Chapter 1 Approaching the Ancient City

The distance from the spatial gateway to the ancient city wasn't far. Soon, the magnificent granite city wall came into view.

The collapse of the alien dimension wasn't uniform in all directions. On the other side of the city, the collapse had already spread across nearly a third of the urban area, but the process near the spatial gateway was noticeably slower. This section of the city wall was still intact, and even a portion of the area outside the city remained stable. This state saved Hao Ren and his group a lot of trouble, sparing them from having to navigate through treacherous and fragmented collapse fissures.

"...It definitely carries the aura of that era," Vivian said, looking up at the towering city wall. "But it's hard to determine which mythological city-state it belongs to based on its style. I don't have any recollection."

Lily glanced at Vivian: "Aren't you supposed to be a living fossil from the age of mythology? How can there be something you don't know?"

"There were too many cities that bloomed briefly and then quietly disappeared during the age of mythology, and even I can't know them all," Vivian said, shaking her head. "At that time, humans were still at a very low level of productivity, and all sorts of mythical monsters and beasts roamed freely, making the environment extremely dangerous. Establishing such magnificent cities almost entirely relied on the protection and guidance of some alien being, an ancient 'god.' Although those 'ancient gods' were usually just trying to make themselves comfortable and implemented brutal rule, it must be admitted that without them, these magnificent cities wouldn't exist. But cities built in this way also had their own major drawbacks..."

Izhaks took over the rest of her sentence: "Once the 'god' that the city worshipped died, the city was finished."

Vivian nodded: "In addition, infighting between alien races could also lead to the destruction of such city-states overnight. That's why even I don't know how many ancient cities like this have disappeared into the river of history, especially during the barbaric era when the mythological wars were at their most intense."

"Ahem, let's save the history lesson for when we're inside the city," Hao Ren interrupted Vivian's lecture with a light cough. "This space is collapsing, and we don't have much time."

"Where's the city gate?" Vivian asked Hesperides. "Where did you guys enter?"

The little bat spirit pointed to a gap in the city wall: "We went through that gap over there. As for the city gate, I don't know where it is, because the situation inside is strange. My two subordinates retreated shortly after entering."

Hao Ren nodded, put away the blasting device he had just taken out, and led the team to the gap in the city wall.

"...Strange, it looks like it was broken from the inside," Izhaks said. He had a wealth of combat experience, so he was able to quickly determine the situation of the gap based on the collapsed state of the city wall around it and the direction of the falling rocks. "Look at these places, they're all collapsed from the inside out."

Hao Ren frowned: "It wasn't breached by an external enemy?"

"I'm afraid something appeared in the city," Vivian said solemnly. "This kind of thing was not uncommon in the age of mythology. The cities of Galodi and Gudaruo were destroyed from the inside out because they summoned Angry Spirits during their sacrifices. We need to be extra careful when we go in. If it really is something like an Angry Spirit, it might still have some remnants left in the city."

Everyone checked their protective spells and equipment. Even Bawu meticulously licked his paws. Then, led by Hao Ren and Vivian, they cautiously stepped through the gap in the city wall.

The instant he stepped through the gap, Hao Ren noticed that the surrounding environment had dimmed slightly. Then, a faint red light screen seemed to appear out of thin air, shrouding the surroundings and coating everything with a thin layer of crimson.

He couldn't help but look up, but he saw no change in the sky. The chaotic boundary of the alien space was still churning and surging, and countless quicksand-like giant vortexes were spinning in the chaos, gradually swallowing this space. He didn't see any light source emerging from within the vortexes and clouds. The surrounding faint red light screen seemed to be a light without a source, floating directly in the air.

"Is this the red light screen that your two subordinates mentioned?" He turned to look at Hesperides.

The little bat spirit nodded nervously: "That's it. Under the red light screen, people will unknowingly lose their stamina, and may gradually lose their minds. It's almost fatal to humans, but vampires can detect the problem before the damage endangers their lives."

The instant the red light screen appeared, Lily's ears and tail fur stood on end. Her powerful animal instincts already made her feel that there was danger in the red light: "Let's not go any further for now. Let's figure out what's going on with this red light here first. Landlord, do you have any equipment that can block it?"

Hao Ren glanced at his feet and noticed that everyone's shadows were missing, even those of the surrounding buildings and collapsed piles of stones. He used his left hand to block his right arm as a test and found that he couldn't produce a shadow either: "This light is strange. It can either pass through all obstacles, or it's omnipresent, like the spontaneous light of air."

"If it can pass through all obstacles, then we wouldn't be able to see it," the data terminal suddenly said. "Because in that case, it wouldn't produce reflections and wouldn't be absorbed by any surface. Even when it enters the eyes, it would pass straight through without being captured by the visual organs."

Lily blinked: "So it's omnipresent? What the heck is this thing?"

A thought flashed through Hao Ren's mind, but before he could say anything, he heard Vivian's voice coming from ahead, her tone low and ethereal: "It's moonlight."

"Moonlight?" Lily's ears perked up in alarm. "Bat, can you please not talk in such a spooky tone? It's giving me the creeps..."

Vivian turned around. She had already released her vampire power, and her eyes were as red as if they were soaked in blood. A faint red mist shrouded her, as if merging with the surrounding red light screen: "It's the light of the Red Moon—this city is shrouded in the Red Moon, or rather, it was once illuminated by the Red Moon."

Everyone was shocked, and Hao Ren was the first to react: "Red Moon? The kind of Red Moon that you summon?"

"There's only ever been one 'Red Moon' on this planet with supernatural power, and that's my power," Vivian nodded. "This light has been extremely weakened and mutated, but I still sensed some of my aura just now... This is undoubtedly the light of the Red Moon."

Lily's already fluffy tail instantly seemed to grow even bigger: "Bat, don't scare me! There's no moon in the sky! And you weren't even here before, so how could there be moonlight here!"

"I can't explain it either, but there is indeed moonlight remaining here," Vivian said, shaking her head. "I've never seen moonlight remain after the Red Moon disappeared, but my Red Moon itself is something beyond comprehension, even beyond my own understanding... So let's just accept this as a given."

Beneath the Red Moon, moonlight is everywhere—Hao Ren silently recited this famous line that was known to everyone among the alien races and demon hunters, and then raised his head: "So this city must have been shrouded in the Red Moon before—Vivian, do you have any memory of this?"

Vivian's attitude was very firm: "No memory at all."

Hao Ren: "...Okay, it seems like it's your memory problem again..."

"Then it's time to make a decision," Izhaks said gruffly. "Operating under the Red Moon's light is definitely not a good idea. We can either retreat first, or if we want to continue forward, we must find a way to block this moonlight—even my demon rune shield can't stop it."

"This moonlight has weakened a lot. The energy should be slowly dissipating due to the passage of time," Vivian said, looking at Hao Ren. "I can continue to move in the moonlight. If you and the others open your shields, you should be able to last for several hours to a day."

Hao Ren thought for a moment, and finally sighed: "Ah... it's okay, I have a stronger shield that can ensure everyone can move freely in the moonlight."

As he spoke, he calmed down amidst everyone's curious gazes, and with a look of solemn determination, he began to communicate with his god and cast a divine spell.

A moment later, the group walked into the depths of the city under the protection of divine shields bearing the words "Your Lady Protects You" and "Your Lady Protects You, Too."

Vivian even comforted him along the way: "Hao Ren, don't worry too much about this. Skills and the like are supposed to be useful, after all. How many guys in the age of mythology had skills with domineering names and cool-looking effects, but ended up dying in the end? Flashy moves lead to a quick death. Practicality is king..."

Hao Ren: "Leaving aside flashy or not, have you ever heard of anyone's skills coming with a bullet screen?" (T/N: A "bullet screen" is a form of real-time comments that appear to fly across the screen.)

Vivian: "..."

Bawu was probably the only one who was truly carefree and happy. She was curious about the "light shell" that had suddenly appeared around her, and she would occasionally poke at the "Your Lady Protects You, Too" words that floated past in front of her, just like every qualified cat, playing happily by herself.

Seeing Bawu's carefree appearance, Hao Ren couldn't help but sigh again: "Ah..."

Hesperides tried her best to ignore the bullet screen of text that was floating in front of her. To be honest, she wouldn't have been willing to come out adventuring with such a silly thing on her head if there was any other way. But circumstances were stronger than people, and this shield could really resist the negative forces in the ancient city one hundred percent, so she could only accept reality. Now, she was most thankful that her two subordinates were waiting outside, so the matter of this shield wouldn't be spread around.

The little bat spirit walked forward while turning these messy thoughts over in her mind, and at the same time carefully guarded against the ancient and deathly buildings around her.

The ancient city, built from giant stones, was shrouded in an atmosphere of desolation and silence, making people uneasy like every relic from the age of mythology. In addition, the vague sounds of buildings collapsing and space collapsing were constantly coming from the other end of the city, coupled with the huge swirling quicksand vortexes in the sky, everything here was oppressive. Even Hesperides, who had been fearless since childhood, felt her heart constantly prickling with unease as she walked here.

She always felt like something was lurking in this city, and it was watching her.

In the places where the group passed, the streets and alleys were silent and deserted, and the air currents swirled the sand and dust between the ruins, shrouding the entire street in a hazy fog.

In the dust, a huge shadow, whose details were difficult to discern, slowly emerged, but then disappeared in a flash.

The sand and dust continued to swirl, leaving no trace.