The Earth is Online
chapter-41

Chapter 41

Five minutes ago, Zhao Wenbin and the middle-aged man confidently told the female student that it was impossible for the other side to send out the king card.

But once the two teams played their cards, a white light flashed and the minister card on Tang Mo’s side disappeared. This meant that their minister card was restrained and the opposite side had played the king card. Tang Mo’s side only had three cards left and the duel effect was also triggered. The player who represented the minister card needed to enter the duel.

The opponent of the duel was the representative of the king card on the opposite side.

It was the man in black.

The other person calmly walked into the blank area.

The female high school student stepped backwards. She stood behind Zhao Wenbin, her face pale as her lips trembled. “No, why is it me? Why did you play this card? Everyone said that…”

Tang Mo rushed over and covered the mouth of the female student.

The female student’s eyes were red from anxiety. She glared angrily once Tang Mo suddenly covered her mouth. She didn’t know why Tang Mo did this. She just thought he was abandoning her.

Pinocchio stood by and watched the scene with enthusiasm. After waiting a long time, the female student didn’t show signs of entering the duel. Pinocchio stomped his feet on the ground, crushing the pieces of the old radio. “You are a dishonest child. Why aren’t you going to the duel?”

Tang Mo released his hands from the female student’s mouth. The latter wasn’t in the mood to criticize Tang Mo. She looked at Pinocchio and sought her last hope. “…I don’t want to fight him. They said they were going to play this card. I had nothing to do with it. He said it, yes, it is what he said.” She pointed to Zhao Wenbin. “Why must I go to the duel? It is his idea so you should make him go instead.”

Pinocchio moved and appeared beside the female high school student.

The female student couldn’t respond before Pinocchio kicked his ass and forced her into the duel.

At this point, the female high school student couldn’t resist any more. She knew she wasn’t a match for Pinocchio and that Pinocchio could easily kill her. If she didn’t follow the rules of the duel, no one knew what Pinocchio would do to her. Thus, her only hope now was…

“Go to hell!!”

Bang!

A loud gunshot rang out in the white world.

Everyone was shocked to see the pistol in the hands of the high school female student. Even Tang Mo didn’t know that this female student had been carrying a gun with her. The power of this gun couldn’t be underestimated. In particular, this sudden sneak attack when the other party was completely unprepared meant it was easy to be hit.

The moment the gunshot was heard, there was a pained hissing sound.

Tang Mo turned and looked.

The person who was shot wasn’t the man in black but the middle-aged woman standing behind him.

The moment the bullet was fired, the man in black moved slightly sideways and the bullet grazed his sleeve and pierced the left shoulder of the middle-aged woman. Blood flowed out. The female student was shocked when she saw it. But she obviously experienced life and death situations and wasn’t too confused. She quickly ran to the rear, pulling away from the man in black. She tried to aim and shoot the gun.

Bang bang!

She fired three bullets in a row but none touched the man in black. He stood in the same place and avoided it.

The shooting method of the female student wasn’t very accurate. The man in black didn’t need to do too much to avoid it. He just needed to move a little bit and he could avoid all the bullets. Instead, the three teammates standing behind him were running to avoid these chaotic bullets.

The bullets had no effect on the man in black. The tension in the female student’s heart reached the limit. She shouted wildly and pulled out a pistol from her other pocket. This time, she closed her eyes and fired indiscriminately. The distance between the two of them was only five metres so it was easy to hit a person if she fired randomly.

Once the 12 rounds in the two pistols were fired, the female student fearfully opened her eyes. She saw that the man in black was still standing in the same place, unscathed. On the other hand, the middle-aged woman had fallen to the ground because of the gunshot wound, bleeding from her shoulders.

The female student panicked and let go, the two pistols rolling to the ground.

The man in black stood in the same place, quietly looking at her but not actively attacking.

The female student gritted her teeth and suddenly pulled out a knife from her waist. She roared and rushed towards the man in black, holding onto the determination to survive. But at this moment, a silver military dagger was held to the female student’s neck. She hurriedly stopped in fright.

This dagger was only one centimetre from the female student’s neck. If she took one step further, she would be stabbed in the artery by a dagger.

No one saw the actions of the man in black clearly. Zhao Wenbin and the others looked at him with surprise then looked at the position where he had been standing. Only Tang Mo could barely see his movements. He saw the man in black pull out a dagger with incredible speed. Without any tricks, he stepped forward and placed the dagger to the female student’s neck.

The female student didn’t dare to breathe.

The man in black turned to look at Pinocchio. “Is this a victory?”

Pinocchio had been watching it with relish. He grumbled with dissatisfaction once it suddenly ended. “You can either kill her, beat her until she doesn’t have the power to fight back, or she can take the initiative to surrender. These three types of situations could be counted as your victory.”

The man in black pushed the dagger forward and placed it at the neck of the female student. He looked at the terrified girl who couldn’t even speak and demanded calmly, “Admit your defeat.”

The female student trembled. She stared at the man in black, biting her lips.

But no matter how she looked, the black man didn’t move at all. He kept holding the dagger to her neck.

A minute later, the female student spoke in a hoarse voice, the words barely escaping between gritted teeth. “I am a regular reserve player. I can’t beat you. This time I admit…”

As the female high school student was talking, she quickly pulled out a black iron cone and stabbed the man’s abdomen. There were sparks as a hand gripped the iron cone at a faster speed and pressed hard.

Snap.

The iron cone broke into two and landed on the ground.

The female student looked helplessly at the man in front of her. After a long time, she gritted her teeth and said, “…I admit defeat.”

“I’m sorry.” The man in black put away the dagger and turned away.

The female student stared at his back with resentment. She wanted to grab the pistol and fire another shot. However, a huge black hole suddenly appeared under her feet and she screamed. After a few seconds, his whole body was sucked into the black hole. The black hole soon disappeared and the white world returned to normal.

“Ding dong! The first round is over.”

The man in black didn’t use any moves at all, only his speed. Zhao Wenbin and the middle-aged man were sweating with fear. They held their breaths as they stared at the man, watching him return to his team.

Tang Mo gazed at this person’s figure and a white light flashed in his eyes. He took a deep breath, slowly lifted his gaze and looked at the man’s head.

[Stowaway]

The long-awaited duel ended too easily. Pinocchio enthusiastically came to this side. “Okay, the first round is over. Now it is the second round. You dishonest children, I don’t want to see you killing each other…”

“Biu——”

“Yes yes yes, I really want to see you kill each other.” Pinocchio didn’t try to hide his expression this time. He openly said malicious words. “Well, quickly prepare to play the card. What a group of boring humans. How can I be so unlucky as to meet you on a beautiful Christmas Eve.”

The white wall slowly fell from the sky. Pinocchio jumped onto the wall and lay down lazily.

Tang Mo looked at the man in black standing on the opposite grid. The latter also looked at him.

The white wall was still falling and almost blocked the line of sight of the two teams.

Tang Mo suddenly said, “In the next game, we will be playing the queen card.”

The man in black had a flash of surprise on his face but he didn’t have time to react anymore. The next moment, the white wall fell and slammed into the ground, separating the two teams.

Pinocchio heard Tang Mo’s words and smiled strangely. He lay on the wall and continued to hum his song.

The first round ended and the white wall fell. No one in Tang Mo’s team spoke for a long time.

The dead silence lasted for a long time. Zhao Wenbin asked, “Why did they play the king card…”

Someone spoke up and the middle-aged man followed the opening. “Yes, how could they play the king card in the first round? Are they crazy? Aren’t they afraid of us using the slave card to get rid of their king card. Now that it is over, we have lost one card and it is the very good minister card. What can we do about it?”

Zhao Wenbin take a few deep breaths and try to maintain the mood. He analyzed, “You just saw it. There are four people on the team. Three people are standing on one grid and the man in black is standing in another grid. The three people chose the king card and stood on the king’s grid. But the player who represented the king card is the man in black.”

“So what?” The middle-aged man asked.

“The man in black didn’t choose the king, indicating that he didn’t want to play this card. It is probably because he feels like us and doesn’t want to use the trump card in the first round. Maybe it is because he represents the king card and is worried about triggering a duel…” As he said this, Zhao Wenbin stopped himself. He murmured, “That man is so strong. He certainly won’t be afraid of a duel.”

The middle-aged man asked, “Then his three teammates came up with the king card and he didn’t want to? I think it’s possible. Just now, the man in black returned from the duel and none of his teammates approached him. He must be isolated. If it was me, I would isolate him. He is so strong. Pinocchio said that there are at least two stowaways. He must be a stowaway who killed someone. Maybe his three teammates deliberately wanted to get rid of him. They chose the king card to eliminate him. It was a pity that he survived the duel.”

Zhao Wenbin nodded in agreement. He said, “Let’s think about what we should do next. Now we have the queen card, the knight card and the slave card. But in fact, we still have an advantage.”

“What advantage?”

“The black tower said that the card we played isn’t known to the other team or Pinocchio. Even if our card was defeated by the king card, they don’t know that we lost the minister card.”

The middle-aged man understood. “You mean, they only know that we lost a card but don’t know if it is the minister card or knight card?”

“Yes. The king card can restrain two cards. We know that they played the king because we are the minister, but they aren’t sure what we played. This might be the only advantage we have.” Zhao Wenbin wiped the sweat on his head. He remembered one thing. “Thank you for covering the girl’s mouth. Otherwise, she would’ve said that we played the minister card and the situation would be worse.”

Tang Mo stood to the side without speaking.

Zhao Wenbin glanced over and saw that Tang Mo didn’t answer him. He didn’t ask again and turned his head back.

The middle-aged man asked, “What should we do next?”

Zhao Wenbin thought about it. “I think…it must not be the slave card.”

The middle-aged man nodded. “That card is the hope for our comeback. We naturally can’t play it. Then what?”

“I think they will play the minister card in the next game. They can’t be sure of our specific cards but there was a nine out of ten chance that we played the minister. Then they know that our remaining three cards are the queen, knight and slave. If they bring out the king trump card and are restrained by our slave, they will fall into a disadvantage and the advantage of the first round will be lost. Thus, they will play the minister. As long as we don’t play the queen card, they will have a two out of three chance to win and there is no risk.”

“It makes sense. We should play the queen card.”

The middle-aged man said before he remembered something. He turned to look at the silent Tang Mo. His expression abruptly changed. “You just told them that we will play the queen card in the next round!”

Zhao Wenbin also remembered this and look at Tang Mo with surprise.

The elimination of the female student and the minister card made them confused. Tang Mo’s words just then were very sudden. They were in shock and didn’t think about it. It was only once they were talking about the queen card that they remembered Tang Mo already said this.

Zhao Wenbin’s expression became very ugly. “This sentence is very important and has disturbed the whole situation. They must be thinking that if we play the queen card, they will play the slave. Or they will think that our words were a cover and we will never play the queen card It it to trick them into using the slave card and then we will use the knight to restrain the slave card.”

This sentence made the chaotic situation more unpredictable. The middle-aged man was furious. “Why did you say this? Mr. Mo, what do you mean by this? You haven’t contributed anything and now you want to hinder us. The first round is over and we are here to discuss countermeasures. Yet you are in a daze. What do you want to do? Say something!”

The middle-aged man raised a hand to hit Tang Mo. Tang Mo didn’t raise his head as he moved sideways and avoided it.

The middle-aged man stared blankly. A moment later, he was annoyed. “Well, you aren’t required to participate in the collective discussion but you can’t add to the chaos. Next time you talk, be careful or I will make you look better.”

Tang Mo still ignored him.

Zhao Wenbin noticed a slight abnormality. He asked, “Mr. Mo, what are you thinking about?”

The middle-aged man looked at Tang Mo with surprise.

Tang Mo was looking at the ground, his fingers hitting a beat against his clothes. He closed his eyes and gently sighed, his tone calm. “I was thinking from the beginning, why did they play the king card?”

Zhao Wenbin explained. “They want to gamble and bet that we won’t play the slave card. As long as we don’t play the slave card, they can get the upper hand with the king card.”

“That’s wrong.”

Zhao Wenbin was amazed when his judgment was denied.

Tang Mo looked at him with calm eyes. “The probability of a slave card appearing in the first game is 20%. In my opinion, this probability is worth the risk but not for you.” He looked at Zhao Wenben and the middle-aged man. “The both of you didn’t agree.”

Zhao Wenbin and middle-aged man got something stuck in their throats.

Tang Mo said from the beginning that they should play the queen card but the three people refused. Tang Mo didn’t insist. In the end, he didn’t stand on the minister’s grid but the queen’s grid.

The middle-aged man yelled guiltily, “You said it clearly that it didn’t matter if we play the minister card. Don’t try to shirk responsibility.”

Tang Mo glanced coldly at him. “I’m not shirking responsibility. I’m just telling you the reason why not playing a slave card is the same as the king card. When a person plays this game, there is only a small probability that they will decide to take risks and play the king card. Once two people play the game together, the probability is even smaller. Three people, four people. There are four people and all four people will agree to play the king card. The probability of that is too low.”

Zhao Wenbin retorted. “No, there are three people who decided to play the king card. The man in black didn’t want to play the king card.”

Tang Mo looked at him and didn’t speak. He took out a small parasol from his backpack and made a movement with his wrist.

Zhao Wenbin and the middle-aged man looked at him strangely. “Mr. Mo, what are you doing?”

“I have been thinking about how they can reach a unified opinion and unanimously get the king card.” Tang Mo examined the small parasol. He held the handle and read out a spell with a blank expression. “Little Red Riding Hood energy, magical girl transformation.”

Zhao Wenbin cried out, “What did you say?”

There was a weak flash of light from the pink parasol and Tang Mo waved it twice in the air.

The middle-aged man frowned and stepped forward. “What are you…”

His voice abruptly stopped.

“Brush—“

The small pink parasol stopped at his neck and the middle-aged man stopped, gulping.

After the middle-aged man slowed down, he cried out angrily. “What do you mean by this?”

“You better not move.”

The moment Tang Mo talked, the middle-aged man had rudely waved his hand at the small parasol. His hand touched the tip of the umbrella and the seemingly plastic tip easily cut his hand. The middle-aged man exclaimed as blood flowed down.

Zhao Wenbin was startled. “Mr. Mo?”

Tang Mo held the small parasol in one hand towards the middle-aged man’s throat. He looked up and said calmly, “I thought for a long time about why they agreed to play the king card. It is actually very simple. From the beginning, it wasn’t four people playing. It was one. As long as he decides to stand on the king’s grid, everyone else isn’t qualified to oppose what he says and must stand there. This game doesn’t need useless teammates. I am not decisive enough.” Tang Mo paused and concluded. “One person is enough for this game.”

The middle-aged man sensed the power of the small parasol and stood still in horror, unable to move.

While Tang Mo’s attention was on the middle-aged man, Zhao Wenbin rushed over, trying to hit Tang Mo. Tang Mo kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the side.

Upon seeing it, the middle-aged man immediately pulled out a knife. “I will fight with you!”

Tang Mo moved the small parasol and blocked this knife. At the same time, the umbrella was quickly closed and the tip was once again at the middle-aged man’s neck before he could respond.

This time, the distance was only one centimetre.

Zhao Wenbin was on the ground and didn’t dare to move. The middle-aged man was even more nervous and froze.

The youth spoke in a ruthless voice.

“From now on, this team is under my control. I will decide what card to play next. If you don’t follow my decision…” Tang Mo raised his head. “The game is over. I will kill you.”