Dark Moon Era

When the voice went out, the battlefield that was filled with all types of growls and screams went silent for a second.

When Tang Ling instinctively turned around, he saw the castellan Worf on his strange flying device floating above the garage.

His black mantle fluttered wildly in the air, making his figure look as majestic as a god above everything on the battlefield.

“Damn it. Did he notice me?” Tang Ling was not frightened by the powerful image. Instead, he thought highly of himself. On the chaotic battlefield and on a rather dark slope, who would take notice of him, a petty ant?

Following his instinct, he lay low and decided to crawl over to the other side of the slope shamelessly.

Worf did not get an answer, so he chuckled coldly and raised his fist. All of a sudden, the flying device descended.

A huge dark energy sphere appeared around his fist instantly as he dove into the sea of zombies.

The battlefield went silent for a second once more. Starting from Worf, long black energy rays burst out in a 300-meter radius, shredding all the zombies to pieces noiselessly. The zombies fell in unison, and in groups, wave after wave of zombies collapsed in a strangely neat order.

Then, the black energy sank into the ground beneath the sea of zombies and the ground started to tremble. Following a loud blast, it felt like an earthquake was happening.

The trembling shook even the slope that Tang Ling was lying on. As his body shook violently, he almost puked with nausea.

“What the…ugh…hell?!” Tang Ling wanted to curse out loud, but he did not want the water that the mysterious person fed him when he was unconscious to be thrown up when he opened his mouth.

What now? Is he so powerful that he can neglect the feelings of the weak? Tang Ling was not exactly a person with reason. Of course, he blamed Worf for the commotion even though the castellan did not even know about his existence.

Nevertheless, a second later, Tang Ling’s anger faded. He was shocked when he looked at the garage below the little slope. The whole garage was smashed beyond recognition. After Worf landed a punch on the garage, he stood there calmly with the shuttle-like flying device circling behind him.

Tang Ling would never forget this scene that he witnessed with his own eyes.

Under the Purple Moon in his black mantle, Worf looked like he was standing on an island because everything within a hundred-meter radius around him had collapsed. The cracks on the ground extended outwards and blanketed the entire garage.

If it was just the ground collapsing around the castellan, Tang Ling would not have been overwhelmed. However, Worf’s punch allowed Tang Ling to see the answer. The mystery revolving around the garage was answered—it was underground.

The underground of the garage was actually an empty space!

As the surface collapsed, the underground space was revealed. It looked like the sewers from the settlement, something the old civilization left behind. There were also passages and tunnels which were obviously man-made that connected to that space, hence forming a rather large area.

Inside the spacious underground were…zombies, countless zombies!

So, this was the secret of the garage? This was the reason why the zombies seemed to be endless and was also where the Zombie King disappeared to in the first place?

They were all hiding underground!!

Who built such an underground space on top of the sewer system left behind by the old civilization? Who silently hid these many zombies underground? Zombies had no intellect, so controlling them would not be an easy task!

On top of that, did the Zombie King and its elite mutated zombies hide underground as well?

While Tang Ling’s clenched fists were shaking, the messy thought that flashed across his mind but was suppressed started to become evident.

Who else could it be? It must be him! The man! The silver-haired man in the black robe! He must have controlled the zombies with that special method of his and there must be traces of his existence in all this!

Could his enemy have been hiding in the sector all this time? The avenging flame in his heart burned blazingly coupled with an indescribable uneasiness that blanketed his heart.

The uneasiness was explainable though because such an enormous underground construction had been completed right under the eyes of the strongest and most important Hope Barrier.

What did it mean? It could only mean one thing—there was a traitor or a spy in Safety Sector No. 17.

Nonetheless, Tang Ling still had to stay in Safety Sector No. 17 and grow stronger in the Hope Barrier.

Did Castellan Worf know about this? What was he thinking? Since he exposed the place with a single punch, he must have known something, but if he knew, why didn’t he stop it?

Tang Ling’s discovery was complicated, or rather, the world that he understood was complicated to the point that he could no longer understand what was right or wrong.

“I will say this again: stop this at once. After the veil is removed, do you still want to act as if nothing happened?” Worf was still standing there, his voice getting louder as it echoed across the battlefield.

****

At the same time, Andrew who had calmed down started to feel anxious again, but he was still a lot calmer than before.

The castellan must have known something, but…

Andrew came up with more than three possibilities, and every one of them matched the current situation, but not all of them would affect what he was worried about, hence his calmness.

After he recovered from his thoughts, he said softly to Hank, “Let’s head back. The show is almost over at this point.”

“But the castellan seems to know something.” Hank’s expression was twisted. The absurdly powerful castellan only reminded him of a single possibility—the Purple Moon Warrior that had broken through the shackles.

If the castellan knew, would Andrew be in danger? Hank would not be able to protect Andrew with his current power.

“It’s fine. Knowing something isn’t all that strange. It’s easy to relate anyway, but it’s still unrelated to the internal workings of Safety Sector No. 17. Or rather, even if the internal workings are related, the castellan wouldn’t simply do anything. He has his own concerns, so he’ll be sandwiched in between choices. Believe me,” said Andrew with a smile as he stroked Hank’s blonde hair.

It was difficult for him to change the habit that he had since young. Hank had always been a crybaby, so he had to calm him down by stroking his head.

Now, since they were no longer kids, Andrew should really stop stroking him, but whenever Hank felt anxious, he could not stop his habit from taking over.

Andrew’s words calmed Hank down, so he did not press the question and said with a nod, “Let’s go then. After wasting a whole night, I’ve missed out on many cultivation hours.”

Of course, Tang Ling had no idea what Andrew and Hank were going through since he himself was being enveloped by tremendous anxiety himself. Countless details and clues intertwined in his mind, and it was difficult for him to comb through all the mess in such a short time, so he was thoroughly agitated.

Would Worf’s words cause an effect of sorts?

However, Tang Ling could not wait for the show to be over because things were going to be unpredictable from here onwards. Tang Ling instinctively wanted to move away, not wanting to be part of the bigger mess, at least, not at his current stage.

******

Back at the hill on Herrocky Mountain, the four figures in black robes and white masks were still there. They had been there ever since the garage battle started.

After witnessing Worf’s astonishing feat, the figure with the strange dual-gender voice praised the castellan at first, but he did not sound concerned at all. “Yo, yo, yo, would you look at that? Worf Andol seems a lot stronger.”

Without being concerned about the praise from the strange-voiced figure, the monstrous figure replied with a stiff mechanical tone calmly, “I guess your plan is considered a failure.”

“It’s not much of a concern. We never expected the plan to go smoothly either.” This time, the one who spoke was the figure that first explained to the monstrous figure. He was not disappointed at how the situation unfolded because as the monstrous figure said earlier, regardless of success or failure, they were sufficiently prepared to stand on a victorious path.

Although the crisis at the garage was averted, the skirmishes around the Universal Source Rock continued, making the last figure in the black robe nervous. “What about now? Do we need to pay attention to what Worf said?”

Worf brought 20 elite Purple Moon Warriors and managed to hold the situation for a while, but the beasts and mutated insects were numerous. If the situation carried on, even the elite Purple Moon Warriors would not last.

It would leave them with a single option—a full-scale war, the fiercest and longest full-scale war.

However, anyone with a bit of insight knew that Worf wanted to help the Hope Barrier recover. He wanted everyone to catch a breath, so going on a full-scale war was the worst possible option.

“This question…is a little tough to answer. I have to say, Worf is a really smart guy. He knows how to read the situation and attain optimal balance. Hehehe,” the strange-voiced figure said.

The figure, who first explained to the monstrous figure, asked the figure with the strange voice, “Then…my lord…what should we do? How should we approach this?” It seemed like the figure with the strange voice was the leader of the quad.

“How should we approach it? There is no approaching this anymore because we cannot achieve our initial goal. Do you really want those mindless monsters to chip off a part of the Universal Source Rock?” said the strange-voiced figure.

The figure asked for the final permission from the strange-voiced figure, “Then, should we cease fire immediately? And pretend like nothing ever happened?”

“No, we didn’t get any benefits that we were promised and we paid our price in this battle. Worf must have known about our presence and suspected our participation, so we might have to face his wrath,” the monstrous figure finally spoke and there was dissatisfaction in between his lines.

The figure who asked for permission seemed to have lost his patience with the monstrous figure. He said, “We will make necessary arrangements for you to get your benefits. Even if we cease fire now, we have ways to give you what you are promised.”

“Are you sure about that? It’s three tons of Universal Source Rock that we are talking about. With Worf’s return, the Parliament is no longer the highest authority in Safety Sector No. 17. Are your arrangements that valuable? A single ‘no’ from Worf would…” said the monstrous figure strenuously with its voice.

The figure who asked for permission had it with the question. He waved to stop the monstrous figure and said, “With Worf’s return, our arrangements will only be more valuable. Please don’t underestimate the chip we delivered into your hands. If Worf doesn’t care, he wouldn’t be where he is now. Maybe with Worf’s return, you might be able to get at least five tons of Universal Source Rock.”

After hearing the answer, the monstrous figure stopped speaking.

Then, the figure who asked for permission then looked at the figure with the strange voice respectfully, “My lord, should we cease fire now?”

“Hmm. What about the others? You know what I am seeking, but if you fail to do your job after the ceasefire, like using the opportunity to purge, then…hehehe…” The strange-voiced figure finally gave a solid answer. His tone was dull but it shook the figure who asked for permission.

Nonetheless, the strange-voiced figure did not care about the figure who asked. He shrugged his black robe off and jumped, disappearing into the night.

The monstrous figure stepped forward after the strange-voiced figure disappeared. It walked to the edge of the hill and reminded the figure who asked and jumped down, “Five tons of Universal Source Rock.”

Only two of the original four black figures were left on the hill.

Then, the figure who asked for permission spoke to the last figure, “Activate the backup plan. Cease fire.”

“But, my lord…are we giving him five tons of Universal Source Rock? We agreed on three before this,” the other figure spoke of his grievance as he seemed to hate the monstrous figure.

“There’s an old saying from the Dongsheng Continent. Don’t be bothered with the trivialities if you want to achieve something big. It’s just five tons of Universal Source Rock. Don’t you realize a problem? Even if the entire Universal Source Rock isn’t something that our lord is concerned about, let alone five tons.” The figure who asked for permission always had a sharp perception of things.

“You are saying…”

“What else? As long as we follow our lord with unswerving determination, we can get a lot more things that are better than the Universal Source Rock. The world has changed to a great degree. Maybe only a person with a narrow view cares about the Universal Source Rock.” As he spoke, the figure who asked for permission walked down the hill, his figure slowly disappearing into the night as his voice faded into the air.

******

Tang Ling carefully crawled to the peak of the slope. He purposely squirmed a little further to avoid the searchlights.

If he could cross the peak of the slope, he would be out of range of the searchlights, so the steep slope on the other side was dark. He could then hasten up and return to the Hope Barrier.

Maybe he was hallucinating, but Tang Ling suddenly felt a faint scene of sweetness in the air, tickling his nostrils.

Was he that hungry that he could even eat air?

Tang Ling could not stop the strange thought from popping up in his mind. He was indeed hungry, but the craving was unlike the menacing and violent hunger that attacked him on other days. This hunger came from his own body.

Only Tang Ling was able to tell the subtle differences between the two types of hunger.

Speaking of hunger, why was ‘it’ not hungry anyway?

Tang Ling thought of the crystal that he swallowed. ‘It’ must have something to do with that. The only explanation that he could come up with was that ‘it’ felt the danger of being weak, so ‘it’ took the risk and replenished its energy dangerously.

However, when he got his hands on the Level 3 mutated mantis’ crystal, ‘it’ did not long for it.

Coupled with the note left behind by the person who saved him, given Tang Ling’s wisdom, he quickly formed a theory: unless absolutely necessary, swallowing a crystal was an extremely dangerous thing to do.

Still, was it entirely without benefits? A trace of excitement appeared on Tang Ling. He had a vague answer to that question and he was eager to verify his answer.