50: Chapter 50 The Night of the Full Moon

A full, bright moon hung in the night sky over Tingen, casting its clear radiance across the streets and alleys.

Lu Li stood before the window of the Potion Room, gazing quietly at the night sky.

Fine moonlight pierced through the gaps in the heavy curtains, falling straight down to carve a long, sharp, silver-white band of light onto the cold metal workbench.

Tonight's full moon was far too unusual, so bright it felt almost illusory. A clear halo enveloped the entire city; it did not look like ordinary moonlight, but rather as if someone above the clouds had ignited a giant, eternal phosphorescent stone lamp, illuminating the entire night sky until it was crystal clear.

After a long while, he withdrew his gaze and turned to walk toward the safe in the corner.

His fingertips landed precisely, inputting a familiar sequence, and the heavy cabinet door opened slowly in response.

On the lead tray, the jiaowei sealing box and the silver snake key with its strange patterns lay quietly, one heavy and one bright, lying dormant in silence.

He first picked up the silver snake key and placed it gently on the cold workbench, then held the sealing box with both hands, opened it steadily, and took out the jiaowei along with its base.

Deep within the furnace, that unique silver-white flame was dancing gently on its own. The frequency of its flickering was steady and regular, matching the faint pulse of the fragment of the worm of time hidden in his pocket perfectly, as if the two were inherently symbiotic and of the same origin.

Moonlight continued to pour into the room. The garnet embedded in the key handle shed its usual weak, sporadic flickering, and was now flowing with a thick, dark red luster, alternating between light and dark in a slow, firm rhythm, endless and unceasing.

The rhythm was ancient and heavy, like the ancient heartbeat of sealed, endless years, slowly recovering and awakening deep within the artifact.

Lu Li raised his hand to cover the metal casing of the jiaowei. The temperature his fingertips touched was far higher than usual; the warm metallic texture spread through his palm, carrying a hint of restless spiritual heat.

Just at this moment, the bell tower of Saint Selena Cathedral outside the window suddenly rang out through the night, the distant and deep hourly chimes echoing in layers, piercing through the evening breeze.

The instant the bell tolls settled!

The silver-white flame inside the jiaowei furnace suddenly surged, leaping up more than half a foot. The clear color transformed layer by layer, finally turning into a mass of warm, dazzling pale gold.

Amidst the flowing, fine sparks, a line of ancient, obscure Hermes script slowly emerged in the center of the flame, each word clear, identical to the content that had appeared on the night of the previous full moon:

"On the night of the full moon, open with blood. Conditions for repayment: Return the owed finger, or an object of equivalent value. Bring the token to the Antigonus Ruins, and on the night of the full moon, open the seal with blood."

Lu Li's gaze was calm as he stared fixedly at the last line of text, remaining motionless for a long time.

Antigonus Ruins.

Two full moons, two revelations, the content was exactly the same, and the destination of the guidance remained the only one.

From beginning to end, the place to repay this strange debt that entangled him had long been destined.

Whether he chose to resolve it proactively or deliberately avoid it, that silent, ancient ruin always stood quietly in the world, waiting for the arrival of fate.

...

On this high-risk night of the full moon, the meeting room of the Saint Selena Cathedral was brightly lit, as bright as day.

Dunn Smith had summoned all team members, his expression solemn as he began to deploy the emergency alert plan for tonight.

On the left side of the long table, Old Neil sat upright in his chair, his ancient staff leaning against the backrest. Spread out before him was the newly updated spiritual monitoring data for the seventh sensing node of the outer ring, with dense lines and figures concealing the unusual movements of the city's undercurrents.

Leonard and Daly sat opposite each other, their expressions tense.

Klein was arranged in a seat by the window, sitting upright with a pen in hand, meticulously recording every key deployment of the meeting.

"Tonight, the full moon hangs in the sky, and the spiritual tide of heaven and earth has reached its peak for the year. The fluctuations of all ancient seal nodes in the city will break through conventional thresholds, and the risk level will soar."

Dunn stood in front of the panoramic map of Tingen City hanging on the wall, holding a red pen, quickly circling several high-risk points, his tone steady and stern:

"Old Neil will remain at the Chanis Gate sealing room. The sealing keys must remain in their original positions; unauthorized movement is strictly prohibited.

Leonard and Daly, proceed immediately to Iron Cross Street to guard the seventh sensing node of the outer ring. The two of you will rotate every two hours to monitor for unusual activity in real time.

Once the mold concentric circles are fully formed, there is no need to ask for instructions; fire a signal flare immediately to warn us."

His gaze swept over everyone, and he continued with a deep voice: "Klein will remain in the Potion Room, on standby throughout, responsible for preparing holy water and spirit resistance potions to ensure supplies for the front line.

The maritime patrol has upgraded its alert level, fully blockading the Storm Cape waters. The dock area and the downstream banks of the Hoi River are to be handled by local police in coordination with the blockade and control.

Everyone remember, if you detect any unusual activity, fire a signal flare immediately!"

After the brief and meticulous deployment was completed, everyone quickly dispersed, each performing their duties and rushing to their posts.

After the people in the meeting room had dispersed, Old Neil walked slowly into the Potion Room.

Lu Li was still standing at the workbench, with the jiaowei and the silver snake key laid out quietly, and the pale golden flame inside the furnace still flowing slowly, never extinguished.

Old Neil lowered his head to gaze at that special flame, his voice carrying the hoarseness of one who has lived through many years: "Still the same guidance?"

"Not a single word changed. Antigonus Ruins, open the seal with blood, repay the debt," Lu Li responded truthfully.

Old Neil was silent for a moment, then raised his hand to lean his staff against the corner. He sat down in an armchair, looking with deep, profound eyes at the eerily bright moonlight outside the window:

"This karmic debt has been anchored to the Antigonus Ruins from the very beginning. The jiaowei is the key to opening the path, the token in your hand is the pass, and the full moon is the only window of time."

"You do not need to be trapped in Tingen, passively waiting for disaster to come to your door. When the time is ripe, you can go to the ruins to settle everything. But it is definitely not tonight, nor is it the next full moon window seven days later."

His tone suddenly became grave, pointing out the hidden crisis: "Roy King and Megose have long since laid a dragnet in Tingen, watching like tigers eyeing their prey. If you rashly go to the ruins now, it would be no different from throwing yourself into the net, actively opening the door for them. What they have been waiting for so bitterly is for someone to hold the jiaowei, activate the snake emblem token, and break the final seal of the Spirit Descent Ritual for them!"

Lu Li nodded slightly, steadying his mind. He carefully placed the jiaowei back into the sealing box, fastened the lock, and then returned both the sealing box and the silver snake key to the safe, locking it completely.

The full moon outside the window was still blindingly bright, exuding an unreal, eerie quality.

The bell tower of Saint Selena Cathedral had completely fallen silent. The entire city of Tingen appeared quiet and peaceful, but in reality, undercurrents were surging, and murderous intent was lurking everywhere.

...

Past midnight, all was silent.

Suddenly, above the night sky of Iron Cross Street, the sharp, piercing sound of a signal flare tore through the quiet night!

A point of scarlet fire, trailing a blazing tail, tore through the silver-white moonlight, carving a striking arc in the night sky.

Within a few short seconds, a second whistle sounded. A streak of deep blue flame followed, rising into the sky. Red and blue signal flares hung alternately in the night sky, signaling that the seventh sensing node of the outer ring was simultaneously erupting with two completely different, strange anomalies, and the risk was soaring.

In the Potion Room, Lu Li looked through the window and saw the disturbance in the night sky. His expression instantly set, and he calmly put on his protective gloves.

Old Neil stood up abruptly from the armchair and grabbed the ancient staff leaning against the wall.

Their eyes met; without a single unnecessary word, both had already grasped the full extent of the crisis.

The aged staff ground against the floor, making a low, soft sound. Old Neil hurried toward the Chanis Gate sealing room. The crystal embedded in the staff head lit up with a clear, pale blue halo, eerily illuminating the dim corridor and spreading a layer of tight, vigilant spiritual light.

Lu Li pushed the door open and stepped out, his footsteps fast as he rushed down the stairs toward the scene of the incident at Iron Cross Street.

...

At the entrance of the Iron Cross Street Pumping Station, the temporarily installed monitoring instruments had already completely spun out of control.

All the needles on the dashboard were swinging wildly and violently, breaking through the normal scale range entirely and pinning themselves firmly in the red warning zone, trembling ceaselessly.

Leonard pressed his hand firmly against the short staff at his waist, while his other hand pointed toward the depths of the deep, dark drainage branch pipe. His breathing was slightly rapid, and the hem of his trench coat was soaked and stained by the damp sludge inside the drain, making it a mess.

His hair stood on end, his entire being coiled with spiritual tension. The more critical the moment, the more blazing the light in his eyes became:

"Just now, the mold concentric circles fully formed! The gap that remained in the outermost ring closed automatically without warning. The growth rate of the mycelium surged suddenly, as if an invisible force was forcibly boosting and catalyzing it from deep underground!"

Daly crouched beside the monitoring instrument. As a Spirit Medium, her perception was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Pale blue, slender spiritual tentacles extended from her palms, following the instrument's sensing lines deep underground, weaving back and forth to probe the critical nodes where the mold grew, the spiritual light flickering on and off.

[part:gemini-3.5-flash]

After a moment, she retracted all her spirituality tentacles, slowly stood up, patted the dust off her gloves, and lowered her voice, speaking in a solemn tone:

“The concentric circles definitely didn't close naturally. Someone activated a long-hidden backup rune at a backup sealing node on the periphery of Chanis Gate.”

“The spiritual pulse erupted from the rune was transmitted along the backup spiritual anchors that Old Neil had previously scouted, precisely striking the gap in the concentric circles and forcing it to close.”

She looked up into the depths of the Darkness and spat out a cold name: “I am very familiar with the characteristics of the caster's spiritual fluctuations—it's Megose.”

“She isn't in the open sea at all.” Lu Li stood in the night, his gaze sharp, piercing through the layers of mist. “She has been hiding inside Tingen City all along.”

...

At the same moment, on the top floor of an ancient lighthouse that had been abandoned for years at the estuary of the lower Hoi River.

The biting night wind blew through the window, stirring the stagnant air inside. Megose stood quietly in front of the window, holding a silver-white rune in her palm, which was carved with a snake emblem biting its own tail.

Outside the window, the full moon hung high, casting an endless clear glow over the wide Hoi River. The rushing water shimmered with silver light, like an endless silver ribbon quietly crawling across the earth.

In the shadow of the stairs behind her stood a tightly hooded Aurora Order believer, his face hidden in the Darkness, holding a simple, ancient copper censer with both hands. The incense in the burner burned quietly, sending up wisps of light smoke that exuded a sweet yet pungent, eerie scent, lingering throughout the attic.

“My Lord, the signal flare from Iron Cross Street has gone up, and the abnormal activity at the target node has erupted,” the hooded believer whispered, bowing. He kept his voice extremely low, not daring to break the silence of the moment.

Megose raised her eyes and held up the snake-shaped rune in her palm beneath the clear glow of the full moon.

Bathed in the moonlight, the surface of the cold silver rune's static snake relief slowly wriggled and stretched, as if a sleeping spirit snake was about to wake up, exuding an endless eeriness.

“Roy King covets the secrets and treasures deep within Chanis Gate, but what I want is this once-in-a-thousand-years full moon spiritual tide.” A cold smile curled at the corners of her lips, her tone carrying a certain calculation. “He originally planned to start the final ritual in seven days, but I don't need to wait.”

“Tonight, the moon is perfectly full, and the spiritual tide is at its peak. The altar at Storm Cape has long been preheated. All it needs is this final push from Tingen, and the ritual can take shape ahead of schedule.”

With that, she raised her hand and pressed the snake-shaped rune heavily onto the cold stone windowsill.

The moment the rune touched the stone brick, the foundation of the entire old lighthouse suddenly trembled slightly, buzzing softly.

An invisible, intangible, and majestic spiritual pulse erupted from the top of the tower, rushing and spreading rapidly toward Iron Cross Street along the veins of the Hoi River's flowing water.

On the river surface where the pulse passed, dense, tiny bubbles continuously churned and burst. Beneath the water, countless dark shadows seemed to dart rapidly, carrying cold malice as they rushed into the distance.

...

Deep within the drainage branch pipe of Iron Cross Street.

An extremely violent spiritual shock suddenly swept in from the direction of the Hoi River, crashing into this dark underground space with a bang!

The intensity of this pulse far exceeded the limit of an ordinary backup rune. It was laden with an extremely dense spiritual bloody scent—not the bloody smell of flesh-and-blood slaughter, but the unique residual aura of blood sacrifice when the Aurora Order summoned the projection of the True Creator, evil and blasphemous.

Lu Li's mind tightened instantly as he sensed a fatal crisis. Reaching back, he grabbed Leonard's shoulder with steady force and dragged him back two steps, barely evading the direct impact.

On the stone wall, the already formed concentric circles of mold went completely mad under the stimulation of this terrifying pulse!

Dense white mycelium frantically surged, spread, and grew wildly from the crevices of the stone bricks. In an instant, the fresh white threads all transformed into a deep, dark forest green.

The innermost ring of mycelium stacked layer upon layer, slowly oozing out patches of grayish-white, scale-like viscous secretions. They flowed slowly down the rough stone wall, gathering in the low-lying drainage ditch into a pool of turbid liquid bubbling with fine bubbles.

The light and shadow on the surface of the liquid distorted and shifted constantly, with blurry human faces rising and falling, appearing one after another. Every single face belonged to an innocent person who had been marked and locked onto by the bizarre mold in the Underground Channel Secret Room earlier!

...

Inside the Potion Room, Klein, who was staying behind on standby, also captured this terrifying spiritual pulse that spanned across the distance.

A row of copper bottles of holy water that had just been filled on the table buzzed in unison the moment the pulse passed, the clear water rippling with layers of concentric circles, vibrating endlessly.

He immediately stopped adjusting the temperature control of the distiller, flicked his fingers, took out a thin paper figurine, and gently placed it on the workbench.

The gray fog surged quietly, and a line of faint, obscure gray handwriting slowly emerged on the back of the paper figurine:

“[Spiritual pulse source locked: Estuary of the lower Hoi River. Intensity exceeds limits; determined to be triggered by the Aurora Order's blood sacrifice ritual. Fluctuation waveform highly matches the activation data of the Underground Channel Secret Room's magic circle.]”

Klein quickly put away the paper figurine, packed all the filled copper bottles of holy water into a portable storage box, picked up the box, and stood up. Walking in a hurry, he rushed at full speed toward Iron Cross Street, where the abnormal activity had erupted.

...

In the office of the Church of the Night.

Dunn stood in front of the window and personally saw the red and blue interwoven tail flames of the signal flares in the night sky, his expression instantly turning grave.

Almost at the same instant, an invisible, majestic pressure originating from the lower Hoi River forcefully enveloped the entire Tingen branch. The needle of the copper compass resting on the table deflected violently, finally locking steadily onto the south—the direction of the lower Hoi River estuary—without shaking again.

He grabbed his hanging trench coat and quickly stepped out of the office. Just as he entered the corridor, he met Old Neil, who was returning from Chanis Gate, head-on.

“It's Megose's doing.” Old Neil's staff flared with brilliant blue light, his guard fully raised, and he spoke in an urgent tone, “She is hiding at the estuary of the Hoi River. Using the Aurora Order's blood sacrifice ritual as an initiator, combined with the backup rune laid down by Roy King, she completed a double spiritual resonance! The concentric circles of mold have been forced to grow and have fully formed ahead of schedule!”

“Has the main seal of Chanis Gate been damaged or impacted?” Dunn asked in a deep voice. Since it concerned the core seal, he did not dare to be careless in the slightest.

“It's safe for now, unaffected.” Old Neil shook his head, and then his tone became even more serious, “But the fluctuations at the seventh sensing node of the outer ring have completely breached the warning line, and all monitoring data has gone completely red.”

“Once the concentric circles of mold are completely closed, they will automatically activate a global locking function, precisely capturing the locations of all marked individuals.”

He turned to look at Leonard and Daly near the Pumping Station, giving a solemn warning: “The two of you were once marked by the mold of The Dark Channel. Once the positioning ring is fully formed, locking onto your auras and locations, the magic circle will autonomously gather a massive amount of spirituality toward the center of the ring. At that time, there will be no need to wait for a seven-day buffer; tonight, this long-brewing Spirit Descent Ritual will be fully activated! The closer you are to the core of Iron Cross Street, the higher the positioning accuracy, and the greater the danger!”

Leonard's heart tightened upon hearing this, and he immediately asked, “What should we do now?”

“Everyone, evacuate the core area of Iron Cross Street and retreat to the periphery of the Pumping Station! It is strictly forbidden to take even half a step into the area covered by the concentric circles!” Old Neil quickly offered a solution. “I will immediately activate the outer seal of Chanis Gate to disrupt the magic circle with reverse spiritual resonance, scrambling its positioning and locking signals! But I need enough time!”

“Everyone, retreat!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Dunn immediately issued an emergency evacuation order, commanding all stationed personnel to quickly withdraw from the danger zone.

At the entrance of the Pumping Station, Klein put down the portable box filled with holy water and looked up to meet the gaze of Lu Li, who was walking over. Both understood the situation implicitly, clearly seeing the danger of the circumstances.

Lu Li prepared to retreat in response. The moment he took a step, he subconsciously looked back toward the deep drainage branch pipe.

Moonlight penetrated the underground crevices, faintly casting down upon the stone wall.

The giant concentric circles of mold slowly rotated in the Darkness, flowing endlessly. The blurry human faces in the innermost ring, woven from thousands of mycelia, quietly clung to the cold stone wall, silently and eerily staring at the evacuating crowd, with endless coldness and greed hidden in the depths of their eyes.

With the full moon in the sky and the tide at its peak, undercurrents threatened to overturn the entire Tingen.

A bizarre ritual that had been brewing for a long time had already raised its curtain ahead of schedule.