Echoes of the Past

Chapter 17: The Black Mist Gradually Dissipates?

It absorbs all light, a pure and viscous black that spreads across the ground in large swaths. It is not solid, giving people a strange illusion of lifelessness and stagnant water.

Upon closer inspection, the dark surface appears to be bulging and undulating, with a black mist, denser than the surrounding environment, seeping out from the darkness at an extremely slow pace, like a spring gushing ink.

At this moment, Suiyue fell directly above the spring, her hands submerged in the still, viscous mist, her head lowered out of curiosity, blinking as she observed the ground.

"You stupid ox, why aren't you standing up!"

Nan'an immediately grabbed Suiyue's arm and pulled her up.

Suiyue swayed, her body trembling as she struggled, her hands bracing against the ground, her fingers unconsciously clenching.

"Sizzle~~~~"

A slight cracking sound was heard.

It wasn't soil or stone; it was incredibly thin, and as Suiyue raised her arm, it fluttered without wind, clearly possessing a supple texture.

Because of the "tear", its edges are irregular, rough and twisted, just like a naughty child who has torn off a corner of old wallpaper.

Nan'an and Suiyue were both stunned.

What did they do?

At this moment, beneath the "wallpaper" that had been removed, the normal earthy yellow ground was revealed.

The omnipresent, ever-churning black mist around them did not immediately surge in to fill the suddenly appearing vacuum zone of black mist, which was only the size of a palm.

The winding, serpentine black mist lingered and hesitated at the edge of the gap, unable to encroach upon the restored land.

Time stood still for a second.

Suiyue stared blankly at the light, unfathomable "fragment" in her hand, which had absorbed all the light and was as deep as an abyss, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Nan'an covered his head, swallowed hard, and, with a "what's done is done" attitude, began to gather useful information.

"How does it feel?"

"It looks like... a scroll, or maybe paper?"

He couldn't listen to more than half of Suiyue's description.

As Nan'an stared at the fragments, a sudden wave of dizziness struck without warning.

The dazzling, radiant light filled every corner of his vision; even with his eyes closed, he couldn't shut it out.

The fragmented and chaotic imagery, the distorted and overexposed colors, were comparable to the "wonderful" notes of scratching a blackboard, rampaging through his consciousness.

Not a single one of them is normal!

Just a moment ago, he was imitating Aslipan's posture from his memory, frolicking on all fours as if walking on flat ground in the wilderness.

In the next instant, he found himself atop a snow-capped mountain, covered in swaying flowers, dancing a dance of incomprehensible meaning alone.

The bizarre hallucination lasted only a few seconds, like the strange and fantastical sights one might experience after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms.

Along with it came the fragments that were originally in Suiyue's possession.

Suiyue's voice trembled with shock as she pointed at Nan'an, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"It...it jumped inside your body!"

"ha?"

Suiyue nodded frantically: "It's true! I saw it turn into a black light and flow into your body with my own eyes."

Nan'an panicked. He plunged into the depths of his consciousness, returning to the mysterious space that had sealed his freedom.

He used the process of elimination, patiently and meticulously checking the information of all the items in the space.

"Could Suiyue have been mistaken? Or has that thing been hidden in a more subtle way?"

With a mixture of belief and doubt, he placed his hand on his chest.

The moment the Rubik's Cube appeared, Nan'an felt relieved.

On the completely white surface of the Rubik's Cube, an inconspicuous cube block is stained black.

The mutations continue.

On the ground, the "Ink Spring," which had been torn open by Suiyue and was still slowly oozing thick black mist, was writhing like a living thing, though it dared not pollute the earth again.

Suddenly, the remaining "darkness" transformed into streams of pitch-black liquid, abruptly detaching from the ground and shadows, tracing twisted paths in the air.

Like a flock of crows spreading their wings, a vast expanse of black mist rose into the sky, leaving Suiyue dumbfounded.

They pierced straight into Nan'an's physical body, or more precisely, into his chest.

Everything happened so violently and suddenly that Nan'an only had time to let out a short, muffled groan before being forced to face the direct impact of the torrent.

He felt no pain, only a sudden drop in body temperature and a chilling sensation on his skin.

Suiyue yelled and punched Nan'an in the cheek.

"Aww!"

Nan'an, who was in a daze, immediately perked up. His eyes were red as he looked incredulously at the stupid cow that had hurt his comrades.

"Wake up, wake up! Don't let the black mist corrupt you!"

It hurt a lot, and she wanted to complain, but seeing Suiyue's anxious look, Nan'an could only grit her teeth and swallow all her complaints.

The incident happened suddenly, and Suiyue only did what she thought was the right thing to do.

Oh well, what can I do? He was summoned by this idiot. I'll just have to bear with it!

To prevent Suiyue from striking again and breaking his face once more, Nan'an quickly issued a safety statement.

"I'm fine, please don't do anything rash..."

"But how do I know if you're still a normal Nan'an?" Suiyue asked, still doubtful.

"Just because I want to use you to make beef balls, you should believe me!"

Nan'an's answer made Suiyue lower her raised fist in alarm.

"It's venison balls."

Why is she still worrying about this!

In the blink of an eye, the unusual black spring on the ground had completely dried up and disappeared, leaving only a shallow pit with rough edges and the perfectly normal yellowish-brown soil at the bottom of the pit.

The thick, pervasive black fog that filled the surrounding space did not seem to have diminished.

The only thing that has changed is the darkness on the ground that can be "torn apart".

"What did you do?" Suiyue swallowed hard in surprise. "You absorbed that pitch-black thing completely? Is this the knowledge from the Gray Star Era at work? Impressive, veteran!"

Suiyue didn't give Nan'an a chance to interject with any of her words, launching into a rapid-fire monologue of her own reflections.

Nan'an was certain that he hadn't done anything, and that people from the Gray Star era couldn't possibly possess the special attack and absorption power against the black mist.

Everything that just happened was from that "spring" that was thinner than a piece of paper... He wasn't sure if that was the right way to describe it.

In short, that profound darkness had entered his body and become a corner of the Rubik's Cube.

Suiyue opened her mouth wide. Just when Nan'an thought she was about to make a shocking statement like "You monster," she actually squatted down with a cheerful smile.

"You have to perform for me again! More black mist, please! More!"

She scratched and pried with her hands, trying to find some more surprise.

Nan An sighed, trying to open Sui Yue's control panel from a normal person's perspective, but it was really too difficult.

Her way of thinking is like someone who doesn't want the person who finds her brain to be able to match it immediately, so they randomly changed the key bindings.

Nan'an ignored this clown and quickly composed himself.

He sensed his surroundings, and an unprecedented sense of spatial reality was clearly returning to him.

Before, being in the black fog was like floating in a vast ocean with your eyes covered. Direction, distance, and reference points were all in a state of chaos, and you could only rely on guessing and groping.

Now, although the fog still obstructs his vision, a strange intuition, similar to echolocation, begins to sketch out the rough outline of the surrounding environment in his mind.

It's not about seeing, but rather... "knowing"?

Is it an illusion, or does the magic extend into a more distant area within the black fog, no longer hindered by the fog?

"The concealment effect of the black mist... has weakened." Nan'an was a little unsure and decided to let Suiyue try it as well.

Suiyue transforms into a cat who has just finished using the toilet. She frantically digs through the sand, trying to uncover more "darkness".

Upon hearing Nan An's words, she instinctively retorted, "How could it possibly be weakened? It's still not human or animal... Huh?"

Suiyue swayed her unicorn horn, pacing back and forth like an antenna searching for its own signal, making continuous "tsk tsk" sounds.

"What does this mean? It seems my magic can really extend to a wider area."

The suppressive effect of the black fog on perception is fading at an alarming rate.

The sluggish feeling of traveling blindfolded quickly subsided.

Five meters, ten meters, twenty meters...

The range they could clearly perceive steadily expanded over time. In fact, the harmful visual interference had been greatly reduced, except that the black fog still shrouded the area and had not dissipated.

The road beneath Nan'an and Suiyue's feet finally had a logical and coherent sense of extension.

The outlines of objects in the foreground become clear, no longer resembling a low-resolution image with blurred edges.

The steep rock face has sharp, razor-sharp lines; the huge pebbles have smooth, glossy curves after being washed by the water over the years; and... the clear, melodious sound of the stream.

It feels so familiar.

Under the cover of black fog, the sounds they heard often seemed to be coming from behind a wall, heavy, muffled, and unclear.

"This is..." Suiyue stopped, squinting as she tried to make out the details. "The rock walls of the Kamamizu Valley? We... we've circled back?"

"It's not that we've circled back; it's that the spatial displacement has disappeared, and we've returned to space in its normal state."

As if to confirm his words, the surrounding fog thinned out a bit more.

The canyon landscape, which was originally completely obscured, can now be seen in six or seven parts.

They were standing on a relatively flat riverbank, with familiar pebbles and fine sand under their feet, and the clear Lian River flowing gently in the distance.

Having confirmed their approximate location, the two did not delay any longer and began to carefully retrace their steps along the riverbank, heading back in the direction they remembered coming from.

The entire journey was exceptionally clean and refreshing.

There were no twisted monsters suddenly leaping out of the fog, nor were there endless mazes of ghosts.

The black fog itself, as if tamed, spread quietly, and in terms of obstructing vision, it was no different from the thick fog of the morning.

Just as they rounded a bend in the river, a regular, moving outline, unlike any other natural scenery, suddenly appeared in the mist ahead, accompanied by hushed conversations.

Nan'an immediately stopped and pulled Suiyue behind a huge reef.

The two held their breath and peered through the crack in the rock.

There were about six or seven people, and their uniforms looked very familiar.

They moved swiftly and quietly, in pairs, transporting several wounded people who appeared to be unconscious.

The wounded were covered with gray cloths to block out their breath, making it impossible to see their faces, but judging from the personnel configuration, this was clearly an organized evacuation operation.

"Isn't this the uniform that the Crow always wears?"

Nan'an was speechless.

He instructed, "I'll disappear first; it's not convenient for me to show myself in front of outsiders."

Under the knowledge ban, unauthorized study of summoned creatures can be a serious or minor offense.

As expected, all the members of the El Deer noticed the commotion on this side.

The leader suddenly raised his hand, and the group immediately stopped and went on high alert.

Everyone's hands were on the weapons at their waists or the strange devices hanging from their belts, their movements were synchronized and without the slightest sound.

His sharp gaze swept toward the reef where Nan'an and Suiyue were hiding, his expression unusually cold.

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

Suiyue knew she couldn't hide it anymore; the other party was clearly an experienced "fog breaker," extremely sensitive to any unusual activity in the black fog environment.

She slowly emerged from behind the large rock with her hands raised, then slightly opened them to indicate that she meant no harm.

"No, no, no, I'm just an innocent bystander!" she said succinctly, her voice exceptionally clear in the black mist. "I was swallowed by the black mist, and that's how I found a way out..."

Erlu was clearly also confused by this incident, and it took a while before someone approached Suiyue.

"Don't move!"

Nan An was convinced; he didn't even need to look to guess what Sui Yue had done.

Given her simple mindset, she would undoubtedly take out the Windgrass Crystal that the Bewitching Crow had given her and show it to the herd of Evil Deer.

"Hehe, this was given to me by your boss, Crow. It should prove my identity, right?"

This is a lack of American-style iaido education. In a dark and tense environment, when everyone is on edge, if the deer takes the initiative to approach for a security check and identity verification, you should stand still and not do anything without instructions!

Fortunately, the members of the Elu group maintained a certain level of rationality, only placing their hands on the long swords at their waists, and did not perform the spectacular act of drawing their swords to behead the hunter.

"You're... that guy who got locked up and became really cynical?"

The other party actually recognized Suiyue, which left Nan'an both amused and exasperated.

How can someone pass the level smoothly even though they made all the wrong moves? What kind of incredible luck is this?

Also, was the label of "world-weary" the first impression that everyone in Eruku had of Suiyue?

"You recognize me, look at this," Suiyue said, taking out a Windgrass crystal. "It was given to me by the Bewitching Raven, you must recognize this, right?"

The other party accepted the Windgrass Crystal, remained silent for a while, and then nodded.

"Routine check, do not resist."

"Ah~~~~"

Suiyue opened her mouth very willingly—it was already muscle memory.

Windgrass swept around without triggering any warnings, and E'lu nodded in satisfaction, returning the item to its original owner.

He waved his hand and said succinctly, "Alright, follow me."

The other members of the Eroshiro also showed surprise upon seeing Suiyue.

A potential Nightmare Corruptor who was involved in a major incident just 20 days ago, and who has only recently been released from prison, has become entangled with the Black Mist again.

Am I prone to bad luck?

"Just one more question..." the leader, Elu, turned around, "Are you alone?"

Nan'an suddenly shuddered.

"I'll bite you to death, you're the only one!"

Suiyue readily agreed: "It's just me. I was bored after being released from prison and came to Kamamizui to hunt, which is why I was swallowed."