Above the Blood Moon

All batteries, all capacitors, and all energy storage units released all their energy at the same instant, and a blinding white light spread out from it, instantly engulfing everything within a ten-meter radius.

Lu Yao felt a sudden white light before his eyes, followed by a scorching wave of heat. He closed his eyes and fell into a coma.

But before he closed his eyes, he saw the priest raise his hand.

The priest's black robe extended a mechanical hand, which clenched in mid-air as if grasping something unseen.

Then a semi-transparent barrier shimmering with a pale golden light appeared in front of the priests.

The shockwave from the explosion struck the barrier, splitting to both sides like waves crashing against rocks.

Miraculously, just as the shockwave from the explosion was about to engulf Lu Yao, a barrier identical to the one in front of the priest suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the unconscious Lu Yao, created by himself.

The priest's barrier also appeared in front of the doctor and the hip-hop kid, but the scavengers were not so lucky.

Several scavengers who were nearby, including the leader, were at the center of the explosion; their bodies were instantly vaporized by the high temperature and shockwave.

These people didn't even have time to scream. Those further away were thrown into the air by the blast wave and crashed heavily onto the pile of waste.

Some fainted immediately, while others were still struggling, but their limbs were twisted into strange angles.

As the white light faded, the smoke and dust slowly settled.

Most of the rhubarb's body was gone; the self-destruction destroyed 90% of its structure, leaving only its head intact.

Four slender mechanical legs popped out from under its head, and it quickly crawled towards Lu Yao like a metal spider, finally stopping beside Lu Yao.

The mechanical legs extended tiny probes that pierced the skin of Lu Yao's head. Then, the head itself began to deform, spreading out to the sides like flower petals to wrap around the back of his head, and extending forward to cover his forehead and temples.

The visual sensor was adjusted to be positioned directly in front of Lu Yao's eyes.

The whole process took only three seconds.

When the doctor, the hip-hop kid, and the priest approached, they didn't see an unconscious person with a head injury, but rather a person whose head was covered by a silver metal exoskeleton.

Modified Humans

The doctor knelt down to examine Lu Yao's condition.

"Tsk tsk, this kid's still alive. He looks like he's bleeding internally, but he's definitely alive. And did he just use some kind of superpower?"

The hip-hop kid came closer, and the silver-gray mechanical arm on his shoulder moved slightly.

"I've never seen this type of exoskeleton before. Is it a custom-made or modified one?"

"It doesn't seem like it." The doctor shook his head. "It's too precise, and the way it's integrated with the skull is like biological fusion. He should be a superhuman, the kind with a chip implanted."

The priest didn't speak; he just looked down at Lu Yao. Just now, Lu Yao had unleashed the same energy fluctuations as him. "A strange fellow," the priest thought silently to himself.

Just then, a voice came from above, so loud it drowned out all the other noise.

[WARNING: Unauthorized life activity has been detected in area DL-7-4, property of Yadea Technology Co., Ltd. Pursuant to Article 38 of the Company Regulations, this area has been contracted out, and all unauthorized activities are considered an infringement of company property.]

Everyone looked up and saw a spaceship slowly descending. It was a combat spaceship painted in the silver-blue color scheme of Yadea Technology, over fifty meters long, with turrets on both sides already deployed, their dark muzzles pointed at the ground.

At the same time, the spacecraft's belly opened, and seven or eight cylindrical iron cans were dropped. The cans deployed their cushioning devices as they fell, and finally crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The tin can shell slid open, and warriors who looked remarkably like Astark warriors from Warhammer 40k emerged from it.

They were covered in thick red armor, with obvious power assist devices at their joints, and each of them carried a standardized pulse rifle with a blue energy indicator on the gun.

"Repeat warning."

The spaceship's broadcast blared again.

"All unauthorized personnel must leave this area immediately. Countdown begins, ten, nine—"

The doctor clicked his tongue and looked at the hip-hop kid.

"Stop trying to save money, hurry up and spend it to buy more alarm time!"

The hip-hop kid looked pained.

"I've never seen you pay the bill..."

"Who brought this here?" the doctor glared at him. "If you hadn't said you'd lost your new arm here, would we be in the company area?"

The hip-hop kid chuckled sheepishly, but still obediently raised his left hand. There was an implanted projection device on his wrist that lit up with blue light and projected a virtual screen into the air.

The screen was covered in GG messages: Genetic optimization packages, limited-time discounts on the latest prosthetic eyes, pre-orders for Level 3 superpower chips...

The hip-hop kid impatiently swiped away one GG pop-up after another, finally finding an inconspicuous icon: the alarm service interface of Yadea Technology Company's official website.

He clicked on it, and the balance showed 1 Star Alliance Coin. The hip-hop kid gritted his teeth and entered the purchase quantity in 10 seconds.

Payment confirmed, balance reduced to zero.

"I bought ten seconds," he said.

The doctor almost jumped up.

"Would it kill you to buy a few more seconds?!"

The hip-hop kid nodded seriously.

"I will die."

He said it with a smile, but the doctor couldn't laugh, because the countdown was still going on.

"Six, five—"

Hip-hop kid sighed, then clicked for another ten seconds. This time, he used credit overdraft. A bunch of terms and warnings popped up on the screen, but he clicked "agree" without even reading them.

"Ten more seconds."

"Four"

The countdown stopped, and the spaceship's broadcast changed its tone, from a warning to a businesslike reminder.

[Temporary pass purchase detected. Permit duration: 10 seconds. Please leave the contracted area within this time. The clearing process will resume after the timeout.]

Without saying a word, the doctor bent down and carried the unconscious Lu Yao on his back.

"Let's go, let's go!"

The three began to run wildly, with the priest in the lead, his black robes fluttering in the wind, followed closely by the hip-hop kid, whose newly installed mechanical arm looked somewhat awkward and made him run strangely, while the doctor carried Lu Yao in the middle.

Behind them, the red mech warriors did not chase after them; they simply stood there, guns at the ready, watching them leave.

The moment the countdown ended, the spaceship's turrets began to spin, energy beams rained down, the ground was plowed up, and the waste piles were blown to pieces.

The unconscious scavenger didn't even have a chance to wake up before he was reduced to ashes in the gunfire. Explosions rang out behind them one after another, and the shockwaves pushed the doctors and the others against their backs.

"Buy more!" the doctor roared.

The hip-hop kid ran while operating the projection screen and bought another ten seconds.

Ten more seconds.

Ten more seconds.

With each purchase, his face paled a little more.

Finally, after what seemed like an unknown number of seconds, they broke through an invisible boundary, and the sound of artillery fire behind them abruptly ceased.

The spaceship ceased firing, the turrets retracted, the belly hatch closed, and it slowly rose back into the clouds, disappearing from sight, as if nothing had happened.

Aside from the still-smoking bomb craters on the ground and the vanished scavengers.

The group gasped for breath. The hip-hop kid raised his wrist and turned the projection screen toward the doctor, where a number was displayed.

-10 Star Alliance Coins

There is another line of smaller text below.

"Debtor: Daikiri, Repayment period: 30 standard days, Overdue interest: 5% per day."

The doctor glanced at Lu Yao, who was lying unconscious on his shoulder, then reached out and poked Lu Yao's nose with his finger.

"Kid, you owe him ten Star Alliance coins."

Lu Yao didn't react, of course. He was still unconscious. The visual sensor on the yellowish metal exoskeleton on his head flashed a faint blue light.

"Let's go." The doctor adjusted the way he was carrying Lu Yao. "Back to Forgotten City. This kid needs to be treated, or he'll really die."

"Should I get my money back after I'm cured? How much will the treatment cost?" the hip-hop kid asked.

"Of course I'll hang it on you," the doctor chuckled. "Do I look like someone who does charity work?"

The three then turned and walked away into the distance, while Lu Yao, who had lost consciousness, had only one thought before falling into a coma.

He must live!