Chapter 106 (1/2)

Half an hour ago, the Tang Mo trio came to the gas station. Fu Wenduo went to find petrol while Tang Mo went to the bungalow across the road to find new supplies. After officially entering Beijing, the food that could be found would be less and less. The trio’s current demands for food and water were extremely low but wasn’t completely absent. Tang Mo wanted to prepare everything in advance to avoid incidents.

“The ability to go back in time is certain. They must’ve gone back in time. It is due to the charred bookshelf at the rear of the newsstand. The bookshelf was blackened from being burnt but on the shelf…” Tang Mo paused for a moment. “There was an intact magazine.’

The trio walked across the road and found the charred bookshelf.

The bookshelf really couldn’t be seen from the bungalow where the four stowaways had been hiding. It could only be seen when they walked past the newsstand. The bookshelf was charred and was almost a steel shelf. There was a yellowed magazine on it that wasn’t burnt at all.

How was this situation strange? There was the possibility that someone burnt the shelf and then put the magazine on it.

However, this was enough.

In an empty place, Tang Mo suddenly saw a charred shelf with a well-preserved book on it… what would he think?

Tang Mo didn’t know what Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng would think but he felt that this was a deliberate hint someone left for him.

It was like in detective novels when a protagonist went somewhere and saw something abnormal. There must be a reason for the abnormality. He just didn’t have time to guess what the clue was or what it was trying to say. He came up with one possibility. “The magazine might not be placed there after the bookshelf was burnt.

Fu Wensheng was surprised. “Why?”

The bookshelf was so burned that it would fall from a single touch. The magazine didn’t have a single burn mark so it must’ve been placed later on. If it wasn’t placed there after the shelf was burned… could it be on top of the shelf when it was burned?

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow at Tang Mo’s words and looked at him. Previously, Tang Mo was in a hurry to take care of the four stowaways and didn’t carefully observe the bookshelf. He stepped forward and crouched on the ground, taking down the magazine from the shelf. Due to his movements, the shelf quickly collapsed.

Tang Mo looked at the title and date of the magazine. He turned and waved the magazine. “This magazine is quite famous and is sold all over the country. The date on it is November 18th.”

Fu Wensheng immediately had a thought. “The day that the black tower games officially began?”

Tang Mo nodded. “Yes. This type of bookshelf generally contains the popular magazines. The boss would place all the good things on the small shelf so that passersby could see. The magazine might’ve been on the shelf for a long time, probably at least five months.”

Fu Wensheng still didn’t understand what was going on but Tang Mo had it all figured out.

He previously suspected that someone was in the area due to the strange shelf. From beginning to end, he was unsure if someone was actually ambushing or the location they were ambushing from. He was just suspicious. Thus, after entering the newsstand, he used the turkey egg to communicate with Fu Wenduo and told him about the strange phenomenon. The two men made a decision at an extremely fast speed. One of them would search the bungalow while the other would search the restaurant. It was because these two were the best places to hide people.

Perhaps no one was ambushing at all and the strange bookshelf was just a player’s prank. Still, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo couldn’t let go of any doubts.

There was something Fu Wenduo didn’t know that Fu Wensheng did. Tang Mo said, “Xiao Sheng, don’t you know what burned this bookshelf?”

Fu Wensheng was stunned. “I know it?”

“Yes, you know.”

The little boy bowed his head and thought for a moment. Then he suddenly exclaimed, “…Your big match?”

That’s right. It was Mosaic’s big match.

Two months ago, in the Queen of Hearts’ Gem Corridor, Tang Mo ignited Bai Ruoyao’s arm with the big match and told him mercilessly, “You will be burned alive by this fire if you don’t cut off your arm.”

[Prop: Mosaic’s Match]

[Owner: Tang Mo]

……

[Function: Flames that can’t be extinguished. You can ignite the match at will. Once the match’s flames burn an object, the causality effect means the object will be burned up. Extinguishing the flames is hard beyond imagination.]

The bookshelf was burnt down by this match.

It was a law of causality that only objects ignited by the big match would be burned.

“In a previous time that was reversed, I must’ve discovered this ability but didn’t know how to remind myself that someone was waiting in ambush. Thus, I lit the bookshelf with the big match and took away one of the magazines.” Tang Mo placed the magazine on the remnants of the charred shelf. “It is because the magazine was taken away that it wasn’t burnt by the flames. Once time reversed, it returned to the shelf again. However, the bookshelf has been burnt.”

Fu Wensheng looked at the shelf and magazine on the ground. “That’s why on the burnt bookshelf, there was an intact magazine.”

The cause of this matter was determined. The trio returned to the gas station to dispose of the bodies of the four stowaways.

Tang Mo reached out and pulled out his abilities book. He flipped to the last page and read the text.

[Ability: High Tide Always Comes Quickly]

[Owner: Zhao Kewei (Stowaway)

[Type: Atomic]

[Function: Reverse the physical state of all substances in a certain area. The state of all substances can be restored to one minute before.]

[Level: 3]

[Restrictions: The physical strength improvement is zero. From the moment the ability is used, you must go through 60 seconds of material change before you can use the reverse ability. When this ability is used, all living objects in the area will experience strong physiological needs. It can be used up to seven times a day. Restoring the physical state will consume the user’s corresponding cell life and recovering the state of multiple living objects will consume many times more cells.]

[Note: High tide always comes quickly so savor it over and over again.]

[Tang Mo version usage instructions: Can be used once a day and consumes double the cell life. There is a 5% chance that the physical state of the living body can’t be reversed. For Tang Mo, a minute of high tide… wait, can Tang Mo’s high tide last a minute?]