Chapter 176
The four people neared Chaoyang District at noon. Along the way, Tang Mo encountered four returnees, three of whom had double digit numbers on their necks. They saw the Earth players but didn’t start anything. They just warily left. Only one player with more than 500 minutes of rest time tried to ambush them.
This man’s methods were extremely vicious and he set a trap around the corner. Tang Mo was far away from Chen Shanshan. He grabbed Chen Shanshan when he noticed something wrong but the bomb had exploded. Tang Mo’s arm was blown open and Chen Shanshan’s head was also injured.
The man hid in the dark and detonated the bomb that had been planted underground. In the end, Fu Wenduo found the person hiding in an office building and broke his neck.
Fu Wenduo said, “There was no time to let you take care of it.”
Tang Mo shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
In general, Fu Wenduo would leave all killing of enemies towards Tang Mo, except for special circumstances.
Tang Mo’s group was more careful after this experience with the bomb man. The four of them soon entered the boundaries of Chaoyang. The Tian Xuan organization’s base was here and they occupied all the resources of Chaoyang District. This meant that few players stayed here. There were occasionally running sounds blown by the wind. Fu Wenduo just raised his eyebrows, always aware of possible attacks.
They couldn’t take anyone lightly, regardless of whether they were an Earth player or returnee.
Tang Mo walked quietly along the shadow of a building and said, “Tang Mo isn’t a safe place. The closer we are to the 80th school, the more dangerous it might be.” Just as we investigated the returnees, the returnees would investigate us. Tian Xuan is the largest organization in Beijing and there are two targets, Ruan Wangshu and Lian Yuzheng. Eliminating them can open Eve’s Reward. Some returnees would surely be eyeing them.”
Fu Wensheng wondered, “In this case, why would Ruan Wangshu stay at the 80th school? Isn’t it better to change the location of his base?”
The nest had been discovered by the enemy. Shouldn’t they change to a different base?
Fu Wenduo explained, “The most dangerous place is also the safest place. Ordinary returnees won’t dare attack Tian Xuan and the strong returnees…” Fu Wenduo paused and quickly threw Pheidippides’ Dart as he spoke. “The strong returnees are targets we want to eliminate!”
Whoosh!
The black dart shot through the air towards the rear of a building at an extremely fast speed.
However, the target was far away and the young man hidden in the dark had time to react. The short-haired man moved sideways to avoid Fu Wenduo’s dart and stared warily at Fu Wenduo. Tang Mo lifted his right hand and steel needles shot towards the man.
The man exclaimed, “Li Chaocheng’s steel needles?”
Tang Mo was shocked.
The young man wearing a denim jacket rolled agilely and avoided the steel needles. The steel needles plunged into the neck. The young man raised his head and the sun shone on his face through the gap in buildings, revealing the five digits floating at his neck.
『 10,235. 』
Tang Mo blurted out, “You are Ning Zheng?”
62nd on the time leaderboard, Ning Zheng.
Ning Zheng placed one hand on the ground and his feet kicked off the ground. He jumped dozens of metres towards the top of the mall. He stood on the top floor of the mall and looked down at Tang Mo, who had no expression on his handsome face. The two sides watched each other silently. After a moment, Ning Zheng’s eyes narrowed and he uttered two names. “Fu Wenduo or… Tang Mo?”
He looked at Tang Mo. “You are Fu Wenduo?” Then he glanced at Fu Wenduo standing behind Tang Mo.
The indifferent man in black was the first person to discover him and also shot the seemingly ordinary dart. This dart might be ordinary but the person who threw it wasn’t so simple. If the distance had been a bit closer then Ning Zheng absolutely wouldn’t have been able to avoid the dart. The strength of this man was by no means simple.
Ning Zheng suddenly had a thought. “Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo?”
His guess had a 8 or 9 chance out of 10 to be right.
Ning Zheng didn’t know who was Tang Mo and who was Fu Wenduo but he knew that facing these two people weren’t good.
If he eliminated Fu Wenduo or Tang Mo then he could directly open Eve’s Reward. However, these two people were teammates. Once a fight started then it wasn’t necessarily certain who would be eliminated.
Ning Zheng’s brain worked quickly. Only a few minutes passed but he had already thought of multiple endings. He didn’t hesitate to turn and disappear among the buildings. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t chase after him. Meanwhile, Chen Shanshan stared at the black tower suspended in the sky.
Fu Wensheng asked, “Are we just letting him go?”
There were four Earth players in Beijing who had been announced by the black tower but there were only two returnees on the time leaderboard.
Xu Yusheng and Ning Zheng.
The returnees could open the rewards as long as they eliminated one of the four Beijing players. If Earth’s players wanted to get Eve’s Reward, they could only eliminate Xu Yusheng or Ning Zheng. This meant that returnees had four chances while Earth players had only two chances.
It wasn’t likely to meet one person in the huge Beijing city. They came across Ning Zheng and were letting him go. It doesn’t seem right.
Chen Shanshan shook her head. “Now isn’t the game time.”
Xiao Fu didn’t respond for a moment.
Chen Shanshan explained, “Eve’s Game is from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. It is currently noon and it isn’t the game time. The black tower announced the game time at the beginning of the rules. I’m not completely certain but we might not be able to get Ning Zheng’s reward if we eliminate him outside the game time. Now the odds of winning aren’t high. At the very least, he should be able to escape.”
Fu Wensheng immediately understood. “This time is for returnees and Earth players to recharge their batteries. It makes no sense to kill the enemy at this time.”
That’s why Ning Zheng ran away after weighing the pros and cons and why Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t chase him.
In the brief encounter with Ning Zheng, Tang Mo found that regardless of the strength of the returnees, their level of escaping was really high. At the same time, he remembered one thing. “It seems that Liao Feng didn’t lie to us.” Tang Mo pointed to the sign for Chaoyang District not far away. “He said that he saw Ning Zheng in Chaoyang yesterday morning and Ning Zheng is still here.”
Fu Wenduo stated, “He won’t be here next time.”
An hour later, the four of them arrived at the 80th High School.
The street outside the campus was silent with only the trees on both sides of the street rustling. Tang Mo glanced at the quiet street as he walked through the school gates. He knew that there should be people hiding on this street but he couldn’t find them.
The strength of the returnees shouldn’t be underestimated.
They arrived at the school and found Ruan Wangshu.
Ruan Wangshu wasn’t anxious. He just gently nodded when he saw Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo. Without waiting for Tang Mo to speak, he asked, “Have you found anyone ambushing outside?”
Tang Mo wondered, “Do you know?”
The female doctor Li Miaomiao was lying on a table not far away. “Lian Yuzheng found them. Those people hid well. We sent several people to secretly check the whereabouts and only found two poorly concealed people. The others are unknown. In this way, several people were lost.”
Ruan Wangshu’s injury had almost completely healed. He spoke up after Li Miaomiao. “Did you find anyone?”
Tang Mo shook his head. “They hid very well.”
Chen Shanshan’s calm voice was heard. “You want to use Tian Xuan as bait.”
The weak female voice attracted everyone’s attention and Ruan Wangshu’s body slightly stiffened. The pale teenager turned to look at the little girl before replying a moment later, “Yes. You heard the updated rules that the black tower released yesterday and the rules for Eve’s Game. If we want to get Eve’s Reward, we can only kill the returnees on the time leaderboard. There are only two returnees left in Beijing, Xu Yusheng and Ning Zheng. It is too hard to find them. It is better to let them come to us.”
Tang Mo told him, “Ning Zheng probably won’t come.”
Ruan Wangshu stared at him. “What?”
Tang Mo told him about their encounter with Ning Zheng in Chaoyang.
Ruan Wangshu made an ugly expression. “He was here for us. Tian Xuan’s base is at the 80th School and this isn’t a secret among Beijing players. Ning Zheng definitely knows the location of Lian Yuzheng and I and came to Chaoyang to kill us. Then he discovered your and Fu Wenduo and saw there are four of us here. He won’t hit us again. It is a pity…”
Chen Shanshan asked, “What’s a pity?”
Ruan Wangshu sighed and clapped.
Fu Wenduo stared coldly and threw a small knife behind him. A energetic figure quickly dodged the knife. The person who came was a young man with a flat head. A bloodthirsty look flashed in his eyes when he saw Fu Wenduo but he soon hid it. He glanced at Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo. He saw on a chair and smile. “I know Fu Wenduo. Are you Tang Mo?”
Tang Mo looked at him calmly.
Soon, three or four more people emerged from behind the youth.
More than a dozen people gathered in the small classroom.
There were men and women among the newcomers. They stared silently at Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo while others stared coldly at Ruan Wangshu. A powerful aura emitted from these people. Tang Mo understood their identities as Ruan Wangshu said, “There aren’t many Beijing players willing to cooperate with Tian Xuan but those gathered here are the top strength in Beijing. Major Fu should know them. You’ve encountered all of them previously.”
Tang Mo stared at these people before turning his head. “It is difficult to find Ning Zheng again but I should be able to find Xu Yusheng.”
Ruan Wangshu’s cold eyes stared at Tang Mo. “How…”
Boom!
The shock came too suddenly as the ground shook. Throughout the 80th school and all of Beijing, the ground shook violently! Thick cracks appeared on the ceiling of the classroom and the walls collapsed. Tang Mo didn’t think about it as he directly grabbed Chen Shanshan, put her on his back and ran into the corridor. He used one hand as support to jump down from the third floor and land steadily onto the ground.
Fu Wenduo also carried Fu Wensheng and jumped to the first floor.
Ruan Wangshu and the others responded and left the building one by one.
They gathered on the playground and Tang Mo looked up. The earth was still shaking violently and the tall buildings around the 80th school shook. However, no buildings fell and Tang Mo didn’t hear the sound of buildings collapsing. The whole of Beijing was just shaking in a strange manner. It was fierce but didn’t cause any damage.
Tang Mo exclaimed, “It isn’t an earthquake?”
The group looked at him with astonishment.
Li Miaomiao wondered, “How can it not be an earthquake? All of Beijing is shaking. Isn’t this an earthquake?”
Chen Shanshan carefully observed the movements around her and her expression became ugly. “It really isn’t an earthquake. The magnitude of the earthquake is in the ground. Even if the source is shallow, it is still underground. An earthquake goes from bottom up and can easily cause buildings to collapse. Feel the ground under our feet. This shaking is more like the source came from the same level as us.”
This was the problem.
Fu Wenduo had a cold expression. “What can shake all of Beijing?”
The next second, a gloomy female voice filled all of Beijing, answering his question.
“Earth survivors?”
The tremors seemed smoother as everyone looked to the west with consternation. The voice came from the west and when she spoke, the earth’s vibrations resonated with her. It was as if the ground had become her vocal cords. Every time she spoke, the earth would shake with her.
At this moment, all Earth survivors and returnees stared to the west in shock.
At the junction of Chaoyang District and Haidian District, a young man wearing a denim jacket stopped. “It isn’t an earthquake. Is it that person’s ability? Wait, this person’s ability would never be able to endure spreading his voice all over Beijing. This voice…” Ning’s expression sank. “Xu Yusheng!”
Beihai, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven…
The cold female voice spread everywhere as the earth quivered along with her voice.
She sneered, “I am ninth on the time leaderboard, Xu Yusheng.”
“I am giving a notice to the Earth survivors Fu Wenduo, Tang Mo, Ruan Wangshu and Lian Yuzheng.”
“On May 25th, 5 o’clock in the morning, the elevated road of Beijing’s East Third Ring Road.”
“You want Eve’s Reward and I want to be the only player in China to open the reward.”
“I am waiting for you.”
“By the way, Ning Zheng, are you coming?”
A low and hoarse laughter was heard. It didn’t sound like a 16 year old girl at all.
In the Xicheng district of Beijing, an abandoned courtyard. A middle-aged man with bloodshot eyes was kneeling on the ground, his head raised to the sky and his mouth wide open. A gloomy-looking young girl pressed her hand to the back of the man’s head as she leaned over to speak into his ear. Strangely enough, she was the one talking but the sound was coming from the man’s mouth.
Xu Yusheng was followed by three young girls who bowed their heads silently. She giggled and pressed her hands to the back of the middle-aged man’s head with all her strength, almost touching his brain.
“Fu Wenduo, I heard you are the strongest player in China? I…”
“Ahhhhh!”
Tang Mo was listening to the voice coming from the sky when a miserable scream was heard. After this scream, the earth returned to normal and the voice disappeared. Everyone was startled but didn’t let down their guard. After five minutes, there were no more movements. Tang Mo narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Fu Wenduo.
Fu Wenduo looked at him and shook his head.
They didn’t know that in the small courtyard, blood was bursting from the middle-aged man’s head. Xu Yusheng kicked him to the ground and the man twitched twice before he stopped breathing.
“Useless piece of crap.” Xu Yusheng sneered and left.
She had just taken two steps when a familiar child’s voice spread throughout all of China.
“Ding dong! China District 2 official player Jack Crown has successfully opened Eve’s Reward.”
Xu Yusheng stared at the black tower, her face full of consternation.
On the other side, the 80th High School in the Chaoyang District.
Tang Mo heard this voice and his expression became strange. He smiled helplessly. “Hrmm, the only player in China to open the reward?”
The small courtyard.
Xu Yusheng shouted, “Damn!”
The hit to her face was too fast, like a tornado.