#17.1

The male voice was silent for a moment. “Yes, I am human. Are you also human?”

Tang Mo said, “I am.”

Neither of them spoke again.

The car was stopped at the side of the road, the dazzling sunset shining into the car’s interior. The white egg’s whole body gleamed with golden yellow. From time to time, text appeared on it, but Tang Mo could see only a few words and a bunch of corrupted text.

His bigger concern was now the person speaking from within.

He thought for a bit and decided to first show his sincerity before questioning the other party.

He began describing his situation: “I’m currently holding a white egg in my hand and your voice is transmitting from inside. Are you somebody who’s been trapped inside the egg or is there some other circumstance?”

The man’s voice was steady and serene. “I haven’t been trapped in an egg. I’m also holding an egg in my hand and your voice is also transmitting from inside.“ He paused, then additionally said, “It’s a turkey egg.”

Tang Mo’s mind moved. “You must be someone from A-Country. [1] Then, did you also just come out of the Black Tower’s first floor? I got this egg from a Black Tower monster. It’s a turkey egg.”

“Me too. I got a white turkey egg from a Black Tower creature.”

At this time, the two of them thoroughly understood. The turkey egg in their hands was similar to a cellphone and could let them connect and speak with a stranger they had never met before.

Since it was like this, Tang Mo now wanted to know how far away the turkey egg could connect.

“Where are you?”

“Which city are you in?”

Different mouths spoke with the same voice, [2] causing both sides to be stunned.

The other party was the first to respond. “I’m in the capital.”

The capital? The capital was a thousand kilometers from S-City. It was so far away, and the turkey egg could also immediately connect. Did it really function as a cellphone?

Tang Mo said, “I’m in S-City.”

Tang Mo bowed his head and looked at the turkey egg in his hand with a vague idea.

For some reason, the egg in his hand seemed to be in a damaged state. Tang Mo didn’t at all think the kind of random tapping he’d done just now was capable of breaking the turkey egg. What had actually been cracked by tapping wasn’t the turkey egg, but instead his steering wheel.

Things from the Black Tower weren’t that frail.

The probability that the turkey egg had been broken by his tapping wasn’t even twenty percent, while the probability that it had originally been damaged was eighty percent or more.

As a result of the turkey egg being damaged, Tang Mo didn’t know what the egg’s ultimate use was. The text on it only had three lines of words without corrupted letters. This included –

[Quality: Rare.]

This was a rare item.

If the Black Tower was really only playing a game, it was also fair and reasonable for it to grant players items like this. Rare items in any game were all extremely precious. Tang Mo didn’t know if his damaged turkey egg would be usable again, but maybe he could find out its true utility from out of the mouth of this player in the capital.

A rare item couldn’t only be used for communication. Before the earth went online, human technology could already video chat with the whole world. There was no reason the mysterious Black Tower could only do this much. Since both of them were turkey eggs, looked similar, and could even communicate, then, eight or nine out of ten, their utility was also the same.

Tang Mo arranged his next words. “When I played the first floor of the Black Tower’s tower attack game, the big mole in the Black Tower gave me this egg as a reward. This egg is very hard. I tried to smash it using a car’s steering wheel, a stone, and even a few other hard things. A crack was smashed into my steering wheel by it, but it didn’t break open.”

First, he declared as much of his information as possible to make the other side feel that the both of them were now sharing intelligence.

Tang Mo continued to say, “The big mole that gave me the turkey egg said that we humans are unable to hatch it. I originally thought that only I, alone, got this egg and could directly use it. I didn’t think you also had it. But this side doesn’t explain that using this egg requires another person or that both sides can communicate. Does your side have any clues?”

A deep male voice very decisively replied, “No.”

Tang Mo: “...”

Have you ever chatted like this? How was this person not tricked into saying anything at all!?

When a normal person has a friendly exchange with others, shouldn’t they also take the initiative to declare the information they have?

Tang Mo was silent for a long time before he again continued trying to worm out information. “How did you connect to me? At that time, I first heard your voice. Then I just replied.”

This already didn’t count as intelligence. If he wasn’t willing to say even that, Tang Mo wouldn’t again hold any hope for tricking him into speaking.

“A few lines of words appeared on the egg and I tried to study it. Right as I used my finger to rap on it for a third time, it suddenly flickered with blinding gold light.” The man was finally willing to reveal a bit of information. “Now when I speak, the egg continuously emits a very faint golden glow.”

Tang Mo suddenly remembered that when he tapped for a third time just now, the egg also seemed to flash. In the end, it wasn’t brightly lit. Then the man’s voice was transmitted over and the glow also disappeared.

Tang Mo said, “Then do you know how to end the call?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

The both of them tried for a long time. Suddenly, the sound broke off. Ten seconds passed before a male voice sounded. “Just now, I squeezed the egg with both my hands and the call was terminated.”

Tapping three times could open a call and squeezing the egg with both hands could close it?

Tang Mo said, “Then you close it first and I’ll give it a try.”

“Okay.”

Tang Mo tried it out. He could also open and close a call at any time. The two of them tested it repeatedly and found that no matter which party, they only needed to tap their egg three times to start the call. Either party squeezing the egg could end the call.

As they conducted experiments, both sides had total tacit understanding, neither of them saying any superfluous words while sharing as much information as possible.

When the egg had been more or less completely studied by them, a strange feeling welled up in Tang Mo’s heart. He and the other owner of the turkey egg collaborated very well, as if they had trained their cooperation many times. It was very agreeable. Because of this, Tang Mo couldn’t help but feel the appreciation of one talented person toward another. It was just a pity. If this person had been a bit easier to get information out of, he would have even better feelings toward them.

From start to finish, this person didn’t say a single piece of crucial intelligence. He was obviously hiding something. Tang Mo knew the other party was hiding something and also knew that the other party had noticed his probing.

Now the things that the two of them could say had already been said. If neither was willing to reveal their true information, then it was meaningless to go on speaking. For example, Tang Mo couldn’t say that his turkey egg was damaged. In that case, he would be at a disadvantage. The other party was also unwilling to declare useful information. At this moment, he was on guard against Tang Mo, this stranger he didn’t know very well.

The man’s voice was always steady and somewhat pleasant to listen to. “Is there something you still want to say?”

Tang Mo said, “I still have one final question.”

“What?”

“Why was the first thing you said when you began speaking not ‘hello’ and not ‘hi’ [3] but instead…’Momo?’”

The air was quiet. Tang Mo vaguely felt that there was something wrong, but ultimately didn’t understand where the problem was until the turkey egg transmitted a low laugh. For the first time, the man’s voice was tinged with a smile.

“So it turns out you don’t even know what this egg is called, is that right?”

Tang Mo: “...”

There are some words you should keep in your heart, okay! Give him a bit of face and don’t say it out loud, ah!

Tang Mo already knew that the man was purposely guarding against him and also knew that the other party understood he had an information deficit. But now it had been clearly and openly said out loud…he felt slightly uncomfortable in his heart and felt that he had fallen to a disadvantage. However, he also felt that the cold and detached relationship of mutually guarding against each other that the two of them had always had, because of this clarification, seemed to have become a bit closer. At least, they weren’t enemies.

“This egg is called ‘Momo,’ so when I saw it glow, I subconsciously called ‘Momo’ once.”

Tang Mo lightly said, “My name is Mo. How should I address you?”

The man instantly went silent, only then realizing he had just called such an intimate name so many times.

After a long time, he said, “My surname is Fu.”

Tang Mo said, “Then, if that’s all?”

“En. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Once the call had ended, Tang Mo put the turkey egg back in his pocket. His finger rapped on the steering wheel with a ‘da da da.’

First, the egg was called Momo. This shouldn’t have anything to do with his name. It was only a coincidence that it was called this.

Second, this Mr. Fu in the capital was extremely smart and also had a very guarded heart. The probability of him worming information out of the other party was extremely low, so much so that it was likely that their first time communicating would also be their last. Their conversation didn’t have any benefit and both sides had perceived that the other end of the turkey egg was a bad person to go against. Since it was like this, there was no reason to connect again.

The rare item turkey egg in Tang Mo’s hand was like a hot potato. He really wanted to use it, but he simply didn’t know its function. He also didn’t know if the egg had been damaged to the point of being unusable.

As for getting information out of that man’s mouth…

Tang Mo already held no hope. Unless there was some kind of accident and the other party had no choice but to share information with him, it was absolutely impossible for this person to relent. [4]

If they swapped places, Tang Mo also wouldn’t share the rare item’s information with a stranger. Having an item like this, he’d already hate that he was unable to hide it away, undiscovered by anyone else, for the sake of achieving a surprise victory. Taking the initiative to tell information? Tang Mo wasn’t so foolishly kind. [5]

Tang Mo sighed, and continued driving to find North Jing Middle School.

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Translation Notes:

[1] I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but A-Country is pretty obviously China. I translated A国人 as Chinese person last chapter for the remarks on Momo because it was a very specific reference but will continue to use A-Country the same way I've used 'S-City' etc.

[2] 异口同声 - idiom figuratively meaning to speak in unison

[3] He actually says ‘你好’ (hello) and ‘喂’ (greeting for when you answer the phone), but English doesn’t have an equivalent so I used ‘hi’ instead.

[4] 松口 - which figuratively means to relent but literally means to loosen the mouth (release what’s in the mouth). Both meanings are applicable here.