Chapter 65 - Savage battle, no problem

After a day's rest, Tang Mo's back and body were almost healed, except for a few deep cuts that had not yet healed, and a few minor scrapes that had disappeared. In the afternoon, Tang Mo waited for a while for Fu Wenduo to arrive at the clothing shop.

Fu Wenduo looked Tang Mo up and down, his eyes lingering for a moment on his shoes. He looked up and said, "You've changed into lighter clothes?"

"Yes."

Tang Mo woke up early in the morning and went to the sports shop in the mall to find a set of sportswear that fit him well and to change into the sneakers from the shop. He really wanted to learn more fighting skills and improve his strength. Otherwise, the next time he encountered a player like Bai Ruoyao, he might actually be attacked by him if he didn't have an archiver (and indeed Bai Ruoyao did).

Tang Mo asked, "Where are we going? There's a primary school two kilometres away where there's a standard athletics field."

Fu Wenduo: "I used to pass by there when I came to this mall and it was OK."

Without further ado, they left the mall together and headed to the primary school.

Primary schools don't have as many resources as shopping malls, and not many players would choose to stay in one. Even so, once inside the school, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo carefully checked each building to make sure no one was hiding before entering the athletic field.

The ground in the middle of the track and field was full of weeds as no one cleaned it up. Fu Wenduo walked to the middle of the pile of grass, which was growing so fiercely that it was almost up to his knees. Tang Mo calmly followed him into the weeds, and suddenly Fu Wenduo said, "When I was in the army, they used to recruit new recruits from all over the country every six months for training."

Tang Mo thought, "You're in charge of training?" He remembered Luo Fengcheng saying that Fu Wenduo was the youngest major in China and the leader of a special forces unit.

"I'm not in charge of training new people." Fu Wenduo stops in his tracks and turns his head to look at Tang Mo. He smiles a little and quickly moves on again. But there was something strange in his eyes just now, a dark, scrutinising gaze, as if he had remembered something interesting.

Tang Mo said lightly, "Why?"

"Because I'll train and they'll be played to death by me."

Tang Mo's footsteps were halting as he continued to follow the other man forward without answering the comment.

The guy at ... is pretty funny.

After reaching the very centre of the grass, Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo stopped together. Tang Mo waited for his opponent's next move and Fu Wenduo whispered, "Don't use your powers, don't use your weapons, try to attack me."

Tang Mo realised, "Try my bottom first?"

Fu Wenduo: "Pretend that you are playing The black tower game and now I am your enemy and you need to kill me immediately ...".

Before the latter words could be uttered, Tang Mo leapt in front of Fu Wenduo with a bolt of lightning. With a fist in his right hand, his fierce fist broke the wind and smashed into Fu Wenduo's face. Fu Wenduo ducked his head to the side, but Tang Mo kicked him across the knee of his right leg.

The grass was bent downwards by his powerful leg winds and Fu Wenduo pressed down with his right hand, knocking Tang Mo's leg away. Soon the two were locked in a tussle.

Almost always Tang Mo attacks and Fu Wenduo dodges.

Earlier, Fu Wenduo said that Tang Mo should be allowed to fight him without using his powers. In fact, Tang Mo's powers are not offensive in themselves. Apart from the "A Very Fast Man" power, which gives him a better chance of winning in close combat, neither the fire-breathing power nor the wind power is considered a fighting power. What he really relies on is his physical strength.

Terrific reflexes, extreme dynamic vision, combined with unbelievable speed and strength. Even if Tang Mo were to meet a former world boxing champion on the line from Earth, he would not be at a disadvantage. Because no punch from his opponent would hurt him, while he would only have to touch him once and he would lose.

The only martial art in the world is fast, and on the other hand, he has the strength to subdue ten of them in one go.

Tang Mo's strikes were all very hard and decisive, hitting Fu Wenduo's dead center, such as his eyes and temple. But Fu Wenduo was able to parry each one and at the same time block Tang Mo's next strike. The two men fought back and forth in the middle of the track and field for dozens of minutes, cutting through the grass and covering the sky with yellow dust. Tang Mo's eyes flashed, and instead of attacking Fu Wenduo, he swept his foot into the ground, sending dust flying from the ground.

For the first time, Fu Wenduo's eyes showed surprise as the sudden yellow sand caused him to close his eyes for a second to avoid it. It was during this second that Tang Mo made a fist with his right hand, his middle finger bulging, and slammed his fist into the temple next to Fu Wenduo's left eye. But just as he was about to touch it, a palm blocked his attack and gripped his hand.

Tang Mo is stunned and tries to pull back, but Fu Wenduo follows his right hand, climbs up and locks his pulse. With a swift horizontal kick, Tang Mo was pinned to the ground. Fu Wenduo clasped his wrist with his left hand and grabbed Tang Mo's neck with his right, pinning him to the ground.

Fu Wenduo opened his eyes, "Just now, before I closed my eyes, the biggest crack I revealed was my left temple. You shouldn't have hit there because you knew that was my biggest crack and I knew that and would have gone on the defensive."

Tang Mo had fought hard for ten minutes and hadn't gained a single advantage. Fu Wenduo was relaxed, but he was gasping for breath, and now his opponent had him by the throat.

Fu Wenduo let go of him.

The two rested for a while and Fu Wenduo said, "Come again."

Without saying a word, Tang Mo attacked again.

From the afternoon until the evening, Tang Mo felt desperate for the first time.

Fu Wenduo is really not lying, there is a reason why he doesn't train new recruits. Tang Mo is now half beaten to death by him, and if he hadn't held back, Tang Mo feels he could have been played to death by this man. Powerful physicality, terrific sense of technique, this man is simply invulnerable. Unless his hard strength was a cut above his, it would be very difficult to kill Fu Wenduo.

After all, it was a real close fight, and Fu Wenduo managed to leave a lot of bruises on Tang Mo's body. Tang Mo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and got up again. The two men locked eyes and the next moment, they attacked in unison.

Fighting is the best learning.

After an afternoon of battling, Tang Mo continued to learn from his failures and his muscles were conditioned to remember many of his moves before his mind. Fu Wenduo showed an opening and Tang Mo took advantage of it. Fu Wenduo easily blocked the blow, but Tang Mo was only faking and he chopped at Fu Wenduo's side.

Fu Wenduo's eyes dazzled and he quickly used both palms to separate the kick. By this time he had fallen into the rhythm of Tang Mo, who was following the same pattern he had used on himself, punching first, then kicking, then a whole series of moves. Fu Wenduo stumbled backwards one after another and Tang Mo threw another punch, forcing Fu Wenduo to bend down and dodge it.

Tang Mo was prepared for this and he lifted his right foot and kicked again. But at that very moment, he felt something cold suddenly clasp his ankle, pull his foot forward and tug. Before Tang Mo could react, Fu Wenduo's other hand was compared to a knife, choking him around the neck, while his other hand held his ankle, folding his right leg and pressing it against his chest, and his whole body sat up, suppressing Tang Mo's movements.

The opponent is again striking from his bottom.

Tang Mo tightened his brow. Fu Wenduo said, "Wearing trainers on purpose to move more easily?"

Tang Mo didn't understand why he was suddenly asking this, and he nodded, "Well. It's better for sports. Isn't that right?"

"Sneakers are really better for sports, and it's called that itself," Fu Wenduo says. Fu Wenduo said, "But when you're fighting someone, you're already half dead wearing these." As he said this, Fu Wenduo's left hand pressed Tang Mo's ankle, the cold temperature of which made Tang Mo frown. Fu Wenduo said, "The ankle is one of the weaker parts of the human body. If I had cut it with a knife just now, would you still be standing?"

Tang Mo looks at him in astonishment.

Fu Wenduo lets go and stands up from Tang Mo's body. "Usually we wear combat boots to protect our ankles and also to prevent other things from getting into our shoes. In any case, it's impossible to wear sneakers." After a pause, he turns his head to Tang Mo: "It's getting dark, are you still coming tomorrow?"

Tang Mo was silent for a moment as he rose from the ground and patted himself down on the broken grass and mud, "Come."

"Okay, still this afternoon, I'll see you at that clothing shop."

In the darkness of the night, the two returned to the mall and parted at the entrance.

Tang Mo watched Fu Wenduo's back as he disappeared into the darkness, slowly narrowing his eyes. He waited until he was sure the man was far away before he twisted his sore wrist.

... Shit, the fist hit the man, the man did not hurt, his own hands were shaken and numbed instead.

He said he was teaching Tang Mo fighting skills, but Tang Mo felt that he had been sent there this afternoon to be beaten up by Fu Wenduo. If they had used their powers and props, they would not have won or lost (Tang Mo was confident in the powers of "a very fast man"). But without his powers, the difference between the two is too great.

Tang Mo could not beat Bai Ruoyao based on his fighting skills alone, nor could Bai Ruoyao beat Fu Wenduo.

As a result, Tang Mo was being pushed to the ground by Fu Wenduo. However, this didn't discourage him, and when he got back to his car, he spent the rest of the night mulling over some of the techniques he had learned from Fu Wenduo, and some of the moves he had been beaten by Fu Wenduo. The next afternoon, he walked into the clothing shop.

Fu Wenduo has been waiting in the shop for a while. He looked down and noticed Tang Mo had changed into a pair of very thick boots. Fu Wenduo curled his lips and said, "Or is it the athletics track?"

Tang Mo: "Hmm."

"Let's go."

For half a month in a row, Tang Mo felt the gap between professional and amateur. The worst thing was that he was not even an amateur, he had never been in a fight since he was a child. But Fu Wenduo was the professional of professionals, and Tang Mo was beaten by him to the point of disowning his own mother. Although they didn't really fight, Tang Mo gradually began to wonder whether he had improved his physical fitness.

But come to think of it, his physical strength was boosted, and so was Fu Wenduo's. In other words, neither of them had anything to gain by fighting each other. It was like an ordinary librarian who hadn't exercised before Earth went online suddenly having to fight the captain of an ace special forces unit. The fact that Fu Wenduo was able to fight Fu Wenduo in one or two moves was already due to Tang Mo's strength and speed, which exceeded the limits of his skills.

By the afternoon of the fifteenth day, the two men had fought dozens of rounds. Tang Mo once again sent the dust from the ground with a kick, and Fu Wenduo closed his eyes as Tang Mo slammed a fist into his temple. Fu Wenduo curled his lips and calmly deflected the blow. His hand has just touched Tang Mo's fist when a smile crosses his lips. Fu Wenduo reaches out again and blocks Tang Mo's leg from the other side.

At the same time, Tang Mo bends over, bracing himself on the ground with one hand and slashing at Fu Wenduo's hamstring with the other.

Fu Wenduo was wearing a pair of black combat boots, so instead of scratching his ankle, Tang Mo flipped his hand behind his knee, pressed his hamstring and lifted his leg up.

The two men fell to the ground together, and because of their posture, Tang Mo's knee landed squarely on Fu Wenduo's arm, causing him to grunt.

Tang Mo took the opportunity to squeeze Fu Wenduo's chest, preventing him from standing up, and choked him with his other hand.

No success, Fu Wenduo reaches out to stop it.

The two men looked at each other.

In the dusky sunset, Fu Wenduo collapses into the grass, Tang Mo holding his knee with one hand and his other hand in his grip.

After a few seconds of staring at each other, Tang Mo laughed in a rare moment, " Mr. Fu school, according to you, your hamstring ... was just picked by me?"

Fu Wenduo looked at Tang Mo steadily for a long time before he released his grip on Tang Mo's fist and said resignedly, "Well, it's broken, I only have one foot left so I can't stand up."

Tang Mo lets go of his hands and lies down to rest.

This time it looked like Tang Mo had won, but Tang Mo knew that if Fu Wenduo really wanted to win, he could have done so a long time ago.

Every time they fight, it is never about who wins or loses, but about Tang Mo learning some real fighting skills. After half a month of training, Tang Mo no longer has no idea about fighting. Now, he might not be able to beat Bai Ruoyao and he would be able to sneak up on him, but Bai Ruoyao would no longer be able to do it so easily, and Tang Mo would at least be able to get his skin ripped off.

Tang Mo was in a good mood, even though he knew that this win over Fu Wenduo was not a win at all. Anyone who has been beaten for half a month and now has managed to fight back once is in a good mood. Tang Mo is no exception.

It was dark and, as a rule, the two men should now go back and finish their training for the day.

Tang Mo was resting on the ground, calming his breathing and then preparing to leave. At that moment, a low voice rang in his ears, "One more time?"

"..." Tang Mo said quickly, "We'll talk tomorrow."

Fu Wenduo: "..."

You want to fight back after a hard fought win? No such thing, we'll talk about it tomorrow.

After patting the weeds and dust off his clothes, the two men returned to the mall together. Tang Mo enters the underground car park and before he can find his car, he sees Tang Qiao standing on the corner of the stairwell, seemingly waiting for him.

Tang Qiao: "Dr. Luo is looking for you." After a pause, she looked behind Tang Mo, "Isn't that Mr. Fu with you?"

Tang Mo asked, " Luo Fengcheng wants to see him too?"

Tang Qiao nodded, "Dr. Luo told me to try to inform you both. In his absence, it had to be forgotten."

"I will meet with him tomorrow."

Tang Qiao: "Okay, then you go ahead and find Dr. Luo." She turned to leave.

Since the death of Nie Feng and Ye Yuanze, Tang Qiao has become more and more reticent. Tang Mo and she knew each other, but she left after Luo Fengcheng's instructions and did not say a word to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo gave her a look and walked into the third floor of the underground car park.

Luo Fengcheng has been waiting in the office for some time. When he saw Tang Mo, he asked, "Mr. Fu is not with you? I thought you were together for the last few days."

Tang Mo said warily, "How do you know?" They had deliberately found an unoccupied athletic field.

Luo Fengcheng laughed, "I don't know what happened after you left the mall, but you met at the mall every day. It's easy to find out about that. Did you go to the raid copy together? That's not very likely. If you both raided the same copy together, the game's difficulty would spike, and it would be more than worth it."

This time Luo Fengcheng was wrong. Tang Mo is more convinced that he and Fu Wenduo will be able to improve the strength of the team more than the increased difficulty of the game. But there's no need to tell Luo Fengcheng that.

Tang Mo said indifferently, "You think too much, just ask Mr. Fu school to teach me some fighting skills a little."

Luo Fengcheng was stunned, but he soon said, "I was overthinking it." Leaving the subject aside, Luo Fengcheng got down to business, "Actually, this time it's about Mr. Fu's school. Although he is not here, you can inform him."

Tang Mo: "What is it?"

"Jackass met a player from Nanjing yesterday and it was confirmed that Nanjing is China Zone 6."

Tang Mo never thought this would be the case. Apart from training with Fu Wenduo, he had spent the last half month raiding some simple S-rank copies on his own. He thought for a long time, "Okay, I'll tell Fu Wenduo tomorrow."

Luo Fengcheng: "After all, he is the surviving brother, so Mr. Fu will probably go to Nanjing to look for him. But Tang Mo, you can also tell Mr. Fu that before you go to Nanjing, you can consider a copy of the rally that will be coming out of The black tower. It's a very interesting copy and perhaps Mr. Fu would be interested."

Tang Mo wondered, "What copy?" What copy could Luo Fengcheng be sure that Fu Wenduo would be interested in?

Luo Fengcheng laughs, "I see you didn't hear the announcement about The black tower this morning? It's a very interesting copy."

The next afternoon, when Fu Wenduo arrived at the clothing shop, he saw Tang Mo, who had been waiting for him for a long time.

Keenly aware of a hint of something amiss, Fu Wenduo said, "Something wrong?"

Tang Mo gets right to the point: "Luo Fengcheng came to me yesterday and told me that China Zone 6 had been confirmed as Nanjing. Your cousin should be in Nanjing."

Fu Wenduo did not change his face: "Good."

Tang Mo: "Are you going to leave Shanghai and go to Nanjing?"

Fu Wenduo watches Tang Mo: "I was planning to finish the third level of The black tower in a month and then leave Shanghai. Now it looks like I might have to leave early." Fu Wensheng is probably the only family Fu Wenduo has left in the world, even if he doesn't know his cousin well and hasn't seen him in a long time, he is his brother. In Tang Mo's place, it would be impossible to leave his eleven-year-old cousin to survive alone in the dangerous world of gaming.

But Fu Wenduo meant something else when he said this: he was leaving Shanghai and would not be able to team up with Tang Mo to attack the tower.

Tang Mo laughs: "Are you going back to Beijing?"

Suddenly asked about this, Fu Wenduo pondered for a long time and nodded: "Go to Nanjing first. If I can't find him, I'll go back to Beijing." He prefers to stay in Beijing than in unfamiliar Shanghai. Like Tang Mo, he would have returned to Suzhou, his hometown, if it hadn't been for two or three accidents.

Tang Mo: "I'm going to Beijing too."

Fu Wenduo was stunned.

The timing of Tang Mo's comment was quite coincidental, as Fu Wenduo had just said he was going back to Beijing, and he said he was going too. A normal person would have thought that Tang Mo was going to follow Fu Wenduo and go wherever Fu Wenduo went. But Fu Wenduo knew that a man like Tang Mo would not follow him to the faraway city of Beijing just because of a verbal agreement to team up.

Their relationship was not that good. If Tang Mo really went to Beijing for him, then there must be something bigger going on.

Fu Wenduo narrowed his eyes and spoke in a calm tone, "Why?"

Tang Mo said, "I have a good friend from university who plays in Beijing. I've told you about that."

Tang Mo told Fu Wenduo about it when they first met in real life. However, Fu Wenduo said, "Just for this?" To go to a strange city thousands of miles away for a friend?

Tang Mo: " Mr. Fu School, you went to see your cousin, what was the purpose? You haven't seen him for over a year."

Fu Wenduo: "He is my brother."

Tang Mo smiles: "He is probably the last family member you will ever have on earth. Likewise, my college friend will probably be my last good friend in the world." Not a friend, a good friend. In Tang Mo's heart, he is no less attached to Hao Zi and Mr. Wang than he is to his family. His parents died early and it was the two best friends who got through it with him.

Before, he felt that he was not strong enough and was worried that he would not be able to cope with any dangers along the way. Now that he was strong enough to go to Beijing, why not?

Fu Wenduo looked deeply at Tang Mo and said, "Shall we go together?"

"Together."

"Good."

Being on the road together is not a game to join together, it does not increase the danger, it only makes both safer.

But before going to Beijing, Tang Mo thought of something else: "By the way, Fu Wenduo, there's a rally copy tomorrow morning, do you want to join?"

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow: "A new copy of the rally?"

As it turned out, the reason this man didn't start his fight training until the afternoon was because he also went to the Raiders game every morning on his own and didn't hear The black tower notice.

Tang Mo said, "Luo Fengcheng and I were talking about a new copy of The black tower that was just released yesterday morning and it's very interesting. The time is 8:31am on the 1st of February, the location is Nanpu Bridge in Huangpu District, Shanghai, the game reward is unknown and the game boss is 'Strange Circus Leader'."

Fu Wenduo seized on the key word: "Circus of the Weird?" He assumed that by interesting, Tang Mo meant that this circus was one that both of them had come into contact with, or at least had an impression of.

Tang Mo, however, saw his suspicions and denied, "Not just because of the Strange Circus, but because there is a prerequisite for players to enter this assembly copy."

Fu Wenduo realised that this condition was the real point: "What condition?"

One day ago.

A clear child's voice rang out across Shanghai, unveiling the second collection of copies of the new release to all Shanghai players.

"Ding Dong! Rally copy opens for a limited time. Game location: Strange Circus in the Kingdom of the Underlanders, Game reward: unknown, Game Boss: Head of the Strange Circus. 8:31 a.m. on February 1, players are invited to the Nanpu Bridge in Huangpu District to participate in the game!"

"Attention! Only players who have successfully cleared the first level of The black tower will be allowed to enter the game."

"Attention! Only successful clearance of The black tower level 1 ..."

1 February, 8.31am, by the Nanpu Bridge.

Two black shadows moved swiftly through the buildings and hid behind an inconspicuous pier under the bridge. Tang Mo lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch, "One minute to go."

Fu Wenduo said, "Be careful, don't make a sound."

Tang Mo nods.

The two men's eyes were locked on the majestic bridge, keeping a sharp lookout for new enemies. However, they didn't see anyone on the bridge even a second before The black tower signalled the start of the game.

A bright white light flashed in front of his eyes, and Tang Mo calmly pondered whether it was possible that not many players in Shanghai had cleared the first level of The black tower, and so the few that did had not chosen to raid this rally. But a cheerful child's voice soon interrupts his speculation, with a cheerful tone and a hint of gloating.

"Dingdong! Players Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo have successfully entered the 'Surprise Night of the Strange Circus'. As of 8:31pm on 1st February, a total of 23 players have successfully entered the copy, 21 players on the ground floor of The black tower and 2 players on the first floor of The black tower, triggering the 'Public Enemy' effect. Players Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo, codenamed Mr. A and Mr. B, are in public enemy mode."

Tang Mo's eyes widened, and before he could react, an even louder voice rang out in the ears of the 23 players who had entered the game.

"Dingdong! Assembled copy of 'Surprise Night of the Strange Circus' Premise: Two months ago, the circus leader caught three monsters and opened a magical monster exhibition for them. Not knowing who had let one of the monsters go, the monster exhibition was scorned by the audience and the ringmaster almost lost his money. The poor chief was so angry that he took it upon himself to capture the big monster that had escaped, and he was going to break the skin and bones of the monster in front of millions of spectators at the 'surprise night' seven days later. This time, the chief will not lose it again, for he has hired two of the best detectives in the whole kingdom of the Underlanders to escort it all the way."

"Main quest posted: All players are invited to take away the poor little monster from the aiding and abetting Mr. A and Mr. B. Bonus: Kill the evil Mr. A or Mr. B and receive one King's Gold, kill both and receive two gold coins. A friendly reminder: one King's Coin forfeits any game of The black tower."

Tang Mo's scalp tingles.

Public enemy of all effect.

21 players who have cleared the first level of The black tower.

Kill them for a King's gold coin ...

Tang Mo turned his head slowly to look at Fu Wenduo beside him. He almost heard himself gritting his teeth, one word popping out from between them. He calmed down and stared at a letter hovering above Fu Wenduo's head, "Mr A?"

Fu Wenduo glanced at the top of Tang Mo's head: "... Mr B."

A The black tower beep sounded in both of their ears...

"Dingdong! Post main quest: Mr. A and Mr. B, for seven days, protect the circus master's newly captured little monster from being stolen by the bad guys."

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What the author has to say.

Tangtang: MMP, I shouldn't have been on Mr. Fu's team! Damn it, twenty-one The black tower tier 1 players, come and kill us together! Together! And he beat me up for half a month!

Mr. Fu: Honey, that's not beating you, that's called a wild fight [grins]!

Tangtang: Can I kill him with my own hands for a King's gold coin?