C9 The Fog

This is outrageous!

The disheveled man had the audacity to be so disrespectful.

Lu Shaojie's face turned stormy.

Despite his efforts to keep his composure, his anger was unmistakable to all.

Lu Shaojie challenged, "Friend, did you come here just to stir up trouble?"

Even Zhong Yanan found it hard to listen any longer. She tugged gently at Qin Feng's sleeve and implored, "Qin Feng, how can you speak like that?"

Her intention had been to find someone to disrupt the banquet so she could slip away, but she didn't want to irreparably damage her relationship with the Lu family.

Qin Feng disregarded her plea and icily retorted, "I'm merely stating facts. There's nothing incorrect about that. It's not just Young Master Lu—most people here might not make it through to tomorrow."

Hearing this, Lu Shaojie's ability to mask his feelings shattered. His eyes darkened as he demanded, "You'd better retract those words and apologize to everyone, right now!"

Several of Lu Shaojie's well-connected friends rose with thinly veiled hostility and began to close in on Qin Feng.

Zhong Yanan's stepmother let out a piercing shriek, "This is scandalous! Nan, is this the friend you brought? Are you deliberately trying to humiliate both our families?"

"Aunt Wang," Zhong Yanan stammered, caught off guard by Qin Feng's harsh words, her lips quivering helplessly.

She couldn't deny that she was the one who had brought Qin Feng into their midst.

Now, with the situation so strained, others might suspect that she had orchestrated the entire fiasco.

Sure enough, before long, Aunt Wang, Lu Shaojie, and their entourage all cast accusatory looks at Zhong Yanan.

Feeling as vulnerable as a tiny lark, Zhong Yanan stole a glance at the stoic Qin Feng. A surge of resentment welled up inside her.

Was Qin Feng there to aid her or to do her harm?

The room plunged into an eerie hush.

Every gaze, heavy with disapproval, was fixed on Zhong Yanan and Qin Feng.

Even Wang Gang, who had been following Qin Feng, shuddered and murmured, "Boss, can you please stop spouting nonsense?"

Qin Feng, however, paid no heed to anyone and simply lowered his gaze to his watch with a detached air.

With less than five minutes to spare, he glanced up at Zhong Yanan, who had lost herself in a daze, and said, "It's late. You better head out now."

Once the Abnormal Spot erupted, the surrounding two kilometers would become a wasteland.

Zhong Yanan could still make it if she dashed for the car and drove away immediately.

Her face etched with bitterness, Zhong Yanan didn't get a chance to respond before Lu Shaojie's voice boomed through the room. "You're not going anywhere. Until we clear things up, nobody leaves tonight!"

Confronted with Lu Shaojie's outburst, Qin Feng exhaled wearily and began, "Let's make this quick. This resort is a ticking time bomb. Any moment now, we'll be engulfed by something called the Abnormal Spot, a space that serves as a gateway to the Abyss World. When the Abyss's doors swing open, creatures lurking below will swarm out, turning everyone here into their next meal."

He was cut off mid-explanation by a scoff from the crowd, "Ridiculous!"

Another voice chimed in, "So you're saying there's a hidden world beneath the Blue Star's crust, teeming with monsters about to burst forth and threaten humanity? That's pure fantasy! What asylum did you escape from?"

Laughter wasn't just coming from the skeptics; the entire banquet hall was echoing with it. The air of formality expected for an engagement ceremony had vanished.

Lu Shaojie, however, wasn't laughing. He felt his dignity under assault, his body shaking with indignation.

"Enough," he snapped. "Believe me, we'll toss you out if we have to."

The men behind Lu Shaojie, catching his furious cue, rolled up their sleeves, ready to discipline Qin Feng.

But before they could advance, the lid of the suitcase at Qin Feng's feet flung open.

All eyes turned as Qin Feng revealed a white object in his hand.

To call it a stick would be imprecise.

Its surface was rough, pocked with tiny indentations, and it was flattened, resembling a blade carved from stone.

What use could he possibly have for such a laughable stick?

"What's this? Is it some kind of tool you use to fend off monsters?"

Qin Feng was the subject of ridicule, with some considering him to be out of his mind.

Even Zhong Yanan's gaze shifted, as Qin Feng's behavior did indeed resemble that of a madman.

Unfazed by the snickers around him, Qin Feng clenched the Dragon Bone in his hand and squinted.

The Dragon Bone quivered subtly.

A very familiar aura coalesced in his palm through the Dragon Bone.

That was the vibration of Source Qi!

He could sense tiny Source Qi molecules, too minute to be seen with the naked eye, permeating his bloodstream and coursing toward his heart.

This was evolution in its most direct form.

Yet, despite his body undergoing the transformation by Source Qi, Qin Feng's face bore no trace of ease.

The energy particles in the air were too sparse. Even with the Dragon Bone's aid, it was improbable for Qin Feng to evolve swiftly and emerge as a genuine superpowered individual.

He was about to confront significant peril.

"What in the world are you doing?"

Lu Shaojie watched Qin Feng's odd behavior and lost his composure.

At that moment, someone from the back of the crowd remarked, "How odd! There's fog rolling in outside."

Many were taken aback and instinctively glanced toward the exit.

Indeed, an eerie mist had formed outside the hall.

Initially thin, the fog thickened visibly with time, enveloping the view like an expansive net.

A sinister red hue tinged the white fog, adding to its strangeness.

The night appeared to be enveloped in this mysterious fog.

"How peculiar! The weather today seems off." Some people sensed that something was amiss and began to exchange bewildered looks. In the eerie interplay of light and fog, everyone's faces were cast in a ghastly green and red glow.

This bizarre spectacle nearly eclipsed the presence of Qin Feng, the supposed madman.

Qin Feng, of course, took note of the unusual fog, his expression growing increasingly grim.

This dense fog was a physical manifestation of Source Qi.

The surge of Source Qi indicated that the Abnormal Point was now fully open.

Imminent and unknown dangers were fast approaching.