The snow did not fall like the soft flakes Lin Feng Yi remembered from his childhood in the old world. This was a heavy and wet grey curtain that seemed to swallow the light. It piled up against the ruins of the parking garage and hissed as it blew through the gaps in the concrete. Inside the bunker the air was warm but the silence was gone. The metal walls groaned under the pressure of the wind and the temperature outside dropped so fast that the internal sensors began to chime in a steady and annoying rhythm.
Lin Feng Yi stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked up at the hatch. He could feel the cold radiating down from the steel. He was alone in the main shaft. The others were huddled in the sleeping quarters trying to stay warm under piles of old insulation and rags. He gripped his iron strut until his knuckles turned white. That red eye he had seen in the storm was burned into his mind. It was not a machine and it was not a Hesperian. It was something else.
He climbed the ladder slowly. His muscles felt tight and a strange heat was pulsing in his veins. The potion was reacting to the presence of the thing outside. It was a predatory instinct that he had never felt as a strategist. Back then he dealt with numbers and maps. Now he felt like a wolf defending a den. He reached the small viewing port at the top and wiped away the condensation with his sleeve.
The world outside was a shifting blur of white and shadow. For a long time he saw nothing but the wind whipping the snow into tall spirals. Then he saw it again. A flicker of movement near the remains of a rusted car. It was a creature that looked like it had been stretched on a rack. It was thin and long with limbs that had too many joints. Its skin was the color of a bruise and it moved with a jerky and unnatural speed.
But it was the chest of the beast that held his attention. A large shard of raw and jagged Jade was embedded in its sternum. The crystal pulsed with a sickly and flickering purple light. Every time it pulsed the snow around the creature melted and turned into a foul smelling steam. This was a Jade Beast. It was an animal that had been corrupted by eating the raw energy of the earth and now it was hungry for more.
Lin Feng Yi felt a drop of sweat run down his back despite the cold. The beast was sniffing the air near his sensors. It could smell the power coming from the bunker. It could smell the industrial Jade he had stored in the power room. If that thing got inside it would tear through the scavengers like they were made of paper.
He descended the ladder and walked into the sleeping area. He did not yell but his voice was sharp enough to wake them instantly. Everyone up. Geng get the spears. Hao get the fire extinguishers.
Geng rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It is the middle of the night Xiao Lin. The storm is howling. What is wrong?
A beast is at the door Geng Lin Feng Yi said. He did not wait for them to argue. He went to the storage locker and pulled out a heavy canister of pressurized foam and a flare gun. It is a corrupted one. It wants the Jade.
The word beast changed the energy in the room. Scavengers knew the stories. They knew about the things that lived in the Dead Zones. Geng scrambled for his spear his face turning a pale shade of yellow. You mean a shadow walker? Here?
It is right outside the hatch Lin Feng Yi said. We cannot stay down here and let it dig. If it compromises the seal the pressure from the storm will crush us. We have to kill it on the surface.
Mei was sitting up in her bed her eyes wide and wet. Don't go out there Xiao Lin. The wind will take you.
Stay with Uncle Chen Mei Lin Feng Yi said. He didn't look back because he knew if he did he might lose his nerve. Lock the inner door behind us. If we don't come back in an hour keep it locked.
He led Geng and Hao back to the main shaft. The two men were shaking. They were not warriors. They were just men who had spent their lives hiding in the dirt. But they looked at Lin Feng Yi and they saw the calm in his eyes. It was a fake calm a mask he wore to keep them moving but it worked.
Listen to me Lin Feng Yi whispered as they reached the ladder. The beast is fast. It is faster than anything you have ever seen. Do not try to stab it in the head. Aim for the crystal in its chest. That is the heart. If we break the Jade it dies.
He handed Hao the fire extinguisher. When I open the hatch the snow is going to blinded us. You spray the foam as soon as you see movement. It will slow the beast down and freeze its joints. Geng you and I will strike when it is stuck.
Geng nodded his teeth chattering. I am going to die in a library. I just know it.
Lin Feng Yi didn't answer. He put his hand on the lever. He felt the golden script in his eyes begin to hum.
Quest Triggered Survival of the Den. Enemy Identified Corrupted Jade Prowler Level Six.
He ignored the words. He did not care about levels. He cared about the weight of the iron in his hand. He took a deep breath and threw the lever.
The hatch blew open with a deafening bang. The pressure difference was so great that for a second it felt like the air was being sucked out of their lungs. A wall of freezing snow and ice slammed into them. Hao screamed and started spraying the foam blindly into the white void.
A high pitched shriek echoed over the wind. It was a sound of pure hunger. The Jade Prowler leaped from the shadows of the parking garage landing on the rim of the hatch. It was even bigger up close. Its fingers were like long black needles and its face was a featureless mask of skin with only that single glowing red eye.
Spray it! Lin Feng Yi yelled.
Hao found his mark. A thick stream of white chemical foam hit the beast in the chest and legs. The prowler shrieked again as the foam reacted with the heat coming from the Jade crystal. The foam hardened instantly in the sub zero air turning into a crust of ice that pinned the creature's limbs to the metal rim of the hatch.
Geng now!
Geng lunged forward with his spear. He was screaming a raw sound of terror and rage. The glass tip of his spear slammed into the beast's shoulder. It did not go deep but it drew a black and oily blood that hissed when it hit the snow. The prowler lashed out with its long tail hitting Geng in the chest and throwing him back down the ladder.
Lin Feng Yi didn't hesitate. He stepped out onto the surface into the full force of the storm. The wind nearly knocked him off his feet but he lowered his center of gravity just like he had practiced in the gym. He saw the prowler struggling to break free from the ice. The purple light in its chest was pulsing faster and faster turning the snow around it into a toxic fog.
He raised the iron strut. He could see the structural weakness in the crystal. There was a tiny crack near the top where the energy was leaking. He felt a surge of heat in his arm. The potion was moving. It was pushing his muscles beyond their limit.
He swung.
The iron hit the Jade with a sound like a bell ringing. A shockwave of purple energy exploded outward throwing Lin Feng Yi back against the concrete wall. He felt his ribs groan and his vision went black for a second. When he opened his eyes the beast was standing over him. It had broken free from the ice.
Its red eye was inches from his face. He could smell the rot and the ozone. The crystal in its chest was shattered but it was still glowing. The beast raised its long needle like fingers to finish him.
Hao moved. The boy who had been hiding in the shaft ran out and smashed the empty fire extinguisher against the back of the beast's head. It was not a heavy blow but it was enough of a distraction. The prowler turned its head snarling.
That second was all Lin Feng Yi needed. He grabbed the flare gun from his belt and pressed the muzzle directly against the shattered Jade in the beast's chest.
Burn you bastard he hissed.
He pulled the trigger. The magnesium flare ignited inside the Jade crystal. The reaction was violent. The raw energy of the Jade and the chemical fire of the flare combined into a white hot miniature sun. The beast didn't even have time to shriek. It simply disintegrated from the inside out.
An explosion of light and heat cleared the snow for twenty meters in every direction. Lin Feng Yi shielded his eyes as the remains of the prowler turned into ash and drifted away into the storm.
Silence returned to the ruins. The wind was still howling but the hunger was gone.
Lin Feng Yi lay in the snow for a long time. His body was screaming in pain. Every muscle felt like it had been stretched to the breaking point. He watched the purple sparks of the beast's Jade fade into the grey sky.
Xiao Lin? Hao's voice was small and shaking. Are you dead?
I am thinking about it Lin Feng Yi said. He coughed and tasted blood. Help me up.
Hao and a bruised Geng dragged him back into the hatch. They slammed the lever shut and locked it. The three of them sat at the bottom of the ladder in the dark breathing hard. They were covered in snow and foam and black blood.
Is it over? Geng asked. He was clutching his ribs and his face was a mess of scrapes.
The beast is dead Lin Feng Yi said. He looked at his hands. They were shaking. The golden script was dancing in his vision.
Victory Recorded. Martial Pillar Progress Fifteen Percent. Digestion Status Twenty Eight Percent. New Ingredient Acquired Corrupted Jade Dust.
He felt a deep sense of exhaustion. This was the reality of the new world. It was not just about building sensors and teaching men to stand straight. It was about surviving the things that the Jade had created. It was about being more of a monster than the monsters.
They walked back to the sleeping quarters. Mei and Uncle Chen were waiting by the door. When they saw the three of them alive Mei burst into tears and hugged Lin Feng Yi's waist. He didn't have the strength to push her away. He just stood there letting the warmth of the bunker seep back into his bones.
We killed it Uncle Chen Geng said. His voice was full of a strange pride. Xiao Lin blew it up from the inside.
Chen looked at Lin Feng Yi. He saw the blood on the boy's coat and the hollow look in his eyes. You are becoming a warrior Xiao Lin. But be careful. The more you fight the beasts the more you understand them.
I don't want to understand them Lin Feng Yi said. I want to build a world where they don't exist.
He went to the power room and sat by the Jade crystals. He pulled a small pouch from his pocket and emptied the black dust he had collected from the surface. It was the remains of the prowler's heart. It glowed with a faint and steady light.
He knew what he had to do. This was the next step in the ritual. He had to consume the corruption to master the purity. He mixed the dust with a small amount of water and drank it.
The world exploded into a thousand different colors. He saw the grid of the city not just as a map but as a living thing. He saw the veins of Jade running deep underground like the roots of a giant tree. He saw the other bunkers and he saw the things that were hunting them.
He also saw a path. It was a path that led away from the city toward the mountains in the east. There was something there. A source of pure Jade. A place where the Mandate could truly begin.
He slumped against the wall his eyes rolling back. He was a Ritualist and he was a warrior and he was a strategist. But as the darkness took him he felt a tiny part of himself wondering if he was still a human.
He slept for two days. When he finally woke the storm had passed. The world was buried under five feet of snow but the air was clear and the sun was bright.
He stood up and walked to the terminal. He looked at the map. The red dots were still there but they were not moving toward him anymore. They were moving away. They were afraid of the light he had created.
Lin Feng Yi smiled. It was a cold and hard expression.
We are leaving in the morning he told the scavengers. We have the Jade. We have the weapons. Now we go to the mountains.
The scavengers did not argue. They had seen him kill the prowler. They had seen him master the storm. They would follow him anywhere now.
The journey of the four hundred chapters was just beginning but for the first time Lin Feng Yi felt like he was the one holding the pen. He looked at the blue bird on the table and then at the iron strut leaning against the wall.
Harmony is coming he thought. Even if I have to burn the whole world to find it.