Chapter 199
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo glanced at each other as they walked. Then they quietly continued to follow the dwarf towards the customs department.
In their minds, the voice of the black tower continued,
"In this side mission, the five players are divided into three teams. The customs team, the monster team and the second monster team. Please note—"
"First, players in the same team can see the true appearance of their companion. Players who aren't in the same team can't recognize the identities of other players."
“Second, the task of the mission team is the find the stolen goods smuggled by the second monster team and to seize the stolen goods. The mission of the second monster team is to protect the item they are smuggling and to smuggle it successfully. The task of the monster team is to assist the customs team. Good monsters abide by the law."
"Third, in the game, both the underground people and the black tower monsters are enemies of the five players."
Tang Mo's heart tightened when he heard there were five players and he reflexively looked at Fu Wenduo. Fu Wenduo was looking back at him grimly.
Apart from them, this tower attack game unexpectedly had other players involved!
It was a total of five people!
Apart from Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo and Chen Shanshan, there were two other players.
Based on these rules, the five players were each other's enemies while the underground people and black tower monsters were also their enemies. Tang Mo inwardly cursed. Before he could react, one second after the black tower's words ended, another dwarf customs official ran over and shouted to the dwarf leading them, "Reporting! It isn't good. Human players have sneaked in!"
The dwarf was shocked. "What did you saw?"
Tang Mo's fingers clenched and he stared coldly at the dwarf's back. The new dwarf informed the chief of the situation and the chief's face changed. "Bring back the lazy Mr. A and Mr. B for discipline and have them work." Then he turned and trotted away.
"Yes!"
The second dwarf stared at Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo from the corner of his eyes and sighed. "You dare to be lazy? How could you be so lazy when many monsters are coming today and there are also the damn human players? Wait, are you the players who sneaked in?"
Tang Mo's eyes narrowed.
Fu Wenduo asked in a low voice, "Humans have mixed in?"
The dwarf looked at them and muttered, "It doesn't look like it." Then he walked while explaining, "I don't know. We received an order from His Majesty the King stating that a few humans have mixed in with us. It is said that they are mixed in with the monster group and also our customs department. Oh, this is a joke! Our customs officers are so tall and powerful? How can those dirty and stinking humans pretend to be us? I'm sure I'll see through them with one glance!"
Tang Mo walked behind the dwarf as he spoke from time to time.
Three minutes later, the trio arrived in front of an old broken door. The dwarf pushed the door open and a moist vapor hit them. Tang Mo stared intently. Dozens of long lines appeared in front of them.
No one expected that after opening the door, this small and broken customs house would be so big! There were long lines like people queuing up in the supermarket to pay. Each line had a table and a customs officer standing at the table. Countless monsters lined up to have their identities checked so they could go home.
Tang Mo glanced at the hundreds of monsters quickly and couldn't find any abnormalities.
The dwarf took them to the tables number 25 and 26 and screamed, "Get to work!" Then he turned and left.
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo each took a table.
They turned their heads to observe how the underground person next to them worked. Tang Mo learned the movements of the underground person next to him and pushed a monster boy hard. "What are you doing? Turn over your belongings so I can check them!"
The little boy with the crow's head cried out bitterly, "You are bullying a child!"
Next to him, Fu Wenduo was facing a tall and strong adult monster. The giant black bear had to squeeze his body into the house and could barely walk.
The two of them found that the underground officials were both bullies and cowards. They were rude and violent when encountering monsters with poor strength and charming and careful when encountering monsters with high strength. Fu Wenduo stared at the tall black bear monster in front of him. The other person unceremoniously sprayed hot air into Fu Wenduo's face.
Fu Wenduo's right hand formed a fist. After half a second, he loosened his fingers and his lips slowly curved. "…Please come over and check the items."
The black bear monster swaggered over.
More than 20 tables were crowded into the same room. There were many underground people and monsters in the room and it was noisy. After gradually becoming familiar with the work to be done, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo leaned together.
Tang Mo whispered, "Apart from us and Shanshan, there are two players. We entered the tower attack game as a team with Shanshan. Our floor numbers aren't the same and the black tower deliberately separated her from us. This should be to reduce the difficulty of her game but she can't be our enemy."
Fu Wenduo grabbed a pair of stinky socks from a black tower monster and didn't look back as he whispered to Tang Mo, "Then the two players are in the second monster team and Shanshan is the monster team."
In this side mission, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo's goal was to find the stolen goods while the second monster team had to successfully smuggle the stolen goods. Tang Mo and Chen Shanshan were teammates so the little girl couldn't be in the second monster team. She could only be the monster team."
Tang Mo added, "The two players are both in the second monster team."
Fu Wenduo nodded. "Yes."
At present, the customs team was Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo and there were three players left. Chen Shanshan was definitely in the monster team. Of the remaining two monsters, both of them could be in the second monster team or one of them was the second monster team and the other one was Chen Shanshan's teammate. But…
Fu Wenduo said, "The second monster team is our enemy. The black tower is absolutely far. Apart from Mu Huixue, there isn't a single player in China who the black tower would recognize as being a match for the both of us." In fact, even Mu Huixue might not get such a high evaluation. Fu Wenduo came to a conclusion. "Thus, those two people are a team and it is likely they also teamed up to attack the tower."
Tang Mo's fingers tapped the table. "The problem is… we are customs officials and are obviously in the dominant position. The two monster players are at a disadvantage. Perhaps their strength is high enough that the black tower feels we need an advantage to defeat them. Or perhaps the important thing hasn't happened yet."
Tang Mo just finished speaking when a rough male voice was heard.
In the customs house,all the underground officials and black tower monsters raised their heads and looked at the large green horn in a corner of the ceiling.
"Hey hey, emergency notification, emergency notification!"
"Respected Mr. and Ms. Monsters and our loyal underground officials. His Majesty the King has delivered an order. We just received news that players have mixed in with us customs officials!"
The monsters were in an uproar.
"The damn players have their stink and ugly looks hidden by the black great tower and we can't find out who they are at the moment. Don't worry, the customs department has been given accurate information. There are a total of five hateful players hidden among the customs officials and monsters."
Tang Mo noticed that the person standing at table number 24 turned to look at him and Fu Wenduo. All underground officials were vigilantly watching their companions. The monsters were the same.
A strong monster was excited, "A player dares to dress up as us black tower monsters?" The monster gulped greedily. "I'm going to find them and I'm going to eat them!"
The dwarf official was still broadcasting. "In order to successfully catch the five disgusting players, the Underground Customs Department will now start to block the bridge. Don't worry dear monsters. We aren't stopping you from leaving. We just aren't allowing new monsters to step on the bridge."
"Betting on the honour of the esteemed king, our customs officials will definitely find the dam players!"
The underground officials shouted, "Find the humans and eat them!"
The monsters also roared, "Find them and eat them!"
Cheers came from everyone. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo's eyes twitched as an unknown premonition surged in their hearts. Tang Mo turned and saw that the dwarf chief who had just been speaking on the broadcast had come out and roared to people, "Everyone, come to me! Now I'm going to start looking for the filthy humans hidden among you. Humans, I will give you a chance. Come out now and I promise to only fry and eat your corpse."
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo's expressions became cold.
In the monster team, Chen Shanshan stood in the middle and silently thought about the hints from the black tower and the words of the dwarf chief. Beside her, many monsters were discussing how to catch and kill the monsters.
The little girl held the big lollipop in her arms as she closed her eyes and thought.
At the end of the group, Davia and Pete were a bit stunned at first. Behind them, two underground officials had just closed off the bridge.
The brown-haired David spoke in a disgruntled manner, "What does this mean? The black tower arranged for us to fight?"
Pete closed his blue eyes as he stroked the red agate bracelet worn on his wrist. He thought for a moment before smiling gloomily. "David, isn't this a good thing? After turning into an official player, you lost the killing desire of the returnees and want to get along with people peacefully? My friend, I don't want to play such a boring game. This is good. I don't know what type of players actually dare to become our opponents. Kill them and this game will be very interesting."
David said sarcastically, "Pete, this is just a side mission. Perhaps we will have to work together with the three players for the main mission."
Pete shrugged. "If we kill them before that happens, there will be no cooperation."
David didn't like killing people as much as his teammate but he wouldn't stop it. David touched his chin. "I'm just curious. If we are opponents of the customs team… what role does the monster team play? Since the three players can't recognize each other, why would the black tower make the monster team? What can that person do?"
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Chapter 200
What was the meaning behind the existence of the monster team?
Chen Shanshan held the huge lollipop and repeatedly pondered this problem in her mind.
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had guessed matters and Chen Shanshan also guessed it.
"This game has a total of five players. There are two people in the customs team, two in the second monster team and I am in the monster team."
"The task of the monster team is to assist the customs team in finding the stolen goods." The short-haired girl sighed softly and inwardly thought, 'Then Brother Tang and Major Fu are the customs team and the other two players are the second monster team. Players from different teams can't recognize each other. Then what is my role…?"
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were the customs team and they had the most effective method to find stolen goods. She was an unremarkable little monster. It was already good that she wasn't bullied by other monsters. She seemed to have no influence in this group of monsters but the black tower gave her the task of assisting the customs team.
"I am attacking the black tower's third floor and Brother Tang is attacking the fifth floor. My game will be much less difficult than theirs and it means the black tower has lowered the threshold for me. I can do more things."
Chen Shanshan kept her head down as she thought quickly.
The words of the black tower constantly echoed in her mind as well as what the underground chief had said on the radio. The little girl repeated the words 'customs', 'monsters', 'smugglers' and so on. Then when several underground officials came out of the house and screamed for the monsters outside to squeeze together, Chen Shanshan suddenly looked up in amazement and exclaimed, "This is the case?"
On the long suspension bridge, two underground officials held black batons and screamed, "Come on, we will check if any damn human players are mixed in among you." As he spoke, an underground person pushed Chen Shanshan hard towards the door. Whenever they met a strong monster, the officials would change their expressions. "This gentleman, please come in."
Chen Shanshan understood that her current appearance was definitely a weak monster.
A strong appearance would bring some conveniences but a weak appearance wasn't necessarily useless.
In front of the cabin, Chen Shanshan's gaze swept over the monsters behind her. Then she raised a foot and stepped into the house. At the same time, her eyes focused on a sheepskin notice next to the door.
[Reward:
All monsters can report smugglers. Once they find there is a smuggling phenomenon, they are rewarded according to the amount being smuggled.
You can get a king's gold coin!
—The highly respected chief of customs, the dwarf Muddled Egg.]
The customs cabin.
The monsters were brought into the wooden cabin one by one while the underground officials were called to a transparent cabin on the side.
Tang Mo stood at the edge of the officials and looked at the chief dwarf. The chief sneered at them with his hands behind his back. After patrolling his subordinates, he screamed, "In this room, there is a damn human! Maybe there is only one or maybe there are five!"
"None of you are trustworthy because you might all be humans! At this moment, I am the only one who definitely isn't a human." After the reprimand, he said to the dwarf beside him, "You, tell the monsters that in five minutes, we will search them. Ask then to hand in their belongings and receive their registration plates. After we have searched them, collect the number plates to give them back their belongings."
The dwarf hurriedly said, "Yes!"
The dwarf chief muttered, "Oh, these stupid and stinky monsters, I don't know how many idiots want to smuggle things today. Just don't get caught by me."
Then he winked at his assistant. The other person nodded and smugly walked forward, holding a thick roll of paper in his hand. "Now, I will give you this year's civil service examination test of our Underground Kingdom. Humans can't complete it but you certainly can. My colleagues, catch the humans and eat them!"
"Catch the humans and eat them!"
Tang Mo watched the underground people receive the test papers one by one, his hands quietly touching his waist.
Tang Mo had long found that the underground people couldn't see the small parasol tied to his waist. This meant that just by appearance, the underground people couldn't recognize humans. However, they would have a hard time hiding their identities with this test paper. Perhaps they would be the first players to be caught.
A low male voice suddenly entered Tang Mo's ears, "He said that every day, there are many monsters smuggling objects."
Tang Mo turned to look at Fu Wenduo with surprise. He quickly understood what the other person meant. "Yes, according to common sense, the customs department receives many monsters every day. Smugglers should be very common."
Fu Wenduo said, "Things that can be smuggled must be valuable. Once there is proper profit, the capitalists will become bold. If there is a 50% profit then he will take risks. For a 100% profit, he will dare to trample on all human laws. For a 300% profit, he will dare to commit and crime and run the risk of hanging." He suddenly added, "This is Marx's Capital."
Tang Mo wondered, "You are very familiar with it?" He knew the meaning of the words but he couldn't speak it as skillfully as Fu Wenduo.
Fu Wenduo stated, "I am a party member."
Tang Mo was silent. There were many things he needed to learn about Fu Wenduo's identity.
Fu Wenduo opened his mouth. "We know the production level of the Underground Kingdom. It is biased towards medieval Europe and the level is very low. There aren't many things worthy of being smuggled."
Tang Mo added, "There aren't many things of value that can be resold by the black tower monsters."
Fu Wenduo looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "If 10 monsters smuggle goods every day, the things they smuggle must be similar or even exactly the same."
Tang Mo continued, "The black tower wants us to find the stolen goods and the second monster team has to protect it. This shows that the stolen goods is in their hands and it can only be in their hands."
Fu Wenduo asked, "What if other monsters have the same goods?"
"It is impossible."
The two of them smiled at each other and said in unison, "The goods that the black tower wants us to find must be absolutely unique!"
Outside the transparent hut, Chen Shanshan looked at the more than 20 underground officials inside the hut. She carefully observed everyone’s clothes, appearance and even small decorations but she couldn't find Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.
At this time, a dwarf touched his chin and walked into the house, repeating the words of the dwarf chief, "…Now, all monsters please hand in their belongings. Please rest assured that after our search, we will return your things in the order of the number plates."
Some monsters immediately complained with dissatisfaction. The dwarf shook a bit before saying bravely, "Do… do it! This is the order of the chief. If you don't want to do it then go to him for an appeal. Besides, we must find the humans so we can eat them. This is for the good of everyone!"
Most of the monsters were simple-minded. They found the matter troublesome but they could only endure it in order to find the humans.
Chen Shanshan heard a monster beside her complaining, "If this isn't your territory then forget the humans. Eating the underground people is also very delicious!"
The dwarf official started from the front row and started collecting the monsters' belongings.
Chen Shanshan hugged her small lollipop and watched calmly. after a moment, she said lightly, "It might take a long time to collect it alone."
The underground people were in the transparent hut doing the test and only the dwarf had come out. There were more than 500 monsters in the room. It was too laborious for him to collect belongings and issue number plates alone. It would take at least three hours.
A monster with a fox head heard Chen Shanshan's words. "No, what a waste of our time. This damn bureaucracy, it is why I hate the underground people!"
Chen Shanshan licked her candy. "Can't we help him collect it?"
The fox's eyes narrowed as he stared at Chen Shanshan. "What?"
The fox saw a little monster with a rabbit head lick the lollipop in her hands. "I think you are a monster from the Spirit Prairie."
The fox nodded. "You as well?"
Chen Shanshan spoke using the information she obtained from previous games. "The monsters of our Spirit Prairie are different from those of the Monster Valley. They only know brute force. The underground people are clever. Why do they want to search all our belongings?"
The fox thought about it and was reminded by Chen Shanshan's words. "Are you saying… he is trying to take the opportunity to see if any monsters are smuggling stolen goods?" Then he refuted himself, "No, that isn't right. There are at least 50 monsters sneaking stolen goods every day. The customs officers are blind and only find around five. He just wants to find as much as he can."
Chen Shanshan wondered, "Then what if we help him collect them?"
Three minutes later, David and Pete frowned as they saw a fox-like monster moving around the monster population. The monsters he was looking for were all prairie monsters and they showed an expression of surprise after he said a few words.
Then the monsters went to the front and spoke to the dwarf official.
David wondered, "Why is that monster so active? Is he from the monster team?"
Pete watched the fox. "It's possible. However, have you forgotten? The task of the monster team is to assist the customs team. The black tower didn't mention what type of assistance it was. Maybe he just needs to find the people on the customs team and he will be successful. If I was him, I wouldn't be stupid enough to expose myself and be conspicuous in the monster group. I would hide myself."
David thought, "Then what the hell is he doing?"
The yellow fox rubbed his hands and looked down at the dwarf official. "Sir, you see, you are alone and it will take you a long time to collect all the belongings. We have 20 monsters here. If we help you then it will take half an hour at the most."
The dwarf coughed. "Help me? I'm not in a hurry. I can collect it slowly."
The fox raised his eyebrows. "Don't forget that if it takes too long, some of those impulsive and rude monsters from Monster Valley will become angry. It won't be good." The male fox hid his hand with his sleeve and made a 'three' gesture. "I will be seven and you three."
The dwarf was stunned and then thrilled. He suppressed it. "No."
The fox said, "Four!"
"No."
The fox gritted his teeth. "5:5!"
The dwarf smiled. "Good!"
Then David and Pete saw more than 20 monsters holding number plates start to collect the belongings of other monsters. At first, they didn't feel like anything was unusual. Then the yellow-haired fox suddenly raised a golden pocket way. "Sir, I will make a report. I will report her for smuggling!"
The deer monster hurriedly spoke with red eyes, "You, you are talking nonsense!"
The fox replied, "I'm not talking nonsense. The officer just needs to read it and he will know."
The dwarf official came over to check. "Oh, you dare to smuggle an invisible man's pocket watch. This thing isn't allowed to be brought into the Monster World. It is useless even if you pay taxes!" The dwarf spoke while taking out three silver coins and throwing them to the fox. The fox smiled and placed the item into the dwarf's hands. "Wait until later."
The dwarf left with the pocket watch in a satisfied manner.
Next, shouts kept coming from the wooden house.
"You dare to hide this bow in your belt and thought I couldn't find it! You are trying to evade the taxes!"
“Hey, daring to hide a ring in your mouth! Sir, I want to report her for smuggling. This is stolen!"
Stolen goods weren't allowed to be smuggled even if taxes were paid. Some goods were fine as long as the monster paid a tax. They could get a number card and get the stolen goods back.
David sighed. "Fortunately, our things can be taken away. We just need to pay a bit of money. The two wolves have wallets on them with quite a few silver coins inside. It is probably left from when they were sneaking stolen goods."
David didn't intend to be too eye-catching and would continue to hide himself.
By his side, the blond foreigner was deeply frowning. Pete closed his eyes and stroked the red agate bracelet on his wrist. The next second, he opened his eyes and cried out, "Fuck! David, this is the fucking monster team. It is messing with us!"
David was stunned. "Pete, what are you talking about?"
Pete angrily explained, "Don't you understand yet? I finally understand. The thing that the black tower gave us to smuggle, there is only one of it. None of the 500 monsters here will carry it! Otherwise, the two people in the customs team can't win. There are too many stolen goods and they won't know which one is the real stolen goods. All the other loot will appear in pairs or even multiples. Only ours…" The blond man shook the banana wine in his hand. "This is the only fucking one!"
Pete gritted his teeth and crushed the red agate on his wrist. "We were played by the monster team!"
Inside the glass cabin, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn't know what was going on outside.
Before getting the test paper, Tang Mo still thought it was okay. The black tower shouldn't make it too hard for them and he and Fu Wenduo should be able to complete this test. Then after receiving the test, Tang Mo saw the first question. He felt joy until he saw the second question. "…"
[The 9614th Civil Servants Test of the Underground Kingdom]
[Question 1: 1+2+3+4… +99=? Please calculate.]
[Question 2: What is the first time a princess will say if she goes for a walk and runs into an underground person in frog clothes?
You ugly flea! B. You ugly frog! C. You ugly bastard! D. You ugly little cookie!]…Who knew what the princess would say?
Besides, why would a civil service examination test this type of thing?
He continued to look down and the other questions were even more wonderful.
Tang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo who shook his head. "The Happy Question and Answer Quiz was simpler than this."
It was one hundred times simpler than this!
Tang Mo tried to write the answers to the questions he knew while observing the outside world. He found that a monster had started to help the dwarf collect items. Tang Mo sensed something wrong and raised his eyebrows. Soon, he found why the monsters were collecting the items.
Collect items and report smugglers.
The world outside the glass hut was much more lively than the inside.
Tang Mo's gaze swept across all the monsters but he obviously couldn't find Chen Shanshan. He watched the monsters reporting their companions and his lips slowly curved. "Shanshan, do a good job."
Fu Wenduo held the pen and also watched the situation outside.
After a moment, he whispered, "Originally, I thought there was only one way to clear the instance if we can't pass this test. The dwarf collected all the monsters' belongings and piled them there." One finger pointed to a corner. "There are around seven or eight hundred things. You and my chicken nest can now accommodate 10 things. In addition, we can grab some in our hands. We should be able to take those things away. After all, the things that can be smuggled generally aren't too big. However, our identities will be exposed by doing this. The underground people and monsters are our enemies, as well as the two players in the second monster team. How could we escape the siege? This game is a test of our force."
Tang Mo smiled. "Then what about now?"
"Now we already know which are stolen goods and which are normal items. There are a lot less things to take away. Perhaps Shanshan can help us find the unique item. As long as we take it away, we will win."
Tang Mo thought about it. "That's it? Will we have to expose our identity?"
Fu Wenduo's dark eyes stared at Tang Mo as he smiled.
"It depends on how much surprise that little girl can bring us."
Yes, from beginning to end, there were two ways for Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo to clear this side mission.
First, use force to take away all the monsters' belongings. The dwarf chief gathered all belongings and put them in one place. This could be regarded as the black tower helping Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo, making it possible for them to steal all the items.
However, this tested their force too much.
They had to break through the monsters and underground people and escape. They also had to be wary of the second monster team that could attack at any time.
The strength of those two players couldn't be weak. If they were fighting alone, Tang Mo wasn't sure he could win against the other side.
The second method was the task of the monster team. Assist the customs team to find the stolen goods.
The black tower's definition was very vague. In the end, what did it mean by finding? Was it just seeing the stolen goods or did they have to hold it? Tang Mo speculated that it was more likely to be the latter. They had to take the stolen goods from the hands of the monsters.
Chen Shanshan's task wasn't necessarily difficult. She was only on the third floor of the black tower and might not have to do anything. She only needed to pay attention to the movement of the monsters and this could be regarded as 'assisting.'
Yet she did more.
It was impossible for the underground official to find all the stolen goods hidden by monsters. It was only profit that would make people tempted. Thus, she incited a seemingly clever black tower monster and let him gather more monsters. Then they would search the monsters one by one and find all the hidden stolen goods.
If they found stolen goods, there was a reward. They could get a king's gold coin.
Who wouldn't be tempted?
Now there was one last thing the little girl could do to rescue Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.
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