Outside the car window, the gray fog had thinned slightly, but visibility was still poor. Several people cautiously leaned closer to the glass smeared with red and white liquids, trying to discern what in the wind had torn apart the blood ghouls.
“Captain, it seems like there’s nothing out there…” someone couldn’t help but speak.
The captain, his expression grave, responded with a low “hmm.” The limited visibility caused by the liquid on the glass and the dense fog made it impossible for him to see what was slicing through the bloody organisms.
Although they deeply despised the grotesque organisms, seeing the horrifying creatures shredded by something in the wind sent a chill down their spines. This chill stemmed from a deeper fear: the unknown is always more terrifying.
“There must be something. Stay alert, and don’t get out of the car,” the captain instructed. Unable to communicate with the vehicles behind them, he trusted that the experienced team members in the other cars wouldn’t act rashly in the face of uncertainty.
Although they couldn’t see clearly, the howling wind outside grew fiercer. The bloody organisms clinging to the vehicles were either sliced apart or, as if sensing danger, stopped their attack and staggered back into the gray fog.
Once the organisms retreated, the driver of the lead vehicle attempted to restart the car. The wipers barely cleared the liquid from the windshield, and the tires skidded over the slimy remains of bloody organisms before finally grinding over them and moving forward again.
However, with the bloody organisms gone, the vehicle now faced another assault head-on. Amid the sharp crackling of impacts, the people inside the car finally realized what was being carried by the raging wind.
Hail?
No!
Hail couldn’t possibly have such destructive power, let alone slice through blood ghouls or terrify them into retreating.
A young team member pressed his face against the glass and finally made out what was swirling in the wind.
It was—ice blades!
He tilted his head against the window, his eyes widening in shock at the scene above.
In the gray fog, the storm carried hail shaped like sharp blades, swirling downward and crashing against their vehicle with crisp, terrifying impacts.
The ice blades whipped past the car and disappeared into the thick fog along the roadside, slicing through branches and undergrowth as they went, wreaking havoc in unseen places.
It took a while for the people inside the car to recover from the shock. “C-Captain… Am I seeing things?”
“I saw it too. It really does look like blade-shaped hail.”
Hail was already a severe natural disaster, but blade-like hail, combined with the fierce wind, turned the landscape into a giant, relentless meat grinder.
No wonder the blood ghouls had been shredded. If they had been outside the vehicle, they would likely have met the same fate.
“Still, if it’s just hail and not something stranger, at least it cleared out those disgusting creatures. It actually helped us…” the driver muttered under his breath.
“Focus on driving! Let’s get back as quickly as possible!”
“Yes, sir!”
Fortunately, the rest of the journey was relatively smooth. Despite the strong wind outside, their armored cargo trucks with bulletproof glass kept them safe. Once they left that stretch of road, the wind and ice blades subsided.
After the storm’s fury, the fog thinned even further, and visibility increased to about five or six meters.
By dusk, the convoy successfully returned to the resort.
The captain ed the encounter with blade-shaped hail during the journey, which surprised the commanding officer. There had been no such phenomenon near the resort—only occasional strong winds after midday, and the surrounding gray fog had also thinned.
During this time, communication signals flickered sporadically, allowing brief moments of connection. The command center personnel were making every effort to contact the outside world and headquarters.
Meanwhile, the research team had made new discoveries. The previous sharp drop in temperature had drastically reduced the number of blood-red soft bodies appearing. Their studies revealed that these organisms indeed became less active in low temperatures.
However, since the soft bodies would dry out and turn black as if “dead” when removed from the fog, the researchers were unable to conduct in-depth studies and remained uncertain why low temperatures reduced their activity.
It might be related to certain components in the fog diminishing in low temperatures, but this was merely speculation. Whether it was the blood lotus, the soft bodies, or the gray fog, all these phenomena were far beyond the current scientific understanding of this world. Fully deciphering them would not be a quick task.
That night, strong winds arose again near the resort, lasting the entire night. The howling wind made it difficult for those sheltering indoors to sleep. It wasn’t until just before dawn that the wind subsided, allowing some to finally doze off, exhausted and anxious.
But they were soon awakened by the excited shouts of others in the same building.
“Am I seeing things? The fog has cleared?”
“Everyone, wake up! The gray fog is really gone! My god, how long has it been since I last saw the building across the street!”
“If the fog’s gone, then those disgusting soft bodies should be gone too, right?”
“Don’t ask me! Let’s wait for instructions from the troops to be safe!”
Some remained cautious, but others, fed up with being cooped up inside for so long, couldn’t hold back anymore. Ignoring the protests of their friends and families, they opened the doors and rushed outside.
The gray fog had indeed lifted. Though the sky remained gloomy, with no sign of the sun, it was the first time in over half a month that they could see the sky at all. Even a dull sky was a welcome sight compared to the suffocating fog.
The outside air was freezing, with temperatures still below zero, but as long as the fog was gone, nothing else seemed to matter.
Some people embraced their loved ones, unable to hold back their emotions.
“Is the disaster finally coming to an end?”
“When can we return home?”
While some were filled with hope, others were deeply worried. They remembered the initial excitement when the gray fog seemed to “kill” the blood lotus, only for the fog itself to become a nightmare.
This time… could it be the start of another disaster?
Yu Xi sat before her computer’s extended screen, watching Jian Shou repeatedly attempt to connect to the internet. At last, with the intermittent signal, he managed to upload textual data.
“We don’t know how many places outside have recovered their signal or how many people will see these messages.”
“Keep going. Try to upload as much as you can to major websites.”
With the fog gone, the signal was slightly better today than yesterday. However, it seemed the entire planet’s population was trying to get online simultaneously, leading to network congestion. Images and videos couldn’t be transmitted at all.
As a result, Yu Xi had edited the warning information into text form for easier uploading.
The gray fog had dispersed, and the residents of the resort eagerly stepped out of their buildings, rejoicing. The military’s low-hovering vehicles were finally operational again. From the window of the floating villa, one could see the bustling scene at the foot of the mountain, where the resort was located.
The military personnel were busy distributing food, water, and cold-weather supplies, as well as reorganizing the allocation of residents in each building. Their aerial vehicles, much faster than cargo trucks, had made several trips since the fog lifted in the morning. Each time, they returned with large quantities of supplies, fuel, and even new construction materials, which were being used to hastily build perimeter walls around the resort.
Yu Xi thought the military probably had similar suspicions about the situation but lacked any means to predict future disasters. Their actions were purely instinctive, driven by the sense of urgency and frustration from being so constrained during the gray fog. Now that they had an opening, they acted decisively.
In the villa’s kitchen, Hei Mu retrieved freshly baked matcha and cocoa cookies from the oven. He carefully arranged the beautifully shaped cookies on a serving tray and brought them, along with the coffee he had prepared earlier, through the dining room to the round table in the living room where Yu Xi sat.
The villa didn’t have a balcony like an apartment, so Hei Mu had placed Yu Xi’s favorite round table and rattan chair by the window. It had become her designated spot for afternoon tea, with Hei Mu preparing different coffee and snacks for her daily.
Yu Xi was surprised to see the elegant matcha and cocoa cookies. She vaguely remembered muttering yesterday about forgetting to stock up on cookies, but Hei Mu hadn’t said anything at the time, nor had she given it much thought. Yet today, he had gone ahead and made cookies from scratch—two of her favorite flavors, no less.
“Thank you,” Yu Xi said, taking the cup of hot coffee he handed her. A sip warmed her from head to toe.
“Master, this is my duty,” Hei Mu replied, placing the coffee pot aside. He used a delicate silver tong to put a few cookies on a smaller plate, which he set within her reach.
Yu Xi rested her chin on her hand, watching him as he busied himself. “Hei Mu, tonight I want to eat spicy stir-fried crab, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, salted shrimp, and grilled lamb skewers.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Also, where’s that white long-fiber sweater I only wore once?”
“Master, I washed and dried it yesterday. It’s in the wardrobe, left side, third cabinet, second drawer.”
Yu Xi couldn’t help but clap. “Even in the apocalypse, I’m living so extravagantly. What if the villa can’t hold up someday, and we all have to evacuate?”
“Master, that’s a concern for the future. Until then, ensuring your comfort and satisfaction every day is my only mission.” Hei Mu folded a napkin with an intricate pattern and placed it by her hand, nodding slightly before turning back to the kitchen.
“Just kidding! Let’s not have such a complicated dinner. How about dumplings tonight?”
That day, excitement and unease filled the air. By evening, the gray fog began to creep back in, gradually obscuring everyone’s vision.
Fortunately, during the day, everyone had made the most of the clear hours. Many young and able-bodied refugees had joined the military’s efforts to transport supplies, ensuring that food, water, and cold-weather gear were distributed to every building.
In the following days, the gray fog came and went. Each time a strong wind blew through, the thick fog would dissipate for a few hours.
The military managed to establish contact with headquarters and exchanged some research data, but the phenomenon of blade-shaped hail ed during the earlier storm hadn’t been observed in other regions. This might have been due to the limited number of contact points or the blocked flow of information, leaving them with an incomplete picture of the situation.
Three nights later, as the wind howled and the temperature plummeted sharply again, everyone heard something striking against the buildings.
Crack, crack, crack
—a sound like hail.
Later records stated:
January 12th. Temperature: minus twenty degrees Celsius. Ice Blade Hell begins.
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