"Even ants cling to life, so neither Hong Sha nor White Death would truly seek their own demise," they said hurriedly. "We want to live! We want to live!"
"Very well." Li Ang nodded. "Later, I'll separate you two to interrogate you one by one. It would be best not to let me find any discrepancies in your testimonies, otherwise..." He gave a meaningful chuckle, a laugh that sent shivers down Hong Sha and White Death's spines, instantly making them envision ten thousand tortures he could inflict upon them.
Li Ang isolated Hong Sha and White Death for individual interrogations. After completing the questioning, he checked their statements again and found few differences.
According to them, they were not natives of Yin City. Having lived in different eras and regions, they died and became resentful spirits. They roamed for a long time until an invisible force suddenly drew them into the fog.
Although the Thick Fog Territory was modeled after the real world's Yin City, its physical laws were vastly different from the real world. There were no boundaries; leaving from one end would bring you back from the other. There was no sunrise or sunset, and even the flow of time varied among different areas. The various demons and monsters living here had completely lost their sense of time, aimlessly wandering and devouring each other, indifferently observing the buildings around them evolve from humble mud-and-thatch huts to modern skyscrapers reinforced with steel.
Hong Sha and White Death were far from the strongest in the fog. According to them, the Misty Territory of Yin City held dozens of peculiar spots. The locations of these peculiar spots constantly shifted. Their only characteristic was the incredibly dense fog, so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Any demon or monster that ventured into them would vanish without a trace. At the moment of disappearance, faint, heavy chain-dragging sounds could be heard emanating from the fog. It seemed as if something... was shackled by chains within these peculiar spots of the fog.
Every so often, the fog would capture new demons and monsters, some capable of flying through the sky or commanding demonic winds. These monstrous beings saw themselves as demon kings and could not be content staying in such shallows. Naturally, they recruited troops and established domains. They then sent their underlings' lives into the peculiar spots of the fog, attempting to strangle the existence within and find a way out. However, like stones sinking into the sea, there was no further news from the hordes of monsters. Even the few demons leading them from outside the peculiar spots were hunted down by a dark, vertical shadow descending from the sky; none survived. Originally on the lower rungs of the food chain, Hong Sha and White Death became some of the stronger survivors as a result.
Lately, various anomalies had emerged within the mist. First, the fog-covered area expanded from Yin City to its surrounding regions. Second, the peculiar spots increased their frequency of movement and intensity of activity. The sounds of heavy chains dragging across the ground echoed throughout the city, occasionally accompanied by the distant, deep roars of beasts and blazing thunder rolling across the sky. Finally, Hong Sha and White Death had a vague premonition that the Misty Territory might soon open on a large scale, which would be their best chance, as well as for the many monsters within, to escape.
After listening to Hong Sha and White Death's statements, Yu Zhenghai's brows were deeply furrowed. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Wei Linglan, who had also fallen into thought. From their testimony, it seemed very likely that the Misty Territory was the remnant of a battlefield game from an unknown number of generations ago. There was a high probability that high-level and difficult tasks would be triggered in the not-too-distant future.
The crises involved were far beyond what Li Ang and the others could resolve.
The feeling... it was a bit like discovering that your backyard was buried with a bunch of wartime mines, the kind that could explode at any time.
It was just uncertain how much the Special Affairs Bureau knew about the Misty Territory of Yin City.
Under the Cheetah Mask, Li Ang's face was somewhat sullen.
If the situation turned desperate and moving away from Yin City was the only way to preserve their lives... would he be able to get back the month's rent deposit he'd left with the landlady in advance?
Li Ang's silent demeanor made Hong Sha even more anxious, fearing that this gentleman might swing his long spear at any disagreement, using "if you can't produce cough syrup, you die" as justification, and end her little life with a single thrust. Beneath the red bridal veil, Hong Sha's face turned frighteningly pale, while White Death's face became almost transparent.
To prevent the two from being scared out of their wits, Wei Linglan asked, "Just now, when you said you could help us leave this place, what did you mean?"
"Uh... for us goblins and ghosts, once we enter this Thick Fog Territory, it's impossible to get out." Hong Sha pursed her lips and, under Miss Chai's icy gaze, said awkwardly, "The wedding ceremony can only take effect if both sides sincerely exchange their marriage tokens. To get your agreement, I told a lie..."
"Tsk," Miss Chai smacked her lips discontentedly. "I suppose even if we had agreed, you wouldn't have let us leave, right? All these servants in the procession—it's not likely that they're all goblins and ghosts captured into the fog."
Having her scheme exposed by Miss Chai, Hong Sha laughed awkwardly and pointed a finger at the nearly transparent White Death. "This was all his idea; he's the one who instigated me."
White Death looked innocent and astonished, struggling to open his swollen lips and muttering unclearly in response, "How can you make such groundless accusations against me?"
"Alright, enough." Miss Chai, with a hint of someone emboldened by powerful backing, impatiently interrupted Hong Sha and White Death. She turned her head to look at Yu Zhenghai, who was standing silently beside them. "What do we do now?"
Yu Zhenghai thought it over and said in a deep voice, "Stick to your original plan and continue moving toward the location specified by the System."
"Hmm." Wei Yueyan nodded noncommittally and turned to look at Hong Sha and White Death, her eyes flashing with sagacity. "Give me a reason not to kill you two."
Upon hearing this, Hong Sha stiffened and, with both shock and fear, threw herself to the ground, tearfully narrating her story. She had been born into a wealthy family but was deceived by a penniless scholar who swindled her fortune and defiled her. Her father saw through the scholar's bluff, recognizing him as nothing but hot air. He pitied his daughter but did not have the scholar killed. Instead, he merely sent people to threaten the scholar a bit and offered him money to stop pestering her. He also took it upon himself to marry his daughter to a local upstart. However, on the wedding day, that wretched scholar, in the name of love, spread hand-copied illustrations of their affection along the wedding procession. This forced Hong Sha to take her life inside the bridal sedan with a hairpin.
As Hong Sha narrated her tragic past, White Death was not to be outdone. He tearfully recounted his own story: he had heroically saved a drowning child, only to drown himself. Afterward, the body-retrievers extorted a high fee that his relatives could not afford. The family of the saved child turned a blind eye as if nothing had happened, leaving White Death's body at the bottom of the lake to be consumed by fish and shrimp.
While Hong Sha and White Death were both in tears, Miss Chai, like an unmoved demon, interrupted impatiently, "Who wants to hear this? I'm asking you, do you have any treasures on you?"
As a thrifty girl who managed her household well, Miss Chai naturally had Li Ang's welfare in mind. If she could squeeze some benefits out of these two ghosts, that would be the best outcome.
"Treasures?" Hong Sha and White Death looked bewildered. "This... we're just poor ghosts. We've never even seen a treasure, let alone owned one."
"Useless!" Miss Chai cursed, but then her eyes lit up as she caught sight of the gorgeous wedding attire Hong Sha was wearing. "Hey, this dress you're wearing... it seems quite nice. Come on, let me have a good look at it."
Hong Sha, seeing the gleam in Wei Yueyan's eyes, felt a chill run through her already cold body.