The Earth is Online
chapter-8

Chapter 8

Tang Mo didn’t have time to grieve or feel fear.

The huckster and Xiao Zhao had disappeared completely, leaving no clothes or belongings behind. Therefore, he didn’t need to clean up anything.

Tang Mo closed the door and left the library.

There were seven or eight people gathered under the black tower. Some of them were sitting on the ground, not understanding what had just happened. Why did the companions they had been marching and shouting with disappear in a matter of minutes?

In addition to those people, there were also the two middle-aged elite men at the white wall.

The white plastic wall was put up three days ago by the armed police. The black tower was enclosed inside and the wall stopped ordinary citizens from approaching.

Now the armed police and scientists working at the white wall had disappeared. The two men created a large hole in the white wall and approached the tower. Tang Mo didn’t follow them. He watched from a distance before moving forward.

Many scientists had studied the tower for half a year without a clue. Tang Mo didn’t think he could figure out what the black tower was.

The first problem Tang Mo encountered was that he didn’t have a car.

It was 8:15. At 8 o’clock, the huckster and Xiao Zhao had disappeared. Like them, most people in the city were gone. Without a driver, the buses and subways couldn’t move. In addition, many people were driving when they disappeared. Now those cars crashed into one another, blocking the road.

Tang Mo walked half a kilometre and found a yellow bicycle.

He took out his phone and scanned the QR code.

“It is useless…”

Tang Mo frowned before kneeling down to observe the structure of the yellow bicycle. After two minutes, he picked up a stone from the ground and started to bang it against the lock.

The huge shock made Tang Mo’s wrist feel uncomfortable, but his strength was much higher than before. The steel lock was smashed with two hits.

Tang Mo looked thoughtfully at the lock he had broken and rode the yellow bicycle home.

40 minutes later, he entered his community and parked the yellow bicycle downstairs.

The community was silent, with no one around. Only the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves was heard. Tang Mo arrived home and packed some clothing. Tang Mo was his parent’s only child and his grandparents had passed away when he was a child. After his parents died in the car accident, he lost contact with his relatives.

Tang Mo had a few good friends who didn’t stay in Suzhou after graduation. One went to Beijing while the other went to Shanghai.

The huckster’s daughter was also in Shanghai, so he could go and find his friend.

Tang Mo had been trapped in the library since yesterday morning. At home, he filled up his stomach and packed a few more clothes.  His things were packed but there was a serious problem.

He didn’t have a car.

From Suzhou to Shanghai, it took half an hour by a high-speed train and one hour by car.

The high-speed train was certainly not operational now and Tang Mo didn’t dare imagine the situation on the railway lines. If it was like the streets where countless drivers disappeared, there would be many accidents. On the railroads, the unmanned trains probably all crashed into each other.

He needed a car.

Tang Mo went upstairs and knocked on his landlord’s door. There was no reaction so after three minutes, he raised the iron bar he brought from his home and broke open the door.

The heavy smell of gas was heard as soon as he entered.

Tang Mo hurriedly ran to the kitchen to turn off the gas stove and opened the window for ventilation.

There were still chopped vegetables on the kitchen table. The owner of this house was preparing to cook a delicious breakfast before they disappeared. Tang Mo had left his school a year ago and rented a house. The landlord was a very good old couple who lived upstairs. The old husband and wife were retired and had nothing to do. They sometimes invited Tang Mo upstairs to eat with them.

Tang Mo didn’t have a car and used to borrow the landlord’s.

He took the car key from the drawer under the TV cabinet and looked around. He found there was really no one in the house and left.

Shanghai was close to Suzhou and wouldn’t consume much fuel. However, Tang Mo discovered that the landlord’s car really had no fuel left. The pointer was approaching the red line. Based on this amount, the car would stop halfway to his destination.

He could only go refuel first.

Tang Mo inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it to the right. As soon as he started the car, there was a sharp burst of pain from his heart. It was like a big hand was pressing hard on his heart. Tang Mo paled in an instant and his heart throbbed, the blood in his body flowing at an extreme rate.

His temperature soared at an unimaginable rate.

40 degrees Celsius in a minute!

However, the high temperature of 40 degrees didn’t burn Tang Mo’s brain. He was still awake and clearly felt a sharp knife cutting at his heart. His body temperature was still climbing and the pain from his heart gradually increased.

Tang Mo hit the front passenger seat with a fist but this didn’t relive the pain.

The intense pain made his slowly lose consciousness.

10 hours later, Tang Mo woke up and it was dark. His clothes became soaked with sweat while he was unconscious, dried naturally and then soaked with sweat again. He didn’t know how many times this repeated until his heartbeat returned to normal and the uncomfortable pain disappeared.

Tang Mo’s expression was still a bit ugly, but his eyes were extremely sharp and bright.

He touched his chest and found that his heart had resumed its normal beating. He checked the rest of his body and didn’t discover any abnormalities.

Then he reached out and grabbed a book from the air.

He pulled a book entirely out of thin air, but Tang Mo’s face didn’t look surprised. It was a book that looked like a notebook. The cover was yellow-brown cardboard and the inside was blank. Tang Mo stared at the blank page carefully. Under his gaze, words started to appear on the white paper.

[Ability: Don’t give money for eating]

[Owner: Tang Mo]

[Type: Special Type]

[Function: Collecting abilities.]

[Note: Everyone has a dream in their heart. Don’t give money when eating! Don’t look at Tang Mo as an exemplary role model. In his heart, he has always wanted to do this type of thing. At the age of 7, Tang Mo stole the chocolate of his neighbour’s child but didn’t give any money. At the age of 10, he copied the work of another person at the table and didn’t give money. At the age of 15, he sneaked out the first herbal medicine table (calcium) and didn’t give money!

You see, he just wants to consume everything without giving money!]

Tang Mo, “…”

This was insane! Tang Mo almost wanted to slap the book into the wall. Fortunately, he endured it. This was his ability.

Once Tang Mo woke up, he knew that he had an ability. His ability wasn’t wind or lightning, nor was it an innate power. It was a book that made people want to slap it.

Tang Mo kept looked through the book, but there were no words other than the first few lines of information. He examined it for half an hour without any clues. Then after a long time, another line of words appeared in the book.

[Note: Do you still think Tang Mo will give money? Friend, he is thinking about going to the gas station. Will he give money?]

Tang Mo, “…”

Bang!

A book was thrown out the window.

A minute later, a handsome young man got down from the car and picked it up blankly.

The book was placed on the passenger seat and Tang Mo didn’t look at it again. He drove the car to the nearest gas station. There was nobody at the gas station. A few refueling pipes had fallen casually to the ground, the pungent smell of diesel filled the air. It was estimated that the employees had disappeared while refueling.

Tang Mo paused before getting out and took his wallet from the back seat.

There was clearly no one at the gas station but he still shouted, “Is anyone there?”

After getting no response, Tang Mo went directly to a refueling station. This station already had a card inserted in it that was common for employees. Each staff member at a gas station had a card with a very high quota. They would draw the fuel costs directly from the card in order to refuel the driver.

Tang Mo didn’t own a car and didn’t have a private card. He could only refuel the car with the staff card.

In the quiet and empty gas station, the tall and thin dark-haired young man quickly filled up the fuel. The dark night always made people feel nervous. This was originally a busy area of Suzhou but now there was nobody. Only Tang Mo stood under the bright light, refueling his car.

The darkness seemed to be hiding something and a sharp wind whistled past.

Tang Mo put the refueling pipe back. He was about to leave when he thought of something and his expression changed. He pulled out 200 yuan in bills and placed them under a stone on the ground of the gas station.

He was about to get up and return to his car when something cold pressed against his lower back. Tang Mo remained in his bent over position and didn’t move.

“Don’t move! Hurry up and pull out your wallet!”