Chapter 39: Pinocchio's Honest Card Game~

Tang Mo was astonished.

In the white world, the remaining six men were still studying the iron sign in front of them, Tang Mo and the man in black were ten metres apart, watching each other in silence.

The two men's eyes met in the air. No one spoke, just watched.

Tang Mo's hand unconsciously strokes the match tattoo on his left wrist.

At that moment, a cheerful and happy music sounded. It was the intro to 'Merry Christmas' and Tang Mo immediately withdrew his eyes and looked warily at the sound. The man in black also turned his eyes away from him.

The eight players looked in unison towards the end of the white world.

From a distance, an off-key voice could be heard humming over and over again, "......we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!"

At the end of the white world, a small black dot attracts the attention of the crowd.

This black dot came closer and closer and closer. When his song had echoed throughout the white world, the crowd finally got a good look at him.

This is a small, thin puppet, wearing a small yellow hat with a red feather tilted into the blue brim. He wears cowboy boots and hums loudly, with his chest outstretched, a song called "Merry Christmas" that is almost out of tune. At his waist is an old, battered radio. The music is coming from this radio.

Tang Mo vaguely thought the puppet looked familiar, but couldn't remember where he had seen him before for a while.

The high school girl standing on his side of the room suddenly exclaimed, "Pinocchio!"

Tang Mo sniffed and looked at the puppet again.

The puppet stopped humming and turned to look at the high school girl. He crossed his arms proudly, the old radio at his waist still playing the Merry Christmas song in the background. He said, "Yes, I'm the handsome, cute, everyone's favourite Pinocchio!"

"biu--"

A very strange special effect sounded, and the puppet's nose suddenly became longer.

Pinocchio blushed and said, "Well, well, well, not everyone likes me."

"biu--"

Pinocchio's nose has again become longer, with a long pointed nose almost half a metre long.

"I'm just cute, not handsome at all!"

"biu--"

Pinocchio wilted like a deflated balloon: "Yes, I'm not cute, I'm not handsome, and I'm not liked by everyone." His nose went back to normal all of a sudden.

Pinocchio slapped the radio indignantly, it rattled and the music stopped. He shot a sharp look at the high school girl who had called out his name, who shrank back in fear. Pinocchio strides towards the large golden star in the centre of the eight men and stands beside it.

"Merry Christmas? Merry Christmas what! Damn Santa, this Christmas isn't merry at all!" Pinocchio kicked the golden star, causing him to wince in pain. He covered his foot and bounced on one foot on the ground. After a while it seemed to stop hurting before he turned around and looked at all eight players present.

The puppet villain grunted, "Are you the players that Santa invited."

Tang Mo looked calmly at the Pinocchio and none of the eight men said anything.

"Damn damn damn, don't human kids these days know anything about respecting the old and the young. I ask you, are you the players who will be playing the Honest Card Game today!"

Pinocchio ripped the radio from his belt in anger and threw it to the floor in a fury. The radio was torn to pieces and the pieces were thrown everywhere. The pieces splattered around the high school girl's feet and she ran back in fear, thinking that Pinocchio was still angry about what had happened. However, she only reached the edge of her grid before an invisible wall blocked her way and she couldn't go any further.

Pinocchio narrowed his eyes at this and gloated, "The game hasn't even started yet, can you run away. "

Tang Mo reached out and touched the cell he was in. As expected, like the high school girl, the cell he was in seemed like a cage, with four invisible walls blocking the air and preventing him from moving out. Several other people started to try, but the result was the same: they were all locked in these cells.

"They say I'm a dishonest little puppet, but I think you humans are the most dishonest of all! Let me smell the stench of stowaways all over the world, it's making me Pinocchio vomit. "

At the word "stowaway", everyone's face changed. Tang Mo subconsciously looked at the man in black standing on his diagonal, but the latter did not react too much.

Next, Pinocchio goes on to say something amazing: "Ah, the smell ...... is like there's more than one stowaway! The stench is as thick as a shithole, there are at least two stowaways! Two! Damn Santa, why don't you let me eat these stowaways. What the hell kind of Christmas Eve surprise copy is this, what's the point of playing the game if people don't die!"

The young man standing next to Tang Mo instantly grasped the point and he asked tentatively, "Did you just say that this game doesn't kill people?"

Pinocchio swiped his head and glared at the man, "Yes, how can someone die when it's a surprise copy of a Christmas benefit. Damn, you're so curious, are you the stowaway!"

The young man immediately denied it.

"No killing of humans ......" Pinocchio reads softly, and the next moment he hems and haws as if suddenly remembering something: "Ah, almost forgot Santa's instructions. "

Pinocchio picked up the broken radio from the floor and he gave it a violent slap on the radio.

"Crunch-"

The radio, broken into four pieces, magically emits a distorted musical sound as Pinocchio grasps it in his right hand and raises it high in the air with his left. He stands in a blank area between the eight men and whirls around in a rapid circle while shouting -

"Dear human friends, welcome to 'Pinocchio's Honest Card Game', I am your human best friend - Pinocchio!"

"biu--"

Pinocchio angrily changed his tune: "Well, well, I'm not your human friend, I'm Pinocchio!"

As his nose retracted, the large golden star around Pinocchio suddenly emitted a dazzling golden light, as if in response to Pinocchio. Pinocchio turned around in this blinding golden light and faced Tang Mo. He took off his little yellow hat and gave a stage curtain call. Then he did the same thing, turning 180° to face the four players opposite him and giving a stage curtain call.

Tang Mo's eyes were locked on Pinocchio, and the name of the game was on his mind.

"Pinocchio's honest card game."

Pinocchio finished his salute and threw away the broken radio again. He put his hands together and in the blink of an eye he was in front of Tang Mo. Tang Mo's heart tightened and he almost pulled out the big match. He saw Pinocchio blink and look at him: "Do you like to lie, my son?"

All eyes turn to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo quickly pondered the implications of this question. Pinocchio had lied earlier, causing his nose to lengthen, and Tang Mo was unsure of what he would get if he lied at this moment, so he quickly ran through several answers in his head. Only a second passed before Tang Mo said, expressionlessly, "Not like that. But humans, they've always lied before."

Pinocchio looked at him with a low laugh and, like a gust of wind, in the blink of an eye, he was running again to the young man next to him.

"Boy, do you like Christmas?"

The young man was caught off guard by the sudden question and he swallowed: "It ...... was okay."

Pinocchio runs again to the next man.

"Do you like Pinocchio, my child?"

"Child, have you ever received a gift from Father Christmas?"

......

He asked seven people and seven questions in a row, and finally he ran up to the man in black.

Pinocchio smiled kindly: "Have you heard, my son, of ...... the King's gold coin?"

Tang Mo's eyes widened and he immediately looked at Pinocchio.

The man in black stared at Pinocchio, his voice low: "Never heard of it."

Pinocchio claps his hands and tap dances for a few seconds in front of the man in black. The next moment, his figure appears next to the big golden star and he exclaims: "None of you are lying, you are all honest children. Only honest children are eligible for the 'Pinocchio's Honest Card Game'. It's Christmas and last night Father Christmas came to me and said he had a big surprise for all the good children of the world."

Pinocchio turned his head to the big golden star beside him, crossed his arms and dubbed himself, "Bam, bam, bam! Yes, that's it, Santa's golden star!"

The middle-aged woman standing directly across from Tang Mo subconsciously recited, "Santa's golden star ......"

"That's right!" In the blink of an eye, Pinocchio was running up to her, scaring the woman so much that she almost fell to the ground.

Pinocchio reached out his wooden hand and pulled the woman to her feet, saying "Did I scare you my honest friend", but unable to hide the sinister smile on his face. He clapped his hands together and returned to the golden star: "Santa says that every good boy deserves a present from Santa on Christmas Eve. That I'd be very unconvinced of."

The little puppet crossed his arms: "I ask Father Christmas, how do you know who is a good child and who is a bad child? What would you say makes a good child?"

Pinocchio points a finger at the high school girl.

The high school girl blushed and thought for half a second, "...... gentle, kind and helpful, good boy?"

Pinocchio was unhappy: "What else?"

The high school girl racked her brain for a few more words, and Pinocchio's face grew hard. Tang Mo gave her a look that was so frightening that she was on the verge of tears: "Honest people are the only ones who are good."

The crowd looked towards him.

Pinocchio gave him a thumbs up: "That's right! It's the honest ones that make good boys."

The high school girl whispered a grateful "thank you" to Tang Mo, and the eyes of the others went back to Pinocchio, except for the man in black who looked at Tang Mo for a few more seconds. Tang Mo didn't look at him this time, he looked at Pinocchio like everyone else, only his right hand was pressed against the matchstick.

The big golden star hovered in mid-air and Pinocchio jumped up high and took the huge star into his arms. "I said to Santa that only an honest child is entitled to this star and to this golden coin of the king."

Tang Mo's eyes stuttered, his heart almost missing a beat as he stared at the star with deadly intensity.

The others, unaware of what "the King's gold coin" meant, looked at Pinocchio with caution and trepidation. Pinocchio held his big star and raised his chin proudly: "So today, in place of Father Christmas, I'm going to play a game with you children. Whoever wins will get this King's gold coin. It's a surprise benefit that only comes once a year."

An old voice rang out, "What is the King's gold?" It was the old man with white hair standing beside the man in black who spoke.

Pinocchio looked surprised: "You don't even know about the King's gold? The King's Gold Coin, that is the highest and rarest gold coin in the Kingdom of the Underlanders! With this gold coin, you can freely enter and leave every city in the Kingdom of the Underlanders, and can exchange it for a hundred silver coins ......"

Many of the players present seemed to be aware of the existence of the Kingdom of the Underlanders, and their faces changed when they heard this.

But then Pinocchio said the most maddening thing: "A king's gold coin forfeits a game of The black tower. You don't even know about the king's coin?"

"Ah!" The three men exclaimed outright.

Everyone's breath hitched as they looked with feverish eyes at the golden star in Pinocchio's arms.

The man in black's gaze also paused for a moment, but the next moment he was looking at Tang Mo .

Tang Mo's face was also full of amazement as he stared at the golden star as if he were learning about the King's gold coin for the first time.

The man in black curled his lips slightly and withdrew his gaze.

After the crowd's shock, the old man couldn't help but ask, "How do you play this game and how do you win it?"

Pinocchio: "Good question! Honest children, do you see this silver and iron deck in front of you?"

The crowd looked at the cards in front of them. In addition to their own decks, the four players on each side looked at all the other three decks on their side as well. Tang Mo's eyes stare at the four cards on the opposite side of the table. Pinocchio spots Tang Mo's gaze and he hems and haws, clapping his hands together.

"Boom..."

The eight cards are turned 180° in unison to reveal the front of the cards to the opposite player.

The movement of the cards flipping over sent a small earthquake through the white world. As the quake subsided, Tang Mo quickly looked at the four cards on the opposite side of the table. His gaze goes from the one directly opposite him to the left, and he finds that each card overlaps with the one on his side, until he sees the last one.

Tang Mo's eyes are astonished.

On the card in front of the man in black is a majestic man wearing a crown. He holds a jewelled cane and looks majestically ahead, his eyes gleaming.

As Tang Mo saw the card, the four men on the opposite side of the table also saw the card in front of him.

The middle-aged woman exclaimed, "How come his deck is different from ours!"

Tang Mo, the high school girl on this side of the room, chimed in, "That one's different too!"

The card in front of Tang Mo shows a long-haired woman wearing a crown. She holds a large jewel in both hands, and her long, thick hair is like seaweed, cascading over her shoulders in a gentle glow.

There are eight cards in all, two with beggars in rags, two with knights in armour, and two with middle-aged men holding books. There is also this crowned woman in front of Tang Mo, and the crowned man in front of the man in black.

Tang Mo: "Slaves, Knights, Prophets ...... Kings and Queens."

Pinocchio looked at him in surprise, "You know the most famous honest card game in the Kingdom of the Underlanders?"

Tang Mo shakes his head: "With a deck like this, it looks well understood."

Pinocchio: "That's true, you humans seem to play a similar game. But this time you are wrong, this card ......" he teleported to the card of the middle aged man with the book in his hand and tapped the silver and iron card hard, "This card is not a prophet. This card is the minister. The king and queen command the ministers, the ministers govern the knights, the knights kill the slaves and the slaves can revolt. Yes, this is the most popular honest card game in the Kingdom of the Underlanders right now."

When Pinocchio explained this, it dawned on several other players.

This game sounds complicated and in fact many countries had similar games before the Earth came online.

This is a strategy-based card game where the first and the last are linked. The king plays the ministers, the ministers play the knights and the knights play the slaves. The king can take the ministers and knights, but the seemingly weakest slaves can rise up and kill the king.

But what does this game have to do with honesty?

The high school girl said curiously, "Is our mission to kill the king or queen on the other side to win?"

Tang Mo has a slave, a knight, a minister and a queen on this side, and a slave, knight, minister and a king on the opposite side. Thinking normally, they would have split into two teams, with the aim of killing the king/queen on the other side with their own slaves.

However, Pinocchio's face instantly sank at these words. He blinked and teleported to the high school girl, glaring at her grimly as he said coldly, "Looks like you're the bad boy."

The high school girl was so frightened by him that she sat straight down on the floor, her lips quivering, wondering what she had said wrong.

Pinocchio changed his playfulness from earlier and swept his cold gaze over the eight people present. After looking round, he returned to his original position, suddenly pulling back his lips and smiling brightly once more: "How can anyone die on Christmas Eve for a surprise benefit? Honest children, this is a welfare game for you! Do you know why the Honest Card Game is not like other games, where instead of two kings, there is a king and a queen?"

The crowd was stunned by the sudden change of face he had just made and not one of them replied.

Pinocchio, however, asked himself: "Yes! Because this is an honest and peaceful game. The game comes second, friendship first. Eight cards, suppose you ......" Pinocchio pointed to Tang Mo's side, "suppose you put up a knight and they put up a slave. What would happen?"

Tang Mo looked coldly at Pinocchio.

Pinocchio asks himself again: "Yes, then they will be defeated by you. Their slave cards disappear, leaving only the knight, the minister and the king cards. And you have not lost a single one of your four cards. No matter how you count them, it is very difficult for them to win again. Because with their slaves dead, no one can threaten your queen anymore, while your slaves can kill their king."

It's a load of crap.

As the crowd was afraid to speak, a young woman standing opposite Tang Mo spoke up: "I don't understand, then, what is the point of this game. If one side is a knight and one side is a slave. The knight card can kill the slave card ...... so what, what does it do to us?"

"Who told you this is the way this game is played?"

The young woman closes her mouth and stares at Pinocchio.

Pinocchio: "This is an honest card game! If one player's card overpowers the other, then the card of the player being overpowered is nullified and ......" Pinocchio smiled heatedly, his small dark eyes flicking around the eight players, "That means you're all dishonest kids! !"

Tang Mo suddenly realised what was going on.

Pinocchio grunted: "In an honest card game, there is one sure way to win, and that is to play the same cards every time. When both teams have exactly the same cards, the cards are voided and the two sides end the game peacefully. In our kingdom of the Underlanders there is a default rule of four games of chance, with both teams playing slave cards in the first game, knight cards together in the second, followed by minister cards. Why not two king cards, but one king card and one queen card? Because when we wait until the fourth game, when we play both the king and queen cards, the king and queen will hold hands and the game will end peacefully between them. This is the Underlander's favourite honest card game. There are no losers, we're all winners."

Tang Mo frowned at these words. Of the eight people in the room, the high school girl and middle-aged man on Tang Mo's side of the room, and the middle-aged woman and white-haired old man on the opposite side of the room, all glowed.

All are winners, so that means everyone wins the game? Everyone gets the King's gold?

"But!" Pinocchio suddenly said, smiling brightly: "But, there is only one gold coin for the king. I made a bet with Father Christmas, who said that you were all good boys and would all work together to complete this honest game. Instead, I thought, you guys ......"

Pinocchio extends his finger and points to Tang Mo: "You."

He pointed to the young man beside Tang Mo: "You."

And then the female high school student: "You."

"You, you, you, you ......"

"And you!" He finally pointed at the man in black standing at the other end of the diagonal.

"You're all dishonest humans! I have a bet with Father Christmas that if you play your cards honestly and in order, I will be the one to lose. Then after this game, each of you can leave the copy and I will lose a king's gold coin to Father Christmas."

The old man said, "Wait, what about our reward for winning the game?"

Pinocchio rightly asked in return, "Huh? I didn't even eat you guys, so isn't that a reward for you?"

High School Girl: "No. So the only thing we can get out of participating in this game is that you don't eat us and send us safely out of the copy?"

"That's not enough?" Pinocchio rubbed his chin, "Of course, at a glance like this, it looks like you guys didn't get a Christmas present. So my bet with Santa isn't over yet. Santa and I also said that if you play your cards out of order in this game and one side wins the other outright ......"

Pinocchio clapped his hands and did a metronomic tap dance: "Bam, bam, bam! That's when I win. Father Christmas will owe me a condition. And I will selflessly give out three more pieces of the King's Gold to the four people who win. Each of the four of them will have a King's Gold Coin and still be able to leave the copy safely."

Tang Mo's eyes widened and a chill ran through him. He quickly turned his head to look at the three "companions" beside him. Among them, the high school girl and the middle-aged man, apart from the young man standing next to Tang Mo, looked up at the four men across from him, and then at the golden star in Pinocchio's hand.

The eyes of the two men were full of greedy, fiery light.

It wasn't just them, three of the four men opposite also looked at the golden star and swallowed. Only the man in black had a calm expression and did not react. Noticing that Tang Mo was looking at him, he looked at Tang Mo too.

Tang Mo and he shared a glance.

Pinocchio: "Don't worry, kids. This is Santa's Christmas Eve surprise for you. As long as you play it safe and follow the rules, nothing will happen to anyone. Even if you don't play by the rules, nothing will happen."

Female high school student: "What do you mean?"

Pinocchio said happily: "In an honest card game, neither I nor my opponent will know what cards you've got out. If both teams have the same card, both cards are cancelled. The two teams take out different cards, and the 'dueling ring' is triggered. But don't worry, there's no such thing as a man-eating monster on Christmas Eve. The duel is just a duel between the two teams representing the same card. The winning team can stay on the field, the losing team ...... will leave the place and move on to the next interesting game."

The high school girl thought, "You mean that if we play different cards on both sides, then we will be deemed dishonest at the same time. There will be a duel between two of our teams. The winner stays here and the loser goes to the next game? That doesn't sound like a punishment at all ......"

Pinocchio winked his tiny eyes: "The next game has nothing to do with Santa, there is no peaceful way to get through."

The high school girl's face went white, and it dawned on her.

In this honest card game, all eight of them can survive as long as they play the same cards in unison. After four games, all eight cards will be nullified and the eight of them will leave the copy with nothing.

But if one of them wins the game, killing the opponent's king/queen card with a slave card, and then killing the opponent's slave card. Then they can just keep playing their king/queen cards for the rest of the game and kill all the opponent's cards to win the game.

End the game peacefully, with no reward for either side.

One side wins the game and all four players receive the King's gold.

The King's Gold ......

That's a chance to forfeit a game of The black tower.

Half a month ago, Tang Mo almost lost his temper when confronted with this gold coin.

Now ......

"I have a question." A low voice rang out.

Tang Mo looks to the man in black who spoke.

The man in black's gaze swept over the four Tang Mo's, finally lingering on Tang Mo for a moment before looking back at Pinocchio: "If one side wins, what happens to the loser?"

Pinocchio: "It's been said that there will be no killing in this game, so of course the loser will move on to the next game. As for whether they will survive the next game ......" Pinocchio smiled heatedly, "How would the lovely, kind Pinocchio know?"

"biu--"

Pinocchio's nose grew long as he hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, yes, I'm ugly and vicious and not at all lovely and kind!"

Nose back to normal.

At that moment, a clear child's voice rang out in the minds of the eight players present -

"Ding Dong! The Christmas Eve surprise copy of 'Pinocchio's Honest Card Game' officially begins. Rules of the game -"

"First, each team has four cards each: a slave card, a knight card, a minister card and a king/queen card."

"Secondly, the king/queen card restrains the minister card and the knight card, the minister card restrains the knight card and the slave card, the knight card restrains the slave card, and the slave card restrains the king/queen card."

"Third, the default order of cards played in the Kingdom of the Underlanders: slave, knight, minister, king/queen."

"Fourth, if the two players do not match, the restrained card is voided on the spot and the 'Dueling Arena' effect is triggered. The player representing that card on the field will fight a 1V1 duel. The winner stays on the field, the loser goes into the Tower Attack game (normal mode)."

"Fifthly, when cards are played, they are shown on the back of the card and the opposing player may not see the contents of his or her own card. Pinocchio does not know the contents of the cards of both players."

"Sixth, before each game is played, the cards represented by each player will change, in a random way."

"Seventh, the team with not a single card is considered to have failed."

"Eighth, the side whose queen card is in play triggers the 'go home and kneel' effect and has the right to ask a question only once in the game. You may choose any time to ask a question to the side of the king card. The question may not relate to the contents of the card and the person asked may only answer yes or no. Lying is considered a failure. Lying is considered a game lost and the questioner wins."

"Pinocchio hates honest humans so much that he would rather give the king's gold to four damned liars than let honest humans leave the copy safely."

"So you all know the rules of the game now?" Pinocchio grinned sinisterly as he clutched his golden star. When he noticed everyone looking at him, he immediately winked and made a look of pure innocence as he clapped his hands happily, "Then let's get the game started!"

Pinocchio stomped his foot into the earth and a wall of white rumbled down from the sky.

It was this wall that had just separated the two groups and now it was slowly descending again.

Pinocchio: "Knowing that you will all be discussing the cards to be played next, as soon as this wall comes down, neither of you will be able to see the people on the other side or hear their voices. Only I can see you and hear what you say. Of course, I won't give any hints." At this point, Pinocchio suddenly paused, covering his mouth in surprise, and said, "Huh, what was I saying, why do you need to discuss, aren't all the cards you're going to play next slave cards?"

The white wall rumbled and fell completely.

Pinocchio sits on the wall, he turns his head to look at Tang Mo on one side and then to the other.

Pinocchio stretched out and lay comfortably on the wall, hugging the golden star. He said cheerfully, "Ah, these are eight good, honest and lovely children."

--------------------

The author has something to say.

Tangtang: ...... Wait, why is my side the queen card?

Mr. Fu: That's accurate, no problem.

Mr. Fu: -V- The queen has one chance to ask a question, really?

Tangtang: ......

A few games later -

Tangtang: Launching the "go home and kneel" effect! Mr. Fu Wenduo of the opposing team, do you still want a daughter-in-law?

Mr. Fu: ......[Was it easy for me!