Deep in the Living-Chapter 498 - 484: Escalation of Chaos

Inside the dormitory,

everyone sat cross-legged on the beds, discussing the information gathered so far.

The once intricate and confusing events were gradually becoming clear under the puzzle-solving clues.

The current main events can be summarized as follows:

1. The Corner event involving the eight of them corresponds to a "videotape," which likely drew them in through the form of television projection, erasing the participants’ memories of each other.

2. The direct danger associated with the videotape is the [Fog].

Be it Wu Wen’s experiences at the newspaper office or the current happenings at school, all are connected to the fog.

It can be roughly deduced that to escape from the videotape, they most likely need to find the source of the fog, which corresponds to "certain remains."

3. In addition, there are many fear-related divinities projected from the depths of the Corner that together form the event. These divinities spread throughout the city and its outskirts, dangerous yet filled with opportunities.

Luo Di and Mia have accomplished tasks required by the divinities, receiving rewards that significantly aided their exploration.

Additionally,

important information within the university has been collected.

1. Fog Man

One of the fear entities associated with the fog.

It requires television as a medium for expression; if the television medium can be destroyed, the danger can be eliminated.

Its abilities include but are not limited to:

「Thought Influence (Brain Fog)」- During combat, it causes the target’s thought response to become slower, leading to completely wrong decisions.

「Fog Touch」- Fog Man’s fingers are encircled with compressed mist.

Once an opponent is touched, the affected area is immediately erased.

Even the Hell Body displayed by Luo Di cannot resist it; whether flesh or steel, it will vanish.

「Internal Weather」- Once injured during a confrontation with Fog Man, the fog from the environment rapidly infiltrates, enveloping the interior.

Once internal weather forms, all regeneration and self-healing effects are nullified, reducing the body to the weakest human form, where even minor injuries can be deadly.

「High-level Body」- Offensive means will rarely cause effective damage to Fog Man, and even if damage is inflicted, the environmental fog will quickly fill and repair it.

*No core or weaknesses have been discovered yet.

2. Investigation Direction

According to the investigation at the underground morgue, the faceless suicide victims are mainly concentrated in [Life Science College], presumably containing important fog-related clues within the college. If found, the investigation at this university location can end prematurely.

...

After summarizing the clues, Luo Di decisively proposed the next action plan, without waiting, set for tonight.

"We’ll go to the cafeteria to eat something now, then head directly to the Life Science College. If what Mia said is accurate, carrying the iron bucket will allow us all to get in."

Luo Di jumped off the bed and picked up the iron bucket.

The girl inside was still sleeping, even though Mia described the situation as exaggerated and terrifying, Luo Di didn’t feel any danger at all.

Just as he was about to leave with the iron bucket, Wu Wen’s voice came from behind:

"Don’t think about eating ~ Besides, just head out this way, it’ll be faster. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave this university."

Wu Wen had come to the dormitory window, making a dangerous climb-over gesture:

"Didn’t I say before?[Location], like the fog in the entire city, becomes dangerous over time, with Chaos Value increasing autonomously.

The campus has already turned dangerous, no longer resembling how it was on our first day here.

Don’t think about dining, just munch on some snacks to get by."

"Is it like this on the second day? Our infiltration action at the hospital last night was successful, and Mia didn’t kill anyone either."

Wu Wen held up three fingers, "Today marks the third day here on campus."

"Huh? I slept for two days? So what’s the situation in the school now?"

"You can take a peek through the peephole, and you might get an idea."

"I’ll take a look."

Luo Di’s eyes pressed against the peephole, seeing a student facing the wall.

The face wasn’t clear due to the wall-facing position.

However, from the student’s finger holding a cigarette and the white smoke exhaled from the mouth, it seemed like smoking.

Maybe feeling watched,

the student slowly turned, revealing a face with degrading facial features.

The eyes had only two round cavities left, the nose was just slightly raised, the mouth had only a small opening barely wide enough to fit a cigarette.

There were scattered cigarette butts all over the floor, suggesting he’d been smoking here for a long time.

The student quickly approached the peephole,

without knocking on the door,

without pounding,

but took out the cigarette, and from the tiny remaining mouth squeezed out a tongue to lick the peephole surface.

Luo Di hurriedly stepped away from the door, "Has the whole campus started to go faceless? Smoking seems to be a yearning for the fog, probably won’t last tonight before jumping off the building."

He walked to the window, using the sunset’s last rays to look toward the campus,

sure enough, many smoking students were wandering around, and on the rooftop of each building, you could see those about to commit suicide, faceless campus staff queuing up.

Seeing the scene, Luo Di contemplated disguise again, "The Life Science College is still quite far from here; if we detour, we’ll likely get discovered, right?"

"Hm?"

Wu Wen pointed at the iron bucket in Luo Di’s hand, "Have you slept too long, still not thinking straight? Didn’t Mia say we have a special partner who can cut through the trouble of infiltration and disguise?"

"Works on these altered guys too?"

"Mia and I already tested this morning; it works on anyone as long as they’re not dead. The girl you’ve been protecting is quite special."

"Alright."

Three figures landed down from the dormitory building,

Luo Di tried to hold the iron bucket like a lantern.

Sure enough, along the way, encountered faculty and students would voluntarily offer to help guide or carry the bucket.

Luo Di wanted to refuse but got interrupted by Wu Wen.

"If you reject them, they’ll become unstable, just agree to everything."

"Alright."

Just the short walk from the dormitory to [Life Science College], the four-member team turned into a hundred-person parade.

Numerous students with degrading facial features gathered around, forming a large circle. If any student became completely faceless, they would autonomously leave the team to jump off nearby tall buildings.

The college in front had long been abandoned,

its exterior covered with various caution tapes and ’No Entry’ stickers,

"Luo Di, let someone go in to test. If these guys can help us search for clues, we can avoid all risks."

"Alright."

In the eyes of these people, Luo Di, carrying the iron bucket, was entirely the spokesperson for the girl, with any requests obeyed.

After brief communication, several sturdy students quickly ran into the building from different directions to assist the group in searching for clues.

Only two minutes passed.

Bang!

These students fell in front of everyone, faces smashed beyond recognition.

"It’s not that simple. Ordinary people stepping in here will turn faceless. We should go ourselves...be careful, we’ll probably be affected accordingly."

With hundreds of students waving goodbye,

the team officially stepped into this abandoned college building.

Ripping off the seals,

pushing open the long-unused automatic doors,

ZZZZ!

An unsettling electromagnetic noise came from inside the security room.

Through the hollow iron window, looking inside,

a television was placed in the security room, synchronizing its power when everyone stepped inside.

When Fog Man hunched his body and walked out from the security room, the hall had already emptied, the four seemingly heading to the building’s depths at once.

Fog Man did not pursue,

his body, through his feet’s dispersing mist, was retracted back into the television, the screen image changing from half a human face to static, disappearing.

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