Chapter 363 Heavy Haze
"Lady Despair will hold a large-scale sacrifice ceremony in the East District..."
The words of "Sherlock Moriarty" in his mind put Angel into a brief shock.
She could tell that the other party was in the ruins on the outskirts of the East District that she had left not long ago. The stone pillars and collapsed dome were so familiar.
"So, Panatia's so-called 'post-New Year's operation' was actually a lie. She must have seen through my undercover identity and used lies to calm me down, getting me to leave first, and then directly started their 'grand plan'..."
Angel figured it out instantly. She pushed open the car door, and under the driver's surprised gaze, she used her hands and feet to quickly climb up a three-story building on the street, and her figure disappeared in the thick fog.
"Hey, ma'am, aren't you going to the North Side?"
Ignoring the shouts from behind, Angel stood on a high place and quickly scanned the eastern district which was almost entirely made up of low buildings. The smog was getting worse at this time. Although it was relatively better at a high place, the vision was still limited. She could only see a few vague bell towers or church domes in the distance, and the pale yellow mist that seemed to extend to infinity.
No, one of them is not normal smog!
Her vision, which had been strengthened many times by the potion, instantly focused on a cloud of fog that was obviously different from the others. There, the light yellow fog was mixed with some black, like rust, like solidified blood.
There seemed to be low coughs and cries coming from there, but normal sounds could never be transmitted so far. This was a reminder from Angel's spirit, reminding her that this was the center of danger, plague and death.
That was her new destination.
“Crack—”
Angel pressed the crown of his magic pocket watch, instantly locking onto a dim light deep in the haze. Then a bright yellow flame ignited on his body, and he crossed a distance of dozens of meters and flashed to another rooftop closer to the iron-black fog.
There was a few seconds between uses of "Flame Flash", and she wasn't going to waste her spiritual energy on continuous flashes. Instead, she quickly found the right direction, running and jumping wildly between the rooftops, continuing to approach the center of the gradually expanding strange fog. Only at the junction of the streets, where she couldn't cross with her body, did she cross the flames again to reach the other side, adjusting her direction by the way.
While moving like a nimble curly-haired baboon, Angel held the "Secret Holy Emblem" tightly, and in between leaps and runs, he whispered:
"The goddess of the night, higher than the starry sky, and more enduring than eternity..."
She jumped over an alley more than three meters wide and landed on the roof opposite. Below her, several homeless people were gradually shrouded in a fog of iron black and light yellow. They fell to the ground coughing, covering their mouths and noses, but they didn't know where to hide.
"You are the Lord of Crimson, the Mother of Secrets..."
She activated Flame Flash and aimed at the barely discernible lights of streetlights on the other side of the tributary that branched off the Tussock River. Her figure disappeared and reappeared, having crossed the river and the street, one step closer to the center of the haze.
In the river behind him, the cleaner who was salvaging discarded floating objects on a sampan dropped his net bag, grabbed his neck with both hands, gasped heavily, his eyes went black, and he fell into the river without a movement.
"You are also the Queen of Misfortune and Terror, the Lord of Sleep and Silence..."
She walked around the factory chimney and plunged into the iron-black smog that was no longer confined to the low altitude. The air she inhaled was not only humid and pungent, but also had a strong smell of blood, which made Angel have difficulty breathing and her eyes were sore and unbearable.
She condensed a few ice crystals and absorbed all the moisture in the surrounding air, making the haze thinner. Then she found the right direction again, jumped up suddenly, and used her "lightness" to cross a dead silent street. Below her were the residents of the East District lying on the ground in various postures, no longer alive.
Carrying endless pain and despair, they transformed into illusory and transparent figures, floating upwards and quickly flying somewhere in the suburbs.
"I pray that you will save these innocent people from disaster, even if they are not your believers..."
At the end of her sight, there was a rich mixture of yellow and black, and a streak of white was dragging death and wailing through the streets.
…
In a residential building in the north of the East District.
Sherman carefully closed the secret compartment he had just made, moved the empty bookshelf over to block it, and smiled with satisfaction.
He planned to take some time to buy some books and decorate the bookshelf. This would not only make it easier to hide the secret compartments and the pistols and communication potions inside, but would also force him to study properly and transform himself from a low-level Beyonder who only knew how to kill into a person with a little culture - this was a suggestion made by Miss Xiu, and he thought it was very good!
Walking out of the study, he looked out the window in the corridor. The sky had darkened without him noticing, like dusk, even with a hint of darkness.
No, it's not the sun setting, but... the color of the fog has changed?
His heart was pounding and for some reason he felt a little panicky.
He had felt this feeling the last time he assassinated the top thug of a nearby gang. Then the other party took out a huge revolver and almost shot him to death.
That is a reminder from the spirit!
He rushed to the window and looked out. At the street corner not far away, the originally light yellow haze had been replaced by black and red. The thick fog, which was heavier than the air, gradually extended towards this side along the road. The laundry women and homeless people covered by it twitched and fell down like straw blown down by the wind, and soon there was no movement.
"Poisonous fog? Curse? It seems that it's more dangerous down there. I have to hide in the attic!"
Sherman, who was no longer an ignorant man, immediately determined the danger of the black fog. He closed the window without hesitation, took off his coat to plug the window gap, and then turned and ran towards the stairs.
He did not run upstairs immediately, but went back to the first floor, closed all the windows, then rushed out the door and ran quickly to the apartment next door in the increasingly pungent fog.
"Liv! Daisy! Freya!"
He shouted the names of a neighbor's mother and daughter and rushed into a room on the first floor of the apartment with the door half open. He found a young girl named Freya helping her mother Liv to go out.
"Sherman?" Freya looked at him puzzledly. "Daisy is at school, and her mother seems to be sick. I plan to take her to the Charity Hospital. Can you, ahem, help?"
As she spoke, she started coughing herself.
"It's too late. The smog outside is poisonous! Let's hide in my attic for a while. I'll take her to the hospital when the situation improves."
Sherman picked up Liv, who was having difficulty breathing, and quickly took Freya back to his house. He hooked the door with his foot and ran all the way to the attic. There were no windows there, and it was high enough to block the deadly fog.
Outside the door behind him, iron black had replaced pale yellow, and the street had become a place of death.
…
"Don't just stand there, run south, upwind, hurry up!"
Hugh Dilcha kicked a tall man beside him on the knee, causing him to stagger and continue running forward in a hurry.
She looked back at the other side of the street. The light yellow exhaust gas spewing out of the factory chimney had darkened in color at some point, like a giant black beast ready to devour its prey, swooping down and pouncing on the street.
Fortunately, we have the upper hand here, and the black haze is struggling against the air currents and has not yet reached this place.
But groups of homeless people had already collapsed at the street corners. They were already malnourished and hungry, and were already shaky in the severe cold. Now they were covered by the fog that brought disease, and could not even struggle. They left the world quietly, like soap bubbles that quickly dissipated in the sun.
"Flag, call them up and run!"
Hugh shouted, and used his "Sheriff" ability to intimidate the strong men who managed to escape from the fog of death. He took the surviving female workers and children and left the East District in the upwind direction.
This is the edge of the East Side, and the strange smog isn't serious, but what about deeper down? Sherman, Gene...
She looked at the black smog in the distance, and the residents of the East District she knew appeared in her mind, and she was worried about their safety.
As the bounty hunter watched, factory chimneys and towering clock towers gradually became engulfed in smog. Not only the East District, but also the neighboring docklands and factory districts had become a death trap. Malnourished and pre-existing homeless people and workers collapsed, coughing and feverish, never to rise again.
Anyone who came into contact with their bodies would also be infected with the plague, passing it from one to another, quickly spreading the seeds of death. Even strong young people would become weak in the fog and plague.
Those who collapsed and died, those who struggled to survive by relying on their physical strength, those who helped each other to fight for a glimmer of life, and those who pushed others away and fled alone, formed a picture of life and death intertwined in the sudden smog that descended on Backlund.
And Panatia, the "Lady of Despair" holding a paintbrush, is walking in the scene of death she created with a smile on her face.
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