Dark Moon Era

A dead vortex.

Since Tang Ling could not find the right words to describe what he saw, he simply pieced some words together after some serious thinking.

He saw it after he arrived under the giant black lock and it appeared in the mist.

What he saw looked like a vortex in water or even a spiral galaxy. It should have been filled with life and energy, yet it stopped as though it had not been moving for eons.

Other than describing it as a dead vortex, Tang Ling really could not compare it to anything else.

“What does it have to do with me? Is it important? Is it the truth that I’ve been searching for?” Tang Ling studied the strange thing quietly and pondered upon its existence.

Then, he looked up at the giant black lock hanging in the air. He had a feeling if he broke the lock, the vortex might spin again, but he had no idea how since the lock looked very sturdy and immovable.

If Tang Ling really wanted to break it, he might even need to break all the black chains before this. He did not know why he would have such thoughts, but it felt instinctive to him.

“Fine, I’ll break it when I can,” said Tang Ling to himself. He did not try to do the impossible such as touching the black lock. He chose to walk forward instead.

The vortex might be the truth that he had been searching for, but it was not everything. Only by walking forward could he reveal everything.

Tang Ling continued forward alone in the silence mist.

Then, he saw the second black lock and underneath it was the same dead vortex as before.

He walked forward again until the third black lock appeared. Similar to the previous ones, there was a dead vortex underneath.

After reaching the third lock, Tang Ling felt tired. In fact, every step that he took in the mist was arduous as if he was using his Precise Instinct.

If it was not for the strong desire in his heart, he felt like he might not even have seen the second black lock.

The mist was endless just like the black chains.

Should I just give up? Tang Ling did not answer himself as he lingered on the spot, his body having reached its limit. He did not have the strength to take a step forward anymore.

******

Fei Long furrowed his brows tightly while Yang Kong was a little dubious but was still calm enough.

Orston yawned out of boredom, and Yu’s mind had left him, so no one knew what he was thinking. He just did not care about Tang Ling’s result.

The other candidates waited because it was the rule. Only the short Andy was paying attention to Tang Ling who was inside the machine with his eyes shut. Andy would sometimes show concern, empathy or even anticipation towards Tang Ling.

“Big Boss Fei Long,” Orston said out loud.

Yang Kong turned around to him and coldly said, “Where are your manners? He’s a leader to you.”

“Fine. Leader Fei Long, why don’t we wake this kid up? It’s been half an hour. What else could happen?” Orston grumbled.

“It’s against the rules,” Fei Long rejected Orston without any hesitation. His mood was plummeting because he did not foresee that Tang Ling would take so long in the machine.

The vision occurred after three seconds, and he entered the silent state after a second, but the first halo lit up after a full five minutes. The second one took him eight minutes, and the third, 13.

After that, Tang Ling had been in this silent state until now.

Maybe after 20 minutes, the fourth halo will light up.  Even Fei Long felt ridiculous at his speculation.

It was impossible. No one was able to enter the silent state for more than 40 minutes. Not even those who were already Purple Moon Warriors could achieve it. It was mainly because the brain could not handle the high concentration of one’s spirit during the vision.

The other thing was that according to the patterns of the previous candidates, the better the talent, the more obvious it would be. It would not take so long in theory.

Tang Ling’s situation was very weird.

Based on a common explanation, whenever someone with three-star talent passed but took a long time to achieve it, it would mean that their spirit was weak and they could barely feel themselves in the silent state.

Otherwise, it would be a very weak talent that caused the vision to be blurry and vague, so even if the spirit was powerful, it would take a lot of time for them to search for their goal.

In short, judging from the situation, neither of the situations was applicable to Tang Ling although Fei Long tended to lean towards the second possibility.

However, was a three-star talent considered feeble?

It was certainly not amazing since it was the weakest among the First Reserved Camp, but throughout the entire Safety Sector No. 17, those who were able to enter the First Reserved Camp were already considered to have the privilege.

It was very conflicting.

Besides, what was with Tang Ling’s spirit? According to the first explanation, visualizing after three seconds was considered astounding, but what was this now? An illusion?

“I’ve found a similar situation.” Yang Kong did not sit back idle. He was going through a sea of information, trying to find an answer to the situation.

After getting a rather reasonable explanation, he called Fei Long over and explained it softly to him.

“What situation?”

As a matter of fact, admiration for a person sometimes was not just about his or her strength. It might be a shining point or a certain aura. Fei Long might be a little disappointed, but it was not related to his admiration for Tang Ling. All he wanted to see was Tang Ling’s robust performance, just like how he performed during the first round.

Therefore, his question sounded rather worried.

“You do know the so-called Genetic Chain Talent refers to a person’s limit of their potential, right? These limits have to be broken one by one, and every limit and node…” Yang Kong was taking his time to explain the theory.

Fei Long was rather impatient. He stopped Yang Kong and rushed him. “The main point, please!” As the leader of the Purple Moon Warriors, how could he not know about all these basics?

Yang Kong rolled his eyes. “Can’t you be a little patient when talking to me?”

Fei Long was rendered speechless.

Yang Kong only continued after he went quiet, “What I am saying is that the three-star talent is authentic, but his growth isn’t that great, so whenever he reaches the next level, the traits of his talent are displayed in a blurry state, hence we have a situation like this. This is the most reasonable explanation that I can come up with.” Yang Kong pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose after he explained.

He was a strict and logical pursuer of the truth. As a scientist, he needed straight logic to support his answer which must also be proven.

Therefore, after reading through a hefty amount of information and finally getting less than five real-life cases, he finally provided his logical answer to Fei Long.

Even so, the little trace of confusion on Yang Kong’s expression remained.

The halos on the transparent door were still lit up.

It was an unusually bright silver-white, but there was no extra color around it, not even the expected color representing the spirit talent.

If there was anything special about the light, it was extra bright, pure, and clean. It seemed to have gone beyond silver-white and resembled a shiny platinum color.

Nonetheless, so what? According to the reasonable rules, as long as there was no color in the halos, it did not mean anything.

White, silver-white, green, iron black, red, golden, yellow… Yang Kong repeated all the Genetic Chin colors in his mind.  It doesn’t match! It is still at the lowest level: white, silver-white!

Yang Kong shook his head, telling himself not to overthink it despite having to bury the trace of doubt deep in his heart.