The Earth is Online

Chen Shanshan held the huge lollipop and repeatedly pondered this problem in her mind.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had guessed matters and Chen Shanshan also guessed it.

“This game has a total of five players. There are two people in the customs team, two in the second monster team and I am in the monster team.”

“The task of the monster team is to a.s.sist the customs team in finding the stolen goods.” The short-haired girl sighed softly and inwardly thought, ‘Then Brother Tang and Major Fu are the customs team and the other two players are the second monster team. Players from different teams can’t recognize each other. Then what is my role...?”

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were the customs team and they had the most effective method to find stolen goods. She was an unremarkable little monster. It was already good that she wasn’t bullied by other monsters. She seemed to have no influence in this group of monsters but the black tower gave her the task of a.s.sisting the customs team.

“I am attacking the black tower’s third floor and Brother Tang is attacking the fifth floor. My game will be much less difficult than theirs and it means the black tower has lowered the threshold for me. I can do more things.”

Chen Shanshan kept her head down as she thought quickly.

The words of the black tower constantly echoed in her mind as well as what the underground chief had said on the radio. The little girl repeated the words ‘customs’, ‘monsters’, ‘smugglers’ and so on. Then when several underground officials came out of the house and screamed for the monsters outside to squeeze together, Chen Shanshan suddenly looked up in amazement and exclaimed, “This is the case?”

On the long suspension bridge, two underground officials held black batons and screamed, “Come on, we will check if any d.a.m.n human players are mixed in among you.” As he spoke, an underground person pushed Chen Shanshan hard towards the door. Whenever they met a strong monster, the officials would change their expressions. “This gentleman, please come in.”

Chen Shanshan understood that her current appearance was definitely a weak monster.

A strong appearance would bring some conveniences but a weak appearance wasn’t necessarily useless.

In front of the cabin, Chen Shanshan’s gaze swept over the monsters behind her. Then she raised a foot and stepped into the house. At the same time, her eyes focused on a sheepskin notice next to the door.

[Reward:

All monsters can report smugglers. Once they find there is a smuggling phenomenon, they are rewarded according to the amount being smuggled.

You can get a king’s gold coin!

—The highly respected chief of customs, the dwarf Muddled Egg.]

The customs cabin.

The monsters were brought into the wooden cabin one by one while the underground officials were called to a transparent cabin on the side.

Tang Mo stood at the edge of the officials and looked at the chief dwarf. The chief sneered at them with his hands behind his back. After patrolling his subordinates, he screamed, “In this room, there is a d.a.m.n human! Maybe there is only one or maybe there are five!”

“None of you are trustworthy because you might all be humans! At this moment, I am the only one who definitely isn’t a human.” After the reprimand, he said to the dwarf beside him, “You, tell the monsters that in five minutes, we will search them. Ask then to hand in their belongings and receive their registration plates. After we have searched them, collect the number plates to give them back their belongings.”

The dwarf hurriedly said, “Yes!”

The dwarf chief muttered, “Oh, these stupid and stinky monsters, I don’t know how many idiots want to smuggle things today. Just don’t get caught by me.”

Then he winked at his a.s.sistant. The other person nodded and smugly walked forward, holding a thick roll of paper in his hand. “Now, I will give you this year’s civil service examination test of our Underground Kingdom. Humans can’t complete it but you certainly can. My colleagues, catch the humans and eat them!”

“Catch the humans and eat them!”

Tang Mo watched the underground people receive the test papers one by one, his hands quietly touching his waist.

Tang Mo had long found that the underground people couldn’t see the small parasol tied to his waist. This meant that just by appearance, the underground people couldn’t recognize humans. However, they would have a hard time hiding their ident.i.ties with this test paper. Perhaps they would be the first players to be caught.

A low male voice suddenly entered Tang Mo’s ears, “He said that every day, there are many monsters smuggling objects.”

Tang Mo turned to look at Fu Wenduo with surprise. He quickly understood what the other person meant. “Yes, according to common sense, the customs department receives many monsters every day. Smugglers should be very common.”

Fu Wenduo said, “Things that can be smuggled must be valuable. Once there is proper profit, the capitalists will become bold. If there is a 50% profit then he will take risks. For a 100% profit, he will dare to trample on all human laws. For a 300% profit, he will dare to commit and crime and run the risk of hanging.” He suddenly added, “This is Marx’s Capital.”

Tang Mo wondered, “You are very familiar with it?” He knew the meaning of the words but he couldn’t speak it as skillfully as Fu Wenduo.

Fu Wenduo stated, “I am a party member.”

Tang Mo was silent. There were many things he needed to learn about Fu Wenduo’s ident.i.ty.

Fu Wenduo opened his mouth. “We know the production level of the Underground Kingdom. It is biased towards medieval Europe and the level is very low. There aren’t many things worthy of being smuggled.”

Tang Mo added, “There aren’t many things of value that can be resold by the black tower monsters.”

Fu Wenduo looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “If 10 monsters smuggle goods every day, the things they smuggle must be similar or even exactly the same.”

Tang Mo continued, “The black tower wants us to find the stolen goods and the second monster team has to protect it. This shows that the stolen goods is in their hands and it can only be in their hands.”

Fu Wenduo asked, “What if other monsters have the same goods?”

“It is impossible.”

The two of them smiled at each other and said in unison, “The goods that the black tower wants us to find must be absolutely unique!”

Outside the transparent hut, Chen Shanshan looked at the more than 20 underground officials inside the hut. She carefully observed everyone’s clothes, appearance and even small decorations but she couldn’t find Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.

At this time, a dwarf touched his chin and walked into the house, repeating the words of the dwarf chief, “...Now, all monsters please hand in their belongings. Please rest a.s.sured that after our search, we will return your things in the order of the number plates.”

Some monsters immediately complained with dissatisfaction. The dwarf shook a bit before saying bravely, “Do... do it! This is the order of the chief. If you don’t want to do it then go to him for an appeal. Besides, we must find the humans so we can eat them. This is for the good of everyone!”

Most of the monsters were simple-minded. They found the matter troublesome but they could only endure it in order to find the humans.

Chen Shanshan heard a monster beside her complaining, “If this isn’t your territory then forget the humans. Eating the underground people is also very delicious!”

The dwarf official started from the front row and started collecting the monsters’ belongings.

Chen Shanshan hugged her small lollipop and watched calmly. after a moment, she said lightly, “It might take a long time to collect it alone.”

The underground people were in the transparent hut doing the test and only the dwarf had come out. There were more than 500 monsters in the room. It was too laborious for him to collect belongings and issue number plates alone. It would take at least three hours.

A monster with a fox head heard Chen Shanshan’s words. “No, what a waste of our time. This d.a.m.n bureaucracy, it is why I hate the underground people!”

Chen Shanshan licked her candy. “Can’t we help him collect it?”

The fox’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Chen Shanshan. “What?”

The fox saw a little monster with a rabbit head lick the lollipop in her hands. “I think you are a monster from the Spirit Prairie.”

The fox nodded. “You as well?”

Chen Shanshan spoke using the information she obtained from previous games. “The monsters of our Spirit Prairie are different from those of the Monster Valley. They only know brute force. The underground people are clever. Why do they want to search all our belongings?”

The fox thought about it and was reminded by Chen Shanshan’s words. “Are you saying... he is trying to take the opportunity to see if any monsters are smuggling stolen goods?” Then he refuted himself, “No, that isn’t right. There are at least 50 monsters sneaking stolen goods every day. The customs officers are blind and only find around five. He just wants to find as much as he can.”

Chen Shanshan wondered, “Then what if we help him collect them?”

Three minutes later, David and Pete frowned as they saw a fox-like monster moving around the monster population. The monsters he was looking for were all prairie monsters and they showed an expression of surprise after he said a few words.

Then the monsters went to the front and spoke to the dwarf official.

David wondered, “Why is that monster so active? Is he from the monster team?”

Pete watched the fox. “It’s possible. However, have you forgotten? The task of the monster team is to a.s.sist the customs team. The black tower didn’t mention what type of a.s.sistance it was. Maybe he just needs to find the people on the customs team and he will be successful. If I was him, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to expose myself and be conspicuous in the monster group. I would hide myself.”

David thought, “Then what the h.e.l.l is he doing?”

The yellow fox rubbed his hands and looked down at the dwarf official. “Sir, you see, you are alone and it will take you a long time to collect all the belongings. We have 20 monsters here. If we help you then it will take half an hour at the most.”

The dwarf coughed. “Help me? I’m not in a hurry. I can collect it slowly.”

The fox raised his eyebrows. “Don’t forget that if it takes too long, some of those impulsive and rude monsters from Monster Valley will become angry. It won’t be good.” The male fox hid his hand with his sleeve and made a ‘three’ gesture. “I will be seven and you three.”

The dwarf was stunned and then thrilled. He suppressed it. “No.”

The fox said, “Four!”

“No.”

The fox gritted his teeth. “5:5!”

The dwarf smiled. “Good!”

Then David and Pete saw more than 20 monsters holding number plates start to collect the belongings of other monsters. At first, they didn’t feel like anything was unusual. Then the yellow-haired fox suddenly raised a golden pocket way. “Sir, I will make a report. I will report her for smuggling!”

The deer monster hurriedly spoke with red eyes, “You, you are talking nonsense!”

The fox replied, “I’m not talking nonsense. The officer just needs to read it and he will know.”

The dwarf official came over to check. “Oh, you dare to smuggle an invisible man’s pocket watch. This thing isn’t allowed to be brought into the Monster World. It is useless even if you pay taxes!” The dwarf spoke while taking out three silver coins and throwing them to the fox. The fox smiled and placed the item into the dwarf’s hands. “Wait until later.”

The dwarf left with the pocket watch in a satisfied manner.

Next, shouts kept coming from the wooden house.

“You dare to hide this bow in your belt and thought I couldn’t find it! You are trying to evade the taxes!”

“Hey, daring to hide a ring in your mouth! Sir, I want to report her for smuggling. This is stolen!”

Stolen goods weren’t allowed to be smuggled even if taxes were paid. Some goods were fine as long as the monster paid a tax. They could get a number card and get the stolen goods back.

David sighed. “Fortunately, our things can be taken away. We just need to pay a bit of money. The two wolves have wallets on them with quite a few silver coins inside. It is probably left from when they were sneaking stolen goods.”

David didn’t intend to be too eye-catching and would continue to hide himself.

By his side, the blond foreigner was deeply frowning. Pete closed his eyes and stroked the red agate bracelet on his wrist. The next second, he opened his eyes and cried out, “f.u.c.k! David, this is the f.u.c.king monster team. It is messing with us!”

David was stunned. “Pete, what are you talking about?”

Pete angrily explained, “Don’t you understand yet? I finally understand. The thing that the black tower gave us to smuggle, there is only one of it. None of the 500 monsters here will carry it! Otherwise, the two people in the customs team can’t win. There are too many stolen goods and they won’t know which one is the real stolen goods. All the other loot will appear in pairs or even multiples. Only ours...” The blond man shook the banana wine in his hand. “This is the only f.u.c.king one!”

Pete gritted his teeth and crushed the red agate on his wrist. “We were played by the monster team!”

Inside the gla.s.s cabin, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo didn’t know what was going on outside.

Before getting the test paper, Tang Mo still thought it was okay. The black tower shouldn’t make it too hard for them and he and Fu Wenduo should be able to complete this test. Then after receiving the test, Tang Mo saw the first question. He felt joy until he saw the second question. “...”

[The 9614th Civil Servants Test of the Underground Kingdom]

[Question 1: 1+2+3+4... +99=? Please calculate.]

[Question 2: What is the first time a princess will say if she goes for a walk and runs into an underground person in frog clothes?

You ugly flea! B. You ugly frog! C. You ugly b.a.s.t.a.r.d! D. You ugly little cookie!]

...Who knew what the princess would say?

Besides, why would a civil service examination test this type of thing?

He continued to look down and the other questions were even more wonderful.

Tang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo who shook his head. “The Happy Question and Answer Quiz was simpler than this.”

It was one hundred times simpler than this!

Tang Mo tried to write the answers to the questions he knew while observing the outside world. He found that a monster had started to help the dwarf collect items. Tang Mo sensed something wrong and raised his eyebrows. Soon, he found why the monsters were collecting the items.

Collect items and report smugglers.

The world outside the gla.s.s hut was much more lively than the inside.

Tang Mo’s gaze swept across all the monsters but he obviously couldn’t find Chen Shanshan. He watched the monsters reporting their companions and his lips slowly curved. “Shanshan, do a good job.”

Fu Wenduo held the pen and also watched the situation outside.

After a moment, he whispered, “Originally, I thought there was only one way to clear the instance if we can’t pa.s.s this test. The dwarf collected all the monsters’ belongings and piled them there.” One finger pointed to a corner. “There are around seven or eight hundred things. You and my chicken nest can now accommodate 10 things. In addition, we can grab some in our hands. We should be able to take those things away. After all, the things that can be smuggled generally aren’t too big. However, our ident.i.ties will be exposed by doing this. The underground people and monsters are our enemies, as well as the two players in the second monster team. How could we escape the siege? This game is a test of our force.”

Tang Mo smiled. “Then what about now?”

“Now we already know which are stolen goods and which are normal items. There are a lot less things to take away. Perhaps Shanshan can help us find the unique item. As long as we take it away, we will win.”

Tang Mo thought about it. “That’s it? Will we have to expose our ident.i.ty?”

Fu Wenduo’s dark eyes stared at Tang Mo as he smiled.

“It depends on how much surprise that little girl can bring us.”

Yes, from beginning to end, there were two ways for Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo to clear this side mission.

First, use force to take away all the monsters’ belongings. The dwarf chief gathered all belongings and put them in one place. This could be regarded as the black tower helping Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo, making it possible for them to steal all the items.

However, this tested their force too much.

They had to break through the monsters and underground people and escape. They also had to be wary of the second monster team that could attack at any time.

The strength of those two players couldn’t be weak. If they were fighting alone, Tang Mo wasn’t sure he could win against the other side.

The second method was the task of the monster team. a.s.sist the customs team to find the stolen goods.

The black tower’s definition was very vague. In the end, what did it mean by finding? Was it just seeing the stolen goods or did they have to hold it? Tang Mo speculated that it was more likely to be the latter. They had to take the stolen goods from the hands of the monsters.

Chen Shanshan’s task wasn’t necessarily difficult. She was only on the third floor of the black tower and might not have to do anything. She only needed to pay attention to the movement of the monsters and this could be regarded as ‘a.s.sisting.’

Yet she did more.

It was impossible for the underground official to find all the stolen goods hidden by monsters. It was only profit that would make people tempted. Thus, she incited a seemingly clever black tower monster and let him gather more monsters. Then they would search the monsters one by one and find all the hidden stolen goods.

If they found stolen goods, there was a reward. They could get a king’s gold coin.

Who wouldn’t be tempted?

Now there was one last thing the little girl could do to rescue Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo.

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