The Earth is Online

The sky was dark and there was only one star hanging in the east, close to the horizon. Tang Mo stared at Fu Wenduo after hearing this voice. His fingers clenched tightly before loosening up.

Fu Wenduo said, “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

The two people quickly entered the service station. Fu Wensheng was already standing up and waiting for them.

Every highway in China was established in rural areas. The service station that the three of them were currently in was located near the small city of Yangzhou. It was a small service station, quite old and not luxurious. The service station stood alone on the vast expanse of ground, surrounded by farmland. The darkness hid everything. Once Tang Mo determined there was no one around, the black tower started to announce the rules of the new version.

“Ding dong! The black tower version 3.0 new rules—”

“First, every month, each of Earth’s 10 regions will open a game for the last players in the region. From April 2018, the last 10 days of each month will be the final review period.”

“Second, at 18:00 on March 31st, 2018, the mandatory tower attack game will open. By the end of March, players who haven’t attacked the tower must enter the tower attack game.”

“Third, the black tower game (mentally handicapped mode) is open, please explore on your own.”

“Ding dong…”

The clear child’s voice abruptly stopped.

The Tang Mo trio listened carefully to the contents of this version update. Once the voice abruptly stopped, Tang Mo’s heart sank. Chen Shanshan’s super intelligent thinking ability made an unknown premonition fill his heart. He looked up at Fu Wenduo. Fu Wenduo’s hand was pressed against the black dagger. Right now, they were more than 60 kilometers from the black tower in Yangzhou but in the darkness, they could see a small shadow suspended in the sky.

The black tower should be extremely small but it was incredibly clear in Tang Mo’s eyes.

All over the world, the exact same thing was happening where every black tower was located.

It was late at night in China, early in the morning in Europe and daytime in the United States. In the cold Russia, heavy snow covered everything. Moscow was experiencing thick snow and a tall bear-like man wrapped in a thick cotton coat went to the middle of the Red Square. The black tower was suspended on top of the south side of the Red Square, above Saint Basil’s Cathedral.

On this snowy night, players near the Red Square heard the black tower announcing the new version rules and rushed over, hiding in the darkness to observe. However, once the man arrived, all the players around him stared with horror before running away at the fastest speed, not daring to stay for one second.

There was only one person left in the huge red square.

The man walked through the thick snow towards the black tower. Every step he took caused him to sink down to his knees in the snow.

Finally, the man arrived at the door of Saint Basil’s Cathedral and looked up at the black tower.

At this moment, the stopped voice of the black tower started again. Once it started, Tang Mo was startled from where he was located in Yangzhou, China. In every corner of the world, the players looked at the black tower closest to them with astonishment. They heard a heavy, hoarse male voice enunciate each word.

“Ding dong! The black tower’s third iron-clad law—”

“All players please… attack, the, tower.”

Then the black tower resumed its serenity. Players around the world could no longer sit still. The turmoil swept over the entire planet.

Moscow’s Red Square, Saint Basil’s Cathedral.

The tall and strong man heard the voice and the blue eyes below his hat didn’t fluctuate at all. He turned slowly and left the square. Just as he walked past a street lamp, he suddenly stretched out a hand and pulled the street lamp up, throwing it at the black tower behind him.

The iron actually flew to a height of 100 metres and would soon smash into the black tower. But just as it was about to hit the black tower, it passed straight through and fell smoothly to the ground. There was a loud bang and the street lamp hit the cathedral below the black tower. Inside the church, there were dozens of similar giant metal objects and stones on the ground, smashing the Jesus made of jade into small pieces.

In the silent Moscow, the man stepped through the heavy snow and left the Red Square.

China’s Yangzhou, a service station.

Fu Wensheng was standing by the window and looking at the black tower until it finished announcing the new rules. After half a minute, he recovered his spirit and muttered, “The black tower… that is the voice of the black tower.”

Tang Mo looked calm. “…Yes, it is the voice of the black tower.”

Fu Wensheng couldn’t respond as his heart beat very quickly. Then he found that Tang Mo and his big brother were very calm and weren’t showing any traces of abnormalities. The child took a deep breath to calm down and analyzed, “The black tower always used a mechanical type of child’s voice, whether it is to announce news to the world, to China or to individual players. But the black tower has used other sounds too.”

Tang Mo spoke, “Yes, five months ago, Fu Wen…” He turned to look at Fu Wenduo. “You first attacked the tower and pulled all Chinese players into the game. At that time, the black tower played the ‘Thanksgiving Day’ with a female chorus. After that, it also hummed a lullaby with female voices but it never used this male voice. In addition, this time it said…” Tang M paused before continuing, “All players please attack the tower.”

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow at Tang Mo: It played a Thanksgiving song for me?

Tang Mo was busy thinking about the black tower’s new rules and the heavy voice and didn’t notice Fu Wenduo’s eyes.

Fu Wenduo retracted his gaze. “This is the third of the three major iron-clad laws announced when the earth went online.”

“Yes, it’s the third one. Third, all players please attack the tower.” Tang Mo said, “In the new version rules, it announced that starting from next month, a game for the last players will be opened every month. Then it told all players to attack the tower…” Tang Mo sighed and concluded, “The black tower is reminding all players not to forget this iron-clad rule. It wants the global players to not slack off and continue to build up their strength. That’s why it didn’t mention the other two rules, only the last one…”

Tang Mo didn’t say anything else but Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng understood his meaning.

The black tower would no longer allow things like the Nanjing Group to appear.

Tang Mo didn’t know if apart from Nanjing, the other nine districts involved in the game two days ago were judged as being last by the black tower because of a strong organization. Setting aside the additional mandatory tower attack game at the end of march, there was no doubt that the most important piece of information it wanted to convey about this 3.0 version update was:

[All players please attack the tower.]

From now on, organizations like the Nanjing Group wouldn’t exist. The last player game that opened once a month would be like the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, not allowing anyone to slack off.

Tang Mo said, “But this time, the black tower also revealed another pierce of information. The world is divided into 10 regions. It will open the last player game in each of the 10 regions. In other words, the last person’s garbage cleaning game that we participated in before also happened to players of other countries but the black tower didn’t publish the information. Its announcement was only within each region.”

Fu Wenduo suddenly said, “Five months ago, on November 15th, it announced that the earth was online. After that, at 8:00 on November 18th, the global players officially came online.” Tang Mo and Fu Wensheng looked at Fu Wenduo, waiting for his next words.

Fu Wenduo whispered, “UTC +8?”

Fu Wensheng heard this and exclaimed, “Eh? Is it because of time zones?” The Nanjing Group and Strategy Group’s affairs were always handled by Xiao Jitong. Maybe it was because of Fu Wensheng’s young age but Xiao Jitong didn’t disclose this information to him.

Tang Mo had long guessed this matter. “The black tower’s time is based on GMT. The second iron-clad rule is that the game time is 6:00 to 18:00 every day. This time corresponds to the standard time of each region. If there is another event similar to the Christmas instance, there is a solution.”

Fu Wenduo replied, “Running with time?”

“Yes, running with time. Of course… if there is a strength that can go faster than the Earth’s rotation then it is better to participate directly in the game.”

Fu Wenduo let out a low laugh. Tang Mo also shrugged.

Fu Wensheng stood silently as he watched his brother and Tang Mo talking. Their leaps in thinking was very fast. Many times, Tang Mo didn’t have to say anything and Fu Wenduo could already think of associated matters. Then once he spoke his thoughts, Tang Mo could follow his ideas and speculate on the next step.

Fu Wensheng could barely follow their thinking. This wasn’t saying that he was slow and not smart. He just didn’t have the special tacit understanding between the two of them. Fu Wensheng looked at them and inexplicably felt that he couldn’t get in. Fortunately, the child hadn’t thought too deeply about what role he would play in this group when Tang Mo spoke about the second thing.

“The third rule of the 3.0 version is that the mentally handicapped mode is turned on. I don’t know what this mentally handicapped mode is.”

Fu Wensheng immediately said, “When I was pulled into the tower attack game by Brother, the black tower said that it was currently in mentally handicapped mode. Perhaps this mentally handicapped mode is similar to the original? But this time, the black tower said that it is the mentally handicapped mode of black tower games, not the tower attack games. Maybe it is just an ordinary game, not a tower attack game.”

The trio carefully discussed the three rules of the black tower’s 3.0 version as well as the male voice used by the black tower.

In the middle of the night, Fu Wensheng filled a few empty water bottles. His ability allowed him to fill up 30 bottles of water a day so he never wasted his chances. As Fu Wensheng poured the mineral water, Tang Mo quietly walked out of the service station.

Fu Wenduo looked at him and Tang Mo said lightly, “I will come back soon.” He walked past Fu Wensheng as he said this. The child looked at Tang Mo and realized he was going out. Fu Wenduo stared at Tang Mo’s back. As Tang Mo’s figure completely disappeared, his lips curved but he didn’t speak.

Tang Mo walked to a remote corner behind the service station and looked around. Once he was sure that no one was present, he took out a red gem from his pocket. Tang Mo put on Mario’s hat without any expression, looked at the wall in front of him and them… silently slammed into it.

Bang bang bang!

After three hits, Tang Mo put away the three types of trash that had fallen to the ground and returned to the service station.

Early the next morning, the trio continued on their journey.

Fu Wenduo claimed that it would take up to four days to go from Yangzhou to Beijing. However, they had just entered the Hebei area when they were accidentally pulled into a tower game. Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng were pulled into the game, with only Tang Mo left behind in the car. The surprised Tang Mo found that his two teammates had disappeared.

Tang Mo quickly reached out and grabbed the steering wheel from the passenger seat. He controlled the direction and gradually stopped the car.

Three days later, two figures appeared on the highway.

Fu Wenduo had some injuries. Fu Wensheng was better but a bit of blood was flowing from his forehead. During the course of the game, Tang Mo had been using the turkey egg’s communication to talk and he knew the situation of the two people. Now that both of them emerged, Tang Mo returned to the passenger seat and the three of them drove to the nearest service station.

Tang Mo found some supplies from the service station. He returned to the car and handed a bottle of water to Fu Wenduo. “You are fine and smoothly passed the game but today is March 14th.

Fu Wenduo accepted the water. “This is Handan. If there are no accidents when driving, we should be able to arrive in Beijing before tomorrow.

Tang Mo pulled out a map book from his bag and opened it to the map of Hebei. He pointed to the map and said, “The map shows that it is 100 kilometres from the Handan area. I have observed it from the highway and based on the size of the black tower, it isn’t very far away.”

The two of them looked at each other.

Fu Wenduo said, “Go to Handan tonight.”

Handan, Hebei, March 14th, 23:30.

Fu Wenduo drove the car to the edge of the city and parked it in a hidden underground parking lot. He and Tang Mo got off the car, leaving Fu Wensheng to wait in the car for their news. The child had similar experiences before and he said, “Don’t worry about me. Brother, Brother Tang, be careful. In Nanjing, our Nanjing Group was relatively strong. When the black tower’s 2.0 version updated, the captain and Captain Xiao directly went to Xinjiekou to observe the changes in the black tower. But this is Handan. Be careful.”

Tang Mo nodded lightly.

Fu Wenduo didn’t answer.

Fu Wensheng watched Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo leave. The two of them were extremely fast as they disappeared from the parking lot in a few seconds. Fu Wensheng stared nervously at the entrance and exit of the parking lot. He held his props and carefully watched every possible player.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had never been to Handan but the black tower was the best signpost. The two of them walked on both sides of the road, paying careful attention to the surrounding movements. The two of them gathered again once they reached the black tower. They found an abandoned clothing store and quickly hid it.

There was silence all around them.

Fu Wenduo immediately shut the door when he entered the clothing store and then Tang Mo whispered, “Here, come over here.”

Fu Wenduo was stunned and quickly moved over.

This clothing store was a single room store located on the commercial street next to the centre of Handan. On the street facing side, apart from a small door for single entry, the rest was a glass window for clothes. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo formed a triangle by the glass window and wall, staring intently at the black tower not far away.

A minute later, a black figure flashed across the road and entered a nearby mall to hide.

Tang Mo stared closely at the shadow.

After waiting another five minutes, they didn’t see anyone apart from the person who had just hidden.

The cool breeze blew across the road, causing the dust on the ground to rise and covering the long dried blood. Through the glass window, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo watched the black tower in the sky. Tang Mo waited patiently as time passed.

At midnight, a dazzling white light lit up the black tower.

Tang Mo didn’t think that the black tower would actually give off a strong white light when it updated. His eyes were pained and he reflexively narrowed them. Before he could react, a hand covered his eyes, blocking out the white light.

Tang Mo’s breathing paused.

A hot palm was tightly attached to his eyelids and the hot temperature passed to his skin. A faint white light shone through the gap between Fu Wenduo’s fingers. Tang Mo’s lips slightly opened and he didn’t speak for a long time. After three seconds, the white light dissipated. Fu Wenduo removed his hands.

A moment later, Tang Mo said, “…I didn’t expect that this update would be different from last time.”

Fu Wenduo asked, “Did you go to see them last time?”

Tang Mo still felt a bit awkward but there was an indescribable feeling in his heart. He heard this and asked curiously, “Didn’t you see the black tower’s 2.0 version update last time?”

“I just entered an instance.”

It was like this. Tang Mo explained, “AT that time, the black tower emitted a colourful light, similar to the light ball at KTVs. Then it said that the new version went online and the update completed.”

Fu Wenduo asked, “Just that?”

“It also said the total number of players in the world at the time. In addition…”

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed and he quickly turned his head to look at the black tower.

There was a flashing white light dot at the top of the black tower. This dot was so small that it was hard to detect. Tang Mo squinted and counted the number of times the light flashed over and over. The light dot blinked very quickly, the frequency almost exceeding the visual limit that humans could achieve. It flashed again and again. Tang Mo counted them but he wasn’t sure if the number he had was correct.

It flashed one last time before the white light stopped. Tang Mo whispered the number, “…It is 9,927.”

Fu Wenduo had also counted the number of flashes so the two people had no time to communicate. Then Fu Wenduo saw that second flashing white spot that appeared before the first one. This time it blinked a bit slower and once it finished, Fu Wenduo said, “364.”

Tang Mo clearly remembered that three months ago, the first white spot only flashed 62 times while the second light lit up halfway. His lips tightened and Fu Wenduo prepared to speak. Suddenly, a dim white light spot unexpectedly lit up below the second one.

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed.

In the darkness, the third white spot was shining so faintly that it was hard to detect. Then it lit up.

It flashed slightly before stopping.

After three seconds, it flashed again. Finally, it permanently stopped.

The next second, a cheerful child’s voice was heard. The loud music filled the sky as countless children sang in unison. They sang cheerfully and as Tang Mo previously said, the black tower radiated a colourful light, like an inferior light ball in an old-fashioned KTV, instantly illuminating the entire downtown area.

In the cold wind, the joyous song seemed to change. Once it finished singing, the cold mechanical voice was heard.

“Ding dong! 21.42 million players have successfully loaded the game…”

“Game saved…”

“The player data is loading…”

“The game data is loading…”

“Save is successful…”

“Loaded successfully…”

“The last players instance has been updated…”

“Ding dong! On March 15th, 2018, the black tower version 3.0 has officially launched. All players are welcome to enter the game.”

“All players, please attack the tower.”

“Ding dong! Happy games!”