Moon Theory (ABO)Ch88 - designation, code red

In celebration of CG’s 10k discord event, two more chapter releases! Thank you for participating ✿

Another wave can be seen in the close distance. The anomalies are gaining at the speed of light – not quite exaggerated when the stampede leaves dust trails behind. The area is habitat to all sorts of alarming animal mixes, but undoubtedly the most dangerous predators are avians. No human can hope to match their movements, and the battle of attrition, ground infantry versus flight swarms, is heading toward futility. 3y hdo

A soldier is climbing into the cracked windows of the overturned vehicle. There’s a floral-citrus scent that amasses stronger in the vicinity, though it’s covered by the rotten stench of blood and guts. When the man climbs back out, he drags with him an unmoving teenager no older than sixteen.

Crimson blood runs from his forehead down to his jaw, trickling down to his collarbone. His body is fully nude, covered in countless bruises and scratches. Half-dried semen runs along his lower torso and thighs. The soldier flips him over for inspection.

Please support our translators at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

“…Fucking Christ!” he hisses out. “He’s dead! Fuck—what do we do? If Command finds out the omega died in transport, we’re going to be terminated for sure… shit!”

One of his companions pulls out another man from underneath the rubble – the vehicle driver is mangled from torso down, his body unsightly after the fatal accident. Black bugs are clogged in the eye sockets, drinking through the fluids as though they are nectar. The driver’s skull is cracked open no doubt, from the amount of blood oozing down to the temple. The soldier curses and throws the corpse back inside. kqWmFe

“Fuck…” he says as he peers inside the truck. All the passengers are unconscious, very likely dead, and the ones who have remained intact are being fed on by a swarm of blow flies. Just minutes after collision and the insects have amassed in shapeless gobs. The soldier immediately retracts backward. “Forget about it. There’s nothing we can do. Open the trunk, get the frags and go!”

They smash open the trunk and wrench away the frame with the hilt of their rifles. Around them, the scene is no less chaotic. There are less than a dozen men still alive and to the left is Colonel Yang. The man’s silhouette remains imposing through layers of smoke, his movements fluid as he fights off a mutant bull. He sends a strong kick at its horn, snapping it apart and sending it flying through the field.

The two soldiers have procured several fragment grenades now. They ready themselves to toss. A soldier peers over billows of smoke, trying to measure the distance. His eyes land on a vehicle some tens of meters away. Through the broken windshield, he can make out the frame of a handsome young man with skin as pale as snow, rare heterochromatic eyes, features too ethereal, ghostly, unhuman – and underneath his hood is a tuft of silver hair.

A few blinks of confusion before the man’s expression turns into one of surprise. He jabs his companion on the elbow. “Over there,” he raises his voice to be heard. “Does he look familiar to you?”

His companion turns to follow. His eyes also widen in surprise – and a hint of excitement. He slaps the first soldier on the back and leans in to say with a frenzied tone, “—Fuck! That’s the one—that whichever one Command issued to find. Fuck, the general’s looking for him too – XX-001, the commission reward is goddamned hefty, holy shit!”

The two are clustered in the back of their vehicle, hidden from view. Blood spills around them in waves, but they’ve yet to evacuate the area. They’re conversing with serious expressions – some topic of collude, though their words are muted amidst loud gunfire. Several companions have caught on to their actions too, glancing over with confused looks on their faces. The two soldiers gesture with their hands, their fingers pointing toward the silver-haired young man and to the colonel fighting nearby. Their companions receive it with a nod.

Behind the truck, the two soldiers lie in wait.

“And that Colonel Yang?” one of them asks with pursed lips. “What do we do with him?” pxMJRV

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Jbwwjcv kjcar tlw,” tlr mbwqjclbc gfrqbcvr. “Gbc’a xcbk jcs vfajlir, yea qijmlcu yfar la’r gfijafv ab atja oibkfg ybs klat tlw. Qf ajxf atfw ybat – vbeyif atf gfkjgv, wjaf, jcv kf cffv fnfgs oemxlcu yla bo wfgla kf mjc ufa.”

“You fucking kidding me?” the first responds. “That bastard Yang – you see the way he moves? Fuck if we can take him alive. Careful with the damned poppers else he’d be blasted to pieces.”

“Ktfc kf ajxf tlw tjio-jilnf.” Lf rlucjir bcf bo atf batfg rbivlfgr lc atf ogbcailcfr, jcv klat jcbatfg cbv gfmflnfv, tf yfulcr ab olvvif klat atf qlc bo atf ugfcjvf. “Ljio-vfjv, tbkfnfg atf tfii kf mjc ufa tlw.”

On the other side, Yang Rong is respiring heavily. h7FMyq

Blood flows from his forehead down to his eyes, obscuring parts of his vision. The collision wound has gotten worse, and his reflexes are two steps behind. Ideally, he would’ve offed the bull’s head by now, but the battle has prolonged more precariously than expected.

Yang Rong takes a heavy bunt to the chest and a sharp horn is dangerously close to puncturing his ribs. He is knocked backwards from impact and then he’s skidded five meters across rough concrete, only to trip and lose his balance on a piece of shrapnel.

A few floundering movements later, he steadies himself only to have a blurred flash of brown overtake his vision. His green eyes widen and immediately, he pivots sideways, attempting to dodge the strike. The bull charged so quickly its movements were a motion blur – a millisecond of delayed reaction and Yang Rong’s sides are scraped raw and bloody. He’s also slammed roughly onto the highway railing, an inch away from toppling downward to certain death.

“—Fuck,” he chokes out as he tries to wrestle the mammal singlehandedly. Even with one horn, the mutant bull is absolutely ferocious – Yang Rong would be torn apart for sure, no matter how sturdy his physique is. His ribs are cracking as painfully as his knees are buckling beneath him. With gritted teeth, he slams the creature with the hilt of his rifle. JN8Ewp

Each movement sends sharp pangs of numbing pain. The bull roars as it pounces on top of him. Yang Rong takes the chance to roll on the ground, equipping his rifle and sending an entire round of bullets on its underline.

Its navel ruptures and a sludge of blackened liquids spritzes out in collateral. The stench is revolting, a mix of rotten foods and decades-old manure. And when the stomach explodes a second later, animal and human remains burst along with it.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Some parts fresh, most left decayed in acids – even Yang Rong isn’t unaffected by the stench. He hasn’t time to recover, however, before the undead bull lurches forward, intent on ramming him down ground and through the railing. Yang Rong swears five more times as he aims, preparing to burst its head off.

The shot goes off at the same time as another. Two bullets crackle through the air, striking the bull’s skull. Yang Rong’s bullet pierces through the muzzle and the other bullet – one of the same caliber – drills itself into the back of its head. The bull, that must be an undead creature, roars once again resiliently. IafCRv

Then comes a young man – silver-haired, blizzard eyes, a visage that wouldn’t be overlooked anywhere.

His form is as ethereal as his movements – of pure frost, sharp and beautifully fluid. Yang Rong stares enraptured as Noah forcibly kicks the creature down the railing. Its enormous body towers over Noah’s fourfold, but the young man has certain, unconquerable allure.

The bull is sent flying to its death at an applied force of Noah times gravity. With a very irked expression on his face (that also hints clear worry), the young man extends a hand downward, hurrying for Yang Rong to take it.

Yang Rong, with a growing grin on his face, whistles in compliment. bvPxnY

“Little kitten,” he says raspingly, disregarding that massive amounts of blood are running down his face. He smears away a patch of red with the back of his hand. “You are incredibly—”

“We’re going,” Noah hisses out as he pulls him upright. “Now, Yang Rong.”

“—Fierce,” Yang Rong finishes with a chuckle, already taking ahold of the younger man. The colonel is very bold with his advances, and he is no less flirtatious when being surrounded by a pack of ravenous beasts – no doubt, even if he were hemorrhaging on the spot, Yang Rong wouldn’t pass off a chance to tease. They run across a battlefield of shrapnel, stone and bone. “I do believe you are more tiger than cat, more wolf than fox. Regardless, every form of yours is cute either—”

“—You need to be quiet,” Noah gasps, pulling him forward. “The vehicle is unstuck but—!” 4yUIHV

He lets out an exclamation as a bird dives toward them. Immediately, the both of them duck to avoid. Yang Rong has switched to using a pistol for easier movement. He fires unhesitatingly, shooting down the foe at the blink of an eye. Noah stares, a little peeved. His pride be damned – Yang Rong, injured, concussed and all, displays peak marksmanship.

“How am I?” The man catches him staring and winks. “Handsome?”

“Mn, handsome,” Noah replies just to appease, already running off to the north direction.

Somewhere along the way, the colonel had slid his hand downward, interlacing their fingers together. If Noah notices, he doesn’t say a word. k 81fF

Noah is breathing as heavily as the colonel and upon closer inspection, there is a fresh, long-running cut on the side of his neck. Shallow but sharp – a knife wound by the incision of it, too clean to have been inflicted by one of the creatures here. Red trickles down to his collarbones, blending with dusted pink marks and some bruises that were most definitely not there two nights prior.

“Yang Rong, they’re plotting something,” Noah rasps out as he discreetly zips up his jacket – the colonel’s jacket, though the ownership has gone through too many swaps. “I don’t know what. It’s dangerous to stay here, so—”

“—Noah.” Yang Rong grabs his shoulder and turns him around. The colonel unzips his jacket, pulls down the collar of his shirt, then his eyes turn as dark as his voice. “What is this.”

Faint bruises caused by fingernails, scratches that have torn apart bits of skin – the signs all point to attempted strangulation. Yang Rong’s sight lowers. There are more scratch marks on the young man’s chest. Upon further review, his shirt is stretched downward, torn on the seams, and his jacket is wrinkled. wRiVdP

Yang Rong makes the connection immediately, and his entire demeanor twists.

“Tell me where they are,” he says lowly. Controlled, but brimming on a dangerous territory. “I will kill them.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

The sheer oppression in his voice has Noah taken aback. Yang Rong isn’t joking in the slightest – already, he’s flicking his gaze from left to right, prying past the smokescreen and pinpointing the soldiers up front. The anomalies have been contained in the middle brackets and the soldiers have amassed elsewhere. Such a formation brings heavy suspicion. Noah squeezes the colonel’s hand for attention.

“Let’s go,” he murmurs. Unknowingly, Noah had softened his volume, unsure if to placate the colonel or himself. “It’s alright.” 9EXJep

Then Yang Rong takes him and sprints toward their vehicle.

The action was so sudden Noah hadn’t a chance to react. Five seconds before they reach the truck, a low thump is heard on the ground, a subtle thwack on hard concrete, and then Yang Rong pushes him so hard he might’ve felt a crack in his ribs.

“Frag!” Yang Rong yells out. “Noah, take cover—!”

Noah is thrown forward the instant a rippling explosion is heard. gFPTvw

The highway erupts in dust. The ground cracks apart instantly, every piece of stone and shrapnel flinging toward them – and they’re both too blinded to see, their sights clouded by each molecule of dust, their senses in complete disarray. Behind them is a cloud of heavy fume that pillows thicker and thicker.

They’re crashed in vertigo, their bodies swaying along with the highway bridge. Noah is slammed onto the ground behind the vehicle – two fractured ribs at least, with how roughly he’s sent downward. He nearly meets head-on with hard concrete, but he must’ve regained the slightest rationale to slide his forearm under for cushion.

Broken gasps are hardly audible amidst thousands of shards banging against the vehicle nearby.

The sound is even more deafening than gunfire – countless bullets in ricochet, pounding everywhere in a twenty-meter radius, dispersing far beyond. Noah’s eyes are scrunched shut, his cheek scraped bloody, his right eardrum perforated. A swell of nausea overcomes him as he struggles to hold balance. Even when lying on the floor, he is disoriented beyond belief, unable to tell left from right, up from down. 9gEh5N

Then it becomes deathly ringing in his ears and Noah, unable to hear a single thing either, cannot tell apart his coughs nor the pained chokes of the man nearby. Nor can he tell when Yang Rong had gone silent.

His raven-black hair is clammy. Deep red oozes down to his eyelids (closed), trickling to the side of his cheek (pallid), then dripping onto the ground beneath.

Around him, the air reeks of metal.

Author’s rambling: -heavy breathing- -speedily edits three chapters all at once-
thank you for participating in CG’s event~~! i hope you enjoy these additional release chapters, and i’ll do my best until the novel’s completion ✿ 96dtxr