The hand landing on Gu Shen’s shoulder made his hair stand on end.

He instinctively wanted to turn around and strike.

The silver  light of the Ruler of Truth was already flickering, but when he turned around and saw the person’s face, all the brewing tension dissipated and turned into confusion.

A tall man wearing a helmet with a resolute expression shook his head.

Hu Danian? Gu Shen never thought that… this guy was still alive.

He was certain that the overturned motorcycle at the entrance of Iris Pellet Street belonged to Hu Danian. But on careful thought, the withered skeleton didn’t match Hu Danian’s tall and strong body. That person’s skeleton was relatively thin and small, and he had subconsciously assumed that the deceased was Hu Danian.

Hu Danian was still alive!

This was the only good news at the moment.

“No.” Hu Danian conveyed his message with his eyes.

The two of them slowly retreated until they were out of the factory area and came to a collapsed stone wall not far away.

Hu Danian squatted in the fog and lowered his voice. “Are you crazy, kid? What are you doing here?”

“…” Gu Shen felt that his line had been stolen again.

Seeing Gu Shen’s helpless expression, Hu Danian immediately understood something. He frowned and asked, “Is Shi Li related to this sealed object case?”

“Yes. To be precise, it’s the Eternal Foundation,” Gu Shen replied meaningfully. “All of this is the Eternal Foundation’s scheme… although I don’t know what they want to do. But if this fog were placed elsewhere, its harm wouldn’t be so simple.”

It sounded crazy, but the truth might be that… the fog on Iris Pellet Street was just an experiment of those lunatics.

The fog that engulfed an entire block, if sustained long enough, could kill even transcendents!

“Who was that dried corpse?” Gu Shen asked with a frown.

“Someone… whose name I don’t know. When I saw him, he was already on the verge of death and collapsed at the entrance of Iris Pellet Street.” Hu Danian’s eyes were dim, and his expression was complicated. ”This fog has spread throughout Iris Pellet Street and some nearby areas. The symptoms of those who inhaled a small amount are relatively mild. They were only contaminated with a mental imprint from the sealed object and could return to normal after dream therapy. That pitiful person should have wandered into the core area of the fog, lost his way, and couldn’t find an exit. So the fog drained his mind and extracted his flesh and blood.”

After hearing this, Gu Shen slowly lowered his head.

When that person finally found the exit of Iris Pellet Street, he was already beyond saving… How despairing.

“Why didn’t you let me go in?” Gu Shen continued. “I’ve already confirmed the existence of the sealed object. It’s within those abandoned factories.”

Hu Danian looked at Gu Shen with a complicated expression.

If he remembered correctly, Gu Shen’s mission was to track down Shi Li, so he should have just entered this block and found the factories in no more than twenty minutes.

He was truly a genius.

He sighed lightly and extended one of his hands. “I have also confirmed the location of the sealed object and pinpointed the specific factory. The price I paid was an afternoon and this.”

Hu Danian removed the glove from his hand. The skin of his palm had visible age spots and wrinkles, as though it had aged twenty years.

“This…?” Gu Shen’s pupils contracted in disbelief.

“This fog enveloping Iris Pellet Street can make anyone completely lose their sense of direction, even transcendents. To escape the fog, you can only rely on luck.

“According to my analysis, if all this fog were released, it should be able to cover half of Old Town. For some reason, most of the fog is contained in that factory. In other words, the location of the sealed object is the most dangerous place.” Hu Danian lowered his eyes and smiled mockingly. “My initial idea was the same as yours. Since I can’t leave Iris Pellet Street, I’ll destroy the sealed object to stop the contamination… But just by touching the inner wall of the factory, my hand ended up like this.”

Skin aged.

Flesh withered.

These injuries were not untreatable. But it was certain that even with the best treatment, Hu Danian’s left hand had lost at least ‘twenty years’ of its lifespan.

“I’ve already confirmed that there’s no one else on this block. Although the lunatics of the Eternal Foundation don’t care about their lives, they wouldn’t stay here and be consumed by the fog for nothing. There’s no need to guard the factory with the sealed object… because no one can enter at all.” Hu Danian covered his mouth and stifled a cough. He wheezed and said, “This is definitely not a mere Class C sealed object. The abnormalities inside the factory are at least Class A. The two of us can’t handle it.”

Gu Shen was silent for a moment before saying, “But Shi Li entered the factory. It means the Eternal Foundation has a unique method.”

“Don’t tell me… you want to be a savior, a great hero?” Helplessness appeared on Hu Danian’s face. He smiled silently and extended his aged left hand. “The Eternal Foundation can enter, but can you? Look at my hand. This is the consequence of mistakenly thinking you’re the protagonist of a novel.

“If I had observed more carefully, I wouldn’t have made this mistake.”

Hu Danian’s raised hand was trembling, but his voice remained exceptionally steady. “The best course of action now is to wait. Once Shi Li comes out of the factory, we only need to follow him to leave Iris Pellet Street. As for this damn fog, let the adjudicators of the Adjudication Bureau deal with it.”

Hu Danian grinned, baring his teeth. “Brother, listen to my advice. Without the strength of the Ninth Level of Deep Sea, don’t wade into these muddy waters.”

Yes.

Hu Danian was right.

This was indeed the best approach. If everything went as planned, then Gu Shen didn’t mind doing this.

He crouched quietly behind the stone wall and suddenly asked, “What if we lose Shi Li when he comes out of the factory?”

Hu Danian was taken aback.

“Then, we’ll have to grind it out bit by bit,” he said in a deep voice. “Our mental power is much stronger than ordinary people’s, so we can last longer in this fog.”

“You’ve been wandering in the fog of Iris Pellet Street all afternoon. This block isn’t big, but you still haven’t found a way out. Logically speaking, even if you touch a stone wall and move step by step, trying bit by bit, you should have found an exit.”

Gu Shen laughed softly. “Why did that pitiful person in Old Town only find the exit when he died? Do you think that’s a coincidence? Is this block a place where you can go out if you’re lucky, or is it… only the dead can leave?”

Hearing this, Hu Danian felt his blood run cold.

“Since you’ve been searching for an exit on Iris Pellet Street all afternoon, then just now, did you see Shi Li?” Gu Shen lowered his eyes and asked again, “In this fog, transcendental abilities and vision with the naked eye are suppressed to less than five meters. We can’t even see Shi Li, let alone track him. I know it sounds unpleasant and pessimistic, but are you sure Shi Li is still in that factory?”

“You mean…” Hu Danian’s voice trembled.

“This fog has a special barrier that isolates people from certain scenes in front of them. It’s like a smokescreen. That’s why we’re wandering around here. Because, like that skeleton, we’re clueless about the trick. On Iris Pellet Street… we are the so-called people about to die.”

Gu Shen said calmly, “But Shi Li is different. I guess the Eternal Foundation most likely has a breathing technique to deal with the fog that allows people to come and go freely without being affected by the fog.”

Hu Danian slumped to the ground in despair.

Only now did he realize… how difficult it was to track Shi Li.

It was very likely that Shi Li had already left.

But they were still waiting here.

“So, what should we do?”

Now that things had come to this, Hu Danian couldn’t think of a better solution. For some reason, he looked at Gu Shen. He remembered that when they first met at the bar, this young man didn’t even understand the impact of the basic ability Profile.

He was clearly a fledgling who had just entered the transcendental world.

How long had it been?

In the fog on Iris Pellet Street, his analysis was calmer and more objective than his.

Perhaps Gu Shen would have a solution…

As an old hand who had been around for many years, the creed Hu Danian believed in was to always rely on his own hands at critical moments and never expect others to bring him luck…

He felt ashamed of his subconscious outburst just now.

“I have an idea.” Gu Shen pondered for a long time with lowered eyes before saying word by word, “The solution is actually very simple, but there’s only one chance… and it requires your full cooperation.”

“… Go on.” Hu Danian perked up and quickly sat up.

“The premise of all of this is that Shi Li hasn’t left Iris Pellet Street and is inside the factory with the sealed object,” Gu Shen said. “Currently, we can confirm that Shi Li doesn’t know there are other people on Iris Pellet Street, so he doesn’t know about your existence or mine.

“Of course, we also don’t know why he came to Iris Pellet Street. If he completes his task and leaves, then the next time he comes back will be at least a day later.”

At this point, Hu Danian understood Gu Shen’s intentions. “Are you suggesting… we expose ourselves?”

“That’s right.” Gu Shen nodded calmly. “But… only one of us will expose ourselves. The other one will launch a surprise attack.”

“Surprise attack?” Hu Danian was astonished. This method was indeed simple, but the risk was enormous. “Those lunatics of the Eternal Foundation don’t care about their lives!

“In the records of the Sincere Society, Shi Li is at the Fourth Level of Deep Sea, but it’s likely a lie. His true strength could be between the fifth and sixth levels. In a direct confrontation, I’m definitely not his opponent. Even if I launch a surprise attack, the odds are against us.” Hu Danian gritted his teeth. “This method is too reckless. Perhaps if we wait a little longer, the higher-ups will dispatch high-level transcendents to resolve the situation, and we can be rescued.”

“What if… the fog in the factory spreads before the reinforcements arrive? You know that the Eternal Foundation is full of lunatics. Since they’ve dared to place a sealed object in Old Town, they must be prepared to fight to the death,” Gu Shen said calmly. “Do you want to stay here and wait for the higher-ups to save you? I also want to be rescued… But I don’t want to end up as a corpse on the street, nor do I want to entrust my fate to others.”

Hu Danian looked at the young man in a daze.

He fell silent.

“If you want to live and are willing to trust me, let me launch the surprise attack. I’m confident I can end all of this,” Gu Shen said softly. “I don’t want to be a savior or a great hero… I just want to live.”