leonsrightlations

[leonsrightlations]

the earth is online english preorders!

hello! i'm very checked out of social media for now and the forseeable future but i'd be remiss if i didn't post about preorders for the official english translation of the first 2 volumes of teio. the translation is being done by rosmei who are based in singapore, but if you are in the us you can preorder via yiggybean here: [link]. please support the official english translation!!!

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 19.1

The students hiding in the gym left from each of the four entrances.

Li Wen and Teacher Li took the two less physically fit reserve students for the sake of protecting their lives, looking for a safe place to take shelter. Tang Mo knew that Chen Shanshan had an ability. With the addition of the chubby little boy’s protection, there shouldn’t be any issues.

Tang Mo was responsible for attacking. [1]

“How is it that those stowaways didn’t make any noise by stepping on glass this time? And also didn’t trigger those traps at the entrance?”

Tang Mo lowered his voice. “Last night, they attacked twice. The second time, you noticed their whereabouts because they stepped on glass and were on guard beforehand. They definitely wouldn’t make the same mistake again this time. They must have used some other way to enter the school.”

The two of them left the gym, sticking to the wall for cover.

Tang Mo focused, carefully observing the surrounding area. The pitch black night was like a huge, silent beast, using a pair of bloodthirsty eyes to stare at every single person. There were a lot of trees in the school. As the cool wind blew past, the tree’s leaves gently swayed and their huge, dark shadows shook with a rustle. This was the only sound in the murderous night.

Tang Mo turned to the side. “Give me a nail…”

“Bang!”

Tang Mo rapidly moved to the left to get out of the way, but the swift-moving bullet still unavoidably scratched past his right arm, striking at the wall between him and the chubby little boy. The two of them looked at each other, then split up and ran.

Obviously the stowaways were hiding someplace where they could watch their positions. Before the fight, Tang Mo and the chubby little boy had devised a strategy. If they encountered the worst situation, the two of them would split up in order to deny the other side the chance to concentrate their fire power. It was now the worst situation - the enemy was in the dark and they were in the light.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Tang Mo held the solid, wooden stick in his hand as he rushed as quickly as possible to the school building closest to the gym.

Bullets fired unceasingly behind him, nipping at his heels over and over again. Just as Tang Mo twisted around to enter the school building, he drew up short. He watched as a bullet flew in front of his eyes and struck the wall.

Tang Mo lifted his foot and strode into the school building.

But right as he entered the building, all the hairs on his body suddenly stood on end. He reflexively raised the big stick, blocking behind his head. With a loud bang, a large knife crashed together with the wooden stick in a violent collision behind Tang Mo’s head. The wooden stick was cracked by the big knife and Tang Mo stumbled forward a few steps. The other side also fell back a step.

“Your strength’s not bad…” a coarse laugh sounded along with the mocking voice, “but you’ll still die!”

The attacker didn’t say anything more, directly moving to strike. Tang Mo held up his stick to meet the blow.

The long knife and the wooden stick continuously struck against each other and came apart, the two people both moving very fast. The sound of metal clanging frequently sounded. The knife was longer than Tang Mo’s stick, and the man using the knife left bloody gashes on Tang Mo’s shoulders, waist, and elbows. Tang Mo was forced to constantly retreat as if he were at a disadvantage.

The man saw his condition and attacked even more fiercely. With a good knife like this, even if he cut indiscriminately, it was enough to threaten the other party. Even more so, he was a stowaway with great strength. Every time the big knife swung, it made a forceful sound in the air.

The big knife recklessly cut swung forward without rhythm. Tang Mo’s evasion speed got slower and slower.

At precisely this time, the man vigorously brandished the big knife, cutting striking from the side at Tang Mo’s skull. Abruptly, he saw Tang Mo, who had just been struggling to evade, bend back into a bridge. [2] The big steel knife waved past Tang Mo’s eyes. With his left hand he held himself steady and struck at the man’s knee.

The man gave a muffled hum of pain. The sound of bone breaking was very clear in the dark night.

The man staggered slightly and nearly fell to the ground, using the big knife to support his body.

Tang Mo straightened up and wiped the blood seeping from his chin. It was his first time clearly seeing his enemy.

It was a towering, powerful man with a height of at least 188 centimeters and a bare, shaved head. His whole body was covered in robust muscles and there was a navy blue tiger’s head tattooed on his left arm.

The building closest to the gym was this one. This stowaway had unexpectedly hidden here in advance for an ambush in order to kill Tang Mo while he was caught unprepared. Tang Mo didn’t dare lower his guard. Official players and stowaways both have an extremely fast recovery ability. The wounds on Tang Mo had already begun to itch, which meant that they were in the middle of scabbing over.

Taking advantage of the fact that the man’s knee was broken, Tang Mo lifted the stick without the slightest hesitation. However, he was still late by a step. The man was already capable of standing, brandishing his big knife and facing Tang Mo’s attack.

The situation once again changed. Tang Mo unceasingly took the initiative to attack while that man could only use the knife to resist. Time elapsed, and the man’s footwork grew faster and faster. It seemed the injury to his knee had already quickly returned to normal.

Tang Mo gave a furious shout and directly struck at the man’s head.

“Why keep hiding!” The man abruptly threw down the big knife and put both hands on his hips, facing Tang Mo’s wooden stick without fear. He gathered his qi in his dantian and opened both his eyes into wide circles. With all of his qi, he bellowed, “Kid, return my grandfather!”

Tang Mo only heard the word “grandfather,” not hearing it clearly, when a trace of unease bubbled up in his heart.

Tang Mo waved the wooden stick through the air, forcibly changing direction and hitting the school building’s wall. The recoil was enough to send him to the other end of the hallway to dodge. Right as he halted his attack, the burly, muscular man opened his mouth into a circle and sprayed blazing gas. In the next second, there was an immense flame.

The burly man’s hands were on his hips, his mouth spitting out flames. Both his eyes were opened wide and he looked like a glowering luohan [4] as he stared straight at Tang Mo and sprayed fire.

Tang Mo turned and ran.

The burly man’s flame was faster than he was, blocking directly in front of him and nearly scorching the hair on the front of his forehead. Tang Mo stooped to dodge a flame and it scorched the white wall, burning the dust off of it. There was a crackling sound as dust unceasingly peeled away from the wall.

Tang Mo moved his limbs to follow along the floor and evade the flame. The burly man was like a fire-breathing dragon. With the flame ignited, the temperature of the air abruptly rose. Charred black marks were burned one after another into the cement by that flame. Tang Mo’s wooden stick was no match for it and had long since been turned into a pile of ash.

As the flame disappeared, Tang Mo crouched on the ground and gasped roughly for air.

That burly man’s vitality was extremely good and he could already freely move. He picked up the knife he had thrown to the ground and howled with laughter, once again striking at Tang Mo. Tang Mo was unarmed and could only continuously dodge and withdraw.

The movement of the knife as the burly man swung it was truly rough. It was only non-stop cutting at people. However, Tang Mo hadn’t studied any wrestling [5] techniques. The two of them were purely relying on the super strong physiques of official players and stowaways to conduct the most rudimentary of struggles.

“Those who’ve seen my ability all must die!”

The big knife chopped in front of Tang Mo. He turned to avoid and then ran. The man pursued his retreating enemy.

“Bang!” Just as Tang Mo ran from the school building, a bullet struck beneath his feet.

His brow was beaded with sweat, yet his gaze remained calm and sharp, fixedly staring at the place the gunshot had come from.

The muscle-bound man pursued Tang Mo from behind as bullets burst one after another at Tang Mo’s feet. Twice, he moved his head sideways, only with difficulty dodging the fired bullets. Right as the ninth bullet was fired, Tang Mo and the muscle-bound man ran into the gym.

The burly man laughed coldly as swung his knife at Tang Mo. However, he didn’t expect that right at the moment he moved to slice, the black-haired youth who had been struggling to evade just now suddenly turned and faced him straight on.

“Shit!” A sense of crisis bubbled up in the burly man’s heart and he turned, wanting to flee. But his body speed was less than the speed of his realization and that knife had already chopped straight at Tang Mo. Then he saw the young kid simultaneously lift his right hand and swing at him.

But there wasn’t any weapon in the youth’s hand!

The burly man opened his eyes wide, not blinking once. Yet in that split second he saw a huge match appear in this person’s hand.

The big steel knife beat back the enormous match.

“Clang!”

The big knife snapped and the match head ruthlessly struck the burly man’s head. The burly man rolled to the ground, his body continuously twitching. He wasn’t completely dead, his eyes fixed on Tang Mo and the enormous match in his hand.

The burly man’s lips parted and it seemed he wanted to speak, but he couldn’t say a word.

No matter how strong his physique, when his skull was split open by Mosaic’s match, he was also unable to survive.

Tang Mo panted heavily, looking at the man who had fallen to the ground.

This person didn’t speak, but Tang Mo knew what he wanted to say.

“Why did I only use my ‘trump card’ now and why was I just now purposely pretending to be completely struggling? On the one hand, I wanted to cheat out your ability. Chen Shanshan said that your ability has a three minute cooldown. It just happens that three minutes and two seconds have now passed. On the other hand, it was to prevent you from raising your guard.” Tang Mo’s expression was ice-cold and incomparably calm words spilled from his mouth. “However, the most important thing wasn’t to kill you, but to find that person.”

The burly man’s eyes were moist with blood. His eyelids trembled and were unable to open. But after Tang Mo said these words, his body violently twitched, intensely reacting.

Right at that moment, an alarmed voice sounded from the clock tower not far from the gym: “Ah, how can you…”

“Bang!” After the sound of the gun, there was no second sound.

“Last night, that gunner only showed himself once. At other times he was always hiding in secret and coldly shooting. His melee abilities should be weak, right? During a normal attack, he will shoot once and then change his position to be safe. But when you were chasing me just now he had to provide support without delay and didn’t have time to change positions.”

Tang Mo knew that the gunner had already been taken care of. He looked again at the muscle-bound man who had fallen to the ground.

The burly man gave a full-body twitch, his body growing stiffer and stiffer. But in the end he unexpectedly hooked the corners of his lips, showing a strange and excited smile. Until his body was completely ice-cold and his heart beat had stopped, his face still wore that bizarre smile.

Tang Mo suddenly realized that something was wrong. At that moment, two voices gave a mournful cry.

“Teacher Li!”

“Teacher Li!”

Tang Mo immediately ran out of the gym.

On the sports field, there was a one-armed man wearing a sly smile. In front of him, Teacher Li had rolled onto the ground, a pitch-black and bloody cavity in his chest.

Li Wen held Teacher Li, seven or eight wounds on his body as well. He worked hard to use his hands to press down on the hole in Teacher Li’s abdomen, but there was nothing he could do to stop the bleeding. His hands quickly became wet with blood.

On the expansive sports field, dozens of towering flowers sprouted. There was no grass at all on the school’s sports field, only artificial turf, but these flowers grew in that turf. They had no blooms, only buds. They looked like ordinary roses.

The one-armed man standing in front of the roses was short and slender. His face had an ugly and terrifying scar that cut from his left eye straight to the corner of his mouth. He had no right arm and used his left hand to hold a knife. Scarlet blood flowed down the knife’s edge and dripped onto the ground. The man smiled darkly, his gaze cold as he looked at Tang Mo.

“What happened to those useless things?”

Tang Mo gripped the big match tightly, vigilantly watching the other party as he cooly said, “You’re the only one left.”

“Only I will survive.” The small man laughed strangely and used the knife to point at Teacher Li, who had fallen into a pool of blood. “He’s dead.”

Li Wen reached out to look for Teacher Li’s breath. His voice was stiff and sluggish. “Teacher Li…”

[6]

“Clang!” 

A big knife once again shattered into pieces.

A gleam flashed through the one-armed man’s eyes, his expression blazing hot as he looked at the big match in Tang Mo’s hands. “It’s actually so powerful!”

Tang Mo suddenly revolted, brandishing the match and attacking the one-armed man.

The one-armed man raised the knife to defend.

Tang Mo had already guessed that these people would attack, but they had set traps at every corner outside the school. Previously, Tang Mo had spoken with the chubby little boy - if the stowaways didn’t make noise by stepping on the glass, it was because they had guarded against it. But actually, Tang Mo had kept something in reserve.

During the daytime, he and Li Wen had rearranged the streetlight glass on the road, intentionally leaving a small, winding path that could be walked.

If the stowaways were a little bit clever and thought to avoid stepping on the glass and making noise, they would certainly walk this route. This was tantamount to exposing their location. If they were even more clever than that and saw through Tang Mo, they would avoid walking on this path on purpose. Then their whereabouts would be exposed because they stepped on the glass.

However, the worst situation had appeared. They hadn’t stepped on the glass or taken that path. As a result, as soon as they appeared, everyone was caught unprepared. Fortunately Tang Mo had prepared in advance and discussed a strategy with the chubby little boy, otherwise it was possible that their current situation would be reversed.

Tang Mo gripped the enormous match as he asked, “How did you get inside?”

They neither stepped on the glass nor took that path. How could they have entered the school without triggering any traps?

The man gave an unpleasant laugh. “Enter? Since the very beginning, we didn’t leave!”

The chubby little boy said in alarm, “No…no way! How can you have never left? Don’t tell me you were in the school the whole time?”

“This school is so large. If we hid here, how would you know?” The man’s small eyes swept over each person’s body, especially giving Chen Shanshan and Qiao Feifei, those two little girls, a few more looks. “These two days, I’ve been watching you set those useless traps. Originally I intended to attack you last night but didn’t imagine that this kid would suddenly appear. So laozi let you live for one more day.”

The villains had actually always stayed together with them. This kind of feeling made everyone’s hair stand on end.

Chen Shanshan clenched her teeth in self-blame. “It’s me who didn’t imagine, didn’t consider it thoroughly.”

Qiao Feifei grabbed her hand. “It’s not your fault. None of us imagined that this group of bastards would leave and then turn back around and come hide in our school!”

The one-armed man heard Chen Shanshan and Qiao Feifei talking, an odd light in his eyes. As he watched them, the corners of his lips hooked up.

Tang Mo’s face was steady. He moved a few steps to the side, blocking in front of the two girls.

He said. “Your comrades are all dead. You’re still not running away?”

“Why should I run? You will all now die.” The man grasped the broken knife, pointing at Tang Mo. He only had half a knife left, but he was unexpectedly not in the least bit afraid, even looking at Tang Mo as if he were looking at a dead person.

Tang Mo tightly gripped the match in his hands, the feeling of unease in his heart growing more and more intense.

He turned his head to look at those dozen flower buds at this side and loudly said, “Go destroy the flowers!”

The one-armed man coldly shouted, “Dream on!”

Tang Mo struck with the match. The man reacted extremely fast, using the broken knife to block. There was the sound of clanging metal as the broken knife was hit by the enormous match. From the point of the collision, spider web-like cracks appeared one after another on the knife’s body. With a snap, the broken knife completely shattered into fragments, unable to be used again.

“Quickly destroy the flowers!” Tang Mo roared.

Everyone rushed into the cluster of flowers. The chubby little boy used both hands to grip a rose’s stem, pulling hard. Alarmed, he said, “I can’t pull it out! This thing is even harder than steel!”

Tang Mo finally understood where that tense feeling he’d had the whole time was coming from.

The one-armed man’s physique was actually stronger than Tang Mo. He seemed small, slender, and weak, but his body was all firm muscle. Those muscles weren’t what someone who had become a stowaway could possess. Before the earth went online, this man’s physique had far surpassed a normal person’s. His reaction speed was about the same as Tang Mo’s, but his fighting techniques and his strength all surpassed Tang Mo by far. Even though he now had no weapon, under the circumstance of being unarmed, he could still evade the big match’s attacks over and over again. He was only struck by the big match once.

“Use your ability! We absolutely must destroy those flowers!”

[PREV] [TOC]

Okay, now begins my hiatus! See you in about four weeks! ^_^ This is a terrible place to do it, but I am fairly desperate. :v ...I just spent about thirty seconds looking for the inverse symbol of '^' on my keyboard it's time for a vacation.

Translation Notes:

[1] Immediate clarification is needed. Tang Mo and Zhao Ziang (the chubby little boy) are working together. Chen Shanshan is working with Qiao Feifei (the other student who is an official player). The print edition removed direct reference to this configuration without bothering to actually change it. I’m not sure why this particular change was made as it seems like it should be enough to just alter the line “Tang Mo and the chubby little boy were responsible for attacking” to something like “Tang Mo was responsible for attacking. The chubby little boy followed after him.” (Assuming that the concern is the depiction of children engaging in violence, which seems to be the case based on other alterations made.) The other changes here are just unnecessary and confusing.

[2] Like this:

[3] The lower dantian.

Ignore the Orphic Egg, this ain’t about him.

(I'm pretty sure the lower dantian is higher than that, in your navel/lower abdomen, not your butt. Also there's a middle dantian. Look, I just thought this inexplicable dantian/orphic egg mash-up was really funny. Also, it's from a blog post about Easter? Anyway.)

[4] Luohan/Arhat - Buddhists who have attained Nirvana but the reference here is probably meant to evoke images of Shaolin kung fu specifically.

[5] It translates as wrestling, but it seems to be more like MMA/boxing than the heavyweight wrestling most English speakers probably associate the word with. It’s more of a Tekken situation than a John Cena one, so to speak.

[6] Cut from here is a section where Qiao Feifei rushes at the stowaway with her knife. She is rebuffed and Tang Mo attacks to defend her.

[leonsrightlations]

no chapter this week

at this point i plan on posting next week but there's a potential for a short (three to four week) hiatus in the very near future

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 18.2

“How did you become an official player?”

Tang Mo lifted his head to see Chen Shanshan walk out of the gym and lean against the wall to look at him. He was silent for a moment.

“On the third day of the earth being online, I participated in a Black Tower game and obtained victory. It was a one versus one confrontation game and the other player was your father."

Chen Shanshan’s body tensed, then quickly eased. “You don’t need to feel guilty.”

“I don’t feel guilty.”

She looked at him. Tang Mo said, “It was your father who pulled me into that game. If I hadn’t participated in that game, I might already have disappeared. But now I’ve completed his dying wish and verified your safety. It wasn’t me who disappeared in that game. It was him. I had some guilt, but now that I’ve seen that you’re still alive, I won’t feel guilt and I don’t think your father will blame me, either.”

Chen Shanshan looked at him for a good long moment, then smiled. “You’re a very strange person.”

The little girl was shorter than Tang Mo by a head, yet her speech was very mature.

Tang Mo said, “You’re very smart.”

“My grades have always ranked in the top ten of my year. I won first prize in the Olympics and the National Computer Competition [1], and often represent the school to participate in various academic competitions.” Chen Shanshan said, “But after the earth went online, the physical quality of reserve players has also improved, and I seem to have become even smarter. For example, do you know how you become a reserve?”

Tang Mo’s pupils shrank. “I don’t know.” Official players are those who participated in a Black Tower game within those three days and obtained victory. Stowaways are the players who killed a person within those three days. Then what about reserves?

“After the game officially started, our school had eighteen people in total. Among those, only Zhao Ziang and Qiao Feifei are official players. The other sixteen people are all reserves. I inquired in detail about their experiences during those three days and noticed a commonality.”

Tang Mo hadn’t met that many people and so didn’t have the chance yet to fully explore the requirements for becoming a reserve. Chen Shanshan knew a lot of reserves and had the opportunity to explore the cause, but that she could think to do this and additionally seemed to have found an answer was already enough to amaze others.

“Including me, those sixteen people all played games within those three days and won. They weren’t Black Tower games, just ordinary ones, including computer games, mobile games, and games played in real life. Among these, Teacher Li is the most unusual. He didn’t play any games, but he once won a bet with another teacher and so also survived.”

Tang Mo frowned. “It’s not that simple. If it’s merely winning a game, the number of humans who have played games in those three days’ time is absolutely not just four hundred million.”

Chen Shanshan nodded. “Yes, it’s definitely not so simple. For example, me. In those three days, I won games and also lost games. I survived, yet my classmate who won didn’t survive. I carefully inquired again and noticed that my surviving classmates all, with their own ears, heard the other party admit that they were eliminated.”

Tang Mo said in surprise, “They personally admitted that they were eliminated?”

“Correct. They personally admitted they were eliminated. The Black Tower made an announcement on the fifteenth, giving notice that the earth was online and telling us that we must eliminate a player. No one knows how to eliminate a player, but it said these words, and many people took it to heart. Normally when you play a game you might say, ‘I lost,’ but you generally wouldn’t say, ‘I was eliminated.’ It’s exactly because the Black Tower previously said this word ‘eliminate’ that many people had a lot of awareness toward it in their hearts. Sometimes they might have been joking and sometimes they might have spoken without thinking - they just said this word.”

Tang Mo had never imagined it would be this simple.

Chen Shanshan leaned against the wall. “But this might only be one method for becoming a reserve. Among us sixteen reserves, there are two students whose opponents didn’t personally admit they were ‘eliminated,’ but those two students also became reserves. The sample size is too small. I can only analyze this much.”

“You’re already very amazing.” Tang Mo rarely praised people.

Chen Shanshan bowed her head. “They should attack tonight.”

Tang Mo said, “En. It should be tonight.” [2]

Chen Shanshan was called by Teacher Li to come help out and Li Wen walked over. “It was unfortunate that you came today and it happened to be at night during the most dangerous time. That little girl, Chen Shanshan, is particularly smart. She not only had us set up a trap to one side of the gate guard room’s entrance, she even had us block the fence gate’s entrance with a very thin wire. Anyway, if you want to enter the gate, you will fall into the trap. Fortunately you broke through the gate guard room’s glass. Otherwise you certainly would have fallen into it. Hey, that’s right, how did you know there was a trap?”

“I found a map of S-City with North Jing Middle School marked on it in a news kiosk. It even marked the area’s boundaries. This middle school is quite large.”

Li Wen didn’t understand. “My alma mater is one of S-City’s four famous schools and really does take up a lot of space, but so what?”

Tang Mo looked at him “Middle school isn’t elementary school. Most middle schools will have snack stands set up on their campuses. A school as big as yours might have a campus supermarket. It’s only been two days since the game started and the school has a supermarket. The students can’t lack food and water. I deliberately told that chubby little boy [3] that I wanted to give him food and water. If he didn’t want it, that’s normal, but he surprisingly did want it, which shows he was definitely bluffing.”

The chubby little boy, Zhao Ziang, walked into the gym right then, scratching his head in confusion. “Ah? I originally wanted to deceive you into walking into the trap, but it turns out that it was actually always you who was deceiving me?”

Tang Mo said, “You’re still young. When you deceive people in the future, you must first think in advance about whether there are any loopholes.”

The chubby little boy nodded, dazed.

Li Wen jokingly said, “You’re actually teaching an eighth grader [4] how to deceive people.”

Tang Mo shrugged and looked at the chubby little boy. “I heard Chen Shanshan say that your ability is in the attack category. Can you talk about its specifics? Were those nails I ran into on the road your doing?”

Zhao Ziang sat down and honestly said, “That’s right, that’s my ability. Qiao Feifei and I are official players. Don’t look at how short and thin Qiao Feifei is, our physical strength and energy is even better than Teacher Li’s. Qiao Feifei is a girl, so I volunteered for the nightwatch at the gate guard room to defend against those bad guys’ nighttime attack. Chen Shanshan said that from eleven o’clock in the middle of the night to two in the morning is when those bad guys are most likely to attack. You just happened to come at that time so I thought you were a bad guy and moved against you.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. I almost scared you.”

“It’s nothing. If you can scare me, that’s your ability.” [5] What Tang Mo was more concerned about was, “Were those street lights broken by you?”

The chubby little boy nodded his head. “That’s right. It was Shanshan who had me break them. She said that with all the broken glass on the ground like this, people coming close will make noise. After I became an official player, my hearing became very good. Someone only needs to step on that glass for me to be able to hear it from very far away.”

“What is your ability?”

“It could be considered spatial movement? I also don’t really get it. I can shift objects to any place within a one hundred meter range. But my ability isn’t strong enough and I can’t move heavy things. But if it’s nails or needles, that kind of very light, very small thing…”

“Woosh!” A small, thumb-sized, sharp needle instantly appeared before Tang Mo’s eyes. He swiftly flung his head to the side. The slender needle only floated in front of his eyes, not moving forward. With Tang Mo’s current vision for movement, he could see the path the needle took to fly over, but this was only on the basis that he had been somewhat on guard. If he hadn’t been the least bit on guard, he was afraid it would be very hard to dodge this needle.

Zhao Ziang watched Tang Mo swiftly dodge and said in astonishment, “Your reaction speed is so fast. You’re faster than both Qiao Feifei and me.”

Tang Mo already understood this eighth grade boy’s ability. It truly was an ability with a great offensive nature. Unfortunately, the things it could move were really too small and the speed still wasn’t fast enough. At least, Tang Mo could dodge. If he could use an even faster speed to move a sharp knife, then I’m afraid those stowaways would have an even harder time.

Tang Mo held the needle and looked toward the chubby little boy. “In the future, don’t casually tell other people about your ability again.”

Zhao Ziang: “Ah?”

Tang Mo said, “Be more careful.”

Zhao Ziang said, “...Isn’t it you who had me say it!?”

The chubby little boy had never been tricked by someone like this before and walked away feeling wronged.

Li Wen said in exasperation, “Tang Mo, is it really okay for you to bully a small child like this?”

Without changing his face, Tang Mo said, “I’m helping him grow up.”

Li Wen actually felt this was reasonable, and was convinced.

During the daytime, Tang Mo and the few other people spread a good number of traps at the school entrance and along the road in the school’s neighborhood. With the chubby little boy’s ability, it was extremely easy to lay down traps. Chen Shanshan also gave Tang Mo a detailed account of the remaining three stowaways’ abilities.

“Of the three people, two people’s abilities are very dangerous and there’s one person whose ability has unclear usage. I’ll first talk about that ability with unclear usage. That stowaway’s ability is…growing flowers. Teacher Li saw it with his own eyes - the places where he passed suddenly blossomed. It’s just ordinary roses. [6] We met him twice and he didn’t show anything in particular. However, his speed is very fast. Moreover, he seemed to know a few wrestling moves and fought very fiercely.”

Tang Mo had seen all kinds of “weirdo” abilities. He himself had that trashy book which was also a “weirdo.” As far as this kind of self-cultivating flower growing ability went… He couldn’t evaluate it, but he still couldn’t relax his vigilance.

Chen Shanshan said, “There are still those other two people’s dangerous abilities. Of these, there’s a person who can breathe fire.”

“Breathe fire?” It was Tang Mo’s first time hearing of an ability like this that was both strange and in line with common sense.

In many television shows, characters with abilities for the most part used a magical power such as breathing fire or spitting water. When Tang Mo was bored at the city library, he would read a few novels. There were many abilities classified as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth - that kind of thing. [7] There only a few with “weirdo” abilities like those produced by the Black Tower.

“Yes, he can breathe fire. His fire came out of his mouth. I observed carefully, and he can breathe fire once every three minutes. The flame’s temperature is very high. It can’t melt steel, but it can melt marble. Previously, when the night was so dark it was impossible to see, he blew fire that melted two of the four words that say ‘North Jing Middle School’ at the school entrance. The melting point of steel is approximately 1500 degrees Celsius and the melting point of marble is approximately 800 degrees Celsius. I estimate that the temperature of the flame he breathes is 1000 degrees Celsius or lower.” This truly was a very dangerous ability.

“What about the one that’s left?” Tang Mo’s tone was solemn.

“The one that’s left…he has a gun.”

“A gun?” Tang Mo’s expression went hard.

Chen Shanshan said, “Zhao Ziang likes to play survival games and is relatively familiar with firearms. He said that gun is one used by the police and was probably grabbed by that stowaway after the game started. But having a gun isn’t frightening at all. The frightening thing is that that person’s ability seems to have something to do with guns. He has unlimited bullets.”

Tang Mo’s heart tightened.

“Zhao Ziang said, in general, police guns have eight bullets. But last night, that stowaway shot at least thirty bullets. He didn’t change guns, nor did he change magazines. [8]  Ultimately, we don’t know how many bullets his ability can fire and can only consider the worst situation - that he has unlimited ammo.”

Tang Mo’s eyes focused and he said, “The physical quality of official players is very high, with hard skin that can resist being cut by ordinary blades. But for the time being, we’re still unable to contend with guns. If we’re shot three times, we’ll lose the ability to fight. Reserves have even less ability to defend against guns.”

“Yes, we know.”

Tang Mo thought about it for a while. “Can you give me the big match to use?”

He had only just spoken when the chubby little boy hurriedly brought the big match and passed it over to Tang Mo. “I’ve been waiting for you to say the word. The physical quality of us three official players is the best and I get the sense that your strength is even greater than mine. Chen Shanshan said that it's best to give this to you to use.”

Tang Mo was slightly startled and looked at Chen Shanshan.

The short-haired girl’s expression was serious, like a small adult. “This thing is definitely really amazing.”

Tang Mo smiled. “In my hands, it will be even more amazing.” So saying, he pressed the familiar big match to his wrist. Instantly, the huge match disappeared, and a red match tattoo once again appeared on his wrist. Chen Shanshan and the chubby little boy’s eyes widened in surprise.

Tang Mo said, “My ability.”

The chubby little boy suddenly understood. “Like this, it can be considered a concealed weapon! It really is great!”

Time passed by minute and second and the sun gradually sank into the west. During the day, everyone was still able to relax a bit. As it got closer to evening, everyone’s minds tensed.

Tang Mo walked to the side of the little girl, Qiao Feifei. This weak and delicate ninth grade girl had a big stick tied to her body. She was a girl, but even more than that, she was an official player. She was even stronger than Teacher Li.

“Don’t use a stick. You’re a child and not big enough. You won’t be able to use a stick with your full strength, and having it tied to your body will be cumbersome, too. You’re more suited to use an agile weapon.” Tang Mo said, “Give the stick to me.” [9]

Qiao Feifei thought about it, then took the stick off her back and passed it to Tang Mo. “Okay.”

Taking the stick, Tang Mo felt the expected bizarre trace of strength.

He walked into a corner and took his ability book out of midair –

[Ability: Looking for a friend. [10]

User: Qiao Feifei (official player)

Type: Special type.

Function: Check player identities.

Level: Level one.

Restriction: Can only check five players’ identities a day. Moreover, cannot check directly when the target’s ability is much stronger than the user’s.

Remarks: It’s too trash. I don’t want to make a remark.]

It turned out that his ability was stronger than Qiao Feifei’s so she wasn’t able to directly see his identity and needed to touch him. Tang Mo looked down again –

[Tang Mo version usage explanation: Can check one player’s identity every day. This ability is too trash. If Tang Mo doesn’t pay for it, I also have nothing to say.]

Tang Mo had intentionally collected Qiao Feifei’s ability. Yesterday, after obtaining Li Bin’s ability, he had vaguely sensed that his physical quality seemed even stronger. He could see even further, his reaction speed was even faster, and his strength was even greater.

Before he had obtained Li Bin’s ability, Tang Mo wouldn’t dare guarantee that he could dodge the chubby little boy’s first nail attack. He wanted to verify that after obtaining another’s ability, in addition to the ability, he would also increase his strength.

The results were as he had thought. Tang Mo clutched the stick in his hand, forcefully pressing down the five fingers of his right hand. On the solid wooden stick, five shocking fingerprints appeared.

If obtaining others’ abilities could increase fighting strength, then in that case…

Tang Mo walked up to the chubby little boy’s side. “I’m a bit hungry. Little chubby, [11] can you give me this bread?”

Zhao Ziang was in the middle of eating to replenish his strength in preparation for a big fight. He mumbled, “There’s still a lot over there. Go get one yourself, okay.”

Tang Mo thickened his face. “I like the taste of the kind you have and it’s the only one left.”

The little chubby boy was extremely generous and gloomily gave the bread to Tang Mo.

Li Wen said, “Hey, Tang Mo, you’re even snatching the little friend’s food?”

Tang Mo didn’t respond to his words, but even so, his face was a bit ugly. He coerced bread from the chubby little boy and didn’t pay for it, but unexpectedly didn’t get his ability!

How could this be? Tang Mo was slightly unresigned. The chubby little boy’s ability was a very useful attack type. If he collected it, it would be a big help in the future. Tang Mo again coerced a few cookies [12] and a carton of milk. He didn’t want anyone else’s food, just the chubby little boy’s.

The chubby little boy’s face was green, wanting to cry without tears. “Why the heck are you staring at me, huh?”

Tang Mo’s face was even greener. “Another cookie.”

He ate two boxes of the chubby little boy’s cookies, a piece of bread, and a carton of milk. Tang Mo opened all of them and still didn’t get his ability.

The other people were all amused by their strange behavior, having a hard laugh together before the big fight.

Chen Shanshan took a pensive glance at Tang Mo. Just as Tang Mo had finally given up and turned to leave, she picked up a box of cookies and quickly ran over.

The short and thin little girl wasn’t good looking, yet she had an expression of unwavering determination.

She looked at Tang Mo. “Do you want to get things from others? Does it have something to do with your ability? Is it okay for me to give you something? With this, will you become even stronger?”

Tang Mo was startled.

How could she be so smart? How could she guess so accurately?

Chen Shanshan didn’t have an ability. Even if Tang Mo took her things without paying for them, there wouldn’t be any benefit.

Yet the little girl was earnestly staring at him, offering a box of cookies with both her hands. She grit her teeth and said, “I’ll give it to you. No matter what it is, I’ll give it to you as thanks for helping us.”

Tang Mo was just trying to figure out how to decline when he heard these words. He closed his mouth and accepted the little girl’s cookies.

The instant his fingers touched the cookies, Tang Mo’s eyes widened. After he had taken the ability book out just now, he hadn’t put it back into the air but instead into his backpack. 

Now he took it out and opened it to look –

[Ability: Super Intelligence.

User: Chen Shanshan (reserve).

Type: Gene type.

Function: Develops the brain to its utmost. Super keenness.

Level: Level three.

Restriction: The upper boundary for the degree of accuracy of judgment is 50%. The extent to which physical strength can improve is 0.

Remarks: How can I always guess the actual facts? Stupid mortals, it’s because I’m smarter than you, ha ha ha ha…] [13]

“What is it?” Chen Shanshan asked.

Tang Mo lowered his head to look at this little girl. The big mole had previously said that official players and stowaways definitely had abilities while reserves might also possess abilities.

It turned out to be like this. It’s no wonder she was so smart.

“I will definitely take revenge for you.”

Chen Shanshan: “Good! Revenge!”

“Bang!” An ear-piercing gunshot broke the quiet of the night. Tang Mo twisted his head to the side and pushed Teacher Li, who was standing behind him.

Before his eyes, a silver bullet flew at a slow speed past the place where Teacher Li had just been standing. Tang Mo rapidly looked toward the place where the bullet had been shot from, his gaze focused.

Tang Mo said loudly, “Little chubby, smash the gym’s light.”

“Okay!”

A nail quickly pierced the air. The gym’s lightbulb was completely broken.

The world sank into darkness.

Surprised, Li Wen asked, “Tang Mo, what are you doing?”

Tang Mo crouched down to the ground and drew out a precise circle at an extremely fast speed. The sky was too dark and the other people only saw him suddenly crouching down without knowing what he was doing.

Tang Mo stood up and lightly said, “Drawing a circle to curse him.”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Okay, sorry this was so late. This chapter was very long ha ha ha ha...

This is the end of Chapter Two: Official Players. Next chapter is the start of Chapter Three: Mario.

Translation Notes:

[1] Academic Olympics. The National Computer Competition here is the National Computer Rank Examination, a real Chinese exam that tests students’ abilities to use various computer applications such as Microsoft Office and even programming languages.

[2] And then in the original Chen Shanshan she wants to kill them, but this part is cut out in the print version. Let *clap emoji* middle schoolers *clap emoji* commit *clap emoji* murder *clap emoji*.

[3] There’s no non-awkward way to translate this, especially since it’s used as a direct form of address later on. It’s 小胖子 or ‘little fatty.’ I changed it to chubby at least because this is nicer in English than ‘chubby.’ Uh…setting aside complex issues regarding body image, culture, and untranslatable language differences, this isn’t supposed to be as mean as it comes across in English. It’s just an unfortunate nickname.

[4] Second year middle school student, but that’s a mouthful. I’m pretty sure this is the equivalent of eighth grade (year nine in the UK). Chinese schooling has six years of elementary school, three years of junior high/middle school, and three years of high school.

[5] As in, his capability as a person, not his Black Tower ability.

[6] 就是普通的玫瑰 - ‘it’s just ordinary roses’, but then there’s a second part - ‘月李什么的’ - and I’m not sure what this means. Guessing at a specific variety maybe? Discovered the answer, I was writing it wrong like an idiot. It's 月季 not 月李. 月季 is yueji, Chinese rose. So it's ordinary roses and roses. And I will just leave it as is.

[7] The classic Chinese elements.

[8] [sic] I don’t know enough about gun anatomy to definitively say whether you call it a magazine or a clip and when I tried to look it up the internet just asked me if I wanted to buy one. ┐( ´ д ` )┌

[9] In the original he also recommends she specifically use a knife instead.

[10] 找呀找呀找朋友 - This is a line from a common Chinese children’s song. [link]

[11] …*sigh* There’s really no way to translate this that doesn’t sound rude. It’s even worse because Tang Mo is literally the first person to actually call him 小胖子. Everyone else just calls him by his name. It’s only the narrator and Tang Mo who do it. Which is kind of hilarious but like. Just take my word for it that it’s not mean… lmao… 

[12] 饼干 - The word for cookies and crackers (like Ritz or Goldfish or something, not rice crackers) is the same. I assume these are cookies but I’m not really sure.

[13] I suspect that this is a specific reference to something since this would be in line with the book’s style, but I’m not really sure. I can at least say it’s definitely really chuuni.

[leonsrightlations]

okay 18.2 pushed out until tomorrow because this is killing me. in my defense, chapter 18 is twice as long as normal and it's almost all exposition about how abilities work.

ohhhh my god this part of teio is so long T_T even pushing it out to monday i'm still crunching to get it done

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 18.1

Li Wen jumped from behind the man who looked like a teacher and walked with long strides into the gate guard room. Behind him there were also four middle school students jumping about.

Tang Mo loosened his hold on the small chubby boy’s hands and the chubby boy ran behind the teacher in a wisp of smoke. [1]

Li Wen said, “You finally came. After the tower attack game finished today, I opened my eyes and found that I’d been tossed onto a thoroughfare. When we entered the game, we’d just reached the boundary between Puji District and Zhangwen District. In the end, I unexpectedly woke in Anding District. I thought about it and still decided to go to North Jing first. Maybe I could wait for you.”

Tang Mo took a look at the teacher and students who were still guarded against him, then again looked at Li Wen. “How long have you been here?”

“About seven hours. This is my alma mater. I know the way.” Li Wen noticed that the teacher and students had never spoken and hastened to make introductions. “Teacher Li, this is Tang Mo. He’s the person I talked about previously. He isn’t a bad person and isn’t a stowaway, don’t worry.”

Teacher Li protected the students behind him, vigilantly watching Tang Mo. “Li Wen said that you came to find someone? Who are you looking for?”

When Tang Mo heard that Li Wen was particularly anxious to explain he wasn’t a stowaway, he raised his eyebrows.

“I’m looking for Chen Shanshan. She should be a first year student.”

“Ah? Shanshan?”

“He came looking for Shanshan?”

Tang Mo was just feeling strange when he saw a 1.6 meters tall, short-haired little girl walk out from among the students. Without any expression on her face, she looked cooly at Tang Mo and said, “I’m Chen Shanshan. I’m the only first year at North Jing by this name. What are you looking for me for? What’s your purpose?”

What an unexpected coincidence!

Li Wen was also surprised. “I didn’t realize the one you were looking for was Shanshan, ah. If only you had told me the name. I already found her.”

Tang Mo bowed his head to look at this extremely calm little girl and said, “I’m friends with your dad. Your dad’s name is Chen Fangzhi. I work at E-City library and he regularly goes there to read books. He asked me to come to S-City on his behalf and take a look to verify your safety.”

“That really is my dad’s name. Do you have any evidence to prove that you know him?”

“Shanshan?” Li Wen and Teacher Li both frowned. Li Wen had always believed in Tang Mo and wasn’t at all suspicious toward him. Teacher Li had heard about Tang Mo and also felt that he was trustworthy. But Shanshan still doubted him?

Tang Mo smiled, seeing that the little girl’s gaze held a bit more seriousness.

“Your dad is approximately 175 centimeters tall and he’s been unemployed for almost a year. He and I have spoken. His father, your grandfather, is a doctor. Oh, right, your dad always seemed to be wearing a red agate bracelet on his wrist.” Tang Mo paused, then smiled and said, “I can only prove that I really know your dad like this, but I still can’t prove that I came to find you in order to fulfill his wish and don’t have any other intentions.”

“Is it his wish or…his dying wish?”

The smile on Tang Mo’s lips faded. “It’s his dying wish.”

The little girl’s expression eased in an instant. She abruptly turned away and, as she returned to the students, said, “I believe you.”

Li Wen let out a breath. “Why make it so complicated? I already said before that I met Tang Mo on the highway from E-City to S-City. If he really was a bad person, there was no need for him to go far away to another city in order to harm an unfamiliar middle-schooler, right? Is E-City not enough for him to wreak havoc? He really isn’t a stowaway.”

Tang Mo said, “So what happened here?”

Teacher Li said, “This isn’t the place to speak. Zhao Ziang, you and Liu Chen do your best and rebuild the trap. We’ll go inside to talk.”

The chubby little boy named Zhao Ziang nodded his head and remained at the school entrance with another tall male student, restoring the deep pit trap that had just been triggered by the glass fragments. Tang Mo followed Teacher Li inside the school.

Walking beneath the loft fir trees, Teacher Li explained, “Apologies. We were truly afraid you were a bad person - a stowaway. We didn’t dare take a risk. The current time is the most dangerous and this is also when you happened to come to the school. We had difficulty determining your identity. We would rather not kill, but also don’t dare let one in.”

Tang Mo nodded. “Eleven o’clock at night to two in the morning is the time when people are deep asleep. This time truly is the most dangerous time of day. If there are people who want to mount a sneak attack, they’re most likely to choose this time.”

A middle-schooler interrupted to say, “Hey, you said the same thing as Shanshan.”

Tang Mo glanced at the short-haired little girl among the students.

In addition to the two male students who had remained at the school entrance and Chen Shanshan, there was also a female student and a little male student who followed them into the school. Chen Shanshan’s head was lowered and she didn’t speak, that male student and the other female student continuously comforting her. No matter what, Tang Mo had just told Chen Shanshan that her father had already died.

Although this little girl didn’t cry, she was still young in the end, and there was no way to completely conceal her sadness.

Teacher Li sighed. “What you said isn’t wrong. We really are worried that there are people who will take advantage of nightfall to steal into the school and make a sneak attack. Added altogether, North Jing’s students and teachers have more than a thousand people. After that day when the Black Tower said the game had officially started, most of our school disappeared. Merely two teachers and sixteen students remained.”

Tang Mo asked, “Where are the other people?”

Teacher Li’s voice was hoarse and raspy. “They…have already been eliminated. [2] There were too many students and only two teachers. The sixteen students weren’t all from the same areas. Some were near and some were far, and we couldn’t take each of them back to their homes. The morning of the day before yesterday, after the game officially began, Teach Wang and I decided to wait at school for the parents [3] to come get their children. If their parents hadn’t disappeared, I believed they would definitely come get their children. If we blindly took the children back home, there was instead the possibility that we might miss the parents. If they had disappeared, then we would just get through the crisis together. In the end, five parents came to get their children, and there were still eleven children that no one came for.”

Tang Mo turned his head. “How were they eliminated?” It was obvious that it hadn’t been done by the Black Tower.

Teacher Li’s eyes reddened in an instant as he angrily said, “It was that group of stowaways!”

Li Wen shared his anger against this common enemy. “Tang Mo, during the day today, we were all transported into the Black Tower to participate in the tower attack game. The teachers and students of North Jing were no exception. When the game finished, only two children didn’t return. Nine came back, and so did Teacher Wang. Among these, three of the children were transported to the same game. That game had six players in total. Aside from them, there were also three adults. Among the three adults, two were stowaways! Those three children were all only ordinary reserves, only seeking to survive in the game. They didn’t imagine that one of the children would unexpectedly complete a side mission and be rewarded with a big match.”

Tang Mo was startled. “A big match!?”

Li Wen nodded his head. “That’s right. It’s exactly the same as that big match of yours.”

Teacher Li indicated to the students and the little male student walked to the gym’s equipment room, taking out a giant match. It had a huge red match head and a familiar wooden match stem.

Tang Mo took the match and looked it over once. “It really is exactly the same as mine. That child saw Mosaic? They completed a mission issued by Mosaic?”

Li Wen shook his head. “I don’t know. That child is already no more.”

Tang Mo had collected Qian Sankun’s ability, “I’m just one spiritual plot short of the protagonist.” It was an ability restricted to single use and it could only store the same kind of inanimate object in his body. Holding the big match, Tang Mo noticed that he could collect it into his body at any time, once again transforming it into a tattoo.

But he didn’t do that, giving the big match to that little male student.

The little male student took it, his eyes red. A teardrop fell. He quickly wiped it away. This match is Wang Chao’s. The three of them were all…by those stowaways… Before Wang Chao was eliminated, he told me that after he got this big match, a stowaway forced him to hand it over. That stowaway saw when it appeared that it was definitely a treasure. Actually, if that stowaway had insisted, Wang Chao definitely would have given it. Wang Chao’s courage wasn’t great. Previously, we all liked to make fun of him, saying he was even more timid than a girl. But…but…”

The little male student sadly choked, “But in the game, Wang Chao still hadn’t had time to choose when that monster said it had found a stowaway, that it wanted to eat stowaways. If the stowaway wasn’t handed over, it would eat up each and every one of them.”

Li Wen said, “It was the same as our situation. They also faced this kind of thing. But of those three adults, two were stowaways. The two of them decided as one to first hand over the small children. I don’t know how the last adult reacted. The monster joined the enemy camp and decided to start eating the three children.  That child named Wang Chao randomly pointed because he was scared and said that one of the adults was the stowaway. The monster said that adults have lots of meat, turned its head to eat the others, and, in the end, there really was a stowaway…”

Tang Mo said, “He pointed to them by chance?”

“That’s right. At that time, those three children were utterly terrified, only wanting to not be eaten. He just randomly pointed at one. That person had previously always said they wanted to hand Wang Chao over, so Wang Chao just pointed at him. He didn’t imagine that he actually pointed at the right person.”

“The monster ate the stowaway?”

Teacher Li grit his teeth. “Why wouldn’t it eat the stowaway? Wang Chao said that the tower attack game suddenly ended. All six of them completely left the game. Originally, we thought the matter would end like this and prepared to celebrate everyone surviving the Black Tower game. We didn’t imagine that those two stowaways would recognize North Jing’s school uniform. Half an hour later, they came to attack the school. They even found three stowaways, so altogether five stowaways came to raid us!”

The little male student’s eyes reddened. “They said they wanted Wang Chao to hand over the big match. We weren’t willing to hand it over at first. That was the reward Wang Chao worked hard to get. Why should he give it to them? But those five all have abilities and are too terrible. After they eliminated one of us, we decided to give them the big match, but that’s not all they wanted. In total, they attacked twice. Wang Chao and the others…even Teacher Wang…sob sob sob…”

Teacher Li said, “The current matter already isn’t as simple as whether to give the match. So many children and even Teacher Wang…This matter must be resolved!”

There had always been evil people like this in the world and many places had no rest from the flames of war. It was just that the previous A-Country had been too peaceful, with a lot of people who sacrificed themselves to protect everyone. Now evil people extended their claws and teeth. All they could do was eradicate these evil people to protect themselves.

Tang Mo felt rage that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He breathed deeply, regained his calm, and took a look at the clock on the gym wall. “It’s currently already three o’clock in the morning. There are still three stowaways. [3] If they’re smart enough, they shouldn’t attack the school again this evening. But to make sure it’s safe, still assign people to guard the entrance.”

Teacher Li said, “Of the six of us remaining, Qiao Feifei and Zhao Ziang are official players. They both have abilities and their physical strength is also better than us reserves. Zhao Ziang is currently guarding the entrance.”

Tang Mo said, “You all know what official players, reserves, and stowaways are?”

He thought it had only been the big mole that said these things.

Chen Shanshan, who had never spoken, opened her mouth to say, “Today, the thirteen of us in total entered six different games. Each game was different, but had one thing in common. The Black Tower monsters in the six games all informed the players of the three types of player identities. But they didn’t explain what the three identities mean. It was Li Wen-gege who told us. Only then were we clear on the meaning of the three identities. Of course, before today, we actually already knew that there are official players and reserves.”

“How did you know?” Tang Mo asked, astonished.

The little female student who had always been hiding behind the others came forward. “It’s me. I’m an official player. My ability isn’t like Zhao Ziang’s and doesn’t have that kind of use. I can only see others’ identities.”

Tang Mo went blank. “You can see others’ identities?”

The little female student nodded her head. “Right. In my eyes, there are words floating on top of everyone’s heads. After the game officially started, I saw the words ‘official player’ floating on Zhao Ziang’s head. Teacher Li, Shanshan, and the others’ have the word ‘reserve’ on their heads. But I can only use my ability five times a day, so I can only see five people’s identities. Once I’ve seen five people, the words on top of other people’s heads will change into a mosaic.”

Tang Mo said, “Then just now at the school entrance, did you not see my identity?”

The little female student shook her head. “It’s very strange. I obviously still haven’t used up my ability today, yet I can’t clearly see your identity. The top of your head is also a mosaic.”

Tang Mo thought about it. “Does this ability of yours require any trigger condition?”

“No. I can see it directly.”

Tang Mo said, “Try touching my hand. See if you can trigger your ability.”

The little female student walked up, touched Tang Mo’s hand, and again raised her head. “Ah! I can see it! Official player! How strange. Why couldn’t I see it just now and it’s only after I touched your hand that I could see it? I saw Zhao Ziang, and even when it was those few stowaways, I immediately saw all of them.”

Tang Mo was also unable to explain this solution.

The male student who was responsible for building the trap with the chubby boy came back. “Teacher, we already built the trap. Zhao Ziang said he would continue watching the entrance and had me come back to sleep first.”

“Official players and stowaways all must have abilities, and obviously the physiques of these two identities are much better than reserve players.” Chen Shanshan suddenly opened her mouth. Everyone looked at her while she still looked at Tang Mo. “Can we know…what your ability is? If you don’t want to say in detail, we can understand, but I want to know if you’re willing to stay and help us. Is your ability the same as Feifei’s with no actual combat power, or is it like Zhao Ziang’s, inclined toward the attack type?”

Tang Mo looked fixedly at the little girl and, after a while, said, “My ability can’t be considered an attack type, but I will stay.”

Everyone let out a breath.

It was already white in the east, slightly warm with dawn light.

As the color of the sky gradually brightened, the constantly tense nerves of Teacher Li and the children also at last relaxed.

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

This chapter is only lightly edited, so I apologize for any errors... Chapter 18 is a lot longer than other chapters normally are and I didn't have a ton of time this week ha ha ha........

I will probably be pushing back post days to Monday evenings in the future. It was silly of me to be doing it on Sundays in the first place since is the day I work the latest and have the least amount of time to do translation work... orz

Translation Notes:

[1] As in, he was running so fast he was like a wisp of smoke. I’m picturing a cartoon where a character instantly vanishes and leaves a cloud of dust behind.

[2] They died. General statement for this entire chapter: The print version is way more vague about what actually happened to them, probably because they’re children. Most references to their deaths have been removed. In the original version, Tang Mo actually sees their bodies and makes reference to their specific wounds.

[3] Two of the stowaways were also “eliminated.” This is in the original version and not the print version for some reason, even though leaving this detail out makes the text somewhat difficult to understand.

(Also, is it just me, or is Tang Mo way more shocked by the appearance of the second Mosaic’s match than he is by hearing about the death of children… He has so much in common with Uncle Mole… They both love Mosaic’s match and are both the cutest in the Underground and Overground Cities… (/▽＼*)｡o○♡)

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 17.2

As the car entered downtown, the number of vehicles on the street greatly increased. They were all crashed together chaotically. At this time, driving didn’t make any sense. Tang Mo directly abandoned the car to go on foot. He followed the edges of the road as he walked so that once there was a roadblock, he could use it to conceal his figure. At the end of the fourth day of the earth being online, the flourishing and beautiful S-City had become an abandoned city.

The metropolis was imbued with darkness, but many of the businesses on either side of the street still had shining lights. Tang Mo passed a KFC with uneaten french fries and ketchup arranged on a table by the window, but the fries had already withered and there wasn’t a single person inside the deserted fast food shop.

The closer he got to the city center, the more cautious Tang Mo became.

Here, there were more and more people. He turned around a corner and saw a young woman wearing sportswear just inside a Family Mart convenience store, holding an armful of various snacks to her abdomen. She saw Tang Mo as well and wasn’t surprised, only gave him a vigilant second look, then turned back to looting food and water from the convenience store.

Tang Mo was carrying a big, heavy bag on his back. He put food, water, and a flashlight inside.

Along the way, he saw more than a few people looting food and water, and also saw that quite a few cliques had formed. They vigilantly watched each and every passer-by. A lot of people’s bodies were damp with mottled bloodstains and there were even a few wounded people with missing arms and broken legs. They lay on the side of the road, wailing in anguish.

The city’s population was so high that even after the Black Tower incident, there were still more than a few living people.

Tang Mo roughly estimated that in S-City’s city center there were approximately four people for every square kilometer. It was currently dinner time and these people were mostly eating. After Tang Mo’s physical quality had improved, his need for food had enormously decreased. It had already been a day and a night since he’d eaten anything, but he wasn’t hungry at all.

North Jing [1] Middle School was a famous school in S-City, but Tang Mo wasn’t at all familiar with it. He didn’t go ask the few people eating on the side of the road, but instead walked directly into an abandoned news kiosk. He rummaged around for a while before finding a detailed map of S-City.

“Anding District…North Jing…here.”

Tang Mo hoisted his bag onto his back and once again walked on.

Suddenly, without warning, a melodious and cheerful voice sounded –

[Ding dong! In the third district of M-country, the official player Richard Wells successfully opened the first floor of the Black Tower. In three minutes, all players in M-Country will begin to attack the tower!]

Tang Mo stopped moving and the couple of people who were in the middle of eating also lifted their heads to look toward the distant Black Tower. Tang Mo turned his head and glanced at the clock hanging on the news kiosk wall.

19:18. [2]

Game time every day was from six o’clock to eighteen o’clock. A-Country’s game time had already ended. M-Country…the time difference was thirteen hours. [3] Game time was calculated according to local time, and announcements would still be made to the whole world?

Tang Mo continued walking forward.

Unlike how the announcement that the stowaway Fu Wenduo had opened the Black Tower had been made three times, this announcement was only made once before it stopped.

Because this time the one who had opened the tower attack game wasn’t a player from A-Country, but a player from M-Country. 

Tang Mo walked down the road. He heard a dying middle-aged man covered from head to foot in blood taking rough, gulping breaths while also wildly laughing. With schadenfreude, the man said, “Die, all of you go die…die…die…”

It was eleven o’clock, late in the night, when Tang Mo finally reached Anding District. There were vehicles randomly crashed together on the street. He continuously came across these cars, causing his walking speed to decline. Halfway along, he even accidentally went the wrong way. As he reached Anding District, in the quiet, deep night, a resounding childlike voice sounded –

[Ding dong! In M-Country’s second district, the official player Mary Vandessa [4] successfully cleared the first floor of the Black Tower!]

Tang Mo raised an eyebrow in surprise. It wasn’t cleared by the player who opened the tower attack game?

[Ding dong! On November 19th, 2017, two players in the whole world have cleared the first floor of the Black Tower. The remaining 416.23 million players are asked to please strive to attack the tower!]

Tang Mo lifted his head and looked in disbelief toward that dark black shadow floating in mid-air.

He distinctly recalled that yesterday morning there were more than 490 million players who logged into the game. Now…there were eighty million fewer people!? Was it because of A-Country and M-Country’s two tower attack games, or had players died in another manner?

Tang Mo’s face was ashen. He ducked his head and continued walking onward. The streetlights on the road flickered unceasingly and he took the flashlight out of his backpack, shining it on the map. Without saying a word, he rounded three intersections and walked four blocks. Not long passed before he saw a towering traffic sign on the side of the road which read, “school ahead, drive carefully.” He had already reached the school’s neighborhood.

“Crack –”

One of Tang Mo’s feet stepped on a glass shard. He bowed his head to take a look. Many tiny pieces of glass had fallen on the ground. He lifted his head again. Above his head, the streetlight had somehow been shattered, and the glass had fallen down.

This was only the first shattered streetlight.

Tang Mo looked at the road before him leading to the school’s gate.

On the road, there were only two streetlights flickering with gloomy light, and the ground was covered in glass shards from other streetlights. The night wind of late autumn whistled past and the trees that lined the road on either side made a rustling sound. The pitch-black shadows of the trees were like silent ghosts. Face expressionless, Tang Mo walked past these black ghosts that were cast from either side, walking step by step upon the shards of glass.

The frigid evening breeze blew at the hem of his clothes. His gaze was serene, as if he didn’t sense anything at all. Suddenly, Tang Mo raised his foot and rapidly dodged a few steps to the left. At the spot where he’d just been walking, a big nail as thick as a finger had abruptly appeared out of nowhere. If he had stepped on it just then, the sole of his foot absolutely would have been impaled.

Tang Mo lifted his head and vigilantly examined his surroundings.

He had already walked into the school area and there were only a hundred meters left until the school’s entrance.

It was now one o’clock, early in the morning, and the ice-cold evening breeze whistled as it blew. The surrounding area was devoid of all people. Tang Mo continued walking onward. The magically-appearing nail again appeared a few times more, once even brazenly floating in front of Tang Mo’s face. He only needed to not pay attention and quickly take a step, and the suddenly-appearing nail might have stabbed his eye. Fortunately, he reacted very quickly and dodged to avoid it.

These strange events only happened when he was near the school. The distance to the school’s entrance was now some tens of meters. He had to cross another intersection, and then there were eighty or so meters.

Tang Mo hesitated a moment, but still decided to enter the school to check it out.

An urgent voice sounded, “Don’t come over!”

The voice was immature and resounding, still with the hoarse tone of a voice that hadn’t finished changing.

Tang Mo immediately responded, “Are you a student of this school?”

“Don’t come! Who…who are you!?”

“I don’t have any bad intentions. I came to find a student. She’s my friend’s daughter.”

The big nail floating in front of Tang Mo’s eyes fell to the ground and seemed to no longer obstruct his steps. He again walked forward without hindrance, continuously walking toward the school’s entrance. He looked through the gate in the partition fence but didn’t see even the shadow of a person. The little male student who had just spoken was also silent.

Tang Mo creased his eyebrows and loudly asked, “Where are you?”

That male student timidly said, “You…you’re really not a bad guy?”

“I’m not. Have you met some difficulties? Do you want help? I have some water and food here.”

“I…I’m in the guard room beside the gate. You put the food and water at the door. Don’t come in…”

Tang Mo took a bottle of water and a package of compressed biscuits out of his backpack and walked toward the gate guard room’s front door. He moved unhurriedly and, walking to halfway, halted his footsteps.

That little male student again said, “Why…why don’t you come over!?”

Tang Mo smiled and continued walking forward. It was quiet all around. The little male student didn’t speak again and neither did Tang Mo. He only walked very calmly.

Just as he reached the steps in front of the gate guard room’s front door, he suddenly sped up his pace, dodged sideways around the gate guard room’s front door, and from one side directly broke through the window and vaulted into this tiny guard room.

The glass fragments of the window flew onto the steps Tang Mo had been about to step on, which collapsed in an instant, exploding into a seven or eight meter deep hole. At the bottom of the hole were a large amount of sharp knives, their blades pointed upward.

“Teacher, he found out! Teacher, save me!!!”

Ordinary glass fragments were now completely unable to injure Tang Mo’s skin and even his reaction speed and running speed exceeded that of most humans. That slightly overweight little male student saw Tang Mo and shouted in alarm, turning his body to run. However, Tang Mo was even faster than him and grabbed the chubby boy’s arm. He dragged the boy in front of him and directly retrained both his arms.

“Don’t move! Who are you? What do you want to do!?” an anxious male voice sounded.

Tang Mo raised his head to look. It was a young man wearing a white shirt who seemed to have just woken up, his hair chaotic and his anxious eyes very red as he ran into the gate guard room.

Tang Mo asked back, “Why did you want to trick me into coming over just now…did you want to kill me?”

The young man urgently said, “Put him down first. Don’t harm him. We’ll give you whatever you want and do whatever you want!”

Tang Mo felt something was wrong and was just about to open his mouth to clarify the situation, only to hear a voice say, “Tang Mo!? You finally came! Hey, hey, hey, don’t, quickly let go. Teacher Li, he isn’t a bad person. He’s Tang Mo, the friend I previously told you about. He’s the one who wanted to come to North Jing to find someone. He and I got lost in the middle, so I came to the school first to see if I could meet up with him.”

Tang Mo looked at the person who had come in.

“Li Wen?”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes:

[1] I didn’t mention this previously, but North Jing is 北静 which is read as Beijing. It’s not the same ‘jing’ as in the name of the capital, but leaving it in pinyin seemed like it would be inviting unnecessary confusion. The literal translation of the characters is ‘north’ and ‘quiet.’ Rather than force it into a name like ‘North Tranquility’ or ‘Stillness’ or something, I decided just to translate one half and leave the other in pinyin.

[2] 7:18 PM

[3] M-Country is America. China only has one time zone for the whole country in comparison with America, which has four. One of those four time zones (central time) is indeed thirteen hours behind China, but eastern time is slightly ahead.

[4] 范德萨 - Vandessa seemed like the most name-like way to translate this.

Happy New Year! ^_^

[leonsrightlations]

no post this week because of christmas

for some reason i thought i had christmas eve off, but i don't (because i live in a capitalist hellscape etc.). there won't be a post until the sunday after next so that i can enjoy the holiday a little bit. see you then!

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 17.1

Tang Mo’s brain turned quickly and in almost an instant he understood. The one speaking with him wasn’t the turkey egg at all. It wasn’t even a turkey. It could be some kind of Black Tower creature, but it was more likely…

“Are you human?”

The male voice was silent for a moment. “Yes, I am human. Are you also human?”

Tang Mo said, “I am.”

Neither of them spoke again.

The car was stopped at the side of the road, the dazzling sunset shining into the car’s interior. The white egg’s whole body gleamed with golden yellow. From time to time, text appeared on it, but Tang Mo could see only a few words and a bunch of corrupted text.

His bigger concern was now the person speaking from within.

He thought for a bit and decided to first show his sincerity before questioning the other party.

He began describing his situation: “I’m currently holding a white egg in my hand and your voice is transmitting from inside. Are you somebody who’s been trapped inside the egg or is there some other circumstance?”

The man’s voice was steady and serene. “I haven’t been trapped in an egg. I’m also holding an egg in my hand and your voice is also transmitting from inside.“ He paused, then additionally said, “It’s a turkey egg.”

Tang Mo’s mind moved. “You must be someone from A-Country. [1] Then, did you also just come out of the Black Tower’s first floor? I got this egg from a Black Tower monster. It’s a turkey egg.”

“Me too. I got a white turkey egg from a Black Tower creature.”

At this time, the two of them thoroughly understood. The turkey egg in their hands was similar to a cellphone and could let them connect and speak with a stranger they had never met before.

Since it was like this, Tang Mo now wanted to know how far away the turkey egg could connect.

“Where are you?”

“Which city are you in?”

Different mouths spoke with the same voice, [2] causing both sides to be stunned.

The other party was the first to respond. “I’m in the capital.”

The capital? The capital was a thousand kilometers from S-City. It was so far away, and the turkey egg could also immediately connect. Did it really function as a cellphone?

Tang Mo said, “I’m in S-City.”

Tang Mo bowed his head and looked at the turkey egg in his hand with a vague idea.

For some reason, the egg in his hand seemed to be in a damaged state. Tang Mo didn’t at all think the kind of random tapping he’d done just now was capable of breaking the turkey egg. What had actually been cracked by tapping wasn’t the turkey egg, but instead his steering wheel.

Things from the Black Tower weren’t that frail.

The probability that the turkey egg had been broken by his tapping wasn’t even twenty percent, while the probability that it had originally been damaged was eighty percent or more.

As a result of the turkey egg being damaged, Tang Mo didn’t know what the egg’s ultimate use was. The text on it only had three lines of words without corrupted letters. This included –

[Quality: Rare.]

This was a rare item.

If the Black Tower was really only playing a game, it was also fair and reasonable for it to grant players items like this. Rare items in any game were all extremely precious. Tang Mo didn’t know if his damaged turkey egg would be usable again, but maybe he could find out its true utility from out of the mouth of this player in the capital.

A rare item couldn’t only be used for communication. Before the earth went online, human technology could already video chat with the whole world. There was no reason the mysterious Black Tower could only do this much. Since both of them were turkey eggs, looked similar, and could even communicate, then, eight or nine out of ten, their utility was also the same.

Tang Mo arranged his next words. “When I played the first floor of the Black Tower’s tower attack game, the big mole in the Black Tower gave me this egg as a reward. This egg is very hard. I tried to smash it using a car’s steering wheel, a stone, and even a few other hard things. A crack was smashed into my steering wheel by it, but it didn’t break open.”

First, he declared as much of his information as possible to make the other side feel that the both of them were now sharing intelligence.

Tang Mo continued to say, “The big mole that gave me the turkey egg said that we humans are unable to hatch it. I originally thought that only I, alone, got this egg and could directly use it. I didn’t think you also had it. But this side doesn’t explain that using this egg requires another person or that both sides can communicate. Does your side have any clues?”

A deep male voice very decisively replied, “No.”

Tang Mo: “...”

Have you ever chatted like this? How was this person not tricked into saying anything at all!?

When a normal person has a friendly exchange with others, shouldn’t they also take the initiative to declare the information they have?

Tang Mo was silent for a long time before he again continued trying to worm out information. “How did you connect to me? At that time, I first heard your voice. Then I just replied.”

This already didn’t count as intelligence. If he wasn’t willing to say even that, Tang Mo wouldn’t again hold any hope for tricking him into speaking.

“A few lines of words appeared on the egg and I tried to study it. Right as I used my finger to rap on it for a third time, it suddenly flickered with blinding gold light.” The man was finally willing to reveal a bit of information. “Now when I speak, the egg continuously emits a very faint golden glow.”

Tang Mo suddenly remembered that when he tapped for a third time just now, the egg also seemed to flash. In the end, it wasn’t brightly lit. Then the man’s voice was transmitted over and the glow also disappeared.

Tang Mo said, “Then do you know how to end the call?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

The both of them tried for a long time. Suddenly, the sound broke off. Ten seconds passed before a male voice sounded. “Just now, I squeezed the egg with both my hands and the call was terminated.”

Tapping three times could open a call and squeezing the egg with both hands could close it?

Tang Mo said, “Then you close it first and I’ll give it a try.”

“Okay.”

Tang Mo tried it out. He could also open and close a call at any time. The two of them tested it repeatedly and found that no matter which party, they only needed to tap their egg three times to start the call. Either party squeezing the egg could end the call.

As they conducted experiments, both sides had total tacit understanding, neither of them saying any superfluous words while sharing as much information as possible.

When the egg had been more or less completely studied by them, a strange feeling welled up in Tang Mo’s heart. He and the other owner of the turkey egg collaborated very well, as if they had trained their cooperation many times. It was very agreeable. Because of this, Tang Mo couldn’t help but feel the appreciation of one talented person toward another. It was just a pity. If this person had been a bit easier to get information out of, he would have even better feelings toward them.

From start to finish, this person didn’t say a single piece of crucial intelligence. He was obviously hiding something. Tang Mo knew the other party was hiding something and also knew that the other party had noticed his probing.

Now the things that the two of them could say had already been said. If neither was willing to reveal their true information, then it was meaningless to go on speaking. For example, Tang Mo couldn’t say that his turkey egg was damaged. In that case, he would be at a disadvantage. The other party was also unwilling to declare useful information. At this moment, he was on guard against Tang Mo, this stranger he didn’t know very well.

The man’s voice was always steady and somewhat pleasant to listen to. “Is there something you still want to say?”

Tang Mo said, “I still have one final question.”

“What?”

“Why was the first thing you said when you began speaking not ‘hello’ and not ‘hi’ [3] but instead…’Momo?’”

The air was quiet. Tang Mo vaguely felt that there was something wrong, but ultimately didn’t understand where the problem was until the turkey egg transmitted a low laugh. For the first time, the man’s voice was tinged with a smile.

“So it turns out you don’t even know what this egg is called, is that right?”

Tang Mo: “...”

There are some words you should keep in your heart, okay! Give him a bit of face and don’t say it out loud, ah!

Tang Mo already knew that the man was purposely guarding against him and also knew that the other party understood he had an information deficit. But now it had been clearly and openly said out loud…he felt slightly uncomfortable in his heart and felt that he had fallen to a disadvantage. However, he also felt that the cold and detached relationship of mutually guarding against each other that the two of them had always had, because of this clarification, seemed to have become a bit closer. At least, they weren’t enemies.

“This egg is called ‘Momo,’ so when I saw it glow, I subconsciously called ‘Momo’ once.”

Tang Mo lightly said, “My name is Mo. How should I address you?”

The man instantly went silent, only then realizing he had just called such an intimate name so many times.

After a long time, he said, “My surname is Fu.”

Tang Mo said, “Then, if that’s all?”

“En. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Once the call had ended, Tang Mo put the turkey egg back in his pocket. His finger rapped on the steering wheel with a ‘da da da.’

First, the egg was called Momo. This shouldn’t have anything to do with his name. It was only a coincidence that it was called this.

Second, this Mr. Fu in the capital was extremely smart and also had a very guarded heart. The probability of him worming information out of the other party was extremely low, so much so that it was likely that their first time communicating would also be their last. Their conversation didn’t have any benefit and both sides had perceived that the other end of the turkey egg was a bad person to go against. Since it was like this, there was no reason to connect again.

The rare item turkey egg in Tang Mo’s hand was like a hot potato. He really wanted to use it, but he simply didn’t know its function. He also didn’t know if the egg had been damaged to the point of being unusable.

As for getting information out of that man’s mouth…

Tang Mo already held no hope. Unless there was some kind of accident and the other party had no choice but to share information with him, it was absolutely impossible for this person to relent. [4]

If they swapped places, Tang Mo also wouldn’t share the rare item’s information with a stranger. Having an item like this, he’d already hate that he was unable to hide it away, undiscovered by anyone else, for the sake of achieving a surprise victory. Taking the initiative to tell information? Tang Mo wasn’t so foolishly kind. [5]

Tang Mo sighed, and continued driving to find North Jing Middle School.

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes:

[1] I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but A-Country is pretty obviously China. I translated A国人 as Chinese person last chapter for the remarks on Momo because it was a very specific reference but will continue to use A-Country the same way I've used 'S-City' etc.

[2] 异口同声 - idiom figuratively meaning to speak in unison

[3] He actually says ‘你好’ (hello) and ‘喂’ (greeting for when you answer the phone), but English doesn’t have an equivalent so I used ‘hi’ instead.

[4] 松口 - which figuratively means to relent but literally means to loosen the mouth (release what’s in the mouth). Both meanings are applicable here.

[5] He actually uses ‘傻白甜’ here again, meaning ‘foolish white sweet.’ This is the phrase he used to describe Li Wen earlier.

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 16.2

The turkey egg that the big mole had given him was the size of an adult man’s fist. After taking it, Tang Mo had rapped it a couple of times and then just put it in his pocket. He didn’t realize that it happened to have been brought out of the game.

It was an extremely ordinary white egg. It was no different from an ordinary chicken egg except that its size was a bit bigger. The big mole had said humans couldn’t incubate turkeys and that giving this egg was just so that Tang Mo could casually eat it. However, Tang Mo tried his hardest to knock it against the steering wheel.

“Dong!”

There was a dull sound. Tang Mo stared at it.

Tang Mo: “...”

The turkey egg hadn’t broken. Instead, a small crack had been smashed into the steering wheel!

How can this be eaten? You’d have to have teeth made of copper or iron to eat it, okay!

Tang Mo had no idea, but at this very moment, on the Black Tower’s first floor, in the mole cavern of Underground City, the big mole was holding its head in both its claws and muttering continuously.

“How can anyone attack the first floor now?”

It thought for a long time and finally consoled itself like this - “At any rate, it wasn’t from my place that they passed.”

After saying this, the big mole was suddenly much more relaxed. It gave a sinister laugh and began to dig in the dirt with both its claws.

“Today I ate such a delicious turkey. It really was too profitable. That person didn’t know how precious Mosaic’s match is. When can those humans come again and bring me another Mosaic’s match, ah…”

The big mole dug a huge pit, revealing a large number of white eggs. It was precisely from here that it had just before taken an extremely ordinary white egg and given it to Tang Mo. The big mole laughed, pleased with itself, and continued to use its claws to dig into the depths of the white eggs, all the while talking to itself.

“But I didn’t give you my precious egg. [1] I must lock it up carefully in a chest and fall asleep holding it every day. Only an idiot would give…you…AHHHH!!! Where’s my egg!!!”

All that could be seen in the pile of white eggs was a tiny iron chest. It was unclear when it had been opened, but there was nothing inside but air.

Black Tower First Floor, Turkey Nest.

A giant turkey the size of a tiger lay on the ground, on its dying gasp. Beneath its body, blood flowed across the dirt. It was still calling out, “gu gu gu,” its sharp talons moist with human blood, but it was already unable to stand up. So long as it was hit one more time, it would certainly die.

However, it was very lucky. The person that had inflicted such heavy damage to it also lacked the strength to stand.

The turkey gnashed its teeth.

“Gu gu…stowaway…gu gu, I’ll eat you, gu…” [2]

One of the legs of the black-clad man had been torn off by the turkey and blood flowed across his body. A bloody gash had been pecked into his left arm by the turkey and his right arm shockingly had no hand. From the point of his wrist sprouted a huge, pitch-black metal cone, suffused entirely in a black and purple luster.

The man coughed up a mouthful of blood and swung his right arm. That terrifying and violent metal cone disappeared, changing into a right hand that was covered in cuts and bruises. Without using his two hands, he climbed into the turkey’s nest and extended a hand to take the white turkey egg that the turkey had treated like a treasure and hidden in the heart of the grass pile.

The turkey snarled, “You put my egg down!!!”

“During the fight just now, you constantly avoided hitting this egg.” The man wiped the blood he had coughed up off the edge of his lips, appearing serene as he concluded, “It’s a treasure.”

The turkey fluttered its wings, unable to restrain its anger, but it didn’t even have the strength to stand. For the first time, it regretted having seen this stowaway and being moved by the desire to eat him. If it hadn’t wanted to eat this stowaway and hidden behind him to mount a sneak attack, the two of them wouldn’t have fought. If they hadn’t fought, the turkey wouldn’t have ended up like this. Who could’ve imagined that this stowaway was actually so strong? He had actually forcibly cleared the Black Tower’s first floor from the turkey’s place!

It doesn’t matter that he cleared the first floor - what matters is its egg! Its most precious egg!!!

“Give it back to me!!!”

The turkey exhausted all of the strength in its body and, in spite of everything, actually stood up, staggering toward the man. But just as it was about to peck at him and snatch back the turkey egg in his hand, the sound of the Black Tower’s clearance notice rang out. The man’s figure suddenly disappeared and the turkey pounced on air, falling to the dirt.

“Gu gu gu gu…my egg…gu gu gu…egg…gu…”

All of A-Country’s players left the Black Tower’s first floor at the same moment.

Fu Wenduo had escaped with his life from the turkey’s nest with great difficulty. A leg had been torn off by the turkey and left in the nest. Upon leaving the Black Tower’s first floor, he lay down in an abandoned construction site, his surroundings devoid of any people. A creaking sound came from his cut-off right leg. Looking carefully, his leg had actually become a bit bigger.

Although the speed was very slow, the cut part was really growing back once again.

Situations like this were actually not few. Throughout A-Country, every player had been pulled into the Black Tower’s first floor to carry out a tower attack game. There were players like Tang Mo who had Mosaic’s match and didn’t have a violent conflict with the big mole, however they were too few. There were even more like Fu Wenduo who directly exchanged blows with the Black Tower’s creatures like this.

There were those who died on the Black Tower’s first floor, and there were those who saw the light of day.

The people who escaped from inside had, for the most part, obtained a treasure. Even if their bodies were covered in injuries, they were also beside themselves with happiness, tightly holding the treasures they had obtained through untold hardships.

Right as the flesh on his right leg had grown up to the point of the knee, Fu Wenduo opened both his eyes and took that white turkey egg out of his pocket.

He stared at it as the setting sun drooped down, sunlight shining on the turkey egg. Suddenly, a colorful ray of light blossomed, and a small line of words appeared on the white eggshell –

[Item: Momo.

User: Fu Wenduo.

Quality: Rare.

Level: Level two (can be raised).

Attack Power: Ordinary.

Function: Save current game progress.

Restrictions: Can only be used once every seven days and can only save one hour of time.

Remarks: As a Chinese person of the new era, don’t you know in your heart what Momo is?] [3]

Fu Wenduo: “...”

At the same moment, Tang Mo was right then carefully studying the hard and incomparably strange turkey egg, occasionally tapping it a couple of times and, becoming interested, smashing it twice with the ability book which he still held.

He couldn’t figure anything out by studying it, so Tang Mo didn’t waste his time. He gave up studying the turkey egg for now and drove toward S-City’s Anding District. He placed the turkey egg beneath the front window. A ray of light came shining through the window and, little by little, colorful words emerged on the turkey egg.

Tang Mo immediately stopped the car to observe the turkey egg’s change.

[Item: ####### (damaged).

User: Tang Mo.

Quality: Rare.

Level: @#¥@ (can be raised).

Attack Power: Ordinary.

Fun@$#: Save game #%^@$@#.

Restrictions: @#$#%@$@!#.

Remarks: As a @$@$%@#$!@#.]

Tang Mo: “...” What the hell is this!?

Tang Mo bent his middle finger and tapped on the turkey egg a few times. Right as he tapped it a third time, suddenly, a deep male voice sounded from inside the turkey egg.

“Momo?”

Tang Mo was abruptly stunned. It couldn’t be that the turkey egg was also a living thing and was even able to know that his name was Tang Mo?

But to immediately call him ‘Momo’ seemed a bit too intimate, right… [4]

He hemmed and hawed for a moment, [5] then lightly “en”d once. He thought about it, and said, “Are you a turkey or turkey egg?”

The voice in the turkey egg suddenly stopped. The next moment, a cold and severe voice sounded: “Who are you?”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes:

[1] There’s a joke here that’s hard to translate. The mole calls its treasured egg ‘蛋蛋’ (dandan) rather than the singular ‘蛋’ (dan) that means egg, I think as a way to emphasize how special it is/be cutesy, like how you can repeat a syllable in someone’s name to make a cute nickname. (e.g. ‘Momo’ for Tang Mo) However, in this case… ’蛋蛋’ means balls. The testicular kind. :| So this sentence actually reads, ‘I didn’t give you my precious balls.’

[2] I’m pretty sure there’s another joke here that doesn’t translate. The onomatopoeia 咕 (gu) is both the sound that a bird makes and the sound an empty stomach makes. It’s both a bird and failed to secure a meal… lighting a candle… won’t someone have pity on these poor, hungry Black Tower monsters… (I alone will.)

[3] Momo (陌陌) shares a name with a Chinese social media/networking app that connects you with others by physical proximity. It’s branded as an app for making friends, but when I was looking it up I saw a lot of stuff about using it to find dates. So it’s Tinder. Momo is a Tinder joke. Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo met through Tinder. (And at this moment, when I realized the meaning of this joke, I was SO glad I decided to translate from the raws. Instant validation for an otherwise dubious life decision.)

[4] Momo (陌陌) uses the same character as the Mo in Tang Mo. As I mentioned above, doubling a syllable in someone’s name is a way of giving them an affectionate nickname.

AND. I am NOT saying that the author named Tang Mo this way in order to make this specific joke. But it IS something that I would do. So I’m also not ruling it out.

[5] 沉吟 - the dictionary says that this is ‘to mutter irresolutely’ but other sources say ‘to ponder,’ so I split the difference and used an English turn of phrase that is basically both.

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 16.1

The big mole’s fart was truly incomparably strange smelling. It didn’t dispel from the underground cavern for a long time. Everyone was assailed by it nearly to the point of vomiting. The big mole giggled and ran to the corner where it crouched down and proceeded to dig a hole with both its claws.

It didn’t pay any more attention to the five remaining players and the five people didn’t take the initiative to provoke such a monster.

Lin Qiao walked to the little girl’s side and sighed. [1] She took off her windbreaker and covered that pool of blood. Li Bin also walked to the cook’s side, moved him to a corner, and covered the cook’s face with his jacket.

The Black Tower had already announced that everyone had completed the second side mission, but no new side mission had appeared. They only had one main mission, which was just to survive. People can live without water for seven days. Without food, they can continue on for no more than thirty days. If the big mole didn’t interfere anymore, Tang Mo felt that, with his current physique, he could continue on even without water for at least a month. He was just afraid that the Black Tower’s mission of survival would have no end.

Tang Mo tentatively asked, “Uncle Mole, how can we leave this place?”

The Big Mole gave a strange laugh. “You want out? How do you get out? You’re playing idiot mode and the only thing you have to do is survive. You still want to get out?”

Everyone was resentful of the big mole’s words, but no one dared to retort.

In the pitch black cavern, the giant mole made a rustling sound as it dug. The sound was machine-like and ear-piercing.

Li Bin was still holding the flashlight the little girl had made using her ability in his hand.

His expression was strange as he looked at the flashlight. He muttered, “It’s a bit frightening…”

Tang Mo looked at him. “You don’t want it? Can you let me look at it?”

He was extremely interested in this thing that had been created purely by an ability.

Without even thinking about it, Li Bin hastily stuffed the flashlight into Tang Mo’s hand. “Take it away. I don’t want this thing.”

The flashlight was rapidly stuffed into Tang Mo’s hand. He had just opened his mouth, but didn’t speak, his expression suddenly pausing as a bizarre light slid through his eyes.

Luo Fengcheng said, “I also want to take a look.” So saying, he reached out his hand in preparation to accept it.

Tang Mo stared blankly for a moment and unexpectedly didn’t hand the flashlight over. Just as Luo Fengcheng was feeling baffled, suddenly, a peal of clear and cheerful singing sounded. The voice was loud and joyful, the high-pitched childlike voice causing the five people in the cavern, as well as the big mole, to all stop what they were doing.

The big mole’s small eyes widened with disbelief.

“How can this be!?”

When the song was finished, a familiar voice resounded in every person’s ears –

[Ding dong! In the first district of A-Country, the stowaway Fu Wenduo successfully cleared the first floor of the Black Tower.]

The big mole jerked its head up and again said, “How can this be!?”

Tang Mo tightly gripped the flashlight in his hand. When the Black Tower was finished broadcasting this line, he suddenly felt a bit fuzzy. In his line of sight, the big mole was holding its head in its hands in total shock, its figure gradually growing faint. He once more looked to Li Bin, Li Wen, Luo Fengcheng, and Lin Qiao beside him. The figures of the four people were also slowly dissipating.

The second after his line of sight went completely dark, Tang Mo opened both his eyes. Bright and beautiful, brilliant sunshine stung his eyes in a scene of white. Tang Mo was like a person on the verge of drowning, gulping in breaths of fresh air as he struggled to adapt to the strong light. When Tang Mo next looked clearly at the scene in front of him, his expression changed and he abruptly twisted the steering wheel. The car scraped along the curb and his whole person was nearly flung out of the vehicle.

The car sped for more than twenty meters before Tang Mo braked and it stopped at the side of the road.

His heart was still wildly racing. Every single thing that he had experienced in the underground cavern seemed to be happening before his eyes. He quickly calmed down, looked in all directions, and noticed that he was back in that original car. It was the place he’d been before the tower attack game had started. Tang Mo and Li Wen had been in the middle of driving. Now he had returned…

“What about Li Wen?”

Tang Mo had returned to driving, but he couldn’t find Li Wen.

He really couldn’t find the other and there was nothing else he could do. Tang Mo stopped on the side of the road and lowered his head to look at the flashlight in his hand.

It was the flashlight that Li Bin had given to Tang Mo. Because it was the little girl’s flashlight and she had died right before their eyes, Li Bin had felt discomfort in his heart and had eagerly given it to Tang Mo. Tang Mo hadn’t imagined that right at the moment he took the flashlight, he would discover that he’d gained an ability.

Tang Mo raised his hand and pulled a book out of the air, flipping it open to the third page –

[Ability: Draw a circle to curse you. [2]

User: Li Bin (Official Player)

Type: Special Type

Function: Attacks a designated target’s karma [3], causing them to have bad luck.

Level: Level one.

Restriction: Can only curse one target a day and is unable to control what negative effect the target suffers.

Remarks: Tang Mo won’t even pay for a flashlight. This is truly stinky and shameless!] [4]

Tang Mo: “...”

He pinched the book page in his finger until it made a crunching sound, took two deep breaths, and continued reading downward –

[Tang Mo-version usage explanation: Can only be used once a day with a 30% probability of being effective. Choking while eating or drinking water is also considered bad luck. This trash ability and Tang Mo have some compatibility.]

If only this wasn’t his ability. Tang Mo hated that he couldn’t grind its bones and scatter the ashes!

According to Tang Mo’s rough guess, if he wanted to obtain other people’s abilities, the first way was that kind of confrontation he’d had with Qian Sankun in which he had directly killed the other party. This way would certainly allow him to obtain an ability. The second way was to do something that was “eating everything without paying.” For instance, Li Bin had handed over the flashlight to Tang Mo and Tang Mo hadn’t given him money. This was a kind of “eating everything without paying.”

But this method of gaining another person’s ability only needed for him to take a flashlight to count as eating everything without paying…was it so simple?

Tang Mo pondered for a moment, vaguely feeling that this matter wasn’t so simple. There might still be some other restriction. He was about to close the book when, suddenly, a line of light colored words appeared after the remarks. He lowered his head to take a look –

[Remarks: Draw a circle to curse you (User: Li Bin), already successfully used.]

“Already successfully used? When was it used? Who was affected?”

The color of the line of words was extremely light and didn’t have the familiar cheap style of the ability book. Tang Mo looked for a long time but didn’t see any clues. He put his hands in his pockets in bafflement and suddenly touched something smooth and solid. He took it out and looked at it.

“The turkey egg?”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes:

[1] The original version makes it more clear in the previous chapter that the big mole is a messy eater.

[2] This is a reference to a cartoon from the mid-2000’s called Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. There’s a character who would crouch down in the corner and “draw a circle to curse you.”

(The text says "draw a circle to curse you [all]")

[3] 因果律 - karmic law; law of cause and effect

[4] It actually says ‘stinky and not wanting face’ but this is a bit clunky as a translation, so I decided to go with ‘shameless’ instead. 

[leonsrightlations]

new editor on the job

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 15.2

Everyone had just seen the big match’s attack power.

Seeing the little girl take a match out of nowhere, everyone was completely startled. Tang Mo was even more surprised and for a moment didn’t react. This match and Tang Mo’s match looked exactly the same. If it really was Tang Mo’s match, then this match could hit the big mole back two steps. Its attack power wasn’t something that they could counter.

The cook was totally unaware of the big match’s power since he had already passed out at that time. He watched the little girl come charging at him and subconsciously went to catch the match while simultaneously slamming a fist toward the little girl’s abdomen. But his hand had not yet met the little girl’s clothing when, with a booming sound, the match slammed down onto the top of his head.

“Thump!” A divot was smashed into the cook’s skull. Blood steadily flowed.

This scene was incomparably familiar. Tang Mo had previously used a similar method to accidentally kill the thief Qian Sankun.

But the cook didn’t immediately die. He collapsed in pain. Soon after, blood flowed over his face. His body twitched and the little girl immediately swung the match, again wanting to slam it down. Unexpectedly, a black shadow quickly leaped over and grabbed hold of her big match.

The big mole’s sharp claw firmly grabbed onto the big match. It was unable to hide its excitement. “Mosaic’s match? A delicious match? Ah, Black Tower, why are you so good to me today? Once again, giving me a second…”

“Snap!”

The big mole’s claw gripped tight and, before it was finished speaking, that match was broken. The match head fell to the ground.

The big mole was suddenly dumb-founded. It blinked its small eyes, looking stupidly at the match that had been broken into two, like it was a character in a cartoon that had been paused.

“No! How could Mosaic’s match be so easily broken? This isn’t Mosaic’s match! You cheated me!”

A thread of cruelty flashed through the big mole’s eyes. With a swish, it twisted its head and looked at the little girl.

The little girl’s complexion was pale and she tottered backward several steps. The big mole gave a shriek and, fast as lightning, slapped a paw onto the little girl’s head.

“Ah!”

Lin Qiao’s complexion was frightened and pale. She sank paralyzed to the dirt and turned her head, not daring to take a look.

The cook fell to the ground and it was unclear if he was dead or alive.

Li Wen and Li Bin also couldn’t watch this scene. Just like Lin Qiao, they twisted their heads so that they weren’t looking.

Tang Mo surprisingly took a few unguarded glances. [1] He quickly turned his head and saw from the corner of his eye that Luo Fengcheng was actually watching without blinking, his brows locked tight. He seemed to be considering something.

He walked to the cook’s side and checked to see if the cook was breathing. After a silent moment, he turned his head to say, “He’s dead.”

The expressions of Li Wen and the two others changed.

They hadn’t imagined that the cook would actually be smashed to death with a match by a little girl.

The big mole condescendingly said, “This fake Mosaic's match is really no good. If it was the real match, he would have definitely died the instant it struck him. This cheater’s thing only has two tenths of the original’s quality. But her ability is actually quite interesting. It can copy any item that was seen in the last twenty-four hours, limited to twice a day. What a pity, the ability grade is too low and can only copy a few useless small things. Mosaic’s match can’t really be copied.”

Tang Mo said, “You know her ability?”

As if it were obvious, the big mole said, “I ate her, so the Black Tower naturally told me about her ability. This stinky stowaway. If she could really copy Mosaic’s match well, I might think about not eating her. She can copy a match for me every day!”

Luo Fengcheng said, “So her ability was like this. That flashlight makes sense. All of a sudden, she came to a dark environment. Her first thought was certainly to light it up. She happened to have seen a flashlight in the last twenty-four hours and just copied it.”

Tang Mo nodded his head in agreement.

From the beginning, Tang Mo had been most suspicious of Peng Yu Wen.

Before they had been pulled into this tower attack game, it had been daytime. Why was that little girl carrying a flashlight in broad daylight? Even if she really had been holding a flashlight in her hand and had also taken it when she entered the game, they had slid down that long tunnel and their bodies were randomly knocked around non-stop. Tang Mo had been bumped about until he was dizzy, but a little girl could actually still firmly hold a flashlight without it being sent flying?

That didn’t make sense.

[Ding dong! Ding dong! Completed the second side mission: Find that damn stowaway.]

When the melodious childlike voice sounded, Tang Mo inexplicably felt that it seemed a bit happy. Was it because a stowaway had been killed?

Tang Mo, however, had none of the happiness of winning a game. He was quietly looking at the two pools of blood on the ground.

Tang Mo raised his head and said, “You just said that Mosaic’s match is amazing. Is it really so amazing?”

The big mole gave a giggling laugh. “Of course. It’s both hard and solid and, most importantly, can roast a very delicious turkey…hic…” It had just eaten a turkey and a stowaway, and the big mole’s mood was clearly pretty good. It rubbed its head. “Oh, right, taking your match to roast a bird was really not good of me. Then, like this… How about I give you a turkey egg?”

The big mole began to dig in the dirt, quickly and effortlessly digging a big hole, revealing innumerable white turkey eggs.

“You humans are unable to hatch a turkey, but turkey eggs are also very delicious. I’ll reluctantly…” The big mole took a completely ordinary white egg out of the countless turkey eggs. It shut both its eyes and begrudgingly passed it to Tang Mo. “Here, take this egg to eat, okay. Don’t say I’m stingy. Uncle Mole is the cutest and most kind-hearted little animal in the Underground City.”

Tang Mo: “...”

[Ding dong! Obtained a side mission reward - a giant turkey egg!]

Taking the white turkey egg, Tang Mo noticed that the mole’s fur was even shinier and that the build of its body also seemed a bit bigger.

Don’t tell me that eating a stowaway could really increase strength?

But there seemed to be a bit of pitch black mist on the side of the mole’s skull. When Tang Mo looked at it, that mist suddenly disappeared. He had probably seen it wrong.

Li Wen said, “Ah? Then do we get a turkey egg? We also helped you roast the bird…hic, we at least helped you find the stowaway, right? Is there a reward?”

The big mole disdainfully glanced at Li Wen and laughed sinisterly. “Reward? There is, ah.”

The big mole twisted its body and stuck is butt out. With a rumbling sound, it let out an incomparably strange smelling, incomparably strange sounding fart.

“Your reward is a fart!”

Everyone: “...”

Tang Mo, who had been accidentally implicated: “..."

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Character Refresher:

Li Bin (李彬), 29, male, works at a PR firm.

Peng Yu Wen (彭玉雯), 18/15, female, first year of university/a fifteen year old. Schrodinger's underage murderer.

Tang Mo (唐陌), 23, male, librarian. Our protagonist! :D

Li Wen (黎文), 25, male, unemployed. A foolishly sweet second generation.

Lin Qiao (林巧), 20, female, university student, Gamer.

Zhao Xiang (赵翔), 32, male, former chef.

Luo Fengcheng (洛风城), 28, Black Tower researcher, wears glasses and looks refined.

Uncle Mole (鼹鼠叔叔), a cute mole! ^_^

Translation Notes:

[1] 唐陌倒是没有防备地多看了几眼 - I’m not entirely sure I translated it clearly, but the meaning is that he watched for a bit longer than the others and then (it’s implied) couldn’t stand to watch anymore. Only Luo Fengcheng watched the whole time.

Only one footnote this time… that’s weird… it feels wrong… I will just randomly give my thoughts about this arc here, then. You can ignore it if you want... I don’t think there’s anything that really still needs explaining for clarification reasons. However:

I actually think the bit about Peng Yu Wen’s flashlight is way more compelling evidence than the things mentioned previously that revealed her identity.

Additionally, there’s a point in this arc that has always bugged me: They seem to carefully confirm Luo Fengcheng isn’t a stowaway because “a stowaway wouldn’t use their ability to create a black tower researcher ID card, therefore he must really be one” ergo “he couldn’t be a killer, because a black tower researcher wouldn’t have the need or ability to kill.” But this totally ignores the fact that the ID card doesn’t have a photo on it.

He could have killed someone in the first three days and then, on the fourth day, after everything went to shit, either picked up an ID card he found (Tang Mo literally sees people breaking into the research facility) or killed a black tower researcher isolated by the disappearances, taking their ID card. I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that this kind of thing might have a future use. On entering the game, this identity really is a bit too eye-catching to use right off the bat, so he could have kept it hidden. When the situation became like this, he could have pulled it out to manipulate the group’s thinking with the exact logic used to clear his identity as a stowaway.

I didn’t want to mention it before since someone might still be thinking there could be a sudden turn of events, but now that it’s been confirmed by our cute Uncle Mole that the sole stowaway was Peng Yu Wen, I wanted to bring it up. This has always bothered me!!! If I can think of it, Tang Mo can think of it!!

Also the original version of this chapter is gorier… The print version changes so much… I’ve been thinking more and more about switching over… ε-(´・｀) But the print version is really convenient for me to work from, especially when I'm work. (Yes, I do translation work while I'm on the clock. Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I read danmei on company time.)

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 15.1

(Under cut to prevent spoilers.)

“Your first words were, ‘I am also not a stowaway.’ This sentence is saying, ‘the previous person and I are the same. Neither of us are stowaways.’”

The young woman’s whole face was covered in tears. She unceasingly shook her head in denial.

Tang Mo said, “According to the current situation, without a doubt, the probability of me being a stowaway is the lowest. Next is him, then him.” He pointed one by one to Li Bin and Luo Fengcheng.

He raised his head. “However, there’s no person we can be certain definitely isn’t a stowaway. There’s also a possibility that I’m a stowaway. But your first words just acknowledged that the chef who spoke before you isn’t a stowaway. The one who knows for sure that the chef isn’t a stowaway is only the stowaway themself.”

The young woman’s body shivered and she didn’t stop wiping her tears, but now there was no one who would again dare to approach and console her.

No matter how weak her outward appearance was, she had been a murderer all along.

Li Bin also sharply nodded. “That’s right. When I heard you say what you said, I felt that there was something fishy. Regarding what happened during those three days, you remember it the clearest and can even declare specific times. You definitely made up this lie early on to be able to make such a smooth declaration.”

This point was very obvious. As soon as Li Bin pointed it out, Li Wen and the other two with him [1] were all suddenly illuminated.

“So it’s like this! You’re definitely a stowaway. Such a small child can really go as far as killing someone? That’s too awful.”

The young woman was still working hard to make excuses. “I haven’t…” But after wailing a few sentences, she seemed to also feel she couldn’t make people believe her again, and gave up struggling. She didn’t speak again and only continued to weep.

Paying no attention to the cook’s lament, Tang Mo said, “Mr. Luo, do you think this guess is correct?”

Luo Fengcheng had always been standing at the side not speaking. When Tang Mo suddenly steered the topic in his direction, he only rhetorically asked, “Do we now still have to guess who the stowaway is? You don’t need to mention other clues. These two points are already enough to prove who the stowaway is. It’s just that I’m quite curious… Who did you kill?”

Everyone’s gazes all turned to the young woman.

No matter how many tears there are, they will eventually run dry, but people’s fears won’t disappear.

In the corner of the underground cavern, the big mole rustled as it dug, whistling a sharp, mocking tune. It took out a piece of bloody meat from who knows where and chewed on it with its big mouth, its tiny eyes surreptitiously looking at the seven people. The young woman fearfully shivered, unable to cry anymore. She looked to Lin Qiao in search of help. Lin Qiao was still soft-hearted and couldn’t bear it, turning her head so that she wasn’t looking at the young woman. What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve. [2]

After a good long time, a hoarse voice softly sounded.

“You have all decided that I’m a stowaway? Yes, I killed him. But that can’t be considered murder. It absolutely can’t!” The young woman lowered her head. No one could have imagined that the young woman whose voice was ice cold like steel was the one who had just now been weeping pitifully. She raised her head. “Can that be considered murder? I gave him life!”

The voice of one who had been forced into desperate straits resonated in the cave, shrill and ear-piercing.

At this time, many of them remembered. This young woman seemed very thin and weak and her expression was also very bad, but just because she looks petite doesn’t mean she was an ignorant child. She wasn’t little. **[3]**

Tang Mo frowned in astonishment. This answer completely went beyond his expectations. Without waiting for him to speak, Luo Fengcheng already said, “You didn’t eliminate your parents?”

A mournful, helpless expression flitted across the young woman’s face. “How can I eliminate my mom and dad? They’re so good to me. The one I eliminated…it’s that thing that shouldn’t have been born!”

Her answer was abundantly clear. This time, even the cook, who was the least clever of them, understood.

The young woman said in an ice-cold tone, “You all say that I lied, but it can’t actually be called lying. I didn’t need to make up those words, because for the past three months, I’ve lived this kind of life. I was cheated by a scumbag and accidentally became pregnant. The doctor said it had been more than seven months and I couldn’t have an abortion. It was very possible that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to have children again afterward, and my life might even be in danger. I absolutely didn’t want that child. But my mom said she didn’t want me to regret it afterward and also didn’t want me to take that kind of risk. The child would be raised by them. They had me give birth to that thing.”

The young woman raised her tear-stained face, her line of sight sweeping past each and every person.

“I’m not as smart as you and I don’t have any use to you, but I only want to live well. To live my life. During those three days, I was hospitalized. On the evening of the second day, I gave birth to that thing.”

Tang Mo’s eyes flashed.

Actually, in the young woman’s words, there had been another two obvious gaps.

One of those was that she said her mom didn’t care about the Black Tower problem. If her mom really didn’t fear the Black Tower, why did she say, on the evening of the second day, that phrase, ‘don’t be afraid?’ What was there to fear from the Black Tower?

This was a contradiction from beginning to end.

Tang Mo initially thought the young woman was lying and not doing a good job of it. Now it seemed that this phrase, ‘don’t be afraid,’ was said so that she would be unafraid and do her best to give birth to the child. No matter what happened later, don’t be afraid of any of it.

“So long as you’re good, I’ll be fine.” This was her mom that, as a mother, she would spare no effort to protect her child. She wouldn’t let her child land in desperate straits.

The young woman’s expression was vicious but her eyes still flashed with a thread of regret and reluctance. Her tone was resolute. “That evening, he was crying. I couldn’t sleep and couldn’t stand it… I eliminated him. He absolutely shouldn’t exist!”

Lin Qiao couldn’t help but say, “You didn’t have to give him life, but you gave him life. He had the right to live.”

“He was going to ruin my life! I’m not even married!” [4] The young woman’s eyes saddened and turned red.

Tang Mo flatly said, “He was just born.”

The young woman suddenly choked and silently lowered her head, not speaking again.

This truth was different from what Tang Mo had imagined. He originally thought the young woman had killed someone by accident, most probably her parents. Because she was barely an adult and was too naive, she wasn’t burdened with the feeling that she had killed someone, and all the things she’d said were lies. The truth was that she detested that child, so even when she was exposed, she completely lacked remorse or panic.

The cook excitedly wrung his hands. “So we found the stowaway, right? We don’t need to die, right? That big mole wants her, not us.”

These words were a bit unpleasant. Li Bin knit his brows. “En, she already admitted that she’s a stowaway.”

Tang Mo said, “What is your ability? Stowaways and official players are the same. They all definitely have abilities.”

The young woman had previously almost been grabbed by the big mole to be eaten up and she hadn’t displayed her ability.

Tang Mo thought about it and said, “Does it have something to do with that flashlight?”

The young woman wiped the tears on her face. “You want to know what my ability is?”

Not only Tang Mo, Luo Fengcheng also said, “It should have something to do with the flashlight.”

The young woman clenched her fingers and suddenly gave a strange laugh. “Yes, I’m a stowaway. You want to deliver me to that mole? My mom died, my dad died, I also have to die…don’t any of you think about living either!”

In an instant, a huge match appeared in the young woman’s palm.

It might be because she had just given birth, but even though she had an ability and her constitution had increased, she was still very short and thin. The match was practically half as tall as her. She brandished the big match and rushed toward everyone, first charging at the cook who had just then taken delight in her misfortune and wanted her to go die.

“I’ll kill you! If I die, don’t even think about living!!!”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Important footnotes this time please read them!!!!! Scroll down to **[3]** and beyond if you don't want to read anything else.

Half a chapter this week and next week. Potentially the next two weeks as well. Unfortunately, I work in retail and it's the holiday season (among other things). I just don't have the energy to do a full chapter each week at the moment. ):

Character Refresher:

Li Bin (李彬), 29, male, works at a PR firm.

Peng Yu Wen (彭玉雯), 18, female, first year of university. Small, looks like a junior high student.

Tang Mo (唐陌), 23, male, librarian. Our protagonist! :D

Li Wen (黎文), 25, male, unemployed. A foolishly sweet second generation who plays around with female celebrities!?!?

Lin Qiao (林巧), 20, female, university student, Gamer.

Zhao Xiang (赵翔), 32, male, former chef.

Luo Fengcheng (洛风城), 28, Black Tower researcher, wears glasses and looks refined.

Uncle Mole (鼹鼠叔叔), a cute mole who is eating melon seeds meat and wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! ^_^

Translation Notes:

[1] 黎文三人 - lit. Li Wen’s three people, i.e. the group of three people headed by Li Wen. This should be referring to Lin Qiao and the cook.

[2] 眼不见为净 - lit. what’s unseen is clean

(jk Lin Qiao's too nice for that)

**[3]** This is an important translation note so I put asterisks next to it. Comparing this paragraph to the original online text cleared up a lot of things that were confusing me about this whole arc both because of the text itself and my memories of reading TEIO the first time. It felt weird to me that the published version kept referring to her as a little girl even though she’s eighteen and only two years younger than Lin Qiao. The text also kept calling her a junior high student and Luo Fengcheng even implies that her lack of reaction stems from her innocence as a child. Can an eighteen year old university student still be called an ignorant child who doesn’t understand what murder is?? I also remember being way less suspicious of her the first time I read the novel and I like to think I’m at least a LITTLE bit harder to trick…

However!!!!!

It turns out that she’s eighteen in the print version and was fifteen in the original text. This makes the entire way she’s viewed by the other characters and spoken about by the narrator make way way way more sense. I intend to go back and edit the ‘young woman’s into ‘little girl’s to preserve the author’s original intention. I haven’t decided whether I’ll go back and alter the age back to the original yet. Feel free to comment if you have an opinion. I think it’s pretty obvious that this change was made due to censorship (the reasons for which should become clear in the rest of this chapter) and not as a late stage edit by the author to better suit the text. 

[4] Just reiterating the above footnote by saying that her original response is that her life would be ruined because she is only fifteen. This also makes Tang Mo’s following retort make a lot more sense. “Maybe you are only fifteen, but he was just born.” <- is the original subtext.

[further footnote] There are additional changes throughout this part of the text that really bring home the point about her age. For example, when the official print version says 'she's barely an adult' the original text says that fifteen isn't that young and that she's almost an adult. There are also additional details about her relationship with the father of the child and his responsibility in the situation. Also, rather than the way the print version insists on referring to her actions as 'elimination,' she directly says she smothered the baby with a pillow. :|

So...uh...

See you next week!

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 14

Startled, Tang Mo took the ID.

It was a metallic silver card with no photo on its face. In the upper right corner was an electronic chip. On the card’s left side, there were three lines of words simply engraved.

Full Name: Luo Fengcheng

District: S-City Team A

Position: Team Leader

After Tang Mo finished looking at the card, he passed it to the others. All of the six people looked at it once and finally returned it to Luo Fengcheng’s hand.

“Why did you deceive us before and say you were some kind of game designer?” Li Bin asked.

Luo Fengcheng took back the card, his expression unmoved. Indifferently, he said, “Everybody will have their own secrets. You hid your ability. For you, your ability is very important and special. My identity is a bit special. Can’t you understand not wanting to reveal it at the start?”

Luo Fengcheng glanced at everyone and continued, “You don’t need to doubt the authenticity of my identity. All of you know that this tower attack game opened very suddenly. From the time the tower attack game was announced until we officially entered, there were only three minutes. I couldn’t prepare a card in advance to fake the identity of a Black Tower researcher.”

Lin Qiao thought for a moment and suddenly seemed to think of something. Right as she wanted to speak, Luo Fengcheng looked at her. “You also don’t need to suspect whether or not I possess an ability and can make a card in a small amount of time. If I really had an ability, why would I want to make an identity card for a Black Tower researcher? I could make an identity card for a game designer. Like this, you wouldn’t suspect me and I could earn a little bit of your trust.”

Luo Fengcheng blocked everyone’s words.

Finally, he looked at Tang Mo. Tang Mo had no expression on his face. He coolly watched Luo Fengcheng, his gaze slightly focused.

Luo Fengcheng said, “I am a Black Tower researcher. You don’t need to doubt this point. The Black Tower descended half a year ago. You should all know that the Black Tower researchers were guarded and didn’t have contact with the outside world. In those three days, I was continuously researching at S-City’s Black Tower. I didn’t have the opportunity or need to murder. Additionally…” His voice paused, and Luo Fengcheng put his hands in his pockets. “If I really wanted to kill, I would only have required a proper reason and there was no need to move my own hand. I could have someone help me resolve it. Moreover, I was protected by a lot of people and was unable to murder.”

It wasn’t cold, yet everyone shivered. Tang Mo still fixedly watched Luo Fengcheng. He understood the other party’s meaning. Before the Earth went online, there were discussions on the internet saying that those researchers wearing white coats who appeared under the Black Tower actually only played a small role. The truly important researchers were all protected by the country. From the front lines, the minor characters gathered data and the country secretly conducted research.

Aside from the deep mountains, old forests, and vast seas, as long as Black Towers were in the city, they were all inevitably located at the city’s center. If the country established a research institute beside the Black Tower, then it was tantamount to being a living target and announcing to the world that their base was located there.

This kind of internet discussion wasn’t verified by the government, but a lot of people believed it without a doubt.

Tang Mo believed that Luo Fengcheng was a Black Tower researcher. Just now, he’d surreptitiously exerted his strength, wanting to break that card. However, it was unclear what material the card was made from, but he unexpectedly couldn’t snap it. It must be known that his current strength was extremely high. He could move a freight truck with his bare hands. Since he was unable to deal with the card, it could be seen that it was very unusual.

Just as Luo Fengcheng said, if it really was an ability, it wasn’t possible to make a card like this. The identity of a Black Tower researched was too conspicuous. Right now, the stowaway most desired to hide their identity and wouldn’t parade around town like this.

Excluding the cook and junior high student [1], whose faces were blank, the several other people no longer had doubts toward Luo Fengcheng’s identity.

If someone like this wanted to kill someone, I’m afraid they really wouldn’t need to move their own hand. Maybe they simply couldn’t kill at all.

The probability that Luo Fengcheng was the stowaway was extremely low.

Everyone had to talk about what they did in those three days. Tang Mo and Li Bin were set aside for the time being. They now turned to Lin Qiao.

“When the Black Tower announced ‘the Earth is online,’ I remember I was in class. What class was it… Oh, that’s right. That day was Wednesday, the 15th. Wednesday morning’s first two periods are advanced math class. Because the Black Tower suddenly spoke, none of our classes finished and we all went back to the dorms. The school even sent out a mass message telling us there was no need to panic and to wait for notice.”

Lin Qiao carefully recalled, “Actually, I was a ‘Black Tower Optimist.’ I like to play survival-type games. I’ve played all of the survival games that have been recently released. At the beginning, I didn’t take the Black Tower seriously. After I returned to the dorm, my roommates and I chatted about the Black Tower for a long time. We might have talked until night time. Anyway, during those three days, our school didn’t have classes and I always just stayed in the dorm playing games. The cafeteria was also temporarily closed and for those few days I always ate take out, staying in the dorm and not going out.”

Li Bin said, “That’s all?”

Lin Qiao continued digging for thoughts. After a long time, she shook her head. “The four people in our dorm were all originally from S-City. However, my dad passed away early on and my mom went to N-City for a business trip. After the Black Tower incident, my three roommates all returned home the next day. I stayed alone at the dorm. That morning I had just gotten up and was brushing my teeth when I heard the Black Tower announce the news. I still didn’t know what had happened until I turned on the computer to play games and found there was no internet. Then I walked to the neighboring dorm and knocked on the door, only to find…everybody was all gone.”

Speaking up to here, this female university student, who had always shown courage and a big heart, was unable to hide the fear that dwelled in her heart. She swallowed and tried hard to keep calm.

“During those three days, I really always stayed in the dorm playing games and didn’t kill anyone. I’m really not a stowaway. After the incident, I just wanted to go to N-City to find my mom. I didn’t anticipate that before I’d even left S-City, I’d be pulled here. You all believe me, I’m really not a stowaway!”

Li Bin nodded his head and looked at Tang Mo and Luo Fengcheng.

The two of them had no objection. Li Bin then walked in front of the next person.

The wealthy second generation, Li Wen, looked at Tang Mo, breathed deeply to ease his nerves, and said, “On the first of the three days, I went to N-City to find friends to play. On the second day, we were still playing. That day should mainly have been spent drinking wine. On the evening of the second day, my dad called and had me come back home. I had drunk a lot that evening and couldn’t return, so I intended to take a nap and go back the next day. As a result, I was suddenly rear-ended by people on the freeway. I fell under the freeway. After I woke up, I saw Tang Mo. I don’t really get all of this Black Tower stuff. All I know is what Tang Mo told me. I only know that I was rear-ended because the other drivers suddenly disappeared. I’m not a stowaway since I’ve never killed anyone.”

Everyone looked at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo nodded. “I first met him on the freeway. His car had been rear-ended. But I’m not clear about his previous matters.”

Li Bin frowned and said, “Why did you say it so simply? Say it again with a bit more detail.”

Li Wen had a bitter face and he thought for a long time. “I already remembered it all the way through before, but I basically spent all of those three days playing with friends, drinking or something. I didn’t do anything unusual. It shouldn’t be necessary for me to say all the things we played, right? It was just ordinary playing and really isn’t important… Drinking wine? Playing ball? Hic, okay, my friend even brought along a few female stars to play…”

No one listened to Li Wen’s words anymore. Lin Qiao wore a disdainful expression.

Li Wen innocently said, “Hey, hey, you all made me say it, okay. What can we play…”

Just then when Li Wen had been speaking, Lin Qiao had already explained the current situation to the cook. After the cook figured out the situation, he was particularly nervous. Sweat the size of beans dripped from his head. He stood perfectly straight and, seeing everyone’s gazes come to him, he promptly said, “I…I am a cook, but half a year ago after the Black Tower appeared, my boss was afraid and ran off. I was unemployed. After that, I depended on delivering takeout to make a living. During those three days, I delivered takeout the same as usual, but since a lot of people didn’t go to work, I had a lot fewer orders. And…and nothing unusual happened. It was just delivering takeout. On the morning of the third day, when I went out the door to make deliveries, I suddenly saw the people on the street disappear. Then I went home in fear.”

Li Bin said, “Can you say it a bit more clearly?”

The cook anxiously wiped his sweat. “Let me think…Oh, right, I remember I delivered to two high-end neighborhoods. One was over there at Anding Temple. [2] The gate guard wouldn’t let bikes enter so I unexpectedly had to walk inside to deliver the meals. There was also one near People’s Square. [3] Other than that…what should I say? What do you think I need to say? You say it and I’ll definitely tell you. I really didn’t kill anyone, ah, really! I’m not that stowaway or whatever!”

The cook looked at everyone’s eyes in anxiety. Tang Mo thoughtfully looked at him, then walked up to the young woman.

Peng Yu Wen had always been standing at Lin Qiao’s side, timidly watching the other people.

Lin Qiao said, “Don’t be afraid, Wen Wen. You just tell us what you did in those three days. The real stowaway must be unable to hide their fox tail…” [4] Lin Qiao’s gaze circled over Li Bin and Li Wen as she said, “You just tell us.”

The young woman nodded her head and said in a whisper, “I’m also not a stowaway. I didn’t kill anyone. I’m the same as this jie jie. [5] Our school also didn’t have us come to class. I was taken home by my mom and dad and then always stayed at home. My dad still had to continue going to work. My mom’s workplace said she didn’t need to come to work, so she and I stayed at home together. Then…”

The young woman’s eyes reddened. “Then, on the third day, my mom suddenly disappeared. I don’t know anything. She just disappeared.”

Lin Qiao pulled on the young woman’s hand and softly comforted her.

The young woman was choked with sobs for a while, her expression pale and her voice hoarse. “The night before my mom disappeared, she even spoke with me, telling me there was no need to fear and that, as long as I was good, she would take care of everything. Mom…my mom, she’s gone…”

The young woman was once again unable to suppress her tears and they rushed out of her eyes.

Among the seven people, there were only two girls. Lin Qiao tightly held this thin and weak young woman, gently caressing her back and continuously comforting her.

Li Bin looked at the two girls and his brows slowly tightened. He opened his mouth, but still hadn’t made a sound when Tang Mo said, “Li Bin, it’s your turn.”

Li Bin startled, then nodded and spoke about his experience. “I work at a public relations company responsible for marketing planning. After the Black Tower incident, our company didn’t go on break and we were required to continue going to work. I myself was a bit conflicted toward the Black Tower and wanted to take a leave of absence, but there happened to be a big project at this time and my boss wouldn’t give approval. I could only continue to work. On the second day, I was pulled into a Black Tower game. That Black Tower game was called…” Li Bin paused for a long time. His expression was strange as he said, “It was called ‘Why Do You Want to Eat Such a Cute Sheepy.’”

Everyone: “...”

Li Bin raised his head to look at Tang Mo. “You should understand, right? I was just suddenly pulled into a strange place. I didn’t do anything at all. The Black Tower announced the start of the game and even announced a heap of bizarre rules. I was pulled into this game with three unfamiliar people. After the four of us entered, we all had sheep doll costumes on. The Black Tower said that we now had to play hide and seek with a wolf in a maze. If we were grabbed, we’d be eaten. We had to find a mysterious egg at the maze’s exit before we were eaten. Only in this way could we overpower the wolf and win the game.”

Li Bin seemed to also feel this game was too childish. His head dropped in exasperation. “When the four of us entered the maze, we decided to split up. Since there was only one wolf, our probability of survival was higher like this. It wouldn’t be as bad as being completely wiped out. [6] Afterward, I heard two of my companions’ miserable screaming and guessed they’d been eaten by the wolf. I hurriedly ran. However, I couldn’t find the maze’s exit and even sensed that the wolf was getting close to me. It had almost caught up to me when the Black Tower suddenly said that the game was over and that my other companion had found the mysterious egg. I don’t know what happened after that. I just won in a confused manner and returned to the company.

“I immediately wanted to tell other people about this, but for some reason I had no way to talk about the game. Regarding the game, I couldn’t make a sound. The people at the company all thought I had overslept and arrived late and that I’d even been late by the greater half of the day. But I had no way to explain myself. I didn’t dare go to work again out of fear and planned to drive back to my hometown the next day. Later, I still hadn’t made it home yet and everyone just disappeared.”

Li Bin lifted his head to look at Tang Mo. “You were also like this, right? Unable to tell anyone else about this matter. Really, I couldn’t say a thing!”

Tang Mo shook his head. “The time when I finished the game was very coincidental. Not long at all after I had finished, everyone disappeared.”

Li Bin said, “But I really am an official player.”

Luo Fengcheng’s tranquil voice sounded at this time. “As a matter of fact, there was an omission from what I said just now. It isn’t only the accidental murderer who will have an excited reaction when their crime is exposed. Any murderer, regardless of whether it’s premeditated homicide or not, will have a reaction when their murderous behavior is pointed out by someone.”

Li Bin’s expression transformed. “What do you mean? I really am an official player, not a stowaway. The stowaway is obviously…”

“He isn’t talking about you,” Tang Mo said.

Luo Fengcheng glanced at Tang Mo. “Any ordinary murderer, when the big mole spoke about the definition of a stowaway just now, would certainly have some subtle change. There are only two kinds of murderers who would be indifferent: The first kind is the antisocial type of murderer. They don’t feel that killing is wrong and so won’t have any abnormality. The second kind is the naive type of murderer. Maybe their age is too young or maybe they’re ignorant. They don’t know the meaning of what they’ve done, so even if their identity is exposed, they won’t have too big of a psychological burden.”

Tang Mo nodded slightly. “Actually, before your first words, I was exceptionally suspicious of you, but in my heart I still hoped it wasn’t you.”

The tall, thin, elegant young man walked up to the two girls and slightly bent down at the waist, looking at that timid and fearful young woman.

“The first words you said revealed your identity. However, you’re only eighteen years old. Who did you kill? Why did you kill?”

Li Bin said loudly, “That’s right, the stowaway is her! I noticed it just now.”

The hand Lin Qiao was using to hold the young woman went rigid and she quickly let go, moving far away from her.

The young woman’s face was covered in tears. She fearfully moved backward two steps and, choking with sobs, said, “I haven’t, I’m not…I didn’t kill, I didn’t…I…I…”

“You are a stowaway.”

With a serene expression, Tang Mo delivered the final blow.

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Character Refresher:

Li Bin (李彬), 29, male, works at a PR firm.

Peng Yu Wen (彭玉雯), 18, female, first year of university. Small, looks like a junior high student.

Tang Mo (唐陌), 23, male, librarian. Our protagonist! :D

Li Wen (黎文), 25, male, unemployed. A foolishly sweet second generation who plays around with female celebrities!?!?

Lin Qiao (林巧), 20, female, university student, Gamer.

Zhao Xiang (赵翔), 32, male, former chef.

Luo Fengcheng (洛风城), 28, game designer Black Tower researcher, wears glasses and looks refined.

Uncle Mole (鼹鼠叔叔), a cute and patient mole. ^_^

Translation Notes:

[1] She’s an eighteen year old in her first year of college. She just looks really small and young. I’ve been addressing her as ‘young woman’ but the text refers to her as 小姑娘 (xiao guniang), which is more like ‘little girl.’ I might go back and change this at a later time. It just feels weird to refer to an eighteen year old college student using the same language that’s used for Mosaic (also a 小姑娘).

[2] Anding Temple and Anding District (where Tang Mo was previously headed) are not real places in Shanghai, but I think they’re probably based on Jing’an Temple and Jing’an District. Here's a photo of the temple:

[3] People’s Square is a real place in Shanghai. It’s home to the Shanghai Museum as well as Shanghai’s municipal government. He's implying that he delivered to a government employee.

(That cool round building on the left is the museum.)

[4] To hide one’s fox tail is to conceal your true (bad) nature. The saying comes from stories of fox spirits who often like to disguise themselves as humans (and other things!) in folklore. Fox spirits aren’t necessarily evil and sometimes even do good, but they’re definitely tricksters and deceivers.

[5] big sister

[6] 一锅端 - to even take the cooking pots, to be totally cleaned out/wiped out. The closest English equivalent is probably “even the kitchen sink.” Which is a weirder way to phrase the same kind of sentiment of “take even the things that normally wouldn’t be taken.” That’s usually true of English, though… Always weirder than necessary…

Translation P.S.:

I was inspired to draw Li Wen's alibi this week while translating... what a little idiot.......

[leonsrightlations]

chapter delay

my power is out yet again and probably won't be back until late in the night. :/ as a result, the next chapter won't be up until monday evening.

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 13

“Stowaways all have a very terrible scent on their bodies. The Black Tower hates stowaways the most, so I can get a lot of rewards for eating stowaways as well as enormous power. The meat of a stowaway is also particularly tasty. This is something I’ve never told anyone.”

The giant mole narrowed those tiny eyes, stomping the leftover turkey bones on the ground to pieces.

“There’s a vile stowaway among you seven. Bring them to me and I will eat them!”

Step by step, the big mole closed in on them.

The chef came to half-consciousness, raising his head just in time to catch sight of the big mole’s sharp claws. He shrieked in fright. The mole rushed at him, issuing a sharp cry, and the chef almost passed out in fear once more.

Tang Mo touched his wrist, but the match tattoo was already gone. According to the mole’s statement just now, the match could bring him through the second floor. That meant it definitely had some kind of use for the first floor as well. Tang Mo could sense that he hadn’t at all brought out the match’s full potential. He was only swinging it around ignorantly.

If he was given a bit more time and could attack the Black Tower a little bit later, he might have been able to more thoroughly prepare.

So why did he have to now attack the tower in advance!

The name of the stowaway who had opened the tower attack game flashed into Tang Mo’s mind, but there was no time to complain. He calmly asked, “Which one is the stowaway? How can we find and deliver them to you?”

Li Wen and Lin Qiao’s eyes widened at the same time and they looked toward Tang Mo.

Luo Fengcheng glanced at him and said nothing. The young woman, Peng Yu Wen’s complexion was pale as she watched Tang Mo, her eyes flickering. She seemed not to understand the meaning of his words.

Lin Qiao couldn’t help but say, “You really want to deliver them? This mole said it will eat that person…”

Tang Mo’s expression was cold as he asked rhetorically, “Then are you going to replace the stowaway and be its dinner?”

Lin Qiao’s words were choked off.

Luo Fengcheng’s faint voice sounded. “The stowaway is a murderer. [1] Maybe they had no choice but to kill. Maybe it was out of defense. The laws of the outside world might not sentence them to death, but the Black Tower has already given them the death penalty. We are only finding the stowaway. The other matter has nothing to do with us.”

Li Bin’s expression transformed and he nodded. “Yeah, that’s right… We only want to find out who the stowaway is, nothing more.”

The big mole laughed with a “ji ji.” “How should I know which one is the stowaway? My cave isn’t big enough and all of you humans have gathered together. The stowaway’s scent has drifted throughout the whole cave. I can’t find them. I’ll give you all an hour’s time to find that vile stowaway. I’ll eat one human for each hour you don’t find them. Then I must be able to eat the stowaway.” The big mole looked at Tang Mo. “Oh, that’s right. The relationship between you and Mosaic is very good. You even lent me a match… Then I’ll eat you last, okay?”

Tang Mo didn’t have much of a reaction to this favor.

The big mole looked at Tang Mo’s indifferent appearance and laughed, then went to the corner and began digging. It seemed to want to make its cave bigger by digging. It dug for a bit, then again turned its head. “Two minutes have already passed. Have you found the stowaway?”

Everyone listened to the big mole’s words, their heads covered in a cold sweat.

Li Bin glanced at everyone, then clenched his teeth and asked, “I’ll just ask once. During those three days’ time, have any of you…killed someone?”

Without question, everybody all shook their heads.

“I guessed it would be like this.“ Since they entered the cavern, the white collar elite held the appearance of their leader. There was no exception now. Li Bin forced himself to appear calm and began to analyze the situation. “The mole said that in those three days, the stowaway eliminated a player by way of murder. The stowaway definitely possesses an ability and they have a terrible scent on their body. I haven’t smelled this scent. Have any of you smelled it?”

Lin Qiao shook her head. “I haven’t. My sense of smell has always been very sharp. There’s only the scent of dirt here.”

Everybody all said they hadn’t. Li Bin’s complexion became unsightly. “Then maybe it’s a scent we humans can’t smell. Only they can smell it. How should we find the stowaway?”

Luo Fengcheng said, “The stowaway committed murder and has an ability.”

The chef had been unconscious for a long time, hadn’t heard any of the big mole’s PSA, [2] and couldn’t follow everyone’s rhythm. “Murder? Ability? Hold on, just what happened?”

Nobody had time to explain it to him.

Li Bin asked, “So what?”

The words had just fallen when Li Bin suddenly turned to look at Tang Mo. “You definitely have an ability!”

Tang Mo had just a moment ago drawn a big match out of thin air. This was definitely beyond human power. It was an ability.

Li Wen explained for Tang Mo, “The big mole said that among us seven, there are two official players, four reserve players, and a stowaway. The official players participated in an official Black Tower game to log in. Tang Mo should be an official player. He knows someone named Mosaic. The big mole knows that person, and they definitely also have something to do with the Black Tower game.”

Tang Mo said, “I really did come in by participating in a Black Tower game. Based on the big mole’s statement, I’m probably an official player.”

Li Bin still shook his head. “Before today, you really might have participated in a Black Tower game, but no one can guarantee that it was during those three days. Four days have now passed since the Black Tower announced that the Earth is online. Who can be sure that you didn’t play a game on the fourth day and murder someone during those three days?”

Tang Mo suddenly felt that it was a bit ridiculous. Just as he was about to retort, he heard Luo Fengcheng say, “He’s an official player. The Black Tower hates stowaways and stowaways have a scent on their body. If he isn’t an official player, then before he could see the big mole he certainly would have been discovered by Mosaic, the big mole’s companion. He wouldn’t have been able to survive until today, let alone get Mosaic’s match.”

Tang Mo looked at Luo Fengcheng in astonishment. The other also looked at him.

Neither of them spoke again and the others also understood.

Li Bin said, “That makes sense. There’s a ninety percent chance you really are an official player. There’s still a ten percent chance you’re a stowaway and previously used some kind of trick to conceal your scent so that you weren’t noticed by that Mosaic.”

He paused, then suddenly walked into the center of the seven people. He looked at them all seriously. “Right now, I’ll confess that I am the second official player.”

Tang Mo was a bit surprised.

Li Bin forced a smile and lifted his right hand. “My ability is very chicken ribs. [3] I don’t want to reveal too much about its specific capabilities, but in the current circumstances, it’s not much use at all. However, I can demonstrate my ability’s effect for you.”

Abilities were everyone’s secret and he could be forgiven for not wanting to reveal his.

They saw Li Bin crouch on the ground, reach out his right finger, and draw a circle on the ground. A smooth, flowing curve gradually appeared on the ground. It was an extremely precise circle and the final point fell exactly at the beginning point. From start to finish, it formed a perfect enclosed circle.

This was a circle that he had drawn out purely with his finger, no tool required.

Lin Qiao’s eyes widened. “So round? Your ability shouldn’t be ‘can draw circles without a compass,’ right?”

Can this be called an ability?

Tang Mo faintly frowned. “Although this circle is extremely well done, it definitely can’t prove that you have an ability. You might have studied art.”

Li Bin nodded. “Then watch again.”

They saw Li Bin reach out his finger and, next to the circle from before, he once again drew a circle. It came full circle [4], fully smooth and round. It was once again an exceedingly perfect circle.

“Ah! Isn’t this the same size as the circle from before!?” Lin Qiao said in alarm.

Li Bin wore a resigned expression. “What my specific ability is, I don’t want to say. But you should be convinced that I have an ability, right? I’m the remaining official player.”

“You…you have an ability. Why can’t you be the stowaway?” The young woman, Peng Yu Wen, stood behind Lin Qiao and spoke shyly, her complexion pale.

Li Bin said, “I took the initiative to come forward and say that I’m an official player. Could I still be the stowaway? Little friend, if I was the stowaway, I would certainly try to hide now, not let other people know that I have an ability. Right now, among the seven of us, only this younger brother [5] is safest.” He pointed at Tang Mo. “There’s an eighty or ninety percent chance he’s really an official player. The big mole said that reserve players might also possess abilities, but the probability is very low. We can just treat it like they don’t have any. In that case, the next person with an ability to appear had a fifty percent chance of being a stowaway.”

Li Bin earnestly analyzed, “Under these circumstances, I took the initiative to come forward and reveal to you all that I have an ability. This can prove that I’m upright and unafraid of having a crooked shadow.” [6]

Li Wen, standing at Tang Mo’s side, interrupted, “You could also be using reverse psychology.” [7]

Li Bin still said, “Since it’s like this, let the third person with an ability come forward. As long as they come forward, they are definitely the stowaway. Because I know - I haven’t killed anyone. I participated in a game. This younger brother is also an official player. So the third person who possesses an ability is definitely a stowaway!”

Tang Mo said, “I believe you.”

Just now, Li Bin had continuously displayed calm, but his lips were actually always slightly trembling. Now he suddenly heard Tang Mo’s words and he shivered from excitement. He walked right up to Tang Mo’s side. “Younger brother, thank you. I really am an official player. I can tell you all about the game I played. I can tell you how I won that game. I can say it all.”

Tang Mo smiled, shook his head, and said, “You in particular don’t have to say it. All of us must say it.”

In the dim underground cavern, the big mole rustled as it dug in the dirt, its mouth whistling a joyful tune.

In order to declare what all of them had experienced previously in those three days, seven people gathered together.

Luo Fengcheng seriously swept his eyes over all of their faces and said, “I can divide all of the murders that occur in this world into three kinds: The first kind is the accidental type. This is the most commonly seen reason for killing. Most of the time, people have an excited state of mind and can’t control themselves. They might kill by mistake, or use excessive force from self-defense, causing an accident. This is an honest mistake. If that stowaway among us [8] killed someone due to an accident, then when that big mole clearly gave the definition of a stowaway, they would certainly be uneasy. They would feel they had been revealed, have a guilty conscience, and feel somewhat exposed.”

Li Wen said in alarm, “Ah? Then say it earlier. A long time has passed now. Who knows what everyone’s reaction was at that time?”

Tang Mo said, “I paid attention. At that time, everyone’s reactions all still seemed normal and not too excited.”

Luo Fengcheng gave Tang Mo a glance. “He’s not wrong.”

Since entering this cavern, Tang Mo hadn’t relaxed his vigilance. Having experienced a “you die, I live” two person confrontation game, Tang Mo didn’t dare believe these unfamiliar “teammates.”

Luo Fengcheng continued to say, “So there’s an eighty percent chance that the stowaway among us didn’t accidentally kill. They knew they were committing murder. It was deliberate. There is the second kind - the violent type. They only purely desire to kill. The reason is generally to satisfy their own various abnormal psychological or physical needs.”

Everyone touched their necks, feeling a bit cold.

This kind of criminal also wasn’t rare. Serial killers could be classified in this category.

Tang Mo wrinkled his brows.

Then Luo Fengcheng finally said, “I think the stowaway among us ought to be classified as the third kind. They deliberately killed, but don’t have the heart of a killer. They know it’s murder, but absolutely aren’t a homicidal person. They have their own reason for killing. So when they’re exposed, they won’t be surprised, because they already know what they did and why they had to do it.”

Li Wen gulped. “I also feel there shouldn’t be a crazy, antisocial killer like that among us.”

Lin Qiao felt a bit cold. “I also agree. It should be the third kind.”

Tang Mo very calmly listened until Luo Fengcheng finished speaking every word. Then he walked up to Luo Fengcheng and said with a smile, “What you said is really very reasonable. Like this, we can now continue the previous topic, right? It would be best to start from you. Mr. Luo, what did you do in those three days? Are you really a game designer? Where do you work?”

Luo Fengcheng lifted his head slightly, looking at the black-haired youth before his eyes.

Tang Mo’s expression wasn’t too aggressive, yet there was a thread of doubt and question mixed into his gaze.

The two of them stood face to face for a long time.

Luo Fengcheng took an ID out of his pocket and handed it over. “During those three days, I was under the Black Tower conducting research experiments. Let’s officially meet. I’m the team leader of the S-City District A research institute, Luo Fengcheng.”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Character Refresher:

Li Bin (李彬), 29, male, works at a PR firm.

Peng Yu Wen (彭玉雯), 18, female, first year of university. Small, looks like a junior high student.

Tang Mo (唐陌), 23, male, librarian. Our protagonist! :D

Li Wen (黎文), 25, male, unemployed. A foolishly sweet second generation whose Maserati is now destroyed.

Lin Qiao (林巧), 20, female, university student.

Zhao Xiang (赵翔), 32, male, former chef.

Luo Fengcheng (洛风城), 28, wears glasses and looks refined.

Uncle Mole (鼹鼠叔叔), a cute and generous mole. ^_^

Translation Notes:

[1] The general words 犯罪 and 罪犯 (crime and criminal) continue to be used throughout here with a few exceptions. To ease my own headache over this matter, I’ve decided to just translate them directly as murder/murderer or killing.

[2] The text says “料普” (with the quotes). I had a really hard time trying to figure out what this means, but based on the literal translation (popular information) and the quotes, I’m guessing that it has the same kind of casual, faux-official tone and meaning as PSA. Uh, PSA stands for public service announcement, in case you don’t know.

[3] “Chicken ribs” means basically useless. Baidu: “It doesn’t have much meat but it would be a pity to throw it away. Something that has little value but you can’t bear to abandon it.”

Shout out to Baidu for always having the answers to my Chinese language and culture questions when all English browsers have is fear mongering about China as a geopolitical power. *kisses two fingers and raises them to the sky* (I assume that’s where Baidu is, based on the aforementioned fear mongering [JOKE!!!!].)

[4] 周而复始 - idiom literally meaning “the circle comes back to the start.” Like the English saying “to come full circle,” it doesn’t actually have anything to do with literal circle shapes. Rather, it refers to repetitive, cyclical actions and events like seasons. Basically, this is just word play.

[5] 兄弟 (xiongdi) - Another brother appears… Literally younger brother, and that’s how I’ll translate it, to avoid overburdening readers with pinyin to remember.

[6] “Those who stand upright are unafraid of casting a crooked shadow” is a Confucian saying. It basically means that those who haven’t done anything wrong aren’t afraid of appearing as though they have. (As a real life “sorry cop,” I don’t know that I personally agree with that statement!!!!)

[7] More literally, “taking advantage of our reversed thinking.” He’s accusing Li Bin of coming forward because they would never expect the stowaway to come forward. So, reverse psychology.

Sorry for all the consecutive footnotes. BTW, if anyone knows how to hyperlink down and back for footnotes on tumblr please hit me up. I just don’t think tumblr has this functionality at all, otherwise, as a personal footnote lover, I would implement it. I could be wrong, though.

[8]

I’m actually not sorry about this footnote.

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The author's little theaters don't make it into the official print version and I don't have the raws for them (sadge) so here's my own unofficial little theater:

Fu Wenduo: My wife thought about me today... (/▽＼*)｡o○♡

Tang Mo: (#ಠ益ಠ)