Jianhe County lies to the north of Lundan, less than one hundred kilometers away. From the cathedral’s train station, taking the train would get you there in an hour.
But if the train was late, that was another story.
If you were to drive yourself, starting from the West District of Lundan and heading to the Naturalism Church’s base in Jianhe County, it would take about two hours.
In an era without GPS, the first time someone ventured out on their own could take even longer.
Considering the above, Wayne decided to drive.
Besides worrying about the train being delayed, there were several other factors; he had to check in at Jianhe County twice a month, and being familiar with the route would be beneficial for him.
At eight o’clock in the morning, the black sedan drove out of Lundan City, heading north.
Wayne drove following the map, not fast.
He hadn’t called the base, as he had planned: this trip was primarily a surprise inspection. If he found anyone slacking off during work hours, collecting a church official’s wage but away from their post, well then, sorry, but he’d light a fire under their bottoms as a new boss should.
What, bosses slacking off too?
Please, can the boss’s activities even be called slacking? That’s called being on a business trip, that’s called intensive learning.
Half an hour later, the sedan entered a road marked ’114,’ the air pressure started dropping, and a gloomy fog began to thicken.
Wayne pressed the brake, parked the car by the side of the road with the lights on, and started looking at the map.
On the passenger seat, the pigeon hopped back and forth, cooing as it sorted corn and wheat kernels, as if it were counting its treasures.
"The route’s correct, but..."
Wayne looked in the rear-view mirror. The surrounding fog was getting thicker, giving him an incredibly uneasy feeling.
He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was off.
"As soon as you leave Lundan Town, you encounter all sorts of monsters and devils. What kind of God-chosen Continent is this? More like a Devil’s Continent," Wayne grumbled to himself. Faced with the spooky fog, he decisively chose to turn around.
Today was not a good day to travel; he’d take the train to Jianhe County tomorrow.
The 114 Highway snaked its way, and as the car drove through, it tore a rift in the veil of fog, causing ripples that soon settled back into tranquility.
As the fog thickened, the trees on both sides of the road blurred, the headlights struggled through the haze, and everything was extraordinarily quiet and mysterious.
Wayne had turned around twice already. The sedan seemed to enter an unknown area, with everything around him indistinct. His headlights created a narrow path through the fog, offering him a limited amount of light.
Wayne didn’t continue to focus on the map; it had nothing to do with being lost, but if he wasn’t mistaken, he might have encountered an urban legend.
To be precise, as this wasn’t the city, it should be called a suburban legend.
The last time he encountered a similar situation, there were a woman, a cat, and a gay guy in the car besides him. This time, he only had a silly pigeon for company.
Wayne looked down to find the pigeon counting, its little claws scraping the wheat kernels back and forth, as if counting them several times would increase their number.
After attempting to turn around for the fourth time and unable to leave the foggy area, Wayne let out the pigeon. Through its eyes, he gazed down from the sky, observing the mysterious and hazy Foggy Sea.
The end of the Foggy Sea was unknown to anyone.
Wayne retracted the pigeon, frowning, "Had I known it’d come to this, I would’ve brought the valkyrie with me when I left, as the trunk would surely have fit her."
He looked up, chin lifted, a dance of white light in his eyes; his entire head emitting black smoke, his flesh disintegrating as he logged into the Death Knight’s account.
Today the Knight wasn’t riding a horse, he was driving a car.
Wayne, clad in heavy black armor, squeezed into the cramped driver’s seat, which was uncomfortable, but he felt incredibly safe.
No matter how dense the fog was, he now had nothing to fear.
With a wave of his hand, the pigeon on the passenger seat instantly became a Skeleton Bird.
Thirty minutes later, the road was patchy and in terrible condition; after going through a tunnel, the thick fog started to clear slightly, and a few lonely, squat houses began to slowly appear around him.
They were old-fashioned in design and did not look modern.
Wayne didn’t rashly stop the car, let alone consider asking for directions. The fog was a bad omen, and the inhabitants here were likely not human; what if some bizarre creature appeared? Just the thought was frightening.
Furthermore, beyond the road lay a range of mountains. The Black Mountain Range stood tall, piercing the clouds, bearing no relation to the plains north of Lundan marked on the map.
He now wasn’t on the God-chosen Continent!
"Just keep driving, maybe it’ll clear up as I go," Wayne reasoned.
Wayne’s curiosity was variable; when it came to studying magic, he was insatiably inquisitive, but in situations , he practiced extreme caution. Even if a light Giant appeared outside the window fighting a little monster, he wouldn’t stop the car.
Suddenly, a deep voice echoed from the Black Mountain Range in the distance.
The voice, imbued with ancient and mysterious messages, was profound and forceful, resonating ceaselessly in the air.
Wayne had never heard such a sound before; if he had to draw a similarity, he could only liken it to a whale, surmising that the creature making the sound must be exceptionally large.
Ten minutes later, Wayne encountered another tunnel. He drove through it.
As the car emerged from the tunnel, the world before him brightened, and he returned to the original 114 Highway. There was no fog around, nor any sign of the tunnel in the rear-view mirror.
Wayne freed the Skeleton Bird, the scenery was calm and tranquil, the elevated view revealing other vehicles passing by.
"It’s getting weirder by the minute!"
Touching his bald head, Wayne recalled the pigeon, and they both reverted to their original forms. He drove back to the entrance of the 114 Highway, and this time there was no fog to contend with.