Dark Moon Era - Chapter 147

Chapter 147: The Slaughterer (2 in 1)

The crimson red eyes were scarier than a zombie’s grayish-white ones. They seemed to contain the flames of hell and the blood from Purgatory.

It was the fearless gaze of madness. The only thing it retained was self-consciousness.

He won, did he not?

When Tang Ling irritated the Level 2 Crawler, a burning sensation exploded from his head. The burning sensation was so familiar and the temperature was infatuating.

At that exact moment, he did not lose his self-consciousness. He knew that he had won by flipping the last card on the table.

His muscles started to engorge. The Level 2 Crawler’s teeth that touched his bones were squeezed out by his growing muscles so much so that even its mouth passively moved away.

As Tang Ling continued to transform, his body grew bigger and his battle uniform eventually burst into shreds.

It only took an instant for the Level 2 Crawler had to give up on its bite because it could not open its mouth as wide as a snake. As Tang Ling grew bigger, it could no longer contain him with its mouth. It really had no idea what happened to its food, but the danger its instinct screamed about filled its body, urging it to escape.

What exactly happened? The arms around its body were nothing but twigs a moment ago, yet now, its hold started to tighten.

The changes happened quickly, and it was unable to struggle anymore in the blink of an eye.

As a zombie, its lungs were no longer functioning, but the pressure from the crushing squeeze terrified it. It was lifted above the ground and it felt a large shadow looming over its head. When it looked up, all it saw was a pair of cold eyes from a giant version of its food.

Yes, he was utterly gigantic. Its food had grown to more than 3.5 meters in height. His chest, hip, and waist had expanded to a ridiculous size as if he was a titan.

However, his face told the Level 2 Crawler that he was still the food that it knew and had tried to eat earlier.

Unfortunately, the fear that it felt in its bones…The Level 2 Crawler started to struggle madly. Tang Ling somehow felt entertained while looking at the struggling zombie. He grabbed the Level 2 Crawler by the neck single-handedly and lifted it up like a toy.

Hoisted up in the air, the Level 2 Crawler continued struggling and even tried to attack. Feeling nervous and anxious, its growls fueled the anxiety of the other zombies that watched the scene.

Tang Ling was not in a hurry as he looked at the Level 2 Crawler with a ridiculing and judgmental gaze. He was trying to have a closer study of the differences between a mutated zombie and a human. Would the differences represent the potential of the human body? Strictly speaking, the parts of a zombie and a human were actually the same.

One of the zombies somehow mustered enough courage to get closer to Tang Ling. The failure of the powerful Level 2 Crawler fueled its confidence, and it could not hold back its urge to eat anymore.

As though it was a falling domino, the other zombies also started to get nearer. From the second zombie, the third, the fourth, all the way to the tenth, all the zombies around Tang Ling were eager to make their move.

So what?

Tang Ling tilted his head and stretched his neck as he looked at the struggling and groaning Level 2 Crawler in his hand. He mocked, “Who told them to attack? Was it you? I wonder have you ever heard of an old saying that there are consequences for everything. If…” As he spoke, Tang Ling suddenly extended his right hand at a ridiculous speed and punched the first zombie who was brave enough to attack.

The huge punch perforated the zombie’s chest and the giant hand was left holding a partially black heart.

Squelch!

Tang Ling crushed the heart, but he was rather unlucky for there was no crystal in the heart.

A little agitated, he grabbed the right arm of the Level 2 Crawler and broke it with a single twist, followed by the left arm. Even after breaking the zombie’s arms, he was not satisfied, so he simply tied the legs of the Level 2 Crawler together as if he was braiding a girl’s hair.

“I am saying if this happened because of you, you’ll have to end this. Coincidentally, your groans are painful to my ears. I’ve had it.” The moment his voice subsided, Tang Ling released his right hand and let the Level 2 Crawler fall to the ground.

Before it touched the ground, he caught it by its braided legs and swung it around like a club, brandishing it in a flurry in the air without a pause. Bam! He swung the ‘club’ towards the group of zombies that were running to him as though he was swatting flies.

Roar! It was the last growl from the Level 2 Crawler. As Tang Ling further swung the ‘club’ into the group of zombies, the impact damaged the Level 2 Crawler’s body, so its bones were all crushed and it turned into a pile of rotten meat.

“Not good.” Tang Ling puckered his lips as he strode forward. That single swing shoved at least 20 zombies away and smashed seven to eight of them flat.

However, he disliked the Level 2 Crawler’s body for being too soft. It was not sturdy enough even after he braided its legs, thus he could not display his power to the fullest with it, but that was not a major problem.

Was the interesting fight not just beginning?

Tang Ling dug out the heart from the deformed Level 2 Crawler. The powerful strikes and heavy impact molded its body into something else entirely, but the shining crystal that was as good as the Level 3 mutated mantis remained intact.

It was another crystal that was almost the grade of a quality crystal! It cast a burst of warm sunshine in Tang Ling’s heart. If his gamble and risks did not provide him with a reward, he would be disappointed.

He conveniently kept the precious crystal and turned around, gazing across the entire garage with his crimson red eyes.

The dead Level 2 Crawler was no longer a threat or a deterring presence, so all the zombies in the garage rioted.

Countless of grayish-white eyes were looking at Tang Ling. Was it their turn to have a go at the delicious food?

The zombies were extremely excited. They growled madly as they charged towards Tang Ling. In turn, this triggered a chain reaction in all of them.

Viewing the situation from a bird’s eye, the sea of zombies was like a tidal wave crashing towards Tang Ling, who looked like a monolith before the fierce waves. Likewise, Tang Ling was very excited. Fighting in this form with a clear mind was considered the utmost enjoyment for him.

His tightly clenched fists produced loud cracking noises before he charged towards the sea of zombies fearlessly.

It was a grudge that he ought to vent! It was the helplessness that he felt from that night. All the pain, the sorrow, and the silent madness ought to be vented out at the zombies.

There were no techniques involved in his attacks. He did not even care about the pain and injuries. All he had in his mind was to kill all of the zombies without holding back.

It was not a battle but a one-sided massacre. When this form of his appeared, even in his clearest state of mind, Tang Ling was unable to control the boundless battle intent in him.

He was like the sharpest of daggers, cutting through the waves of zombies. He was indestructible and his speed was astonishing. Wherever he moved, black blood spewed. A minute later, a huge opening appeared in the center of the zombie horde.

Groups of zombies fell under Tang Ling’s might, and the bodies piled up beside his feet. His hands were crushing hearts quicker than he could count, and crystals after crystals of inferior grade were picked up along the way.

It was a bloody opening. Many more dead zombies collapsed on the path that Tang Ling carved with his bare hands as the garage completely turned into a bloody zombie cemetery.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes…

Tang Ling was an undefeated Grim Reaper, traveling back and forth the zombie waves for the third time now.

The concentrated zombies started to lessen. They did not possess the ability to think and would go all out just for a bite of flesh and blood, yet such mindless monsters even started to feel scared. The fear rose from their instincts, similar to how they were afraid of the stronger zombies and that deep, abysmal crevice.

Slowly, zombies ran out of the bloodbath that was garage no. 19 in an utter mess. The choice between food and fear messed up their actions.

Tang Ling was covered in blood. Black blood dripped from his body like many endless streams of water.

He made his way to the office once more, and this time, he finally stopped the massacre.

Bang! He kicked the door open.

Surprisingly, the zombies dared not follow him into the office anymore. Did the zombies finally understand the fear of dying?

A trace of ridicule flashed over Tang Ling’s eyes followed by a faint sense of exhaustion from his body.

Tang Ling’s mind was as clear as water. As though he could sense it, his clarity told him that the exhaustion would soon spread all over his body. It would become an exhaustion bomb and explode in his body.

Should that happen, he would be unable to fight the zombies or any other threat. If he did not seize the time and escape from danger, he would truly end up in a desperate situation that he could never come back from.

Tang Ling suppressed his frantic battle intent and left the fight behind. When he stepped into the office, he jumped up to the window frame that led towards the roof.

With the light from the searchlights, Tang Ling was able to see the footprints that his friends left behind and a climbing rope hanging at the window, twisting in the night breeze.

“You guys…” A sense of warmth flashed in Tang Ling’s heart. His friends did not remove the rope that he had left behind earlier even though they could have easily retrieved it. All they needed to do was pull the rope and remove the grade C alloy longsword which would not take up a lot of their time either.

As warriors and poor New Moon Warriors, they had no reason to give up on a grade C alloy longsword, but they did so, hoping that by leaving the rope and longsword behind, he would come back alive.

Even if they could not do anything to help, leaving a small convenience behind was considered a type of comfort for Tang Ling.

He was a rational but sentimental person at times. He could not stop the warmth of the friendship from sprouting in his heart. The beautiful temptation wrapped him whole, causing him to be infatuated.

I guess we will have to spend some warm days together, won’t we?

Tang Ling could not hold back his smile, but he did not touch the climbing rope. Instead, he jumped out and grabbed the eave to swing himself onto the roof like how he had done before.

Nevertheless, he dared not stand up on the roof, so he lay down quietly when he landed.

He looked up at the battlefield. It had only been ten minutes, but the entire garage area was turned into a battlefield.

The Hope Barrier deployed explosive weapons, blazing trails and whistling bombardments that would soar across the sky, besieging the area where the Zombie King was.

The new warriors deployed there were equipped with explosive weapons too. The ammunitions that they cherished like treasure on normal days were raining down at the entrance of the garage.

A large group of frenzied beasts and mutated insects occupied the entrance. It was not known what stimulated them, but they rushed towards the entrance continuously.

Killing enemies with swords and sharp weapons were still the main means of attack, but that was only around the Zombie King, where the Purple Moon Warriors were engaged with the elite monsters of the Zombie King.

The fight inside the garage was not something a common warrior could join. Somehow, there were almost 30 Purple Moon Warriors in the area. Tang Ling even spotted Anthony wielding his Night Lightning under the searchlight.

Did they deploy all the Purple Moon Warriors?

No, Tang Ling did not spot Fei Long anywhere.

The situation was getting out of control.

Why did the Hope Barrier not activate the Level 2 Sector Protection Machine?

What was with the endless waves of zombies, frenzied beasts, and mutated insects?

Tang Ling did not think that the garage was capable of hiding this many zombies. Furthermore, the intelligence division of the Hope Barrier did not slack either.

He also did not think that the frenzied beasts and mutated insects would choose this particular night to go crazy either. There must be a reason behind all this.

As the thoughts arose in his mind, he could not help looking extremely sour. Even though he did not want to touch the deepest hatred that he buried in his heart, he could not help but think of the silver-haired man in the black robe.

The man once stood in the sea of zombies, whistling a strange tune and controlling all the monsters.

“Could it be him?” The words were squeezed out of Tang Ling’s clenched teeth. The exhaustion was quickly expanding in his body just as he expected.

The exhaustion did not actually come from his body, but it was something that would affect him whole, including his spirit, thoughts, and even willpower. The tragic thing was that he could not fight it!

Tang Ling’s thoughts were interrupted as he was left with heavy panting and his body started to shrink rapidly.

His strongest form was released without a sign almost instantly. He did not even have the time to think about how to escape from the exacerbating battlefield.

The Goddess of Fortune would not always favor him. The longer he stayed, the chances of him dying would multiply.

The bombardments from the Hope Barrier were relentless and getting even more frequent. They were currently only bombarding the place where the Zombie King was, but since the whole area was filled with zombies, a carpet bombing or saturation bombardment was inevitable in the end.

Other than that, exposing himself on the roof might also attract some other powerful mutated zombies, and the odds of that happening were quite high.

There were also countless dangers lurking around that might happen at any time.

In other words, he was helpless and could not stop himself from falling into exhaustion. The terrifying thing was that he had no idea how long his exhaustion would last.

As his body shrunk, the remaining battle uniform rags on him started to become loose. Even though it was extremely stretchable, the uniform was unable to return to its original tenacity.

The crystals that he kept all over his remaining uniform fell off due to the extra space, including that crystal which grade was a little shy from being a quality crystal.

It fell off and landed less than 10 mm in front of Tang Ling. Under the Purple Moon light, the purple threads in the crystal emanated a lethal temptation.

Swallow it.

Swallow it.

Tang Ling’s heart raced even though he was very weak as a tremendous and irresistible desire rose in him, urging him to swallow the crystal.

Could the crystal be eaten? In his weakened state, he could not figure out the question, but he had no intention or willpower to resist the temptation. Since the thought crossed in his mind, he started to divert his strength to his hand and slowly extended it towards the crystal.

It was a terrible feeling to be in this weakened state with the messy thoughts in his mind. What was going on?

Even though he was unable to think clearly, he knew based on his instinct that he had gone a little too overboard with the slaughtering. He did not even care about the infection from the zombies and had even chewed on a piece of Level 2 Crawler’s meat. After all, the bacteria control potion was not an almighty potion either.

Was the Devil Fungus taking control of his body?

At the same time, Tang Ling’s hand finally touched the tempting crystal.