The Earth is Online

Tang Mo didn’t move from where he was hiding in the clothing store. He waited for three minutes and saw a thin figure quickly coming out of the mall across the street. The man rushed into the nearby commercial street and quickly disappeared. They waited another five minutes before Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo went out the back door of the clothing store.

In the dark night, the two of them was as fast as the wind. They moved under the shadow of the trees while the leaves rustled. It was impossible to see their movements. Only the leaves that moved in the wind suggested that two people had run underneath the trees.

The two of them returned to the parking lot and found Fu Wensheng.

Fu Wensheng saw that it was Tang Mo and put down his tightly held weapons. He hurriedly asked, “What happened?”

Tang Mo’s expression was complicated. It wasn’t ugly but it definitely wasn’t good. Fu Wensheng quickly looked at his brother. Fu Wenduo got into the driver’s seat and drove into a private parking garage. He got off and pulled down the roller shutter doors. The three people quietly hid in this abandoned private garage.

The dark underground parking lot was filled with silence.

Tang Mo took the flashlight from his backpack and held it upwards with two bricks. The white light shone towards the ceiling, illuminating this small garage. He took a stone and knocked down a can of gasoline on the garage floor. The dark gasoline quickly flowed all over the ground. Tang Mo dipped the stone in the gasoline and drew something on the ground.

“There are three main dots. The first dot flashed quickly and nearly reached 10,000 times. You and I were distracted when it started flashing...” Tang Mo looked up at Fu Wenduo before drawing a small circle on the ground, writing 9,927 next to it. He said, “This is a rough estimate but it probably flashed 10,000 times.”

Fu Wenduo stated, “The second dot flashed 364 times.”

Tang Mo nodded and drew a small circle below the first one, writing 364 next to it.

The two people didn’t say a word as they carefully stared at the two small circles. Fu Wensheng didn’t understand what they were saying but he didn’t interrupt. After half a minute, Tang Mo picked up the stone and drew a third circle. The stone made a loud noise as it moved against the ground. Tang Mo drew this circle with dashed lines and then wrote a ‘2’.

“This light was far weaker than before and it flashed twice.”

Fu Wenduo looked at the number and asked, “When the 2.0 version launched three months ago, were there these dots?”

“There were.” Tang Mo drew two small circles to the left side of the three circles he had just drawn. “This light dot was first and it flashed 62 times. This is accurate information. I stared at it the whole time and there were no omissions. Then there is the second dot of light. The black tower’s 2.0 version only has two dots of light. The first dot is similar to the first two we saw today and was relatively solid. The solid dot was darker. Altogether...”

Tang Mo moved the stone and wrote a number on the ground. “It only flashed once.”

The black tower updated two times over a period of three months. Every time, the black tower would have white spots flash before it officially announced the version update. The white light dots were divided into solid ones and hollow ones. The 2.0 version had two dots and 3.0 had one more solid dot. In addition...

Tang Mo spoke calmly, ” The number of flashes has increased by many times.”

Fu Wenduo said, “62 times became more than 9,000 times and the second point became solid, flashing 364 times. Three months ago... what did you and Luo Fengcheng think?”

Tang Mo wasn’t surprised that Fu Wenduo guessed he was with Luo Fengcheng and discussed the white lights together. It was because a few days after the black tower 2.0 version updated, Fu Wenduo found the Attack organization. It wasn’t surprising that Fu Wneduo guessed this. According to Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng’s nature, they wouldn’t let go of these white dots that were obviously valuable.

Tang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo and answered, “The speculation of Luo Fengcheng and I at the time... these white dots represent the floors of the black tower.”

Fu Wenduo didn’t look surprised. Fu Wensheng had been listening to them for a long time and only now understood.

Tang Mo explained, “The black tower has a total of seven floors. At present, no one in the world has passed the third floor. In other words, the players have only cleared the second floor.” Tang Mo drew a large circle on the outside of the three solid circles. He said, “The first dot represents the first floor of the black tower and the second dot represents the second floor. On November 22nd, Fu Wenduo, you were the first person in the world to clear the black tower. Since then, players in the other nine regions around the world cleared the black tower. The latest region to clear the first floor of the black tower was on December 18th. That’s why it isn’t impossible for 62 players to clear the first floor worldwide on January 1st when the black tower’s version 2.0 updated. The most important thing is what the hollow dot that represents the second floor stands for.”

Fu Wensheng guessed, “Doesn’t it represent the black tower’s second floor?” Then he quickly denied it. “But no one cleared the black tower’s second floor at the time. In the world’s 10 regions, the first player to clear the new tower attack floor will be announced globally.”

“At that time, no one had cleared the black tower’s second floor. A few days later, your brother cleared it.”

Fu Wensheng expressed doubts. “What does this second light dot mean? It flashed once.”

Tang Mo stated, “This is just something that Luo Fengcheng and I speculated. The light dots represented the black tower floors. The second light dot only flashed halfway and the light was darker. This probably means... someone attacked the black tower’s second floor but failed. Therefore, his light didn’t turn on. For example...” Tang Mo paused and looked at Fu Wenduo. “I remember that at the end of November, Major Fu was pulled into the second floor of the black tower but failed.”

Fu Wenduo’s lips slightly curved.

That was three months ago. At that time, Tang Mo suddenly heard Fu Wenduo’s voce and opened the turkey egg to help Fu Wenduo with the black tower’s second floor. It was a pity that Fu Wenduo failed to clear the instance. He loaded the file by committing suicide and then found a way to leave the second floor.

According to the information obtained by the three dots, the light dots represented the black tower floors and the number of flashes represented the people who cleared the floor. Everything was very reasonable.

Tang Mo looked at the small circles on the ground and his voice was calm. “Now there were more than 364 players in the world who have cleared the black tower’s second floor. In addition, two players have tried the black tower’s third floor but failed. They might’ve died in the game or narrowly escaped. These two people aren’t me or Fu Wenduo.”

Fu Wensheng heard this and wondered, “Will they be Chinese?”

Fu Wenduo was the first player to clear the first and second floor. It was enough to objectively say he was the strongest player in China but he hadn’t tried to clear the black tower’s third floor. This didn’t mean there were no other Chinese players who hadn’t tried it.

Tang Mo said, “As far as I know, Shanghai doesn’t have such players. Generally speaking, most cities in China should be the same as the one we are in now. The population isn’t comparable to Beijing and Shanghai and they don’t have the resources of a big city. The level of the players is more ordinary.” For example, this version 3.0 update only had one player in Handan go to the black tower to check the situation.

Tang Mo looked at Fu Wenduo. “If the two players who tried to clear the black tower’s third floor are from China then they are most likely from Beijing. Major Fu, did you say that Beijing has a very powerful stowaways organization led by a strong stowaway?”

“The organization is called Tian Xuan.” Fu Wenduo picked up a stone and drew a map of Beijing on the ground. “Their base is in the Chaoyang District. When I left Beijing four months ago, their leader had already cleared the black tower’s first floor. Now four months have passed. There is a chance he has challenged the black tower’s third floor.”

Tang Mo asked, “What is his specific ability?”

Fu Wenduo recalled, “I don’t know the specific power but he can change the weight of an area...” Fu Wenduo’s voice abruptly stopped as he looked at the Beijing map on the ground.

The air in the private garage instantly solidified. Fu Wenduo’s hand stopped in the air while Tang Mo’s eyes slowly widened. Their faces exposed that something was wrong. The next second, they looked at each other and spoke in unison.

“Is he called Ruan Wangshu?”

“He is called Ruan Wangshu.”

The confused Fu Wensheng looked at them. “What happened? Who is Ruan Wangshu? Big Brother, Brother Tang?”

Tang Mo’s lips slowly tightened. He dipped the stone in the petrol again and wrote words on the ground. After writing these words, he paused for a moment before writing more words. Fu Wensheng didn’t know who Ruan Wangshu but once he saw the last words that Tang Mo wrote, he cried out with surprise, “Lian Yuzheng? Brother Tang, why did you write her name?”

Tang Mo’s face was dignified. He looked at the child and explained, “It is because... 30 seconds ago, the black tower issued an announcement. China District 1’s stowaway Ruan Wangshu and official player Lian Yuzheng have successfully cleared the black tower’s second floor (hard mode).”

Fu Wensheng’s eyes widened and he cried out, “Lian Yuzheng? The popular female singer Lian Yuzheng?!!”

Nanjing, the new Nanjing Group.

Chai Rong was practicing boxing when he heard this sound. He was so scared that he broke the sandbag.

Shanghai, the Attack organization.

Jack was the only member of the organization to hear the announcement. He was stunned and went to the office of Luo Fengcheng, who was holding a folder. The folder was filled with a thick stack of paper, with two lines displayed at the top. The top line clearly read: Bai Ruoyao, Yuzhong District, Chongqing...

Such situations were occurring around the globe.

Some players heard about the hard mode for the first time and asked with surprise, “Eh, hard mode? Who are these two Chinese players and how did they clear the hard mode?” Some players were long used to it. They mouthed these two strange Chinese names and no longer concerned themselves with it.

A clear voice was heard in the minds of 364 players around the world.

“Ding dong! China District 1’s official player Lian Yuzheng has successfully cleared the black tower’s second floor (hard mode).”

“Ding dong! China District 1’s stowaway...”

The black tower made the global announcement three times.

The author has something to say:

Foreign Players: I feel that the China’s players are especially amazing. Why are they all Chinese people? [Stunned Face]

Chinese players: Hehehe, call your fathers!

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