Chapter 190 Gray Fog
The next day, the first thing Youxi did after waking up was to open the curtains.
This was the first time she woke up in a suspended state in the whole house after moving into the villa. Being in a bedroom half-empty in the mountains was always different from being in a large flat, which made people a little curious.
For the sake of safety, the windows of the whole villa were not big. Only the windows in Youxi's south-facing master bedroom were slightly larger, which would give a better view. The blackout floor-to-ceiling curtains were opened, and it was a sunny day outside.
From her height, she could see the resort refuge area at the foot of the mountain, the lake on the side, and the lush mountains.
She opened the window, and the mountain breeze blew on her face. The fresh plant scent was mixed with a faint smell of rust.
Since the appearance of "Red Lotus", there has always been a faint smell in the air. The steel bars, cement and... people crushed by the "sharp teeth" will make the air stained with such rust.
The former is really iron, and the latter is the smell of blood.
But around here, this smell is much lighter than in the city. Ordinary people can't smell it at all. She often deliberately restrains her sense of smell.
You Xi leaned on the window frame and looked into the distance for a while, then lowered her head to look at the yard of the villa.
The black iron fence door of the yard was still open, and the people who were in the yard before she went upstairs last night were gone.
The temperature in the mountains is lower at night. These people fled in a hurry for refuge, and their equipment would not be so complete. Without thick clothes, they probably couldn't last a whole night. She also expected them to leave.
Youxi closed the window, washed up, changed into a soft and comfortable velvet sweatshirt, and then went downstairs.
Downstairs, Hei Mu had already prepared breakfast. In the living room next to them, Yan Shang and Xi Yuan were doing this morning's physical training under the guidance of Jian Shou. There are
five people in the family, and everyone gets up earlier than her.
Now that she has Hei Mu's care, she has nothing to do but open her mouth for food and stretch out her hands for clothes every day. Not to mention cooking, washing dishes and tidying up like before, even the clothes she changed, Hei Mu would collect as quickly as possible, sort them into different washing machines, wash and dry them, and then disinfect them with ultraviolet light, and finally stack them neatly in her bedroom drawer, or iron them flat and hang them in the closet.
This kind of life doesn't look like a high-level apocalypse. She was really afraid that if she lived here for a year and then left, she would be completely out of habit when she went to other worlds.
Today's breakfast was bubble wontons made by Hei Mu, served with chicken soup. The chicken soup that had been simmered overnight was thick but not greasy, and extremely delicious. He also took out the whole chicken, tore the chicken into fine shreds, sprinkled them on the wontons after pouring chicken soup, and finally added chopped green onions for decoration.
In order to prevent her breakfast from being monotonous, he also fried some vegetable potato cakes and seafood cakes for her to eat together.
Youxi thought that today would also be a peaceful and tranquil day, but after lunch, many people came up from the foot of the mountain.
They gathered together and went directly into the villa yard. They checked the yard and searched outside the wall. Finally, someone pressed the call button on the doorbell again.
Youxi had heard their conversation when they were searching inside and outside the yard, so he pressed the answer button himself.
The other party was the family of those people yesterday, and they were looking for someone. The people who stayed in the villa yard did not go home all night, and did not go back for breakfast and lunch. They were very worried. After searching the resort in the morning without success, they finally thought of coming to the villa to look for it.
"I don't know. We went to bed early at night. The people and things down there have nothing to do with us."
"How can you say that? They have been staying in the yard of your villa. Now they are missing. How can you just dismiss us with a word of "I don't know?"
"What else? A group of strangers came uninvited, broke into my yard, made all kinds of threats, stayed all day and refused to leave, disrupting my normal life habits. I haven't settled accounts with you yet. What does it have to do with me now that people are missing?"
You Xi's tone was very cold. If she hadn't wanted to confirm the specific circumstances of those people's disappearance, she would not have answered the conversation.
The other party knew that what she said was the truth, and felt very angry at her cold words. It was clearly someone else's place, and it was clearly their family squatting there and refusing to leave. Now that they were gone, they turned around and asked her where they had gone.
But they had already looked everywhere. They also tried to contact one of them because he had a cell phone, but the other party's phone showed that it could not be connected. If they had not really had no other choice, they would not have come here to look for the owner of the villa.
After Youxi hung up the call, she slowly frowned.
So, those people have not returned since they came to the mountainside yesterday?
There are no other buildings within a ten-mile radius except for these buildings on the mountainside and the resort at the foot of the mountain. Where can they go? But if they got lost because they couldn't stand the cold at night and went down the mountain in the dark,
they wouldn't have returned yet. The mountain is not big, there is only one way down the mountain, and there are no wild animals. Where would they go?
**
Those people had no choice but to go down the mountain to find the troops and report the incident.
This is not the first missing case reported today. Several people also went missing in the resort shelter last night.
According to the family members of the missing, those people should have left the resting building on their own at night. The reason for going out is not clear. Their families did not find out that they did not come back until the morning.
At first, they thought they went to other friends they knew, but when they saw that they had not returned when lunch time was almost up, they went everywhere to look for them and found that they were missing.
In a building that was used as a temporary meeting room, an internal meeting of the army was underway.
In addition to the missing cases reported by the public, there were actually missing people within the army. Those people were responsible for patrolling the surrounding area last night.
They not only have intercoms, but also weapons. If they really encountered an attack, even if they were besieged and could not win, they would not disappear so quietly. There was not even a trace of fighting nearby.
However, they will not announce this news to the public for the time being, for fear that it will cause panic among the people who are taking refuge.
To make matters worse, they have been forced to hide everywhere by "Red Lotus", but now there is another missing case.
"Is there really nothing unusual last night?" The man sitting at the top looked solemn.
Someone nearby suddenly remembered something and asked, "Well... does fog count?"
"Fog?"
"Yes, fog started to form around 9 o'clock last night. It was quite thin at first, but then it got thicker. However, the thick fog was mostly in the mountains and forests... The fog had dissipated before dawn this morning, so I don't know if the disappearance was related to the fog."
Next to him, another person seemed to think that the man was having some wild thoughts: "Are you overthinking it? It's just a fog. Can it make people disappear? It's just an unrelated incident. Let's send someone to look around today. If there are really wild animals nearby, there will be clues. In addition, we should think about how to fight for the headquarters' high-altitude airship. This is the top priority."
As soon as this topic came out, someone immediately agreed, and the meeting immediately changed direction.
In the next two days, the resort refuge area has been calm, and there were no sudden ground fissures and "red lotus" nearby, giving the people who took refuge in various places some breathing space.
The missing person was never found, but because such incidents did not happen again, it was not treated as a typical incident for follow-up.
In the past few days, Youxi has been searching for news related to fog and missing persons on the Internet.
However, it is late autumn now, and the weather is foggy. Even if someone finds fog somewhere, they will not pay much attention to it.
Moreover, the situation outside is in chaos. Not to mention missing persons, people die every day. Various news are mixed together, and it is impossible to find any connection.
Some people on the Internet also said that the Internet signal seems to be getting worse and worse recently. Many times, calls cannot be connected and the Internet connection will be disconnected.
But they all think that this incident may be related to the appearance of "Red Lotus". Such a huge unknown creature may have other dangers that they do not know about at present.
At the same time, several countries on the planet reached a consensus to attack and prepared to launch the first wave of missile bombings on the "Red Lotus" death zone where the people had completely evacuated.
On that day, almost all the people followed the news from the front line through various screens.
But just like the picture in "Youxi's" memory, the first wave of bombings only caused the "Red Lotus" to bloom earlier. Several "Red Lotuses" stirred the "Sharp Teeth" at the same time, and the vortex caused by them cleared all the remaining buildings around. Even the drones hovering in the distance had no time to dodge and were sucked into the bottomless abyss of the "Sharp Teeth".
This one-sided failure shattered the last hope of many people. Doomsday talk exploded everywhere. In some cities, the lucky areas that had not been affected by the "Red Lotus" were also attacked by the mob.
In the current news, the pictures of man-made disasters even overwhelmed the "Red Lotus".
**
Youxi has also paid special attention to the situation outside and the dynamics around her in the past few days. All her advantages ended a day ago. The "Youxi" before her rebirth died a day ago.
Because she wanted to avoid the impact of the mob, she and other refugees left the relatively safe area, but unfortunately, a new "Red Lotus" appeared nearby.
This time, without the low-altitude suspended vehicle, she encountered a huge suction vortex head-on, and her body was torn to pieces by the densely packed and turbulent "sharp teeth"...
So, from this moment on, all the dangers in this world are unknown, and she has to be vigilant at all times.
At night, the villa began to implement shift guards, one night per person. At first, Hei Mu, Jian Shou and others did not agree with her night duty. After all, with the four of them there, she didn't need to worry or work hard for such things.
But You Xi insisted. After all, she was the strongest among the five people.
For two consecutive nights, she was safe and sound.
At noon that day, when Yan Shanghui, who was on duty the night before, reported the night duty situation, he again mentioned what You Xi had been concerned about before.
"There was fog last night, but it wasn't here, but in the city. I heard that it was not only widespread, but also very thick. But because it was night, we couldn't tell what color the fog was." "
Is anyone missing?"
"There's no way to count at the moment. There are few people in that part of the city, and those relatively safe areas have suffered the mob attacks, and many people have died. Even if there are still people hiding in buildings or basements, it's impossible for them to go out at will at night under such circumstances."
You Xi understood what Yan Shang meant. If no one went out, there was no way to confirm whether the appearance of the fog would cause the disappearance.
"Everyone on night duty these few days should be careful and keep an eye on the camera outside the villa. If you find fog nearby, wake me up immediately."
"Yes."
Instead of waiting until that night, several important news appeared in the evening of that day.
The picture was taken by a drone flying along a safe route. The focus of the shooting was a large "red lotus" in the city. Originally, around 4 o'clock this afternoon was the time for the "red lotus" to "bloom".
Although this thing is scary and there is no regularity when it first emerges from the ground, once it appears, there is a time pattern to follow each time it "blooms".
By the time this news feed started broadcasting live, it was already six in the evening, but the "Red Lotus" in the video still showed no signs of blooming. Even the huge red software around it was a little out of shape, hanging limply on the nearby ruins. The software in the middle that originally tightly protected the "sharp teeth" was now loosely open, not as vigilant as before.
For a while, the Internet was full of related news and posts.
- What's going on? Does the "Red Lotus" also have an existence time? I'll make a bold guess. Is this time up? Is it going to die soon?
- I said before that this thing must be an alien creature! The planet's environment is different, it can't exist for a long time! See, I was right! It's going to die!
- Really? Are there people from other regions who can tell me whether this is an isolated phenomenon or a common phenomenon? Is it true? Will we really die? Is there still hope for our planet?
- I am from the third city district of Country Y. A "red lotus" here also showed this condition this morning. We are all afraid that it is our own illusion and that it will not work if we speak out.
- I am from the eighth city district of Country W. There was a lot of fog in some areas of our area yesterday. After the fog dissipated, the two "red lotuses" in the foggy area did not "bloom" at the scheduled time...
This message seems to have hit the point. The messages released by others afterwards have more or less mentioned topics related to fog.
——We had a heavy fog here the night before. The next day, we found that several people who went out were missing. We always thought it was because of the fog, but now it seems not. This fog seems to be helping us...
——Fog is just a climate phenomenon. Do you want to make it so suspenseful? Some people’s disappearances are related to it, and the weakening of "Red Lotus" is also related to it...
...
On the Internet, there are different opinions.
But overall, the people are much more active than before. Obviously, the weakening state of some "Red Lotus" has given them hope.
Is this disaster about to pass?
After reading the news online, Youxi turned off the stretch screen, but his expression was more serious than before: "Something is not right. Everyone should be more cautious these days. Even during the day, try not to open the windows. There should be people in the control room during the day to monitor the external environment at all times."
"Yes!" However,
in the afternoon of that day, the neutral system sound that had not appeared for a long time suddenly sounded.
[Random task has been refreshed: Within one hour, in the temporary medical center of room 3 at the foot of the mountain resort, find the seriously injured and unconscious patient in bed 5 and bring him back to the villa. (Must-do task, complete it to get 300 star coins.)]
Youxi: ...? !
Must-do tasks mean that they cannot be refused.
But such a simple task actually gives 300 star coins! ?
Is this task difficult?
Moreover, no matter how she listened, she felt that the voice of the system was too mechanical, and it did not sound like the tone of Xing Min's original body.
You Xi hesitated for only a moment before calling Jian Shou.
It would take some time to walk from here to the foot of the mountain, and it was daytime now, so she could not run at a speed beyond the average person. In addition, there was a person who was unconscious and seriously injured, so driving a low-altitude suspension vehicle was the safest option.
In this case, it would be inconvenient for her to go down the mountain alone.
Without her having to say it a second time, Yan Shang had automatically entered the control room and replaced Jian Shou.
Jian Shou went down to the second floor, and walked up to the mid-air platform with her from the stairs outside the window.
Xi Yuan stood by the window, closed the window again after the two left, and then watched the car leave.
Fifteen minutes later, Youxi found the direction of Room 3. She asked Jian Shou to lower the low-altitude suspension vehicle to the top of Room 3, and she opened the door and jumped down.
There were quite a few low-altitude suspension vehicles in the resort shelter, of course they were all owned by the troops.
Youxi's car was mixed in with them and did not attract much attention.
She walked into the medical center vigilantly, looking for bed No. 5 to prevent possible accidents.
But nothing happened until she walked to bed No. 5.
A strange young man was lying on the bed. He was pale, his arms and feet were put on simple splints, and his clothes on his chest were covered with blood. It was obvious that he was seriously injured and had just finished first aid measures.
She had never seen this person before. There was nothing on the bed to confirm his identity. It seemed that he should be one of the survivors rescued by the rescue personnel of the army.
The medical center was very busy with people coming and going. She found a lightweight folding wheelchair, carried the man on it, covered him with a thin blanket, and then quickly pushed him out of the medical center to a nearby open space that she and Jian Shou had agreed on before.
The low-altitude suspension vehicle landed quickly. She dropped the wheelchair and carried the man directly into the car. After the door was closed, the car immediately took off and left.
The whole process was unbelievably smooth.
However, the system has not sent a reminder sound that the mission is completed, which means that they have to return to the villa for the mission to be officially completed.
"Drive faster." You Xi reminded, she always had a bad feeling in her heart.
When the low-altitude suspension vehicle left the holiday refuge area and began to drive up the mountain, Jian Shou suddenly frowned: "Mr. You, it's foggy."
"Where?" You Xi heard it and moved closer.
"In front, on the left and right too."
You Xi looked around. The weather that was clear not long ago seemed to have suddenly become dark. Not only in front and on the left and right, but also in all directions, a thin fog spread. The fog spread very quickly and enveloped their car in a blink of an eye.
At first, they could still see the outline of the mountainside in front of them with the help of the car lights, but soon, the fog became heavier and the color gradually changed from light white to dark gray.
This was the gray fog they saw on the day they left the city.
"Drive carefully and turn the spotlights on the car to the brightest."
"Yes."
Not long after the two finished speaking, they heard a faint snapping sound, as if something had fallen on the roof of their car.
The roof of the car was not made of glass, so Youxi couldn't see what it was.
But soon, they both knew what that thing looked like.
Following the "pop" sound, it was still a very subtle sound. This time, the sound came from the left glass of the low-altitude car.
Outside the car, which was filled with thick gray fog, a small blood-red object was sticking to the glass of the car body, like a small piece of lifeless software that was blown to the glass by the wind?
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