Forces of Temptation

Fear of the Full Moon 

Nan Zhou naturally had his reasons for finding the bear man first.
He stared at the bear man’s leg with the weird webbed hands and asked curiously, “Your leg... this hand... where did this leg come from?”
The bear man roared and reached out for Nan Zhou.
He just couldn’t adapt to the strange posture where his butt and face were in the same position. He instinctively reached out and swung wildly, almost hitting He Yinchuan who wasn’t far from him.
He Yinchuan’s arm was severely swollen but he refused to be a burden. He picked up the dagger that had fallen into the snow.
Nan Zhou took his collar, pulled him to the side and gave him a disapproving shake of his head.
He Yinchuan looked at him. “......”
Nan Zhou was concise. “It has been adjusted.”
Immediately after, Nan Zhou picked He Yinchuan up and threw him with one hand.
It was in the direction of Zhou Ao.
It was a very accurate throw.
Zhou Ao’s hands regrew the bandages and it quickly wrapped around He Yinchuan’s waist. He held He Yinchuan in his arms and it was wrapped so tightly that He Yinchuan’s waist injury almost reoccurred on the spot.
The two men faced each other and gasped for breath. They both saw the doubt in their eyes at the sharp turn of events.
Nan Zhou finally found a suitable word.
His hands were behind his back as moved behind the bear man’s head and pointed to the leg. “Tell me where this thing came from.”
The bear man refused to pay attention. He snorted and tried to twist his head back around.
Nan Zhou gently tsked. He carefully hid the hand with the finger chains behind him and reached out one hand. He looked at the bear man’s arms that were twice as thick as his own and cut at them twice with a hand knife.
“Snap, snap—”
After two harsh bone snapping sounds, the bear man’s arms hung down at two unbelievable angles due to the influence of gravity.
Nan Zhou had broken his bones.
The bear man couldn’t even hold his head.
At this time, Zheng Xinghe’s head had swallowed the flesh and blood of the enemy’s shoulder with one bite. He held it deeply before opening the mouth full of sharp teeth. He jumped up again and fiercely bit the nose of the bear man who was turning angrily!
This was one of the most vulnerable parts of the body.
The bear man screamed. He could no longer endure the pain and fell onto the snow, rolling hard.
Nan Zhou took advantage of the chaos. He stepped on the bear man’s rolling knees and directly pulled out the webbed hand that had fused with the flesh and blood.
He grabbed the end of the arm in a posture that was itchy and politely told the frantic head, “I’m occupied.”
It was suddenly free and the webbed hand immediately rolled in order to escape.
It had been fused with this body for a long time and naturally possessed the ability to act separately.
However, Nan Zhou crouched down without any hesitation. He had a cold face as he grabbed the arm and smashed it against a black rock covered with hundreds of years of frozen soil.
The hand didn’t originally belong to the bear man. It was imported.
It obviously knew pain.
After being smashed violently by Nan Zhou, it was already unable to move. The broken fingertips twitched slightly and it seemed miserable.
It probably hated that there were no convenient joints so it couldn’t even turn around to scratch Nan Zhou.
Nan Zhou cleaned it up violently and stared at it curiously for a while. Then he carried it as he headed toward the other two monsters being beaten.
The hammer man, Group Leader Lu was kneeling down with his throat pinned by a pair of legs. The other foot was frantically kicking him in the back of his head and his face had become bloody.
The gecko-man’s eyes were pinched to look like a frog and the little blood in his body was concentrated in his eyes. He was pinched to the point of almost bleeding.
Zheng Xinghe had successfully surrounded most of the opposing team by himself.
The only one who wasn’t surrounded by Zheng Xinghe was the half-body woman. In the face of the sudden change, she could only crawl on the ground. She wanted to retreat but she didn’t dare retreat. She could only maintain the offensive posture and make meaningless roars.
This lasted until a pair of legs stood behind the upper body.
It got on one knee somewhat sadly beside the broken upper body.
The half-body woman noticed something behind her and looked back maliciously with half broken eyes.
Then she was stunned.
She might not have seen the way her legs were separated from herself but she recognized who these legs belonged to.
Jiang Fang went to the place parallel to her legs and also got on one knee as he whispered a few words into her ragged ears.
The half-body woman looked back suddenly. Her broken face was directed at the hammer man closest to hear.
She opened her broken jawbones in vain and asked a silent question.
Did you eat me?
Didn’t you say you wanted to heal my legs?
What exactly was the ‘venison’ you gave me before I died?
She couldn't ask because her tongue was also cut out.
It wasn’t known if it was to secretly eat more meat or to make her unable to ask Zheng Xinghe who also lived on the snowy mountain about the truth.
The hammer man was pressed down by Zheng Xinghe’s legs and couldn’t move. He only screamed ‘ah’ as if trying to explain something.
However, the half-body woman had already read something from his slightly evasive gaze.
She moved her mutilated body and rushed forward!
In the blink of an eye, she was like a crazy female beast as she bit at the hammer man.
The sound of flesh and blood flying, the screams and the sound of teeth chewing and attacking were head endlessly.
On the snowy slip, the snow was dyed red and black and it gradually spread outward.
Over there, Zheng Xinghe’s head bit the throat of the bear man.
Click.
The tall, bear-like man eventually died on the snowy field with a cry of sorrow.
After the chaos, the area was full of corpses.
The only one still alive was the gecko man, Brother Yuan.
He only had a trace of breath left when a blurred figure walked in front of him and patted the hands strangling his neck.
The next moment, oxygen poured into his lungs.
Nan Zhou patted the gecko’s man face with the hand he had terrified. Then he raised the hand in front of him and asked softly, “What is this?”
The gecko man was frightened as he lay humbly on the ground and panted like a dog.
Nan Zhou said, “One.”
The gecko man, “......”
He didn’t dare delay any longer and hurriedly answered, “Another climber staying here!”
“How many other climbers have come?”
“I... I don’t know.” The gecko man replied. “20 or 30...”
Nan Zhou glanced at the hand that clearly wasn’t normal. “What did you do to them?”
The gecko man intermittently said, “Just don’t let them go up the mountain... Also, Brother Li didn’t have a leg... use their legs to make a leg...”
“Why don’t you let them go up the mountain?”
The gecko man’s eyes became blurred as he spoke about going up the mountain. “There is—there is—”
“I know. You said there is the moon god.” Nan Zhou wondered, “What is the moon good?”
The gecko man gasped.
There was undisguised fear in his eyes and his legs swayed faintly. “Man eating, moon god—
“There is no moon good.”
Nan Zhou’s voice voice was broken by the wind but it was still clearly audible.
“There has never been a moon god.”
“There is no legend about the moon god on this mountain.”
“You are the ones eating people. The moon god is nothing but a monster that you made up.”
“The thing you can’t face and what you want to prevent others from climbing the mountain to find isn’t the moon god. It is the truth.”
“What you fear is always what you have done.”
It was for this reason that their behavior was so contradictory.
They stayed on the edge of the mountain where they had made a big mistake.  They scared those who wanted to climb the mountain with legends of the sacrifice to the moon god while chasing, slaughtering and eating people who tried to climb the mountain.
They believed in the moon god but refused to give sacrifices to the  moon god.
They were afraid of the camp where Zheng Xinghe was located and didn’t dare approach it easily.
Therefore, in accordance with their state of mind, the system created the pretense of mountain racing for them.
They tried every means to keep an eye on the mountain climbers, forcing the climbers to choose the uphill paths where it was easier to hide. This allowed them to avoid Zheng Xinghe’s camp built in a smooth place.
Even if the climbers won, it was just in pure physical strength.
People who were exhausted had no time to dig up the truth.
The most ridiculous thing was that over time, they themselves believed in the lies they weaved.
What they really feared was the ugly and dirty reality that was close to the moon and related to them.
Nan Zhou had figured it out because on the way here, Zheng Xinghe had looked at the sky and spoken emotionally.
“The moon is always this big. It is as big as the day I was eaten.”
Even in the golden light of daytime, the moon still left a faint shadow in the sky.
It was like an eye that peeped at the truth. It stared in a straight and compassionate manner at the world.
***
The gecko man’s eyes widened.
He pointed and hurriedly denied it, “No! No!”
“The man-eating moon god! It is really on the mountain! Really—believe me!”
Nan Zhou had asked what he wanted to ask. He soon stood up quietly and gave way to Zheng Xinghe’s arms.
Jiang Fang even made a gentle ‘please’ gesture.
The gecko man saw that the situation was wrong and screamed, “You can’t kill me! I have told you everything! I helped you! I-I’m leaving now!”
Zheng Xinghe was a monster of the same kind!
He would really be killed!
Nan Zhou turned around.
The wind with fine snow particles blew his slightly curly black hair forward.
Nan Zhou’s beautiful eyes moved as he thought about how to respond to the gecko man’s plea.
Finally, he said solemnly, “...Thank you?”
The gecko man, “......”
After being polite, Nan Zhou patted Zheng Xinghe’s prepared hands.
The hands shot forward like an arrow released from the bowstring.
***
Lu Bifang stood up with Liang Shu in his arms.
Just now, it was a dangerous situation. Then in the blink of an eye, they were alive.
Lu Bifang was still a bit confused. “Sister, are we... are we saved?”
Liang Shu wiped the snow from the corner of her mouth and stared at Nan Zhou with a thoughtful smile. “Yes. We are actually saved by the people we should protect. We aren’t very competent.”
Zheng Xinghe’s body parts gathered together again and formed a basic figure.
Nan Zhou pulled him over and introduced him seriously. “This is Zheng Xinghe, a student of an agricultural university.”
Zheng Xinghe saw so many people and shyly opened his mouth that was stained with black-red blood. He whispered, “Hello.”
He Yinchuan, “...Cough. Yes, hello.”
As they were silent, Nan Zhou looked at Zheng Xinghe. “What are your plans?”
“I.. go back.”
Nan Zhou turned around and questioned Jiang Fang, “How long until the task ends?”
Jiang Fang looked at his watch. “Two hours.”
“Yes.” Nan Zhou turned to Zheng Xinghe again. “Let’s go up the mountain together.”
Zheng Xinghe was stunned.
He opened his stiff, blue mouth and issued a puzzled monosyllabe. “Huh?”
Nan Zhou repeated, “Let’s go up the mountain together.”
The half-body woman didn’t go with them.
She quietly carried the legs and disappeared into the vast wind and snow.
The other people who were still in shock exchanged looks and agreed to Nan Zhou’s proposal.
Thus, Nan Zhou led the zombie slowly toward high ground.
The rays of light tied to his fingertips turned into dazzling gold threads under the shining sun.
Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang took the lead with Zheng Xinghe.
The Bronze Brigade followed with Li Yinhang.
He Yinchuan slowed down and started to tease Zhou Ao. “Hey.”
Zhou Ao looked at him.
“You usually call me Captain He. Then before, you suddenly called me Yinchuan. It is strange to hear.”
Zhou Ao, “......”
“Call me that again.”
Zhou Ao turned his head back and replied indifferently, “Naive.”
He Yinchuan, “......”
In a rare situation, Zhou Ao was choked up by He Yinchuan.
Still, he knew that He Yinchuan opened this topic to avoid talking about something else.
Nan Zhou had shown near inhuman combat power and it was quite different from his initial weak performance.
This actually confirmed Lin Zhisong’s intuitive judgment that had seemed absurd.
He was indeed... quite suspicious.
However, Nan Zhou had saved their lives.
They had just been rescued and lost their position to question him.
In addition, the constantly doubting Lin Zhisong remained absolutely silent at this time.
No one knew what he was thinking.
Nan Zhou tilted his head and spoke to Zheng Xinghe, “In the end, none of you managed to leave the snowy mountain.”
“Yes.”
He could see it.
Even after eating his flesh and blood, no one had been rescued.
At the same time, Liang Shu quietly explained to her team members. “It is probably due to the prion virus.”
“If you eat people then you can be infected with such a virus.”
“The ultimate manifestation is a functional brain disorder. The brain tissue will become spongy with holes.”
“All of them have eaten human flesh... it is probably because of this that they became the same monsters.”
As for the legs, it was separated from its upper body so the form and ‘personality’ was somewhat different from the other monsters. It was in a complete muscular state.
Nan Zhou continued to question Zheng Xinghe. “They don’t want climbers to go up or have a chance to find you. Still, there are always other climbers, aren't there?”
“Yes.” Zheng Xinghe nodded. “However, if they see me, they will either attack me or flee.”
“As long as they don’t hurt me, I won’t chase them. In addition, I can’t chase them very far.”
Nan Zhou held up the frog-shaped hand toward Zheng Xinghe.
Zheng Xinghe nodded. “Some are human and some aren’t very human.”
Nan Zhou asked again, “How long has this instance been here in your cognition?”
This problem wasn’t difficult for Zheng Xinghe.
“I will draw a bar every time the moon rises. “He murmured. “It has been... more than 1,200 times.”
Three years.
Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang exchanged glances.
This instance was sustainable.
Yet as far as they knew, no one out of the more than 10,000 players in Forces of Temptation had played two identical instances.
The arm of the player that was possessed by the instance monster opened the door to new ideas for them.
Behind that door seemed to be a world that was becoming more bizarre, growing outside of human imagination.
At this point, Zheng Xinghe stopped talking.
He remained silent as he climbed all the way up.
They had all thought that the top of the mountain was still far away from them but they were wrong.
Using the compass, they climbed for an hour and a half and soon reached the top of the snowy mountain that seemed to be at the end of the world.
The group stood on top of the winding peak.
There was silence for a moment.
Then He Yinchuan sighed. “The top of the mountain was so close?”
Lin Zhisong, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly opened his mouth. “Perhaps we can only reach the real top of the mountain with an instance character.”
Even as the sun was rising, there was still an afterimage of the full moon in the sky that was like a giant eye. It refused to die.
Nan Zhou looked up at the shadow of the moon that was as thin as paper.
Jiang Fang gently held his hand and asked with a smile, “What do you think is on the moon?”
Nan Zhou was pulled by him. “I don’t know. I just know that I don’t like the moon.”
Jiang Fang whispered, “When I was young, my mother told me there was a creature called Chang’e on the moon.”
“I asked her why Chang’e was alone on it. Wouldn’t she be lonely?”
Jiang Fang could still recall the soft sigh of his mother who held love as the top priority in life. “...Who knows if she regrets it?”
The so-called full moon wasn’t only an eye that peeped at people’s secrets and frightened them. It also represented inexplicable regret and remorse.
Chang’e should regret stealing the elixir. She felt the loneliness of a faithful widow every night.
The so-called ‘fear of the full moon’ was the so-called things they didn’t want to fear in life. They were two emotions: fear and regret.
***
Zheng Xinghe was stunned as he faced the sea of clouds and the golden light.
“Fuck.” He took a breath of the fresh snowy breeze and whispered, “It is beautiful.”
The snow that fell on his head turned into water and dripped down his face.
They seemed like crystal tears.
His figure shook. Then suddenly, he turned into a human-shaped ice and snow. He swayed and collapsed, integrating with the vast snow mountain.
Nan Zhou wanted to grab his hand but ended up grabbing nothing.
Those who ate Zheng Xinghe were filled with infinite fear and regret. They cowered in a corner of the mountain, slowly suffering and living.
Meanwhile, Zheng Xinghe’s wish might just be to go up the mountain.
It was to get a glimpse of the scenery he wasn’t able to see before.