In 3 B.C., during the reign of Emperor Ai of Han, there was a great drought in the world. A mysterious event occurred in the area east of the Hangu Pass. The people were in a collective panic, abandoning their fields and throwing their hoes, all holding harvest stalks, claiming that they were the plans of the Queen Mother of the West and had to be delivered to the palace. They were all running around in the fields and roads at dawn and night with disheveled hair or naked and barefoot, passing the harvest stalks to each other. Officials around the country either grabbed or pressed or beat them with the intention of stopping them, but to no avail. In the end, thousands of harvest stalks were sent to the capital through 26 counties and countries and finally placed in front of Emperor Ai of Han.

After that, the people sang and danced in the lanes and fields to worship the Queen Mother of the West until the autumn of the year, when they first awoke from their dream.

—”Zizhi Tongjian” scroll 34

In 1518 A.D., the “dancing plague” broke out in Strasbourg, France, when a woman suddenly danced and partied in the street, attracting people to stop by. Later, people joined in one after another and danced with her, continuing through the night. One day later, there were 34 dancers, and three days later, there were more than 400. The local officials brought in medical doctors for help, but nothing could be done. Even a number of doctors and soldiers joined the dance, danced for several days, and died of exhaustion. A month later, nearly half of the people in the city died in the madness of the dance.

In 1960, the scarecrow incident in Massachusetts, USA, happened. A scarecrow appeared in a wheat field in the New England highlands, the maker of which is unknown. Anyone who saw the eyes of the scarecrow stood on the spot, dazed and stiff. Those who saw the people affected by the scarecrow also experienced similar symptoms, which spread to the surrounding area. In one day, the scarecrow plague spread throughout the city, and the army and state police were deployed, but the results are unknown.

In 2005, a group of students at a middle school in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, collectively dreamed of red-eyed spiders during their afternoon break, causing panic. Later, the students began to show symptoms such as twisted limbs, slanted eyebrows, and tangled arms and legs. Experts understood the phenomenon and called it mass hysteria triggered by symptoms of muscle spasms. The following day, a gas explosion occurred at the school, destroying several school buildings. The number of casualties and survivors is unknown!

In 2030, the Red Moon event occurs!

The dark red moon hung low above the city’s scattered tall buildings, almost filling half of the sky.

A dark rust-covered inter-city train flew through the entire city under the red moon’s gaze. Inside this train, some passengers dressed in various colors were reading the newspaper, and some were dozing in the dim light.

“Ding! We have arrived at Moon Terrace Station!”

Lu Xin woke up from his doze, lifted his bag, and flowed out of the carriage with the surging crowd.

He carried his bag, walked past the dirty and worn steps, the platform full of newspapers, and walked to the ground of the city. Looking up, the glow of neon lights around made the streets and the people look colorful and feel strange. But no matter how rich the colors, the red moon still represented the world’s base color.

Ever since the Red Moon Event appeared thirty years ago, the whole world had been like this.

Of course, Lu Xin didn’t know what difference it made. He was born after the Red Moon Event, and the world had always been like this.

He carried his bag through an alley, where it had just rained, and ascended to a dilapidated old building. The elevator was broken again, so he had to take the stairs. He slowly came to room 401 on the fourth floor, took out the key, and opened the heavy door.

The hallway was quiet and chilly, but the apartment was warm and soft.

In the kitchen, Dad was stewing meat, and the pressure cooker was gurgling with heat, emitting a tantalizing meat smell.

Sister was lying on the couch, holding a snack and watching a very old cartoon: SpongeBob SquarePants.

Mom, elegant and modest, was wearing a white wool cardigan and standing by the window talking to someone on the phone.

“You’re back, Brother!”

Seeing Lu Xin walk in and put down his backpack, his sister looked up and smiled sweetly in greeting.

“Were you well behaved at home? I’ve bought you the teddy bear you wanted.”

Lu Xin stroked her head and handed her a brown teddy bear.

“Ah, thank you, Brother. I like it very much!”

Sister jumped up happily and hugged the bear.

“You’re back?”

Mom looked up at him and nodded with a smile. “Sit down and rest for a while, dinner will be served soon.”

Lu Xin nodded and sat down next to the dining table.

…

The table had been set with four sets of bowls and chopsticks and a few plates of green small dishes. The rice in the bowls was already a little cold.

However, the family had no intention to sit down to eat.

Mother was speaking gently on the phone: “Sister Zhang, actually, today’s matter, it is indeed my fault. Please don’t get angry. Of course, my gray wool sweater’s style is indeed a bit old, but how could you say it doesn’t look good? … Yes, I called you because of this matter… You certainly did not say it, but I know you think so in your heart…”

“No no, please don’t misunderstand… I just want to ask you to apologize… It’s not good to curse, too uncivilized… ”

Dad chopped bones louder and louder, and his cursing voice could be faintly heard: “Scum, waste, randomly breaking into other people’s homes. Damn, damn it….. F**king eating so much, I can’t finish chopping no matter how much I chop, and I can’t clean it no matter how I cook it!”

Sister was happily sitting cross-legged on the sofa at this time, tearing the brown bear apart bit by bit, using both hands to pull it apart and biting it with that mouthful of snow-white teeth. She bit off the brown bear’s ears, eyes, and both arms bit by bit. She tore it off and carefully watched the arms separate from the bear’s body with an excited and satisfied expression.

“We’ll have to wait a while before eating!”

Mom had already put down the phone, and she said gently, “I had a little misunderstanding with my neighbor Sister Zhang. I’ll go and apologize to her.”

With that, she smoothly took out the scissors in the drawer and elegantly walked out, taking the door with her.

…

Lu Xin quietly sat next to the dining table and waited.

He felt lucky. At the beginning of the Red Moon Event, the world had a long period of chaos. In that time, many people died, creating many orphans like him. Among them, a large portion disappeared after adulthood. Meanwhile, Lu Xin was lucky enough to be adopted by Dad and Mom and have a warm home. This was something that would make many envious.

Of course, this family and these family members would be a little strange sometimes.

But this family, in this shabby and dirty little satellite town, was still very complete.

Mom soon came back with a pleased smile on her face, saying, “Sister Zhang has made up with me!”

Lu Xin found an additional inconspicuous fresh bloodstain under the collar of her white woolen sweater.

The family began to eat.

Sister was still holding her little bear, which she had torn open and then sewn back together.

It was a crookedly pieced body, full of rough stitches, but Sister liked it even more than before.

Dad sat down at the table, opened a bottle of baijiu

1

, which label had been so soiled that the words could not be read, grabbed some green vegetables with his chopsticks, then finished the glass of baijiu in one gulp. There was no meat on the table. Dad liked to chop bones and stew meat, but never let anyone eat it or go near his iron pot. He was still wearing his plastic apron splattered with blood, and a few flies swirled around him.

Sirens approached outside, and noisy sounds of people talking could be heard continuously. But what they said was unknown.

“Smack!”

Dad suddenly put down his glass with force, looking out the window with bulging bloodshot eyes. “Noisy, noisy, just f**king know how to make noise. Can’t even let people eat a peaceful meal. Trash police, can’t find out anything. Trash neighbors, just know how to peek at people every day!”

“Don’t scare the children.”

Mom picked up a green vegetable and carefully ate it. Her bright red lips were striking in the dim light.

Lu Xin remembered that she did not wear lipstick.

“F**k the kids, damn it. Damn them all!”

Dad was even angrier. His five fingers gripped the bottle tightly and his veins rippled as he cursed, “Bitch, you deserve to die too!”

“Yes, in your eyes, everyone deserves to die but you.”

Mom smiled gracefully and calmly. “Because you’re going to stay to collect the corpses at the end, aren’t you? You like to collect corpses!”

As she spoke, she put down her bowl and chopsticks, smiled gently, and looked at Dad. “Because those people were better off than you when they were alive. They were more capable than you, so you especially don’t like to see them alive. You like to see them unable to talk!”

“Shut up, shut up. What do you know?”

Dad was really enraged by Mom. He violently broke the bottle, rushed up, and choked her.

Giggle…

Mom laughed very happily, even though she was choked until her face turned purple. Her smile was still very elegant. “Tra… trash…”

Smack!

Dad finally couldn’t help himself and started to punch and kick Mom, hitting her so hard the dining room shook non-stop.

“Wow… Dad, don’t hit Mommy…”

Sister cried out in fear, clinging to the bear, then suddenly blushed and giggled wildly. “Fun, fun, so fun…”

Then, she suddenly rolled over and jumped up like a flexible spider, climbed to the ceiling, hooked the chandelier with her feet, and somehow stabilized her body. She twisted and turned her head, looking at the fight below while her mouth gripped the toy bear. She slapped her hands hard and whimpered incessantly. It was like she was laughing, but also like she was crying. “Too fun!”

Dad was getting angrier and angrier, and his body seemed to expand. His muscles burst through his shirt, revealing his green, black hairy back. His features were twisted and big. He waved his fist, punching down hard at Mom, punch after punch. Mom was being beaten by him until her skin tore, but her voice was still as elegant. “That’s nice. This impotent rage…”

Lu Xin carried his rice bowl and sat next to the flipped-over table, slowly eating the rice.

After the Red Moon Event, a warm family was rare…

Although in his own home, his family would also have some minor problems and sometimes quarrel and fight, it was still home…

…

Outside the window, a room directly opposite the living room window of Lu Xin’s house was set up as a simple studio.

A short-haired woman in a casual suit observed Lu Xin’s room through a telescope.

Through the lens of the telescope, one could see that in the empty room, Lu Xin was sitting alone in a chair eating. Obviously, he was the only one sitting there. But that room looked as if an earthquake had happened in it. The table and chairs were overturned, the chandelier kept shaking, and on the window glass, a cloud of white flower-like cracks appeared from time to time, as if something had hit it.

“The thirteenth psyche mutation observed entity’s numinous power has appeared.”

One of the two young men beside her, wearing delicate work attire, calculated rapidly while the other recorded the scene.

“Does he have the potential to be recruited?”

“How big is the potential threat?”

“What are the specific abilities?”

The short-haired woman shook her head and said, “It’s not clear yet. He’s not like other psyche mutants who reveal a strong mutant form in the early stages, such as being able to enter other people’s dreams or unintentionally release a psyche plague, etc. He looks normal. He can go to and from work normally every day and can even handle his job well, but his psyche occasionally appears disturbed.”

“Sounds like he has a lot of potential and would be easy to guide.”

Behind them, a man with a somewhat imposing face said, “Have you tried asking a dream maker to enter his dream world to assess him?”

“Yes!”

The short-haired, red-suited woman nodded gently and said, “But after that dream maker entered his dream world, he never came out.”

Even in the daytime, the office was lit with a miserable white light.

Partition after partition divided most of the office into small boxes. In the middle of each box, there was an unconnected desktop computer and a telephone. Everyone was busy and walking around. Some were typing, some were on the phone, and some were exchanging documents. Lu Xin’s workstation was in the very middle, with a “Best Employee” reward banner hanging on the partition.

The morning’s busy work had been dealt with. Lu Xin straightened up and pinched his temples.

Staying in this environment for a long time, one would always feel depressed and stuffy. Not to mention there were always so many tedious things to deal with.

“Are you busy now, Brother Lu?”

A voice sounded beside Lu Xin. He looked up and found that it was the new young man in the office, Lv Cheng. He was well dressed, had short hair, and a sunny temperament. But at this time, he frowned as he said, “The director arranged for me to organize this batch of documents. I’ve sorted it out, but I can’t seem to get it right. The time is almost up. Brother Lu, can you… can you teach me?”

“Sure.”

Lu Xin smiled and agreed to help. “I happen to have nothing to do now.”

“Thank you, Brother Lu. You’re really nice!”

The energetic chap’s expression was grateful as he rushed beside Lu Xin’s desk. One taught while the other learned.

Many discontented gazes were cast at them from the surrounding partitions, and a few extremely soft whispers were heard.

“His own work is already tiring enough, yet he still has to teach others.”

“We all have the same job. There’s no need to be afraid of getting kicked out after we’ve taught others how to do things properly.”

“…”

Under many people’s unhappy gazes, Lu Xin helped Lv Cheng arrange the documents and waved as he thanked him.

Although everyone was nervous in this oppressive office atmosphere, Lu Xin had always had his own principles of doing things. When he was able to give others a hand, he would do so. The Red Moon incident had made a change in the world, but one still had to have the character of a human being.

“Lu Xin, come here for a moment, the director called you!”

Someone called out from afar.

“Coming!”

Lu Xin put down his coffee, got up, and walked towards the director’s office. There, he saw the director, who was so fat that his cheeks were hanging down on both sides. On the sofa opposite sat a short-haired woman wearing sunglasses and a decent suit.

“Little Lu, here’s a document. Help me deliver it to the corner cafe on Qingjiang Road now!”

The director was concise and pointed to the file bag on the table.

Delivering documents was the administration team or miscellaneous affairs team’s job. It wasn’t part of his job scope.

But Lu Xin didn’t refuse. “Ok.”

Then, he picked up the documents, nodded to the director and the short-haired woman on the sofa, and walked out.

As soon as he left the room, the director immediately smiled and attentively said to the short-haired woman, “Team Leader Chen, it’s done. Don’t worry, I won’t ask or think much about it. But that project you just told me about…”

“Please rest assured, this project won’t be given to you!”

The short-haired woman stood up, pulled down her sunglasses, and spoke gently.

The director froze for a moment, thinking he had heard wrong. Just then, he saw the woman’s pupils.

Her pupils looked like they were spinning, faintly glowing red, and seemed to turn into two red moons.

“Forget about me. Also, forget about arranging for him to do anything!”

The short-haired woman whispered softly. Then, she put on her sunglasses and turned to leave.

The director fell into a moment of confusion. Then, after a few seconds, he sobered up as if nothing had happened and went on with his business.

…

Lu Xin grabbed a handrail in a carriage of the high-speed rail while feeling drowsy. The place he boarded the high-speed rail was near the starting station, and there were still seats available. But he saw a pregnant lady board and gave his seat up to her. He then remained standing for thirty minutes.

The lights in the carriage flickered slightly, and Sister, holding a patched-up bear in her arms, crawled over along the roof.

She hung upside down in front of Lu Xin, swaying like she was on a swing.

Lu Xin stared fixedly, pretending to be admiring the beautiful legs of a girl in hot pants at the side.

Sister played by herself even more happily. She swayed more and more violently, and a faint sound of distortion appeared in the carriage.

Fortunately, the train was moving very fast and swaying, so the distortion sound was masked.

“Brother, Brother, look, that fat man is so silly…”

Sister suddenly pointed at a fat man standing and sleeping not far away drooling and smiled at Lu Xin.

“Don’t talk to me…”

Forcing himself to concentrate on looking at the legs of the beautiful woman, Lu Xin squeezed between his teeth.

“I can’t look at you outside, let alone talk to you. I’ll be treated like a psycho…”

“Tsk, no fun!”

Sister deliberately provoked Lu Xin. But, seeing he didn’t fall for it, she felt a little bored.

“Then, take care of yourself. There’s something wrong with the place you’re going to!”

As she spoke, not waiting for Lu Xin to ask further, she “giggled” and fiercely ran forward along the carriage. Passing by the fat man sleeping while standing, she suddenly pinched the fat man’s face and then disappeared into the distance.

The fat man woke up with a start and shouted, “Who touched me?”

People around him looked at him oddly as there was no one around him in a one-meter radius.

Lu Xin joined the crowd of onlookers, looking at the fat man as though he was nuts.

…

When he got out of the train, Lu Xin found that the place was close to the outer wall.

The buildings here had become somewhat dilapidated. One could see that the walls were more than ten meters high, casting a deep shadow on the buildings. Although thirty years had passed and those wandering lunatics outside the city had been mostly cleaned up, the people living in the city still didn’t dare to be careless. The focus of municipal work every year was to continue to strengthen and repair these tall walls.

When he arrived at the corner cafe, he found that the environment here was dark.

The old buildings and bungalows around it seemed empty, and no one could be seen.

There was a lot of garbage in front of the door like it was blown there by the wind, and he didn’t know for how long it hadn’t been cleaned.

As he approached the place, he felt depressed for some reason.

Lu Xin subconsciously didn’t like this place, but he had promised the director, so he still walked in.

…

“The thirteenth observed has entered the target area!”

On a high building not far from there, more than a dozen observers were present. A variety of instruments had been set up. Around the high building, loaded guns and heavily armed warriors were hidden in the shadows nervously guarding against everything in the surroundings.

The short-haired woman was also among the office staff, holding a document with the following black lettering:

“Target codename: Corner Cafe.

“Purpose of the operation: detect the potential and specific abilities of the thirteenth observed to become a Psyche Master.

“Potential risk: The cafe has been confirmed as a Level 1 Psyche Corruption Zone.

“Specific manifestations are:

“People who are close to the cafe will be involuntarily drawn into it.

“People who have entered the cafe will die within three to five days, and the cause of death is mostly suicide.

“According to analysis, they were probably corrupted in the cafe to the point of developing a severe depression.”

“…”

She put down the documents in her hands and asked the person beside her, “Is the preparatory support ready?”

The staff member nodded and gestured toward the next room.

Through the glass partition between the two rooms, a delicate girl in a western dress, who looked like a puppet, could be seen sitting there.

…

As Lu Xin entered the cafe, he felt warm and lively.

Outside the street, as well as inside the house, it was empty and cold.

But this cafe was full of people and even felt overcrowded.

Everyone was smiling. Some talked intimately with their head down, some sat alone by the window, drinking coffee while looking at a book. Some squinted and concentrated on a delicious sandwich. Soothing and ancient music floated in the store as sunlight poured in through the window, making people seem to be in a trance, as though they were back in that world before the Red Moon disaster…

Lu Xin passed through the crowd and came to the bar, nodding to the waiter behind the counter.

“I was asked to send this document over.”

The director didn’t say exactly who to send it to, so it should be fine if it was delivered to the waiter.

“Thanks.”

The waiter didn’t care about anything. He just smiled and thanked, then poured a cup of coffee and pushed it in front of Lu Xin.

“Um…”

Lu Xin wanted to say that he had no intention of staying for coffee.

However, the coffee smelled quite fragrant, completely different from the cheap coffee in the company.

“Thanks for coming all the way here. This cup is on the house.”

The waiter smiled kindly, making one feel comfortable.

Lu Xin’s heart eased a little, and he couldn’t refuse at that moment.

Then, just at that moment, his eyes faintly shifted.

Behind the waiter’s delicate apron, a thick and ugly tentacle suddenly stretched out and slowly reached for Lu Xin. At the top of the tentacle, the flesh slowly cracked. Suddenly, a coin-sized black rheid slipped into the coffee. Lu Xin looked down. The rheid looked like an egg, but also like an eye. Black pupils looked at him.

The coffee instantly became more fragrant. Every wisp had amazing seductive power.

The waiter also smiled more cordially and gently pushed the coffee toward Lu Xin, gesturing for him to enjoy it.

“No, thanks.”

Lu Xin politely refused as if he hadn’t noticed anything and turned around to walk out.

When he reached the door, he looked back.

Then, he saw that everyone in the cafe had stopped what they were doing and were staring at him in a daze.

He turned around stiffly and walked faster.