Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 2 02. Red Mask, Black Heart and Purple Moon

"Alas, I knew that doing bad things would definitely bring retribution."

In the tavern that had become quiet again, amidst the self-pitying sighs of boss Taft, Zhou Ke, who had eaten and drunk his fill, buckled the old sheriff's old belt around his waist and placed several strange weapons that he had confiscated on the table to examine them carefully.

The door in front was already filled with tables and chairs, blocking the door and forming a "temporary fortification". Behind him, the sighing old Taf had just moved the cargo boxes he had received in the afternoon back behind the bar.

At this moment, he was really impressed by Zhou Ke, the old man. He had never seen anyone with such bad luck.

Lao Wang's business was almost over, but then the old drunkard in town who was good at nothing but slacking off suddenly came to visit, forcing him to team up with the young man he just met to attack and knock out his old drinking buddy, the sheriff, and then rewarded the sheriff's apprentice with a rifle butt to make the latter shut up.

Now there was a dead body, two knocked out and naked men, and a crazy scavenger with at least six guns lying in his shabby tavern.

Things were clearly getting out of control, but that wasn't the worst.

"I say, is it really okay that the coward just ran away screaming?"

The re-armed Zhou Ke raised his head and asked. Old Taf showed a pained expression and complained:

"How dare you say that? Didn't I ask you to stop them all?"

"I'm alone and I'm exhausted. I'm not Superman with my underwear outside. It's already pretty good that I was able to stop two of them. You didn't say there were three of them coming together."

Zhou Keke was not used to taking the blame, and he immediately retorted:
"So, what now?"

"It's a good idea! Get out of here before the mayor's gunmen come and beat you to a pulp. I have some supplies here. There's a 100% new motorcycle at the back door. It doesn't have much fuel, but it's enough for you to get out."

Old Taff was packing up his things behind the shabby bar, and he urged:

"Don't forget to shoot me before you go. Help me clear my grudge. Shooting is too risky. Just hit me with a stick or a punch."

"You must have a side job since you are so skilled."

Zhou Ke complained, took the steamed bread-like thing thrown by Old Taff and stuffed it into his mouth. While chewing, he asked curiously:

"Tell me what happened just now. What do you mean by 'If this is exposed, you will die too'? I know from the guilty look on your face that there must be some reason why Lao Wang came here to carry out the attack."

"Why are you asking so many questions? If you're so curious, why don't you become a psionicist? This has nothing to do with you, so just shut up."

Old Taaffe was obviously reluctant to say more.

Zhou Ke didn't ask any more questions. He ate and walked to Lao Wang's body, preparing to loot something so that he could run away.

After this guy's death, the effects of the dangerous "Berserk Drug" seemed to have worn off, allowing his bloated body to return to its normal state.

Zhou Ke, the murderer, looked at him and confirmed again that he did not feel nauseous or panicked when he saw the half-head left. He couldn't help but suspect that when he came to this broken place, the "God of Time Travel" had conveniently set his personality to that of a "cold-blooded murderer."

However, these things can be judged later. He chanted Amitabha in his heart, reached out and took off the bullet bag on Lao Wang's waist, and pulled out the other's hunting knife and inserted it on his own waist, and with the boots and armed belt "given as a friendly gift" by the sheriff, he now looked like a standard wastelander.

It has a very Western cowboy style, except for a faded cowboy hat.

But at the moment Zhou Ke stood up, a dim flash made him blink his eyes. He reached forward and grabbed a strange thing from Lao Wang's body.

A red mask.

It has no facial features, only two eye sockets, and is very thin, as if it has no weight.

When he touched this thing, a surge of burning heat pierced into Zhou Ke's mind. Lao Wang's dull life was like fragments, which turned into waves of memory and swept him in. He groaned and almost fell to the ground. He took off the thin red mask with great effort and returned to normal.

But my head still hurts a little, as if someone had punched me in the face.

This thing is weird! It might be some weird thing carried by the "Biochemical Warrior".

"You Taff, what is this in my hand?"

Zhou Ke turned around and raised the mask in his hand and asked. Boss Taft, who was still packing up, looked back and cursed:

"Your brain is broken, you obviously have nothing in your hand!"

"Ok?"

Zhou Ke raised his eyebrows and glanced at the red mask in his hand. So Old Taff couldn't see it? Only he could see it?
So. Goldfinger?
He calmly put the mask into his pocket, rubbed his head and came to the shabby bar, opened a bottle of wine and took a few sips, then spat on the ground with disgust and said:
"It's all made of low-quality methanol, and the water is not clean. It smells like scrap metal. Wouldn't your conscience hurt to sell this to your customers?"

"We here drink happily, city folks. We wastelanders don't have such delicate stomachs as you do."

When Old Taft saw that this bastard actually questioned his "ethics" as a businessman, he immediately retorted:
"Besides, what qualifications do you, a vagrant murderer, have to say such nonsense? Here! The food is ready, enough for you to eat for a few days. Let's go quickly. I still have to clean up here and fake the scene."

He threw a broken bag filled with various things on the bar, but Zhou Ke did not leave in a hurry. He endured the discomfort and drank the fake wine in his hand to replenish water, and asked:
"I'm not familiar with this place. I'll be blind if I go out. You should at least tell me where I am and where I should go. What time is it now?"

"It's called Slag Town! It's in the southeastern part of the Badlands. The mayor is Qiao Can. You'll know when you see the slag furnace in the town that we make a living by smelting the scrap metal brought by scavengers. We are a ronin town between the Snake State and the Tiger State. At the same time, we do business with all the forces in the Badlands to barely make a living.

When you leave the town, just keep walking eastwards, that's the territory of Snake State.

The people there follow the rules, so if you don't mess with them you won't be in any danger."

Old Taft cried out:

"It's October now. Although keeping track of dates doesn't make much sense in the Badlands."

Zhou Ke nodded, silently wrote down the information, and asked:
"You just said I'm a 'city dweller', so where is this 'city-state'?"

"The city-state is in the north. There is only one way to get there, which is to pass through the Tiger State's stronghold, 'Fort End'. If you hire a knight from the Snake State to escort you, it will take half a month to cross the bad land. If you go by yourself, the time will be shorter but the danger will increase dramatically. After all, these are not peaceful times."

Old Taft sighed and complained:

"What the fuck, I had everything ready, I was going to move to the outskirts of the City State to do some small business and say goodbye to everything in the Bad Land, but then the crazy people in the Tiger State wanted to hold a festival, and asked each town to send three 'fighters' to participate.

Until this shit is over, the road between the Badlands and the City-State area will be blocked off and no one can get through.

Alas, that's not right!

How could you not know these things? Even the poor young masters in the city-state area should have heard of the various horror legends of the evil land. "

"I have lost my memory."

Zhou Ke made up an excuse and looked at the old Taf in front of him with a look of "are you kidding me?" He curled his lips and said:

"Just take it as true. If you don't believe it, I'll make up another one.

You just said that the Tiger State is going to hold a celebration, and each town will send out three fighters. Lao Wang is a fighter. He said that he was drawn to die, so he took revenge on society at this time. And you! You feel guilty about this matter, and you will die if anything is exposed.

So, Mr. Taft, you were the one who did something fishy in this matter, right?
Lao Wang must kill you because you are the one who did the bad things?"

This simple reasoning made Boss Taft's face gloomy. He stared at Zhou Ke fiercely, with an attitude of "You will die even if you know the truth". But the next second, he saw Zhou Ke slam the sheriff's gun on the table, which made old Taft's eyes immediately "clear".

He no longer concealed it and said:

"Yes, I bribed the mayor's steward, Lao Li, and gave the death lottery that was supposed to be drawn by me to Lao Wang. Zhuo, please don't look at me like a scumbag, okay? This is what everyone does! The death lottery had already passed through three hands before it came into my hands. Lao Li made a fortune from it, and don't even think of using this to threaten me.

Zhou Ke, we are in the same boat!

The three fighters in this town were going to set out to die the day after tomorrow, but you killed Lao Wang.

None of the more than 700 people here will accept this result calmly. No one in the town is willing to draw lots again. Compared to me, a local, you, an outsider with no identity, are the most perfect successor.

So let’s end the discussion of this matter here!
Lao Wang wanted to kill me but you saved me, so I will keep it a secret for you. Go away! Don't cause any more trouble, I have to go find Lao Li and spend some money to buy my life."

"Your rules here are really perverted, cruel and ruthless, you deserve to be called 'Evil Land'."

Zhou Ke nodded, took a sip of wine, picked up the bag, and walked a few steps before turning back to the relieved old Taf and asking:
"One last question. I've been curious these past few days. What is that thing hanging in the sky?"

Old Taf looked in the direction Zhou Ke pointed, and in the evening sky of the bad land outside the window, against the backdrop of the magnificent and majestic red-burnt clouds, a round object was emitting an enchanting pink and purple halo, like a shameless enchantress flirting with this terrible wasteland world.

If you look closely, you can vaguely see strange tumor-like objects like blood vessels scattered throughout the purple halo.

Whatever it was, Zhou Ke refused to call it "the moon."

This question left Old Taft speechless for a moment. He couldn't really explain in a serious manner to this guy who claimed to have "amnesia" the common sense in the evil land that even three-year-old children knew, right?

But looking at Zhou Ke's posture, you can tell that this guy won't leave unless he says something.

In fact, Old Taf had always suspected that Zhou Ke might not have intended to leave at all. He had never seen anyone who was trying to escape but was so hesitant.

"The Fetal Movement Moon. You can also call it the 'Purple Moon'. Everyone calls it that."

Mr. Taft sighed and said:
"Thirty years ago, uh, maybe forty years ago, I was a freshly graduated college student, clear-headed and stupid, and I had just broken up with my girlfriend during graduation season and was preparing to go to a big city to find a job."

"Ahem, Mr. Taff, although I am very interested in your past, considering that the mayor's gunmen may come at any time, can you tell me the main point before I get shot to death?"

Zhou Ke said with a straight face:

"This is the only request I have in my life, please."

"Tsk, young people nowadays are so uncultured that they don't even have the patience to listen to stories."

Boss Taft cursed, and then spat at the side in a very uncivilized manner, and then said:

"The purple moon appeared at that time. It suddenly appeared one night. At first, everyone thought it was an astronomical phenomenon. The experts kept refuting the rumor and gave it the unfortunate name of 'Fetal Movement Moon'. No one knew the meaning of the name at first, until one day a few months later, it changed.

I remember that night it emitted an ominous purple light, and all those illuminated by the light screamed and turned into monsters, the 'Fertility Moon'.
That's what they call the catastrophic moon phase. That's where all the monsters and other messes that roam the Bad Land come from! The purple-black moonlight lasted for a full fifteen days, and when it turned back to its current pink-purple color, the whole world was doomed.

Of course, it’s not over all at once.

We fought those monsters for many years, and when we were about to repel them, the damn second breeding moon appeared again.

It's like a stick hitting our spine, you know?
Completely finished!

All the survivors began to work together to save themselves. The headquarters of the Acholi Consortium became the last refuge, and those scientists figured out a way to establish a city-state.

Unfortunately, the place is so small that not everyone is qualified to enter. So after the whole world fell, the evil land appeared.

In fact, I was only a few hours away from getting on the train to the City-State District. Just a few hours away.
But it doesn’t matter, I still survived!

I abandoned my ideals, forgot the past, pretended that I was born in the Bad Land, and lived peacefully until now, until tonight. "

At this point, Old Taf glanced at Zhou Ke who was lost in thought and said:
"So, can you allow me to continue living peacefully until I die of old age? Please, this is the only request I have in my life."

"Don't imitate me, you old and disrespectful fellow."

Zhou Ke retorted, frowning and saying:
"But according to your description, after the two world disasters of the 'Month of Reproduction', it is impossible for so many people to survive in this world.

During these three days, I have seen at least eleven small settlements, including this town. Although the environment in the Badlands is harsh, there are many people living here. At least the population density is much higher than the conceptual wasteland era.

For a world that has suffered two apocalypses, this is an unusually high number of survivors.”

"You seem to have lost your memory."

Boss Taft snorted, made a very obscene waist-lifting motion, and said:
"Why do you think that catastrophic moon phase is called the 'Fertility Moon'? In addition to breeding monsters, it also boosts the strength of the survivors in the years after each moon phase ends. Ahem, I'm not making this up. I've experienced two fertility moons, so I have the right to speak for myself.

You don't understand how active women are after a disaster. It's definitely not their own will, but what can I say? It's already pretty good to be able to survive in this damn place.

Do you think a normal person can become a biochemical warrior like Lao Wang? Which decent person can resist so many enhanced hormones?
Let me tell you, this is the case with children born after the reproductive moon. Their physical fitness is much stronger than that of ordinary people, and the chance of giving birth to mysterious psychics is much greater.

It was as if the Fertility Moon had bestowed upon them some terrible magic.

Of course, the Purple Moon's catastrophic phase is not limited to the 'Fertility Moon'. That kind of major disaster has only occurred twice in the past few decades, and the rest are minor disasters, such as when it occasionally turns red when it is in a bad mood.
and many more!

Someone is coming.”

Old Taff heard the noise outside the door in the night, as if someone was shouting something. He rushed to the window, took a look, turned back and shouted to Zhou Ke:
"The mayor's gunmen are here. You now know everything you want to know. Now hurry up and leave! I see my 'enemy' in there. Chao, I have to go out and surrender quickly to avoid being shot to death by that bastard in the chaos."

"Why do you have so many enemies?"

Zhou Ke complained:
"In a town of only 700 people, so many people want to kill you? I mean, you really need to reflect on the way you conduct yourself.

And what are you afraid of?
They are not here to kill me, otherwise they would have shot me right now."

Zhou Ke took out the mask that only he could see from his pocket. Holding the "golden finger" in his hand, he grinned, pointed to his head, and said softly:

“Just like you said, if Mayor Qiao Can doesn’t plan to re-select someone to draw the death lottery, then I, an outsider with no local connections, would be the best candidate to take his place. No one would care if something happens to me, so I would be the perfect scapegoat.

Don't worry, Boss Taft, you won't die tonight.

Well, most likely not."

After saying that, Zhou Ke put the thin mask in his hand on his face, picked up the shotgun in his hand, leaned against the window and fired a shot. The surrender attempt outside had just begun, but it immediately turned into a scream.

"you you you you!"

Boss Taft screamed:
"Didn't you say they were here to arrest you to replace Lao Wang? Why did you shoot? Are you crazy?"

"Nonsense! They're the ones inviting me now!"

Zhou Ke's voice became muffled, as if he was really wearing a mask. He opened the shotgun and stuffed a bullet into it, then whispered:
“Since you need my help, I won’t kill you. And if I don’t show Mayor Qiao Can what I can do, how can I get my first pot of gold from him?
As for me, I probably can't go back. If I want to start a second business in this damn place, I'll have to get some angel investment. I've done this once in my previous life, and I have the confidence that I can do it well the second time.

Besides, since every town is recruiting fighters, I will probably encounter the same shit in other towns. So it doesn't matter where I start this legend of "starting from scratch as a wasteland tycoon" in the Badlands.
This is a recruitment for the position of 'fighter'
Don't mind these flying bullets, they are just my "resume" to show the strength of the "applicant"! Hide well, I will fire a few shots to get a feel for it."

　The signing should be completed today, so starting from tomorrow, two chapters!

　　Remember to use your votes to whip me. Don't have pity on me. I can bear it. I love you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)