Dark Moon Era

“Who goes there!?” Tonnies’ expression went through multiple changes. He got angry and then slightly scared, but as soon as the realization hit him, he was filled with courage.

 Tang Ling did not care about Tonnies. As soon as he heard the bang, he easily freed himself from Tonnies’ grip and dashed towards the door.

 Tonnies was utterly shocked! Speechless, he pointed at Tang Ling with his trembling hand.

 Tang Ling tried his best to hold the door open, but he was a moment too late as the iron door was locked and from the seam under the door, a black shadow was seen disappearing.

 “You lied to me!” Tonnies glared at Tang Ling, criticizing him for his secrecy.

 Tang Ling shot him a heavy gaze, but he could not explain anything at the moment.

 Suddenly, the sound of the notification rang in his head.

 ‘Main mission 2: Investigate the Santos Demon case: 60% completion. The mission has been cleared and the penalty has been removed. Rating C. A higher rating is unavailable at the moment.

 ‘Dear Danny, because of your intricate plan, you’ve gotten most of the details about the Santos Demon from Tonnies, but you’ve also exposed yourself and caused some uncontrollable consequences.

 ‘Therefore, your main mission 1 will be changed from breaking out of prison to “A Thrilling 24 hours”. Please survive for 24 hours. Failure penalty: none because failure means death.’

 Interesting…It seemed like his bait-and-hook plan got him a better result than he expected.

 Tang Ling showed a profound heavy expression, and at that moment, many thoughts flashed in his mind. This was undoubtedly an important choice.

 At the same time, Tonnies went up to him and grabbed his shoulder to demand, “Aren’t you just a farm kid? Who are you? Which side do you work for? I hate to tell you this, but you’re…”

 Tang Ling did not fight back or argue at all. Instead, his sympathetic gaze landed on Tonnies’ stomach.

 With his current abilities, he could not do anything about Tonnies’ encounter.

 As a matter of fact, he had quite an impression of Tonnies. As far as he knew, Tonnies was a hot-blooded person on the side of justice.

 Of course, it might be just a surface impression, but because of this impression, the first phase of Tang Ling’s plan was a success. Whether he was a fake or not, this side of Tonnies must represent something, would it not?

 Similar to Tang Ling, he was playing a farm kid who withheld important clues, so it was impossible for him not to ask or feel anything.

 Now, looking at Tonnies’ stomach, Tang Ling tended to believe that the man’s character was real.

 Of course, Tang Ling had his doubts before. He believed that Tonnies’ reaction was a little too strong to the point that it was beyond his identity. At least, he knew a little too much about the Santos Demon’s case. After all, it was an incident from a hundred years ago.

 As a knight, he had the duty to protect his lord’s land. While his reason might be strong, it was not substantial enough to explain his concern.

 “How unfortunate…” Tang Ling felt pity in his heart because Tonnies’ question would never get to meet its answer.

 As for why?

 Tonnies’ stomach had started to bloat. He had a buff physique, but the bloated stomach made him look like a pregnant woman.

 Maybe because of Tang Ling’s strange gaze or because he kept staring at Tonnies’ stomach, the man finally responded to his condition and instinctively peered down at his own stomach.

 In the next moment, Tonnies furiously gripped Tang Ling’s shoulder. “Oh Lord, what have you done to me?! I believed you and even sympathized with you and your mother!” As he yelled, Tonnies’ stomach bloated even faster.

 “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything,” Tang Ling said in a sympathetic tone as he held his wrist gently.

 Suddenly, his grip on Tonnies’ wrist strengthened and he twisted it while kicking him away before he retreated to the side of the door. He hid behind the door and reached into his shirt, drawing out something that looked like a strange red leaf to Tonnies.

 In Tang Ling’s eyes, however, he was holding a short knife. It was a beautiful golden-green knife. Although it looked like a wooden knife, it had sparks swirling around it.

 This was the reason why he was not nervous at all when he was thrown into prison.

 Tang Ling had purposely trapped himself because he wanted to test whether the trapped situation could become a chance for him to recover his strength, but even if the theory of the trapped situation was valid, he ultimately failed because he was never really trapped.

 Tang Ling kept vicious beast meat with him all the time and hid a powerful weapon on his body. The items were the biggest reason why he failed. How could he be considered trapped? At least, the iron door would not be an obstacle for the Blood Bulrush Sword since he could slice it open like tofu.

 Looking at this from the surface, Tang Ling tried to exploit the loophole of the settings from the Dream Domain, but was it all a coincidence?

 It was obviously not.

 Tang Ling was a person who loved to think and be prepared for a rainy day.

 Ever since his last dream, he realized that judging from the Dream Domain’s nature, everything that he brought into this world would be transformed into something else that matched the surroundings, but the transformation would always stick close to its roots. For example, clothes would remain as clothes, food would remain as food, and weapons would still be weapons, so what would a plant be?

 It would not turn out to be something out of the blue; it should remain as a plant of sorts.

 That gave Tang Ling an idea. If he stuck part of a plant on his body, the possibility of this ‘plant’ being confiscated would drastically decrease.

 Therefore, even if he was put into a desperate situation, he still had a powerful weapon in his possession, would he not?

 In the end, after he realized that his strength was taken away when he stepped into the Dream Domain, his idea was further solidified.

 Before he had heard anything from the two alleyways earlier, Tang Ling had already speculated about the condition of his body and guessed his identity from his equipment.

 Therefore, he decided to hide the short knife while running towards Tonnies and his squadron.

 It was actually a high-risk gamble. If something unexpected happened, with his powers gone, he should depend on what was in his hand the most and not within his clothes. No matter how quickly he could draw his weapon from within his clothes, he could have died several times over.

 On top of that, Tang Ling was not confident enough to escape a body search, but since there was a possibility, he decided to take the gamble.

 As things unfolded before him, the situation proved that he made the right gamble. As a farm kid, he was not a highly suspicious target that would raise the alarm. Moreover, his plan set his identity as a witness during a critical moment, hence it further lowered the chances of people searching his body carefully.

 Therefore, he managed to keep his Blood Bulrush Sword and several strips of vicious beast meat with him.

 The Dream Domain might be a strange and bizarre place, but some of the rules would never change. If a strip of vicious beast meat could power up a person’s body, it would.

 All this became the basis of support for Tang Ling’s bait-and-hook plan, it also gave him confidence.

 The only thing that he found amusing and annoying at the same time was that the bait-and-hook plan was too successful. However, as for why it was so successful, he did not have the time to get to the bottom of it yet.

 The upcoming choice was an important one, and even up until now, Tang Ling had not made up his mind.

 Tonnies was baffled by Tang Ling’s strange reaction and the crimson-colored leaf. Despite the doubts in his mind, he decided to jump towards Tang Ling again.

 In his relatively simple mind was a single thought: the kid before him was strange and he had to catch the kid no matter what. As for his bloating stomach, he thought he would get the answer when he caught Tang Ling.

 However, his simple action hastened his death!

 Tang Ling sighed in his heart. Tonnies’ response was as expected and it was then that the iron door of the cell was pulled open again without any signs.

 A slightly strange hand with a black glove came through the opening all of a sudden.

 Tonnies was already in front of the door when the hand came in suddenly. He failed to respond in time and all he did was stop mid-step. However, the hand kept extending to the point that it was far longer than an average human’s length.

 The owner of the hand did not barge in yet, only the hand!

 Tang Ling frowned, but at that moment, the hand grabbed Tonnies’ armor and dragged him beside the door.

 Without any hesitation, the hand plunged into Tonnies’ stomach.

 Indeed, the hand plunged into Tonnies’ stomach! It went through the armor on his body and the flesh easily and tugged.

 I can’t hesitate anymore.

 Tang Ling made up his mind. He jumped over from the side of the door while brandishing his short knife, and with a quick swing, the knife landed on the hand.

 Clank!

 A heavy clank sounded. The rigidity of the Blood Bulrush Sword was comparable to superalloy and it had been refined by Boss Huang himself, yet it failed to chop the hand whole in a single chop!

 Although Tang Ling’s lack of strength was a factor for the Blood Bulrush Sword’s lack of performance, he was still shocked by the fact which changed his earlier decision.

 Tang Ling was frustrated.

 Why is the main street mission of the Dream Domain this f*cked up?!

 At the same time, the hand did not go unscathed after the cut either. It was obviously in pain. The black glove was torn and half of its wrist was hurt, exposing its greenish-black flesh.

 Nevertheless, the cut did not stop the hand from yanking something from Tonnies’ stomach before shrinking away.

 Tonnies was ripped open when something was pulled out from his stomach. The wound on his body was even more severe and gory than the woman’s body back at the stable. He faltered backward as his chest heaved. He seemed to be dying.

 Tang Ling grabbed the handle. Without a doubt, there was another choice he had to make.

 He took a glance at the seam beneath the door and decided to shut the door. Then, he quickly shifted Tonnies’ buff body and blocked the door.