The apocalypse struck, and I became a druid.

Page 32

Chapter 34 Mysterious Waters

Huge concrete blocks lay toppled, like sunken mountains.

The twisted steel bars were exposed, as if entering a thicket of thorns.

Half-submerged car roofs, toppled billboard frames, and floating furniture debris.

Everything was submerged in the murky floodwaters, and occasionally one could see animal remains, their white bones exposed by the rushing water.

In addition, the number of crocodile lizards in the water has increased.

Almost every few hundred meters, they could spot at least one or two crocodile lizards swimming in the nearby waters.

Moreover, Han Ning keenly noticed that these crocodile lizards were generally larger than the ones he had encountered initially.

He clearly remembers that the baby crocodile lizards that initially attacked humans were mostly no more than one meter long, and the adults were mostly around one meter long.

However, the crocodile lizards we encounter now are generally close to two meters long, or even more than two meters.

Two or three of them were clearly over 2.5 meters tall.

“The juvenile form is almost invisible.”

Han Ning was somewhat worried; the water level was rising too quickly, and the situation for human survivors would only become more difficult.

"The deeper the water, the faster they seem to grow."

Fortunately, Han Ning let Xuebing swim ahead, so that as a fellow crocodile lizard, they could spot and avoid other wild crocodile lizards in advance.

He wasn't out hunting this time, but rather scouting; there was no need for him to fight these guys.

Relying on his vague memory of the city's landmarks, Han Ning directed Xuebing to constantly adjust its direction, heading towards the approximate location of Bailugang in his memory.

After swimming for about three kilometers.

"Ok?"

Han Ning suddenly noticed the change in the water flow.

The water ahead... seems to have gotten shallower?

This felt very abrupt.

They had been navigating through areas where the water was generally deeper than waist-deep, or even submerged.

But at this moment, the information transmitted back by Xuebing indicated that the underwater terrain ahead was rising and the current seemed to be calming down.

"No, it's not simply a matter of becoming lighter..."

Han Ning signaled Xuebing to slow down, and he himself swam forward more cautiously.

"This is……"

As he and Xuebing cautiously surfaced to try and see what lay ahead, the sight before them made Han Ning hold his breath and his pupils contract.

Ahead, a vast expanse of white mist appeared, defying description and seemingly boundless in size.

The fog was as thick as solidified milk, creating an extremely eerie contrast with the torrential rain around it.

The dense raindrops pounded into the swirling white mist, as if they were being swallowed up.

Instead of dispersing the fog, it seemed to help it, making the fog appear even thicker.

The line of sight was completely blocked, and visibility dropped to less than ten meters.

The white fog rolled and surged, completely engulfing everything around it—buildings, streets, and water.

Only a blurry and distorted outline remained, appearing and disappearing in the depths of the fog, like the skeleton of a giant beast lurking in the thick fog.

Swish swish swish~ Swish swish swish~

The world was completely silent, except for the dense pattering sound of raindrops hitting the water's surface.

This scene reminded Han Ning of a horror game he had once played.

silent Hill!

Unlike Silent Hill, this is in the ruins of a city submerged by floods.

"This... how is this possible..." Han Ning couldn't help but murmur softly, his voice sounding particularly weak in the rain and fog.

He couldn't understand.

It's important to know that this area is constantly battered by strong winds and torrential rain.

With such fierce wind and rain, any fog should have been torn apart instantly.

But the white mist before them seemed to have a life of its own, silently devouring the rain falling from the sky, constantly growing stronger, forming a white domain that even wind and rain could not shake.

"Gulu..."

Snowcake let out an uneasy growl.

His yellow, vertical pupils stared at the churning white mist, his body tensing slightly.

It was as if there was something extremely troublesome inside.

Han Ning looked around, trying to figure out his location.

It should be quite a distance from here to Egret Harbor.

As a tourist port, Bailugang boasts comprehensive supporting facilities. Within a radius of one or two kilometers, there are numerous resorts, high-end hotels, office buildings, and residential areas, making it far more prosperous than the mid-range neighborhood where he lived.

However, at this moment, this area, which should have been relatively prosperous, was devoid of any life, and even the roaming crocodile lizards that used to roam were nowhere to be seen.

Some of the buildings are still exposed to torrential rain, with rainwater washing over the glass curtain walls and damaged facades.

More buildings were swallowed up by the boundless white fog, leaving only blurry outlines floating in the mist, indistinct and ghostly.

Egret Harbor is likely located deep within this foggy area, or at least requires traversing through it to reach.

But this fog was too strange, completely beyond reason.

Just as Han Ning was hesitating, considering whether to take a detour or temporarily retreat to plan for the future...

"Ah!! Help!! Help... Ugh!!!"

Suddenly, an extremely shrill and painful scream from a woman came from the boundary between the rain and the white mist.

The sound came from a region beyond the edge of the white mist, an area that had not yet been completely swallowed up.

Han Ning suddenly turned his head, his gaze piercing through the heavy rain curtain, locking onto the source of the sound.

It was a street-facing shop half-submerged in water, its signboard long gone, the dark window resembling a gaping maw ready to devour its prey.

"Something weird..."

He thought about it and decided not to go.

He's watched too many horror movies, especially Ju-on. Most of the characters go into a house out of curiosity, only to be completely doomed once they enter.

Curiosity killed the man.

"go!"

Han Ning made a decisive move, turning around without hesitation, swinging his flippers, and retreating in a direction away from the white fog.

Saving people? Make sure you survive first!

As a result, he had only swum out for less than twenty meters.

"Save me, save me!"

A woman's scream rang in his ears without warning.

It wasn't coming from the shop behind me, nor from the front, nor from the side; it was right next to my ear...

The voice, clear and distinct, was calling for help right next to his ear, its breath filled with desperate gasps.

"..."

Han Ning's scalp tingled instantly, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

Does that thing still exist in this world?

Han Ning became alert and tried hard not to look back, continuing to swim forward.

But he didn't look, though his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the interior of the shop next door.

Deep within the dimly lit shop, filled with filth and floating debris, Han Ning caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye.

A woman in a white dress was pinned down by a broken, massive concrete beam, unable to move.

Most of her body was submerged in the shallow water. She struggled to lift herself up, her long, wet hair clinging to her pale face.

The face was contorted, filled with extreme fear and pain, its mouth wide open, emitting a silent scream.

Chapter 35 Looking for Death

at the same time.

Less than 100 meters away from the murky waters where Han Ning was, inside a crooked hotel building.

Behind the cracked window, two figures could be vaguely seen.

"Looks like another Awakened One drawn here by the ships from Egret Harbor. His abilities... seem rather interesting."

The speaker was a young man with medium-length hair wearing a dark jacket.

He turned sideways and cautiously peered out through a crack in a broken window, his gaze fixed on the direction where Han Ning was.

"Do you think he can get rid of the white mist's influence?" the man in the jacket asked casually.

"Hard to say."

The person next to him was a bit stocky, wearing a drab gray hooded windbreaker with the hood pulled low, obscuring part of his eyebrows and eyes.

He was holding a heavily scratched military binoculars in his hand, also carefully observing Han Ning.

“Even you and I can’t resist the influence of these monsters. The only way to get rid of them is to find a special awakened one. I don’t think he has that kind of ability.”

The sturdy man gave his judgment.

"How about we make a bet?" The man in the jacket smiled slightly.