The WasteLand OF Scream
The vessel shook as it cut through the acid-yellow clouds of the Wasteland. Beneath lay a black sand desert, where the wind carried the whispers of the dead—voices forever trapped in agony. Li Chen clutched his seat, the Húnjīng Shí's heat rising in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Xuě Húlí's hologram flared, her tails hashing in delight. *"Nice, isn't it? The Empire discarded their experiment failures here. Now the sands crave."*
A shout came—a human-like, unearthly scream. Li Chen saw figures twisting below the dunes: **Corrupted Ones**, mutants combined with Imperial technology, their limbs digging into the air.
*"First rule of survival,"* the fox whispered, *"never remain stationary."*
---
### **The Rebel Outpost**
The insurgents took refuge in the wreck of a downed Progenitor warship, its hollowed-out shell half-buried in sand. Guards wearing mismatched armor leveled rifles as Li Chen approached.
"Speak your business, stranger," snarled their commander, **Yun Teng**, a grizzled woman with a plasma scar across her face. Her eyes hardened at the Húnjīng Shí's glow.
"I've come to fight the Empire," said Li Chen, repeating Xuě Húlí's instruction. "And I have arms."
He hurled a purloined Imperial energy core to her feet. The rebels were quiet, and desperation clung to the air.
Yun Teng stamped on the core. "Arms will be no good to us. The Imperials return at dawn to slaughter us like cattle. You'll be nothing but dead before sunrise."
*"How refreshing,"* Xuě Húlí purred into Li Chen's head. *"Kill her. Take charge."*
Li Chen tuned out the fox. "Then let's make sunrise *their* issue."
---
### **The Plan**
The rebels' plan was straightforward: dig holes, lay traps, pray. Li Chen suggested madness instead.
"The Corrupted Ones fear the Progenitor ruins," he said, pointing to a crumbling obelisk on the horizon. "Lure the Imperials there. Let the Wasteland fight for us."
Yun Teng scoffed. "That's suicide."
"So is staying."
The rebels voted with silence. Only a teenage mechanic, **Xiao Lan**, stepped forward. "I'll go. My brother died in the last cull. I'm done hiding."
Xuě Húlí laughed. *"The lamb volunteers for slaughter. How poetic."*
---
### **The Lure**
Night fell. Li Chen and Xiao Lan navigated the dunes, the obelisk looming ahead. The Corrupted Ones shrieked but kept their distance—the Húnjīng Shí's light repelling them.
"Why risk this?" Xiao Lan asked, her voice trembling. "You're not one of us."
Li Chen considered Mei. *"Someone once spoke to me to live… even if it burns."*
There was a howl that sundered night. **Imperial hover tanks** rode up the dunes, their cannon charging.
*"Run!"*
They ran, sand churning at their feet. Carvings along the obelisk blazed as Li Chen tapped the crystal's power. The earth shuddered—Corrupted Ones burst forth out of the sand, attracted by the light.
Pandemonium broke out. Mutants ripped through Imperial soldiers, their screams intermingling with howls. Xiao Lan detonated the rebels' secret bombs, setting the tanks ablaze.
---
### **The Cost**
Their victory was ash and blood.
Li Chen discovered Xiao Lan trapped beneath rubble, her leg broken. "Go," she wheezed. "The others require you."
Xuě Húlí appeared, her muzzle smudged with ghostly blood. *"Leave her. Weakness dies here."*
Li Chen dithered—then scooped Xiao Lan over his shoulder. "We live together."
The fox spat. *"Sentiment will kill you faster than any blade."*
---
### **The Leader**
The rebels cheered when they came back, but Yun Teng's eyes were steel. "You saved lives today. But mercy won't halt the Empire."
Li Chen met his gaze. "Then teach me to be merciless."
Xuě Húlí's laughter rang in his skull. *"Oh, this will be fun."*
---
### **The Vision**
That evening, the Húnjīng Shí pulled him back into the past.
*The Progenitor warship, intact and shining, flying over a green world.
A betrayal—Imperial saboteurs inserting a device into its core.*.
A voice: "The Empire hates what it can't possess."*
Li Chen awoke to alarms. Rebels' sensors howled: **A warship of the Celestial level** was en route, the sigil of the Emperor bearing out on its hull.
Yun Teng clasped her rifle. "They've arrived to finish us off."
Xuě Húlí's gaze sparkled. *"It's time to decide, little star. Live a monster… or die a hero?"*