Chapter 35: Brand
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After seeing the garbage in the Mysterious Store, the word “reward” certainly stimulated Tang Ling. He uncontrollably yearned for it and the burning urge in his eyes was brazen.
“Let me think what garbage should I give you. I’ve gotten rid of lots of garbage recently with excuses.” Kun tapped on the counter lightly. A crystal clear cup, so clear that it was almost invisible, had somehow appeared in his hand. The lush green liquid inside was faintly showing and emanating a refreshing aroma.
He took a sip from the cup. Tang Ling’s breath hurried. He did not mind what Kun said at all. After all, it would be best if Kun could simply give him the two pieces of garbage that he mentioned.
Kun put the cup down and said calmly as if he had seen through Tang Ling’s thoughts, “Stop dreaming. Even if those two are garbage, I’d rather put them at my place to eat up space than give them to you as a reward.”
Tang Ling was rendered speechless.
Living for 15 years, it was the first time he had seen a man who could speak so distinctly. Kun subtly mocked himself, yet he sounded utterly reasonable, but it did not feel strange when Kun said it.
In fact, even though Kun was a man, in Tang Ling’s heart, the lines between Kun’s gender had somewhat been blurred out.
Tang Ling only hoped that Kun would not see through his current thoughts.
“Let’s just go with this.” Thankfully, Kun did not care about Tang Ling’s thoughts. He finally came up with a decision after some pondering.
He did not open any of the drawers from the counter behind him though. Instead, with a rather troubled expression, he took something out from under the counter that he was sitting behind and tossed it to Tang Ling.
The strength of the toss was perfectly controlled. It landed on Tang Ling’s hands easily.
The item was not big, only the size of a palm, but it was almost 1.5 kilograms in weight.
His Precise Instinct finally came into play after so long. Tang Ling’s curiosity also drove him to have a closer look at the item in his hand.
It was dark red with a metallic luster and grayish-white veins all over it but not a single layer of fat—it was a piece of meat!
A single look at it told him that the meat would taste bad.
“Level 3 vicious beast meat.” Kun held his cup up with both his hands and took another sip of the lush green liquid.
Tang Ling held the piece of meat tightly!
Yes, this was good enough!
Even though he still had no idea how to categorize a vicious beast until now, based on what he learned from Su Yao, the vicious beast bone that he used to boil the soup was the lowest of all—Level 1 vicious beast bone.
Level 3 was powerful enough, was it not? And it weighed 1.5 kg!
Tang Ling was not greedy. He cherished and was grateful for every gain, but Kun, on the other hand, suddenly and somewhat purposely muttered, “I feel sorry for Xiao Guai. I’m giving you its snack.”
“Xiao Guai?” Tang Ling furrowed his brows.
“Oh, this is Xiao Guai.” Kun brought a tortoise, which was only half the size of his palm, out from under his counter.
Tang Ling went quiet, the grievance stuck in his throat.
I’ve gotten the reward. It’s best I say goodbye and leave. I hope the next time I come here, I’ll have Dream Coins to use.
Kun kept his little tortoise away and simply pointed at his chest. “You don’t need to be overly concerned about the rewards now. This is the really interesting part. It’s really interesting, you know?”
Kun looked at Tang Ling, the gaze from his calm face was unpredictable.
On the other hand, Tang Ling felt the blood in his body rising. He understood! He knew Kun was talking about ‘it’ in his heart, the secret that Su Yao refused to tell him!
“You win some, you lose some. It’s awoken now and you’ll be in tremendous pain from here on,” Kun commented. He then took a silver item the size of a fingertip and tossed it at Tang Ling before waiting for his response.
The item landed on Tang Ling’s left arm and disappeared after a second. In the next moment, a slight stinging sensation came from his left hand followed by a sense of chilliness.
It caused tremendous anxiety in Tang Ling. Almost instinctively, he rolled up his sleeves and he realized that there was a silver tattoo on his right arm after the sensation subsided.
“This is a special mark of the Dream Seed. No one else can see it, except for other Dream Seeds. As for its usage, you’ll know when it comes into play.”
Tang Ling nodded but his eyes were glued to the silver tattoo. The design was simple. It was a combination of two squares.
It reminded Tang Ling of the signage hanging outside the door when he came into the Mysterious Store. Now, when he had a second look at the square icon, a strange familiar feeling rumbled in his heart and a stinging sensation troubled his head as well.
He was no stranger to the stinging sensation though. Every time when he tried to think about the blank memories of his past, should any be any external stimulations, his brain would prickle lightly but painfully. It was not the first time, but Tang Ling’s reaction piqued Kun’s interest.
His lazy bearing faded and he started to size Tang Ling up carefully.
“The brain’s memory block is a special way used to trigger the protective measures of the brain, hence causing selective memory loss. Hehehe, interesting.”
Tang Ling looked up, his gaze stating that he was at a loss. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. A little gift for you.” Kun sounded as casual as before, yet his eyes showed a trace of seriousness.
Then, he took another strange item out and pressed it. A thin blue line of electric current hit Tang Ling.
Tang Ling growled painfully. He instinctively hugged his head and felt the electric current go through him. Then, it broke the edge of something in his brain. Information started to seep out from the broken edge and the pain grew more intense.
“Huh, a very decisive move, I see. The method is also very delicate. Whatever, it’s none of my business. Causing a little trouble would be enough.” Kun did not care about Tang Ling’s condition. He talked on his own and kept away the item in his hand, but the coldness that seeped through his gaze would send chills down one’s spine.
Tang Ling did not notice any of that. The pain in his brain that felt like it was going to burst any minute lasted for almost ten minutes before it slowly calmed down.
When he got back up on his feet, his shirt was drenched by his sweat.
“Look at your arm again.” Kun had returned to his lazy and calm tone.
Tang Ling unconsciously looked at the square tattoo on his arm—Kun Ya!
Then, he got a clear understanding that the square icons were not just some designs. They were words from a language that had been passed down for a long time and presented a strong sense of beauty. It was Huaxianese, the language of Huaxia.
While he knew the words, and also comprehended some other words, but the Huaxianese was the first that he learned and recognized as his mother tongue.
What are these unknown memories? A sense of cold and fear rose from Tang Ling’s heart.
It was from the fear of the unknown, but Kun seemed to have no intention of explaining. He said, “The only thing scarier than having no power is being ignorant of knowledge. Learn to read. Only then you can absorb knowledge. Even if you are a Dream Seed, you cannot grow by being ignorant.”