Chapter 96: Under this lake, how many corpses do you think are lying?

In the darkness of the night, two black figures run at breakneck speed towards the heart of the old town of Nanjing.

Tang Mo had no idea that Fu Wensheng would be the first player in Nanjing to pass the trash cleanup game. Little did he know that the first player to pass the game would be notified by The black tower and would trigger the dreaded 'trash watch' effect. This effect is called a reward, but is in fact the biggest threat to those who pass the game.

"We need to be quicker. He's just finished the game, he must be near the dump." Tang Mo ran as fast as he could, "There's bound to be a player ambush near any dump. There are still three hours left in the game, and three batches of rabbitheads. Most of the players probably aren't ready to ambush the dump for their badges, but the stowaways should already be there."

"Hmm."

Fu Wenduo looked up at the traffic signs on the road, turned a corner and headed towards Xinjiekou.

Spammers stare, and every player who sees Fu Wensheng can't help but stare at him for three seconds. This means that when Fu Wensheng appears in front of a player, they only need one look to know which one is Fu Wensheng. Now, players all over Nanjing want to find him, or even catch him, and get a way through the game from him.

While the Nanjing group is a deterrent to local players in Nanjing, players from outside the city will have no respect for the organisation.

Fu Wenduo was a little faster, and Tang Mo was faster too. The two of them are almost like a light, weaving through the skyscrapers. They were getting closer to the huge The black tower, and from a distance Tang Mo saw a small, eerily coloured house. His eyes fluttered as he took in the situation at the rubbish disposal station near the new street. Both men stop in their tracks and look around.

There was not a single person around.

The leaves of the sycamore trees are rattling in the icy night air. Tang Mo walks near the rubbish disposal station and circles the flat roofed hut. He lifts his head and looks around the intersection, taking in the surroundings.

Fu Wenduo crouches on the ground and touches a dark brown mark with his hand. Tang Mo immediately walks over to it.

Fu Wenduo: "It's blood. But it's almost dry, it should have been an hour ago."

Tang Mo searched the area and soon found a number of similar dark red marks on the road. These marks were scattered around the rubbish disposal site, and the closer you got to the hut, the more red marks there were. However, when the distance to the hut was reduced to within five metres, the marks became fewer and there were only a few scattered red bloodstains.

Tang Mo: "We came as fast as we could after hearing The black tower prompt, which took less than 10 minutes. I don't think they cleared the game at this dump. Let's check other places, there are a few other rubbish disposal stations nearby."

Fu Wenduo nods, takes Tang Mo's hand and walks on. The two of them hurried through the night, seemingly anxious to find their brother. Tang Mo's feet are on a dark brown trail of blood that has not yet dried, and the sticky blood is staining the soles of his feet.

Tang Mo walked forward calmly, Fu Wenduo walking in front of him. Just as the two men were about to leave the intersection, a very soft crack came from behind Tang Mo. It was followed by one loud gunshot after another.

Bang!

A bullet pierced the air and was fired at the back of Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo's heads.

But just as the bullets were about to hit Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo, a small pink lace-trimmed parasol suddenly opened up behind Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo. Bullets thumped against the parasol and reflected off it into the ground. Tang Mo kept moving the parasol to block the rain of bullets. On the other hand, Fu Wenduo's eyes were cold as he flipped his hand and took out a silver pistol.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fu Wenduo looked sideways, his eyes peeking out from behind a small parasol. He fired three shots without hesitation at a skyscraper on either side of the intersection. The glass shattered in response and two screams rang out from the building. The third man didn't even make a sound as the bullet penetrated his head and he fell straight backwards, eyes wide open.

As these three shots fell, the gunfire and concealed darts all around suddenly stopped.

Tang Mo looked around indifferently. There were no lights, no light in the buildings around the crossroads, and the dark windows hid an unknown number of players. There is a cold, dead silence, and after a few seconds, Tang Mo puts away his umbrella and ignores the people hiding in the shadows as he and Fu Wenduo leave the rubbish dump for good.

The two men found an abandoned shop.

Tang Mo leans against the wall, and after making sure there are no ambush players around, he catches his breath and turns his head to Fu Wenduo: " There are eleven districts and eleven rubbish disposal stations in Nanjing. Xiao Jitong said they would end up back at this rubbish disposal station near Xinjiekou, but they're not there now, so they probably ran into some kind of trouble halfway through."

Fu Wenduo: "In Xiao Jitong's character, there are still three hours left. He knows that there must be players around every rubbish disposal station and would not have returned here in the last hour. He should be nearby now, having been delayed on his way back to the Xinjiekou rubbish disposal station when Fu Wensheng coincidentally cleared the game."

Tang Mo was deep in thought as he pulled a small chicken nest out of his pocket. He removes a white egg and turns his palm upwards. After a flash of white light, a complete map of Nanjing appears in Tang Mo's palm.

Tang Mo looks closely at this map of Nanjing: "They must be in the old city by now. The old city of Nanjing is in these areas." He gestures with his hand to a triangular area, "There are five districts around here, with five rubbish disposal stations."

There are five rubbish disposal stations, which one did Fu Wensheng pass the game at?

Tang Mo looks up at Fu Wenduo, whose dark eyes stare back at him in the darkness.

Fu Wenduo's voice trailed off as he uttered a prop: "The Trojan Horse."

Five minutes later, Nanjing District.

A tiny wobbly wobbly moves down the street. It was the size of a palm and moved neither too fast nor too slow, similar to the speed of an adult on foot. He looked no different from an ordinary toy pony, yet miraculously, the moonlight shone on the pony without casting a shadow. As if invisible, he wobbled around a junction and turned into a side road a kilometre further east.

In the darkness, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo quietly followed this little wooden horse for a distance of one kilometre.

When the pony turned into a wide road, Fu Wenduo put his foot down and put it into his pocket. Tang Mo took the map and identified the real location, "In the Xuanwu district."

The Trojan Horse is used to deliver messages for people. With this Trojan horse, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo can find the location of Fu Wensheng by following it. However, the wooden horse is so slow that it can only be used for one hour at a speed of five kilometres per hour. The old city of Nanjing is so large that Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo could not really find Fu Wensheng with this pony. So they used the pony to eliminate other incorrect directions to the rubbish disposal station and then travelled to their destination on their own.

The two walked through a tall building and soon arrived at Xuanwu Lake Park.

Four hours ago, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo came to Xuanwu District and identified the Xuanwu District waste disposal station located in this Xuanwu Lake Park. The lake is wide and flat with a gentle breeze. In the centre of the lake is a small, tree-shaded artificial island, which Tang Mo walks up on a trestle bridge to a colourful hut in the middle of the island.

Once on the island, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo look casual and calm. But they never let their guard down. Tang Mo's eyes are fixed on their surroundings as he dips his head to examine the mud in front of the rubbish disposal station.

Tang Mo grabbed a shovelful of soil and squeezed it with his fingers. "Wet." He looks at his fingers again, "Red."

Fu Wenduo's nose twitched.

He didn't need to say it, even Tang Mo could smell the smell of blood in the air that hadn't yet dissipated. The thick smell of blood lingered long after the lake breeze had blown. And the soil was stained red and wet on the island beneath them. It was March and the soil should not be soft enough for the cold weather to harden it. But all this mud was soft.

They are softened by the blood.

A vicious battle once took place here and many people died. The earth is a dull, thick black, the colour of blood absorbed by the soil.

The two men checked their surroundings and found no one else around. The two men looked at each other in silence, nodded in unison and turned to leave the island. On the quiet island, the leaves rustled in the evening breeze. Tang Mo left the dump without moving a muscle, and just as his feet hit the trestle, he suddenly stopped and threw back his right hand.

A dart shoots out of Tang Mo's palm and into the earth. At the same time, a dagger appeared in Fu Wenduo's hand. The silver dagger cuts gently into a large tree at the edge of the island, and with a single stroke, the thick tree trunk falls with the sound, crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Fu Wenduo cut through four trees in quick succession, and as he reached the fifth one, a furious cry rang out from the earth.

The next moment a slender figure emerged from the soil, followed by two black figures.

Whoosh!

A long silver arrow grazes a falling tree and shoots straight at Tang Mo's cheek. Tang Mo sidestepped and Fu Wenduo reached out to catch the arrow. Tang Mo's gaze was struck and he turned his head to look at the other man. When he saw the face of the other man, both sides were startled.

"Ningning?"

"Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo ?"

In the darkness of the night, the young woman with a silver crossbow and a wary face is none other than Ningning.

Tang Mo looks at Ningning, who is tense and is about to ask the other man about Fu Wensheng's whereabouts. At that moment, a diminutive shadow appeared in his peripheral vision. The next moment, Tang Mo lowered his head completely uncontrollably and looked at the little boy who had just emerged from the ground. Fu Wenduo similarly averted his eyes to look at the little boy who had suddenly appeared.

The two men's eyes were locked on Fu Wensheng's body for three seconds before they could look away.

Fu Wensheng didn't expect Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo to be the players who arrived on the island. They had been hiding in the dirt and couldn't hear what was going on up there. Now that he was sure it was his big brother, Fu Wensheng breathed a sigh of relief. Fu Wensheng's eyes widened and his eyes fell on Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo's tightly held hands.

Fu Wensheng looked at the two joined hands in disbelief, then he looked up at his elder brother and then back at Tang Mo.

"......" Tang Mo loosened his grip straight away.

Fu Wenduo looks over at him.

Tang Mo said calmly, "I guess the next three hours will be a bit tricky, so we'll keep trying when this game is over."

Fu Wenduo did not object.

When Fu Wensheng saw his big brother and Tang Mo let go of their hands, he didn't think too much of it and just assumed that they were holding hands for some reason. With a twinkle in his eye, the child was already speculating whether the two needed to hold hands in order to use some kind of prop, such as the one they had just found hidden in the ground.

Xiao Jitong also crawled out of the ground and smiled helplessly when he saw Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo. "It really is you. You should be the only ones who could find us hiding in the earth and still have the guts to attack directly."

Tang Mo: "The most dangerous place is the safest place. We got here very quickly, it only took us about 30 minutes. All this blood on the ground means that there was a big battle here not long ago, you must not have gone far. The earth on this island is close to the water and is inherently softer than the earth elsewhere. With the blood soaking in, it is normal for it to become loose and soft, but they are a little too soft. Because they have been turned over by you."

Xiao Jitong laughed, "Because of that?"

Fu Wenduo said indifferently, "Because there is no trace of blood on that trestle outside."

If it had been a really bad fight, it was impossible for the winning side to have been unhurt. To get off the island, apart from swimming, one had to go over that trestle bridge. The island was covered in blood, but the trestle bridge was clean. That is simply not possible. Unless the victorious side had not left the island at all. They were still hiding on the island.

The smile on Xiao Jitong's lips froze for a moment and he sighed, "It was an oversight on my part."

When the two parties finally met, Tang Mo opened up and asked, "How did Fu Wensheng get through?"

Xiao Jitong did not answer directly. He sent Ningning and a few members of Nanjing's group aside to rest and heal. Tang Mo's eyes stopped on a man covered in blood. He fixed his eyes on it and said in surprise, " Chai Rong?"

The Nanjing team members carried the unconscious Chai Rong, gently placed his captain on the ground and poured a bottle of mineral water over his wounds to treat them. But his injuries were too serious. There were wounds all over his body, and one of the most horrific cuts ran from his left chest to his right abdomen, leaving his internal organs almost exposed to the air. It was only Chai Rong who survived such a wound and did not die instantly. Xiao Jitong would not have survived for a second.

At the name Chai Rong, Xiao Jitong's face gradually sinks. His voice was cold: "Half an hour ago, we met up with some stowaway groups on this island. They are very strong and most of them are not Nanjing players. Of course, there were some Nanjing players following them. We were ambushed by them when we got to the island. Then Whisper was accidentally beaten into the rubbish disposal by them and was forced to pass the game."

Tang Mo asked, "How did he get through?"

Xiao Jitong: "Collecting badges."

Tang Mo's eyes are astonished.

Xiao Jitong said, "Rule number six of the game states that each player can only enter the rubbish disposal station once. As we suspected before, this rubbish disposal station does not have a door, it is just a flat surface. All players who are close to it within a certain range are considered to have entered the garbage disposal station."

Tang Mo thinks of the scene he saw earlier in New Street: "The range is five metres?"

Xiao Jitong gave him a look: "Yes, it's five metres. Xiao accidentally entered the rubbish disposal station and he only had one chance to go in and he had to pass the game to get out. So at that time we handed him a set of wooden badges from SURPRISE. He put the eight badges into the yellow ball of light in front of the rubbish disposal station," Xiao Jitong pointed to the yellow ball of light in front of the hut, "and then he cleared the game. Then what happened next you all heard."

Fu Wenduo: "The stowaways who ambushed you were very strong?"

Xiao Jitong shook his head, "It's strong, but not very strong. With Chai Rong and Ningning, plus Little Qiao and the members of Nanjing's group, just the stowaways and players who are here in ambush, we can break out successfully."

Tang Mo: "So why ......"

Why was Chai Rong so badly injured? There were other members of the Nanjing group who were also seriously injured.

Xiao Jitong suddenly fell silent. After a moment, he looked at the vast lake around the island and smiled faintly, "How many bodies do you suppose lie under this lake? Those are the corpses we just pushed down, to cover our ears."

Tang Mo thought for a moment, "Twenty?" Soon he thought of the blood that softened the clay, and he thought for a long time and gave another answer, "Fifty?"

Fu Wenduo's low voice rang out, "The smell, at least a hundred of them."

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The author has something to say.

Fu Xiaodi: ⊙0⊙ Big brother, big, sister-in-law (?) You ...... are?

Mr. Tangtang: No, don't get me wrong.

Mr. Fu: Well, you didn't misunderstand ^_^

Mr. Fu Xiaodi: [as if he knew what to do]