Chapter 35: Night-traveling Mist
Faced with the collective gaze of the crowd, Yu An frantically dropped the black mist and buried his face in Lin Huaichen’s chest to hide. Like a startled kitten that knew it had done something wrong, he apologized in a small voice, “I’m sorry…”
He had just grabbed it instinctively; he hadn’t known the mist would be torn away so easily.
Yu An lowered his head, his small mouth pursed in remorse for his “mischievous hands.” Claude spoke up to comfort him. [It’s not your fault. The Night-traveling Mist is just too useless.]
Night-traveling Mist?
Yu An wanted to ask Claude what that was, but at that moment, the other Base personnel, who had been silent, crowded around. The looks they turned on Yu An were burning with excitement.
Two hours had passed with no luck in finding the Xenogenic. Now, Yu An had reached out and snatched a piece of what was likely the creature’s body. How could they blame him? They practically wanted to worship him and let his “mischievous hands” tear away a few more pieces of mist.
The technicians looked at Yu An as if he were a precision detector. If not for Lin Huaichen’s predatory stare, they would have snatched Yu An away and made him the leader of the operation.
“Ahem… well… Patriarch Lin.” The team leader in charge of the operation was pushed forward by his teammates. He spoke to Lin Huaichen with a nervous heart. “We are truly incompetent. Staying here longer only wastes your time. It seems… your young master knows where the Xenogenic is. Can we ask for his help?”
Lin Huaichen’s dark, calm eyes looked at the leader. Even without saying a word, his gaze alone made the man’s heart race and his legs tremble.
The team leader wanted to cry; Patriarch Lin was truly terrifying. He was on the verge of kneeling.
“Does An-an know where the Xenogenic is?” Lin Huaichen asked the boy in his arms unhurriedly. He brushed the stray hairs from Yu An’s forehead, revealing his exquisite features. His voice was deep and mellow. “Don’t be nervous, baby. Tell these uncles—do you know where the Xenogenic is?”
Yu An couldn’t sense the creature, but he could see it. The black mist wandering around was circling them—bumping into a technician’s arm here, rubbing against a back there.
It was like… it was marking them.
Yu An opened his mouth, but faced with the expectant gaze of the crowd, his eyes instinctively drifted to Fu Yunshu at the edge of the group. Fu Yunshu gave him a subtle shake of the head.
Don’t tell them.
“I… I don’t know where it is.” Yu An stammered out the lie, his small hand clutching Lin Huaichen’s large one. “I just felt like my arm was itchy, so I reached out to scratch it…”
After Yu An finished, a satisfied smile flashed in Lin Huaichen’s eyes. He patted Yu An’s head and pressed the boy into his chest, looking at the technicians. “Our child is timid, and he is the only heir in our family. I’m not comfortable letting him leave my side. My apologies; we cannot help you.”
The technicians looked at each other. Their sharp intuition told them something was off, but on closer inspection, everything seemed reasonable. Furthermore, given Lin Huaichen’s status, the fact that he bothered to explain at all left them feeling overwhelmed by the favor.
“You are too kind, Patriarch. We overstepped with our request to the Young Master. Our apologies.” The team leader was the first to bow his head. Looking at the little fellow buried in his father’s arms, he felt a surge of pity. He took a piece of candy from a younger technician and offered it to Yu An.
Yu An shook his head and refused the candy. His pale, delicate face turned red; he had just lied and done something bad, so he couldn’t accept the uncle’s gift.
Since they couldn’t get anything from Yu An, the technicians had to resume their grid search. However, Xiaonan Lane was massive. By six in the evening, the lingering sunlight was gradually swallowed by darkness, and the hidden Xenogenic became active once more.
Yu An watched the busy technicians and asked Claude in his mind, [When you said ‘Night-traveling Mist,’ were you referring to the Xenogenic around us?]
Claude crawled silently out of the pocket and up Yu An’s arm to sit in his palm. He patiently introduced the creature: [It is ‘them.’ According to the Base’s classification, the Night-traveling Mist should be B-rank.]
Yu An continued, [Are they very powerful?]
[Very weak,] Claude evaluated with disdain. [They taste bland too. However, the Night-traveling Mist fears sunlight and escapes into another layer of space during the day. You can only catch them at night.]
Yu An watched the sun almost vanish beneath the horizon, sensing the darkness spreading rapidly.
The semi-transparent black mist became active, moving swiftly through Xiaonan Lane. Soon, the mist gathered together, forming a massive vortex resembling a black hole.
“Beep-beep-beep—!”
The detectors picked up a powerful force and issued a shrill warning. The technicians quickly identified the location of the vortex. The team leader placed a small flag there, his expression grim. “The magnetic field fluctuations are strongest here. The Xenogenic is likely to appear here.”
They couldn’t see the vortex formed by the Night-traveling Mist like Yu An could, but they could determine the arrival point through the mental power magnetic field.
Fu Yunshu and Liu Ming stood nearby. Faced with an unknown Xenogenic, everyone’s expression was one of high alert.
The only two exceptions were Lin Huaichen and Yu An. The former, an S-rank Esper, could tell with a simple sense that this Xenogenic was weak… in other words, weaker than him.
As for Yu An, having heard Claude’s evaluation, his only impressions were “not tasty” and “very weak.”
As they waited, the time soon reached seven o’clock. Lin Huaichen was bored to tears. He held Yu An, resting his chin on the boy’s fuzzy head. “Baby, want to go home?”
Yu An glanced at Fu Yunshu and Liu Ming, conflicted. “But… if we leave, what about Brother Yunshu and the others? What if they can’t beat the Xenogenic and get hurt?”
“Don’t worry. Xiao Fu is A-rank now; dealing with a B-rank is easy.” Lin Huaichen thought highly of Fu Yunshu. He suddenly felt Yu An’s little belly. “Is An-an’s tummy empty now? Can we go home for dinner?”
Lin Huaichen’s large hand tickled Yu An’s soft belly. Yu An giggled and struggled to escape. “Hahaha… yes, yes, there’s room for dinner now, haha…”
Satisfied, Lin Huaichen called Wen Xun. After a round of sweet “Honey” and “Baby” endearments, he asked if Wen Xun had eaten. Wen Xun naturally asked about the situation at Xiaonan Lane.
Lin Huaichen kept it brief. “…We’re still staked out. Probably a B-rank. They can handle it. I’ll bring An-an back in a bit…”
Lin Huaichen’s words cut off. His eyes sharpened as he looked toward the flag. “Honey, change of plans. It’ll be a while before we’re back.”
Wen Xun: “What happened?”
“The Xenogenic is B-rank, but there’s more than one.”
In the dim night, the streetlights on both sides of Xiaonan Lane flickered on. The silent street was devoid of sound, except for the occasional chill wind.
The flag on the ground was blown over. A black mist nearly three meters tall slowly twisted into a blurry humanoid shape. It floated eerily in the air, the mist acting like a cloak covering its body. Only its skeletal white arms, wrapped in massive chains, were visible.
Yu An stared up in awe. This giant… looked like it could beat up several of him. This was actually considered ‘weak’?!
“Shh—”
A large hand covered Yu An’s face. Lin Huaichen pulled him behind a bus stop to observe this never-before-seen Xenogenic.
He wasn’t the only one; every Base staff member instinctively chose to wait and see.
Yu An watched as one Night-traveling Mist appeared after another, until there were ten in total.
Their massive silhouettes nearly occupied the entire street. Their huge red eyes were like red lanterns in the dark, searching shamelessly for prey.
“Waaaah…”
A faint crying sound caught Yu An’s attention. He poked his head out to look. Hanging from one of the mists were two children—Wan Cen and Li Wang. They were like ornaments, swinging back and forth as the creature drifted.
The boys were still conscious. They were so terrified their faces were covered in tears as they sobbed in despair, not daring to cry too loudly for fear the monster would find them annoying and eat them.
Besides them, almost every Night-traveling Mist had several people hanging from it.
There were no pedestrians in Xiaonan Lane tonight. The mists searched for a long time but found no food.
One of them, likely hungry, lifted a chubby man. From its mouth, a long proboscis—like that of a mosquito—protruded and pierced the man’s neck, noisily sucking his blood.
The expressions of Fu Yunshu and Liu Ming changed simultaneously. Both revealed themselves. Fu Yunshu threw a condensed ice blade, which severed the proboscis. The man fell from the air and was caught by Liu Ming and moved aside.
The medical staff waiting nearby immediately dragged the man—who was twitching and had lost a lot of blood—to safety and began emergency treatment.
Yu An saw a doctor take out a familiar Reversal Fruit. The doctor, looking pained, carefully scooped out a small spoonful of pulp and fed it to the man before treasureing the fruit away.
After eating the pulp, the man’s twitching subsided, and he lay quietly as the medics treated him.
Yu An watched for a moment then looked back at Fu Yunshu and Liu Ming, who were surrounded. Fu Yunshu was A-rank, so dealing with B-rank mists wasn’t difficult; the problem was their numbers.
Liu Ming was only B-rank. Dealing with one mist was a struggle for him; he could only try his best not to drag Fu Yunshu down.
Soon, the mists noticed the marks on the Base personnel and swarmed toward them greedily, only to be blocked by the two.
Yu An turned to the calm Lin Huaichen. “Papa, aren’t we going to help?”
Lin Huaichen watched Fu Yunshu’s agile movements and lethal attacks amidst the mists. He smiled. “Don’t worry. Potential is forged through pressure. Trust them.”
Yu An clutched Lin Huaichen’s sleeve in worry, watching with a racing heart as Fu Yunshu dodged the creatures’ proboscises and chains. He desperately wanted to help.
But on second thought, he wasn’t even as strong as Uncle Liu Ming. Going out seemed like he would only be in the way. Yu An sighed in defeat, blaming his own weakness.
Suddenly, Yu An felt something cold on his head. He reached out, and a snowflake landed in his hand, slowly melting.
Yu An’s breath hitched. “It’s snowing?”
But it was September! How could it snow?!
“It’s Fu Yunshu’s ability.” Lin Huaichen used a tissue to wipe Yu An’s palm with clear disdain. “Don’t touch the snow. There are micro-parasites in it that can control one’s mind.”
Yu An jumped and immediately stopped his curiosity.
Fu Yunshu was clearly mindful of their side. The snow quickly gathered around the mists. In just a few minutes, he had controlled three of them.
Four were killed, and now it was three against three. Fu Yunshu could finally catch his breath. Liu Ming, who was bleeding from several cuts, gave Fu Yunshu a thumbs-up in awe.
As expected of him!
The six mists were evenly matched. Fu Yunshu and Liu Ming only needed to rescue the humans hanging from them, but suddenly, one mist extended its proboscis and sucked its companion dry, its body ballooning instantly.
The balance was shattered. The mist that ate its companion then devoured the others, its rank skyrocketing toward S-rank.
This was no longer something Fu Yunshu could control. His face turned deathly pale as his mental control failed and backfired. He knelt on the ground, clutching his chest as he coughed up blood. The Snow Snake beside him was frantic, tugging at his sleeve to drag him out of range.
He couldn’t die now! If Fu Yunshu died, he would die too—and he was still a baby snake!
[Waaaaah…]
The Snow Snake’s cries made Yu An frantic. He wanted to rush out and help, but Lin Huaichen held his hand tight. Yu An was desperate. “Papa!”
Seeing that Fu Yunshu was defenseless, Lin Huaichen took a step. “Sigh, I suppose I’ll go—”
“Dammit, you stay right there!”
A roar interrupted Lin Huaichen. Yu An found the voice familiar. Looking over, he saw the rebellious red-haired youth chasing a long-haired man. Flaming with fury, the youth hurled a fireball to stop him.
But the man reacted with speed beyond human capability, dodging the fireball and easily breaking through the spatial restraint on his body.
The fire he dodged slammed into the giant mist monster. The terrifying heat scorched the creature, making it let out a piercing scream.
Yu An stared at the two newcomers, frozen. He seemed to know both of them. The one full of rage was Ling Xingcheng, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. And the one he was chasing was… Joshua?!
Yu An’s eyes widened in shock. He instinctively covered his mouth to suppress the shout about to escape.
He couldn’t mistake that exquisite, beautiful face even after all these years. But why was Brother Xingcheng chasing him, and why was he so angry?
Translator’s Note:
- Tangren (糖人): Sugar people/Sugar sculptures. A traditional folk art in China where molten maltose is used to create figures.
- Jiejie (姐姐): Older sister. Used as a polite honorific for a slightly older female.
- Yeye (爷爷): Paternal grandfather.
- Shouqian (手欠): “Itchy hands” or “mischievous hands.” Used to describe someone who can’t resist touching or meddling with something they shouldn’t.
- Night-traveling Mist (夜行雾 – Yè xíng wù): The name of the B-rank Xenogenics in this chapter.
See you in the next chapter!
Recommended Reads
![[ABO] President Shou Is Not a Total Shou](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/the-shou-is-not-a-total-shou-214x300.jpg)
