Chapter 91: Chapter 83: Great Uproar
After finishing its meal, Jingjing gestured for Tang Mo to take out a few Crystal Cores. Once it absorbed them, it very deliberately claimed the spot next to the pillow on Tang Moâs large bed.
The wild couldnât compare to being at home. The living conditions here were a million times better than in the wildernessâno need to worry about mutant beasts attacking at any moment, no concerns about food or warmth, and an unending supply of Crystal Cores.
To the Little Fox, this place was practically heaven.
After Jingjing fell asleep, Tang Mo opened her ID to look up information on the black Crystal Cores and Jingjingâs specific attributes. These were things she had never heard of before.
But even the database released by the research institute didnât provide Tang Mo with any answers. âPerhaps these things havenât been discovered by humanity yet.â
She had almost died out there today. The residual powder from the Crystal Cores she had absorbed formed a small pile.
âThose Crystal Cores...â
Tang Mo suddenly remembered the Crystal Cores she had absorbed in an instant. âEven if a large portion of the attribute values went to waste, I still absorbed so much. Just how high must my attribute values be now?!â
âIf my attribute values have increased this much overnight, my rank on the leaderboards is bound to shoot up. Everyone will know.â
With trembling hands, Tang Mo opened her attribute value information.
ID: Tang Mo
Life Value: 234
Strength Value: 172
Agility: 255
Spiritual Power: 501
Space: 0
Overall Strength: 1162
1162...
It had doubled in an instant.
âIâm screwed, Iâm screwed. This time Iâm really screwed.â
âIâm going to be famous.â
Unlike the joy others would feel at such a massive increase in attribute values, Tang Moâs heart was filled with the terror of becoming famous.
As the saying goes, a man should fear fame as a pig fears growing fat.
Her hands still shaking, Tang Mo opened the leaderboards. They hadnât updated yet; her name was still in 100th place.
It was only five minutes until midnight. Tang Mo stared at the screen, unblinking, watching every second tick by.
The moment the clock struck midnight, Tang Mo hit refresh. The names on the leaderboard shifted!
Tang Mo scanned the list for her name, starting from the bottom.
âIâm not in 100th place anymore...â
âUp to 80th, and still no sign of me...â
â60th...â
âAaaah, 40th...â
Tang Moâs heart pounded with increasing anxiety. âPlease donât let it be too high! Please!â
â20th...â
Tang Moâs heart skipped a beat.
She saw her name in 15th place.
If the top 100 on the Huaxia attribute value leaderboards received national attention, then the top 20 were under a whole other level of scrutiny.
Every single change in position within the top twenty captured the attention of countless people.
Any significant jump would be reported in the Alliance Daily and spark a nationwide discussion.
People even spontaneously created fan clubs for many of the most powerful individuals, just like how everyone used to treat celebrities.
Jumping from 100th to 15th overnight... Tang Mo didnât have to imagine the kind of uproar it would cause.
âMaybe I should just flee in the middle of the night...â
âAs long as Iâm not in S Base, I should be able to avoid a lot of trouble...â
Tang Mo threw herself heavily onto the soft, comfortable bed.
Perhaps it was because the nightâs events had been so exhausting and harrowing, but Tang Moâs eyes soon closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.
She slept soundly, but she still dreamed.
In her dream, she was fighting an Intermediate Beast in a jungle, but she was surrounded by reporters, their long-lensed cameras practically shoved in her face.
Every one of them was relentlessly asking how she had managed to raise her attribute values so high, so quickly.
Eventually, Tang Mo was jolted awake by a ringing sound.
"Hey, Qin Ling. Whatâs up?"
Having just woken from the nightmare, Tang Moâs voice was still laced with drowsiness.
"Are you crazy?!"
A roar erupted from the other end of the call.
Tang Mo instinctively jerked her watch-clad wrist away from her ear.
âIâm going to go deaf.â
"Absorbing that many attribute values at once will make your body explode! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Qin Lingâs cold demeanor was reserved for the news; with Tang Mo, he was always like an emotionally volatile child.
"Where are you? You just woke up? Youâre at home, right? Stay put, Iâm on my way."
Before Tang Mo could even reply, Qin Ling was already about to hang up.
"Youâre dead if anyone spots you!"
Tang Mo just managed to shout that one sentence at him before he hung up.
After the call ended, she noticed a total of 28 missed calls from Qin Ling on her watch.
âHow touching... and so annoying.â
Tang Mo grumbled, but the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.
Besides Qin Lingâs missed calls, there were also messages from Uncle Wen and Song Qing.
Tang Mo replied to each of them, reassuring them that she was fine and they had nothing to worry about.
The first thing Wen Jianshu did upon arriving at his office and sitting down was his routine check of the leaderboards.
He was truly shocked to see Tang Moâs name had leaped to 15th place.
âThat girl... I havenât seen her go out recently. She didnât ignore my advice and actually absorb that many Crystal Cores, did she?â
âThat many attribute values from Crystal Cores would be enough to make a person explode.â
âMaybe she found some other kind of abnormal treasure?â
He hurriedly sent several messages to Tang Mo.
He had wanted to go home to check on her, but he was afraid that returning so abruptly and knocking on Tang Moâs door would frighten his pregnant wife, so he decided to wait.
If she didnât reply by noon, he was determined to go home and knock on her door, no matter what.
Fortunately, Tang Mo quickly replied to say she was safe.
âAs long as sheâs okay, thatâs all that matters.â
Qin Ling snuck into Tang Moâs room by climbing through her window. Her room was on the second floor; the poor guy really went through a lot of trouble.
When Qin Ling came in, Tang Mo was in her pajamas, sitting cross-legged at her table eating soup dumplings.
She was startled to suddenly see a figure dressed all in black, wearing a black baseball cap and a black face mask, appear in her room.
"Are you really okay? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
After climbing into the room, Qin Ling ripped off his mask, pulled Tang Mo from her chair, and started checking her all over, turning her around several times.
Only after confirming that Tang Mo was completely unharmed did he pull her into a tight embrace.
Qin Lingâs hug was so tight that Tang Mo could barely breathe.
But when she remembered that this was the same manâalways so cold and decisive in publicâwho had called her 28 times this morning, her heart completely melted, and she wrapped her arms around Qin Lingâs waist.
"You scared me to death."
Qin Lingâs voice was thick with hurt and sounded a little stuffy.
Tang Mo couldnât imagine what kind of state he must have been in while making those dozens of calls this morning.
This morning, not a single person in Qin Lingâs villa had dared to speak. His expression was as cold as King Yanâs as he sat motionless on the sofa for a full two hours.
If he hadnât been unable to confirm Tang Moâs location and worried that acting rashly would bring her trouble, he would have stormed the Wen Family home long ago instead of waiting until now.