0401 slumped like a deflated balloon in the back seat, staring blankly through the sunroof at the blood moon in the sky. Sun Hang pulled out his phone and opened the web browser.
Unfortunately, the internet hadn't existed sixty years ago, nor had wireless communication been widespread. Otherwise, Sun Hang would surely want to try capturing the radio signals from that time on his phone.
He typed "blood moon" into the browser search bar and then, on a whim, added the annotation "Type B No. 6 mysterious creature."
Sun Hang pressed the "search" button, and after a brief delay, 160,000 search results popped up.
He thought for a moment and then added "Yellow Calendar Year 4654 September 15" as an annotation—instantly, the results dwindled from 160,000 to just over thirty.
These thirty-plus entries were mostly official records from the Xiazhou Federation—many who experienced the blood moon sixty-five years ago were no longer alive. And in those days, information was scarce with no internet, making the clues Sun Hang could find online exceedingly rare.
Yet among these thirty-some records, none were related to Jingguan City.
Sun Hang sighed and had to change the search term to "Jingguan City, Yellow Calendar Year 4654 September 15," removing all references to the blood moon.
"Hmm?"
Although the content found still had nothing to do with the blood moon, one piece of information caught Sun Hang's attention.
It was a scanned document of local history, recording that between September 15 and 20 of the Yellow Calendar Year 4654, 150,000 refugees displaced by mysterious creatures moved from the Yuanmou Region into Shuzhou.
At that time, Jingguan City wasn't called Jingguan City but was known by its ancient name "Jingguan City," and the giant basin centered around Jingguan City was known as Shuzhou.
Back then, the boundaries of human activity extended four to five hundred kilometers further southwest, including Yuanmou City. The entire Yundian Plateau was the frontline against the invasion of mysterious creatures.
Sun Hang was about to follow this lead further to see if these refugees had any connection to the blood moon when Yang Qi's voice suddenly rang out.
"We've been targeted by something... I can feel it."
"What is it?" 0401 was startled, instantly sitting upright, gripping the seatbelt tightly in front of him.
"Just beasts." Wang Xiyi tugged at her handgun's slide, chambering a round from the magazine.
This was undeveloped wilderness from sixty-five years ago, with no human presence and no roads; the off-road vehicle drove over uneven terrain—Sun Hang looked out the window and saw a few scarlet flashes pass through the night, immediately disappearing from view.
"Seems like wolves." Sun Hang said.
"Wolves haven't appeared near Jingguan City in many years; if not for mysterious creatures, this news would probably make the front page of the Jingguan Daily tomorrow." Yang Qi commented casually.
"Can these wolves be killed? Would it violate wildlife protection laws?" Sun Hang asked.
"During the blood moon's appearance, wildlife protection laws are de facto not in effect." Yang Qi replied.
"That's good."
"But try not to shoot if you don't have to; I'm worried it might alert some other things." Yang Qi said, stepping on the gas, "I'll drive faster, see if I can shake off these wolves."
"It's too late, we're surrounded." Wang Xiyi said calmly.
A dozen scarlet points appeared right in front of the off-road vehicle... no, not just in front, they were on both sides and behind too. Counting two points per wolf, nearly fifty wolves surrounded them.
"So many?" Yang Qi frowned slightly.
Fifty wolves—this number exceeds the size of most wolf packs... even in areas highly suitable for wolves, with abundant food and few predators, the largest packs rarely exceed thirty.
"Even sixty-five years ago, the Shuzhou area didn't have wolf packs of this size, right?" Yang Qi wondered.
"No, they're not one pack, but many... " Wang Xiyi's nose twitched slightly, "I can smell it; these creatures belong to several groups, but driven by the blood moon, they've gathered together..."
"Are these all the wolves in this region? Why don't they go after other groups?" 0401's face was pale.
"Because there are two Mysterious Creature Hunters in this car, so we should expect special attention." Yang Qi gripped the steering wheel tightly, speaking seriously, "Everyone hold on, I'm speeding through... If they block the way, don't blame me for crashing into them!"
The off-road vehicle's engine roared deafeningly, the tachometer on the dashboard wildly swinging right, while the vehicle's jolting intensified as the speed increased, feeling as if it would fly at any moment—0401's head had already "kissed" the car ceiling twice unexpectedly.
As the distance closed, Sun Hang finally saw the wolves blocking the way clearly in the headlights.
They were larger than the adult wolves Sun Hang remembered—these wolves typically exceeded two meters in body length, able to effortlessly reach the top of the off-road vehicle if they stood upright.
"Are you certain these wolves are just more aggressive and irritable?" 0401's voice quivered slightly.
These wolves' eyes emitted a terrifying red glow, just like the blood moon in the sky—nocturnal animals' eyes "glow" due to a special reflective layer at the retina's base, which gathers weak environmental light and reflects it outward, creating phosphorescent-like points in the darkness.
This reflective effect isn't obvious in bright conditions, but now, being illuminated by the headlights, the red light in these wolves' eyes seemed to pierce through the car lights, glaringly conspicuous.
Facing the speeding-off road vehicle, these wolves did not dodge but lunged directly at it! The heavy bodies slammed into the windshield, denting the bulletproof glass capable of stopping 7.62mm rounds, with cracks like spider webs stretching to the window edges.
Two wolves were knocked away, but one hooked onto the roof rack with its front paws, clinging onto the window, starting to bang its head against the nearly shattered car window.
"These beasts have been enhanced by the blood moon." Yang Qi frowned, "Such occurrences... are rare."
Sun Hang noticed that this wolf's body was swelling rapidly, its fur being torn open by the fast-growing muscles, and bloody subcutaneous tissue squeezed out from the rents, bulging like an uncontainable tumor.
"Enhanced? That's a mutation, right?!" 0401 stammered, "This... this wolf has become a mysterious creature, hasn't it?!"