Chen Mo grabbed the red bloodstone. It was translucent, almost like a precious gem, glowing faintly.

However, in just a moment, the stone quickly turned dark, its vibrant color vanishing into a dull and gloomy hue.

Chen Mo couldn't figure out what had caused this sudden change, but for now, he decided to tuck it away.

Suddenly, a sharp, clear gong sound rang out from afar, followed by two consecutive strikes.

Chen Mo recognized it immediately. It was the gong used by the night watchman in the military camp to mark the time.

The gong struck three times—indicating that it was the third watch of the night.

Even though Chen Mo had never quite understood why the military camp used gongs to announce the time, hearing it now brought him an immense sense of relief.

But then, he realized something was wrong. If he were truly in the barracks, the strange events he had just experienced should have alerted someone by now. Why hadn't anyone come to check?

As the gong sounded, the gray fog before him began to rapidly dissipate. In just two or three blinks of the eye, the whole barracks appeared before him again.

And there he was, back in the haystack, the same one he had hidden in earlier.

Looking around, everything seemed normal again, though he felt a bit disoriented. If not for the wounds on his body and the red bloodstone still in his arms, he might have thought the whole experience was nothing more than a vivid dream or illusion.

But the pain from his injuries and the solid, dull red of the bloodstone proved that everything he had gone through had indeed been real.

Through the gaps in the haystacks, he saw that the gray fog had completely disappeared. The entire military camp was still standing in its usual quiet manner.

He looked down at his torn clothes, then quickly undressed to assess his wounds. He bandaged his injuries to stop the bleeding.

Aside from his thumb, all four fingers on his left hand had been injured. The injuries were mostly to the flesh, and he could tell that none of the bones had been damaged.

His legs had been scratched multiple times by the blood monkey's claws. There was no bleeding due to the clothes, but dozens of purple-blue bruises were scattered across his limbs. They would take time to heal.

The rebirth process not only increased his strength but seemed to have made his body more resilient, especially to physical damage.

Though his injuries looked bad, they were all just flesh wounds. They would heal within ten days to half a month at most.

However, the sudden injury might affect his upcoming selection for the personal soldiers. There was a shortage of doctors and medicine in the military camp, but this was only true for ordinary soldiers. There was plenty of good medicine for horses. Tomorrow, he would use some of that in secret to speed up his healing.

But he needed to find a way to cover it up. Otherwise, explaining where the wounds had come from would be a problem.

After quickly bandaging his wounds, Chen Mo gritted his teeth, stood up from the haystack, and moved cautiously toward the barracks under the cover of the night.

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Initially, he had planned to stay in the haystack after the transformation to avoid being discovered by the sentinels.

But now, even if he were spotted by the sentry, he didn't dare to hide in the haystack anymore.

If the sentries discovered him, he might survive, but if he were caught by the gray fog again and encountered other strange creatures, he wouldn't be so lucky.

Carefully returning to his barracks, he saw that Ma Cai was snoring loudly and sleeping soundly.

Chen Mo had long since grown accustomed to this. After silently sneaking into his bed, he allowed himself to relax.

Finally, he could think about everything that had just happened.

From the sound of the gong, he was certain he hadn't left the barracks. He might have stayed in the haystack the entire time.

But everything he experienced in the gray fog couldn't have been a hallucination.

It seemed as if he had been swallowed up or taken somewhere by the gray fog. The haystack must have been pulled in too because it was close to him.

During this process, not everything about him had been consumed by the fog; only part of him had entered.

When the gong had sounded, the fog had been dispersed, and he had found himself back in the "real" world.

The reason the gong was struck, he guessed, was because someone in the military camp knew that the fog would appear. To prevent soldiers from being swallowed by it, they had arranged for the gong to be struck every night. This, of course, was just his theory. He didn't know all the details.

Was the gray fog a natural phenomenon in this world, or was it part of some greater shift in the world itself? Was the fog a sign of this transformation?

He couldn't be sure. He could only guess.

But one thing was clear: during the day or night, when people were resting inside their homes or barracks, they would never be trapped by the gray fog.

Otherwise, he would have encountered it long before now, possibly during the previous nights, and would never have entered the fog only now, after being in this world for such a long time.

However, while he was certain about this, he still took out his only weapon—a five-inch dagger—and tucked it under his clothes. This gave him some sense of security, allowing him to finally relax enough to sleep.

The next morning, Chen Mo woke up early, as usual.

The benefits of his rebirth were evident. The wound on his hand had scabbed over overnight.

At this rate, his wounds would likely heal well before the personal soldier selection took place.

Taking advantage of the early morning darkness, Chen Mo found a set of clothes with longer sleeves and put them on to cover the wound on his hand.

Although it looked a bit odd, it was better than revealing the injury.

Normally, not many people paid attention to the grooms, so as long as he kept his wounds hidden from the few people nearby, he would be fine.

And at the rate the wound was healing, the scab would likely fall off in a day or two.

The bruises on his legs had mostly disappeared overnight, and they would be fully healed by the next day. By then, he could wear normal pants without anyone noticing anything.

As he was getting ready, Ma Cai muttered sleepily, "You know, our military camp isn't in the county. What petty thief would dare steal from us? The captain has someone ring the gong in the morning to wake us, but why does he also make someone strike it at night to tell the time? Can't we get some sleep?"

Chen Mo casually replied, "Who knows? It's an old rule. No one dares change it."

Ma Cai shrugged. He didn't really understand why the gongs were beaten at night in the military camp to tell time when there were already sentinels on duty.

Night watchmen were usually assigned in towns to announce the time, mostly as a way to deter thieves or to warn people of a fire.

It made sense to have sentries report the time in the morning and evening, but it seemed excessive to have additional night watchmen just for that.

Still, it was an old rule, strictly followed. No one dared question it.

Chen Mo nodded slightly, but said nothing. In his heart, he was beginning to suspect that the gong's sound might be linked to dispersing the gray fog.

Otherwise, why would it be so rigorously enforced?

Though the military camp was not a place known for its discipline, and the captain barely managed the barracks or trained the soldiers, the fact that this rule had been so strictly followed meant it was likely essential to preventing something bad from happening.

It seemed that gray fog might be a fairly common phenomenon in this world, and the gong sound was the key to dispersing it.

Of course, these were just his theories. With his current position, he couldn't access more detailed information.

For now, all he could do was remain quiet, wait for the upcoming selection of his personal soldiers, and try to stay out of trouble.

End