Make a Move

Lu Yuan suddenly stood up, pushed open the door, and walked out.

A large crowd had gathered on the street, all looking in the same direction, but no one dared to approach.

Lu Yuan followed their gaze.

Then he saw Red.

Or rather, it used to belong to Red.

The young man was standing naked in the middle of the street.

The white light from the Sandworm Oil Lamp shone on him, illuminating his terrifying appearance clearly.

Eyeball.

A dense array of eyeballs.

They emerged from faces, necks, and chests, large and small, covered in blood vessels, all of them rotating.

His belly was swollen like a balloon, his skin stretched almost transparent, and you could vaguely see something writhing violently inside.

All eyes turned to the surrounding crowd.

"Help... help me..."

Red's mouth was still moving, making indistinct sounds.

But the voice no longer sounded human.

His voice was hoarse and broken, as if something was wriggling in his throat.

At the edge of vision, gray and white text quietly emerged:

[Target for detection: Severely Contamination (late stage/incubating stage)]

[Status: Host's consciousness is about to fade, and the incubator within the body is about to burst out]

[Weakness: Killing the Host]

Lu Yuan's eyes turned cold.

He had long anticipated this moment.

The Mutated Sandworm's mouthparts were filled with countless eyes; Red was in charge of cleaning that area, so he must have come into contact with the deepest layers of Contamination.

The purple bulge indicated from the beginning that what was inside him was different from what others had.

"Get out of the way!"

Lu Yuan shouted and pushed his way through the crowd.

His right hand was already gripping the Revolver in his arms.

"Mr. Lu... Mr. Lu..."

When Red saw him, all those eyes simultaneously turned towards Lu Yuan, a hint of pleading and relief flashing in their eyes.

"Help... help me..."

His stomach began to churn violently, and his skin hissed under the strain.

"Please..."

Lu Yuan did not answer. He raised his hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The Silver-Plated Bullet struck Red squarely between the eyebrows.

The body fell backward and crashed heavily to the ground, its eyeballs losing their luster at the same time.

Solved? No, wait! The thing inside Red's stomach hatched!

Red's stomach suddenly burst open, black liquid splattered everywhere, and a fleshy red thing rolled out from inside.

That was an insect.

To be precise, it was a twisted mass of flesh.

Its body is covered with ring-shaped grooves, like the patterns of Sandworm, but it is much smaller, only about the size of a Sandworm's fist.

It has no eyes, no limbs, only a round mouth covered with tiny teeth.

At this moment, it is emitting a sharp hiss and wriggling rapidly on the ground.

The speed was astonishing.

At the edge of my field of vision, gray and white text flickers:

[Detection target: Parasite Larva (Mutated Sandworm variant)]

[Characteristics: Extremely fast, feeds on Flesh and blood, sensitive to silver]

[Weakness: Any attack]

Lu Yuan reacted quickly, firing another shot.

Bang!

The Silver-Plated Bullet grazed the mass of flesh, struck the ground, and kicked up a cloud of sand.

Missed.

The thing's speed exceeded Lu Yuan's expectations.

It twisted its body and charged toward the nearest townsman.

The townsman was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as the fleshy red thing lunged at him.

At the critical moment, a ball of Flame flew from the side and struck the insect squarely.

Hiss!

The insects let out a piercing scream and writhed wildly in the Flame.

Lu Yuan turned his head to look.

Herman stood not far away, holding a Sandworm Oil Lamp in his hand, the oil still dripping, his face ashen.

"Use fire!" Lu Yuan reacted immediately, shouting to those around him, "Use torches to drive it away! And get some Sandworm Oil!"

The townspeople reacted quickly, immediately forming a circle and raising the torches forward.

The heat emanating from the Flame caused the insect, which had just extinguished the Flame on its body, to instinctively take a few steps back.

But it soon realized something was wrong; Flame were all around it.

The circle formed by the townspeople was quite large; unless Lu Yuan activated the Time Bestower, he wasn't confident he could hit it.

Just when the situation was at its most tense.

Several quick-running townspeople had already run over with oil drums, and at Lu Yuan's signal, they sprinkled the oil all around. The insects seemed to sense something and instinctively began to wriggle.

But before the insect could retaliate, the crowd slowly dispersed, and then a fire was lit.

Flame instantly spread around the insect.

The insect was frightened, but it was too late; the Flame had completely engulfed it.

Another bucket of oil was thrown in, landing on the insects.

"Boom!"

The Flame devoured everything, and the insect's body was baked dry and shrunk.

Finally, complete silence fell.

Only a charred remnant remained, slowly turning to ash in the Flame.

Lu Yuan put away his Revolver, walked to the pile of debris, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that it was completely dead.

But then, my heart jumped again.

The one inside Red was likely infected from the mouthparts of Mutated Sandworm.

And the parasite that crawled out of the mayor's chest, now gone... and Grego...

He'd been staying at the mayor's house for so long, could he have had one of these things around him too?

"Check every suspicious place in town," Lu Yuan said, turning to Herman in a serious tone. "Especially the area around the warehouse. If you find anything unusual, burn it down immediately."

Herman nodded, his face grim.

Lu Yuan returned to Herman's house first and did not go out again.

He sat on the edge of the bed, closed his eyes to rest, and tried to allow his mind and body to recover as much as possible.

The sky outside the window gradually darkened.

One by one, the Sandworm Oil Lamp in the town lit up, their white light enveloping the entire town in a halo.

But no one called him, so it seemed there weren't many more infected people in the town.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, walked to the window, and looked out into the darkness beyond the Light Domain.

Those charred figures are still there.

But there were far fewer than last night.

Last night, those red eyes almost merged into one, but tonight, only a few scattered figures stand at the edge of the Light Domain, staring motionlessly in the direction of the town.

Perhaps because the Sandworm had been hunted, most of the bloody smell had dissipated.

Or perhaps it's for some other reason.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

At the edge of vision, gray and white text quietly emerged:

[Sanity: +4...75/120]

The rest was quite effective.

He glanced down at the Metal Ring on his wrist.

There was still no movement.

Morris said he would contact him if needed.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes and continued to rest.

I don't know how much time passed.

The Metal Ring on my wrist suddenly vibrated.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes and his gaze fell on the Metal Ring.

Another tremor.

Signal.

He stood up, didn't go through the door, but instead pushed open the window and jumped out.

A night breeze blew in my face, carrying the dry scent unique to the desert.

Lu Yuan landed in the shadows, his figure flashed, and he sped towards the town mayor's house.

After walking through several dark alleys, he stopped in the shadow of a mud-brick house.

The mayor's house is not far away.

It was a building slightly larger than the others, with rammed earth walls and a tightly closed gate. It was dark inside, and you couldn't tell if anyone was there.

But Lu Yuan knew that someone was there.

Not just Grego.

There are other things too.

He could vaguely sense a faint, almost imperceptible aura of Contamination emanating from the building, like some kind of living thing breathing.

Footsteps came from behind, almost silent, but Lu Yuan still noticed them.

He didn't turn around.

"Heller Vincent are in position." Morris nodded slightly to both sides of the courtyard wall. "I'll go in through the main gate, and they'll flank us from both sides. You provide support from the outside, and we'll assess the situation once the Gear activate."

"Once the Gear is activated, all machinery will malfunction, including your gun."

Lu Yuan touched the Revolver in his pocket and nodded.

"There's one more thing," Morris's voice lowered, "Once the Sanity Ring is activated, the sanity of the four of us will form a unified whole. If needed, you can utilize our sanity."

He looked at Lu Yuan.

"However, your rationality might be a bit low; try to concentrate better when you're being transferred."

Lu Yuan nodded, indicating that he understood.

Morris didn't expect him to answer. He patted him on the shoulder, then swayed and headed towards the mayor's house.

A few seconds later, the mayor's door was kicked open.

Bang!

The loud noise was particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Immediately following were the sounds of battle.

The sounds of metal clashing, flesh colliding, and some kind of mechanical humming.

Lu Yuan touched the Time Bestower in his pocket and waited quietly.

He could feel the Sanity Ring on his wrist getting slightly warm.

The Sanity Ring has been activated.

He could vaguely sense the existence of three other consciousnesses, as if through a thin veil, he could see their outlines but not their details.

The battle lasted approximately two minutes.

Grego's voice came from the courtyard, hoarse and angry.

"Pathfinder? Ha! You three are just trash?"

The metallic clanging sound intensified, mixed with the shrill whistling of some kind of high-speed machinery.

Then, a blinding dark red light burst forth from the courtyard.

The Gear are activated.

In an instant, all the mechanical noise stopped.

The courtyard was silent for a moment, then Grego roared.

"You!"

Lu Yuan acted immediately.

His figure was like a ghost; with a few leaps, he vaulted over the courtyard wall and landed in the yard.

The scene before him made Lu Yuan frown slightly.

Under the moonlight, three figures were surrounding a monster.

To be precise, it was a half-human, half-machine monster.

Grego.

A large part of his body has been replaced by mechanical parts.

The right arm was a metal robotic arm, with sparks still flying from the joints.

The left leg is a mechanical leg, with a extinguished jet nozzle at the knee.

A core emitting a dark light was embedded in his chest, and half of his face was covered by a metal mask, with one eye exposed beneath the mask being bloodshot.

But at this moment, all those mechanical parts had lost their luster and hung on his body like Dead Object, becoming a burden instead.

The effect of the Mechanism-Suppressing Gear.

It's been three years!

Grego's voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed from deep in his throat.

"Three years! I've been hiding in this godforsaken place, and I'm finally about to succeed!"

His eyes were filled with madness, and his face was full of resentment.

"You damned lackeys!"