Dark Moon Era

It was a very obsequious face with slight doubt, panic, and fear. With brown hair and eyebrows, black eyes, and a puffy face with a few obvious moles on it, it was a face he had never seen before.

Tang Long sized up the face quietly while doubt filled his mind. Why did he unconsciously call the Drifter back? Why did the Drifter’s back look so familiar when he turned around?

It should not have happened. Because of his Precise Instinct, Tang Long’s memory was remarkable. Even though his brain always unintentionally suppressed the memories deeply to prevent itself from imploding from a large amount of information, some useless information might pop up here and there once in a while like a stranger’s face that he had walked past and the features on the face or whatnot.

Maybe it was that useless information in his brain playing tricks on him again. That was probably the reason why he found the Drifter familiar.

Tang Long turned around and wanted to go back into the carriage. He did not like to be affected by his emotions since it was so sensitive. Unbeknownst to him, when he granted the Drifter leave, there was a smidge of heaviness his heart. He was unwilling to part with the Drifter, but why?

In those two seconds, both of them were less than 100 meters apart and they just stood there in silence.

The wind blew silently, carrying some leaves up and down and slowly growing bigger.

A random cloud floated over the sky and covered part of the Purple Moon, but it quickly bobbed away and made the misty moon look even more mysterious.

The startling beep from the communication device interrupted the silence. The atmosphere was strange, even to Li Wu, but it did not stop him from answering the call.

A moment after he answered the call, he passed the device to Tang Long. “Young Master Long, it’s a call from the base. They say they’ve found something important and need you there as soon as…”

Tang Long released a heavy breath before he frowned and waved, shooing Tang Ling away like he was trying to get rid of a fly.

Doubtfully, Tang Ling walked away, and he turned around twice as he left. He scratched his head as if he was wondering what was wrong with all these nobles.

Tang Long answered the call after a few more glances at the Drifter. He felt that it was ironic.

What’s wrong with me? I’m here for some important business. Why am I so concerned about a Drifter? I told Li Wu to question him so that it can distract me from overthinking, but why am I still thinking about it now?

The wagon continued its journey. The voice from the communication device had sounded anxious when it asked about how long Tang Long needed to reach the base. The base had unintentionally made a huge discovery. They found an unfamiliar footprint at one of the secret entrances to the secret land and suspected involvement from other forces.

Tang Long hung up. An unfamiliar footprint? Secret land? He never heard of any of those, so even he did not know how serious the situation was. Still, when the voice had mentioned the unfamiliar footprint, it did not sound concerned either. It was just trying to rush Tang Long to be faster.

If I hadn’t gotten the call, what would I have done to the Drifter?

Tang Long took a deep breath after he put the communication device aside. His mind was pondering the question. Although he did not want others to think of him as paranoid, he was secretly concerned about the mystery of the familiar feeling. Why did he not carefully think about where the feeling came from?

…

The wagon disappeared into the night and was gone from sight.

Tang Ling started to walk faster and eventually ran. He grabbed his coat and luggage beside the dead campfire, checked his bearings, and sprinted towards the south. The grassland was not exactly huge, but he would need to travel at least 50 km to reach the south.

Tang Ling knew he could not afford to waste another minute. He had to run at maximum speed in every upcoming second.

It was just a two-second gaze, but Tang Ling could never forget the young man. The young man, who was known as Young Master Long, had black hair and black eyes, and was unusually handsome, fit, and slender coupled with delicate attire.

As a matter of fact, the handsome features did not concern Tang Ling at all because he had never seen a person more beautiful and handsome than Kun. Who else paid more attention to looks more than Kun? No one!

What concerned him was the astonishing reaction from his Precise Instinct. The width between the eyes, the sharpness of the nose, the thickness of the lips, and every feature on the young man’s face overlapped with his own!

How should he explain the feeling? His real face might not look much like the young man’s, but several spots on his face overlapped with the young man’s. Why?

It was hardly a coincidence because such details were like a unique label for a person. It represented the color and features of genetics. For example, if they were unrelated, not a single spot on their faces would share a resemblance, yet they did and it was not limited to just a single spot.

Am I related to Young Master Long? Long…Long means dragon…Is he related to the Dragon Army?

Whatever. I don’t care whether I’m related to him or not. The intense sense of danger is real. The closer I got, the heavier it felt.

Even after he left fortunate enough to escape unharmed, the sense of danger lingered and got heavier with every step. The sense of danger transformed from being explosive to a steady, long threat. In short, this danger could not be solved quickly.

Tang Ling flew as he ran across the grassland at night like a moving shadow. Even the predator of the grasslands, the wide-eared multicolored fox could not capture his presence.

Despite his speed, he felt like he was not fast enough. He had to run faster! He had a vague feeling that if he ran into a problem in the grassland, it would be difficult for him to overcome because there was no hiding spot within his sight.

Before danger descended, he had to escape the grassland. He had to…

Tang Ling stopped conserving energy and ran at an explosive speed. He did not know why, but among the tremendous sense of danger, a tinge of sorrow lingered in his heart. It felt like he was born with sins as part of the sorrowful destiny he could not escape.

…

Tang Long shut his eyes, seeming to rest. It was only ten minutes after the meeting but he had already sifted through the majority of his memories.

His search was not a simple flip through. He paused on a specific part of the memories and zoomed in to compare…This was what the brain under constant training of Precise Instinct was capable of. His ability to process information had reached a remarkable speed.

No, no, no…I can’t find where the familiarity is from among all the useless memories. What if it isn’t from the useless memories? Could it be my daily memories? Impossible.

Tang Long calmly shut off his daily memories. He would never walk past a Drifter in his daily life, much less have a meeting with one.

From where? From which memories? It must be something a little more important, something that I’ve noticed before, thus the details must have become part of my memories. That’s why I was so affected when I saw the Drifter.

With that in mind, Tang Long’s hands clenched tightly.

How could a mere Drifter be part of his important memories? If it was true, he had started off in the wrong direction. The strange feeling did not stem from the mission but from the Drifter! How much of his memories were considered important to him?

The strange feeling started to affect him again, but his mind was filtering all the important memories and information. Memory after memory, every detail was presented in a solid 3D view.

In the end, he stopped at a piece of newspaper.

…

Gasp!

Tang Ling had been running at his limit, but the heavy sense of vulnerability remained, and as time passed, it got heavier than ever.

The sense of danger almost materialized and started to sting his heart like a needle. His anxiety surfaced suddenly, hence the gasp.

Why? What happened? The sense of threat is even heavier and more genuine than what I felt on the zombie night!

Tang Ling started to go into a state of trance while running. He almost could not feel the stinging pain from his lungs due to the sheer energy he was using to run. Even for him, running at maximum speed would exhaust his stamina quickly. Although he was already at his physical limit, he dared not stop!

Why?! How far have I ran at maximum speed? 

The sense of danger made him forget to calculate the distance with his Precise Instinct. He only started to calculate when he realized it. Despite the nervousness, he was able to tell that he was running at 2.5 seconds for every hundred meters, which was his top speed. However, he could not have maintained the extreme spurt all the way.

His current speed should be around 3 seconds for every hundred meters, and he had run for 12 minutes 11 seconds, which was approximately 24.3 km. The wagon was slower than him but would have also traveled for at least 15 km.

The distance between them was increasing by the second, so the threat should have subsided. The 40 km distance should be safe enough for him to calm down.

Why? Why was the sense of danger getting heavier!?

…

Why?! Why did I miss the chance!?

The pen in Tang Long’s hand was dancing on the white paper gracefully. Drawing with Precise Instinct might not produce artistic results, but it felt like he hacked the skill with his mind. The portrait that he drew looked very realistic with every detail presented clearly.

Is that him? Is that really him?! Tang Long felt surreal as if he was dreaming.

Anger, frustration, disappointment in himself, and all kinds of negative emotions were rumbling within him, but he looked a lot calmer. He grabbed the communication device and made a video call.

When the call went through, Tang Long showed the portrait that he had drawn in less than 2 minutes in front of the camera.

“Got this?” Tang Long sounded calm.

“Yes.” The one who answered the call was a general. He did not know why Tang Long would call him and show him a portrait.

“He should still be in the grasslands. He won’t be heading north, so you can skip searching that place. Search the south, east, and west. Mobilize every single warrior and soldier you have and flush him out. Kill on sight. Do not capture alive. To prevent mistakes, every search team must be led by five or more Purple Moon Warriors.” As Tang Long’s mind had cleared up, several precise and strict orders escaped his mouth.

“Hold on, Young Master Long, we have limited manpower here in the Raqir Plains Base. There are only 20 Purple Moon Warriors here.” The general was a little hesitant after he said that. He quickly added, “Can I request you to be more specific? Who is this person that we are looking for? If he’s a high-level target, we can leave minimal guards at the base and mobilize everyone to search for him.”

Tang Long chuckled. “Call for Level 3 authority access. Mobilize everyone in the neighboring bases and surround the whole Raqir Plains. I don’t think your base alone is enough.”

Tang Long tapped his temple softly. It was a little habit of his that would only show up when he was serious.

The general on the other side dared not even question the grave Tang Long. What was so important that he had to call for Level 3 authority access and mobilize everyone in all the neighboring bases?

“Am I supposed to come to the base? Can I go after him myself?” Tang Long asked a strange question.

“Yes, we cannot make an exception about that. It’s the President’s direct order,” the general reported loudly as he straightened his body.

“Fine. Tell the other bases to use the most advanced, fastest, and single-seated transportation. The same goes with the Raqir Plains Base.” Tang Long then raised a brow and said, “This person that you are searching for is Tang Ling, or should I say Tang Ling in disguise. I guess that will be enough, won’t it?”

After that, he hung up.

The general on the other side of the call was stunned. The portrait that Tang Long had drawn, which was the important information of this call, remained on the screen of the communication device. It was the most advanced communication device, and unless absolutely necessary, no video calls were made because it would only waste resources.

So, when the call came in, the general knew he was going to receive something huge.

Tang Ling? Tang Ling!

Half a second later, the general responded by grabbing the phone on his seat that was granted special authority. His voice was then broadcasted throughout the base.

“Attention, attention, armed…”

Important orders about the operation were broadcasted through the speaker and everyone heard them. Stationing three generals in a single base was an act of ultra vires, but no one cared about that at the time being.

The orders were sent out one after another. The other two generals, including Edward, sprinted to the command room.

Is Morey out of his mind? Mobilizing all the manpower at such a delicate timing and calling for a Level 1 priority operation? What the hell could have happened?

Bang!

Edward kicked the door to the command room open. Before he could ask, he saw Morey demanding, “Quick, your passwords! All three of us are required to activate Level 3 authority access and request backup from all the neighboring bases!”

Tang Ling would soon face a myriad of enemies coming for him from every direction!