The Earth is Online

This was a 12 sided glass greenhouse. The transparent dome covered a spacious and clean greenhouse. Golden sunlight shone through the glass, illuminating the growing flowers in the greenhouse. There was no one else in the quiet greenhouse but it seemed like they could hear the chirps of the birds.

It was quiet and beautiful here. After Tang Mo rested, he discussed things with the woman and the baby-faced youth. The three of them decided to split up to separately investigate the greenhouse.

There were countless flowers in the greenhouse. The room wasn’t too big but it was densely packed with flowers. The flowers were very large. A red rose was the size of Tang Mo’s face while another morning glory was actually the size of his palm.

The trio split up to look through the glass greenhouse.

The white-collared woman said, “I haven’t found anything strange. It looks like an ordinary greenhouse. In addition, I deliberately looked for the moon flower that loves to lie. At present, we don’t know what the moon flower looks like. But in this greenhouse, every flower is an earth flower and there are no moon flowers. Of course, perhaps the moon flower is a nickname for a black tower flower. It isn’t certain.”

Tang Mo nodded. “I also haven’t found anything related to the moon flower.”

The white-collared woman looked at the baby-faced youth.

The baby-faced youth was smiling at Tang Mo and the woman. Once he saw that both of them were looking at him, he said, “I didn’t find the moon flower.”

The woman asked, “Were you seriously looking for it?”

The baby-faced youth looked stunned for a moment. Then he smiled, “I was earnestly looking.”

The woman’s suspicious gaze swept over him but she didn’t ask anything else. The baby-faced youth looked at the woman before turning his eyes back to Tang Mo. As if he had seen something, his smile became more brilliant. He stared at Tang Mo with a strange look. Other people might feel uncomfortable by this. Tang Mo just looked at him, his expression unchanged, before glancing at the woman.

“We only have two hints. First, the moon flower loves to lie. Second, it is the moon flower.” This was the tower attack game. Tang Mo wouldn’t let only the woman give ideas. He said, “The clue that the flower loves to lie can’t be used currently. The second clue seems a bit useful. Whether or not the name is a nickname or is real, we should guess why it is called the moon flower.”

The woman thought for a moment. “It is likely that it looks like a moon.”

The baby-faced youth interjected, “It likes to grow under the moon?”

Tang Mo glanced over once he found that the baby-faced youth was also participating in the discussion “It is possible. There are generally three ways to name flowers in the world. The first is related to the growth habit of flowers, such as the Rosa Old Blush. The Rosa Old Blush blooms every month all year round and it is also called the Old China Monthly.”

The woman said, “I seem to have seen this somewhere.”

Tang Mo continued, “The second way of naming is related to the shape of the flower, such as the five-star flower. It has five distinctly shaped petals like a five pointed star, making it the five-star flower. If the moon flower is named after the first two reasons, it will be very easy to find. At least there will be traces to follow. If it is named in the third way then we have too few clues. Some flowers are named according to legends, such as the forget-me-not. I will temporarily not mention these since the black tower didn’t give us any more hints about the flowers. The name of the moon flower shouldn’t be the third reason, otherwise we can hardly find it.

The game must have a way to win.

In the absence of any clues, the words ‘moon flower’ was the only clue Tang Mo had. The reason it was called the moon flower must be related to the flower itself, not because of strange stories.

The woman nodded in agreement.

At this time, a laugh rang out. “You know a lot about flowers. Did you use to work at a florist?”

Tang Mo looked at the baby-faced youth and replied lightly, “I like reading books.” In the past, Tang Mo could leisurely read books when he worked at the library. He read many books and his knowledge reserves were a bit higher than ordinary people. But he certainly couldn’t compare with Luo Fengcheng.

The baby-faced youth made an ‘oh’ sound before asking, “You have read so many books. What did you do before?”

The woman finally couldn’t stand it., “That is enough! Stay on task and keep such useless nonsense until after the game. Now our first priority is to find the moon flower. Do you have a clue?”

The baby-faced youth shrugged. “I don’t know. He has read a lot of books. Maybe he knows.” He pointed to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo, “...”

Would he know what the moon flower was just because he read a lot of books? What was this?

Tang Mo remembered the book-finding game that he played with Mosaic. In that game, Tang Mo and the huckster had to look through several bookshelves and thousands of books to find just one. The game had a time limit and in the end, Tang Mo didn’t use ‘searching through each book’ as the method. But there was no time limit for this game.

Tang Mo intended to propose that the three people pick up all the flowers in this greenhouse. As long as the moon flower was picked up, it might be counted as completing the quest. However, just as he was preparing to speak, the baby-faced youth suddenly reached out and held his hand in front of Tang Mo’s face.

Tang Mo was startled.

The smile on the baby-faced youth slightly changed before he slowly started to laugh.

The woman frowned. “What are you doing?”

Tang Mo didn’t speak. The movement of the baby-faced youth was obviously to prevent Tang Mo from speaking. Then he took out a phone from his pocket. After the earth went online, electronic devices couldn’t be used. Phones couldn’t access the Internet, make a call or send a text message. It could tell the time but this wasn’t as light and fast as a watch. Tang Mo had already thrown his phone away.

He didn’t expect this baby-faced youth to be carrying the phone with him. He opened the memo in the phone, typed a line and showed it to Tang Mo.

[Don’t move, the flower behind you just moved a bit.]

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed.

The woman also saw these words and her eyes widened with surprise. But she cleverly closed her mouth and didn’t make a sound.

Tang Mo took the phone and typed: [Are you sure you saw the flower behind me move? I remember a bundle of white roses behind me. I checked and found nothing strange.]

The baby-faced youth typed back.

[It moved. The rhizome moved about six millimeters. I clearly saw it.]

...Six millimeters, he saw such a small distance.

There was a constant smile on the baby-faced youth’s face. It was likely that he had found the moon flower. Tang Mo couldn’t see any excitement or pride on his face, but there was a strange feeling.

Tang Mo calmly typed: [I won’t move. You two find a chance to seize the moving flower. Maybe it is the moon flower.]

The woman looked at the baby-faced youth and the two nodded lightly. Tang Mo pretended that nothing had been discovered and said calmly, “Since the branch task is to find the moon flower, then...”

Whoosh!

At this time, the woman and the youth acted together. The two players had reached the level of attacking the tower. Therefore, they rushed behind Tang Mo at a very fast speed and caught a big and strong white rose in the blind of an eye. The thorns on the stems of the roses couldn’t stab the skin. The woman and youth firmly grasped the rose. Then a shrill cry rang out in the greenhouse.

“Ahhhhh help! The stinky human players caught me!!!”

Tang Mo suddenly felt that something was wrong. He didn’t have time to react when there was a burst of screams, like an avalanche crashing over them.

“Ahhhh, what to do, what to do? It was caught! Then is the next one me, is it me?”

“What are these human players going to do? Are they trying to grab us to make us take a bath?”

“I don’t want to! I look so good and haven’t scattered my pollen yet! I don’t want to be taken by humans, let alone be made into tea!!!”

The thousands of flowers in the small glass greenhouse screamed. The loud voices bombarded the ears of the three players. Despite their enhanced physical fitness, they shivered from the terrible sound.

The smile on the baby-faced youth’s face disappeared for the first time. He ruthlessly squeezed the white rose. There was a snap and the long root of the rose was broken directly by him.

The screams of the flowers abruptly ceased.

A second later, even more miserable shouts began.

“Ahhhhh, he really wants to pull us out for a bath!!”

“It isn’t necessarily a bath. Maybe he wants to turn us into tea or incense!!!”

“I don’t want to, I don’t want to be taken away by him!”

Tang Mo walked forward, picking the white rose that was swaying and crying for help from the baby-faced youth’s hand. The youth looked at Tang Mo and didn’t speak. Tang Mo directly asked, “Are you the moon flower?”

The white rose’s crying suddenly stopped. It didn’t answer but the surrounding flowers helped it.

“The moon flower? It isn’t the white rose. When did it become the moon flower that loves to lie?”

“It isn’t the moon flower. The moon flower has long been moved to another place by the Queen of Hearts. It is a white rose in special glass, a white rose with a special glass heart.”

The voices constantly entered the ears of the three people. Tang Mo seized the key words. “The moon flower was moved away by the Queen of Hearts?”

A giant peony moved in front of Tang Mo, its red petals gently quivering. It asked, “Are the three of you looking for the moon flower?”

Tang Mo’s expression changed when a huge flower suddenly appeared in front of him. He soon calmed down and said, “Yes, we want to find the moon flower.”

The big peony replied, “It isn’t here. I know all the flowers in the greenhouse. The moon flower was moved away by the Queen of Hearts yesterday. I heard that she moved it to her bedroom. I also heard that it was moved to the Gem Corridor. I heard that it was sent away by the Queen of Hearts. You can’t find the moon flower here.”

The other flowers said together, “Yes, the moon flower isn’t here.”

Tang Mo asked, “How can we find the moon flower?”

The big peony shook and said, “We have been in the glass greenhouse since we were seeds. We don’t know what the outside world is like and we also don’t know where the moon flower went. But yesterday, the two guards that took the moon flower away came from that place.”

The big peony used its green leaves to point to a vine of flowers. “The two guards left through that door. Perhaps you can go out there to find the moon flower.”

The woman walked to the vine of flowers. The purple wisteria shyly closed its petals and moved aside. The curved wisteria moved, exposing a small wooden door.

The female player turned back and said, “There really is a door here.”

Tang Mo once again looked at this giant peony. He looked calmly at the peony flower, as if wanting to determine if it was lying.

The big peony seemed to be the leader in the glass greenhouse. It seemed to see Tang Mo’s thoughts as it said, “In the glass greenhouse, only the moon flower loves to lie. We are all good flowers that don’t lie. Yesterday there truly were two guards who moved the moon flower through that door.”

Many flowers repeated the peony’s words.

Tang Mo looked at it for a moment.

The woman said, “It doesn’t seem to be lying.”

Tang Mo agreed. “Yes, I also think so.”

The baby-faced youth smiled again. “Now we have to walk through that door to find the moon flower?”

The three people discussed it (it was basically Tang Mo and the woman talking while the youth was an onlooker) and unanimously decided to leave the glass greenhouse. Tang Mo looked at the broken white rose in his hand and didn’t know where to put it.

The white rose said cautiously, “You... can you put me back in the dirt...?”

Tang Mo inserted it into the soil right next to its half-broken rhizome.

After returning to the soil, the white rose swayed with joy. It happily stretched its leaves and constantly looked up, as if wanted more sunlight. But because it was broken, it was shorter than the other white roses next to it. The other white roses blocked its sunlight, making the petal head only receive a bit of poor sunshine.

The white rose started to cry and the other white roses stretched out their leaves to comfort it.

Tang Mo’s group turned towards the small door. The baby-faced youth wanted to kick open the door but Tang Mo used the small parasol to stop his legs.

He looked at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo said, “There might be the Queen of Hearts’ guards. Don’t make too much noise so as to not invite unnecessary trouble.”

The woman carefully pushed open the door and determined there was no danger outside. Then the three people passed through the door and left the greenhouse.

Two months ago, Tang Mo never believed there would be such big flowers in the world, let alone speaking ones. After the earth went online, he experienced too many games and saw a variety of game bosses. Now Mario and Pinocchio weren’t surprisingly, let along a group of flowers that could speak and cry.

Beyond the vine of flowers, there was a narrow corridor.

This corridor was similar to the previous tunnel. On both walls, small braziers were hung every 10 metres to light up the corridor. Only the flames of the braziers burned more vigorously and the corridor was as bright as daytime.

Tang Mo’s eyes were still staring at the patterns on the braziers. These patterns were the same as the ones in the previous tunnel. They seemed to have no rules and it was like the craftsmen drew them randomly. But there was a sense of familiarity when looking at them.

Tang Mo observed for a while before he found a person watching him.

He quickly turned his head and looked at the other person. He asked coldly, “Mr. Bruce, what are you looking at?”

Despite knowing Bruce Wayne was a pseudonym, Tang Mo still called the youth this without a change in expression.

The youth smiled and said, “I’m looking at something interesting.”

Tang Mo replied in a calm voice, “Am I something interesting?”

The baby-faced youth asked, “Do you think you aren’t interesting?”

Tang Mo turned his gaze away, not answering the question.

The three of them continued to move forward. The woman had long been disgusted with the youth. She always stood by Tang Mo’s side and kept a distance from the youth. This time, even Tang Mo walked away from him. But the baby-faced youth just put his hands in his pocket and seemed very happy, walking forward with a smile.

The three of them walked through the corridor and arrived at a dining room. The dining room’s long table had a set of metal tableware placed on it. The woman checked it carefully and said, “There is some meat residue on the plate and the knife and form are still a bit warm. It should’ve just been eaten recently. Be careful. Someone might be here.”

The trio warily observed their surroundings but nothing strange happened as they left the dining room.

Tang Mo closed the white door tightly. He turned around only to find the baby-faced youth looking at him again. Tang Mo’s expression slowly sunk. This time, the youth’s expression was even stranger, as if he was really watching something interesting. Tang Mo could see only one emotion in his eyes... a strange anticipation.

Tang Mo didn’t believe that a stranger who he met for the first time would have special feelings towards him. It was because from the beginning, when the three of them met in the corridor, the youth had been looking at him with this expression.

He must have seen something.

Tang Mo clenched the handle of the small parasol.

The Queen of Hearts’ Gem Castle was extremely large. The three people walked for 10 minutes and didn’t reach the end. Nor did they meet anyone. This time, they walked through a gold hall. The white woman pushed open the hall’s back door and cried out with surprise, “There is no light?”

After leaving the greenhouse, every corridor and room they walked through was brightly lit. Some were illuminated with flames and others with gems. There were a variety of lighting tools but without exception, this magnificent castle shone brightly. Now there was once again no light. The woman carefully took out her flashlight. She lit up the room and made sure there was nothing strange. Then she turned to them and said, “It is an empty room. There is no problem.” She stepped in as she said this.

The baby-faced youth followed her.

Tang Mo turned on his flashlight and was the last one to enter. He closed the door. The moment he closed the door, a swift wind blew from above his head. Tang Mo reacted very quickly and took two steps back. But this thing as faster, an icy object swiping across Tang Mo’s chest. From the left shoulder to his right abdomen, Tang Mo’s clothes were cut by this sharp thing.

It was really too sharp. After the scratch, beads of blood could be seen from the small wound. The wound wasn’t deep. It only scratched the epidermis because Tang Mo dodged. But the wound was too long and Tang Mo’s clothes were soon dyed red, making him look terrible.

In the dark room, the woman hurriedly moved her flashlight to illuminate the thing in front of Tang Mo.

“A leopard!” The woman exclaimed.

The next moment, the black panther squatting beside the door slammed into the nearest person, Tang Mo. Its front paws were stained with some blood, a sign that it had just scratched Tang Mo’s chest. Tang Mo raised the small parasol and quickly read the spell. The parasol opened and blocked the black panther’s paw.

The force was far beyond Tang Mo’s expectations. Tang Mo was push back a metre from the terrible force.

The woman anxiously called out. “It is too strong, we aren’t it opponent. The door is there. Run!”

The woman shone her flashlight and hurried in the direction of the other door. The baby-faced youth looked at Tang Mo, smiled and also turned to escape with the woman. Tang Mo was at the rear of the trio and didn’t have time to care about this woman. He turned to leave the room with his companions. At this time, the black panther roared and opened its mouth, dazzling white flames spewing out.

Tang Mo’s eyes widened.

No one imagined that this ordinary black panther could actually spray fire!

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The woman and youth saw the fire but they had already reached the door. The woman’s hand was pressed on the door handle. Only Tang Mo was closest to the black panther and couldn’t escape from this sudden fire attack.

In this second, the woman’s eyes blinked while the baby-faced youth put his hands in his pocket and looked with interest as Tang Mo’s figure was about to be swallowed up by the flames.

The next second, the woman finished blinking and the youth’s lips were curving upwards.

A figure appeared behind the black panther. Tang Mo raised the small parasol and mercilessly stabbed it into the black panther’s back. The white flames instantly disappeared and the black panther screamed with pain, falling to the ground. Blood quickly spread from its body towards Tang Mo’s feet.

Tang Mo took care of the black panther and gazed coldly at the woman and youth. “I don’t know what the story with this black panther is. It is now dead so we should hurry and leave here.”

The woman looked at him with shock. “You, how did you...” She paused and stopped asking.

Tang Mo opened the door. “Go.”

The woman looked at him with a complicated expression and didn’t ask anymore, walking out of the room.

This was Tang Mo’s prop... or ability. In any case, they were just a temporary team. Tang Mo didn’t need to tell her how he could move so quickly to kill the black panther. But her eyes were more vigilant as she looked at Tang Mo.

As Tang Mo and the woman left the room, they found that the youth hadn’t followed.

The woman turned back. “What is it?”

The youth’s face was shrouded with darkness. They could only see his feet and not his expression. A long while later, the youth emerged from the dark room and smiled. “It is nothing. I was just a big scared when this black panther suddenly appeared. Shall we keep going?”

There was no truth from this youth’s mouth.

The woman didn’t believe that he would be scared by the black panther. With this person’s strangeness, it was more likely for the woman and Tang Mo to be scared by him. The woman looked coldly at him and the youth was still grinning.

Tang Mo looked at his disgusting smile and narrowed his eyes.

...It wasn’t the same as before.

He was still smiling but the feeling was different from before.

The baby-faced youth perceived Tang Mo’s gaze and turned to look at Tang Mo. The two of them looked at each other without speaking.

The three of them soon arrived at a room. Thanks to the panther’s surprise attack, the woman was more cautious this time. She opened the door, jumped back quickly, made sure there were no surprises before looking carefully into the room. She gazed carefully at every corner of the room before her eyes finally stared straight ahead.

“Is that the moon flower?”

Tang Mo and the youth walked over.

They saw that behind this door (the trio had been through countless doors by this time) was a long and dark corridor. There was a beautiful angel mural painted with special pigments on the walls on both sides of the corridor. The roof of the corridor was glass and the moonlight shone through the glass roof onto the murals. The beautiful angels seemed to be painted in diamonds as they shone.

At the end of the corridor was a small gem-shaped platform. A round glass covered the high platform, which contained a silver flower in the shape of a crescent moon.

The corridor was too long and the flower wasn’t very big. Tang Mo did his best and could barely see the moon-shaped bud.

The youth smiled. “Doesn’t it look like the moon flower?”

Tang Mo agreed. “It must be the moon flower.”

The three people glanced at each other. With the woman in the lead, they cautiously walked through the corridor. Once they entered the corridor, the door slammed shut. Tang Mo and the woman immediately looked at the baby-faced youth.

The youth said innocently, “I didn’t slam the door. It closed by itself.”

The credibility of this sentence was questionable. Tang Mo and the white woman still coldly stared at him. The youth said helpless, “I’m actually speaking the truth but you don’t believe me.”

Tang Mo removed his gaze and continued walking towards the moon flower at the end of the corridor.

The woman said, “The branch task is for us to find the ‘moon flower that loves to lie.’ If we just take it on face level then we have now ‘found it.’ But the black tower didn’t say the task was completed...”

“We probably have to hold the flower in our hands for it to be ‘found.’” Tang Mo added.

Now that they arrived here, the three people hurried through the corridor towards the moon flower. Tang Mo’s gaze as on the angel murals on either side of the corridor. The murals were very similar to the murals in many church buildings, where there were scenes of angels playing. But this paint was very special, reflecting like diamonds in the moonlight.

The three people arrived at the end of the corridor and were only 10 metres away from the moon flower.

At this distance, Tang Mo clearly saw that this beautiful silver flower was swaying gently under the moonlight. Perhaps the moonlight was its original luster or perhaps it was the unique colour. The moon-like bud had a layer of silver petals. It gently stretched out to touch the glass dome, the silver petals swaying. The moonlight shone, making it look beautiful.

The woman’s breathing quickened and she hastened to pick up the flower. But they had just arrived 10 metres before the flower when a gentle voice filled with temptation was heard.

“Do you really want to come over?”

The woman stopped her footsteps.

Tang Mo looked at the flower in astonishment while the youth showed curiosity.

Separated by a layer of transparent glass, the silver moon flower turned its beautiful bud to Tang Mo’s group. Its moving voice was like a feather that gently scratched at their hearts. “You three poor humans, you came here without finding the line on the ground?”

Tang Mo immediately looked down. The woman and the youth were also looking at the ground.

The three people looked carefully until the woman cried out, “It is here!”

Tang Mo followed the direction of her finger.

It was flat and smooth ground without any special lines. Tang Mo stared for a long moment before finally finding a very thin silver line. This line was 10 metres long and divided the corridor into two halves. It suddenly appeared at the feet of the three people and extended towards the foot of the wooden platform where the moon flower was located.

At this moment, the three of them were standing at the beginning of this line.

The moon flower said softly, “Now you have two ways to choose. Come from the left side of the line to pick me up or come from the right side. Three poor humans, which way will you choose?”

The woman calmed down and asked, “What is the difference between these two roads.

The moon flower explained, “Of the two roads, only one is the right way. Poor children, you will pay the price for going the wrong way. In your short life, you always have to make choices. Sometimes you are forced to make the choice and sometimes you do it of your own will. There are times where you can’t find the choice that will determine your life. Like now...”

The moon flowers waved its beautiful petals. “A road full of traps and a calm road. Humans, which way will you come to pick me up?”

Tang Mo raised his head and looked at the flower that seemed very gentle and kind. “Did you lie just now?”

The flower’s voice abruptly stopped.

After a moment, it uttered a strange laugh. Its voice was still soft but the gloating laughter revealed insidious cunning.

“Human, why don’t you guess if I have lied just now?”