Sugar: sorry about that.

The underground parking lot is dimly lit, and the two of them walk up the stairs to the outside.

It was nighttime and the sky was dark. Without the city lights, the night in Shanghai is very quiet, with a few rare stars in the sky. After the two of them walked out of the mall, Fu Wenduo said, "Beijing's situation is no better than Shanghai's, or very similar. All of China should be in a state of disorganization at the moment, so regardless of the size of the city, the situation is more or less the same."

Tang Mo nodded understandingly.

The Black Tower game started too suddenly, even if it sent out an announcement three days in advance asking all of humanity to eliminate players and enter the game. But no one knew exactly what that meant. During those three days, the official players who had already completed the Black Tower Game were unable to say anything about the Black Tower Game (as confirmed by Li Bin), and were unable to alert other humans. This destined the players to enter the game after three days, almost randomly.

So the world's governmental system was basically paralyzed when Earth came online.

The way the Black Tower screens players has nothing to do with their identity. State secret agents like Fu Wenduo and Luo Fengcheng survived, as did ordinary citizens like Tang Mo. Many murderers, such as Qian Sankun, the thief Tang Mo once touched, also survived to enter the game.

An unregulated game of sifting has completely shattered the social order that mankind has maintained for thousands of years. But human beings are after all herd animals. Tang Mo thought, "Is there an organization for the extraordinary in Beijing like there is in Shanghai?"

Shanghai wasn't the only shifter organization in Shanghai, there were a few other organizations as well. It's just that Atark is stronger and quite famous in Shanghai.

Fu Wenduo faintly said, "There are many small scattered organizations, and one very large one."

Tang Mo detected a hint of something wrong in his tone, "This organization ......"

"It's a stowaway organization."

Tang Mo paused in his tracks.

"Beijing's largest alien organization is called the Chosen, made up of more than thirty stowaways. Everyone is very strong, and one of them has already cleared the first floor of the Black Tower."

Tang Mo was surprised, "How did you know he passed the first floor of the Black Tower?"

Fu Wenduo said, "I fought with him before I left Beijing. His strength is very strong, this kind of strength must have been detected by the Black Tower and forced to attack the tower." After a pause, he continued, "You should have been forced to attack the tower in the same way."

"Yes."

Fu Wenduo looked up at the serene and vast night sky, his voice calm, "So did he. He must have been forced to attack the tower, and the fact that he managed to come out means that there's a 90% chance that he's already cleared the first level, perhaps even earlier than you. In every district, other than the first player to clear the Black Tower, other players who clear it again aren't globally broadcasted, and no one will know about it. Of course, you are an exception."

"I'm an exception?!" Tang Mo was pondering over Fu Wenduo's words. Suddenly hearing the other party mention himself and say such an inexplicable sentence, he stopped where he was and turned his head to look at Fu Wenduo in dismay.

Fu Wenduo retracted his eyes from the starry sky and looked at Tang Mo, who had a stunned expression on his face. Tang Mo seldom showed such a stark expression, most of the time he would hide his emotions or camouflage them. But this time, it was really out of his expectation, his eyes widened slightly, a strand of hair fell from his forehead to fall between his erect nose, he looked surprisingly naïve.

Fu Wenduo understood the reason for Tang Mo's shock. He thought about it, and between telling the truth and hiding it for a bit, he chose the former. "According to my speculation, it's been almost two months since the Black Tower went online, and there were at least twenty players who had previously cleared the first level. This Christmas welfare copy many players were forced to attack the tower, and although most players haven't reached the first level yet, the number of people is so huge that the number of people who cleared it will be objective. Conservatively estimating, at least sixty people around the world had now cleared the first level of the Black Tower. But they didn't announce it like anyone else whether they had passed it or not. Only you ......"

Fu Wenduo considered the wording, "You passed the first level of the Black Tower in Hard Mode. So at the moment you cleared the Black Tower, the Black Tower made an announcement in my mind - Chinese Region 2 player Mo Mo cleared the first level of the Black Tower (Hard Mode). There was no worldwide announcement, nor was there an all-Hua Xia announcement, so as far as I can guess, it should have just informed all the players who had already cleared the first level of the Black Tower."

Tang Mo: "......"

A month ago, Tang Mo got punked twice by the Black Tower.

The first time was when I was informed that I had to play a tower attack game. Tang Mo worked hard to save up her powers and props, and only with great difficulty was she able to pass the level and save her life. The second time, after completing the game with nine lives, Tang Mo was told by the black tower that "you passed the hard mode", at that time, Tang Mo directly rushed to the bottom of the black tower and kicked the stone monument underneath the black tower several times to vent her emotions.

Now tell him again: the Black Tower is giving away a one-stop service for pits, free of charge, to help you make a name for yourself among high-end players around the world.

...... God damn free hit popularity!!!!

Tang Mo is now extremely glad that he used his name change ability, the one who was recognized was Mo Mo, not Tang Mo. The players who were able to clear the first floor of the Black Tower before Tang Mo were the best among the players in the world at the moment. Tang Mo was cautious and didn't want to become a target by revealing his strength in advance.

Tang Mo's expression changed rapidly, and in the end, he gently breathed a sigh of relief and regained his composure. He secretly decided: the next time he went to Puxi, find an opportunity to go under that stone monument and kick it twice.

Next, Fu Wenduo briefly reveals some outside information to Tang Mo.

All in all, although all of China is currently in a state of anarchy, without any social order, most cities are not in chaos. The smugglers' organization that appeared in Suzhou is a special case. Fu Wenduo went all the way from Beijing to Shanghai, through three provinces and two cities, and only in Suzhou did a crazy smugglers' organization appear, slaughtering people indiscriminately.

Suzhou's stowaway organization was also purely accidental; after all, according to Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng's speculation, they went on a killing spree because of their special psychic ability to become stronger by eating hearts. Otherwise, no stowaway organization would blindly kill people if they didn't have to. This was because killing would be met with resistance from the vast majority of players, and the loss would outweigh the gain.

So Fu Wenduo says that although the smugglers' organization in Beijing is very large, they don't really take action against ordinary players, and everyone is pretty much at peace with each other.

Hearing this news, Tang Mo was relieved. Regardless of whether or not his college nemesis had successfully entered the game, at least he didn't have to worry about being randomly killed by other players in Beijing after Earth went online.

Tang Mo is again thinking about when she will find the opportunity to go to Beijing.

It was at this moment that an excited and leaping voice rang out from the distance, "Brother Tang, Brother Tang!"

Tang Mo turned his head to look.

Only to see a young blonde woman running from the direction of the mall, moving extremely fast and running to him in a few seconds. Tang Mo knew her, her name was Liz, she was a member of the Atak organization, and Tang Mo had met her in the infirmary before.

Seeing her coming to find herself, Tang Mo's first thought was, "Luo Fengcheng has something to find me?"

Liz shook her head and laughed, "No, it's your friend who's back."

Tang Mo frowned strangely, not understanding what the other party meant. Little Fatty and the others had come out of the assembled copies so quickly?

Suddenly, something occurred to him, "Chen Shanshan and the little girl are back?"

Liz said, "No, just one little girl came back, Chen Shanshan. she walked back to the organization on her own and is now resting in the medical room. I just bandaged her wound, she was injured. Tang Mo, when she came back to the organization, she said she wanted to see you, she had something to say, Dr. Luo has already passed by. I remember she has two classmates, one is that cute little fat guy, he and Jacks went to Puxi in the afternoon and haven't come back yet. Another classmate is going to clear the S8 copy with the members of our organization today, right? Let me go look for that little friend."

Tang Mo said, "Okay, thank you, I'll be right back."

Liz laughed, "No, I'm happy that that little girl came back safely." Saying that, she quickly walked into the depths of the factory area, looking for Liu Chen.

Tang Mo looks to Fu Wenduo : "A friend of mine just came back from the game."

Fu Wenduo understood what he meant, "I'll just go back with you." After a pause, he said calmly, "Not back to Atark. It's not good to move around at night, so I'll find a place to set up in the mall."

The two walked back to the mall together.

There are things you can't say near a shopping mall, and Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo have long since reached the edge of the factory district. The road was empty, with white factories neatly organized on both sides. After nightfall, except for the players who had entered the duplicates during the day and were unable to come out for the time being, everyone else had already returned to the mall, preparing to spend the night in silence.

Tang Mo puts his hands in his pockets, stares ahead, and doesn't say a word.

He didn't know what to say.

He and Fu Wenduo had known each other for only a month and a half, or half a day if you don't count the time they spent contacting each other through Mo Mo. Before Earth came online, their identities were very different, and if the Black Pagoda had not suddenly appeared, Tang Mo might never have met Fu Wenduo in his life.

Both of them very tacitly did not open their mouths, and gradually, between the leafy cover of the trees, the shadow of the mall was already about to be seen.

Fu Wenduo's low voice rang out, "You just said that you are from Suzhou?"

Tang Mo froze slightly, "Well, I'm from Suzhou. I came to Shanghai before because of something, and I was planning to go back to Suzhou to see how the situation with the stowaways was going, but since you've already dealt with them, I'm probably in no hurry to go back."

"Not going back to Suzhou, staying in Shanghai?"

Tang Mo thought for a long time, "...... Maybe to Beijing."

Fu Wenduo: "Beijing?"

It's not a big deal to talk about this kind of thing, Tang Mo said matter-of-factly, "I have a good friend I haven't seen since college. He works in Beijing."

Fu Wenduo didn't say anything else, but Tang Mo's words had explained why what he had wanted to know most before was about Beijing.

The two continued on through this factory and across a road to the mall.

It was at this moment that a clanking sound came up from the distance. In the dark and silent night, the sound was ear-piercing, as if someone was dragging heavy chains and thumping on the ground. The shrill sound echoed quickly between the houses, Tang Mo suddenly felt that something was wrong after hearing this sound. In the next second, he immediately recalled that name.

Iron Shoemaker!

However, the moment Tang Mo reacted, a tall and lanky figure appeared at the corner of the plant.

It was a muscular two-meter tall man with a short greasy gray shirt and worn and old leather boots. He held a thick chain in his left hand and a blood and rust stained nail in his right. On his face, a twisted scar ran across the bridge of his nose, cutting from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth.

The Iron Shoemaker is blocking the end of the road. Behind him is the shopping mall, and in front of him are Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.

The Iron Shoemaker's unsuspecting gaze swept over the two men as he hemmed and hawed, "Look what I found."

Brain working fast, Tang Mo remembered what the prepper had said yesterday.

'I don't know what Keiko did, I was right next to him, and that iron shoemaker just hemmed and hawed at me and didn't drag me away.'

When you meet the Iron Shoemaker, you don't necessarily get dragged away from him.

Of the two, the person who triggers the side quest and gets dragged away by him is not necessarily me.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, Tang Mo quickly turned his head and looked at Fu Wenduo beside him. Fu Wenduo's gaze was locked on the iron shoemaker, his face calm. Noticing Tang Mo looking at him, Fu Wenduo turns his head to look at him.

Tang Mo said quickly, "Sorry."

Fu Wenduo : "......?"

The next moment, Tang Mo turned and ran without hesitation.

Fu Wenduo: "......"

Many people have heard the segment about encountering a tiger in the forest. When two hunters meet a tiger, how can they survive? It is impossible for a human being to outrun a tiger, so it is never the tiger that the hunter has to run against, but his own companion.

Tang Mo didn't know exactly who had triggered the side quest, yet no matter what, it was definitely the best option for him to turn around and run right now. If his companion was Chen Shanshan, even if it was Luo Feng Cheng or Jacks, Tang Mo would have hesitated and probably wouldn't have made such a choice. But the one standing beside him right now was Fu Wenduo, he and this person didn't seem to be familiar to that point, and he wasn't even as strong as Fu Wenduo.

...... Dead Dawgs don t die of poverty.

Tang Mo turned around and fled while silently giving Fu Wenduo a wave of favor in his heart.

The shoemaker's reaction was also quick, Tang Mo had just turned around and ran a meter away when he waved the rusty iron lock and threw it forward with force, binding Tang Mo's right wrist. Tang Mo's right hand was bound and he had no choice but to turn his head to look at the shoemaker again.

Only to see this giant-sized man bare his teeth, revealing a mouthful of stained teeth full of yellow dirt.

"Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the game world of Iron Shoemaker."

Tang Mo's face slowly sank as he realized that this time it was him who had triggered the game. Just now, he had kept calm on the surface, but in fact, he had been secretly trying to break away from this iron lock. However, this seemingly ordinary iron lock had been firmly locked onto his arm, and with Tang Mo's current muscle strength, he was unable to break free.

It's best not to resist easily in games enacted by the Black Tower. Even if you encounter a desperate situation in the game using the king's gold to abstain, do not forcefully resist at the beginning.

Fu Wenduo watched from the sidelines, ignoring the shoemaker and locking Tang Mo in place. The iron shoemaker ignored him and only locked Tang Mo. His eyes swept back and forth between the iron shoemaker and Tang Mo's body, and then he looked at the iron lock that bound Tang Mo. He hooked up the corners of his lips and understood what was going on. He looked to Tang Mo and smiled, "Sorry."

Tang Mo: "......"

The exact same words, which Tang Mo had just said when he decided to sell Fu Wenduo to escape on his own, were now returned to him unchanged by Fu Wenduo.

Tang Mo had already decided to participate in the game, and as he looked at Fu Wenduo's calm and smiling demeanor, he felt that it was really heaven's will.

However, Tang Mo was not left helpless for long, only to hear the Iron Shoemaker let out a low, hoarse laugh, turning his head to look at Fu Wenduo : "You, too, are welcome to enter the Iron Shoemaker's game world." As the words fell, the Iron Shoemaker stomped his foot, and a chain inexplicably extended out from the chain that bound Tang Mo, binding Fu Wenduo's wrists with a speed that was unattainable to the naked eye.

Fu Wenduo: "......"

Tang Mo: "......"

Fu Wenduo reacted at the first opportunity, dodging and escaping. However, the chains seemed to have eyes and kept chasing after him. After Fu Wenduo was bound by his wrists, he quickly raised his right hand. The five fingers disappeared and a pitch-black metal sharp weapon appeared on his right arm. Without hesitation, he swung it to slash down. After a hard and crisp sound of metal clashing, the chain did not break, and Fu Wenduo's face was a bit ugly.

The iron shoemaker laughed out loud when he saw him in action.

A familiar child's voice rang in both of their ears.

"Dingdong! Triggering the side quest 'Chance Encounter with That Iron Shoemaker', officially entering the reality copy 'That Cute Iron Shoemaker'. Players are invited to follow the cute iron shoemaker and enter the iron shoemaker's crafting workshop hut. Tip: The Iron Shoemaker's Lovely Chain is a Karma Law weapon, and cannot be undone by anyone except the Iron Shoemaker after being bound."

The Black Pagoda had hinted at this, so Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo could not possibly make any more unnecessary attempts.

In the moonlight, the iron shoemaker hummed a little tune and tugged on his chains, pulling the two men straight into the depths of the factory district.

The chain was originally just a long strip, but now it is split down the middle. Tang Mo was bound at one end, and Fu Wenduo at the other. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were once again side by side. They would not be like the previous prepper, who desperately struggled to escape the game that had begun, causing himself to be dragged along the ground by the iron shoemaker.

The two men quickly followed the iron shoemaker's footsteps, and no one could tell that they were now under restraint except for the iron locks that were bound around their wrists.

The iron shoemaker's singing voice is even worse than Pinocchio's. A long time later, over the noise-like singing, Tang Mo whispered, "...... kind of get even?"

Fu Wenduo's voice was low, "Does it count?"

Tang Mo: "Count on it."

"Then forget it."

This time it really is a grasshopper tied to a rope (iron lock). Tang Mo does not want that accident just now to cause a gap between the two people, although he did ...... cough and want to sell his teammates, but things have come to such a point, what is really important is to work together and get through this game in front of us.

The cobbler dragged the two men to the door of a factory. While Tang Mo scrutinizes the perimeter of the factory, Fu Wenduo keeps his eyes locked on the cobbler, examining every tool in his possession (including nails and locks) several times.

Coming to this plant, the iron cobbler yanked hard on the lock.

Strangely enough, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were clearly attached to the same iron lock by him, and when the Iron Shoemaker yanked, only the iron lock binding Tang Mo was yanked forward. Tang Mo took half a step forward, and the Iron Shoemaker ground his teeth and smiled heatedly, "You're here, you go in." Saying that, he kicked open the door, and the dim moonlight shone into the darkened factory building, only illuminating a distance of about two meters.

Tang Mo frowned as he glanced up at the Iron Shoemaker and then back to Fu Wenduo.

Their eyes met in the air and they nodded in unison.

The cobbler saw that Tang Mo did not go in, and was about to make use of the situation. Tang Mo walked straight into the factory with a big stride. The moment he entered the factory, the iron locks that had been tied around his wrists suddenly fell down. The iron lock seemed to have a life and swished back to the shoemaker's hand.

The gate rumbled shut behind Tang Mo, who lay listening for a moment, only to hear the sound of the iron shoemaker humming a tune further and further away.

Should be taking Fu Wenduo to another place.

"For this copy, isn't it a team of two?" Tang Mo thought secretly.

The Iron Shoemaker and Fu Wenduo had already gone far away, and Tang Mo couldn't just sit there and wait for them to die. He turned around and observed his surroundings.

This is a food processing factory. Even before entering the factory, Tang Mo could smell the sweet aroma in the air, the smell of cookies. The factory hasn't been operating for a month and a half since the Earth came online, but the raw materials piled up in the factory haven't completely decayed, giving off the smell of food. Of course, it was impossible to use them for food anymore.

The factory was dark, and the moonlight shone through the high windows, illuminating only one corner.

Tang Mo tried to push the gate. He didn't push it open. Then he took a stone out of his pocket.

In his haste to get out, Tang Mo had stashed his backpack in a hidden spot in the commercial vehicle and didn't carry it with him. Without a flashlight, he remembered the rock he had hit with Mario's hat. Although the light from this rock could only illuminate the area around him for a couple of meters, it was better than nothing.

Tang Mo rubbed the stone three times and tried to stamp it hard. When he tapped twice on the stone, a line of small letters gradually showed up.

[Props: a magical stone]

[Owner: Tang Mo]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Level: I]

[Attack power: average]

[Functions: smashing people might still hurt a little, it glows, and maybe there's some sort of strange effect.]

[Restrictions: None.]

[Remarks: A rock can have a dream - I want to be a night pearl!

Tang Mo's gaze lingers for a moment on "some kind of strange effect" before he lifts the stone as a light and begins to explore the building he is in.

The sound of Tang Mo's footsteps echoes clearly through the walls of the vast, silent factory. Tang Mo uses a stone to illuminate his surroundings, and at the same time, he keeps his eyes peeled for any movement. In the event of an accident, he will take out a large match as quickly as possible to meet the enemy.

The building appears to be the manual work area of a food processing plant. Tang Mo walks a dozen meters and finds a long row of stainless steel tables. On these tables, there were some food packaging boxes and food that had already been packaged. Earth has been online for almost two months, and most of the food that has been made in this factory has been looted by players, with only a few food items that have fallen into the pile of boxes left undiscovered.

Tang Mo picks up a box of buns and continues on her way.

The work area is part of this plant, and further in, the office area.

Tang Mo peered cautiously forward, the glowing stone clutched in his hand. He stopped in front of the first office door and tried to twist the knob.

It can be twisted open.

Tang Mo takes a half step backwards, he stares warily ahead, extends his leg, and kicks the door open.

Bang!

The doors were kicked in and dust flew up with this gust of wind.

Tang Mo kicks in the door and the house is quiet and unmoving. Tang Mo walked into the house with the stone and searched around. It was an ordinary office, and the things inside seemed to have been searched by other players in advance and were all turned upside down. I don't know if those players entered this factory because of this reality copy game, or if they had entered it long ago.

Tang Mo checked it over and found nothing special, he went further in.

After searching three offices in a row, Tang Mo did not find anything unusual. When he reached the door of the innermost office, an extremely faint click sounded from inside the door.

Tang Mo's eyes narrowed as he stared at the door in front of him. Not daring to be careless, he directly took out a giant match, and after listening to the commotion for a while longer, he kicked the door open, while at the same time, his body moved to the side, leaning against the wall to block his figure, preventing the sudden attack of the things inside the door.

"Ah ...... who! Who's there!" A hoarse, frightened male voice rang out, and Tang Mo's brow furrowed. The voice continued, "Who is it, who's here." As if he suddenly thought of something, his voice became very agitated, "Is it a new player? Is it a new player coming?!"

The male voice in the room said it a few more times.

Tang Mo thought for a few moments, and with one hand clasped tightly around a large match, he turned and walked into this office.

The ground was a mess.

Countless bags of snacks were piled chaotically on the floor, stained with some long-darkened blood. A skinny young man hides behind the office desk like a dried-up black bat, peeking out at Tang Mo. He has some cookie crumbs on his mouth, as if the clicking sound he just made was from him eating a cookie.

All over his body were shockingly dark wounds. From his arms to his thighs, the stone illuminated a blackened hole that looked to have been formed by something stabbing through it.

The blood on these holes had long since coagulated and turned purple, and the player's physical quality that had gained a boost kept him from dying from these wounds. Only to see him fall to the ground almost paralyzed as if he was paralyzed, that right leg with the most wounds had atrophied in muscle at the moment, it should have been a long time since he had exercised.

Tang Mo didn't let his guard down as he coldly said, "Who are you?"

The young man looked at him fearfully, "I ...... am Xing Feng, are you a new player? I came in early, this is the real life copy of the Iron Shoemaker right? I came in on the 1st. Do you know what number it is now? How many days have passed already? You ...... don't be afraid, I don't mean any harm, I really don't mean any harm, I just haven't seen a new companion in a long time."

Tang Mo immediately said, "New companion?"

Xing Feng swallowed fearfully and nodded, "Right ...... right. Before you, I came to two companions, and they both died. They were killed by the people over there. I was injured in the leg by the iron shoemaker, and there is no way to move to find clues. If you don't come, I'm afraid I'm going to die soon."

"What's that guy over there?" Tang Mo asked.

A look of fear flashed across Xing Feng's face, and before he could say anything, he only heard a bell ringing in the office. At the same time, a dazzling light illuminated the bookshelf behind the office desk.

Tang Mo was shocked, "What's that?!"

Only the computer on the desk in the center of the room in the deathly silent office suddenly turned on, and on the screen, an invitation to a video call was sent over. All communication devices were unavailable after Earth went online, and all power resources were paralyzed. How did this computer start up?

Xing Feng crawled backward on his hands and knees in fear as he clung to the wall, his hand outstretched, pointing fearfully at the computer, "It's coming, it's coming ...... It's coming. It's that guy over there, that guy over there is coming to call!"

Tang Mo pursed his lips as he contemplated for a moment and stepped forward. He first looked at the computer mainframe. The mainframe of this computer was not activated, only the screen was turned on, and there was a video call invitation from someone.

Tang Mo looks at the computer screen with an expressionless face and presses the OK button.

The next second, Fu Wenduo's handsome face appeared on the computer screen.

Tang Mo was surprised, "Fu Wenduo?"

Fu Wenduo was also a little surprised.

It was at this moment that a clear child's voice rang through the room.

"Dingdong! Triggered side quest 2: Find the Iron Shoemaker's missing shoe polish."