Frightening Joke: Above the Mist-Chapter 404: The Giant Tree

Song Que, Xu Zhifei...

The special abilities Zhou Tian spoke of immediately reminded Bai Yanliang of them.

They indeed possess abnormal abilities unlike any human. If what Zhou Tian says is true, with his unscrupulous ways, it’s impossible for him not to have left a backdoor.

Bai Yanliang does not like being threatened, but...

"Tell me, what do you want to cooperate on?" Bai Yanliang took a deep breath, stared at Zhou Tian, and asked softly.

Zhou Tian seemed somewhat regretful, he sighed: "Actually, I was hoping you would refuse me."

"You have indeed grown into something both Bai Yanren and I did not anticipate, a soul originating from the Fog Realm where fierce ghosts wander, able to develop emotions akin to humans. It’s truly ironic."

After speaking, he turned away, seemingly losing interest in Bai Yanliang.

"Collaboration is simple; we need to speed up the process, or else everyone will be doomed."

Zhou Tian said something Bai Yanliang did not expect.

"There has been a change. No matter how many foolish things Bai Yanren did ten years ago, there is at least one thing for which he deserves everyone’s respect, and that is for delaying the advent of the Fog Realm by ten years. However..."

"Recently, the Time-Space Gap that blocked the Fog Realm and the Mortal World has completely disappeared. Do you understand what this means?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Zhou Tian turned to Bai Yanliang.

"The Fog Realm will accelerate its collision with the Mortal World," Bai Yanliang said.

"Exactly, and this also means that the person originally staying in the Time-Space Gap has already escaped. You should know without me telling you, that person is Bai Yanren. I can tell you explicitly that Bai Yanren has left the Time-Space Gap, he has given up blocking the Fog Realm, and at this moment, he is with the red spider lily in..."

Zhou Tian’s voice abruptly stopped, and after a moment, it whispered again: "The red spider lily is dead; Bai Yanren wants to retrieve all the keys."

"In fact, I am unwilling to cooperate with anyone. These actions are merely for survival. If the Fog Realm collides with the Mortal World, even hiding in the Time-Space Gap won’t save us; no one can escape."

Zhou Tian said softly.

Bai Yanliang looked at him, and after a moment, he spoke: "The Fog Realm and the Mortal World have coexisted peacefully for years. From your description, it seems that it’s not the Mortal World and the Fog Realm attracting each other and about to collide, but rather, the Fog Realm is actively hurling itself towards the Mortal World."

"Am I to understand that Dr. Zhou Tian accidentally discovered the Fog Realm years ago, and used some means to enter it and took something from it, which then led to the crisis in the Fog Gathering and the current situation?"

From the moment he entered the gate of the Dark Abyss, Bai Yanliang had been in an extremely passive state.

But upon hearing these words, Zhou Tian’s expression immediately changed somewhat.

Back then, only he knew what had happened. Could it have been Yu Wenxuan who told Bai Yanliang?

"Don’t pretend, such a simple thing doesn’t need anyone to reveal," Bai Yanliang said coldly. "If I’m not mistaken, you want me to go into the Fog Realm ahead of time and return what you took from it, right?"

Zhou Tian’s face turned gloomy, and for a moment, he said nothing.

"Then take a guess, what did I take?"

Zhou Tian seemed to still be confirming the information Bai Yanliang held.

"What else could it be? You’ve said yourself that, as a human, you cannot possess powers not belonging to humans, but you could place such power on Song Que and Xu Zhifei. The thing you used was taken from the Fog Realm, wasn’t it?"

Zhou Tian was initially stunned, then burst into laughter.

"Cooperating with a clever person really saves trouble, I indeed need not explain anything further. You’ve guessed about eighty percent correctly."

"So, we can immediately proceed to the next step of cooperation..."

Zhou Tian suddenly moved abruptly close to Bai Yanliang’s face.

From his eye sockets, an eye pupil emerged, then two, then three...

A multitude of pupils were suddenly staring at Bai Yanliang!

At this moment, Bai Yanliang’s spirit suddenly became overwhelmingly weary.

He couldn’t control himself and closed his eyes, which had become exceedingly heavy.

He did not know how long had passed, nor whether he was within the world inside the gate or in the real world.

Bai Yanliang only felt his body continuously falling, falling until... seemingly landing in a misty world.

Too quiet, this world is, so quiet that only his heartbeat can be heard.

Bai Yanliang was momentarily shocked, then suddenly realized that being able to feel his own heartbeat implied that his consciousness had awakened?

Indeed, the scene slowly became clearer to him.

He saw it, a giant ancient tree towering from earth to sky, like a pillar holding up the heavens.

Under the somber and vast sky, in his far-reaching view, the tree’s branches twisted thickly like a coiled dragon, densely forming a gray-black umbrella that supports the sky... yes, the leaves of this towering giant tree are gray-black, not green, or perhaps they were originally green, but now they are worn and decayed, decrepit and aged, as if even the wind blowing through them has turned gray.

Could this possibly be the Fog Realm...

Bai Yanliang still remembered clearly what had just occurred.

Zhou Tian suddenly came close to him, his eyes emanated numerous pupils, and then... his consciousness began to sink, and upon awakening again, he was already in this place.

If this is the Fog Realm, or if it is the Fog Realm in Zhou Tian’s memory, then what does he want me to see here?

Bai Yanliang tried to take steps towards that enormous tree reaching the sky.

However, no matter how he stepped, the distance between him and the giant tree did not diminish at all.

Yet, it wasn’t entirely without change from before.

From his current position, Bai Yanliang could vaguely see.

On the huge trunk of that towering giant tree, something seemed to be moving.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a humanoid figure?

Naked, frail, and with ash-white skin...

Wait!

There’s more than one!

Bai Yanliang suddenly raised his head towards the tree crown that obscured the sky.

These leaves... these so-called leaves of the tree, seemingly swaying with the wind...

They’re all naked, twisted, and misshapen humans!

They covered the tree trunk layer upon layer, writhing unconsciously like maggots—an utterly horrifying sight!

These, this tree, these people... what exactly are they?

Just then, a "leaf" from the tree crown seemed to fall with the wind, descending rapidly.

Bai Yanliang could see the twisted face of that ash-white body yet couldn’t hear any sound.

"Boom——"

The "leaf" crashed heavily in front of Bai Yanliang.

Crimson blood soaked into the soil, and on the distorted, frightened face, a pair of eyes were opened wide.

This body... this could be...

Himself!

"Buzz——"

Bai Yanliang felt a sharp pain in his head, and his consciousness detached instantly. Abruptly awakened, he opened his eyes to see the world inside the gate of the Dark Abyss, and the smiling Zhou Tian.

"You saw it, didn’t you? That tree."