Inside the dark tunnel, dust and smoke clouded the air. Following the violent explosion, the aftershock from the shocking destruction was still reverberating.
Everyone’s ears were still buzzing as occasional rolling stones produced thuds that frightened them.
Tang Ling coughed fiercely. It felt like his organs were reeling from the impact.
His grandmother was fine, and so was his sister. Tang Ling stood up, heaving a sigh of relief. Then, he helped the duo, who he covered beneath him just now, up.
“Damn it!” Quark spat on the ground as he wiped the dust on his face away and muttered to himself, “I used a little too much, didn’t I?”
He then cackled with his left middle finger waving in the air. He bellowed, “Damn rats! Try to follow me if you dare!”
No concern was shown towards Quark’s weird hand sign. Tang Ling stopped coughing and spun around for a look. He realized countless rocks in various sizes had completely blocked the tunnel entrance that they just went through.
“What’s this?” He could not suppress the astonishment in his heart anymore. Even the most dangerous boulder-crashing bear that he once met in his adventures in the thick forest could not have delivered an attack like this.
Was it something a weak human could achieve? Could the Purple Moon Warriors have done this?
Neither could that loud explosion, not that horrifying destruction be forgotten even with a single glimpse.
Quark seemed to be in the mood as he took a bottle of clean water out from his little backpack, drank a mouthful and replied, “Explosives. Do you know explosives?”
Tang Ling widened his eyes. Medicine? Medicine that cured sickness? He could not understand how something like this could pack such power.
1
A cynical smirk hung in the corner of Quark’s mouth. He simply put his hands around Tang Ling’s shoulders. “I once heard a phrase. It’s called looking at the sky from the bottom of the well. Meaning, a frog, no, it should be a tongue-popper, being placed in a narrow tunnel and the sky that it sees is only as big as the exit of the tunnel.
“Get it? This is to describe those ignorant people. But think deeper. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. For you, it’s good for you to be alive.” As he spoke, Quark searched his backpack and took a rather rusty tube out. He simply pressed it and a beam of light illuminated the dark tunnel.
This time around, besides Tang Ling, even his grandmother was astonished. They knew the Safety Sector had something that could light up with electricity. It was called a ‘lamp’.
But what was the tube in Quark’s hand? Was it a lamp too?
“Let’s go. Staying in this damn tunnel will trap you to death eventually. I did some research before. It leads straight to the Safety Sector. Until then, the people in the Safety Sector will shockingly realize, ‘Whoa, how come a person can pop out from the ground?’ Even the Purple Moon Warriors can’t stop me.” Quark’s chatter was relentless. With his lighting tube, he walked forward.
Speechless, Tang Ling carried his little sister and held his grandmother’s hand before following Quark.
He could not verbally describe his current mood. Both the sorrow of hell descending before his eyes and the ‘wonders’ that Quark displayed intertwined in his heart and formed an unknown emotion within him. He doubted the realness of this world. He could not explain why a weak human was not that weak anymore.
At least, Quark proved it to him.
“Are you saying that we should dig our way straight to the Safety Sector? Does this mean that this tunnel leads to the Safety Sector?” While he was filled with complicated feelings, the words that his grandmother spoke all of a sudden stopped Tang Ling’s thoughts.
Quark turned around. Under the light, Tang Ling noticed his grandmother’s eyes gleaming in an unusual shine. She was yearning to know more and was astonished by the possibility of it!
“How’s that possible? That’s at least a few hundred meters away from the Safety Sector! We can’t go any further.” Quark sounded defeated.
“Why? Didn’t you say it leads to the Safety Sector?” Tang Ling would not hold on to the fragile hope. If this tunnel really led to the Safety Sector, Quark really had no reason to take him along.
However, it did not mean that Tang Ling had no doubts.
“F*ck! Black-horned purple-striped snakes! Behind the wall is a den full of black-horned purple-striped snakes!” Quark looked slightly afraid as he revealed the reason to Tang Ling brazenly.
“What did you say?” Burning anger ignited in Tang Ling’s heart all of a sudden. He stepped up and grabbed Quark by the collar.
As a hunter who took the risk, he knew how dangerous a black-horned purple-striped snake was. The king of the forest was the boulder-crashing bear, but even it dared not go head-to-head against a black-horned purple-striped snake.
Because an adult black-horned purple-striped snake would be at least 15 meters long, their explosive strength could easily strangle any beast to death, including the boulder-crashing bear, given that the snake successfully strangled the target.
If it was just a deadly strangle, it was not that scary, yet the most terrifying thing about it was its venom. The slightest bite or cut from its fangs or horns would deadly be beyond rescue.
If a single black-horned purple-striped snake was the scariest killer of all, then what about a whole den of them? What kind of concept would that be? Even the zombie waves outside would pale in comparison, and they would not be that scary anymore.
Had Quark brought them straight into such danger? How could Tang Ling tolerate it?
“Otherwise, why do you think I’d bring you along?” Quark was not nervous. He gently moved Tang Ling’s hands and continued, “In theory, this tunnel can indeed reach the Safety Sector, but the crucial section is blocked by the wall.
“I don’t know who the hell built those walls, but up to this point, I think I should thank them. After I spent some heavy efforts breaking the wall, I discovered a den of black-horned purple-striped snakes inside, including a colossal one among them.
“To top it all off, I’m very certain that that big one is going through another mutation soon,” Quark revealed everything without pause. He did not care whether or not Tang Ling could digest all the information. He was also not concerned about whether he could understand the meaning of mutation. In short, he winked at Tang Ling and continued in a straightforward tone, “Don’t tell me you want to continue to keep it a secret? Of course, you can avoid the danger.”
Tang Ling’s expression shifted. Was this what Quark knew about him? His secret? His Precise Instinct?
But thankfully, Quark didn’t know about ‘it’!
Regardless of that, the feeling was anything but great, so Tang Ling’s eyes were cautious. “Did you follow me?”
“I think every single businessman would be interested in a lucky kid, but only interested doesn’t mean they’d care, except for now!” Quark did not try to deny anything.
Tang Ling stopped talking. In fact, based on all those wonders Quark displayed, it was not impossible for the man to have quietly observed him.
Sucking in a deep breath, Tang Ling stood side by side with Quark. “What you said just now is too vague. You have to tell me the details. I can’t guarantee to bring anyone out of here by relying on some vague and unclear instinct.”
As for what he had to face after he got out? What he must do after this? Tang Ling did not have a single plan in his mind, but the difficult situation at hand must be solved.
Because there was no retreat anymore.
“Not a problem,” Quark then whispered the details of the situation in the secret tunnel into Tang Ling’s ears.
Tang Ling listened carefully. He did not notice that his grandmother’s gleaming eyes had turned gloomy, and neither did he realize that San San had somehow completely gone quiet.
She once again lost the impulse to cry.