Above the Blood Moon

What he saw, no one knows.

Pisius's face turned ashen.

He was also affected, though not as severely, but the whispers and images still seeped into his mind.

Pisius saw the scene of his first modification surgery, saw the cold instruments cutting through his skin, and saw his internal organs being taken out and replaced with mechanical parts.

He saw himself lying on the operating table, staring at the ceiling, which was melting and turning into a mocking face.

But he persevered.

This wasn't the first time Pisius had come into contact with blasphemy.

Pisius pulled a small metal box from his tactical belt, inside which were five syringes neatly arranged. He grabbed a purple one and plunged it into the side of his neck.

As the medicine was injected into the bloodstream, the world instantly became clear.

The whispers disappeared, the images faded, and the urge to destroy everything in his mind was suppressed by something rational. His mechanical eyes returned to normal, and the code flow in his field of vision became orderly again.

Pisius raised his head and looked ahead.

The three men, including Jockley, had already run far away. Taking advantage of the chaos created by the gun, they jumped off the roof of the last warehouse and disappeared into the night, now more than two hundred meters away.

Pisius took a deep breath, and the fusion core in his chest emitted a low hum.

"Sir..." a man in red asked weakly, "Should we pursue them?"

Pisius was silent for a few seconds. He glanced at his subordinates who were still self-harming, and at the two team members who had slammed their heads against the wall and were bleeding profusely. Then he slowly shook his head.

"Retreat, take the wounded back to base. The target is possessing blasphemous items, at least level B."

"That mission..."

"Continue the mission." Pisius turned around, no longer looking in the direction where Jockley had disappeared.

"Adjust the strategy. Notify all peripheral units to strengthen vigilance. They can't get far, especially after using that stuff."

He paused, then added.

"The price of desecration is worse than death. Just wait, they will come back on their own."

Jockley felt his body being torn apart.

He could feel his skin cracking, his muscles tearing, his bones breaking, every nerve screaming, and every cell wailing.

Even more terrifying were the whispers.

He couldn't distinguish between his own thoughts and external contamination. He only knew that if things continued like this, he would go insane and become a monster like the self-harming man in red.

Vision began to blur, the roof was shaking, the night sky was spinning, and the blood moon turned into a blurry red light. Jockley's legs went weak and he almost fell, but Big Yellow caught him in time.

"Master! Master, how are you?!"

Dahuang's voice came from afar, as if it were coming from across the water.

Jockley opened his mouth as if to speak, but only a hoarse sound came from his throat. He looked up at Big Yellow.

He remembered something.

Oh right, I need to go... I need to go somewhere.

He squeezed out the word "rhubarb," each word seeming to have used all his strength.

"I'm here! Master, I'm here!"

"Take...take me there..."

"Where to? You tell me!"

Jockley closed his eyes, the last image flashing through his mind, and he suddenly cried.

He cried like a child, tears mixed with blood streaming from the corners of his eyes, down his dirty cheeks, and dripping onto the cold metal roof.

"Please..." Jockley grabbed Big Yellow's mechanical arm, his nails digging into the metal gaps.

"Take me to that area, please, Big Yellow, please..."

He repeated it over and over again, like a dying person's prayer.

"I want to go home, I want to go home! I want to go home!!!"

His voice grew weaker and weaker until finally his eyes rolled back and he went limp.

Just before his consciousness sank into darkness, he felt himself being carried on his back, the cold metallic touch against his skin, followed by the sound of wind, running, and Huang Shuangyan's indistinct exclamation.

And then nothing happened.

Huang Shuangyan woke up before Qiao Keli, and the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the starry sky.

The inky sky was dotted with tiny silver dots. The blood moon had already set, and a bright orange-red star twinkled in the distance. People called it the guiding star. According to its position, the navigation beacon of the original human camp was said to be able to find its way in the universe.

She lay on the ground, on rough gravel, with a bonfire burning beside her. The flames were an eerie blue-green, and the fire crackled and popped, occasionally bursting into a spark that illuminated a small area around her.

Jockley was lying next to her, still unconscious.

Huang Shuangyan struggled to sit up, feeling as if her head had been hit by a heavy hammer. The pain made her grimace. She touched the corner of her eye; dried scabs were stuck to her skin and would fall off at the slightest touch. She wiped them hard, and her vision became clearer.

Then she saw Jockley's face.

The young man was unconscious, his brows furrowed, his lips pressed into a straight line, and his forehead covered in cold sweat. His body twitched from time to time, as if he were having a nightmare. Blood was seeping from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, and ears.

This is the price of blasphemy.

Huang Shuangyan had seen it once, a long time ago, at another black market merchant's place. That man had somehow obtained a sacrilegious object, a ring made of human bone. He wore it for three days, and on the third night, he locked himself in his room and slowly tortured himself to death with the dagger he had used in the transaction.

When the neighbors discovered it the next morning, the room was covered in blood, and two words were written in blood on the wall: "Save me".

But no one could save him.

The pollution of blasphemy is permanent; it will burrow into your mind, take root in your soul, and grow like cancer cells until it transforms you into something else.

Huang Shuangyan looked at Qiao Keli, a complex emotion welling up inside her. She remembered what Qiao Keli had said before he lost consciousness.

"I want to go home."

The despair in his voice didn't seem feigned.

Huang Shuangyan sighed, hesitated for a moment after reaching out her hand, and finally gently patted Qiao Keli's back, as if comforting a child having a nightmare.

"Silly boy..." she whispered, "In this godforsaken place, where is home?"

She stood up and staggered to the other side of the fire, then activated her nervous system to access her contact list, found Jockri's name, first canceled the debt contract, and then transferred 50 Covenant Credits to him.

After finishing these tasks, Huang Shuangyan shut down the system and let out a long sigh of relief.

Alright, the money has been paid back, the debt cleared, and the promise fulfilled. She has done everything she could.

Now, it's time to go.

She glanced at Choklee one last time, then turned and strode toward the Forgotten City.

"Click".

Huang Shuangyan froze when something cold and hard pressed against the back of her head. She slowly turned her head.

Big Yellow stood behind her, one mechanical hand holding a pile of flammable materials he had just picked up, and the other hand holding a Scorpion submachine gun, the muzzle pointed directly at her head.

The panel on the big yellow screen was lit up, a glaring red, with a red triangle logo slowly rotating in the center.

"Where do you want to go?"

Huang Shuangyan swallowed.

"I've already transferred the money to him, and the debt has been forgiven..." She tried to keep her voice from trembling, "What more do I want? Let me go now, and I promise I won't reveal your location, I..."

"He said," Big Yellow interrupted her, "that you take him to that place."

Huang Shuangyan felt a surge of anger rising to her head.

"Are you crazy?! It's the dead of night! The red moon has just set, and the wilderness is full of those things and radioactive dust storms. Going out now is suicide. Don't you know that rule?!"

Big Yellow didn't say anything; it simply clicked open the safety of its submachine gun again.

The sound was exceptionally clear in the silent wilderness, like the knocking of death.

Looking at the dark muzzle of the gun and at the emotionless optical sensors in Da Huang's eyes, Huang Shuangyan suddenly understood something.

This guy is serious. He's not joking or threatening. He really will shoot. If she dares to take another step forward, her head will explode like a watermelon in the next second.

"Madmen..." she whispered, her voice trembling with tears, "You're all madmen..."

She crouched down, buried her head in her hands, and despair overwhelmed her once again.

Big Yellow walked up to her and threw the flammable material into the fire. The flames shot up with a roar, and the blue-green light illuminated its cold, mechanical body.

Then it took out the bomb collar from the tool bag at its waist. Huang Shuangyan stared at the collar, stunned.

"What are you going to do?"

Dahuang didn't answer. It reached out, and its mechanical fingers deftly unlocked the collar. Then it put the collar around Huang Shuangyan's neck. The metal ring tightened against Huang Shuangyan's skin, and the indicator light on the inside lit up with a faint green light, starting the countdown.

Big Yellow took a step back and put away his submachine gun.

"He said he wants you to take him to that place."

Huang Shuangyan slumped to the ground, touching the collar around her neck, and suddenly laughed.

"Hahaha...hahahaha..."

She laughed until tears streamed down her face.

"What karma..."

She raised her head, looked at the still unconscious Jockley and the burning bonfire, and finally looked up at the indifferent starry sky above. She said nothing more.

Huang Shuangyan just sat there, hugging her knees and burying her face in her arms. Da Huang stood beside her, equally silent.

The fire crackled and popped, and the night wind in the wilderness blew, carrying the sound of rolling sand and gravel.