The Earth is Online

Fu Wenduo finished inspecting the surroundings and returned to the abandoned building. Tang Mo and Fu Wensheng had finished packing their things and were waiting for him to leave. Fu Wenduo looked at Tang Mo and his stupid brother before saying, “There are no problems. Let’s go.”

The three people left the building.

Suddenly, Fu Wenduo turned to look at Tang Mo. Tang Mo immediately looked away.

Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow.

…Something seemed to be wrong?

The bright sun shone on the ground, covering it with a faint layer of gold. This building was very close to the address given by Luo Fengcheng. Fu Wenduo’s home was known by the Tian Xuan organization and Fu Wensheng’s home wasn’t safe. Xiao Fu’s father worked in the government and was quite famous in Beijing. Even if Tian Xuan eventually lost the ability to locate Tang Mo’s coordinates, they could find Fu Wensheng’s home from the government’s information and set up an ambush there.

Thus, the trio were going to find the research materials from the United States that they heard about from Luo Fengcheng before going to search Fu Wensheng’s home.

The three people walked quickly through the streets, covering their bodies with the lush trees. Tang Mo took out a few pieces of paper from his backpack and determined the direction from the figures and letters. This was the map given to them by Luo Fengcheng before leaving. Beijing had two black tower research institutes. One was in the Seventh Ring and the other was in Chaoyang District. Luo Fengcheng didn’t know the exact address, only that they were transformed from national advanced secret research institutes. The research institute that contained the data was likely the one in Chaoyang District.

“There are 17 advanced scientific institutes in Beijing and two in the Chaoyang District.” Tang Mo looked at the simple picture on the paper for a long time before sighing softly. “If we are lucky, we should be able to find the institute within three days. If our luck is bad, we might be looking for a long time.”

Luo Fengcheng’s drawn map was too abstract.

He marked the locations of several key scenic spots in Beijing and then drew 20 letters on the map. According to him, these 20 places might be research institutes. Luo Fengcheng had only come to the institute once and he sat in a car. He fell asleep at the time and had no impression of how he entered the institute. The basis behind these locations were based on the time it took to get off the plane to the institute, as well as a few places he visited in the days he was in Beijing.

There were 20 locations, with the farthest distance being tens of kilometers. It would take a lot of time to search all of them.

Fu Wenduo pointed to the map. “Let’s first look for Location C.” Location C was three kilometres east of where they were.

The man suddenly came over to point to the map. Tang Mo’s heart jolted and he couldn’t help looking up at Fu Wenduo. Their eyes met in the air. Then Tang Mo calmly said, “Yes, let’s go around here.”

Three figures in black walked among the skyscrapers at a great speed. They was passing by a building when Tang Mo suddenly stopped. His body stuck close to the wall as he stared warily at a crossroads not far away. He saw two middle-aged men carefully crossing the road.

“They aren’t from Tian Xuan.” Fu Wensheng whispered.

Once the two players left, the three of them set off again.

Luo Fengcheng’s map was too abstract so they drew a circle that had a three kilometre diameter based on the Temple of Heaven. Then they would search all suspected research institutes within that circle.

Fu Wenduo said, “The black tower research institutes are generally disguised as ordinary university experimental research institutes. This hides its true identity and protects the researchers inside. For example, the black tower institute in Shanghai was transformed into an ordinary marine biology laboratory. However, these type of places are generally heavily guarded and there is a clear isolation zone around them.”

Tang Mo listened to Fu Wenduo and gave up on ordinary office buildings.

There were many office buildings hidden through the city and no one would think that a secret black tower research institute would be set up in such a place. However, there were too many people in office builds and it was easy for people in the same building to find abnormalities. His goal were the isolated small buildings.

In the evening, Tang Mo passed an alley and saw an old three-storey building bathed in the setting sun. He exclaimed, “How about here?”

Fu Wenduo glanced over and nodded. “It is possible.”

The trio crossed the road and headed for the small building. They were just about to leave the intersection when Tang Mo’s footsteps slowed. He turned to look at the other end of the intersection. This was a very narrow area where two one way roads converged to form a small intersection. The two sides of the road were surrounded by walls, making it impossible for Tang Mo to see the other three directions when he came from the south.

Fu Wenduo also turned to look east.

Fu Wensheng had taken two steps forward when he found that something was wrong. He followed Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s gaze. After seeing the situation clearly, Xiao Fu’s eyes widened and he rushed back to Tang Mo’s side. Fu Wenduo waited 10 metres away and listened carefully to the noises. He determined that the person who had fallen to the ground wasn’t an ambush and strode forward.

Fu Wenduo checked the situation and turned to them. “Dead.”

On the narrow road, a middle-aged woman was lying on the ground and not breathing. Bright red blood flowed out of her body and down the sloping road to the sewer grates on both sides. Then the blood solidified, leaving dark brown marks on the ground.

Tang Mo crouched down and touched the woman’s neck. The temperature hadn’t completely faded. His expression sank and he looked up at Fu Wenduo. The two immediately understood what the other person meant.

Fu Wenduo declared, “It has been less than five minutes since death. She died quickly. The knife cut through the carotid artery while cutting the vocal cords at the same time. The fatal wound is the stab to the forehead. The enemy should’ve stabbed this place first before cutting her neck. This technique is very sophisticated and they should’ve killed a lot of people.”

Fu Wensheng asked, “Perhaps someone from Tian Xuan?”

Fu Wenduo shook his head. “I’m not sure but it isn’t likely.”

Tang Mo said, “The key points is that she only died five minutes ago.”

Five minutes ago, the Tang Mo trio had arrived in this area to look for the black tower institute. When the middle-aged woman died, they had been no more than 200 metres from here. Yet neither Tang Mo or Fu Wenduo found a suspicious figure. Thus, Tang Mo was surprised when he suddenly saw the woman’s body.

After the earth went online, there were players who killed randomly, even during daytime. There were many reasons for killing. Most of the time it was to steal props and resources. Some abnormal stowaways didn’t need a reason to kill and just wanted to vent their emotions. This time, the woman died under Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s noses and the murderer wasn’t discovered.

The murderer seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

After examining the middle-aged woman’s body, Tang Mo ordered, “Be careful.”

The trio became even more wary, always alert to the possibility of a sneak attack by the Tian Xuan organization. If anyone could kill people under Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s noses then they were likely from Tian Xuan. Half of Beijing’s most powerful players were in the organization. Perhaps this player had the ability to instantly move, killing people before disappearing into thin air. No matter what, they had to be careful.

Tang Mo entered the small building with trepidation and looked around for a while. He determined that it was just an ordinary bookstore, not a black tower institute. He checked the C mark on the map, made sure there were no enemies around and headed to the next place.

In three days, the Tang Mo trio walked more than half of Chaoyang District and found 11 locations. Without exception, none of the 11 places were the black tower institute.

On the fourth day, they found a robotics lab. Tang Mo looked at the name outside the building with bright eyes.

This robotics lab was located in a secluded little courtyard surrounded by ordinary cottages. The two- storey building looked old and wasn’t noticeable at all. But the yard was big enough for people to see outside the yard.

Tang Mo pushed open the door and found several robot models in the hallway of the small building. The entire floor was an ordinary robotics research lab. On the second floor, the three people searched and finally stopped in a small room on the innermost side of the corridor. Tang Mo reached out and tried to open the door. He pressed and found that he actually failed.

He looked at Fu Wenduo.

Fu Wenduo changed his right hand into the triangular weapon. The sharp weapon cut through the thick iron door and it was unexpectedly still a robotics laboratory inside! Tang Mo didn’t give up. He had a hunch that something wasn’t right. His eyes swept through every corner of the room and finally stopped on a bookshelf against the wall.

There are many robot-related books on the shelf. Without exception, every book was very new and looked like they had never been read.

Tang Mo ordered, “Push this bookshelf away.”

Fu Wenduo also noticed it and pushed the bookshelf. Fu Wensheng was startled. “Is there something behind the bookshelf?” Then he ran over to help.

With Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s current strength, they used 50% to push and the bookshelf actually only moved a five centimeters. This was more proof that the bookshelf was unusual. Once the bookshelf was completely pushed away, a dark staircase was revealed behind it. The bookshelf was completely pushed open and looked like it had been broken by brute force.

Tang Mo planned to go down the stairs first when Fu Wenduo stopped him. “I will go down first.”

Tang Mo was startled. He looked into the man’s dark and calm eyes before nodded. “…Okay.”

The trio headed down the stairs. The stairs were long and they seemed to have gone underground. Tang Mo took out his flashlight to illuminate this strange place. In front of them was a half open door. Fu Wenduo opened the door and entered, revealing a long-abandoned laboratory.

There were a variety of black tower models and strange equations on the blackboard, all revealing the true identity of this place.

The trio showed no surprised and immediately searched around the black tower institute. Most of the data didn’t differ from what Fu Wenduo saw at the Shanghai black tower institute. It was obvious that both sides had exchanged information. Tang Mo had heard from Luo Fengcheng that the majority of these data were wrong.

In the past six months, the world’s major countries tried their best to study the black tower and they all failed.

They made numerous assumptions and conjectures, ranging from physical phenomena, optical reflections, cosmology and particle theory. No one could make a black tower. It was from a civilization that didn’t belong to humans. Humans were helpless to understand it with their current scientific means because it far exceeded the scientific limits that humans could understand.

Tang Mo was looking around when Fu Wensheng suddenly shouted, “Eh, what is this?”

Everyone immediately went to look.

They saw a child carrying a black safe from the corner as well as a box that contained blue glassware. The water in the glassware was cloudy. Five months had passed and the water was already unclear. The black safe and glassware were placed in the corner and weren’t conspicuous.

Tang Mo took the glassware and observed the traces inside. He was keenly aware of the fingerprints on the outer wall of the glass, which were layered together. This glassware had obviously been picked up and observed by more than one person. There were more than a dozen different fingerprints that Tang Mo could distinguish.

Tang Mo had an answer in his heart. He used the flashlight to illuminate the black safe and then glanced at Fu Wenduo. “There was definitely something in this glassware. If we open the safe then the data should be inside.”

Fu Wenduo had already taken out a dagger, long prepared to open the safe. It was the black knife he used against the big turkey. The dagger was just about to stab the safe when Fu Wensheng interjected, “Is this really the precious research data that we’re looking for?”

Fu Wenduo suddenly stopped his actions.

Tang Mo was startled. After a long time, he spoke quickly, “If it is precious data, it shouldn’t be possible to easily take it from the safe. There might be traps.”

Fu Wensheng was surprised. “Traps?” The child didn’t think the words he casually spoke would be so important.

Tang Mo immediately looked at Fu Wenduo. “We have to manually open it instead of using brute force.”