Meanwhile.
Less than a hundred meters away from the murky waters where Han Ning was located, inside a tilting hotel building.
Behind a cracked window, two figures faintly appeared.
"Looks like another Awakened drawn here by the White Egret Port ships. His abilities... seem quite interesting."
The speaker was a young man with medium-length hair, wearing a dark jacket.
He leaned sideways, cautiously peering through a broken window's gap, his gaze fixed on Han Ning's direction.
"Do you think he can break free from the white mist's influence?" the jacket-clad man asked casually.
"Hard to say."
The person next to him was stockier, wearing a dusty hooded windbreaker with the hood pulled low, partially obscuring his features.
He held a heavily scratched military-grade telescope, also carefully observing Han Ning.
"Even you and I can't resist these creatures' influence. To escape them, you'd need a special kind of Awakened. I don't think he has that capability."
The stocky man made his judgment.
"How about a bet?" the jacket-clad man smiled.
"What kind of bet? You don't actually think he can get out, do you?" the stocky man questioned.
"No no, I agree with you. Let's bet on how long he struggles." The jacket-clad man glanced at his mechanical wristwatch and chuckled,
"Ten minutes. I bet he can't last ten minutes. Under ten minutes means I win. The wager is that Furong King Cigarettes pack you've been hoarding."
"Damn it! I knew you had your eyes on my Furong King."
The stocky man cursed under his breath, then muttered to himself,
"His abilities are special—can move freely underwater and control Crocodile Lizards. He might actually last over ten minutes..."
"Fine, you're on. If he lasts over ten minutes or breaks free successfully, I win. If you lose, I want five of your live chickens."
"It's the apocalypse now. A pack of Furong King isn't worth five chickens. Three at most." The jacket-clad man shook his head.
"Deal!"
...
Han Ning ignored the woman calling for help from the neighboring shop, signaling Snowflake to continue swimming back the way they came.
"Save me... please save me..."
But as he moved away from the shop, the voice didn't fade—it grew clearer instead.
As if someone was whispering right against the back of his neck.
"Save me..."
The woman's voice suddenly rose sharply.
"Ugh..."
Han Ning's vision darkened, nearly causing him to collapse. The voice felt like countless icy needles piercing his skull from all directions, thrashing wildly inside his brain, making him dizzy and disoriented.
"Damn it!" Han Ning had to stop swimming, floating in place as he gasped for breath.
This isn't right!
Something's very wrong here.
It's not about speed.
He realized that no matter how hard he paddled, whenever he looked up, the outline of that shop crushed under massive concrete blocks always loomed faintly through the murky water mist. He'd been going in circles.
. "Perhaps We've Encountered a Ghost Wall"
Han Ning stopped struggling and floated in place, his expression tense as he surveyed his surroundings.
Only the legendary ghost wall could explain this phenomenon that defied the laws of physics.
He was trapped in this stretch of water by some invisible force.
At this moment, Snowflake was in even worse shape than him.
"Roar!"
As if possessed, it kept biting, pouncing, and thrashing its tail at a spot where there was nothing.
Its sharp claws sliced through the murky water but touched nothing.
It seemed to be locked in a life-and-death struggle with an invisible enemy.
Through their mental link, Han Ning faintly sensed Snowflake's chaotic emotions.
"Calm down, Snowflake!"
"Roar! Roar!"
Snowflake remained unresponsive, continuing to thrash at the water.
"Save me... save me..."
Even though Han Ning had stopped struggling, the eerie female voice didn't disappear.
Instead, it grew more brazen.
This time, the voice didn't whisper in his ear.
It echoed hauntingly inside his mind.
"Why... won't you save me?"
"It's so cold here... so dark..."
The voice carried a peculiar power.
"Ugh..."
Han Ning couldn't suppress a groan as his vision began to twist and spin.
The murky floodwaters, churning white mist, and distant ruins of buildings—everything around him seemed distorted by an invisible giant hand, taking on bizarre and grotesque forms.
The solid sensation of water supporting him vanished, replaced by icy mud dragging him downward. Countless pale hands reached up from the mud, grasping at his ankles.
Snowflake's frantic roars became muffled and distorted.
"This is clearly some kind of mental attack—it's affecting my mind."
Dizzy and disoriented, Han Ning realized this must be something targeting his mental state.
In his dazed condition, he recalled the description of Nature's Blessing on his panel.
This skill didn't just aid biological evolution—it also had mental purification effects.
In this critical moment, he didn't hesitate.
Han Ning pinched his thigh hard, the sharp pain bringing a sliver of clarity.
Forcing down the vertigo, he attempted to cast Nature's Blessing.
Whoosh—
Instantly, a restrained emerald-green aura brimming with vitality enveloped his body.
[Spiritual Power: 15/25 → 12/25]
[Nature's Blessing (Beginner) Proficiency +1, Current 21/200]
The pure light washed over every corner of his consciousness.
Hum!
It was as if a layer of thick, filthy oil had been instantly scrubbed away by this emerald radiance.
Han Ning's expression shifted slightly as the distorted scenery and the venomous shrieks in his mind vanished completely.
The churning white mist still silently devoured everything ahead, while dense raindrops pounded the water's surface, splashing up tiny droplets.
The world had returned to its true form.
Less than a meter in front of him, beneath the murky water, a hideous monster floated in an unnatural posture, pressed close against him.
Its skin was the grayish-white of a dead fish's belly, covered in festering sores and slimy mucus.
Large patches of skin had peeled away, revealing dark red muscle fibers beneath.
It wore a tattered white dress that had nearly fused with its rotting flesh.
Its limbs were twisted and deformed, currently scrabbling at the mud and rocks on the riverbed, supporting its body in a spider-like stance.
The head was none other than the pale, blood-streaked face of the woman from the earlier illusion.
Tilted upward at an angle that defied all anatomical logic, its festering visage bore only a pair of eyes—no whites, just pure black orbs that locked unerringly onto Han Ning's throat.
"Gah... gah..."
The creature split its rotting lips, emitting a viscous, gurgling screech.
A stench of putrid flesh and swampy decay assaulted his senses.
"Looking to die!"
The instant Han Ning recognized the thing's true form, he wasted no time—his right arm lashed out in a swift, decisive strike.
Now that it had revealed its "health bar," what was there left to fear?