Chapter 30

Tang Mo directly pulled out a knife, not caring if entering the hole would call the hamster over and cause danger. He walked into the third hole and dug at the dirt containing the white powder.

Fortunately, Tang Mo entering the hole didn’t attract the hamster’s attention. He took the dirty out of the hole, placed it on the ground and started to separate the dirt from the white powder.

He picked out the white powder bit by bit.

Tang Mo had never been as focused as he was now. His face was dignified as he picked out all the white powder, not letting a tiny one go. It took him one hour to completely separate the white powder and the soil.

After finishing this, he immediately ran to the fifth hole.

An hour had passed and the black hamster who fought with Tang Mo was no longer roaring. It already left and disappeared into the depths of the cave.

Tang Mo looked down at the dirt of the fifth hole.

Each hole was around three metres in diametre. Yesterday, Tang Mo had placed the plate on the left edge of the hole. At this moment, on the left side of the hole, white powder was mixed in and about to merge with the soil. The white plate he put today had also turned into powder a little deeper into the hole.

The black hamster still ate the sweet potato today.

If Tang Mo was there, the hamster wouldn’t pay any attention to the sweet potato and would attack the person first. But without a person, it would continue to eat the sweet potato.

Tang Mo walked in deeper, ears pricked as he listened for any signs of movement in the hole. At the same time, he dug up the white powder from today’s plate.

There were three piles of dirt and three piles of white powder. Tang Mo first compared the two white powders in the fifth hole, which was formed by the plate being crushed. Finally, he turned to the white powder dug up from the third hole.

He compared the three powders.

“…Exactly the same.”

Tang Mo clenched his fingers tightly as he looked at the three piles of white powder on the ground. These powders were formed by the white plates being crushed.

The white powder at the third hole was definitely not there yesterday, not it was present before 6 o’clock today. Yesterday, Tang Mo had carefully looked at the nine holes. Before 6 o’clock, he checked the nine holes again and confirmed that they hadn’t changed (apart from the powder of the plate he placed near the fifth hole). Then he casually chose the fifth hole again.

“I fought with the black hamster for around five minutes and rested outside the hole for three minutes. From the fifth hole to the third hole, it was half a minute.” Tang Mo started calculating. “If I add the time when I checked the third hole, it was five or six minutes before 6 o’clock. At most…15 minutes.”

In 15 minutes, someone had placed a plate in the third hole and it was crushed to powder.

“There should’ve been a sweet potato on the plate and it should also be crushed by the black hamster.”

Tang Mo placed a hand on the match tattoo as he looked around.

There was a vast vegetable field at the foot of the mountain. In the dark night, dim moonlight shone on the nine gloomy hamster holes. The night wind blew and stones rolled lightly on the ground.

Nobody.

There was not a single person.

But in the 15 minutes around 6 o’clock, someone had placed a plate in the third hole that was crushed by the hamster. If so, this explained why there was a black hamster instead of a gold one in Tang Mo’s fifth hole, despite the 80% probability.

Rule 7 of the game: If food is placed at two holes or if the player and food don’t stand at the same hole, the probability of the golden hamster appearing is 0%.

Food was placed in two holes and the two players didn’t stand in the same hole. How could the golden hamster appear?

Tang Mo gripped the match and suddenly waved it. The match hit the big rock in front of the hole. Cracks radiated from the place where the match hit and a muffled sound echoed across the valley. Tang Mo seemed crazy as he vented his anger towards the black tower. But in fact, his attention was focused all around him. If an unknown enemy (perhaps another player or black tower monster) appeared, he would attack.

But five minutes passed and nothing happened.

Tang Mo put away the match and frowned as he started thinking. Suddenly, he seemed to recall something and quickly ran back to Grandmother Wolf’s cabin, entering her kitchen.

On the kitchen table, there were seven white plates stacked up. Grandmother Wolf had taken them from the cupboard before leaving. Tang Mo saw her actions and combined with the rules of the game, he thought these seven plates were for him to put the food on.

Now two days had passed so he should’ve used two plates.

Tang Mo rushed to the table and started counting the number of plates from the bottom up.

“One, two, three, four…five.”

None were missing!

Tang Mo looked at these five plates, grabbed the match again and left Grandmother Wof’s cabin. He didn’t go to the mountain in the back. Instead, he followed the mountain road that the gorilla took when escorting him. Once he reached a corner of the mountain road, an invisible wall suddenly appeared in front of him. It blocked one side and didn’t allow him to move forward.

“Ding dong! You have reached the border of the game instance.”

Tang Mo held the big match and turned in the opposite direction. There was only one road down the mountain but what if he jumped straight down from the other side? With his current physical fitness, jumping from the slip of this low mountain wouldn’t kill him. He would at most break his legs. But then he could get in touch with the outside world and gain more information.

However, Tang Mo was just about to jump when an invisible wall once again appeared in front of him.

“Ding dong! You have reached the border of the game instance.”

Tang Mo, “…”

Since the official start of the game, his range of activities was limited to Grandmother Wolf’s mountain

Then who was the other person who placed the plate?

The mountain was shrouded by the thick darkness of night. Despite anxiously suspecting there was no way, Tang Mo calmed down. He first thought about the eight rules that the black tower gave him from beginning to end.

“…It didn’t say there was only one player.”

Yes, whether it was Grandmother Wolf’s words or the black tower rules, there was never a sentence saying that only Tang Mo would catch the hamster. Grandmother Wolf really wanted her granddaughter to catch the golden hamster but apart from Grandmother Wolf, there might be other people wanting to catch the hamster.

Tang Mo didn’t know who the other party was. It might be a player, it might be an underground person or it might be a monster. But he couldn’t find this person.

Grandmother Wolf lived on a small mountain. Standing on top of the mountain, he could see everything on the mountain as well as the nine hamster holes at the bottom of the mountain. The biggest possibility was that it was impossible for Tang Mo to see this person.

Tang Mo needed a good understanding in order to complete his game mission. Right now, he was carrying out a single player game, making it impossible for him to have teammates. But no one said that there could be no other players attacking the tower at the same time or playing the same mission.

“They also put a plate in the hole. Their method of catching the hamster should be the same as mine. I can’t see them so they can’t see me either. Or else they would’ve seen me place the plate at another hole. If food is placed at two different holes, the probability of the golden hamster appearing is 0. Only the black hamster will appear.” Tang Mo was completely calm at this moment. He walked into Grandmother Wolf’s cabin while thinking. “He also used the plate to hold the good…”

Tang Mo stood in front of the cabin door and felt that something was wrong.

An invisible ‘companion’ (both sides must catch a hamster so they could temporarily be identified as companions) using the same method to catch a hamster. The food wasn’t necessarily the same. Tang Mo only found the powder of the white porcelain plate at the third hole and the food was eaten by the hamster. It might be a sweet potato or something else.

Tang Mo suddenly had a thought. “What if they are trying to catch the black hamster instead of the golden hamster?” But he quickly denied this speculation. “The black hamster likes to eat the underground people the most, not the sweet potatoes. If you want to catch it, you can use stand in the hole without needing to use food.” In addition, Tang Mo felt that Grandmother Wolf didn’t hate the black hamster based on her tone.

This monster didn’t hate the black hamster, only the golden hamster.

Tang Mo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened the door to the cabin.

There were three questions in front of him.

First, who was the invisible person who placed the plate in the third hole? Was it a player, an underground person or a monster?

Second, what did this person want to do? Was it also to catch the golden hamster?

Third, how could he get that person to place the plate at the same hole? If the other person wasn’t a monster, Tang Mo needed to make them stand at the same hole as his.

The black tower didn’t say there was only one food or one player. No matter how many foods and players, they must be at the same hole or else the golden hamster wouldn’t appear.

Tang Mo couldn’t figure out how to answer these three questions.

An invisible companion he couldn’t communicate with and didn’t know anything about. This situation didn’t give Tang Mo a chance to find a solution.

“It shouldn’t be that hard. This is a game. There must be a strategy to clear it. There must be…” Tang Mo closed the door and paced back and forth in the cabin. “I can’t see the person and the person can’t see me. But it is 80% likely their mission is the same as mine. I have to find a way to contact them. I have noticed the situation but have they noticed? How can I contact them and make them notice me…?”

Tang Mo’s footsteps paused. He suddenly felt as if he had forgotten something very important.

From the moment he was pulled into the library game by the huckster, was forced to participate in the tower attack game and then to the monopoly game with a large number of deaths, Tang Mo had never been as passive as he was now. He couldn’t find a way to pass the game.

However, this was still a game.

There would definitely be a way to clear the game.

Tang Mo’s expression changed. He calmed down and sat down on Grandmother Wolf’s sofa. He looked at the pink jar on the coffee table calmly.

The ceramic texture of the jar was exactly the same as it was when Tang Mo left in the afternoon. There were no signs of anyone moving it. Tang Mo’s gaze moved to the bottom of the jar. He looked at the rounded body of the jar and the pink colour that shone in the moonlight. He was watching the round jar for two minutes when his eyes suddenly widened.

“Draw a circle to curse you!”

Tang Mo almost jumped from the sofa. He finally remembered that he had such an ability.

The Draw a circle to curse you ability. He could curse any object once a day, the probability of success was 30% and the effect was unknown.

He didn’t need to know the specific appearance and name of the object to be cursed. He just needed to know who would be cursed. For example, Tang Mo knew that this person was the one who placed the plate at the third hole at 6 o’clock this evening. Then he could use this ability.

Tang Mo leaned over and started to draw a circle on the coffee table with his right hand. He started the stroke from the upper right corner and followed the direction to the lower right corner. However, his fingers started to tremble once he began drawing the circle. From the first stroke to the completion of the twisted circle, Tang Mo spent a whole minute.

In the underground cave of the big mole, Li Bin drew two circles to prove his ability. The two circles were extremely neat, as if they had been drawn with a compass. In addition, the size was exactly the same.

After copying Li Bin’s ability, Tang Mo only used it four times. One was the curse the stowaways attacking Shibei Middle School, once was to curse Mario and he used it twice to curse two stowaways he attacked on Nanjing Road. Once he started using the ability, his finger would draw a regular circle without him controlling it.

Tang Mo looked at the twisted circle he drew this time with heavy eyes.

He seemed to perceive something and took out his abilities book.

Tang Mo turned the book to the first page.

[Ability: I have a worst spiritual field than a protagonist]

This was used a long time ago to store the big match and couldn’t be used again.

The second page.

[Ability: Draw a circle to curse you.]

It was the ability he just failed to use.

The third page.

[Ability: Try and find a friend.]

……

Tang Mo turned to the fifth page and saw the ‘Goblin, return my grandfather’ ability. He walked out of the cabin and looked at the silent and dark valley. Then he placed his hands on his waist and shouted four words into the empty valley. “Goblin, return my grandfather!”

In the cold night, Tang Mo’s voice echoed through Monster Valley for a long time. Unfortunately, there was only sound and no fire.

Tang Mo’s heart immediately sank. He didn’t give up and started to use other abilities like Swallow energy from far away like a tiger. But no matter what he tried to use, there was no obvious effect. Abilities with specific performances didn’t work.

They all failed.

“This instance prohibits the use of abilities?”

Tang Mo’s lips tightened as his heart gave him the answer: No, he could use his ability to take out the big match.

The act of taking out the big match from the wrist tattoo was in itself using the ‘I have a worst spiritual field than a protagonist’ ability. This ability was available yet he couldn’t use any of his other abilities. In addition, Tang Mo didn’t use any abilities when he fought the black hamster.

He realized now that he seemed to have forgotten about his abilities. He fought the black hamster with simple physical strength and the big match.

“…Maybe this instance only allows the use of spiritual field abilities.”

Tang Mo thought of a temporary explanation. He threw the abilities book back into the air and took out a crystal tear from his pocket.

This was the ‘Earthworm’s Tears.’

Tang Mo decided to test if he could use props.

The tears were consumable items that could only be used three times to repair wounds. Tang Mo didn’t intend to cut off his hand. He took out a knife and made a sharp cut on his left arm. Blood immediately flowed down the moment the knife touched the skin. The sharp pain caused Tang Mo’s brow to slightly furrow and he placed the tear on the wound.

Five minutes later, Tang Mo’s powerful physique as an official player automatically stopped the blood. The earthworm’s tear was still quietly placed against the wound and didn’t do anything.

Tang Mo put the earthworm’s tear back in his pocket and pulled out Mario’s hat.

This afternoon he had hit the wall three times with this hat and obtained three things. He threw one into the pink jar in exchange for a sweet potato for the hamster to eat. Mario’s hat could only be used safely three times a day. Once it was used a fourth time, the user would feel dizzy and there would be a negative impact on the body.

But Tang Mo didn’t hesitate. He put on the hat and ran towards Grandmother Wolf’s fireplace.

Bang!

An old and blackened silver ring fell to the ground. Tang Mo held the wall and rested for a while, before bending down to pick up the ring.

Mario’s hat could be used.

The last prop he had was the rare quality turkey egg.

Tang Mo took out the turkey egg and looked at it with a dignified gaze. After a long time, he knocked on the turkey egg three times and asked softly, “Mr. Fu?”

The evening breeze blew towards the window of Grandmother Wolf’s cabin, causing the glass to creak.

There was no sound from the turkey egg.

Tang Mo’s grip on the turkey egg tightened as he shouted again, “Mr. Fu?”

Three minutes passed and still no sound.

Tang Mo raised his right finger and drew a ‘S’ on the turkey egg. The ‘S’ character he drew on the turkey egg didn’t emit the dazzling white light it did every other time he used it. But Tang Mo didn’t seem to see it. He shouted out a name, “Fu Wenduo!”

The only response was the wind whistling through the window.

10 minutes later, Tang Mo put away the turkey egg. He walked to Grandmother Wolf’s window and looked at the nine hamster holes at the foot of the mountain. At this moment, the pink alarm clock next to the sofa emitted a beep and the hour hand pointed to the number ‘12’.

It was the third day.

“This is a single player game.” Tang Mo looked at the third hamster hole in the distance and spoke calmly. He came to a final conclusion. “The other person is me.”