010 Four Moons

“Come on, choose.”
In the empty building, Mo Bai revealed a wicked smile. “Will you keep quiet, or watch a life die right before your eyes?”
“Think about my dear little sister—she’s my only family. Lose me, and our warm little home will be gone.”
“My sister will cry; she’ll lose hope in life. Maybe she’ll even turn into a major villain.”
“All because of you.”
Heh, moral blackmail feels damn good!
Dying is out of the question. No matter what, he wouldn’t take his own life. In his hand was only a quack’s scalpel.
Mo Bai had already said he was his sister’s only anchor. Even for her sake, he wouldn’t just die like that.
But threatening a righteous, naive minor who didn’t understand the world’s cruelty still worked pretty well.
Isn’t it time for those who love to love to kick in?
“You, you…” Shen Qiqi looked at Mo Bai, who was threatening his own life, unable to cry or laugh. “How on earth do you look like an ordinary citizen?!”
Would an ordinary citizen just suddenly point a knife at their own head?
Maybe customs differ; ordinary citizens where she came from wouldn’t do that.
“How rude,” Mo Bai blinked. “I’m one hundred percent an ordinary person.”
“Except for my face, if you randomly grabbed a few people from a crowd, they’d all be ordinary like me.”
“No,” Shen Qiqi retorted, “with your mom out there being a pirate and your dad dying in childbirth, I don’t think that counts as ordinary.”
She actually listened seriously. I’m dying here.
“Don’t get caught up in the details.”
Mo Bai urged, “So, will you tell me or not?”
If you knew, you’d realize Mo Bai was threatening a magical girl with suicide. If you didn’t, you’d think some villain from an adult anime was possessing the magical girl’s friend, using their life to force her into submission, then happily launching into a 40-minute trembling drama.
“Ugh…” Shen Qiqi bit her lip. “I don’t believe you’d actually kill yourself.”
“I’m not bluffing!”
“Oh, really?”
Mo Bai said expressionlessly, “What a shame.”
“Remember to tell my sister my last words: I love her.”
“Also, I’m really not a siscon.”
The next second, Mo Bai gripped the fruit knife tightly and mercilessly pressed it against his temple.
The look in his eyes, the determination—no one would believe he couldn’t do it.
Shen Qiqi chickened out.
Her sense of duty as a magical girl forced her to make a final choice: “Hey! Wait!”
“I believe you, I believe you! I’ll tell you everything, okay?!”
“Put the knife down!”

The knife’s tip was less than a centimeter from Mo Bai’s skin.
“Good, you made the right choice.”
Mo Bai happily put the knife down. “As expected of a righteous partner.”
Just like in the anime—so easy to handle.
Seeing Mo Bai finally set the knife aside, Shen Qiqi exhaled in relief and glared at him with immense grievance.
“You bad guy!”
Mo Bai only smiled. “To be called that by a magical girl is a great honor. So,”
“Shall we begin?”

…

“The preliminary investigation is complete.”
In the conference room, Mo Mo sipped her milk coffee as she accepted a thick stack of documents handed by Ji Yue.
“Because Mo Mo said the Darkborn are just cannon fodder to cover up the real culprits, the intelligence department reprioritized.”
“The focus shifted to the keywords you captured.”
“Fingers, sacrifice, death and cruelty, Red Moon…”
Mo Mo opened the files. On the first page were countless entries highlighted in red, encrypted and bolded.
One of the prime entities: The Crimson Moon.
Both in terms of threat and importance, it was among the highest.
Even Mo Mo’s current clearance couldn’t access the full Crimson Moon file—only this encrypted, redacted version.
But it didn’t matter much; she still had the info she needed.
[Project Name: Crimson Moon]
[Containment Number: None]
[Containment Status: Uncontained]
[Project Level: Keter]
[Project Description: Typically appears as an elliptical spherical body of RGB (138,3,3), with no facial features. Initial records discovered through encrypted data.]
[Under normal circumstances, staring directly at the Crimson Moon causes changes in thought patterns within 1-1452 days. Data shows 44% become more bloodthirsty, 23% show no change, 24% exhibit madness, 9% uncontrollably commit suicide. Scholar Russell’s experiments confirmed its influence stems from individual desires.]
[True nature and location unknown. Individuals affected claim to see a blood-red moon in the sky, while unaffected individuals cannot. No celestial body resembling the Crimson Moon has been found in the universe.]
[Under special conditions, those exposed to the Chaos Moon perceive the Crimson Moon as a red-haired, golden-eyed, pale-skinned girl aged 14-18, occasionally 12—a human from the continent. Due to Chaos Moon’s encryption, this description is disregarded.]
[Containment Description: None (containment incomplete)]
[Associated Items: Audio (click to play)]
[Project Records: …]
Mo Mo closed her eyes, weary. “There are four of these, right?”
“Yes.”
Ji Yue tilted her head thoughtfully. “Silent Blue Moon, Chaotic Purple Moon, Fertile Green Moon, Desire Red Moon.”

“Each one is a top-level threat.”
“Each has unique strengths and special abilities.”
Ji Yue sighed, “Just thinking about how our world is constantly watched by such terrifying entities sends chills down my spine.”
“Our world hasn’t perished yet; it’s truly a miracle.”
Mo Mo lowered her gaze. “Not a miracle—our predecessors’ efforts have kept it alive.”
“Now, it’s our turn.”
Mo Mo fell into thought. “The Crimson Moon’s presence is recorded. It only stirs desire, usually not directly causing destruction.”
“Then how does death and cruelty fit in?”
“Fingers, sacrifice… What do they offer the Crimson Moon? And what does it give them in return?”
The other keywords besides the Crimson Moon were vague. Entities matching the death and cruelty label were as common in this world as the strongest monsters in special effects shows—more numerous than turtles in a river.
Fingers and sacrifice were even more nebulous.
They seemed unrelated.
But their recurring presence in subconscious thought meant there was a connection.
Suddenly, Mo Mo’s eyes brightened.
“The Black King’s ability manifests as shadows but is essentially a soul’s positional authority.”
“They kill to collect souls.”
“The little black creature we caught yesterday is undoubtedly the lowest in the clan, able to hold only two souls at once.”
“But there are five of them, and they killed twenty-four people total.”
“Something must be holding the extra souls.”
“It’s the fingers!” Ji Yue realized, staring at her palm. “Five people, five fingers, right?”
“Exactly. Report this up and narrow the search.”
Mo Mo finished her coffee in one gulp. “We can’t just sit around. Sacrificing souls is the worst kind of ritual.”
“We have to find them before things get worse!”
Otherwise, if that sacrifice summons some monster like Godzilla, Gomora, or Gorgonzola, they’d be doomed.
However, Mo Mo didn’t know this terrifying plan had already stalled due to a small mishap.
Because…
“Where is it…”
“Where the hell is it…”
In a city corner, the little black creatures desperately searched for their fallen comrade’s death site.
“Old Three, take the container…”
“Where the hell did he die, damn it!!!”