The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  Dudian frowned slightly. Did not say anything. Though his heart was pensive. Because he knew about the details of the disaster that happened three hundred years ago. It is not simply a natural disaster. Although the old man said that the various disasters have occurred, but all of them were caused by nuclear explosions. Obviously these children did not know the real cause of the disaster and someone blocked the information from inside.

  Perhaps to block the information that insider is so influential that maybe even they rule over this post-disaster era.

  "Teacher, my mother said it was very dangerous outside the giant wall. If we go out we will die, is it really true?" A little fat kid who saw Dudian asking questions, made up his courage and raised his hand.

  The old man looked at children and spoke with a serious tone: "Yes, outside the giant wall devils dwell and plague overhelms. Once out, nobody comes back.

  It is thanks to giant wall that we can leasurly sit here to study, eat rice and vegetables. We have to acknowledge and respect the giant wall!"

  The "abbot" refers to the person who studies the law. Like Dudian these children are beginning to learn the law. They are referred as trainee of discipline. If you graduate, through the assessment of the trial, will be able to become a priest or abbot. It is a very sacred position. Same in status as nobility. Not only able to freely access to commercial and residential districts, but also to enter into the wall area!

  "The devil and the plague ... ..." All children are scared pale. Even if they are small they also know how terrible these two are.

  There is a hint of curiosity in Dudian's heart. He naturally does not believe in existence of so called "devils".

  Nuclear bomd explosions has 'baptised' the world. Most probably some of the biological variations have gone extinct or evolved. This explanation is only made up to intimidate the children. Of course, the object of intimidation is not just children but adults too.

  This makes him more curious. How is the world outside the giant wall? What is the appearance after the nuclear bomb explosions? Has it become just a virgin forest because there is no one to develop?

  "Time to finish the class." White beard old man looked at hourglass and said.

  The other children cheered at once.

  At this time, the door opened and suddenly two young people clothed in black leather armor walked into the classroom. White beard old man was about to question them but as soon as he noticed the black medal on shoulders of those two his face suddenly piled up into a smile, "are you here to take children?"

  Dudian was confused as he hear the white-beard man talk. He was vigilant and doubtful at these two peoples appearance.

  One of the slim young people nodded. He looked indifferently and spoke: "Now I will say names. Those who I mentioned, stand up. Do you all understand?" His eyes swept the audience.

  All the children were instantly tensed up. White beard old man spoke up to comfort the children: "Do not worry. These two adults are guards. Those mentioned by them will have a hope to join the public service. This is an enormous event."

  Public office? Dudian heard Jura talking about it. In short, it is the equivalent of the civil servants of the old era. For a lifetime need not worry about their livelihood. In this world it is the dream of many civilians occupation.

  However, Dudian noted the medal on shoulders of two men. After he entered the neighborhood from the slums, he had yet to meet a guard with such medals. The standard leather armor is also different. As he saw teaching staff to be in awe of the officers, a trace of doubt emerged in his heart.

  "Locke!" Young officer said out loud.

  A weak child sitting on table in front of Dudia said in a weak tone: "Here ... ..."

  "Stand up!" Officer shouted.

  The frail child jumped up at once.

  "Marta!"

  "Yes!" A girl quickly stood up.

  "Lamyr!"

  "Carly!"

  Carly who was named stood up. Officer shouted: "Dudian!

  Dudian eyes squinted, slowly stand up.

  Up to this point including him there were eight children selected.

  ...

  ...

  Chapter 9: Scavengers' and 'Hunters'

  "You eight, come with us." Young officer looked at little Dudian eyes, said coldly, turned away with the companion and left the classroom.

  White-bearded old man saw Dudian and other eight did not move, quickly said: "This is your lucky chance. Other people would love to have that chance." Hearing his words, a tall child who stood out because of his height, with courageous steps took the lead of the eight and left the classroom.

  Dudian walked at the end. He was quietly watching the selected children. Trying to contrast and compare the selected ones with the ones left in the classroom. But soon he came to an understanding that there is no common ground at least from color, appearance or any other external feature to distinguish the selected ones from the rest of the students.

  No external feature, then the only option left is inner qualification.

  He suddenly thought of pre-school physical examination. It was the most suspicious event.

  As he was dazzled in his thoughts, the other children had come to the great playground outside the law school. As they arrived here, Dudian saw a black carriage parked in front of the college. The iron bars and a huge rivet were embedded on the carriage giving it an extra strong look. The horses that were pulling the carriage looked much more magnificent. They were nearly three meters tall and had their bodies covered by helmet and armor. It was as if an amazing beast stood there but not a horse.

  It was not only Dudian that was surprised. Other children were stunned at sight too.

  "Come on, get into the carriage" said the young officer.

  All the children hesitated for a moment. The tall child who was going in front of the kids seemingly shouldering the leaders identity asked: " May I ask, where are we going? "

  Fit officer stared at him coldly and said: "Just get into the carriage!"

  At the sharp looks of the officer, the tall child's hairs inverted up and his face turned pale because of fear. He did not dare to ask another question. Carefully avoiding the giant horse, he began to climb up the carriage.

  Other children, who saw this, silently, followed Locke (the tall child) into the carriage.

  The carriage was extremely spacious and more than enough to accommodate the eight children. Dudian sat in the corner. The two children who were sitting next to him had tension on their faces. He quietly looked to the front of the carriage where driver jumped up.

  The world was more dangerous than he imagined. Although there was law, it is clear that certain beings are able to ignore the law!

  As for human rights...

  In the feudal society in which serfs and aristocrats existed, "equality" and "freedom" were never part of human rights. So being delusional enough to believe in rule of law was an outrageous idea.

  The carriage galloped away from the College of the Law in an extremely fast speed. The buildings on both sides of the road swiftly retreated out of sight. It was not long before Dudian saw a high wall. The wall was inscribed with a large word. Dudian had learned a lot of words from Jura couple in the past few months. So he knew the exact meaning of the word.

  Dudian recognized that this is the residential area leading to the wall of the commercial district. Is this carriage going to take them to the business district?

  Other children clearly recognize this point too and then thought of the old white beard teacher. Afterwards the tension in their heart was suddenly replaced by surprise and their faces were full of excited expression.

  Every child in the carriage was eager to enter the aristocracy and the rich life of the commercial district.

  Dudian was not surprised. To be able to bring out children directly from the law school was an indication that there is a great force behind these people. What was important at this point is their purpose good or bad for them?

&nb
sp; Soon, the carriage flew past the concert hall building where Dudian had traveled previously. See this building, Dudian could not help but think of the little girl's sharp questioning discourse. Suddenly feel a little funny, although he thought he would sooner or later enter the civilian area of ??the business district, but did not expect just in a month to come back.

  Before long, the black carriage came to stop in front of a castle, the black uniformed officer sitting at the front of the carriage jumped down, opened the door and shouted at the crowd: "Get off."

  All children obediently got off the carriage.

  Dudian was the last one, but when he was just going to get off, the man suddenly said: "finished here" he looked back to the front of the driver position: "shake off the whip, drove the carriage away"

  Leaving only the original seven children get off, Dudian felt lost.

  Dudian face slightly changed. His heartbeat slightly rose. He opened the carriage curtain to look at the figure of seven children until the disappeared out of his sight.

  After a carriage turned over a corner, his line of sight was totally blocked. Dudian turned his face to see the officer sitting in the empty carriage. Many thoughts turned up in his mind.

  Escape?

  Resistance?

  Obviously, he was up to the mercy of the opposite party.

  Soon, the carriage stopped in front of a manor. This one was a very vast manor. A white lacquer wood fence covered it. An extremely smooth green grass was pruning all over the place. At the moment there were several gardeners who were watering the lawn.

  The door opened and young officer looked Dudian. His cold face turned into a smile: "Little guy, you are quite calm."

  Dudian saw his smile. Dudian was slightly startled and his heart tensed a bit. But he calmed down and directly asked: "Is it because of the radiation values?"

  Officer seemed to change to another individual, as he previous tone and appearance were nowhere to be seen. Wide smile on his face, he said: "Pretty clever. Yes, it's because of the radiation values. They are barely qualified, even through a rough training they could only become "Scavengers". But you, well, there is a hope for you to join "Hunters"."

  "The scavengers and the hunters?" as Dudian heard these two words, he was a bit perplexed. Dudian asked: "Who are the scavengers?"

  "Come over first." The man reached out to hold Dudian as he got off the carriage. They began to walk towards the manor: "The scavengers are responsible for the giant wall to develop out of the security zone. They are mainly looking for available resources. "

  "Out of the giant wall?" Dudian was surprised as it was no small matter. It turned out to be working outside the giant wall. That white-bearded old man obviously knew this. Even though white-bearded man told them that there is plague and devils outside the giant wall and nobody could survive there.

  Although Dudian did not believe in devils, but there is no doubt that the giant wall is extremely dangerous. At least the air radiation is much higher outside the giant wall. Ah, radiation? Suddenly Dudian, as if sobering up from hangover, come to understand. No wonder the radiation value will be used to distinguish between scavengers and hunters, most of the environment outside the giant wall is extremely bad, very high radiation. If the body itself has too high radiation, outside the wall it will be easy to reach saturation. Only the people with low radiation values could survive out there.

  Understanding this point, his heart could not help but suck down the cold lump. People behind the so-called medical examination are responsible for the secret assessment of civilians?

  Chapter 10: .'Light' physique

  "What do hunters do?" Dudian couldn't help but ask: "Is it dangerous outside the giant wall? What is the danger lurking outside the giant wall?" Lots of terrifying things came into his mind. His face became pale, but fortunately his skin color was white, so his fear was not too prominent.

  "You're smart." The slim officer smiled and said: "Outside the giant wall is... ..."

  The man next to him frowned and said:"Fernando, we have not confirmed his identity yet, do not talk too much."

  Surprised for a moment, Fernando shrugged: "Does not matter. His measured radiation value is 0.8. It's lower than 1 so he probably has the "light physique".

  "We have to do the test. Do not come to an early conclusion!" the second man frowned.

  Fernando paused to think for a moment, before he bowed to Dudian and said: "You can only wait until the test finishes so that I can tell you. Nevertheless at that time someone will explain everything to you."

  Dudian heard their conversation and was slightly confused "Light physique? What does that mean? "

  "Wait a few minutes and you will know." Fernando mysteriously laughed.

  All three of them walked into the manor. Several gardeners who were sprinkling the lawn respectfully nodded their heads in salute as the three of them passed by. They walked on the white stone path paved in the middle of the lawn. A giant door, more than 10 meters high, was opened for them to enter. Fernando led Dudian into one of the steeple towers within the mansion. Walking up the steps Fernando led Dudian into a dark room on the top floor.

  On their way, all the servants who saw them stood still and respectfully nodded as they passed by.

  Dudian looked into the dark room. There were no windows, but instead a small hole just enough to ventilate the room. It was also covered with a black curtain, so it must have been a while since sunshine had infiltrated the room. The air in the room was cold, like the temperature of the early rainy season.

  In the center of the room there was a metal table covered on top with a black cloth. Fernando walked towards the metal table. He took off the black cloth to reveal a smooth crystal ball. White chilly air was released from the crystal ball. The crystal ball was actually a sphere of ice.

  "Come on, little guy," Fernando pulled out a sharp knife hidden inside his black leather arm bracer and looked back at Dudian: "Come over."

  Suddenly, Dudian could see that there were very small white insects inside this almost transparent crystal ball. If you did not look carefully, it was impossible to detect.

  "These are "light worms". They can only survive in a cold environment." Fernando smiled and said: "If you have the light physique, they will not drink your blood." As soon as he finished speaking, Fernando grabbed Dudian's little hand and moved it to the top of the crystal. On top of the crystal ball there was a small hole, as if it were a container.

  After a stroke of the blade, Dudian felt pain in his finger. A drop of blood dripped from his finger and fell into the hole, slipping inside the crystal.

  At this time, the "light worms" that were lying dormant, sleeping at the bottom of the crystal ball, seemed to wake up as if disturbed from their dreams. As if sniffing for the location of blood, they began to slightly move towards the drop of blood.

  Fernando's face changed, while the second man frowned upon seeing this scene.

  Dudian thought of Fernando's words and his heart sank.

  They saw the "light worms" quickly climb towards the blood. As soon as they reached the drop of blood, they began absorbing it as if their bodies were sponges. Their small white bodies became tinged with red, but soon after the color quickly dissipated and was restored to white.

  "Impossible ah ... ..." Fernando frowned as he murmured: "Has it been long since they ate something? Are they hungry?

  His cut his finger, and dripped blood into the hole.

  However, the worms did not even glance at it and moved back to the bottom of the crystal ball to curl up.

  Fernando's face was gloomy. Without a word, he quickly grabbed Dudian's hand and made a cut. Blood fell into the crystal ball, and the worms began to climb to the top to swiftly absorb it.

  "Really, he ain't!" Fernando seemed to be somewhat discouraged. He loosened his grip on Dudian's little hand, and also put away his knife.

  Dudian frowned slightly. By now he probably already knew the reason. His body was immune to radiat
ion more than the average person. So his body's radiation content was lower than ordinary people. These people were looking for "hunting" partners, but in his case he had been out of the cold storage for less than half a year. His contact with the world was too short, so the body radiation content was low.

  Another young man looked at Dudian indifferently: "It seems your previous family was quite good."

  When Dudian heard his cold voice his mind became uncomfortable because he understood the meaning behind his words. It seemed these people had already thoroughly investigated Dudian's background. They knew that he was adopted by Jura and Gray. Moreover they knew that he had not been in Meishan orphanage for long. So as to say, they thought that he was the kind abandoned by an aristocratic or rich family. Only these types of families ate and drank things which were filtered and had low radiation.

  "I did not expect him to be an abandoned rich kid" Fernando sighed with a disappointed face.

  Dudian was quiet and avoided speaking. But his heart was not discouraged. Once you became a hunter, it was necessary to go to those dangerous areas, although he didn't know what dangers laid outside. But he figured it was best to not take those kinds of risks.

  The second officer looked at Dudian and spoke in a cold voice: "Little guy. Everything that you saw and heard in here have to be kept confidential. It absolutely must not be exposed, including what you heard about "Hunters", "Scavengers" and everything else. Whatever you heard or saw should disappear from your mind. Just forget everything. Do you get me? "

  "These must be the legal restrictions?" thought Dudian. He nodded and said: "I will keep my lips sealed."

  The second officer, upon seeing Dudian be so obedient, turned with a slight chill in his eyes as he looked at Fernando and said:"Fortunately, you did not talk to much nonsense in front of him or the only option would be left to 'deal' with the little guy"

  Hearing this, Dudian0 who had been calm till then, suddenly felt as if cold water was poured over his head. His life was almost ruined by accident? He now knew for sure that the law couldn't guarantee his life. Even if you observed the law word by word to be safe and sound, there were some powers that could end your life as simply as dusting their sleeves.