Dark Moon Era

“Big Brother, look, look…” San San wove the tri-colored dandelion excitedly in front of Tang Ling.

It was early autumn, and the morning wind felt chilly and was rather strong. The wind blew the tri-colored dandelion, scattering its petals into the air like tiny floating umbrellas.

Tang Ling laughed mirthfully.

San San pouted while her googly eyes became teary. She had spent quite some time finding the pretty little ball of fluff. Why did the wind blow it all away?

“Bad Brother!” San San stomped her feet as her tears threatened to roll down her cheeks.

Tang Ling gently carried her up and placed her over his shoulder.

“Come on. I’ll bring you to find more.” Making San San happy was not difficult at all because she would always be happy about little things and forget about her sadness in an instant.

“Really?” She tousled Tang Ling’s hair and messed it up.

“Of course, actually the tri-colored dandelion is very common. You should be looking for a quad-colored one since it’s a lot rarer.” Tang Ling simply made up a story even though he himself had never seen a quad-colored dandelion.

The real dandelion in the era only had three colors: white, purple and green.

“Huh? Four colors? What will happen if I find it?” San San hugged Tang Ling’s head.

“Hmm, I heard it will make kids happy for a week.” He continued his made-up story. All he wanted to do was accompany San San to do something fun.

After breakfast, he would be venturing into the forest for days. The hunters in the settlement had said that a herd of short Kewa white-tailed goats had appeared, which would be a good hunt.

“Happy for a week? Can I eat meat every day for a week?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Big Brother, take me with you! I want to find the quad-colored dandelion!”

“Sure, but you must promise me that even if it flies away in little umbrellas, you cannot be sad.”

“Why?”

“Because the little umbrellas are actually little kids. They need the wind to carry them home. They will settle down and become a new ball of fluff. That’s their purpose of life.”

San San tilted her head sideways. She really did not understand it, but when she heard that the little dandelions were looking for their home, she felt like she should help them. “Okay, I got it. If there’s no wind, I’ll blow it as hard as I can like this. Fuuuu fuuuuu…”

Tang Ling chuckled again. What else was cuter than his little sister? No one and nothing at all!

For a whole 20 minutes, all they found were three tri-colored dandelions and not single quad-colored one.

San San blew as hard as she could and scattered the three dandelions into the wind. Then, she looked at Tang Ling in anticipation. “Brother, can we find a quad-colored one today?”

She acted like she was a mature girl, but she could not hide her disappointment. “If we can’t find it today, it’s fine. It may be hiding, but I’ll find it next time.”

Tang Ling rubbed her hair with one hand while his other hand quietly crushed several red sage seeds and he said seriously, “Of course, we can find it today, but it’s very shy. It’ll only appear when we close our eyes. Why don’t we try closing our eyes?”

San San quickly closed her eyes.

He quickly walked forward and dripped the sap from the crushed seeds in his hand on a tri-colored dandelion that he had found earlier. He was very careful in the process. All he needed was a drop of sap, so he was afraid that excessive sap would dye the tri-colored dandelion completely red. Fortunately, he made it. The strong dyeing capability of the sap added a little red to the ball of fluff.

“Wow! San San, come here quickly. A quad-colored dandelion!” Tang Ling feigned excitement and called the little girl who ran over, giggling.

“Come on. Let’s count how many colors it has.”

“One, two, three, four…”

“Ahhh! There are four colors, Big Brother! I want to blow it and send it home!” She blew the makeshift quad-colored dandelion as hard as she could, her eyes shining with happiness.

When the dandelion floated away in the sky, San San leaned on Tang Ling’s arm.

“Big Brother, how far they can fly?”

“Hmm, very far I guess. They are traveling with the wind after all.”

“No, Big Brother, you lie to me!” San San suddenly glared at Tang Ling, her petite face seeming pale and sad as she stood up and faltered backward.

Tremendous anxiety rose in Tang Ling’s heart all of a sudden. He wanted to hold her back, but he realized that he could not move.

“They won’t fly that far. They are too weak just like me. I can never walk out of this place. Am I going to stay in the settlement forever?” San San suddenly smiled bleakly, hurting Tang Ling as though his heart was being ground by blades.

He tried to say something, but San San started to float away like the dandelion. She went far and high in an instant. Abruptly, the wind stopped. Her eyes were fixed on Tang Ling when she fell to the ground.

“Big…Brother,” she whimpered softly, her gaze as dull as that night when she had been surrounded by the zombies. Even the words she uttered were the same. She missed being alive despite the emptiness in her eyes…

“No!” Tang Ling’s heart was about to explode when he shouted out.

“No, no, no!” He bolted up all of a sudden to see the darkest night before dawn above him and the wind was comfortable, but the stars were not so bright anymore. His heart wrenched in pain. The torture could last for a hundred or even a thousand years.

Tang Ling placed his hand over his chest tightly as he sweated profusely. His breaths were heavy after waking up from the nightmare.

Suddenly, gallops were heard from afar.

Even with the fire put out, with the misty moonbeam from the Purple Moon, Tang Ling was able to faintly make out a wide wagon sprinting quickly towards the north. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and forced himself to calm down.

Soon, the wagon pulled by eight red mane scaled horses got closer. A faint sense of danger erupted in his heart with the appearance of the wagon. However, he did not do anything.

Instead, he went back to sleep a second later and was fast asleep. Even his slow breathing during his sleep and his slightly cool body seemed very authentic. It was impossible for him to feign sleeping, so the only way was to empty his mind and sleep.

In order to empty his mind in the face of danger, he must have a strong heart. Having gone through a lot in his life, his heart was strong and would continue to be strong.

…

With furrowed brows, Tang Long sat inside the wagon. He could not even cultivate with the strange feeling rumbling in his heart. What caused that feeling? There was almost nothing in the world that could affect his cultivation. Only Higan was capable of doing that.

However, this time, the funny thing was that Tang Long did not even know what was causing the strange feeling.

Am I really related to the Ark Searcher Program? Am I chosen to solve the secret in the grasslands?

When the thought popped into his head, Tang Long felt a lot better. His calmness further solidified his understanding of the strange feeling.

Since he was not able to concentrate on his cultivation, why not have a look at the rural grasslands? One had to experience different things to forge a clear mind and a calm heart after all.

Tang Long lifted the curtain up, and with his remarkable sight, he was able to spot the fading wisp of smoke in the sky and an extinguished campfire, plus a person snoring beside it. Nonetheless, he coldly turned a blind eye to that since he did not care.

However, the wagon suddenly stopped. Li Wu arrived at the door and said softly, “Young Master Long, there seems to be a Drifter in front. Should we question him?”

As a matter of fact, Li Wu did not care about the Drifter either. He just wanted to send Tang Long to the base as soon as possible. Being in close proximity with an extreme genius with a fluctuating mood and a dominating presence pressured him tremendously.

Li Wu dared not spare any details, but he was also afraid that reporting every trivial matter to Tang Long would make him end up on his bad side. He stood in front of the carriage door anxiously. His mind had an excuse prepared. If there was the slightest sign of impatience from Tang Long, he would say that someone sleeping in the wild on the night of the wolf attack should be questioned.

To his surprise, Tang Long did not say anything but gave a soft grunt in response to grant permission to question the Drifter.

Li Wu then brought two men to the campfire.

As a matter of fact, Tang Long cared nothing about the Drifter. He just needed something else to distract him and to calm his mind soon. Even if he was able to figure out the source of the unusual feeling, he did not want to be affected, hence a little something else could distract his attention.

One had to admit that Tang Long’s way of doing things was somewhat similar to how Tang Ling stopped his emotions from developing.

…

Li Wu slowly walked up to the extinguished campfire.

The Drifter sleeping beside it did not seem to have noticed his presence as he was fast asleep. He was probably exhausted, so he did react to the footsteps coming closer. He shifted around in discomfort but did not open his eyes at all.

“Wake up.”

With Li Wu’s command, a three-star Bronze Star Warrior from the Stardust Council walked over and woke Tang Ling up with a soft kick.

Anyone who was awoken in such a rough way would be angry, and Tang Ling was no exception. He bolted up with a scowl and shouted, “Ain’t nobody disturbs me sleep!” He spoke in Sirin, a common language used by a safety sector on the west side of the grasslands. Despite the language being different from the common language of Safety Sector No. 17, both languages originated from the same mother tongue. It had a unique accent, and the pronunciation sometimes required a click of the tongue.

Tang Ling spoke the language perfectly because of the special ability that Kun had unlocked within him at the first meeting. He sounded very natural.

“Ahem.” Li Wu cleared his throat, and the Bronze Star Warrior kicked Tang Ling again and bellowed, “Follow us!”

Tang Ling instinctively wanted to argue, but after he got a clear glimpse of the uniform and who they were, he was instantly terrified. He opened his mouth, seeming to have the urge to speak, but after a few weird grunts in his throat, he stood up in silence. He lowered his head and appeared frightened as he followed the warrior in silence. He was not allowed to bring his coat or his luggage either.

Li Wu did not care about his belongings and brought Tang Ling back to the wagon.

Despite his effort to suppress it, a sense of danger in Tang Ling’s heart erupted and what followed was an indescribably unusual feeling rumbling in his gut ceaselessly. Due to the complicated feelings, Tang Ling had the urge to open the carriage door and find out who was inside. What was causing these feelings?

“Speak! Why are you here?” Tang Long did not say anything despite his urge and Li Wu was the one in charge of the questioning. However, even a petty Drifter had his own secrets that were probably nothing noteworthy. Li Wu had brought Tang Long here to prepare for something and the questioning did feel a little weird.

Tang Ling looked extremely nervous when Li Wu asked him the question. He stammered messily, “I-I am h-here for some iron salt, exchange, for minerals and meat. I not good, here safe.”

Indeed there was not much danger in the grassland other than the wolves. As long as he stayed away from the taboo, he would be fine. However, what could a Drifter possibly do in the vast grasslands?

“First time?” Li Wu asked unintentionally. As an officer in the Intelligence Department of the Stardust Council, he knew what, when, and how to ask the right questions. Although uninterested, his duty and capability as an intelligence officer must be displayed before Young Master Long.

“First time, no, not first time, first and a half time. Last time, me and Cousin Rio reached Jijihar Village. Not far from here. Rio does his business there but I can’t find a job, so I…” Tang Ling was talkative but grew softer as he talked when he saw Li Wu’s impatient look.

“Why are you here?” Li Wu stopped Tang Ling from talking further.

“The wolf howls, my ears good. I hear wolf howls from far away. I think it’s a wolf pack. I don’t dare to move in the night.” Tang Ling shrunk his neck and showed the appropriate amount of fear.

Li Wu stopped his interrogation and lit a cigarette during the pause. What the Drifter said made sense and seemed flawless. The place that the Drifter slept was a sure path from Jijihar Village. What a lucky fellow. He had heard the wolf’s howl but was smart enough to stay where he was and not run to the nearest village. The spot that he slept in was probably the only place in the grassland that was safe from the wolves.

On the night of the wolf attack, all the wolves would madly invade villages, so they would not come out to hunt for prey. As a businessman who traveled between villages, it would be weird if he did not know how to survive out here.

“You can go now.” After a few puffs and carefully observing Tang Ling’s expression, Li Wu decided to release him. Questioning a poor and empty Drifter was not exactly fun.

Tang Ling showed an exalted look and asked, “I can go?”

“Is there anything else?” Li Wu looked asquint at him.

Tang Ling faltered backward nervously and ran away in a hurry, even tripping and falling.

However, at that moment, the carriage door opened and Tang Long came out. When he saw Tang Ling’s back, he called out, “Hold up.” He was not loud, but his voice had a natural overbearing tone to it and immense pressure would follow.

The feeling in Tang Ling’s heart finally dissipated when he was called back. It spread throughout his body and limbs and scattered into the night, to be replaced by numbing sorrow.

Despite recoiling to the voice, he still answered by turning around slowly.