Dark Moon Era

Although Grandfather Han had died, his body disappeared.

Gu Gu escaped, leaving a beautiful vessel behind, and after an investigation of the vessel, the outcome rendered many speechless.

The county magistrate was one of those speechless. Not only would he not speak of it, but he even ordered everyone to keep the news contained. Those who spread the news about the incident would be convicted of causing disturbance to the public and spreading false rumors to deceive people.

“Is it necessary?” Tang Ling crossed his legs arrogantly while leaning in the rosewood rocking chair with floral carvings, swaying quietly.

The rain that lasted for two days finally stopped. As though the rain washed the sky, the blue sky was clear and the sun was warm. It was so dazzling that one could barely open his eyes.

The yard was quiet. There were two plates of dried fruits, four plates of pastries, and a pot of iced plum tea on the tea table beside the rocking chair.

The dream world was so comfortable. If his sister and grandmother had been in the dream, he would never want to wake up from it.

Unfortunately, even though he looked leisurely and carefree, his mind was not relaxed. There was a black leather notebook in his hand and he seemed to have finished reading it.

Of course, the county magistrate wanted to contain the news. Who would have thought that the beautiful vessel was his daughter who had died a year ago?

As for whether the body came back alive or was something else entirely, the county magistrate did not want to know. Whenever he thought about the fact that his dead daughter appeared in Qingxi town and ate people with an old guardian from another family, his mind felt like it wanted to explode.

Of course, Gu Gu brought Grandfather Han’s body away.

Last night, after Grandfather Han sprayed the last cloud of mist from his mouth, a familiar scene played out before Tang Ling. The cloud of mist clumped together and formed an indigo “mushroom flower” in the air.

It was very similar to the “mushroom flower” that had flown out from the Zombie King back in the garage battle. The differences were only the color and the petals.

The flower that came out from the Zombie King was grayish-white and had three petals whereas this was was a bluish violet and had five petals.

The Zombie King’s flower looked like some naughty kids had damaged it, but the flower from Grandfather Han appeared intact.

Alas, who was Tang Ling? He would never be deceived by appearances. Regardless of the color or how intact it was, his first reaction was a kick. He kicked Grandfather Han away and instantly drew a distance from the body.

He did not have a choice since he was not as versatile or powerful as the castellan. He knew the mushroom flower would disintegrate soon, and the dust that it disintegrated into was just as dangerous as the Devil Fungus, but he did not have any bacteria control potion with him, so he had to dodge.

However, the shocking thing was that after he located Grandfather Han, the mission notification appeared in his mind. Even with his meticulous planning and analysis, he was only able to complete 30% of the mission after he defeated Grandfather Han.

It seemed like the other 70% must be related to that “Gu Gu”.

Therefore, Tang Ling ran into the house and chased Gu Gu, but upon barging in, there was no one else. He searched around the place carefully and found a secret passage leading outside, but it was in the middle of the night. Where should he start to locate a mushroom?

He found the beautiful body of the county magistrate’s dead daughter though, and Grandfather Han’s body had also vanished when he returned.

It was normal, nonetheless, since it would be strange if Grandfather Han’s body remained in the courtyard. Grandfather Han and Gu Gu could not part with each other even in death, so the mushroom flower that he sprayed out would surely transport him somewhere else.

With that thought in mind, Tang Ling grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the plate of dried fruits. He chewed on a few seeds and exclaimed, “So, it was all for love?”

It should be the best answer to the whole incident. If the county magistrate wanted to know why his daughter’s dead corpse would do something like this, Tang Ling would surely give the same answer.

He would tell them to go through the county journal. The very first clue about all this concerning love was hidden in the pages.

“On a night in July in the 58th cycle of the sexagenary years, early in the 11th Yuan year, a red object appeared in Zhuanxi town. Originating from the south to the north, it was approximately a dozen meters long. Bright flames trailed its tail like a red sunset, horrifying anyone who saw it.”

What did that mean?

There was an entry in the county journal. It stated that one day in Zhuanxi town of Wanghe County, something strange appeared in the sky. It should be around 20 to 30 meters long (the entry vaguely described its size albeit it not being accurate) and had a long red tail. A bright crimson light shone from the tail and dyed the town red, frightening the townspeople.

This was the first encounter.

Where exactly was Zhuanxi town? Although it was several dozen miles away from Qingxi town, it was coincidentally to the south. The important thing was that the entry stated that the thing originated from the south to the north.

Then, there was another entry in the county journal about the strange thing that appeared in the sky, but this time around, only a handful of people saw it. The entry was not detailed enough, but Tang Ling was able to capture two important points.

Firstly, it was red. Indeed, it was also red.

Secondly, it appeared in a village named Benniu Village near the Snail Fields.

Although the moving trajectory was not a straight line, it did get nearer to Qingxi town and was still traveling from south to north.

Finally, there was another interesting entry in the county journal. ‘At midnight in Qingxi town on the 4th of November, early in the 11th Yuan year, the wind was so strong that the trees were uprooted. Red gas burned the sky as something came from the south to the north, falling loudly.’

It was the last and most valuable clue which allowed Tang Ling to stitch everything together.

According to the year and month of the journal entry, a strong wind suddenly arrived in Qingxi town at night. Many trees in the mountains were uprooted while the red light made the sky look like it was being burned as if there were something coming from the south to north. Finally, it fell with a great bang.

If Tang Ling still could not understand it by this point, he would be an idiot.

All these clues clearly recorded the process of some extraterrestrial creature getting hurt and crashing in the end.

The final crashing point was in Qingxi town.

Tang Ling was not a stranger to the term “extraterrestrial”. He would always take the time to read and increase his knowledge. There were many records from the old civilization that mentioned the mysterious sightings, but all of them lacked strong evidence.

Maybe there was strong evidence to prove it, but it would be in the hands of only a few.

Following the annihilation of the old civilization, the research on these things was cut off.

Tang Ling would never miss such a coincidence. His thoughts were lively and he dared to deduce with the evidence at hand.

The living dead, or zombies, appeared in ancient Huaxia. He tended to lean towards the explanation from a biological viewpoint rather than that from the myths.

In this world, all living beings followed their own course of evolution. Not even a genetic mutation could alter its course. Genetic mutation was only a problem in the Purple Moon Era because in that era, evolution was accelerating and everything was getting out of control.

Then, in a world where the ecosystem was stable and the course of evolution was not messed up, if something happened out of the blue, what would the explanation for that be?

It could only be explained as external causes—external as in extraterrestrial beings coming to this planet and breaking the law.

Let’s call it “law” for now.

Tang Ling dared not hope to find clues about extraterrestrials in the county journal, but he got the notification from the dream world that everything was connected to the zombies, so he had to rely on it for now.

People of ancient Huaxia were honest, especially the gentlemen and scholars.

Although they would fabricate history, their story would not deviate much. Such fabrications were not needed in a county journal that recorded supernatural events.

Tang Ling originally thought of taking the initiative to search for clues to compensate for his lack of evidence. It did not conflict with his decision to pin Grandfather Han down, but he did not expect that this would be the start of a great love story.

Since the love story was mentioned, we had to talk about the black leather notebook that Tang Ling found in Grandfather Han’s house.

It was a monthly journal! Hmm…At least, the entry in this journal was written at least once a month, so let’s just call it that for now.

Tang Ling did not want to get his hands on this journal. He was actually searching for some martial art scriptures since he was fond of ancient Huaxia’s martial arts because it changed his views of fighting techniques a lot. Yet, all he found was this damned journal.

The Dream Domain is really stingy. I can’t even get something useful here!

Nevertheless, the monthly journal recorded Grandfather Han’s adventures from around 20 years ago. It was also 20 years ago when the extraterrestrial crash-landed in Qingxi town.

From the monthly journal, the crash-landing was something huge back in the days. It attracted all the Imperial officials from the county. However, after searching for three days straight, other than a charred land, they got nothing.

The outcome could not satisfy the people’s curiosity and Grandfather Han’s heart. He was at his prime back then and had already worked as the chief guardian of the Tang family for more than a decade.

He always sighed, saying that all he had were martial art techniques but was trapped in this secluded town. He had the heart to go out to see the world, but he could not abandon his wife and children.

Tang Ling was rather puzzled when he reached this point. He even called a servant over to ask about it, “He has a wife and children?”

The servant could not accept Second Young Master Tang’s disgusting habit of shaking his legs when he answered the question because Tang Ling lay down on the rocking chair and ate his snacks happily in the courtyard of Grandfather Han’s manor.

What kind of sick hobby is this? 

After the servant answered all the questions, he sprinted away. Tang Ling got a confirmation about Grandfather Han’s wife and children, but they had disappeared without a sign two years ago.

“Hmm.” Tang Ling shook his head.

He continued reading all about Grandfather Han’s adventures. Since he claimed that he was very familiar with the terrains in the Wangxi Mountain beside Qingxi town, he might be able to find something that the Imperial officers could not.

He wanted a real adventure. He coveted fame and even longed for a position in the government office. With that thought in mind, he climbed the mountain without hesitation.

Excluding the strange things that happened along the way, Grandfather Han finally found something.

The monthly journal clearly stated that he found a hidden mountain stream near the burned land. He took the risk and went through the mountain stream before ending up in a giant cave.

Inside the cave were bodies, strange dead bodies of young monkeys.

Tang Ling frowned. “Young monkeys? Where’s the mushroom?”

Grandfather Han then found a transparent cover among the bodies. The cover was the treasure of the world in Grandfather Han’s eyes back then. Although he did not know what it was, it was transparent, as light as a feather, and even more lovable than the best gemstone.

Tang Ling did say cover in Grandfather Han’s room when he searched around. He really wanted to tell Grandfather Han that it was just a plastic cover and that no matter how special it might have been, it was just plastic.

The adventures came to an end here. Grandfather Han found a piece of plastic in ancient Huaxia. It was considered a scrumptious piece of loot back then, and if he would bring it to the Emperor, he might be rewarded heavily.

However, if it was really what happened, this complicated and sentimental love story would lack a start.

Grandfather Han realized that the plastic cover was mobile, so he opened it and found a straight faint purple liquid, and inside the liquid was a mushroom of some sort.

The mushroom was tiny. It was green and screamed of vitality. In addition to that, it seemed to be able to understand humans as well. When Grandfather Han discovered it, it put its mushroom hands together and bowed, begging to be spared.

Grandfather Han had the selfish thought of keeping this wonderous being to himself.

It was the first encounter between Gu Gu and Guo Er inside the cave.

“As expected, greed is man’s cardinal sin.” Tang Ling seriously provided a conclusion, but if he was in Grandfather Han’s shoes, would he be able to resist his greed?

He might do the same. If it was Tang Ling, if he found out that the mushroom was poisonless, he would cook it and eat it.

At this point, of course, the story then followed the matter. Grandfather Han raised the mushroom.

The journal originally recorded Grandfather Han’s best adventure, but it eventually became a diary of raising the mushroom into Gu Gu.

The process in the middle could be skipped.

In conclusion, Gu Gu was able to understand humans, and it could magically communicate with Grandfather Han to tell him what it wanted.

Grandfather Han took great care of the mushroom.

Time flew by, and it had been six years since their first encounter.

Gu Gu had consumed all the purple liquid inside the cover that it arrived in and requested something new from Grandfather Han—blood and flesh.

Not just any blood and flesh, but the blood and flesh of humans!

Grandfather Han agreed. He knew that after spending six years with this mushroom, if Gu Gu could grow into shape, he would attain immortality.

Immortality?! The temptation was huge! Even though it was just a thread of hope, many would kill thousands or myriads just to grasp it.

Moreover, Grandfather Han viewed the thread of hope as the river of certainty, who else in the world could communicate with ‘mushroom?

As the mushroom grew, it got smarter and after spending six years together, Grandfather Han learned a lot of secrets.

“Secrets? What secrets?” Tang Ling resented Grandfather Han for being so vague in his monthly journal.

Therefore, Grandfather Han started to search for blood and flesh for Gu Gu.

With his martial art techniques, killing people was not a difficult task, but his vigilance always made him go after homeless people and beggars.

He never killed in Qingxi town since he always searched for his victim in secluded rural areas.

Therefore, Grandfather Han, the psychopathic killer went on a killing spree for ten years, and no one was able to locate him or find any clues.

As for Gu Gu? It started off with a small appetite that a single man could feed for a year.

Then, at a later stage, its request grew bigger, but it also lifted the burden of finding food from Grandfather Han. All Grandfather Han had to do was kill and place Gu Gu beside the body. Then, it would return to him the next day.

As for the bodies of the victims, they would disappear without a trace as if their whole family moved away or had gone missing.

Missing cases were a common thing in the old civilization, let alone ancient Huaxia, it happened almost every day. Most would end up without an answer. Missing when alive, gone when dead.

Plus, Grandfather Han always moved around and get stuck in different places. No one would pay attention to him, not even the county journal had a clue about his killing spree.

From that day onwards, the devilish man and mushroom pair ‘devoured’ more than a hundred lives in Wanghe County.

Another 16 years passed after that, and Gu Gu finally grew into its mature stage; Grandfather Han grew old.

But since Gu Gu had reached her mature stage, it could provide longevity to Grandfather Han. Besides that, it wanted to stay with Grandfather Han forever till the end of time.

“Er…” Tang Ling felt like he should say something after reading up to this point.

Could Grandfather Han have cared for the mushroom meticulously for 16 years and it finally paid off? Plus, he gained love along the way. The first man the mushroom met was Grandfather Han, so its whole world revolved around him. Did it ultimately acknowledge him as the one?

Tang Ling could not understand because he was not a common man. He was more concerned about the problem itself—did mushrooms have a gender? Did it not reproduce with spores?

Regardless, no matter how Tang Ling despised it, Gu Gu’s deep love for Grandfather Han would never change.

Of course, as a normal man who was getting older, it was a little difficult for him to accept a mushroom as his partner.

Nevertheless, there was a way around this.

In its mature stage, Gu Gu had a duty to fulfill, so it brought Grandfather Han back to its ‘home’—the cave that it arrived in.

In Grandfather Han’s monthly journal, there was no clear description of what he saw in Gu Gu’s home, but he excitedly wrote down the miracle he saw from heaven.

Therefore, he also became one of the Yu Kingdom. He accepted the most precious gift from Gu Gu. He was no longer the disgusting human being anymore for he possessed a more noble bloodline. Then, he proudly married the Mother of Yu, Gu Gu.

“What the hell?” Tang Ling could not help but ridicule at the entry, even though Grandfather Han’s journal was ambiguous, Tang Ling knew without a second thought that the so-called noble bloodline was nothing but being possessed by Gu Gu’s spores, or more precisely, the fission of the fungus.

Tang Ling finally had a clearer look at the entire incident after reading up to this point. He also saw the true nature of the mission in Qingxi town through the Dream Domain.

But how far should he go with it? Tang Ling was not sure if he would step further forward. Although it would not be the line between life and death anymore, the line would become a thin thread and he might not even be alive in the end.

However, if he took a step back, the completion rate of the mission would so horrible that he would have to give up on the Dream Coins.

Tang Ling sat up, having lost interest in the monthly journal because, after that, the journal entry were all ridiculous stories like what kind of benefit the Devil Fungus would provide when possessed.

Even if the fungus possessed a live subject, the subject would also eventually turn into a man-eating monster.

Grandfather Han thought he was still the man he was, but he did not realize that his humanity was worn out over the years spent with Gu Gu.

In the end, in order to show his loyalty to Gu Gu, he even allowed her to kill his wife and children.

“My only wife, my only care, love lies within us.”

The journal entry was written on that day when his wife and children were killed. The words were not for his wife but to Gu Gu as if he had finally achieved some huge undertaking.

Grandfather Han was nothing but a martial art practitioner, yet he was able to write such poetic words. Was it the deep love for the mushroom or the obsession towards the name of Father of Yu that made him write that?

Gu Gu would naturally repay Grandfather Han’s loyalty with all its love.

When Grandfather Han was younger, he stole a glance at the daughter of the county magistrate from afar. The daughter was only 15 to 16 years of age back then. She was incredibly beautiful and Grandfather Han was infatuated at first glance.

With Grandfather Han’s identity, he could never get close to the county magistrate’s daughter. He would even have to be careful and not get into trouble, but Gu Gu satisfied him.

It used some profound ways to kill the county magistrate’s daughter who was already someone’s wife. When the daughter was being buried, it possessed the body.

It continued to live in such a way and live together with Grandfather Han. They were planning to live like deities in Qingxi town.

When it could evolve again, it would bring the land of Yu upon ancient Huaxia, building its own kingdom upon the ashes of the old. Then, Grandfather Han would be emperor and it would be his empress.

Then, it would forever be Grandfather Han’s “Gu Gu”.

As for Grandfather Han, he actually received a new life from Gu Gu, so in some ways, he was its child, hence the name Guo Er, meaning Little Guo.

“What a dream! Does it mean ‘with you in my dream, my spores will soar?”

Tang Ling spat on the ground. He did not want to remember the journal entries after that point. He hated this motherf*cking Grandfather Han for raising the mushroom meticulously for 16 years and Gu Gu after 4 years of growth because the two of them raised the difficulty of the mission by a lot.

He finished reading the black leather notebook and Tang Ling’s mission completion rate reached 50%.

He barely passed the mission, but the Dream Domain did not show him anything.

According to Tang Ling’s own guess, when the investigation mission reaches 100% completion rate, he would wake up, but according to the Dream Domain, even if the mission completion rate reached 100%, all he did was complete the mission with the lowest rating possible.

“Sigh, can’t we just sit around and relax? Why do we have to kill each other?” Tang Ling stood up and stretched his body.

He took one last glance at Tang Manor at his makeshift servants and makeshift family. He stretched his body and jumped up the wall of the manor when no one was watching. He easily leaped over.

Besides finding Gu Gu and Guo Er, he also wanted to pay a visit to Gu Gu’s home.