Light Fortress
Chapter 114 - 102: The Foggy Long Street

Chapter 114: Chapter 102: The Foggy Long Street

Night had fallen.

It was ten o’clock sharp.

At the entrance of Yulan Alley in the old town district, a figure clad in black and wearing a duckbill cap came to a slow stop. Sticking close to the alley’s walls, he moved swiftly and disappeared into the night in just a few seconds.

It was Shi Li.

After Shi Li’s figure had vanished, a wisp of Blazing Fire gradually emerged in the night sky not far away.

Gu Shen, his expression calm, slowly approached the entrance to Yulan Alley.

After activating "Blazing Fire Vision," the traces of Shi Li’s movements were incredibly clear... they were like fireworks in the night, clearly revealing his path at a glance.

Gu Shen slightly furrowed his brow.

The shadow that symbolized Shi Li’s path twisted and turned—sometimes he dashed through the alley, sometimes he stopped suddenly, as if guarding against followers behind him. He was so cautious... surely he must be carrying something that sealed off the detection of the Extraordinary Aura.

"Does Shi Li know that someone is tracking him?"

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

Normal people, who would walk like that?

Could it be Hu Danian’s routine investigations that had aroused his suspicion? This Strong Attack Type Transcendent shouldn’t be that sensitive, should he?

In any case, it was the right choice for Hu Danian to not deepen the tracking.

Shi Li had already become suspicious.

Gu Shen pondered for a moment, then slowly moved forward, following the remaining traces at a maximum distance... His Blazing Fire ability was unique, and his keenness in capturing details was unmatched by many from the high-level mental system, which made him quite good at tracking.

He was confident that Shi Li wouldn’t notice him.

But just to be safe, it was better to keep a bit more distance and not follow too closely.

...

...

"Achoo!"

The moment he entered the alley, Shi Li sneezed again.

He looked grim and rubbed his nose forcefully.

What the heck?

The last time he sneezed, he hadn’t taken it seriously... and soon found himself with a gun pointed at his head.

What about this time?

Could it be the Goddess of Destiny dropping another hint on him?

"Is someone... tracking me?"

After pausing in place for a long while, Shi Li came up with this plausible explanation... He continued forwards, suddenly stopped against the wall, holding his breath, and began to wait.

After waiting a long time without a single response,

he continued on unchanged, but soon rapidly turned around and started sprinting back the way he had come.

If anyone were to see these actions, they might find them laughable... but in reality, it was an effective method for testing if someone was following.

Unfortunately for Shi Li, he came up empty. He even ran hundreds of meters back the way he had come without seeing even a ghostly shadow. The old town district was desolate at night, and the spot he had chosen was the most secluded alley entrance where not even a whisper could be heard, so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

Shi Li, suspicious, stood where he had sneezed, looking around at the swaying tree shadows and the rustling leaves.

A Transcendent’s intuition is seldom wrong.

With the precedent of the previous incident, he had become very cautious.

"So, take out the Compass... and have a look."

Shi Li took a compass from his chest... It was square, the size of a palm, with gold-plated silver edges, looking quite new and not at all like an antique.

His fingertips surrounded by a silver glow, he slowly injected it into the compass.

"Whiz whiz whiz—"

The needle on the compass rapidly spun a circle, eventually returning to its original position.

Shi Li breathed a sigh of relief, muttering to himself.

"Was it my... imagination?"

He resumed walking along Yulan Alley.

Gu Shen, hidden in the bushes, watched this scene, his back soaked with cold sweat.

He had been following very cautiously, but suddenly, without warning, Shi Li’s aura had solidified, followed by him running back like a madman as though retracing his steps. If Gu Shen hadn’t initially made the right decision to follow from the greatest distance... he probably would have been discovered.

In the end, he had held his breath and quickly retreated back to his hiding spot.

What really made Gu Shen’s heart leap to his throat was the compass Shi Li had taken out, an ancient-looking artifact obviously from the Changjiu Foundation’s armory. Gu Shen guessed that the compass might have the ability to detect nearby mental powers... He was already prepared to draw the Truth Ruler and confront Shi Li directly.

But... the compass didn’t detect him?

Indeed.

Blazing Fire is an extremely peculiar existence.

Normal detection methods can’t capture him through mental power.

This time.

Gu Shen’s tracking became much smoother, and Shi Li no longer meandered. He must not have much time to waste on the way back... and Gu Shen slightly increased his pace as well.

But as he walked, his expression grew solemn.

"Going further... will lead to Yuan Dan Street!"

He felt an ominous premonition arising in his heart... Eventually, Shi Li’s figure disappeared into the darkness of Yuan Dan Street.

With Blazing Fire surrounding him, Gu Shen gazed at that dreaded old street... To the common eye, a thin layer of gray mist hung, but to his eyes, it was a thick haze that couldn’t be dispersed.

"Wait a moment..."

Gu Shen’s pupils constricted.

Near the entrance of Yuan Dan Street, he spotted a toppled motorcycle, which was the vehicle Hu Danian had used to bring him here; it lay askew in the rubble heap at the entrance of the long street.

He cautiously approached, and after getting a clearer view, Gu Shen’s expression changed abruptly.

The motorcycle had fallen over.

There were splashes of blood by the roadside.

Not far from the vehicle, a withered, emaciated skeleton lay tilted—its flesh completely drained, leaving only a layer of skin. The face was destroyed, making identification impossible... but it was certain that this skeleton was dead beyond any doubt.

"Damn it."

Gu Shen’s expression turned extremely grim. Hadn’t Hu Danian claimed to be very cautious in his actions?

How long had it been?

What exactly was present on that street?

He didn’t hesitate and immediately began to retreat.

But something happened that made Gu Shen’s scalp tingle... He clearly remembered the route he had taken when he arrived, but after retracing his steps along the same route, the surrounding scenery had become unfamiliar, and the fog was getting thicker.

The Blazing Fire Vision was starting to blur, drastically reducing visibility.

He stopped, held his breath silently, calmed himself down, and accepted the reality.

"I have entered Yuan Dan Street..."

Only upon entering Yuan Dan Street could one feel... the dense fog from the dreams of the old city district residents was so tangible that it almost reached the point where one couldn’t see their own hands, let alone discern directions in such thick fog.

The first thing Gu Shen did was make himself stop.

He had lost his sense of direction, and even his best skill, the Blazing Fire, couldn’t find the right direction in this thick fog... In that case, he needed to minimize erroneous attempts.

And at this moment, he dared not freely summon the Blazing Fire.

Because right now, Shi Li was in Yuan Dan Street!

By now, he could almost confirm... the smog in the old city district was orchestrated by the Changjiu Foundation and the control of the sealed artifact was in the hands of these madmen; who knew how much they could see?

"This is not a Dream but a real existing world."

A sense of familiarity washed over him.

More than once in others’ dreams had Gu Shen witnessed this dense fog, when he had still been unable to understand the original owner’s despair of the dream. Only by being in the thick smog himself did he gradually sense that something was amiss...

In the fog of Yuan Dan Street, his spiritual power was constantly being consumed.

Having been tempered by the Jingzhe Breathing Technique, his spiritual power was still solid, but how long could it last in this fog? Once depleted, would he end up like those before him?

Or perhaps... even worse.

Remembering the skeleton by the motorcycle, Gu Shen’s expression turned solemn, guessing that this might be his impending fate.

For some reason.

The more he inhaled the fog that devoured spiritual power, the calmer he became, calm enough to hear each of his own heartbeats, as well as the silence of the foggy city district, a pin drop, a step.

He stood silently for five minutes.

No sound came through the dense fog.

"After Shi Li entered Yuan Dan Street, he disappeared..."

The Blazing Fire could no longer trace his movements.

"If he can see through this fog... given the caution he used all the way here, he must have noticed me already."

"He hasn’t taken any action... I can only guess that he doesn’t know I’ve entered this street."

"So... I can only guess that this fog blinds everyone’s sight equally."

Gu Shen murmured, "Yuan Dan Street is full of broken factories; he must have entered one of them, that factory must be where the sealed artifact is located..."

If that’s the case.

Then he just needed to find the place where the "fog" was thickest to determine Shi Li’s location!

"If I can’t get out of Yuan Dan Street... then perhaps I can try... destroying the sealed artifact..."

The thought was insane.

Shi Li was at least a fourth-tier strong attack type.

However... he didn’t know of my presence in the fog, he was likely to lower his guard on Yuan Dan Street.

Based on my earlier calculation, ambushing with Blazing Fire had a chance of success.

If the strike failed, retreating back into the fog would still be considered an escape.

Compared to wasting away to become a dried corpse... it’s better to boldly risk it all!

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes; he cautiously conjured a strand of Blazing Fire, attaching it to the position of his forehead... The thick fog, as if reaching out a hand, covered the eye that Gu Shen had opened at his brow.

But he could still sense the changes in the fog in different areas.

Slowly groping, Gu Shen moved forward bit by bit, controlling his steps to avoid making any noise.

"It’s in this area..."

Gu Shen stopped in front of a thick iron gate, which would tremble at the slightest wind; he dared not touch it... Relying on the intuition of Blazing Fire, he had located this area, approximately three to four abandoned factories connected in a row, which was the smallest area he could confirm.

"Shi Li is likely in one of them."

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

He took a deep breath, preparing to move forward again.

"Snap!"

A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.