"Woo—!"
The words fell as a piercing alarm blared from loudspeakers erected throughout the town.
The siren, signifying impending doom, acted as a fuse, igniting the people's suppressed fear and unease.
Everyone moved closer to the glass barrier, peering outside.
Across the parking lot, dotted with many vehicles, an old man in a khaki jacket, around seventy years old with graying hair, ran towards the convenience store with a look of terror. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, and his front had turned a deep, blood-red hue.
He stumbled as he ran, occasionally looking back as if something terrifying were pursuing him.
"Oh my god, that's Dan." The female cashier, standing near the glass barrier, covered her mouth, her expression one of pained disbelief.
A murmur rippled through the crowd, some people nervously retreating further into the store. Dan Novel Network.
Tang Sui stood in a corner, facing a transparent glass barrier wall that offered an unobstructed view of the parking lot.
As the old man, Dan, ran closer into the convenience store, his face contorted with terror, he yelled incoherently, "There's something in the fog! There's something in the fog!"
Ollie, the convenience store manager, supported the startled Dan, trying to calm him. "Dan, calm down. Tell us what happened."
Dan's pupils were slightly dilated, clearly deeply frightened. He clutched Ollie's arm tightly, his hand trembling, "Something in the fog, something in the fog dragged John Lee away. I could hear him scream... Quick, close the door! Close the door! Otherwise, that thing might get in!"
He shouted with rising emotion. Another cashier near the door instinctively obeyed Dan's command and closed the door, while Dan kept repeating his desperate plea.
The people looked out beyond the glass barrier uneasily. Parents with children pulled their little ones behind them, trying to shield them.
Tang Sui furrowed her brow, watching the dazed middle-aged man. Her gaze fell upon another middle-aged man who, unlike those retreating, was trying to push his way out to reach his car.
She watched as he impatiently opened the now-closed store door, pulled a car key from his pocket, and ran towards his parked vehicle.
Fukujin, sharing the same vantage point, observed the grayish-white mist that was sweeping in like a tidal wave, blanketing everything. He spoke softly, "This human will die."
The grayish-white fog, like a surging torrent, engulfed the people scattering outside, including the man who had finally reached his car, fumbled with his keys, and was trying to insert them into the driver's side door lock.
The next second, screams of agony echoed from within the dense fog that obscured their vision, like they were being attacked by something horrific. Their cries were heart-wrenching, and then silence descended.
Neither Tang Sui nor anyone else caught a glimpse of what happened in the fog, as the view outside the convenience store was instantly swallowed by the dense mist. Their targets of observation vanished, leaving the people inside to peer out anxiously.
Fortunately, someone had their wits about them and quickly shut the store door that the other middle-aged man had opened earlier, locking it securely.
Kitsune-men exclaimed with surprise, "This flimsy door actually managed to block the fog?"
Tang Sui's gaze fell on the seam of the store door not far away. Due to the sudden turn of events, a large portion of the area in front of the glass barrier, previously crowded, was now clear, allowing her an unobstructed view.
"Rumble—"
The ground began to shake violently. Shelves inside the supermarket rattled noisily, and several shelves toppled to the ground.
Amidst the violent shaking, people crouched down. Some cupped their hands over their heads, protecting vital areas. Others tightly hugged their children, attempting to shield them from falling light bulbs and fan blades descending from the ceiling during the tremors. Some lost their balance and fell, only to be stepped on by people staggering around during the earthquake, or directly pinned down, an obviously painful experience.
When the shaking stopped, the store was in disarray.
Tang Sui brushed dust from her skirt and looked at the large group of people asking if anyone was injured. Her dark blue eyes held a detached expression.
"What exactly are they planning with all this?"
The people caught in the disaster didn't succumb to despair but helped each other, a moving scene, yet irrelevant to her.
Sarumen chuckled, his tone laced with sarcasm, "Perhaps they genuinely want you to experience the warmth of the human family."
Kitsune-men's tone was equally cold, "We don't even know if they're truly living beings. This might just be a boring play, just as Sarumen said."
"After all, you achieved your Dao with a non-human body."
Oba-men spoke slowly, "The town isolated by the gray fog, the unknown dangers, it's like a game program, everything proceeding according to a predetermined script."
Tang Sui looked back at the grayish-white fog outside the convenience store, her mind racing.
"So, this is a setup to make me choose sides?"
Dafei scoffed, his voice muffled, "Even if our demonic power and soul power can't be summoned, our current destructive power is definitely at the Soul Douluo level. You don't need to endure being with these humans."
Kitsune-men smiled playfully, "Endure? Aren't some humans showing kindness? And it seems most humans are good people now. Does our little master wish to stay?"
Tang Sui scanned the stunned people. Her gaze lingered on the manager, who was unpacking new bandages and medicinal wine from the store to treat the injuries of those hurt by falling fan blades or lights during the earthquake, and on Ms. Irene, who was also helping nearby. She exhaled.
"I—"
"No, I can't stay here. I have to go home and look after my children."
Tang Sui turned her head and saw a woman with a buzz cut and delicate features.
The atmosphere in the convenience store suddenly became tense. Most people's eyes fixed on the woman who, despite having witnessed the danger, still wanted to leave.
"No, you can't go out."
Breaking the silence after the woman was another woman with long, coffee-colored hair tied loosely at the back, wearing a khaki cardigan and a beige scarf, with heavy makeup.
She pointed at the dense fog, from which nothing could be seen, her tone surprisingly calm, yet it gave Tang Sui a strange, familiar sense of dissonance.
She stated with conviction, "No one can go out now. Death is outside. This is the end of the world!"
Tang Sui: "..."
She gazed at the woman spouting about "divine punishment" and attempting to preach, as if she could see through the human guise to a withered, twisted, fanatical soul.
A stench of decay, as if on the verge of death, permeated every corner of her soul. Yet, her eyes, sunken into their sockets, were filled with deep faith, and every word she uttered radiated madness from within, like a virus, clinging to the feet of those present like maggots, attempting to invade and corrupt them.
Tang Sui was not unfamiliar with this woman's frantic, unwavering demeanor.
—Because this is another fanatic.