Inside The Black Mist

Although Tianyang had seen many nameless and evil things in the Inverse Universe, every time he encountered these morbidly abnormal things that defied logical understanding, he couldn't help but instinctively reject them. This reaction was not related to his identity or status.

He looked at Cang Du, whose expression was not much better.

The young man asked in a low voice, "What is that?"

"I hope I know." The guy with the ponytail thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, "We have to go and see."

Tianyang supported this idea. That building was obviously strange. Even in the fortress city, he had never seen a structure enveloped in such a weird substance. Moreover, those things didn't look like some kind of fungus; they looked more like the decaying bodies of dark creatures.

Cang Du made a gesture of alertness and then walked in front with Tianyang, while Yan Bing and another soldier covered the rear. The team quickly approached the building filled with malice, like a demon's nest. As they got closer, a strange odor began to drift in the air.

Within the stench, there was a sweet and nauseating smell. This smell made Tianyang envy the soldiers. Their helmets completely isolated them from the Inverse Universe's air, sparing their noses from this nauseating odor.

Cang Du had already pulled up his collar, covering his nose with his clothes to slightly reduce the pervasive stench.

As they got closer, under the light, they could see on the surface of the building's semi-solidified slimy substances, a few grayish-white objects that looked like bones were protruding. On both sides of the entrance and hanging down from the roof were two limb-like structures resembling lizard hind legs.

On top of these things were palm-sized scales, many of which had fallen off, floating on the ground like patches of slimy mud. The ends of the hind limbs were not claws or hooves.

They were feet!

Human feet, and on those still relatively intact feet, rough and thick black hair was still growing!

Tianyang felt his stomach churn. What exactly was this thing, possessing some human characteristics? However, he couldn't see any hands or a head. He didn't know if it lacked these parts or if this indescribable entity never had such structures!

The only fortunate thing was that it showed no signs of life; it seemed to be dead.

At least, Tianyang couldn't see anything resembling a Will Cage.

The light shone on the open door, revealing a thin black mist inside. Some things were faintly visible, such as tables and chairs lying on the ground, shattered lamps, and even some paintings hanging on the wall.

And in the center of the hall, there was a pitch-black shadow!

Tianyang took a few steps forward, but Cang Du grabbed him. The latter was enduring the strange smell in the air and pointed to a twisted, black dead tree near the door.

So Tianyang saw that on the black tree, someone had scraped a few symbols with a sharp object.

The symbol was shaped like a diamond, with the inside of the diamond filled in by twisted lines and a solid dot gouged out in the middle.

At first glance, it looked like a diamond-shaped eye covered in blood vessels. In the pervasive black mist, it seemed as if something was staring at the team.

The flame soldier behind suddenly whispered, "There's something behind the tree!"

Tianyang and Cang Du immediately moved the lights on their guns. Indeed, there was a figure behind the black dead tree. But strangely, that thing showed no reaction at all.

Cang Du slowly moved to one side and discovered that it was a Mad Dog. However, it was already dead; its body decayed, leaving only a skeleton.

But this skeleton was hair-raising.

Its two hind legs were bent, and it knelt on the ground, facing the withered tree. It looked as if it were worshiping this strange black tree.

Tianyang and Cang Du exchanged a glance, both catching a glimpse of fear in each other's eyes.

"You two wait outside." Cang Du pointed to Tianyang. "We'll go in and take a look."

Leaving the soldiers behind, they approached the building, moving cautiously up the steps. Positioned on either side of the entrance, they pressed against the walls.

Cang Du signaled, and only then did Tianyang follow him into the hall.

Using the illumination attachments on their guns, they continuously scanned the hall, searching and inspecting.

Fortunately, they didn't find any dark creatures.

Their attention was then drawn to a mass hanging in mid-air in the center of the hall. It looked like a giant sac hanging from the ceiling, with various thick and thin tendril-like structures extending around it, suspending the large sac.

Tianyang and Cang Du moved around the sac. On the other side, they discovered that it had been torn open from the inside.

A large amount of sticky fluid flowed out, already in a semi-solid state, forming black mud on the floor.

There were imprints on the black mud—footprints—as if something had walked out of the sac.

The lights followed these footprints, revealing that they left the black mud and headed toward the window in the hall.

The window, along with the surrounding walls, was shattered, and the fragments radiated outward. These traces indicated that whatever it was had left.

Cang Du breathed a sigh of relief and gestured to Tianyang. They retreated, leaving with the soldiers.

They walked in silence until they left the alley. Cang Du chose a five-story building to regroup, and only then did Tianyang say, "What do you think that could be?"

Cang Du took out a water bottle, took a sip, wiped his mouth, and said, "Not sure. I've never seen anything like this before. It seems like the birth of some kind of dark creature. But from the footprints at the scene, it looks like there's only one newly born dark creature."

"As far as I know, dark creatures usually give birth to at least seven or eight at a time."

Tianyang recalled the enormous corpse lying outside the building. "And it seems like that thing came out from another type of dark creature. The sac seems to be some organ inside the huge corpse in the building. Could it be like the Mad Dogs, belonging to viviparous creatures?"

Cang Du put away the water bottle. "Who cares what it is? If we encounter it, I'll kill it!"

Tianyang thought of the symbols on the black dead tree outside and the Mad Dog corpse, which seemed to be worshiping something. A shiver ran down his spine.

Could dark creatures also have idol worship? Like humans believing in deities?

What would the dark creatures worship?

"Flame Soldier, did you mark that place just now?" Cang Du asked casually.

The flame soldier was using his hand to operate a recording device strapped to his wrist. This device could scan the surrounding environment and then generate a corresponding map. The exploration team utilized it to draw maps of towns in the Inverse Universe, providing references for subsequent deployments and plans.

"I marked it, Lieutenant. Should we collect some samples to bring back? We might get a good amount of contribution points," the flame soldier suggested.

Cang Du nodded, "I had the same idea. We'll collect the samples when we return... "

Thud, thud, thud—

Suddenly, there was a faint sound from the top of the building, as if someone were pounding on the door...