Chapter 853 - 852: Heart

Chapter 853: Chapter 852: Heart

While Yu Sheng picked up the "Moon Heart," a small team of deep divers swiftly crossed the square and joined Erin and the others.

The commander of the Deep Dive Team quickly reported his name and unit number, then turned his gaze to Yu Sheng: "Thank you all so much for your support—we were trapped in a street that seemed impossible to escape from, surrounded by endless monsters. If it weren’t for you, our team might really have met its end here."

"No worries, we happened to be nearby," Yu Sheng said with a cheerful wave, "I came over as soon as I got the message from your director. By the way, do you know how this area appeared? What exactly happened at that time?"

"It all happened very suddenly," the leader of the deep divers shook his head, opening the mask of his helmet to reveal the face of a man in his forties. "There was no warning at all. The surrounding forest sea suddenly transformed into a bizarre structure shrouded in night. In the first few seconds, we could still see some traces of forest and sky at the edges, but the entire space soon closed off..."

After the squad leader finished speaking, the spiritual servant next to him also stepped forward—a female Arglede Elf with a somewhat doll-like face: "At first, no monsters appeared, and we could barely maintain communication with the outside. But soon, red moonlight rose from the center of the street—moonlight with a strong power to interfere and influence the mind. We resisted the mental corruption, but soon a large number of monsters started appearing in the areas illuminated by the moonlight..."

"Red moonlight..."

Yu Sheng murmured softly, his gaze sweeping over the "Moon Heart" in his hand, then looking up towards the direction of the lighthouse.

After the "death fall" of the small moon, the mutated lighthouse also ceased its activity. It still maintained the posture of casting the moon at the last moment—its lower half was a tower body covered in cracks, the upper half a crooked, bizarre arm—a giant hand of twisted steam pipes menacingly reaching towards the earth, as if the last moment of this terrifying object still lingered with madness.

Yu Sheng stared silently at the eerie lighthouse, seemingly lost in thought, while Erin came over and nimbly climbed onto his shoulder.

The little puppet looked over at the "heart" in his hand and suddenly spoke: "You’re not planning to take this thing back to make soup, are you?"

Yu Sheng was internally conducting a post-battle review when he heard the little creature’s remark and was momentarily stunned, turning with a perplexed look to the puppet: "...?"

As soon as Erin saw Yu Sheng’s reaction, the whole puppet was shocked: "...You’re not going to make soup with it, right?!"

Yu Sheng: "What’s going on in that head of yours..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden crackling noise from the night sky made everyone fall silent, and they turned in horror to look at the lighthouse.

Huge cracks were rapidly spreading across the lighthouse, its twisted upper part beginning to tremble in the darkness. Countless fragments were falling more and more frequently, crashing into the ground around them.

Erin instantly grabbed the hair on the back of Yu Sheng’s head: "Oh shit, you’re kidding me!? This kind of spectacle-level boss still has a second phase; is this some godforsaken act... wait, no... the place is collapsing!!"

They didn’t need Erin’s reminder; everyone already realized because not only was the lighthouse cracking and collapsing, the surrounding chaotic structures and the ground of the square were quickly filling with fissures, as if the whole space were losing its support and beginning to tremble—perhaps due to the loss of its "core," the disintegration of the anomaly zone had begun.

Erin stood up directly on Yu Sheng’s shoulder: "Oh crap, Yu Sheng, hurry and run—"

"Could you add a comma after ’oh crap’ when you shout my name next time!"

Yu Sheng shouted back, then with a flick of his hand, dispersed the blood-colored spear, grabbed the "Moon Heart" with one hand, reached into the air with the other, and a phantom gate materialized.

The door opened to reveal the scenery of the temporary command center in the "hallway" area.

The group charged through the door without hesitation, Yu Sheng bringing up the rear, while behind him the warped space continued to disintegrate and fragment, being consumed by darkness and void.

In the triangular doorway of the "hallway" area, a group of council agents and Special Service Bureau officers who were busy adjusting equipment stared slack-jawed at the door that suddenly appeared on the open ground and the figures rushing out from it.

Baili Qing soon arrived upon hearing the news, and when she saw Yu Sheng and his group, a barely perceptible look of relief crossed her face.

"Everyone’s been brought out, all safe and sound," Yu Sheng greeted Baili Qing with a nod, shaking the dark red stone heart in his hand, "Also brought back a local specialty—might need Red’s help for further research."

As he spoke, another pair of phantom eyes floated down from the air. Baili Xue was reporting what she had just observed from above: "Sister! The anomaly zone in the forest suddenly vanished!"

Baili Qing nodded slightly, her gaze involuntarily drawn to the object in Yu Sheng’s hand: "So, what is this thing?"

"No idea, maybe... the ’heart’ of a moon?" Yu Sheng scratched his head, "The main body of this was alive just ten minutes ago. I killed it, it shattered on the ground, and this was all that was left."

Baili Qing blinked, and if it were anyone else hearing Yu Sheng’s explanation, they’d need at least half an hour to process the grammar and vocabulary, but as the director, her expression didn’t change. She simply nodded: "Got it. Red just sent a message saying they’re on their way, should be here soon... Now let’s find a quiet place and you can tell me exactly what happened."

The rescued Deep Dive Team quickly followed the logistics personnel to the medical department, where they needed to undergo a comprehensive physical and mental check-up. Yu Sheng and the others, led by Baili Qing, came to a barrack—unrelated personnel had been asked to leave in advance, and the somewhat simple barrack had no decoration, just a table and a circle of chairs in the middle, with a forest zone diorama projected in mid-air by a nearby holographic device.

"Sorry, conditions are rather limited at the moment," Baili Qing said. "Want something to drink?"

Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Just a few bottles of water will do."

Hu Li sat down next to the table then looked around, quietly retrieving a baked cake from her tail to munch on—Yu Sheng suspected she might have wanted to ask for a bowl of noodles with bean sauce, but felt too shy to speak up.

Then Yu Sheng recounted everything that happened in that enigmatic space to Baili Qing—especially the changes in the space after the appearance of the red moon.

After finishing the recount, he went on to talk about the peculiar "nightmare" he and Erin had previously entered, and the conversation with Red in the Mirror Sanctuary.

Baili Qing obviously had some understanding of Red’s situation. After listening to Yu Sheng’s account, her eyes showed a thoughtful expression, and she spoke after a long while: "...I once heard Red mention those troublesome memory fragments and that recurring dream always entangled with her. I just didn’t expect that one day these things would... appear in reality like this."

As she spoke, her gaze fell onto the table in front of Yu Sheng.

The fist-sized "Moon Heart" was quietly lying there, the dark red twisted mass looked like a stone, with pale thorny material visible on the edges of the mass.

It had now completely lost vitality and did not respond to any external stimuli.

Baili Qing’s eyes shone faintly, as she locked onto that "stone," discerning information remnants related to this mass, attempting to retrospect its past and reconstruct its complete existence form.

An unstable glow briefly emerged beside her and then vanished instantly.

Baili Qing immediately closed her eyes and gently massaged her brow.

Yu Sheng looked at her nervously, "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine," Baili Qing said softly, with some confusion in her voice, "It’s just... the first time I encountered such a situation. I tried to trace back its ’past,’ but this heart... has no past."

Yu Sheng blinked, and just as he was about to ask further, abrupt footsteps suddenly emerged outside.

The next moment, the barrack door was pulled open, and Red’s figure appeared before everyone.

"I came as soon as I got the message," Red said hurriedly upon entering, "Ah Qing, what’s going on now? Yu Sheng’s side..."

She suddenly stopped, finally noticing the people in the room.

"Hi!" Erin waved from atop the table, "We’re back! And we took care of something similar to the ’Little Moon’ you mentioned in the Moonlight Church in your previous nightmare..."

Red was a bit bewildered by Little Puppet’s rapid-fire speech, but quickly felt something, her attention instantly drawn to the "Moon Heart" on the table.

Though unable to see her eyes change, Yu Sheng discerned surprise and confusion from Red’s facial expression.

"This thing..." Red stepped to the table in two strides, her tone changed slightly, "Where did you get this?!"

"It’s from the anomalous forest zone," Erin replied casually, "Didn’t I just say? We took out a ’Little Moon’ over there... Well, mainly Yu Sheng and Apiao worked together. It’s the material dropped after the boss fight, Yu Sheng said it’s the Moon’s heart. Just between us, though, I suspect Yu Sheng wants to use it for soup..."

"That last part is your imagination!" Yu Sheng’s eyes widened immediately, then he nodded to Red, "Though the other parts weren’t exaggerated, it truly was the item that dropped after a small moon died and..."

Yu Sheng paused abruptly, because he saw the vampire girl across from him suddenly raise her hand silently and then stab fiercely into her own chest!

However, the expected scene of blood splattering did not occur. Instead, a vibrating dark red rift appeared in front of Red’s chest, like some kind of space tunnel floating before her body. Under everyone’s dumbfounded gaze, she reached into the rift, rummaged around twice, and pulled out a fist-sized object.

Her heart.

A dark red irregular mass, wrapped in blood-red thorn-like material—virtually identical to the lifeless "Moon Heart" on the table, with the sole difference being that the thorny substance on her heart was as red as blood.