Midnight Mass

Dusk, Night City.

In the eerie fog and along the dark-red avenues, a pair of ghostly green eyes lit up in the windows of the towering office buildings. Their fierce hatred of evil and sinister glow outshone the neon lights.

The subway entrance was right ahead.

Wu Hen stepped into the subway entrance, but when he glanced back, a chill ran through him!

The city was like a gigantic living creature, awakening beneath the night sky to stare at the beings who had wandered into its midst. Then, with eerie elegance, it opened its bloody maw...

This was all virtual...

Wu Hen instinctively tried to calm himself using the same trick as before.

But he soon realized that this was what the real world looked like. It was even colder than before!

"Creak, creak~~~~~~~"

Suddenly, Wu Hen heard a sound like twisting bones.

It rang out with startling clarity in the pitch-black subway passage, and it was getting closer!

"Aunt, something's crawling toward us!" Wu Hen immediately warned Su Li.

Su Li switched on a military flashlight, clipped it to her pistol, and aimed at the corner of the passage leading to the subway platform!

A beam of cold light illuminated a bright circle, but there was nothing around the corner.

Su Li furrowed her brow slightly and was about to speak to Wu Hen, but he suddenly shut his eyes and turned his ear toward the passage.

He was certain there was something around the corner. The bone-like sound had grown very faint!

"There's definitely something there!" Wu Hen said with absolute certainty.

Su Li realized something. She immediately raised the tactical flashlight and her pistol, locking the beam onto the ceiling of the passage!

The ceiling was just as dark, but when the tactical light swept over it, a monster was revealed, clinging upside down near the ventilation duct. Its skin looked almost exactly like plaster. Even when the light fell on it, it could easily be mistaken for a patch of peeling wall unless you looked closely!

Su Li's pupils widened when she saw the monster. It had to be something truly terrifying.

"It's a Midnight Mass. It's stronger than an Evil Spirit, and bullets can't kill it!" Su Li said quietly.

"Then how do we get past it?"

"Keep a light trained on it, and it won't move," Su Li said.

Wu Hen had spent some time living in his family's village when he was young. One night, he'd been frightened by a black, furry, white-fronted huntsman spider clinging to a corner of the wall.

The Midnight Mass clinging to the ceiling looked a lot like that spider, but it was countless times more horrifying!

If only he could look away.

But he had to keep the only light trained on it, and couldn't take his eyes off it. It was like putting a close-up on a terrifying image, its grotesque, disgusting appearance right in their faces!

"It hates light. During the day, they turn into gray statues. But if we think we can beat it with guns or brute force, we'll just end up torn to shreds." Su Li remained fairly calm as she led Wu Hen little by little toward the corner.

Su Li's hand was steady. The tactical light's bright circle was less than two meters across, just enough to cover the Midnight Mass!

But as the two of them drew closer to the Midnight Mass, the circle of light shrank to about a meter across.

The terrifying thing was, the Midnight Mass moved!!

Where the light fell, it was like a sculpture carved into the wall. But in the dim areas beyond the beam, its eight legs began to writhe!

"Not good!" Su Li cried inwardly.

The Midnight Mass was incredibly fast. The moment its eight limbs slipped into the darkness, it scuttled down the wall and reached the corner in an instant!

Fortunately, Su Li reacted in time. She quickly lowered the tactical light and precisely pinned the Midnight Mass in its beam again, this time locking onto its hind legs!

Its front legs were already on the floor, while its hind legs still clung to the wall.

At this distance, the circle of light was less than a meter across. Fortunately, Su Li had the quick thinking to pin the part of it still clinging to the wall in the beam. That way, it couldn't climb down!

The tense, terrifying scene was unfolding right before their eyes. Wu Hen's heart was about to leap out of his throat!

If Aunt hadn't reacted so quickly and cleverly, he'd have been done for!!

"Go, go, go!" Cold sweat had already beaded on Su Li, but she still remembered to urge Wu Hen onward.

Wu Hen went first.

Su Li followed behind him.

Her hand was taut, not daring to waver in the slightest. If she hadn't caught the Midnight Mass in exactly this position, with part of it still on the wall, it could have moved using its other limbs!

They had to move.

The beam of light couldn't shift even a fraction.

So Su Li took every step carefully, keeping her hand perfectly still!

Wu Hen had questions, but he didn't dare disturb Su Li while she was so intensely focused.

Fortunately, Su Li stayed calm and steady. As they moved farther away from the Midnight Mass, the circle of light grew larger.

At last, the beam widened enough to cover the Midnight Mass's entire body and all its limbs. Only then did the two of them make it around the corner.

"Phew~"

Only after they had cleared the corner did Su Li let out a breath of relief.

"Good thing your Auditory Sense awakened. Otherwise, it would've ambushed us as we walked past!" Su Li said.

"Aunt, next time, can't you bring a big searchlight? That would make us feel a whole lot safer," Wu Hen said.

At that, Su Li reached out and lightly flicked Wu Hen on the head, teasing him with a playful smile. "In this land where electrical power doesn't work, even this little bit of light costs half a Yuan You shard."

"Electrical power doesn't work?" Wu Hen was puzzled.

"You've only just woken up, so it's normal that you don't know much. In any case, let's get through tonight first. We have to leave this city tomorrow," Su Li said.

Wu Hen had a very good impression of his aunt.

First, when he'd been tied up in the street as an offering, she'd rescued him single-handedly with a gun.

Then she'd turned and taken down the Black Sun Evil Spirit with a precise shot. And just now, she'd faced the Midnight Mass with calm composure. She was brave, cool, and beautiful. If she wore a red cheongsam, she'd be exactly like his favorite, Ada Wong.

Wu Hen had only just set foot in this real world, so he was practically a newborn. Yet in the short time they'd spent together, Aunt Su Li had made him feel completely safe.

So Wu Hen was hesitating over whether to tell her that he was an "Account Swapper."

There was a subway car at the platform.

Inside, a number of glowing insects provided a faint light. Otherwise, the carriage would have been pitch-black.

"Su Li's back!"

There were people inside the subway car. They recognized the newcomers in the faint light.

"Yeah. Open the door. I've broken with the Black Shirt Organization," Su Li told the people inside.

"Doesn't that mean we'll have to leave this city?" asked a man wearing glasses.

"Yes. There's no reason for us to stay here. We still have to find the Nuwa Divine Tree," Su Li said.

"If we've offended the Black Shirt Organization, we won't survive anywhere..." the man with glasses said.

"Stop talking and open the door. There's a Midnight Mass outside!" Su Li ordered sharply.

At her words, everyone in the subway car panicked. They scanned the pitch-black platform in terror, eyeing the walls, pillars, and even the ceiling of the carriage.

"Your decision can't speak for everyone. I think the Black Shirt Organization can protect us." The man with glasses finally said it, one hand on the subway door handle.

"Bang!!!!" Suddenly, Su Li raised her gun and fired.

The gunshot boomed through the platform, and a burst of sparks even flew from the carriage ceiling!

"If I fire again, I'll shoot the glass. Then we can see who gets to be the Midnight Mass's dinner first!" Su Li said coldly when the shot's echo faded.

She pointed her gun at the carriage window. Her expression made it clear that if the other man still refused to open the door, she would shoot out the subway car's protective glass!

"Clack!"

The subway doors slowly opened, pushed apart by three adult men.

"Clack!"

Soon, the three men shoved the doors closed again, leaving not even the tiniest gap.

At first, Wu Hen hadn't been comfortable with the glowing insects flying around him. But when he looked at the rest of the subway platform, which was as pitch-black as a ghostly abyss, he found these little creatures with their own light rather cute.

It was like bathing in starlight. His eyes were slowly adjusting, and the glow gave him a little comfort.

"Don't forget who found this shelter car. If you disagree with my decisions, you can leave." Su Li walked up to the man with glasses, then slapped him hard across the face.

His glasses flew off. Anger flashed in his eyes, but he didn't dare let it out. He could only slink off to a corner.

"Su Li, what should we do next? Without the Blessing Water the Black Shirt Organization gives us, those Evil Spirits will eventually devour us alive." A scarred older man walked over and spoke in a conciliatory tone.

"I've been to the Old Train Station. There's an old freight train there that can still run. Tomorrow, when the sun is high, we'll take that train out of this Evil Soil," Su Li said.

It was clear that these people sheltering in the subway car were indeed led by Su Li.

She had probably kept them alive in this bizarre world for a long time.

"A train needs fuel to start. Do we have any?" The man with glasses finally came over from the corner and asked.

"I still have half a Yuan You shard," Su Li said.

"Old trains run on coal. Can't we just find some?" Wu Hen asked.

At that, the man with glasses quickly looked at him with disdain and barely concealed disgust. He explained impatiently, "Under the Evil Sun, ordinary flames can't burn."

Wu Hen instinctively glanced at Su Li's pistol.

Did guns here not follow the usual laws of physics?

He'd only just arrived, and there was already so much he needed to learn.

The good news was that his aunt and these people seemed to have the same goal as he did.

The Nuwa Divine Tree they'd mentioned had to be the Nuwa Divine Terminal he was heading for, right?

"Where am I??"

"Who are you people??"

"Don't come near me!!"

Suddenly, a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl in the carriage cried out. She looked deeply wary, her face full of confusion and unease.

"She's awakened?" The others weren't particularly surprised.

"Xiao Yun, go explain the situation to her. Everyone else, come with me. I'll assign tasks," Su Li said calmly.

Wu Hen was also watching the girl who had "awakened." She reminded him of himself when he'd first entered this strange world: eyes wide with shock, unable to accept what was happening.

"Xiao Yun?" Su Li turned her face toward Wu Hen.

"Oh, right. Sure," Wu Hen replied, only then realizing what she meant.

She was calling him!

But he had no idea what was going on. He'd just transmigrated into this body himself.

Still, Wu Hen didn't want to reveal himself so soon, so he had to bluff his way through.

And so a clear-eyed, foolish-looking young man strode confidently toward the panicking girl...

Just make something up. Girls who've only just woken up are the easiest to fool!