At Hell Ledge, countless people from Darkness Port participated in the Hell Ledge Challenge before, but it still remained as the most mysterious place.
The only thing known about the Hell Ledge Challenge was that one must go to the third level of the cabin area and the stationed troops would bring the challenger across a long corridor into a mysterious place to start the challenge.
The so-called challenge was held in a large space. Everyone had different encounters in the space, and whenever one succeeded the first challenge, he would advance further down to the next challenge.
Someone once described the challenge as climbing an upside-down tower. The challenger would go down level by level in the massive tower.
Aside from the difficulty of the challenges, the reason why the Hell Ledge Challenge was mysterious was that no matter how familiar one was with Darkness Port, it was difficult to pinpoint the location of the challenge.
Was it inside the flat-topped mountain? At the ledge of the cliff? No, neither of them were the right locations because there was simply no space big enough to hold the challenge. Some even assumed that the space was imaginary and that it was just a trick of the human brain while the spaciousness was just an illusion.
Boss Huang did not write his explanation in the book this time, but there were some little scribbles beside it. ‘Space? Dream imitation?’ The little scribbles with the question marks represented the doubts in his heart.
Tang Ling originally did not resonate with the challenge, but when he saw the word ‘dream imitation’, his urge got the best of him. He asked Boss Huang, “Boss, do you think they are creating a dream imitation?”
It was impossible for either of them to hide the fact that they were Dream Seeds, so it was only natural for them to talk about the Dream World sooner or later.
Boss Huang was also straightforward with his answer. “That’s what I am suspecting, but why?”
Tang Ling frowned. Yeah, why? What’s the purpose of creating a dream imitation?
Unfortunately, it was not a question that he could answer at the moment. He was done with ‘An In-depth Introduction to Darkness Port’. In summary, the contents of the book were mostly about trivial stuff and he already concluded all the important points. As for the other minor details such as the things in the island area, some other rules, and more trivial stuff, none of them mattered at the moment.
It had only been half an hour since he finished the book.
After he got a better understanding of Darkness Port, more thoughts flowed into his mind. Tang Ling scooped some water with his hand to wash his face, wanting to refresh himself before reading ‘The Purple Moon Chronicles’.
“Huh?” Boss Huang lightly grunted with a strange expression when he saw Tang Ling wash his face with the herbal water.
Tang Ling raised a curious brow at him and said, “What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing, ahem…Nothing’s wrong,” Boss Huang responded strangely. He averted Tang Ling’s gaze and said in an awkward tone, “I sometimes twitch without a reason. Don’t mind me.”
Twitch?
Tang Ling felt suspicious. He looked around and then at himself but found nothing strange, thus all he could do was accept the lame excuse.
The book ‘An In-depth Introduction of Darkness Port’ helped Tang Ling a lot. Be it the secrets or publicly known matters, Boss Huang had written everything down without any qualms.
Therefore, Tang Ling was actually looking forward to reading ‘The Purple Moon Chronicles’. He would never dwell on strange matters. He simply assumed that Boss Huang really had a twitching condition, so he picked the book up.
“You’d better change your mood before you read the second book.” Boss Huang suddenly fired out a strange reminder when he saw Tang Ling pick ‘The Purple Moon Chronicles’ up.
“Mm-hmm.” He nodded and flipped the book open. Little did he know, the secrets that he had been yearning to know were all written in ‘The Purple Moon Chronicles’ and they started from the very first page.
The first sentence of the book was Boss Huang’s remark: personal diary.
2020, August 17th. Sunny.
It’s late summer, almost early autumn, but it’s somehow hotter than mid-summer. Where is the spirit of autumn? It’s a week away from Chinese Valentine’s Day.
I mustered up enough courage and asked her out on Wechat.
Me: Hi, are you free next Tuesday? Do you want to hang out? It’s summer break and we old mates haven’t seen each other for more than a month.
Her: A gathering? Haha, who’s going? Oh, I haven’t congratulated you on getting into Nanjing University.
Gathering? But I just want to spend some time alone with her…
Holding my phone, I was stunned for a while as messy thoughts bombarded my mind. In the end, I replied: You are the first I’m asking. I’ll check with the other mates after this. Why don’t we gather for a bit before we start our university lives? How’s it? Does that sound cool?
As I typed the last word, depression flooded my heart. None of her replies matter anymore. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and decided to go out for a jog to vent my heavy feelings.
I thought a smart girl like her should understand my hints. It’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, so the malls should be promoting it like no tomorrow.
Hmph.
The foul mood really pulled me down. I always ran 5 km easily, yet I ran only five laps today and got tired after less than 2 km. Since it got misty, I went home.
The mist has become the biggest news in people’s mundane lives with all sorts of assumptions up in the air. But isn’t it just mist? If it really is harmful, I think it’s because humans keep destroying the environment and karma is coming for them. Since it’s karma, I guess humans will have to accept it.
Rather than talking about it, why not think of a way to change it and figure out what went wrong and how to do better? Nonetheless, I guess such comments will only be deemed childish by Father.
Whatever, I don’t care. I realize I don’t even have the courage to pick up my phone anymore.
I just thought of a saying: not every relationship bears fruit.
I’ve liked her since our second year in high school and she answered me with that saying. Maybe it proves something. She doesn’t want me to feel bad, she still feels something for me, or maybe she’s just a kind girl.
I always have great insights into people!
Or maybe, like some guy used to say whenever one fell in love, one would automatically learn a new skill: finding infinite excuses for the people one loved.
The mist is thick tonight, limiting my vision and my mood. I keep hearing all sorts of noises in the mist. Am I starting to hear things? I think it’s time for me to sleep.
I tell myself, at least I could look forward to university life, right?
2020, 18th August. Sunny.
Where the hills and streams end and there seems to be no road beyond, another village appears amidst the shady willows and blooming flowers.
People in the past were really smart. It was just a short poem, yet it contained complex surprises.
Like what I’m doing now, writing in my diary as my hands are shaking because of excitement. I just ended a whole day’s worth of talking with her, and I feel like we know each other better.
Now, I realize we have many similarities. The feeling when our gazes meet at times, the little warmth that we hide in our conversation, it’s not one-sided. It’s mutual.
It’s just that both of us have the same goal to achieve, which is to get into our ideal university. That’s why we both decided to hide our feelings.
I did it, and so did she.
I almost missed it and now, I won’t miss it!
I picked up my phone in the morning, wanting to know what she replied yesterday. I thought that after a night, I will have gained some courage back.
I remembered that when I saw the reply on my phone, my heart was racing so fast that it almost popped out of my throat. That particular moment is still vivid in my mind.
I wanted to shout and scream, but all I did was laugh in a silly way at my phone.
Her: You asked me first? Have you gotten in touch with the others? If not…it’s fine if it’s just the both of us.
Hahaha…
She really is as smart as I thought! She understands my hints!
She had also hinted at me, but I was acting stupid yesterday! I didn’t reply in time. I wonder if she feels down for a while like I did?
I start to feel bad for her, so I scold myself stupid. I pick up my phone and muster all my courage for a reply: That’s my original plan, trying to be with you alone. Next Tuesday is Chinese Valentine’s Day! I wanted to tell you before I started university that I’ve liked you since our second year in high school. It’s been two years!
I once thought it required tremendous courage to confess to her and say ‘I like you’. Now, I find out that all she needed was a tiny reply, a little hint, and that was it.
As for the chat, I’m not going to write it down here. I never thought I’d have such patience to chat with her via Wechat for a whole day. But I saved the conversation log in a secret file, and if one day we get married, this will be the most meaningful present ever.
I’m eager to see her again. I can’t wait until Valentine’s.
She agreed to meet up tomorrow. I’m so hyped up! What am I going to wear? I prepared a present for her a long time ago, but I’ve also decided to give her something more meaningful—this diary.
Ever since I liked her, I’ve been writing this diary and recorded all my feelings for her since day one.
Damn it. The mist is really thick tonight.
When will the strange mist go away? I still curiously want to touch it. Will it feel like how people describe it? Can I really feel the mist?
The result was really as described! It feels sticky like something is covering my hand.
Strange. What would the geography teacher say about this? The news didn’t really cover the mist. All the media say is that they are still studying the mist.
I don’t know whether it’s me or if the mist is starting to look purple. How serious is the contamination?
2020, August 19th. Shattered.
It’s gone! Gone! Gone!!!
None of this is real!!
Just let me die! Let me die! I am dying! My body is expanding. It’s heating up! I am dying!
…
Tang Ling’s brows were tightly knitted as he read on. He knew something important was coming up as there was still more to the diary. However, it was the unfinished diary that made him feel the despair of an era being overturned.
His heart started to beat nervously.
