Chapter 145
Li Chaocheng’s eyes moved around while he talked, obviously thinking about how he could escape while trying to not reveal information. Tang Mo’s fingers moved and there was the clear sound of the sharp blade inserting straight into the dirt. The cold knife clung to Li Chaocheng’s severed finger and could pierce his flesh instantly.
The middle-aged man was shocked and wide-eyed. Tang Mo looked at Chen Shanshan. “Hey, help me hold his hand.”
Li Chaocheng immediately cried out, “Wait… wait, I will tell you everything. What else do you want me to say? This is the time leaderboard. It suddenly appeared and those who don’t have extra rest time are pigs.” Li Chaocheng saw Jack’s dissatisfied expression and quickly explained, “Hey, this isn’t the name that I gave them. I don’t know who started it. I just listened to the people and followed. I told you everything I know. This is really everything!”
Tang Mo and Chen Shanshan looked at each other.
Chen Shanshan’s tone was calm. “Where is Asian zone 1? India?”
Li Chaocheng replied, “I don’t know.”
“There isn’t a player called Dijan Galava in the top 50 of the time leaderboard.”
Li Chaocheng’s expression changed. He looked at the knife in Tang Mo’s hand and gritted his teeth. “Dijan Galava died two months ago. He used to be the 20th place. He was the one who opened the time leaderboard but it didn’t affect his ranking.”
Once he said this, Li Chaocheng’s expression was ugly but his tone was very firm. Tang Mo nodded to Chen Shanshan, the two of them confirming that Li Chaocheng hadn’t lied. In that case…
Tang Mo asked lightly, “What type of person is Mu Huixue?”
Li Chaocheng replied, “I don’t know.”
Tang Mo raised an eyebrow.
Li Chaocheng hurriedly said, “I really don’t know. She is from China District 3 and I am from District 1. I can’t encounter her apart from inside games. I have never met her. I’ve only encountered a returnee ranked 36th on the time leaderboard.”
Chen Shanshan stated, “Among the returnees, how many players have cleared the black tower’s third floor?”
Li Chaocheng hesitated for a moment before honestly replying, “I don’t know how many there are but there must be a lot. Last month, I cleared the black tower’s third floor. All the people on the time leaderboard must’ve at least cleared the black tower’s third floor. Mu Huixue seems to have passed the fourth floor of the black tower.”
Jack heard Li Chaocheng’s words and looked worriedly at Tang Mo and Chen Shanshan. However, the two of them didn’t show any traces of surprise, as if they had already guessed this result. Jack scratched his head in a stunned manner. Then he put down his hand as he understood why.
The six billion players who disappeared half a year ago claimed to be returnees and the black tower asked them to attack the tower to return to Earth. They participated in countless games every day. As long as their eyes were open, they had to play games and there was no time to rest at all. After leaving a game, they could only rest for 10 minutes before entering the next game.
Everything was forced and there were no choices at all.
In such a situation, humans gradually became numb. They didn’t know what the future was and how long they could live. Perhaps they would fortunately escape from one game only to die in the next game. They had to do more than just escape from the game. They had to protect themselves from lethal injuries. Every time they got hurt, they didn’t have time to heal. Carrying an injury to the next instance almost certainly meant death.
No powerful humans could survive such terrible games. They would bound to die. It was just a question of how long they could live.
It wasn’t until the time leaderboard opened that the returnees found a direction.
It turned out that they could live.
Thanks to the leaderboard, the powerful returnees gradually had time to rest. They could rest and become stronger by hunting players on the time leaderboard, gaining time and props. It was a circle. The powerful players became stronger and the weaker players became weaker.
Chen Shanshan had asked about the strength of the returnees and Li Chaocheng’s answer surprised Tang Mo. Still, he remained calm on the surface and didn’t let Li Chaocheng see any flaws.
Li Chaocheng was also wondering.
Why were the players on Earth so strong? A person who just cleared the first floor of the black tower was almost as strong as those in the top 50 of the time leaderboard.
If this was the case, the so-called ‘return’ of the returnees was like sheep entering a tiger’s mouth.
Li Chaocheng’s eyes moved around as countless thoughts flashed in his heart. His mouth was still revealing the information of the returnees and he looked very timid. Tang Mo had a list of the top 50 in the time leaderboard and Li Chaocheng told the names of the 50 people behind them. He had just spoken the name of the 90th place when there was a faint glow around him.
Li Chaocheng’s body shook. Surprise filled his face as he instantly understood what it was. However, the next second, a knife directly pierced his heart. Li Chaocheng’s eyes stared straight at Tang Mo in front of him. Tang Mo quietly pulled out the knife and put it back in his pocket.
Like Tang Mo said, he really did have the strength to kill Li Chaocheng before he disappeared.
Li Chaocheng glared as blood spilled from his mouth. He spoke in a resentful voice, “You… you…”
Tang Mo said, “Right, there is something I haven’t told you. In fact, you guessed it correctly. The rubber rope tying you up has the effect of causality. After being tied, no on can untie it. However, the causality time is only one minute. It can be untied after a minute. Tang Mo looked indifferent. “Of course, I’m telling you the truth. You can choose to believe it or not.”
Li Chaocheng’s body trembled violently. He stared at Tang Mo with eyes full of poison, as if he wanted to tear Tang Mo apart. However, he was dead after all. He glared at Tang Mo and the moment he died, the golden number on his neck shattered.
Li Chaocheng’s body slowly disappeared into the air.
After Li Chaocheng disappeared, Chen Shanshan collected the pen and looked at the list on the piece of paper. He said to Tang Mo, “There are only 90 people written. We don’t know the name of 10 people. Brother Tang, this list should be true. He doesn’t need to deliberately lie to us. It’s a pity she is dead.” The little girl had some regrets. She actually wanted to ask Li Chaocheng for more information. For example, she intended to ask Li Chaocheng if there were any powerful organizations among the returnees. The little girl guessed that Li Chaocheng might not know about these things because there didn’t seem to be much cooperation between the returnees. Still, it was better to ask clearly.
Tang Mo stated, “The returnees are different from us. Apart from the crazy stowaways who like to kill, normal players wouldn’t randomly kill others. Our common enemy is the black tower and the black tower games.”
Every returnee were enemies. Killing others could gain time while killing people on the time leaderboard would give more benefits.
Tang Mo thought for a moment before saying, “The more powerful the returnees, the harder it was to cooperate.”
Jack also understood this point. “Yes, there are too many benefits to killing a powerful returnee. The one who kills the first ranked returnee will be given a chance to resurrect someone. Unfortunately, Nie was killed by humans instead of dying in a black tower instance. Otherwise, I would find a chance to kill Mu Huixue and resurrect him.”
The Tang Mo trio carefully looked around. They determined there was no ambush and entered the house together.
This was truly Fu Wensheng’s home. The nameplate next to the big iron gate had ‘Fu’ written on it. Tang Mopried open the lock and entered the house. He looked around and found food and water. He divided the materials to Jack and Chen Shanshan. The three of them hadn’t eaten anything for a long time. They ate a little bit before Jack went to patrol. Meanwhile, Tang Mo and Chen Shanshan entered the study on the second floor.
As soon as they entered the study, they spread out the list of the time leaderboard on their desk. Tang Mo’s pen marked all the Chinese names on it, including Li Chaocheng who had just died. There were a total of 24 people.
“All the people on the time leaderboard have cleared the black tower’s third floor but there should be few people on the black tower’s fourth floor.” Chen Shanshan’s clear voice was heard. It was firm and had a maturity that wasn’t consistent with her age. She looked at the three characters on top of the leaderboard and said, “It is only Mu Huixue who has cleared the black tower’s fourth floor. Brother Tang, according to Teacher’s speculation, the black tower 4,0 version will only open after a returnee has cleared the black tower’s fourth floor. Teacher guessed that Mu Huixue had an incident that caused the update to stop. This doesn’t mean that she failed to clear the black tower’s fourth floor.”
Tang Mo also thought this way. He had another idea, “Perhaps Mu Huixue is still on the black tower’s fourth floor.”
Chen Shanshan was surprised. “She is still on the black tower’s fourth floor?” The little girl didn’t wait for Tang Mo to explain as she frowned and tried to understand Tang Mo’s meaning. “It isn’t impossible. The black tower often publishes side missions along with the main mission. In each tower attack game, more than two missions will appear. Mu Huixue is probably completing a mission. She triggered a new mission when she was about to clear the fourth floor, suspending the black tower’s update.” Chen Shanshan’s voice abruptly stopped. Her pupils trembled as she looked up at Tang Mo.
Tang Mo also looked back at this little girl.
The two people’s eyes met in the air and Tang Mo sighed softly. “It is a race against time. Shanshan, when are you and Jack going to try the black tower’s third floor? With Jack’s combat power and your intelligence, you should be able to smoothly clear it after joining hands.”
Chen Shanshan nodded. “I will go in two days.”
Taking the initiative to tackle the tower attack game was settled.
Li Chaocheng thought that Tang Mo was really at the bottom of the 400 surviving humans and had only cleared the black tower’s first floor. However, Tang Mo and Chen Shanshan knew that Tang Mo wasn’t the best at fighting but his strength was absolutely at the top of the surviving players. It was extremely difficult to kill him but it was easy to be killed by him.
Returnees were experienced players who had experienced countless black tower games. Tang Mo didn’t dare say he played more black tower games. Perhaps he, Fu Wenduo and Chen Shanshan combined had only played a fraction of Li Chaocheng’s games.
In a world where life was a bet, it was natural that the average strength of the returnees was higher than the survivors. Now Mu Huixue was probably still on the black tower’s fourth floor. As long as her challenge was successful, the black tower would update to the 4.0 version and the two worlds would merge.
Time was tight and they must seize all the time to improve their strength.
“The players on the time leaderboard are definitely strong. That Li Chaocheng was actually very strong but he was too conceited. He treated me and Jack as real pigs and didn’t hide the disadvantages in his ability. Tang Mo analyzed, “His ability is to make those strange steel needles. The speed and hardness is very high. There is only one drawback. The speed will slow down after a long time and he summons less needles with one hand than two.”
This shortcoming was hard to see when all steel needles were released together. Tang Mo had to observe it for a few minutes before discovering it. That’s why he chose to split up with Jack and attack from two sides.
Li Chaocheng’s strength was unquestionable. The thing Tang Mo was really worried about was, “There might be players stronger than Li Chaocheng who aren’t on the time leaderboard.” Tang Mo paused before correcting it. “There must be more powerful people hiding in the darkness.”
Chen Shanshan was packing up the pen and paper when she heard this and paused. The little girl lowered her head and didn’t speak, agreeing with Tang Mo’s statement. The result was that the situation of the surviving humans was more difficult.
Chen Shanshan packed up her things and went to the next bedroom to rest.
Tang Mo saw the dark circles under Chen Shanshan’s eyes and it was a good chance to let her rest.
Tang Mo was left alone in the quiet study. He pulled out the small matchbox from his pocket and took a closer look. He first looked at it before shaking it vigorously. Finally lines of golden letters appeared on the matchbox.
[Prop: Mosaic’s Magic Match]
[Owner: Tang Mo]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Level: 3]
[Function: Ignite the match and get any item you want. The item must be something the user has seen before. It can be a black tower item but the quality level can’t be higher than Mosaic’s Magic Match. The item can be used for 24 hours and will be automatically destroyed after 24 hours.]
[Restrictions: This match is a one-time item and will be destroyed after use.]
[Note: Mosaic, other people at chicken while she lights matches. Matches~ matches~]
Tang Mo looked at the last line in the note and hummed in his heart. Once he recovered, his mouth twitched slightly and he coughed before putting the matchbox back into his pocket. Mosaic’s Magic Match was an extremely frightening prop. As far as the function was concerned, Tang Mo thought it should at least be the rare quality.
However, there were only three matches and the time limit was 24 hours.
Tang Mo closed his eyes and thought about how he could use these three magic matches. His lips slowly curved as he found it hard to hide his joy. Tang Mo’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the matchbox before Tang Mo took out a thin book from the air and opened it to the last page.
[Ability: Light Rain Pear Blossom Needles]
[Owner: Li Chaocheng (Returnee)]
[Type: Atomic]
[Function: When you raise your hands, you can release 1~100 steel needles. The steel needles will fly up to the speed of sound and are very hard.]
[Restrictions: When using the steel needles for a long time, the longer it will take to release and the number of needles that can be released will decrease. The steel needles’ flying speed and quantity are inversely proportional. The steel needles released by the left hand will always be three times the number of steel needles released by the left hand.]
[Note: Evil, look at my Light Rain Pear Blossom Needles!]
[Tang Mo version usage instructions: The maximum number of steel needles that can be released is 50. The flying speed is up to 100 m/s and it can only be used twice a day. Well… the steel needles are too thin and aren’t suitable for Tang Mo. I think that Tang Mo likes them thicker.]
Tang Mo quietly looked at the abilities book, his expression unchanged. He was already immune to this level or remarks and didn’t think there was anything unusual. Being unaffected didn’t mean that Tang Mo liked this cheap book. He raised his hand and prepared to throw it back into the air. The moment he raised his hand, Tang Mo’s eyes changed.
The abilities book fell onto the ground. Tang Mo’s feet moved as he turned back and ran to the small balcony of the study. As he ran, he pulled out the small parasol. He quickly recited the spell and pierced the curtain, stabbing the man hiding behind the window. A black figure moved sideways, lighting up the dim interior. The glare of the sun made Tang Mo squint.
Once the other person dodged, Tang Mo reacted quickly by sweeping one leg. The other person once again avoided it.
It wasn’t easy to use the small parasol in close combat. Tang Mo threw it and used one hand to support himself on the ground. Then he jumped into the air and punched the other person. A warm, thick hand caught his fist. The man gave a low laugh and took half a step back. Tang Mo’s heart trembled once he heard this sound. He slowly raised his head and wanted to stop. He didn’t expect Fu Wenduo to raise a fist and aim it at Tang Mo’s head.
It was as if he returned to the afternoons when he was learning how to fight. Tang Mo reflexively dodged to the side. Fu Wenduo’s fist suddenly opened when it reached Tang Mo’s face, grabbing his hair instead. Tang Mo didn’t expect a change like this and was shocked, wondering how to fight back. At this time, Fu Wenduo had already grabbed the back of his head and pulled Tang Mo to him.
Tang Mo hit Fu Wenduo’s hard chest, feeling a bit of pain. He didn’t understand why Fu Wenduo did this when a powerful hand grabbed his neck.
Tang Mo’s body stiffened and he looked up at the man in front of him.
Fu Wenduo had one hand behind Tang Mo’s head while the other hand was holding his neck.
When it came to close combat, Tang Mo thought that he wasn’t as good as Fu Wenduo but he still wasn’t bad. He didn’t expect to still be so far away from this man.
Slightly rough fingertips rubbed the young man’s neck and Fu Wenduo licked his lips.
…This felt a bit good.
Tang Mo’s throat moved, his skin touching Fu Wenduo’s fingers. Fu Wenduo didn’t remove his hand and Tang Mo was silently for a moment before he helplessly smiled. “This trick, you didn’t seem to teach it to me before?”
Fu Wenduo had never used this strange trick. As Tang Mo mentioned, they had fought many times but he never saw Fu Wenduo use it.
His words broke the rigid atmosphere. Fu Wenduo’s lips slightly curved as he spoke in a low voice, “I only teach this trick to familiar people.”
Tang Mo asked, “We weren’t familiar three months ago?”
Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow. “Were we familiar?”
According to common sense, Tang Mo should remove this man’s hand but he didn’t do so. Fu Wenduo also kept holding onto his neck. The two of them were actually chatting in this position, making it look strange. It was more like they were touching.
Tang Mo smiled and wondered, “Major Fu, are we very familiar now?”
Fu Wenduo didn’t answer. He deliberately tightened his grip before releasing his hand. Tang Mo also stood upright, maintaining a distance of 10 centimeters between their bodies. Fu Wenduo was about to speak when he saw something. His expression sank and he directly pulled Tang Mo’s wrist. “What is this?”