Chapter 47 Embracing Left and Right

Chapter 47: Chapter 46: Embracing Left and Right

Silence returned to the scene.

Only the monotonous patter of rain striking the water remained, while their heavy, suppressed panting echoed through the dense fog.

WHOOSH!

A mass of blue-white light—far larger and more condensed than the ones released when killing the Mirage Insects—drifted up from where the Vortex Shell Crab had sunk.

In midair, it split into three streams: one large and two small. They drilled into the bodies of Han Ning, Lin Qianqian, and Yu Na, respectively.

[Druid Growth Progress +60] (Current Level 4, 92/600)

[Mental Power +0.1] (Mental Power: 0.85)

[Swamp Crocodile Lizard Growth Progress +15] (Current 27/200)

[Vine Technique (High Level) Skill Level +8] (Current 18/500)

Han Ning slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and withdrew his Spiritual Power. The remaining vines turned into specks of green light and scattered.

Lin Qianqian lowered her Compound Bow and looked up. Her gaze passed over the gradually calming, murky water and landed on Han Ning, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

"Beautifully done."

She splashed through the accumulated water to Han Ning’s side, reached out with her right hand, and gently rested her palm on his shoulder. Her fair fingertips glowed with a soft, restrained white light.

HUM...

A warm and peaceful Energy Flow instantly permeated through his clothes and skin, surging into his body. The Spiritual Power Han Ning had depleted during the battle recovered rapidly.

Although the battle just now had been intense, he hadn’t consumed much Spiritual Power, especially after absorbing the Energy from the Vortex Shell Crab. With Lin Qianqian’s help, it was now fully restored.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Much better, thank you," Han Ning said, feeling the abundant Spiritual Power within his body.

Lin Qianqian withdrew her hand. The white light at her fingertips faded as she smiled. "It’s the least I could do. Let’s rest for a moment."

With that, she turned and walked toward Yu Na.

While Lin Qianqian helped Yu Na restore her Energy, Han Ning walked briskly over to Snow Cake.

The little guy was lying low in the murky water. He licked the scrapes the Vortex Shell Crab had left on his body, letting out soft whimpers from his throat.

"Don’t move," Han Ning said, crouching down. A vibrant, emerald-green light bloomed from his palm and covered Snow Cake’s ghastly wounds.

[Rejuvenation Technique (Middle Level) Skill Level +1, Current 39/200]

As the green light seeped in, the curled flesh at the edges of the wounds stopped bleeding at a visible rate, and tiny granulations began to wriggle and grow. Snow Cake narrowed his eyes comfortably. The whimpering in his throat turned into satisfied purrs as he rubbed his cold head against Han Ning’s wrist.

[Swamp Crocodile Lizard Growth Progress +1, Current 28/200]

By this time, Lin Qianqian had finished restoring Yu Na.

She walked over to the massive corpse of the Vortex Shell Crab and drew a gleaming short knife from her waist. She detached the pair of huge, hard pincers from their joints. Next, she sliced open the relatively soft connective tissue of the abdomen and carved out several large chunks of snow-white, delicate crab meat with distinct textures. She carefully wrapped them in a waterproof cloth and placed them into a sealed bag.

"Here." Lin Qianqian handed the heavy bag to Han Ning, her tone gentle. "You were the main force in the battle, so these spoils rightfully belong to you. We’re fine with just absorbing the Energy."

"Alright, thank you." Han Ning didn’t decline. He took the bag and stuffed it into his backpack. As for whether he would share it with Lin Qianqian and the others later, he planned to decide after they returned.

After a brief rest, Lin Qianqian glanced at the surrounding mist and pointed deeper into the Fog Area. "We’ve maintained our condition quite well. We can keep moving forward, but stay alert."

The team set off once more, trudging deeper into the dense fog.

The further they went, the more the fog seemed to gain weight, pressing heavily upon everyone. Visibility dropped even further to less than five meters. The accumulated water beneath their feet felt deeper and colder, and every step was met with viscous resistance.

Along the way, they encountered several more attacks from Mirage Insects. After the Vortex Shell Crab had died, they seemed to pop up out of nowhere. These creatures, lurking within the decaying bodies of other organisms, constantly released maddening illusions.

However, with the protection of the Spirit Barrier from Yu Na’s early warnings, combined with Han Ning’s precise Vine Point Kills and Lin Qianqian’s timely Spiritual Power replenishment, these isolated Mirage Insects were dispatched with relative ease.

[Druid Growth Progress +15] (Current Level 4, 107/600)

[Mental Power +0.13] (Mental Power: 0.98)

[Swamp Crocodile Lizard Growth Progress +7] (Current 35/200)

When they had penetrated nearly three hundred and fifty meters into the Fog Area, the density of the surrounding mist reached its peak.

Light was completely devoured. Even with a flashlight, the beam could only illuminate a tiny patch of space in front of them before being quickly swallowed by the thick fog.

"Stop!" Yu Na, who had been silently keeping watch, suddenly let out a low shout, her voice trembling imperceptibly. She halted and looked to her right as the faint blue light of the Spirit Barrier fluctuated violently around her.

"What’s wrong?" Lin Qianqian immediately raised her Compound Bow, pointing the arrowhead in the direction of Yu Na’s warning.

"Three o’clock direction. Three massive lifeforms are approaching. They’re Vortex Shell Crabs!"

"Three?!" Lin Qianqian’s expression changed drastically.

It had taken everything they had just to barely take down a single Vortex Shell Crab. Three appearing at once would absolutely be a fatal disaster.

"Retreat!" Han Ning’s reaction was even more direct than Lin Qianqian’s.

The trio didn’t hesitate. They instantly turned around and sprinted wildly toward the exit.

Almost the very second they vacated their spot—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three Water Cannons, each over ten centimeters in diameter, tore through the dense fog and bombarded the exact location they had just been standing.

Murky waves of water, mixed with shattered bricks and sludge, splashed skyward. The sheer force of the impact briefly displaced the water in that area, exposing the cracked ground beneath. A suffocating sense of oppression rushed over them like a tsunami.

"Hurry! Don’t look back!" Lin Qianqian’s voice carried an unprecedented urgency.

On their flight path, Han Ning pushed his Mental Power to the absolute limit. The "radar map" in his mind, constructed by Snow Cake’s perception, was clearer than ever before. He accurately evaded the obstacles ahead, choosing the route with the least resistance, and pushed his speed to the maximum.

The other two girls lacked a "radar map," so their escape pace was noticeably slower. Seeing this, Han Ning whipped out two vines, wrapping them around their waists to pull them along.

As Yu Na sprinted, she focused all her senses on tracking the movements of their pursuers from behind to provide Han Ning with early warnings.

"Turn left! Avoid that crossbeam!" Yu Na suddenly shrieked.

Without a second thought, Han Ning yanked the vines, pulling the two girls to his sides. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders and forced them all to duck down.

The three of them narrowly scraped past a massive concrete crossbeam half-submerged in the water. At almost the same time, a thick column of high-pressure water blasted past their right side with a roar. It slammed ruthlessly into the crossbeam, blasting it into a shower of flying rubble.

Peril surrounded them on all sides.

Fleeing desperately for their lives, it took them less than five minutes to leave behind the three-hundred-plus meters of distance that had originally taken them nearly half an hour to penetrate.

Only when the impossibly thick fog around them began to thin, allowing the dim, grayish daylight from afar to faintly filter through, did the trio’s taut nerves relax just a fraction. The terrifying screeches and sounds of breaking water trailing behind them also gradually faded away until they vanished completely.

SPLASH!

Dragging Lin Qianqian and Yu Na along, Han Ning finally broke through the edge of that suffocating, dense fog.

The freezing rainstorm pounded against their bodies once more, yet the familiar sound now seemed incredibly sweet. The three of them stood in the murky puddles, panting heavily as rain mixed with sweat and streamed down their cheeks.

Looking back, that roiling stretch of thick white fog resembled a dormant behemoth, still silently devouring everything in the background, as if the thrilling pursuit they had just endured was nothing more than an illusion.