Chapter 61: Intimidation

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Intimidation

With everyone watching, Julian Lowell nervously infused the sunshine into his door card.

No one had ever moved at night, and no one knew what they would encounter if they did.

Now... he had no choice but to try.

"Is there no way to live stream this? I really want to know what’s happening with Julian!"

"I’m paying close attention to Julian! I want to know too."

"This damn place doesn’t have a live stream function. You’d probably need an item to do that, right? Does something like that even exist?"

"Get real. Even if it did, no one would use it."

"What a shame. I’m really worried about Julian!"

Worried... Concerned...

If you wanted to call it that, Seraphina Sinclair was concerned, too—concerned about how, exactly, he was going to die.

The people on the regional channel couldn’t reach a consensus and gradually fell silent.

Seraphina was already exhausted, but she had to know the outcome, so she forced herself to stay awake.

Twenty minutes passed quietly. Then, the once-silent regional channel suddenly exploded with activity.

Seraphina yawned, but the moment she saw the messages, she was wide awake.

"He’s dead!"

’Dead?’

Seraphina searched for his ID. After seeing that his profile picture had turned gray, she returned to the regional channel.

"What happened?? He’s gone without sending a single message?"

"Knowing his temper, if he had the chance before he died, he would’ve definitely come to the regional channel to curse everyone out. But there wasn’t a single message... Tsk... What the hell did he run into?"

"But he really did move. This proves that person’s theory from before was correct."

"That doesn’t help. Moving at night is a death sentence."

’He used his life to verify a basic rule of The Black Mist World...’

Seraphina sighed softly, closed the regional channel, and lay down flat on her bed.

’What a shame. We didn’t get any other information out of it.’

「...」

She did not sleep well.

Seraphina felt mentally off the moment she opened her eyes. It was only six o’clock; she had woken up far too early.

After struggling to go back to sleep for a moment, Seraphina gave up and sat up, her gaze sweeping around the small cabin.

’Everything looks normal. Nothing’s out of place.’

She rubbed her throbbing temples. Outside the window, the black mist was still thick, but a faint grayish-white light was filtering through. ’Have we officially entered The Misty Path?’

Just in case, Seraphina activated the effect of Water Stopping.

Her mind cleared considerably in an instant, but the headache from her poor rest remained. She sighed and rolled out of bed. The wooden floor let out a faint CREAK, startling the Sunflower curled up in its pot.

The little guy seemed a bit displeased, its leaves trembling as it gently tapped against the flowerpot.

Seraphina paid no mind to what it meant and offered a casual greeting, "Morning."

She even reached out and gently touched one of its leaves with her fingertip.

A bit of mucus clung to the leaf, like a drop of black morning dew.

’It must be leftover from yesterday’s feeding.’ Seraphina frowned and wiped it clean with a piece of tissue.

She opened the regional channel. Julian Lowell’s death was still the main topic of discussion. Some expressed regret, others mocked him, but most were just disappointed that a life had been lost without yielding any useful information.

’But in a place like this, human life is the cheapest thing there is, isn’t it?’

Seraphina was silent for a moment, then started a fire in the cabin.

’The novice protection period is over today. Who knows what kind of crap the system will pull...’

’Worrying is useless. At this point, I should just eat first.’

As she picked up a piece of fish, she suddenly noticed a message from an acquaintance that had been buried in the chat:

[Pretty Guardian]: Has anyone noticed? The color of the mist changed this morning!

’Isn’t it just grayish-white?’

Seraphina silently lifted her head and looked out the window.

The black mist and the grayish-white mist were both gone. Now, the mist outside the window had taken on an eerie gray-green hue, like rotting verdigris.

She frowned and instinctively used "Insight."

[Contaminated Mist (F-level Negative Effect Active)]

[Description: A unique mist found on The Misty Path, containing weak corrosive properties and mental interference. Prolonged exposure can lead to blurred memories and slowed reactions; in severe cases, it may even cause hallucinations. The putrid air within the mist will gradually erode a survivor’s will, plunging them into chaos and fear.]

[Current Effects: Mild headache, difficulty concentrating (Duration: 7 days)]

’So this is also an effect of The Misty Path.’

Seraphina stared at the Description, her brow tightly furrowed. ’No wonder I’ve felt off since I woke up. The negative effects of the mist have already started.’

She rubbed her temples, secretly relieved that she had activated Water Stopping beforehand. Otherwise, the symptoms might have been more severe.

"Looks like these seven days won’t be easy..."

Seraphina mumbled to herself, head lowered. She couldn’t resist another glance at the gray-green mist outside. In it, something seemed to be squirming.

Her movements froze. She stared intently at the churning gray-green mist. Something was writhing inside, and the indistinct shadows made her nerves go taut.

"Why is it getting closer?"

Seraphina cursed under her breath, her fingers unconsciously stroking the dagger at her waist.

Sunflower suddenly sent a warning into her mind: "Something... is getting closer..."

’Okay, there’s definitely something out there.’

Instantly alert, Seraphina threw the covers off her bed. Just then, a dull THUD echoed from the cabin wall, as if something heavy had slammed into it.

She froze for a second before quickly retreating to a corner, gripping her dagger tightly.

Another impact, closer this time.

She couldn’t help but glance at the time. ’It’s not even 8 o’clock yet.’

’At this hour... And I haven’t moved. Where the hell did this monster come from?’

The mist outside the window churned violently, and a blurry, humanoid silhouette gradually took shape.

It was a monster whose entire body was festering, its skin covered in gray-green patches of mold. Black mucus dripped from its empty eye sockets.

Seraphina stared at the damn thing and used Insight.

[Memory Eater (E-level)]

[Description: A corrupted creature that roams The Misty Path, feeding on human memories. Being touched by it will cause permanent loss of memory fragments, and in severe cases, one might even forget how to use weapons or Skills.]

[Weakness: ???]

’An E-level monster!’

’And what’s with the weakness section?’

’Why is it just question marks?’

Seraphina’s brow was deeply furrowed, her eyes fixed on the monster. A burning sense of anxiety flared up inside her.

’Why did the weakness section turn into question marks? Don’t tell me the novice protection included that, too? Now that the novice protection period is over, the weakness analysis is gone with it?’

Seraphina shook her head to focus on the monster. It was just standing outside the window, its body swaying with the churning mist, bumping against the cabin again and again with a dull thud.

’What’s this about? Is it not going to attack directly, just stay outside and intimidate the survivor?’