The iodine touched the wound, and a slight stinging sensation came from it. The pain is not on Tang Mo's mind as he sits up in bed and stares ahead. He was facing a glass window, and outside the infirmary was a dark underground car park. When the lights in the room are turned on, the window becomes a mirror, reflecting the scene inside.
He saw Fu Wenduo applying the medicine to himself.
There was always something strange about it, and the touch on the back was uncomfortable.
Tang Mo broke the silence, "That kid ... I mean Fu Wensheng, is really your cousin?"
Fu Wenduo, tweezers in one hand, said, "Well, if you're right, it is him."
Tang Mo: "He was very decisive when he denied he knew you." It didn't seem like a lie at all, and by the way, he acted well enough to fool him and Bai Ruoyao.
"I didn't know him very well, he was sixteen years younger than me. I saw him when he was a newborn, then I went into the army and came home less often, so I didn't see him much." After a pause, Fu Wenduo's voice was calm, "It's understandable that he denies that he knows me. If someone in the game asked you about your relationship with me, Tang Mo ..." The voice stopped, Fu Wenduo raised his head, looked at the glass window that had turned into a mirror, and curled his lips: "Would you admit it?"
I was surprised to find myself peeking out.
Tang Mo immediately withdrew his eyes and said without changing his face, "Of course I don't admit it."
Fu Wenduo laughed and changed the subject: "This is the first time you've actually used the archiver. How does it feel?"
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo met when they were in the midst of MOMO. Three months have passed since then. In those three months, Fu Wenduo has used the archiver once. He was forced by The black tower into the first floor of the tower and had no choice but to confess to Tang Mo the true function of the Fire Egg, as he was unsure of the tower and had to use the archiver to stay safe. In the end he found a way to leave the tower game temporarily by reading the archive in a suicidal manner.
Tang Mo is a different story.
Tang Mo didn't need to read the archive to complete the game in Mario, and in the later Gopher games and Pinocchio, Tang Mo didn't read the archive, only used it.
This is the first time he has actually used the archiver.
Tang Mo grew serious: "It's amazing. When I was communicating with you in my head, I had the sense that after reading the file, your time didn't change as a result. But when I was in the game, it was more like time had gone backwards. I went back to the archive point and met two of my teammates from fifty minutes ago, including your cousin. They didn't seem to notice anything, only I knew what I'd been through. The next thing that happened was exactly the same as before the archive was read and I avoided some of the risks quite easily." At this point, Tang Mo looked up, unapologetically, at the man in the glass mirror, "Reading the file, is that back in time?"
Fu Wenduo pauses as he applies the medicine to Tang Mo, who is also looking at him in the mirror.
The two men's eyes met on the darkened glass window and Fu Wenduo said, "There are many possibilities, but the one I disagree with the most is going back in time."
"How so?" Tang Mo thought about his "A Very Fast Man" ability. This power appears to be the ability to stand still in time (Bai Ruoyao also mistook Tang Mo's ability to stand still in time in the Jewel Castle), but in fact, it speeds up the user. When you are many times faster than others, their movements appear to you to be static.
This ability doesn't really stand still in time, it's speeding up.
"People are three-dimensional beings and can visualise length, width and height, or space, with the naked eye. But the universe we live in is four-dimensional." While disinfecting Tang Mo's wounds, Fu Wenduo said, "The fourth dimension of the universe is now generally considered to be the dimension of time, which unfortunately we can only perceive but not manipulate. The only thing we can do is to move clockwise along the axis of time."
Tang Mo was aware of this simple common sense and understood what Fu Wenduo meant: "It's possible that the archiving function of the turkey egg leaves a marker on the time axis at the moment of archiving, and returns directly to this node when the archive is read later."
"But Tang Mo, he didn't take me back to that point in time as well." Fu Wenduo says, "There is an intersection between my time node and yours; you go back to the archived node, and my time still keeps going forward."
Tang Mo is deep in thought.
Fu Wenduo is right. One of the interesting things about using Fire Egg MOMO is that once you archive, information is shared between the two players. It's a forced, non-closable sharing. This means that when Tang Mo chooses to archive, Fu Wenduo's mind inevitably hears his voice there. You can't see the screen, but all the sounds can be heard.
Fu Wenduo listened quietly as Tang Mo spoke of the Möbius Ring and the Queen of Hearts theory. Even when he was attacked by Bai Ruoyao and robbed of the Moon Flower, Fu Wenduo heard all of this. But he could not participate in it, he could only listen, he could not make any changes.
When Tang Mo reads the archive, he goes back fifty minutes. Fu Wenduo's time, however, did not go back. He is on Earth, still walking the normal timeline, and then he hears Tang Mo over there start repeating all the actions from the previous round and successfully countering Bai Ruoyao, who had attacked him earlier.
Unless MOMO's time travel is limited to the game. That's highly likely, as the fire eggs really only work in The black tower game too, nothing in the real world. But ...
Tang Mo's eyes widened as he remembered another possibility. He turned back quickly and said, "If what I have experienced since the archive is false, The black tower changes the flow of time on both your side and mine, while using my consciousness and that of the rest of the team to simulate and speculate on the most likely future ... "The voice ended abruptly.
The sudden movement of turning back caught the two men off guard and they stared at each other.
Fu Wenduo is holding a cotton ball to disinfect a wound on Tang Mo's shoulder, his head lowered and his gaze locked on the bone-deep wound. Tang Mo suddenly turns around and the distance suddenly closes. A mere five centimetres away, the heat of their breaths intertwined. Tang Mo seemed to see the surprise in Fu Wenduo's eyes. He had rarely seen this man surprised, but this time Tang Mo was taken aback too.
Tang Mo's pupils twitched and he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
At this moment, Fu Wenduo clearly perceives a fresh, clean smell entering his nose. The smell was faint, but somewhat pleasant. His hand, holding the tweezers, gradually tightens.
For a moment, neither moved, just gazing at the other from such a close distance.
It was so close that from a certain angle it appeared to be kissing, and the next moment a voice with a laugh sounded very fittingly from the doorway, "Ah, did I disturb you?"
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo turn their heads in unison and look towards the door.
Luo Fengcheng, wearing a white research suit, leaned against the door and laughed, "I'm just kidding. It just so happens that from the angle I'm looking at it, it looks like a kiss." He said it openly, after all, there were two men in front of him, not a man and a woman, so it was no big deal to joke about it. However, after he said that, Tang Mo's throat tingled and a strange feeling came over him.
... Fu Wenduo is not a GAY, but he is.
Luo Fengcheng thought it would be difficult to have a special relationship between two men, so he made a joke out of it, but Tang Mo knew that he liked men. Such a joke might really be a joke to Fu Wenduo, but to him it was a bit awkward. Tang Mo deliberately sits a little closer to the edge of the bed, as far away from Fu Wenduo as possible.
At that moment, Fu Wenduo took the forceps and pressed them against the deepest wound on Tang Mo's back. When the iodine hit the wound, Tang Mo's body jolted and he sat back again. He almost jumped up, hitting Fu Wenduo's chin and leaning his back against Fu Wenduo's leg.
Fu Wenduo's voice was low: "This wound is next to the spine, so it's better to be careful and not to aggravate it until it heals. Two centimetres further and it will puncture your third lumbar vertebra. With your ability to recover, you shouldn't be paralysed for life, but you won't be able to stand up again, at least for a short time, without the ability to fight back." After a pause, he said, "When you're fighting someone, try hitting them on such deadly points."
Tang Mo: "... good."
This is the difference in fighting sense. Tang Mo seldom fought before, and most people in the south of the Yangtze River were so peaceful that they didn't even have the chance to use their mouths. Now he has to fight and he knows that hitting some areas will be more effective, but when fighting is too rushed, he doesn't have this subconscious reaction and just attacks casually. This takes a long time to train.
Luo Fengcheng also came over after hearing Fu Wenduo's words, "This injury is a bit heavy. Tang Mo, it's rare that you're still alive and kicking with such a serious injury."
This had crossed Tang Mo's mind half an hour ago when he was dealing with Fu Wenduo's wound, and now it was sent to him by Luo Fengcheng, who said, "It's okay. The main thing is that the monster's weapon is unique, and wounds cut by it have a reduced ability to heal themselves."
The three men did not carry on the subject any further.
Luo Fengcheng: "What were you guys talking about?"
The timing of Luo Fengcheng's entry into the infirmary was rather coincidental, as Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo would normally have noticed his footsteps before he even approached. However, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were in a rather awkward situation at the time, and neither of them was aware of Luo Fengcheng's approach.
The archivist's problem involves time and consciousness, and may even have something to do with the human brain. Specialist problems need to be solved by a specialist, and Luo Fengcheng is the best choice. Tang Mo looked at Luo Fengcheng calmly as he heard Fu Wenduo say, "Nothing, just talking about a game I had played before."
Tang Mo said, "Well, that game is quite difficult, it's a Christmas Eve game I played with Mr. Fu school and mentioned it to you."
Both men very quietly avoided the question of turkey eggs.
The turkey egg is the most important prop for Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo at the moment, bar none. They don't want to tell anyone yet, even if that person is Luo Fengcheng.
Luo Fengcheng's gaze crossed over the two men's bodies as he withdrew his gaze and said, "I heard you say in the office earlier that Mr. Fu's cousin had also cleared the ground floor of The black tower. Is he in Shanghai?"
Fu Wenduo has finished disinfecting Tang Mo and wrapped him in gauze. Tang Mo stands up, picks up his white shirt and puts it back on. I don't think he's in Shanghai," he says. When The black tower broadcasted his clearance, it said he was from China 6. China 2 is Shanghai, I don't know where China 6 is. But it's definitely not Shanghai."
Fu Wenduo: "China 1 should be Beijing."
When Fu Wenduo was still in Beijing, The black tower said "China 1 stowaway Fu Wenduo cleared The black tower level 1". A few days ago, when Fu Wenduo cleared The black tower level 2 in Shanghai, The black tower prompted "China 2 stowaway Fu Wenduo". Most players may not have noticed the difference, but Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng did, and I'm sure many of you who are prepared have noticed this detail too.
Luo Fengcheng said: "China 1 is Beijing and China 2 is Shanghai. This is the regional distribution of The black tower. Obviously, it is divided up by each city. There is one The black tower for every 10,000 square kilometres of land, and according to China's urban planning, most cities are around 10,000 square kilometres in size. So it is possible that the zones are divided according to the location of each The black tower. One The black tower is a district."
Tang Mo looked up at Luo Fengcheng and realised, "Beijing is Zone 1 and Shanghai is Zone 2. Does it mean that it is divided into zones according to the ranking of cities in China?
Luo Fengcheng nods gently, but he says something else: "I noticed this a long time ago, or rather, I noticed something else at the same time. Tang Mo, Mr. Fu's school, and every player in every region of the world who clears The black tower for the first time, is broadcasted globally by The black tower. The exception was Mr. Fu, who was the first to clear the tower and was announced three times each time. Players from other regions are only broadcast once, such as the US and Europe."
First place is always a privilege, and Tang Mo feels this strongly, as he was the first player to clear the tower game on hard mode and received 'special treatment' from The black tower.
Fu Wenduo's voice was calm: "Why the European zone."
Tang Mo was slightly stunned, and then he understood the crux of the matter and his face sank.
Luo Fengcheng looked at Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo's solemn expressions and smiled slightly. If it had been Jackass standing in front of him now, he would not have been able to understand what he meant until Luo Fengcheng had said the last word. Now, he had only mentioned it, and Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo both knew what he wanted to say.
"Yes. There is the US zone and the China zone, why is it the European zone and not the British, German or French zones. Or, why is the China zone separated from the East Asian countries and not included in the same category as Japan and Korea? This is like Beijing being China 1 and Shanghai being China 2. What is it about ... that gives The black tower such a clear way of dividing the zones?"
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The author has something to say.
Tangtang: ... As a GAY, I am silent about this joke.
Mr. Fu: As a potential GAY who likes men, I am also silent about this joke.
The banner: GAY in GAI gas.
Luo Fengcheng: Blame me?