Frightening Joke: Above the Mist

Memory abruptly halted.

Bai Yanliang, for the first time, lost his composure and clutched his head, bumping into the desk.

"Bai Yanliang!"

Song Que was startled. From his perspective, the "flame" inside Bai Yanliang was flickering wildly, as if it might extinguish at any moment.

"I..."

"Who am I..."

"Who am I really..."

"Am I Bai Yanliang? No... I'm not... I'm just residing in Bai Yanliang's body..."

"Then who am I? A ghost from the Fog Realm?"

"But why... is there a woman named Xun in my memory..."

"No, she's not called Xun... she's called Meng Zhen..."

Bai Yanliang seemed to have grasped something crucial. He suddenly looked up at the old butler, pleadingly asking, "Excuse me... do you remember anything about Meng Zhen and that man?"

Though the old butler didn't understand why Bai Yanliang had such a strong reaction, he had indeed witnessed some miraculous events in those years.

Therefore, his impression of the couple was indeed profound.

"What I know isn't much either..."

A recounting began to flow from the old butler's mouth.

————

Zhou Tian and Meng Zhen left their old rural home.

This decision came very suddenly, so suddenly that Zhou Tian's family didn't even have time to react.

But he gave a very compelling reason.

"I'm smart, I learn quickly, a university in the city has taken notice of me, and recruited me. Miss Meng is my teacher."

For the family, as long as this wasn't a scam, it was a blessing.

And the identity of Miss Meng had already been verified; she was indeed a scholar from the city.

Thus, when the two left, they encountered no resistance.

But their destination wasn't any university, rather... it was a bottomless cave discovered by Meng Zhen's parents.

The exact location of the cave wasn't clear to them, but according to Meng Zhen's parents' records, the cave entrance was in the central area of Ye City.

Logically, in a highly developed city, it would be unlikely for an unknown hidden cave to still exist.

But the place recorded in the notebook was indeed in the heart of Ye City.

Nowadays, construction is taking place in this area; a new pedestrian street and new commercial buildings are being developed.

"The most likely location is probably the Central Square under construction."

Meng Zhen said.

However, Zhou Tian did not respond.

Meng Zhen turned to glance at him, a chilling sensation instantly slid down her spine, causing her to instinctively take two steps back.

Watching him warily: "What's wrong with you?"

"..."

Zhou Tian twisted his head, quietly observing Meng Zhen.

Meng Zhen's heart rate gradually accelerated; she could sense that this Zhou Tian in front of her, no... she should say, something possessing Zhou Tian's appearance, seemed to be experiencing something.

"You're not Zhou Tian, who are you!"

The "Zhou Tian" quietly watched her, but his gaze seemed to pass through Meng Zhen's body, looking far beyond.

Meng Zhen only felt the surroundings had turned frigid, and by the time she regained her senses, a fog was already forming.

The fog grew thicker; she hadn't even noticed when the city sounds started disappearing.

There should have been a construction site here, it should have been noisy, but at this moment... silence.

Logic told Meng Zhen to stay calm, but her body wouldn't obey.

Instinctively gripping her phone, she stepped back, one step at a time...

"Zhou Tian" came over, moving closer.

Meng Zhen's body was already completely stiff, unsure if it was from cold or fear.

However, he didn't lay a hand on Meng Zhen; instead, he walked past her, heading straight to the construction of the Central Square.

It wasn't until he was almost swallowed by the thick fog that Meng Zhen snapped back to her senses.

She first glanced down at her phone, realizing the signal was completely gone.

It seemed this fog had changed everything.

The sound vanished, people disappeared, and the phone signal was lost.

A voice in her mind told her to leave this place quickly.

But seeing Zhou Tian walking into the dense fog, watching him walk to his 'death', she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Fortunately, she wasn't someone prone to hesitation; after a moment's thought, she immediately followed him.

Her parents also disappeared because of this. Since she's pursuing her parents' whereabouts, then facing these terrifying abnormalities is a matter of time.

She did not want to avoid it.

Meng Zhen followed him into the fog; he seemed to have a predetermined goal, never correcting his direction, heading straight to the place Meng Zhen had always been searching for.

Indeed, surrounded by fog in the construction area, there was a strange hole emitting a gray glow!

This hole went straight down, bottomless, and before Meng Zhen had time to observe carefully, "Zhou Tian" had already leapt in!

"Zhou..."

The call of his name caught in her throat.

Meng Zhen took a deep breath, seeming a bit troubled.

But a moment later, as if she had suddenly come to terms, she too jumped in.

Oddly, the moment she entered the cave, Meng Zhen felt no sense of weightlessness.

It was as if she wasn't falling, but rather... rising!

This was too bizarre; gravity seemed completely inverted.

A dizzying sensation made her feel somewhat nauseous.

This situation lasted nearly five minutes before coming to a complete stop, for there was a tangible sensation beneath her feet.

It was the ground.

Meng Zhen pinched the bridge of her nose and looked around.

She didn't need her phone for light, yet she could still see the surroundings clearly.

Because here... were those plants everywhere!

Unlike the transplants from the surface, the plants here emitted a grayish-white light.

It was this light that illuminated the space of the cave.

Dark caverns and scattered piles of bones.

Looking up, the entrance she came down from did not exist.

Meng Zhen suddenly thought of something. She turned to look behind her feet...

Indeed, a damp and eerie cave opening lay just below her heel.

This place was too strange...

And "Zhou Tian", at this moment, he was crawling on the ground, like an animal, sticking his head out, sniffing each of the plants. The grayish-white luminescence flowed from the plants, surging into his body like a tide, and amidst the flow of light, Zhou Tian's figure became increasingly blurred, yet increasingly clear.

Blurred and clear couldn't coexist, but that was exactly the case.

The face of Zhou Tian, even the body, had become shadowy and indistinct.

Meanwhile, another grayish-white humanoid outline emerged from within his body, becoming... increasingly clear.

Meng Zhen witnessed all of this, sensing that the real Zhou Tian was beginning to vanish.

She needed to think of a way; a way to save him...

At this moment, she suddenly paused.

Perhaps her current feelings were the same as when her parents came here again...