Massive concrete blocks lay submerged like sunken mountain ranges.
Twisted steel reinforcements protruded outward, resembling thorny thickets.
Half-submerged car roofs, collapsed GG-brand billboard frames, floating furniture debris—everything was soaked in murky floodwaters. Occasionally, animal remains with bleached white bones could be seen washed up by the currents.
Moreover, the number of Crocodile Lizards in these waters had significantly increased.
Almost every few hundred meters, they would spot at least one or two Crocodile Lizards swimming nearby.
Han Ning keenly noticed that these Crocodile Lizards were generally larger than those he had first encountered.
He clearly remembered that the juvenile Crocodile Lizards that initially attacked humans were mostly under one meter in length, with adults typically around one meter or slightly more.
But now, the Crocodile Lizards they encountered were generally close to two meters, some even exceeding that.
A few were clearly over 2.5 meters.
"The juveniles are almost nowhere to be seen."
Han Ning felt uneasy. The water level was rising too quickly, making survival even harder for human survivors.
"The deeper the water, the faster they seem to grow."
Fortunately, Han Ning had Snowflake swim ahead, using its identity as a fellow Crocodile Lizard to scout and avoid wild ones.
This trip wasn't for hunting but reconnaissance—there was no need to fight these creatures.
Relying on vague memories of city landmarks, Han Ning directed Snowflake to adjust their course toward the general direction of White Egret Port.
After swimming about three kilometers—
"Hmm?"
Han Ning suddenly noticed a change in the water flow.
The water ahead... seemed shallower?
The sensation was abrupt.
They had been moving through areas where the water was typically waist-deep or even overhead.
But now, according to Snowflake's feedback, the underwater terrain ahead was rising, and the current seemed to have calmed slightly.
"Wait, it's not just shallower..."
Han Ning signaled Snowflake to slow down and proceeded more cautiously himself.
"This is..."
When he and Snowflake carefully surfaced to observe ahead, the sight made Han Ning hold his breath, his pupils contracting.
Before them stretched an indescribable, seemingly boundless expanse of... White Mist Zone.
The mist was as thick as condensed milk, forming an eerie contrast with the torrential rain around it.
The heavy raindrops fell into the churning mist, as if swallowed whole.
Instead of dispersing the mist, the rain seemed to nourish it, making the fog even denser.
Visibility dropped drastically to less than ten meters, completely obstructing their view.
The white mist rolled and surged, engulfing everything in its path—buildings, streets, water surfaces—leaving only blurred, distorted outlines faintly visible within. They resembled the skeletal remains of giant beasts lurking in the thick fog.
Splash... splash... splash...
The world was eerily silent, save for the relentless patter of rain hitting the water's surface.
The scene reminded Han Ning of a horror game he had once played.
Silent Hill!
The difference was that this was unfolding in the flooded ruins of a city.
"This... how is this possible..." Han Ning couldn't help but murmur under his breath, his voice barely audible through the curtain of rain and mist.
He couldn't comprehend it.
After all, this area was constantly battered by howling winds and torrential downpours.
Such violent storms should theoretically tear apart any fog instantly.
Yet this white mist before him seemed almost alive, silently devouring the falling rain to expand itself, forming a white domain that neither wind nor rain could penetrate.
"Grrr..."
Snowflake let out an uneasy growl.
His yellow slit pupils were fixed on the churning white mist, his body slightly tensed.
As if something extremely troublesome lurked within.
Han Ning scanned his surroundings, trying to get his bearings.
They should still be some distance from White Egret Port.
As a tourist harbor, White Egret Port had complete surrounding facilities—resorts, luxury hotels, office buildings, and residential areas spread across a radius of one or two kilometers, far more prosperous than the middle-class neighborhood where he lived.
Yet now, this supposedly bustling area showed no signs of life. Even the wandering Crocodile Lizards from earlier had disappeared.
Some buildings still stood exposed to the relentless downpour, rainwater cascading down their glass facades and crumbling exteriors.
More structures had been swallowed by the endless white mist, leaving only vague outlines floating within, flickering like ghostly apparitions.
White Egret Port was likely deep within this White Mist Zone, or at least required passing through it to reach.
But this mist was too eerie, completely defying logic.
Just as Han Ning hesitated, considering whether to detour or retreat temporarily to rethink his approach...
"Ahhh!! Help!! Hel... ugh!!!"
Suddenly, an agonized, blood-curdling female scream pierced through the boundary between the rain and the mist.
The sound came from an area at the edge of the mist, not yet fully consumed by it.
Han Ning whipped his head around, his gaze cutting through the heavy rain to pinpoint the source.
It was a half-submerged street-side shop, its sign long gone, its dark windows gaping like a maw ready to devour prey.
"Something's off..."
After a moment's thought, he decided against approaching.
He'd seen too many horror movies, especially The Grudge. Most characters met their doom because curiosity led them to step inside places they shouldn't.
Curiosity killed the cat.
"Let's go!"
Han Ning acted decisively, immediately turning around and kicking with his Webbed Feet to retreat away from the mist.
Saving someone? Survival came first!
But he'd barely swum twenty meters when...
"Help me, help me!"
The woman's scream rang out abruptly right beside his ear.
Not from the shop behind him, not ahead, not to the side—right in his ear...
As if the desperate, panting voice was pressed against his very ear.
"..."
Han Ning's scalp prickled, every hair on his body standing on end.
This world had those things too?
Alarm bells ringing in his mind, Han Ning forced himself not to look back, continuing to swim forward.
But though he didn't look, his peripheral vision caught movement inside a neighboring shop.
In the filthy, garbage-strewn darkness of that flooded storefront, Han Ning's side glance caught sight of a figure.
A woman in a white dress was pinned down by a massive broken concrete beam, her lower body completely trapped and unable to move.
Half of her body was submerged in shallow water as she struggled to lift her head, her long hair clinging wetly to her deathly pale face.
Her expression was twisted with sheer terror and agony, her mouth wide open in a soundless scream.