Chapter 159: 10 Year Promise (2 in 1)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After going through the tunnels and shuttling through the Cliff of Hope, it was evening at the Hope Barrier and the sky was dyed red by the sunset.
It was the middle of sumr.
The tunnel was connected directly to the cave. Right after he ca out from the tunnel and stepped out of the exit of the cave, Tang Ling saw the blazing red sky.
He stopped. He knew that in a little while more, the red sun would fade and set. The dark blue night sky would then devour the red, replacing its vivid colors with a gloomy silence.
“Brother, what’s that?” San San’s little hand was holding the stem of a plant. On top of the stem was a flower with five white petals garnished with a pink edge. It looked cute like San San’s clean little hands.
“Bitter Baedin...” Tang Ling turned around, and before he could even finish, he saw San San pluck a white petal and put it into her mouth.
” Pui, pui, pui, pui...Bitter! Bad petal!” Her delicate nose crinkled as her googly eyes that were as clear as lake water squinted and her cheeks were puffed up.
Life was hard, but Tang Ling’s goal was simple: never starve San San.
Tang Ling smiled as he pinched her puffy cheeks. “You little glutton.”
“It’s bitter, isn’t it? Let give you sothing sweet, okay? You see, the petals and the leaves of the Bitter Baedin are bitter, but its roots are sweet. Go on. Taste it.”
“Mm-hmm! Sweet! It’s so sweet!” San San smiled brightly as she put the root into her mouth and did not want to spit it out. Tang Ling carried her over his neck and walked ho.
It was also sunset at that ti, but they must get ho before dark. Their grandmother was at ho with a fire built, heated food and boiled water.
“Brother, the sunset goes away so fast.
“Brother, I don’t like the night. If the sun sets a little slower, I can play a little longer outside.
“Brother...”
Tang Ling wandered to the First Reserved Camp’s entrance in a daze. As for the setting sun, he did not want to look at it anymore. At least, the painful mories were less painful now. They replayed many tis in his mind and he seed to have sohow gotten used to them.
The reason why the mories ca to him this ti was that he was tired after hiding in the secret tunnel to cultivate his eating thod, hence the mories seized the opportunity and reminded him of the past.
Tang Ling recovered his normal expression as he took a thorny sweet lon out from his backpack. He bought it in Safety Sector No. 17 as a gift for everyone. It was not expensive at all since it was quite common in the forest during the sumr.
Tang Ling munched on the sweet lon, its juice splashing as he landed a bite. The gluttonous rascal was back.
However, the First Reserved Camp cave was very quiet, so no one was there to watch his show. The annual test of the First Reserved Camp was just around the corner, hence almost every New Moon Warrior decided to take the day off today.
“Am I too early?” Tang Ling simply wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Then, he heard soothing and beautiful singing from inside the cave.
It was great!
Tang Ling unconsciously lightened his steps and snuck over to the cave where the singing ca from. It was their cave, the Fierce Dragon Squad cave.
It was actually Vian and Christina singing. They were smiling as they leaned on each other, harmonizing the lodious tune over and over again. They looked very happy as they were engrossed in singing.
Tang Ling did not barge in. Instead, he quietly backed off and leaned against the entrance, listening to their singing.
It was an era of ntal draught. The cruelty of life forced people to move on and never stop, hence no one had the ti to create any kind of ntal wealth like literature, music and magical movies or television shows.
Tang Ling knew about those things through reading, but he did not have the ti to listen to a full song from the old civilization.
In his mories, a song ant so old tunes that his grandmother humd to put him to sleep. San San would also hum when she was happy though it was mostly so random squeaks without any actual rhythm.
It was the first ti he heard soone singing, and surprisingly, he realized the song was effective at calming one’s heart.
Tang Ling was enjoying it alone at the entrance until he saw Amir walk in from outside. He saw Tang Ling standing at the entrance and was surprised.
“Shhhh.” Tang Ling signed Amir not to interrupt them.
Amir quietly stood beside Tang Ling while the singing continued inside the cave.
“Isn’t it nice?” Tang Ling whispered his question to Amir who also enjoyed it a lot. His eyes were gleaming as he nodded.
“Where did you co back from?” Tang Ling unconsciously asked. He just wanted to have a little conversation to kill the silence between them.
Everyone in the Fierce Dragon Squad was close, but Amir seed to have built a wall between himself and the others. Maybe it was just him, but Tang Ling felt that Amir’s ntal wall was very complex. He did not want that because Amir was from the settlent. Also, when Tang Ling faked being injured that day, Amir had strode over and offered his Hope credits to heal him. The sincerity on his face back then was authentic.
Unbeknownst to him, although it was just an unintentional question, Amir reacted differently. The complication on his face deepened.
A while later, he said softly, “I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed here in the Hope Barrier. I just went out for a stroll.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.” Tang Ling felt guilty all of a sudden. Should he not have known about it either? He was also from the settlent, and without Su Yao, he would have nowhere to go either.
******
“Don’t be shy now. Co on. Sing again. I insist.” Orston was loud with excitent in the cave.
Together with Orston’s exalted tone, Andy was also encouraging the girls to sing. He was jumping around and begging Vian and Christina to sing the song that Tang Ling and Amir heard in the evening.
Everyone looked forward to hearing the song of the old civilization.
It was considered a precious treasure. Since the era took a drastic shift, the video and vocal recordings of the old civilization were mostly destroyed while the remaining ones were sohow lost in transition.
Rumor had it that only a very few nobles could get their hands on those precious treasures.
As a New Moon Warrior, all they could access were so literary works from the old civilization, but they could never get close to a video or a recording.
“Co on, sing for us,” Yu also tried to encourage them.
Christina glared at Tang Ling. Who would have thought that Tang Ling would be that sick to eavesdrop on their singing when he ca back and not even notify them of his presence? Furthermore, he even told everyone about it! Even Amir, who was always quiet, was influenced by Tang Ling.
Christina looked askance at Tang Ling but he ignored her. Orston, on the other hand, insisted and kept encouraging them to sing.
“Tina, why don’t we sing again?” Vian pulled Christina’s sleeve and said softly.
Christina glared at Tang Ling once more as she said, “Fine, we will sing, but everyone pays 1 Hope credits each. We aren’t singing without any pay!”
“Hehehe, we are always lacking resources during missions but definitely not Hope credits! I’ll pay 2 Hope credits for you to sing twice.” Tang Ling was not frightened by Christina’s glare. He held a cup of warm water in his hand and acted like he was imnsely generous.
Amidst the laughter, Vian and Christina conceded, so the two girls started to croon the song that they sang in the evening a little embarrassedly.
They sounded great, the two of them could sing well, plus the lody and beautiful tune of the old civilization, one would easily be infatuated with their singing.
Even Yu and Orston who had heard the songs of the old civilization before felt that Vian and Christina sang better than the recordings.
As the singing echoed in the cave, the fire danced and generated warmth. The guys of the Fierce Dragon Squad sat down quietly and looked at the two girls with kind gazes and soft smiles. The two girls looked a little shy, but at the sa ti, they were proud as they held hands and sang for the group.
They had grown together for two months now, so they were closer than ever. They laughed and played around, having gone through tedious and tiring training and were still able to enjoy the tiny bits of life among themselves. They had just gone through a life-and-death battle, but now, they were infatuated by the singing. The scene would be carved in their mories for eternity like a painting.
After the first song ended, Tang Ling, who was leaning on the cave wall, asked the girls, “What does the song an?”
Although he was able to understand several types of language due to his muddled and strange mories, he did not understand the song that they sang and was just attracted by the tune.
“Yeah, what does it an?” Everyone else was also curious.
The language of the song sounded very uncommon. Even Orston and Yu, who were nobles and had to learn the language of the old civilization since young, had never heard of the language before.
“It is a type of language from so island country in the Dongsheng Continent. When the old civilization died off, the island country was completely cut off from the outside world, so their legacy and inheritance were harder to be preserved,” Christina explained.
During that ti, the old civilization had achieved technological advancent, hence the distance between countries was closer than ever, and they should have a lot of ways to communicate.
Therefore, the song of the island country was sohow passed down among nobles, but no one was able to understand the language.
Christina found the song in her family collection by accident. When saw the lyrics, she was moved, so she dragged Vian into practicing the song since it was a holiday.
As for the aning of the lyrics, Christina looked at Vian. It would be much better for Vian, a sentintal girl, to explain since she was too bold and rough. She would destroy the aning of the lyrics if she explained it.
“The lyrics are about classmates parting ways with each other and the promise they made before they walk their separate paths. ‘Classmates’ is a term from the old civilization. I(t ans people that learn together and live together like us here in the First Reserved Camp,” Vian explained what the song was about before she further elaborated word by word.
“I will not forget the promise I made at the end of sumr,
“And the dreams and wishes in the future.
“I believe that we will et again 10 years later at the end of sumr.
“The best mories will linger in us.
“eting you was a thoughtless but precious mont.
“Ah, the fireworks that blood in the night sky felt sad.
“Ah, the wind flows along with ti.
“The happiness and joy that we’ve been through, the adventures that we overco, they were countless and precious.
“I believe that we will et again 10 years later at the end of sumr.
“It will be a little sad, but the mories will be the best.”
Vian’s sentintal and emotional voice read out the lyrics. Just like what Christina said, even the lyrics were touching.
Even Orston, the slowest among the bunch, understood why Christina and Vian would be moved by the song to the point that they learned it themselves. It was relatable to their current lives and how they spent every day together through thick and thin.
The boys would never express it verbally. All they did was look at each other and strengthen their thoughts for each other.
After Vian finished explaining the lyrics, she sat down and put her hands under her chin to look at everyone. Eventually, she asked Tang Ling, “It’s also sumr now. Do you think we’ll still be together 10 years later at the end of sumr? If we are together, will we be fighting for the sector? Or if we aren’t together anymore, will we see each other again 10 years later at the end of sumr? What will we beco in 10 years?”
Her question sohow jabbed at Tang Ling’s heart. It stung him, to be exact. He thought the pain and sorrow had died together with his grandmother and sister. He never expected to feel the sa with soone else.
10 years later? Maybe it would not even take 10 years for him to break away from Safety Sector No. 17.
However, Tang Ling did not want to express his thoughts at all as if he did not want to rember all this, yet to his surprise, he rembered all of it.
Therefore, Tang Ling returned to his carefree and heartless self as he said with a laugh, “What are you thinking about? You’ll get fat in 10 years like that cooking maiden that deliver als for the warriors on duty. Tsk tsk. Why would you still want to fight by then? You should live your life happily in the sector. Hahaha...”
What kind of answer was that? Only Orston chuckled with Tang Ling, both of them looking silly.
Vian hugged her knees with slight disappointnt as Christina then glared at Tang Ling again. She could never communicate with Tang Ling spiritually, he was as dull as a rock other than being able to eat like mad.
******
“Why did you say sothing like that to Vian just now?” Yu was a little unhappy as he tossed a little pouch to Tang Ling.
Tang Ling peered down, not looking at Yu. He opened the pouch to find a few pieces of at. Judging from the muscle patterns and intensity, it must be vicious beast at although maybe not as good as Level 3 vicious beast at.
“Level 2 vicious beast at?” Tang Ling weighed the pouch with his hand. It was about 2.5 kgs and should last him for a while.
“Yeah, 2.5 kgs of Level 2 vicious beast at jerky. It requires at least 10 kgs of fresh Level 2 vicious beast at to produce that amount. That’s already half of the family’s savings. As for the Level 3 vicious beast at, the family isn’t going to trade it for so crystals. Even the Level 2 vicious beast at is sothing they thought that I needed,” Yu explained.
“That’s good enough.” Tang Ling was not calculative. Although Yu said that he would lose sothing in the trade, Tang Ling felt like he earned sothing.
“You didn’t answer . Why did you discourage Vian like that.” Yu pressed on the topic.
“Did I? I just don’t have the heart to think about 10 years later, so I just spoke my mind.” Tang Ling looked at the battlefield ruins at the edge of the Patrol Ground under the Purple Moon. He felt like he was looking at the settlent ruins.
Who would think about 10 years later?
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