Stein sat on the sofa, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the box in front of him.
At first, he had not noticed any problem, since the object had not exerted any direct effects on him, and because the box might be valuable, he had always carried it with him.
But when he set his bag on a table in the hotel, went to the restroom for a quick pee, he was shocked to find that the box had mysteriously appeared in his clothing pocket.
Then he conducted a series of tests, only to discover that no matter what he did, he could not get rid of the box, it had stuck to him!
No wonder that figure in white robes would not touch this thing himself; it turned out to be a hot potato.
Another trouble added to his back was like a heavy mountain pressing down on Stein, making it difficult for him to breathe.
After pondering for a long time, he stood up and got dressed.
If he could not find a way to break the situation, then there was only one path left to take...
After Wen Wen shared his conjectures with Xun Qing, Xun Qing rolled his eyes and walked to the roadside, smashing a concrete pole with his forehead.
The others were also speechless. Originally, all they needed to do was to find the person who took the Mist Box and then lock them up in this cage.
But who would have thought that out of nowhere, an interloper would appear; getting close to Stein might lead to an attack by the Tings Hounds, and since Stein could also perform short bursts of time travel, catching him in a short period was just too difficult.
"Well... Let’s think on the bright side, we used to need to catch two people, but now we only need to catch one," Wen Wen raised his hand, breaking the awkward silence.
George took a deep breath, "Ladies and gentlemen, now our only option is to take immediate action."
"I will inform the Nim City Government to have the residents hide in their homes. According to the records of the inscription, the monsters in the mist will not actively leave the area of the mist, so if the residents hide, there should not be much problem for a while."
"Then we just need to find Stein immediately. Although the ability to time travel is tempting, he has now been chosen by the Mist Box and cannot be used by the Association anymore, so there is no need to think about capturing him alive. We need to kill him before he can react."
"After killing him, do not attempt to touch the Mist Box. I will bring death-row prisoners from the local prison to become the next master of the Mist Box..."
"Let’s get moving, everyone!"
Wen Wen raced through the streets, but his speed was notably slower than usual because of the dense fog, he needed to ensure his speed stayed below a certain level to avoid hitting anything.
The so-called visibility of three meters applied not only to ordinary people, but even superpower users could not see too far; their various perception abilities were greatly restricted.
Just judging by the range of the fog and its ability to block the perception of superpower users, the object was at least a True Order Rank containment item.
If the monsters that emerged later were powerful enough, then it could potentially be rated as a Catastrophe Level containment item.
It was not surprising that Bai Du, an ancient monster who had lived for at least a thousand years, knew the location of the Mist Box. What was strange was why he chose to release the Mist Box at this time.
Indeed, the box could plunge Nim City into utter chaos, and if mismanaged, it could even destroy Nim City entirely, but that should not benefit Bai Du.
After running for a while, Wen Wen stopped, then snapped his fingers.
He switched one of his constitutions to that of Tao Qingqing’s vampire constitution and then summoned a large swarm of bats. He dispersed these bats to search for Stein’s traces.
Fog can conceal smells, block vision, and weaken superhuman perception, but it doesn’t affect sound waves. In such an environment, bats can perform much better than the average superpower user.
After sending out the bats, Wen Wen stood in place, waiting for the results.
But he quickly noticed something was wrong. He felt that after switching constitutions, the fog around him thickened more quickly. Sending out a Puppet to investigate, Wen Wen realized that this anomaly only occurred around him.
When the fog had thickened to a certain degree, weird creatures began to grow within it.
"The monsters in the fog are appearing... but why are they appearing around me first?"
After a brief reflection, Wen Wen understood that the Mist Box was probably very sensitive to the aura of the Sanctuary!
The change occurred after switching constitutions, and during the switch, a trace amount of the Sanctuary’s aura was emitted.
Probably, Bai Du also took out the Mist Box at this time because of this characteristic.
If Bai Du wasn’t injured, the anomaly around Wen Wen might be enough to locate him.
While Wen Wen was pondering, the environment around him had already changed significantly from before. If it were just a white expanse of fog, those less concerned might still find it amusing.
But now, there were clearly things lurking in the fog, and occasionally something would move swiftly nearby, which was chilling.
Hiss, whoosh, bang, squeak...
All kinds of noises reached Wen Wen’s ears, and in a situation where all his perceptions were limited, even Wen Wen found it hard to confirm exactly what was around him.
However, Wen Wen didn’t panic. The fact that the monsters hadn’t attacked him meant they were afraid of his strength.
Compared to the creatures in the fog, Wen Wen actually resembled a monster more.
But this situation wouldn’t last long. Once those monsters gathered to a certain degree, they would inevitably launch an attack on Wen Wen.
The distant, heavy footsteps suggested a big creature was heading towards Wen Wen. Only when the creature got close enough was Wen Wen barely able to make out its appearance.
The creature’s body was like a giant mantis, over five meters tall, with four massive blade-like arms in front of it.
Curious, Wen Wen moved closer and immediately overturned his previous judgment. This thing only resembled a mantis; it definitely wasn’t one.
Where the eyes of a mantis should be, there were two massive pus-filled boils, inside of which wriggling larvae could be seen. The giant bladed arms were covered in distorted tubular worms, and other parts of the body also looked utterly preposterous.
It gave off the impression that the creature didn’t need to be seen by others, so it just grew haphazardly.
Since the creature disgusted Wen Wen, even though it hadn’t attacked him, he didn’t plan on leaving it be.
So, Wen Wen took a few steps back to ensure he couldn’t clearly see the creature’s face, then clenched his fist and delivered a Void Shark Fist, shattering the seemingly formidable giant mantis on the spot.
The massive head rolled in front of Wen Wen, making him involuntarily gag.
Having smashed the creature, Wen Wen found it even more revolting...