The Earth is Online

Chapter 170

The cold child’s voice stopped the wind and the distant horizon seemed like an illusion. The glare of the sun seemed like a moon. He took a closer look and the sun returned to normal. The moment the black tower’s notice ended, there was a clicking sound and a string of bright red figures appeared on the black tower.

『 12：00：00 』

The bright red was like blood and a drew a fierce gash on the tower. Everyone in the world watched the scene with astonishment.

This was a countdown.

Time pa.s.sed and the countdown decreased.

Shanghai, Nanjing Road.

The moment the red countdown number appeared, two black figures slowly emerged from the air. They were a man and woman, both of whom looked very young. They appeared completely out of thin air. Once they appeared, the two of them looked up at the black tower. They were hiding in a superb location that was dimly lit. It was very secluded and hard for other people to find their location. However, they could clearly see the black tower.

The two of them were also stunned when they saw the countdown on the black tower. Then the young man turned his head and saw the sun that was about to sink below the horizon. His eyes widened and his voice was hoa.r.s.e. “...Are we back?”

The young woman seemed much calmer as she squinted at the sunset and moon in the east.

“The moon... we really are back this time.”

They were calm on the surface but their rapid breathing exposed the excitement that was heard to suppress in their hearts. The young man and woman stared at the sun with almost greedy eyes and seemed to remember it in their bones. After a few seconds, they seemed to have seen enough and stared at each other.

The woman opened her eyes and gave a meaningful smile. “I am back...”

The man stroked a sharp and slender ice cone. “Eve’s Game, I like this name.”

The woman asked, “Do we start the game? I think I hear a little friend breathing.”

A strange laughter bubbled in their throats. The next second, their figures disappeared from the alley. Once they appeared again, they had entered a three storey building next to the alley. A middle-aged fat man stared with horror at the young man and woman who appeared in front of him.

He had too many words to ask. He wanted to know where the two people had come from and who they were. However, he couldn’t ask. A dark hole appeared in the middle-aged man’s forehead. He couldn’t even say a word before he was pierced by a cone of ice.

There was a bang and the fat man fell to the ground.

The young woman crouched down and searched the body, finding a few props. She snorted and threw the props into the bin.

The man helplessly touched his neck. There was a golden four digit number on his neck. He sighed, “Our luck is really bad. He seems to be an official player. It is a pity. I would’ve liked to try what it is like to be a stowaway.”

The woman mocked him, “The black tower said the name of a few stowaways.There is a man called Fu Wenduo who seems to be the strongest among the group of pigs. Go kill him.”

The man laughed excitedly, “It would be good to kill Fu Wenduo...”

The man and woman searched the room and took a bottle of water from the cupboard. By the time they left, the sky was completely dark and the moon was high in the sky. It seemed that the two people hadn’t seen the moon for a long time. They stood in front of the small building and watched the moon above the black tower. Moments later, the two of them headed towards the Bund.

They walked down Nanjing Road like there wasn’t any danger at all.

They walked quietly along the road. Then the woman stopped before a store and smiled. She smashed the store’s gla.s.s window and took out a string of diamonds. However, she didn’t wear it on her neck. She ripped apart the necklace, held the diamonds and threw them one by one to play.

On the empty Nanjing Road, the figure of the man and woman walking together was eye-catching.

They walked directly below the black tower and the woman threw one of the largest diamonds left. She narrowed her eyes at the diamond that flew towards the peak of the black tower. Unfortunately, the black tower was too high and the diamond flew halfway before falling back to the ground, forming a pink line in the moonlight. The moment the diamond touched the ground—

There was a subtle noise. The young woman’s face changed slightly and the man turned his head.

In the dark night, several shadows sprang out of every corner. At the same time, a red net appeared around the man and woman. It was like a messy spider web as the man was tangled up in the middle of the net. The woman tried to move her feet but found it difficult.

A tall foreign man armed with a large kitchen knife moved towards the man and woman. The young man calmly backed away. He raised his hand and used the ice cone to counterattack against the kitchen knife.

Jack held the kitchen knife as others hiding in the darkness emerged.

More than 50 players walked under the black tower, staring vigilantly at the young man and woman trapped in the centre. The opponents had clearly by trapped by the big net but the more than 50 players didn’t relax. They were always wary of the young man and woman.

The young man and woman didn’t look nervous despite being surrounded by so many people. The young woman picked up the diamond on the ground. Her eyes flashed and she quickly hid.

The young man looked around the crowd and finally stopped on a young man in a white robe.

She smiled softly, “You are the leader of this organization.”

Luo Fengcheng came forward. “You should’ve collected intelligence long ago. You know there are many organizations in Shanghai but there isn’t a particularly large organization. More than 50 players that have cleared the second floor of the black tower can’t belong to the same organization.”

Her own words were discovered by the other person but the young woman didn’t show any signs of embarra.s.sment. Instead, she innocently winked at Luo Fengcheng, “Handsome brother, based on your words, you know who we are?”

Luo Fengcheng’s lips curved. “The Lei Ha team that often haunts Nanjing Road. The team has two members and cleared the black tower’s third floor one month ago. After each tower attack game, they would have a b.l.o.o.d.y celebration party on Nanjing Road. January 14th, 2018, more than 2,000 ordinary players were slaughtered on Nanjing Road and the two people jumped onto the time leaderboard.” Luo Fengcheng was still smiling but his eyes were very cold. “Invisible people, no, returnees, the most powerful and disgusting team in Shanghai. The 53rd place Liu Xiao and the 59th place Liu Yuan...”

Luo Fengcheng smiled slightly. “Welcome back to Earth, returnees.”

Things like this were happening all over the world. However, not every region had an arrogant returnee. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo patiently hid in an office building on Chang’an Street, wary of any possible enemies. Half an hour pa.s.sed but no one appeared on the narrow street.

Tang Mo didn’t relax his vigilance and glanced at Fu Wenduo.

Fu Wenduo nodded and continued to stand guard by the window. He closed his eyes and listened to any movements.

Tang Mo looked over at Chen Shanshan. “We were prepared but I never thought that there would only be 320,000 invisible people left.”

Six months ago, six billion humans disappeared, becoming the invisible people.

A population of six billion fell to 320,000 in only seven months. This was one-tenth of Earth’s players.

It wasn’t just Tang Mo. When Fu Wenduo and Chen Shanshan heard the black tower announce that more than five million players had successfully loaded the game, they subconsciously thought that this was the number of invisible people. Then next second, the black tower announced that 320,000 entered the game and they instantly understood who was the real minority.

The 320,000 people weren’t Earth’s players but the invisible people.

Tang Mo closed his eyes and thought, “This number isn’t impossible. They have been forced to partic.i.p.ate in the games since last November, with only a 10 minute break between games. They only got more time to rest when the time leaderboard appeared in January. If there is no time leaderboard then even the strong returnees like Mu Huixue are likely to die in a game. That’s why most of the returnees were eliminated before the time leaderboard appeared.”

Six billion and 320,000.

A probability of one in two thousand.

Tang Mo was silent and no longer spoke. In the room, Fu Wensheng and Chen Shanshan also looked down at the ground and didn’t speak.

The probability was so low that they understood there was an almost 0% chance that their loved ones survived.

A low voice broke the silence. “The black tower gave our names in the global broadcast.”

Tang Mo looked up. “Yes, the black tower reported a total of 45 names. Apart from Mu Huixue, the other 44 people are all Earth players and were globally announced.”

In the world’s 10 regions, the first player to clear the new tower attack floor would be announced globally. If someone cleared the floor in hard mode, the black tower would privately announce the information to the players who had already cleared that floor. That’s why there were some names that ordinary people had never heard of but Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo knew all of them.

Tang Mo mused for a moment before making a decision. “Go to Tian Xuan.”

This update was completely beyond Tang Mo’s expectations.

He imagined that the black tower would give returnees a special reward for taking the lead in clearing the fourth floor. He didn’t expect the black tower to open a game for the returnees while also announcing the global coordinates of the main Earth players.

Chen Shanshan said, “Tian Xuan should choose to cooperate with us. A total of four people in Beijing were announced, including two people in the Tian Xuan organization. Eve’s Game lasts for seven days and it is currently the first day. We don’t know how Eve’s Reward can be opened or what the att.i.tude of the invisible people in Beijing is to the Earth survivors but they are still in a state of restricted rest time.”

Tang Mo nodded. “Yes the time leaderboard is no longer updated but the returnees are subject to the rest time restrictions. To get rid of the time limit and truly become free, they have to eliminate Earth players, including but not limited to the games...”

The familiar statement made Tang Mo frown.

Fu Wenduo added, “They might only have 320,000 people left but we can’t be careless.”

The four people once again discussed future countermeasures. Tang Mo directly asked Chen Shanshan her opinion on Eve’s Game. The little girl mentioned biblical allusions, the stories of Adam and Eve and everything she could think of related to Eve. However, none of the four people found anything that might be Eve’s Reward.

Chen Shanshan stated, “Eve appeared in different myths in the west but her image isn’t the same. Eve’s description in the Old Testament and New Testament are different. If I throw away the myths then the hypothesis about Eve...”

Xiao Fu thought, “Will that reward be an apple? Eve stole the forbidden fruit and gained knowledge. The forbidden fruit is an apple.”

Chen Shanshan said, “It doesn’t matter what shape the reward takes. It is the nature of the reward that matters.”

The night was like water. The invisible people hid in the darkness and no traces could be found. The four people decided to wait in the building for one night until the game ended at 6 o’clock the next morning. Then they would go to the Tian Xuan base. Suddenly, a sharp gunshot rang out in the silent street.

Fu Wenduo stared coldly out the window.

A middle-aged woman was seen lying on the ground. She looked up at the sky with wide eyes as blood flowed out of her body. On the other side of the street, a black shadow flashed through the gra.s.s. Tang Mo gripped the handle of the small parasol as he stared at the man jumping between tall buildings.

The man shuttled back and forth among the thick trees like a black ghost. The moonlight shone through the gap in the leaves and illuminated the gold number on his neck.

『 341. 』

Bang!

There was another gunshot. The bullet penetrated the wall and there was the sound of flesh being pierced.

No one knew how the man saw the enemy through the wall but the ‘341’ on the black shadow’s neck changed to ‘351.’ He laughed in a hoa.r.s.e voice, the laughter being drowned out by the howling wind. The man kept running and fired a total of three shots along the way. Each shot increase the number on his neck.

He was just about to leave Tang Mo’s field of view when the man suddenly looked up towards the roof where Tang Mo’s group were located.

The next moment, the black muzzle pointed at the window closest to Fu Wenduo and the man pressed the trigger without hesitation. Fu Wenduo reacted extremely quickly and moved sideways to avoid the bullet. There were three shots in a row. Only Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had looked out the window but Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo’s expressions changed when they saw the three bullets. One person picked up Chen Shanshan and the other Xiao Fu before quickly leaving the room.

The moment they left the room, the bullet went through the wall. One of the bullets were fired at Tang Mo while the other two bullets were fired at Chen Shanshan and Fu Wensheng, who had never been exposed.

This ability was very bizarre. Tang Mo gasped slightly as he carried Chen Shanshan. Before he could breath, another gunshot was heard.

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