The Earth is Online

Chapter 23

Talking to a wise person required the least effort. Tang Mo asked Fu Wenduo to open the archiver. Three seconds later, he noticed that the 'S' symbol drawn on the white turkey egg started to flash.

In his head, a male voice murmured, "It will last for one hour. Once this time is up, the contents of the archive will automatically disappear. There is only one chance to load the file."

"Yes, thank you."

Fu Wenduo's words were concise and clearly explained the functions of the turkey egg. His voice could only be heard by Tang Mo. In the eyes of Mario and the two others, they only saw that Tang Mo suddenly fell silent. Mario's patience ran out and he impatiently said, "Child, do you hate this game? Don't you want to play with Uncle Mario? Why aren't you choosing the square you want to jump to?"

Tang Mo calmly placed the turkey egg in his pocket and looked at the giant figure not far away. "I was thinking from the beginning that 6,456 players participated in this game. There are only 150 squares, but no one cleared it. This type of probability was abnormal."

Mario slowly blinked. "Lovely child, Mario doesn't understand what you are saying. Just make your choice."

Behind Tang Mo, the man with a beer belly was also annoyed as he yelled, "Quickly choose which one to jump to. Don't waste time or anger this guy. If you are going to anger this guy, stay away from us. Don't harm us with your actions."

An old voice was heard at this time. "Yes, the probability is too abnormal."

Tang Mo looked at the old man standing on the 55th square.

Before the game began, eight people had been standing on the 'START' square. Tang Mo had casually asked about the number '6456' on the LED light board hanging above the stage.

Since then, Tang Mo had a great deal of doubt about this game.

There were 6,456 players in groups of 8. This meant a total of 807 groups. These 807 people participated in the monopoly game that needed luck to win but were wiped out. Tang Mo guessed that the group of players most likely faced this type of scenario—

Only one player remained and continued playing the ground.

Once two players entered the same square, the 'Who will share your joys and sorrows?' effect would be triggered and the two people faced a level seven punishment. Tang Mo didn't feel that normal players could defeat the terrible Black Mario. Even Fu Wenduo wasn't necessarily his opponent. In this way, as long as the effect was triggered, at least one person would die.

Cases like Tang Mo where a player widened a gap and reached the 83rd square with three players remaining should be a minority. The real majority was that everyone killed each other, leaving one person remaining. From then on, the 'Who will share your joys and sorrows?' effect would never trigger. The last player would continue to roll the dice until the finish line.

It was a bit cruel to say, but this game required such an outcome.

Originally, Tang Mo had doubts because maybe the 'last player' would win the game. But Mario just denied his speculation. The last player left was a 'poor child' and wouldn't be considered the last one by Mario.

Therefore, the probability of victory in this game was abnormal.

6,456 was also a sufficient sample. There were only 150% squares. There were 30 punishment squares and the prisoner squares were 5% of the total squares, so there would be no more than 8. The fact that none of the 6,000 people reached the end illustrated a problem.

Tang Mo quietly looked at the 120th to 150th squares.

"In these 30 squares, there are six consecutive prisoner squares." Tang Mo's voice was calm and indifferent, as if he was saying ordinary things. However, the beer belly man's face changed while the old man tightened his grip on his gun. Tang Mo looked at Mario and repeated, "A guilty person will die. Since the black tower said so, any players who step on the prisoner squares won't be able to survive. Six consecutive prisoner squares would eliminate the players from moving forward. Regardless of the number of points thrown, they must step on a prisoner square."

Mario's black eyes froze for a moment. The cute and classic game character placed his hands on his hips and laughed. "Lovely child, how can you say that? This game is a reward from Uncle Mario for the children. Uncle Mario will share many treasures with you." He spread open his arms and asked Tang Mo, "Didn't Uncle Mario give you the opportunity to receive rewards?"

Tang Mo smiled. "There is a way to win. Whether you want to give it or not is another matter."

Mario's smile disappeared. "Child, you aren't cute."

The beer belly man roared, "Don't provoke him! Are you sick? None of us can beat him. If he becomes angry and rushes down, I won't care about you…I have nothing to do with you. He will kill you!"

Tang Mo looked at the man with the beer belly. "If he can come down, would he stay there for so long?"

The beer belly man froze.

Mario couldn't say a word. There was no way to refute Tang Mo.

Tang Mo believed that a black tower game would definitely have a way to win. It was just like when he participated in the 'Who stole my book?' game. Finding a book from 23 large bookshelves and thousands of books seemed impossible, but there was a strategy to succeed the game.

When playing Mario's Monopoly Game, he needed to pay attention to two points.

First, the flexible use of the free jump grid.

There were two ways to use the free jump square. The first one was to move forward any number of squares, up to 30 squares. The second method was to jump back any number of squares, apart from the squares the person had already stood on.

This jump mode proved something. After 120 squares, there could be no free jump square. Otherwise, players could directly jump to the 150th square. This wasn't in line with Mario's bad character. If there really was a jump square, there must be many people among the 6,456 people who arrived at the 120th square and landed on the free jump square. Then they could win.

Secondly, they needed to remember the contents of each square that people stepped on.

After becoming an official player, Tang Mo's memories had improved. He always kept in mind what square it was staring from the third square. The eight of them had stepped on 61 squares during the first 83 squares. Among them, there were 16 free jump squares, 13 punishment squares, 8 reward squares and 24 blank squares.

The free jump squares could appear anywhere in the 120 squares. 16 free jump squares were landed on among the 61 squares. This meant that the possibility of a free jump square was very low. The last 30 squares might not have a free jump square.

At the same time, it was very likely that the first 83 squares didn't have the king's squares or prisoner squares.

Tang Mo suddenly expressed his thought. "The king's squares can be connected with the prisoner cells. After continuous king's squares, there will be continuous prisoner squares."

His voice was very soft. Both the beer belly man and the old man didn't hear him. Mario smiled sinisterly, as if acknowledging his words.

Treasures of silver and gold were useless to the people of today. The players in this monopoly game didn't think about getting the gold or diamonds. Apart from being forced into the game, this game was tempting for them because of the 5% king's squares.

If the king's squares and prisoner squares were really placed together in a row, it would be hard for the players. They were injured and could almost see the end. Then they suddenly stepped on the king's squares and their joy was indescribable. Players with good luck might throw several small numbers and step on several king's squares, gaining a lot of rewards.

However, after the king's squares ended, the continuous prisoner squares were waiting for them.

In the absence of the free jump squares, as long as there were six consecutive prisoner squares, it was destined that no one would win.

Tang Mo put his hands in his pocket and raised his head, his voice calm. "I thought well and decided the square that I want to jump to."

Mario didn't expect Tang Mo to suddenly jump after hesitating for so long. Mario asked, "Son, you have no more words to say? You plan to jump now?" Mario's smile was still bright despite Tang Mo's words. He fixed the skewed red cap on his head and said, "Uncle Mario likes smart children like you the most. Don't talk about the many surprises Uncle Mario prepared for you."

The six consecutive prisoner squares were a surprise?

Tang Mo coldly looked over Mario. "I want to jump back."

Uncle Mario waved a big hand. "What square do you want to jump back to?"

"The first square."

"Oh, it is the first…" Mario's words abruptly ended as he froze. It was like someone had pressed the pause button on the old TV set from the last century. Two seconds later, he twisted his head awkwardly and stared at Tang Mo with dark eyes.

The beer belly man asked in a strange manner, "The first square? Isn't this wrong?"

The old man frowned and didn't speak as he thought attentively.

Mario stroked the corners of his mouth and grinned. "Child, did I hear wrong? You want to jump to the first square?"

Tang Mo ignored him. He looked at the sky and spoke in a loud voice. "I want to jump to the first square."

"Ding dong! You have chosen to jump back to the first square."

Tang Mo turned around, walking step by step to the first square.

Mario's voice suddenly rose. "If you go to the first square, you will be the last one. You must play the game from the beginning. Even if the two players in front of you fall, you will be left alone. Child, next time you might now have such good luck. What if you trigger the level six punishment square?"

Tang Mo didn't turn back. "I like to start from scratch and challenge myself."

Mario was flustered. "You aren't a lovely child. You are a bad one! You will run into a terrible punishment next time!"

"I think I'm lovely."

Mario had never seen such a brazen person. "You…!"

The sound of low and shout laughter was heard in his mind, making Tang Mo pause for a moment.

Fu Wenduo asked, "Am I disturbing you?"

Tang Mo knew that Fu Wenduo could hear all the dialogue. But Tang Mo had no way to block the other's ears. In order to use the save mode, he could only let this person listen in.

"No."

In the distant Beijing, the tall man had long washed the soap from his head and body and covered his lower body with a towel. Fu Wenduo sat on the sofa instead of continuing his bath. He took a book of psychology from the bookshelf and casually looked through it.

Once the archiver was turn on, both sides would hear sound from the other side.

There were few opportunities for Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo to contact each other, but he knew that Tang Mo wasn't a stupid person. The game was already dangerous to the point of needing to open the archiver. This must be a very difficult game.

Fu Wenduo couldn't take a bath while the other person was playing such an important game. It wasn't that the other person would care about the bath and Fu Wenduo didn't have much interest in the game. However, the sound of the water would reach Tang Mo's ears and might disturb his judgment.

Of course, there were other reasons why he didn't want to let Tang Mo know he was bathing.

He might not be a kind person but he wasn't malicious enough to disturb other people when playing the game.

The archiver was only halfway open. Therefore, Fu Wenduo only heard a few keywords when reading the book.

Mario, free jump square, king's square, prisoner…

It sounded like a very interesting game.

The people playing the game were also very interesting.

In the Mario's Monopoly Game, Tang Mo didn't know that a man in a towel was listening to the sounds of the game. Tang Mo went to the 70th square and met the beer belly man.

The beer belly man walked to the side, letting Tang Mo walk away. Once Tang Mo reached the 69th square, he said, "Hey, do you really want to go? Do you want to go back to the first square?"

The beer belly man rarely cared about other people. Tang Mo looked at him with a little interest. "You have a wind related activity?"

The beer belly man spluttered, "H-How do you know that?"

Tang Mo said lightly, "Once we leave this game, I will kill you."

The beer belly man, "…"

After a moment, he replied, "You are insane!"

Tang Mo reached the old man's square. The old man also moved sideways, not saying anything. He just watched Tang Mo with cautious eyes.

Tang Mo walked forward step by step. In this white game space, the beer belly man, the old man and Mario kept watching him. No one said a word or expressed their feelings about Tang Mo's madness. Once Tang Mo arrived at the third square, Mario suddenly raised his voice. "The 100th square is the king's square. This is the only king's square before the 120th square. You can jump to the 100th square from the 83rd free jump square. It still isn't too late to return. You are now returning to the first square. Even if you aren't the last person, you won't necessarily be fortunate enough to land on the 83rd square again."

Tang Mo stopped walking and turned to look at the giant Mario. "You saying this makes me feel more relieved."

"You wicked bad boy! You aren't human. You are the devil!"

Tang Mo was calm as he spoke sarcastically, "I'm not the devil but you are certainly not human."

"You…!"

Mario struggled to jump off the stage. He bounced around, shaking the entire world as his eyes furiously glared at Tang Mo. The beer belly man and the old man didn't doubt that Mario was now trying to kill Tang Mo. But just as Tang Mo said, Mario was stuck on the stage.

His fierce movements caused the cheap neon lights surrounding the stage to fall to the ground. However, Mario didn't leave the stage. He just stared at Tang Mo with angry eyes.

Tang Mo turned back around. He stood on the third square and was looking at the second and first squares.

His eyes gradually tightened as he looked back and forth between the second and first squares for a long time. Finally, he stepped past the second square and stood on the first square. The moment Tang Mo stepped on the first square, his tense expression changed. His lips slightly curved as he sighed, "You weren't insane to that level. I wasted a save chance…"

Then a crisp and clear child's voice was heard in the white world.

"Ding dong! The clearance square has been triggered. At 22:49 on November 22nd, 2017, the player Tang Mo has successively cleared the large multiplayer instance 'Mario's Monopoly Game' and won the reward 'Uncle Mario's Treasure'."

The beer belly man straightened and stared at Tang Mo with disbelieving eyes.

The old man looked at him with astonishment, his eyes full of doubt and confusion.

Mario angrily pounded on the stage where he had been stomping his feet. He exclaimed, "You are the devil, you are the devil! That was my baby! Uncle Mario worked hard in the sewer for 26 years on that. You lazy human, wanting to steal Uncle Mario's treasure when you did nothing. I will never give it to you."

However, as Mario spoke those words, a huge golden hill emerged in the white world.

The golden hill floated in front of everyone's eyes. Uncle Mario jumped in horror, trying to grab onto the flying golden hill. But his clumsy jump only allowed him to pull out a piece of gold. The huge golden hill flew straight to Tang Mo, falling behind him.

Countless gold and diamonds piled up on the hill behind Tang Mo. A few gold coins rolled down from the hill and to Tang Mo's feet. He leaned over and picked up the gold coins.

"Why the first square?" The old man asked.

Tang Mo shifted his gaze from the gold coin. "This is a game, so there must be a way to win."

The old man frown and whispered, "The first square, the first square…" He kept talking, trying to find a clue from the 'first square.'

Tang Mo explained, "None of the 6,000 people passed the game. This proves two points. First, there is definitely no free jump square after the 120th square. Secondly, there are six continuous prisoner squares in the squares after the 120th square. This guy is bad to this degree…" Tang Mo looked at Uncle Mario crying on the stage. "He should've set the last six squares to be the prisoner squares. Before that, it would be continuous king's squares."

A person finally came to the end, suddenly got the king's square and there were six squares left to victory.

However, those players could never reach the end.

From beginning to end, this game was to allow the players to find the clearance square.

"In the beginning, I thought the number of free jump squares was too much. There are 20% of the free jump squares, meaning a total of 20 squares. At least nine adults could jump on one free jump square, but normal people wouldn't choose to jump to the first square. The squares in front of a player were unknown. Players would generally choose to jump to a square that had already been stepped on, or to move back to avoid triggering the 'Who will share your joys and sorrows?' effect."

The old man did this. The first time he stepped on a free jump square, he jumped back to the rear of the group.

The beer belly man was still ignorant. "Then why the first square?"

Tang Mo asked, "If there is no free jump square among the 150 squares, which square is the player least likely to land on?"

The beer belly man thought for a while before finally reacting. "The first square! Yes, it is the first one."

At least he wasn't stupid enough to be hopeless.

Originally, Tang Mo was planning to leave the game and beat the person who pulled him into the game, breaking his two legs (in any case, the other person was an official player with an ability. It was estimated that he would be able to jump around the next day). Right now, the beer belly man's brain was finally working. Tang Mo decided to only break one leg.

If the beer belly man could understand the truth then the old man would naturally understand.

Mario's Monopoly Game had a total of 150 squares. Most people that the it was most unlikely for players to arrive at the 149th or 150th square. But in fact, it was most difficult to enter the first square.

There were numerous ways to get to the 150th square.

If there was no free jump square, there was only one way to get to the first square. It was to throw a 1 at the beginning.

There were two ways to get to the second square. Throw a 2 at the beginning or throw a 1 first and then another 1.

There were four different ways to get to the third square. Throw a 3 directly, throw a 2 and then a 1, throw a 1 and then a 2 or throw a 1 three times in a row.

Later, the way to each cell was multiplied.

If there was only one person, the probability that they would reach the 150th square was extremely low. Even if they made it to the 100th square, they might face a terrible punishment.

Before Tang Mo, a total of 6,456 players participated in the game. At least one of those 6,000 people must've stepped on each of the 150 squares, maybe even the 149th square. But none of them stepped on the clearance square.

There were only two possibilities.

First, Mario deliberately set six consecutive prisoner squares. In this way, the player would die before stepping on the clearance square and it would be impossible to encounter it.

But this situation didn't exist.

The clearance square couldn't be set after the prisoner squares. Otherwise, this game would be impossible to win. If the black tower really wanted to kill all players who entered the instance, there would be no need to set up such a complicated game. Mario alone could kill everyone who entered the instance.

So there must be a way to win.

The second possibility was that from the beginning, it was impossible for all players to step on the clearance square with luck.

Out of the 150 squares, the players had to rely on luck to step on the first square. But if someone had a bit of bad luck and rolled a 1 directly, there would be no need for this game.

There was a one-sixth chance to roll a 1 on the first roll. Mario had spent so many years gathering the treasures. He wouldn't allow so many players to take away his treasure.

Therefore, the black tower should shield this option when rolling the dice the first time.

The only way to get to the first square was through the free jump square. Tang Mo had always wondered why so many free jump squares were set up, since their usefulness didn't seem to be too great. After confirming that the first square was a clearance square, the existence of so many free jump squares was obvious. It guaranteed that all eight players had a change to reach the clearance square. At the same time, it also implied that players could only use the free jump square to reach the clearance square.

Mario lay on the stage and cried loudly.

Tang Mo took out the turkey egg from his pocket. "You can close the archive, Mr. Fu. I'm sorry for disturbing you for so long."

Fu Wenduo had already closed the book as he devoted himself to listening to the movements through the turkey egg. He gave a low chuckle. "The archiver didn't seem useful."

Tang Mo spoke helplessly, "Yes, I wasted the save function. I thought that Mario would be very mad. The prisoner squares being 5% of the total number of squares is a very subtle figure. I wasn't sure if it was 7 or 8 squares. Like the king's square, I think that Mario should put a prisoner square before the 120th square. It is most likely between the 100th to 120th squares. He himself said that the 100th square is a king's square. The prisoner square should be within 6 squares of that. He would find it interesting to see if the person who got the king's square also received the prisoner square."

Fu Wenduo said, "He is very bad."

"If he is even more insane, he could set the seventh or eighth prisoner square on the first square. As a result, there is only one way to go to the second square. This is the same probability of reaching the first square. I was more inclined towards the first square. But if the first square was really a prisoner square, then at least I can load the file again and choose the second square. It is a pity that he is still a bit too gentle."

"You seem to be hoping that the game boss is more brutal?"

"He is brutal enough." Tang Mo was expressionless when he suddenly realized, "I'm sorry. I said so much but I forgot you don't understand the game."

Fu Wenduo shook his head. "No, it is a very interesting game from what I heard."

Tang Mo looked at the turkey egg in his hand with no expression on his face. But he had a strange feeling in his heart.

It was probably similar to the experience of meeting the same type of person.

Perhaps it was due to this reason that he said so much extra words. After all, there was no point saying these words to the other people. Mario just wanted to kill him and wouldn't listen. Meanwhile, the beer belly man didn't have any brains. The old man was the only one listening and he just asked, "If the first square is a prisoner square, wouldn't you die?" Tang Mo didn't tell him about the archiver.

He looked down at the turkey egg with deep eyes.

The game safely ended and Tang Mo closed the archiver.

Mario sat on the stage and cried. His tears seemed to rain down on the white world, drowning the soles of the three men in a moment.

Tang Mo stepped on the clearance square but the three people hadn't returned from the white world. The old man came over. "Is it true that you can accept this gold mountain if you cleared the game?"

Tang Mo looked at the huge mountain of gold.

"…I think I won't be able to take all of this gold away."

"What is this?" The old man asked.

Tang Mo looked away. In the middle of the gold mountain, a small red gem was embedded in the depths of the gold coins. Tang Mo reached out and took the ruby. In a flash, all the gold disappeared and Mario's cries became louder. "My baby, my baby…"

This was the real clearance reward, Mario's Treasure?

After taking away this ruby, Tang Mo's body gradually faded away from the white world.

Mario saw this scene and stopped crying. He got up and shouted, "You devil, you are the devil called Tang Mo! I remember you…I will definitely…ah!"

Mario's face was covered in a faint layer of black gas. He took a step forward, only to step in a puddle of his tears and fell backwards. His head fell towards the ground and hit the edge of the stage. Coincidentally, a piece of gold he had pulled from the hill had fallen onto the stage and was caught in a small crack.

Due to Mario's jumps, there were many cracks on the stage.

He had been so stingy about the gold coins and now the gold coins were stuck in the gap.

Mario was so busy scolding Tang Mo that he slipped on the tears and his head hit the gold coin.

Suddenly, blood flowed from his head.

Tang Mo, "…"

The old man, "…"

The beer belly man, "…"

Mario suddenly fell stupidly. The three people who saw it were stunned.

Tang Mo suddenly didn't want this ruby. He wanted the gold coins! This gold coin could even crack Mario's head, it was a big killer! If Tang Mo really had the gold hill, he wouldn't need to fight at all. He just needed to smash the gold coins on the enemy's body.

However, the vanished gold hill was unlikely to return.

Tang Mo looked down at the ruby in his hand.

He hoped the treasure didn't disappoint.

In the blink of an eye, the trio returned to the flower bed.

It had been evening when they entered the instance. When they came out, the moon was already up.

In the dark night, the evening breeze whistled past and rustled the trees on the street. Once the trio emerged, the dead bodies were thrown out of the air. It was as if someone had held the bodies and violently dumped them from the sky above the flower bed. The force was so great that they were thrown to the opposite side of the road.

The first to be thrown out was the middle-aged woman, followed by the bald man and the young couple. The body of the middle-aged man with the lowest sense of presence wasn't thrown out. Tang Mo remembered that in Mario's world, the man was eaten by countless flying fishes and not even the bones were left. It was estimated that there was no body.

Everyone had entered the same game but the eight people didn't know each other.

Tang Mo went to the opposite side of the street and confirmed that the four bodies were indeed players who entered the instance with him. He took off the coats on their bodies and covered their faces. This was an acquaintance of fate.

The beer belly man said emotionally, "Fortunately, I survived until the end and wasn't killed by that disgusting Mario."

The old man said, "Thanks to this lad. Sorry for being forced to pull you in…what are you doing?"

The old man looked at Tang Mo with astonishment.

Tang Mo was holding the big match in his right hand, calmly looking at the old man and the man with a beer belly in front of him.

They had seen the power of the match in the instance. The old man took a cautious step back. The beer belly man also said, "You…what do you want to do? You want to kill us?"

Tang Mo was indifferent. "I told you in the instance. After we leave, I would kill you."

The beer belly man's face changed. 'You weren't joking?"

"I never joke." Tang Mo twisted his wrist. "I won't fight the old man for the moment. If I hit him with this match, he might die. As for you…sorry, your ability has dug your grave."

The big match waved through the air as he spoke. He didn't hesitate to hit the beer belly man.

Tang Mo never intended to make a joke.

Mario's Monopoly Game was so dangerous that 6,461 people died (including the five people this time). He had been forcibly pulled into the game. In the end, nothing happened and he emerged safely. However, he still had two ribs that hadn't healed and his lungs were bleeding from Black Mario's hit.

Tang Mo's quick and decisive actions didn't allow the beer belly man to counterattack. Tang Mo's reaction speed, strength and speed were all stronger than the beer belly man. The big match struck the man's right leg. The man's right leg visibly bent after it was smashed.

The man shouted in pain. "Don't think that winning the game is great. We could win without you. I'll cut you up now!"

The man opened his mouth and his chest bulged. The next moment, he leaned forward and exhaled. A strong wind blew the trees on the side of the road back. Tang Mo grabbed an old tree in order to stabilize himself. The old man wasn't so lucky. He was blown to the edge of the flower bed.

The man's wind blew for three minutes before finally stopping.

Tang Mo's face was pale and he wasn't injured. On the other hand, the old man was hurt.

The beer belly man looked at Tang Mo in horror. He used his ability but Tang Mo wasn't killed. He had to escape. "I'm sorry…spare me. Aren't you okay now? Please spare me…"

Tang Mo looked at him calmly.

"You are the one. Everyone doesn't matter. You are the one who pulled me into the game so you are dead."

The beer belly man's voice stopped.

Tang Mo put away the big match. Then he leaned over and grabbed the man's coat. The man looked at him with horror and didn't understand what Tang Mo was trying to do. Tang Mo looked at him coldly. "This is mine, I am taking it."

The man nodded straight away.

Tang Mo took the tattered coat and turned to leave. He intended to find a remote place to open the ability book and see what the man's ability was. This was to teach the other person a lesson as well as gain his ability.

Tang Mo had too few offensive abilities. The man's ability didn't seem to be of much use, but it was somewhat offensive. As long as it was used properly, it could have a surprise effect.

Tang Mo was just about to leave when footsteps were heard from a distance. Tang Mo immediately turned to look at the end of the road. A tall and thin man was staring at them in amazement, then he saw the four corpses next to them.

The young man and woman's method of death was too clear. Their knives were clearly stabbed in each other's chest. It was obvious they killed each other.

Tang Mo remained vigilant as he cautiously looked at this stranger. The man approached and looked at the four bodies for a long them. Then he turned his head and looked at them strangely. He seemed to be checking if they were ghosts or not. Then he said, "I want to be sure…you are people who came out alive from the second instance?"

The author has something to say:

Tang Tang: I think I am very lovely.

Major Fu: I also think my wife is very lovely~