The Earth is Online - Chapter 139
The things Liu Wansheng mentioned, Tang Mo had long thought about them.
If the players really advanced in the priority order, only Tang Mo could control the ending of the game. Before this, no matter where Bai Ruoyao and Lin Qianxi went, they wouldn’t be able to pass the instance even if they had the squares that contained the books because Tang Mo could extinguish the light above Mosaic.
There was nothing fair about such a game.
Liu Wansheng’s view of this ‘unfairness’ was that the black tower wanted the two teams to cooperate, thus setting visibly unfair game rules. His speculation wasn’t unreasonable. No one knew when the werewolf would return and both teams wanted to clear the instance with the fastest speed. Tang Mo might be the key to the game but if Bai Ruoyao and Lin Qianxi wanted to make trouble, they could completely occupy all the books or do other troublesome things to hinder Tang Mo’s team from winning.
That’s why Liu Wansheng told them to beg and cooperate.
Under the current rules of the game, Bai Ruoyao’s team didn’t have any possibility of winning the game and the initiative was on Tang Mo’s side. If Tang Mo didn’t want to work with them, they were bound to be eaten by the werewolf. Once Liu Wansheng and Tang Mo had a chance to win the game, they wouldn’t care about Bai Ruoyao and Lin Qianxi and would directly clear it.
However, Tang Mo didn’t think the black tower would set up such an unfair game. He looked up and stared at Bai Ruoyao. THe baby-faced youth was still sneering. Then he found that Tang Mo was looking at him and blinked. Bai Ruoyao glanced at Liu Wansheng, gave an unknown sneer and turned to walk back to his square.
Lin Qianxi seemed to listen to Bai Ruoyao and returned to the square.
Liu Wansheng’s expression was ugly. He was stiff and his hairs were standing up. It was obviously a hot day but he was like a man with a burden on his body. After a moment, he turned and found that Tang Mo was watching him calmly. Liu Wansheng lowered his head and left with this sentence, “Don’t regret it.” Then he returned to his own grid.
Once the two of them walked back to the square, the black tower made a sound and a film wall blocked the two teams from hearing each other’s voices.
Liu Wansheng quickly said, “We don’t need to cooperate with them to win. The rules of the game states that at least one book will appear in every round. Just now, two books appeared. It is likely that there will be rounds with three or four books. As long as there are three or more books, we have a chance to win. They only have two people and can occupy up to two books. We can occupy a third book and you can decide the final brightness of the grids. This way, we can clear the instance.” Liu Wansheng’s eyes moved quickly, as if he was counting something. Then he suddenly looked up. “Three books isn’t enough insurance. The important thing is the position of the books. In short, we have an opportunity to clear the instance while they absolutely don’t have a chance.”
Liu Wansheng said a lot and looked up to find that Tang Mo’s gaze was fixed on the other team. He followed Tang Mo’s gaze and his face immediately turned green. He understood that Tang Mo and the arrogant psychopath weren’t teammates, but the two of them clearly knew each other.”
Liu Wansheng gritted his teeth. “Do you want to work with him?”
“He just said that you will die.”
Liu Wansheng’s face darkened. “That psycho!”
Tang Mo turned his head and stared at Liu Wansheng.
Liu Wansheng asked, “What’s wrong?”
Tang Mo’s lips curved. “I don’t like that psychopath but if he said that you are going to die, you really are dead.” Liu Wansheng’s expression fell at Tang Mo’s remark, becoming extremely ugly. He hadn’t spoken yet when Tang Mo said, “I don’t intend to ask them to cooperate with us. This game isn’t as simple as you think. It isn’t a simple maths game. Bai Ruoyao also isn’t as kind as you think. If he really wants to kill you, it might be easier than the werewolf eating you.”
“You…”
“IF the werewolf wants to eat you, she has to swallow you and it will take at least 10 seconds? It will only take Bai Ruoyao three seconds to kill you.” Tang Mo’s voice stopped and he smiled coldly. “Don’t irritate a stranger if you’re not sure you can’t provoke the other person. In addition, in the next round, you go to occupy the book while I control the brightness and darkness of the grids.”
Liu Wansheng had also wanted to change the person who would occupy the book. However, Tang Mo’s tone made him very dissatisfied. “I know. Still, he might not be able to kill me.”
“That is a different story.”
Liu Wansheng was surprised by the words.
He raised his head and saw the handsome young man smiling at him in the bright sunshine. “I only need one second to kill you.”
Liu Wansheng’s heart thumped and his whole body became ice cold.
Before the start of the second round of the game, Tang Mo stood in his grid and thought. Liu Wansheng also bowed his head and didn’t say anything. The five minutes discussion time passed quickly. Mosaic waited impatiently and once the time game, she called to the black tower so it would quickly start the game. The blue light film gradually dissipated and both sides could hear the other team’s voice. At this time, a male voice was heard. “I remember… you are called Tang Mo?”
Tang Mo’s thoughts were interrupted and he turned to look at Liu Wansheng. He didn’t acknowledge or deny it.
“…You are that Tang Mo?”
Tang Mo looked calmly at the cautious Liu Wansheng. Two seconds later, he looked away.
Liu Wansheng licked his lips and didn’t speak.
He really was Tang Mo!
If he was Tang Mo then his words had 70% credibility. As the first Chinese player to clear the black tower’s third floor, Tang Mo could kill him in one second. On the opposite side, the psychopath was likely to kill him in three seconds.
Liu Wansheng’s heart sank and he got rid of many of his previous strategies.
It must be the same for Lin Qianxi. No wonder why the woman didn’t dare to question the psychopath’s words. She guessed that this Tang Mo was the famous Tang Mo. The psychopath was someone who knew Tang Mo and could also pester Tang Mo, making him feeling helpless.
Why were these perverts taking part in this reality instance together?
This instance wasn’t important enough for these people to enter!
Liu Wansheng had hundreds of thoughts in his head.
Soon, the light film completely dissipated and the black tower prompted the second round to begin. 20 items slowly appeared in the light film.
The light disappeared and Tang Mo stared. There was only one book!
The location of this book was coincidentally on the A4 grid in front of Liu Wansheng.
“Ding dong! In the second round, players can step forward seven grids.
Players are asked to move the given number of grids in the order of priority.”
Bai Ruoyao said with a grin, “Seven steps.” He strode into the grid in front of him.
Liu Wansheng had a happy face. He looked at Tang Mo, nodded and strode forward onto the A4 grid. Lin Qianxi was third and she headed into A2.
This was a good opportunity that Liu Wansheng hadn’t expected. As long as he held onto A4 and constantly walked back and forth on the squares next to A4, it was likely he would retain priority possession of A4.
Lin Qianxi would be one step behind him every time. It would take Bai Ruoyao seven steps to get here. Bai Ruoyao could only give priority to this grid if he kept moving forward. They still couldn’t win but Liu Wansheng had a chance to win. If Bai Ruoyao didn’t notice this, they would win.
Liu Wansheng hid the joy in his heart and continued to linger in the vicinity of A4.
As he guessed, Bai Ruoyao discovered this and advanced to A4.
Liu Wansheng was somewhat disappointed. This psychopath was really smart.
Bai Ruoyao took step by step while Lin Qianxi stayed near A4. By the end of the fifth step, Bai Ruoyao stood in B3, while Lin Qianxi, Liu Wansheng and Tang Mo all stood in A4. The four people almost stood together. It was Bai Ruoyao’s turn to take the sixth step. He walked forward to A3. Liu Wansheng sighed in his heart and went to A5.
One the sixth step, Bai Ruoyao was A3, Liu Wansheng was A5, Lin Qianxi was A4 and Tang Mo was B4.
On the seventh step, Bai Ruoyao naturally stepped into A4 and occupied the priority. Liu Wansheng didn’t think and prepared to enter A4. Suddenly, Tang Mo said, “You walk into B5.”
Liu Wansheng was surprised. He saw Tang Mo’s calm eyes and quickly understood. After glancing fearfully at the baby-faced youth who was still smiling, he hurried into B5.
At the end of the second round, no one in the two teams won.
The black tower announced the end of the game and all players returned to their original squares. Liu Wansheng was ready to return to A5 while Lin Qianxi also turned towards A1. The moment they took a step, a white shadow suddenly moved and rushed towards Liu Wansheng. At the same time, a dark shadow sprang towards Lin Qianxi. Tang Mo and Bai Ruoyao captured the other side’s teammate at almost the same time and stopped their actions.
Liu Wansheng’s reaction speed was fast and he took out a strange red apron to block his body. The red apron touched the air and immediately became as hard as iron, turning into an unexpected shield. However, Bai Ruoyao’s butterfly knife drew a silver glow through the air and the apron directly split into three pieces, dropping to the ground.
The butterfly knife arrived at Liu Wansheng’s neck the moment Tang Mo’s small parasol arrived at Lin Qianxi’s neck.
The two players who just cleared the first floor of the black tower were frozen in place, afraid to move. Bai Ruoyao heard the sound behind him and slowly turned to see Tang Mo holding the small parasol’s tip against Lin Qianxi’s neck. A hint of surprised flashed through his eyes and he deliberately asked, “Ah Tang Tang, what are you doing? Are you bullying a girl?” There was a disbelieving expression on his face.
Tang Mo held the handle of the small parasol in his right hand and replied lightly, “I am just doing what you’re doing.”
Bai Ruoyao said, “I’m just chatted with this little friend. Right?” The hand holding the butterfly knife moved, the sharp blade slightly sliding and causing Liu Wansheng’s neck to bleed shallowly.
Liu Wansheng was stiff and too scared to speak. The last of his sanity allowed him to keep his calm and not panic.
Tang Mo smiled when he heard this. “Then I am also chatting with your teammate. Right, Miss. Lin?”
Tang Mo didn’t bother looking at Lin Qianxi despite directing his question to her. He kept smiling coldly at Bai Ruoyao.
On the square board, Mosaic was excitedly watching this scene. “Fight, hurry and fight.” The little girl cheered while Tang Mo and Bai Ruoyao silently looked at each other. Strangely enough, the smile on Bai Ruoyao’s face was becoming weaker and small while Tang Mo’s became brighter.
After a long time, Bai Ruoyao stated, “Tang Tang, you won’t kill her. I know you’re not a person who will indiscriminately kill innocent people.”
“You can try it.”
Bai Ruoyao raised an eyebrow and his answer was to slice Liu Wansheng’s neck.
Blood suddenly splashed out. This type of injury would be absolutely fatal before the earth went online and he should’ve been sent to hospital immediately.
In the present, Liu Wansheng just paled while the wound would soon heal. Once Liu Wansheng’s would recovered, Bai Ruoyao smiled provocatively at Tang Mo. Who would’ve expected Tang Mo’s right hand to move and the small parasol slipped down, piercing Lin Qianxi’s chest.
Blood instantly dyed her clothes red.
Bai Ruoyao’s smile froze.
Tang Mo pulled out the small parasol and once again placed it against Lin Qianxi’s neck. The wound on her chest healed and Tang Mo smiled again. “I told you, you can try it.”
Bai Ruoyao stared quietly at Tang Mo.
A moment later, he said again, “You won’t kill…”
His voice abruptly stopped. It was because Tang Mo hadn’t hesitated to move the small parasol, leaving a shallow bleeding mark on Lin Qianxi’s neck.
Neither of them spoke as they stared at each other quietly.
Three minutes later, the black tower gave a prompt asking players to return to their squares and prepare for the third round. None of the four people moved. Another 10 seconds passed and the black tower was ready to prompt them a second time. Then Bai Ruoyao suddenly removed his hand, the beautiful butterfly knife turning in the air and retracting into his sleeves. His hands were in his pocket as he walked back to his grid, saying innocently, “Tang Tang< you are too boring. Not even allowing people to make a joke.”
Once Bai Ruoyao returned to E1, Tang Mo also removed the small parasol and returned to his grid. He stood still and looked up at Bai Ruoyao, declaring calmly, “If you want to kill him then I will kill her.”
Bai Ruoyao’s smile stiffened. Then he shrugged his shoulders and didn’t speak again.
The light film appeared slowly, blocking the sound on both sides. Liu Wansheng completely relaxed at this moment. He gasped harshly, as if he had almost died. Finally, he recovered and looked gratefully at Tang Mo. “Tang… Tang Mo, thank you for saving me.”
Tang Mo hung the small parasol back on his waist. “I didn’t save you.”
Liu Wansheng looked startled.
Tang Mo explained, “If I didn’t kill her and you died, I will be in a 1v2 situation. This is very bad for me and will make it almost impossible for me to win.”
Liu Wansheng’s expression became agitated but he knew that Tang Mo was telling the truth. There was a 90% chance that his teammate didn’t want to save him. Tang Mo only saved Liu Wansheng in order to clear the game.
On the other side of the light film, Bai Ruoyao mouthed something to Tang Mo.
[You are bad.]
Tang Mo ignored him.
Then Bai Ruoyao said to Liu Wansheng: [You are stupid.]
Liu Wansheng clenched his fingers and removed his gaze.
Bai Ruoyao laughed.
From Bai Ruoyao’s declaration to Liu Wansheng that he would die, Tang Mo had been thinking that Bai Ruoyao saw Liu Wansheng’s death, which meant he would certainly kill Liu Wansheng to win.
In fact, there was a point where Liu Wansheng was wrong. It wasn’t impossible for the other team to clear the game. There was no need to plead with Tang Mo’s team to cooperate. They just needed to kill the other team members, leaving only their team.
After the game started, each player was confined to a grid and couldn’t walk around casually. They just needed to pay attention and not walk into a grid with a poisonous person. However, in the moments between rounds, the players weren’t confined to grids in the short minutes where they returned to their original spot.
Many people would ignore this point and take it for granted that ‘players have to return to the original grids. Of course there will be no confinement to squares.’ This was actually the only chance to kill.
Bai Ruoyao seized this opportunity to kill Liu Wansheng.
Therefore, Tang Mo didn’t think. The moment the confinement was lifted, he immediately grabbed Lin Qianxi.
‘You want to kill my teammate? Then I will also kill your teammate!’
Tang Mo put this choice in front of Bai Ruoyao and finally, Bai Ruoyao chose to let Liu Wansheng go.
Fu Wenduo would never kill an innocent person but Bai Ruoyao didn’t dare make the gamble. He thought that Tang Mo wouldn’t kill but as long as there was a one in 10,000 possibility, he didn’t dare do anything and could only choose to give up.
Liu Wansheng was immersed in thinking about the next strategy. The most important thing was that he couldn’t walk into the same square as the psychopath. If they were in the same square, it would be easy for the psychopath to kill him. Tang Mo wouldn’t be able to save him and he couldn’t kill Lin Qianxi.
A layer of sweat appeared on Liu Wansheng’s forehead.
Just then, the light film dissipated and the black tower’s prompt was heard.
“Ding dong! In the third round, Player 1 can move forward four steps, Player 2 can move forward three steps, Player 3 can move forward three steps and Player 4 can move forward two steps.”
Liu Wansheng raised his head and looked at the girl in the middle with dismay. Tang Mo’s eyes also widened and it seemed he hadn’t thought of this result.
On the other side, Bai Ruoyao was stunned before grinning. “Ah, it turned out to be like this. This is the fairness of the game.”
Liu Wansheng couldn’t suppress his anger. “You didn’t say that each player could walk a different number of steps!”
Mosiac was even angrily than him. “Then why didn’t you ask me? Besides, did you beg me? I know Tang Mo and that pretty boy but I don’t know you.”
“You…!”
“Ding dong! Since the players can move forward different number of squares, players can choose if they want to move forward in any round, apart from the player with the most number of moves. For example, Player 2 can move forward three times. After Player 1 moves to the first grid, Player 2 can choose to give up on this opportunity and then move three times afterwards.”
Once the black tower’s words finished, the four players were silent as they thought about this meaning.
Mosaic looked at the funny appearance of the four humans focused on thinking and copied Bai Ruoyao’s tone. “Oh, this is the fairness of the game~”
The author has something to say:
Old Fu: …I think I appeared in this chapter?
Tang Tang: I boasted about my Old Fu, saying that he is upright and a good man.