Above the Blood Moon

Chapter 3 The New World

The space was still vibrating, but the frequency seemed to have slowed down.

Lu Yao leaned against the robot, his eyes fixed on the ever-widening crack above his head. Dust fell in clumps, forming a hazy barrier between the two of them.

"So what exactly are you? I mean, your level of intelligence."

Lu Yao spoke, his voice hoarse from inhaling dust.

The robot's vision sensor flashed, and the golden halo stood out clearly against the dust. It didn't answer immediately, but instead raised its right arm and used its mechanical claw to brush away a piece of debris that had fallen on Lu Yao's shoulder.

"The standard answer is, of course, the FS-7000, a service robot from the Space Exploration series manufactured by Tayara Corporation."

Its voice still had that slightly roguish tone, but what it said sounded like it was reciting an instruction manual.

"Manufacture date, tsk, I can't remember that, it's been a long time."

"Tayara Corporation?" Lu Yao frowned. "Never heard of it. Is it Chinese? American?"

"Of Earth."

"nonsense."

"Then this is the only answer."

The robot shrugged, a gesture that had an eerie, comical quality coming from a robot.

"My database only contains basic information. I originated from Earth and was designed for maintenance and basic medical care during deep space exploration missions, as well as companionship and entertainment. Of course, the last part was added by the designer, who said that astronauts are prone to depression after staying in space for a long time."

Lu Yao stared at the robot's face, which was made up of etched lines.

"Your AI level is too high, it's so high that it doesn't seem like a robot."

The robot was silent for about two seconds, then it spoke.

"Maybe it's because I slept for too long and the system malfunctioned, or maybe the person who designed me was a genius, or maybe a madman, who knows?"

Its tone sounded nonchalant, and before Lu Yao could ask anything else, another violent shaking followed.

This time it wasn't the ceiling, but the entire floor. Lu Yao slipped, and the robot's mechanical claw instantly grabbed his arm.

"Be careful, Master. Although your white clothes look nice, they'll be hard to wash off once they're stained with blood."

"Don't call me master, it sounds awkward."

"So what should I call you? Bro? Brother? Or by your number, Hibernator-774?"

"My name is Lu Yao."

Lu Yao.

The robot repeated itself, its pronunciation perfectly accurate.

"Okay, Lu Yao, then don't call me FS-7000 anymore, it sounds like a refrigerator model number."

Lu Yao looked at the robot's dark yellow armor and the conspicuous dent in its chest.

"Rhubarb," he said.

"What?"

"You're all yellowish, so let's call you Big Yellow."

Rhubarb's visual sensor band flickered again, this time the frequency of the flickering was a bit random, probably mimicking a human rolling their eyes.

"...Whatever makes you happy, Master. (´-ω-｀)"

"I told you not to call me master."

boom--

Just as Lu Yao and Da Huang were talking, an explosion came from overhead. This time it was terrifyingly close; Lu Yao could even feel the shockwave penetrating through layers of metal structure.

Immediately afterwards, the largest crack in the center of the ceiling burst open completely, accompanied by a huge deck falling vertically. There was no time to think, and Big Yellow reacted.

It raised its left arm and pushed Lu Yao to the right, then faced the armor plate, which looked extremely heavy.

Big Yellow's left arm began to deform from the elbow joint, while its mechanical claws dug their five fingers into the edge of the armor plate, trying to change its falling trajectory.

But it failed.

The armor plate was too heavy, and its kinetic energy during the fall was too strong.

A sharp cracking sound rang out as Big Yellow's left arm snapped off at the elbow, the forearm still gripping the armor plate as it slammed to the ground.

Dust filled the air.

Lu Yao coughed as he got up from the ground, and the first thing he saw was Da Huang's severed arm.

"You—" He opened his mouth.

"It's nothing, a minor issue," Da Huang interrupted him, his voice still calm, even somewhat relaxed.

It turned and walked towards the row of sleeping Ironhide robots by the wall. Without hesitation, it went straight to the second robot, extended its intact right hand, and used its mechanical claw to grab the second robot's right shoulder joint and twist it forcefully.

Click.

The joint was broken, and the entire right arm was removed by Dahuang. Then Dahuang returned to his body and aligned the new arm with the broken part of his left shoulder.

As the internal connecting mechanism locked, Da Huang moved his newly fitted left arm, spreading and clenching his five fingers, bending and straightening his elbow, the movements as smooth as if it were the original.

"alright."

It said, turning its head to look at Lu Yao.

"It's still usable, but the paint color doesn't quite match."

Lu Yao looked at Da Huang, then at his companion robot whose arm had been removed and which was still asleep.

"You just tore your comrades apart like that?"

"Otherwise what?"

Big Yellow tilted its head.

"They are not needed, and the modular replacement function was designed for this situation, although the designers may not have thought of using it as a way to disassemble a companion's arm."

After it finished speaking, it raised its newly fitted left arm and pointed it at a certain point on the ceiling. Only then did Lu Yao notice a relatively small crack there, through which the light from outside could be vaguely seen.

"There should be a passage behind that crack. The structure should hold for about three more minutes. We need to climb out within three minutes. Can you do it, Master?"

Lu Yao looked at his white bodysuit and then at his bare feet.

"able."

"Let's go then."

Without a word, Dahuang squatted down and let Luyao climb onto its back, like carrying a child. Luyao wrapped her arms around Dahuang's neck and her legs clamped around the gaps in its armored waist.

"Hurry up."

The hydraulic system in Dahuang's legs emitted a low, pressing sound, and then it leaped diagonally toward the wall to its left front. Its metal feet pushed off the wall for leverage, and its body twisted in the air. The mechanical claw on its right arm extended and grabbed an exposed steel bar at the edge of a crack.

And so, like a mechanical spider, Da Huang carried Lu Yao as it climbed through the collapsing space. Debris and dust kept falling, and occasionally a steel bar or pipe would break and be pulled out, but Da Huang blocked it with its body.

In twenty seconds, they reached the crevice.

However, the outside was not the starry sky or universe that Lu Yao had imagined. It was a metal passage with rust and burn marks on the walls, and a faint red light could be seen shining through from afar.

Dahuang first shoved Lu Yao into the passage, and then squeezed in himself. The armor rubbed against the metal wall, making a screeching sound.

"Hurry, hurry..."

Lu Yao crawled ahead, his bare feet stepping on the cold, rough metal, and was quickly cut and bleeding.

When a dull thud came from behind, the main structure of the space station finally gave way.

"run!"

Da Huang gave him a push from behind, and Lu Yao used both his hands and feet to climb up the sloping passage. His lungs were burning with pain, and his palms and soles were bleeding, but he dared not stop.

Until light appeared ahead, Lu Yao lunged out of the door frame and fell outside.

Then came the second impact. Big Yellow rushed out from behind, unable to stop its momentum, and the entire machine half-crashed onto Lu Yao, almost crushing the newly revived Lu Yao back to death.

"Well--"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Da Huang quickly got up and pulled Lu Yao up as well.

Lu Yao steadied himself, took a deep breath, and then began to cough violently.

"What does this taste like?"

The air was filled with a pungent odor, like sulfuric acid mixed with ozone, and the burnt smell of some kind of molten metal. Every breath made my nasal cavity and throat feel like they were being burned.

He looked up and around, and in less than three seconds he knew for sure that this was definitely not Earth.

What appeared before Lu Yao was a mountain of electronic waste, broken server racks, and various twisted spaceship shells, all piled up haphazardly to form strangely shaped hills.

In some places, wisps of smoke still rise, and fine metallic dust floats in the air, shimmering faintly in the light.

As for the source of the light, Lu Yao looked up.

Above the sky, a huge scarlet sphere hangs.

That wasn't the sun. The sun should be golden and warm, but this sphere was dark red, like congealed blood. You could see blurry textures and dark spots on its surface, and the light it emitted was also red, casting an ominous glow over the entire ruins.

"This is..." Lu Yao murmured to himself, "Where is this?"

Big Yellow stood beside him, its visual sensor rapidly scanning the surroundings.

"I don't know, there's no matching terrain data in my database, but..."

Its voice suddenly became excited.

"These things, this scrap material, my God, these are all treasures!"

Like a child, Big Yellow pounced on the nearest pile of scrap metal, its mechanical claws rummaging through the metal fragments with the skill of a seasoned scavenger.

Look at this!

It lifted a rusty robotic arm prosthesis; although the outer shell was severely damaged, the internal hydraulic structure appeared to be intact.

"Although the model is a bit old, the core components are still usable, so we can take them out and use them as spare parts..."

Then it pulled out several more chips the size of a fingernail.

"A chip! (＾－＾)V! I don't know what it contains, but the storage medium looks intact..."

It picked up one of the chips, looked at the interface, and then actually lifted a cover on its chest armor, revealing the data interface inside.

"etc!"

Lu Yao tried to stop him, but Da Huang had already inserted the chip.

Instantly, Big Yellow's entire body froze. The glow from its visual sensors went out, its limbs drooped, and its head slumped down, like a machine that had suddenly lost power.

"Rhubarb?" Lu Yao's heart tightened.

Three seconds later, the halo lit up again, and Big Yellow raised its head. The visual sensor band flashed rapidly a few times, like a human blinking to dispel dizziness.

"Holy shit," it said, its voice a little shaky, "What the hell is this...?"

"What's wrong?"

Dahuang didn't answer. Instead, it used its mechanical claw to pull out the chip and then threw it far away like a hot potato. The chip drew an arc in the air and fell into a pile of waste and disappeared.

Then it picked up another chip, this time much more cautiously. Instead of inserting it directly, it scanned the surface of the chip with a tiny scanner on its fingertip.

The scanner's indicator light flashed a few times, and Big Yellow's face suddenly scrunched up, as if it were making a face.

"This should be safe."

It muttered something and inserted the chip.

This time it didn't crash. Dahuang stood quietly for about five seconds, the halo of the vision sensor steadily lit up, and then it pulled out the chip and looked at Lu Yao.

"This is a basic information chip. It's undamaged and free of malware. I'm going to examine its contents to figure out where we are. I need some time, Master."

Lu Yao nodded, but his attention had already been drawn to something else.

Less than five meters from the hatch they had climbed out of, there was a small, relatively clean pile of rubble, and at the bottom of the pile, a hand was sticking out.

That was clearly a human hand.

Lu Yao then walked over.

The owner of this hand was a boy, about fifteen or sixteen years old, lying face up in a pile of scrap metal, dressed in tattered clothes. A metal pipe had pierced his abdomen, and the blood around the wound had dried and turned black.

What's even more disturbing is that the corpse's face and exposed skin are covered with fine, gnaw marks, like those left by insects or small rodents.

He had been dead for at least two hours.

Lu Yao suppressed his nausea and squatted down. He saw the boy's modified left arm prosthetic hanging limply at his side, and he also saw the electronic pulse pistol pieced together from parts on the boy's right side.

Also, on the forearm of the boy's left prosthetic arm, there was a not very noticeable protrusion. Lu Yao reached out and felt around, found the switch for the hidden slot, and pressed it.

A small, transparent container popped out and landed in Lu Yao's palm.

This is the bottle of blue tissue fluid. Under the red moonlight, the liquid gleams with a dark luster, flowing slowly within the container as if it were alive.

Lu Yao stared at it for a few seconds, then his gaze shifted to the boy's clothes. There was a piece of fabric on the lower right corner of the clothes, on which something seemed to have been written. The black marks were not very obvious on the dark red fabric.

Lu Yao couldn't understand the distorted symbols, but the fabric itself looked relatively clean, at least cleaner than the surrounding waste stained with oil and rust.

He then reached out, grabbed the edge of the fabric, and yanked it hard.

stab-

The fabric was torn off, and Lu Yao placed the blue tissue fluid in the center of the fabric, then carefully wrapped it up, tied a simple knot, and put it in his pocket.

Although he didn't know what this thing was, he always felt that his body had some kind of craving for it.

Then Lu Yao picked up the electronic pulse pistol and took off the corpse's shoes.

The gun was rough. Lu Yao tried to pull the trigger, but there was no response. There must be some kind of safety lock. So he put the gun in the other side of his belt and took one last look at the boy's body.

This is just a dead man in a strange place. Lu Yao stood up, turned around, and walked back to Da Huang's side.

Big Yellow had finished decoding the chip and was excitedly rummaging through the scrap heap for other things. Lu Yao watched Big Yellow's back, then looked up at the scarlet sphere in the sky again.

He said softly.

"I time-traveled, right?"

Big Yellow didn't turn around, but its voice drifted over.

"Time travel? What kind of time travel? You mean like in novels, going from one world to another?"

It paused.

"I don't know, Master. I only know that this is not Earth, at least not the Earth I know."

Lu Yao didn't speak. He took a deep breath, then coughed from the pungent air. He smiled, a bitter smile.

"Damn it, my mom is waiting for me to come home for dinner, what's going on?"

Big Yellow finally turned around, its visual sensor belt gazing at Lu Yao, the golden halo appearing especially warm under the red moon.

"Even if we can't go back, it's okay. I'll stay with you. It's the program's setting, or rather, it's my own decision."

Lu Yao looked at it for a long time, and then he said.

"Let's go, Big Yellow, let's find a place that doesn't smell so bad."