Dark Moon Era

Tang Ling believed there was no reason for Orston and Yu’s families to abandon them since the young and precious geniuses had yet to grow up.

However, it was not assuring enough to feel safe based on that point alone.

Tang Ling did not tell his friends that when he closed the smaller door at the north-east corner, he noticed that someone had opened the door and it had not been rammed down by the zombies.

The prying marks around the door and its frame were a little too obvious not to notice. Besides, given Tang Ling’s level of vigilance, he would certainly have noticed that there was another opened door in the garage.

He was not sure whether it was the Summit Squad’s handiwork or that shadow that has been targeting him in the dark.

Regardless of who, it clearly stated that the culprit came prepared and must have expected the situation. It was almost impossible for the Fierce Dragon Squad to escape unscathed now.

Even until now, Tang Ling was unable to even sketch out the entire plot in his mind, but he already suspected the whole thing earlier on.

Initially, only a hundred-man elite regiment was assigned to the group mission. Then, ten more Purple Moon Warriors were assigned to lead them together with a unit captain.

The biggest question was why at night? There was zero advantage for humans and it somewhat benefited the zombies.

Tang Ling always had those questions in his mind. Combined with that lingering sense of danger, he really considered giving up the mission several times over, but the conflict with the Summit Squad that night and their provocation strengthened Tang Ling’s resolve to complete the mission.

Firstly, it was because he had the pride of a youngster.

Secondly, the Summit Squad was considered the seed of hope for the entire Safety Sector No. 17. With them on the mission, it should be a lot safer. Safety Sector No. 17 might be able to afford to lose Orston or even Yu, but they certainly unable to lose anyone in the Summit Squad.

Lastly, why was the Summit Squad so obsessed with this group mission? Was it really about the crystals like what Uncle Beard said?

Of course, all those points that he gathered were just to strengthen his objective opinion. The true reason was that given the circumstances and facts before him, he could not afford to give up on the mission because he needed a righteous and immaculate qualification to enter the Tower!

He simply could not slow down his pace to start the real cultivation training just because he had to feign a low profile.

However, given his current cover, it was almost impossible for him to improve that quickly and reach the cultivation standard in the normal stipulated time. One thing worth taking note was that his Genetic Chain Talent was just a lousy, barely-qualified three-star talent!

Tang Ling did not want any attention on himself, so the only way around this was the Tower.

Training inside the Tower granted huge improvements. The fresher one was, the more obvious the improvements would be. It was clearly stated in the books found in the information library.

However, training in the Tower, even for an hour and at the lowest level, required 100 Hope credits.

Therefore, Tang Ling had to find a valid reason to earn Hope credits, and he needed his squadmates to help him. He would never change his plans. Therefore, even though the whole thing was fishy, he decided to join them nonetheless.

Since it was rather unfair to his squadmates in the Fierce Dragon Squad, other than spending all his savings to provide extra equipment and items for them, all Tang Ling could do was bear all the risk and judge the situation with utmost precision. He could not afford to make the slightest mistake that might drag his friends down.

Therefore, while everyone was surprised and delighted by his performance, Tang Ling interrupted their enthusiasm and told them to split into three groups.

Vian and Christina were to stay in the office and gather the crystals. Meanwhile, he and Andy would check on the north entrance while Orston, Yu, and Amir would go to the smaller door at the north-east corner.

In his mind, he had to persuade everyone that the distress signal had been sent out when they arrived at the office.

It had been a while since the distress signal was sent out. Even if they were unable to receive information, they should have gotten some news about what happened. After all, given how powerful the Purple Moon Warriors were, forcing their way through the sea of zombies and providing them some updates was not something impossible to achieve.

Tang Ling hesitated for a long time whether or not to tell his friends about the door that had been opened by someone. In the end, he decided to keep it to himself because his speculation about why reinforcement had not arrived already beat the morale of the squad to the ground. Everyone was in despair.

******

That summed up what happened in the past hour and a half.

Tang Ling could not blame Orston for being so negative, and he could not criticize everyone for being dispirited.

He had virtually become the core of the entire Fierce Dragon Squad. The guilt and the responsibility on his shoulders drove him forward. Somehow, he had to overcome the danger for everyone and for himself.

“Clean up the rest of the zombies,” Tang Ling said after recovering a smidge of his stamina as he stood up.

“What for?” Orston punched the wall vehemently.

“There are only a few left. Don’t let the crystals go to waste. We’ve paid such a heavy cost on this mission, we must get back at least the same amount of reward. Are you just thinking about escaping alive?” Tang Ling said as he wiped his grade C alloy longsword.

Even after such an intense battle, as expected of a reliable and good weapon, the blade was not chipped at all, not even in the slightest bit.

“Is there still a chance to escape?” Orston looked at Tang Ling, his eyes glimmering with hope. In fact, apart from Orston, everyone else was looking at him and waiting for an answer.

“Of course! That’s why our spoils are important,” Tang Ling answered.

In his mind, a rather risky plan was taking form.

“Okay then. Let’s clean them up!” The ember of hope was reignited in Orston’s heart and spread further to the others.

The certainty of Tang Ling’s expression was like the first light of hope had descended upon them, but killing was not something joyful, or at least, he did not think that way.

After all the zombies in garage No. 19 were cleared out, other than Tang Ling, no one knew how many zombies had they killed, including some of the Level 1 Crawler mutated zombies.

“We’ve killed 973 zombies, 86 of which are Level 1 mutated zombies. There were no Level 2 zombies. If there had been a single Level 2 in here, we might’ve gotten wiped out instead. I myself have killed 307 zombies.”

The numbers were clear in Tang Ling’s heart, and he was proud of it. If not for the fully equipped gear and weapons, plus the advantage of the terrain, given the Fierce Dragon Squad’s current power level, they would never have made it.

No one doubted Tang Ling’s power anymore. He was a genius in battle, so no one even dared to compete with him. On top of that, he did not seem exhausted at all. Even when he was killing the last zombie, his actions were still very precise.

“Tang Ling, tell me. Is the secret to your absurd improvement your voracious appetite?” Orston finally discarded the thought of arm wrestling Tang Ling after he saw him punch a zombie’s head flat.

Never doubt the hardness of a zombie’s skull. It was as hard as a human’s and the mutated zombies had even harder skulls.

How much force would he need to punch a zombie’s head flat? Would it possible with more than a thousand kilograms of punching force plus the momentum from the acceleration?

Grinning, Tang Ling simply brushed off Orston’s question.

“I heavily suspect that the Genetic Chain Talent measuring machine is wrong.” Yu was also astonished by the power that Tang Ling displayed even though he was the most mentally prepared one.

“I have quite a fair bit of Level 3 vicious beast meat,” Tang Ling remained calm as he explained. He then continued, “I’ve been eating it for a period of time and have to endure the pain that it brings. By now, I’ve already finished it.”

Orston widened his eyes as he helplessly gave his friend a big thumbs-up.

It was not a secret that Tang Ling possessed Level 3 vicious beast meat. Furthermore, his excuse was convincing enough!

Tang Ling did not actually lie from a certain perspective because through his Precise Instinct, he could tell that the energy from the meat that he consumed was now mostly gone.

The ‘it’ at his chest had siphoned all the energy away. Otherwise, with Tang Ling’s Perfect Genetic Chain, he would have become even stronger.

However, the serendipitous mistake made it look like Tang Ling was strong because he ate the vicious beast meat. It sounded very reasonable even with his lousy three-star Genetic Chain Talant.