The Earth is Online - Chapter 189

Chapter 189

On the sixth grid, a layer of red light quickly rose from the ground, separating the room from the other rooms.

Bai Ruoyao hadn’t expected such a thing to happen and showed a rare startled expression. The other two groups of players also looked over. Bai Ruoyao soon calmed down and touched his chin.

“Um… fighting big stage?”

Santa corrected him. “It is the lucky stage for fighting. Santa Claus knows that children don’t like single-player games and they have to play with other children to be truly happy. So my lovely child, who do you want to choose as your opponent? I’m really looking forward to it.”

Bai Ruoyao asked, “Can I only choose from the three of them?” He pointed to Tang Mo’s group of three.

Santa Claus lamented, “It seems that you want to play with other children but I must regret to tell you that you can only choose from these three children. Santa’s game is the most democratic and I will never force the children. This is my only restriction on you. You can’t choose from the other two groups of players. However, the right to choose is still in your hands. Come child, tell me the person you want to pick.”

Bai Ruoyao’s eyes brushed over Tang Mo’s body and it couldn’t be ignored.

Tang Mo raised his head and stared coldly at the baby-faced youth.

The two men looked at each other across the distance of five rooms. Bai Ruoyao smiled slightly while Tang Mo’s expression was calm and unmoved.

The other two groups could hear the words of Santa and the black tower, although they couldn’t hear Bai Ruoyao. They were warily watching what happened with Tang Mo’s group.

This stage only allowed props and not abilities, which wasn’t good for Tang Mo.

Fu Wensheng was a bit worried., “I hope Brother Tang doesn’t have an accident. That psychopath is really powerful and Brother Tang said that Bai Ruoyao’s close combat skills are outstanding. He might not be Bai Ruoyao’s opponent.”

Chen Shanshan calmly a.n.a.lyzed. “Bai Ruoyao’s lucky die is the number 6 and Brother Tang has the number 1.  If he wins, he could choose to change or not change points with Tang Mo. However, if Brother Tang wins then Brother Tang can get 6 points. Normal people won’t choose Brother Tang to eliminate the uncertainties.” However, Bai Ruoyao wasn’t a normal person.

Fu Wensheng told her, “Why do I think that he will choose Brother Tang? None of us can understand that psychopath’s thoughts…”

Yes, anyone who triggered the ‘lucky fighting stage’ wouldn’t choose a player with a number lower than them.

Tang Mo’s lucky die was number 1 and Bai Ruoyao was number 6.  Even if Bai Ruoyao won, he wouldn’t get anything. On the contrary, if he lost then he would change dice with Tang Mo and get the number 1 die. Anyone with a IQ could easily make a decision. Bai Ruoyao had a high IQ but he liked to do things that harmed others.

Chen Shanshan and Fu Wensheng had a deep understanding of this point.

Bai Ruoyao smiled and touched his chin, his deep eyes focused on Tang Mo. He was just about to speak when a steady male voice caught Santa’s attention, “The black tower said that violence is forbidden in this game. Isn’t fighting violence?”

Santa froze and touched his head. “Yes, the black tower prohibits violence…”

As if realizing this problem, Santa thought for a long time before laughing. “You are so thoughtful but how could the great Santa Claus not think of this matter?” Santa clearly hadn’t noticed but now he pretended to be aware of it. “You have to unite with love so of course this isn’t a fight. It is just a discussion. Friends.h.i.+p first and the game second. You naturally can’t kill each other. Santa hates dishonest children the most, followed by children who kill. Thus, you can’t kill each other!”

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow. “In the duel, you can hurt people but can’t kill them?”

Santa nodded. “Yes, you can’t kill.”

Bai Ruoyao’s eyes drooped like he lost interest and he asked in a bored manner, “What if I want to kill someone?”

Santa Claus replied, “Then Santa will act first to stop you.”
Bai Ruoyao’s eyes brightened. “What is act first?”

Santa showed a kind smile. “It is to stop you with the fastest speed.

Everyone was silent.

What was the fastest speed?

Santa Claus’s power was unfathomable. If he really wanted to stop a player from killing then he could do it. On the other hand, would he really try his best to stop it?

Santa Claus was a boss closer to players and he wouldn’t act as crazy as Grandmother Wolf. He also wouldn’t be as disgusted with players as Schrodinger and constantly look for an opportunity to kill players. He stayed out of it, seemingly friendly to players. However, he didn’t really protect the players.

Every player who died in the hopscotch game revealed the true face of this black tower monster.

He was approachable but he was also a black tower boss.

No one knows how fast Santa Claus would act if Bai Ruoyao really wanted to kill his opponent. The players stared at Santa with watchful eyes and had a deeper understanding of this white-bearded old man.

Santa seemed to feel this naked suspicion and coughed, deciding to redeem his image. “Children who kill other people are bad children. Santa will certainly punish them.”

Tang Mo asked, “What is the punishment?”

Santa Claus was tongue-tied and couldn’t speak for a long time. “I will drive all the bad children out of my candy house and they aren’t allowed to enter again!”

Everyone, “…”

What type of punishment was this?

Santa muttered, “…Then I will never give him a Christmas present again?”

This punishment was so stupid that Mu Huixue laughed loudly. She didn’t seem afraid that Santa Claus would kill her and the other players watched her.

Santa Claus’ smile slowly disappeared as he spoke in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “Bad children, there must be a punishment.” The tone of this sentence was completely different from before, making all players stare at Santa Claus. At this point, Santa returned to normal and smiled at Bai Ruoyao. “Yes my lovely child, you haven’t chosen your opponent. You have to remember that you can’t kill people and have to play a good game.”

Tang Mo was ready to be chosen. He saw the baby-faced youth starting at him. Bai Ruoyao made a malicious smile and then his right hand pointed.

“I choose her.”

The young woman’s body froze. “Me…?!”

Bai Ruoyao nodded. “Yes, it’s you.”

Thanks to Santa’s urging, the young woman went to the sixth grid with a pale face. Her body was shaking. She knew her strength the best and she couldn’t beat Bai Ruoyao. It was easy for Bai Ruoyao to kill her if he wanted. Sweat rolled down her forehead and she wanted to question this baby-faced youth. He was clearly enemies with that man (Tang Mo) so why choose her? It was better to choose the enemy and kill him!  Santa didn’t say that he would kill bad children.

Bai Ruoyao threw the die into the air and caught it. He turned around and saw the young woman staring at him with red eyes. He smiled and asked, “Do I look stupid?”

The young woman froze. “What?”

Bai Ruoyao laughed. “I won’t get anything if I beat Tang Tang. He is so lucky and his die is only number 1. I’m not a fool. Why would I choose him? Hehehe… of course I choose you.”

The young woman’s question was answered.

They couldn’t hear the other group’s words but Mu Huixue and Chen Shanshan guessed what Bai Ruoyao was saying. Mu Huixue smiled disdainfully. “He is obviously afraid of death. It is really nice.’

Chen Shanshan quietly watched Mu Huixue.

The young woman stepped onto the sixth grid and two red socks suddenly appeared.

Santa Claus explained. “Put your die in and the fight will officially begin. Whoever wins will be qualified to choose socks first.”

Bai Ruoyao stepped forward and looked at the two socks curiously. He unexpectedly even went to smell them. “No smell?” He was bored and threw the die into the sock. Then he turned back and made a gesture across his throat, clearing provoking the young woman.

The young woman gritted her teeth and slowly walked up to throw her die into the sock. Her die had fallen into the sock and Bai Ruoyao was still turning to walk to his spot. Then the young woman suddenly exploded. She snapped and took a silver knife out of her pocket.

A burst of white light emerged from the silver knife, illuminating the entire candy house. No one expected the young woman who looked scared to take such decisive behaviour and take the initiative to attack. The bizarre silver knife was about to stab into the back of Bai Ruoyao’s head when the young woman cried out fearfully, “No!”

She thought she was going to kill Bai Ruoyao and would then be punished by Santa Claus.

In a lightning fast manner, Bai Ruoyao dodged to the side and avoided the knife. The knife moved in a small circle and shot towards his eyes. Bai Ruoyao said with a smile, “Hey, this thing is a bit familiar.” The knife would track the target, which was a bit similar to Tang Mo’s checkmate ability.

Bai Ruoyao’s wrist twisted and a silver b.u.t.terfly knife appeared in his right hand.

The silver b.u.t.terfly knife danced in a beautiful manner through the air at a fast speed. There was a loud sound and the silver knife was cut into two pieces by the b.u.t.terfly knife. Bai Ruoyao didn’t stop. His right foot twisted as his body shot like a rocket towards the young woman.

The woman was so frightened that she had no blood left in her face. She pulled out many white flowers from her pocket and threw them. The white flowers fell on the ground and exploded, limiting Bai Ruoyao’s movements. However, the strength gap couldn’t be made up by several excellent quality props. The b.u.t.terfly knife moved like a death sickle and was placed against the woman’s neck.

The cold breath of death suffocated the young woman and she didn’t dare to breathe. The knife would easily slit her neck if she moved.

The smoke formed from the white flowers exploding slowly dissipated and the baby-faced youth revealed a bright smile.

“I won.”

Then Bai Ruoyao placed the b.u.t.terfly knives back into his sleeve.

The young woman collapsed on the ground. “I…I admit defeat.”

This one-sided victory made Santa very dissatisfied. It really wasn’t wonderful. He watched as Bai Ruoyao walked over to one of the Christmas socks and took a die. Then the woman got up and walked back to the starting point. Halfway there, Bai Ruoyao said, “I didn’t intend to fight, hehe. We are both number 6. You just needed to concede defeat and it doesn’t matter. I didn’t think you were a bad woman who actually wanted to hit me…”

The young woman’s head jerked and she stared at Bai Ruoyao.

“You clearly made a gesture that said you were going to kill me…”

Bai Ruoyao blinked. “I didn’t say it.”

“You…!”

Tang Mo stood at the starting point and watched the scene from afar. Then he turned his head to Fu Wenduo and said something. Fu Wenduo couldn’t hear any sound but he nodded and also said something back.

“Psychopath.”

There was only a wrong name and no wrong nickname.

Bai Ruoyao was obviously afraid of death but he liked all types of death.

Bai Ruoyao took his die and was ready to begin the game again. This time, he was jumping back from the sixth grid when he triggered a strawberry ice cream tornado attack in the third grid. Bai Ruoyao yelled, “I hate strawberries the most.” Then he accidentally stepped on the line of the grid and lost the game. His turn was handed to Ning Zheng.

In the other two groups, the players also reached the sixth grid. As a male player reached the sixth grid, the black tower’s voice was heard again.

“Ding dong! The player Li Jue has successfully triggered the ‘Lucky Fighting Stage.’ Please select any players to go up to the stage and fight…”

The sixth grid was the trigger for the fighting stage!

The man was stunned before his spirit returned. He excitedly pointed to a young woman in his group. The girl’s face changed in an instant.

This was Fu Wenduo’s group. The woman had a 4 and the man had a 3. This girl clearly had the worst physical fitness in the group. Even if props could be used, the man would win as long as there weren’t any surprises.

Sure enough, the girl surrendered quickly after hurting an arm. The player called Li Jue took her die and excitedly continued the game.

Santa groups the numbers 3 and 4 together, the numbers 1 and 6 together and the numbers 2 and 5 together. The first group had relatively similar points and the players didn’t go too crazy. The other two groups had a big difference in points. Once an opportunity to change dice appeared in front of then, most players who believed in their strength would never give up the opportunity.

At this point, the weak female players and the children became targets.

Fu Wensheng was nervous. He was only since he had 2 points. No one would choose him to duel apart from players with the same points. Chen Shanshan was different. There was no Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo to protect Chen Shanshan and Fu Wensheng couldn’t do anything.

Fu Wensheng was worried. “Sister Shanshan, you have the number 5. They will…”

Chen Shanshan patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

Xiao Fu couldn’t feel rea.s.sured.

He had learnt from Tang Mo that Chen Shanshan could never increase her physical fitness because of her ability. She was born with a disadvantage in fighting. As a man, he couldn’t protect Chen Shanshan. Tang Mo and his brother might have a way to deter other players but he couldn’t.

The child was thinking about it when a female voice was heard in the distance. “I choose her.”

Fu Wensheng looked up and saw a short-haired woman staring viciously at Chen Shanshan, the greed in her eyes not hidden. Chen Shanshan unexpectedly didn’t panic. The short-haired woman had two scars on her face and thin muscles. She was obviously a ruthless person. Chen Shanshan just walked calmly to the sixth grid and went to the sock to put in her die.

Before putting it in, she raised her head and asked, “Santa Claus, can I abstain from the fight?”

Santa was startled. “Eh?”

Chen Shanshan repeated, “Can I abstain or concede defeat?”

Santa Claus couldn’t react for a moment before he replied, “Yes.”

Chen Shanshan nodded and threw the die into the sock. The next moment, she turned to the woman and declared, “I admit defeat.”

The short-haired woman, “…”

Santa Claus, “…”

Chen Shanshan directly reached out to grab the woman’s die, leaving her die for the woman.

The short-haired woman cried out, “Wait, you… are you admitting defeat?”

Chen Shanshan explained, “Santa Claus said that I can concede defeat. I can’t beat you so I gave up.” She added, “Or are you saying you don’t want my die? Do you want your original die? This is what I did on my own. I can change it with you again.

The short-haired woman felt like she was punching cotton and couldn’t do anything. She took Chen Shanshan’s die while muttering, “What a calm child.” Then she continued her game.

Giving up decisively without dragging things out.

This small girl was calmer than the players had thought. She knew that she wasn’t strong enough and couldn’t win. She didn’t fight and directly admitted defeat. Normal players wouldn’t risk being punished by Santa Claus to kill her. She wouldn’t be in danger yet she didn’t try at all. She was either timid to the extreme or calm to the extreme.

Now Chen Shanshan and Fu Wensheng had 2 points. Players wouldn’t specifically invite them to duel.

Fu Wensheng could understand Chen Shanshan’s thoughts but he wouldn’t be as decisive as the other person.

After a while, Fu Wensheng couldn’t help whispering, “Shanshan, we only have 2 points right now. Won’t the number on the lucky die affect the punishments that are triggered?”

Yes, one hour pa.s.sed since the game started and the players discovered that the lucky die wasn’t just for being used as a stone. The number on the lucky die affected the dangers that players might encounter.

Bai Ruoyao had the number 6 so he was lucky enough to reach the fifth grid before triggering a punishment. The first middle-aged man who died in the candy house, he only had a 1 and was more unlucky. He only played to the second grid before triggering a punishment.

It was the same for other players.

The larger the number on the die, the fewer punishments that were triggered. The smaller the number of points, the more frequent the punishments appeared.

Chen Shanshan changed her die from a 5 to a 2 and was no longer a target. However, once she started to play, she was more likely to encounter danger. In addition, the lucky die was a chance to permanently enhance the player’s luck. Santa Claus gave it as a gift and it was what all players wanted.

Chen Shanshan replied, “If you want to improve your luck then the premise is that you have to live.”

Fu Wensheng was stunned and soon understood Chen Shanshan’s meaning. “Sister Shanshan, you mean… many people are going to die?”

Then he heard a pained scream. Fu Wensheng looked up and saw that a young man had stepped onto the fourth grid, instantly triggering the punishment of the chocolate beans ocean. The calm chocolate beans suddenly became a three metre high wave that slammed down on the man. The man couldn’t even be seen as he was immersed in thousands of chocolate beans and drowned.

Santa Claus smiled and spoke regretfully, “Child, why did you try to steal my chocolate beans?  If you are honest then you probably wouldn’t have died.”

The angry group didn’t dare speak.

Chen Shanshan calmly watched Santa sitting in the ninth room and then a tall figure appeared in her field of view. She turned and saw Mu Huixue standing at the starting point. Mu Huixue bent down and started pressing her legs. She did some warm-up moves while the rest of the group looked at her strangely.

Chen Shanshan knew that among their group of players, the most powerful one was the woman in black doing the warm-up exercises.

After doing a whole set, Mu Huixue crouched on the ground in the starting position.

“Ah right, I have to throw the dice into the grid I want?”

Her wrist moved slightly and a white die moved in a beautiful arc through the air, landing on the first room. The next second, black lightning appeared. The dice had just fallen to the ground when it was firmly grabbed by a pair of hands. By the time the group saw it again, she had returned to the starting point.

Many players had already played the first two grids and they didn’t pose any threat to her but she didn’t show the slightest bit of contempt.

Mu Huixue’s lips curved as she raised her right hand and the die fell into the second grid.

Then it was the third, fourth, fifth, sixth…

Her movements were like flowing water with no extra moments. She simply flew into the next room. The punishment was triggered in the middle but the raging chocolate beans couldn’t touch her when she had already reached the next room.

Finally, Mu Huixue arrived in the sixth room.

Mu Huixue turned towards Santa. “I really can’t choose from other groups of players?”

Santa nodded. “Of course not my child. Otherwise what would be the point of grouping?”

Mu Huixue smiled regretfully and raised her finger. “Then I choose her.”

Chen Shanshan frowned while Mu Huixue waved at her.

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