38: Chapter 38 Landing on Ghost Island

"Splash—!"

The Black Pearl special speedboat used the thrust of the final wave to surge onto the black gravel beach of Black Tide Island.

The engine cut out, and the surrounding world fell instantly silent.

This was Black Tide Island, also known as "Ghost Island."

It was one of the largest forbidden zones in the East Sea region and a burial ground for countless explorers and military squads.

At this very moment, the entire island was shrouded in a thick layer of white fog that never dissipated, resulting in extremely low visibility.

Looking inland from the beach, everything beyond five meters was a vast expanse of white, as if it were an entrance to another world.

"It's... too quiet here."

Xiang Lie clenched his fists; the intuition honed on the battlefield kept his muscles taut.

Yes, it was too quiet.

This was a primitive island far from the mainland, which should logically have been filled with the cries of seabirds, the chirping of insects, and the roar of waves crashing against the reefs.

But here, all sounds were swallowed by that eerie white fog.

"The plants aren't right either."

Su Xiaoxiao put away her playful demeanor, cradled her heavy Gatling cannon, and vigilantly scanned her surroundings.

Sparse shrubs grew along the edge of the beach, but their leaves were not green; instead, they were a sickly dark purple, with twisted and gnarled branches.

Lin Yuan's Spiritual Telekinesis was greatly suppressed by the white fog, allowing him to only barely probe a range of a few dozen meters.

"Follow me."

Following the coordinates from the mission briefing, Lin Yuan led the two of them toward the interior of the island.

They didn't have to go far before they discovered a campsite at the boundary between the beach and the jungle.

It had been left behind by the previous missing military research squad.

Three high-durability marching tents were pitched perfectly intact in a sheltered spot.

The embers of the campfire had long since cooled, and a marching pot was set upon it, still containing half a pot of moldy, spoiled food.

All signs indicated that the people here had been resting, cooking, and working normally at the time.

Then, in a single instant, they had all vanished into thin air, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth.

"No signs of a struggle, no bloodstains."

Xiang Lie inspected the area, his expression growing increasingly grim: "The gear is all here, but the people are gone. What did they encounter? They didn't even have a chance to resist?"

Lin Yuan crouched down, pinched some soil from the ground between his fingers, and brought it to his nose to sniff.

A faint, cloying scent, similar to rotting flowers, drifted into his nasal cavity.

"Put on your gas masks," Lin Yuan ordered immediately. "There's something wrong with this fog."

The three of them quickly donned their gear, but even through the filter layers, that eerie, sweet scent seemed to penetrate, drilling straight into their cerebral cortex.

After entering the jungle, the fog seemed to become even thicker.

They were surrounded by giant trees tens of meters tall, their canopies blotting out the sun and turning the already dim jungle into the darkness of night.

"Drip... drip..."

Xiang Lie, who was walking at the very front, suddenly slowed his pace.

His breathing began to quicken, and his originally vigilant eyes gradually became unfocused and dazed, finally filling with bloodshot veins.

"Don't... don't come over!"

Xiang Lie suddenly stopped and let out a low roar at the empty white fog in front of him.

His body trembled violently, as if he were seeing some extremely terrifying scene.

Then he began to wildly swing his fists, attacking the air frantically, his voice filled with endless despair and rage:

"Beasts! Get away! Dad! Mom! Run!! Don't worry about me!!"

This tough guy, known for being cold-blooded at Modu Martial Arts University, was currently like a helpless child, trapped in the deepest nightmare of his childhood...

The night he witnessed his parents being torn apart by a beast tide.

Meanwhile, Su Xiaoxiao, who was walking behind, was also acting strangely.

"Ah! Get away! Don't crawl on me!"

She frantically slapped at her body, as if countless invisible creepy-crawlies were wriggling all over her.

"So many bugs... wuwu... don't bite me!"

Su Xiaoxiao was pale with terror, curling up into a ball while shivering.

"Hallucinations?"

Lin Yuan finally understood how those research teams had disappeared.

The fog on this island was mixed with a potent neurotoxin and hallucinogenic pollen.

It could silently invade the brain, stirring up the deepest fears one was most unwilling to face.

Just then, Lin Yuan also felt a wave of dizziness in his brain, and the white fog before his eyes began to twist and deform, as if about to transform into some unspeakable monster.

Hum!

Deep within Lin Yuan's mind, the eternal "Chaos God Grinder Visualization Technique" suddenly emitted a rumble of dissatisfaction.

【Alert! Unknown neurotoxin invasion detected.】

【Low-level mental illusion attack detected.】

【Mere illusions, how dare you show off before me?】

【"Chaos God Grinder Visualization Technique" automatic protection program initiated!】

【Crush it for me!】

That sliver of hallucinogenic energy that had just invaded didn't even make a ripple before it was instantly and ruthlessly ground into nothingness by the chaos grinding mill.

"Trying to play mental attacks on me?"

Lin Yuan sneered; he was now a person who had cultivated an SSS-grade mental secret technique, so this level of illusion was child's play to him.

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, mobilized the massive Spiritual Telekinesis in his mind, and gathered it in his throat.

He unleashed a roar infused with a mental shockwave at the crazed Xiang Lie and the shivering Su Xiaoxiao:

"Wake up!!!"

To an ordinary person, this roar might just sound a bit loud.

But in the mental worlds of Xiang Lie and Su Xiaoxiao, it was as if a massive, resonant bell had suddenly exploded beside their ears!

Clang—!!!

Xiang Lie snapped awake, covered in cold sweat, and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

He looked at his own hands, his eyes full of terror: "I... what just happened to me?"

Su Xiaoxiao also came back to her senses and discovered there were no bugs on her; she burst into tears, grabbing her Gatling cannon on the ground to seek a sense of security: "That scared me to death..."

"It's this fog."

Lin Yuan looked at the surging white fog with a grave expression: "There is something inside this; it is controlling this fog to create hallucinations."

Lin Yuan closed his eyes and activated 【Gods Insight】 once again.

This time, with the support of the chaos grinding mill, he forcibly pierced through the surrounding mist.

Deep in the jungle at the edge of his vision, a massive and twisted heat signature was quietly lying in wait.

"Found you."

Lin Yuan snapped his eyes open, drew the black moon battle blade from his back, and pointed the tip directly toward a certain direction deep in the jungle:

"Over there."

"A big guy is watching us and drooling."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Lie and Su Xiaoxiao immediately forced themselves to stand up, gripped their weapons again, and flashes of post-survival rage appeared in their eyes.

"Prepare for battle."

The baleful aura on Lin Yuan began to rise, his voice cold as iron:

"We are going to drag this ghost playing tricks out!"

"And teach them a lesson!"