Chapter 75: Tangtang: ...... but I'm a GAY!

6 p.m., darkness falls.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo left Shanghai and got on the highway, and there were more cars on the road. They drove slowly, only a few dozen kilometres in two hours. Fu Wenduo pulled the handbrake, slammed on the brakes and the SUV threw itself into a massive drift on an open stretch of highway, the brakes screeching and the car coming to a halt sideways in the middle of the road.

Tang Mo is a little surprised when the car stops. At night, they really shouldn't be rushing. For one thing, it was dark, and there were many cars on the highway that had crashed together because their owners had suddenly disappeared, clogging up the road, and they couldn't see them at night, making them vulnerable to collisions. Secondly, they were likely to run into other players at night.

But Fu Wenduo's intentions for parking the car like this were a bit puzzling to him.

As if sensing Tang Mo's confusion, Fu Wenduo said, "On the way from Beijing to Shanghai, I came across three groups of people. They were ambushed on both sides of the highway. There are always people who are in a foreign country and want to go home to check on the safety of their friends and family. Because of the long journey, these people must have had water and food on them, and perhaps a weapon at their disposal. It would be a good idea to rob them."

Tang Mo had never travelled far (Suzhou and Shanghai are very close), but he had already guessed that such players would exist. He soon understood what Fu Wenduo meant: "You put the car like this, to pretend it was a car whose driver suddenly disappeared and lost control?"

"Yes."

The car's head was pushed against the highway fence and straddled the road oddly, looking very much like a derelict car indeed.

The two men didn't say any more. Fu Wenduo gave the back seat of the car to Tang Mo, so that Tang Mo and he could lie flat and rest. He put down the driver's seat and closed his eyes to rest. Tang Mo did not hesitate to lie down and looked at the dark roof of the car, his eyes calm but his mind full of thoughts.

In the silence of the carriage, Fu Wenduo's steady breathing sounded softly. Tang Mo knew that even if Fu Wenduo's breathing was steady, he was not sleeping. With their current strength, three days of sleeplessness would not affect their normal activities at all. Today is their first night out of Shanghai, and the fact that Fu Wenduo has given up the back seat to Tang Mo and is lying uncomfortably in the front seat means that he will not sleep. Tonight he will keep watch.

If he did not sleep, Tang Mo could not perform any special movements. Even if Fu Wenduo is asleep, once Tang Mo takes out the book of supernatural powers, he is likely to notice Tang Mo's movements and wake up immediately.

Yes, from the moment he got that silver pistol, Tang Mo was looking for a chance to pull out the book of psychic powers.

His mind is in a battle of the heavens. On the one hand, he and Fu Wenduo were now teammates, and had even decided to go on a journey together to the distant city of Beijing. He seemed perfectly capable of telling the other man about his powers. But on the other hand, he was still a little unconvinced.

After all, they had only known each other for so short a time; it had only been two months since they had met, with a long period of time in between without contact.

Just wait a little longer.

Tang Mo decided that if he took out the book of supernatural powers tomorrow and found out that he had obtained Fu Wenduo's supernatural powers, then he would no longer hide it and tell the other party about his supernatural powers.

As the night wore on, Fu Wenduo seemed to notice that Tang Mo had not slept, but neither of them spoke.

Tang Mo closes his eyes to rest, and at first light, they both open them at the same time. The first night passed without incident. Fu Wenduo pulls open the car door, walks to the front of the car and pushes the three cars that have crashed together in front of him out of the way. When he returned to the car, Tang Mo was already back in the passenger seat. He took the map and said, "Go this way, onto the Beijing-Shanghai highway. In ten kilometres we should pass a service area, then I'll go down and see if there's any food and water."

Nine times out of ten, someone has already taken it," says Fu Wenduo. When I came from Beijing two months ago, the supermarkets in the service areas along the road had already been looted."

Tang Mo: "What if there is?"

Fu Wenduo didn't say any more and the two continued on their way.

As if they were friends travelling together, Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo were not overly nervous and looked calm. In fact, given their strength, there are very few players in China who can rob them these days, and they would be unlucky to come across them on the highway. Most dangers from players are manageable for both of them, unless the danger is not from a player.

Tang Mo suddenly thought, "Apart from the real copies, Luo Fengcheng divided The black tower replicas into two types, one is the S-rank safety replica and one is the other replica. It was because I participated in one of the other copies that I was noticed by The black tower four months ago, and then I was forced to be sent to challenge the tower attack game." After a pause, Tang Mo said, "It's the game where I first used the Fire Egg archive, you should have heard about it."

Fu Wenduo reminisces as he drives, " Mario, what grid?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Is it possible that we were driving along the road just fine and suddenly a copy triggered? It could be a copy of reality, it could be an S-rank copy, it could be some other copy?" After saying that, Tang Mo himself laughed, "I shouldn't be that unlucky." But gradually, Tang Mo thought back to his experiences over the past four months and he fell silent: "......"

...... His luck is really that bad.

That's when Fu Wenduo said, "Generally speaking, I've had pretty good luck."

It was a long trip from Beijing to Shanghai and I never came across a single copy, which should be considered lucky.

Tang Mo has no comment on this.

Soon the two arrived at the service area. Fu Wenduo parked his car in the car park of the service area and Tang Mo walked straight into the supermarket where Fu Wenduo was waiting for him outside. Tang Mo's hand was pressed against the small parasol, keeping an eye out for any enemies that might be hiding in the supermarket. After a few moments, when he was sure that the supermarket was empty, he began to look in earnest.

The supermarket in the highway service area is not very big, and Tang Mo has seen it all in half a minute. As Fu Wenduo says, the place is a mess. Everything that could be eaten on the shelves had been snatched up, leaving only a few useless toys and books in their place. As if not wanting to leave empty-handed, Tang Mo went deeper into the shelves and grabbed two toothbrushes and a toothpaste. When his figure was completely blocked by the shelves and he could not be seen from outside the supermarket, Tang Mo reached out quickly and pulled a book of powers out of the air.

He turned to the last page as quickly as he could and looked at the line on it.

[Alien Powers: Destroying You on Behalf of the Stars]

Tang Mo sighed softly, unable to say how he felt. Not quite regretful, not quite disappointed, but even a bit taken for granted. He walks out of the supermarket with his toothpaste and toothbrush in hand.

As Tang Mo walks out the door, Fu Wenduo is leaning against the front of the car, looking down at a map. They look at each other and Fu Wenduo sees the toothpaste and toothbrush in Tang Mo's hand. He raises one eyebrow, curls his lips and asks, "No?"

Tang Mo regretted, "It was all taken. It was probably taken by players who had gone from the highway earlier."

Fu Wenduo said, "You took a toothpaste and toothbrush, why don't you take an extra towel?"

Tang Mo: "......"

Ignoring his flirtation, Tang Mo pulled open the door and got in. Fu Wenduo followed him into the car and the two of them continued on their way. Having made sure he hadn't gotten Fu Wenduo's powers, it was only then that Tang Mo finally took the silver pistol out. He sat in the passenger seat and looked at the gun carefully. The brilliant sunlight shone through the car window, shining on the gun with a cold silver light.

His brain raced as he observed the gun.

Tang Mo's own ability, the "Eat Nothing, Pay Nothing" ability, was acquired four months ago from a book of abilities and since then he has collected many players' abilities. Most of these powers are cut-down versions, and their owners are not aware that their powers have been papered by Tang Mo, and there are various restrictions on how Tang Mo can use them. There are two ways to gain powers, the first being the simplest: kill a player and you are sure to gain that player's powers. The second type of Tang Mo is still unclear.

Tang Mo's first ability, "Draw a circle and curse you", was obtained when official player Li Bin inadvertently handed him a torch, and Tang Mo somehow came to possess his ability. Tang Mo guesses that to gain someone's powers he must take one thing from them and not pay for it. A veritable eat-all-without-pay.

He then did what he did, gaining the Find Your Friends ability to identify players, Chen Shanshan's super-intelligent mind, and the Goblin Give Me Back My Grandfather ability ...... However, he never got the Little Fat Man ability. Tang Mo did one more thing in front of Fu Wenduo during the surprise night at the Strange Circus. When he imprisoned Wang Yinggui and Old Bird, he stripped both of them naked and covered them in oil.

At the time, he explained to Fu Wenduo, "This will fool the other players that we caught these two men to eat them, but just not yet." That's why when the man with glasses and the others rescued the two Wang Yinggui, they found them shirtless and covered in oil.

This is a chess move to mislead the players that Mr. A and Mr. B really do eat humans, so that after taking Wang Yinggui and Old Bird, they mistakenly think that the two missing players were eaten by Mr. A and Mr. B. Meanwhile, Tang Mo gets Wang Yinggui's and Old Bird's clothes without paying them, but he still doesn't get the powers of these two people.

Now Fu Wenduo has offered Tang Mo a very valuable pistol, and Tang Mo still hasn't got his powers.

This was the fourth ability he did not get.

Tang Mo hid his emotions in the back of his mind. The doubts in his mind were growing, and he wanted very much to know exactly what the way he had gained his powers was, but unfortunately, that bitchy book of powers was never going to tell him voluntarily in his lifetime, and it was all up to him to find out.

Tang Mo sighs helplessly as he thinks of his own book of cheap talk.

"What, sorry you didn't take a towel?"

Tang Mo: "......"

The joke was so cold it wasn't funny, and Tang Mo wrapped his coat a little tighter. He said lightly, "We've pushed a lot of cars along the way, so let's stop for a break sometime. I reckon we can get to Nanjing tomorrow, we'll be off the road by five o'clock in the evening, and I want to try this gun."

Fu Wenduo: "Good."

Tang Mo asked, "Is this gun important to you?" After a pause, he added, "I see a letter on the bottom of the stock, is that your name?" There was also the possibility that it was someone else's name.

Fu Wenduo didn't hide, he replied, "My code name, Lao V. In the special forces, we don't call each other by our real names, we call each other by code names, so that we can hide our identities and it's more convenient. My code name is Old V."

Tang Mo originally thought it meant 'victory'. He had heard that many Olympic archery athletes would carve the letter V on their best longbows for good luck, meaning victory. Little did he know that it was Fu Wenduo's code name.

But in that case, the gun is even more important. Tang Mo: "No problem giving it to me?"

Fu Wenduo drove one-handed, the road was spacious and there were few cars, he turned his head to look at Tang Mo, "I don't really need it for my powers, I have props that are more powerful than it, it's rather useless to me now." He didn't throw it away purely because he was used to it and had some affection for it, "Besides, you need it more than I do, don't you?"

Tang Mo didn't answer, he calmly turned his head and continued to observe the gun.

Fu Wenduo gave a laugh and continued driving.

Tang Mo didn't know what the man had discovered, but in any case, it was all just his guess. As long as Tang Mo did not admit it, there was no way Fu Wenduo could know the truth. Even if he did, Tang Mo could not admit it.

The sun is setting and a thick black cloud is drifting across the sky, blocking most of the sunset. It was about to rain, and this time, Fu Wenduo pulled over to the side of the road without wanting to stop early. Tang Mo took his pistol and walked down the highway alone to the adjacent farmland and tried to raise it.

He looked up some knowledge of shooting after getting the checkmate powers. Tang Mo turned on the safety and pulled the holster on the tang. A crisp click was heard and Tang Mo held his breath. He raised his hand and aimed the gun at a small tree ten metres away. Squinting his eyes, Tang Mo suddenly squeezes the trigger.

Bang!

Tang Mo's eyes widened in disbelief at the tremendous recoil and he took a half step backwards. He had never imagined that the gun's recoil would be so alarming that even with his current fitness level, his arm was numb after being caught off guard by the shot. He looked at the small tree again, only to see its branches swaying and a few leaves wobbling to the ground.

There is not a single bullet hole in the tree.

Tang Mo was aiming his shot at the trunk of the tree and now it was clear that he had missed, the bullet grazing the leaves and flying away.

Tang Mo gritted his teeth, he was prepared this time, gripped the pistol with both hands and pressed the trigger hard. A booming shot rang out and the silver bullet pierced the air quickly and shot through the tree trunk. To Tang Mo's eyes, his dynamic vision barely caught a silvery light. The light did penetrate the tree trunk, but it was more than thirty centimetres off where Tang Mo was aiming.

The "Destroy you on behalf of the stars" ability says that the bullet will continue to track the target as long as you aim to shoot, but this is only if you actually shoot accurately. Tang Mo's aim changes at the moment the bullet is fired, so even if he uses this ability and clearly wants to shoot at the enemy's head, the bullet will probably only track his opponent's shoulder, and it won't hurt to shoot through.

That's a good scenario; the worst scenario is that he shoots a bullet through and completely misses his aim, missing the person at all.

Tang Mo's face sank, and without saying a word, he raised his pistol and fired two more bang-bang shots at the tree trunk. On both occasions, he missed by more than 20 centimetres and by half a metre. With five rounds left in his pistol, Tang Mo raised his gun to fire again when a low voice came from above his head: "You've never played before?"

Tang Mo turned his head to look, "No."

"This way." Fu Wenduo stood on the highway, he took a sip of water, put the empty plastic bottle on the front of the SUV, propped one hand on the fence, flipped over and jumped off the highway. Fu Wenduo walked over to Tang Mo, who said, "I have a bit of motion sickness, but I'm fine with car sickness, but I get a bit dizzy when I play 3D shooters, so I rarely play them before. Usually I only play some gaming games."

Fu Wenduo gave him a surprised look and said, "I'm talking about going to a club to play with guns, not a shooting game."

Tang Mo understands: "Never played."

It is true that in modern society many people go to clubs to play archery and shooting, so it is understandable that Fu Wenduo should ask this question. After all, when he saw Tang Mo's sudden desire for a pistol, he thought he already knew a bit about it, but he didn't think Tang Mo really didn't.

Fu Wenduo took the gun from Tang Mo's hand and raised his hand to point it at the tree ten metres away.

His eyes narrowed as he suddenly flew the safety on, pulled the sleeve on the tang and pressed the trigger.

Bang!

This series of movements was so fast that Tang Mo did not even react. The next second, a loud gunshot rang out in Tang Mo's ears, and the huge recoil seemed to be non-existent as Fu Wenduo didn't even move a finger before a bullet shot out of the muzzle, straight through the middle of the tree, making a small, round hole.

Tang Mo's level is good for a beginner, after all he has top vision, great physical strength and is able to concentrate on finding his centre. Given a few days, he should be able to shoot at the level of an average shooter. But compared to Fu Wenduo, the shots he fired just now were really the difference between an amateur and a professional.

Fu Wenduo barely aimed, he just looked and shot straight through where Tang Mo was trying to shoot. Tang Mo didn't say where it was, and he had never hit it with his previous four shots, but Fu Wenduo was standing on the highway and with his naked eye alone he saw where he was trying to aim and hit it with one shot.

Tang Mo said, "You know I'm aiming for the one with the missing piece of bark?"

"Those shots you shot out earlier were all around that point." Fu Wenduo rightfully asked in return, "You didn't want to shoot there?"

Tang Mo really has nothing to say this time.

It was fortunate that the Earth had come online, everyone had powers, and everyone's physical quality had improved. Otherwise, before, ten of him would not be enough for Mr. Fu to beat up one person.

Fu Wenduo gave the gun back to Tang Mo, who was holding it, trying to remember Fu Wenduo's movements, trying to imitate his shot. The next moment, however, a warm hand was placed on the back of Tang Mo's hand, sending a jolt through his body. He turned his head in shock, only to see that Fu Wenduo had already come up behind him at some point.

His movements were unmistakably natural, as if he was training a new recruit, as he expertly took Tang Mo's hand and helped him to hold the gun. Fu Wenduo pressed Tang Mo's hand and placed it in a correct position. His voice was low: "With your strength, it is not difficult to aim at an object ten metres away. You can't shoot properly because your hand is crooked when the bullet is discharged. I have used a special muzzle reducer on this gun to dampen the recoil. But it is itself specially made, and with a powerful bullet comes a lot of recoil. You can easily shoot crooked with just a little bit of unsteady shooting and the recoil effect. One more time, eh?"

Fu Wenduo lowered his head and looked steadily at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo's heart flutters, but he quickly collects himself and looks at the small tree ten metres away.

Fu Wenduo takes his hand and he holds the gun. Then gently pulls the trigger.

Bang!

This time within five centimetres, Tang Mo's new shot left a small round hole next to Fu Wenduo's previous bullet hole.

Fu Wenduo: "Not bad, a few more times and you should be able to catch the feeling." With that, he didn't let go of Tang Mo's hand and continued to hold it, intending to fire another shot.

Tang Mo: "......"

It was a really weird feeling.

He doesn't even feel this weird when a girl is holding his hand right now. Fu Wenduo seems to be a straight man, but Tang Mo knows that he himself is a gay man. Tang Mo was uncomfortable being held by a man's hand for so long, but he did catch a vague feeling from the shot he had just fired. He secretly decided to take another shot, and on the next one he would definitely let go and shoot alone.

Led by Fu Wenduo, Tang Mo fired another shot, this time still off by five centimetres.

Fu Wenduo took his hand and seemed about to fire another shot when Tang Mo immediately said, "I'll do it myself."

Fu Wenduo looks down at him.

Tang Mo looked calm: "I've probably gotten a feel for it, let me try it myself?" As he said this, Tang Mo tried to break Fu Wenduo's grip without making a sound. But the moment he was about to do so, Fu Wenduo's eyes changed and he tightened his grip on Tang Mo's hand. Tang Mo's face showed a momentary look of dismay, but in the next moment, his face also changed slightly and he turned his head to look behind them with Fu Wenduo.

Fu Wenduo took Tang Mo's hand, pulled Tang Mo's waist with his other hand and turned his whole body backwards in a big 180° turn. As he turned, he quickly whispered, "Shoot!"

Tang Mo didn't even see where he was aiming, but as soon as Fu Wenduo's words fell, he pulled the trigger without hesitation. He fired the bullet with unquestioning confidence, and then there was a short cry of surprise as the bullet boomed into a large stone at the edge of the field, putting a small round hole through it.

Fu Wenduo held Tang Mo's hand and was about to shout the second word "shoot". At that moment, a female voice came from behind a rock: "No, no! We don't mean any harm, we really don't. We just heard the gunshots and came to take a look, really."

Another male voice rang out, "Don't get me wrong, don't shoot. I ...... we're just passing through. Really just passing through."

Dark clouds gradually pressed in from the sky as the sun set and two figures stepped out from behind the boulder with their hands held high.

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The author has something to say.

Mr. Fu: [wrapping his arm around Tangtang's waist and holding Tangtang's hand] Daughter-in-law, cum~!

Tangtang: MMP ......