Chapter 4: Hidden

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This was Tang Ling’s secret.

Even his dearest sister and grandmother did not know that a Devil lived inside Tang Ling’s heart.

As a matter of fact, Tang Ling did not know whether it was right or not to treat this insatiable hunger that would happen at intervals as an existence.

It would sound ridiculous if he said it aloud.

However, he strongly believed that it was not a physical problem but another existence that lived inside his heart.

It happened when he was 11 and Tang Ling had suspected it since then.

It was his first outing. He wanted to do something for his poor family, but he accidentally got lost and was surrounded by five black-toothed rats.

In that desperate situation, Tang Ling risked his life and killed one black-toothed rat, but he failed to escape the rat’s encirclement.

Even in such a situation of life and death, the hunger attacked for the first time.

The hunger that ought to devour everything left a fresh impression in Tang Ling’s mind until now. He himself was not hungry, but it was like there was another thing in him that felt hungry and kept urging him to search for food or else, it would devour his body altogether.

Tang Ling doubted and feared himself. He even forgot the fear of being surrounded by black-toothed rats.

Unfortunately, where would he search for food in a desperate situation? As he escaped, the tremendous hunger felt like it had started to devour him. Under immense helplessness and fear, he passed out without realizing it.

As for what happened after that, that was the mystery that Tang Ling always hoped to solve although he was deeply afraid to do so because when he woke up back then, he found three intact dead bodies of black-toothed rats beside him. Other than the crushed heads, there were no other injuries on them.

Back then, he had no experience, but now as he reminisced it, the rats were obviously killed by a single punch. It was a punch at the hardest part of the body, the skull.

There were five black-toothed rats back then, and he managed to kill one while three more died mysteriously.

Where was the last one?

In the next panicked moment, Tang Ling realized that there was a half-gnawed rat in his hands.

Who had done it?

Tang Ling was once again drowned in horror, but a while later, he discovered that there was some shredded skin belonging to the black-toothed rats beside him. His mouth was also painted with blood when he wiped it and the inside of his mouth reeked of copper and the exceptionally disgusting taste of the black-toothed rats.

It was himself!

Now, thinking back, it felt like a dream and not something that had really happened.

However, the hunger attack that struck Tang Ling once around every 20 days reminded him that it was all real.

Of course, he dared not believe that he had killed those black-toothed rats himself back then. Delivering a killing punch to the head? He must be nearly becoming a Purple Moon Warrior in terms of strength to achieve such a feat!

Then, who was the mysterious man that had followed him?

Unfortunately, such a situation happened only once due to the fact that Tang Ling was able to get food just in time every single time after that when the hunger attacked.

“But you are getting greedier.” Tang Ling’s slightly cold fingers swept across his chest. The trace of fear and doubt in his eyes were replaced by calmness.

In this era, staying alive was considered a luxury.

As long as he could stay alive, he could bear the burden of supporting his grandmother and little sister.

Nonetheless, Tang Ling was troubled by the fact that the appetite of the monster that lived in his chest which grew bigger at every interval.

It followed a pattern. Usually, the attack happened once around every 20 days, but if any of the attacks stayed dormant for more than a month, the next attack would surely be more frenzied, and he would need more food to sustain himself.

Just like this time, he had devoured one and a half kilograms worth of dried black teeth rat meat! One thing worth noting was that given the same kilograms, dried meat was more sustainable to the stomach than fresh meat.

He was afraid that one day, he could no longer search for that much food in time.

Tang Ling tore away from his gnawing marks on the black-toothed rat meat, grabbed the remaining rat and strode forward.

Everything was not important. The important thing was the exam for reserved warriors tomorrow.

He hoped he could walk out of the dark underground and bring his grandmother and little sister to live on the safe and beautiful surface.

**

In the Fifth Camp of the Third Settlement in Safety Sector No.17.

This was where Tang Ling lived in the settlement and this was not the best place in the settlement which had those so-called rooms.

This place was just a relatively large, empty space in the underground water tunnels although no one knew what was the purpose of the old civilizations reserving such a big space for.

Therefore, the place was segregated into the Fifth Camp.

Now, ten thousands of people lived there in the spacious area, therefore it was stuffed with all sorts of messy sheds, forming complicated and narrow alleys all over.

The air was stuffy and muddled, but it was still decent. At least, it did not connect to the drains flowing with contaminated mauve underground water that reeked badly.

Holding half a black-toothed rat, he shuttled through the alleyways quickly. Along the way, he ignored the greedy, envious, malicious and some friendly gazes purposely.

No one dared to have any thoughts about the goods traded from Quark’s.

“Quite the results you have there, Tang Ling.” A familiar voice sounded in Tang Ling’s ears.

Tang Ling looked up. It was Uncle Zhang with his long beard, the man who taught him hunting techniques and the man that Tang Ling respected and was grateful towards.

A smile curved on his face, but Tang Ling did not reply verbally. He was not a talker anyway.

Uncle Zhang was not calculative either. He tapped Tang Ling’s shoulder and said, “Go now. You’ve gone out for three days. Your family must be worried.”

Tang Ling shot him a grateful glance before he hastening his steps.

That was right. He still had his grandmother and little sister back at home. Before he could truly bear the burden of the whole family, the living expenses of the family relied on his grandmother collecting scraps in the Safety Zone as she searched for valuable items left behind by the old civilization.

However, as time went by, how many more valuable items were out there for her to collect?

Despite that, his grandmother still insisted on the collecting of the items just so she could share the burden with Tang Ling.

If I could be any stronger, that would be great.

Tang Ling pursed his lips.

As for his younger sister, San San was just 5 years old. Thinking about his sister, heartache and warmth floated in Tang Ling’s heart.

As though she was not influenced by the harshness of this era, the cute little girl was simple, pure and tender. Seeing her every time was like looking at a clear sky.

The heartache he felt was because shortly after she was born, their parents died in a hunt.

In fact, San San’s parents were Tang Ling’s foster parents. Tang Ling was adopted when he was four and they treated him like their own.

Despite being good people, they were unfortunately devoured by this cruel era and did not end well, but Tang Ling would surely repay his debt for their gratitude.

The unfortunate thing was that he only remembered the adoption. The rest of the memories from before he was four were blank.

But even if he remembered them, so what? Why would he remember the people who abandoned him? There were so many abandoned children in this precarious era.

Having his mind filled with thoughts, Tang Ling arrived at the northeast corner of the Fifth Camp in a daze. The familiar tent entered his line of vision.