Chapter 35: Moonfall
That was not fear; it was resolution!
The core within its body—the silver Moon Heart, once exhausted from purifying the mist and now covered in fractures—suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, searing, and almost incendiary silver radiance!
This light was so pure and so overwhelming that it instantly incinerated all the red mist that had invaded its body. But like a falling star, it was consuming its own essence to burn!
The eyes, previously shrouded in blood-red tyranny, maintained a brief moment of clarity under the explosion of silver light. In that clarity, there was nothing but the deepest attachment to its master.
Hum—!
A visible, searing wave of silver-white light exploded violently, centered on Xiaoyue!
It was no longer a gentle halo of purification, but a surging torrent of incandescent flame!
"Sizzle—!"
The torrent of light crashed fiercely into the deep blue ice crystals that had frozen Lorin’s legs!
The ice crystals let out a shrill, piercing scream, evaporating and dissolving at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The red mist covering Lorin, like grease meeting a raging fire, boiled violently, being burned away and purified!
Even the mental pollution that had attempted to entangle Lorin’s consciousness was washed away by this final, pure explosion of moonlight!
The bone-chilling cold in Lorin’s legs and the chaos in her mind receded like a retreating tide. She collapsed, gasping for air, her eyes regaining clarity, but her body was left in a state of extreme weakness.
The price was devastating.
"Xiaoyue!!!" The moment Lorin saw what had happened, she let out a heart-wrenching cry.
The Moon Rabbit, once pure and flawless as it danced in the moonlight, its light exhausted, fell straight from the air.
Su Liu was quick-witted; she lunged forward and, by a narrow margin, caught it in her palm.
It felt ice-cold and terrifyingly light.
The faint rise and fall of its chest had nearly stopped, its silver fur was dull and lusterless, and most shocking of all was the location of its heart—
Through its translucent skin, one could see that the tiny heart, which once radiated a pure glow, was now covered in dense, bone-deep cracks like a spiderweb! It seemed as though it would shatter completely at the slightest touch!
The essence of life was leaking out of those cracks at a terrifying rate!
To purge the densest red mist and instantly shatter the deep blue frost to save its master, it had exhausted everything, even burning the foundation of its soul!
This was not a mere injury; it was the total destruction of its foundation and the dissipation of its source!
"No... don't... Xiaoyue... please don't leave me..."
Lorin collapsed to the ground, crawling over on her hands and knees, tears streaming down her face. Her trembling hands wanted to touch it but dared not. Looking at the fractured heart, she was overwhelmed by immense fear and grief.
However, at the bow of the ship, a new crisis erupted!
The ice chain trap revealed human traces!
"It wasn't formed naturally by the mist!"
Aya looked up abruptly, her eyes blazing with fury over Xiaoyue’s sacrifice.
She and Chen Wu had been at the stern assisting Lorin; the trap at the bow could not have been the work of a monster!
Her gaze, like a searchlight, landed precisely on a pool of abnormally viscous lamp oil spilled on the deck!
Combining this with Luke’s "accidental" kicking over of the oil lamp and his "convenient" excuse to check the port side...
"Luke! Did you spill that oil?! Were you trying to get Su Liu killed?!"
Aya’s voice was sharp enough to pierce through the rain.
At the same moment, Mo Yu’s voice, cold as an ice blade, sounded behind Luke:
"Where did your 'Analyst' point just now?"
His black robe stirred without wind. The black raven, which had been silently hovering above Luke’s head, peered down with its jet-black eyes, cold and all-knowing.
"Target locked, ice chain generation point—requires close-range coordinate marking."
The raven’s voice echoed low in everyone’s minds, directly exposing Luke’s trail of actions!
Chen Wu’s reaction was lightning-fast!
His massive frame crossed the deck in an instant, carrying the fury of a marine and absolute oppressive force, as his hand, like an iron pincer, clamped down hard on the back of Luke’s neck!
The movement was swift and precise—pure battlefield grappling!
"Luke! Answer me!"
Chen Wu’s roar made the rain swirl, "Was it you who intentionally spilled the oil? What is the meaning of those ice chains?!"
Luke no longer possessed the composure of an elite risk analyst!
Faced with the tragedy at the stern, the exposed trap at the bow, the raven watching him like a predator from above, Aya’s questioning in front of him, the tower-like murderous aura of Chen Wu behind him, and most crucially, the cold testimony of the black raven—
The lies he had meticulously woven were instantly punctured and left full of holes!
His complexion shifted from the annoyance of a failed plan to a deathly pallor upon being exposed in public, followed by a thick, almost impossible-to-conceal terror!
His gold-rimmed glasses shook violently on his face.
"I... I..."
He stammered incoherently, his body instinctively trying to retreat, only to find his path blocked by the calm, unmoving Mo Yu. He could only stare in horror as the enraged Chen Wu was about to seize him.
His "Analyst," capable of processing thousands of data points, seemed pale and powerless under the sheer weight of Chen Wu’s murderous intent and physical strength.
He pointed frantically toward the rolling blue mist at the bow, attempting a final, desperate struggle:
"A misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding! The oil canister was knocked over by the wind! Those ice... ice marks were condensed by the mist itself! It was a mist attack! I was just trying to put out the fire..."
"Bullshit!"
Chen Wu’s roar sounded like a thunderclap. His large, fan-like hand did not hesitate for a second. With enough force to crush bone, he clamped onto Luke’s shoulder and the nape of his neck, slamming him down onto the wet, cold deck!
Bang!
Luke let out a muffled groan of pain. His glasses flew off, his expensive suit was stained with mud, and he was pinned ruthlessly to the ground by Chen Wu, unable to move. His face was twisted in a mixture of terror, pain, and fear.
Aya rushed to Su Liu’s side, glanced at the horrific cracks on Xiaoyue’s heart, and her eyes filled with sorrow and rage:
"This little rabbit... it’s all this bastard’s fault!"
Wind and rain obscured the world; the acidic rain fell mercilessly.
At the stern was the heart-rending weeping of Lorin and the Moon Rabbit in her arms, whose spark of life was about to be extinguished. At the bow was Luke, pinned down like a captive, his lies completely unraveled, his face a mosaic of terror, resentment, and humiliation.
"Cough... cough... Brother Chen... let me explain... the lamp oil... it really was an accident..."
Luke struggled and argued in vain, his voice hoarse.
"Shut up!" Aya rushed over, her eyes red, her voice shrill with anger and grief.
"An accident? The 'Analyst' just 'happened' to point at the trap site? The oil canister just 'happened' to fall in the most convenient spot for the ice chains? Luke, do you really think everyone else is an idiot?!"
Mo Yu stood quietly to the side. The black raven returned to his shoulder, its cold eyes acting like the scales of judgment, recording every minute change in Luke’s expression.
"Intent to kill, directed at 'Su Su'."
The raven’s whisper sounded directly in Mo Yu’s mind.
Mo Yu said nothing, only tightened his stance slightly, his eyes cold, sealing off any possible escape route for Luke.
Su Liu did not immediately join in the denunciation of Luke.
She quickly checked the condition of the kerosene lamp at the bow—
The oil level was dangerously low, and the recent storm and chaos had covered the lamp shade in rain and mist.
She quickly wiped the lamp shade with a dry spare cloth, then calculated the remaining oil with extreme caution, dripping only a few drops to barely keep the wick from going out.