The Eldritch Red Moon

Yanzu's check-in spot.

Yifei's check-in spot.

ps: those who prefer dark, anti-humanity stories need not bother, and those who prefer the protagonist to be a team leader need not bother either.

Beside the national highway, Qin Shuwen buried his head and pedaled his bicycle, the chain making a clicking sound that was exceptionally harsh in the dead silence of dawn.

He could no longer remember how long he had been riding; his legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and every single push of the pedals felt like he was expending all his strength.

"Little... Little Shen..."

"Stop for a moment..."

Qin Shuwen exhausted every ounce of his strength, squeezing out those words toward the young figure ahead of him.

Hearing the commotion, the youth riding ahead as well stiffened slightly, then slowed his pedaling pace a bit without letting the bicycle come to a complete stop.

"Little Shen!" This time, Qin Shuwen raised his tone a bit. "I really... might not make it..."

Hearing this, Shen Ye finally clamped the brakes, propped one foot on the ground, and turned back to look at him.

Seeing this, Qin Shuwen finally stopped, collapsing over the handlebars like a puddle of mud, his face pale and covered in sweat.

This middle-aged man, who had been full of vigor not long ago, now looked as though all his strength had been drained from him.

Shen Ye rode back, saying nothing as he simply watched him quietly.

"I can't go on."

Qin Shuwen gave a bitter smile, slid off the handlebars, and sat flat on the ground.

"You go. Don't worry about me."

Shen Ye didn't rush to speak. First, he looked up at the night sky, where he saw two moons: one was no different from the one in his original world, emitting a white light.

As for the other, it radiated an eerie, blood-red light, and upon closer inspection, it carried an unreal, hazy quality.

That was right, Shen Ye was not a native of this world.

Before crossing over, he was a mercenary in the Golden Triangle. Having unfortunately been shot during a mission, his soul crossed over to this world and into Shen Ye, a person who shared his exact appearance and name.

Though called a mercenary, most of the work he actually did was undercover operations.

It was a pity that he hadn't finished the mission assigned by his organization before he died.

Now was the fourth day since the arrival of the apocalypse in this world. He had witnessed far too many scenes like this, and many things had completely subverted his worldview.

The original body was a university student majoring in performing arts at a film academy. Aside from attending classes, his favorite hobby was wilderness hiking.

Taking advantage of the May Day holiday, he found four like-minded hiking companions in a trekking group, preparing to challenge the "Aotai Line," which had been exceptionally popular online recently.

He never expected that on the very night before their planned departure, the red moon would suddenly appear, followed by the emergence of countless rifts across the globe, out of which swarmed countless eldritch horrors.

These entities specifically attacked densely populated areas, and city after city turned into human forbidden zones overnight.

As for the hiking group Shen Ye belonged to, although they managed to escape the city on the night of the disaster by using bicycles parked along the roadside, after several days of fleeing, only he and Qin Shuwen remained.

As for the others, one of them had taken a fall on the second night of the apocalypse and was instantly torn to pieces by the monsters trailing closely behind.

Another had gone to relieve himself by the roadside and was dragged away by something that suddenly lunged out from behind a tree, managing to cry out only a single word-"Help"-before dying...

Various bizarre and bloody scenes kept Shen Ye from daring to reminisce any further. As his gaze shifted downward, the pitch-black horizon was already beginning to turn pale.

Then, Shen Ye spoke calmly, "Hold on a little longer. It'll be dawn soon."

After several days of fleeing, he knew very well that in this world, stopping meant waiting for death.

"Take this." Qin Shuwen shook his head, unhooked his backpack from the bicycle, and handed it over with trembling hands. "I know my own body very well. I've completely run out of the strength to move."

"Take what's left. Live on well, and carry my share with you."

Shen Ye was not a sentimental person, and he briskly took the backpack and weighed it.

It wasn't heavy.

Compared to a few days ago, this mountaineering pack had shrunk quite a bit.

"There are pictures of my wife and daughter in the bag."

Qin Shuwen raised his head, looking at Shen Ye, who wasn't even breathing heavily, and continued speaking with great effort,

"Little Shen, I know you're extraordinary. If you manage to survive and run into my wife and daughter, I hope you can look after them a bit."

Before the apocalypse, Qin Shuwen was the boss of a listed company, and his eyes for reading people were exceptionally sharp.

The two of them were clearly riding the exact same bicycles; while he himself was now exhausted to the point of death, the young man before him looked completely unaffected, which was evidently somewhat different from ordinary people.

Shen Ye was silent for two seconds before hanging the backpack on the rear rack of his own bicycle and tying it down securely.

He didn't give a verbal promise, but it looked like he had taken the matter to heart.

"Those things are coming."

As a cold gust of wind blew toward the two of them, Shen Ye spoke abruptly.

Following his gaze toward the direction from which they had come, they saw a mass of gray fog continuously drawing closer.

Something seemed to be moving within the fog, completely indistinguishable to the naked eye, yet the bone-chilling coldness and the nightmarish, rustling strange sounds were things the two of them would never forget in this lifetime.

Qin Shuwen glanced back, but this time his eyes held no more fear, only the smile of someone after finding release.

He let out a long breath, leaned against the bicycle, fished a withered cigarette case out of his pocket, pulled out a nearly crushed cigarette and lit it, took a fierce drag, and looked as if he had completely laid down a heavy burden.

"The last one, I won't share." He waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, hurry up and go, don't worry about me."

Shen Ye gave him one final look, turned without hesitation, straddled the bicycle, and rushed forward without looking back.

He could not stop.

To stop meant death.

"Ah-"

A few minutes later, a faint and miserable scream came from behind.

Shen Ye's body gave a violent shudder; it was Qin Shuwen's voice.

He dared not look back, and the ever-closing coldness made him pedal even faster.

"Useless legs! Pedal faster!"

Shen Ye roared, veins bulging on his forehead.

He did not know how long he had been riding, but the sky was gradually turning pale.

By the time sunlight pierced through the clouds and spilled across his face, the chill behind him seemed to encounter something terrifying and vanished abruptly.

He glanced back.

Aside from a few abandoned vehicles, the highway was empty.

Shen Ye slowed his pace, panting heavily.

"I... I survived."

Over the past few days of flight, he had barely closed his eyes.

If he had not awakened a Sequence named Asura after crossing over, his fate would likely have been similar to Qin Shuwen's.

He pulled out the canteen Qin Shuwen had left behind, unscrewed the cap, and took a gulp.

After resting for five minutes, Shen Ye put away the canteen and continued riding forward.

Following the original route, he soon spotted a caravan camp surrounded by a dozen or so vehicles.

It was the Rock Carriage Team he was currently attached to.

As Shen Ye rode closer, a middle-aged man with a beer belly walked over holding a clipboard, gave Shen Ye a deep look, and asked, "You're Shen Ye, right? Where's Qin Shuwen, the one who was with you?"

The beer belly was responsible for the team's personnel statistics and order management, and everyone called him Steward Huang.

Every time they rested, he had to screen the entire team to avoid letting strangers or anything bad mix in.

"He fell behind." Shen Ye's tone was very flat.

Hearing this, Steward Huang's hand holding the pen paused, and then he marked an "X" behind Qin Shuwen's name on the form.

As for the details, he did not ask further, because he knew very well that after the arrival of the apocalypse, falling behind meant death.

And the death of one person was the most normal thing in the world now.

After finishing the registration, Steward Huang turned and walked toward another vehicle.

Pushing his bicycle, Shen Ye came to the shade of a large tree not far away and took down Qin Shuwen's mountaineering backpack to check the remaining supplies inside.

There was quite a lot left inside: a bag of sliced bread, three packs of instant noodles, two cans of energy drinks, ten packs of compressed biscuits, and some emergency medicine, evidently prepared for that hiking trip before the apocalypse.

If not for his increased appetite recently, coupled with the supplies already in his own pack, lasting another week would definitely not have been a problem.