The Earth is Online
chapter-86

The Earth is Online Chapter 86

Chapter 86

After entering the big turkey’s reality instance, the players had lined up four times. The last time they lined up correctly and the game was cleared.

The first time, they had no clues about the game and decided to queue in the order they entered the game. In that Eagle Catches the Chicks game, the big turkey desperately chased after Ningning and struck Ningning seriously in the last second of the game, almost causing her death. The big turkey couldn’t hide her desire to kill Ningning and Tang Mo determined there was a certain order to the Eagle Catches the Chicks game, identifying Ningning as the last player in the queue.

The short-haired girl wasn’t particularly clever but she tried hard to think. “At that time, I remember that Mr. Victor and Captain Xiao thought that Sister Ningning was ranked last. But now we know that Mr. Tang Ji is actually the last person. Why did the big turkey catch Sister Ningning at that time. Is it…” The short-haired girl’s eyes brightened. “The big turkey deliberately mislead us?”

There were three rounds of Eagle Catches the Chicks. The first target was Ningning and the last two were Fu Wenduo. The big turkey tried her best to catch the chick but didn’t manage to kill a chick at all. Perhaps it was pretending to catch a person to mislead the players and let the players find the wrong order?

The short-haired girl thought her guess was correct. “The turkey deliberately mislead us by trying to catch Sister Ningning. But she didn’t kill Sister Ningning in the end. This type of behaviour made his mistakenly think that Sister Ningning is in last place.”

Xiao Jitong stated, “Your guess isn’t impossible. It is probably 20% likely.”

The short-haired girl was stunned.

Xiao Jitong said, “Previously, over 100 people played this game and none survived. Most players certainly didn’t find the rules of the Eagle Catches the Chicks game. After all, this is a reality instance in Nanjing.”

The two little girls were confused while Tang Mo heard this and looked up at Xiao Jitong.

Xiao Jitong didn’t care about ‘not talking about a family scandal’ and spoke bluntly. “The earth has been online for over four months. I don’t know about the specific level of players in other cities but the level of Nanjing players must be below average in China. There is the Nanjing Group and the Nanjing Strategy Group so players in Nanjing don’t need to work as hard to survive. They have too little experience with games. If more than 100 people could think of something, our Strategy Group wouldn’t need to exist.”

The two female high school students were Nanjing players and understood Xiao Jitong’s meaning, causing them to lower their heads with shame.

In fact, there was nothing to be embarrassed about but they couldn’t help feeling like this. Especially in front of two non-Nanjing players (Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo). The three months period would soon be up. In at least one month, all players in Nanjing must attack the tower once. The black tower would force them to attack the tower and no one could save them. This was why the two high school students previously joined a black tower game. They wanted to become stronger.

Xiao Jitong continued. “The game had just started and this big turkey didn’t know our strength. She is also very arrogant. In the first round of the Eagle Catches the Chicks game, the big turkey was very contemptuous towards us. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have fallen so easily into Xiao Qiao’s traps. She didn’t fall into the traps after that. Her contempt means that she didn’t think we could detect the truth of the Eagle Catches the Chicks at once. Therefore, there is a 70% possibility that she really wanted to catch Ningning the first time.”

“It is 80%.” A male voice was heard, causing Xiao Jitong to look over. Tang Mo was carefully roasting the turkey. He turned the juicy turkey over and said, “She thinks that we can’t guess the truth of the Eagle Catches the Chicks game. She despises not just our minds, but also our strength. She really was trying to kill Ningning.”

Xiao Jitong smiled and didn’t speak anymore, indicating that he agreed with this point of view.

The short-haired girl was confused. “Then she should catch Mr. Tang Ji, not Sister Ningning.”

Tang Mo looked at this serious girl. Nanjing’s players had the refuge of a strong player, like they were living in a greenhouse. They experienced too little wind and rain, making their strength generally weak. These two girls were already good enough. They didn’t completely lose their fighting spirit or beg to be sheltered by the strong. However, they couldn’t compare to many of Shanghai’s reserves or even the players who could kill players without blinking an eye.

Still, the two girls didn’t give up. The short-haired girl really wanted to know the answer so that she could improve her strength and make up for her own shortcomings.

At the very least, she wasn’t hopeless.

Tang Mo thought this and explained, “The original Eagle Catches the Chicks game must have at least three characters in order to play the game. The first is the eagle, the second is the chick and the last is the hen. Who do you think was the hen in the game just now?”

The long-haired girl thought quickly. “The first place person is always the hen… then are you the hen?”

Tang Mo shook his head.

The short-haired girl wondered, “…Is it Mr. Tang Ji? The big turkey attacked him.” The hen wanted to protect the chicks and would fight the eagle.

Tang Mo stated, “It is the big turkey.”

“What?”

No one thought this would be the answer.

“The big turkey turned into the eagle but the black tower always suggested that she is our mother. She became an eagle because of schizophrenia. She is essentially the hen. As the eagle, she must start to catch from the last chick. In our first round of lining up, our order was you, her, Mr. Xiao Jitong, Xiao Qiao…”

Tang Mo’s voice echoed in the empty supermarket.

Fu Wenduo and Xiao Jitong already understood the truth of this game and only the remaining four were confused. The two girls listened carefully while Xiao Qiao also looked at Tang Mo. They all wanted to know the real answer.

In fact, things were very simple. At first, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo thought that Ningning was the last chick because she was the big turkey’s first target. In the Eagle Catches the Chicks game, the first one caught must be the last chick. This logic didn’t have any mistakes. The only thing they were wrong about was the presence of the big hen in the game.

The turkey changed into the eagle but she was still essentially the big hen. She wanted to protect her children but according to the rules of the black tower, she lost her sense of reason and wanted to eat chicks. Then how could she protect her children?

Line up to eat bugs, this was what the big turkey said in her identity as the hen. Yes, only the chicks who lined up would receive the big turkey’s blessing. In her schizophrenic state, she wouldn’t attack the child who lined up correctly. She would only attack the wrong chicks because she ‘can’t recognize’ them as her child.

This was the underlying rule of the Eagle Catches the Chicks game.

From back to front, the first chick in the wrong position was the one that the eagle would catch.

The first time they lined up, Fu Wenduo was last and Tang Mo was second last. Fu Wenduo was in the right position while the second last person should be Ningning. Therefore, the big turkey didn’t recognize her child and madly chased after Ningning in order to kill this chick, In the next two queues, Ningning was lined up last while Fu Wenduo was second to last. At this point, Fu Wenduo was the first person to be in the wrong position so he ended up being chased by the turkey.

Tang Mo, “…In fact, we should’ve thought about it after the big turkey tried to kill Tang Ji the second time the order was wrong. It proves that there is a loophole in our speculation about the Eagle Catches the Chicks game. We shouldn’t have taken it for granted that the killing order was pushed forward.” The reason was indeed somewhat farfetched. At this time, Tang Mo and the others only thought about the surface of the problem and didn’t carry out a logical thinking to the second layer of logic. “The big turkey really wanted to catch the first chick who was in the wrong position from the rear of the line.”

Official players, reserves and stowaways.

The reason why the black tower made this the order of lining up was to make it easier for the big turkeys to eat the stowaway. The least likely to die from this order were the official players. The black tower disliked stowaways. When they first determined the order of the queue, Tang Mo and Xiao Jitong didn’t say it but they defaulted to this fact.

It was precisely because the black tower hated stowaways and recognized official players that it would make the order of ‘official player, reserve player and stowaway.’ The most likely to die were the stowaways and the most likely to survive were the official players. This method of queuing was very much in line with the black tower’s preferences and rules.

Tang Mo was ranked first because he cleared the second floor of the black tower and was stronger than the little boy. He was also recognized by the black tower so he was in first place. Xiao Jitong was the first among the reserves because he cleared the black tower’s second floor and became an official player. This was also recognized by the black tower.

They weren’t sure about the location of the two girls but their main mistake was the position of Ningning and Fu Wenduo.

Ningning and Fu Wenduo had both cleared the black tower’s second floor and were stowaways. The order between the two of them was too difficult to decide. Ningning was very strong and the black tower also hunted her. Tang Mo believed in his heart that ‘the black tower is more likely to want to kill Fu Wenduo than Ningning’ but he didn’t dare blindly believe in this subjective thought. His logical reasoning let him believe in the rules of the Eagle Catches the Chicks and he dismissed it twice.

Fortunately, their final order was correct.

After Tang Mo and Xiao Jitong’s explanation, the two little girls finally understood the truth of the game. Xiao Qiao suddenly realized something and was shocked. “Wait, then during our third round of questions, the big turkey said I was second and this sister was in fifth place. Both answers were right.” The little boy finally realized. “…The turkey was cheating?”

In the first two rounds of questioning, the big turkey only gave one correct answer. When they asked the third round of questions, the players took it for granted that the big turkey would lie in one of the questions. In fact, the turkey succeeded. She misled Tang Mo and Xiao Jitong into placing the short-haired girl fifth and the long-haired girl fourth.

The seven people sat around the fire. The big turkey was dead and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

Xiao Jitong said, “You explained all your reasons but there is still one thing I have doubts about.” Xiao Jitong smiled at Tang Mo. “Mr. Victor, there are really no clues about the order of these two girls and nothing can be inferred. I want to know… how did you know their positions?”

Everyone looked at Tang Mo.

The two girls stared at him curiously, also wanting to know how this player magically guessed their positions. Tang Mo was in front of Xiao Qiao because he cleared the second floor, Xiao Jitong was ahead of the two girls because he became an official player, the order of Fu Wenduo and Ningning was revealed in the three rounds of Eagle Catches the Chicks… then what about them?

Why was the short-haired girl in fourth and the long-haired girl in fifth?

Xiao Qiao helplessly stared at Tang Mo while Ningning pretended to be indifferent but she was also quietly looked at Tang Mo.

They saw Tang Mo calmly stand up and walk to a pile of fluffy feathers (that was pulled off the big turkey). Then he bent down and picked up a small bug from the ground. The tenacious bug still wasn’t dead and struggled in Tang Mo’s hands. Tang Mo returned to the fire, placed the bug on the ground and then without any expression…

He killed it with one hit.

Xiao Jitong, “…”

Ningning, “…”

Xiao Qiao, “…”

The two little girls, “…”

Even Fu Wenduo was stunned. Then his lips curved and he gazed at Tang Mo with his deep eyes. Fu Wenduo held out his hand. “Give it here.”

Tang Mo nodded and handed it over.

Fu Wenduo handled the bug even faster than Tang Mo. He ground it into powder and then sprinkled the powder over the tempting turkey. A few screams rang out as the two little girls and Xiao Qiao stared with horrified eyes. “You… what are you doing?”

Even Ningning’s mouth was gaping open as she watched Fu Wenduo sprinkling the bug on the turkey’s corpse.

Tang Mo spoke casually, “We can only get the reward after eating the bug. Don’t you want the reward? Or do you want to eat the bug directly?”

Everyone who just remembered the black tower’s clearance reward, “…”

Eating the bug compared to grinding it to powder and sprinkling it over the roasting turkey… everyone was silent.

…It was better to eat the bug flavoured roast turkey.

The big turkey was gradually cooked and Tang Mo cut the leg with a knife. He took the turkey leg and ate it, not showing any consideration to the children. Fu Wenduo had no interest in eating the turkey. He helped kill the turkey because he found that Tang Mo wanted to kill her. Once he found that eating one piece of turkey compared to eating a lot was the same when it came to improving physical ability, he lowered his knife and stopped eating the turkey.

The ones who ate the most were the two little girls and Xiao Qiao. In three minutes, the huge turkey was carved up by seven players. The next moment, the bug was eaten and the clear child’s voice rang in their ears.

“Ding dong! The ‘My Chicken Nest’ reward has been obtained.”

Tang Mo’s hand turned over and a small chicken nest appeared in his palm. Tang Mo quietly raised his head and looked at the closest person, Xiao Jitong. His eyes flashed when he saw the nest in the other person’s hand.

Tang Mo calmly put the nest into his pocket and didn’t directly check the effect of the prop.

Eat the big turkey and acquire the instance’s prop, the reality instance of the big turkey finally ended. Two little girls kept thanking Xiao Jitong’s group. The short-haired girl would’ve died in the instance without the Banana Wine. She kept stating that as long as she lived, she would find a way to get Banana Wine and repay them.

Before leaving, the two girls also thanked Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo again. However, there was a hint of vigilance and fear in their eyes. The game was over and they weren’t teammates anymore. It could be said that in the big turkey game, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo weren’t considered teammates and it was a temporary alliance at most.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had the strength to kill them but didn’t do so. They also helped everyone win the game together. The two girls were very grateful. Once the thanks ended, they left without turning back.The sky was dark and they needed to find a place to rest.

The two little girls left and only Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo and Xiao Jitong’s trio were left in the supermarket.

The five people walked out of the supermarket together.

The sun was currently setting. It might be the evening of the next day. The slightly warm spring breeze blew against their faces and the sun cast long shadows of the five people.

Tang Mo kept his hands in his pocket. He walked by Fu Wenduo’s side and the two men stepped forward to leave. Just then, a laughing voice was heard. “Mr. Victor, Mr. Tang Ji, you haven’t answered my question. Why were you so sure about the positions of the two girls in the line?”

Tang Mo’s footsteps stopped and he turned around.

At the entrance of the supermarket, a gentle and handsome man looked at Tang Mo with a smile. Xiao Jitong’s eyes contained no malice but there was a deep expression in them. If there was a question he didn’t understand, this person would always have an attitude of suspicion. He could give a reasonable answer to every one of Tang Mo’s speculations except for this one.

Why were the two girls in this order?

Why did Tang Mo ask those two questions at the end?

What exactly did he find from the two questions that gave him such a definite answer?

In the warm sunset, Xiao Jitong smiled softly while Tang Mo looked at him indifferently.

The two people looked at each other for a long time, Tang Mo’s finger tapping something in his pocket. He seemed to be knocking on something. In addition to reading lips, Ningning’s hearing was actually very amazing. She listened for a moment and thought that Tang Mo might be knocking on the chicken nest.

Tang Mo smiled. “Captain Xiao, I am like you and also believe in intuition.”

Xiao Jitong was stunned and soon understood Tang Mo’s meaning. Xiao Jitong had said the same thing when they lined up the second time. Fu Wenduo asked why he wanted the short-haired girl in front of the long-haired girl and Xiao Jitong replied, “I believe in my intuition.” In fact, Xiao Jitong, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo knew that they arranged it like this because they thought that the short-haired girl was stronger than the long-haired girl.

Now Tang Mo used this reason to shut Xiao Jitong’s mouth.

Xiao Jitong finally closed his lips and shook his head with a smile. Tang Mo’s reason really made him speechless. He knew that Tang Mo didn’t rely on intuition but he had no way to refute it.

At this moment, Xiao Jitong never imagined that in Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s pockets, a turkey egg was faintly shining. It had been flashing for an entire hour and the two owners chose not to load the file, causing the saving time to be over.

Regardless of any questions he asked the big turkey, Tang Mo knew that he couldn’t determine the correct order of the two girls. Apart from his subjective determination of how was weak and strong, the positions of these two girls couldn’t be known. The insidious turkey wouldn’t tell them the most important information so after the third round of the Eagle Catches the Chicks game, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo unanimously decided to open the archiver.

They already knew the order of the other five people and it was a one in two chance. Either the short-haired girl was in fourth or the long-haired girl was.

They had a chance to do it again and they absolutely wouldn’t lose.

Therefore, the questions became inconsequential. Tang Mo asked three questions. The first two questions were essentially the same because he wanted to know how the big turkey would answer if a player asked two identical questions.

The answer was that players couldn’t ask the same question and the big turkey would let them change the question.

The second time, Tang Mo wanted to know what would happen when there was only one player left.

More than 150 people had died here and there would certainly be times when a player was the only one left. What happened in the end since the person didn’t survive? The big turkey gave Tang Mo an ambiguous answer but Tang Mo vaguely guessed the last truth.

Once a player lived to the end after killing their teammates, the big turkey would tell them in a loving and ruthless tone, “Child, you have to line up to eat the bug.”

They had to line up from beginning to end. No matter how many teammates died, they still had to line up. There was only one person left so that one person had to stand in line with corpses. This game didn’t care about how many people could survive. There was only one way to win: line up and eat the bug.

This was also the first question that Tang Mo asked the big turkey and she didn’t lie. It was the final truth.

In this world dominated by the black tower, having a trusted teammate was the greatest fortune. Tang Mo recalled the bloody and violent big turkey and understood that without powerful masters like Fu Wenduo and Ningning, it would be really difficult to survive this game.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo walked quickly and were about to disappear around the corner when a voice was heard behind them.

“Mr. Fu.”

Fu Wenduo stopped.

The sun sank below the horizon as Fu Wenduo turned to look at Xiao Jitong.

Tang Mo heard this and also turned around to warily stare at Xiao Jitong, Xiao Qiao and Ningning. The little boy looked like he didn’t understand what was going on. Ningning’s hand was on her crossbow, ready to attack.

Xiao Jitong was smiling the whole time.

Fu Wenduo’s lips curved. “Captain Xiao, what’s the matter?”

Xiao Jitong smiled. “I think you wanted something from us. Is it my mistake? You know that I suspect that ‘killing players won’t be able to clear the game’ and that it is impossible to take anyone’s life. Therefore, you deliberately revealed your names and confessed to us…” Xiao Jitong paused before laughing. “Mr. Tang Ji is China’s strongest stowaway Fu Wenduo and you are the very powerful Mr. Tang Mo. The two of you suddenly appeared in Nanjing. You shouldn’t be just casually passing by?”

The little boy was stunned after hearing ‘Fu Wenduo’ before crying out, “He is Fu Wenduo?!”

Ningning replied coldly, “Yes.”

Xiao Qiao wondered, “Then why didn’t I know?”

Ningning answered, “Because you are stupid.”

Xiao Qiao, “…”

Xiao Jitong stated, “You should have something you want to do in Nanjing. Tell us and we will see if we can help in this matter. You must want to use the strength of our Nanjing Strategy Group or the Nanjing Group to do something. My guess…” Xiao Jitong touched his chin and pretended to think for a moment. “Is it to find someone?”

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed.

Xiao Jitong laughed. “You are really looking for someone?”

Xiao Jitong just finished speaking when Ningning let out a sound of realization. Her eyes changed and she spoke in a strange tone, “That kid always said that he didn’t know Fu Wenduo. He said that Fu Wenduo is a bastard and that if he sees Fu Wenduo, he will cut him into a hundred pieces. He hates Fu Wenduo for pulling him into the tower attack game. Shouldn’t he have no relationship with Fu Wenduo?”

Fu Wenduo, “…”

Tang Mo, “…”

Fu Wensheng sneezed after just exiting an instance. He touched his nose and looked at his teammates. “Shouldn’t the weather be warming up?”

The author has something to say:

Xiao Fu: Older Brother, listen to my explanation, please listen to my explanation! Whoa, I didn’t tell other people to beat you up. I was just cutely venting my anger!

Old Fu: [Reach out]

Tang Tang: [Hands over a whip]

Xiao Fu: Wow. [Cries]. I have such a brother QAQ?!!!