Chapter 1: The Crimson Night

The Eternal Night Continent was mostly shrouded in twilight, and during the Dark Season, the orbit of the Upper Continent blocked out the sunlight, leaving only a few short hours of daylight.

Tonight, the twin Alphas star entered its near-Earth orbit, making it a rare night with a moon.

A massive full moon occupied nearly half the sky, seeming as if it might crash down at any moment. Even ordinary people without any special abilities could clearly see the enormous basins and majestic mountain ranges on the lunar surface.

But those who were still awake felt uneasy.

The moon was a deep crimson, and its light fell like a thin veil from the sky, spreading over the undulating and rugged earth. It painted large areas of gray-black shadows in a thick red, resembling enormous scars and wounds, with occasional flashes of metallic coldness.

From afar, long wolf howls and unknown beast roars echoed, filled with a sense of savagery.

In the legends of the Eternal Night Continent, a scarlet moon was an ominous sign, exceedingly rare, but when it appeared, it meant chaos and suffering. Whenever the moon was drenched in blood, the great lords of the dark world would open the gates of calamity, spreading madness and disaster across the land.

These legends were not without reason, for under the crimson moonlight, all living beings became more irritable, bloodthirsty, and combative.

Suddenly, a small black dot appeared in the crimson night sky. It flew in from the distance, slowly crossing the sky, growing larger and larger, revealing itself to be a floating airship thousands of meters long!

It was extremely dilapidated, with patches all over its huge gas envelope and rusted metal components. Many joints were lifting, causing concern about whether it might break suddenly.

As if to validate these worries, the airship shook violently, and many parts, including a large metal component over ten meters long, fell off.

The metal component crashed into the ground with a loud boom.

The floating airship struggled, its copper pipes trembling, and billows of steam spewed from the rear mechanical compartment. The eight groups of propellers at the rear creaked and spun frantically, barely stabilizing the ship.

Dozens of thick ropes hung chaotically from the airship, supporting a rusty, large cargo hold. Through the slightly open doors, one could see that it was filled with garbage.

The old, rusted airship, like a giant beast in its twilight years, finally reached its destination after a difficult journey. Below, several hundred meters away, was an enormous airship graveyard!

At this moment, tens of thousands of people poured out from their hiding places, having long forgotten their fear of the scarlet moon. They waved excitedly at the airship, shouting with enthusiasm!

Even on this almost forgotten land, they were the lowest of the low, struggling daily for survival.

This place was the final resting place for once-mighty giants. The scrap airships flying in from the Upper Continent usually carried a lot of garbage, turning the area into a vast dump over time. The people living in the airship graveyard relied on the trash thrown down from the Upper Continent for their survival.

If there was no airship bringing garbage for a long time, many would starve to death. For them, the garbage from the Upper Continent was their only hope.

And tomorrow… the word “tomorrow” was too luxurious here. No one thought about the future.

The airship, now aligned with its coordinates, groaned in pain as its propellers stopped one by one. The massive hull jolted violently, bouncing up and down by dozens of meters before a small airship separated from the front-left section of the hull.

The smaller airship looked much cleaner and circled the dump before ascending and gradually flying away.

Meanwhile, the airship in the sky lost power, shaking continuously, and then tilted, slowly descending towards the ground!

It fell faster and faster, finally crashing into the earth, disintegrating in a thunderous roar. Garbage, waste, and metal components scattered in all directions, raining debris over the airship graveyard.

The celebration began!

The dwellers screamed and rushed towards the crash site, some even running on all fours like beasts.

Large metal components kept falling from the sky, and many people directly below the fall zone had no time to dodge, being crushed into a pulp. But their companions ignored the danger, pushing forward, hoping to be the first to reach the trash.

There were men, women, and children, but age and gender held no meaning here. Groups were divided by physical strength, the only standard for territory in the graveyard.

The strongest men reached the remains of the airship first, followed by weaker men and strong women, then weaker women, and finally, the elderly and children.

The people formed concentric circles around the fallen airship, each layer having an invisible but unbreakable boundary.

At the outermost edge of the circles, hundreds of children rummaged through the garbage, searching for non-existent food.

Among them was a scrawny boy, also desperately searching.

He was about seven or eight years old, his face so blackened that it was hard to recognize his features. His clothes, originally an adult’s shirt, wrapped around him like a robe. The shirt was so tattered that it was just a few large pieces of cloth tied together.

He used both hands to dig through the cold garbage, his hands covered in cuts and sores, many of which were festering. Yet, he seemed to feel no pain, digging through the shapeless pile of trash.

He hadn’t eaten in three days, and if he couldn’t find something today, he wouldn’t survive until the next airship arrived.

But no matter how hard he tried, he found nothing.

This area had already been searched countless times and was left for the youngest children. These were the weakest people in the dump. When the strong could find no food, their hungry eyes would turn to the elderly and children.

This was a forsaken place, an airship graveyard. Here, people lived like beasts, with even the mighty beasts living with more dignity than they.

Driven by the desire to survive, the boy didn’t give up, continuing to search through the garbage. His wounds, due to the effort, split open again, oozing blood. But he paid no attention.

Another shower of debris rained down, and a larger piece of garbage landed near the boy.

The garbage bag’s exterior broke, and from the useless junk, a greasy paper-wrapped package rolled out, immediately catching the boy’s attention. Oil stains seeped through the paper!

He pounced on it with the agility of a wild cat, clutching the package tightly. Without opening it, he stuffed it into his shirt, looking around warily, and then carefully crawled away.

Among the children, competition and theft, even killing, were common, as brutal as the adult world.

The boy was small and weak. If a stronger child saw he had found something edible, he would at best be severely beaten.

Lucky, the boy avoided all the older children and escaped the area. He had an innate keenness, always able to evade the fierce older children.

After moving away from the airship wreckage, the boy ran as fast as he could, eventually hiding inside an empty iron drum.

This was his little nest, a shelter from the elements. In his mind, this small space of just a few square feet was a haven.

Carefully, he took out the greasy paper package, holding his breath with a reverent look, and slowly opened it.

Inside was a bread roll! A bread roll with just one bite taken out!

The boy recognized it immediately. He had never seen such a complete food item in the dump, yet he couldn’t remember where or when he had learned about bread.

In reality, it was just an ordinary round loaf, which even the lowest of the low in the Upper Continent might bite and discard, just like the one in the boy’s hands. But in this dump, it was worth several lives.

Closer, he could smell the faint scent of grain, and all his aches vanished. He cradled the bread, hardly believing he had found such a treasure.

Was this a dream?

A drop of blood from his hand dripped onto the bread. The boy let out a cry, quickly wiping his hands clean of blood and sweat. He gazed at the bread with a sad face, as if his sacred object had been desecrated.

Suddenly, his stomach growled, and his gut convulsed with hunger. He tore off the bloodstained part and, with all his resolve, prepared to put it in his mouth.

But his hand paused mid-air.

Outside the iron drum, a little girl had appeared.

She was about four or five years old, her face streaked with black and gray, completely obscuring her natural skin tone, but the distinct lines hinted at a future beauty. Her bright, beautiful eyes, filled with vitality, were fixed on the bread in the boy’s hand, unable to look away.

The boy jumped up, secretly grabbing a sharpened iron rod. This was the instinctive reaction of those living in the dump; when someone sees another person’s food, it often leads to a deadly fight.

The girl didn’t flee, her eyes locked on the bread, immobile.

The boy slowly lowered the iron rod, hesitated, and after a long while, decided to tear the bread in half, offering one half to the girl.

His movements were slow, his hand trembling, and his forehead beaded with sweat. His stomach and all his wounds protested with intense pain.

But the bread reached the girl’s hand.

She seemed unable to believe her eyes, clutching the bread and rubbing her eyes to confirm it wasn’t a dream.

She stuffed the bread into her mouth, the half-circle loaf disappearing in a few seconds!

The girl licked her hands clean, then looked at the boy for the first time, studied him, and ran off like a bird.

The boy felt a mix of emotions, not knowing why he had done it, and slumped down. Perhaps the girl’s pure eyes had touched something deep within him?

But what was this strange emotion? The boy leaned against the drum, carefully tore off a tiny piece of bread, and put it in his mouth, not swallowing, just savoring the fragrance of the grain.

Suddenly, a childish voice called from outside his little nest, “He has something good to eat! You promised to share half with me!”

The boy’s heart sank. Outside stood several older children.