Chapter 14: The goat is so cute, why do you want to eat it?

Tang Mo receives Luo Fengcheng's document with dismay.

It is a metallic silver card with no photo on it, an electronic chip in the top right corner and three lines simply engraved on the left side of the card.

[Name: Luo Fengcheng].

[Division: Shanghai Group A

[Position: Team Leader

After reading the cards, Tang Mo handed them to the others and each of the six people looked at them once before returning them to Luo Fengcheng.

"Why did you just lie to us about you being some kind of game designer?" Li Bin asked.

Luo Fengcheng put the card away, his expression unmoved, and said indifferently, "Everyone has their own secrets. You are hiding your supernatural powers, which are important and special to you. My identity is a bit special and I don't want to reveal it at the beginning, can't you understand?"

Luo Fengcheng looked at the crowd and continued, "There is no need to doubt the authenticity of my identity. As you all know, this tower attack game started very suddenly, with only three minutes between the announcement of the tower attack and our official entry. There is no way I could have prepared a card in advance and impersonated The black tower researcher."

Lin Qiao pondered for a moment, and then something suddenly seemed to occur to her. She was about to say something when Luo Fengcheng looked at her: "And there is no need to wonder if I have an ability that allows me to create a card in a short period of time. If I really had such an ability, why would I create an identity card that I am a researcher of The black tower when I could create an identity card of a game designer? This would not make you suspicious and would also be slightly more believable."

Luo Fengcheng blocked out the crowd's words.

Finally, he looks at Tang Mo. Tang Mo's face is impassive as he looks at him calmly, but his gaze is slightly condensed.

Luo Fengcheng said: "I am a researcher of The black tower, there is no doubt about that. It's been six months since The Black Tower came down, and you all know that The Black Tower researchers are protected from outside contact. During those three days, I have been studying this The black tower in Shanghai, and I had no opportunity or need to kill anyone. And ......", Luo Fengcheng said after a pause, putting his hands in his pockets: "If I really wanted to kill someone, I would have someone to do it for me without having to do it myself, as long as I had a valid reason. Otherwise I am protected by many people and I can't kill anyone."

The crowd shuddered, but Tang Mo looked steadily at Luo Fengcheng. He understood what he was saying. Before the launch of Earth, there had been discussions on the internet that the white-coated researchers appearing under The black tower were actually runners, and that the real researchers were protected by the state, with the front-line runners collecting data and the state conducting research in private.

Whenever The black tower is present in a city, it is inevitably located in the centre of the city, except in the deepest forests and seas. If the State were to build a research institute next to The black tower, it would be a live target, announcing where the world's own bases are located.

This internet discussion has never been officially confirmed, but many people are convinced.

Tang Mo believes that Luo Fengcheng is a researcher of The black tower. He had just quietly tried to break the card with all his strength, but he didn't know what it was made of, so he didn't break it. He is now so strong that he can carry a car with his bare hands. The fact that he could not break the card showed that it was very special.

As Luo Fengcheng says, if it were truly psychic, it would be impossible to create such a card. The identity of The black tower researcher is too high profile, and what the stowaways want most now is to hide their identities, not to be seen in the limelight like this.

Apart from the cook and the junior high school student, who looked bewildered, there was no longer any doubt about Luo Fengcheng's identity.

If such a person wanted to kill someone, I'm afraid he wouldn't really need to do it himself, or would be able to do it at all. It is extremely unlikely that Luo Fengcheng was a stowaway.

Everyone had to tell us what they had done in those three days, leaving Tang Mo and Li Bin aside for the moment, now it was Lin Qiao's turn.

"I remember being in class when The black tower made the sound of 'Earth on line'. I think it was some kind of class. ...... Oh yes, it was the 15th, Wednesday. The first two classes on Wednesday morning were senior maths classes. Because suddenly The black tower spoke up, we didn't even make it to class, all the students went back to their dorms, and the school sent out a group message telling us not to panic and to wait for notification."

Lin Qiao reminisces: "I'm actually 'The black tower optimist'. I love playing survival games and I've played every survival game on the market recently. I didn't take The black tower seriously at first. When I got back to the hostel, I had a long conversation with my flatmates about The black tower, maybe into the night? Anyway, we didn't have classes for three days, so I stayed in the dorm and played games. The canteen was closed, so I ate takeaway for a few days and stayed in the dorm."

Li Bin: "Is that all?"

Lin Qiao continued to dig in her heels, and after a long time she shook her head: "All four of us in the dorm are local to Shanghai, but my dad died a long time ago and my mum went on a business trip to Nanjing. After the black tower incident, all three of my flatmates went home the next day and I was the only one left in the dorm. I had just woken up that morning and was brushing my teeth when I heard another announcement from The black tower, and I didn't know what was going on until I turned on my computer to play a game and realised there was no internet access. Then I walked to the next dormitory and knocked on the door only to find that ...... everyone had disappeared."

Speaking of which, the college girl, who had always acted brave and big-hearted, couldn't hide the fear in her heart a bit. She swallowed hard and tried to keep her composure: "I was really at home in my dorm for those three days playing games, I didn't kill anyone. I really wasn't a stowaway. After the accident, I wanted to go to Nanjing to look for my mother, but before I could leave Shanghai, I was dragged here. Believe me, I'm really not a stowaway!"

Li Bin nods and looks to Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng.

The two men have no objection and Li Bin moves on to the next person.

Li Wen, a rich young man, looked at Tang Mo, took a deep breath to ease his nerves and said, "On the first day of the three days, I went to Nanjing to hang out with my friends. The next day we were still hanging out, and I think we were mostly bar-hopping that day. My dad called me the next night and asked me to come home. I was too drunk to go back that night, so I planned to sleep and go back the next day, but I was suddenly rear-ended on the highway. I fell off the highway and when I woke up I saw Tang Mo. I didn't know anything about The black tower, Tang Mo told me about it and I realised that I had been rear-ended because the other driver had disappeared. I'm not a stowaway, I've never killed anyone."

The crowd looks to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo nodded, "The first time I met him was on the highway, when his car was rear-ended. But I'm not sure about what happened to him before that."

Li Bin frowned, "How can you make it sound so simple? Tell me more."

Li Wen bitter face, and half a day of thinking: "I've been recalling before, but I basically played with friends those three days, drinking and what not, did not do anything special. I don't think there's any need to talk about what we played, it was just the usual stuff, there's really nothing to talk about. ...... Drinking? Playing football? Erm, well, my friend even brought a few actresses along to play ......"

The group didn't listen to Li Wen any more, and Lin Qiao cast a look of contempt.

Li Wen said innocently, "Hey hey, you guys made me say that ah, what can we play ......"

When Li Wen spoke earlier, Lin Qiao had already explained the current situation to the cook. He stood up straight with beans sweating on his head, and when he saw the eyes on him, he immediately said, "I'm a cook at ......, but after The black tower appeared six months ago, my boss ran away in fear and I lost my job. After that I made a living by delivering takeaways. I delivered as usual during those three days, but I had a lot fewer orders because a lot of people stopped working. Nothing special happened on ...... either, just delivery. On the third morning when I went out to deliver, I suddenly saw people disappearing from the street, and then I was so scared that I went home."

Li Bin said, "Can you be more clear?"

The cook wiped his sweat anxiously: "Let's see ...... Oh yes, I remember I delivered to two upscale neighborhoods. One is over at Jing'an Temple, the gatekeeper wouldn't let me ride in, so I walked in to deliver the food myself. And one near People's Square. The others ...... What should I say? What do you think I'm going to say? You say, I'm sure I'll tell you. I really haven't killed anyone, really! I'm not that stowaway!"

The cook was so anxious that he kept looking everyone in the eye. Tang Mo looked at him thoughtfully and walked up to the little girl.

Peng Liwen has been standing next to Lin Qiao, looking timidly at the others.

Lin Qiao said, "Don't be afraid, Wen Wen, just tell us what you did in those three days. Real stowaways must not be able to hide their fox tails. ......" Lin Qiao's eyes flicked around Li Bin and Li Wen and said, "Just say it."

The little girl nodded and said in a small voice, "I'm not a stowaway either, I haven't killed anyone. Like this sister, we weren't allowed to go to school anymore and I was picked up by my parents and then stayed at home. My dad had to continue working and my mum's workplace said not to go to work, so she stayed at home with me. My mum was worried that I would get worse at school if I didn't attend classes and kept urging me to do well in school. Mum teaches me to study at home. I study language and maths from 7am to 11am, take a nap at noon, study English from 2pm and at 6pm she does my homework with me and helps me correct it. Then ......"

The little girl's eyes were red: "Then on the third day, my mother suddenly disappeared, and I didn't know anything about it, she just disappeared."

Lin Qiao took the little girl's hand and whispered reassurance.

The little girl choked for a moment, her face white and her voice hoarse: "Mummy was talking to me the night before she disappeared, telling me not to be afraid, that as long as I was well, she would be all right. Mum ...... mum she's gone ......"

The tears could no longer be contained.

Lin Qiao, one of only two girls among the seven, hugged the tiny girl tightly, stroking her back and comforting her.

Li Bin's brow slowly furrowed as he looked at the two girls. He opened his mouth before he could say anything, and Tang Mo said, "Li Bin, it's your turn."

Li Bin was stunned and nodded about his experience: "I work for a PR agency, responsible for marketing planning. After the incident at The black tower, our company didn't take any time off and asked us to continue working. Personally, I was a bit resistant to The black tower and wanted to take time off, but I had a big project on the horizon and my boss wouldn't agree, so I had to keep working. I was pulled into a The black tower game the next day. The black tower game was called ......" Li Bin paused for half a day and said with an odd look on his face: "It was called 'Why do you want to eat a goat when it's so cute'."

Crowd: "......"

Li Bin looks up at Tang Mo: "You should understand, it's about being pulled into a strange place out of nowhere. I didn't do anything at all. The black tower announced the start of the game and a bunch of weird rules. I was pulled into the game with three strangers, and when the four of us got in, we had a sheep doll suit on. The black tower said that we were now to play hide-and-seek with a wolf in a maze. If we were caught, we would be eaten. We had to find the sacred egg at the exit of the maze before we were eaten so we could beat the wolf and win the game."

Seeming to find the game too childish, Li Bin bowed his head helplessly: "The four of us decided when we entered the maze that we would split up. Since there was only one wolf, we would have a better chance of surviving and not being wiped out. Later I heard the screams of two of my companions and reckoned that they had been eaten by the wolf. I rushed to run. But I couldn't find the exit of the maze and felt the wolf particularly close to me. He was about to catch up with me when suddenly The black tower said that the game was over and that my other companion had found the sacred egg. Then I don't know what happened, but I won and went back to work. ......"

"I've been trying to tell everyone else about it, but for some reason I can't get the game out of my mouth and I can't make a sound when I talk about it. Everyone at work thought I'd overslept and was late for most of the day. But I couldn't argue. I was too scared to go back to work and planned to drive back home the next day. Then before I could get home, everyone disappeared."

Li Bin looked up at Tang Mo: "You're the same way, aren't you? Can't tell anyone else what's going on, really, can't say anything!"

Tang Mo shook his head, "I ended the game at a very coincidental time, not long after it ended, everyone disappeared."

Li Bin said, "But I'm really an official player."

Luo Fengcheng's bland voice rang out at this point: "In fact there is one omission in what I have just said. It is not only accidental murderers who react with excitement when confronted with the revelation of their crime. Any murderer, even a murderer who intends to commit murder, will have a special reaction when he or she is named as the murderer."

Luo Fengcheng suddenly interrupted as he was finishing his sentence, Li Bin's face changed: "What do you mean by that, I'm really an official player, not a stowaway. A stowaway is clearly a ......"

"He's not talking about you." Tang Mo said.

Luo Fengcheng looked at Tang Mo for a moment: "Any normal murderer would surely have changed slightly when the big mole had just uttered the definition of a stowaway. There are only two kinds of murderers who would be indifferent. The first type is the sociopathic murderer, who doesn't feel that the killing thing is wrong, so there would be no abnormality. The second type is the naive type of murderer, who may be too young or ignorant to know what what they are doing means, so even if their identity is revealed, they won't feel too psychologically burdened."

Tang Mo nodded slightly, "I was actually very suspicious of you before you said your first words, but in my heart I still didn't want it to be you."

The tall, thin, handsome young man walked up to the two girls, bent down slightly and looked at the timid, frightened young girl.

"The first thing you said gave away your identity. But you're only fifteen years old, what have you killed? Why would you kill someone?"

Li Bin exclaimed, "Yes, the stowaway is her! I spotted it just now."

Lin Qiao's hand stiffens as she holds the little girl and soon lets go, moving away from her.

The little girl's face was covered in tears as she shrank back two steps in fear and choked out, "I didn't, I'm not ...... I didn't kill anyone, I didn't ...... I... ...I ......"

"You're the stowaway."

Tang Mo's calm demeanour is a final word.

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The author has something to say.

Tangtang: There is only one truth - you are the wolf! Everyone, vote for her with me today! Vote for her and the good guys will win!

Fu Wenduo: ...... [want to appear want to appear want to appear]

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Many angels guessed correctly in the last chapter, and it is indeed this little girl!

You can see what she said in this round, how in the end she blew up the wolf XD~

Also, maybe some angels can tell what kind of powers Li Bin has from the game The black tower that he participated in, right? Hahahaha, this ability is really ......emmmmmmmmmmmm......