Dark Moon Era

Chapter 205: Bloody Splash Along The Way

It was a blastwave! The impact was similar to a powerful blastwave when an explosive material went off!

What is this!? Is this the extent of Tang Ling’s power?! Arhan’s mind went blank as countless of scattered thoughts flashed through it.

What was the level of Tang Ling’s power? Had he reached the lowest standard of a rank 3 Purple Moon Warrior, 1 HT [1]?

Only a punch with 1 HT of power could produce a blastwave on impact! Moreover, only a blastwave could damage the standard-issued grade C alloy armor to the extent that the cracks started to ripple throughout Arhan’s pauldron.

_The settlement...the blood debt of the settlement..._Arhan widened his eyes.

At that exact moment when Tang Ling and Arhan’s fists met, Tang Ling opened his fist into a palm and clasped on to Arhan’s fist.

“Remember that?” Tang Ling looked at Arhan coldly.

What could Arhan possibly remember? He could never remember who was among the refugees on that lightning-filled night. He started to struggle while he tried to figure out why Tang Ling would possess the power and speed of a rank 3 Purple Moon Warrior. Unfortunately, his struggles were futile.

Tang Ling pulled Arhan closer to him so their faces were only less than 10 cm apart. As his icy cold gaze stared straight into Arhan’s fearful eyes, a wide grin appeared.

“No!” Arhan sensed a danger that could threaten his life, so he cried out, but right after his scream subsided, he was lifted up single-handedly and smashed onto the ground powerfully.

Upon impact, the little alley that was several decades old cracked like lightning bolts spreading outwards despite being built with the hardest granite.

Ptui!

Arhan spewed a mouthful of blood out. The massive impact shook all his organs terribly even though he did not seem to be hurt on the outside due to the protection of his armor.

“Isn’t it fun?” Tang Ling’s foot was on Arhan’s head as he squatted down.

Arhan could not answer as his head seemed to be shaking like a ringing bell. Suddenly, he hated himself for having average talent. For the past decade, he relied on sucking up to the higher-ups and used all sorts of methods to obtain a lot of resources for himself. Unfortunately, despite all the resources, no amazing talent was awakened.

Without talent, a Purple Moon Warrior was just a superhuman with extra powerful statistics compared to a normal human being! How special would one be then?

Facing a monster like Tang Ling who suddenly possessed statistics similar to a rank 3 Purple Moon Warrior, Arhan did not even stand a chance. It was too late to hate himself for being useless.

Tang Ling grabbed him by the neck. Hatred was overflowing in his eyes as he lifted Arhan higher. “I asked you, isn’t it fun?”

Bang!

Arhan was smashed to the ground once more. More cracks piled up on the already shattered ground. Meanwhile, his body was deeply embedded at least a meter deep in the granite ground.

The intense pain told him that his bones were all cracked. However, before he even got to catch his breath, Tang Ling came over with radiating fury as though there was a black flame burning behind him. He grabbed Arhan by the leg and dragged him out of the ground.

“You could’ve just kept the door shut. No one from the settlement could’ve gotten past you and your Purple Moon Warriors anyway.”

He lifted Arhan up again.

“Yet, you had to order your men to kill them! Why?!”

Bang!

Arhan was flung into the ground again. His seven apertures started to bleed, and his brain was muddled.

“Why did you order your men to kill them?! Why!?”

“Grandmother! San San!” Tang Ling uttered his late family’s name with clenched teeth.

Bang!

“Uncle Zhang!”

Bang!

“Xiao Ye!”

Bang!

“Aimer!”

Bang!

...

As if Tang Ling had gone mad, he smashed Arhan to the ground like a ragdoll with each name he uttered. He could have settled the grudge with an easy fight, but he would not be able to vent his hatred for the man.

This era was exceptionally cruel, and the settlement was by no means a good place. Everyone struggled to survive and would give up their pride just for a mouthful of food.

Despite the poor living environment, it did not mean that humanity and warmth in the settlement could be destroyed!

Feeling depressed while trapped in darkness was almost certain, but there was a trace of warmth amidst the darkness, and the environment made it more valuable. It was harder to kill a fellow human than ever.

Who gave Arhan the right to eliminate humanity and the warmth of the settlement? Who gave him the right to kill the people who were suffering yet filled with warmth?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hatred overflowed from Tang Ling as the rage got to his head.

“Little Ling, from today onwards, you can learn to be a hunter from me, and your grandmother and sister won’t have to starve.” Back then, Uncle Zhang had not viewed the offer as something great or burdensome.

“Tang Ling, my mother told me to give you this nutrition bar. Look at your sister. She’s crying at the door.” Aimer had placed the nutrition bar in Tang Ling’s hands.

“Tang Ling, your grandmother was beaten up on the other side while collecting scraps. I helped carry her back.”

“This is what I got today. Here, give some to your grandmother.”

Tang Ling panted heavily as the memories came afloat. Meanwhile, Arhan was almost smashed into pulp. As expected of a Purple Moon Warrior, even after such furious attacks, he had not died as he was still breathing.

He might be bleeding terribly while the standard-issued armor might be completely wrangled and the sharper end of the armor poked into his body, but he was still alive.

Yeah, how could he just die like that?

Tang Ling lifted him up once more.

Crack!

Tang Ling snapped both his knees, forcing him to kneel. Then, he removed the military bottle from Arhan’s supplies and poured the water on his face.

Arhan was roused when the water washed his face.

Has the nightmare ended? Is he going to kill me now? Perhaps it was the immense pain that made Arhan immune to the fear of death for he was completely numb.

“Do you want to live?” Tang Ling stood in front of Arhan and looked down at him from a domineering angle.

What?! Arhan did not hope to be alive after this. He was no idiot because he knew what Tang Ling was trying to say. Tang Ling was from the settlement.

Can I live? Despite his doubt, who would not want to grab a thread of hope in the midst of despair?

Arhan was seriously wounded. Even if he spent a fortune on cell regeneration serum, he still could not fully recover. If he truly wanted to recover, he would have to leave Safety Sector No. 17 at once.

Arhan started to plan his future. Gratefully, he mustered his last ounce of strength and said, “Yes, yes, I want to live. I’m a sinner, but I’m willing to redeem my sins. I want to live.”

“Very well. Now all I need you to do is to mourn for everyone in the settlement with your most sincere heart. Confess your sins and declare your redemption,” said Tang Ling.

This was an ancient legend that his grandmother had narrated to him. She had told him that back in ancient Huaxia, whenever people died a wrongful death, they would be tortured by grievance and lingered in the land of death without moving on to the path of rebirth.

Even if the killer was apprehended, it was not enough to cure the grudge of death. What the dead needed was the most sincere confession and the truest redemption from the killer.

Only then could the dead be released from the grudges and leave everything behind with a smile in search of a new life in the vast universe.

Was it true though? It might be just a legend, but whenever Tang Ling thought of their wrongful death, he knew he had to perform this ancient ritual on behalf of them.

“I, Arhan Eoburn Raman, sincerely confess my sins. I offer my deepest regrets to the people of the settlement who perished under the swords of my men. I have sinned and I should not be forgiven. I’m cold-blooded and I have surrendered my soul to the devil. That is why I ordered the kill.

“I...”

Arhan was utterly sincere on the brink of death and he truly regretted his decision to order the kill command on the people of the settlement.

That day, he had received orders from the Agnes family to stop the people of the settlement from flooding Safety Sector No. 17.

As long as he stood in front of the door with his men, stopping people from going in and not offering protection to them, the people of the settlement would have eventually perished.

The order to kill the people was his own decision because he was upset by the peasants ganging up on the squad and trying to barge into the safety sector. They could never be allowed to succeed. Never! The people of the settlement underestimated the Purple Moon Warriors!

Therefore, Arhan had resolved the matter in the simplest way. He made an example out of them instead of warning them to go away.

If I had known this would happen, I would never have called for the kill! Is this the cost to pay for the decision I made? Arhan could no longer hold back his tears.

Sobbing and snorting, Arhan uttered the last part of his redemption speech, “I...I’m willing to use the rest of my life to redeem myself.”

Tang Ling reached for his sword at his back and said, “Too bad you won’t have the chance to do it since you will redeem your sins now.”

“What?! Didn’t you...” Arhan panicked. Before the confession, he had been numbly waiting for death and he felt no pain. However, the thread of hope that dangled before his eyes ignited his wish to live. Tragically, in the end, Tang Ling’s words mercilessly extinguished this final strand of hope and brought the worst pain upon him.

The sword glared and drew a silver arch in the night, similar to the crimson flash of swords the Purple Moon Warriors had displayed that night. Arhan’s head flew up high as the blood from his neck sprayed endlessly like how the people of the settlement had died back then.

Tang Ling could not care about karma or retribution. All he knew was that the blood debt Arhan owed must be paid in his own blood.

Killing Arhan was just a small part of it. The most sinful of all, the Agnes family, must be eliminated. Every one of them must die because no one in their family was innocent.

Why? Even Andrew, who had peasant blood, knew about the conspiracy behind all this, let alone the nobles of the family.

If they did not know anything, why would Lionel have targeted him since the first training session?!

Just you wait and see! Revenge has just begun.

Standing in the night wind, Tang Ling’s figure looked a little sad.

Sorin, who was less than 50 meters away from Tang Ling, felt it. Although the time he spent with the kid was limited, as seconds turned into minutes, he felt a sense of familiarity from Tang Ling.

It was a kind of unknown aura, similar to the great leader. His smile could encourage everyone and his sadness would make everyone depressed. Even the loneliness that he covered up would make everyone grieve like what he was feeling from Tang Ling at the moment!

In fact, all the remaining Dragon Army soldiers had finished gathering and every one of them watched Tang Ling take his revenge silently. They saw Tang Ling behead his foe and felt the sadness ebbing from him while standing in the wind.

Thankfully, Tang Ling stopped for less than a second before he continued forward with his sword. The black-mantled people followed him while Sorin turned to Ah Bing. “Did something cross the Young Master’s mind? Didn’t he just take his revenge?”

“He might’ve been thinking that the dead cannot come back to life even with the killer executed,” said Ah Bing with a cigarette hanging at his mouth.

“What do you mean by that?” Sorin could not understand Ah Bing’s fancy words, but the latter did not want to explain.

Heavy footsteps marched towards the Agnes family’s manor like the tide. Many people, who hid behind their windows, saw the scene playing before their eyes and every one of them had mixed feelings in their hearts.

The bloody purge had happened earlier in the day, and at night, the safety sector welcomed fierce retribution. What would the uprising do to Safety Sector No. 17? How would the safety sector welcome the next morning?

It was at this moment that a series of figures in uniforms marched forward in response to the scattered footsteps of the Dragon Army.

The streetlamp was rather dim. The wind blew a thin veil of mist over, making the moonbeams from the Purple Moon even hazier.

The night got even darker. It felt like the darkness could extinguish even the first light of the day. The chills in the silent atmosphere raised terror in everyone’s hearts as their sense of safety was washed away by an unknown fear.

“Aaaah!” a woman screamed, followed by a man shouting.

The screams were like a signal that started a chain reaction. More screams and shouts came from more men and women when they saw the scene unfold before their eyes. Fear reeked in the air.

With their pale skin, damaged bodies, gray eyes, limp hair on scalps that looked like dried grass on dead stumps, were they zombies?

No, their bodies remained intact, but they reeked of death as they marched. They were not as rotten as common zombies and they were wearing clean battle uniforms, armed with the best weapons. They were an army from hell.

With such a horrifying scene playing out on the darkest night, probably only the slowest or the strongest of people could hold their screams of fear back.

The remaining Dragon Army did not scream or flinch.

Sorin even chuckled as he raised his heavy sledgehammer and bellowed, “Brothers, our final battle is here! Get ready! Win this and we will be done with the grand entrance tonight. After that, all we have to do is wait for the Young Master to return!”

“Ohhhh!” The scattered group of black-mantled people responded in unison.

Ah Bing glanced at Sorin before he said to Tang Ling, “Go!”

Bump!

The army from hell stopped their march while Sorin was speaking. The front row of the hell army knelt down with their rifles raised at the rest of the Dragon Army.

The second row squatted down and the third row lowered their bodies while the fourth row remained standing. The army from hell moved simultaneously, pointing 150 black barrels at their enemies right away.

“Come on!” Sorin shouted. The firearms that they confiscated from the elite warriors earlier were also raised.

Ah Bing, Tang Ling, and three more figures in the group behind them moved out.

Their speed was astonishing as they dashed forward like the wind and leaped over the battalion of hell army easily, gliding over them in the air.

That instant, gunshots fired rampantly. Despite not looking behind, the wails and gunshots entered Ah Bing’s ears. Less than two seconds after the first gunshot, the battle entered the climax. Bullets were no longer precious resources as they rained down like the fiercest storm.

Both sides entered a raging firefight.

Who would emerge as victor? No one knew, but it was certain that the half-dead army would secure the initial advantage. Bullets inflicted almost zero damage on them, but the same could not be said for the Dragon Army.

Ah Bing frowned in distress, but he had to accept it because it was war, and war involved bloody battles! He had to step over his fallen comrades to dash into the half-dead army to secure a thread of hope.

Was it easy for him?

Boom!

Explosions of grenades blasted repeatedly.

Ah Bing no longer wanted to know how terribly it would end. He knew that as long as the half-zombies had their grenades, they would not be able to break through the firing line.

How much sacrifice would it take to consume all the grenades?

“What are they?” Tang Ling asked while they ran.

“Half-zombies, people who still have battle tendencies and will follow orders without questions. Man-made zombies, if you may. They are one of the trump cards of Safety Sector No. 17,” Ah Bing briefly explained.

Tang Ling tightened his lips. He gripped his sword tighter and asked, “Why do they even exist?”

“They are originally the last line of defense in the safety sector during the most critical moment.”

“Damn you, Agnes!” Tang Ling’s heart wrenched in pain. He still did not know about his relationship with the Dragon Army and he did not bother to find out at the moment. Nevertheless, the Dragon Army opened up a path for him without asking any questions. They used their lives to build a route for him. Tang Ling accepted their goodwill and bore it in his heart.

His hatred for the Agnes family increased even further. There would be no more delays for blood would be paid by blood. If he could wipe out the Agnes family, everything would end.

However, standing in front of them was a lone figure, blocking their way.

The purple standard-issued armor was familiar, and so was the 1.5-meter standard-issued sword, but when the black cape fluttered, the skull icon on it was unusually obvious.

He was not a normal Purple Moon Warrior. His skin was glowing under the dim lights of the surroundings as if he was covered in crystal powder.

“Leave this one to me.” A figure behind Tang Ling dashed forward.

The figure removed the hood and revealed his face, his golden hair, and the neatly trimmed mustache. He was the most popular restaurant owner in the safety sector. It would not be too shabby for him to die in such a battle either.

Two swords were drawn from his waist and positioned into a cross. He slashed towards the strange Purple Moon Warrior in a flash.

The Purple Moon Warrior did not dodge the attack. Instead, he turned his hand around and blocked the dual swords with his own standard-issued sword.

“Go on. Don’t turn around,” Ah Bing said. He then dragged Tang Ling forward and sprinted past the duo engaged in the fight.

Less than 200 meters ahead, another strange Purple Moon Warrior stood in their way. Without a word as if it was a hidden rule of sorts, someone else who followed Ah Bing and Tang Ling engaged the strange Purple Moon Warrior.

One after another, three strange Purple Moon Warriors popped up in merely 500 meters. The followers behind Ah Bing and Tang Ling were all gone as every one of them had jumped into battle with the strange Purple Moon Warriors wordlessly.

“You’ll have to continue by yourself.” Ah Bing looked up sadly. The Agnes family manor was right in front of them, probably around 100 to 200 meters away.

Ah Bing did not have Precise Instinct, hence there were no precise numbers in his head. He just felt sorry that he could not accompany Tang Ling to the end because another Purple Moon Warrior zombie appeared with three skull icons sewn on its cape.

This Purple Moon Warrior zombie must be someone on captain level and had definitely been rank 3 or above when he was alive.

There were rank 3 and above Purple Moon Warriors in Safety Sector No. 17? What a rare commodity! No wonder he could not die just yet and transformed into a zombie to continue his duty!

Ah Bing fished out his butterfly knife that twirled and transformed. When he was in front of the Purple Moon Warrior zombie, the butterfly knife converted into a shield.

Bang!

The black longsword clashed with the shield. It was no longer the standard-issued sword anymore but a specialized weapon. Judging from how Purple Moon Warrior zombies could battle in higher tier combat, Ah Bing knew he was in for a tough fight.

Nevertheless, he urged Tang Ling, “Go on!”

What a pity. Su Siao must be waiting at the goal, yet Ah Bing could not accompany Tang Ling to the end. He wondered if Su Siao had returned to his prime form.