The Earth is Online

Chapter 21

As the loud and cheerful sound played in the background, the dazzling white light gradually disappeared. The group finally saw the scene in front of them.

In the wide white world, there was a small round stage in the middle of the world. Small, multicolour light bulbs were set around the stage. A giant Mario two metres tall stood on the small stage and the light bulbs flashed. He looked funny as he proudly raised his thumb.

Above the stage, a LED light board was suspended in the air. The light board showed ‘6456’ in red.

The white light receded from the centre of the stage and the surroundings slowly appeared.

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed.

A huge monopoly game map was revealed in the white world!

Maria’s stage was in the centre of the map. There were 150 squares, each square one metre long. They were connected end to end and surrounded the stage. The square grids were vertically connected in a slender rectangle, twisting and snaking. Starting from the bottom where the eight people were standing, they spread forward with nine bends, eventually leading to Mario’s small stage.

There was a red square lattice at Tang Mo’s feet. This grid was different from the other grids.

The edges of the other grids were glowing with a white light, except for the ones under the eight people’s feet which were glowing red. Tang Mo saw that the colour was red like blood, with an English word written in the middle.

『START』

“Everybody, welcome to Mario’s Monopoly Game!”

The loud male voice made everyone jump with surprise and look up. They didn’t know when it happened but Mario was no longer posing. He stood on the small stage with hands on his hips. “My dear child, welcome to Mario’s Monopoly Game. I am your childhood’s best friend, Mario!”

Tang Mo often played Super Mario when he was a child. The plumber who loved mushrooms once swept the world and created history for Nintendo. He was really familiar with Tang Mo. Whether it was Tang Mo or the seven other people, they all watched this giant Mario. None of them could let down their guard.

Mario seemed to be unaware of this as he moved. “Oh, look at your eyes. Don’t cry children. I am your favourite uncle, Mario. This is the time to celebrate. The children’s love, it moves Uncle Mario so much that I secretly wipe off my tears every night in the sewers. You like Mario so much I have decided to start this monopoly game for you! Kids, this game is for everyone who likes Mario!”

Tang Mo didn’t hear a lot of these words. He seemed to be staring at Mario, but he was actually paying attention to the seven people around him as well as the grids on the ground.

Since all of them had entered the game and these things already happened, he wouldn’t focus too many on retaliating against the seven people who dragged him into the game. He needed to focus on how to pass the game.

Currently, the most dangerous thing was this strange game.

The young man stood up and spoke in a trembling voice. “What…what is this game?”

“Good question, cute child.” Mario placed his right hand on his left side and made a thumbs up action. “This is a reward game. Every obedient and sensible child can receive rich prizes from Uncle Mario. Child, come and play the game with Uncle Mario. All these prizes will be yours.”

Mario moved sideways and a small golden hill appeared behind him. Countless gold and silver jewelry piled up on the small stage like a hill. Mario stood back and all these gifts disappeared.

“So much gold?”

“And diamonds, lots of diamonds!”

Mario showed a kind smile. “Child, these are yours.”

Tang Mo said coldly, “What are the rules of the game?”

“Do you see these squares? The lovely Uncle Mario wants to play a monopoly game with you. Only the child who arrives at this stage the fastest can receive all the rewards. Children, have you ever played a monopoly game?”

The young woman hesitated for a moment before coming forward. “I’ve played it. There are many types of monopoly games, but they all require rolling the dice. The number of squares you can move forward depends on the number you roll. The grids might contain rewards, punishment or even make you move backwards. That’s it.”

“Yes, yes, I’ve played it.’ Someone echoed.

Mario laughed. “My kids are so smart!”

The black tower character was the familiar Mario. After he spoke kindly for so long, the other people were no longer on the defensive and dared to speak.

Tang Mo still looked at Mario without moving.

“In Mario’s Monopoly Game, there is a magic dice.” Mario stretched out his hands and snapped. A huge dice fell from the sky and appeared in front of the players. “This dice is a lucky dice. Every child will throw it in order. The number thrown will determine how many squares you will advance. The one who comes here first and the last lucky person can get all the prizes that Uncle Mario prepared for you.”

It was that simple?

Tang Mo frowned and was preparing to open his mouth. But an old voice spoke before he could. “Are any of these squares dangerous?”

Tang Mo turned to look at the old man who had pretended to twist his ankle.

Mario said happily, “How can a lucky child be in danger?”

Tang Mo changed the question. “What are in these squares?”

In a monopoly game, a player would often encounter rewards or punishment when landing on a square. In an ordinary monopoly game, the rewards were mainly gold coins or the chance to take a few steps forward. The punishments were mainly losing gold coins or even being forces back to the beginning.

Mario explained, “Among the 150 squares, there are many small gifts that Uncle Mario has prepared for the children. Lucky children can receive these gifts. I call them the reward squares. However, there are good children and bad children. Sometimes, the children will do things that make Mario sad. Thus, there are some squares with props to punish the bad children. These are the punishment squares.”

Everyone’s hearts thumped as they heard the word ‘punishment.’

The giant Mario looked at everyone with dark eyes and the corners of his mouth slowly moved up, revealing a strange smile. “The more obedient the child, the better the reward Uncle Mario will give them. As long as you enter these squares, you can get unimaginable things. For example, an ability or the opportunity to save a game. I call this the king’s square.”

Tang Mo’s breathing became sluggish.

Ability?

Game save item?

They could get these types of items in this monopoly game.

The other seven people were all stunned. Their eyes were shining and it was impossible to restrain the heat in them

Tang Mo immediately calmed down. With rewards, there were punishments. Such a good reward, the corresponding punishment would be…

“There are some squares that Mario calls ‘prisoners.’ Bad kids who do bad things are unforgivable bad people. They no longer like Mario. They like the odd-looking angry birds or the coloured candy that disappears!” Mario’s expression instantly became extremely ferocious. He was still smiling but his eyes revealed his hatred and dislike. “Uncle Mario has accompanied you for many years. Why do you like that disgusting bird! Tell me!”

Boom!

Mario stomped his feet and the white world shook violently, as if there was an earthquake.

“Oh, my lovely kids. What did I just say?” Mario’s expression swiftly changed. The aftermath of the earthquake hadn’t stopped but he put on his amiable face again. “Uncle Mario knows that you are good children. Good children won’t encounter these disgusting prisoner squares. Only the bad children will land on them. Mario has deliberately prepared an interesting square for the playful kids. It is called the free jump square.”

The earthquake subsided but Tang Mo’s expression was very ugly.

The giant Mario’s strength was beyond his imagination. The fact that he could cause such movements meant he was stronger than the big mole.

Mario didn’t seem to see the fear in other people’s eyes. He said to himself, “When someone lands on the free jump square, they can choose which square to jump to. There are two options. First, you can jump forward up to 30 squares. Second, you can jump backwards and return to any square. Kids like to jump freely. This fun square, you will definitely like it.”

“Finally, there is one final square which is the biggest surprise Uncle Mario has prepared for you. It is called the clearance square. Yes, you heard me right. Anyone who is lucky enough to step on this square can directly pass the game!” Mario waved his hands and spoke excitedly.

After a moment, he lowered his head and looked at the eight people. “Then children, the game is about to begin. Are you ready?”

“Ding dong! The large multiplayer instance game ‘Mario’s Monopoly Game’ has officially started. The rules of the game–”

“First, you can only advance or retreat according to the number rolled on the dice or the rules of the free jump square.”

“Second, the king’s squares account for 5% of the total number of cells. The prizes have the black tower’s consent and can be taken out of the instance.”

“Third, the prisoners squares account for 5% of the total squares and the law of causality means you will definitely get the death penalty.”

“Fourth, the free jump squares account for 20% of the total number of squares.

“Fifth, the reward and punishment squares each account for 20% of the total number of squares.”

“Sixth, only the player who steps on the clearance square can pass the game directly.”

“Seven, the rest are blank.”

“Eight, death in the game means death outside the game.”

“The cute plumber uncle likes obedient and sensible children the most, but he doesn’t soften for bad children.”

The crisp child’s voice rang in everyone’s ears, causing their expressions to change.

Great danger was also accompanied by great rewards. The black tower said that the prisoner square would cause death due to the law of causality. This meant anyone who stepped on these squares would die. However, they only accounted for 5% of the total number of squares. What if they stepped on the king’s square? An ability or save point, the black tower said that these things could be brought out of the game!

If they stepped on the king’s square, if…

Mario stood on the small stage, smiling at the eight people below the stage. His huge body made a creaking sound every time he moved, but no one dared underestimate him. He said, “My children, start the game!”

The young woman was originally holding the big dice in her arms. Once Mario said the game was starting, she looked with surprise at the young man next to her. Lin…Lin Bangcheng, I don’t want to roll this dice. You…you go first.”

“Why me?” The young man’s face changed. “Why should I roll the dice first?”

The young woman heard this and quickly placed the dice on the ground.

A balding middle-aged man hesitated before speaking. “There must be an order. In this way, our game has a total of eight people. I propose that we roll the dice in the reverse order that we triggered the game. The last one to trigger the game should be the first to roll the dice. What do you think?”

Everyone looked at Tang Mo, with only the old man scowling.

Tang Mo looked at them calmly. “I have no problems with going first. However, you don’t seem to know each other. I want to know. Outside, why did you work together to pull me into this game?”

They were relieved to hear that Tang Mo was willing to roll the dice first.

A middle-aged man with a beer belly said, “Little Brother, it isn’t just you. You don’t know how disgusting this game is. The moment we encountered the flower bed, we were told by the black tower that a big instance game had been triggered. But this instance is an eight people game and requires eight people to enter. The black tower told us that if we didn’t find enough people, we wouldn’t be able to move 10 metres away from the flower bed and would be stuck there forever. In addition, the people must touch the flower bed during the game time, which is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. I had to wait one day before all eight people gathered.”

Tang Mo nodded thoughtfully. “So, you are the seventh?” He looked at the old man.

“I was deceived by these crooks!” The old man grunted coldly. “Why should we throw the dice in reverse order? You were the ones who tricked us into the game. The first person to trigger the game should be the first to throw the dice! They are the one who risked everyone and plunged us into this game!”

A middle-aged woman suddenly looked pale. “I didn’t want to. I just wanted to sit on the edge of the flower bed to rest. Who knew it would become like this? I…I don’t want to go first. Do it from the rear!”

The seven people started arguing.

“If you hadn’t triggered the game, would the rest of us be in this mess? I think it should start from you.”

“You are the fifth person so you don’t want to roll the doll from the rear. You were just with us and now you are siding with that old man and young man. How amazing!”

“You…!”

“No arguing!” Mario’s loud voice was suddenly heard, suppressing everyone’s voices. “Obedient children should never argue. Aren’t you obedient children?”

Everyone recalled the scene of Mario shaking the ground with his feet and trembled, not daring to speak.

Suddenly, Tang Mo raised his voice. “It is time to start the game. Uncle Mario, we have eight people playing the game but only one dice. There must be an order. As I was entering the game just now, I heard the black tower saying all of our names. I think it is better to start the game in that order. Is it okay?”

Tang Mo reacted too quickly and immediately spoke a lot. The other people couldn’t respond.

After 10 seconds, someone glared angrily at Tang Mo. “What the hell do you…”

“Oh, my clever boy, you’re right. Uncle Mario didn’t think about this. Let’s start with the order of the black tower entry. Let me see…the first one was Li Zhen? Li Zhen, my child, where are you? Come and roll the dice!”

The middle-aged woman’s face was dark and her shoulders shook. She didn’t dare move forward.

Mario asked again, “Li Zhen, my child, where are you?”

The middle-aged woman shivered and took a step forward.

Suddenly, Mario’s voice was cold. “My child, don’t you want to play this fun game?”

The temperature plummeted, causing them to feel a chill. The middle-aged woman almost fell from fear as she quickly ran forward and picked up the dice. “I’m playing, I’m playing! I’m playing now!”

Mario’s eyes seemed like a knife, forcing the woman to unconsciously throw the dice in her hand. As soon as she threw it, Mario acted like he remembered something and deliberately uttered a strange laugh. “Oh, my children, I forgot to tell you that the first child can receive a reward from Uncle Mario. However, the last child really doesn’t know how to play. Uncle Mario will stay here and teach them how to play the game.”

Tang Mo looked at Mario with surprise.

Mario was smiling brightly but his deep eyes contained no hint of a smile.

Boom!

“5…I got a 5!”

The woman whispered the number and cautiously stepped forward. As soon as she got out of the ‘START’ square, she ran madly forward towards the fifth square, as if something was chasing her.

She stood on the fifth square, the white edges of the square turning yellow. The woman waited a while and nothing happened.

Mario laughed. “This is a blank square. Congratulations my lovely child.”

The middle-aged woman flopped to the ground.

The second one was the balding middle-aged man. His face was pale as he picked up the dice, placing it on the ‘5’ side.” He murmured, “5…5…5!”

The dice landed on a 6.

The bald man gulped and nervously walked to the 6th square. The moment he stepped on the square, the white edge of the square turned red. Tang Mo carefully looked at the light around the square. At this time, the familiar ‘Super Mario’ game music was heard.

The change made the bald man stagger and almost step into the middle-aged woman’s fifth square.

“Ding dong! The reward square has been triggered and one of Mario’s red magic mushrooms has been obtained. The edible red magic mushroom increases strength and only works within the instance. It can’t be brought out of the game.”

A round and colourful mushroom emerged from the air, falling into the bald man’s arms.

The man was trembling with fright only to suddenly be rewarded. He stayed in place for a minute before happily holding up the big mushroom and eating it. It was obviously a raw mushroom. But once the man bit the mushroom, a rich smell spread. Many people couldn’t help swallowing their saliva and staring at the man.

After 10 minutes, seven people had rolled the dice.

The old man and young woman were lucky enough to throw a 6. Like the bald man, they got a magic mushroom.

The beer belly man stepped on the fifth square like the first woman.

The young man and other middle-aged man who never spoke threw a 4. They were afraid to step on it. Fortunately, the fourth square was blank, making them feel relieved.

The last person was Tang Mo.

Tang Mo always felt that his luck was poor. After the earth came online, he participated in three games. One was to help find Mosaic’s book, the next was the first floor tower attack game and now Mario’s Monopoly Game. In every case, he was forced into the game by others.

For the vast majority of Chinese players, they might’ve only participated in the tower attack game that Fu Wenduo pulled them into.

But for Tang Mo, his life was…full of cups. He didn’t voluntarily enter any of the three games. The official players got abilities like fire or poisonous flowers. He got a book and it was a very cheap book. It made Tang Mo feel uncomfortable every day.

To sum it up, Tang Mo’s luck really wasn’t good.

He looked at the dice in his hands with a complicated expression and quickly threw it.

Boom!

The dice fell on ‘3’.

No one had landed on the third square yet, so everyone was looking at him curiously. The two people standing on the fourth square were happy. Mario said he would leave the last player here. Thanks to Tang Mo, they weren’t last at the moment.

Tang Mo walked to the third square with a blank face. Once he stood on the third square, the white light changed to red. The game music started and Tang Mo frowned. His right hand quietly pressed against the match tattoo on his left wrist as he looked around vigilantly.

“Ding dong! The first level punishment has been triggered. The punishment: Within three minutes, say something bad that you have done.”

Tang Mo, “…”

His bad luck was to this point!

And what was with this punishment? Wasn’t it looking down on people?

His heart was agitated but Tang Mo didn’t saw any reactions on the surface. His mind was moving quickly.

A first level punishment square. Perhaps there was a second level and third level punishment. This punishment was easy, but would the other punishment squares be so simple?

As he was thinking this, Tang Mo spoke calmly. “In middle school, I covered a classmate’s chair with glue. He liked to bully people and often bullied me. During class, he unknowingly stood up to answer a question but his pants were stuck to the chair and his underwear was exposed. The teacher still doesn’t know that I was the one who did it.” Tang Mo paused and looked at the stage in the centre. “I am a good boy after all.”

Mario agreed. “Yes, punishing evil. You are a good boy!”

The seven other people, “…”

At the same time, outside a community in the Pudong New District.

Two young men and a young woman entered the community. They soon found the six strange corpses in the garden in the middle of the community. The young woman with a ponytail crouched down and looked at everyone’s wounds. Finally, she returned to the first corpse. She took off her glove and placed her hand on the fatal wound in the chest of the middle-aged man.

Her hand pressed against it and emitted a white light. The young woman closed her eyes and her brows were knitted, as if she was feeling something.

After three minutes, the young woman looked up and said, “He was killed by that person.” She pointed to a corpse lying next to her. Then she got up and walked over to the other five bodies, pressing her hand on their wounds in turn. Finally, she concluded, “These six people killed each other.”

The young man in a black down jacket frowned. “It meets the characteristics of the second instance. There have been three similar dump sites near here. There should be the entrance to the second instance around here. Now isn’t the game time. The second instance is safe. We need to seize this time to find the possible entrances to the second instance. Explore 500 metres around this community. Separate to find potential hidden areas for the entrance and meet back here at 12.”

The three people nodded before splitting up.

On the other side, in Mario’s Monopoly Game, the first round of throwing dice had ended and the eight players had passed the third round.

After the fourth round of throwing the dice, everyone had moved over 10 steps.

From the second round, Tang Mo’s luck seemed to have improved. He had progressed 17 squares and was currently standing on the 20th square. In the second to fourth throws, he stepped on a reward square and two blank squares, making him placed in the middle of the eight people.

From the reward square, he received an ‘invincible police flower.’ The strange mushrooms and flowers were identical to the props in Super Mario. After eating this flower, Tang Mo would receive five minutes of invincibility. Unfortunately, this flower must be eaten when it was first obtained. It couldn’t be taken with him to another square.

Tang Mo ate the flower and a layer of gold light appeared around his body. From afar, he looked a bit like a Buddha statue.

He was really out of tune with the others. He was the last one to trigger the game. It was different from the first few people who triggered it early and had to stay at the flower bed for a day or two. They might be strangers but they were a little familiar with each other. And before Tang Mo started the game, they struggled to let themselves be the last to throw the dice.

The order in which they rolled the dice didn’t seem important. The dice was random and it didn’t matter if they were the first or last to roll it. But in the first round, the order was actually the most important.

This type of thing didn’t entirely depend on luck.

The angle and strength at which the dice was thrown could greatly influence the outcome of the roll. When playing flying chess, some people often rolled 6 points and could take big steps forward. It wasn’t necessarily good luck. Sometimes it was because they mastered the technique of throwing the dice.

In addition, the last person to roll the dice had references to choose from if they stepped on a free jump square. They could use the previous people to choose which square to jump to.

Tang Mo also had this idea and wanted to be the last person to throw the dice. He would let the seven people in front of him explore on their own and determine the contents of each square. Unfortunately, he later discovered that this dice was weird. It was big, heavy and humans couldn’t control what number was rolled. Once someone rolled it, the dice would spin freely on the ground. In the four previous rounds, Tang Mo tried to roll a certain number but never succeeded.

It was the game itself controlled the number that the players rolled.

In the current situation, the first ranked player was standing on the 22nd square, followed by Tang Mo on the 20th square. The last player was standing on the 14th square.

In these four rounds, three players had stepped on the free jump squares. They were smart and didn’t blindly move forward. Instead, the players stepped on known reward or blank squares, or they chose not to jump and stayed where they were.

The four rounds of dice rolling ended and Tang Mo was the last to hold the dice.

The 20th square was the reward square and Tang Mo ate the flower. Then the middle-aged woman rolled the dice.

The dice fly up in the air and into the hands of the middle-aged woman.

Tang Mo kept his head down after eating the flower. He was looking at the remains of the invincible flower in his hand. The body of the flower had already been eaten by him, leaving only the long green stem. This reward seemed better than the magic mushrooms (after other players received mushroom rewards, it was known that red mushrooms added strength, green mushrooms increased a player’s strength for 10 minutes and purple mushrooms gave the player a sharp weapon.) However, the invincible flower needed to be eaten immediately and there was a time limit of give minutes.

The eight people had reached the squares in the 20s and triggered other punishment squares.

There were two punishments that were superficial and were easily passed, just like Tang Mo on the third square. But when the young woman stepped onto a punishment square, a huge black mushroom suddenly emerged. The young woman screamed and pulled out a fruit knife. She struggled with the black mushroom for three minutes and finally killed it. At the same time, she was bitten so deeply that bone was visible.

This was a level three punishment square.

As Tang Mo thought, the punishment squares were graded. The higher the level, the greater the difficulty of the punishment.

So…the highest penalty was several levels. What type of danger would they encounter?

Tang Mo looked at the stem in his hand and his eyes tightened.

The Invincible police flower shouldn’t be so useless. Five minutes of invincible time. This was seemingly strong, especially if he met a black mushroom or some other terrible monster in the invincible state. However, the eight players rolled the dice in turn. It would take at least 10 minutes before it was Tang Mo’s turn to roll the dice again.

The invincible time was five minutes and he needed to wait ten minutes to move to the next square.

The five minutes of invincibility were completely wasted. It was impossible for Tang Mo to encounter any danger if he was standing still.

So…what was the purpose of this flower?

What was the point of this reward?

Tang Mo squeezed the green stem as his brain worked quickly. However, he couldn’t think of an answer.

At this time, the middle-aged woman was about to throw the dice when Mario suddenly interrupted. “Oh children, I forget to say something. Memories become worse when older. Mario is 26 years old this year. I am an old man in the game world. Such an important thing, I actually forgot to say it.’

The middle-aged woman looked blankly at Mario, holding the dice that she hadn’t thrown.

Tang Mo vaguely noticed something amiss and a strange feeling of unease rose in his heart.

No, definitely not…

There was something wrong!

Mario smiled, his dark eyes looking emotionally at each player standing on the squares. There was something gloating in his voice that he didn’t try hiding at all. “From the beginning of the 5th dice roll round, all players standing on the same square will trigger the ‘Who will share your joys and sorrows?’ effect. For example, the 19th square…” Mario pointed to the middle aged woman. “If you roll a 2, you will move from square 17 to square 19. Then it will become your square. After that, as long as someone steps onto the 19th square, the ‘Who will share your joys and sorrows?’ effect will be triggered.”

Mario’s smile became wider, his excitement and gloating becoming obvious.

“Once the effect triggers, no matter what the original square is, it will immediately become a level seven penalty square. It is only when there is one player remaining on the square that the level seven penalty will change back to the original square. No matter what method is used, as long as one player is left on the square, it will change back.” Mario added, “Oh yes, it doesn’t matter if you go to the 19th square right now. There is a child on it but he arrived there on the fourth round. The Who will share your joys and sorrows? effect only works on players after the fifth round.

Tang Mo’s eyes slowly widened as the hairs on his body rose.

The seven other people didn’t understand Mario’s meaning at first. After a few minutes, they understood it one by one.

The middle-aged woman was so frightened she fell on the ground and shuddered. “No, no…you are asking us to kill each other!”

Tang Mo finally understood the role of the invincible police flower.

If someone gained the invincible police flower, they would become invincible for the next five minutes. The person who stepped in after him would no longer obtained the invincible flower, because the moment they stepped in, the square would change from a reward to a level seven penalty.

The third level penalty was the dangerous black mushroom.

What was the level seven penalty?

Everyone was overwhelmed with panic. Tang Mo took a deep breath, suppressed the unease in his heart and raised his head. His eyes suddenly swept over the LED board above Mario’s head. He asked, “What is the special meaning of then numbers on that sign?”

In the white world, Mario stood on the stage and looked the ‘6456’ number above his head.

Mario smiled strangely and replied: “Ah, you are asking about this. Dear child, your curiosity is really heavy. This is the total number of children who have played the Mario’s Monopoly Game with me. It is a pity that they are all unlucky and disobedient bad children. They couldn’t reach here and get my prize. No. 6464 child, will you be the lucky boy?”

This was “Mario’s Monopoly Game.”

The game had only started.