Moon Shadow

A brisk pop song played in the living room. Amy loved listening to this sort of noisy music, and her taste was pretty terrible. What was even worse was that her own singing voice wasn't good either, yet she insisted on singing along—a double taboo of sheer torture. "No one can compare to you and me, playing under the blanket together~" *Clack.* The utility room door swung open. Amy, who had just been singing, instantly pulled a straight face and silently set two food trays down before Igola. The tray on the left held dog food; the tray on the right held clean water. Igola looked up at Amy and meekly raised his right hand. Amy nodded, and he darted toward the bathroom. When he returned, he obediently lay prone on the floor, eating like a pet. Igola felt no psychological distress over this; such humiliation, having no bearing on practical interests, couldn't touch a Swindler's soul in the slightest. Amy, however, was quite satisfied. Squatting beside him, she said, "I've gathered the intel. Observation Point 53 has been confirmed as a complete Void Realm passage." Igola jerked his head up. "Then—" *Smack!* Amy suddenly gave Igola's head a vicious smack that echoed with a loud crack, her cute, delicate face cast in shadow, looking ferocious and brutal. Igola obediently raised his hand. Amy instantly broke into a smile. "You may speak." "When is the first wave of exploration for Observation Point 53 scheduled?" "Tonight, midnight on May 2nd, when the Blood Moon dims," Amy said. "The Lake View Warzone has already mobilized a group of adventurers to head over. I've prepared a standard adventurer suit and a bicycle for you. There are still five hours until midnight, giving you plenty of time to get there. As for whether you can slip into the adventurer team, that's up to you." Igola was taken aback. He had felt Amy would help him, but he hadn't expected her to arrange everything so thoroughly. In truth, whether it was staying in a utility room, eating dog food, or wearing a collar, Igola could have resisted. But he had chosen to comply and humor Amy, because she was currently his hope of escaping the Blood Moon; offending her would only accelerate his own demise. If nothing else, regarding the intel on Observation Point 53: although the restrictions of the Contract compelled Amy to tell Igola, the timing was entirely at her discretion. If Amy had waited until 11:00 p.m. to tell him, Igola would have missed this prime opportunity to escape—the first wave of exploration into a Void Realm passage was bound to have the most loopholes and offer the best chance to fish in troubled waters! Yet Amy had not only informed him in a timely manner, she had even made preparations for him to blend into the adventurer ranks. Igola couldn't help but feel a bizarre surge of 'victim's gratitude': "Thank you. Thank you for helping me so much." Amy paused slightly, then broke into a sweet smile, her big grey wolf tail curling up proudly behind her. "You're welcome!" She suddenly pulled Igola to his feet. "Come on, let's go eat." "Huh?" Igola glanced at the dog food on the tray. "Aren't I supposed to eat this?" "Good kids don't have to eat snacks." Amy had him sit down. "I'll make you something delicious." Though she said so, Amy's culinary skills went no further than "I know how this kitchen appliance works." She simply pulled pre-cooked frozen food from the freezer, gave it a quick reheat, and set it on the table. But for Igola, who had eaten dog food for days, simply being able to sit down and eat with a spoon felt like fine dining. Just as Igola was about to dig in, he saw Amy clasp her hands in prayer: "Praise be to the Blood Moon for granting sunlight and rain, causing the earth to yield bountiful food." Igola noticed Amy stealing glances at him. Hesitating for a moment, he joined in the pre-meal prayer. Amy was thoroughly pleased, and as she ate, she asked, "We haven't gambled in a long time. Want to bet on something?" Igola said, "But we're eating." "You can gamble while eating too! You're so smart, Igola—come up with a fun idea!" Amy said excitedly. Not wanting to cross her, Igola thought for a moment and said, "How about this: the rule is that each turn, we can take one to three bites of food. Whoever happens to take the very last bite wins." "What an interesting gamble!" Amy said. "So what are the stakes?" "One question," Igola said. "The loser must honestly answer one question from the winner." "No problem! Haha, Igola, you're doomed to lose this time! My personal best is wolfing down an entire little Lalafell in one bite!" Just like before, Amy never cared about the size of the stakes. But the key to winning this game wasn't appetite—it was turn order and calculation. Under Igola's simple manipulation, Amy ate most of the food, but the final bite went to Igola. Amy patted her belly contentedly and let out a sigh. "Ah, I lost again. That makes it 185 losses and 12 wins..." Igola changed into the standard adventurer suit, pulled up his face mask, and flipped up his hood. Looking at Amy with some surprise, he asked, "You still remember how many games we've played?" "Of course! How could I possibly forget something so important?" Amy wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, fished a key from her pocket, and tossed it to Igola. "The bike is parked downstairs in spot number 16." Igola caught the key. "Sorry for troubling you. In case I get caught, memory masters will find proof in my memories that you helped me, and I don't have time right now to find a memory master to wipe them..." "It doesn't matter," Amy waved her hand dismissively. "Isn't it completely normal for friends to help each other?" Friends...? A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Igola's mouth. "Except I'm a criminal, and you're a Bloodmad Hunter." "So what?" Amy curled both feet onto the chair, cocked her head at Igola, her tail curling inward, looking thoroughly puzzled. "You're a criminal, and I'm a Bloodmad Hunter, but what does that have to do with us being friends? When we played together, we played gambling games, not hunter and criminal games..." "I've never heard of anyone locking a friend in a utility room and feeding him dog food," Igola said coldly. "You were a bad kid who had no manners! Isn't it completely normal to get punished?!" Amy said with total self-righteousness. "You still haven't admitted your mistake!" *Admit what mistake? You locked me in the utility room on the very first day!* Incomprehensible. Unfathomable. Igola shook his head, walked over to the entryway, and put on his boots. Amy came over and said, "Are you leaving already? Stay safe on the road." "By the way, I won the bet earlier. I'm going to exercise the winner's right: you must honestly answer my question." "Ask away." "Back then, when the Sin Hunting Hall arrested me, was it because you reported me?" Amy blinked, a blank look on her face. "Wait, you were arrested by the Sin Hunting Hall? No wonder you didn't show up for over a year... Hold on, does that mean you're a prison escapee? When you said you were a criminal earlier, you were actually telling the truth?" Igola was dumbfounded. "Haven't you seen my wanted poster?" "Pursuing the Shattered Lake prison escapees is the captain's sole responsibility. Lately, I've been in charge of security detail for the deputy mayor..." Amy shook her head. "As for your arrest by the Sin Hunting Hall, I didn't even know who you were, so how could I have reported you? ...Wait. "Now that I think about it, a year ago everyone suddenly congratulated me, saying I'd acted as bait on my own initiative and lured a wily swindler into a trap. Even the captain commended me and treated me to a lavish feast. I had no idea what had happened back then, so I just ate the meal in a daze, and I even got promoted..." Though it sounded incredible, Igola sensed that Amy wasn't lying. From the moment they first met, Amy had struck Igola as the cute, airheaded type. That was precisely why he had sheared her wool without mercy, accumulating 9,000 minutes of Contract service—all because he had targeted a fool who was easy to take advantage of. In truth, Igola hadn't wanted to believe Amy had turned him in either; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked this question. Believing that would mean his ability to read people had suffered a catastrophic failure. If he couldn't even distinguish whether a client was a dog or a wolf, he would essentially forfeit his qualifications as a Swindler. Fortunately, Amy hadn't disappointed him. She really was a total airhead. The Sin Hunting Hall had simply caught him by sheer coincidence, not because he had walked into her trap. The only person in this world capable of turning the tables and deceiving him was still that underdeveloped-brained cult leader. At the thought, Igola let out a quiet breath of relief and smiled. "Thank you, Amy." Amy asked discontentedly, "Aside from that, don't you have anything else to say to me? Like an apology or something..." "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble..." "I already told you that doesn't matter! Not that!" *Then what on earth is it?* Even though Igola was a mind sorcerer, he still couldn't fathom what was going through Amy's head. He simply pushed the door open to leave. "Thank you for taking care of me. I hope we'll have a chance to meet again in the future." "Next time, I'll definitely beat you!" Amy called out loudly. On his way out of the apartment building, Igola exhaled a long breath. The gloom of being locked away in confinement over the past few days vanished, and his steps grew lighter. Actually, putting aside her bad temper and her twisted hobby of raising humans like dogs, Amy was quite a good client. Given enough time, Igola was confident he could even cultivate her into his inside informant within the Sin Hunting Hall. After all, Amy valued friendship surprisingly deeply, wore her heart on her sleeve, was simple-minded, and didn't care about breaking rules—practically just like a child... Igola found the bicycle Amy had prepared. Just as he mounted it and was about to pedal away, Amy's voice came drifting down from above. "Next time you ask someone for help, say 'please' first!" Leaning over the balcony, Amy shouted without the slightest inhibition, "Don't be so rude in the future!" Igola froze in slight bafflement. All he could do was nod hastily and pedal away from this awkward crime scene. He wondered why she had suddenly blurted out something like that. It took him a good while to remember that when he first tracked down Amy, he really hadn't said "please." Igola felt both amused and exasperated. Could it be that because he hadn't said "please" when commanding her, "I command you to assist me in escaping the Blood Moon Country," she had stayed mad all this time? *"You were a bad kid who had no manners! Isn't it completely normal to get punished?!"* *Screeech!* Igola slammed on the brakes and looked back toward Amy's apartment building. He recalled some background information on the Moon Shadow clan. The members of the Moon Shadow clan came from two sources: besides adults passing church examinations to become priests, there was another route—when assessing an infant's potential, the Supreme Love Church would retain those whose aptitudes were best suited for the Moon Shadow clan and send them straight to the church rearing institutes for upbringing. Unlike most rearing institutes, church rearing institutes were completely closed off and accepted no public oversight. Normal rearing institutes, whether good or bad, had to install camera eyes so members of society could view the conditions inside. Free-for-all scuffles among young children were permitted, but staff members were strictly forbidden from subjecting young children to corporal punishment. Education could be administered through verbal reprimands, preferential resource allocation, or even collective ostracization, but one was strictly barred from directly harming young children or depriving them of their freedom; young children possessed the right to refuse. Because of the closed nature of church rearing institutes, many suspected that militarized training was taking place inside. Yet the Moon Shadow priests produced by the church rearing institutes invariably dispelled people's doubts. Compared to the vast majority of citizens in the Blood Moon Country, Moon Shadow priests were so pure, adorable, warm-hearted, innocent, diligent, polite, and well-mannered—they were practically grown-up little angels. Incidentally, the Sin Hunting Hall was only responsible for hunting criminals. If a citizen of the Blood Moon ran into neighborhood disputes, lost pets, a lightbulb stuck in their mouth, a tongue frozen to a railing, or getting stuck in a washing machine, turning to the Sin Hunting Hall was useless; the proper recourse was to seek out the church. Whenever a call for help was received, no matter the hour, the nearest church would dispatch a Moon Shadow priest to assist in person. Moon Shadow priests were unfailingly cheerful and enthusiastic, never shrank from trouble, and approached everything with patience, instilling in the Blood Moon populace the notion: "Got a problem? Turn to the church." Almost everyone had received assistance from a Moon Shadow priest, and no one disliked them. Currently, sixty percent of the Blood Moon population were church believers who attended worship on schedule, and most of them had been touched by the Moon Shadow priests, leading them to firmly believe that the Blood Moon Sovereign whom the Moon Shadow priests worshipped was indeed an all-benevolent and all-merciful being. The speech Financier had delivered caused no great uproar, and a very significant reason for that was the existence of Moon Shadow priests. If the benefits cruelly harvested from the populace were channeled exclusively to the Blood Saint clan, people would surely be furious beyond measure. But if it went to both the Blood Saint clan and the Moon Shadow clan, people hesitated—giving up one's flesh to sustain the Moon Shadow clan didn't seem entirely unacceptable. There was also a popular saying in Kaimeng City: "The fake top tier, Emerald Garden; the true top tier, church rearing institutes." For someone like Langna, calling him a werewolf truly wasn't wrong; his very existence only defiled the name Moon Shadow. Igola suddenly remembered his conversation with Langna before the prison break: "For the Supreme Love Church to raise a Moon Shadow like you is bizarre beyond belief." "What puzzles me is how the church didn't produce other werewolves." *So that's what it meant...* In truth, Igola should have guessed it long ago: how could an adult be afraid of being locked in a utility room? Even without a chip, Igola wasn't afraid; if he had his chip, he could have carried out anonymous frauds over the Curtain right from inside the utility room. The only ones who would fear solitary confinement as a punishment were ignorant, innocent children. Moreover, Amy clearly didn't keep a dog, so why did she have dog food? Just earlier, she had pointed at the dog food and called it snacks. Coupled with Amy's abnormal obsession with manners and her childlike personality, the truth was staring him right in the face. Igola looked up at the slowly rising Blood Moon. He shook his head gently, pushed down hard on the pedals, and sped away.