The Earth is Online
chapter-61

Chapter 61

From Bai Ruoyao’s sudden sneak attack to when he cut off his arm and fell into the bottomless pit, everything happened too fast. It was within 60 seconds.

By the time Fu Wensheng reacted, the always smiling baby-faced youth had disappeared into the dark bottomless pit. He realized that the youth had wanted to grab Tang Mo’s moon flower  but was subdued by Tang Mo. He looked at Tang Mo with vigilance and a question arose in his heart. “…You aren’t on the black tower’s first floor!”

Just now, the black tower said that Bai Ruoyao and Fu Wensheng cleared the black tower, but it didn’t say Tang Mo’s name. The first reaction of Fu Wensheng was that Tang Mo’s mission was different from theirs. It was even more likely that he wouldn’t be on the black tower’s first floor.

Tang Mo looked at Fu Wensheng. This child seemed relaxed but his hands were holding something in his pocket. As long as Tang Mo attacked, he would immediately fight back.

To his surprise, Tang Mo didn’t attack him. Instead, Tang Mo went to one side and picked up the two moon flowers on the ground. He said honestly, “Yes. I am on the black tower’s second floor.”

A moment of consternation appeared on Fu Wensheng’s face but he soon calmed down. This little boy, who was just over 10 years old, pretended to speak casually, “Then what is your mission?”

Tang Mo asked, “You haven’t already guessed?”

“You have to put the moon flower into the vase in the queen’s bedroom and close the Gem Corridor?”

“What is your main mission?”

Fu Wensheng fell silent after suddenly being questioned. Now that he completed the task, there was no reason for Tang Mo to want his life. This clever little before thought for a moment before decided to say his main mission. “I have to survive three hours and successfully pass 100 forks.”

Just now, the black tower informed them of the successful completion of the game and said that they survived for three hours and cleared 112 forks. Tang Mo had long guessed the real mission of Fu Wensheng and Bai Ruoyao. But his lips curved once he heard Fu Wensheng saying this.

“You didn’t lie to me.” His tone was certain.

Fu Wensheng couldn’t quite understand. “The task is over. Why should I lie to you?”

Tang Mo smiled and didn’t speak.

The little boy didn’t know that he said the same thing 50 minutes ago. But he didn’t stare at Tang Mo defensively like he did now. Instead, he hesitated before finally handing over the moon flower in his hand. In the past, he said, “Your task is to put the moon flower in the vase of the Queen of Hearts’ bedroom.”

Without the moon flower, Tang Mo couldn’t complete the mission and clear the tower attack game.

This boy, who had been wary of Tang Mo and Bai Ruoyao for the entire journey, handed the remaining moon flower to Tang Mo.  At that time, Bai Ruoyao had successfully cleared the tower with two moon flowers (one stolen from Tang Mo’s hand) and left the game. Fu Wensheng heard that Tang Mo had no other way and handed over his moon flower, giving up his reward. However, Tang Mo looked at this child’s pretend generous expression and gently smiled. “We haven’t lost.”

He said ‘we’, not ‘I.’

The little boy was surprised. “That Bruce… that Bai Ruoyao has already left the game with your stolen moon flower. I think that he should’ve robbed my moon flower because my moon flower is easier to rob. Yet he stole your moon flower. Don’t you need to insert the moon flower into the vase for your mission?”

“He’s a psycho.” Tang Mo replied bluntly. He explained when Fu Wensheng still looked confused. “He didn’t grab your moon flower because he felt that it was more interesting to take mine away. In addition, you won’t lose the game even if yours is stolen. You just won’t receive a reward.”

Bai Ruoyao and Fu Wensheng’s game was on the first floor of the tower. It probably told them hold many moon flowers there were and the rewards.

Tang Mo said lightly, “Your flower, perhaps he deliberately left it alone.”

Fu Wensheng was stunned. “Why?”

“It isn’t hard to take your moon flower. But he didn’t steal it because he knew my mission.” This was due to Tang Mo’s negligence. As the three people walked out of the Gem Corridor, Bai Ruoyao said that next they needed to insert the moon flower into the vase and Tang Mo didn’t deny it. From this time on, Bai Ruoyao knew that Tang Mo’s game wasn’t the Gem Corridor’s Desperate Survival Game.

“My main mission Hide-and-Seek game in the Gem Corridor. The so-called hide and seek, there must be humans to hide and ghosts to catch the humans. In the Gem Corridor, there is only one existence that can be called ghosts.”

Fu Wensheng reacted instantly. “The guards of the Queen of Hearts!”

Apart from the three of them, there were only the guards present in the Gem Corridor. The ghosts could only be them.

Tang Mo agreed. “Yes, the guards are the ghosts. In order to clear this hide-and-seek game, I can’t be caught by the guards. In fact, there are many ways to avoid being caught by them. I haven’t been caught by them for three hours but I haven’t finished the game.”

Fu Wensheng said, “There is no guarantee that you won’t be caught by the guards unless you leave the Gem Corridor and turn it off forward.” He looked up at TAng Mo. “You have to close the Gem Corridor forever, so that you will never be caught by the guards. Then it will be counted as your victory. So… you need the moon flower.”

The little boy looked down at the moon flower in his hand and struggled for an instant. “You still haven’t stolen this moon flower from me. Compared to the other adults who always laughed at me, you are… you are good to me. If it wasn’t for you, making that psycho would’ve already aimed at me. The flower that he left me is a chance for you to clear the game, so that you don’t lose. He wants to see you steal my moon flower. I am not as strong as you and can’t stop you if you try to steal it. Therefore, take it.”

Once Fu Wensheng said these words, Tang Mo told him that they hadn’t lost. He wasn’t convinced by whatever Tang Mo was planning. He didn’t know that at this moment, a white turkey egg in Tang Mo’s pocket was emitting a faint glow. A ‘S’ was flashing on the turkey egg.

Tang Mo watched this child who voluntary gave up the moon flower and said again, “We haven’t lost yet.”

Fu Wensheng looked at him blankly. “How can you…?”

Tang Mo closed his mouth and smiled at him. At the same time, his finger drew a ‘L’ on the turkey egg.

(TL: I bolded the long past event sequences to make it slightly easier for readers, since it can be confusion).

Save and load.

The game file was read.

Everything returned to 50 minutes ago.

When Tang Mo opened his eyes again, he was in the narrow Gem Corridor with the little boy and the youth.

Fu Wensheng said, “Are we really not going with him? He seems very certain.” The corridor in the middle was definitely right.

Tang Mo looked at Fu Wensheng. After staring for a moment, he said calmly, “I also feel that he is very convinced he has chosen the right path.”

Fu Wensheng didn’t expect Tang Mo’s attitude to change so much. He asked, “Then should we turn back and go with him to the middle path?”

Tang Mo smiled. “Okay.”

Once they entered the middle road, Tang Mo heard a familiar, unpleasant song. After hearing their footsteps, the youth turned around and smiled at Tang Mo. “Zhao Zhao, you want to go with me again?”

Tang Mo also stared at him for a long time.  Then he smiled and said, “We meet again, Mr. Bruce.”

We meet again, Bai Ruoyao.

Yes, from this moment on, Tang Mo loaded the game file again and wondered how to plot against this sinister and cunning youth.

Tang Mo wasn’t an actor. He knew what happened in the future but he couldn’t guarantee that he could completely deceive the careful Bai Ruoyao. Therefore, when they first met again, he stared into Bai Ruoyao’s eyes for a full 10 seconds and activated ‘Look at my pure big eyes’ in order to gain Bai Ruoyao’s trust.

Next, he started acting.

In fact, before loading the file, Tang Mo had also chosen to walk with Bai Ruoyao in the middle corridor. At this time, he didn’t know what happened in the future or if the middle path was correct. However, he saw two things.

First, Bai Ruoyao insisted on going down the middle road. Before Tang Mo and the little boy entered the corridor on the right, Tang Mo deliberately reminded Bai Ruoyao that if it was a dead end, the survival rate of three people was much better than one. Even if the corridor on the right was a dead end, there was a chance for the three of them to turn back. But if Bai Ruoyao entered the middle corridor alone and met a guard, his survival probability wasn’t more than 50%.

Yet Bai Ruoyao said to him, “Then goodbye.”

He still refused to change his choice and had to take the middle road.

Bai Ruoyao was very cautious and smart. Since he insisted on taking the middle road, there must be a reason. The choice of the middle road also meant another thing: he refused to take the right road.

“He knows that there is a problem with the road on the right and it might be dangerous.” There was no need to save the file for this since Tang Mo noticed the problem. That’s why he only walked for 10 seconds in the right corridor before turning back and finding Bai Ruoyao.

Everything that happened below was exactly the same as after loading the file. They walked through many forks and corridors. Once the three hour time limit arrived, Tang Mo clearly recognized that ‘always choosing the right road’ wasn’t the real way out of the Gem Corridor. He thought of the Möbius ring and the Queen of Hearts’ theory. They broke through the wall and the three people escaped the corridor together.

That time, Bai Ruoyao successfully sneak attacked Tang Mo and snatched the moon flower. In fact, Tang Mo could use Fu Wensheng’s moon flower to clear the game but he didn’t want to. He chose to load the file again and slay the treacherous baby-faced psycho.

The things that happened after loading the file didn’t change. But when Bai Ruoyao attacked Tang Mo and grabbed the moon flower, Tang Mo was already prepared. He pushed Bai Ruoyao into the bottomless pit and ignored the arm with the big match, forcing Bai Ruoyao to cut off his arm and fall into the bottomless pit.

Bai Ruoyao never imagined that Tang Mo would have a rare quality cheat artifact that was the turkey egg. He also didn’t think that Tang Mo started to save the game when he choose to enter the middle corridor.

There are two reasons for the save file. One was that there was less than one hour left on the three hour time limit. The turkey egg could save for one hour so this timing was just right. Secondly, Tang Mo saw something on Bai Ruoyao’s face.

‘Draw a circle to curse you.’

As Bai Ruoyao insisted on taking the middle corridor, a familiar black aura lingered on his forehead. Tang Mo thought he was wrong but once he looked again, this familiar black aura was clearly the performance of the curse. But Bai Ruoyao didn’t experience any bad luck, unless him choosing the middle road was counted as being unlucky?

This was Tang Mo’s speculation at the time.

When it came to the probabilities of the curse and the cleverness of Bai Ruoyao, Tang Mo chose to believe the latter.

He believed that Bai Ruoyao’s insistence was justified and decided to take the middle road with him. He just opened the archiver in case the middle road was really a dead end. Looking back now…

“The curse effect is to give bad luck. It could be said that when I loaded the game, the psycho became unlucky.” Tang Mo thought.

The file was loaded and Bai Ruoyao fell into the bottomless pit as a result. He no longer thought too much. Tang Mo held the two moon flowers and looked at the little boy. “You have to use the moon flower to exchange for a reward and then leave the game?” The baby-faced youth had done the same before the file was read.

Fu Wensheng had been watching Tang Mo warily. Now he looked somewhat surprised. “…You won’t steal my moon flower?”

Fu Wensheng and Bai Ruoyao’s mission was related to the moon flowers. The moon flowers they had could be exchanged for rewards. He didn’t know if Tang Mo’s mission had anything to do with the moon flower but they all carried out similar tasks. It was very likely that Tang Mo’s mission reward was also related to the moon flower.

However, Tang Mo said, “It is still yours.”

Fu Wensheng was stunned. “Why?”

Tang Mo looked at the child’s confused appearance and couldn’t help laughing. “Go, I have to complete my mission.”

Fu Wensheng originally wanted to say something but he shouldn’t stay in this place for too long. He wasn’t Tang Mo’s opponent. In order to prevent Tang Mo from changing his mind, he exchanged his moon flower for the reward as quickly as possible. Tang Mo didn’t know what reward he got but when the moon flower disappeared, the child couldn’t hide the joy in his eyes. Soon, Fu Wensheng’s figure disappeared from the narrow corridor.

In the starry corridor, Tang Mo stood beside the bottomless pit with two moon flowers in his hand.

The child left and Tang Mo finally had a chance to check his abilities book. He pulled a thin book out of the air and flipped to the last page. Once Tang Mo saw the ability name on the last page, his eyes widened with surprise. But he was soon smiling helplessly and saying, “It was like this.”

[Ability: Mortal’s Death]

[Owner: Bai Ruoyao (Official Player)]

[Type: Special Type]

[Function: Both eyes can see the darkness of death wrapped around others. Through some actions and words, can change the death of others. The heavier the blackness of death, the more likely they are to die.]

[Level: 5]

[Restriction: Can’t see your own dead air.]

[Remark: Don’t be afraid when seeing a ball of darkness. Maybe they are going to die in a second.]

[Tang Mo version usage instructions: Can be used three times a day and only on the same target. After using it, you will be tangled up in the target and share 1% of the target’s dead air. In the eyes of Bai Ruoyao, Tang Mo was a black ball full of FLAGs. But this black ball isn’t dead and can’t die. The only with the dead air was Bai Ruoyao.]

“This ability is why his attitude was so strange when he first saw me. Perhaps at that time, my dead air was much heavier than the female player.” Tang Mo thought. “Then when I survived the panther, he was very surprised. It is because he thought I would never survive.”

This ability was a non-attacking ability and seemed as bad as the ability to change names. But in this Gem Corridor, this ability was a top weapon. Tang Mo only now understood why Bai Ruoyao refused to go to the right corridor.

According to Bai Ruoyao’s cautious attitude, he wouldn’t easily reveal his preferences or expose his cards. Yet he kept refusing to go to the corridor on the right. It was probably because he saw the dead air around Tang Mo and Fu Wensheng.  This dead air was so heavy that he knew the corridor on the right was an extremely dangerous dead end, making him not want to go.

In fact, Tang Mo had also thought about. They walked more than 100 forks and encountered many guards. But the guards they encountered weren’t particularly strong. It was only once that they met guards who tried an ambush and almost couldn’t escape.

This luck was surprisingly good. In those 100 forks, they didn’t meet any guards who could kill them. Now he realized it wasn’t because of luck. It was because they were walking with Bai Ruoyao. Bai Ruoyao could see which road was dangerous by watching the dead air. Some dead ends were dangerous but even if they met the guards, the three people could escape smoothly. The paths that were too dangerous to escape, he would avoid it. For example, he choose the middle road and refused to walk on the right side with Tang Mo and the little boy.

“He really is a lucky person,”  Tang Mo stated.

“Lucky?” A low voice was heard in Tang Mo’s mind.

Tang Mo just suddenly remembered that after opening the archiver, Fu Wenduo was always listening. He explained, “A teammate that I met in the tower attack game. He is a psycho and is always doing something weird. But when he sneak attacked me, I was overpowered. Now he might be dead or not dead.”

Bai Ruoyao had fallen into the bottomless pit but he had successfully completed the main task. It was likely that he had been sent back to Earth by the black tower.

Fu Wenduo didn’t ask any more questions about this person. “Have you completed the black tower’s second floor game?”

Tang Mo laughed. “No, almost. If there are no accidents then I will be finished soon.”

Tang Mo raised his palm while chatting with Fu Wenduo. He knew that the trap was a bottomless pit so it was easy to get through. Whoosh! A rubber rope shot from Tang Mo’s palm and flew through the air, firmly attaching itself to the wooden platform at the other side of the bottomless pit.

Tang Mo took a deep breath and pushed off from the ground. At the same time, he used the elasticity of the rope to appear on the other side in the blink of an eye. Tang Mo removed the rubber rope, held the two moon flowers and walked to the majestic door. He just needed to enter this door, insert the moon flower into the case and he would close the Gem Corridor, completed the Gem Corridor Hide and Seek Game.

Tang Mo’s tightly gripped his small parasol, aware that he might meet some guards or even the Queen of Hearts beyond the door. But the moment he touched the doorknob, Fu Wenduo’s magnetic voice sounded in his mind.

“Yes, I will watch the game without bothering you. I just seem to have heard you mention my name. Did I hear wrong? The black tower said I cleared the first floor of the black tower?”

Tang Mo paused, one hand pressed against the cold door. He thought back and understood Fu Wenduo’s meaning. Then he laughed. “It isn’t your name, it is just very similar. He is my other teammate. A little boy in his early teens called Fu Wensheng, not Fu Wenduo.”

Sudden silence came from Fu Wenduo’s side of the turkey egg.

Tang Mo noticed something was wrong.

Fu Wenduo whispered, “Is he around 11 years old, there is a mole under his right eye and he is a very smart little boy?”

Tang Mo asked, “…Do you know him?”

“…Yes.”

Tang Mo, “…” Don’t tell him it was really Fu Wenduo’s son!

Fu Wenduo stated, “He is my cousin, my uncle’s son, Fu Wenduo.”

The author has something to say:

Shehui Yao: Hehehe, you are going to die, going to die.

Tang Tang: You’re dead! Your whole family is dead!

Shehui Yao: …MMP why aren’t you dead yet?!!!

Old Fu: Listened to his wife being ridiculed by someone. [Small book opened to vengeful mode]

Xiao Fu: …QAQ Brother!!!  Me, me, ball ball you, look at me and forget sister-in-law!!!

—————

Author’s Note: Now you know why Shehui Yao is so concerned about Tang Tang. It is because of his ability.

Hahahaha, in the world he saw, Tang Tang died 1,000 times and 10,000 times. But Tang Tang can’t die or you will be mad!