The Earth is Online

“First, real instances are opened. Players can participate in black tower games on Earth.”

“Second, assembly instances are opened. Once an assembly instance is opened, players can enter the instance in the area of the black tower.”

“Third, every player must attack the tower once every three months. Otherwise, they will be forced to enter.

“Ding dong! January 1st, 2018, the new version will be launched. There will be more rules, please look forward to them.”

The clear child’s voice stopped while the Merry Christmas song was still singing in the sky above Shanghai.

In the dark night, the black tower hung like a heavy giant above the city. Tang Mo looked into the distance and clenched his fingers. He pondered for a moment but didn’t choose to travel at night. Instead, he returned to the room and found a pen and paper in the drawer. He wrote down the currently known black tower rules.

There were the three iron-clad rules the black tower gave on the first day of the game.

First, everything was explained by the black tower.

Second, 6 o’clock to 18 o’clock is the game time.

Third, all players please attack the tower.

The first and third rules could be ignored. The second rule was about the game time, which should be standard for each region. The black tower divided the more than 200 countries on Earth into several large regions. The more powerful countries (such as China and the United States) were divided into districts. There were also many regions composed of multiple countries, such as Europe.

The first player in each region to trigger a tower attack game would pull all players in the region into the game and the black tower would speak their name worldwide. The black tower would also announce the name of the first player in each district who cleared the black tower attack game.

Tang Mo listed all the names he heard and their districts onto the paper.

On the white paper, black Chinese characters were divided into two lines. The first line had countries split into districts and the second line had districts made up of many countries. The representative of the former was China while the representatives of the latter were Europe and East Asia.

Tang Mo’s finger tapped lightly on China and East Asia.

“China belongs to East Asia but the China districts are separated from East Asia. What is the standard for dividing each district...?”

Under the dim light, Tang Mo looked at the names of these areas. He pondered for a moment before looking at the other rules.

The game time being between 6 o’clock and 18 o’clock referred to the local time. For example, China used Beijing time as the national standard time. Therefore, all players in the China region could only trigger an instance during this time. Apart from the Christmas Day benefits instance which was more like an extra instance.

Tang Mo was suddenly surprised. “Then the United States still hasn’t experienced the Christmas benefits instance?”

Tang Mo looked at the clock on the wall. The minute hand had just crossed ’12’ and was pointed at ‘1’. The second hand ticked pat. It was now 00:05 on December 25th, Beijing time. For the United States which was on the other side of the globe, it was 11:05 on December 24th.

China officially entered the Christmas benefits instance at 6 o’clock in the evening. Did this mean the United States would only experience the Christmas instance seven hours later?

Tang Mo used a black pen to draw two circles around China and the United States.

In the quite room, Tang Mo lowered his head and quietly wrote on the paper, stopping from time to time in order to think. Five hours later, the sky was bright and there was a faint blue-white glow on the horizon. Tang Mo packed up his things and prepared to leave. Before leaving, he crumpled up the piece of paper, threw it into the trash can, lit a lighter and burned it to ashes.

After making sure that the paper had completely turned to ashes, Tang Mo left with his bag. He quickly sneaked into the mall where Attack was located.

When he arrived at the underground parking lot, he didn’t see anyone. He went to Luo Fengcheng’s office and no one was present. He thought for a moment before going to the infirmary on the second underground floor. Sure enough, there was light in the room and faint voices could be heard.

Tang Mo opened the door and the people inside looked at him cautiously. Once they discovered it was him, the crowd sighed with relief.

Under the bright lights, Tang Qiao and Liz were using gauze and iodine to clean Luo Fengcheng’s wounds. There were three beds in this temporary infirmary. At this moment, every bed was full and there were five people sitting on the chairs to the side. The little fatty sitting on the innermost side saw Tang Mo and rushed over. “Brother Tang, are you okay?”

Zhao Ziang looked Tang Mo up and down and didn’t find any wounds on him. The little fatty sighed with relief. “You aren’t hurt?”

Tang Mo nodded. “Yes.” His gaze swept over the Attack members in the room.

Of the three member lying on the bed, one member was present when Tang Mo attacked the stowaways organization. They lay quietly on the bed, with bandages around their body. Luo Fengcheng sat on a chair as Liz dipped a cotton ball in iodine. She forcibly dug out the gravel in his wounds and bandaged them.

Then Luo Fengcheng stood up and walked over to Luo Fengcheng. “You are okay. You got the reward?”

“You didn’t get it?” Didn’t everyone here pass the Christmas instance and got a reward?

Luo Fengcheng didn’t answer while the litty fatty said sadly, “Many of us didn’t get it. Brother Tang, after the black tower released the branch mission, we quickly searched for the Christmas branch. But there are a lot of people in this mall and the branches nearby aren’t enough. Attack organized 18 people but only 9 managed to grab a branch. Teacher Luo got one while Jack and I missed out.”

Little fatty was still a student and didn’t like to call Luo Fengcheng by doctor. He was like Chen Shanshan and called Luo Fengcheng a teacher.

Tang Mo immediately had a question and looked at Luo Fengcheng. “There are more than nine people injured in this room.”

Liz and Tang Qiao were also inkured. They weren’t injured before Tang Mo left in the afternoon.

Luo Fengcheng explained, “I will explain while we walk.”

Tang Mo nodded lightly.

“Attack had 9 people get a Christmas tree branch. I got it by coincidence. Tang Qiao and Zhao Ziang missed it. After getting the branch, I was immediately sent to an instance where the boss was a roly-poly toy. The contents of the instance weren’t difficult but there were some traps. These aren’t important so I won’t elaborate for the moment. You and I completed the mission. ” Based on Tang Mo’s reaction, Luo Fengcheng easily guessed that he received the Christmas tree branch. “Player Tang Qiao couldn’t enter the instance successfully but was forcibly pulled in directly after the 30 minute time limit.”

“It was like this.”

“Yes. When I was taking care of my wounds, I asked all members of Attack. Our instance was difficult but the general feeling was the same. They should belong to the same type of instance. All Chinese players were sent to the Christmas benefits instance after finding a Christmas tree branch. After the game was over, they got Santa Claus’ reward, which was the little star that enhanced their physique. Players without a Christmas tree branch participated in the game but didn’t receive a reward.”

Tang Mo didn’t think that this instance would be mandatory for everyone to participate. Even if the game was completed, they wouldn’t receive a reward. He had one more question. “You said that the instance was hard?”

The two people walked to Luo Fengcheng’s office. Luo Fengcheng pulled out a shabby yellow book and opened to the latest page. Tang Mo saw that there were many words written down, some of which seemed rushed.

Luo Fengcheng handed Tang Mo the book. “These are the approximate contents of the games that I obtained after asking each member.”

Tang Mo looked down.

“Zhao Ziang and Jack entered the same instance. Their instance is the hardest out of all the games I know. Jack said that the instance had a total of five people. Apart from him and the little fatty, there was one person with a powerful ability.” Luo Fengcheng continued, “In addition to them, the instance that Tang Qiao entered was also a bit difficult. But it was far simpler than Jack and the little fatty.”

Tang Mo read all 12 instances. He closed the book and looked up. “It is much simpler than mine.”

Luo Fengcheng nodded. “Sure enough, the instances are based on the player’s strengths. The difficult will adjust according to this.” He asked, “How hard was your instance?”

“There were a total of eight players. One player died on the spot while three players were forced to enter the tower attack game. Only four people, including me, made it out.” Looking at Luo Fengcheng’s thoughtful expression, Tang Mo took the initiative. “According to my speculation, the reward for the Christmas instance is the same. Players who fail the game will be forced into the tower attack game. Therefore, the difficulty of the game is related to the player’s level. The instance I participated in wasn’t difficult just because of me. There was another player whose level was very high.”

Luo Fengcheng was interested. “Due to the presence of you and him, your instance eliminated four people?”

Tang Mo didn’t want to talk about Fu Wenduo. His relationship with Fu Wenduo was very subtle. The two people didn’t know each other by they were connected by the turkey egg, making them temporary companions. Fu Wenduo had incurred the hatred of all players in China. Tang Mo didn’t dare say his name. There was no need to tell Luo Fengcheng about this.

Tang Mo was thinking of a reason to not talk about this when his face stiffened and he looked up at Luo Fengcheng. “...Wait, Chen Shanshan?”

There were 12 instances in the book and the names of 13 members. There was no Chen Shanshan.

Luo Fengcheng’s expression darkened and he didn’t speak.

A sad voice came from the direction of the door. “Brother Tang, Shanshan didn’t come out! All the players who cleared the game are out. Then...isn’t something wrong?”

Tang Mo’s heart thumped. He couldn’t say anything as he saw the little fatty’s red eyes. He turned back to Luo Fengcheng.

Luo Fengcheng nodded. “A total of five Attack members still haven’t left the Christmas instance. Among them are Chen Shanshan and Qiao Feifei.”