The thick mist arrived too quickly.
Just minutes ago, there was nothing, but now that grayish-white expanse had already covered half the sky.
It carried an indescribable, mysterious scent.
This was no ordinary fog.
Misaka Mikoto’s intuition was screaming in alarm.
“Yoshino, get back.”
She pulled Yoshino several steps away from the edge of the pit.
“The mist is wrong.”
Yoshino felt it too.
As that scent drifted into her nose, she felt an inexplicable sense of drowsiness.
“Big sister Mikoto, I’m a little sleepy…” Yoshino rubbed her eyes, her voice becoming soft and weak.
Misaka Mikoto felt it as well.
Sleepiness surged up like a tide; her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and her thoughts began to sluggish.
“Can’t sleep,” she bit her lip, using the pain to stimulate herself to stay awake.
“Yoshino!
Don’t sleep!”
Yoshino stood swaying, her small hand tightly clutching the corner of Misaka Mikoto’s clothes.
Her eyes were half-open and half-closed, already on the verge of unconsciousness.
Misaka Mikoto shouted down into the pit: “Kagashi!
Come up quickly!
Mist!
There’s mist!”
Her voice echoed within the pit.
But the thick mist had already spread to their sides.
The grayish-white vapor seemed alive, coiling around their bodies and seeping into their pores.
Misaka Mikoto’s legs began to go weak.
She propped herself up with her axe, refusing to let herself fall.
Yoshino had already closed her eyes, her body leaning limply against Misaka Mikoto’s leg.
“Can’t sleep, can’t sleep,” Misaka Mikoto told herself over and over, but her consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred.
At the bottom of the pit.
“There’s a sound from above.” Roxy suddenly stopped her movements.
Kagashi heard it too.
Misaka Mikoto’s voice drifted down from above the pit, intermittent and hard to hear clearly.
But he heard the last word clearly.
“Mist!”
Kagashi’s expression changed.
“Go up.”
He rushed to the pit wall, stepping on rocks and grabbing tree roots, surging upward violently.
Three steps.
With a body enhanced by Physical Reinforcement, every movement was crisp and efficient.
He cleared the ten-plus meter deep pit in just a few bounds.
Gripping the edge of the pit, he flipped over and landed steadily on the ground.
Then he saw it.
Thick mist.
The grayish-white thick mist blanketed the sky and earth; everywhere his vision reached was filled with blurry vapor.
A strange scent permeated the air, drifting into his nose and bringing a strong wave of drowsiness.
Kagashi frowned, feeling that drowsiness eroding his consciousness.
But.
It was only erosion.
It went no further.
His body, after Physical Reinforcement, seemed to have built a wall, blocking the soporific effect of the mist.
He could feel the sleepiness, but it wasn’t enough to make him fall.
“Mikoto!
Yoshino!” Kagashi searched through the mist.
Misaka Mikoto had fallen two meters away from the edge of the pit, still holding her axe, her body curled up, already unconscious.
Yoshino was down beside her, her small face buried in her arms, breathing evenly as if she were asleep.
Kagashi rushed over and crouched down to check their condition.
Breathing was steady, pulse was normal.
Knocked out by the mist.
“Kagashi!” Roxy’s voice drifted up from the pit.
Kagashi ran to the edge of the pit and looked down.
Roxy and Furina had already climbed halfway up.
Furina’s hands were shaking, clearly affected by the mist.
Roxy wasn’t doing much better; her movements were much slower than usual, and the flame at her fingertip flickered unsteadily.
“Hurry up!
The mist has a soporific effect!” Kagashi shouted to them.
Roxy gritted her teeth and sped up.
Furina was climbing up using almost the last of her willpower.
Kagashi lay flat at the edge of the pit and reached down.
“Give me your hand!”
Furina reached out, and Kagashi grabbed her wrist, pulling her up.
The moment Furina’s feet touched solid ground, her whole body went limp.
Kagashi wrapped an arm around her waist to prevent her from falling.
“Roxy!
Hurry!”
Roxy reached the top edge, and Kagashi reached out to pull her up as well.
After Roxy got up, her body swayed, and she leaned against Kagashi, her eyes already beginning to half-close.
“Don’t sleep,” Kagashi said, “Stay awake.”
Roxy bit her lip, forcing her eyes open.
But the mist was getting thicker, and the soporific effect was growing stronger.
Furina had completely lost consciousness, her whole body leaning against Kagashi, as soft as a ball of cotton.
Roxy was also struggling on the edge of fainting, her fingers tightly clutching Kagashi’s clothes, her knuckles turning white.
“Mr.
Kagashi…” her voice grew lighter, “The mist…
is getting thicker.”
“I know.” Kagashi looked around.
The mist was already so thick that he couldn’t see anything five meters away.
That strange scent in the air was becoming heavier; even Kagashi felt his drowsiness intensify slightly.
But he could still hold on.
His body, after Physical Reinforcement, had significantly higher resistance to the mist than an ordinary person.
All four girls had fallen unconscious.
Misaka Mikoto and Yoshino were on the ground, Furina was leaning against him, and Roxy was half-kneeling on the ground, clutching his clothes.
Five people.
He was just one person.
Kagashi took a deep breath, hoisted Furina onto his back, and supported her with his left hand.
Then he bent down, used his right hand to pull Roxy up, and let her lean against his shoulder.
“Roxy, don’t sleep.
Talk to me,” Kagashi said.
“Mm…” Roxy’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s, but she tried her best to keep her eyes open.
Carrying Furina on his back and supporting Roxy, Kagashi moved step by step toward Misaka Mikoto and Yoshino.
Reaching the two, he crouched down and first set Furina and Roxy on the ground.
Using his clothes, he tied Yoshino to his chest, letting her hang on him like a small baby.
Then he put both Misaka Mikoto and Furina on his back.
All four girls were now on him.
One in front, two in back, and still supporting one on his left.
The total weight was not light, but with his Reinforced body plus the power of the Ox Talisman, this weight was nothing to him.
The problem was the mist.
In the thick mist, nothing could be seen clearly.
Kagashi squinted, trying hard to discern the direction.
Kagashi set off, walking in that direction.
“Mr.
Kagashi…” Roxy’s voice came from his left, intermittent, “You…
are carrying…
everyone…”
“Yeah,” Kagashi said, “Don’t sleep, keep talking.”
“It must be…
“Not heavy,” Kagashi said, “All of you combined aren’t as heavy as that tree.”
Roxy gave a soft laugh, then fell silent again.
“Roxy?” Kagashi called out to her.
“Here…” Roxy’s voice was even fainter, but she was still there.
“Furina, wake up,” Kagashi turned his head to say to Furina on his back.
Furina did not respond.
“Mikoto,” Kagashi called again.
Misaka Mikoto also did not respond.
Yoshino, needless to say, had long since fallen into a deep sleep.
Only Roxy was still barely holding on.
“Mr.
Kagashi…” Roxy’s voice grew lighter and lighter, “Do you…
think…
we are…
very useless…”
“No,” Kagashi said, “You dug up a hundred stones and a hundred iron ores.”
“Without you all, I couldn’t have finished digging them alone.”
Roxy gave another soft laugh.
Roxy didn’t speak, but her body leaning against his shoulder seemed to relax a bit.
The thick mist grew even denser.
Relying on memory and intuition, Kagashi walked forward step by step.
The ground beneath his feet changed from pitted soil to gravel, and from gravel to withered grass.
The fallen giant tree gradually disappeared behind him.
Ahead, the silhouette of the train appeared faintly in the mist.
“We’re here,” Kagashi said.
Roxy lifted her head, glanced at the train’s silhouette, then completely relaxed and closed her eyes.
Carrying the four people, Kagashi walked step by step toward the train.
The car door was open, and the lights inside the carriage shone through the thick mist like a lighthouse.
He stepped into the carriage and set the four girls down one by one.
Yoshino was the lightest; he untied her first, placed her in a corner of the carriage, and covered her with cold-weather gear.
Then came Furina, whom he took off his back and leaned next to Yoshino.
Then Misaka Mikoto, whom he gently placed on the floor.
Finally, there was Roxy.
Kagashi supported her as she slowly sat down, leaning her against the carriage wall.
Roxy had already fallen asleep, her breathing steady, with a faint smile still on her face.
Kagashi stood in the middle of the carriage, looking down at the four sleeping girls.
Their hands were injured, their clothes were covered in mud, their hair was messy, and there were tear stains on their faces.
But they were all alive.
They were all safe.
Kagashi leaned against the carriage wall and let out a long breath.
The thick mist was still swirling outside the carriage, the grayish-white vapor acting like a wall surrounding the train.
But inside the carriage, the light was dim and warm.
Kagashi glanced at the system panel.
[Remaining Stop Time: 2 hours 12 minutes.]
The door was still open, but the mist couldn’t get in.
It was as if some power was protecting this train.
Kagashi crouched down and adjusted the positions of the four girls to make them lie more comfortably.
Yoshino rolled over in her sleep, her small hand grabbing Kagashi’s clothes as she murmured “Big brother Kagashi…” before falling back into a deep sleep.
Kagashi did not pull her hand away.
He sat on the floor, back against the carriage wall, watching the thick mist outside the window.
The mist shimmered with an eerie grayish-white under the moonlight, like a flowing ocean.
From the distance, a low roar occasionally drifted over, but it was quickly swallowed by the mist.
Unharmed.
As steady as Mount Tai.
He had brought every one of them back.
Kagashi went straight to the main control computer to upgrade the train.