Chapter 23: Hand in Hand

“What just happened?”

Chen Jing’s urgent inquiry crackled through the channel.

The sound quality in the earpiece had been excellent, but now it seemed to become indistinct and muffled.

Under the Crimson Moon, it seemed as if all the fish screamed in a cacophony, a scene of indescribable madness. They writhed, mouths gaping open and shut, tail fins flapping desperately against the ground. The sounds erupting from them seemed to coalesce into a terrifying force, wave after wave assaulting Lu Xin’s and the others’ ears like needles stabbing into their brains.

In this chaos, the three members of the Investigation Team frantically clutched their guns, looking around in panic, even forgetting to respond.

“It’s the Source of Contamination…”

In his haste, Lu Xin managed only to shout these few words.

“Quick…”

Chen Jing’s voice cut in immediately, sharp as if urgently trying to issue some command.

“Swoosh…”

But at that very moment, a surge of crimson tide rushed towards Lu Xin and the three Investigation Team members.

That red tide seemed like the light of the Crimson Moon falling from the sky, imbued with its own consciousness. It swept up the many fish struggling and screaming at the bottom of the lake. It came impossibly fast, reaching Lu Xin and the others almost in the blink of an eye. Simultaneously, “BANG! BANG! BANG!” — all the fish exploded violently under this force, their blood and gore splattering outwards in a horrifying wave.

Lu Xin and the three Investigation Team members were hit almost before they could react. The impact flung them four or five meters backwards. They landed heavily in the thick mud, instantly covered in fish scales and sludge, looking utterly disheveled.

But it wasn’t over. Under the Crimson Moon, faint shadows flickered.

Almost instantly, the three Investigation Team members were yanked into the air, struggling desperately against an unseen grip.

The instruments in their hands clattered down into the mud.

From the earpiece half-buried in the muck, Chen Jing’s voice shouted: “Retreat immediately! Go!”

…

Three heavily armed soldiers abruptly floating in mid-air—the scene was profoundly eerie and terrifying.

The soldiers responsible for the distant perimeter line stared wide-eyed at the spectacle.

Lu Xin had not been pulled into the air. As he scrambled to get up from the mud, he saw a figure charge towards him.

This figure was a dull crimson, arms outstretched as if trying to embrace him.

Its speed made evasion nearly impossible. Yet, in that instant of desperation, a small, ice-cold hand suddenly grasped Lu Xin’s. Simultaneously, his own movements became unnaturally swift. Planting a hand on the ground and twisting his torso, he flipped sideways to the left, then scrambled back two or three meters, narrowly dodging the figure’s intended “embrace.”

It was Little Sister. She had arrived just in time beside him, pulling him away.

Now, looking ahead, Lu Xin couldn’t help the slight constriction in his pupils.

The three Investigation Team members hung suspended in the air. Their poses were stiff, contorted, still holding marks of struggle, but they moved clearly at the mercy of something else. Focusing his gaze, Lu Xin saw that behind each of the three floated a faint, indistinct, eerie crimson Shadow. These Shadows pressed tightly against their backs, gripped their arms, and tangled around their legs.

From behind these Shadows, faint tendrils extended towards the watery hollow at the very center of the lake.

…

“It’s a Psychic Shock…”

The voice of Han Bing, the information analyst, soon sounded over the channel. Her normally soft tone was now sharp with urgency: “Data transmitted from the instruments moments ago indicates an outburst of Psychic Energy nearing at least two hundred energy levels! Confirmed: a Level One Psychic Entity has manifested! Confirmed: the Mental Plague has erupted!”

“Source of Contamination infection level raised to INTERMEDIATE. Threat level temporarily raised to CRITICAL…”

“…”

Chen Jing took an involuntary deep breath upon hearing this. “Lu Xin! Withdraw!” she yelled into the mic immediately.

Almost simultaneously, Han Bing’s voice also rang out: “Beware the Investigation Team members!”

As their voices overlapped, all the surrounding perimeter guards witnessed the three suspended Armed Personnel of the Investigation Team. Their faces, contorted in silent agony, were turning blue from suffocation. Yet, their limbs moved unnaturally, manipulated by invisible force. Slowly, they turned in the air in grotesque, jerky motions, raising their weapons.

They fought the movement, visibly straining, but overwhelmed. Suddenly, gunfire erupted.

As bullets rained down, the muffled cry of the Team Leader, identifiable by his thick beard, could just be heard: “Get down!”

“Whizz!” “Whizz!” “Whizz!”

Bullets slammed into the ground, splattering thick arcs of mud.

Lu Xin had already flung himself behind a hump of wet mud just as the bullets began to fall, crouching low.

Han Bing’s voice continued, sharp with analysis: “Target identified as likely Level One Psychic Entity! Three Armed Personnel from the Investigation Team currently compromised! Recommendation: Immediate retrieval of the sole uninfected investigative asset! Request immediate deployment of the City Patrol Army for heavy-weapons area saturation on the Psychic Entity!”

“Approved!”

Chen Jing’s voice was icy: “Additionally: prep a Helicopter. I am deploying to the zone.”

She then immediately directed her comms towards Lu Xin: “Lu Xin! Retreat immediately! Order all units to pull back five hundred meters!”

“I can’t leave!”

At that exact moment, Lu Xin spoke up, his voice low but firm, cutting her off.

Chen Jing sounded shocked: “What?”

Lu Xin spoke quickly: “Those three soldiers… they aren’t infected yet. Only controlled. And beside that…” He shot a glance towards the distant perimeter where members of the City Patrol Army stood transfixed, staring dumbstruck at the three men floating and firing on their own comrades.

Lu Xin whispered: “Running won’t save them.”

Chen Jing seemed to suddenly realize something: “You—”

“I’m resolving this.”

Lu Xin stated his decision, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“Too dangerous—!” Chen Jing began to yell the two words.

But Lu Xin was already looking to his left.

Little Sister crouched beside him, her face twisted into a smile that was objectively grotesque, vaguely terrifying, yet somehow… strangely, incongruously radiant towards him.

He gave her a single, sharp nod.

Then, he erupted from cover.

The three suspended members of the Investigation Team, unable to get a firing angle on Lu Xin behind the mud hump from their floating position, were slowly drifting sideways, propelled by the unseen force, seeking a clear shot. They never expected Lu Xin to suddenly leap out into the open… charging straight at them with reckless, headlong speed.

Under the entity’s control, their weapons whipped up instantly, all three barrels locking onto him.

The men squeezed their eyes shut in horror, unable to bear the sight, yet their fingers tightened on the triggers involuntarily.

Bullets poured down towards Lu Xin like hail.

But Lu Xin, after bursting from cover, had already thrown his hand out sideways as he ran.

Little Sister, running beside him, matched his movement. Her tiny, pale hand shot out.

Their hands—one large, one small—locked together.

Instantly, Lu Xin’s form became indistinct, blurring at the edges.

Like a transition from human to ghost.