The Earth is Online

Tang Mo said, “Stand back a bit.”

Fu Wenduo took three steps back and revealed the environment behind him.

Tang Mo carefully observed the things around Fu Wenduo. Fu Wenduo had a light over there, revealing he was in a small, closed room. The room was cluttered with cardboard boxes and seemed to be a small warehouse. Fu Wenduo was looking up at the moment.

Tang Mo wondered, “What are you looking at now?”

Fu Wenduo immediately replied. “A very small display, around the size of the palm that is hanging from a corner of the room’s ceiling.” He spoke directly instead of making Tang Mo continue asking questions. “After being separated from you, I was taken by the Iron Shoemaker to a small room. I am in the same factory as you. This is a groceries storeroom behind the factory. The Iron Shoemaker left after taking me here. I tried but was unable to open the door or windows. The black tower told me that the door and windows can’t be opened. Also, Tang Mo...”

The man’s voice stopped.

Tang Mo bowed his head, looking at Fu Wenduo’s calm face on the screen.

Fu Wenduo asked, “Can you use your ability right now?”

Tang Mo’s heart tightened.

Tang Mo had many abilities. At present, the most suitable one to be used in front of Fu Wenduo and Xing Feng was the ‘I have a worst spiritual field than the protagonist.’ This was a one-time ability. Two months ago, Tang Mo used the ability to seal a giant match into his body. Before entering this office, Tang Mo had heard Xing Feng’s voice. In order to prevent any incidents, he took out the big match as a weapon.

After Fu Wenduo suddenly video called him, Tang Mo directly placed the big match next to the computer.

Tang Mo slowly turned his head and looked at the giant match that had just been placed on the table. Tang Mo’s eyes were on the empty table for a long time before looking down at his left wrist. A bright red match tattoo could be seen. He held the tattoo and used his ability.

Half a minute later, Tang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo. “I can’t use my ability. When I entered the room, I had been using my ability. But in the moment when I wasn’t paying attention, I can’t use it anymore.”

Fu Wenduo said, “I am the same. After entering this room, I wanted to try breaking down the windows, door or walls but I couldn’t use my ability. Tang Mo, I also can’t use my props.”

Tang Mo took out the ruby from his pocket and raised it above his head.

There was a sharp sound as the ruby fell on Tang Mo’s head and rolled down, falling into the palm of Tang Mo’s hand.

“I also can’t use my props.”

The two of them looked at each other on the screen and didn’t speak for a long time.

The next moment, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo asked in unison, “What is your mission?”

The two of them were speechless from astonishment.

Just now, Tang Mo had heard the black tower’s mission prompt. But he didn’t hear it on Fu Wenduo’s side, indicated that the black tower’s voice couldn’t be transmitted through video. The two people were suddenly forced to make a video call. They must first determine the purpose of the other party. If it was the same task, it was natural to work together. If the task was different or even the opposite, then Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s worst enemy was each other.

Tang Mo thought for a moment before saying, “The black tower wants me to find something for the Iron Shoemaker.”

Fu Wenduo smiled. “What a coincidence. It is the same for me.”

“That thing is normally liquid but can also be in paste form.”

“Many times, it is packaged in a tin but can also be in a bottle.”

Looking at the other side of the screen while being wary of each other, Tang Mo suddenly felt this was a bit interesting. The feeling of mutual temptation was more interesting than the urgency of the game. He said, “Let’s write it down together, Fu Wenduo. I am in an office so there is pen and paper. You have many cardboard boxes behind you. You can write on them. We will show the answer at the same time.”

“Okay.”

Tang Mo took out a pen and paper from the desk drawer. Fu Wenduo tore off a piece of the cardboard box. Tang Mo wrote down two words on the paper while Fu Wenduo used a sharp knife to write. After 10 seconds, the two of them stopped at the same time.

They looked at the screen.

Tang Mo suggested, “I will countdown and then we will show it together.”

Fu Wenduo agreed. “Good.”

Tang Mo’s fingers held the edges of the paper as he counted down. “Three, two, one...”

Brush—

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo presented the words they had just written to the other person.

[Shoe Polish]

Tang Mo inwardly sighed while looking very calm on the surface. “It seems that we are going to cooperate this time.”

Fu Wenduo put down the cardboard. “What is the situation on your side?”

Tang Mo started to explain his side of the situation. “I entered a place much larger than you. It seems to be the main working area of the factory. One door led to the food processing area. Before the earth went online, many workers should’ve gone there to check the food packaging. There were a lot of food bags. There were some scattered and some undiscovered food. I took a box of bread in case the game went on for too long.” He paused and continued. “Now I am in the office behind the food processing area...”

Tang Mo roughly explained what he said and Fu Wenduo said, “Okay. This time our mission is the same. But the Iron Shoemaker hasn’t appeared and we don’t know where to find the shoe polish.”

“But you said there was a player who already participated in the game?”

Fu Wenduo was alone but there was Xing Feng in Tang Mo’s office.

Tang Mo nodded and looked at Xing Feng. “Mr. Xing, you have been in this game for a while. Can you tell me the specific rules of the game?”

Xing Feng shrunk back in the corner, looking at Tang Mo in horror. Once he found that Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were having a very good conversation (in his eyes), he looked very afraid. He gulped nervously once Tang Mo asked him a question. “...It is to find the shoe polish. The Iron Shoemaker said that the shoe polish is located in one of our locations. It is definitely in these two places. The Iron Shoemaker will only let us go if we find the shoe polish. If we can’t find it, he will...he will...ah! You’ll find out soon enough. You’ll know...”

Tang Mo saw Xing Feng’s fearful look and narrowed his eyes. His suspicious gaze was on Xing Feng’s body but he didn’t talk to Xing Feng again. He seemed like he hadn’t found anything as he continued to ask Fu Wenduo. “What is your specific situation over there? Is there danger?”

After hearing this, Fu Wenduo looked at the bottom of the screen before looking up. “It is nothing special, just three bodies.”

Tang Mo frowned. “You have three bodies there. Strictly speaking, they used to be three players. Two players died over here. So the number of people on both sides of the game is the same.” Speaking of this, Tang Mo found that Fu Wenduo was looking at somewhere below the screen and became alert. “What is it?”

Fu Wenduo spoke lightly. “The appearance of these three bodies is very unique.”

Tang Mo asked, “How?”

Fu Wenduo was silent for a moment before looking up. “The blood was drained and they have become mummified.” He sketched out the scene using the simplest language. Tang Mo didn’t think too much and nodded lightly. He didn’t know it but Fu Wenduo was standing in a corner of the room and looking up at the small screen.

The screen was too small so he must stand very close if he wanted to see things on Tang Mo’s side.

The icy white light illuminated the entire room. Fu Wenduo was standing in front of a wall without his expression changing. There was a mummified corpse just 10 centimetres in front of him. A withered and darkened face, huge eyes that bulged from fear. Many people couldn’t imagine that the human eyes were so round and big when protruding like this. The black pupils onto occupied a small part of the centre, with the whites making up the majority.

Three mummified bodies were nailed to the wall in a cross position, like the crucifixion of Jesus.

The distance was so close that Fu Wenduo could the rotting smell filled his nose. But he still spoke to Tang Mo with a blank expression. “If there are no extra clues, we can only wait for the appearance of the Iron Shoemaker.

Tang Mo nodded. “Yes, that...”

Bang!

There was a loud noise in his ear. Tang Mo’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. The computer darkened and Fu Wenduo’s appearance disappeared.

At the same time, Xing Feng clung fearfully to the wall in the corner. He cried out in a hoarse and frightened voice. “It is coming, it is coming. Close the door... I can’t kill it, I can’t kill it...”

Tang Mo take a deep breath and turned around. He looked at Xing Feng and quickly asked, “Who is it? The Iron Shoemaker?”

Xing Feng shook his head, his voice coming out intermittently. “No... it, it isn’t the Iron Shoemaker. That wolf! It is coming!” Then he suddenly seemed to think of something and excitedly looked at Tang Mo. “You are an official player. You said your ability wasn’t working so you must be an official player. You must be powerful. Kill it, you must kill it! If you don’t kill it tonight, we are all going to die!”

At this moment, a loud child’s voice rang in Tang Mo’s ears.

“Ding dong! Players, please note that after three minutes, the shoe polish wolf that the Iron Shoemaker hates the most is going to appear. Kill the shoe polish wolf and get a drop of shoe polish. Please actively participate and kill the shoe polish wolf.”

“The 9th of the 10 unsolved mysteries of the Underground Kingdom. Why is the industrious and lovely Iron Shoemaker always so poor? The Iron Shoemaker was puzzled. Until one day, he found that the hateful shoe polish wolves love to steal shoe polish! Kill the shoe polish wolves! Everyone is responsible!”

The black tower’s prompts stopped. In the dark factory, Tang Mo’s fingers gradually clenched.

Suddenly, he heard a dull sound coming through the door. It seemed as if something was hitting the door of the next office. It slammed against the door as hard as it could. It repeated this 10 times before there was a fierce breaking sound. The thing had smashed through the door and ran into the wall of the corridor.

There was a fierce sound outside the door, as if the beast was roaring.

Tang Mo’s expression slowly sank. He walked to a corner of the office, picking up a blue and white porcelain vase from the shelf.

In the groceries room on the other side of the factory.

Fu Wenduo saw that the screen suddenly darkened. His expression changed as he observed the room.

A second later, the screen hanging in the corner of the room suddenly lit up again. Fu Wenduo looked up warily. He saw the unique snowflakes of the old TVs. The snowflake pattern flashed for three minutes. Then there was cheerful and familiar music and the snowflakes turned into a colourful halo.

A small dot appeared in the middle of the screen, amidst the gorgeous effect. The black dot became bigger and clearer. Finally, there was a dark mini tower in the middle of the screen with the halo special effect constantly flashing around the tower.

The music suddenly stopped and a cartoon villain jumped out from one corner of the screen. She was wearing a blue dress with a crystal crown on her head. She hid behind the black tower and quietly looked around. She seemed to find that there were no bad guys and laughed. She jumped out from behind the black hair and spoke loudly into a microphone.

“What are the top 10 unsolved mysteries of the Underground Kingdom?”

“Who took away Grandmother Wolf’s daughter?

“Is the king of terrible singing on the first floor of the black tower Pinocchio or the Iron Shoemaker?”

“Thump thump thump, everything exists in the Happy Question and Answer! Hello everybody, I am your favorite Underground Kingdom TV host, Wang Xiaotian. Today is a happy question and answer time. What is your dream? What do you want? Come to the Happy Question and Answer game, you can have it all. Next—”

“Please listen to the question!”

The author has something to say:

Tang Tang: Letting me fight while Old Fu answers the questions. Are you looking down on my IQ or looking down on Old Fu’s strength?

Old Fu: ...I just want to know why my wife and a strange man are alone in a room!