Blood

Out the door, Lumian felt as though he had entered another world. No longer was it the familiar Cordu Village before his eyes, but dark red peaks and rings of collapsed buildings surrounding them, together forming a strange ruin. Thick, ashen-white fog hung high in the sky, letting little light through; the ground was broken and strewn with rocks. Lumian carried an axe, moving forward cautiously, unable to find any place to hide along the way. No weeds grew here, and not a tree was in sight. Lumian walked with trepidation, hunching his back as he comforted himself—at least in this area, any danger would be plain to see and could be spotted in advance. Finally, he reached the ruins and came before a building half-collapsed by fire. Lumian observed for a while, preliminarily determining that no other creatures were inside, then cautiously entered, avoiding the charred wood that could fall from above at any moment, and began searching. His gaze swept across and saw, in the corner of the house, inside a broken earthenware jar, a glint of gold. Lumian approached step by step and found it was a gold coin. Was this real? There was actually treasure in the ruins of a dream? He muttered as he picked up the gold coin and rubbed it on his clothes. The pattern on the coin's surface was thereby revealed. The obverse bore a portrait of a man: a gaunt face, hair parted three-seven, two strips of mustache on his upper lip, and a determined gaze; the reverse featured a cluster of iris surrounding the number "20". Lumian recognized the man: he was the first president of the Republic of Intis, Lefanxi. "It's actually a gold louis..." Lumian said, quite surprised. First, he had not expected the currency of the real Republic of Intis to appear in this strange dream ruin; second, he had casually picked up something as valuable as a gold louis. The current legal tender of the Republic of Intis was the Ferrin and the Kope; 1 Ferrin equaled 100 Kope. The Kope existed in two forms: copper and silver coins. Copper coins came in 1 Kope, 5 Kope, and 10 Kope denominations; silver coins came in 20 Kope and 50 Kope. The Ferrin could be silver coins, gold coins, or banknotes. Silver coins came in 1, 5, and 10 Ferrin; gold coins came in 5, 10, 20, 40, and 50. Banknotes came in even more diverse denominations: 5, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 Ferrin. In actual daily life, the people of Intis still habitually used some old currency units—for example, they called the most widely used 5-Kope copper coin a "Rick". Similarly, a gold coin worth 20 Ferrin was called a gold louis. Of course, in the era of the old currency system, the gold louis was actually called the gold Roselle; after the republic was founded, to eliminate the influence of Emperor Roselle the Great, it was changed to gold louis. As far as Lumian knew, though this was impossible in the city, in a rural place like Cordu Village, a single gold louis could allow a poor family that owned some land to live well for a month. If not for Aurore's decent income, he might never have seen what a gold louis looked like; in all of Cordu Village, besides the two siblings, only the parish priest's family and the administrator's family had seen and owned a gold louis. For any villager, this gold louis was a harvest worth cherishing. "Too bad... it's just a dream..." Lumian sighed inwardly, a little disappointed. This was not something supernatural, so it probably could not be "brought" out of the dream. Still, Lumian solemnly put away the gold louis; his past life of wandering made him cherish every Kope all the more. One gold louis equaled 2000 Kope, roughly equal to 1 gold pound of the Loen Kingdom, though slightly less; according to the newspaper, 24 Ferrin could be exchanged for 1 gold pound. Lumian continued his search. He wanted to find some written material to confirm the specifics of the dream ruins, to see whether this place corresponded to some real location, whether some village in the Republic of Intis had been collectively "moved" into the dream—the appearance of that gold louis had given Lumian these conjectures. Moving step by step, Lumian saw that where the stove had been, the edges were stained with some dark red. "Blood?" His pupils dilated as he quickly formed a conjecture. Next, he made a judgment: These drops of blood, though not fresh, were not old either; they had not turned black and looked as if they had dripped just two or three days ago. Or even less! As his heart tightened, Lumian felt the light around him suddenly dim somewhat. It was as if something had silently crept onto the half-collapsed roof and blocked the little light that managed to penetrate the thick fog! The experience of being attacked while wandering surged into Lumian's mind like a roaring wave, prompting an instinctive response. He lunged forward, curled his body in midair, and landed in a roll. Thud! Something heavy landed behind him. Lumian rolled to the left side of the broken stove, pressed his hand against a stone, and used it to turn his body. He raised his axe and saw a figure standing where he had originally been. In the dim light, Lumian could not tell whether it was a human or a humanoid creature. It hunched its back, wearing no clothes or shoes; its skin seemed to have been flayed, exposing red muscles, blood vessels, and yellowish fascia, with drops of viscous liquid flowing over them without sliding to the ground. It was a monster! Its eyes, more white than blue, seemed embedded in its face; its mouth was stretched wide, its teeth uneven, and drool dripped out, drawn into long strands. Over the years, Lumian had concocted many ghost stories, but he never expected to encounter today something worthy of being called an evil ghost. Whoosh! A bloody wind slapped toward him, and the sound of heavy panting entered his ears. Lumian instinctively stepped aside, dodging the blood-red monster's attack. If not for regularly receiving Aurore's "guidance," and if not for his years of combat training and street-brawling experience, he, shaken in mind and body, might not have reacted in time just now. Regaining his composure, Lumian took a step after the lunging monster, raised the axe in his hand, and hacked fiercely at its back. Bang! The monster, about to turn, was hacked to the ground, pus and blood splashing everywhere. Lumian did not hesitate; he decisively knelt on one knee and raised his axe again. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! He hacked several axe blows in succession; each sank deep into the flesh, tearing deep, wide gashes, and mangled the monster's back of the head, neck, and back beyond recognition. Finally, the monster stopped struggling and lay motionless. "Phew, phew! You actually aren't as terrifying as your appearance suggests..." Lumian breathed a sigh of relief, muttering half-mockingly. He wiped his face with his left hand, getting his hand full of bloodstains. "Could this monster's body fluids be poisonous? At least there's no corrosive pain for now..." Lumian began to worry about other questions. Just as he mustered his courage, preparing to search the monster's body, the flayed blood-red monster propped itself up with both hands and sprang up again! It wasn't dead yet? Even after being hacked into that state, it still wouldn't die? Lumian was both shocked and afraid. One had to say, he was afraid, he was timid. If he had encountered normal humans, beasts, or monsters, he would not be so afraid even if he couldn't win, but this fellow before him seemed impossible to kill no matter what; everything he did was in vain! Seizing the moment when the monster seemed a bit "dazed and confused," unable to find where the enemy was, Lumian made a quick decision, braced his feet, drove with his knees, and took off running. Thud! Thud! Thud! He ran at his best level, but puffs of breath still sprayed vaguely at his neck, and the sound of heavy panting echoed in his ears. The monster chased closely behind him. Lumian gritted his teeth, feeling that fear had added no small amount of strength to his body. He ran faster, surpassing his previous level. To his delight, he found that the distance between the monster and himself was no longer closing. Thud! Thud! Thud! Lumian finally ran back to the front of his home, a two-story semi-underground building. He pulled open the unlocked door and dashed inside, then slammed the door shut behind him with his backhand. Without resting, Lumian went straight to the stove and picked up the steel fork leaning against the wall there. Then he focused his gaze on the doorway. The sound of the monster's running disappeared nearby, but after more than ten seconds, it still made no attempt to ram the door. "Does it know I'm ambushing here?" Lumian could not believe the monster possessed such high intelligence. He moved bit by bit to the window near the door and quietly peered outside. Suddenly, a face appeared on the glass! A face without skin, mangled flesh, and uneven teeth! Lumian's heart nearly stopped, and he stood stiff for a moment. But the monster did not take the opportunity to smash the glass and attack; it simply locked eyes with Lumian. Lumian came back to his senses, quickly retreated, and raised the long fork with both hands. The monster then left the window area. Lumian guarded and observed with extraordinary caution. He saw that in the faint gray fog, the monster lingered for a while, then left his building and slowly returned to the dream ruins. "..." Lumian was utterly bewildered. He had prepared to find a way to trap the monster and quickly escape the dream, but the other side just left like that... After pondering for a while, he thought of a possibility: "Does that monster dare not enter my house? "Yes, there are no signs of damage in the house at all... "In the dream, is this an absolutely safe place?" Having formed a conjecture, Lumian relaxed considerably. The next second, he felt strong fatigue. This short chase was actually more tiring than practicing fighting for an entire afternoon. Carrying the long fork and axe, Lumian went upstairs to his bedroom and tried to fall asleep. ... In a daze, Lumian opened his eyes. Outside the curtains it was still very dark; the room was dim. If not for the absence of faint gray fog, and if not for having "changed" into his pajamas, Lumian would not have been able to tell whether this was reality or a dream. "Frightened, and woke up early?" He instinctively touched the pocket of his pajamas but did not find that gold louis. This disappointed him somewhat and once again confirmed a fact: Money indeed could not be brought out of the dream! Collecting his thoughts, Lumian began to consider a serious question: How was he to deal with that undying monster? Although he could circumvent that area and stealthily penetrate deeper, he still had to consider the possibility of encountering similar monsters later; he had to make proper preparations and not gamble with his life.