The Earth is Online

Thick snow clouds covered the sky. The heavy snow had long stopped but the snow on the ground was already 10cm thick. The Brandenburg Gate was covered with thick snow, making it look like a white door frame. Suddenly, a black figure was thrown out and fell against a stone pillar of the Brandenburg Gate.

This ancient stone gate with a history of over 200 years trembled fiercely, a long and narrow crack appearing on it. The silver-haired woman thrown against the stone pillar didn’t have time to rest and recover. She fell into the snow. The next moment, she supported herself and jumped back three steps.

Bang!

A giant lollipop smashed into the ground where she had just been located, a large pit forming.

There was a kind smile on Santa Claus’ face as he waved the lollipop. “Hahaha, let’s play together my lovely child!”

The battle was an almost one-sided crushing.

The bodies that died under the Brandenburg Gate were buried by snow. The silver-haired woman was the only survivor but she was injured and her movements and reactions could no longer keep up. There was another blow and the silver-haired woman couldn’t dodge. She was hit hard by the lollipop. She fell to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. She could no longer stand.

Red blood ran down from the wound on her head and entered her eyes. She struggled to support her upper body as she saw Santa Claus moving his sleigh. He pulled the reins and laughed. “This is the last moment. Child, Santa Claus never kills. However, if you are lying in the snow and accidentally trampled on then you can’t blame Santa. The eyes of an old man are always bad. This is known to everyone.” Santa Claus smiled as his reindeer ran towards the silver-haired woman.

Yelena’s eyes were tense as she tried to stand up but she was already exhausted.

The sleigh was only five metres away from her when there was a sharp burst of wind. Santa’s expression changed and he turned the sleigh, avoiding the fire bullet. The fire bullets hit the Brandenburg Gate and melted the snow around it.

Santa Claus turned to look at the visitor and his eyes narrowed.

Yelena also turned in that direction. She didn’t know when but the snow clouds had scattered and the sun was setting. At the junction of the sky and horizon, six black figures were bathed in the warm sunlight as they headed towards Brandenburg Gate. A blond youth held his left arm flat as he heard a gun covered with golden patterns.

It was clear that he had just fired the bullet.

Six people walked towards Brandenburg Gate. Santa watched the six humans and seemed to recognize one or two of them. “Lovely children, long time no see. Merry Christmas!”

A middle-aged man pulled Yelena from the ground and asked in French accented English.”Who are you?”

Yelena replied coldly. “Yelena Ivanovna.”

The blond youth came over. “The first player in Russia to clear the fifth floor?”

Yelena glanced at him and didn’t speak.

The middle-aged man smiled and turned to look at Santa Claus.

“The death of the crazy Lena and Don doesn’t mean there is no one in the European region. The only black tower in Europe which has attracted worldwide attention, the black tower in Berlin, Europe District 1. It doesn’t require you Russians to attack it. Brothers, it seems that we are right.” The middle-aged man pulled out a long blade and stared at Santa Claus, revealing a bloodthirsty smile. “Kill him and take down the Berlin black tower!”

New York, USA.

Peter Pan seized the opportunity and leapt into the air, swooping down, his golden spear stabbing at Bell Fauske’s chest. There was no tension on Bell’s face and he showed a successful smile. Peter Pan was surprised and tried to fly away but it was too late.

John suddenly appeared from behind and fired three bullets straight into Peter Pan’s chest.

Around the world, players were trying to attack the tower.

Beijing, China.

It was dark and late at night.

In the moonlight, five figures walked down from the hill.

Fu Wensheng wiped his wet eyes and Chen Shanshan looked at him. The child shook his head. “There is just a bit of pain from the wind.”

Chen Shanshan didn’t say anything.

The first returnee on the time leaderboard had more advanced props than Tang Mo. The red whip was handed over to Chen Shanshan by its owner and the remaining props were assigned to each of the five people.

Chen Shanshan opened her mouth and found that her voice was hoarse. She paused for a moment and then spoke in a normal voice, “Bai Ruoyao has been resurrected but he hasn’t been seen. The black tower says he is alive but where is he? We have to find him.”

Fu Wenduo speculated, “He died in the black tower game so he likely appeared under the black tower.”

The black tower suspended over the Forbidden City had disappeared along with all of Beijing City. Still, this was the most likely place for Bai Ruoyao to appear. The five people packed up and headed in the direction of the Forbidden City. They only got halfway there when Fu Wenduo stopped.

The group immediately looked at him.

Andrei closed his eyes and listened. “There are footsteps.”

Beijing City had disappeared a few hours ago and the players living on this land had either escaped or disappeared with the city. Was there someone else around?

A name floated in Tang Mo’s heart and he glanced at Fu Wenduo with surprise. The two people instantly understood the other side’s meaning.

“Hey, who is that?” Fu Wensheng cried loudly.

The group looked over.

In the bright moonlight, a thin figure appeared.

The baby-faced youth had his hands in his pocket as he walked carelessly, not walking too fast or too slow. It was irritating, just like he always was. He walked here and once he saw Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo, he deliberately made a surprised expression. “Wow, what a coincidence. We meet again, Tang Tang, Major Fu. Is this fate?”

Tang Mo glanced at him. “Did you come here on purpose?”

Bai Ruoyao blinked. “What do you mean? Tang Tang, I suddenly appeared on a pile of ruined stones, which scared me.” He put on an expression of fear but they could tell this smiling person wasn’t afraid at all. “I looked around and recognized the stone bricks on the ground as similar to the Forbidden City. Then I headed in a direction to see if there was anyone nearby to ask about the situation. Hehe, Tang Tang, do you see the fate between us? I unexpectedly found you at once.”

Bai Ruoyao’s gaze swept over the five people. When he saw Andrei, he quickly looked away.

He didn’t ask anything about the person who was always with Andrei and who had been chased by Andrei. Bai Ruoyao just cocked his head and asked, “Where are my butterfly knives?”

Tang Mo took out two knives from his pocket and threw them with an expressionless face.

Bai Ruoyao caught the knives. His clever fingers stroked the thin handle as he threw the two beautiful knives into the air. The butterfly knives disappeared into his sleeves at a speed that surpassed the naked eye, so that even Fu Wenduo couldn’t see it.

Bai Ruoyao put his hands in his pocket and his lips curved. “Then can you tell me now, what happened after I died?”

Tang Mo used simple words to describe what happened after Bai Ruoyao’s death.

From the death of Lena and Don to the players clearing the sixth clue. They received clues and the black tower directly opened the seventh floor of the tower, asking all players in the world to attack the tower together.

Chen Shanshan told then, “We don’t know the clue of the Chongqing player, Li Xia for the moment. I guess that it is likely to be a message about the location of the black tower. However, the third clue that the black tower gave is you.” The little girl looked up at the baby-faced youth. “Do you know where the fifth black tower is?”

Bai Ruoyao didn’t answer her. He just raised an eyebrow. “Changping in Beijing, Guangzhou, Berlin and New Delhi. Are you going to Guangzhou now?

Chen Shanshan nodded. “The circus leader is powerful but he isn’t the strongest in the black tower world. Grandmother Wolf and Santa Claus are stronger than him. Ruan Wangshu has taken Tian Xuan to help the people of Guangzhou attack the tower but Mu...” Her voice stopped before she continued. “We heard that there are no particularly powerful players in Guangzhou. Thus, we intended to leave for Guangzhou to attack the tower.”

Andrei’s low voice was heard. “What clue do you know?”

Bai Ruoyao turned to look at the Russian player emitting killing intent. Andrei had never shown such a murderous appearance before. If the baby-faced youth didn’t cooperate, Andrei would definitely break his neck.

Bai Ruoyao stared at him before making a wronged expression. “What did I do wrong? Tang Tang, look at him bullying me.”

Tang Mo asked, “What the hell do you know?”

Bai Ruoyao stopped pretending.

After a long moment, he explained, “There is one thing you guessed wrong. If the third clue given by the black tower is what you said, it is me. This doesn’t mean I know where the tower is. I didn’t know anything about this game and the black tower didn’t give me information. The clue literally means ‘me.’ And on Earth, there is only one tower that I have an inseparable relationship with...”

“In fact, I once died while attacking the black tower’s second floor.”

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Bai Ruoyao smiled at him. “Literally that. Tang Tang, I’m not lying to you. Am I that type of person? Okay okay, foreigner who can’t even speak Mandarin. Don’t raise your fist at me. I will stop talking nonsense.” The moment he stopped speaking, the baby-faced fingers moved and a half-bitten apple appeared.

“The black tower’s second floor tower attack game, I was passing through a country city when I was forced to attack the tower. Originally, it was an ordinary tower attack game. As long as the main mission was completed, it could be cleared. However, I died... I made a wrong choice.” He glanced at Tang Mo. “The world’s first player to clear the hard mode of the black tower is called Momo. Tang Tang, that person is you. Originally, I should’ve been the first to clear the second floor of the tower in hard mode but I died there. Still, before I died, I stole something and bit it. Then I came back to life. From then on, my life was linked to the boss of that game.”

“She’s asleep while I’m alive.”

“The black tower told me that I can only get rid of this damn apple and truly live by clearing the seventh floor.”

Bai Ruoyao blinked. “Tang Tang, can you guess who she is?”

Tang Mo looked at the half-bitten red apple in Bai Ruoyao’s hand. A name filled his heart and he blurted it out.

“...Snow White.”

Half an hour later, the six people arrived at the junction of Beijing and Baoding.

They stopped at the dividing line between the two cities. This didn’t mean there was a line separating the two cities. China never deliberately drew boundaries between cities. Yet at this moment, they saw a line with their own eyes.

To the north of this line were the ruins of human civilization while the south contained small houses.

Once they arrived here, they knew that they had left Beijing and China District 1.

Fu Wenduo looked at the ruined city behind him before turning away. The others also watched the north before continuing to go south.

Tang Mo suggested, “Everything in Beijing is destroyed and there are no cars. Baoding should have cars. We should go to the city to find a car. Chongqing is very far away.”

Fu Wenduo nodded. “Driving is faster.”

“Good.”

Fu Wensheng had started walking when he found that the baby-faced youth wasn’t keeping up. He turned his head to look.

In the morning light, the baby-faced youth stood at the junction of two cities and watched Beijing. Bai Ruoyao’s wrist twisted and a silver butterfly knife appeared in his hand. Fu Wensheng was shocked and didn’t know what he wanted to do. Then he saw Bai Ruoyao throw the knife.

The butterfly knife flew in a beautiful arc through the air, cutting a small white flower that remained among the weeds and flew back to Bai Ruoyao’s hand. The strength was so controlled that when the butterfly knife fell into his hands, the flower came with it.

The baby-faced youth smelt the flower and made a disgusted expression. “It isn’t fragrant at all.”

Then he knelt down and plugged the flower into the devastated land of Beijing.

A small, ordinary wildflower stood quietly in the dirt, swaying with the wind.

Bai Ruoyao poked the flower, whispered something and turned away.

Fu Wensheng felt that he heard wrong. Then Bai Ruoyao walked to his side and exclaimed, “Tang Tang, did you cry when you saw I was dead? Were you very sad?”

“Shut up.”

“Hehehehe.”

The six people continued moving south.

“Did I hear wrong?”

The child touched his head as he walked with everyone.

The sentence was blown over the ruins of Beijing by the wind.

—[Deer, I’m back.]

The moonlight disappeared and the sun rose.

Fu Wenduo soon found an abandoned jeep in Baoding. The six people got on it and quickly rushed to Chongqing.

Bai Ruoyao told them, “Chongqing is very big and there are eight black towers. This black tower is very unremarkable. It is on the east side. I was passing by when leaving Chongqing but the black tower was too bad. I just passed by when it pulled me into the tower attack game.”

Fu Wenduo asked, “Where is that tower?”

“Chongqing Fengjie.”

Fanart I’ve found of the last scene on Weibo:

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