Foggy Street

“Fengshui Station. We have arrived. Please remember to take your personal belongings and exit through the rear door.”

The moment the bus announcement ended and the rear door cracked open even an inch, Xu Feng seized the opportunity. She hugged her backpack tight and slipped past the man in an instant. Relying on her petite stature, she was the first to hop off the bus, darting toward the most crowded part of the platform.

The masked man, seeing Xu Feng successfully slip away right under his nose, hurriedly tried to disembark. However, he was hindered by other passengers. By the time he stepped onto the platform, Xu Feng’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

The bus pulled away, leaving the masked man alone on the platform.

“Quite clever, little vampire. Did you really think you could get away?”

The man pulled off his mask, revealing a terrifying scar at the corner of his mouth. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and clicked a flame to life. After wedging a cigarette between his lips, he began a rhythmic cycle of puffing and exhaling clouds of smoke.

Strangely, however, the smoke he exhaled never drifted toward the sky. Instead, it lingered stubbornly around him.

Despite it being a single cigarette, it seemed bottomless. The fog grew thicker and thicker, and the surrounding environment—everything within sight—began to blur under a rising, causeless mist.

“The hunt begins. My first order of the month.”

The man shrouded in smoke left behind those final words before vanishing beneath the foggy platform. Even the sunlight seemed to lose its brilliance.

Xu Feng ran for a good while until she felt safe enough to stop and catch her breath.

“Whew! That should have lost him.” Xu Feng glanced back. There were plenty of pedestrians around, all dressed normally; there was no sign of the masked man.

Thank goodness my brain didn’t turn to mush along with my body.

Xu Feng marveled at her own wit and began to stroll leisurely forward. A few hundred meters ahead lay the Shanghuai Intersection, the most bustling commercial district in Lingyao City. With so many people around, she wouldn’t have to fear being followed.

Her plan was sound, but she failed to notice that the more distant buildings were gradually losing their outlines, becoming blurred and indistinct.

By the time Xu Feng reached the crosswalk, the sunlight above her had vanished. In its place was a massive, white cloud that seemed to hover over her specifically, refusing to budge.

“There are so few people…”

Xu Feng stared at the crosswalk, which should have been teeming with life, yet now she couldn’t find a single soul. In the blink of an eye—a moment when she wasn’t paying attention—all the nearby pedestrians had vanished.

Maybe I should keep walking. There might be some event drawing everyone away.

She pressed on until she reached the other side of the road. There, she froze. Fear began to surge in her heart, overtopping the levees of her reason.

Not a single car could be seen in the vast intersection, though the traffic lights continued to flash. The alleys of the supposedly bustling shopping street were eerily silent; the shop signs were still lit and the doors remained wide open, but there wasn’t a person in sight.

The “Star of the Era” statue in the plaza looked incredibly dull. In the middle of the sprawling, ash-grey square, Xu Feng stood utterly alone.

Crinkle, crinkle.

A plastic bag tumbled past her, driven by the wind.

This is wrong. This is all wrong!

Xu Feng finally realized the gravity of the situation. She scrambled to her backpack, pulled out the phone used to contact Uncle Shui, and frantically dialed his number.

Beep—

Uncle Shui, please pick up!

Beep—

Hurry! Please, please, please!

Beep—

Don’t hang up! This is an emergency!

Click.

The moment the call connected, Xu Feng’s hanging heart seemed to find some solid ground.

“Stay exactly where you are! Do not move! I’m using your GPS to get there now!”

Uncle Shui’s voice was frantic, accompanied by the roar of heavy wind; he was clearly racing toward her.

“Yes! I understand!” Xu Feng gripped the phone as if it were her only lifeline.

“First, you need to—”

Static.

“You have left the service area… You have left the service area…”

The call cut off. Xu Feng never heard the rest of Uncle Shui’s instructions.

“Hello? Hello! Argh, dammit!” Xu Feng squeezed the phone in her palm, turning around to scan her surroundings with growing unease.

Strange colors that didn’t exist in her memory began to bleed into the high-rise buildings. A sudden gale shrieked past, the wind stinging her face so sharply she had to close her eyes and raise an arm for protection.

When the wind died down, a heavy fog followed in its wake, blurring the sharp edges of the architecture and swallowing the bulk of the buildings. The windows turned a void-like black, resembling countless dark eyes staring down at Xu Feng from every height.

On this isolated street within the mist, she had nowhere left to run.