nThe underground parking lot was dimly lit. The two of them went up the stairs and moved outside.

nIt was night and the sky was dark. Without the illumination of the city lights, the night in Shanghai was very quiet, with few stars in the sky. After they walked out of the mall, Fu Wenduo took one side and said, “The situation in Beijing isn’t better than Shanghai. It is similar. All regions of China should be in a disorderly state at this moment. Regardless of the size of the city, the situation was almost the same.

nTang Mo nodded in understanding.

nThe black tower game started too suddenly, despite issuing an announcement three days in advance, requiring all humans to eliminate players and enter the game. But no one knew what this sentence meant. In those three days, the official players who completed the black tower game couldn’t say anything about the game (Li Bin confirmed this) and couldn’t tell other humans. They were destined to enter the game three days later.

nThus, after the earth went online, the government systems around the world were basically paralyzed.

nThe way that the black tower filtered players had nothing to do with their original identities. Some confidential personnel like Fu Wenduo and Luo Fengcheng survived, while ordinary citizens like Tang Mo also survived. There were also many murderers, such as the thief named Qian Sankun that Tang Mo once encountered. He also survived to enter the game.

nIt was an irregular game that completely overturned the social order that humans had maintained for thousands of years. But after all, people were social animals. Tang Mo wondered, “Does Beijing have an abilities organization like Shanghai?”

nShanghai had a few other organizations as well as Attack. It was just that Attack’s strength was high and they were quite famous in Shanghai.

nFu Wenduo said, “There are many small organizations and one very large organization.”

nTang Mo detected a hint of something wrong from his tone. “This organization…”

n“It is a stowaways organization.”

nTang Mo’s footsteps stopped.

n“Beijing’s largest organization is called ‘Sky Chosen’, consisting of more than 30 stowaways. Everyone is very strong and one of them cleared the black tower’s first floor.”

nTang Mo was surprised. “How do you know that they cleared the black tower’s first floor?”

nFu Wenduo explained. “I had a fight with him before leaving Beijing. He is very strong. This strength must’ve been discovered by the black tower and forced to attack the tower.” After a pause, he continued, “Just like you were forced to attack the tower.”

n“Yes.”

nFu Wenduo looked up at the quiet and vast night sky, voice calm. “He is the same. He must’ve been forced to attack the tower and succeeded. This possibility is 90%. He has already cleared the first floor, perhaps earlier than you. Apart from the first player to clear the black tower in each district, the other players to clear it won’t be notified globally and no one will know. Of course, you are an exception.”

n“I am an exception?” Tang Mo pondered on Fu Wenduo’s words. He suddenly heard the other person mentioning him with such inexplicable words. He stood and turned to look at Fu Wenduo with surprise.

nFu Wenduo shifted his gaze from the stars to Tang Mo’s dismayed face. Tang Mo rarely showed such vivid expressions. Most of the time, he would hide his emotions or disguise them. But this thing was really beyond his expectations. His eyes were slightly wide and a strand of hair fall across his forehead, making him seem a bit naive.

nFu Wenduo understood the reason for his shock. He thought about it and chose to tell Tang Mo the truth instead of concealing it. “According to my speculations, the black tower has been online for almost two months now. At least 20 players have cleared the first floor. Thanks to the Christmas benefits instance, many players were forced to attack the tower. Although most players haven’t reached the first level, this number is too large and the number of those who cleared the tower will be objective. A conservative estimate is that at least 60 players around the world have now cleared the first floor of the black tower. But whether they passed the instance or not, there is no announcement like everyone else. Only you…”

nFu Wenduo got to the point. “You passed the black tower’s first floor in difficult mode. The moment you cleared it, the black tower announced in my mind that Player Momo of China’s District 2 has cleared the first floor of the black tower (difficult mode). There was no world announcement or China announcement. I guess that it only informed the players who had already cleared the black tower’s first floor.”

nTang Mo, “…”

nOne month ago, Tang Mo was pitted twice by the black tower.

nThe first time was when he was informed of the tower attack game. Tang Mo sweated, worked hard to obtain abilities and props in order to save his life. The second was when he completed the game and the black tower told him he cleared it in difficult mode. Tang Mo directly went to the black tower and vented his emotions on the stone tablet underneath it.

nNow he found out that the black tower gave him a service, allowing him to become famous among the high level players in the world.

n…Who wanted to become famous?!!!

nTang Mo was extremely lucky that he used the name change ability. It was Momo, not Tang Mo, who was popular. The people who could pass the black tower’s first floor before Tang Mo were the best players in the world. Tang Mo was cautious and didn’t want to expose his strength in advance, which would make him a target.

nTang Mo’s expressions changed quickly. Finally, he sighed and restored his calm. He secretly decided that the next time he went to Puxi, he would look for a chance to kick the stone tables again.

nNext, Fu Wenduo revealed some brief outside information to Tang Mo.

nTo be it simply, all of China might be in anarchy and there was no social order, but most cities weren’t chaotic. The appearance of the stowaways organization in Suzhou was a special case. Fu Wenduo took the Beijing south road to Shanghai, passing through three provinces and two cities. Only Suzhou had a crazy stowaways organization that wantonly slaughtered people.

nThe Suzhou stowaways organization was also accidental. After all, according to Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng, the stowaways were madly killing people because they had a special ability where eating the heart would make them stronger. Otherwise, a stowaways organization wouldn’t blindly kill unless it was necessary. It was because killing would lead to a large resistance by other players, not making it worth it.

nFu Wenduo claimed that although the stowaways organization in Beijing was very large, they didn’t start anything with ordinary players and everyone was fairly safe.

nTang Mo sighed with relief when he heard the news. He didn’t know if his university friend had successfully entered the game but at least he wasn’t being killed by other player sin Beijing.

nTang Mo thought about finding an opportunity to go to Beijing.

nAt this moment, an excited voice was heard in the distance. “Brother Tang, Brother Tang!”

nTang Mo turned to look.

nHe saw a young woman running from the direction of the mall, moving very fast. She reached him in a few seconds. Tang Mo knew her. She was Liz, a member of the Attack organization. Tang Mo had once met her in the infirmary.

nTang Mo’s first thought was, “Did something happen to Luo Fengcheng?”

nLiz shook her head and smiled. “No, your friend is back.”

nTang Mo frowned, not understanding her meaning. The little fatty, he left the assembly instance so fast?

nSuddenly, he thought of one thing. “Chen Shanshan and the little girl are back?”

nLiz replied, “No, only one little girl returned. Chen Shanshan. She walked back to the organization and is now resting in the medical room. I just bandaged her wounds for her. Tang Mo, she wanted to see you after returning to the organization. She has something to say to you and Dr. Luo. I remember that she had two classmates. One is the cute little fatty. He and Jack went to Puxi in the afternoon and haven’t returned yet. The other classmate is clearing the S8 instance with members of our organization today? I’ll go and find that friend.”

nTang Mo said, “Okay, thank you. I will head back.”

nLiz smiled. “I am very happy that the little girl can come back safely.” She quickly headed into the depths of the factory area, looking for Liu Chen.

nTang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo. “A friend of mine just came back from the game.”

nFu Wenduo understood his meaning. “I will go back with you.” He paused and calmly said, “Not back to Attack. It isn’t good to act at night. I will look for a place to stay in the mall.”

nThe two men walked back to the mall together.

nSome words weren’t easy to say in the vicinity of the mall. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had already walked to the edge of the factory area. The roads were empty and the buildings on both sides were uniform. It was almost night. The players who entered the instance during the day temporarily hadn’t come out. Other people have already returned to the mall to prepare for this quiet night.

nTang Mo put his hands in his pocket and looked ahead without speaking.

nHe didn’t know what to say.

nHe and Fu Wenduo only knew each other for a month and a half. If they didn’t count the time they were in contact through Momo, they only knew each other for half a day. Before the earth went online, the identities of the two people were completely different. If the black tower hadn’t appeared, Tang Mo might never encounter Fu Wenduo in this life.

nThe two people had a tacit understanding and didn’t open their mouths. Gradually, the shadow of the shopping mall was visible between the leaves.

nFu Wenduo spoke in a low voice. “You said you are from Suzhou?”

nTang Mo confirmed it. “Yes, I am from Suzhou. I came to Shanghai because of some matters. I originally intended to return to Suzhou to see the situation with the stowaways. But since you have dealt with them, I’m not in a hurry to go back.”

n“You will stay in Shanghai instead of returning to Suzhou?”

nTang Mo thought for a while. “…Maybe I will go to Beijing.”

nFu Wenduo asked, “Beijing?”

nThis type of thing wasn’t a big deal so Tang Mo replied honestly, “I have a good friend who I haven’t seen since graduating university. He works in Beijing.”

nFu Wenduo didn’t ask anymore. Tang Mo’s sentence already explained why he wanted to know about Beijing.

nThe two of them continued to move forward, passing through a factory and crossing a road towards the mall.

nJust then, a sound was heard from afar. In the dark night, the sound was harsh, as if someone was dragging a heavy chain across the ground. The sharp sound echoed between the buildings. Tang Mo heard this sound and felt that something was wrong. The next second, he remembered a name.

nIron Shoemaker!

nBut the moment that Tang Mo reacted, a tall and burly figure appeared at the corner.

nIt was a two metre tall muscular man, wearing a greasy grey shirt and worn boots. He held a thick chain in one hand and a bloody and rusty nail in his right hand. On his face, a twisted knife scar ran across the bridge of his nose, from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth.

nThe Iron Shoemaker was at the end of the road. Behind him was the mall and in front of him was Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.

nThe Iron Shoemaker looked at the two people before smiling. “What did I find?”

nTang Mo’s brain was working fast as he thought about what the reserve player said yesterday.

nI don’t know what Li Qiang did. I was right next to him. The iron shoemaker just smiled at me and didn’t drag me away.

nA person wouldn’t necessarily be dragged away if they met the Iron Shoemaker.

nOf the two people, it wasn’t necessarily Tang Mo who triggered the branch task and would be dragged away by him.

nEverything happened in the blink of an eye. Tang Mo quickly turned his head and looked at Fu Wenduo. Fu Wenduo’s eyes were tightly locked on the Iron Shoemaker and his face was calm. Fu Wenduo noticed Tang Mo looking at him and glanced over.

nTang Mo quickly said, “I’m sorry.”

nFu Wenduo, “…?”

nTang Mo didn’t hesitate to turn and run.

nFu Wenduo, “….”

nMany people had heard the saying about tigers in the forest. If two hunters met a tiger together, how could they survive? It was impossible for a person to beat a tiger. So the hunter didn’t hit the tiger but their companion.

nTang Mo didn’t know who triggered the branch task. However, turning to run was certainly the best option. If his companion was Chen Shanshan, Luo Fengcheng or even Jack, Tang Mo might hesitate and not choose this method. But Fu Wenduo was currently standing next to him. He might have just become familiar with this person but his strength was inferior to Fu Wenduo’s.

n…A dead friend might not die in a poor way.

nThe moment Tang Mo turned to leave, he quietly sent some goodwill to Fu Wenduo in his heart.

nThe Iron Shoemaker’s reaction was also very fast. Tang Mo just turned and ran a metre. He waved the rusty iron padlock and flung it towards Tang Mo’s right wrist. Tang Mo was tied by his right hand, forcing him to turn and look at the Iron Shoemaker.

nHe saw this huge man open his teeth, revealing dirty and yellow teeth.

n“Hehehe, welcome to the Iron Shoemaker’s game world.”

nTang Mo’s expression slowly sank as he understood that he triggered the game this time. He remained calm and secretly tried to break the iron lock. However, this seemingly ordinary iron padlock was firmly locked around his arm. Tang Mo was unable to break free with his current strength.

nOnce the black tower issued a game, it wasn’t so easy to resist. Even if he encountered a desperate situation in the game where the king’s coin was required, he wouldn’t use such strong resistance in the beginning.

nFu Wenduo watched from the side. The Iron Shoemaker ignored him, only looking at Tang Mo. His eyes glanced back and forth between the Iron Shoemaker and Tang Mo, as well as the iron lock around Tang Mo’s arm. His lips curved as he understood what had happened. He smiled at Tang Mo and said, “I’m sorry.”

nTang Mo, “…”

nIt was the exact words that Tang Mo used when he decided to sacrifice Fu Wenduo. Now Fu Wenduo returned them to him.

nTang Mo had already decided to participate in the game. He looked at Fu Wenduo’s smile and felt this person was really blessed by the heavens.

nHowever, Tang Mo wasn’t helpless for long. The Iron Shoemaker smiled and turned to look at Fu Wenduo. “I also welcome you to the Iron Shoemaker’s game world.” The words had just finished when the Iron Shoemaker stomped his feet, causing a chain to shoot out from Tang Mo’s chain and wrapping around Fu Wenduo’s wrist at a speed that couldn’t be followed with the naked eye.

nFu Wenduo, “….”

nTang Mo, “…”

nFu Wenduo reacted and tried to escape. But the chain seemed to have eyes and was chasing him. Once Fu Wenduo’s wrist was tied, he quickly raised his right hand. His fingers disappeared and a dark metal weapon appeared. He didn’t hesitate to cut downwards. There was a hard metal collision sound. The chain didn’t break off and Fu Wenduo’s face turned ugly.

nThe Iron Shoemaker saw his movements and burst out laughing.

nA familiar child’s voice was heard in their ears.

n“Ding dong! Triggered the branch mission ‘Bump into the Iron Shoemaker’ and you have entered the reality copy of the ‘Lovely Iron Shoemaker.’ Please follow the lovely Iron Shoemaker and enter the Iron Shoemaker’s workshop house. Hint: The Iron Shoemaker’s love chain is a causal weapon. After being tied, only the Iron Shoemaker can untie it.”

nThe black tower reminded them with this hint and Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo no longer made futile attempts.

nIn the moonlight, the Iron Shoemaker hummed a little song as he pulled the chain, leading the two men deep into the factory area.

nThe chain was originally a long strip and now it was parted in the middle. One end was tied to Tang Mo and the other end was tied to Fu Wenduo. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo walked side by side. They didn’t struggle like the previous reserve and try to escape.

nThey quickly followed the footsteps of the Iron Shoemaker. Apart from the iron locks around their wrists, no one would think they were subject to the will of another person.

nThe Iron Shoemaker’s song was even worse than Pinocchio. After a long time of listening to this terrible song, Tang Mo whispered, “…Should we call it even?”

nFu Wenduo replied in a low voice. “Are you calculating it?”

n“I am.”

n“Then it counts.”

nThis time, they were really grasshoppers tied by a rope (iron chain). Tang Mo hoped that this incident wouldn’t cause a gap between both of them. Although he did… cough, want to sell out his teammate, things had developed to this point. The really important thing was to work together to get through the present game.

nThe Iron Shoemaker took the two people to the entrance of a factory. Tang Mo carefully observe the things around the factory. Fu Wenduo’s gaze was always locked on the Iron Shoemaker. Every time on his body (including the nail and iron chain) was examined several times.

nBefore entering this factory, the Iron Shoemaker tugged hard on the chain.

nDespite Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo clearly being connected to the same chain, only Tang Mo was pulled forward when the Iron Shoemaker tugged. Tang Mo walked forward half a step. The Iron Shoemaker gritted his teeth and smirked. “You are here so enter.” He kicked open the door and dim moonlight shone into the dark factory, illuminating a range of two metres.

nTang Mo frowned as he looked between the Iron Shoemaker and Fu Wenduo.

nThe eyes of the two men met in the air and they nodded.

nThe Iron Shoemaker saw that Tang Mo hadn’t entered yet and looked like he wanted to make a fuss. Tang Mo strode directly into the factory. The moment he walked into the factory, the iron chain tied to his wrist suddenly fell off. The iron chain seemed to possess a life of its own, moving back into the hands of the Iron Shoemaker.

nThe door slammed shut behind Tang Mo. Tang Mo listened to the door for a while, the sound of the Iron Shoemaker’s song moving further and further.

nHe was taking Fu Wenduo to another place.

n“This instance, it isn’t a team one?” Tang Mo wondered.

nThe Iron Shoemaker and Fu Wenduo had gone far away. Tang Mo couldn’t sit still. He turned and observed the surroundings.

nThis was a food processing factory. Before entering the factory, Tang Mo had smelt a sweet fragrance in the air which came from biscuits. The earth had been online for a month and a half. The factory wasn’t working but the raw materials piled up in the factory weren’t completely spoiled. Of course, it was impossible to eat them.

nThe factory was dark and moonlight shone through the high windows, illuminating a corner.

nTang Mo tried to push open the door. He couldn’t push it open. Then he took a stone out of his pocket.

nIn his rush, Tang Mo had hidden his backpack in a corner of the business car, not carrying it with him. He didn’t have a flashlight but remember the stone he previously obtained with Mario’s hat. The light of the stone could only illuminate one or two metres around it, but it was better than nothing.

nTang Mo rubbed the stone three times then tried to step on it. Once he knocked twice on the stone, small lines of words gradually showed up.

nProp: A Magical Stone

nOwner: Tang Mo

nQuality: Ordinary

nLevel: 1

nAttack: Normal

nFunction: Smashing a person might cause some pain. It can shine and perhaps have some strange effects.

nRestrictions: None

nRemark: A stone can also have a dream— I want to be a pearl of the night!

nTang Mo’s eyes paused for a moment on ‘some strange effects’. Then he raised the stone and started to explore the factory.

nIn the spacious and quiet factory, Tang Mo’s footsteps echoed loudly between the walls. Tang Mo used the stone to illuminate his surroundings while paying attention, closely observing all movements around him. If there was an incident, he would quickly pull out the big match to meet the enemy.

nThis seemed to be the manual work area for the food processing plant. Tang Mo walked more than a dozen metres and found a row of long, stainless steel tables. On these tables, some packaged food boxes were messily placed. The earth had been online for two months. Most of the food in the factory had already been looted by players. Only some food that fell among the boxes weren’t found.

nTang Mo picked up a small box of bread and continued moving forward.

nThe work area was part of the factory building and then it was the office area.

nTang Mo walked forward, holding the glowing stone in his hand. He stopped at the first office, attempting to wriggle the door handle.

nIt was twisted open.

nTang Mo took half a step back, staring in front of him. Then he stretched out a leg and kicked open the door.

nBang!

nThe door was kicked open and dust flew.

nThe room was quiet and there were no movements when Tang Mo kicked open the door. Tang Mo held the stone and started searching around. It was an ordinary office that had already been ransacked by players. He wondered if the players entered the factory because of this reality instance or if it was before that.

nTang Mo checked again and didn’t find anything special. Then he moved on.

nTang Mo searched three offices and found no abnormalities. He just reached the innermost office when faint sounds were heard from inside the door.

nTang Mo’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the door. He didn’t dare be careless and pulled out his giant match. After listening for a while, he opened the door with one foot. At the same time, his body moved sideways, leaning against the wall to prevent a sudden attack.

n“Ah…who? Who’s there?” Tang Mo frowned at the frightened male voice. The voice continued. “Who is it, who is it?” The voice suddenly became very excited, like he had thought of something. “Is it a new player? Did a new player come?”

nThe male voice spoke several times.

nTang Mo thought for a moment. One hand tightly hand the big match as he headed into the office.

nThe ground was a mess.

nCountless snack bags were piled on the ground and it was stained with dark blood. A thin young man, like a withered black bat, was hiding behind a desk in the office, secretly watching Tang Mo. He had some biscuit crumbs around his mouth. The previous sounds seemed to be from him eating.

nThere were shocking black wounds all over his body. From the arms to the thighs, the stone illuminated black holes that seemed to be caused by a sharp object.

nThe skin around these wounds were already purple. Only the player’s improved physical abilities prevented him from dying. He was almost paralyzed and had fallen to the ground. The right leg had the most wounds and was currently in atrophy. It seemed he hadn’t moved it for a long time.

nTang Mo relaxed his vigilance. He coldly asked, “Who are you?”

nThe young man looked at him in horror. “I… My name is Xing Feng. Are you a new player? I came in really early. This is the reality instance involving the Iron Shoemaker right? I entered on the 1st. Do you know what the date is now? How many days have passed? You… don’t be afraid. I really mean you no harm. I’m not malicious. I haven’t seen a new companion for a long time.”

nTang Mo immediately asked, “New companion?”

nXing Feng gulped with fear and nodded. “R…Right. Before you, I had two other companions. They both died. They were killed by the people over there. My leg was hurt by the Iron Shoemaker and I couldn’t move to find any clues. If you hadn’t come, I was afraid I was going to die too.”

n“Who are the people over there?” Tang Mo asked.

nXing Feng looked horrified. He hadn’t spoken yet when a bell ringing was heard in the office. At the same time, the dazzling light illuminated the bookshelf behind the office desk.

nTang Mo was surprised. “What is that?”

nThe computer on the desk in the middle of the office had suddenly turned on. A video call was on the screen. All communication devices were unusable and power resources paralyzed after the earth went online. How did this computer turn on?

nXing Feng crawled back and forth with fear. He clung to the wall, pointing in a terrified manner at the computer. “Come, they are coming. The people over there, the people over there are calling!”

nTang Mo licked his lips. He thought for a moment before stepping forward. He looked at the computer’s body first. The computer’s body wasn’t turned on. Only the screen had turned on and someone had sent a video call invitation.

nTang Mo stared blankly at the computer screen before pressing the OK button.

nThe next second, Fu Wenduo’s face appeared on the computer screen.

nTang Mo asked with surprise, “Fu Wenduo?”

nFu Wenduo also showed a hint of surprise.

nAt this moment, a loud child’s voice rang in the room.

n“Ding dong! Triggered branch mission 2: Find the Iron Shoemaker’s shoe polish.”

n