Chapter 1: The Crimson Moon Descends
(1) The Bloody Prelude
The clatter of keyboard keys struck a jarring note in the deathly silent office. Lin Mo rubbed his dry, swollen eyes; the code on the screen, like endless columns of tireless black ants, crawled across the pale background, weaving a digital maze he'd long grown numb to. It was 2:17 a.m. Outside, the familiar city neon glowed, but tonight felt unusually still. On the entire floor, save for the monotonous echo of his typing, there was no sign of life—or so he thought.
An indescribable weariness seeped from the gaps between his vertebrae. Lin Mo leaned back into the uncomfortable ergonomic chair, his gaze drifting habitually to the night sky outside, sliced apart by reinforced concrete, searching for a sliver of solace.
But solace eluded him. Instead, a chill instantly crawled up his spine.
On the windowpane, a strange, viscous crimson halo had somehow settled, as if someone had pour diluted blood across the sky. Not the glow of dawn, nor light pollution—this was a hue… like that of a living thing.
He suddenly looked up.
His heart seemed to clench in a cold fist.
The moon—or rather, the thing hanging at the center of the inky sky—could no longer be called by that serene, poetic name. It had become a massive, scarlet disk, radiating an ominous, unholy glow that seemed to pierce the soul. More chillingly, it wasn't static. On its crimson surface, countless twisted, vein-like patterns squirmed and pulsed slowly, like the grotesque, exposed heart of some colossal living being. The entire firmament was dyed by this "crimson moon"; the city's light pollution paled in comparison, as if the world had been dropped into a giant vat of blood.
It didn't resemble a celestial body; it was more like… a slowly opening pupil, filled with endless malice and hunger, staring coldly down at humanity.
"How… is this possible?" Lin Mo muttered, his throat parched. A primal fear, rooted in biological instinct—a terror of the unknown and immense threat—seized him instantly.
As if to confirm his unease, the phone on the corner of the desk suddenly vibrated wildly. Its screen lit up with a harsh white light, and notifications poured forth like a broken dam. Lin Mo grabbed it almost reflexively, his fingertips cold.
On social media icons, bright red numbers flickered frantically.
[Breaking #1 Trending]Mass animal attacks erupt worldwide! Cause unknown!
[Emergency Video]Downtown Park! Stray dogs go berserk, mauling passersby! Witnesses claim "their eyes are as red as blood"!
[Breaking News]International flights have been losing contact one after another! Severe communication disruptions have occurred in multiple locations! Experts urge the public to remain calm and stay home for safety!
[Image]Surveillance captures pedestrians collapsing and convulsing on a city street; something seems to squirm under their skin!
[Live Stream Interrupted]Screams erupt in a famous outdoor streamer's broadcast; a huge red shadow appears before the feed cuts out!
Shocking headlines and blurry, chaotic video clips bombarded Lin Mo's retinas. Not localized—it was global! Not accidents—it was a disaster! The crazy animals, the strangely behaving passersby in those clips, all bore an inhuman, pure destructive urge. Panic, like a cold snake, slithered up his spine.
His fingers trembling, he tried to tap on a video closest to his city.
Just as his fingertip was about to touch the screen—
"Crack!"
The harsh fluorescent tube overhead flickered out without warning! Then, all the lights on the floor were snuffed out in an instant, as if by an invisible giant hand, plunging everything into pitch-black darkness! The computer screen let out a faint whimper before going completely dark.
Absolute, suffocating darkness fell. The eerie crimson moon outside became the only light source, casting scarlet splotches on the cold office floor and walls, stretching into twisted, grotesque shadows.
(2) Howls of Hunger in the Dark
"Ah—! What's happening?!"
A shrill, fear-stricken female voice shattered the silence. It was Su Ting from the next workstation. She was a contracted live-streaming influencer at the company, somewhat famous for her sweet image and adventure/paranormal content. Tonight, she'd stayed late to rush out material for an "urban legend exploration" segment. Now, she was clearly terrified by the sudden turn of events.
"Who's there? Lin Mo? Is that you?" Su Ting's voice quavered, fumbling in the dark.
"It's me," Lin Mo forced himself to stay calm, his voice low. "Probably a power trip, or…," he thought of the crimson moon, of the news, "…something bigger."
Hardly had he finished speaking when, from the depths of the office area behind him, came a hair-raising, guttural "gurgle… gurgle…," like a beast gnawing on bones. The sound, viscous and ravenous, amplified infinitely in the absolute silence, drilling clearly into both their ears.
Su Ting's breath hitched.
Lin Mo spun around, pressing his back tightly against the cold partition, his heart racing.
At that moment, the emergency light embedded high on the wall flickered a few times before finally illuminating. Pale green light, like that in a mortuary, poured forth faintly, barely lighting a small area around them, yet making the entire space feel even more eerie and terrifying.
In the greenish glow, a hunched figure shuffled out from the direction of the finance department. It was Lao Wang, the company's well-known amiable financial supervisor.
But Lao Wang was completely different now.
His once slightly plump body was now hunched in an extremely unnatural posture, his neck stretched far forward, his mouth hanging open uncontrollably. Thick saliva, mixed with血丝, dripped like broken beads onto the polished floor, "plop, plop." Most chilling were his eyes—his pupils were completely bloodshot, as if injected with blood; the whites had vanished, leaving only two madly burning, scarlet points of light, like entrances to hell. That gaze had no focus, no reason, only a primal desire—hunger!
Those scarlet pupils locked tightly, fixedly onto Su Ting, as if she were the only delicacy in the world. A low "Huh huh" rumbled in his throat, accompanied by a nauseating swallowing sound.
"Lao… Lao Wang?" Su Ting's voice trembled like a leaf in the wind. She stumbled back, hitting a desk with a "clang."
"Hungry…" A slurred syllable squeezed from Lao Wang's throat, his saliva flowing faster. "So hungry… meat…"
"Lao Wang! Snap out of it!" Lin Mo barked, trying to rouse whatever sanity remained in him. He scanned the area, searching for anything that could serve as a weapon. A fire extinguisher! Just a few meters away on the corridor wall!
But Lao Wang's sanity had clearly been devoured by that scarlet hunger.
"Roar—!"
An inhuman咆哮 tore from Lao Wang's throat. He hesitated no longer, dropping to all fours like an enraged beast, lunging at the trembling Su Ting within credible speed—far faster than a middle-aged, slightly overweight man should move!
(3) Awakening: Blood and Worms
"Su Ting! Move!" Lin Mo's eyes widened, he shouted, his body moving faster than his thoughts. He sprinted toward the fire extinguisher, smashing through the fragile glass door, grabbing the heavy, cold fire axe inside!
Just as Lao Wang's blue veins -covered claws were about to reach Su Ting, Lin Mo, using his momentum, tensed his waist, his arm muscles bulging, swinging the heavy fire axe from below to above with a whoosh, slashing horizontally!
"Crack!"
A cringe-inducing sound of bone breaking echoed! The sharp axe blade sank deep into Lao Wang's onrushing right shoulder blade, nearly splitting half his shoulder apart! Thick, dark, stinking blood erupted like a fountain, splattering Lin Mo's face and body, fishy, hot, and sticky!
Yet this blow, which would have instantly crippled a normal person, seemed to Lao Wang no worse than a mosquito bite!
His lunge at Su Ting faltered only for a moment. Those scarlet eyes didn't even glance at the wound; instead, they twisted at a superhuman angle, locking onto Lin Mo, who stood close by, wielding the weapon! No pain in that gaze—only rage at having his meal interrupted, and… deeper hunger!
"Roar—!" Another roar tore from Lao Wang's throat. He abandoned the nearby Su Ting, opening his mouth, reeking of stench, baring sharpened, yellowed teeth, and lunging fiercely at Lin Mo's axe-wielding shoulder!
Agony—searing, bone-deep agony—flooded Lin Mo's nerves in an instant! He could distinctly feel the sharp teeth tearing through flesh, sinking into bone! His vision blurred with darkness and stars, strength draining from his body like a tide. The fire axe clattered to the floor.
Warm blood—his own—gushed from the torn wound, soaking through his shredded clothes, dripping onto the cold, smooth floor—
Drip.
Drip.
The sound, exceptionally clear in the silent office.
The moment the first drop of Lin Mo's lifeblood touched the floor—
Something changed.
That crimson drop on the ground suddenly "boiled" like a living thing! Not evaporating, but erupting from within with a strange, silvery-gray light!
Then, in Su Ting's horrified, silent stare, in Lin Mo's pain-blurred vision, countless silver particles, visible to the naked eye, the size of rice grains, gleaming with a cold metallic luster, swarmed forth crazily from the terrible wound on his shoulder, from every drop of blood streaming down his arm!
They converged into a visible silver torrent, emitting a faint yet hair-raising "buzz" like flapping wings, carrying a cold, efficient will, instantly coiling around Lao Wang's blood-soaked head!
"What… what is this?!" Lin Mo's mind nearly froze. The shock momentarily overshadowed the searing pain in his shoulder. He could "feel" these silver particles, as if they were an extension of his body, yet with a unfamiliar, cold autonomy.
Lao Wang seemed to sense mortal danger, releasing his bite with a painful screams, clawing crazily at the silver "sand" covering his head. But his struggles were futile.
The silver swarm's target was clear. Some clung to Lao Wang's head like ticks; others, like arrows loosed from a bow, pounced on the metal leg of a nearby office chair! A cringe-inducing "Zizi" sounded as the solid stainless steel tube melted and decomposed under the silver swarm's gnawing, like butter in high heat!
The swarm, having devoured the metal, seemed to swell slightly, their luster colder, sharper. At Lin Mo's F=fuzzy logic commands (or rather, an instinctive will to survive), they reorganize instantly!
In seconds, three metallic talons, glinting with a cold, sharp light, their edges as keen as blades, materialized out of thin air! Composed of countless silver particles in precise formation, their joints flowing like liquid metal, they bore an uncanny beauty, a fusion of machine and creature, yet radiated pure killing intent.
"Squelch—!"
A stomach-churning, muffled sound!
The three talons, like spears of judgment from hell, with unmatched force and precision, pierced Lao Wang's skull from three angles in an instant—like piercing a ripe watermelon!
A sticky mixture of red and white erupted violently!
Lao Wang's thrashing body went limp as if all bones had been removed, then crashed heavily to the floor, motionless.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Only Lin Mo's heavy gasps, Su Ting's stifled sobs, and the faint "hum" of the silver swarm, like metal rubbing, filled the office after their task.
A blood-red crystal the size of a soybean, like the purest ruby, rolled from a crack in Lao Wang's shattered skull, landing in the sticky pool of blood, glowing with an eerie, alluring light.
(4) The Cataclysmic City and the Eye in the Sky
Lin Mo could hold on no longer. His legs gave way, and he plopped to the floor, leaning against the cold partition. A violent tingling and itching spread from the horrific gash on his shoulder. He looked down to see countless tiny silver particles wriggling and darting along the edges of the mangled flesh, like the most precise nanoscale looms. Flesh and blood were growing and knitting together at a visible rate! In just over ten seconds, the致命 wound was reduced to a shallow, metallic-tinged scar!
At the same time, the three blood-stained talons and scattered silver swarm, like a receding tide, decomposed and contracted rapidly, dissolving into countless silver lights that flowed back under Lin Mo's skin, vanishing. Only a few faint silver threads, like circuit board patterns, remained on his skin's surface before fading away.
"Wh… what on earth… are you… a monster?!" Su Ting huddled a few steps away, her face as white as a sheet, her body trembling like a leaf in autumn. Her gaze at Lin Mo was filled with extreme fear and a hint of barely perceptible greed. Her eyes were fixed on the blood-red crystal lying at the edge of the blood pool, translucent and glittering.
The crystal, under the pale green emergency light and the red glow from outside, refracted an intoxicating, almost magical luster. A primal longing from the deepest depths of life, an intuition that "possessing it would grant power," impact madness at Su Ting's mind, flooded with fear and chaos.
"Don't touch it!" Lin Mo sharply caught the change in Su Ting's eyes, fighting off the exhaustion from overexertion and mental shock, barking sharply. He instinctively felt the thing was极度危险—Lao Wang's transformation was proof enough!
But Su Ting moved faster. Survival instinct (or rather, greedy desire) overcame fear. She lunged forward like a frightened rabbit, ignoring the blood on the floor, snatching the still-warm, sticky blood crystal, clutching it tightly, and stuffing it quickly into her coat pocket! Having done this, she leaned against the desk, gasping for breath, yet deep in her eyes lurked a hint of triumphant madness and something… unsettlingly excited.
"You!" Lin Mo was angry and anxious, but his body hadn't recovered, unable to stop her for a moment.
At that moment, the wall-mounted TV in the corner of the office, which had been dark, used to display company promotional videos, suddenly flickered with a harsh snowstorm, hissing "fizz… fizz…" Then, on the snowy screen, as if written in fresh blood, a line of crooked, ominous scarlet characters slowly appeared:
[Do not stare at the crimson moon for more than 3 seconds]
The characters seemed alive, twisting and pulsing slightly on the screen.
Lin Mo and Su Ting's eyes were drawn to them, a deeper chill settling in their hearts. This warning… who was it for? What did the crimson moon hide?
As if answering their unspoken questions, outside the window—
"Boom—!!!"
A deafening explosion erupted without warning from the direction of the city center, followed by a second, a third! The glass windows trembled under the shockwaves!
Shrills, cries, desperate pleas for help erupted like a tsunami, instantly engulfing the entire city! No longer distant news on social media, but right below, next door, in every corner of this concrete jungle! Siren wails, like the death cries of dying beasts, tore at the night sky, yet were drowned out by more inhuman roars, filled with brutality and hunger! Explosion flames shot into the sky, reflecting off the glass curtain walls of tall buildings, mirroring the crimson moon above, painting the entire city in a hellish tableau—fire, smoke, chaos, death!
" It has begun…" Lin Mo struggled to his feet, leaning on the partition, staggering to the large floor-to-ceiling window. What he saw made his blood run cold.
The once bustling city that never sleeps had become purgatory. Flames raged in the streets, cars crumpled and twisted, piled up in chain collision, blocking all roads. Countless tiny figures fled, screamed, tore at each other in the firelight and shadows. And chasing them were more distorted form, moving strangely, their eyes glowing with the same scarlet light as Lao Wang's "things." Lurching humanoid monsters, swollen animals with bared fangs, even indescribable abominations, like cobbled together from shadows and flesh.
Civilization collapsed in an instant, order vanished, leaving only primal slaughter and devouring.
Lin Mo's gaze passed over this hell on earth, finally returning to the crimson moon hanging in the vault of heaven, overlooking all—the source of the disaster.
The vein-like patterns on the scarlet pupil's surface pulsed violently. And at the very center of that massive pupil, a slit that had been barely visible now slowly, irreversibly… opened!
Deep, cold, indifferent, as if containing the oldest darkness and secrets of the universe.
It was no slit.
It was an eye! A colossal eye beyond imagination, enough to drive any sane mind to madness—a true eye!
Lin Mo's blood seemed to freeze, a shudder from the deepest soul sweeping over him. He distinctly "felt" the silver swarm, which had just fallen silent under his skin, let out a silent, terrified whimper the moment that eye opened.
The crimson moon is not the disaster.
It, or they, have only just woken.
And humanity is but lambs waiting to be slaughtered on the table.
The hunt has begun.