Chapter 851 - 850: Lighthouse?

Chapter 851: Chapter 850: Lighthouse?

Erin’s scream startled Yu Sheng, who instantly tightened his grip on the spear in his hand and turned to look at the Little Puppet. Luna also drew her blade at the same time, while Hu Li swiftly pulled off one of his tails, assuming the Nine Swords of Du Hu stance—even without bothering to add sound effects for the unsheathing.

"What’s going on?" Yu Sheng asked as he cautiously scanned his surroundings, only to find the Little Puppet crouching next to a puddle on the roadside, clutching her frying pan—she wasn’t screaming anymore, but her face still showed traces of alarm and bewilderment.

Yu Sheng: "Something in the puddle? Frightened by a cockroach?"

"Cockroach my foot, how could I be scared by a cockroach!" Erin shot Yu Sheng a sharp look and pointed to the puddle, "Just now, there was a red moon reflected in it."

"?!"

Yu Sheng instantly tensed and stepped behind the Little Puppet to look at the puddle, only to see the normal nightscape reflected on the water’s surface. Besides the distorted buildings surrounding them, there was no sign of the so-called Blood Moon.

But Yu Sheng dared not simply brush off this matter as "Erin seeing things wrong"—had the Little Puppet claimed to see something else, it might have been different, but she said she saw a red moon!

Considering that thing, given the time and place, coupled with Erin having previously been trapped with him in that nightmare veiled by red moonlight, all these elements together instantly heightened Yu Sheng’s instincts to high alert.

After a brief hesitation, he cautiously dipped the tip of his blood-colored spear into the small puddle.

Like twin flames, the tip of the spear slightly submerged in the water, Yu Sheng stirred it twice, observing ripples form in the puddle.

Among the ripples, a flash of red moonlight occasionally surfaced briefly.

Erin jumped up immediately: "There’s definitely something in the puddle! I told you there’s something!"

Beside her, Lucrecia furrowed her brows tightly, the Star Sea Witch’s face was heavy with gravity: "...No, it’s not about something in the puddle, it’s something around us—yet it’s beyond our perception, only ’reflections’ under certain conditions reveal it."

Erin’s expression visibly stiffened while Yu Sheng withdrew his spear, quickly surveying the surroundings.

The jumbled buildings stood quietly along both sides of the street, dim light orbs floated above street lamps, the night was silent, yet seemed to hide countless sinister glances.

It was then that Yu Sheng suddenly felt a slight tremor in his hand.

Looking down, he saw dark red waves fluctuating on the surface of the blood-colored spear, the spear shaft seemed affected by an invisible force, emitting a faint vibration.

Yu Sheng slowly raised his hand, sensing the pull from the spear, gazing into the depths of the darkened neighborhood.

A towering structure stood in the night, shrouded in a layer of black veil-like mist.

"Kill the moon..."

A sigh-like whisper suddenly appeared next to the ear, fluctuating like the wind, soon dissipating into the air.

Yu Sheng was sure he heard the voice, his brow furrowed slightly, informing his teammates of the situation.

"Kill the moon?" Erin reacted immediately upon hearing, "Isn’t that what we heard back in that town ruins?"

"...Seems things are getting complicated," Yu Sheng murmured, following the instinctual pull of the spear, staring at the towering structure in the dark, "The Plande neighborhood, the moon in reflections, now whispers of ’kill the moon’—everything that’s not supposed to mix is now intertwined..."

The group continued deeper into the neighborhood, but this time Yu Sheng’s target was more defined—the large building resembling a tower from afar.

The vibration of the blood-colored spear became more pronounced, heat agitated from its handle, while the towering structure gradually came into clearer view—as they reached a vacant lot at the street’s end, they saw its full form.

It was a lighthouse, with gray-white outer walls and a gray-blue roof, its exterior featuring several twisted steam pipes, one ending in a siren-like structure while others stretched upward, even surpassing the lighthouse, and disappearing into the blackened night sky.

A few solitary windows were embedded in the tower, two of which emitted warm lights, the fox girl spotted various items displayed in one window, while another window was crammed with colorful balloons.

This building, originally meant to stand by the sea, was eerily placed in the neighborhood’s square, and as the group approached it, Yu Sheng heard another sound.

That was the gentle sound of waves—crashing gently, rhythmically echoing through the dry square.

"Kill the moon..."

The phantom-like voice surfaced in the square, initially solitary, yet accompanied by the waves’ rhythm, whispers surged one after another, gradually forming another layer of sound.

This time it wasn’t just Yu Sheng; everyone heard the eerie call.

Lucrecia’s crystal ball emitted a strong light, illuminating the lighthouse’s surroundings seemed to reveal layers of shadows, though they never truly pierced the invisible veil.

Yu Sheng felt something, raising his head to look skyward.

He saw a circle of round lenses at the top of the lighthouse, and within the lenses, a mass of dark red light seemed to be pulsating.

Erin looked around, clutching her frying pan and sounding tense, "Yu Sheng! There’s really something here! But I can’t see how it works?!"

Yu Sheng felt the temperature of the spear in his hand becoming increasingly hot. The red light at the top of the lighthouse seemed hazy, like a curtain separating another world. As he deliberated rapidly, a glimmer of insight suddenly flashed through his mind—

The next second, this insight darted back and forth in his mind, and suddenly split the nearby darkness, rushing straight to the top of the lighthouse like a meteor flying backward.

Giant wings woven from spiritual power unfolded in the sky. Freyia, holding her blazing Flaming Giant Sword aloft, landed a jump slash on the lighthouse.

There was no anticipated roar, no explosive impact; some kind of "boundary" dissolved silently. Yu Sheng saw the lighthouse split with a terrifying rift from the middle. Pure white Holy Light and blood-colored moonlight clashed fiercely within the rift, pulsating and twitching, further ripping the entire structure apart.

Immediately, the rift spread like veins across the outer walls of the lighthouse, and the grand red moonlight erupted from those fissures. The entire neighborhood finally echoed with a belated and deep rumble.

Freyia flapped her wings and descended, waving her Flaming Giant Sword beside Yu Sheng, shouting chaotic noises at the lighthouse—she seemed to be hurling harsh words, but the melodious spiritual sound resembled a song.

Erin was dumbfounded, "Where did she come from?! And how did she slash this thing open?!"

Yu Sheng: "Didn’t you say? Freyia is Apiao, Apiao goes wherever she wants..."

"I was describing metaphorically!"

Yu Sheng: "Well, she really does go wherever she wants—I called her over with a ’try it’ mindset, primarily to see if she could detect any ’curtain’ here. I didn’t expect her execution to be this high..."

"I think it’s not even about execution anymore..." The Little Puppet reflexively spoke, then suddenly stopped, turning to look at the lighthouse, which was already slashed into pieces by Freyia, "Wait, hold on! What’s happening with this thing..."

Yu Sheng looked up and saw the lighthouse, almost split completely, shaking violently in the darkness. It seemed on the verge of collapsing just a second ago, but the moonlight spilling from within pulled it back forcefully. Subsequently, it started transforming remarkably—

The two halves of the tower throbbed and transformed, turning into two pale arms made of stone and metal. Countless wall skins fell off the top, and steam pipes and bricks twisted into finger-like structures. The horrifying giant hands clenched tightly in the sky, with endless moonlight spilling from between their fingers. Accompanied by a resounding chime, the hands slowly opened.

The rugged giant hands unfolded like flowers, lifting, and between these hands floated a small red moon, slowly pulsating with the chime, pumping out streams of blood-like moonlight.

The upper half of the lighthouse turned into giant hands holding the Blood Moon, while its shattered lower half began to tremble continuously as if ready to break free from the ground below!

"Damn, the lighthouse came to life too!" Erin yelled, "I didn’t say anything this time! You can’t blame this on me!"

Yu Sheng gripped the spear tightly, ready to speak, but suddenly heard a burst of intensive gunfire nearby.

Flashes erupted at the opposite end of the square’s entrance. Some writhing mud creatures exploded into fragments under particle beam bombardment, followed by a spiritual energy arc shooting from the darkness, shattering the remaining two creatures.

Then Yu Sheng noticed a large number of familiar mud constructs had appeared around the square—or perhaps they had always been there, just hidden on the "moonlit side."

A silhouette in Light Power Armor appeared on the opposite side of the square, presumably a female Spiritual Servant—she floated mid-air, electrical arcs crackling across her mechanical magic ball’s surface. Her gaze passed over the wildly shaking lighthouse, landing on Yu Sheng and his companions.

A few Deep Diving Team members in Heavy Power Armor emerged from the alley, followed by several production line Puppets previously disrupted and unable to connect with the main system.

"Whoa, found it here!" Erin shouted joyfully, waving her frying pan and hopping to greet the others, "Over here! Are you guys okay?!"

"Still alive!"

Across the square, a response came through the loudspeaker of a Deep Diving Team member’s Power Armor, filled with joy and excitement.

Yet the revived lighthouse emitted rumbling once again, quickly reminding everyone of the urgent situation at hand.

Countless mud constructs surged into the square.

Yu Sheng heard shouts from the opposite group of deep divers—

"Who asked you to reminisce about orphanages standing up? Still reminiscing or not?! Still standing or not?!"

"Was that what I missed?! What I missed was the stable time of fieldwork then..."

"Just shut up—"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Apparently, the elite troops of the Special Service Bureau have quite the temperament too.