mission. We don't need any complications. Besides, I don't have a way to contact them."

He agreed with Xie Xie. None of them had ever defeated Anping and Gu Yuena. Wu Siduo's martial soul fusion skill was impressive, but they doubted it would be enough.

Wu Siduo nodded slightly. "Fine. We'll talk about it later if we get the chance. For now, let's focus on the mission."

As the class leader, she couldn't abandon the academy's mission for her own pride. She had no idea where to find Anping and Gu Yuena anyway.

Xie Xie dropped his attitude and asked, "So, how do we go to sea? I can't believe the academy didn't provide us with a ship."

Wu Siduo said, "We have two options. The first is to ask for official help in the name of Shrek Academy."

Wu Zhangkong walked in and interrupted Wu Siduo. "Let me tell you the situation. The academy has made a deal with the Skysea Alliance officials. They won't give you any help. Skysea City is in chaos right now. All the official ships are busy keeping order. You won't get any from them."

Xie Xie protested. "How can the academy do this to us?"

Wu Siduo ignored him and continued. "Since we can't rely on the officials, we have to rent a sea ship or share one with other explorers. What do you think? Should we go alone or with others?"

Tang Wulin said, "I think we should share a ship with others. Renting a sea ship is too expensive. We'll lose more than we gain. The academy gave us a lot of contribution points, but we should save them if we can."

The others nodded. They weren't surprised by Tang Wulin's choice. He knew the situation well. Making a battle armor was costly enough, and so was eating. They had all lost a lot of contribution points after their defeat at Sun Moon Academy, so they agreed with Tang Wulin.

They studied the map of Skysea City and left the hotel. They headed for the Skysea City Dock Rental Company.

The closer they got to the dock, the more crowded the streets became. Tang Wulin felt something was wrong. It was noon, but a thin layer of fog covered the street.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, dimming the sun's light. The air became moist and sticky. Tang Wulin breathed in and tasted a faint fishy sweetness. In a few moments, the fog enveloped the whole street.

Tang Wulin sensed something was off and warned the others. "This fog is not normal. It can affect our soul power. Don't breathe it in. Stay alert."

They held their breath and scanned the area, looking for the source of the fog. But there were too many people around. It was hard to spot anything suspicious.

Wu Zhangkong tried to analyze the fog but came up empty. He said, "I can't find where the fog is coming from. We need to get to a high-rise building and check from there."

Tang Wulin pondered for a moment and said, "The Skysea City Auction House is the tallest building around here, and it's on this street. We can go there."

"Lead the way!" Wu Zhangkong said calmly, then looked at Tang Wulin and waited for him to take the lead.

Tang Wulin did not dare to waste any time and dashed towards the auction house with the others. It was a short distance, but they did not move very fast.

As time passed, the fog grew denser and denser, until they could barely see anything. Several of them were soul masters, but the ordinary people on the street had collapsed one by one, covering their mouths and noses.

As people fell, the street became chaotic. Whether they were ordinary people who had not succumbed or soul masters, they all ran to the ends of the street, trying to escape from the foggy nightmare.

After checking on a few of the fallen people, Wu Zhangkong said: "The fog has the effect of devouring life force and corroding soul power. It must be the work of an evil soul master. We can't go to the auction house to investigate. We have to speed up and get out of this area as soon as possible."

As he spoke, he picked up Xu Lizhi, the only auxiliary soul master, and carried him on his shoulders. He said "Follow me" and started running towards the end of the street. He also took out his phone and tried to contact Shrek Academy, but found that there was no signal at all.

Seeing Wu Zhangkong carrying Xu Lizhi swiftly, Tang Wulin and the others followed his pace and quickened their steps. The street was not very long, only a few kilometers, but they felt like it was an eternity.

As the fog became heavier and heavier, Wu Zhangkong sensed that the fog not only devoured life force and soul power, but also affected mental power, and these effects were increasing as time went by.

Realizing this feature of the fog, Wu Zhangkong shouted: "Stay close to me! Don't be more than three meters away from me."

Hearing Wu Zhangkong's shout, the others were a bit puzzled, but they did not dare to disobey and hurriedly moved closer to him.

When they were all near him, Wu Zhangkong quickly released his soul power and mental power to form a barrier, isolating them from the fog.

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