Dark Moon Era

Tang Ling finally stomped out the Agnes family and put an end to their sinful lives. Furthermore, he made himself known to the world in his own way.

The Dragon Army also displayed their courage against death and the protection of their beliefs just like they always had. They also told the world with their actions that they were always around and were preparing to make a comeback anytime.

The Butterfly Effect existed regardless of the era and would never change. Moreover, what happened in Safety Sector No. 17 was not the flap of a butterfly’s wing. It was as immense as a giant eagle flapping its wings multiple times. What changes would it bring to the world? No one had the answer.

However, the seed had been planted. Everyone would tread their paths more powerfully and be prepared to welcome the change.

Under the warm sun, Andy looked calm and his heart was at peace. He had heard about Tang Ling’s news early in the morning. The person that he vowed to follow remained standing somewhere else in this world and was getting stronger as he advanced forward.

“I guess I’ll have to work harder.” With a smile, Andy buried himself in reading a book from the old civilization about basic physics.

If I can cultivate and train myself to be a scientist…will Tang Ling need scientists in the future?

…

Under the moon, Christina wiped her tears dry. Because she placed last in the family exercise, she was once again sent to the self-examination room and no dinner was provided again. Her tears were ones of grievance, but it did not mean that she was weak. Tang Ling’s presence had ignited the world and it was definitely not just because of his identity.

I must work harder. Otherwise, how am I going to stay by him in the future and fight by his side? Wait for me, my friends…

Christina’s gaze became stronger as she looked at the moon through the crack of the little window.

…

A luxurious floating carriage left Ximi City for Starstay City.

Tang Long was sitting in his cabin quietly. His sweet smile that was filled with anticipation from earlier had vanished.

He was holding a newspaper, glancing at it at times. The calmer he looked, the more depressed the others would feel. Even Qi Dou, his teacher, dared not say anything at the moment. The delicate moment could not be put into words, and the atmosphere screamed of complication.

Autumn dyed the moving scenery outside the window colorful, yet there was a sense of tranquility too.

Tang Long put the newspaper down and looked at Qi Dou. “Do you think with my power, I can eliminate the Agnes family?”

“It’s as easy as lifting a finger.” Qi Dou was telling the truth. If he wanted to eliminate them, a little family in the rural area would not take much of Tang Long’s effort.

“I’m referring to my personal strength.” Tang Long’s eyes shone with a complicated gleam. Only he knew what was going through his mind.

“I am referring to your personal strength. According to the detailed reports, Tang Ling used about half an hour. You could have eliminated seven to eight Agnes families in that given time.” Qi Dou sighed and added, “Young Master Long, don’t you have the confidence to do so?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t have confidence.” A little ember sparked across Tang Long’s hand and the newspaper was ignited, eventually burning into cinders.

An envious gaze flashed over Qi Dou’s gaze when he saw the embers. What a powerful Precise Instinct. As long as Tang Long wished, he could break down and analyze any talent’s nature and copy it, mastering it as his own.

“I’m just angry, very angry, in fact. Now that he has appeared, what am I? What have I become?!” Tang Long slammed the table beside him.

“You are none other than the heir of the Stardust Council.” Qi Dou stood up and patted Tang Long’s shoulder. Qi Dou believed he had the responsibility to remind him about his identity and how he ought to behave.

“Are you still concerned about the identity of Tang Feng’s son? No, that identity is numerous times lower than your identity as the heir to the Stardust Council. What Tang Feng left behind are some, well, wealth about people including the old generals of the Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix, and Turtle Armies plus some commanders or marshals. All you have to do is inherit all those,” Qi Dou said calmly.

“But to inherit all those requires the proper lineage.” Tang Long had calmed down by now.

Yeah, why would he compare himself to a country boy? He was the righteous heir of the Stardust Council! He was the Young Master Long that everyone respected! He already had a group of genius young teens around him that would follow him to his death known as the Stardust Sixteen.

Every single one of them was powerful and could be easily featured in the Purple Moon Elite Youth Channel. With a wave of his arm, the fanatic Stardust Army would answer his call and give their lives to him.

So, why would he compare himself to a country boy? That country boy was just lucky to have a father named Tang Feng. Other than that, what else could he possibly have? With his identity exposed, how long could he survive?

‘Lucky to have a father named Tang Feng’. Somehow when Tang Long thought of that particular phrase, it stung his heart like a thorn.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He, Tang Long, the Young Master Long, would soon remove this thorn in his heart by removing Tang Ling from this world. Then, the thorn in his heart would no longer exist.

…

Fuaah!

Tang Ling uprooted the thousand-vine sunflower and landed on his bum. Frustrated, he ripped all the messy vines that tangled his body and twisted the giant flower off its stem.

This is for not taking my Precise Instinct seriously! Tang Ling stomped the thousand-vine sunflower vehemently. After being uprooted, the ferocious plant had lost its intimidating appearance and it could not even move anymore.

The Herrocky Mountain Ridge was a dangerous place. It was but a short distance and the notebook with the map had specifically stated to be careful of the thousand-vine sunflower which was categorized as a Level 1 vicious plant in the Purple Moon Era. It was strange because it was not a mutation of the beautiful sunflower plant from the old civilization. Instead, it was a type of mutated symbiotic plant, meaning that it was a type of tenacious plant which formed a symbiotic relationship with the sunflower from the old civilization and then mutated into a new type of plant.

The mutation granted it the ability to camouflage and change its color to adapt to the surroundings, which was an ability that usually appeared in animal especially chameleons.

The symbiotic relationship added a lot of vines to its stem and the vines were very tenacious. With its absurd numbers, it would constrict its prey with the forest of vines, so even a highly mutated beast or even Level 1 mutated beast would fall prey to its vines at times.

It was a very powerful plant indeed, but it had its weakness. Its roots were exceptionally weak and as long as one could find where its roots were and eradicate them completely, the vicious plant would lose its mobility.

Ptui!

Tang Ling spat on the dead plant. It might sound easy to uproot it, but only he knew how difficult it was and how much hell had he been through. In fact, he almost died of suffocation from the vines.

‘The vines of the thousand-vine sunflower are a decent material to craft a set of armor. When I’m bored, I always collect some. Of course, it’s still a sunflower, so it has its seeds that I personally think are delicious. I usually boil them and eat them like the dumplings from the old civilization.

‘Don’t peel the skin when you boil it. This is my personal recipe. But not any John Doe can kill a thousand-vine sunflower, especially not you, stupid kid. I think the vines might strangle you to death before you even locate its roots, so don’t even think about doing it and stop thinking about the taste of dumplings.’

What a nag! Isn’t he done? Beside these two paragraphs that served as a reminder, there was an illustration of a dumb-looking kid crying being strangled by the vines of the sunflower.

With that in mind, Tang Ling almost lost it and threw the notebook away. He did not want to admit that he almost teared up due to the constriction. He had almost suffocated!

If his Precise Instinct had not followed the sunflower’s movements and calculated three possible spots where it hid its roots based on its size, Tang Ling might have died from the vines of the Level 1 vicious plant.

If his Precise Instinct still retained the ability of spotting weaknesses like how it did when it had been empowered by the war seed, he would not have ended up in this situation.

He cut the vines quickly and stuffed them into his backpack.

Uncle Su Siao is the man! Tang Ling realized that the backpack that he got from Su Siao was a super stretchable tactical backpack. He tried to pull it to its limit, but even with his strength, he failed to do so. He also got a conclusion from his slight tug. The more things he stuffed into it, the bigger it could expand and it might expand to his size. Then, it could house a lot of stuff!

According to the route on the map, after going through the defense line of Safety Sector No. 17, which was what the map described as almost non-existent, Tang Ling had set foot on the Herrocky Mountain Ridge.

As a matter of fact, when he went around the defense line, he was very nervous. He did not know why the man who had scribbled in the notebook had looked down on the Safety Sector No. 17’s defense line and described it as non-existent. Back then, when Instructor Thuja had pointed out the defense line and explained where it was on the map, Tang Ling thought that the defense line had been perfectly built.

However, following the route on the notebook nap, Tang Ling crossed it easily.

His expression was as bitter as if he had eaten sh*t. He really hated this notebook with the map, but he had to rely on it. Because of it, on the third day in the Herrocky Mountain Ridge, he managed to slip by a Level 4 vicious beast’s territory, the Rayman lightning rhinoceros. He also snuck away from a pack of highly mutated beasts, the Urla striped wolf pack. He even got some souvenirs from the mountain such as some unique plants and some special materials from the local mutated beasts.

Of course, Tang Ling was originally a p*ssy. He only selected the weak ones to bully and gave up all those souvenirs from the more dangerous beasts or spots to continue forward. He really had a hard time giving them all up. After all, money was always on his mind. He started to think about the money that he had to spend when he reached the safety villages and sectors.

Tang Ling could never be starved. He did get some vicious beast meat from the Agnes family’s storeroom, but as his appetite grew, how long could the meat last him? Therefore, he started to take the risk by collecting the creepers from the thousand-vine sunflower since they could be sold for a hefty price.

As a consequence, he was in an ugly state after the battle, but he had to admit that the vines were the best spoil from his three days on the mountain ridge.

After cutting the vines off, he counted 67 matured vines which could be sold by the gram in the black market. Delighted, he stuffed almost 2.5kg of vines into his super stretchable backpack. He then lifted up the flower that was half his size and shuttled across the mountain forest quickly.

He was fast but would stop at times to look at the map and scan his surroundings. His movement pattern was weird. At times, he ran, climbed trees, and jumped across branches like a monkey. Sometimes, he crawled under the bushes like a snake.

He ran and bounded all the way. After almost 40 minutes, he reached a riverside.

The terrain around the river was wide and there were no hiding spots within a 400-meter radius. Since he was close to a water source and found some big rocks that could block the wind, the riverside was an ideal place to spend the night.

Of course, it was also stated in the map, so Tang Ling had mixed feelings about finding it.

He put his backpack down and pulled some tools out to cook a meal. He skillfully started a fire and started to boil some water. He did not want to admit that he was actually tempted to taste the so-called dumplings from the old civilization, hence the decision to kill the thousand-vine sunflower.

He convinced himself that he was just trying to collect some materials for sale, but when he boiled the sunflower seeds, which Tang Feng had called dumplings, Tang Ling gulped gluttonously.

That bloody sunflower is so stingy! The flower is so big, but all it had were ten seeds, each the size of my palm. Who can it feed? But it smells really good though. It has a unique fragrance to it.

According to the notebook, when the seeds floated on the surface, they were ready to be eaten.

Due to the lack of food, Tang Ling added 100 grams of vicious beast meat and roasted the drumstick of a beast that he had hunted earlier in the day. On top of that, he had to keep a balanced diet, so he dumped all the edible vegetables that he collected along the way in.

“Hmm, I wonder what do the dumplings from the old civilization taste like? How can the seeds taste like dumplings?” Holding his chin in his palm, Tang Ling was in deep thought. It was a serious question for him.

Nonetheless, since the answer would be soon revealed, after two seconds, he drifted away to other thoughts. He had to get into a safety sector, search for its black market, and trade for some supplies. Other than food and necessities for the journey, he also had to register himself as a mercenary in the black market lobby.

That was what the note Su Siao left for him stated. He had to become a mercenary first with his first mission to get a hunting mask. It was not an easy task though, with his identity was exposed. He had to think about how to register himself and not attract a crowd.

Tang Ling would never ignore Su Siao’s will. The things that he had written in the notebook must be important and benefit Tang Ling’s future.

His first destination was not a safety sector but a safety village. He was thinking if he would find the black market in a village.

As he pondered upon the topic, the pot of dumpling soup bubbled. He neglected the heat and scooped one up to shove into his mouth.

It tasted heavenly. The skin was softly boiled while the slight saltiness and the unique fragrance complimented the mushy meaty texture. It also tasted like beancurd, probably because of the meat that the thousand-vine sunflower consumed.

The taste was considered delicious, especially when he was on such an arduous journey. Is this the taste of dumplings from the old civilization?

With that in mind, Tang Ling swallowed the seed and he felt that Tang Feng was rather reliable when it came to food.

However, right after that thought popped into his mind, intense pain surged in his stomach.

Tang Ling curled up after a strong cry. His head had nothing but a single thought: ‘That damned Tang Feng, why didn’t he write properly?!’