Dark Moon Era

Who was that man?

Many of them who gathered for a show and were not from the First Reserved Camp were slightly puzzled by his entrance.

However, most of them from the First Reserved Camp started to pray for Tang Ling from the bottom of their hearts.

Hank was undoubtedly the strongest, but the scariest person in the First Reserved Camp was not him. It was this man beside Hank, Andrew Agnes, nicknamed the Scorpion. He was powerful and was in fifth place on the ranking list.

In fact, all eight members of Hank’s Summit Squad dominated the top eight places in the camp.

It was not surprising that Andrew was in fifth place, but many people thought that he decided to keep a low profile.

If he was really competitive, other than Hank who he could not best, the others would not be a match at all, not even Accar who was in second place.

Nonetheless, so what? Andrew was known as Hank’s brain as Hank would always seek his advice.

Proven by facts, the low-profiled Andrew was outstanding at planning, so his advice would always be the best option, hence Hank’s acceptance and compliance.

However, none of those mentioned were why Andrew was feared. He was feared because of his willpower and his way of doing things. He would achieve his goals by all means necessary. Combining those two traits together made Andrew exceptionally cold-blooded. There was no such thing as sympathy and compassion in his dictionary.

He might seem calm when he stepped up to say something, but those who knew him understood that he was unhappy about Tang Ling and what he said.

Tang Ling did heavily provoke Hank, so it was reasonable for Andrew to react that way since there were some rumors between Hank and Andrew.

Because Tang Ling was busy almost every day, it was natural for him to be unfamiliar with Andrew, but when the latter stepped up, his heart raced. The man felt much more dangerous than Hank, and now he was looking for Vian?

Tang Ling immediately realized what was going on, and at the same time, he instinctively grabbed Vian’s hand. The quiet girl seemed a little frightened.

Judging from how the situation was unfolding, she should need some help in the upcoming conversation.

“Vian, am I right?” Andrew remained calm as if the scene with Tang Ling provoking Hank did not happen. He even slightly bowed as he spoke, showing off his good manners.

“Y-Yes I am.” Vian was scared. Her big googly eyes were nervous until Tang Ling grabbed her hand.

The strange sensation of him holding her hand felt like an electric current running through her body. She quivered and wanted to move away, but she was reluctant to shake the hand off.

Instead, the fear in her started to fade.

“I heard that you’ve accepted the mission on Friday. Do you understand anything about the mission?” asked Andrew.

This was the reason why the Summit Squad came down here. As for Tang Ling... Andrew knew enough even without the incident just now.

With that thought in mind, the smile on Andrew’s face widened and deepened. His eyes were not looking at Tang Ling.

“She doesn’t understand. I told her to take the mission.” Tang Ling felt it was time to interrupt Andrew’s words as he should not let Vian take the pressure alone.

It was indeed the truth. After they had decided to take up the group mission, Tang Ling, as busy as he already was, had no time to register himself, so he asked the responsible Vian to accept the mission.

Andrew did not respond to Tang Ling’s interruption. He did not even glance at Tang Ling. Instead, he continued looking at Vian and said, “The mission on Friday is to clean up garage No. 1 in order to push the Hope Barrier’s safety line further. What’s garage No. 1 you may ask? It’s an abandoned garage from the old civilization because it’s near to the Universal Source Rock, so it’s been preserved decently.

“I praise the magical Universal Source Rock, but because the garage has been preserved decently, it has become difficult for us to detect any activities there. The terrain there is also relatively complicated. Just think about it. Many dangerous beings might be hiding in the different garages that are lined up neatly opposite each other.”

“There are a total of three missions given by the Hope Barrier to us, the First Reserved Camp. It’s actually considered a simple mission. However, in my humble opinion, you guys being the newest here might not be strong enough even if you’ve grouped up. My dear juniors, life is precious, isn’t it?”

Andrew then stopped talking as he looked at Vian with a warm smile, trying to be as kind and natural as he could.

“Are you asking us to drop out from the mission?” Orston finally realized what was going on. He tapped his head and grumbled loudly.

Everyone in the cave, especially the three seniors in hiding, were rendered speechless.

Was Orston that slow?

“No, I am saying this for your own sake. I’d advise you to train properly and grow stronger first before accepting the mission in such a hurry. Grow stronger and there’ll be more missions in the future waiting for you,” Andrew said as a matter-of-factly.

“Hmph!” Yu chuckled and said, “No, I won’t drop out!”

Andrew did not respond to Yu’s answer either. He continued looking at Vian. “I might worry about my juniors, but we don’t have the authority to stop you guys from going into the mission. All we can do is to persuade you to reject the mission before it starts. You’ll have to do it alone since only you have the right to reject it.”

According to the rules, only the one who accepted the mission had the right to reject it.

The difficult choice naturally ended in Vian’s hands.

“Junior, you better think about it carefully. The battlefield is unpredictable. Even for us veterans of the First Reserved Camp, we have to be careful and be prepared for all unexpected situations. We are worried that things might get out of control. As a matter of fact, I’ve been in the First Reserved Camp for so long, but I’m always worried about accidents happening to myself or my squadmates. The unexplainable pressure is torturing.”

“Junior, have you made your decision?” Andrew bowed again as the smile on his face grew wider.

“I-I’m grateful for your advice, senior, but I...” Vian bit her lower lip and hesitated, but Tang Ling’s warm hands tightened around her wrist. The surge of emotions filled her with courage.

She seemed to be able to read a smidge of Tang Ling’s thoughts. He did not want to give the mission up. Otherwise, why would he be such a rascal to Hank?

“Hey, stop acting all kind and stuff. Is a man from the great Summit Squad that low as to threaten a girl?” Tang Ling interrupted Vian.

If offending the Summit Squad was inevitable, the offender should not be Vian but Tang Ling himself since the group mission was part of his selfish plan. He had to man up and bear all the responsibility.

“Tang Ling, you’re in the last place in the First Reserved Camp, but I have different thoughts about you. After all, during the first week, not a single senior was able to get any respect or benefit from you.

“Other than that, I have a question that I hope you can answer for me. I know that food provides the necessary nutrition for a person to train and cultivate, but it’s better to keep a balance and overdoing it might bring more harm than good. Junior, you eat a lot. You might upset your stomach if you don’t control yourself or you might end up as a little fatty, am I right?” Andrew did not answer Tang Ling’s question. Instead, he approached another topic.

Laughter bubbled when Andrew called Tang Ling a fatty, but it quickly quietened down and thoughts started to arise in everyone’s minds. Despite Andrew not truly voicing his thoughts, all he did was feign a troubled look.

He was also very careful with his words too. Saying things such as “not a single senior was able to get any respect or benefit from you” instantly increased the other seniors’ hatred for Tang Ling.

More importantly, Andrew seemed to know a great deal about Tang Ling!