# 575
**Chapter 576: A Figure in the Fog**
“I’m curious.”
In the flying Bugatti Veyron, Ye Fan clutched the handle tightly and turned to look at Jinian, who was focused on driving. “That detonator of yours—was it real or fake?”
“Of course it was fake.” Jinian glanced at him. “After we blew up the temple last time, the Sun City drastically increased its defenses around the Human Enclosure. It’s nearly impossible for us to infiltrate again… let alone plant that much explosives.
The last operation took us half a year. This time, we only had two days. How could we possibly pull that off?”
“So you were bluffing them.” Ye Fan nodded. “You made the gods retreat without shedding a drop of blood. Impressive.”
“It’s called winning without fighting.”
“Are you leaving again after this?”
Jinian’s expression froze. She turned her head and gave Ye Fan a suspicious look.
“What?” Ye Fan asked, puzzled.
“Don’t talk to me in that tone. It’s misleading.” Jinian gripped the steering wheel and said quietly, “You sound like the brooding male lead in a cheesy romance drama…”
“…”
“Forget about me. I’m not dating an old man like you,” Jinian added after a moment of thought.
“…Just shut up!”
Ye Fan was furious. If Jinian weren’t the one driving, he might’ve drawn his blade right then.
“Of course I’m leaving,” Jinian continued. “There’s still a lot to do overseas. The Oath Society’s new envoy needs to be evaluated, the exploration of Cthulhu mythos ruins has only just begun, and we’re already planning the next terrorist attack on another divine kingdom…”
“Next terrorist attack?” Ye Fan raised an eyebrow. “Which godly nation is in for it this time?”
“Takamagahara,” Jinian replied calmly. “Their ecological defenses around the Human Enclosure are airtight. It’s hard for our people to infiltrate, but preparations are underway. If all goes well, we’ll launch the operation in a few months.”
“After all that, will you come back?”
“…Something’s off about you, Ye Fan.”
“I’m thinking of Great Xia,” Ye Fan said seriously. “The situation in the fog is dire. If you and the Oath Society returned, I’d feel a lot more at ease.”
Jinian was silent for a long time, then shook her head.
“No. Great Xia has the Night Watch. That’s enough. If the Oath Society returned, it would only divide your authority and unsettle the hardliners…
For wild dogs like us, the wasteland is a better home than any house.
Besides… I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”
“It’s been ten years. Still nothing?” Ye Fan frowned. “What exactly are you searching for?”
Jinian held the steering wheel quietly, gazing out the window. Her silver hair drifted across her shoulders, and a flicker of sorrow and nostalgia passed through her clear eyes…
She didn’t answer.
---
**East Sea, in the fog.**
Lin Qiye and the others stood at the edge of the broken city. Through the flickering underworld laws of Fengdu, they stared at the vast, fog-shrouded sea ahead.
A few minutes ago, that sudden, cold divine power had inexplicably left this place and flown into Great Xia’s territory.
Though Lin Qiye and the others didn’t know what that foreign god was planning, since he’d entered Great Xia on his own, someone else would deal with him. They couldn’t intervene for now.
Right now, their most important task was to bring this city home.
“We should be close to the Great Xia border,” An Qingyu said, glancing down at the dense calculations scrawled across the road.
In the fog, they had no way to determine direction. Their only reference points were the seawater beneath their feet and the occasional island. Calculating their current location was a massive undertaking.
“At this distance, no other gods should come to stop us, right?” Baili Pangpang asked cautiously.
“Probably not,” Cao Yuan nodded.
“We’re finally going home. This fog is way too dangerous…”
“After this, unless something unexpected happens, we probably won’t set foot in here again.”
“…Can you not jinx us like that? I’m already getting scared.”
“I don’t believe in that superstitious stuff.”
“…”
The Night Wakes squad sat with Chen Han and Lu Yu, chatting idly. Lin Qiye sat alone on the rooftop, cradling the heart shrouded in night, gazing into the distance, lost in thought.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
A moment later, he leapt down from the rooftop and landed beside the others.
“Qiye, what is it? Did you see the mainland?” Baili Pangpang asked excitedly.
Lin Qiye frowned and shook his head. “No… I saw someone standing on the sea up ahead.”
“Standing on the sea?” An Qingyu seemed to recall something. “Could it be Commander Ye?”
When they’d left the Purification Chamber, Ye Fan had walked across the sea to meet them. Seeing a figure like this near the Great Xia border naturally made them think of him.
“Doesn’t look like him,” Lin Qiye said firmly. “He’s standing on a small boat. Too far to see clearly.”
A small boat?
The group exchanged glances, confusion in their eyes.
The good news: gods usually didn’t ride small boats—they preferred flashier methods of travel.
The bad news:
No normal person could be out in the fog on a small boat!
Something was off about this person.
Lin Qiye hesitated, then handed the heart to Chen Han and said solemnly,
“We’re going to check it out. You two stay here and protect Senior Sword Saint’s heart!”
Chen Han took the heart, worry flickering in his eyes, but he said nothing and nodded firmly.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Qiye gripped White Slash, stepped onto the Somersault Cloud, and flew out of Fengdu’s laws with the others, plunging into the fog.
Across the vast sea, they finally saw the figure Lin Qiye had mentioned.
In the thick fog, atop the churning waves, a small boat sat as steady as a rock, unmoving no matter how the waters surged.
Inside the boat, a hunched figure sat, coughing softly.
He wore a gray cloak, a straight blade at his waist. His dry, silver-white hair drifted in the fog. With each cough, his hand came away stained with crimson—his voice sounded ancient.
**Bang—!**
Suddenly, a burst of blood mist exploded from his shoulder.
The blood scattered into white threads that vanished into the air…
But in the next moment, time around him twisted violently. The vanished threads returned, coalescing back into the blood mist and re-entering his body.
It was as if nothing had happened.
“Cough, cough, cough…” His coughing grew worse.
“That’s…” Lin Qiye’s pupils contracted as he recognized the figure.
In the fog, the hunched man in the boat slowly raised his head.
A familiar mask covered his face.
On it, a single word was written in black:
—**Wang**.