Above the Blood Moon

Through the scope, Jockley saw that the three people at the front had been blown to pieces.

Their bodies disintegrated in the shockwave, their prosthetics and flesh flying into the air. The two behind them tried to lie down, but shrapnel from the blasting grenade covered the entire area, instantly riddling their backs with holes.

Only the gang leader and his bodyguard reacted the fastest.

The moment the explosion occurred, the gang leader threw the package to the ground, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and a light blue energy shield unfolded from a device on his arm, barely blocking the first wave of shrapnel.

But the landmines were too powerful; the combined shockwave from the explosions of ten ordinary landmines shattered the energy shield.

The gang leader was blown away and crashed heavily onto the slope of the waste mountain.

His bodyguard fared even worse; the moment the shield shattered, his lower body was torn apart by the shockwave, leaving only his upper body crawling on the ground, emitting a piercing scream.

As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, Jockley aimed again.

He saw the gang leader struggle to get up, his right arm prosthetic was severely deformed, and the lens of his left eye prosthetic was shattered, revealing the scarlet electronic components underneath.

But the fact that he was still alive made Jockley marvel at the terrifying tenacity of cyborgs.

The gang leader staggered to the two relatively intact corpses, dragged them in front of him as cover, then tore open the package on the ground and took out a rifle, causing Jockley's pupils to suddenly contract.

That gun looked very strange. The main body of the gun was a section of human spine, with the joints connected by some kind of black metal. The barrel was like some kind of biological tissue extending from the end of the spine, with fine nerve-like patterns on its surface.

The entire gun exuded an aura of blasphemy against life.

The gang leader picked up the spine rifle, his fingers trembling as he tried to cock it. His left arm was badly injured, and his movements were clumsy and slow.

Jockley then pulled the trigger again, this time aiming at the gang leader's left arm. The bullet struck the joint of the prosthetic body, sending sparks flying.

"ah--!!!"

The gang leader screamed as his spinal rifle fell from his hand and hit the ground.

But he didn't give up. With his still-functioning right hand, he ripped off the smoke grenade backpack from his back, snapped the fuse, and threw the backpack into the air.

"puff--"

A thick white smoke erupted instantly, quickly filling the entire path. The smoke contained metallic dust, which not only obscured visibility but also interfered with most scanning equipment.

Jockley lost sight of his target, but he remained calm.

"rhubarb."

"receive."

The sound of mechanical legs running rapidly came from below.

Big Yellow burst out from its hiding place, its two uncoordinated mechanical legs moving effortlessly across the waste pile. It charged into the smoke-filled area, and the optical sensors switched to thermal imaging mode.

The gang leader was desperately trying to escape, clutching his injured left arm and stumbling towards the bend in the alley.

There was an abandoned mine entrance, small enough for one person to hide in, and they had indeed walked this path many times.

As the distance drew closer, thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters, the mine was right in front of them, and hope ignited in the gang leader's eyes.

If he hides inside, he has a chance to survive. He can fight back with a rifle, call for backup, and so on...

A beam of bright white electromagnetic light struck from behind, shattering all his illusions.

"Sizzle—!!!"

The electromagnetic cannon struck his back, precisely piercing the neural interface in the spine.

The gang leader froze, then fell forward. He turned his head with difficulty and saw a deformed mechanical figure emerge from the smoke.

Big Yellow walked up to him and looked down at him.

"Please..." the gang leader pleaded, spitting out blood-tinged foam, "I have money, lots of Covenant Credits..."

Big Yellow didn't speak. It raised its right arm, pointed the laser cutter that sprang from its fingertips at the mob boss's forehead, and then gave Jockley's Covenant account ID.

"Transfer! (`д´)"

[Star Alliance Coins Arrival Notification: Eland has transferred 28.2 Star Alliance Coins to your account. Current Balance: 33 Star Alliance Coins.]

Seeing that the transfer had been completed, Da Huang didn't hold back.

"Wait!" the gang leader screamed. "I know a secret, that gun—"

The laser beam flashed, and the gang leader's voice abruptly stopped.

A neat, round hole was cut into his forehead, instantly vaporizing the brain tissue and neural interfaces inside. The optical sensors went out, and his body twitched a few times before ceasing to move.

Big Yellow crouched down and used its mechanical fingers to probe the carotid artery. After confirming death, it began skillfully disassembling the still-usable prosthetic body.

A few minutes later, Jockley slid down the pile of scrap and into the path where the smoke was beginning to dissipate.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood. He looked at the wreckage on the ground, but his stomach no longer churned. Perhaps he had simply gotten used to it.

"Landmines cost 18 Star Alliance Coins," Jockley muttered to himself. "Three bullets were used, which is 0.5 Star Alliance Coins. The others' prosthetic bodies are basically ruined. Selling them for scrap metal might bring back two or three Star Alliance Coins. This gang leader's right arm prosthetic body..."

Before he could finish his calculations, Da Huang had already completely detached the right arm and was attaching it to himself; it was a "Fuxi-II" type military combat prosthetic body.

"Master," Big Yellow said while connecting the wires, "I want this prosthetic arm. My right arm is performing too poorly, which is affecting my combat efficiency."

Jockley smiled helplessly.

"Can't you be a little more polite?"

"Can being polite improve combat power?" Big Yellow asked rhetorically. It had already connected the neural interface and started testing the prosthetic body's functions. As it opened its five fingers and clenched its fist, its wrist began to rotate, and a pleasant hydraulic sound was heard from the joints.

"Fine, fine, take it. I don't need it anyway."

He walked to the gang leader's body and picked up the spine rifle.

The feeling of holding this gun is very strange.

The bone-like gun barrel felt warm and smooth, like something alive, while the metal parts were icy cold.

Chokley examined it carefully. The spine appeared to belong to an adult male, with large joints and fine cracks on the surface. The black metal connectors were crudely made, resembling hand-welded components.

But what unsettled him most was the grip, where a small biochip was embedded, and a line of small characters was engraved on the bone around the chip.

"Pain is power"

Jockley frowned and handed the gun to Big Yellow.

"Carry it on your back, and show it to At or the priest when you get back."

"Master," Big Yellow said suddenly as he took the gun, "His prosthetic eye is still usable. It's the 'Eagle Eye-III' model, with thermal imaging and low-light enhancement. It's worth at least fifteen Covenant coins on the market."

"Take it off."

Big Yellow carefully removed the prosthetic eye with a laser cutter and handed it to Jockley.

Jockley wiped himself with a cloth, then took out his communicator and snapped a few photos of the gang leader's face, sending them to Att via an encrypted channel.

Almost immediately, the communicator vibrated, and a message popped up.

"Confirmed. Your reward in Star Alliance Coins has been credited to your account. Any remaining value is yours."

Jockley checked his account balance: 53 Star Alliance Coins. Atlantis automatically deducted the money he had given for the landmines, and even added two more coins as interest.

Considering the strange gun, the new cybernetic body on Big Yellow, and the reward, this mission wasn't a loss.

He stretched, and his bones cracked and popped.

Six days of intense preparation, half an hour of fighting, and it was all over. When the fatigue washed over him, he felt the burning sensation between his eyebrows turn into a faint stinging pain.

"Let's go back," Jockley said. "Back to the tavern. I want to sleep all day."

He walked over to Big Yellow and naturally flipped over to sit on Big Yellow's back. There was a groove at the shoulder of the Shadow Warrior frame, which was quite comfortable to sit on.

Big Yellow's optical sensor turned around and faced him.

"You little weed, you really think I'm your mode of transportation? (╬ﾟдﾟ)▄︻┻┳═一"

Jockley put on sunglasses and pretended not to hear.

"Master, I warn you, according to the Tayara Company's terms of service..."

"The terms say that AI must obey reasonable instructions from its owner." Jockley patted Big Yellow's head. "I'm giving you a reasonable instruction now: run faster, I'm hungry."

"You fucking..."

"Taking the No. 11 bus for 100 kilometers only consumes one nutritional paste, but walking is tiring. Run, run, I'll go back and add some lubricant for you."

Big Yellow was silent for two seconds, then it uttered a string of electronic swear words that Jockley couldn't understand, and started running on its mechanical legs.

The two uncoordinated legs now displayed astonishing stability, and Big Yellow leaped among the scrap heaps and sped across the potholed roads, its speed not much slower than the old motorcycles of Forgotten City.

The wind blew in his face, carrying the smell of metallic dust and radioactive dust, but Jockley didn't care.

He sat on Big Yellow's back, watching the wilderness under the blood moon rush past.

The outline of the Forgotten City gradually became clear in the distance. It was a city built of metal and despair. The dome reflected a cold light under the red moonlight, and the neon lights of the Mirror Lake Wharf area began to flicker, like lights that lured moths.

Jockley suddenly remembered the sunset on Earth, when the sun was golden and would turn the clouds orange-red as it set, instead of this eternal blood-red color.

"Big Yellow," he said softly, "you said, if one day we could leave this place..."

"Where to?" Big Yellow asked without turning his head. "The territory of the original humans? A planet controlled by AI? Or do you want to go back to Earth?"

"have no idea."

"Then let's not think about it anymore, let's just focus on getting through tomorrow first."

Jockley smiled and said nothing more.

He was indeed exhausted. All he wanted to do right now was go back to the tavern in Atlantis, eat a bowl of hot braised pork rice, and then lie down on the bed and sleep until he naturally woke up.

Big Yellow ran, its mechanical legs treading over ruins and bloodstains. Jockley closed his eyes and gradually sank into a half-asleep, half-awake state amidst the jolts.

In a daze, he seemed to hear a voice, a voice that did not belong to Big Yellow, nor to anyone else. A whisper came from the direction of the spinal rifle and entered his mind.

"Pain...power..."

He awoke with a start, but the sound had vanished; only the blood moon hung high, and the wilderness was silent.