Decaying World

Chapter 130, Anomaly 130 (Thanks to Alliance Leader Bori)

Lin Hui's expression was solemn. He quickly moved to the window and stared at any possible gaps in the doors and windows.

This is the study, and there is an enclosed corridor outside. This kind of artificially enclosed corridor at night is very likely to have been damaged by the recent violent earthquake, resulting in gaps and leaks.

Now it's nighttime, and if a loophole appears...
Lin Hui's expression was solemn.

He quickly put away the illusionary technique, took two long swords from the wall, and carried them on his back.

"Hahahaha."

Suddenly, an eerie, ethereal laugh rang out from outside.

"There are so many here, so many, come quick!"

"My husband, where are you? I've found our child."

"Flesh and blood. Fresh."

Strange whispers continued to echo from outside.

Lin Hui's heart sank, knowing that the thing he least wanted to see had happened.

The enclosed corridor had a crack, and those monsters from the night fog had entered!
He gripped the sword hilt, his expression solemn.

To be honest, he had never actually encountered these monsters in the night fog.

He didn't know what they were, whether they could be killed, or whether they could be driven away.

Throughout his childhood, he only ever heard one thing.

Once the night fog breaks through the door, no matter what the family's identity or status is, there is only one ending.

That is—they have all disappeared.

Whether they were from powerful families or commoners, this outcome has remained unchanged for decades.

Lin Hui stared at the jade talisman hanging in front of the window. The thing was swaying and cracks were visibly appearing.

He knew things were going badly; his study might have also developed cracks and leaks from the recent violent tremors.

What exactly is night fog?
He quickly recalled all the relevant information he had collected.

'Night fog can alter everything, and it's suspected of possessing the ability to move things to another location in a short time. Therefore, you must never touch night fog, otherwise you might be transported to another place and unable to return.'

Among all the information, the information that his older sister Liu Xiao had mentioned in a casual conversation gave him a key clue.

When the two were teasing Lin Xiaoliu at the Lin residence, Lin Hui pressed her about the nature of the night fog, and Liu Xiao racked her brains before finally giving this answer.

Lin Hui composed himself, reached out, and gently grasped the doorknob.

pat.

The jade talisman finally shattered and fell to the ground.

Inside the study, wisps of faint gray-white mist drifted in from somewhere and floated in mid-air.

Seeing this, Lin Hui quickly circulated his inner energy, creating a gentle breeze around him that blew the approaching gray mist to a corner of the room.

Click.

He calmed himself down and opened the door for the first time at night.

The jade talisman in the study was broken, so whether he opened the door or not was irrelevant. The key was to familiarize himself with the environment as soon as possible and determine whether he could handle the dangers in the night fog!
A soft creaking sound.

There was a person standing outside the study door.

A smiling young woman dressed in a light red long dress, with a face as white as a wall.

"Ding Ning!?" Lin Hui was both shocked and furious.

He recognized her at a glance; the woman was none other than Ding Ning, the maid who was supposed to be sleeping in her own room!

She should go back to sleep by now!
Suddenly he remembered that Ding Ning always liked to stand guard outside his door night after night, ready to obey his orders at any time.

Therefore, it is very likely that she had been guarding the enclosed corridor outside the study when a sudden tremor caused the corridor to leak, and then...
Looking at the smiling Ding Ning, Lin Hui felt a surge of sadness amidst his shock and anger.

This is the only outcome for ordinary people when facing danger.

He could tell that something had happened to the other person; if Ding Ning hadn't been secretly waiting outside his door, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way.
A pang of self-reproach flashed through Lin Hui's mind. He slowly drew his sword and gazed at Ding Ning outside the door.

"Are you still conscious?"

“Young Master, I’ve always liked you very much,” Ding Ning said with a smile, taking a step closer.

"I like him so much. I like him so much that I want to devour the young master!!"

Suddenly, she lunged forward, her body seemingly sliced ​​open from top to bottom by a blade, splitting into two halves that formed a gaping, dark red maw of flesh, which snapped at Lin Hui.

The large mouth was filled with countless dark red, wriggling worms, with no teeth, only a slightly smoky, pungent smell.

Clang!
In an instant, a silver sword light suddenly shone.

A fierce wind surged, and the wind pressure suddenly turned into a tremendous force, forcibly pouring into the giant mouth, turning it from a forward-leaning attack into a backward flight.

With a loud bang, the monster that resembled Ding Ning was blown away on the spot, smashing through the wooden planks of the corridor and flying out, crashing into the thick gray fog, disappearing without a trace.

Lin Hui, with a solemn expression, maintained the invisible airflow surrounding his body as he arrived at the corridor.

He looked around and could faintly hear the screams and roars of disciples and students in the distance from both sides of the corridor.

'That violent tremor just now might have caused leaks in many corridors. I don't know how many people will die in the outer city this time. I hope my family is alright.'

Lin Hui thought of the Lin family mansion. Fortunately, his father had become more and more reliable recently, and the security measures he had built were layer upon layer. In addition, Liu Wujun and Liu Xiao should have also provided protection, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

He watched the faint gray mist drifting into the corridor, not daring to speed up. He could only maintain the invisible airflow around his body step by step to isolate the mist and move towards the direction of the disciple's voice.

One side of the corridor is a white stone wall, and the other side is a temporary, removable, and movable brown wooden board enclosure. It is these brown wooden boards that caused the problem.

At this moment, the lamplight hanging in the corridor flickered and swayed, its brightness fluctuating.

Lin Hui walked slowly on the stone bricks, determined his direction, and headed towards the nearest sound. The dim light cast a long shadow of him, which appeared distorted and dark on the white wall, like a monster.

Brown wooden pillars kept passing by him.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks.

On the ground ahead, there was a large hole in the brown wooden plank on the right.

On the ground at the edge of the cave entrance, lay the corpse of a Qingfeng Temple disciple.

She held a long sword, face down, blood gushing from her head.

Lin Hui silently approached and used his sword to turn the corpse over.

The corpse's face had been gnawed open by some kind of creature.

Eyes, mouth, and nose were all gone; all that could be seen was a bloody, mangled mess.

Just then, Lin Hui suddenly noticed that the corpse's abdomen began to swell abnormally and rapidly.

The speed at which it inflated was like blowing up a balloon; it swelled to the size of a human head in just two seconds.

Bang!
The bulging meat bun suddenly burst open, and countless white flying insects flew out.

But as soon as all the flying insects took flight, they were swept away by a gust of wind, blown around, and forced to twist their direction, crashing into the brown wooden board on one side.

Bang!
The brown wooden board was instantly ripped open, allowing the flying insects to swoop out precisely and disappear into the gray fog outside.

The flying insects disappeared, but the gray fog also surged into the corridor even faster.

Lin Hui quickened his pace, constantly paying attention to the airflow drawn from the fog-free areas, swirling around him.

As he walked along, avoiding the foggy areas of the corridors, he saw several corpses, all of whom had died with their faces hollowed out.

This caused his gradually calming state of mind to experience a renewed strong sense of crisis.

He originally thought that with the jade talisman and Liu Wujun and Liu Xiao in the inner city to ensure that the jade talisman would not be shut down, he could stay in the outer city in peace and live the peaceful life he wanted.

But the violent shock from the massive explosion shattered all his previous illusions.

It was just an accident that caused the jade talisman to become ineffective, and the night fog began to invade on a large scale.

One corpse after another appeared before Lin Hui's eyes, and the anger in his eyes became clearer and clearer.

Soon, after walking through the corridor, he arrived at the accommodation area where his disciples were resting.

The elders all live in private residences outside. Those who stay at the Black Dragon Headquarters of Qingfeng Temple are usually disciples who are used to ascetic training or whose families are not well-off, because those from well-off families usually go home to rest.

In the accommodation area, corpses were everywhere on the ground, and blood was splattered all over the place. Fortunately, only a third of the rooms were broken open, and the rest remained sealed.

As Lin Hui walked past, he could hear suppressed and fearful breathing coming from inside.

He didn't knock on the door to ask or warn anyone. At a time like this, whatever he did would make him seem like a monster in the night fog.

Soon, Lin Hui found an empty bedroom, entered, and used the wind to drive away all the fog. He then closed the door and checked the jade talisman, which was already shattered.

He suddenly realized why none of the people who had accidents at night before had survived.

"Once the night air leaks in, the night fog will seep in and damage the jade talisman. Without the talisman, the night fog can erode it unchecked. During this time, even if a person finds a new safe room, the moment they open the door, the previously secure environment will be compromised, and the jade talisman will instantly become damaged. This will happen no matter how many safe rooms are found."

The pre-prepared sealing and the jade talisman are both indispensable.

Inside the room, Lin Hui kept a close eye on the fog. As soon as a wisp of fog entered through a crack, he would immediately manipulate the airflow to blow it out.

This continued until dawn, when the night fog gradually dissipated.

A rooster's crow could be heard in the distance.

Lin Hui slowly relaxed and pushed open the door.

At that moment, he also heard the disciples from the surrounding rooms coming out of the temple.

Crying and vomiting continued to ring out.

"Why... Ah Xing, Ah Xing, wake up!"

"That monster bit my hand! Quick, help me stop the bleeding!"

"Master! Why did this happen! The seals were all in place, so where did that explosion come from!?"

One by one, the disciples came out. Some looked distraught, some rushed outside in a hurry, clearly worried about their families and friends, and some were covered in blood, heading straight for the pharmacy.

Huang Shan was helping a junior sister stop the bleeding with his internal energy.

Qiu Yiren's face was deathly pale as she leaned against the wall, staring blankly at everything.

Wang Hongshi has organized some of his conscious disciples and students to take care of the wounded and to assess the situation.

Lin Hui gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

"Calculate the number of casualties, and mobilize funds and medicines from within the temple in my name to do everything possible to treat everyone!" he ordered.

"Yes!" Wang Hongshi nodded quickly.

Where is Tao Xuehai!?

"He fought a monster to save a junior sister, and was poisoned and fell into a coma. The junior sister took him to the pharmacy."

Lin Hui swiftly disappeared into the pharmacy, where Chen Meng was hurriedly treating all the wounded.

There wasn't enough room inside, and dozens of people were lying on the ground outside, a dense mass of wailing.

Lin Hui spotted Tao Xuehai at a glance. He was being fed medicine by two pretty junior sisters, and he looked pained.

After confirming that the kid was alright, Lin Hui checked on the condition of the other wounded one by one, his mood growing increasingly heavy.

(End of this chapter)