Chapter 151: Black Fog

Wilba does not exist in this world?
Qin Fei was momentarily stunned.
However, a new hypothesis soon formed in his mind: the point in time when he was transmigrated into the Don't Starve world was very likely before Wilson and the other main protagonists arrived.
And at this moment, Princess Wilba should not even have been born yet.
Of course, there was a second possibility here as well.
That is, Princess Wilba might have found out about something she should not have known, and was therefore "taken care of" by that suddenly appearing "Pig King."
Regardless of which possibility it was, Qin Fei's face did not reveal the slightest ripple of emotion.
After leading the group to their quarters, the pig butler in the royal palace turned around and left, holding a candlestick.
Everything inside this pigman palace appeared somewhat bizarre.
For safety's consideration, Qin Fei chose a slightly larger room here, intending to spend the night with Xienai, Caesar the Pig, and Big Nose.
In this way, once any unexpected situation arose, they would be able to gather together immediately to cope with it.
Inside a sealed house, survivors were generally not attacked by shadow creatures.
Therefore, living in this room, Qin Fei and the others did not need to build a fire for illumination... Yet, out of the habit cultivated from surviving in the Don't Starve world for so long, Qin Fei still added some firewood to the fireplace.
"Hey, don't you think there's something wrong with that Pig King?"
Xienai suddenly leaned in closer and asked Qin Fei.
As she spoke, she placed an iron can filled with fish soup onto the fire to heat up.
Qin Fei was somewhat speechless.
Of course I can see that... If I were foolish enough to need you to remind me of that, I reckon I would have died a few hundred times over by now.
Just as Qin Fei was planning to analyze the Pig King's situation with Xienai, a wisp of mist from an unknown source gradually began to pervade the entire room.
Could it be that the heavy fog season in the Pigman Kingdom has arrived...
Although Qin Fei's face showed a vigilant expression, he did not rush to flee the room immediately.
According to his gaming experience, this heavy fog was a very common weather phenomenon in the Pigman Kingdom, and there was no need to be overly nervous.
In Don't Starve: Hamlet, heavy fog weather appeared almost at regular intervals, and one could simply ignore it...
This burst of mist did not seem to have appeared within a short span of time.
Perhaps it had already permeated this room for a while... But because it was late, the surrounding light had become very dim.
Coupled with the very low density of the fog when it first appeared, it had gone unnoticed by Qin Fei and Xienai all this time.
However, as the density of the fog inside the room grew higher and higher, Qin Fei began to notice something amiss.
He glanced toward the area near the burning fireplace.
Following this, Qin Fei quickly reached a conclusion: this was not ordinary fog, or rather, this mist was not formed by condensed water droplets!
The fireplace in this room was constructed from stones.
Because they were close to the fire, the surfaces of these stones were generally very dry.
Once dry stones encountered fog, they would be affected by the humidity in the air and become damp, causing the color of their surfaces to darken.
Since such a dense fog had already appeared in the room, the color change on the stone surfaces should have been quite obvious.
Yet, the surfaces of the stones by the fireplace showed not the slightest change at all!
Not only that, but Qin Fei could not sense even a hint of moisture within this fog!
Illuminated by the firelight emanating from the fireplace, Qin Fei could vaguely perceive that the "mist" pervading the air seemed to carry a trace of an elusive black aura...
The "mist" permeating the room was problematic!
Or rather, this was definitely not an ordinary foggy phenomenon!
Upon discovering this, Qin Fei immediately woke up Caesar the Pig and Big Nose, who were still fast asleep.
Subsequently, he pulled a torch from the fireplace and hurriedly led the group out of the room.
After stepping outside, Qin Fei discovered that a thick black fog was similarly pervading the exterior.
Enshrouded by this black fog, the entire palace was eerily quiet. Furthermore, the pig attendants and pig servants Qin Fei had seen earlier were nowhere to be seen now.
Not even a single pigman soldier holding a torch for patrol could be seen.
Such a quiet scene appearing within the palace of the Pigman Kingdom was clearly abnormal.
Realizing that the surrounding atmosphere was growing increasingly bizarre, Qin Fei involuntarily quickened his pace.
However, before Qin Fei could walk very far, the black fog pervading the royal palace had grown even denser, reaching a nearly tangible state.
Immersed in such dense black fog, even with the torch held high in his hand, Qin Fei could not see the surrounding environment clearly.
With visibility this low, walking out of this place in a short time was impossible.
Qin Fei and Xienai were trapped within this thick black fog.
Tap, tap.
Within the black fog, a strange sequence of footsteps suddenly rang out.
Someone is here?
Although these footsteps were very distinct and extremely easy to detect, there was no sound of anyone—or any pig—speaking.
At a time like this, an entity that could suddenly appear in the black fog without a sound was definitely not friendly.
Qin Fei's entire body tensed up, and his heartbeat began to accelerate.
He was ready at any moment to activate his shadow form... Judging from the frequency of the surrounding footsteps, there seemed to be more than one person in this fog.
As the footsteps drew closer, a pigman was already standing right in front of Qin Fei.
This fellow was less than half a meter away from Qin Fei, practically pressed right against Qin Fei's face.
Therefore, aided by the light emitted from the torch in his hand, Qin Fei quickly made out the other party's face.
This pigman was none other than the pig butler Qin Fei had seen earlier!
Yet, bizarrely, the skin on the surface of the pig butler's body now exhibited a peculiar dark purple hue...
It was as if he had contracted some kind of disease or had been infected by something.
Kara virus? TEEK serum?
Surely the Don't Starve world wouldn't have things like this?
However, regardless of what the pig butler had been infected with, it was of no consequence to Qin Fei at the moment.
Subduing this bizarre pigman first was the most crucial task at hand.
Qin Fei did not waste words with superfluous speech.
He drew a golden spear from his backpack and, without a second thought, thrust it straight toward the body of the mutated pig butler!
Judging by the tactile feedback transmitted through his hand, Qin Fei knew the blow had likely penetrated.
However, the opponent's body did not bleed; the moment the pig butler was stabbed by Qin Fei, the entire pig abruptly dissipated, transforming into a wisp of shadow that melted into the surrounding fog.
Qin Fei felt a mild sense of surprise.
This guy knew how to use the shadow form as well?
"Behind you!"
Suddenly, Xienai's voice came from behind Qin Fei.
Qin Fei spun around, only to see a pigman dressed as a servant standing right behind him, frozen in place by Xienai using an ice staff.
Just like the pig butler earlier, the skin of this pigman servant also exhibited an eerie dark purple color.
Judging by the posture it held while frozen, it appeared to be preparing to launch a sneak attack on Qin Fei from behind.
Qin Fei felt a trace of doubt.
Under normal circumstances, given his current physical conditioning, almost anyone walking up behind him would be detected by Qin Fei almost instantly.
Yet this pigman had managed to approach his back completely silently.
That was rather strange.
"It came out of the fog out of nowhere."
Xienai seemed to have discerned the confusion in Qin Fei's eyes and immediately explained to him.
A look of sudden realization dawned in Qin Fei's eyes.
This pigman had suddenly emerged from the fog; viewed in that light, it made sense why Qin Fei had not noticed it immediately...
Faced with enemies capable of suddenly materializing from the black fog, Qin Fei formulated a countermeasure on the spot: "Everyone back-to-back!"
After putting Big Nose away into the cryo-pod, Qin Fei immediately pressed his back against those of Caesar the Pig and Xienai.
Each of them guarded a single direction, ensuring that none of them would leave their backs exposed to the enemy.
As Qin Fei and the others huddled together, four pigmen with dark purple skin emerged from the black fog.
They stood in different positions, surrounding Qin Fei and Xienai in the center.