The Earth is Online - Chapter 39

[Chapter 39]

Tang Mo was shocked.

In the white world, the other six were still studying the iron plate in front of them. Tang Mo and the man in black were separated by ten meters and looked at each other quietly.

The eyes of the two met in the air. No one said anything, just watched.

Tang Mo’s hand unconsciously touched the match tattoo on his left wrist.

At this moment, a cheerful and joyful music sounded. This is the prelude to “Merry Christmas”, Tang Mo immediately withdrew his gaze and looked vigilantly towards the place where the voice came from. The man in black also turned his eyes away and stopped looking at him.

The eight players looked at the end of the white world in unison.

Only from a distant place, an out-of-tune voice was humming over and over again: “…we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!”

At the end of the white world, a small black spot grabs everyone’s attention.

This black spot is getting closer and closer. When his singing had echoed in the whole white world, everyone finally saw his appearance.

It was a skinny puppet wearing a small yellow top hat with a red feather slanted across the blue brim. He was wearing cowboy boots, his chest held out, and he was humming an almost out-of-tune “Merry Christmas” song. He had an old-fashioned radio attached to his waist. The music came from this radio.

Tang Mo vaguely felt that this puppet looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him for a while.

The high school girl standing on his side suddenly exclaimed, “Pinocchio!”

Tang Mo heard the words and looked at the puppet again.

The puppet stopped humming and turned to look at the high school girl. He smugly put his hands on his hips, the old-fashioned radio still playing the background music of “Merry Christmas” at his waist. He said, “Yes, I am the handsome and cute Pinocchio that everyone likes!”

“biu—”

A very strange special effect sounded, and the puppet’s nose suddenly became longer.

Pinocchio’s expression changed, and he quickly said, “Well, well, not everyone likes me.”

“biu—”

Pinocchio’s nose became longer again, and the long, pointed nose was almost half a meter long.

“I’m just cute, not handsome at all!”

“biu—”

Pinocchio was like a deflated balloon, and the whole person wilted: “Yes, I’m not cute, I’m not handsome, and no one likes me.” His nose suddenly returned to normal.

Pinocchio angrily slapped the radio, which creaked and the music stopped. He glared fiercely at the high school girl who called out his name, who took a step back in fear. Pinocchio strode to the big golden star in the middle of the eight people, and stood beside the golden star.

“Merry Christmas? Merry Christmas what! Damn Santa, this Christmas is not at all happy!” Pinocchio kicked the golden star, making him scream in pain. He covered his feet and jumped on one foot on the ground. After a while, the pain seemed to subside, and he turned around and looked at the eight players present.

The puppet snorted: “Are you the players invited by Santa Claus?”

Tang Mo looked at the Pinocchio calmly, and none of the eight said a word.

“Damn it, don’t today’s human children know how to respect the old and love the young at all. I ask you, are you the players who are going to participate in the honest card game today!”

Pinocchio angrily tore the radio off his waist and threw it on the ground in a rage. The radio was torn apart by him, and pieces were thrown all over the place. The debris splashed at the feet of the high school girl. She thought Pinocchio was still angry about what happened just now, so she hurriedly ran back. However, she only ran to the edge of her grid and was blocked by an invisible wall, unable to move forward.

Seeing this, Pinocchio narrowed his eyes and smiled gleefully: “The game hasn’t started yet, can you run out?”

Tang Mo reached out and touched the grid where he was. Sure enough, like a high school girl, the grid he was in was like a cage, with four invisible walls blocking the air and preventing him from going out. Several others started trying, with the same result, they were all locked in these cells.

“They all say that Pinocchio is a dishonest little puppet, and I think you humans are the most dishonest! Let me smell the stink of stowaways all over the world, and I will vomit Pinocchio. .”

When they heard the word “stowaway”, everyone’s expressions changed. Tang Mo subconsciously looked at the man in black who was standing on the diagonal line of him. The latter didn’t respond much. The moment Tang Mo looked at him, he also raised his eyes to look at Tang Mo with a calm expression.

Next, Pinocchio was even more astonishing: “Ah, this smell…it seems that there are more than one stowaways! It smells like bedbugs in a shit pit, there are at least two stowaways! Two! Damn it! Santa Claus, why don’t you let me eat these stowaways. What a damn Christmas Eve surprise copy, what games are the undead playing!”

The young man standing beside Tang Mo grabbed the point at once, and he asked tentatively, “You said just now that this game doesn’t kill people?”

Pinocchio turned his head and glared at the man: “Yes, how can a copy of the Christmas surprise benefit die. Damn, you are so curious, are you a stowaways!”

The young man immediately denied it.

“You can’t kill humans…” Pinocchio said softly, and the next moment he seemed to suddenly remember something, he smiled: “Ah, I almost forgot what Santa Claus said.”

Pinocchio picked up the shattered radio from the ground and slapped it violently.

“crunch-”

The radio, which had broken into four pieces, magically made a distorted musical sound, and Pinocchio held the radio in his right hand and held his left high. He stood in the blank area among the eight people, made a quick circle, and said loudly—

“Dear human friends, welcome to ‘Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game’, I am your human’s best friend – Pinocchio!”

“biu—”

Pinocchio angrily changed his words: “Okay, I’m not your human friend, I’m Pinocchio!”

His nose shrank back, and the big golden star beside Pinocchio suddenly radiated a dazzling golden light, as if giving Pinocchio peace. Pinocchio turned around in the dazzling golden light and faced Tang Mo and the others. He took off his little yellow hat and gave a stage curtain call. Then he did the same, turning 180° and facing the four players on the opposite side, and also gave a stage curtain call.

Tang Mo’s eyes were locked tightly on Pinocchio, and he recited the name of the game in his heart.

“Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game.”

Pinocchio finished his salute and threw away the tattered radio. He put his hands together, and in the blink of an eye, he ran in front of Tang Mo. Tang Mo’s heart tightened and he almost pulled out a big match. I saw Pinocchio blinked and looked at him: “Child, do you like to lie?”

All eyes turned to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo quickly thought about the meaning of this question. Just now Pinocchio lied and his nose became longer. Tang Mo wasn’t sure what he would get if he lied at the moment, so he quickly thought of several answers in his mind. Only one second passed before Tang Mo said expressionlessly, “I don’t like it. But human beings have always told lies.”

Pinocchio looked at him and smiled softly, like a gust of wind, and in a blink of an eye, he ran to the young man next to him.

“Child, do you like Christmas?”

The young man was stopped by this sudden question, and he swallowed: “It’s okay… okay.”

Pinocchio ran to the next man again.

“Son, do you like Pinocchio?”

“Child, have you ever received a present from Santa Claus?”

…

He asked seven people and seven questions in a row, and finally he ran to the man in black.

Pinocchio smiled kindly: “Child, have you heard of… the king’s gold coins?”

Tang Mo’s eyes widened and he immediately looked at Pinocchio.

The man in black stared at Pinocchio and said in a low voice, “I haven’t heard of it.”

Pinocchio clapped his hands and tap danced for a few seconds in front of the man in black. The next moment, his figure appeared next to the big golden star, and he said with emotion: “None of you lied, you are all honest children. Only honest children are eligible to participate in ‘Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game’. Christmas is here, and Santa came to me last night and said he had a big surprise for the good kids all over the world.”

Pinocchio turned his head to look at the big golden star beside him, put his hands horizontally, and dubbed himself: “Deng deng deng deng! That’s right, that’s it, Santa’s golden star!”

The middle-aged woman standing opposite Tang Mo subconsciously recited, “Santa’s golden star…”

“That’s right!” In the blink of an eye, Pinocchio ran in front of her, and the woman almost fell to the ground.

Pinocchio stretched out his wooden hand and pulled the woman up. He said, “Scared you, my honest friend,” but he couldn’t hide the sinister and happy smile on his face. He clapped his hands and went back to the golden star: “Santa Claus said that every good child should get a gift from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. I am not convinced.”

The little puppet put his hands on his hips: “I asked Santa, how do you know who is a good boy and who is a bad boy? You say, what kind of boy is a good boy?”

Pinocchio pointed at the high school girl.

The female high school student’s face turned pale, and she thought for a long time: “…A gentle, kind, helpful, good boy?”

Pinocchio said dissatisfiedly, “What else?”

The high school girl racked her brains and said a few more words, and Pinocchio’s face became more and more ugly. The high school girl was so frightened that she almost cried, Tang Mo glanced at her: “Only honest people can be considered good children.”

The crowd looked at him.

Pinocchio gave him a thumbs up: “That’s right! An honest man is a good boy.”

The female high school student gratefully whispered “Thank you” to Tang Mo, and everyone else looked at Pinocchio again, only the man in black looked at Tang Mo for a few more seconds. Tang Mo didn’t look at him this time. He looked at Pinocchio like everyone else, but kept pressing his right hand on the match tattoo.

The big golden star was suspended in mid-air, and Pinocchio jumped up high and took the huge star into his arms. “I said to Santa that only honest children are entitled to this star and this king’s gold coin.”

Tang Mo’s eyes froze, his heart almost skipped a beat, and he stared at the star.

The others, not knowing what “the king’s gold” meant, looked at Pinocchio cautiously and timidly. Pinocchio held the big star and raised his chin arrogantly: “So today, instead of Santa Claus, I’m here to play a game with you children. Whoever wins will get this king’s gold coin. It’s a year. There is only one surprise benefit.”

An old voice sounded: “What is the king’s gold coin?” It was the white-haired old man standing beside the man in black who spoke.

Pinocchio looked surprised: “You don’t even know the king’s gold coin? The king’s gold coin is the most advanced and rarest gold coin in the Underworld Kingdom! With this gold coin, you can freely enter and leave every city in the Underworld Kingdom, It can be exchanged for a hundred silver coins…”

Many of the players present seemed to know about the existence of the Underworld Kingdom, and their expressions changed when they heard this.

But then, Pinocchio said the most insane thing: “A king’s gold coin, you can abstain from a game of black towers. You don’t even know the king’s gold coin?”

“Ah!” The three of them exclaimed directly.

Everyone’s breathing became heavier involuntarily, and they looked at the golden star in Pinocchio’s arms with fiery eyes.

The eyes of the man in black also stopped for a moment, but the next moment he looked at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo’s face was also full of surprise, as if he knew the king’s gold coins for the first time, he stared at the golden stars with fiery eyes.

The man in black slightly raised the corners of his lips and looked away.

After everyone was shocked, the old man couldn’t help but ask, “How do you play this game and how can you win the game?”

Pinocchio: “Good question! Honest children, do you see this silver and iron card in front of you?”

Everyone looked at the cards in front of them. In addition to their own cards, the four players on each side read all the other three cards on their side. Tang Mo’s gaze was fixed on the four cards on the opposite side. Pinocchio noticed Tang Mo’s gaze, he smiled and clapped his palms.

“boom–”

The eight cards are turned 180° together, revealing the front of the card in front of the opposing player.

The movement of the card flip caused a small earthquake in the white world. After the earthquake subsided, Tang Mo hurriedly looked at the four cards on the opposite side. His eyes turned to the left from the card directly opposite him, and he found that each card overlapped with the card on his side until he saw the last one.

Tang Mo’s eyes froze.

On the card in front of the man in black was a mighty man wearing a crown. Holding a jeweled cane, he looked straight ahead with a majestic expression, his eyes sparkling.

When Tang Mo saw this card, the four people on the opposite side also saw this card in front of him.

The middle-aged woman exclaimed: “Why is his card different from ours!”

The female high school student on Tang Mo’s side also said, “That person is different!”

The card in front of Tang Mo was a long-haired woman wearing a crown. She held a huge gem in both hands, and her thick long hair was like seaweed, draped over her shoulders, exuding a gentle brilliance.

There are eight cards in total, two of them are beggars in ragged clothes, two of them are knights in armor, and two of them are middle-aged men with books in their hands. There is also the woman in the crown in front of Tang Mo, and the man in the crown in front of the man in black.

Tang Mo: “Slave, knight, prophet… king and queen.”

Pinocchio looked at him in surprise: “You know the most famous honest card game in the Underworld Kingdom?”

Tang Mo shook his head: “This kind of card seems easy to understand.”

Pinocchio: “That’s true, you humans seem to play similar games too. But this time you’re wrong, this card…” He teleported to the middle-aged man holding the book’s card and tapped it hard After hitting the silver and iron card, “This card is not a prophet. This card is a minister. The king and queen command ministers, ministers manage knights, knights kill slaves, and slaves can revolt. Yes, this is the underworld kingdom now. The most popular honest card game.”

Hearing Pinocchio’s explanation, several other players also suddenly realized.

This game sounds complicated, in fact, many countries had similar games before the earth went online.

This is an end-to-end strategy card game. Kings beat ministers, ministers beat knights, and knights beat slaves. The king can conquer ministers and knights, but the weakest looking slave can rise up and kill the king.

But what does this game have to do with honesty?

The high school girl said strangely: “Our mission is to kill the king or queen on the other side in order to win?”

There is a slave, a knight, a minister and a queen on Tang Mo’s side, and there are also slaves, knights, ministers and a king on the opposite side. Normally, they should be divided into two teams, the purpose is to kill the opposite king/queen with their own slaves.

However, when Pinocchio heard this, his face instantly turned gloomy. He teleported to the high school girl in the blink of an eye, glared at her grimly, and said coldly, “Looks like you’re that bad boy.”

The high school girl was so frightened that she sat directly on the ground, her lips trembling, not knowing what she said wrong.

Pinocchio changed his hippie smile and glanced at the eight people present with indifferent eyes. After watching a circle, he returned to his original position, suddenly opened his lips, and smiled brilliantly again: “How can you die for the surprise welfare on Christmas Eve? Honest children, this is a welfare game for you. Ya! You know why the Honest Card Game is not like any other game, not two kings, but a king and a queen?”

Everyone was frightened by the sudden change in his face just now, and no one answered.

Pinocchio asked and answered himself, “That’s right! Because this is an honest and peaceful game. Game second, friendship first. Eight cards, assuming you…” Pinocchio pointed to Tang Mo’s side , “Suppose you made a knight and they made a slave. What would happen?”

Tang Mo looked at Pinocchio coldly.

Pinocchio asked himself again and answered: “Yes, then they will be defeated by you. Their slave cards are gone, and only the knight, minister and king are left. And you have no less than one of your four cards. No matter what. No matter what, it’s hard for them to win again. Because their slaves are dead, no one can threaten your queen anymore, but your slaves can kill their king.”

This is just nonsense.

When everyone was afraid to speak, a young woman standing opposite Tang Mo said, “I don’t understand, what’s the point of this game. If one side is a knight and the other is a slave. The knight card can kill the slave card… …So, what does it mean for us?”

“Who told you that this game is played like this?”

The young woman closed her mouth and stared at Pinocchio.

Pinocchio: “This is an honest card game! If there is a phenomenon that one side’s card suppresses the other side, then the suppressed side’s card will be invalid at the same time…” Pinocchio smiled, his dark eyes in the eight A circle around the person, “It means that you are all dishonest children!”

Tang Mo suddenly realized something.

Pinocchio snorted: “Honest card game, there is a sure way to win, that is to play the same card every time. When the cards of the two teams are exactly the same, the cards are invalid, and the two sides end the game peacefully. The game. There is a default rule in our underworld kingdom. There are four chances to play cards. In the first game, both sides will play slave cards, and in the second game, knight cards will be played together, followed by minister cards. Why not two king cards, but A trump card, a queen card? Because in the fourth round, when we play the trump card and the queen card at the same time, the king and queen will join hands, and the two sides will end the game peacefully. This is the favorite honest card of the underground people Games. There are no losers, we are all winners.”

Hearing this, Tang Mo frowned. Among the eight people present, the high school girl and middle-aged man on Tang Mo’s side, as well as the middle-aged woman and white-haired old man on the opposite side, all had bright eyes.

All winners, that means everyone can win the game? Can you get the king’s gold coins?

“But!” Pinocchio said suddenly, and he smiled brightly: “However, the king’s gold coin is only one. I made a bet with Santa Claus, and Santa Claus said that you are all good boys and will definitely work together to accomplish this honesty. game. But I think, you guys…”

Pinocchio stretched out his finger and pointed at Tang Mo: “You.”

He pointed to the young man beside Tang Mo: “You.”

Another female high school student: “You.”

“you you you you……”

“And you!” He finally pointed to the man in black standing at the other end of the diagonal.

“You are all dishonest humans! I bet with Santa that if you play your cards honestly and in order, I lose. Then after this game, each of you can leave the copy and I will lose to Christmas The old man is a king’s gold coin.”

The old man said: “Wait, what about the reward we win the game?”

Of course Pinocchio asked back: “Huh? I didn’t eat you, isn’t it just a reward for you?”

Female high school student: “No, then we participate in this game, the only thing we can get is that you don’t eat us and send us out of the copy safely?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Pinocchio rubbed his chin. “Of course, it looks like you didn’t get a Christmas present. So my bet with Santa is not over yet. I also told Santa that if In this game, you played cards out of order, and one side completely won the other…”

Pinocchio clapped his hands and tapped to a rhythm. The four who won. The four of them will each have a piece of the King’s Gold and can leave the dungeon safely.”

Tang Mo’s eyes widened, and he felt a chill in his heart. He quickly turned his head to look at the three “companions” beside him. Among them, apart from the young man standing beside Tang Mo, the high school girl and the middle-aged man all raised their heads, looked at the four people opposite, and then looked at the golden star in Pinocchio’s hand.

The eyes of the two were full of greed and fiery light.

Not only them, three of the four people on the opposite side also swallowed their saliva while watching the golden star. Only the man in black had a calm expression and did not react. Seeing that Tang Mo was looking at him, he also looked at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo and him looked at each other.

Pinocchio: “Don’t worry, children. This is a Christmas Eve surprise for you from Santa Claus. As long as you play safely and follow the rules of the game, no one will have an accident. Even if you don’t follow the rules of the game, no Something happened.”

Female high school student: “What do you mean?”

Pinocchio said happily: “In the honest card game, neither I nor the opponent will know what card you have drawn. If the cards drawn by the two teams are the same, then these two cards will At the same time, it will be invalid. The cards that the two teams take out will trigger the ‘Duel Arena’. But don’t worry, how can there be man-eating monsters on Christmas Eve? , to a duel. The winning side can stay on the field, and the losing side… will leave here for the next interesting game.”

The high school girl thought: “You mean, if we don’t play the same cards on both sides, then it’s considered dishonest at the same time. There will be two people in our two teams dueling. The winner stays here, the loser People go to the next game? That doesn’t sound like punishment at all…”

Pinocchio blinked his small eyes: “The next game has nothing to do with Santa Claus, but there is no way to pass the level peacefully.”

The high school girl’s face turned pale, and then she understood.

In this honest card game, all eight of them can survive, as long as they work together to play the same card, after four rounds, these eight cards will all be invalid, and the eight of them will leave the dungeon and get nothing. .

But if one side wins the game, kill the opponent’s king/queen with the slave card, and then kill the opposite slave card. Then as long as they keep playing the king/queen card, they can kill all the cards on the opposite side and win the game.

End the game peacefully with no reward for either side.

One side wins the game, and all four get the king’s gold.

King’s Gold Coins…

That’s an opportunity to forfeit a game of Dark Towers.

Half a month ago, Tang Mo almost lost his temper when facing this gold coin.

Now……

“I have a question.” A low voice sounded.

Tang Mo looked at the man in black who was talking.

The man in black glanced at the four Tang Mo, and finally stayed on Tang Mo for a while, then looked at Pinocchio: “If one side wins, what happens to the loser?”

Pinocchio: “It’s said that this game won’t kill people, and the loser will of course enter the next game. As for whether they can survive in the next game…” Pinocchio smiled, “Cute How could good Pinocchio know?”

“biu—”

Pinocchio’s nose suddenly grew longer, and he quickly said: “Yes, yes, I am ugly and vicious, not cute and kind at all!”

The nose is back to normal.

At this moment, a crisp child’s voice sounded in the minds of the eight players present——

“Ding dong! The Christmas Eve surprise copy ‘Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game’ officially begins. The rules of the game—”

“First, each team has four cards, namely slave cards, knight cards, minister cards and king/queen cards.”

“Second, the king/queen card overcomes the minister card and the knight card, the minister card overcomes the knight card and the slave card, the knight card overcomes the slave card, and the slave card overcomes the king/queen card.”

“Third, the default order of cards in the Underworld Kingdom: slave, knight, minister, king/queen.”

“Fourth, when the card types of the two sides are inconsistent, the restrained card will be discarded on the spot, and the ‘duel field’ effect will be triggered at the same time. The player who represents the card on the spot will conduct a 1V1 duel. The winner stays on the field, and the loser enters the tower attack game. (Normal mode).”

“Fifth, show the back of the card when the card is played, and the opponent’s players cannot see the contents of their own cards. Pinocchio doesn’t know the contents of the cards on both sides.”

“Sixth, before the cards are played in each round, the cards represented by each player will change in a random manner.”

“Seventh, a team without a single card is considered a failure.”

“Eighth, the party with the trump card triggers the ‘going home and kneeling on the washboard’ effect, and has the only right to ask questions in the audience. You can choose any time to ask a question to the party with the trump card. The question cannot be combined with the card. The content is related, and the questionee can only answer yes or no. Lying is regarded as a game failure, and the questioner wins.”

“Pinocchio hates honest humans the most, and he’d rather give the king’s gold to four damn liars than let honest humans leave the copy safely.”

“So you all know the rules of the game now?” Pinocchio laughed sinisterly, holding the golden star. When he found that everyone was looking at him, he immediately blinked his eyes, made a pure and innocent expression, and clapped his hands happily: “Then let’s start the game!”

Pinocchio stomped the ground, and a white wall rumbled down from the sky.

It was the wall that separated the two teams just now, and now it is slowly descending again.

Pinocchio: “Knowing that you’re both discussing the next cards, so as soon as this wall comes down, neither side of you can see or hear the people on the other side. Only I can see you. , I heard what you said. Of course, I will not give any hints.” Speaking of this, Pinocchio suddenly stopped, he covered his mouth, and said in surprise: “Hey, what did I just say, why do you need to discuss , aren’t the cards you will play next all slave cards?”

The white wall rumbled and fell completely.

Pinocchio was sitting on the wall, he turned to look at Tang Mo’s side, and then turned to look at the other side.

Pinocchio stretched, hugging the golden star comfortably, and lying on the wall. He said happily: “Ah, these are really eight honest and lovely children.”