Chapter 102: Red Moon Over the Ruins

About thirty miles from Qinggang City lay an abandoned city.

A red moon hung in the sky, appearing exceptionally large, as if occupying half the sky over the deserted city, swallowing the night. The desolate urban ruins were bathed in a faint red glow resembling slow-flowing streams of blood.

And on the edge of this abandoned city atop a building towering thirty stories high, people were gathered.

They used no lighting relying solely on the moonlight to see.

Seven or eight fully armed men clutching guns stood guard along the building’s perimeter.

In the center of the rooftop lay a case topped with wine glasses, canned food, luncheon meat, and steamed buns.

Beside the case sat three individuals. One wore a beret and oversized sunglasses. He radiated a distinct battle-hardened aura, a calm composure earned only through years of struggling in the wasteland.

Another looked like a boy with a slightly large head but an extremely gaunt frame; his small eyes held a somewhat sinister glint.

The last was a man in a red suit with long hair, a constant smile fixed on his face.

The three regarded each other their eyes filled with wariness.

Amidst the tension the man with sunglasses suddenly flicked his wrist, whispering:

“Two twos…”

“…”

He then concealed his remaining cards his expression quite provocative.

The boy with the large head glanced at his full hand a fierce look crossing his face.

With sudden resolve he slapped down two cards:

“Joker bomb…”

The man with sunglasses’s expression instantly turned a bit awkward.

Then the big-headed boy pulled out another set of cards laying them down with a smile: “Four to Ace straight flush!”

He only had one card left.

Just then the man in the red suit suddenly drew four cards with a smile: “Bomb!”

It was four threes.

Then the red-suited man tossed out a five. The man with sunglasses laughed loudly playing his final nine.

“Bad hand, bad hand. Let’s play again…”

The big-headed boy grumbled unconvinced quickly gesturing: “I’ll be the landlord again.”

“No need!”

The man with sunglasses chuckled standing up. “We can confirm there are no issues now.”

Hearing this the man in the red suit also rose with a smile.

The big-headed boy couldn’t argue; this was standard procedure for their Knight Order.

Every time they returned from a mission anyone who entered the city had to gather for a game of cards.

The card game served as a mutual observation process. If anyone showed obvious logical errors—like two peasants using their Big Joker against the other’s Little Joker, or seeing the landlord play a two but refusing to play their own Little Joker, or displaying unusual emotional fluctuations after being hit by three bombs including one from their own teammate—

it indicated danger requiring temporary confinement and observation.

Basically every Knight Order with Ability Users had its own assessment methods.

…

…

The man with sunglasses walked to the edge of the roof gazing towards Qinggang City.

He held a white display device flashing blue light.

“Has it started?”

The man in the red suit approached asking: “It’s a bit earlier than predicted.”

“Maybe someone spotted them. After all Qinggang probably has quite a few Ability Users.”

The man with sunglasses smiled. “But the number gathered there now should be enough for the experiment.”

“Then we’ve been quite successful this time.”

The big-headed boy figure leaned closer. Now it was clear that despite his boyish appearance his skin was rough with coarse stubble on his upper lip and chin. His voice was aged and world-weary:

“The commission for the painting under the Red Moon is complete. This latest product from the Technology Church should be enough to cover our retreat. Most importantly recording the detonation test data for this ten-thousand level ‘Crying Little Boy’ Mental Pollution Bomb also counts as a task we can report as completed. So out of the three tasks we came here for we’ve finished two.”

“The only regret is the escaped laboratory…”

As he spoke he looked at the man in the red suit adding: “Destroyed thanks to someone’s carelessness!”

It seemed he still held a grudge against the red-suited man for the bomb earlier.

“You can’t blame me for that.”

The red-suited man didn’t get angry smiling instead: “My puppets were all used to assist the boss’s mission.”

“No need to force it.”

The man wearing sunglasses spoke: “The painting is the main objective. Everything else is just secondary.”

“Besides completing two out of three tasks and being able to retreat safely is already quite good.”

“Qinggang City isn’t as simple as we thought.”

“Pigs too greedy to grab food are always the first ones sent to the dining table.”

…

Saying this he sat down on a canvas chair near the edge of the roof crossing his legs.

Gazing towards Qinggang City he softly ordered: “Pack everything up. After recording the explosion data we retreat immediately.”

…

…

*Swish…*

Facing the blue electric arc Lu Xin instantly retreated two or three meters.

The arcs didn’t reach him.

But beside the white sphere the people with blank faces who didn’t know to dodge were instantly enveloped by the blue arcs. Their bodies trembled violently and a scorched smell emanated from them revealing the arcs’ intense energy. Then Lu Xin saw distorted pained humanoid figures crawling out of their bodies rushing towards the white sphere.

These humanoid figures were translucent only their faces complete; the rest seemed incorporeal.

They looked exactly like the people engulfed by the arcs.

However the people’s faces showed only sadness while these humanoid figures displayed expressions of pain and struggle.

They screamed silently climbing upwards amidst the blue electric arcs.

Due to their extreme proximity their bodies inevitably touched. Where they connected they actually fused directly merging and intertwining. Soon they formed a monster with seven or eight arms seven or eight legs and three faces.

Each face bore a different expression: some pained some bewildered some seemingly screaming.

They seemed to have formed a unique life form rapidly crawling towards the high wall.

…

…

“Warning! Detecting abnormal mental fluctuations…”

“Confirmed appearance of a Mental Monster…”

“All personnel on alert! Confirmed Mental Monster appearance at the Second Satellite City’s South Wall location…”

“Repeat: Mental Monster appearance at the Second Satellite City’s South Wall location…”

“Suspected connection to Technology Church creation…”

“…”

Similar alerts sounded across almost all channels.

Atop the high wall all soldiers instinctively looked down. Although they couldn’t see clearly they could sense a distorted mass there as if it could pull their very gaze into it. Under the faint red moonlight drifting down some could vaguely discern a monster formed from countless people bearing at least four faces…

“The main event has finally arrived…”

On the high wall Gecko looked far towards the distorted mass of mental power a thrilled expression appearing on his face.

As an Ability User he could “see” more clearly than ordinary soldiers who could only vaguely make things out by moonlight. More accurately he could clearly sense something there even feeling its writhing movement and trajectory.

“Not afraid of how fierce you are just afraid you’ll hide…”

As he spoke he crouched down pressing his eye to the aiming scope: “Linda permission to use special bullets?”

“At critical moments you don’t need my permission for special bullets!”

“I’m not asking permission just reminding you I’m about to use special bullets now. Make sure you watch carefully…”

“It’s quite impressive!”