Chapter 31
“Remember the time. If I don’t see the golden hamster when I come back seven days later, you will be my dinner!”
Grandmother Wolf spoke angrily, held the small parasol, wore a little hat and turned around to leave. Her violent closing of the door caused the whole house to tremble. Tang Mo picked up the pink jar that had been placed on the table and watched her leave coldly. He ran to the window to make sure that Grandmother Wolf was walking down the mountain road before sitting down on the sofa.
He put the pink jar on the coffee table and checked the time.
“It is 12.30 on the first day.” It was the same 24 hours a day. Then according to the time he entered the instance, it should be December 1st. Tang Mo looked down at the mouth of the pink jar and didn’t see anything.
Grandmother Wolf had left so Tang Mo couldn’t be wary of her. He started to think carefully about this game.
He carefully examined the eight rules that the black tower introduced. If he followed the rules of the game and placed food in the same hole that he stood at everyday, the probability of catching the golden hamster was 0.999808.
“My luck shouldn’t be that bad…”
Tang Mo’s mouth said so, but his expression wasn’t relaxed at all. He didn’t believe that the tower attack game on the first floor of the black tower would be so simple. There was no need to fight with monsters and there also wasn’t a need to do much guessing or reasoning. Just catch a hamster with luck and it would be cleared. The probably of success was even as high as 0.99.
He had to see the traps.
Tang Mo touched the jar. “Is it related to the 40% chance of the golden hamster appearing on the first day…?”
The jar certainly couldn’t give him an answer.
Tang Mo decided to use the jar to obtain the food for the hamster. The first thing he thought about was the hair of the underground person left on Grandmother Wolf’s sofa. He took out a strand of hair and placed it in the jar. The jar had no reaction. Tang Mo thought about it and threw in a whole bunch of hair.
A minute later, the pink jar radiated a colourful glow. Tang Mo stared carefully as this light shone for a full three minutes. The light disappeared and the jar became all black. Tang Mo frowned and planned to see what was going on. At this time, a stench came from the mouth of the jar.
Bang!
A black lump hit Tang Mo’s head and the terrible smell almost made Tang Mo faint. He waited a moment before picking up the object thrown into his lap.
“…Like a burnt sweet potato?”
A line of fine print appeared on the pink jar–
[ The rotten hair of an underground human, bah!]
Tang Mo, “…”
Since this bunch of hair couldn’t be exchanged for hamster food, Tang Mo stood up and looked around Grandmother Wolf’s house. Tang Mo walked up to the fireplace and looked at the human head hanging on the wall. Tang Mo used a knife to cut some hair from the head of the underground person and threw it into the jar.
This time, the jar also flashed with a strange light and became black again, throwing out a black object that wasn’t as stinky.
[A dying man’s hair, yuckkk!]
Tang Mo, “…”
In Grandmother Wolf’s cabin, these were the only two things belonging to an underground person. Tang Mo wasn’t an underground person, he was a player. His things wouldn’t turn into food if placed in the jar. He pondered for a moment, took out a ruby from his pocket, held it high above his head, and put Mario’s hat on.
Due to the stench of the two precious sweet potatoes, Tang Mo was accustomed to the smell of Mario’s hat. He ran straight towards the fireplace and once his head hit the wall, a dirty and smelly boot fell from the air.
Tang Mo rubbed his head, picked up the boot and threw it into the jar. After a moment, a golden sweet potato flew from the jar and hit Tang Mo’s leg.
【The boots of a textile worker with Athlete’s foot.】
Finally, he got some food.
Mario’s hat could be used three times a day. Tang Mo had used it once. He pondered for a long time and didn’t take off the hat. Then he slammed against the wall two more times. A thin advertisement dropped the first time and an old pocket watch the next time.
Tang Mo picked up the advertisement first and read the words aloud, “The night of the Strange Circus. Three rare treasures that will show the Underground Kingdom. A wonderful world that you have never seen before. The great circus leader and its members are waiting. Your arrival…”
“Circus.” Tang Mo read the words again. He thought of the big and disgusting earthworm.
It was likely that this circus was the same circus in the ‘Kill Bill’ instance.
Tang Mo put this matter behind him and picked up the pocket watch. The instant his hands touched the pocket watch, lines of words appeared on it. Tang Mo quickly picked up the pocket watch and looked at the words from above.
[Prop: The Invisible Man’s Pocket Watch]
[Owner: Tang Mo]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Level: 1]
[Attack: None]
[Function: Open the pocket watch and you can be invisible for five minutes.]
[Restriction: A disposable item. Can’t be brought out of the game.]
[Remark: Stealth play hehehe…]
Tang Mo, “…”
Ignoring the remark, wasn’t he really lucky?
Tang Mo turned the pocket watch back and forth several times in surprise. His eyes lingered on the words ‘can’t bring out of the game’ before he finally put it in his pocket.
There was only one hour left until 6 o’clock. Tang Mo decided to come back and study the pocket watch at night.
Before leaving, Tang Mo carefully examined Grandmother Wolf’s house and didn’t find any special places. Finally, he took a plate from the table, put the sweet potato on it and headed to the back mountain.
He walked towards the nine huge hamster holes. Tang Mo put the sweet potato plate on the ground and inspected every cave from the first hole.
There were nine holes. The hole was around three metres in diameter and there were claw marks in the vicinity of each hole, as well as scattered gold and black hairs. It was estimated to be the hairs of the golden hamster and black hamster.
After examining every hole, Tang Mo headed to a big stone. He looked at the nine openings, pondered for a moment before finally deciding to go with the sixth hole. At this point, there was still one hour left until 6 o’clock. Tang Mo held the sweet potato and looked at the dark caves. He stared silently as if he wanted to see something inside.
Time passed and there was only half an hour left until 6 o’clock.
Tang Mo raised his wrist and looked at his watch. He decided to put the sweet potato in front of the sixth hole. Then he would run to the big stone and hid to see what happened.
The probability of the golden hamster appearing on the first day was 40%. This probability wasn’t too low but Tang Mo didn’t want to experiment with his luck. He had always been unlucky and he didn’t know the strength of the golden hamster and black hamster. If he rushed and encountered the black hamster who liked to eat the underground people, Tang Mo couldn’t guarantee his safety.
He still needed more information.
He raised his wrist and looked at his watch. There were 20 minutes left.
“Why…is only the first day special?” Tang Mo thought while holding the sweet potato. He looked at the ground of the sixth hole. After a moment, he took out the old pocket watch and stared down at it.
“It can’t be brought out of the game. If I encounter the black hamster tomorrow, I can use this while fighting it and it will be safer.”
He put the pocket watch back into his pocket.
After five minutes, Tang Mo once again took out the invisible man’s pocket watch. He stared at the pocket watch for a while. Then he took out the big match from his wrist tattoo and drew a S on the white turkey egg.
Tang Mo drew the S very casually and wasn’t too careful. But once he finished, he found there was no movement from the turkey egg. The ‘S’ character didn’t light up and he wasn’t connected to Fu Wenduo.
Tang Mo’s heart tightened as he detected something was wrong. He knocked three times on the turkey egg and didn’t speak. He listened to a deep voice filled with surprise, “Tang Mo?”
He had never seen the stowaway Fu Wenduo but the two of them had talked several times. Tang Mo had even told Fu Wenduo two days ago that he was about to participate in a tower attack game. Yet he had never heard the other person sound so surprised to speak to him.
“…Mr. Fu, it is me. I would like to ask, is the turkey egg broken? I wanted to use the save function but it was unusable. Is there something wrong with you or is it from my end?”
The turkey egg was silent for a long time.
Tang Mo thought it was strange and prepared to ask again. Then Fu Wenduo said, “Three days ago, you contacted me and told me that you need to use the save function.”
Tang Mo stiffened while holding the sweet potato. The next moment, he retorted, “Impossible!” I never said that. Mr. Fu, you are mistaken. I didn’t contact you three days ago and I didn’t use the turkey egg.”
“You just said that you can’t use the turkey egg. It is because the seven day cooldown time hasn’t ended.”
Tang Mo was unable to speak.
He stood in a valley as the cold mountain wind blew past the pink river and into his collar. Tang Mo suddenly felt that the soles of his feet were a little cold. He resisted the feeling of his scalp becoming numb and tried to calm his mood as much as possible. “Mr. Fu, can you please tell me, three days ago…what did I say to you?”
However, Fu Wenduo didn’t answer his question. Instead, he asked in a very serious voice, “Tang Mo, do you know what the date is today?”
Tang Mo was stunned. “December 1st.”
“Today is December 6th.”
Tang Mo’s eyes widened and there was a flash of light in his mind that disappeared before he could catch it.
“Three days ago, on December 3rd, I was searching for supplies in a store. You contacted me and told me you need to use the archiver.” In the cold wind, Fu Wenduo’s calm voice seemed to have a soothing power. Tang Mo quietly listened to him. “Your original words were that you thought are in a tower attack game with a time loop. Due to a previous instance that you completed, this tower attack game might end early. You didn’t want to waste more days so you planned to use the save function and take a risk.”
Tang Mo heard these words and analyzed. “The instance should be the Kill Bill one. In that instance, I rescued a treasure from the circus leader and now he only has two left. Today, I received an advertisement about it and the circus that Grandmother Wolf is visiting might be that circus. Perhaps because I let one of the treasures go, she might return early.”
Fu Wenduo asked, “The Strange Circus?”
Tang Mo was surprised. “You know it?”
“When I crossed the river from the Underground Kingdom to the Monster World, there was a billboard for the circus and it said the boss had obtained three treasures.” Fu Wenduo continued, “You have calmed down. Have you started to understand?”
Tang Mo shook the head. “No, I only have a faint shadow. What else do you know, Mr. Fu?”
“I know that three days ago, you told me very calmly that this tower game would end early.” Fu Wenduo added. “From your tone of voice, I think you were at least 90% certain.”
“Mr. Fu, do you know anything else?”
“I don’t know.”
Tang Mo looked distracted.
Earth, Beijing.
Fu Wenduo stood on the roof of a skyscraper. He took a step and his body leapt more than 20 metres towards the roof of another building. His right hand held the turkey egg as he spoke in a low voice. “On December 3rd, I opened the archiver and listened to your voice. There was hardly any sound in your place. Only light breathing and wind. But at 6 in the evening, at exactly 6 o’clock, your voice stopped. I thought you…” Fu Wenduo paused as he jumped to another high-rise before continuing. “I thought you encountered a situation where you couldn’t use the archiver. I tried to contact you again but I couldn’t connect.”
Tang Mo gripped the turkey eff and inwardly finished off the words the other person hadn’t said.
[I thought you were dead.]
That’s why Fu Wenduo was surprised when he suddenly heard Tang Mo’s voice.
“The man three days ago was you.”
Tang Mo’s brain was a mess. Once Fu Wenduo suddenly spoke, he subconsciously asked, “Why?”
Fu Wenduo was about to leap to another tall building. After listening to Tang Mo’s words, he stood on the edge of the roof and watched the sun gradually sink in the west.
“Intuition.” The warm sun shone on a cold and resolute face. Fu Wenduo said calmly, “That feeling is you.”
This sentence was very strange. Tang Mo never believed in such illusory things. But after hearing this sentence, his heart slowly calmed down. He raised his hand and looked at the watch on his wrist. He still had five minutes left until 6 o’clock. He asked, “Mr. Fu, you said that you couldn’t hear my voice once it became 6 o’clock. You also couldn’t contact me?”
“Yes.”
There were only five minutes left so Tang Mo’s brain worked quickly. His eyes became brighter and brighter. He held the turkey egg and spoke, “As you said, there is another me. But now I think that there might not be only two of me. Today is December 6th. According to the rules of the tower attack game, I need to complete the mission on December 7th. Otherwise, I will be eaten by a monster in the game.”
Tang Mo’s voice was very relaxed and Fu Wenduo didn’t speak.
“I only have one day left. How many more versions of me are in this game, I’m not too sure. But I know that I have one day left. Whether or not I can pass today, Mr, Fu, I hope that you will ask me a question when I contact you tomorrow.”
Fu Wenduo asked, “How do you know that you will contact me tomorrow?”
“I have a way.”
Fu Wenduo didn’t ask about the method. He raised an eyebrow and said, “What is the question?”
Tang Mo looked at the time on his watch. There were only two minutes left. He said, “Ask me this: Tang Mo, if you have one last day on Earth, what is your lucky number?”
Since talking to Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo had been standing on the edge of the roof and looking at the time on the distant clock tower. There was still one minute left until 6 o’clock. “I am a bit curious. What is your lucky number?”
“Nine.”
Fu Wenduo asked, “Why?”
“I have a person who I’ve liked for a long time. His birthday is September 9th.”
Fu Wenduo was slightly stunned and couldn’t help asking, “September 9th?”
“Yes, what is the matter?”
Despite knowing that the other person couldn’t see him, Fu Wenduo reflexively shook his head. “It is nothing. This day is very special.” There was a pause before Fu Wenduo spoke again. “I am on my way from Beijing to Shanghai. I have something to do in Shanghai. Tang Mo, I hope to see you in Shanghai.”
Tang Mo looked at the turkey egg and then the last minute on the watch. He laughed and agreed, “Well, if I don’t die this time…Fu Wenduo, see you in Shanghai.”
“I will see you in Shanghai.”
In the last ten second, Tang Mo hung up the call of the turkey egg. He took out his abilities book and turned it to the last page.
[Ability: Your father or your father]
[Owner: Li Shaolin (Stowaway)
[Type: Special Type]
[Function: There is a chance to change the name of an object. The duration is seven days and it can be used once every 10 days. The law of causality can’t be reversed.]
[Level: 1]
[Restrictions: The name, appearance and date of birth of the target must be known. The deeper the understand of the target, the greater the probability that the ability will work.]
[Remark: Tang Mo, look at this ability. Your father is still your father.]
[Tang Mo version usage instructions: The duration is three days and it can be used once every 30 days. After being used, the target will get to see Tang Mo’s most important secret.]
Tang Mo’s hand gently touched the words ‘Your father or your father.’ A black pen suddenly appeared in his hand. At the same time, three lines of words appeared under the ‘Tang Mo version usage instructions.’
[Original Name: Empty]
[Changed Name: Empty]
[Tang Mo’s Most Important Secret: Empty]
The author has something to say:
Tang Tang: The person I liked for a long time has his birthday on September 9th.
Major Fu whose birthday is on September 9th: Well…what a coincidence. In fact, I also have a person I’ve liked for a long time.
Author’s note: Yes, you aren’t mistaken, it is a two way secret love. Major Fu has always secretly loved Tang Tang, otherwise why would he be so concerned about Tang Tang before the earth went online. He also told Tang Mo to be careful of the black tower. This could be considered leaking a high level secret.
TL: For those who haven’t realized yet, the Victor who Tang Mo was playing online games with at the start of the novel is actually Fu Wenduo.