The Earth is Online

The rain intermittently fell, the ground was wet and there was an almost invisible drizzle.

When Tang Mo emerged from the bungalow, his hair was quickly wet from the misty rain and slightly stuck to his forehead. He first looked up at the gas station across the road and couldn’t see Fu Wenduo or Fu Wensheng’s figures. It was estimated that they had entered the gas station together to find petrol.

Tang Mo didn’t think too much as he held the snacks and crossed to the other side of the road.

There was a newsstand there.

This was a crossroads and the gas station was at the northeast corner. It was directly opposite the bungalow and the diagonally opposite intersection had the deserted newsstand. Finally, there was a small restaurant located at the northwest corner. It had long been emptied and there was obviously no more food.

Tang Mo was heading to the newsstand when he suddenly stepped into a puddle. Tang Mo looked down but his eyes fell on a hidden part instead of his wet shoes.

Tang Mo coughed and continued to move forward.

He completely crossed the road and officially saw the newsstand. The snacks and water sold at the newsstand were all stolen, leaving only the newspapers and magazines that no one wanted behind. There were thick stacks of newspapers on the shelves and the words November 15th were on the front page. Tang Mo looked at the stacks of newspapers and went around to the rear. He planned to enter the newsstand from the small door and look for a map.

He was just walking behind the newsstand when he paused, his eyes falling on a burnt shelf.

This was a small bookshelf on the outside of the newsstand. Many newsstands would place well-selling magazines and newspapers outside for small people to choose from. This shelf had been placed on the other side and Tang Mo hadn’t been able to see it from the gas station or the bungalow. It was burnt back, the books that had been placed on it burned to ashes on the ground.

The light rain falling made the charred shelf stand out compared to the surroundings. Tang Mo glanced at it before looking away. His eyes were calm as he placed his hands in his pocket, continuing to walk towards the newsstand. Tang Mo’s figure disappeared into the small newsstand. But the moment he entered…

Bang!

At the gas station, Fu Wenduo rushed towards the small restaurant in the northwest corner. Simultaneously, Tang Mo’s figure rushed out of the newsstand and went straight to the bungalow in the southeast corner. Their movements were too fat and everything happened too suddenly. The giant match slammed into the wall, the four men hiding behind it staring at Tang Mo with horror, unable to react.

One second later, the middle-aged man screamed with reddened eyes, “Fuck! I’ll fight with you!”

Tang Mo didn’t expect that there would be four people. He moved to avoid a bullet and then rolled backwards to avoid the middle-aged man’s fist. On the other side, Fu Wenduo determined there was no one in the restaurant. He turned towards Tang Mo’s direction and found that Tang Mo was already fighting four people.

Tang Mo had just escaped a bullet and then bent down to avoid a flying knife.

He raised the big match, blocking behind him. The red match head collided with a black knife, causing both of them to take three steps back. There was a shallow white trace on the big match. Tang Mo watched the man holding the knife in a vigilant manner and found that the other person was looking at him with eyes filled with hatred. The next second, the man struck with his knife and Tang Mo waved the big match to meet him.

Only three seconds had passed since they encountered each other. Tang Mo escaped their sneak attack and fought on equal terms with the knife wielding man. Once Fu Wenduo rushed to the scene, the middle-aged man and short man immediately rushed out to block Fu Wenduo.

The strong man shouted, “Old Jiu, run!”

The moment this was head, the thin man about to attack Tang Mo turned to run. Tang Mo rushed to seize him but a black knife blocked his way. Tang Mo’s palm turned over and a hot flame emerged, slamming into the other person. The man easily moved sideways and dodged it.

“You won’t leave so easily!”

Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed as the big match and black knife continued to collide, causing metal sparks. In just 20 seconds, two people have collided several times. Tang Mo kept finding opportunities to attack this man. However, the man escaped the flames, checkmate and the fierce offensive.

He suddenly seized a chance to kick Tang Mo’s leg from the side. Tang Mo dodged it only for a knife to come from the other side. “Die for me!”

Boom!

A huge stone suddenly appeared in front of the man and the knife cut the stone. The man’s eyes opened with horror. At this time, he discovered that Tang Mo had deliberately exposed a flaw. As he was hitting the stone, Tang Mo had rushed a few metres and was chasing after the escaping Old Jiu.

The man was shocked. “Not good, he wants to kill Old Jiu!”

The middle-aged man was shocked when he heard this and was kicked away by Fu Wenduo. He refused to take care of his own injury and struggled to chase after Tang Mo. On the other side, the man with the knife also chased. The two of them tried their best to chase Tang Mo but it was too late. Old Jiu’s speed wasn’t fast. Tang Mo raised the big match straight towards him.

At this moment, a full 58 seconds had passed since Tang Mo emerged from the bungalow and stepped into the puddle.

The middle-aged man and the knife man saw that Tang Mo’s match was about to split open Old Jiu’s head and their eyes widened with fright. They shouted, “I’m going to kill you” while rushing towards Tang Mo, watching the giant match slowly descending towards the old man’s head.

Time ticked away and Tang Mo’s match fell.

It was just about to touch Old Jiu’s head when behind Tang Mo, the anxious looking middle-aged man and knife man slowly revealed a sinister smile. Their small eyes filled with excitement but the anger and fear on their faces hadn’t yet faded. They were like too weird clowns, looking both scary and excited.

The two men blinked just as Tang Mo’s match was about to smash into Old Jiu’s skull. When they opened their eyes again, the sound of a skull being smashed was heard from behind them. The middle-aged man, the man with the knife and Old Jiu stopped and stiffly turned around.

A light drizzle was falling from the sky. In the middle of the intersection, Tang Mo held the big match, his face calm as he cracked the head of the fourth man. When the middle-aged man and the man with the knife turned to save Old Jiu, Fu Wenduo directly followed them. Only this man had turned to flee. No one noticed his actions and he had been running away for three seconds.

Raindrops rolled off the leaves of a large tree by the road and slammed into the ground.

One minute had just passed.

Tang Mo stood in the middle of the crossroad, nearly 100 metres away from where he had just been standing. Even Fu Wenduo didn’t see him move but Tang Mo was gasping heavily while holding the big match. The man whose skull was broken was lying on the ground, white brain matter flowing out and mixing with the rain.

Blood emerged from his open mouth. He looked at Tang Mo with disbelief, coughing blood as he struggled to speak, “Why… is it me?”

Tang Mo kept gasping. No one noticed the circle of white light shimmering around his eyes. Tang Mo looked at Old Jiu in the distance. In his vision, a faint aura of death rose from the ground and moved around his body. Old Jiu was pale as he looked at Tang Mo and his dying companion. Soon, the dead air completely blocked his face so that Tang Mo could no longer see his expression.

Tang Mo looked back at the man on the ground. His voice was calm as he said, “It is because he wasn’t going to die.”

The man lying on the ground glared. He couldn’t understand because only Tang Mo knew what he meant.

Everything that followed was incredibly simple. After the first man died, the other three men fled in fear. They were very smart and ran away separately. There were three directions and Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo pursued one each. The last remaining middle-aged man ran in the direction of the gas station and found Fu Wensheng hiding inside.

The middle-aged man immediately ran inside. He was rushing towards Fu Wensheng when a cold voice was heard behind him.

The voice was so loud that it entered the ears of the middle-aged man despite them being separated by a road.. He looked behind him and saw the newsstand. Fu Wenduo was holding Tang Mo’s hand while Tang Mo held a silver gun aimed at the forehead of the middle-aged man.

Tang Mo lightly said, “Destroy you on behalf of the stars… checkmate!”

Bang!

There was the sound of gunfire and a bullet entered the head of the middle-aged man.

There was thunder in the sky and rain poured down the moment the body of the middle-aged man collapsed. Tang Mo thought that it was currently March yet Beijing’s spring rain was so heavy. He and Fu Wenduo dragged the bodies of these four people into the gas station but the bodies were wet from the rain.

After entering the door, Fu Wensheng looked at Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo with fright.

Tang Mo thought that perhaps the child was alarmed at suddenly seeing so many bodies. Yet hadn’t Fu Wensheng seen more bodies before? He didn’t feel that frightened during the Nanjing garbage cleaning game so why was his reaction so big now?

Tang Mo asked, “Should I drag them somewhere else?” He thought the child was afraid of these four bodies.

Fu Wensheng gulped and looked at his brother and Tang Mo with surprise. After a while, he turned his head and looked at Tang Mo. His tone was excited as he said, “What happened Brother Tang? What the hell is going on? My brother just suddenly rushed out. How did you know that someone was hiding outside and that they wanted to kill us? Why did you kill that man first? Was there something special about him? Brother Tang, what is going on? What the hell is going on?”

Fu Wenduo was dragging the body of the middle-aged man into the gas station and raised an eyebrow when he heard Fu Wenshengs words.

Fu Wensheng found that his tone was too excited just now. The temperature of the four bodies weren’t cold yet so his excitement really wasn’t good. Fu Wensheng coughed. “I’m curious about what happened just now. That… I didn’t know anything when you both rushed out and killed the four people. It looks like they were waiting there to ambush us for a long time…”

Fu Wenduo grabbed the hand of the strong middle-aged man and slammed it into the ground. He said quietly, “Ask your Brother Tang.”

…The child called Tang Mo ‘Brother Tang’ but why was Fu Wenduo calling him that?

Tang Mo was stunned by Fu Wenduo’s ‘Brother Tang’ and knelt down beside the body of the first man he killed to check something. Finally, he looked up and said, “If I’m right, this man has an ability to… backtrack time.”