Dark Moon Era

Chapter 362: Start

Tang Ling frowned at where Liu He had disappeared from.

He was suspicious!

Was Liu He supposed to appear at the start of every dream? The information about the Dream Domain seemed scarce outside, but if everyone met someone like Liu He during every dream entry, why would the information about the Dream Domain be so scarce?

Liu He would more or less give some hints or clues every time he saw him.

Guess I’ll have to spend some money on Boss Huang after this dream to get more about the Dream Domain.

Liu He was gone and Tang Ling did not get any Dream Coins, but he did obtain some precious information: he would have to choose the path of his upcoming dream.

Would it be the main street or the alleyway?

Liu He had stated the main street mission clearly and Tang Ling was indeed tempted, but he was not a reckless person.

Whenever Boss Huang was in a good mood, he loved to advise others about life, but mostly it was about the relationship between men and women. Tang Ling believed the advice was mostly crap, but there were times when Boss Huang spilled something useful and Tang Ling managed to keep those nuggets in mind.

‘The correct way to analyze information isn’t about what the person says. It’s about what the person didn’t say.’

There were a lot of things Liu He did not mention.

For example, he mentioned that sub-missions could compensate for the lack of rewards in the main street mission, but he did not mention anything about the difficulty of acquiring a sub-mission or how difficult it was to complete one. Just how difficult would it be compared to the main street mission?

Tang Ling had only been through the dream once and he had found triggering and completing the sub-mission in alleyways difficult, so how difficult would it be on the main street?

Moreover, Liu He had said the better the rating of the main street’s main mission, the better the reward would be bad.

However, he had not said anything about the difference in the difficulty between the main mission of the main street and alleyway. He only mentioned that it was almost impossible to finish the main street mission in a single attempt.

*If that’s the case…*Tang Ling was forced to analyze the situation back in the real world. He was not exactly in a comfortable spot since he had to continue the Hell Ledge Challenge.

After the Hell Ledge Challenge, it would be his and Tang Long’s life or death battle.

Due to his impulsion, a little trial of the life or death battle with Tang Long had happened earlier.

He knew that he was not Tang Long’s match at all with his current power level since he had not even gotten close to the threshold of the strength of two tigers.

Boss Huang had once said that the strength of two tigers would grant him the understanding of an entirely new level. However, explanations from outsiders were useless. Tang Ling had to understand it himself. Only then would the merging of his strength reach new heights.

In short, regardless of the consequences, choosing the main street was not a wise choice. Tang Ling wanted to use the dream to shorten the gap between him and Tang Long. With that in mind, he looked ahead.

The alleyways had different styles and sceneries, but they were mostly similar in a sense.

One of the main streets was prosperous with an unusual sense of prestige. The scenery in the main street was a strange one. It seemed to be a combination of multiple cultures of the old civilization. There were intricate and glamorous buildings of the Light Continent while grand yet plain structures of Dongsheng Continent existing in the same street. Ancient and primitive shelters from the Primal Continent were also visible. There were people in different colored outfits wandering on the street.

More importantly, it was pointing straight towards Dream Peak.

Tang Ling’s heart raced strongly as he unconsciously took a step closer to that main street.

Anxiety exploded in his mind and suffused his entire body!

No, no! I can’t! If I simply choose this main street, I’ll probably die…

Even if the setting of the Dream Domain was clear, which was pushing one towards the edge of life or death, some things were better off untouched.

Tang Ling did not move as he made up his mind to not enter this street.

As for the other main street, despite being called a main street, it was dark and cold. Reeking of dead silence, there were barely any people on the street. All the passersby were covered in black robes while the traits of the time period and culture were hidden behind a veil of mystery.

Compared to the prosperous main street that screamed of danger, this cold, dark street did not lead straight to Dream Peak.

Lastly, this street looked slightly smaller.

Tang Ling was a rational but crazy person at times.

He had been analyzing the disadvantages and the risk in his heart for quite a while now. His brain told him no, but his body did otherwise, so he walked towards the other main street.

As he crossed over, the layer of mist scattered, and the scenery of another main street was revealed before his eyes.

There were medieval castles and stones houses of the Light Continent coupled with the typical appearance of a dirty street in that period. The vile stench of feces assaulted his nose, but he did not mind because the explosive nervousness was absent this time.

Tang Ling pretended that he was curious about the scenery of the street, and he tried to have a closer look by walking closer to this main street.

As he walked closer, he walked past alleyway after alleyway and feigned a surprised look. He seemed to be thinking, ‘Oh my, I missed it. Too bad I didn’t see it. Oh, I missed it again’.

Finally, he arrived at the entrance of the main street.

“Oh my my, what should I do? Since I’m already here, I guess I’ll have to keep going on. Liu He said let fate decide my path right?” Tang Ling shook his head. In the end, he used what was probably the lousiest excuse to overthrow his rational analysis.

His hesitation was discarded as he hastened his steps.

To his surprise, the moment he stepped into this main street, the scattered mist came back and was even thicker than before. The day quickly darkened and it seemed like it was already dusk.

The street that his feet landed on felt sticky and slippery. He did not know what filth he had stepped on, but it was one of the traits of the medieval age of the Light Continent. The pollution in the city was a social problem that had no cure.

The wind was chilly as it fluttered Tang Ling’s clothes.

Originally, he was wearing a battle uniform that he had bought from Boss Huang who had claimed that the uniform was only given to the elite soldiers of the True Capital.

The material used for the battle uniform was a type of cloth consisting of mutated cotton mixed with mutated hemp. It had high tenacity and was lightweight besides being well-ventilated and absorbent.

Boss Huang might like to boast a lot, but the things he provided were never lousy. Tang Ling had tested the uniform by cutting it with a Grade B alloy dagger quickly, and to his surprise, the uniform had held together.

Since he was running low on money, Tang Ling did not trade for some inner mail or whatnot with Boss Huang since the latter had insisted that every item he had was high quality, and Tang Ling could not afford it with his current financial status.

What Boss Huang really wanted to say was that having exquisite equipment would make Tang Ling lose the meaning of grinding in the Dream Domain because the quality of equipment would lower his ratings.

However, Tang Ling’s understanding of the boss would never change—a stingy and lonely old fox who was always horny when alone.

As the wind blew towards him, Tang Ling realized he was no longer wearing the battle uniform that he bought, it became a black and somewhat shabby mantle.

He felt something strange on his face. He touched it slightly and realized that he was wearing a broken leather mask.

It seems like my character isn’t having a good time at all. Tang Ling did not wander away recklessly.

Everything in the street before him was disorderly. Wandering around in the Dream Domain without a clue was not exactly the smartest thing to do.

At least, he would have to observe and analyze the situation first.

He stood there, feeling a little chilly. He breathed into his hands and rubbed them while he observed his surroundings.

Tang Ling might look calm, but his heart sank in shock.

Cold?! How long had it been since he felt cold?!

The yellow moon was hovering on the east side of the sky, and the night was still early.

However, this city…Yes, it was actually a city! It was overly quiet and dark, and there were barely any lights in the houses.

What did that mean? Tang Ling quickly came up with an answer.

Firstly, his body was weakening rapidly since feeling cold was the first of many bad signs.

Secondly, he was in an extremely dangerous environment.

As expected, Tang Ling started to feel colder, and as his body started to shudder, a sense of weakness uncontrollably rose from his body.

He could feel his strength and stamina plus other qualities slipping away at an unstoppable speed. Alas, all he could do was watch them slip away.

Then, he picked up some sounds from the darkness.

There were two different sounds from two different directions.

The first one was from the second alleyway on his left. It was not just an individual but the footsteps of many people. The series of footsteps did not intentionally sound neat but they were certainly messy.

The other sound was rather subtle. It was the soft and suppressed noise of a pulse.

Tang Ling could not describe the second sound with words! He was certain it existed, but his hearing abilities started to decrease and the sound slowly faded from his ears.

This situation was a choice for him. He had to choose either one to start the dream, similar to the previous dream whereby he had bumped into Grandfather Han at the end of the alleyway to get his mission and identity.

Which way should he choose?

Tang Ling came up with an answer right away. He decided to go with the second alleyway on his left, and as he took the first step out, a sharp scream broke the silence from the dark.

The houses with lights on became fewer while the footsteps in the left alleyway hastened. It sounded like the footsteps were running towards Tang Ling.

Without a second thought, he also ran towards the alleyway.

In the other alleyway with the soft pulse, half of a blurry face emerged from the darkness and stared at Tang Ling’s back for a second before it disappeared.

Unfortunately, Tang Ling did not pick up the presence of the face because he ran into an iron plank that was heading right at him. This little bump would have been nothing to him before this, but now he was slammed to the ground fiercely and his entire body felt sore. Even his nose started to feel warm as blood trickled out of his nostrils.

“Stop running!”

A strong hand grabbed Tang Ling’s arm.

Tang Ling got nervous. He did not even get to wipe his nosebleed away. He was really anxious this time because his running speed did not match his expectation and he had yet to adapt to it.

He was even weaker than he had been before that ominous night. What was all this about? Did he become a normal person in the old civilization? Or was he even weaker than the common man?

When the hand grabbed Tang Ling by the arm, the sensations he felt became unusually authentic.

He was in bad shape. His body was weak and his stomach was empty. The hot gastric juices were burning him and he felt a little dizzy after being knocked down.

As the dizziness troubled his head, a series of messages appeared in his mind.

“Hi, Danny. You are now a common teenager who lives on the edge of the city. You originally didn’t plan on coming out on such a dangerous night…”

The dream had been triggered!