Dark Moon Era

Tang Ling and the others stood behind Yang Kong.

They did not understand why he only briefly introduced them to the Hope Barrier, and then let them watch a full five minutes of live footage of the battlefield in the hour-long lecture.

The mental pressure was huge. There was death at every second and blood at every turn.

Nevertheless, his lecturing methodology was effective.

Their mentality was slowly changing as they watched the hellish battlefield. They experienced the full range of emotions from icy-cold fear to being calm and numb, and from being calm and numb to becoming a little eager and hot-blooded.

They saw a regular warrior stab a sword into a grand spider’s belly.

They saw an elite warrior carry a heavy machine gun and spray fire across a huge group of zombies.

They saw a defense warrior raise his grand shield up and smash it into the spine of an ambushing white skull wolf.

They also saw a purple figure jump up into the sky, drawing his 1.5-meter standard-issued sword and clash with a giant unknown bird in the air. Blood splashed upon impact while that giant bird was severed into pieces. The Purple Moon Warrior landed on the ground and sheathed his sword cleanly.

When the darkness of death was covered by the scarlet of boiling blood, it was not that scary anymore.

“Area 7, 5th elite squad, a Level 2 power-type mutated zombie has appeared in the zombie wave. Purple Moon Warriors, please head over to support. 5th elite squad, step down and head over to Area 9 to provide support to the 2nd hundredth regiment.”

“Area 9, 2nd hundredth regiment, a Level 3 mutated species has appeared among a group of black pouch striped wolves. We believed that it possesses basic electrocution ability. Purple Moon Warriors, please head over to support.”

“Area 11, twin-horned lions are spotted. There are 11 of them that are believed to be within the same coalition. Advice to deploy a 20 men elite warrior squad or 50 men firearms squad.”

“Mayday, mayday, munitions of firearms are running low…”

“Report in Area 3: the large red-tailed rats are eliminated. 1st thousandth regiment is requesting to return to camp for supplies.”

“Request granted. Retreat 267 meters to your 7 o’clock. Please select the 21st to 30th iron belt for return.”

The whole Watchtower, which was also the command center, was bustling. No one seemed to care about the new New Moon Warriors of the First Reserved Camp.

The statistics and situation on the battlefield were magnified to the most intricate details. The level of monitoring was so precise that it covered almost every nook of the battlefield.

Countless astonishing incidents happened one after another, shocking the young warriors.

For example, the so-called iron belt was actually a huge iron wire that extended all the way to the edge of the battlefield from the white light. Streams of warriors used the special arm device on their right hand to attach themselves to the iron belt and zipped in and out of the battlefield.

Both the arm device and the iron belt seemed magical.

In short, when the warriors raised their arm device and attached themselves to the iron belt, they would be swiftly pulled back into the white light. Warriors also came into the battlefield via the iron belt, zipping out from the white light and landing on their feet swiftly.

“The magnetic arm device is the standard equipment of the warriors here in the Hope Barrier. It can also save their lives. When the most critical situation arises and they have orders from command to retreat, they travel towards the iron belt, activate the arm device and turn on the maximum magnetic force. Then, they’ll be sucked up onto the belt and zipped back into the Hope Barrier. The population of the safety sector is finite, and every warrior’s life is precious, so if possible, protecting their lives is absolutely necessary.”

Yang Kong finally had the mood to deliver his lecture when he spotted the young warriors’ interest in the magnetic arm device.

Standing in the middle of the bustling command center, he took a minute educational projector out of his tactical backpack. When he switched the projector on, the entire Hope Barrier finally presented itself before the young warriors.

“The main structure of the Hope Barrier is 150 meters above the ground, 200 meters wide, and 13 km long. It’s built inside the Cliff of Hope. The main structure is similar to the Cliff of Hope, which is in an upside-down ‘U’ shape, and it’s surrounded entirely by the Cliff of Hope. The battle bridge connects the Watchtower and the main structure of the Hope Barrier, which forms the entire structure. The whole Hope Barrier took 90 years to build.” Yang Kong’s explanation was brief but straight to the point.

Coupled with the educational projector, the young warriors finally knew where they were.

The whole structure was built inside the cliff. Using one side of the cliff as a wall, the structure that resembled a giant ‘U’ was inserted into the cliff. With such sturdy support from the terrain, the large-scale construction within the cliff was made possible.

Because of that, it was built in the same shape as the cliff, meaning that the Hope Barrier maximized its usage of the cliff, hence the name the Cliff of Hope.

However, understanding the structure of the Hope Barrier was not the key to solving the enigma of where the First Reserved Camp was located. Was it inside the structure?

On top of that, why would Safety Sector No. 17 place such an important structure inside a cliff to face such danger? The front was a lot safer, at least where the settlement and the Safety Zone used to be. Even though beyond that, the forest in the Secondary Safety Zone was dangerous, it was not as dangerous as this desolate ruins.

Though Yang Kong was not in a hurry to explain, he continued, “The white light that you are seeing is a type of defense mechanism. Its purpose is to prevent enemies from having a clearer look over the Hope Barrier. Of course, as New Moon Warriors, all of you are granted the authority to see through the white light, but since you guys are new, the badge that you’re wearing hasn’t been adjusted yet. After it’s upgraded, the chip inside the badge will automatically record your information and release access to all of you, granting you a clear view of the entire Hope Barrier. However, the details regarding the Hope Barrier isn’t within my syllabus. Stay for a couple of days and you guys can understand it yourself. I hope you won’t be too overwhelmed when you finally see it.”

How is this even a lecture? Orston was grumbling, but Yang Kong did not care. In fact, his lecture for the day was not going to focus on the Hope Barrier itself anyway. He just wanted the young warriors to know what were they fighting for and understand why this place was considered a beam of hope.

Right before Yang Kong continued his lecture, Vian and Christina screamed out of the blue. Even Andy grabbed Tang Ling’s arm tightly all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry, Tang Ling. I can’t get on my feet.”

They were not to blame though because an enormous monster appeared in the monitor that they were watching. It looked like a komodo dragon from the old civilization but it was over a hundred meters long, which was even bigger than a dinosaur from the primordial age.

It was running forward and the whole ruins was trembling with each step it took. Dust storms rumbled in its trail. It was like a harvesting machine, sowing food along the way.

Countless beasts were swallowed mercilessly by its enormous muzzle, and not even the rotten zombies were excluded.

It had relatively little interest for plants though but would still chomp off a giant tree once in a while as if it was balancing the meat that it ate with some greens. Its mouth was like an enormous grinder from which blood splattered at all times, making its surroundings rain red.

Was it scary? It was certainly scary enough but that was not it!

The scarier thing was its strange way of eating. When it opened its jaws, it seemed like it could cut space itself as a black jet flashed from its mouth, and any prey or food that it locked its sights on would appear inside its mouth.

W-What kind of monster was this?!

Even after watching the battlefield for several minutes to adapt to the cruelty and listening to Yang Kong’s lecture with utmost concentration, none of the young warriors were able to stay cool when facing such a strange and enormous monster.