Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 47: The Newcomer

Chapter 47: Chapter 47: The Newcomer

Bai Yanliang settled in the old residence on Qingyi Street. Although he occasionally saw strange shadows on the old locust tree during this time, nothing else bizarre happened.

To Bai Yanliang’s surprise, Gao Fei’s profession turned out to be a police officer, but... he wasn’t an ordinary officer; he was a forensic expert.

The kind that uses various technical methods for on-site medical surveys, medical tracking evidence collection, live injury medical examinations, autopsies, symptom analysis, relic identification, special examinations, and other forensic medical assessments.

When Gao Fei first stammered out that he was a forensic expert, Bai Yanliang only said "how impressive" and showed no other expression.

This increased Gao Fei’s goodwill towards Bai Yanliang significantly.

However, his job was consistently busy, and he often only returned home at dawn and woke up by early afternoon.

Overall, the interactions between the two were quite pleasant.

Bai Yanliang sat on a stone bench, holding a book borrowed from Gao Fei—a forensic medicine book.

Speaking of which, it had been more than half a month since Du Shangjing contacted him, barring any accidents...

Just as he thought of this, Bai Yanliang suddenly felt his heart pause.

Has it come?

He could distinctly feel a strange suffocating sensation surging from the depths of his heart.

Thump thump—Thump thump—

Bai Yanliang’s heart raced uncontrollably fast.

This feeling...

This is... the call of Fog Gathering.

Bai Yanliang reached into his collar and pulled out a silver key.

To prevent losing it, he had strung it on a chain and wore it around his neck.

This time, his hands and feet didn’t lose control.

He wanted to try and see what would happen if he forcibly resisted the urge and didn’t open the door.

But... logic told him that doing so right now wouldn’t bring any good.

Bai Yanliang stood up and inserted the silver key into the lock of his room’s door.

Just like last time, the seemingly unmatched key and lock opened the door.

Bai Yanliang gently pushed, and the door... opened.

...

Fog Gathering was shrouded in chaotic mist, and dense human shadows had already appeared ahead.

Bai Yanliang realized he was the last to arrive.

Of the previous newcomers, aside from the late Shen Changrong, even the peculiar Qi Nian had arrived early.

Speaking of Shen Changrong, Bai Yanliang had inquired about his whereabouts earlier this month, not just his whereabouts but even went searching for the Ying City Ruyi Hotel’s whereabouts.

However, the results were far from satisfying.

Shen Changrong became a missing person, and his shares in the Hundred Victories United Group were rapidly divided up.

Even more bizarre was the Ruyi Hotel in the real world.

Bai Yanliang couldn’t find any information about the Ruyi Hotel whatsoever, neither in newspapers nor online. The hotel, which had multiple fatalities in 2006, seemed to have vanished from the mortal world—not... accurately, it seemed like a keyword had been blocked.

Perhaps it still existed, but its existence had been blocked or even erased from fundamental perception.

This was the only explanation Bai Yanliang could think of.

"Mr. Bai, you’re here?"

Zhou Li greeted Bai Yanliang warmly.

Previously, Du Shangjing had shared the task process Bai Yanliang summarized in the group.

Everyone carefully read through the sequence of events.

Most saw the abnormality and fear; only a few saw Bai Yanliang’s extraordinary thinking method and process.

Among them was Zhou Li.

Zhou Li, distinguished in appearance, young and capable, though trapped in this eerie and terrifying place, was not in complete despair.

He believed that one day he would live to escape and completely rid himself of this damn curse.

But to achieve this, his own power alone was far from enough. So, Zhou Li kept observing, observing those in Fog Gathering "qualified" to escape the curse with him.

Fortunately, though rare, such people were beyond Zhou Li’s expectations; several were exceptional, although... they didn’t rank at the top of Fog Gathering, merely because they entered later.

In Zhou Li’s eyes, Bai Yanliang was one of these people.

Currently at the bottom of the list, his potential might far surpass most ranked ahead.

Bai Yanliang nodded in response to Zhou Li’s greeting.

Many were watching him now, but Bai Yanliang could only match a few names to faces; he had little understanding of his luckless "companions" here.

"Bai Yanliang!" Li Yuejun approached him.

Bai Yanliang looked at her; alongside, Jiang Li and Xu Zhi’an were also heading towards him.

"We were planning to contact you in the real world, but... Mr. Du said you don’t like being disturbed in reality."

Bai Yanliang, upon hearing this, glanced at Du Shangjing and lightly shook his head: "It’s okay, I just don’t like speaking in the group too much."

That Mr. Du had asked him a peculiar question last time, something about ’if he ever felt something was a bit off.’

Maybe he misunderstood something, or perhaps... there were things Bai Yanliang was unaware of.

The crowd stood apart, not forming groups, each distinct and maintaining noticeable distance, even Li Yuejun and her group of three were the same.

Bai Yanliang remembered that last time Li Mu had said, don’t trust anyone.

And ’Feng Yiru’ had also warned not to trust Feng Xiuxue.

Perhaps... there were rules in Fog Gathering that Bai Yanliang was unaware of?

Just then, a change occurred...

Bai Yanliang and the others witnessed a door opening in mid-air, and a strange shadow entered.

The door was familiar to Bai Yanliang because it was...a hospital door.

He had stayed in a hospital for a whole ten years, although it was a psychiatric hospital.

"Why is this time’s newcomer only one?" a puzzled voice rang out.

Li Mu stood silently at a distance, watching the door that opened in the void and the shadow that entered, immersed in thought.

Du Shangjing stood beside him, his brows deeply furrowed.

"Fog Gathering is becoming weirder. Resentful emerging among newcomers, Wei Xiu’s group annihilated, Yu Hanzhou’s group’s curse began in Fog Gathering itself. And this time, Fog Gathering did not make the total number forty-nine, only added one newcomer..."

"Li Mu..."

Li Mu shook his head slightly, his ordinary face revealing no expression.

"Don’t know, nor need to. The current priority is to consider how to survive the tasks."

Du Shangjing opened his mouth, but was rendered speechless.

Meanwhile, over there, the only newcomer had slowly emerged from the gray mist, appearing before everyone.

"Excuse me... where is this?"

A gentle female voice echoed from the mist; she appeared to be in her twenties, her bright eyes resembling sparkling autumn waters, her plain face still captivating, with long hair softly cascading over her shoulders. As she asked, there was no fear on her face, only faint confusion.

Everyone looked at her in surprise, not because of her beauty, but because she... was sitting in a wheelchair.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.