HISD Chapter 50 Breaking Free, Tifa
The thick, chilling white fog blanketed the city in a ghostly haze, dimming the lights and creating an eerie, unnatural atmosphere.
Combined with the fearful expressions and strange murmurs of the agents, even the most composed members of the Supernatural Department felt a shiver run through them.
The middle-aged captain looked out the window gravely. Visibility was at least ten times worse than usual, with only the vague dark silhouettes of tall buildings visible nearby.
Other than that, there was no sign of life.
Yet this fog was clearly abnormal, defying all logic.
It was even possible that the fog itself—or the creatures within it—was disrupting all communications.
The captain hesitated for only a moment before making a decisive command: "Everyone, enter combat readiness. Put on gas masks and protective suits, take standard weapons and spare ammunition. Split into two groups: one with me to investigate the outside, the other stays here to provide support and attempt to re-establish contact with the outside world."
"Yes, Captain!"
The agents of the Supernatural Department responded immediately. Highly trained and efficient, they sprang into action.
Soon, six fully equipped agents, led by the captain, exited the building. After only ten meters, they were swallowed by the swirling white fog and disappeared from sight.
The remaining five agents, including the young female agent, stayed inside, trying to repair the network and contact the outside world.
For a moment, no one paid attention to the boy in the top-level isolation chamber.
…
Fog blocking signals, and creatures moving within it?
Yi Meng was momentarily stunned. This bizarre situation reminded him of a movie from his previous life—eerily similar to the sudden events now unfolding in reality.
The movie was called Mist, though he couldn't confirm it completely.
"Perfect."
Pretending to be asleep on the hospital bed, Yi Meng's eyes suddenly opened, silver and red light flashing within them. He flipped off the bed, soaring into the air. His right hand, almost fully encased in an exoskeleton, clenched into a fist and smashed into the floor of the isolation chamber.
The entire building trembled as cracks spiderwebbed across the floor!
This power, this destructive force—no human could possess it!
Yet Yi Meng had already experienced such strength and destruction in his dreams.
The boy's young, handsome face remained calm as he landed, spreading his skeletal right fingers before clenching them again. His fist smashed down like a bone warhammer into the center of the cracked floor!
Boom!
The building shook violently, stones flying everywhere.
"What just happened?!"
The agents remaining inside rushed into the surveillance room. When they saw the chamber filled with dust and debris, they froze like statues.
A one-and-a-half-meter-wide hole had appeared in the center of the floor, steel reinforcements shattered, linking to the second floor below.
"Oh my God!"
Everyone's pupils constricted in shock.
The young female agent, in particular, was both stunned and strangely relieved.
"The containment subject, SAS-1666, E-level high schooler Yi Meng, has escaped!"
"Notify the captain! Contact Kunlun headquarters!"
"But the captain is investigating the fog outside, and all our communications are cut off!"
Chaos erupted both inside and outside the Supernatural Department.
Some agents armed themselves and ran downstairs, attempting to recapture Yi Meng.
They searched the second and first floors but found no trace of him, continuing out the door.
They could not have imagined that Yi Meng was still inside the building.
…
Underground level, Supernatural Department.
Yi Meng moved through the corridors to the deepest basement. Cameras and alarms remained silent, failing to detect him.
He stopped in front of an iron door marked in red with "Containment Alert."
Yi Meng scanned the door requiring an eye scan. With a thought, the internal security system was hacked and opened.
He entered.
Lights flickered on, revealing rows of containment shelves.
Having accessed the department's database during previous intrusions, Yi Meng knew every city had a basement for lower-level containment subjects.
What terrified ordinary people were treasures to Yi Meng, for they were unexploited items from cinematic worlds of his previous life.
He could identify their origins and understand their true functions.
Since he was here, he wouldn't miss the chance to explore.
"Are there any items here that can suppress Doomsday-level destructive willpower…?"
Yi Meng scanned the basement.
Most shelves were empty, only one or two wooden racks held objects.
Few in number, but that made sense—if every city had many cinematic intrusions, the world would already be chaotic.
He approached one rack and saw a white bone horn.
The horn was intricate, like a work of art, with a leather strap. A containment description hung beneath it.
Intrusion file: "Mysterious Horn"
Type: Construct
ID: SAS-699
Casualties: None
Level: G
Report: From Tianhe City's antique market. Theoretically playable, but cannot be blown by any means.
Yi Meng paused.
A horn that couldn't be blown? It looked increasingly like the one held by one of the heroines in The Chronicles of Narnia.
In that fantasy film, such constructs had magical properties.
Yi Meng remembered that blowing it in the story would always summon aid for the heroine—a classic Mary Sue outdoor essential.
He tried blowing it. Nothing.
Using physical force, his fingers barely touched it before a crack appeared.
"…"
Yi Meng considered two possibilities:
First, the horn lost its magic upon intrusion.
Second, it required a specific person to work, like the Narnia heroine.
In other words, useless to him.
He returned the cracked horn and moved to the next rack, which held an old music box.
Intrusion file: "Music Box"
Type: Construct
ID: SAS-1205
Casualties: One mentally destabilized
Level: F
Report: Plays autonomously at night, contains a spirit, handled by Dragon Maiden.
"Oh, from Conjuring?"
In the film, the music box involved a benign boy spirit. Dragon Maiden had already dealt with it, allowing the spirit to rest.
Yi Meng knew Phoenix's power could easily crush such spirits unless they were conceptually immortal.
He shook his head and moved to the last shelf.
Most cinematic intrusions were either limited or underwhelming. A truly useful one was unlikely.
Yet as he reached the final rack, his eyes froze.
There, resting on the shelf, was a tiny, exquisitely crafted blue magical doll.
Wearing a tall, wide-brimmed wizard hat, snow-white, with blue curls peeking out. Four small hands clasped gently at her chest, dressed in a white robe covering her slender legs. Her deep blue skin and serene posture radiated extraordinary nobility.
"Wife, what are you doing here?!"
Yi Meng stared at the doll, blurted the words unconsciously.
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