Dark Moon Era

“However, I don’t want to overexpose my strength. Since the Summit Squad is on to me now, the stronger I get, the harder my days are going to be. I’ve even stepped on an instructor’s tail before this.” Tang Ling lit a cigarette as he looked at his friends. His words were vague, but the meaning was clear.

“Give me one of those. I want to give it a go.” Orston snatched a cigarette from Tang Ling. He said without being concerned, “No one here is interested in betraying you.”

Everyone else agreed with Orston.

Tang Ling felt warmth blossom in his heart. Although he might not show any expression, he tossed the pouch that he used to collect the crystals to Vian. “Count how many we’ve got. I think we should move out after another ten minutes of rest.”

“What are we going to do next?” Orston asked right away, but Tang Ling did not answer.

Vian was quick with the calculation. After killing more than 900 zombies, the Fierce Dragon Squad was able to secure more than 80 crystals.

Most of the crystals came from Level 1 mutated zombies, so in terms of quality, they were nowhere near the crystals of the Level 3 mutated insect, the chameleon black-winged mantis that Tang Ling obtained before this.

Most of the crystals were dark and muddled. The majority of them did not even have purple threads properly formed yet.

Of course, crystals were divided into multiple categories: inferior crystals, average crystals, quality crystals, great crystals, and perfect crystals.

The zombies provided only provided inferior crystals, which was the lowest grade. On the other hand, the Level 3 mutated mantis provided an above-average crystal, just a little shy from being a quality crystal.

After a rough conversion, the value of 80 over inferior crystals was equivalent to three mutated mantis’ crystals, at most. Under normal circumstances, no one would want to trade the highest quality average crystals for that many inferior crystals.

So, the value of the 80-odd inferior crystals were only around 400 Hope credits.

Nonetheless, it was considered a great sum for the Fierce Dragon Squad. When Vian announced the numbers, everyone was overjoyed except for Tang Ling.

If he included his investments, the tabulated numbers equaled losses. Moreover, if he asked for 100 Hope credits from the 400 Hope credits they were estimated to get while the others divided the remaining 300 Hope credits, it would be a little...selfish.

Of course, Tang Ling knew everyone would agree to such a distribution, but his pride was thinking about something else. He was speculating if they could earn more on this trip.

The answer was a solid no!

Being able to clean up the zombies in the garage was considered a miracle. The squad was already at their limit. Even Tang Ling, who seemed to be fine on the outside, felt the hunger start to trouble him. He had to save up the rest of his precious stamina to escape this place.

“Keep the crystals. I want 100 Hope credits from the spoils because I have to go to the Tower at least once. I’ll make it up to you guys in the future.” Tang Ling was being unusually straightforward because he was not comfortable with explaining things to the people that he cared about.

“That’s not a problem. Plus, with the compensation from the mission, we can at least get 450 Hope credits,” Yu agreed since only he knew how much Tang Ling had invested in this mission.

“You did all the heavy lifting, so it’s fair.” Orston was not a stingy person either.

Andy had always been on Tang Ling’s side, and so was Vian. Christina believed that since Tang Ling claimed the most substantial portion of the spoils, he would surely make it up to them in the future.

Amir said, “I’ll just follow the majority.”

After spitting out the most difficult issue, Tang Ling was not burdened anymore. He asked Vian for a piece of meat and a few gulps of water before he quickly gathered some broken racks and formed a makeshift ladder.

Everyone knew what Tang Ling was trying to do. Was he crazy? Was he trying to break out through the roof?

“Tang Ling! It’s impossible! We climbed up to the roof before, but we are still stuck here. We are surrounded by a sea of zombies. There’s nowhere for us to run. On top of that, going up to the roof will only expose ourselves and attract more zombies! If they gang up on us, it’s impossible for us to come back into the garage.” This time, it was the quiet Amir who voiced his opinion.

It was difficult for him to accept Tang Ling’s method of escaping. Breaking out via the roof?

“Don’t worry. I’m just going to have a quick look. We can’t stay here forever and know nothing, can we? At least, we must know why isn’t help or reinforcement coming for us. We will decide after that,” Tang Ling comforted everyone.

Everyone was silenced by Tang Ling’s reason.

He was correct though. Staying inside the garage and being blinded from the outside world would only waste time. They would eventually be exhausted in time and the sea of zombies would flood them.

“Then, you have to be careful,” Vian reminded Tang Ling in a worried tone.

There was no better way or a better candidate for that. No one present was strong enough to bear the burden than Tang Ling.

Tang Ling did not reply Vian verbally. Instead, he smirked at everyone and hopped onto the makeshift ladder. He climbed up like a nimble monkey and quickly reached the window above the office.

The windows were very high up the garage walls, and the 30 cm window frame was covered in thick black dust.

Tang Ling managed to squat down on the rather large window frame and peek outside, but all he saw was a sea of wriggling zombie heads.

The zombies beneath the window were extremely sensitive towards movement. All Tang Ling did was peek and they already noticed his presence. They growled frenziedly, shoving themselves forward and amassing on Tang Ling’s location.

The sudden commotion fiercely shook the garage wall where the office was.

Everyone else in the office was shocked by the growls, and they seemed rather pale. Without even looking, they knew that there were a lot of zombies outside the garage, probably even more than before.

Tang Ling remained calm. The zombies beneath the window were unable to reach him with their outstretched arms for now, so it would be fine regardless of their numbers. Scarily, the window frame would not last long either. If the commotion attracted a Level 2 mutated Crawler, the height of the window would not be an obstacle.

“Let’s hope I’m not that unlucky.” Due to the structure of the garage, the extended eave blocked Tang Ling’s sight, so he was only able to see the sea of zombies beneath the window while half-squatting at the frame. He could not get a clearer look at what was happening further away.

Tang Ling took a deep breath and nimbly leaped out of the window. He grabbed the ledge of the eave, jumped out, and swung himself back up on the roof.

The backward swing might seem easy for Tang Ling, but he was afraid that the clumsy Orston and the two girls could not make it. If they fell into the sea of zombies while swinging, the consequences would be dire.

Right after he landed on the roof, he quickly searched for a reliable support to tie the climbing rope that was in his backpack to.

Just as he squatted down and removed his backpack, a terrifying roar came from the south-east direction.

What was that? Frightened, Tang Ling instinctively lay flat on the roof and turned around to the south-east direction.

At the deepest part of the garage, a gigantic, vague figure stood on the edge of the massive garage. The figure was brandishing its hands in a flurry. With each movement, its hands were able to grab one or two warriors from the Hope Barrier and throw them into its mouth, crushing them to death.

A single glance at the gigantic figure made Tang Ling’s heart race madly.

The Zombie King! The Zombie King of the garage! Why would a Level 6 mutated zombie appear in here?!