Shanghai, Nanjing Road.
Blood flowed along the cracks in the ground on both sides of the road, quickly outlining a dark brown mark. Some of the blood had already dried up while some of the blood was still warm. More than 10 bodies were lying on the ground with their eyes wide open.
On the second floor of a store on one side of the road, the black tower’s voice ended and the tall, strong foreign man had a stunned expression. Then he seemed to suffer from a fierce impact as his eyes widened.
Luo Fengcheng was startled. “Jack!”
Tang Qiao quickly caught Jack’s body as he fell backwards. She had to take half a step back because the other person was too strong.
Several members of the Attack group stared blankly at Luo Fengcheng. Luo Fengcheng’s eyes narrowed. He stared at the calm Nanjing Road outside the window and ordered, “Quickly go back to the base first!”
At the same time, the ‘earthquake’ that made all of Beijing shake along with Xu Yusheng’s voice subsided. No one knew if there would be another ‘earthquake’ coming. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo glanced at each other and decided not to enter any buildings.
It was the same for Ruan Wangshu.
Everyone gathered in the shade of the playground and Ruan Wangshu directly said, “5 a.m. on May 25th, that is the last hour of Eve’s Game. Xu Yusheng looks arrogant. It is like she isn’t taking us seriously by directly challenging us.” The notice was actually a challenge. “However, she actually has a good plan.”
Xu Yusheng absolutely wasn’t an idiot if she could be ranked ninth on the time leaderboard.
Tang Mo nodded. “Yes, if she can eliminate us in that one hour then she can open the reward. If we kill her, we might not necessarily be open to open the reward.”
“Xu Yusheng challenged you. It sounds like it has nothing to do with people like us.” A low voice was heard.
Tang Mo looked over and saw it was the flat-headed youth who escaped from Fu Wenduo’s flying knife.
Ruan Wangshu stared at him coldly and sneered, “You don’t want Eve’s Reward?”
The youth suddenly laughed. “What do you mean?”
Ruan Wangshu glanced at the other Beijing players. “Didn’t you agree to cooperate because of Eve’s Reward? In all of Beijing, we can only eliminate Xu Yusheng or Ning Zheng to get Even’s Reward. There are two people and two chances. Six days later, we want to kill Xu Yusheng and Xu Yusheng wants to kill us.” He pointed to himself and the Tang Fu duo. “There will also be many returnees looking for opportunities to kill us. Doesn’t this have something to do with you? The other returnees will try to kill us and you can find a chance to kill Xu Yusheng.”
The youth’s expression didn’t change. He already had this idea in his head.
Before this, no one thought that Xu Yusheng would issue such a challenge. She seemed to be challenging the four people on her own before her voice spread through all of Beijing. Countless returnees heard her words and would also wait in ambush at the Third Ring Road’s elevated road on that day.
Xu Yusheng used herself as bait to draw out the four targets. Then all returnees in Beijing who wanted to open Eve’s Reward would aim for them. At the same time, the ambitious Beijing players would certainly come forward. In a melee, Xu Yusheng’s odds were even greater.
Chen Shanshan spoke in a calm voice, “This showdown seems to be Xu Yusheng against us but it is actually a battle between Earth players and returnees. To be honest, there are over 5 million Earth survivors and only 320,000 returnees but I don’t think we are stronger than them.”
Nobody refuted Chen Shanshan’s words.
Tang Mo stated, “Xu Yusheng set the time limit for one hour. This is actually protecting herself. A one hour battle can still be controlled. After that, it will be hard to clean up the battle between returnees and survivors.”
The watching Lian Yuzheng declared, “There are no fools among the returnees.”
Xu Yusheng wasn’t stupid. She used to only kill pigs and now she arrogantly challenged them. She wasn’t crazy, everything was under her control.
The group discussed it for a while before deciding to meet at the East Third Ring Road in six days. They didn’t ask where the other side was going to hide. For every word they spoke, the risk to their lives would increase. This was just a temporary alliance and they weren’t friends.
Before Tang Mo left, Ruan Wangshu suddenly asked, “Tang Mo, previously you passed the black tower’s hard mode and the black tower said you were in China District 2. The official player of China District 2, Jack opened Eve’s Reward. Do you know him?”
Tang Mo replied casually. “I don’t know him.”
Ruan Wangshu glanced at him and slightly smiled. “Okay.”
The group of four immediately left the 80th High School.
Ruan Wangshu didn’t know that the foreign man who previously came here with Tang Mo was Jack but he sensed that Tang Mo definitely knew Jack.
After finding a residential building to hide in, Tang Mo directly asked Chen Shanshan, “Jack Crown, is that Jack’s full name? Does Shanghai have a second player called Jack?”
Chen Shanshan shook her head. “It is Jack. I didn’t expect Jack to be the first player to open the reward in China. Brother Tang, it is now 13:51 p.m. The black tower’s notification was at 13:19 p.m. It isn’t Eve’s Game time.”
Fu Wenduo speculated, “Eliminating returnees outside the game time can also open the reward?”
Chen Shanshan hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know. Still, my instinct tells me that it is best to not try.”
This was a secluded and old neighborhood. The quarter found a house without anybody and entered. Then Tang Mo took out a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Tang Mo. Tang Mo poured water on the wound at his wrist. This was a scratch he got when he jumped from the building with Chen Shanshan.
The four people sat down around the table. It just so happened that the family’s dining table was for four.
Tang Mo’s fingers tapped on the table for a moment before he looked up. “Eve’s Reward, don’t you feel that this sudden game is like Santa Claus’ surprise instance six months ago?”
Fu Wensheng recalled, “Santa’s surprise instance, I remember that the instance didn’t give us any extra rewards. Everyone was forced into the instance and at the end of the game, the players who got a Christmas branch would get a reward. Otherwise, there is no reward. Brother Tang, do you think that Eve’s Game might be the same?”
Tang Mo nodded before shaking his head. “I don’t mean that. I was just wondering what would happen if the returnees can’t open the reward or if Earth players can’t get the reward. What will happen?”
Fu Wensheng asked, “What do you think?”
Fu Wenduo replied, “Not much.”
Tang Mo glanced at him.
Chen Shanshan licked her lips. “Yes, it wouldn’t be much. Perhaps this Eve’s Reward is like the Christmas branch and doesn’t force every player to have one. In fact, players are unlikely to gain it at all. In addition to finding the right way to open the reward, returnees can only open it if they eliminate one of 45 Earth players. The odds are low but maybe the can find the right method. On the other side… Earth’s players only have 100 chances.”
Fu Wensheng said, “I know that there are only 100 players on the time leaderboard.”
Tang Mo added, “The time leaderboard is fixed and will no longer change. In other words, Earth players had to win the game and open Eve’s Reward, provided we have this reward. There are more than 5 million Earth survivors. Even if all returnees on the time leaderboard are killed only 100 players can get the reward.”
In fact, Tang Mo had long realized that Eve’s Game wasn’t a punishment game.
There would be no punishment if they were unable to clear the game. It was like Cinderella’s Food Chain game. This game was called Eve’s No.315 instance and it reminded players that there was no penalty for failing to clear the instance. There would just be a reward for success. However…
“I want this reward.”
Chen Shanshan stared at Tang Mo with surprise.
Fu Wenduo’s lips curved. “Yes, I also want this reward.”
Tang Mo raised his eyebrows. “There are only two chances in Beijing. One is Xu Yusheng and the other is Ning Zheng.”
Fu Wenduo stated, “Exactly two.”
Tang Mo didn’t speak again.
This person was really arrogant. Xu Yusheng probably had only one-tenth of his arrogance.
Tang Mo thought this but he was smiling.
Any ambitious player who wanted to attack the tower and become stronger was unlikely to give up Eve’s Reward. It wasn’t a Christmas tree branch, it was a rare reward. The reward obtained must be stronger than the Christmas tree branch.
The group discussed it for a while before returning to the beginning.
Tang Mo asked, “How did Jack get Eve’s Reward and also open it?”
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had no clue about this matter. The two of them stared at the short-haired girl.
Chen Shanshan looked calmly at the table before closing her eyes like she was thinking. Tang Mo quietly waited for her to answer.
In this short minute, countless fragments flashed through Chen Shanshan’s brain. She imagined herself as Luo Fengcheng, thought about her teacher’s strategic style and imagined what she would do if she was Luo Fengcheng in the face of the upcoming 4.0 version update and the information Jack brought back from Beijing.
Chen Shanshan suddenly opened her eyes. “I would unite with other Shanghai players and directly set up an ambush.”
Chen Shanshan took a map of Shanghai out of her backpack. She stared at several districts in the heart of Shanghai. Finally, she took a pen and drew a circle around Nanjing Road. She told them, “Before I left Shanghai, my teacher caught an invisible person. The person said that Nanjing Road was a restricted area. Most invisible people didn’t dare enter it but the person didn’t have time to say the reason why.”
After leaving Shanghai for a month, Chen Shanshan had discovered more information about the invisible people. She quickly analyzed, “The restricted area is because there are powerful players present! Just like how most returnees were killed by Xu Yusheng, Nanjing Road must have a strong returnee. They took Nanjing Road as a stronghold!”
Tang Mo directly exclaimed, “Liu Xiao, Liu Yuan! The 53rd and 59th on the time leaderboard.”
Chen Shanshan nodded. “That’s them!” She drew a small circle on the map around the black tower suspended over Nanjing Road. “The returnees who can use Nanjing Road as a base must be very arrogant and uninhibited. When the black tower updated, they must be on Nanjing Road and even under the black tower. Teacher would set up an ambush here. Jack must’ve killed one person and gained their reward.”
“How did Jack open the reward?”
Chen Shanshan replied, “I don’t know.”
The four of them discussed it for a while and failed to come up with an answer. However, they found another important thing.
“The other instances of Eve’s Game should be safe instances, just like Cinderella’s game. There is no punishment for failure and clearing it will give a reward. The reward isn’t necessarily good…” Tang Mo thought about the small pumpkin. “Still, it is better than nothing. In these six days, we can prepare and participate in some games at the same time.”
It was as Tang Mo guessed. The four of them entered two more instances. They encountered Earth players as returnees with a very small amount of rest time.
There was no punishment for failure and a reward for clearing the game.
Tang Mo got two props that looked very useless.
Fu Wenduo stated, “This is also a convenience that the black tower set up for returnees. The game of banning violence is the only way for weak returnees to eliminate us and open the reward.”
Tang Mo smiled. “However, they failed to eliminate us.”
The black tower gave the opportunities but it was up to the individual to grab them.
Six days quickly passed.
At exactly 0:00 on May 24th, the four people of Tang Mo’s group waited on the top floor of a high-rise building next to the elevated East Third Ring Road. The view here was quite wide and they could see more than 10 kilometres of the elevated road. They waited for 28 hours. The sooner they came, the less they had to worry about being ambushed by others.
At 4 o’clock on May 25th, the elevated road of Beijing’s East Third Ring Road was dark.
The slightly cold evening wind blew and the elevated road was full of vehicles that had crashed. The abandoned and desolate atmosphere filled the area. Tang Mo was very patient as he stared at the long elevated road, waiting for the first person to appear.
