Novel Name : The Earth is Online
The Earth is Online Chapter 60
Chapter 60
“Speaking of which, you name sounds familiar.” After the baby-faced youth gave Tang Mo’s name as Zhao Zhao, he walked to the little boy and said with a smile, “Fu Wensheng… Fu Wensheng? Fu Wensheng? Which Fu is your surname and which is your name?” (TL: All of them are spelt with different Chinese characters)
The little boy looked at him and calmly asked, “Is this important?”
The baby-faced youth exclaimed, “Is it important? It is very important. Oh, it doesn’t seem important. But your name… ah, I remember.” He clapped in an exaggerated manner, his eyes slightly narrowed. “What was the name of the first stowaway to attack the tower? Zhao Zhao, do you remember?” The youth turned to look at Tang Mo. “It is the one who dragged everyone into the tower attack game. What is his name?”
Tang Mo replied coldly, “I don’t remember.”
The youth answered himself. “Yes, he is called Fu Wenduo. Just like you. What’s your relationship? At your age, are you… the son of the stowaway?”
The smile on the youth’s face was as disgusting as ever. He leaned towards the boy, seemingly teasing him and having fun. However, there were no traces of a real smile in his eyes. He stared cautiously at the little boy, his eyes as dangerous and treacherous as a snake.
“I don’t know him.” The little boy answered very decisively. “Two months ago, I was also dragged into the game by the stowaway and almost died inside. I hate him. You guys should be the same, right? If I really had a relationship with him, wouldn’t I openly tell you my name that is similar to his and then let you doubt me?”
There was some truth in Fu Wensheng’s words.
In Huaxia, all players cursed the stowaway who dragged everyone into the game. In Attack, Luo Fengcheng didn’t tell the other members that ‘Mr. Fu’ was Fu Wenduo. It was because he felt that if he announced Fu Wenduo’s identity, someone with no brains like Jack would go looking for a fight and get beaten up by Fu Wenduo.
If Fu Wensheng was really related to Fu Wenduo, would he tell Tang Mo and the youth that this was his name? He should hide his real name, in case Tang Mo and the youth acted against him.
The youth looked at him for a moment before laughing. “Maybe you are using reverse psychology. If a normal person had a relationship with the stowaway, he wouldn’t tell others and would try to hide it. Since you said it so obviously, why should we doubt you?”
The little boy looked serious as he defended himself, “I just want to tell you, please believe me. Fu Wensheng is my real name. It is a bit similar to someone else but I have nothing to do with him. I’m telling you my real name because I want you to believe me. I can’t beat you. If you don’t believe me then you can kill me at any time. I want to live, that’s all.”
Tang Mo looked at the child’s mature and dignified performance. The youth also looked at him meaningfully.
Soon, the three people seemed to have forgotten the conversation and returned to the original topic.
“This moon flower is exactly the same as ours and the corridor looks the same as the other two corridors.” Tang Mo put back the glass cover and looked down at the dark blood on the ground. “The only thing different is this pool of blood.”
The little boy said, “As far as what I guessed, there were three players in this corridor. Like us, their mission is to find the moon flower that loves to lie. When it came to choosing which way to go, they must’ve fought first. Perhaps the three of them didn’t want to go first.” There were incidents of suppression with force and threats to teammates.
The boy called Fu Wensheng (not necessarily his real name) tried very hard to join the group of Tang Mo and the youth. Tang Mo glanced at the boy. Tang Mo knew that for the moment, the boy was really trying to make Tang Mo and the youth believe him. It was because this method contained the greatest chance of survival.
Tang Mo went on to say, “Assuming that the three players really used force, the first player to enter the trap should be dead.”
The little boy continued, “The two remaining players thought the other path was the right way. When they walked, they were careless and died in the bottomless pit.” He looked at Tang Mo and the baby-faced youth as if he suddenly remembered something. He looked up at the green figure above their heads.
The youth smiled. “What are you looking at Xiao Sheng Sheng?”
Fu Wensheng didn’t react at the youth suddenly calling him with such a disgusting and intimate nickname. He froze for a moment before walking over to Tang Mo. “Zhao… Brother Zhao, I just thought that the figure above my head is red and yours is green. Then the three people in this corridor, won’t they have a different coloured figure? For example…”
“They are purple.” Tang Mo spoke.
The little boy nodded hard. “I think it is purple as well. It seems that you have been to that bedroom?”
Tang Mo didn’t deny it.
The little boy thought, “Then from the beginning, something in this castle suggested what type of people we would meet next…”
After entering the Queen of Hearts’ Gem Castle, Tang Mo received the first branch task of finding the glass greenhouse. In order to find a glass greenhouse, he passed through many rooms and corridors with the female player and the youth. One of them was a bedroom. In that bedroom, Tang Mo saw a vase with three feathers. One was red, one was green and one was purple.
The feathers were dyed in such strange colours that Tang Mo looked at them a few times before remembering it.
Now he looked at the red figure above the little boy’s head and the green figure above the youth’s head. “It seems that after entering the castle, many places have hidden clues and hints.” Three different coloured feathers suggested there were three teams in the Gem Castle. “We should think about the clues we saw before. Perhaps it will be useful for completing the main task. Have you seen any other clues?” Tang Mo look at the little boy.
The little boy thought for a moment. “I saw a very strange sculpture fountain in a palace. It was a huge snake, very large. The palace was large but the sculpture occupied two-thirds of the space. Because it is too big, its body has been folded and it was biting its tail. Water flowed from its mouth and along a dark road. I don’t know where it goes.”
Tang Mo frowned. “A giant snake biting its tail?”
“Jörmungandr?” The youth’s voice was heard and Tang Mo and the little boy looked at him. He was leaning on one side and staring at the two of them. “Haven’t you heard the Nordic myth? Loki’s second child, a giant snake symbolizing evil that is called Jörmungandr. It caused Ragnarok and was killed by Thor. Thor, you know that… hammer, you can’t take my hammer. Hahaha…”
The youth’s smile was very strange and his joke wasn’t funny at all. The gemstone corridor echoed with his exaggerated laughter. He laughed for a bit before discovering Tang Mo and the boy staring blankly at him. He shrugged and leaned against the wall, humming his own terrible song.
Tang Mo roughly drew an image of the snake fountain in his heart. This fountain was temporarily unable to provide any useful clues. Perhaps the fountain was implying the guards’ means of attack? Or was it implying the right way to get out of the corridor?
Compared to the huge tail eating snake, Tang Mo believed that the strange lines on the brazier were more likely to be the correct map to get out of the Gem Corridor.
The three of them examined the corridor again, determined there were no clues and left.
The triangular had three corridors attached to it, belonging to the green, red or purple teams. Tang Mo knew that his luck was always very poor. If he had to choose a path, he would select the hardest one. If they let him make a choice about which corridor to leave from, it was likely there would be problems. However, he couldn’t give the baby-faced youth a chance to speak.
Tang Mo looked at the little boy. “You choose a road.”
The little boy was surprised. “…Me?”
Tang Mo replied lightly, “There are three corridors with three doors. You can pick one.”
The youth smiled as he watched the scene.
The little boy thought for a moment. “The purple team has no one and we happen to be three players. Let’s form a new team and leave from the purple corridor.”
No objections were raised. The three men walked to the end of the purple corridor. Tang Mo turned to look at the youth. “Mr. Bruce, do you favourite trick.” He spoke while glancing in the direction of the door handle.
The smile on the youth’s face stiffened before becoming even brighter. He stared at Tang Mo before walking to the door and kicking it open.
With a bang, the wooden door was kicked open.
The three wary people held their weapons and found there was no danger. Tang Mo went out first, followed by the youth and the little boy. Once they saw the scene behind the door, even the always smiling youth showed a moment of astonishment.
After the bright moonlight corridor, they saw a more magnificent world.
The whole world was like a gemstone. The ceiling was blue topaz, the walls were a bright red crystal and the ground was orange amber. Sapphires like the sea were suspended above each player’s head. The clear blue, the red walls and the yellow earth reflected the three faces of Tang Mo’s group.
The orange amber ground looked too smooth and it seemed they would slip on it. Tang Mo stepped on the ground and found the friction was still very high. It wouldn’t affect walking at all.
“The friction here seems to have nothing to do with the gem itself. This is the real Gem Corridor.” Tang Mo said before quickly turning around. “The door didn’t close by itself. This means we can try the other two corridors.”
The three people went to the other two corridors and opened the door at the end.
Like the magnificent and beautiful gem world, the doors of these two corridors also led to long and narrow gemstone corridors. After witnessing the beauty that humans couldn’t achieve, Tang Mo was no longer shocked. He analyzed, “When we entered this corridor, we opened a door in a room. Now that room has gone. It has become the Gem Corridor. It seems that we can only choose to enter one of these three corridors.”
The three people returned to the first corridor, crossed the wooden door and went out.
There was on need for light when walking between such gems. These gems seemed to glow, the radiance coming from inside the gem. This light wasn’t dazzling but once thousands of gems came together, the entire corridor shone like daytime.
Walking down the Gem Corridor, it was the first time Tang Mo felt that he was playing a game.
This place was as beautiful as a fairy tale.
The three people walked for half a minute before coming to a fork in the road.
The youth deliberately laughed. “There are 999 forks in the Gem Corridor. We met one so quickly?”
Tang Mo quietly looked at him and came to a conclusion. The youth’s game rules also mentioned that the Gem Corridor had 999 forks.
Tang Mo asked, “Which way should we choose?”
There were two different roads currently in front of Tang Mo’s group. The two roads looked exactly the same, without any differences. One pointed to the left and the other to the right.
Tang Mo threw the question to the little boy.
This time, the little boy’s forehead was covered with sweat as he faced the choice. He didn’t say anything as his eyes moved between the left and the right. Finally, he looked up at Tang Mo. “You are letting me make a choice again?’
Tang Mo calmly explained. “I have very bad luck. If you let me choose, there is a 80% chance there will be a problem.”
The youth interrupted. “If you luck isn’t very good, then we should choose the opposite direction of yours. Whatever you choose, we will to to the other side.”
Tang Mo glanced at him. “Even if you choose the opposite direction, there might be a problem because this is still related to my choice.” Tang Mo didn’t have any hope for countering his bad luck. He sometimes wondered if he did something bad in his last luck in order to get that this cheap abilities book. He couldn’t let other people experience his bad luck.
The youth smiled at Tang Mo’s words. He opened his mouth and seemed to want to say something. But then he changed it to “You won’t accept my choice anyway” and closed his mouth.
The right to choose returned to the little boy.
Tang Mo and the youth stared at him. The little boy was silent for a long time before pointing to the left. “I choose this side.”
In any case, there were only two choices: left or right. Tang Mo replied calmly. “Then we will go this way.” He strode to the corridor on the left with the little boy.
The youth spoke loudly, “Hey, aren’t you going to ask my opinion? What if I don’t want to go left?”
Tang Mo didn’t turn his head back. “Then you go to the right.”
The youth, “…”
This unpleasant fellow still followed them. The three people walked down the corridor on the left side. Tang Mo seemed to trust the little boy’s choice completely as he entered the corridor on the left. But his hand was tightly holding onto the handle of the small parasol.
The third rule of the game: In every dead end, there are two guards of the Queen of Hearts patrolling.
If this was a dead end, they would meet with the Queen of Hearts’ guards. In this tower game, Tang Mo only knew two important game characters. One was the Queen of Hearts and the other were the guards. Needless to say, the former was definitely the big BOSS of the game. The latter shouldn’t be underestimated. They appeared in the rules of the game and the black tower used them to warn the players to choose the right path. Then they should have a certain strength.
However, maybe it was because the boy’s luck was too good or accuracy rate was fairly high. The three people walked for half a minute before meeting another fork in the road.
The three men were relieved to see this fork in the road. This meant that they hadn’t chosen the wrong way and the road on the left wasn’t a dead end. However, the three of them soon became nervous again.
Tang Mo looked at the little boy.
Little boy, “…”
This was an important choice that determined his life. Every time he made a choice, it was like consuming life. Fu Wensheng started to doubt if he should go with these two people. If he really chose the wrong path, maybe that two people would turn against him. But under Tang Mo’s direct pressure, he had to make a choice.
The little boy said, “…Left side.”
Tang Mo and the boy walked to the left, the youth slowly following.
This time, the little boy also chose the right one.
They passed five crossroads. It was like the boy was possessed by the goddess of luck as he chose the right way every time. Every time the three people entered the fork, they watched for sneak attacks and moved forward at the fastest possible speed. The black tower said it was almost impossible for humans who spent more than three hours in the Gem Corridor to walk out.
This wasn’t a formal game rule. The black tower attached the ‘it was said’ phrase when saying this. Tang Mo didn’t dare take it lightly. The exact number it said was three hours so this must have some meaning. Most likely, Tang Mo’s group really couldn’t leave this corridor once three hours passed.
Once the three people successfully passed the seventh fork and arrived at the eighth one, Tang Mo’s eyes widened with surprise, the little boy and youth also showing some shock.
There were three identical corridors in front of them.
Tang Mo responded first. He stepped forward and touched the entrance of the three corridors. He turned his head. “There are really three corridors. Now there are three choices… Which one should we choose?” He looked at the little boy.
Little boy, “…”
The second rule of the game: There must be at least one road at each fork. If it is the wrong direction then it will be a dead end.
Tang Mo now understood what this rule meant. Who said the fork junction must be two roads, not three or four? As they encountered right now, there were three roads. One of them would be a dead end leading to two guards. Or maybe two roads were dead ends and only one way was right.
The little boy felt pressured and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He chose a path. “It is still the left one.”
Tang Mo looked at him. He saw that this child still had something to say.
Sure enough, the little boy continued, “I don’t know if I am choosing the right path. When there were two paths, one of them was a dead end and the other was the right way. If I choose right, we will continue to move forward and there will be no mistake. I am afraid… there is one one dead end here and both roads are the right way. Brother Zhao, do you understand what I mean?”
Tang Mo quietly watched him for a long time. Then he said, “Since you chose the leftmost road, we will go that way.”
The little boy was a bit anxious. “Brother Zhao!”
Tang Mo didn’t answer him and walked down the left most road.
The youth was watching in an interested manner. After seeing Tang Mo walk away, he leaned over to the anxious child and said in a low voice, “Why are you anxious? He is ignoring you which means he had thought about the problem. He isn’t in a hurry so what are you anxious about? Isn’t it fine if you live?”
The little boy’s changed at these words. He looked up at the baby-faced youth and the youth showed him a bad smile. Then he put his hands in his pocket and quickly followed Tang Mo.
The little boy also followed.
Along the way, the little boy thought that Tang Mo would do something special to record the way they walked. However, Tang Mo just walked forward as always. He didn’t make any marks and his face was calm. If was as if he really didn’t noticed the multiple forks, what it meant and how much danger was hidden.
The little boy looked at Tang Mo’s back for a long time and hesitated, still not speaking.
But he soon had no room to think about it. As the three of them reached the end of the corridor, the youth had just taken a step forward when he suddenly went backwards quickly. Tang Mo also reacted in an instant. A sharp spear was stabbing straight towards him. He moved sideways while opening the small parasol.
A dark spear slowly emerged from the air. A humanoid playing card guard with a spear in his hands also stepped out of thin air. This was the J card. The playing card saw Tang Mo avoid the spear and turned their spears towards him, stabbing through the air.
Tang Mo quickly read the spell and opened the small parasol to block the blow. He was struck by this attack and fell three steps back before stabilizing his body.
On the other side, the youth had taken out a dagger and stabilized his figure.
These playing cards were tall and powerful. When they waved their spears, they barely had any technique. They simply stabbed straight and raised it upwards. But the spears were too hard and sharp, their strength posing a threat to Tang Mo and the youth. Tang Mo’s eyes contracted as he saw an opportunity after the spear stabbed. He closed the small parasol and the tip pierced the centre of the playing card.
There was a clashing metal sound.
Tang Mo’s eyes widened. He stepped on the gemstone wall, turning in the air while shouting, “Be careful!”
The youth also teleported behind another guard at a speed that couldn’t be followed by the naked eye. He held the dagger in his left hand and smiled at the card. “Go well.” His dagger stabbed the guard, only for sparks to unexpectedly fly. There was no trace of the playing card being damaged.
The youth’s face suddenly changed. He jumped nimbly and escaped the guard’s spear.
He turned to look at Tang Mo.
The two people cried out in unison, “Run!”
Tang Mo and the youth turned at the same time, quickly running back. While running, Tang Mo picked up the little boy with one arm and threw the boy on his back. The guards’ speed increased when they saw that the three people were fleeing. They tried to chase but the three people had completely run out of the corridor.
The moment the three people left the corridor, the movements of the two guards suddenly stopped. They stood in the corridor, mechanically turning their heads before heading back to the depths of the corridor. Their steps caused the ground to rumble and the entire corridor to shake.
Once he saw that these two guards were no longer chasing, Tang Mo set the little boy on the ground. He looked at the baby-faced youth. “These two guards have no fighting skills and their moves and speed aren’t too fast. But they are too hard. I can’t make any wounds on their bodies. Can you?”
The baby-faced youth replied, “No.”
Tang Mo took a breath. “The Queen of Hearts’ guards are these playing cards. Maybe she is also a playing card. Anyway, we can’t beat the guards. They are hidden in the air so they will suddenly appear when we come to the end of the corridor. Their attacks are sneak attacks that we can’t guard against. This time we were lucky. They didn’t block our way back.” Tang Mo paused before looking at the little boy. “Pick another path.”
The little boy asked, “…You still want to let me choose a path?”
Tang Mo nodded. “You choose, there are two paths left.”
The little boy clenched his fingers before pointing to the middle. “This one.”
“Okay.”
The three people entered the middle road.
The trio didn’t have too much time to analyze the guards they had just met because they had a three hour time limit. In three hours, they must leave the Gem Corridor or they would never be able to leave and would be turned into sculptures.
This time, the middle road was right and the three arrived at another fork. There were only two rods this time. The little boy chose the left and the three people entered.
Along the way, Tang Mo didn’t say anything. He looked down at the ground while thinking unknown thoughts.
Time passed and three three people didn’t know how many corridors they walked and how many forks they encountered. They met a dead end 36 times. Once the wrong road was found, Tang Mo and the youth would immediately retreat. The little boy was very astute. He wasn’t prepared the first time he encountered. Since then, he stayed behind Tang Mo and the youth in order to not burden them. The second they met danger, he would be the first to turn and run away.
But eventually, they met two guards who tried an ambush. A guard appeared in front of Tang Mo and the youth, while another guard appeared behind the little boy, surrounding the three of them.
Tang Mo was forced to use ‘Swallow energy from far away like a tiger’ to blow away the two guards. A path opened in front of the three people and they quickly took the opportunity to escape the trap set by these two smart playing cards.
After escaping, the youth looked at Tang Mo. “Once again, a prop? Or is it an ability?”
Tang Mo stared at the youth who was still smiling.
He said calmly, “It is a prop.”
The youth made a meaningful sound and looked at the little boy. “Choose another road.
Just now, a guard sneaked behind the little boy and he couldn’t rely on Tang Mo and the youth. The little boy pulled out a gun from somewhere and used it to resist the guard’s offensive. Players who were able to enter the tower attack game wouldn’t be ordinary. The little boy seemed defensively but his gun fired a terrible fire bullet, hitting the playing guard on the forehead. Although he couldn’t damage the playing card, he pushed the card back several steps and bought time for Tang Mo and the youth.
The boy calmly made a choice. “The one on the far right.”
Tang Mo nodded gently. “Okay, we will go here…”
“I won’t go.” The baby-faced youth’s voice rang out, causing Tang Mo and the little boy to look at him.
He saw this tall and thin young man leaning against the red gemstone wall, the disgusting smile still on his face. He pointed to the wrong corridor the three people had just gone down and said, “You saw those two guards. They are much more powerful than the previous guards. The guards have a different strength. If we choose the wrong way, the guards we encounter will likely become more and more powerful. Therefore… I don’t trust him. I won’t go that way.”
The youth suddenly laughed. “I seem to have said it before. Um… everyone calls me Lucky Bruce? Zhao Zhao, will you come with me?”
Tang Mo’s eyes were curiously watching the youth’s face. He was so quiet that the youth couldn’t keep smiling.
At this time, Tang Mo said, “…Why choose the middle one?”
“I like it.” The youth smiled again. “Where will you go?”
Tang Mo retracted his gaze. “I will walk with him on the right.”
The youth spread out his hands but didn’t try to discourage him.
The three people were divided into two times. The youth walked to the entrance of the middle corridor while Tang Mo and the boy walked to the right corridor. The little boy hesitated as he looked at the youth and the youth waved at him. The little boy immediately looked away and decided to follow Tang Mo.
The youth made a very regretful expression. “Then we will really separate here?”
Tang Mo looked at him coldly and didn’t speak.
The youth saw this and his smile became more brilliant. He sighed, “You are still very interesting. I hope to see you again in the future.” He stepped into the middle corridor as he talked. Then Tang Mo suddenly opened his mouth. “You must go in the middle corridor?”
The youth paused and he turned back to look at Tang Mo. He smiled. “Did you decide to go with me?”
Tang Mo said, “The two of us will walk in the right corridor and you will walk in the middle. If you choose the right one, that’s it. If you choose the wrong one, you will encounter two more powerful and intelligent guards than the ones in the left corridor… Mr. Bruce, your chances of escaping are less than 50%. With us, even if the right corridor is wrong, there is a more likely chance of escaping from the guards and you will have a greater chance of survival.”
As if he didn’t hear Tang Mo, the youth said, “Then goodbye.”
The youth stepped into the middle corridor. He put his hands in his pocket and walked while humming. Just the, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He sang his off-tune song and turned.
In the splendid Gem Corridor, he saw a handsome young man and a little boy entering the corridor.
The youth gave a low laugh., “Zhao Zhao, you want to go with me again?”
Tang Mo stared at the youth’s face for a long time. He stared and it seemed that the youth deliberately stared back at him. The little boy thought something was strange and was going to break the silence when Tang Mo smiled. His lips curved as he said, “We meet again, Mr. Bruce. I thought about it and three people are better than two. Even if you chose the wrong path, at least the three of us have a greater chance of surviving. Then let’s go together.”
The youth snorted and didn’t speak. He continued to hum as he walked forward.
This time, the middle corridor was right.
The three people walked for half a minute before coming to a fork in the road. This time there were four roads and the little boy looked at Tang Mo with panic. Who knew that Tang Mo wasn’t looking at him but was looking at the youth. “I didn’t think you would really guess right Mr. Bruce.”
“I said that I have always been lucky.”
Tang Mo said, “Then isn’t it better for you to decide where to go this time?”
The little boy sighed with relief when he heard this. The youth’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at Tang Mo. “You will let me decide?’
“If you don’t want to, we can let the child continue to choose the path.” Tang Mo said casually. “Both of you are very lucky compared to me. There is no problem whichever person chooses. Fu…” Tang changed his words. “Child, which path will you choose?”
The little boy didn’t think he would have to choose in the end. The little boy said, “The right…”
The youth laughed. “I also choose the right.”
Tang Mo said, “Both of you coincidentally chose the same. Then we will go to the right.
Tang Mo and the little boy walked down the right corridor together while the youth walked to one side. He seemed accustomed to his teammates being on guard against him. He walked calmly, looking at Tang Mo from time to time. He vaguely felt there was something wrong and carefully observed Tang Mo from head to toe. Then he retracted his gaze.
There really was no abnormality, at most… wasn’t Tang Mo’s attitude towards him a bit better?
But soon, the youth was ignored by Tang Mo. Tang Mo basically asked the little boy where to go, regardless of the youth. It was only when there were many roads that he would ‘condescend’ to ask for the youth’s opinion. Every time he asked the youth which way to go, the youth’s smile became more brilliant, as if he had seen something interesting.
The three people walked for over two hours.
Once they stopped at a fork with seven paths, all three stopped and didn’t speak.
“In fact, from the first time we encountered three paths, we knew this game wouldn’t let us go so casually.” Tang Mo suddenly opened his mouth and the other two looked at him. Tang Mo gazed calmly at the seven identical corridors. “There is a three hour time limit and 999 forks in the Gem Corridor. On average, it takes 30 seconds for us to walk from one fork to another. Three hours is 10,800 seconds. If we don’t waste a second, we can walk up to 360 intersections.”
The little boy agreed. “Yes, I know it from the beginning. The more important part is the multiple roads.
More than two hours ago, the little boy wanted to remind Tang Moo about this problem. “The black tower’s rule said that every fork must have at least one dead end. Don’t you know this rule as well? There is no need to talk about the two-way fork. Even if it is wrong, we can go back and take the right way. But in the case where there are multiple options, assuming that only one road has guards, it is too easy for us to choose the wrong way. It we go down a path, it might be correct at first. However, a t the end, it is likely that all roads will be dead ends.” He looked up. “The black tower didn’t say that there must be a correct road at every fork.”
Tang Mo looked at this calm and rational little boy and said, “Yes. Maybe one we will encounter a fork where all options are dead ends. It is because we have gone the wrong way a long time ago. At one of the forks, we chose a seemingly correct path but it was actually wrong. Take this road will make us meet a dead end sooner or later. It’s like a maze. A brief, unobstructed road doesn’t mean it will connect to the end. It is possible that it will be a long time before we find out that it is connected to dead ends.”
The youth raised his hands. “Then what is the use of this now?”
Tang Mo looked at him. “Of course it is useful. First of all, we simply can’t finish 999 intersections in terms of time. Second, there is the possibility of taking the wrong road infinitely. And as long as we go the wrong way, we will encounter guards. The strength of the guards gradually rises so we will be killed by them sooner or later. In this case, I can’t see how to get out of the corridor. No one should be able to leave.”
The youth’s face was confused. “But someone went out. Didn’t the two crows say that that a little girl left the Gem Corridor?”
In the first side mission, Tang Mo, the youth and the female player had heard two crows chatting. They said that a little girl had left the Gem Corridor and that she was the only one to do so.
Tang Mo faintly smiled. “Yes, I know. Then there must be a way to leave this corridor.”
The youth started smiling.
The little boy also realized what was going on. “Did you find the right route?”
Tang Mo looked down at him. “Do you still remember the sculpture fountain? It isn’t Jörmungandr or any other mythical character. It is a snake eating its tail, it is… infinity.”
The youth seemed to understand something.
The little boy’s eyes slowly widened and after a long time, he cried out, “Infinity, Möbius Ring, there is always only one surface?”
Tang Mo replied, “Yes. You saw the sculpture fountain and I saw some strange curved lines. I always felt that these curves were a bit familiar but couldn’t remember how. What was the common point? It wasn’t until I understood that your giant snake sculpture is an infinity symbol with an end-to-end connection that I realized it meant the Möbius Ring.”
In the 19th century, mathematician Möbius found that a piece of paper flipped 180 degrees and stuck together form end to end was a magical ring. This ring had only one surface and a pen was used to draw a line on the ring. In any case, this line would return to the origin and form a closed circle.
This was the Möbius Ring.
“The lines on the brazier are mostly closed figures. In some twisted curves, there were even infinity symbols directly hidden. It’s just that I didn’t even notice.” Tang Mo explained.
Perhaps the purple team had seen other hints but they didn’t survive to share the clues with the trio. Therefore, it was only until now that Tang Mo realized the first two seemingly simple branch missions were actually hints for the players on how to leave the Gem Corridor.
The Gem Corridor was a Möbius ring.
Even if they went through 999 forks and walked through every fork, they could never escape. Because it was connected from end to end.
After understanding this, the little boy said again, “But even if we know this, how can we go out?”
Tang Mo looked at him and in his peripheral vision, he saw that the youth was also greatly interested. He calmly asked, “Have you seen Alice in Wonderland?”
This was a very famous children’s book remade into many movies and television shows. The little boy would certainly know it. The little boy nodded.
Tang Mo explained. “There is also a Queen of Hearts and a little girl named Alice. In that novel, the Queen of Hearts said something to Alice which later led to a well-known knowledge theory.
The little boy was only in his early teens and had never heard of any knowledge theory related to Alice in Wonderland.
The youth suddenly opened his mouth. “The Queen of Hearts’ theory.”
Tang Mo looked to him. “Yes, it is the Queen of Hearts’ theory. The Queen of Hearts said to Alice that no matter how hard she tries, she won’t necessarily advance and will stop in the same place. Alice said that in her world, as long as you run in one direction for a while, you will certainly go forward. However, the Queen of Hearts told her that in Wonderland, she would have to run at twice the speed to make progress.”
The Queen of Hearts’ theory was that effort wouldn’t necessary bring about progress. It was only when the effort reached a certain level and made a radical innovation that it was possible to change the status quo.”
“Running at a certain speed and can only stay in place, unable to leave…” The little boy thought for a moment before realizing. “What is double the speed?”
What was the radical innovation and change?
Tang Mo picked up the small parasol and pointed the umbrella tip at the bright ruby wall.
He smiled. “Hitting the wall.”
Boom!
A minute later, there was a deafening sound and a fist-sized hole appeared in the ruby wall. Tang Mo, the youth and the little boy sped up. This hole became bigger and bigger until a person could smoothly pass through.
The three people climbed out of the hole in turn, looking like dogs crawling regardless of their posture. After leaving the hole, the three people immediately stood up and observed around them.
The little boy exclaimed, “Why are we still here?”
Yes, this was the corridor where they first left, the corridor belonging to the purple team.
The trio walked up and found a black stain on the ground. The little boy said, “This is really the corridor we left in at the beginning. Then we didn’t leave the Gem Corridor…” The little boy’s voice stopped and he looked back. He was startled to find that the hole they made had disappeared!
It wasn’t just the hole. The Gem Corridor they just dug their way out of was a black wall. The three people checked and found that the hole and Gem Corridor was gone. They turned to look ahead.
In the place where the moon flower had been placed, the high wall had disappeared and was replaced by a tall and sturdy door. The door was quietly there, as if waiting for someone to push it open.
The little boy understood. “…This is the queen’s bedroom.”
Tang Mo said with a smile, “Yes, it is the queen’s bedroom.”
They had come out.
The Gem Castle of the Queen of Hearts was a place where space was disordered. The Gem Corridor was a trap from beginning to end. There was no meaning in the 99 forks. The guards at the end of the dead ends had no meaning. If they wanted to leave the Gem Corridor, they didn’t need to choose the right path or defeat the guards. They had to break the Möbius Ring, realize the Queen of Hearts’ theory and make a major change.
The three people smashed the wall of the Gem Corridor and came out successfully.
When the wall was smashed, Tang Mo had handed the moon flower back to the little boy. It was because the fourth rule of the game said that only those who held the moon flower could walk out of the Gem Corridor.
Tang Mo wasn’t sure that the little boy could leave the hole. Just in case, he returned the flower to the other person.
The three people each held a moon flower in their hands.
Tang Mo said, “Go to her bedroom.”
The little boy nodded and followed Tang Mo’s footsteps.
The voice of the youth was heard behind the two. “Then we just need to put the moon flower in the vase and the Gem Corridor will be closed forever?” As he spoke, he followed the two people. “Ah, the game is going to end soon? It’s so boring, I want to play a little more. Should we go back to the Gem Corridor for a while? We have three hours anyway.”
Tang Mo coldly gazed at him. “If you want to continue playing, just go and make a hole on your own.”
The youth spread out his hands, a smile still on his face.
The three of them walked towards the queen’s bedroom and the little boy said, “Be careful. Maybe there is a trap in the bedroom or maybe the Queen of Hearts…”
Whoosh!
A sharp dagger flew past Tang Mo’s eyes, almost rubbing against his eyelashes, and slammed into the wall. Tang Mo reacted very quickly to avoid it but another silver knife flew in front of his eyes. This person’s sneak attack came to suddenly and the little boy still hadn’t reacted. Tang Mo barely avoided it twice and his body was unstable.
The baby-faced youth smiled while his fingers deftly flipped a silver butterfly knife. The sharp blade repeatedly rubbed against his fingers, constantly attacking Tang Mo. Tang Mo kept falling back and finally supported himself on the ground with one hand.
The youth took this opportunity to grasp the moon flower in Tang Mo’s hand.
Everything happened too fast. The next thing the little boy knew, the youth’s right hand had already grasped the stem of Tang Mo’s moon flower. But at this moment, Tang Mo was unexpectedly prepared. He used the hand support to stand upright while his other hand firmly grasped the youth’s write, preventing him from stealing the flower.
The youth’s smile disappeared and he looked at Tang Mo with astonishment.
Tang Mo’s palm turned over and a huge match appeared in it. He pointed the red matchstick head at the youth’s right arm and hit it fiercely. At the same time, flames emerged from Tang Mo’s palms.
The flames that went up to 1535℃ ignited the match as well as the youth’s right arm.
Tang Mo waved the giant match and drew a perfect arc in the air. After the burning match rubbed against the ground, the flames dissipated but the match head was black. On the other side, the youth took three steps back. He looked at Tang Mo and shouted “You!” only to suddenly step on empty ground.
The youth reacted quickly and reached out, grabbing Tang Mo’s pants.
A black bottomless pit appeared in the middle of the corridor. This was exactly the same as the one that Tang Mo encountered before and was even in the same position. Three hours ago, the female player fell into the same bottomless pit. Now the baby-faced youth was holding onto Tang Mo’s pants while being pulled down by the suction force.
But the youth was stronger than the woman. He held onto Tang Mo’s pants with one hand while his other arm was burning. He didn’t feel any pain as he unexpectedly started climbing up without Tang Mo’s help.
At this time, Tang Mo hit the big match against the ground. He looked at the youth about to climb up and smiled. “Thanks to you, I now know the real effect of the match. Only a high temperature above 1500℃ can ignite this match and once the match burns something, the flames will never go out.”
The youth stopped pulling at Tang Mo’s pants and stared up at Tang Mo.
Tang Mo said, “If you cut off your arm now, you can still live. Otherwise… Bai Ruoyao, you will be burnt alive by it.”
Bai Ruoyao’s eyes widened as he stared at Tang Mo. The flames kept burning as he looked at Tang Mo, as if imprinting this person into his heart. The next moment, he didn’t smiled. He didn’t hesitate to loosen the hand holding onto Tang Mo’s pants and swung the silver knife, cutting off his fiery right arm.
The youth fell into the bottomless pit. His laughing voice spread from the bottomless pit and echoed in the corridor. “Zhao, I am looking forward to our next meeting. You must never meet me again…”
At the same time, a crisp child’s voice was heard in the corridor.
“Ding dong! China District 7 official player Bai Ruoyao and China District 6 official player Fu Wensheng have successfully cleared the black tower’s first floor (normal mode). They have completed the main mission ‘Gem Corridor’s Desperate Survival Game’, successfully surviving three hours and passing a total of 112 forks. Player Bai Ruoyao has obtained 0 moon flowers and gets 0 rewards. Player Fu Wensheng has obtained 1 moon flower and gets 1 reward.”
The author has something to say:
Shehui Yao: Hehe. (TL: Basically Society/Person Yao. Author’s nickname for Bai Ruoyao)
Tang Tang: Oh, I will burn you to death.
Xiao Fu: Oh, I am just a soy sauce. (TL: Xiao Fu = Little Fu i.e. Fu Wensheng. Soy sauce= minding my own business)
Old Fu: Oh, I really played a part in this chapter. I am a soy sauce and no reader has found out where I am.
“Speaking of which, you name sounds familiar.” After the baby-faced youth gave Tang Mo’s name as Zhao Zhao, he walked to the little boy and said with a smile, “Fu Wensheng… Fu Wensheng? Fu Wensheng? Which Fu is your surname and which is your name?” (TL: All of them are spelt with different Chinese characters)
The little boy looked at him and calmly asked, “Is this important?”
The baby-faced youth exclaimed, “Is it important? It is very important. Oh, it doesn’t seem important. But your name… ah, I remember.” He clapped in an exaggerated manner, his eyes slightly narrowed. “What was the name of the first stowaway to attack the tower? Zhao Zhao, do you remember?” The youth turned to look at Tang Mo. “It is the one who dragged everyone into the tower attack game. What is his name?”
Tang Mo replied coldly, “I don’t remember.”
The youth answered himself. “Yes, he is called Fu Wenduo. Just like you. What’s your relationship? At your age, are you… the son of the stowaway?”
The smile on the youth’s face was as disgusting as ever. He leaned towards the boy, seemingly teasing him and having fun. However, there were no traces of a real smile in his eyes. He stared cautiously at the little boy, his eyes as dangerous and treacherous as a snake.
“I don’t know him.” The little boy answered very decisively. “Two months ago, I was also dragged into the game by the stowaway and almost died inside. I hate him. You guys should be the same, right? If I really had a relationship with him, wouldn’t I openly tell you my name that is similar to his and then let you doubt me?”
There was some truth in Fu Wensheng’s words.
In Huaxia, all players cursed the stowaway who dragged everyone into the game. In Attack, Luo Fengcheng didn’t tell the other members that ‘Mr. Fu’ was Fu Wenduo. It was because he felt that if he announced Fu Wenduo’s identity, someone with no brains like Jack would go looking for a fight and get beaten up by Fu Wenduo.
If Fu Wensheng was really related to Fu Wenduo, would he tell Tang Mo and the youth that this was his name? He should hide his real name, in case Tang Mo and the youth acted against him.
The youth looked at him for a moment before laughing. “Maybe you are using reverse psychology. If a normal person had a relationship with the stowaway, he wouldn’t tell others and would try to hide it. Since you said it so obviously, why should we doubt you?”
The little boy looked serious as he defended himself, “I just want to tell you, please believe me. Fu Wensheng is my real name. It is a bit similar to someone else but I have nothing to do with him. I’m telling you my real name because I want you to believe me. I can’t beat you. If you don’t believe me then you can kill me at any time. I want to live, that’s all.”
Tang Mo looked at the child’s mature and dignified performance. The youth also looked at him meaningfully.
Soon, the three people seemed to have forgotten the conversation and returned to the original topic.
“This moon flower is exactly the same as ours and the corridor looks the same as the other two corridors.” Tang Mo put back the glass cover and looked down at the dark blood on the ground. “The only thing different is this pool of blood.”
The little boy said, “As far as what I guessed, there were three players in this corridor. Like us, their mission is to find the moon flower that loves to lie. When it came to choosing which way to go, they must’ve fought first. Perhaps the three of them didn’t want to go first.” There were incidents of suppression with force and threats to teammates.
The boy called Fu Wensheng (not necessarily his real name) tried very hard to join the group of Tang Mo and the youth. Tang Mo glanced at the boy. Tang Mo knew that for the moment, the boy was really trying to make Tang Mo and the youth believe him. It was because this method contained the greatest chance of survival.
Tang Mo went on to say, “Assuming that the three players really used force, the first player to enter the trap should be dead.”
The little boy continued, “The two remaining players thought the other path was the right way. When they walked, they were careless and died in the bottomless pit.” He looked at Tang Mo and the baby-faced youth as if he suddenly remembered something. He looked up at the green figure above their heads.
The youth smiled. “What are you looking at Xiao Sheng Sheng?”
Fu Wensheng didn’t react at the youth suddenly calling him with such a disgusting and intimate nickname. He froze for a moment before walking over to Tang Mo. “Zhao… Brother Zhao, I just thought that the figure above my head is red and yours is green. Then the three people in this corridor, won’t they have a different coloured figure? For example…”
“They are purple.” Tang Mo spoke.
The little boy nodded hard. “I think it is purple as well. It seems that you have been to that bedroom?”
Tang Mo didn’t deny it.
The little boy thought, “Then from the beginning, something in this castle suggested what type of people we would meet next…”
After entering the Queen of Hearts’ Gem Castle, Tang Mo received the first branch task of finding the glass greenhouse. In order to find a glass greenhouse, he passed through many rooms and corridors with the female player and the youth. One of them was a bedroom. In that bedroom, Tang Mo saw a vase with three feathers. One was red, one was green and one was purple.
The feathers were dyed in such strange colours that Tang Mo looked at them a few times before remembering it.
Now he looked at the red figure above the little boy’s head and the green figure above the youth’s head. “It seems that after entering the castle, many places have hidden clues and hints.” Three different coloured feathers suggested there were three teams in the Gem Castle. “We should think about the clues we saw before. Perhaps it will be useful for completing the main task. Have you seen any other clues?” Tang Mo look at the little boy.
The little boy thought for a moment. “I saw a very strange sculpture fountain in a palace. It was a huge snake, very large. The palace was large but the sculpture occupied two-thirds of the space. Because it is too big, its body has been folded and it was biting its tail. Water flowed from its mouth and along a dark road. I don’t know where it goes.”
Tang Mo frowned. “A giant snake biting its tail?”
“Jörmungandr?” The youth’s voice was heard and Tang Mo and the little boy looked at him. He was leaning on one side and staring at the two of them. “Haven’t you heard the Nordic myth? Loki’s second child, a giant snake symbolizing evil that is called Jörmungandr. It caused Ragnarok and was killed by Thor. Thor, you know that… hammer, you can’t take my hammer. Hahaha…”
The youth’s smile was very strange and his joke wasn’t funny at all. The gemstone corridor echoed with his exaggerated laughter. He laughed for a bit before discovering Tang Mo and the boy staring blankly at him. He shrugged and leaned against the wall, humming his own terrible song.
Tang Mo roughly drew an image of the snake fountain in his heart. This fountain was temporarily unable to provide any useful clues. Perhaps the fountain was implying the guards’ means of attack? Or was it implying the right way to get out of the corridor?
Compared to the huge tail eating snake, Tang Mo believed that the strange lines on the brazier were more likely to be the correct map to get out of the Gem Corridor.
The three of them examined the corridor again, determined there were no clues and left.
The triangular had three corridors attached to it, belonging to the green, red or purple teams. Tang Mo knew that his luck was always very poor. If he had to choose a path, he would select the hardest one. If they let him make a choice about which corridor to leave from, it was likely there would be problems. However, he couldn’t give the baby-faced youth a chance to speak.
Tang Mo looked at the little boy. “You choose a road.”
The little boy was surprised. “…Me?”
Tang Mo replied lightly, “There are three corridors with three doors. You can pick one.”
The youth smiled as he watched the scene.
The little boy thought for a moment. “The purple team has no one and we happen to be three players. Let’s form a new team and leave from the purple corridor.”
No objections were raised. The three men walked to the end of the purple corridor. Tang Mo turned to look at the youth. “Mr. Bruce, do you favourite trick.” He spoke while glancing in the direction of the door handle.
The smile on the youth’s face stiffened before becoming even brighter. He stared at Tang Mo before walking to the door and kicking it open.
With a bang, the wooden door was kicked open.
The three wary people held their weapons and found there was no danger. Tang Mo went out first, followed by the youth and the little boy. Once they saw the scene behind the door, even the always smiling youth showed a moment of astonishment.
After the bright moonlight corridor, they saw a more magnificent world.
The whole world was like a gemstone. The ceiling was blue topaz, the walls were a bright red crystal and the ground was orange amber. Sapphires like the sea were suspended above each player’s head. The clear blue, the red walls and the yellow earth reflected the three faces of Tang Mo’s group.
The orange amber ground looked too smooth and it seemed they would slip on it. Tang Mo stepped on the ground and found the friction was still very high. It wouldn’t affect walking at all.
“The friction here seems to have nothing to do with the gem itself. This is the real Gem Corridor.” Tang Mo said before quickly turning around. “The door didn’t close by itself. This means we can try the other two corridors.”
The three people went to the other two corridors and opened the door at the end.
Like the magnificent and beautiful gem world, the doors of these two corridors also led to long and narrow gemstone corridors. After witnessing the beauty that humans couldn’t achieve, Tang Mo was no longer shocked. He analyzed, “When we entered this corridor, we opened a door in a room. Now that room has gone. It has become the Gem Corridor. It seems that we can only choose to enter one of these three corridors.”
The three people returned to the first corridor, crossed the wooden door and went out.
There was on need for light when walking between such gems. These gems seemed to glow, the radiance coming from inside the gem. This light wasn’t dazzling but once thousands of gems came together, the entire corridor shone like daytime.
Walking down the Gem Corridor, it was the first time Tang Mo felt that he was playing a game.
This place was as beautiful as a fairy tale.
The three people walked for half a minute before coming to a fork in the road.
The youth deliberately laughed. “There are 999 forks in the Gem Corridor. We met one so quickly?”
Tang Mo quietly looked at him and came to a conclusion. The youth’s game rules also mentioned that the Gem Corridor had 999 forks.
Tang Mo asked, “Which way should we choose?”
There were two different roads currently in front of Tang Mo’s group. The two roads looked exactly the same, without any differences. One pointed to the left and the other to the right.
Tang Mo threw the question to the little boy.
This time, the little boy’s forehead was covered with sweat as he faced the choice. He didn’t say anything as his eyes moved between the left and the right. Finally, he looked up at Tang Mo. “You are letting me make a choice again?’
Tang Mo calmly explained. “I have very bad luck. If you let me choose, there is a 80% chance there will be a problem.”
The youth interrupted. “If you luck isn’t very good, then we should choose the opposite direction of yours. Whatever you choose, we will to to the other side.”
Tang Mo glanced at him. “Even if you choose the opposite direction, there might be a problem because this is still related to my choice.” Tang Mo didn’t have any hope for countering his bad luck. He sometimes wondered if he did something bad in his last luck in order to get that this cheap abilities book. He couldn’t let other people experience his bad luck.
The youth smiled at Tang Mo’s words. He opened his mouth and seemed to want to say something. But then he changed it to “You won’t accept my choice anyway” and closed his mouth.
The right to choose returned to the little boy.
Tang Mo and the youth stared at him. The little boy was silent for a long time before pointing to the left. “I choose this side.”
In any case, there were only two choices: left or right. Tang Mo replied calmly. “Then we will go this way.” He strode to the corridor on the left with the little boy.
The youth spoke loudly, “Hey, aren’t you going to ask my opinion? What if I don’t want to go left?”
Tang Mo didn’t turn his head back. “Then you go to the right.”
The youth, “…”
This unpleasant fellow still followed them. The three people walked down the corridor on the left side. Tang Mo seemed to trust the little boy’s choice completely as he entered the corridor on the left. But his hand was tightly holding onto the handle of the small parasol.
The third rule of the game: In every dead end, there are two guards of the Queen of Hearts patrolling.
If this was a dead end, they would meet with the Queen of Hearts’ guards. In this tower game, Tang Mo only knew two important game characters. One was the Queen of Hearts and the other were the guards. Needless to say, the former was definitely the big BOSS of the game. The latter shouldn’t be underestimated. They appeared in the rules of the game and the black tower used them to warn the players to choose the right path. Then they should have a certain strength.
However, maybe it was because the boy’s luck was too good or accuracy rate was fairly high. The three people walked for half a minute before meeting another fork in the road.
The three men were relieved to see this fork in the road. This meant that they hadn’t chosen the wrong way and the road on the left wasn’t a dead end. However, the three of them soon became nervous again.
Tang Mo looked at the little boy.
Little boy, “…”
This was an important choice that determined his life. Every time he made a choice, it was like consuming life. Fu Wensheng started to doubt if he should go with these two people. If he really chose the wrong path, maybe that two people would turn against him. But under Tang Mo’s direct pressure, he had to make a choice.
The little boy said, “…Left side.”
Tang Mo and the boy walked to the left, the youth slowly following.
This time, the little boy also chose the right one.
They passed five crossroads. It was like the boy was possessed by the goddess of luck as he chose the right way every time. Every time the three people entered the fork, they watched for sneak attacks and moved forward at the fastest possible speed. The black tower said it was almost impossible for humans who spent more than three hours in the Gem Corridor to walk out.
This wasn’t a formal game rule. The black tower attached the ‘it was said’ phrase when saying this. Tang Mo didn’t dare take it lightly. The exact number it said was three hours so this must have some meaning. Most likely, Tang Mo’s group really couldn’t leave this corridor once three hours passed.
Once the three people successfully passed the seventh fork and arrived at the eighth one, Tang Mo’s eyes widened with surprise, the little boy and youth also showing some shock.
There were three identical corridors in front of them.
Tang Mo responded first. He stepped forward and touched the entrance of the three corridors. He turned his head. “There are really three corridors. Now there are three choices… Which one should we choose?” He looked at the little boy.
Little boy, “…”
The second rule of the game: There must be at least one road at each fork. If it is the wrong direction then it will be a dead end.
Tang Mo now understood what this rule meant. Who said the fork junction must be two roads, not three or four? As they encountered right now, there were three roads. One of them would be a dead end leading to two guards. Or maybe two roads were dead ends and only one way was right.
The little boy felt pressured and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He chose a path. “It is still the left one.”
Tang Mo looked at him. He saw that this child still had something to say.
Sure enough, the little boy continued, “I don’t know if I am choosing the right path. When there were two paths, one of them was a dead end and the other was the right way. If I choose right, we will continue to move forward and there will be no mistake. I am afraid… there is one one dead end here and both roads are the right way. Brother Zhao, do you understand what I mean?”
Tang Mo quietly watched him for a long time. Then he said, “Since you chose the leftmost road, we will go that way.”
The little boy was a bit anxious. “Brother Zhao!”
Tang Mo didn’t answer him and walked down the left most road.
The youth was watching in an interested manner. After seeing Tang Mo walk away, he leaned over to the anxious child and said in a low voice, “Why are you anxious? He is ignoring you which means he had thought about the problem. He isn’t in a hurry so what are you anxious about? Isn’t it fine if you live?”
The little boy’s changed at these words. He looked up at the baby-faced youth and the youth showed him a bad smile. Then he put his hands in his pocket and quickly followed Tang Mo.
The little boy also followed.
Along the way, the little boy thought that Tang Mo would do something special to record the way they walked. However, Tang Mo just walked forward as always. He didn’t make any marks and his face was calm. If was as if he really didn’t noticed the multiple forks, what it meant and how much danger was hidden.
The little boy looked at Tang Mo’s back for a long time and hesitated, still not speaking.
But he soon had no room to think about it. As the three of them reached the end of the corridor, the youth had just taken a step forward when he suddenly went backwards quickly. Tang Mo also reacted in an instant. A sharp spear was stabbing straight towards him. He moved sideways while opening the small parasol.
A dark spear slowly emerged from the air. A humanoid playing card guard with a spear in his hands also stepped out of thin air. This was the J card. The playing card saw Tang Mo avoid the spear and turned their spears towards him, stabbing through the air.
Tang Mo quickly read the spell and opened the small parasol to block the blow. He was struck by this attack and fell three steps back before stabilizing his body.
On the other side, the youth had taken out a dagger and stabilized his figure.
These playing cards were tall and powerful. When they waved their spears, they barely had any technique. They simply stabbed straight and raised it upwards. But the spears were too hard and sharp, their strength posing a threat to Tang Mo and the youth. Tang Mo’s eyes contracted as he saw an opportunity after the spear stabbed. He closed the small parasol and the tip pierced the centre of the playing card.
There was a clashing metal sound.
Tang Mo’s eyes widened. He stepped on the gemstone wall, turning in the air while shouting, “Be careful!”
The youth also teleported behind another guard at a speed that couldn’t be followed by the naked eye. He held the dagger in his left hand and smiled at the card. “Go well.” His dagger stabbed the guard, only for sparks to unexpectedly fly. There was no trace of the playing card being damaged.
The youth’s face suddenly changed. He jumped nimbly and escaped the guard’s spear.
He turned to look at Tang Mo.
The two people cried out in unison, “Run!”
Tang Mo and the youth turned at the same time, quickly running back. While running, Tang Mo picked up the little boy with one arm and threw the boy on his back. The guards’ speed increased when they saw that the three people were fleeing. They tried to chase but the three people had completely run out of the corridor.
The moment the three people left the corridor, the movements of the two guards suddenly stopped. They stood in the corridor, mechanically turning their heads before heading back to the depths of the corridor. Their steps caused the ground to rumble and the entire corridor to shake.
Once he saw that these two guards were no longer chasing, Tang Mo set the little boy on the ground. He looked at the baby-faced youth. “These two guards have no fighting skills and their moves and speed aren’t too fast. But they are too hard. I can’t make any wounds on their bodies. Can you?”
The baby-faced youth replied, “No.”
Tang Mo took a breath. “The Queen of Hearts’ guards are these playing cards. Maybe she is also a playing card. Anyway, we can’t beat the guards. They are hidden in the air so they will suddenly appear when we come to the end of the corridor. Their attacks are sneak attacks that we can’t guard against. This time we were lucky. They didn’t block our way back.” Tang Mo paused before looking at the little boy. “Pick another path.”
The little boy asked, “…You still want to let me choose a path?”
Tang Mo nodded. “You choose, there are two paths left.”
The little boy clenched his fingers before pointing to the middle. “This one.”
“Okay.”
The three people entered the middle road.
The trio didn’t have too much time to analyze the guards they had just met because they had a three hour time limit. In three hours, they must leave the Gem Corridor or they would never be able to leave and would be turned into sculptures.
This time, the middle road was right and the three arrived at another fork. There were only two rods this time. The little boy chose the left and the three people entered.
Along the way, Tang Mo didn’t say anything. He looked down at the ground while thinking unknown thoughts.
Time passed and three three people didn’t know how many corridors they walked and how many forks they encountered. They met a dead end 36 times. Once the wrong road was found, Tang Mo and the youth would immediately retreat. The little boy was very astute. He wasn’t prepared the first time he encountered. Since then, he stayed behind Tang Mo and the youth in order to not burden them. The second they met danger, he would be the first to turn and run away.
But eventually, they met two guards who tried an ambush. A guard appeared in front of Tang Mo and the youth, while another guard appeared behind the little boy, surrounding the three of them.
Tang Mo was forced to use ‘Swallow energy from far away like a tiger’ to blow away the two guards. A path opened in front of the three people and they quickly took the opportunity to escape the trap set by these two smart playing cards.
After escaping, the youth looked at Tang Mo. “Once again, a prop? Or is it an ability?”
Tang Mo stared at the youth who was still smiling.
He said calmly, “It is a prop.”
The youth made a meaningful sound and looked at the little boy. “Choose another road.
Just now, a guard sneaked behind the little boy and he couldn’t rely on Tang Mo and the youth. The little boy pulled out a gun from somewhere and used it to resist the guard’s offensive. Players who were able to enter the tower attack game wouldn’t be ordinary. The little boy seemed defensively but his gun fired a terrible fire bullet, hitting the playing guard on the forehead. Although he couldn’t damage the playing card, he pushed the card back several steps and bought time for Tang Mo and the youth.
The boy calmly made a choice. “The one on the far right.”
Tang Mo nodded gently. “Okay, we will go here…”
“I won’t go.” The baby-faced youth’s voice rang out, causing Tang Mo and the little boy to look at him.
He saw this tall and thin young man leaning against the red gemstone wall, the disgusting smile still on his face. He pointed to the wrong corridor the three people had just gone down and said, “You saw those two guards. They are much more powerful than the previous guards. The guards have a different strength. If we choose the wrong way, the guards we encounter will likely become more and more powerful. Therefore… I don’t trust him. I won’t go that way.”
The youth suddenly laughed. “I seem to have said it before. Um… everyone calls me Lucky Bruce? Zhao Zhao, will you come with me?”
Tang Mo’s eyes were curiously watching the youth’s face. He was so quiet that the youth couldn’t keep smiling.
At this time, Tang Mo said, “…Why choose the middle one?”
“I like it.” The youth smiled again. “Where will you go?”
Tang Mo retracted his gaze. “I will walk with him on the right.”
The youth spread out his hands but didn’t try to discourage him.
The three people were divided into two times. The youth walked to the entrance of the middle corridor while Tang Mo and the boy walked to the right corridor. The little boy hesitated as he looked at the youth and the youth waved at him. The little boy immediately looked away and decided to follow Tang Mo.
The youth made a very regretful expression. “Then we will really separate here?”
Tang Mo looked at him coldly and didn’t speak.
The youth saw this and his smile became more brilliant. He sighed, “You are still very interesting. I hope to see you again in the future.” He stepped into the middle corridor as he talked. Then Tang Mo suddenly opened his mouth. “You must go in the middle corridor?”
The youth paused and he turned back to look at Tang Mo. He smiled. “Did you decide to go with me?”
Tang Mo said, “The two of us will walk in the right corridor and you will walk in the middle. If you choose the right one, that’s it. If you choose the wrong one, you will encounter two more powerful and intelligent guards than the ones in the left corridor… Mr. Bruce, your chances of escaping are less than 50%. With us, even if the right corridor is wrong, there is a more likely chance of escaping from the guards and you will have a greater chance of survival.”
As if he didn’t hear Tang Mo, the youth said, “Then goodbye.”
The youth stepped into the middle corridor. He put his hands in his pocket and walked while humming. Just the, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He sang his off-tune song and turned.
In the splendid Gem Corridor, he saw a handsome young man and a little boy entering the corridor.
The youth gave a low laugh., “Zhao Zhao, you want to go with me again?”
Tang Mo stared at the youth’s face for a long time. He stared and it seemed that the youth deliberately stared back at him. The little boy thought something was strange and was going to break the silence when Tang Mo smiled. His lips curved as he said, “We meet again, Mr. Bruce. I thought about it and three people are better than two. Even if you chose the wrong path, at least the three of us have a greater chance of surviving. Then let’s go together.”
The youth snorted and didn’t speak. He continued to hum as he walked forward.
This time, the middle corridor was right.
The three people walked for half a minute before coming to a fork in the road. This time there were four roads and the little boy looked at Tang Mo with panic. Who knew that Tang Mo wasn’t looking at him but was looking at the youth. “I didn’t think you would really guess right Mr. Bruce.”
“I said that I have always been lucky.”
Tang Mo said, “Then isn’t it better for you to decide where to go this time?”
The little boy sighed with relief when he heard this. The youth’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at Tang Mo. “You will let me decide?’
“If you don’t want to, we can let the child continue to choose the path.” Tang Mo said casually. “Both of you are very lucky compared to me. There is no problem whichever person chooses. Fu…” Tang changed his words. “Child, which path will you choose?”
The little boy didn’t think he would have to choose in the end. The little boy said, “The right…”
The youth laughed. “I also choose the right.”
Tang Mo said, “Both of you coincidentally chose the same. Then we will go to the right.
Tang Mo and the little boy walked down the right corridor together while the youth walked to one side. He seemed accustomed to his teammates being on guard against him. He walked calmly, looking at Tang Mo from time to time. He vaguely felt there was something wrong and carefully observed Tang Mo from head to toe. Then he retracted his gaze.
There really was no abnormality, at most… wasn’t Tang Mo’s attitude towards him a bit better?
But soon, the youth was ignored by Tang Mo. Tang Mo basically asked the little boy where to go, regardless of the youth. It was only when there were many roads that he would ‘condescend’ to ask for the youth’s opinion. Every time he asked the youth which way to go, the youth’s smile became more brilliant, as if he had seen something interesting.
The three people walked for over two hours.
Once they stopped at a fork with seven paths, all three stopped and didn’t speak.
“In fact, from the first time we encountered three paths, we knew this game wouldn’t let us go so casually.” Tang Mo suddenly opened his mouth and the other two looked at him. Tang Mo gazed calmly at the seven identical corridors. “There is a three hour time limit and 999 forks in the Gem Corridor. On average, it takes 30 seconds for us to walk from one fork to another. Three hours is 10,800 seconds. If we don’t waste a second, we can walk up to 360 intersections.”
The little boy agreed. “Yes, I know it from the beginning. The more important part is the multiple roads.
More than two hours ago, the little boy wanted to remind Tang Moo about this problem. “The black tower’s rule said that every fork must have at least one dead end. Don’t you know this rule as well? There is no need to talk about the two-way fork. Even if it is wrong, we can go back and take the right way. But in the case where there are multiple options, assuming that only one road has guards, it is too easy for us to choose the wrong way. It we go down a path, it might be correct at first. However, a t the end, it is likely that all roads will be dead ends.” He looked up. “The black tower didn’t say that there must be a correct road at every fork.”
Tang Mo looked at this calm and rational little boy and said, “Yes. Maybe one we will encounter a fork where all options are dead ends. It is because we have gone the wrong way a long time ago. At one of the forks, we chose a seemingly correct path but it was actually wrong. Take this road will make us meet a dead end sooner or later. It’s like a maze. A brief, unobstructed road doesn’t mean it will connect to the end. It is possible that it will be a long time before we find out that it is connected to dead ends.”
The youth raised his hands. “Then what is the use of this now?”
Tang Mo looked at him. “Of course it is useful. First of all, we simply can’t finish 999 intersections in terms of time. Second, there is the possibility of taking the wrong road infinitely. And as long as we go the wrong way, we will encounter guards. The strength of the guards gradually rises so we will be killed by them sooner or later. In this case, I can’t see how to get out of the corridor. No one should be able to leave.”
The youth’s face was confused. “But someone went out. Didn’t the two crows say that that a little girl left the Gem Corridor?”
In the first side mission, Tang Mo, the youth and the female player had heard two crows chatting. They said that a little girl had left the Gem Corridor and that she was the only one to do so.
Tang Mo faintly smiled. “Yes, I know. Then there must be a way to leave this corridor.”
The youth started smiling.
The little boy also realized what was going on. “Did you find the right route?”
Tang Mo looked down at him. “Do you still remember the sculpture fountain? It isn’t Jörmungandr or any other mythical character. It is a snake eating its tail, it is… infinity.”
The youth seemed to understand something.
The little boy’s eyes slowly widened and after a long time, he cried out, “Infinity, Möbius Ring, there is always only one surface?”
Tang Mo replied, “Yes. You saw the sculpture fountain and I saw some strange curved lines. I always felt that these curves were a bit familiar but couldn’t remember how. What was the common point? It wasn’t until I understood that your giant snake sculpture is an infinity symbol with an end-to-end connection that I realized it meant the Möbius Ring.”
In the 19th century, mathematician Möbius found that a piece of paper flipped 180 degrees and stuck together form end to end was a magical ring. This ring had only one surface and a pen was used to draw a line on the ring. In any case, this line would return to the origin and form a closed circle.
This was the Möbius Ring.
“The lines on the brazier are mostly closed figures. In some twisted curves, there were even infinity symbols directly hidden. It’s just that I didn’t even notice.” Tang Mo explained.
Perhaps the purple team had seen other hints but they didn’t survive to share the clues with the trio. Therefore, it was only until now that Tang Mo realized the first two seemingly simple branch missions were actually hints for the players on how to leave the Gem Corridor.
The Gem Corridor was a Möbius ring.
Even if they went through 999 forks and walked through every fork, they could never escape. Because it was connected from end to end.
After understanding this, the little boy said again, “But even if we know this, how can we go out?”
Tang Mo looked at him and in his peripheral vision, he saw that the youth was also greatly interested. He calmly asked, “Have you seen Alice in Wonderland?”
This was a very famous children’s book remade into many movies and television shows. The little boy would certainly know it. The little boy nodded.
Tang Mo explained. “There is also a Queen of Hearts and a little girl named Alice. In that novel, the Queen of Hearts said something to Alice which later led to a well-known knowledge theory.
The little boy was only in his early teens and had never heard of any knowledge theory related to Alice in Wonderland.
The youth suddenly opened his mouth. “The Queen of Hearts’ theory.”
Tang Mo looked to him. “Yes, it is the Queen of Hearts’ theory. The Queen of Hearts said to Alice that no matter how hard she tries, she won’t necessarily advance and will stop in the same place. Alice said that in her world, as long as you run in one direction for a while, you will certainly go forward. However, the Queen of Hearts told her that in Wonderland, she would have to run at twice the speed to make progress.”
The Queen of Hearts’ theory was that effort wouldn’t necessary bring about progress. It was only when the effort reached a certain level and made a radical innovation that it was possible to change the status quo.”
“Running at a certain speed and can only stay in place, unable to leave…” The little boy thought for a moment before realizing. “What is double the speed?”
What was the radical innovation and change?
Tang Mo picked up the small parasol and pointed the umbrella tip at the bright ruby wall.
He smiled. “Hitting the wall.”
Boom!
A minute later, there was a deafening sound and a fist-sized hole appeared in the ruby wall. Tang Mo, the youth and the little boy sped up. This hole became bigger and bigger until a person could smoothly pass through.
The three people climbed out of the hole in turn, looking like dogs crawling regardless of their posture. After leaving the hole, the three people immediately stood up and observed around them.
The little boy exclaimed, “Why are we still here?”
Yes, this was the corridor where they first left, the corridor belonging to the purple team.
The trio walked up and found a black stain on the ground. The little boy said, “This is really the corridor we left in at the beginning. Then we didn’t leave the Gem Corridor…” The little boy’s voice stopped and he looked back. He was startled to find that the hole they made had disappeared!
It wasn’t just the hole. The Gem Corridor they just dug their way out of was a black wall. The three people checked and found that the hole and Gem Corridor was gone. They turned to look ahead.
In the place where the moon flower had been placed, the high wall had disappeared and was replaced by a tall and sturdy door. The door was quietly there, as if waiting for someone to push it open.
The little boy understood. “…This is the queen’s bedroom.”
Tang Mo said with a smile, “Yes, it is the queen’s bedroom.”
They had come out.
The Gem Castle of the Queen of Hearts was a place where space was disordered. The Gem Corridor was a trap from beginning to end. There was no meaning in the 99 forks. The guards at the end of the dead ends had no meaning. If they wanted to leave the Gem Corridor, they didn’t need to choose the right path or defeat the guards. They had to break the Möbius Ring, realize the Queen of Hearts’ theory and make a major change.
The three people smashed the wall of the Gem Corridor and came out successfully.
When the wall was smashed, Tang Mo had handed the moon flower back to the little boy. It was because the fourth rule of the game said that only those who held the moon flower could walk out of the Gem Corridor.
Tang Mo wasn’t sure that the little boy could leave the hole. Just in case, he returned the flower to the other person.
The three people each held a moon flower in their hands.
Tang Mo said, “Go to her bedroom.”
The little boy nodded and followed Tang Mo’s footsteps.
The voice of the youth was heard behind the two. “Then we just need to put the moon flower in the vase and the Gem Corridor will be closed forever?” As he spoke, he followed the two people. “Ah, the game is going to end soon? It’s so boring, I want to play a little more. Should we go back to the Gem Corridor for a while? We have three hours anyway.”
Tang Mo coldly gazed at him. “If you want to continue playing, just go and make a hole on your own.”
The youth spread out his hands, a smile still on his face.
The three of them walked towards the queen’s bedroom and the little boy said, “Be careful. Maybe there is a trap in the bedroom or maybe the Queen of Hearts…”
Whoosh!
A sharp dagger flew past Tang Mo’s eyes, almost rubbing against his eyelashes, and slammed into the wall. Tang Mo reacted very quickly to avoid it but another silver knife flew in front of his eyes. This person’s sneak attack came to suddenly and the little boy still hadn’t reacted. Tang Mo barely avoided it twice and his body was unstable.
The baby-faced youth smiled while his fingers deftly flipped a silver butterfly knife. The sharp blade repeatedly rubbed against his fingers, constantly attacking Tang Mo. Tang Mo kept falling back and finally supported himself on the ground with one hand.
The youth took this opportunity to grasp the moon flower in Tang Mo’s hand.
Everything happened too fast. The next thing the little boy knew, the youth’s right hand had already grasped the stem of Tang Mo’s moon flower. But at this moment, Tang Mo was unexpectedly prepared. He used the hand support to stand upright while his other hand firmly grasped the youth’s write, preventing him from stealing the flower.
The youth’s smile disappeared and he looked at Tang Mo with astonishment.
Tang Mo’s palm turned over and a huge match appeared in it. He pointed the red matchstick head at the youth’s right arm and hit it fiercely. At the same time, flames emerged from Tang Mo’s palms.
The flames that went up to 1535℃ ignited the match as well as the youth’s right arm.
Tang Mo waved the giant match and drew a perfect arc in the air. After the burning match rubbed against the ground, the flames dissipated but the match head was black. On the other side, the youth took three steps back. He looked at Tang Mo and shouted “You!” only to suddenly step on empty ground.
The youth reacted quickly and reached out, grabbing Tang Mo’s pants.
A black bottomless pit appeared in the middle of the corridor. This was exactly the same as the one that Tang Mo encountered before and was even in the same position. Three hours ago, the female player fell into the same bottomless pit. Now the baby-faced youth was holding onto Tang Mo’s pants while being pulled down by the suction force.
But the youth was stronger than the woman. He held onto Tang Mo’s pants with one hand while his other arm was burning. He didn’t feel any pain as he unexpectedly started climbing up without Tang Mo’s help.
At this time, Tang Mo hit the big match against the ground. He looked at the youth about to climb up and smiled. “Thanks to you, I now know the real effect of the match. Only a high temperature above 1500℃ can ignite this match and once the match burns something, the flames will never go out.”
The youth stopped pulling at Tang Mo’s pants and stared up at Tang Mo.
Tang Mo said, “If you cut off your arm now, you can still live. Otherwise… Bai Ruoyao, you will be burnt alive by it.”
Bai Ruoyao’s eyes widened as he stared at Tang Mo. The flames kept burning as he looked at Tang Mo, as if imprinting this person into his heart. The next moment, he didn’t smiled. He didn’t hesitate to loosen the hand holding onto Tang Mo’s pants and swung the silver knife, cutting off his fiery right arm.
The youth fell into the bottomless pit. His laughing voice spread from the bottomless pit and echoed in the corridor. “Zhao, I am looking forward to our next meeting. You must never meet me again…”
At the same time, a crisp child’s voice was heard in the corridor.
“Ding dong! China District 7 official player Bai Ruoyao and China District 6 official player Fu Wensheng have successfully cleared the black tower’s first floor (normal mode). They have completed the main mission ‘Gem Corridor’s Desperate Survival Game’, successfully surviving three hours and passing a total of 112 forks. Player Bai Ruoyao has obtained 0 moon flowers and gets 0 rewards. Player Fu Wensheng has obtained 1 moon flower and gets 1 reward.”
The author has something to say:
Shehui Yao: Hehe. (TL: Basically Society/Person Yao. Author’s nickname for Bai Ruoyao)
Tang Tang: Oh, I will burn you to death.
Xiao Fu: Oh, I am just a soy sauce. (TL: Xiao Fu = Little Fu i.e. Fu Wensheng. Soy sauce= minding my own business)
Old Fu: Oh, I really played a part in this chapter. I am a soy sauce and no reader has found out where I am.
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