The Earth is Online

In the dimly lit room, the clock’s ticking was heard.

It was already dark and it was like a thin layer. The bustling lights of the city shone through the window and lit up the living room floor with a faint glow. The whole house was terribly quiet. The phone and mouse had fallen to the ground. It was cracked like it had been dropped.

Drops of water slowly fell from the kitchen faucet.

Bang—

The tall and thin young man curled up in the corner of the bedroom shook when he heard this sound. He buried his head between his legs and trembled.

In a classroom of the No. 80 High School, Li Miaomiao lay on a desk and calmly narrated, “This instance was the strangest instance I have ever seen. There were no bosses or black tower monsters. After entering the instance, the black tower only told us to find a way to leave the instance. It didn’t give us any other conditions.” Li Miaomiao spoke slowly, “At first, Qi Heng and I were wary of the man who appeared in the instance. Then we gradually found out that he couldn’t see us and we couldn’t touch him.”

“He was the official player Wang Zexin.”

The invisible people could reappear at any time and perhaps the next time would be a stronger, more high-ranking person. Li Miaomiao gave a brief account of what she saw in the instance. It was a dim house where time seemed still. At first, the player called Wang Zexin still thought about escaping and contacting the outside world. However, he couldn’t escape.

The windows were sealed while the glass became steel and wouldn’t break.

The door wouldn’t open.

When making a call, there was only the reminded that he wasn’t in the service area. There was no Internet and it was impossible to communicate with the outside world.

Li Miaomiao stated, “The time was 7 p.m. on the 17th until 7 a.m the next morning, in other words, 7 a.m. on the 18th. The first night, Qi Heng and I did nothing but observe the instance. In the morning, the opposite neighbour went out. Wang Zexin constantly beat on the security door but people couldn’t hear him.”

Ruan Wangshu added, “This instance is equivalent to separating the house from the outside world and making it a separate instance. It is impossible to leave the instance without clearing the game.”

Ruan Wangshu stopped speaking and glanced at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo stood in the middle of the classroom with a calm expression. Ruan Wangshu had heard from Qi Heng that Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo wanted to enter Wang Zexin’s house. They should know Wang Zexin and even be friends. Now Tang Mo didn’t show any abnormalities. He might be hiding it well or they might just be ordinary friends.

Tang Mo asked, “He disappeared at 8 o’clock on the 18th? Did he enter the world of the invisible people?”

Li Miaomiao shook her head. “No. He isn’t an invisible person or an official player. He only half finished the black tower game and really died.”

Li Miaomiao knew that this person was a friend of Tang Mo but she didn’t take into account the emotions of the so-called friend. She said directly, “Qi Heng and I spend a total of five nights i.e. 60 hours in that instance. The last day before Wang Zexin’s death kept repeating. In the end, we found one strange place. It was the clock on the living room wall.”

Tang Mo wondered, “…Clock?”

Li Miaomiao’s injury seemed to be better and she sat up on the table. Her face was still stained with blood and injuries covered her body. There was a hint of gloating in her eyes when she stared at Tang Mo with her bloodshot eyes. “Beijing time, 8 a.m. on November 18th, 2017 was when the earth went online. It wasn’t slower or faster by a few minutes. The moment the earth went online, the black tower made a global announcement. All humans who failed to load the game disappeared and entered the world of the invisible people. These are facts that we already know.”

Fu Wenduo asked, “Then the instance has something to do with time?”

Li Miaomiao kept sitting up. “In order to guess this, Qi Heng and I spent 60 hours watching. We saw Wang Zexin die over and over again, then enter the room over and over again. The relevant word is ‘time.’ Wang Zexin participated in a black tower game before returning home. It was a game where he competed with another player to seize each other’s time. This was what we were told by the black tower. In that game, Wang Zexin won five seconds from the opponent. The other person was eliminated by him and he returned to Earth.”

Tang Mo was shocked. He slowly raised his head and stared at Li Miaomiao.

The people of Tian Xuan had long know the truth of this instance. Among the Tang Mo quartet, Chen Shanshan also slowly understood the answer.

Li Miaomiao saw their expressions and smiled, shaking her head. “Yes, you guessed right. Tang M, you friend died in the five seconds he got. He won five seconds. After the game ended and he returned to Earth, he still had the extra five seconds. In these 60 hours, the black tower went online four times. Qi Heng and I had no idea what the black tower wanted us to do and what it was thinking. It wasn’t until the third time the earth went online that I noticed when Wang Zexin was dying, he tried to turn his head and look in the direction of the living room. I think he understood at the end that he got five seconds because… the clock on the living room showed 8:00:05.”

In the last moments of his life, Wang Zexin heard the black tower’s words and suddenly understood what he had been missing.

He was a smart person, otherwise he wouldn’t have won the black tower game and became half an official player. However, he lacked information. The second he stepped into his house, he didn’t know that his life was five seconds longer than the outside world. He didn’t know why he suddenly fell into such a strange place.

He knew that at 8 o’clock three days ago, the black tower first spoke and announced the earth was online.

Now the black tower spoke again. He looked at his body slowly disappearing and countless thoughts flashed through his mind. In an instant, he understood the truth. He turned his head and saw that the clock was five seconds faster than the outside world. But he was too late. He only had one head and one pair of eyes left. It was impossible to switch that time.

Thus, he watched the clock and died.

Tang Mo quietly looked at Li Miaomiao. “You just needed to adjust that time and won?”

“Yes, Qi Heng and I took the clock off the wall and turned the second hand back five seconds. Then we cleared the instance. Originally, I didn’t understand why this type of strange thing was made into a separate instance. I thought Wang Zexin just encountered a very strange instance. Then the black tower’s update was suspended and I realized that the black tower was showing the surviving players that this might happen in the black tower games.”

Li Miaomiao summed it up. “This reality instance has no meaning. The only purpose is to warn the players to always pay attention to whether they really cleared the game or not.” She saw Tang Mo’s calm look and deliberately smiled. “You aren’t sad? I thought he was your friend?”

“I am sad.”

The group looked at Tang Mo with surprise. He suddenly spoke about his emotions when he had been behaving very calmly. Even Fu Wenduo didn’t expect Tang Mo to answer this question. He looked at Tang Mo with surprise because he thought Tang Mo would ignore Li Miaomiao.

The female doctor also had a startled expression. After a long time, she said, “I’m sorry.”

Tang Mo calmly looked at Ruan Wangshu. “I see what you mean. The end of the black tower game is likely to affect the player’s reality. In…” Tang Mo paused before continuing, “In Wang Zexin’s case he thought the had cleared the mysterious game and returned to Earth. In fact, the game wasn’t over. His time was confused and he was blocked in that space. He needed to make a move to return to the right timeline before the game really ended. Then did the same thing happen to Mu Huixue?”

Ruan Wangshu said, “Yes, the same thing likely happened to Mu Huixue. This would explain why the black tower suddenly started the 4.0 version update only to stop. It is because in the moments after completing a game, she opened another game. She didn’t really clear the black tower’s fourth floor. Perhaps she is currently still looking for a way to clear the game. Once she completely clears the black tower’s fourth floor, the 4.0 version will open.”

Tang Mo’s group of four pulled out chairs and sat opposite Ruan Wangshu.

Chen Shanshan opened her mouth for the second time. “Then there are two things we need to pay attention to. First, catch the invisible people who are on the time leaderboard. We have to kill as many invisible people as possible while they still don’t know that the two worlds are combining. Second, attack the black tower’s fourth floor.” The little girl’s gaze swept through the classroom. “The people in this classroom should be the core members of Tian Xuan?”

Ruan Wangshu nodded. “Tian Xuan originally had six people and Lian Yuzheng was added afterwards. Now Qi Heng has died and there are six people.”

Chen Shanshan asked, “Have all of them cleared the black tower’s third floor?”

Ruan Wangshu replied, “Li Miaomiao is on the second floor.”

Chen Shanshan glanced at Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo. After gaining their consent, she looked back at Ruan Wangshu. “There is one thing we didn’t say previously. Major Fu received a bonus after he passed the black tower’s third floor. The black tower suggested that all surviving players should immediately attack the fourth floor. The black tower rarely talks nonsense. It just uses mysterious word games. This time its advice is likely related to the invisible people.”

Ruan Wangshu fell into a strange silence after hearing Chen Shanshan’s words.

Tang Mo immediately noticed the strange expression on his face. Then he heard Lian Yuzheng say, “We also have something we didn’t say. After Leader cleared the black tower’s third floor, he heard a black tower boss say it is better to quickly clear the black tower’s fourth floor. The other person’s words were, ‘In any case, you will all die. No one will clear the fourth floor. I don’t have to worry about a bunch of dead people.’”

Tang Mo quickly turned to look at Fu Wenduo and the two people locked gazes.

A few seconds passed and Tang Mo quickly made a decision. “The matter of joining forces to attack the invisible people can be decided. However, the matter of attacking the fourth floor is our own thing. The appearance of the invisible people is irregular and we can’t find Su Xiao. It is more important to kill the invisible people and clear the fourth floor.”

Ruan Wangshu said, “Tian Xuan has an intelligence network in Beijing.”

“Okay, then we can share information.”

The two sides exchanged the information they had. Then Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo decided to leave here and meet up with Fu Wensheng. They didn’t think that Lian Yuzheng’s invitation was a trap but just in case, they had Fu Wensheng hide in a safe place to wait for news from them. If there was only Chen Shanshan then they could safely take the little girl away from Tian Xuan’s base. It was harder with the addition of Xiao Fu.

After determining the general plan of cooperation, Tang Mo turned to leave. At this time, a voice was heard from behind him. “Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo, do you want to go straight to the black tower’s fourth floor?”

Tang Mo stopped and he turned to look at the pale boy.

Tang Mo didn’t deny it.

Ruan Wangshu told him, “You and Major Fu, the two of you should be challenging the black tower’s fourth floor. With your strategy and force, there shouldn’t be a problem clearing the instance. There is a boy in your team who is younger than me. He should have a healing power. But he obviously isn’t strong or you would’ve brought him today.”

Fu Wenduo’s eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to say?”

“What do you think about adding a person?”

Tang Mo smiled. “Adding you?”

Ruan Wangshu shook his head. “Add her.”

Li Miaomiao, who was pointed at, made a shocked expression. “Leader?”

Ruan Wangshu didn’t answer. He moved his hands and a knife appeared. No one expected him to suddenly cut his wrist. Blood splashed out but Ruan Wangshu didn’t blink. The cut off hand fell to the ground. Then the still bleeding Ruan Wangshu extended his bleeding wrist to Li Miaomiao.

“…Leader?’

The only answer was Ruan Wangshu’s cold gaze.

Li Miaomiao’s expression changed and she gritted her teeth. A few seconds later, she muttered inaudible words and pressed her hand to Ruan Wangshu’s bleeding wrist.

Thick clouds were blown away by the wind and the moonlight shone down on Ruan Wangshu’s wrist. At a rate visible to the naked eye, blood vessels and skin rapidly regenerated and a brand new hand appeared. Tang Mo was shocked and glanced at Li Miaomiao. He saw that Li Miaomiao’s hand suddenly disappeared. No blood emerged but her face was a bit ugly, like she was enduring the pain. Then after half a minute, a new hand gradually grew.

10 minutes later, Li Miaomiao raised her left hand and everything was the same.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo glanced at each other, the two of them instantly understanding.

Fu Wenduo had the ‘genetic recombination’ ability. IF he lost limbs then he could quickly grow new limbs. However, his speed definitely wasn’t this fast. In addition, it was Li Miaomiao who grew the hand, not Ruan Wangshu.

Ruan Wangshu explained, “This is her ability. You know the first role of her ability. Not only can she hurt herself and transfer pain to others, she can also transfer other people’s wounds to herself. Then she will use her powerful self-healing ability to recover. If Li Miaomiao goes then both of you will have one extra life. She is on the black tower’s second floor and won’t increase the difficulty of your instance. In addition…”

Ruan Wangshu pulled out a golden coin and threw it to Li Miaomiao.

Li Miaomiao hurriedly caught it. “Leader? You are giving this to me as well?”

“She also owns a King’s Gold Coin.” Ruan Wangshu looked forward coldly. “The invisible people are much stronger than us. We must quickly attack the black tower’s fourth floor. I have a heavy injury and need a few more days of rest.” Thus, he was handing it over to them.

Tang Mo’s eyes swept over Ruan Wangshu and Li Miaomiao. Then he smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

One day later—

“Ding dong! The black tower’s fourth floor (normal mode) is officially opened. The team game is loading…”

“Sandbox is being generated…”

“Sandbox loading complete…”

“Welcome to Schrodinger’s Steel Forest!”