Chapter 44: Chapter 44

In the white world, the black tower gave its prompts. Zhao Wenbin and the old man stared blankly at Pinocchio, not understanding what had happened. Pinocchio’s funny and lovely puppet face still had surprise on it. But Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t give him time to respond.

The moment the black tower spoke, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo moved like lightning towards Pinocchio.

Tang Mo opened the small parasol and waved it. He didn’t attack Pinocchio. Instead, he moved the parasol behind Pinocchio, blocking his path. At the same time, Fu Wenduo formed a fist with his right hand. The middle finger was slightly raised as he used a boxing move to hit Pinocchio’s face. The short eruption of power made Pinocchio unconsciously try to escape. However, he was stopped by Tang Mo’s small parasol and couldn’t run away. He could only turn and take the punch.

Pinocchio moved his hands angrily and disappeared in front of Tang Mo’s eyes. The next moment, he appeared behind Tang Mo, waving his wooden arm and hitting Tang Mo in the back.

His arm seemed small and thin, but the force was enough to break the wind. Tang Mo didn’t dare be careless. He used the small parasol to block and was thrown back. On the other side, there was the sound of metal colliding.

Tang Mo stabilized his posture and watched in amazement.

He saw a dark metal weapon appear in the position where he had just been, blocking Pinocchio’s arm that tried to attack again. The two collided, causing metal sparks. Pinocchio took half a step back while Fu Wenduo was still.

The attack was blocked and Pinocchio’s expression changed. He clapped his hands and his body disappeared into the white world. In the blink of an eye, he appeared on Fu Wenduo’s left side. Fu Wenduo took the attack directly with his left hand and turned to attack.

Tang Mo reacted quickly. He no longer looked at Fu Wenduo and waved his small parasol, rejoining the fight.

Bang bang bang!

Pinocchio moved constantly, attacking Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo from all angles. But the two of them were physically strong. Tang Mo continued to use the small parasol to block Pinocchio’s attacks while Fu Wenduo attacked Pinocchio.

The three of them were very fast. They were shadows in this white world with their bodies not being seen. There was only the constant sound of collisions.

Zhao Wenbin and the old man fled in horror, fearing that the suddenly battle would spread to them. However, the area where they could move was limited to four grids. They could only stick to a corner of the grid to avoid the battle.

“His speed is slower!” Tang Mo cried out as he thrust his umbrella forward, the tip piercing Pinocchio’s hat.

Fu Wenduo appeared next to Pinocchio. “Together!”

“Good.”

Tang Mo opened the small parasol and looked at Pinocchio. Fu Wenduo aimed another blow to the left of Pinocchio and Pinocchio immediately disappeared to avoid the attack. Tang Mo’s eyes widened and he held his breath as he stared carefully at the place where Pinocchio disappeared. His pupils were magnified to the extremes as a vague shadow appeared on his retinas.

As if someone pressed the pause button, Fu Wenduo’s attacking action flashed in front of Tang Mo’s eyes frame by frame. The shadow could run very fast. When the black weapon was about to pierce Pinocchio’s head, Pinocchio stepped back, then turned around and ran to Fu Wenduo’s back in order to reverse the attack.

“I see you now.”

At this moment, Tang Mo swung his parasol. The pink parasol suddenly stopped in front of him. Pinocchio immediately changed directions and rushed to Tang Mo. Tang Mo’s speed with the small parasol wasn’t as fast as Pinocchio. He couldn’t pull the parasol back in time to protect himself Just as he was about to hit Tang Mo’s face, a black weapon was placed between Pinocchio and Tang Mo. In addition, a huge match suddenly appeared and aimed straight at Pinocchio’s face.

Pinocchio screamed as he was hit by the match and landed on the ground. He prepared to move again but Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo held one arm each, trapping him.

Pinocchio was pressed to the ground by the two players, unable to move. He cried out furiously, “What do you want to do? Do you want to violate the rules of the game? I am an important person in the Underground Kingdom. You won’t get out of the game this time!”

Pinocchio’s strength was great and he could teleport. But after the black tower announced that he was ‘deprived of his citizenship in the Underground Kingdom’, his teleport speed slowed down until it was visible to the naked eye. This change wasn’t obvious in the eyes of Zhao Wenbin and the old man. They still couldn’t see Pinocchio’s shadow. But Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo could gradually catch his figure.

In addition, Pinocchio’s strength had lowered. As time went by, be became slower and weaker. Thus, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo could capture him.

Whoosh!

Fu Wenduo waved his hand and the black triangular cone shaped weapon disappeared, returning to the original hand. Tang Mo glanced at the hand and Fu Wenduo said in a deep voice, “It is my ability.”

It was an active explanation.

Tang Mo returned the big match to the tattoo and replied, “This is also my ability.”

Both of them exposed their abilities. It was a tie. The match tattoo was actually just an ability that Tang Mo collected and it wasn’t his real ability. However, Tang Mo wasn’t sure what Fu Wenduo’s ability was. It was obvious that Fu Wenduo’s ability wasn’t just turning his hand into a weapon. The two people didn’t fully disclose it and were even.

Pinocchio was still roaring but his struggles were becoming weaker.

“Do you want to go against the Underground Kingdom and the black tower? You are out of your minds!”

Tang Mo spoke lightly. “Mr. Pinocchio, I must remind you that you have been deprived of your citizenship to the Underground Kingdom. At the same time, we are no longer playing Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game. It is Santa’s Honest Card Game. This game has nothing to do with you. If we imprison you…will it affect the game?”

Pinocchio had nothing to say to these words, he could only curse. “You are the dirtiest dogs in the Underground Kingdom! Even if your legs are cut off and you become gnomes in the circus, you will be despised by the audience…”

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t react to Pinocchio’s abuse. Fu Wenduo took out a fine silver rope. He said it was a rope but it was more like a long silver wire. He tied Pinocchio up with this rope. The strange thing was that Pinocchio couldn’t get rid of this rope. Every time he struggled, it got tighter and tighter.

This was a prop.

Tang Mo thought in his mind.

After handling Pinocchio, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo stood in the blank area, looking at each other.

At this moment, a white light was connected to their foreheads. This was the cue telling the players to duel.

Just now, Tang Mo played the slave card. After the two cards entered the blank area, Fu Wenduo’s card was broken.

It was Fu Wenduo’s king card.

The two cards were different and the king card disappeared, triggering the duel effect. The two players representing the card needed to duel.

Now Pinocchio was subdued and the game changed to Santa’s Honest Card Game. However, the light connected to their foreheads didn’t disappear. Tang Mo frowned slightly. He thought for a moment before putting his hand into his pocket, touching the white turkey egg.

He was just about to take out the turkey egg when he heard a snap.

The white light connecting the two people suddenly broke and a loud and cheerful voice was heard from a distant place.

“Hahahaha, Merry Christmas!”

The reindeer moved forward and the bells on the sleigh rang. Everyone turned to look at where the sound was heard. They saw Santa Claus in his red outfit, laughing as he came from far away. The four reindeer’s hooves moved across the ground, causing the ground to shake.

Santa Claus seemed to bring his own BGM with him as the sound of ‘Merry Christmas’ was heard in the surroundings. He laughed and pulled the reins, causing the reindeer sleigh to stop in front of the four players and Pinocchio. His huge body was like a mountain, creating a shadow that pressed on everyone’s heads. Santa might be laughing but the terrifying pressure caused Tang Mo to be tense.

This was an instance BOSS that was one level higher than Pinocchio.

Tang Mo gripped the small parasol as he looked at Santa Claus cautiously.

Santa’s sharp gaze swept over the four players present and fell on Pinocchio. Poor Pinocchio was tied up on the ground. Once he saw Santa Claus, he was so scared that his body was shaking. Despite being tied up, he squirmed and tried to escape.

“You sinister Pinocchio!” Santa Claus roared at Pinocchio. Santa Claus sat on the sleigh and said, “You dare to steal my golden star and open an instance alone. My poor children, they are good and honest children but they were deceived by you. Suppose that someone really won. Once the game is over, you would eat them!”

Zhao Wenbin paled at the words.

Tang Mo also didn’t think of this ending. He thought that Pinocchio would only eat the stowaways after the game. He didn’t expect that all the players would be eaten.

Santa opened the big bag full of gifts and aimed the bag at Pinocchio. Pinocchio screamed as he was sucked into the red bag.

Santa tied the bag with a rope. He patted the bulging bag and turned to look at the four players. He smiled, revealing a kindly expression. “Let me see. Children, you are fortunate. I made it in time and we can peacefully end this honest card game. Christmas is here and this is the Christmas gift I prepared for you. Fortunately, I can give it to you guys again.”

Tang Mo looked at the smiling Santa and thought for a moment. “Santa, may I ask if you made a bet with Pinocchio?”

Once he heard these words, anger appeared on Santa’s face. “This damn Pinocchio, he is the worst villain. On Christmas Eve, he asked me out for a drink. He heard that I was going to give gifts to the good children on Christmas Eve. He lied and made a bet with me. When I was drink, he stole my precious gold star.”

“When Pinocchio lies, his nose grows longer.” Fu Wenduo said.

Santa Claus nodded. “Yes, his nose really grows longer. But when I made the bet with him, his nose never grew longer. He was telling the truth. There are too many children to give gifts to. I really needed Pinocchio to help me play games with the children. I didn’t think that during a peaceful and honest card game, he would make children dishonest and gamble with him. I never thought he would actually steal the golden star and used it as a gift for winning the game!”

Tang Mo immediately understood. “The gold star isn’t a reward for the team who wins the game?”

“Of course not. I only have 10 of these golden stars. How can I give them to good children all over the world?” Santa waved his right hand. The golden star suspended in mid-air flew towards him and disappeared into his sleeve. “As long as every child participates in the game, I will give them a Christmas tree branch. You see, this is the branch. This is my Christmas present for every child.”

Tang Mo looked at the branch in Santa’s hand and took out his own branch from his bag. Like him, everyone took out the tree branch that they got when entering the instance.

Tang Mo felt a bit helpless and funny as he looked at this plain branch.

They got the real reward from the beginning.

Santa Claus laughed. “Haha, don’t worry about this abominable Pinocchio. He is no longer a citizen of the Underground Kingdom. I have banished him to the Monster World. I believe the monsters there will love him. Everyone, let’s get on with the game. Once the game is over, you can get a gift from Santa Claus.

“Ding dong! The Christmas Eve surprise instance ‘Santa’s Honest Card Game’ has officially began. The rules of the game—”

“First, each team has four cards…’

……

“Five. Once the card is played, the player behind the card is shown but the players of the other party can’t see the contents of the card.

……

“Six. A team that doesn’t have a card is considered to be a failure.”

“The gifts from Santa Claus are always very stingy. Only a tree branch comes out. But don’t be discouraged. This might be an extraordinary branch. After all, it is called Santa Claus’ Branch.”

Santa’s Honest Card Game was different from Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game. There were only six rules. The rule of different cards triggering the duel field was deleted, as well as the rules of Pinocchio not knowing the contents of the cards and the privilege of the queen card. Without a duel, there was no need to worry about one party being superior to each other and the queen card’s privilege wasn’t needed.

This was a symbolic game where players were free to get a gift after the game.

Santa Claus sat on the sled and smiled. “Come on my children. Play this warm and honest card game with Santa Claus and let’s spend a beautiful Christmas together. Merry Christmas!”

The game started again. Tang Mo walked back to the grid and the white wall gradually fell. As the wall blocked the front of them, Tang Mo looked up at the man in black standing opposite him. Fu Wenduo smiled slightly and Tang Mo’s lips slowly curved.

The wall completely fell and Tang Mo relaxed.

…He couldn’t get the king’s gold coin but this ending might be the best.

Once he heard the rules of the game announced by the black tower, Tang Mo noticed that Pinocchio was written into the rules. Out of all the games he played, this was the first time that the instance BOSS was written into the rules of the game.

From the first game of ‘Who stole my book’ to today’s honest card game, Tang Mo had participated in eight games. There had been no game rules involving the BOSS. It was only Pinocchio.

Tang Mo didn’t have doubts about Pinocchio because of this.

He actually got the idea of ‘eliminating Pinocchio first’ before the second round. In the first game, Tang Mo’s minister card was crushed by Fu Wenduo’s king card. Before the white wall fell, he tried to get the advantage in the next game as much as possible by telling Fu Wenduo he would play the queen card. When the next round was played, Pinocchio asked curiously if he really played the queen card. Once Tang Mo planned to tell him, Pinocchio became really resistant, as if he was afraid of something.

Pinocchio feared that Tang Mo would say he played the queen card and the black tower would decide he learned the card content. Pinocchio didn’t admit it but if Tang Mo told him, the black tower might indeed determine that he knew the contents of the card. Pinocchio was afraid that the black tower would decide that he violated the rules.

Thus, after seeing this scene, Tang Mo had a bold idea.

Since Pinocchio was written into the rules of the black tower and Pinocchio violated the rules…what would the black tower do?

There were four types of final outcomes in this game. Tang Mo’s team won, Fu Wenduo’s team won, the two sides ended the game peacefully, or Pinocchio eating the players after the game ended.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t have much contact but he knew this man was thoughtful. He would think of Pinocchio’s words, ‘How can the Christmas game kill people’. This could mean that as long as the game was over, Pinocchio could kill people. Fu Wenduo would also think of this.

Tang Mo was an official player and the monsters in the game instances were mostly not interested in him. But Fu Wenduo was different. He was a stowaway.

Pinocchio had been shown to covet stowaways. If Fu Wenduo really won this game… would Pinocchio keep the promise and let him go? Or would he bite Fu Wenduo’s body before releasing him.

You are reading story The Earth is Online at novel35.com

No one knew.

The king’s gold coin was a big temptation and Fu Wenduo wouldn’t give up easily. Tang Mo first used the privilege of the queen card to determine Fu Wenduo’s attitude. He determined that Fu Wenduo wasn’t obstinate about getting the king’s gold coin. After that, he used the bet to begin a partnership to eliminate Pinocchio.

“Making him believe was really difficult…”

Tang Mo couldn’t help feeling this.

Zhao Wenbin realized a lot after Santa appeared. It seemed that his life was saved. At this moment, he heard Tang Mo’s words. He thought for a moment before saying, “To tell you the truth, I was scared to death when you rushed out to fight Pinocchio. That…if possible, we are teammates so can’t you tell me your plans in advance?”

Tang Mo replied, “Pinocchio can hear our every word and sentence.”

Zhao Wenbin realized. “Ah yes. Pinocchio was lying on the wall listening to us.” He thought again. “But this game seems to be over and we won’t be teammates anymore…”

Tang Mo didn’t answer him.

In this cooperation, the hardest thing was making Pinocchio relax his vigilance in order to do something that would violate the rules. To this end, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo took part in a play, leading Pinocchio step by step into a seemingly simple but effective trap.

The beginning of the cooperation was the bet. At that time, Tang Mo kept reminding Fu Wenduo—

[Pinocchio can’t know the card contents.]

He repeated this reminder over and over. Fu Wenduo didn’t let him down. Fu Wenduo realized his meaning and agreed to the bet. In fact, he didn’t agree to the bet but to this cooperation.

Tang Mo was worried that Pinocchio would find something strange. He didn’t dare communicate with Fu Wenduo in any way to determine which grid the two of them should stand in. This bet was the stepping stone for the next series of acting. Tang Mo had to win this bet in order to cooperate and swindle Pinocchio.

Tang Mo immediately thought of using the turkey egg to speak to Fu Wenduo.

There were two ways to use the turkey egg. One was a normal call. The player could contact the other person by knocking three times on the turkey egg. However, their voice would be heard by everyone around them. The other was to open the archiver. Once the archiver was turned on, their voices would be heard in the other person’s mind.

Once Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo accepted the bet, Pinocchio was standing next to them and staring too deeply. Tang Mo had no chance to open the archiver. After the wall went down, he drew a ‘S’ on the turkey egg when Pinocchio wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear anything.

At first, Tang Mo thought that the turkey egg couldn’t be used but soon the turkey egg flashed brightly.

Fu Wenduo also opened the archiver.

He still couldn’t hear Fu Wenduo’s voice but the archiver was already open.

The probability of Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo standing on the same grid was only a quarter. He pondered for a moment and then stood in the middle of two squares. He believed that the other side would be able to guess his thoughts and choose the most likely method to win.

Sure enough, the white wall rose and both of them were standing on the line between grids. The best was established.

Once the white wall rose, Tang Mo could hear Fu Wenduo’s voice. He couldn’t hear a sound when the wall was down but could freely communicate once it rose. Presumably, the rules of the game blocked any communicate between both sides. As long as the wall was down, it was impossible to communicate even through the turkey egg.

Being able to communicate with Fu Wenduo under the eyes of Pinocchio made the game even easier. But even without the private communication between turkey eggs, his tacit understanding with that person seemed to be too high. Sometimes he just needed to look in the other’s eyes to understand Fu Wenduo’s meaning.

…Was it because he was too smart?

Tang Mo could only think of this narcissistic reason. It seemed that only this reason was valid.

“Ding dong! After three minutes, all players are asked to stand in the grid of a card. The card in the grid will be the card shown in the next game.”

The game prompt sounded and Tang Mo’s hands were in his pocket. He touched the turkey egg in his pocket and walked to the queen card.

This time, he didn’t use any suppression and Zhao Wenbin also went to the queen card.

Zhao Wenbin said, “All the rewards are the same. Of course, it would be good if it is a draw. We choose the queen card, they choose the slave card and our queen card will be beaten. Next time, we will play the slave card together so that the game can end peacefully.”

Zhao Wenbin’s voice was very light. He hadn’t dared talk to Tang Mo when he thought Tang Mo was a stowaway.

The white wall slowly rose. The slave and queen card slid into the blank area, with the queen card breaking. This time the duel effect didn’t trigger. Only Santa Claus laughed and sent a blessing. “Hahaha, that’s it. The children are doing well!”

After laughing, Santa suddenly took a pocket watch out. “Oh children, I have to rush to the next instance. I heard that the hateful painter deceived me and actually wanted to harm my lovely children. Let’s hurry with the final round and end this honest card game.”

The white wall fell and Zhao Wenbin stood on the last slave card.

Five minutes later, the two slave cards turned into light and disappeared. The two teams lost their last cards at the same time and the game officially ended. Santa laughed as he pulled the reins and flew around the white world.

“Hahahaha, Merry Christmas! Hahaha…”

The red Santa Claus driving the reindeer sleigh quickly disappeared from the white world. At this time, Tang Mo was finally free to walk out of the grid area.

The old man seemed afraid of Fu Wenduo and didn’t dare approach. Zhao Wenbin also stood still and didn’t dare move, waiting for the instance to end.

Once Santa Claus left, Tang Mo’s grip on the small parasol released. Once he put the small parasol back in his bag and looked up, he found that Fu Wenduo was standing on the grid and smiling at him.

Tang Mo’s foot lifted a bit. He only took a step before pausing.

He didn’t go forward and contact Fu Wenduo. The two people looked at each other from a distance.

After a long time, Tang Mo said, “Mr. Fu, happy cooperation.”

“Happy cooperation.”

“I rarely celebrate Christmas.” Tang Mo carried his bag and spoke calmly. “But I think this is the worst Christmas celebration I’ve ever experienced.”

Fu Wenduo replied in a deep voice. “For me, it was a very interesting Christmas.”

Tang Mo heard the words and stared at him.

For a moment, the two of them laughed together.

Tang Mo stated, “I am in Pudong.”

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow and said quickly, “Good. We are destined to see each other again.”

The dazzling white light flashed in the centre of the white world. Tang Mo gradually couldn’t see Fu Wenduo’s expression, he only saw a figure in black. It was like when he first saw this man. No matter what, the man would forever stand upright, like a strong mountain. He wouldn’t waver.

“This standing posture is from special training…” In the white light, Tang Mo closed his eyes and whispered to himself. “What type of person is he?”

The white light swallowed the four people. The next moment, Tang Mo opened his eyes and was back on Earth.

It was Christmas Eve and the sky was dark. Tang Mo left the instance and immediately ran into a factory to hide. Tang Mo pulled the turkey egg out of his pocket. On the shell of the turkey egg, the ‘S’ character was still shining. Tang Mo covered the turkey egg with both hands. The white light gradually disappeared and the archiver was closed.

“I didn’t get any rewards but I wasted an archiving opportunity.” Tang Mo smiled wryly.

Using the archiver in the game was a last resort but it must be done. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo made the decision to make Pinocchio violate the rules of the game. But no one knew what would happen if Pinocchio was eliminated, so he could only use the archiver. Assuming that Pinocchio didn’t relax his vigilance and was judged to be in violation of the rules by the black tower, they would read the archiver and return to the beginning. This was an escape route.

Tang Mo muttered, “When I am in the same instance as him, if one of us uses the archiver then it will judge that both of us are using it and the files will synchronize. In other words, if I really become hostile to him in the future, even if he agrees to use the archiver, he will also load the save file.”

Tang Mo’s fingers tapped on the turkey egg. Every time he knocked on it two times, he would pause on the third one, stopping the three consecutive taps from connecting to Tang Mo.

After thinking for a long time, Tang Mo stopped tapping on the turkey egg and concluded. “Don’t enter an instance with him again. At least, I can’t have a hostile relationship with him.” On the one hand, the use of the turkey egg was too restrictive. On the other hand, I don’t want to be hostile to Fu Wenduo. If we play again, I don’t know who will win…”

This time, Tang Mo saw Fu Wenduo’s ability while Fu Wenduo just saw the tip of Tang Mo’s ability. However, Tang Mo’s possession of the king’s gold coin was discovered by Fu Wenduo.

Tang Mo’s face was expressionless as he came to a conclusion. “I lost.”

A loss!

After remembering all the actions in the game, Tang Mo lay on a bed in the factory’s office and took out the Christmas tree branch.

The cold moonlight shone through the window and onto his face as Tang Mo carefully observed the branch.

The branch was narrow and there were no leaves. It seemed to be an ordinary leaf. For the sake of this branch, the eight players participated in Pinocchio’s Honest Card Game. One player was killed and three people entered the tower attack game, where life and death were unknown.

In addition, there were many people in other instances going through a variety of games for this branch.

Tang Mo gazed at the branch for a long time before putting it back in his backpack. With his current physical fitness, he felt full of energy when he slept once a week. Thus, he closed his eyes and thought about other things. Time passed by. Tang Mo thought of the phrase ‘I am in Pudong’ that he blurted out in the instance and slowly opened his eyes.

“I will go to Attack tomorrow and see what happened to Chen Shanshan.”

He wouldn’t return to Suzhou for the time being.

China was quiet. Many players who left the Christmas instance were holding their tree branches and finding a place to hide.

At exactly midnight, a dazzling light shot out from Tang Mo’s backpack.

Tang Mo immediately opened his eyes and looked at his bag. He saw something long shining in his bag. The light penetrated through the canvas bag and illuminated the whole room. Tang Mo’s heart thumped. He carefully opened the backpack and was ready to reply.

He opened the backpack and the glowing Christmas tree branch flew out. Tang Mo reacted very quickly. He reached out and grabbed the branch. But he only grabbed empty air. The branch had completely turned to light, flying out the window and into the air.

Tang Mo walked to the window and looked up at the sky.

In the dark night sky, tens of thousands of white lights flew from all corners of China, flying together in the high sky. The branches connected together in the sky, forming a Christmas tree.

The huge Christmas tree made of light occupied a vast area, spanning most of China. It shone brightly, turning the night into day. The moment the light shone to the extreme and everyone couldn’t look at it with the naked eye, loud laughter could be heard.

“Haha, my lovely children, Merry Christmas!”

Boom!

The Merry Christmas song rang over the city as a giant Santa Claus in a sleight appeared behind the Christmas tree. The four reindeers ran forward and smashed through the Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree turned into thousands of points of light and flew to the ground. One of the star-like spots flew straight to Tang Mo. Tang Mo stretched out a hand and the small light suspended over it.

On Tang Mo’s palm, this small light shone brilliantly. Tang Mo closed his eyes as the white light enveloped his body. Five minutes later, he opened his eyes and the light on his palm disappeared.

Santa Claus laughed boldly as he pulled the reindeer sleigh and flew through the distant sky.

Tang Mo formed a fist and moved his wrists. He felt that his body had become lighter and his muscles filled with strength. This little point of light improved Tang Mo’s physical quality. His physical fitness was better than other players. He was in the lead among the official players and stowaways. Therefore, the improvement from this light wasn’t too obvious for him. But this upgrade would be very scary for other players.

Christmas Eve was over.

It turned out that this was the real Christmas gift.

Tang Mo smiled helplessly. He left the window, intended to rest again.

In the sky, the many lights had found their own destination, bringing the Christmas gift to every player who survived the game.

But the moment Tang Mo turned around, above the cheerful background music of the Merry Christmas song, a clear child’s voice was heard.

“Ding dong! Version update notification. January 1, 2018, the Black Tower version 2.0 will come online. Please familiarize yourselves with the new version rules as soon as possible. The new version game rules…”

Tang Mo turned his head and his eyes widened. He stared at the giant black tower suspended in the centre of Shanghai.

The dark tower flashed with a colourful light, just like the day it announced that the earth was online. The Merry Christmas song was still playing. The voice didn’t stop as it continued to speak the new version of the game rules.