Dark Moon Era

Tang Ling squatted on the ground with his little torchlight raised. He extended a finger and snatched the dead body on the ground without even touching it. He asked Fei Long out of curiosity, “What’s this?”

It was very strange to see the giant living being that sprung out from the underground start to melt after its death. After melting for a while, a so-called ‘host’ was revealed underneath the huge body. It was very small at only a third of the size of a common human being, but the strange living being was not weak at all. Even with Fei Long’s strength, he had to punch it a few times to barely kill it.

Fei Long’s strength was indubitable. Tang Ling’s Precise Instinct roughly calculated that his common punching force reached 10,000 kgs of force.

He quickly peeked at Fei Long. The leader of the Purple Moon Warriors was in bad shape. His face was swollen like a pig and he was definitely not in his prime form.

As for why Fei Long’s face was swollen so badly, Tang Ling had conveniently forgotten what caused that. If he did not free Fei Long from the ropes in time, he would end up in an ugly situation against the little monster.

“Even if I transform, I can’t win.” Tang Ling came up with a bleak conclusion.

Fei Long did not pay attention to Tang Ling’s question because he was thinking about the perfect excuse to beat him up as revenge, but he had not come up with one.

The great leader of the Purple Moon Warriors was punched into swollen pulp by a New Moon Warrior of the First Reserved Camp! If the news got out, the embarrassment would be unimaginable. It would be so shameful!

Although there was a reason Fei Long ended up like this, he was injected with a huge amount of tranquilizer and an electric collar was shackled to his neck which would generate a special electric field to ruin his force field.

On top of that, the electric collar would release an electric current to paralyze his body at a fixed interval, so he could not use his powers at all.

Otherwise, even if Tang Ling used everything he got, with his strength, he could never hurt Fei Long.

“Captain Fei Long?” Tang Ling did not get an answer as the itch in his heart remained unscratched. He looked very innocent and honest when he asked the question as if he was begging for it. When he called Fei Long, his eyes were round and big, reflecting how serious his desire to know was.

Fei Long felt like he was going to explode, but he still could not find a reason to. In fact, the entire incident felt a little bizarre to him. He thought he could no longer change his fate as a bargaining chip because his existence would put Safety Sector No. 17 in a very difficult spot.

Regardless of how the situation would turn out, he would surely be crucified on the pillar of shame and become a joke to everyone, but he never thought Tang Ling would rescue him accidentally.

Well, it should be considered a rescue. As he recalled the earlier scene, Fei Long was at a loss of words to describe it. This kid shoved a grenade at the monster without saying anything or asking any question!

The monster must have died in grievance as well, being ambushed by a kid who was practically still a weakling.

It was also a captain of its species, if it wasn’t for all sorts of coincidental causes, a mere grenade could never harm it, even if it was shoved into its mouth.

It would be really bad though, Fei Long would probably suffer a concussion if he had a grenade exploded in his mouth.

But he was not any better from a concussion either, his face was swollen like a fat pig.

Who would believe him? A kid from the First Reserved Camp heavily damaged a captain of the Sector R of the underground world and then beat up the captain of the Purple Moon Warrior of Safety Sector No. 17.

Would he need a reason to beat up such a kid? No.

With that thought in mind, Fei Long suddenly smiled kindly at Tang Ling, which caused chills to run down his spine. Smiling with his swollen face, Fei Long was like a boar flashing Tang Ling a wide grin.

Tang Ling wanted to run because he had a bad feeling about this, but Fei Long had already grabbed him by the collar with a grin that was brighter than ever.

“I’m innocent! I’m your savior!”

That was all Tang Ling managed to say before he saw a solid punch coming straight at his face followed by a dark scene filled with cartoonish stars.

******

The crisis was quietly averted with Worf Andol intervening just in time.

Although Worf did not get a reply in the end, the retreating monsters stated it all.

The enemy was afraid of the invincible castellan.

A celebration was held in the Hope Barrier and the higher-ups were pleased to add to the joy by distributing alcoholic drinks for free, which was a very rare occasion.

The Hope Barrier, which was usually filled with the stench of blood and iron, was turned into a party ground instantly.

“It’s merry outside.” Hank sat down beside Andrew with a glass of red wine in his hand.

It was one hell of a night. Both of them had gone through a rollercoaster ride, but Andrew managed to grasp the final victory and that was good enough for Hank.

What exactly was the victory? The concept of victory had always been abstract, but Andrew’s smile was genuine. He would only control himself when he was truly happy. He tightly puckered his lips and tried his best not to be too obvious with his smile.

However, Hank was very familiar with Andrew’s microexpression, so with the smile, he knew he had achieved his goal for now.

“Is it? It isn’t a real celebration out there. It’s just a necessary comfort for those who are unable to see the truth.” Andrew swirled his glass of red wine.

Even in the First Reserved Camp, as a benefit of their strength being recognized, he and Hank’s lives were considered very luxurious.

“How so?” Hank simply asked. He was not really interested, but since Andrew had the spirit to chat, he went along with the flow.

“If those with a hint of knowledge knew the beasts, the zombies, and the mutated insects were controllable, what would they think?” Andrew tried his best to restrain his joy, but he still revealed an obvious smile.

“It would be bad.” Hank furrowed his brows.

“Yeah, it would be bad. There isn’t much for Safety Sector No. 17 to rely on, so Worf must come back to stabilize the situation and can no longer leave.” Up until this point, Andrew sipped a mouthful of red wine. “But it shouldn’t be that effective since the enemies might no longer be afraid of Worf.”

“Then, what are they afraid of?” Hank was not really paying attention, but he also had a little sentiment for the sector that he grew up in though it paled in comparison to his relationship with Andrew.

“That’s the secret.” Andrew remained grinning mysteriously. He unconsciously tapped his fingers and said, “But to me, it’s great news because the family made the right choice. At first, I thought my analysis deviated from the correct direction, but I finally understand it now. No one is aiming for victory in this battle. It’s just their first time working together, so it’s a test of each other’s sincerity, and if that is proven, it will be enough.”

Hank lowered his head in silence. How could he not understand what Andrew meant?

With that many lives lost, the battle that night was just a test between two collaborating parties. It was just to test whether the opposition party was reliable enough and had the potential to continue working together or not.

In other words, through this battle, some obvious things were brought under the light, and no one could disembark from the same boat anymore, thus everyone would be bound together.

For example, the Agnes family had been branded the mark of a traitor, so they no longer had a choice after this.

However, was it really suitable? Hank’s heart was heavy. Many lives were lost that night.

“Hank, my boy, you are wrong. Safety Sector No. 17 will always be Safety Sector No. 17. The only difference is who will be the leader of the people. A man selects a leader who he would follow. As drifting duckweeds, we only have to think about which powerful leader to serve. That will be enough.” Andrew put his glass down and stroked Hank’s blonde hair.

“Hmm.” Hank felt a little better. Andrew’s words always made sense and sounded so reasonable.

“Unless, one day, I can be the leader, then…” Andrew squinted his eyes, but soon, he changed the topic, “That’s why I said it isn’t a true celebration because not everyone is truly happy, and I think there are a few in the First Reserved Camp who aren’t happy as well. Am I right?”

“Yeah, they aren’t really happy about it. Dier went to have a look since Orston is a member of his family. He tried to talk Orston to leave that group, but the discussion ended up sour,” Hank told Andrew what happened.

“No one can talk a fool out of his actions.” Andrew shook his head softly. He did not even take Orston seriously.

He was actually in a good mood. Although he was certain that Tang Ling would never survive that, the news from Hank further solidified his thoughts.

He could go and receive his reward during his next monthly day off. What kind of reward would he get this time? Would it be something from a mysterious land in the legends?

If it is, I must give it to Hank since he must quickly grow stronger.

Right, I’ve gotten the news that garage No. 19 is in ruins now, so I guess nothing can go wrong anymore.

It seems like using the situation to achieve one’s goal is what a smart person should do. It also means that having a good grasp of the information is important.

Andrew picked up his glass as all kinds of thoughts flashed in his mind, and he got a little carried away. Hank did not disturb him, choosing to sit beside him quietly as though the cheerful and joyous atmosphere outside could not disturb the peace between them.

******

“So, is he from an underground race?” Tang Ling furrowed his brows. Even though it was just a simple expression, it was a burden for his swollen face. The pain was killing him, and he could not help clenching his teeth tightly, but when he moved his mouth, the pain from another spot stung him again, causing him to gasp painfully.

“Hahaha!” Fei Long was guffawing shamelessly, but his swollen face could not take the huge movement, so he also gasped in pain like Tang Ling.

The two of them finally stopped fooling around as they recovered their calm expressions and looked at each other like baby foxes staring into their father’s eyes.

I’ll beat Fei Long up the next time if I get the chance. Tang Ling thought angrily to himself.

I’ll beat this kid up once a month if I had the time. Fei Long was also being frank in his mind.

Though the two of them did not show any obvious signs of taking revenge on each other or mention anything about their hostile thoughts, they tacitly moved to the next topic, which was the underground race.

“Yes, the underground race. There is an entire civilization underground which is vastly different from the human civilization, but it is still a civilization.” Fei Long took a puff from his cigarette which he nicked from Tang Ling and spat a cloud of smoke out.

The underground race was a heavy topic. Anyone who knew about their existence could not help but feel worried.

“I don’t believe it. The old civilization didn’t record anything about the underground having a civilization of its own. With all the advanced technology during the old civilization, if there really was another civilization underground, why didn’t they notice it? It should be quite the news,” Tang Ling expressed his opinion on the topic.

He did not want to acknowledge the existence of an underground civilization. Instead, he was happier believing what he saw with his own eyes: a special kind of monster that lived underground and was unique to this era like the zombies.

Tang Ling loved to read. Infatuated with thinking, he knew what it would mean if a planet housed two entirely different races that were intellectual species and had developed their own civilizations.

War! A full-scale war! Unlike the war among humans, beasts, mutated insects, and zombies, the war between two intellectual species would only cause annihilation to either side.

It was impossible to achieve peace, not even in the slightest possibility! Even with the technological advancement of the old civilization, they still could not remove the discrimination between different colored people, let alone two different races with entirely different civilizations.

The thought instinctively came up in Tang Ling’s mind and many more followed, but he did not want to ponder upon them. On the contrary, he wanted to deny their existence instead.

Fei Long fell silent for quite a while when he saw how serious Tang Ling was. He was unable to reveal further to Tang Ling because the latter did not know the part of history that was intentionally removed and hidden.

According to the iron rule of Safety Sector No. 17, a person was forbidden to learn more without achieving a certain level of growth.

It was a form of protection and also a way to numb them. Otherwise, no one could not live in this era peacefully.

Ignorance was only bliss to those with wisdom and those who knew the truth. To the majority of people who did not know the truth, there was no such thing called ignorance since they did not know anything at all.

“So, they must be a civilization that appears in our era, isn’t there?” Tang Ling tried to voice the theory that he came up with as he looked at Fei Long, hoping for an answer that would match his thoughts.

If that was really the case, it would be a lot better! Regardless of what the humans did, they could still enjoy some of the remains of the old civilization and move forward steadily.

Compared to the previous, this one sounded a lot more like a victory than a loss.

Tang Ling was not exactly a person who would care for the general well-being of the people, but he understood a simple theory—it was impossible for something to exist without its foundation.

Betraying his own race and looking down on the people of his nation would be an act of absolute foolishness.

“No, they’ve always existed .” Fei Long really wanted to tell Tang Ling otherwise, but when he looked at those deep eyes of his, the lies were nowhere to be found.

Moreover, Tang Ling had seen and discovered the existence of the underground race. Could it be considered as the will of heaven?

‘This wonder kid!’ Fei Long exclaimed as his gaze at Tang Ling softened.

Have they always existed? Tang Ling’s expression turned uglier as Fei Long ultimately denied his theory.

Regardless of how illogical the underground civilization sounded and how unbelievable it seemed, Fei Long chose to be simple and denied Tang Ling’s theory without even providing any evidence.

“Underground…There’s no way to survive underground. The temperature should be extremely hot underground? Where would they get oxygen from? No, the underground is…” Tang Ling was muttering to himself, unable to accept the fact for the time being.