nAfter the malicious ‘Merry Christmas’ blessing, the sun completely sank below the horizon in the west and the last rays of sunlight disappeared into the sky.

nChristmas Eve started.

nTang Mo immediately checked his things, confirming that the small parasol and big match were on his body. Then he quickly ran to a convenience store 50 metres away. The store had long been turned upside down by people. All the food and water on the shelves had been stolen. Tang Mo found a knife for sharpening pencils in the clerk’s drawer and the found two batteries.

nHe had been using the flashlight received from Li Bin for a long time and didn’t know when it would run out of power. In case the new instance was as dark as the big mole’s cave, the power must be prepared.

nOnce all this was ready, Tang Mo looked at the clock hanging from the wall of the convenience store.

nThe second hand was sliding towards the ‘12’ position. Once three minutes passed, Tang Mo held his breath and was ready to be pulled into the instance. But the next moment, the second hand moved to the next position.

nTang Mo’s heart tightened. He stood in the dark and empty convenience store, his eyes focused on the clock on the wall.

nThe second hand was still ticking.

nTang Mo counted the time in his heart. He had started to countdown the moment that the black tower announced all Huaxia players would enter the instance in three minutes. It took him a minute and a half to enter the convenience store and another minute and a half to find the things.

nUntil now, four minutes had passed.

nHe wasn’t pulled into the game instance.

nTang Mo stood in the same place for a while. One minute passed and he still wasn’t pulled into the instance. He took the small parasol out of his backpack and walked out of the convenience store.

nTang Mo started to head back. It was only two kilometres from the mall where Attack was located. He wanted to know if everyone wasn’t pulled into the instance like him, or if he alone was left outside the instance.

nTang Mo walked very quickly. His hand gripped the small parasol and he was always aware of possible enemies.

nJust as he arrived at a crossroad, there was the sound of fireworks from the sky. Tang Mo looked up.

nColourful fireworks exploded in the black sky.

nThe fireworks seemed to consist of five different small ‘□□’ as it leapt to the highest point of the sky, like five meteors flying from the ground to the sky. They flew slowly until they were nearly 10km from the ground. Then the five ‘□□’ suddenly exploded.

nBrilliant fireworks bloomed from the ‘□□’ with the night as a curtain, sketching a big portrait.

nA thick white beard, red cashmere hat and white ball on top of the hat. The fireworks painted the image of a big Santa Claus head. The scene was reflected in the eyes of every player in the Shanghai area. Once the fireworks picture of Sant Claus gradually dissipated, loud laughter was heard from the sky.

nTang Mo’s heart thumped.

nHe suddenly understood what this sound meant.

nFour reindeer emerged from the fireworks head of Santa Claus, smashing through it.

n“Hohoho, children, Merry Christmas!”

nFour reindeer pulled a glittering red sleigh, their hooves moving in the night sky. They ran over the city with a white-bearded old man in a red costume standing on the sleigh. He pulled the reins with his hands and laughed. As he laughed, he waved his hands, sprinkling many stars towards the ground.

nSanta’s sleigh was extremely fast. It soon passed through all of Pudong, crossing Nanpu Bridge and heading for Puxi.

nIn the sky, tens of thousands of stars floated like snowflakes towards the ground. The stars shone as they fell to the ground. The dazzling light filled the ground, the white light connecting the ground and the sky.

nAt the same time, a crisp child’s voice rang out through Shanghai—

n“Ding dong! Branch Task 1 has been triggered. Find the Christmas tree branches left by Santa Claus and enter the Christmas Eve surprise instance within 30 minutes.”

nThis sound was heard all through China at the same time. A Santa Claus appeared near every black tower in China and white stars were sprinkled to the ground.

nAfter hearing the task, Tang Mo turned around and quickly ran to the nearest star drop point. But he was still a bit slow. By the time he arrived at the scene, a 17 year old boy in glasses was picking up the white star that fell to the ground.

nOnce his hand touched the little star, the white light dissipated and turned into a small tree branch.

nThe boy saw Tang Mo and a wary expression appeared on his face. But he didn’t need to do anything. After he got the branch, his body gradually faded and disappeared into the air.

nThis probably meant a successful entry into the instance.

nTang Mo didn’t look as he ran to the position where another star fell.

nHe was still beaten to it.

nHe ran to more than 10 places in a row. Sometimes he was only halfway there when the white light disappeared. This showed that someone picked up the branch and successfully entered the instance. Sometimes he could only watch another player enter the instance.

nMinutes passed and there was only five minutes left.

nTang Mo ran towards a factory. A small star lay quietly on the ground in front of the factory, with no other players around.

nHis eyes lit up and he accelerated. Tang Mo’s hand was about to touch the star when he suddenly shrank back. A sharp iron boomerang appeared in the position he was just about to reach. If Tang Mo hadn’t stopped his hand, it would’ve been cut off by this boomerang.

nHe turned his head to the left.

nA young woman in a camel trench coat was staring at him coldly. She raised her right hand and the boomerang embedded in the ground floated up and returned to the woman’s hand.

nThe two people separated by a distance of 10 metres stared at each other.

nThe next second, the two people moved at the same time. Tang Mo shouted an incantation and opened the small parasol, using it to block in front of him. The woman waved and the sharp boomerang moved in a 180 degree arc, attacking Tang Mo’s back.

nTang Mo opened the small parasol and blocked behind him. The boomerang slammed hard against it and Tang Mo took out step back, getting further away from the Christmas tree branch.

nThe woman waved the boomerang and quickly ran to the little star.

nTang Mo grabbed the parasol and constantly blocked the attacks of the boomerang. The pink parasol collided with the iron boomerang, making a banging sound. Tang Mo propped one hand on the ground to escape the attack of the boomerang. At the same time, he slammed the parasol to the back of the woman’s head.

nThe woman was about to touch the little star. She didn’t expect Tang Mo to be able to attack her while coping with the boomerang. She couldn’t dodge and the tip of the parasol pierced her shoulder. She was extremely angry. She concentrated on using his ability, directing the boomerang to attack Tang Mo.

nTang Mo disregarded his image as he rolled across the ground and grasped the small star.

nThe woman cried out urgently, “You…!”

nBang!

nTang Mo opened the small parasol and blocked the boomerang flying towards him. He calmly put the parasol away and stared at the woman in the trench coat not far away. The latter was furious but she couldn’t wait around. She could only stare at Tang Mo before running to the next star fall point.

nTang Mo’s body gradually faded and he heard the black tower’s voice in his mind—

n“Ding dong! The branch task has been completed and you have successfully entered China District 2 No. 419 Christmas Eve surprise instance.”

n“Player data loading complete…”

n“Instance information is loaded…

nA dazzling white light flashed in front of him. Tang Mo opened his eyes and the whole world was filled with a white light. He held the handle of the small parasol as he blinked. He was wary of monsters suddenly attacking. But gradually, after the white light dissipated, Tang Mo saw the appearance of this instance.

nThis white world was around 10 metres long and 5 metres wide. The ground was evenly divided into four areas, forming four blank squares that were 5 metres long and 2.5 metres wide. Tang Mo’s position was the white grid on the far right. He looked around and saw three people to his left.

nThe four of them stood in a row. Tang Mo was on the far right. To his left was a young man around his age and a high school female student next to him. The left most grid contained a middle-aged man.

nThe four people stared at the other three in a vigilant manner and grabbed their weapons.

nAt this moment, a rumbling sound was heard. The four of them looked at where it came from.

nIn front of them, a white wall rose, revealing the scene on the opposite side. Tang Mo stared carefully at the rising white wall. He said, “This isn’t a white world. It is a split apart world. On the opposite side of this wall…”

nHe looked at the opposite side.

nSure enough, there were four people standing in four grids opposite of Tang Mo.

nThe white world is finally showing up in the eyes of eight players.

nThis was a white map that was 10 metres long and 15 minutes wide. Four players stood on the same side that was divided into four grids. There was a five metre wide area in the middle of both sides. The central region had a golden star suspended in midair that was sprinkling golden starlight.

nTang Mo looked at the four people opposite him. He didn’t get a chance to see them clearly when he heard—

nBoom—

nThere seemed to be an earthquake as the entire white world shook. Tang Mo hurriedly used the small parasol to stabilize his body. He looked up and saw eight huge iron plates descending from the sky. They slammed in front of each player, sticking to the edge of the white grids.

nThe silver-white iron plates caused the ground to shake. After a while, all eight people could stand firmly.

nTang Mo had already looked up at the big iron card in front of him. He carefully looked at every corner of the iron card before turning to look at the iron card of the man standing next to him.

nThe picture on this iron card wasn’t the same as his!

nHe came to this conclusion while the other people hadn’t reacted yet. Tang Mo quietly observed the iron card of the next person. After reading all three cards of the other players on this side, he looked across.

nThe opposite side also had four people. Standing opposite Tang Mo was a middle-aged woman. To her left was a young woman and then a white-haired old man.

nFrom Tang Mo’s perspective, he couldn’t see the contents of their cards. He could only see the pattern on the back. It was Santa driving a reindeer sleigh, waving a red bag and happily flying through the clouds.

nThe three people on the opposite side were also looking at the contents of the iron cards. Tang Mo observed them for a while before his eyes turned to the last man standing diagonally from him.

nHe looked at the other person in silence.

nThere was a distance of 10 metres between the two people and the man was looking at the content of the iron card. Half of this man’s body was blocked by the iron card. Tang Mo could only see that he was wearing a black coat. He stood there quietly, his stance extremely upright.

nFor some reason, Tang Mo looked at this person for more than two seconds.

nThe next moment, eagle-like eyes stared straight at Tang Mo.

n