Nuclear Weapons

"Dust City Seventh District Guardian, Huaxia Forerunner Su Ze, zero civilian casualties in the Seventh District... First Blood Moon, mission accomplished."

Su Ze turned off his earpiece. A mouthful of blood welled up in his throat, and he began coughing violently, spitting out blood mixed with internal tissue.

In the distance, an SUV aggressively crushed countless monster corpses on the street as it sped toward Su Ze.

"Are you Su Ze? We're from the Huaxia Forerunner Logistics Department." Three people jumped out of the vehicle, showed their identification, and immediately began bandaging Su Ze's wounds.

"Your injuries are severe. We need to take you to the hospital."

"Alright," After getting in the car, Su Ze took out his walkie-talkie and, under the puzzled gazes of others, blew into it several times: "hoo hoo hoo." A moment later, similar sounds came from the other end.

This was his first time contacting Uesugi Chigenki's sister. She was rolling around on her bed, her sweet smile showing how happy she was.

"I need to go out for a while. If you're hungry, eat some snacks. I'll be back late," Su Ze said.

The other end remained silent for a while before finally mustering the energy to speak, "How long?"

"I'll be back before night," Su Ze said, "Don't go out, don't open the door for anyone."

After giving her these instructions, Su Ze suddenly bent over and coughed violently, spewing blood.

"Severe mental and spiritual energy depletion," the medical staff quickly diagnosed the cause.

In Dust City's hospital, wails and cries were constant as injured people were continuously brought in.

Lying in bed watching Dust City news, Shen Qingsheng was munching on sunflower seeds. His abdomen and back were heavily bandaged.

"I thought you were dead."

Hearing the voice, he quickly turned to see Su Ze entering the room.

"Holy shit! You're not dead either!" Shen Qingsheng was overjoyed.

He looked Su Ze over - the other man's arms were wrapped in bandages, and the bandages on his chest and abdomen were stained red with blood. He was in much worse shape than himself.

The two sat on the hospital bed, chatting.

"They told me to guard the Seventh District with you tonight. I've got two badasses taking over my area - Huaxia Ghost Officers, those crazy bastards! Though they're not from the wandering troupe supporting Dust City, but from some mysterious squad," Shen Qingsheng said.

"Crazy ones, huh," Su Ze pondered, "Are they really that good?"

"Super amazing! Let me tell you, that Ghost Officer's frost blade yesterday was harvesting like mad! Every time it cut down a monster, blood would bloom like flowers on the blade! And the way they wielded it was so graceful, like dancing!"

After chatting for a while, Su Ze struggled to his feet to head back, worried that the silly girl might starve at home.

It was already afternoon when he left, with just a few hours until nightfall.

In a conference room.

Huaxia's high-ranking officials had gathered, many of them still reeking of blood. Yesterday's Blood Moon had been a disaster for half the world, not just Huaxia.

Beyond Huaxia's borders, billions of monsters had emerged from the vast territories. The Night Watchers and soldiers guarding the frontiers had suffered heavy casualties, and now the hospitals were overwhelmed.

This was also why Su Ze had left early - if the doctors had known, they would have stopped him, but there were simply too many injured to handle.

"The Blood Moon is still ongoing in Europe and America. On the first day of the Blood Moon, Huaxia suffered heavy losses. The civilian and organizational casualties haven't been fully counted yet, and one city was nearly massacred. Huaxia's fighting strength has significantly decreased after just the first Blood Moon."

"The Ghost Officers and Night Watchers still need to guard the mysterious realms and dimensional gates to prevent them from launching attacks while Huaxia is preoccupied with the Blood Moon. One oversight could lead to national extinction."

"Moreover, those high-level combat forces can't be deployed to fight the Blood Moon as they need to deter the mysterious realms. This has put Huaxia in a true crisis, both internal and external."

"We must find a way to deal with the next Blood Moon, or if those beings in the mysterious realms or dimensional gates notice our current state, Huaxia won't escape destruction!"

"If you have any solutions, speak up. I'm all ears," said a middle-aged man covered in blood, vacantly fidgeting with his chair. A night of defensive battle had made him question life itself.

"Could you not be so dejected?" the man with glasses criticized, "Shouldn't we think of solutions together?"

"Besides throwing lives at it, I really can't think of any other way."

"Damn it, why did this Blood Moon come without warning? Fortunately, it appeared in Europe and America first, or our casualties would have been even heavier."

"Have you considered..." someone deliberately paused, drawing everyone's attention before continuing, "using nukes?"

The conference room fell silent.

Bang! Someone slammed the table and stood up. "Throw him out! Execute him!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, calm down. It was just a suggestion. If it's not feasible, then forget it," the person quickly defended.

"Damn it, you Ghost Officers really are all crazy."

"Growing mushrooms in our own backyard? Are you insane? Planning to perish together with those beasts? Even if we win with nukes, should we throw you in to absorb the radiation? Do you think you're an air purifier?"

The high-ranking Ghost Officer became meek and didn't dare speak anymore.

In fact, the meeting didn't come up with any quick solutions, only reorganizing the responsibilities and personnel deployment of various organizations in each city.

Dust City, Sixth District.

Meng Xingyao pushed open her front door, chewing on beef jerky as she headed to the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw the numerous wounds from facing the Blood Moon alone last night. She directly tore off her tattered jacket.

In the mirror, her black hair hung loose, her handsome and spirited face was slightly stained with blood, her white short-sleeve shirt was completely red, and the wounds on her body were horrifying, with a sword wound crossing her abdomen.

Meng Xingyao frowned, pulled the beef jerky from her mouth, and walked toward the bedroom while eating.

In the bedroom, a beautiful orange-haired girl was sleeping peacefully on the bed, wearing a Japanese shrine maiden outfit.

She had found this girl floating downstream by the river the day before yesterday and brought her home.

Seeing her attire, she had initially planned to report it to her superiors, but after going out for a while, she had forgotten about the girl at home.

Then the Blood Moon suddenly occurred, and she completely forgot about her.

Meng Xingyao stood watching for a moment, then bent down to retrieve a medical kit from under the bed and walked to the bathroom.

She had no time to investigate this little shrine maiden now. It was already dusk, and she needed to prepare for the second day of the Blood Moon.

Uesugi Chigenki sensed the smell of blood filling her nostrils, frowned, and opened her eyes.

Where was this?

Looking at the ceiling, she was bewildered. She sat up and looked around - where was her sister? She... she had hidden her in the forest!

She was shocked. She didn't know where she was or how many days she had been unconscious. Her biggest concern wasn't her situation in this strange environment, but her silly sister!

Uesugi Chigenki got up to leave but suddenly stopped, confusion filling her eyes.

Where should she go? Where was this place? Where was the forest where she had hidden her sister?

Suddenly, she noticed the metallic smell in the air - it was the smell of blood.

Uesugi Chigenki became alert, slowly moving toward the source of the blood smell, finally freezing at the bathroom door.

She saw a girl, topless and facing away from her, black hair cascading down her smooth back, her body lines sharp yet beautiful, like the outline of butterfly wings. She was efficiently cleaning her wounds, applying medicine, and bandaging herself.