Dark Moon Era - Chapter 112

Chapter 112: The Person Known As Tang Ling

Andy blinked several times at Tang Ling’s unreasonable request, but he still took the cigarette out from his pocket.

“Good boy. Look how great I am, smoking all the cigarettes. I rather smoke myself to death than give them away to those bastards.” Tang Ling candidly received the cigarettes from Andy. He acted like he was suffering a big loss as he took a small pouch out, opened Andy’s cigarette box and transferred the cigarettes into his own pouch.

Andy helplessly sighed, then he suddenly saw there were seven more cigarettes in the pouch. He could not help but grumble, “Tang Ling, you lied to me! You still have seven cigarettes yourself!”

“Why are you always nagging? Or do you want them? If you do, I’ll give them all to you.” Tang Ling pretended to toss the pouch to Andy.

“No, no, I don’t want it.” Andy wrung his hands repeatedly as if Tang Ling was throwing a hot potato at him.

“Good boy. Why don’t you think about whether you want to give them to me, your dear big brother, or those despicable bastards?” As he spoke, he spewed a cloud of smoke. He wondered if his smoking posture looked like Su Yao’s.

No, he should smoke better than the man.

Since when did Tang Ling become my big brother? But those bastards… Andy looked sourer. He knew who the bastards Tang Ling was referring to. It was their seniors in the First Reserved Camp.

Their seniors were like vampires. Whenever the seniors were mentioned, it was difficult for Andy not to remember that day when the seniors delivered the water for Instructor Thuja in front of them. One particular senior was very kind to them and even told them to look for him if they ran into any trouble.

However, now, it was ironic when he thought about it.

Of course, they could go to their seniors whenever they ran into problems, but paying the cost was also a must. Such costs could be food, cigarettes, or fruits. Any benefits that the camp provided them with could be used to pay the price, including their rest time.

For example, Andy paid three hours of rest time in exchange for help, so whenever the seniors were carrying out some routine missions, he would have to stand in for them for three hours.

What if Andy did not have any rest time to pay? It was not a problem as the seniors loved to collect Hope credit.

Hope credit was a kind of currency only used by the warriors in the Hope Barrier.

With Hope credit, the warriors could buy more resources like food or whatnot. If they had enough Hope credit, there were even more quality goods available for purchase such as high nutrition liquid.

More importantly, there was equipment for purchase, equipment that could save lives! Or one could even purchase a session from any of the instructors for one-on-one teaching.

There was a saying in the camp: as long as you have enough Hope credits, you can totally buy a set of Purple Moon Warrior equipment to play around with.

Unfortunately, Hope credits were difficult to earn. A night on duty at the Patrol Ground would only give 5 Hope credits while helping around the farm merited only 2 Hope credits.

Andy’s face grew sourer.

In the First Reserved Camp, without the help from the seniors, exploring certain things himself was a waste of time. Would it be alright not to get help from the seniors?

It would actually be a naive thought.

The First Reserved Camp had its own rule with which even the instructor and high-level officers could not interfere. That rule was the offering rule.

There were a total of 110 reserved warriors in the First Reserved Camp and everyone was listed according to their strengths. The top 55 could enjoy all the resources that the Hope Barrier distributed every week. As for the lower 55, they would have to offer their resources to those above them. The lower the rank, the more one had to offer.

During the first day of camp, all seven of the young warriors were taught a lesson because none of them were willing to offer their resources without reason.

Orston even suggested a duel, and in the end… Andy did not even want to think about it!

Orston was known for his brawns and vitality, yet even after he used the power of his tattoo, he was still beaten up like an iron bristle hog.

As he recalled the scene, Andy regretted joining Orston in challenging the seniors though he did not end up that badly, probably because he was smaller.

The only one who escaped the beating was Tang Ling. He understood the rule and obediently offered the resources that he was given accordingly though it was a week’s worth of resources.

After offering the resources, the upcoming two to three days were torture. In the end, everyone else relied on Tang Ling’s limited resources and his ideas to make it through the tough days.

As for the ideas, Andy’s face turned ugly and he did not want to recall it.

The first idea, which was to hunt in the forest, was still acceptable. The edge of the Cliff of Hope was connected to the forest while the battlefield was mostly concentrated at the ruins opposite the Hope Barrier.

Tang Ling plausibly said that those powerful monsters were attracted to the battlefield by the Universal Source Rock, so the forests on both sides of the edge should not be that dangerous.

In the end, after half a day of wandering around the forest, the few of them were furiously chased out by a Level 3 mutated beast. The mutated beast must have exhausted itself on the battlefield, hence it decided to rest in the forest, but Tang Ling and the others ran into it.

Thankfully, Tang Ling never let go of the innocent jumping chicken that jumped out of nowhere. He clutched the chicken tightly in his arms while escaping the mutated beast. That was why everyone was able to have chicken meat for the day.

No one dared to go hunting anymore, so they resolved to the second idea.

What was the second idea? Andy’s brows furrowed into a single line.

Stealing! Tang Ling had his eyes on the farms, that bloody bastard!

It seemed like Tang Ling had the talent to become a thief. He led the others and stole a total of five flower pigs, three jumping chickens, and a dozen of apples from the farm, plus three bundles of water paddy!

Three bundles of water paddy? Andy was reluctant to reminisce about the taste of boiled paddy. The harsh taste still lingered in his throat.

In the end… Andy rolled his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to wrestle Tang Ling.

All seven of them made it through the first week despite the difficult circumstances. Other than the classes, the stamina training, and missions, all their remaining time was spent thinking about how to get their hands on food.

During the second week, everyone obediently offered their resources. Even if the days got a little harder, carrying out more missions could earn them Hope credits to buy food although it would only exhaust them more.

However, Tang Ling did the exact opposite!

He was somewhat a fierce and smart person. When the resources were distributed, he seized the time and ate it all, gobbling everything up like a tornado.

Somehow there were cigarettes hidden in the distributed resources, and Tang Ling smoked them all. He turned the cave that they lived in almost into a mystical realm as clouds of smoke drowned the. Even he himself was choked like an idiot!

So, when the seniors came to collect their offering, Tang Ling had nothing to offer!

Snatch his equipment and clothes? No, the seniors were not interested in low-level toys.

Rest time? It could not be forced either. Quoting the seniors, ‘you might as well beat Tang Ling to death than force him into submission, but it would be exhausting to beat a rascal like him up!’

Hope credits? Being the fierce character as he was, Tang Ling spent all the Hope credits on food. Whenever he got any Hope credits, he would exchange them for food and did not even plan to save them up.

“Your appetite is ridiculous. Why are you not dead from overeating? You Harsheen boar!” The seniors were put in a difficult situation.

It had only been 20 days since the first day, and everything Tang Ling did changed the popular phrase in the First Reserved Camp into this: ‘Dear Lord, please let me finish (something) before that Harsheen boar eats everything!’