The Earth is Online

Tang Mo looked at the wooden badge in his hand and turned towards Xiao Jitong. He handed the badge over. “After killing the rabbit heads, we can get badges like this. This badge has a ‘S’ on it.” Xiao Jitong received the badge and the group members carefully examined it. Tang Mo said, “I don’t know what this letter means but based on the fifth rule of the game, the players must put a surprise into the garbage disposal station to pass the game.”

Xiao Jitong saw this badge and understood Tang Mo’s meaning, “This is a game of collecting badges. Killing a rabbit head can get a badge. Collect eight badges and spell out surprise to pass the game.” He paused and said, “This is just a guess. The attack power of the rabbit heads aren’t strong and we will be hurt by them. However, it will be difficult to catch them. They run too quickly. And...”

Xiao Jitong looked over at Fu Wenduo.

Fu Wenduo spoke very calmly, “They have the ability to break free of the props. The rope I just used is a black tower prop and the things tied by it can’t break free.” Fu Wenduo spoke a bit vaguely and didn’t completely tell everything to the two Nanjing Groups. He just said, “The way to get a badge is killing the rabbit heads. The moment they are killed, they will become a badge. No one can capture them.”

Xiao Jitong calmly asked, “Are you sure none of us can catch them?”

Fu Wenduo said, “Yes.”

They seem to be playing charades, making Chai Rong and the others feel confused. Xiao Jitong stared at Fu Wenduo, wanting to get more information from the other person’s mouth. But Fu Wenduo didn’t give any openings. Their relationship with Xiao Jitong wasn’t close enough for Fu Wenduo to reveal the role of the rope prop. He only needed Xiao Jitong to know: No one could capture the rabbit heads. The only way to get the badges was to kill them.

They studied the badge for a while before finally returning it to Fu Wenduo.

This was an extremely ordinary wooden badge. It was like a beginner took a piece of wood and carved it with a knife. The rounded edges of the wood were rough and the ‘S’ letter on the badge was also crooked.

The rabbit heads had all run away. Tang Mo said, “They scattered in different directions. I’m not certain if there are only rabbit heads here. There might be a number of rabbit heads in other parts of Nanjing. But their numbers are very small. It seems like there are only a few hundred rabbits. I don’t remember everyone sticking together to catch the rabbit heads.”

Xiao Jitong agreed. “I think the same. Killing the rabbit heads will give us badges. If we look for the rabbit heads together, the scope of the search will be smaller and we won’t be able to assign the badges. The strength of the rabbit heads isn’t too high. It is better to divide into teams of three or four people.”

The members of the Nanjing Group listened to Xiao Jitong’s opinion. Xiao Jitong and Ningning intended to return to the base of the Strategy Group first in order to meet up with Xiao Qiao and the others. Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo intended to go find the rabbit heads and collect the badges. For the moment, all they could do was kill the rabbit heads and collect badges.

Fu Wenduo looked down at the little boy.

Fu Wensheng hesitated for a moment. “I will go with captain. I have always been with Captain, Sister Rong and Brother Hao to pass the black tower game. Our understanding will be higher.”

Fu Wenduo’s dark gaze rested on Fu Wensheng. The child was tense because he was afraid Fu Wenduo wouldn’t allow him to act with his group members. However, Fu Wenduo just looked at him before turning to leave with Tang Mo. He left with saying a word and Fu Wensheng sighed with relief.

He recalled a previous sentence and repeated it in a whisper, “Since you made a decision, take responsibility...”

“Xiao Sheng, let’s go.” Chai Rong shouted.

Fu Wensheng replied, “I’m coming Captain!”

Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo quickly Xinjiekou Square, following a subway line to find the rabbit heads.

In the dark night, they could see players hastily moving. They stared vigilantly when they saw Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo, but there were no conflicts. This was Nanjing. A large-scale reality instance might’ve opened but they players wouldn’t immediately fall into a panic and kill each other.

Once they were alone, Tang Mo asked bluntly, “The things bound by the rope can’t break free?”

It was a guess but there was a nine out of ten chance he was right. Fu Wenduo frowned, “Almost. The specific effect is that once the rope is tied to something, it can’t be unlocked within 10 minutes. I can’t untie the rope either.” He added, “It is a causality law.”

Tang Mo’s heart was surprised. He thought for a moment before saying, “Under the effect of the causality law, the rabbit head broke your rope. This shows he might also have a causality law. Did the black tower give them a causality law so that they can never be bound by anything? Therefore, we can’t capture them. Only kill them and get the badges.”

Fu Wenduo replied, “It should be. In addition, the causality law is more advanced than my rope.”

Any props and abilities were very serious if they were related to causality. For example, Tang Mo’s ability to change names. He could change a person’s name for three days due to the causality effect. Whether it was someone who knew them or didn’t know them, they would feel that the person was called by a different name. In addition, the black tower’s words were affected by the law of causality and called Tang Mo by ‘Momo.’

Once it happened, the result was irreversible. This was the terrible thing about causality.

However, it was like a contradiction. A spear that could break all shields and a shield that could block all spears. Once the two met, one of them would be broken and cease to exist. Suppose that Fu Wenduo used the rope with ‘couldn’t be untied’ causality law to bind the rabbit heads with the ‘absolutely can’t be tied’ causality, one of them must be ineffective.

It was clear that the rope’s causality had been suppressed.

This speculation caused Tang Mo’s expression to darken. The rabbit heads were extremely difficult to catch and were very fast, faster than any player. It was difficult to kill them because of their dexterous movements. For Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo and the Nanjing Groups, this problem wasn’t very big. But for the other players of Nanjing...

Tang Mo’s expression changed and he finally sighed, “That’s why this is the garbage cleaning game. Players with a certain level of strength can kill the rabbit heads and get a badge. For players with weak strength, they might not be able to stop the rabbit heads’ claws and screams. Players who are too weak might even be killed by the rabbit heads. After this game is over, the players will have been screened. Assuming that the rabbit heads can be captured, the players might be able to work together to lay traps, capture the rabbit heads and gain badges. However, the rabbit heads can’t be captured. They can only be killed.”

Tang Mo alone could kill a rabbit head but 10 ordinary Nanjing players would have to work together to kill one.

One badge, 10 people.

At first, there were many rabbit heads and players could still feel hope. As time passed and there was only one hour left, what would happen in that hour?

Tang Mo bowed his head and thought about the nine rules give by the black tower. He didn’t believe that the method of clearing the instance was only to kill the rabbit heads and collect badges. If this was the case, the black tower’s method of screening ‘garbage’ was too obvious and it wouldn’t give players a chance.

Tang Mo said, “If their strength isn’t enough, they will definitely fail. The black tower doesn’t need to give such a complicated game. It can force players with a weak strength to attack the tower directly.” Both Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had experienced this from the tower. Tang Mo looked up to Fu Wenduo. “It is giving those players a chance to live through this game. What...”

Fu Wenduo had been looking at Tang Mo when something strange suddenly flashed in his eyes. He was preparing to speak when he suddenly looked up at a six storey building not far away. Tang Mo also turned and looked up at the building.

He saw a pair of scarlet eyes on the roof, staring straight at Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo. The three pairs of eyes collided before the rabbit head turned to run, leaping from the building. Tang Mo immediately chased after it. Fu Wenduo separated from Tang Mo at the crossroads and moved to the rear of the block.

Once the rabbit head was found, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo were 100 metres away. The direction of the rabbit head wasn’t clear but it kept jumping, giving Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo the chance to catch up.

Tang Mo ran around a corner and encountered three young women. The three women screamed with fright at the sight of him. This call cause seven or eight people to run from all directions.

At this time, the rabbit flew from the top of a building, jumping towards another building.

“Ah! A rabbit!”

A few new people were closer to the rabbit head and hurried to catch it. Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed and he ran quickly. He saw that seven or eight people were surrounding a rabbit head. The rabbit head screamed with anger, deterring them and not allowing them to approach. Some people were holding knives while some were holding guns.

One person timidly shouted, “Kill it” and the others attacked. The rabbit head’s sharp claws left a scar on them and its harsh screams made the players dizzy. However, there were many players and the rabbit head was unable to escape smoothly. The rabbit head found a chance and jumped out of the encirclement.

A player raised his head and shot the gun at the rabbit’s chest.

The bullet had just fired when a black figure jumped through the air, leaping over the heads of the players and flying to the side of the rabbit head. The pink parasol pierced the rabbit head’s chest. Tang Mo slightly cocked his head and avoided the extremely crooked bullet. He landed and looked at the wooden badge engraved with the letter ‘E’ in his hand.

The players looked at him with astonishment, not understanding where he had come from. Their eyes moved slowly downwards towards the wooden badge in Tang Mo’s palm.

One person whispered, “This is the badge...”

The eyes of the crowd became greedy and someone couldn’t help moving forward.

Bang!

The speaker quickly retreated in fear. In the place where he had just been standing, there was a deep hole. Not far away, Fu Wenduo put away the gun. Tang Mo looked at him and walked over with the badge. The two people looked over the group of players and left.

Within an hour, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo collected a total of five badges. There were so many players in Nanjing that they had only found seven rabbits. Two rabbits were killed by other players. Tang Mo didn’t steal their badges but as long as it was a rabbit head that Tang Mo killed, he wouldn’t let go of any badges.

The second hour arrived and the black tower announced the emergence of new rabbit heads. Tang Mo raised his head and stared coldly at the black tower. A low voice was heard by his side, “The Nanjing Group said that there are currently around 20,000 players in Nanjing. Everyone must gain at least eight badges so it means 160,000 badges and 160,000 rabbit heads. There are 12 batches so there must be 13,000 rabbit heads per batch.”

Tang Mo asked, “Do you really think there will be so many rabbit heads?”

“No.”

At night, the black tower seemed like a dark monster hovering over Nanjing, looking at the battles happening all over the city. Tang Mo quietly watched the black tower for a while. Then he turned to look at Fu Wenduo. “When will those people arrive?”

Fu Wenduo didn’t ask any questions and directly replied, “According to the time and distance projections, the quickest ones should be Zhenjiang and Chuzhou. After that, perhaps those from Wuxi and Changzhou will come. Shanghai is far away but it is possible for people to come. The game is 12 hours. Anyone within six hours of Nanjing can come.”

“That is... Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.”

The other end of Nanjing, an abandoned middle school.

Xiao Jitong heard that the black tower announce that the second batch of rabbit heads had appeared. He stopped and looked at the giant tower in the distance. Xiao Qiao turned and looked at him. “Captain?”

Xiao Jitong watched for a moment before shaking his head. “It’s nothing. One hour has passed?”

Xiao Qiao nodded. “Yes, it is 7 o’clock.”

“It is one hour so the Zhenjiang players should’ve arrived. By the time the next batch of rabbit heads arrive, the players in Anhui and other places may also arrive. Okay, let’s not waste time. Collect the badges we need first.”

Meanwhile, the Pudong district of Shanghai.

Luo Fengcheng sat in the office, looking at the long triangle map on the table. His fingers tapped on the word ‘Nanjing’ and he used his fingers to draw the distance between Nanjing and Shanghai. He pondered something while Tang Qiao stood silently beside her.

Three minutes later, Luo Fengcheng sighed heavily and smiled, “We won’t go. Shanghai is too far away. We might encounter some things or people on the road, delaying the time. By the time we get there, it will be midnight and there will only have six hours of game time left. We don’t know the specific rules of the game and people would’ve been participating for six hours already. It isn’t worth it.”

Tang Qi wanted to say something more but when she saw the serious expression on Luo Fengcheng’s face, she closed her mouth and walked out of the office.

In a small and empty restaurant next to Jiming Temple, Nanjing. Tang Mo stood behind the door and calmly observed the environment outside.

“A one time exemption from attacking the tower. This reward is very attractive, especially for players who would be forced to attack the tower. These 10 districts were classified by the black tower as last, indicating that the level of players here is very low. The reason it announced the 10 districts to all of China isn’t just to inform the players of the 10 districts that they have entered the game. It is telling other players where to participate in this garbage cleaning game.”

After a pause, Tang Mo continued. “From 18:00 on March 5th to 6:00 on March 6th, all players who set foot in the 10 districts will be considered as participating in the game. This rule is telling them what time to enter.”

Fu Wenduo looked over at Tang Mo’s sigh and his lips curved downwards. He spoke lightly, “To be willing to participate in an unknown black tower game, the players must be strong, ambitious and cruel. The biggest possibility is a stowaway.”

Tang Mo was watching Fu Wenduo while Fu Wenduo stared calmly back.

The two people gazed at each other.

A moment later, Tang Mo smiled. “Shall we go?”

Fu Wenduo’s lips curved. “Let’s go.”

In the dark night, a group of black figures appeared from various places and quietly entered the boundaries of Nanjing. There were 11 hours left.

The author has something to say:

Old Fi: [Shoots] Yes... I heard that you were trying to steal my wife’s badge?

The group of Nanjing players: [Moves back] I didn’t, I’m telling you I didn’t! I’m not lying QAQ!

You can also join my discord channel to chat with fellow readers about the novels;