Chapter 67
Tang Mo spent two copper coins and bought the specific location of the dock from a burly man wearing a flower skirt. The Strange Circus would hold a surprise night show in seven days. They rented the best part of the Underground Kingdom and set up a tent in the most crowded square in the centre of the kingdom. The dock was five kilometres away.
Tang Mo walked for 20 minutes and saw the canvas of ships at the dock. He turned to look at Fu Wenduo and the two of them nodded. Tang Mo tightened his mask, put his hands in his pockets and walked briskly to the dock. Fu Wenduo disappeared from his side.
Tang Mo headed to the dock, keeping an eye on everything around him. He was always alert for possible players. However, once he observed the people around him, he couldn’t find any players. Everything was calm and Tang Mo successfully walked to a huge ship. He took a look at the eye-catching ‘Strange Circus’ on the canvas and walked onto the deck.
“This is the Strange Circus’ ship?”
The moment he spoke, two circus members working on the deck turned to look at Tang Mo. Once they saw the letter floating above Tang Mo’s head, they rushed over. One person cried out angrily, “How long has it been? Why are you only coming now? Sneeze has already come to you. Mr. B, we gave you money so don’t be lazy!” Where is Mr. A?”
Tang Mo said softly, “His stomach hurts and he went to the toilet.”
The tall circus member waved his hands. “Hurry up and take that monster away. It is noisy and I can’t get a good night’s sleep. The leader has gone to the palace to give a letter of invitation to the respected king and queen. Before he left, he told me not to bring that disgusting monster to the circus before the surprise night. He received information that thieves are trying to steal the monster and that they had set up a lot of traps near the circus.”
Tang Mo frowned. “We can’t bring the monster to the circus for the next seven days?”
The short circus member interjected. “Of course. Those thieves have set up traps. Do you want to send the monster to them?”
“Then I can only bring the monster to the circus on the seventh day?”
The tall employee said, “To be precise, it is the evening of the seventh day.”
The short employee added, “It can’t be one second early.”
Then the tall employee said, “The cage of the monster is right over there. I will kindly remind you that this monster is very afraid of light. If you put it in the light for 10 minutes, it will dehydrate and die. Don’t let it die otherwise the leader will dissect you.”
Tang Mo replied, “I know.”
Tang Mo strode to a carriage.
The huge carriage was three metres high, two metres wide and four metres long. It was heavily placed on the deck of the ship. Tang Mo tried to pull it using 50% of his strength and unexpectedly pulled it only half a metre. As he pulled, there was a dull crash inside the carriage, as if something had stupidly hit the wall of the carriage.
Tang Mo pondered for a moment before turning to ask, “What about a horse?”
It was a carriage without a horse. There was only a black cage covered by a heavy cloth.
Upon hearing this, the tall employee cried out angrily, “Wow, you want a horse? We are good enough to provide you with a vehicle and now you want a horse?”
The short man pulled him back. “Ignore him. He is a detective who can’t even pull the carriage by hand. I don’t know why the leader who paid such a high salary to watch this monster. If you say something then we will have to keep looking after it. Isn’t it a monster? Can’t you let it run? If anyone tries to steal it, punch their noses.”
The two circus members no longer paid attention to Tang Mo. They talked about drinking at the Banana Pub in the evening.
Tang Mo wasn’t interested in them. He pulled the carriage with both hands and applied a bit of force. The heavy weight inside hit the wall of the cave again. Tang Mo soon stabilized his speed, pulling the carriage off the boat.
The monster was too heavy so Tang Mo didn’t walk fast. Every step on the ground left a half-centimetre deep footprint. The wheels slid across the ground, leaving two deep tracks in the earth. After Tang Mo adapted to the weight, he gradually accelerated and moved away from the dock.
Along the way, many people looked on curiously, wanting to see what was in the cage.
Tang Mo had the mask and walked calmly in front of so many people. Suddenly, he glanced at a small middle-aged man in the crowd. The middle-aged man didn’t think that Tang Mo would suddenly look at him among so many people. The man’s eyes changed and he ran away. Tang Mo kept pulling while his lips curved, a faint smile appearing under the mask as he looked at the man running away.
After a long time, the huge carriage left the dock. Tang Mo took a few turns in the street and disappeared into a winding alley.
He placed the carriage and cage in an abandoned building. Tang Mo twisted his neck, loosened his body and sat on the ground to rest. He waited patiently and 10 minutes later, two men were thrown onto the ground. Tang Mo looked at the two people then he looked up at Fu Wenduo. “Just two?”
An eccentric knight in armour emerged from the darkness. “He only had one accomplice. He walked around the dock for five minutes before finding his partner. Then I grabbed them.”
Tang Mo touched the mask on his face and determined that his face couldn’t be seen. He walked up to the two players and kicked them. He wanted to speak, only to realize that he should act more like an underground person. Various bosses flashed through his mind, such as Mosaic, Mario, Pinocchio, Santa… In the end, Tang Mo thought of a player. He was silent for a moment before deciding to imitate this person.
Tang Mo inwardly sighed before giggling. “You are the thief who wants to steal the monster?
The two players were beaten by Fu Wenduo but they were still in a physically good state. Fu Wenduo didn’t deal a fatal injury. The two men turned and looked at each other. The short man said first, “What monster? We aren’t thieves. Who are you? Why are you hitting us and tying us up? We are citizens of the Underground Kingdom. You are violated our civil rights and will be wanted by guards of the kingdom!”
Civil rights of the underground people?
Tang Mo didn’t expect these two players to actually know so many things. However, they had already cleared the first floor of the black tower. It was normal for them to know this information. Tang Mo continued to imitate Bai Ruoyao, a disgusting smile on his face as he picked up a wooden stick and poked the players’ faces. “You want to steal things. The kingdom’s guards will catch you first, not us.”
“What makes you think we are going to steal something?”
“Yes! What have we stolen from you?”
From beginning to end, the two players didn’t look above Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s heads. They really couldn’t seem to see the letter floating above Tang Mo’s head, acting like citizens of the Underground Kingdom.
Tang Mo wanted to speak when Fu Wenduo asked directly, “If we let them go, they will continue trying to steal the monster. Victor, shall we kill them?”
Tang Mo was slightly startled. It took a few seconds for him to react to being called ‘Victor.’ Tang Mo ignored the strange feeling squeezing his heart and agreed. “Then kill them Tang Ji.”
The two players opened their eyes in a startled manner. “Don’t kill us. We really aren’t trying to steal anything. We are just ordinary citizens…”
Bang!
Bang!
Fu Wenduo held two sharp knives in his hands and directly stunned the two players. Tang Mo confirmed that the two players had fainted and sighed, no longer pretending to be Bai Ruoyao. He turned to look at Fu Wenduo. “Do you have any injuries?”
“No.”
Tang Mo looked down at the two players and frowned. “I thought we would catch a few more players. I didn’t expect only two people. The other players hid too well. They just quietly watched me at the dock but didn’t show themselves. Only this person,” Tang Mo stared at the short man. “He was stupid enough to expose himself.”
Before entering the dock, Tang Mo had separate from Fu Wenduo. One person was in the light while one person was in the darkness, splitting up their actions.
The reason for splitting up was to put psychological pressure on the 21 players. Tang Mo openly appeared on the dock and he was worth a King’s Gold Coin. If the 21 players wanted to grab the monster at the start and only saw Tang Mo, they might not act. It was because they didn’t know where Mr. A was hiding and they needed to be careful. Secondly, Tang MO and Fu Wenduo wanted to seize some players and reduce the number of opponents.
On the way to the dock, Tang Mo discovered that news about the Strange Circus sneaking the monster in had spread through the Underground Kingdom. All the citizens knew that the strange monster was about to arrive at the dock. It was very likely that the 21 players had also received the news.
As long as they knew about it, they would go to the dock to check the situation.
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo couldn’t hide their identities with the two letters above their heads, but it was possible for the players. They could hide at the dock, secretly observing their future opponents for more information. Tang Mo couldn’t find them but they could clearly see Tang Mo.
Only this short man…
“Everyone was more curious about the carriage I was pulling and wanted to know what type of monster was in the cage. Except this guy.” Tang Mo took off the mask and sighed helplessly. “His line of sight stopped on my body for a minute. He wanted to watch me more than the box and see what type of strength the King’s Gold Coin has.”
Fu Wenduo said, “It is a pity that out of the 21 players, only he is so stupid.”
Tang Mo asked, “What about the strength of these two people?”
“Not very good. In pure strength, this person is a bit worse than Jack.” Fu Wenduo pointed to the tall man. Then he evaluated the short man. “This man has very poor strength and his ability is a flying sparrow. The sparrow is very noisy and seems to use sonic attacks. I took care of it quickly and didn’t receive any impact.”
Tang Mo speculated, “It seems that these two players will be average among those who cleared the first floor.” Tang Mo paused before looking at Fu Wenduo. “You don’t need to take off the helmet to breath?”
The cumbersome silver helmet hid the man’s face.
Fu Wenduo replied in a low voice, “No.”
“There are no players nearby.” Just now, Tang Mo deliberately used A Fast Man to avoid the players tracking him. It could only be used three times a day but in order to escape from the players, Tang Mo used this ability to speed up and come to this abandoned building.
Fu Wenduo said, “…This helmet is too heavy and it isn’t good to wear.” So he might as well not take it off.
Tang Mo, “…”
The two players were passed out and the sky was getting darker. At this time, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo finally got a chance to see what the monster looked like. The two people went to the huge cage. Fu Wenduo held a corner of the black cloth and turned to look at Tang Mo.
Tang Mo said, “You open it.”
The next moment, the black cloth was quickly pulled and the monster in the cage appeared before the two people.
In the dim light, a giant snake-like monster bent over in the cage, foolishly trying to head-butt the steel bars to escape. This silly monster froze when the black cloth was pulled off and took five minutes to react. It suddenly raised its head and looked at the two people in front of it.
Tang Mo was already psychologically prepared. He sighed in his heart when he saw this monster.
Fu Wenduo’s gaze swept over the body of the large earthworm. “It is an earthworm?”
“Yes, it is a big earthworm.”
Fu Wenduo nodded. “This earthworm is really a bit too big. There is value in showing it as a treasure of the circus. But…” His voice abruptly stopped. Fu Wenduo paused for a long time before asking in surprise, “Did you hear that voice just now?”
Tang Mo’s face had no expression. “I heard it.”
Fu Wenduo was keenly aware of Tang Mo’s speechlessness and asked, “Do you know this big earthworm?”
Tang Mo looked meaningfully at the crying earthworm and said, “I know it. Two months ago, I participated in an S-type instance, a level assigned by Luo Fengcheng. The main task of the instance was to kill the circus member guarding the earthworm and I finally let the earthworm go.”
“Is this the one you let go?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it really is the one I let go.” Tang Mo looked at the big earthworm. “It is so stupid and big. There shouldn’t be a second one like it.”
Fu Wenduo’s voice was calm. “Tell me about that instance.”
Tang Mo truthfully explained.
In the dark building, the big earthworm kept crying that it was hungry and it wanted to see its mother. If someone looked carefully, they would find that this crying earthworm wasn’t shedding a single tear. They were purely false cries! But it cried as if it was real, banging its head against the cage. When it was tired, it took a break before continuing.
Once he found that that the monster to be protected was the big earthworm, Tang Mo certainly wouldn’t hide things about the Kill Bill instance. Every detail of the instance might be important information and he would share it with his teammates to avoid any cooperation errors in the next seven days due to a lack of information.
At the same time, a cabin next to the dock.
Five players were gathered together around a square sand table. A young woman with short hair flattened the sand table, picked up a branch and started drawing on the sand. She drew quickly and several lines appeared. The most amazing thing was that as she drew, a map of the Underground Kingdom slowly appeared on the sand table.
This wasn’t a complete map of the kingdom. It was in the form of a long strip, starting from the dock and reaching a wide street.
After finishing the last stroke, the woman with short hair put her hand up and said, “He disappeared here. I was following him with Old Li but in the blink of an eye, he disappeared and vanished into thin air.”
The middle-aged man called ‘Old Li’ agreed. “Yes, I promise that I didn’t blink. He just disappeared in the middle of the road.
Among the five, a gentle man with glasses thought for a moment before saying, “I have met a very fast black tower monster before.”
The short-haired woman looked at him. “Captain, what do we do next? We have lost him. I can guarantee that I am not the only one who lost him. The other teams must’ve lost him as well. Apart from us, there are three other groups following Mr. B. It is conservatively estimated that there are at least five teams in this assembly instance.
A young man was puzzled. “Five teams? Weren’t there only four teams tracking Mr. B?”
Old Li smiled. “You are being stupid again. Xiao Chen, there was a man on the dock who was discovered by Mr. B. I think that Mr. A and Mr. B would’ve taken care of him. If he had a companion, it would be even worse. He might go to his partner. Assuming that A and B are smart, they won’t catch him first. They will wait until he finds his teammate before catching him. If he is a lone person, it is fine and he won’t drag down his teammate. But there are few single people in this assembly instance. I’m guessing we are all in groups. Their team has probably been killed by the two underground detectives.”
Xiao Chen touched his head. “Hey, I’m not in charge of this. This type of thing, you can ask the captain and sister Lin. I just fight.”
The five people laughed.
The glasses man slowly smiled. Then he reached out and drew a circle on the sand map. The circle he drew was near the street where Tang Mo disappeared. After drawing this circle, he thought for a moment before erasing it and drawing a bigger circle. He said, “The reason behind disappearing here is definitely deep. It is very likely that Mr. A and Mr. B will be in this area. The circus is over here. Keep watching the circus in case they send the monster to the circus. The others will come with me to explore this neighborhood tomorrow.”
“Okay!”
The short-haired woman called Lin Yu looked down carefully at the circle drawn by the glasses man. After a long time, she asked, “Are Mr. A and Mr. B really underground people? Captain, I just thought that they might be players like us.”
The glasses man narrowed his eyes. “The possibility is too low.”
Old Li said, “Xiao Lin, the assembly instance of the ‘Strange Circus’ Surprise Night’ only allows players who have cleared the first floor to enter. In other words, all 21 players have at least cleared the first floor of the black tower. There might be a big person who cleared the second floor. In this world, there is no one who had cleared the third floor of the black tower yet. The most powerful players have only cleared the black tower’s second flower. If Mr. A and Mr. B are two players, they will have to face at least 21 black tower players. It is impossible to win, even if they have cleared the second floor.”
Xiao Chen added. “Yes, as the captain has said, fairness is the most important principle of a black tower game. It is impossible for two players to compete with our 21 players. Unless the black tower thinks that two players can defeat 21 people. But how is that possible? Even if they are players who have cleared the second floor, it is impossible. I don’t believe that the difference between the first and second floors are so big.”
Lin Yi nodded. “I was just casually speculating.”
Old Li laughed. “Is it the sixth sense of a woman? You don’t have to say it. It is really good that there is a woman in the team, hehehe… hey!”
The young woman withdrew her feet. She coldly left the cabin and headed in the direction of the circus.
A private room in the Banana Pub.
In the narrow and dimly lit room, there was a thick and blood smell. Oh, the entire Banana Pub smelt like this. As the sky darkened, countless underground people poured into this famous pub to order the spicy banana wine. The pub was filled with the sweaty odor of men, mixed with a trace of feet.
In the room, a bald man was drinking from a barrel of banana wine. Once he finished drinking, a broken hand was revealed with a ring on the middle finger. The bald man pulled off the ring, while the beautiful young man next to him looked at it curiously. “The Banana Pub really isn’t careful.”
The bald man pushed the teenager away. “Get lost, I am drinking. Don’t you know that underage people can drink?”
The young man licked his teeth. “I have killed people yet I can’t drink?”
The bald man ignored him.
Four people sat in this private room. Apart from the teenager, the other three people had ordered banana wine. A young woman picked up the glass, tasted it before putting it aside. She asked, “Is it really okay if we don’t follow Mr. B today? If he hides the monster and sends it to the circus on the last day, the chances of succeeding will become lower.”
“We didn’t follow but there are four teams.” The bald man wanted to learn the basics of an underground person and tried to eat this hand. But he only took a bite before quickly putting it aside. He couldn’t eat this type of thing, although drinking blood wine was fine. “They just have to track them. They will track Mr. B and we will kill them. Then won’t we know where Mr. B is?”
The pretty teenager clapped excitedly at these reasonable words. “Who are we going to kill tomorrow? I put bugs on three idiots.”
“Just pick randomly. Who do you want to kill?”
The woman folded her arms and stared coldly at the three people in front of her. “Mr. B, I feel he is a bit familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere before.”
The bald man looked at her. “Have you see this BOSS? Which instance was it?”
The woman thought for a moment. “I don’t remember. I’ve participated in too many instances.”
The middle-aged man who had never spoken finally opened his mouth. “That MR. B covered half his face and he looked good. Hey, he has a little white face. Tut, shouldn’t you remember being able to see this white face?”
The woman cried out angrily, “Get lost!”
The bald man smoothed things over. “Okay, the underground people look no different from humans. This appearance is possible. The little white face’s eyes look like someone from China. What was he called… that popular one, my ex-girlfriend liked him.”
The teenager smiled dangerously. “I want to kill him, dig his eyes out, slowly ruin his appearance.”
The young woman stared at the three people before getting up and leaving the foul Banana Pub.
A similar situation occurred in many places.
Some teams had three people and some had four. They gathered together to discuss the next day’s response.
The A Fast Man ability was too great. Tang Mo shook off all the tracking and also grabbed two players directly with Fu Wenduo. On the first day, they succeeded in hiding the big earthworm and making the 21 players feel surprised.
Due to their physical improvement, there wasn’t a need to sleep. Fu Wenduo sat down on the ground next to the cage, not knowing what he was thinking. Tang Mo saw that he didn’t move for a long time and thought he was sleeping inside the helmet. Tang Mo walked softly to the cage and looked down at the huge earthworm.
The earthworm’s actions in the cage stopped. The extremely ugly head looked at Tang Mo, as if trying to recognize who he was.
Tang Mo stood quietly, letting the big earthworm look at him. The big earthworm tilted its head and stared for a long time. Suddenly, its head rubbed against the steel bars of the cage as if it wanted to touch Tang Mo.
It seemed to recognize him. Tang Mo reached out and touched the big earthworm’s head. He secretly wondered if he managed to get a drop of the earthworm’s tears, would it become a prop that could heal wounds? Tang Mo started to think about how to get a drop of the earthworm’s tears. Then a voice rang out in the room.
“Who is this underground person, he looks a bit familiar. I’m hungry, I want to eat. His hand looks delicious…”
Tang Mo, “…”
He pulled his hand back as the earthworm bit at it.
Tang Mo stared into the eyes of this big earthworm.. Tang Mo wasn’t wearing a mask. It had only been two months yet this earthworm couldn’t recognize its savior and tried to eat the hands of the savior.
This time Tang Mo no longer hesitated. He would beat up this earthworm and get a drop of tears from it. Let’s see if the new tears could heal wounds! At this moment, a dull laugh came from the side. Tang Mo turned and looked.
“…You weren’t sleeping?”
The knight leisurely raised his head and looked at Tang Mo. “I can’t sleep for seven days.” The implication was that he wouldn’t be sleeping for the next seven days.
Tang Mo coughed twice. “Now we have hidden this earthworm. The players shouldn’t make too much noise for the first four days. They think we are underground people and this is the Underground Kingdom. It is our territory and they won’t act rashly. They will try to obtain more information. The last day is the real decisive game. On the seventh day, we have to send the big earthworm to the circus. They will know our position and attack.”
Fu Wenduo nodded. “Do you want to rest?”
Tang Mo could go without sleep for a long time. However, not sleeping for seven days in a row put a certain pressure on him. He said, “I’ll sleep for a while.”
“I will keep watch.”
Tang Mo went straight to Fu Wenduo’s side and sat down. He leaned against a broken pillar and closed his eyes to sleep. He needed to stay with his teammate. It was better to be close so that if there was a surprise attack, the two of them could act together.
In the dark night, the big earthworm hit the cage before slowly falling asleep.
Tang Mo was originally leaning against the pillar to sleep with Fu Wenduo beside him. Fu Wenduo was covered with armour and not a single bit of skin was exposed. Suddenly, a head leaned on his shoulder. Fu Wenduo was surprised. The next second, he calmly stretched out a hand and pushed Tang Mo’s face back.
Tang Mo, “…”
Tang Mo had woken up when he accidentally fell on Fu Wenduo’s shoulder. He had already slept enough and didn’t want to sleep anymore. However, Fu Wenduo so bluntly pushed his head back that Tang Mo was too embarrassed to wake up at this moment.
Tang Mo’s head leaned against the pillar and he continued to sleep.
Night past and the sun shone on the earth. Tang Mo opened his eyes, picked up the black cloth and directly covered the cage.
The big earthworm’s snoring stopped. it was silent for a moment before remembering the situation. It started banging on the cage again, crying out, “So hungry, mum…”
Before rushing to eat Tang Mo’s hand, it hadn’t eaten anything in three days so it must be hungry.
The next day, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo took a closer look at the surrounding environment. They didn’t find any players and it seemed like the players hadn’t found this small building.
Tang Mo said, “The preliminary plan was successfully. As long as there are no accidents, they won’t be able to find this place.” It was too far away from where Tang Mo had disappeared, almost halfway across the capital of the Underground Kingdom. “The most important part of this game isn’t how to defeat the 21 players. It is to sent the big earthworm to the circus. The bottom line is how to send the big earthworm to the circus in six days.”
In fact, Tang Mo never intended to confront the 21 players directly. He was confident that he could break through 19 players (two were caught by them). However, there was only a 10% chance of beating so many players. If he added Fu Wenduo, it was a 30% chance.
What he wanted was to win the game.
The game was halfway there and the last half would be on the seventh day.
Tang Mo had already come up with an idea. “When I cleared the S-type instance, I found that this earthworm has a characteristic. It can dig a hole very quickly. So in these six days, we can…”
A clear child’s voice interrupted Tang Mo’s words. He listened to the sound with a sinking heart.
“Ding dong! As the most powerful detectives in the Underground Kingdom, the clever Mr. A and Mr. B have played the stupid thieves. The 21 human players are outraged and didn’t know that Mr. A and Mr. B were never looking at them. Stupid humans, this is all you have?”
“The ‘Detective’s Contempt’ effect is triggered.”
“The Detective’s Contempt activates every three days at noon. The 21 players can learn the location of the monster.”
“Ding dong! Youths from Earth, bravely defeat Mr. A and MR. B and help save the poor monster!”
Fu Wenduo, “…”
Tang Mo, “…”