Chapter 102
The sky was dark and there was only one star hanging in the east, close to the horizon. Tang Mo stared at Fu Wenduo after hearing this voice. His fingers clenched tightly before loosening up.
Fu Wenduo said, “Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
The two people quickly entered the service station. Fu Wensheng was already standing up and waiting for them.
Every highway in China was established in rural areas. The service station that the three of them were currently in was located near the small city of Yangzhou. It was a small service station, quite old and not luxurious. The service station stood alone on the vast expanse of ground, surrounded by farnd. The darkness hid everything. Once Tang Mo determined there was no one around, the ck tower started to announce the rules of the new version.
“Ding dong! The ck tower version 3.0 new rules—”
“First, every month, each of Earth’s 10 regions will open a game for thest yers in the region. From April 2018, thest 10 days of each month will be the final review period.”
“Second, at 18:00 on March 31st, 2018, the mandatory tower attack game will open. By the end of March, yers who haven’t attacked the tower must enter the tower attack game.”
“Third, the ck tower game (mentally handicapped mode) is open, please explore on your own.”
“Ding dong...”
The clear child’s voice abruptly stopped.
The Tang Mo trio listened carefully to the contents of this version update. Once the voice abruptly stopped, Tang Mo’s heart sank. Chen Shanshan’s super intelligent thinking ability made an unknown premonition fill his heart. He looked up at Fu Wenduo. Fu Wenduo’s hand was pressed against the ck dagger. Right now, they were more than 60 kilometers from the ck tower in Yangzhou but in the darkness, they could see a small shadow suspended in the sky.
The ck tower should be extremely small but it was incredibly clear in Tang Mo’s eyes.
All over the world, the exact same thing was happening where every ck tower was located.
It waste at night in China, early in the morning in Europe and daytime in the United States. In the cold Russia, heavy snow covered everything. Moscow was experiencing thick snow and a tall bear-like man wrapped in a thick cotton coat went to the middle of the Red Square. The ck tower was suspended on top of the south side of the Red Square, above Saint Basil’s Cathedral.
On this snowy night, yers near the Red Square heard the ck tower announcing the new version rules and rushed over, hiding in the darkness to observe. However, once the man arrived, all the yers around him stared with horror before running away at the fastest speed, not daring to stay for one second.
There was only one person left in the huge red square.
The man walked through the thick snow towards the ck tower. Every step he took caused him to sink down to his knees in the snow.
Finally, the man arrived at the door of Saint Basil’s Cathedral and looked up at the ck tower.
At this moment, the stopped voice of the ck tower started again. Once it started, Tang Mo was startled from where he was located in Yangzhou, China. In every corner of the world, the yers looked at the ck tower closest to them with astonishment. They heard a heavy, hoarse male voice enunciate each word.
“Ding dong! The ck tower’s third iron-dw—”
“All yers please... attack, the, tower.”
Then the ck tower resumed its serenity. yers around the world could no longer sit still. The turmoil swept over the entire.
Moscow’s Red Square, Saint Basil’s Cathedral.
The tall and strong man heard the voice and the blue eyes below his hat didn’t fluctuate at all. He turned slowly and left the square. Just as he walked past a streetmp, he suddenly stretched out a hand and pulled the streetmp up, throwing it at the ck tower behind him.
The iron actually flew to a height of 100 metres and would soon smash into the ck tower. But just as it was about to hit the ck tower, it passed straight through and fell smoothly to the ground. There was a loud bang and the streetmp hit the cathedral below the ck tower. Inside the church, there were dozens of simr giant metal objects and stones on the ground, smashing the Jesus made of jade into small pieces.
In the silent Moscow, the man stepped through the heavy snow and left the Red Square.
China’s Yangzhou, a service station.
Fu Wensheng was standing by the window and looking at the ck tower until it finished announcing the new rules. After half a minute, he recovered his spirit and muttered, “The ck tower... that is the voice of the ck tower.”
Tang Mo looked calm. “...Yes, it is the voice of the ck tower.”
Fu Wensheng couldn’t respond as his heart beat very quickly. Then he found that Tang Mo and his big brother were very calm and weren’t showing any traces of abnormalities. The child took a deep breath to calm down and analyzed, “The ck tower always used a mechanical type of child’s voice, whether it is to announce news to the world, to China or to individual yers. But the ck tower has used other sounds too.”
Tang Mo spoke, “Yes, five months ago, Fu Wen...” He turned to look at Fu Wenduo. “You first attacked the tower and pulled all Chinese yers into the game. At that time, the ck tower yed the ‘Thanksgiving Day’ with a female chorus. After that, it also hummed a luby with female voices but it never used this male voice. In addition, this time it said...” Tang M paused before continuing, “All yers please attack the tower.”
Fu Wenduo raised an eyebrow at Tang Mo: It yed a Thanksgiving song for me?
Tang Mo was busy thinking about the ck tower’s new rules and the heavy voice and didn’t notice Fu Wenduo’s eyes.
Fu Wenduo retracted his gaze. “This is the third of the three major iron-dws announced when the earth went online.”
“Yes, it’s the third one. Third, all yers please attack the tower.” Tang Mo said, “In the new version rules, it announced that starting from next month, a game for thest yers will be opened every month. Then it told all yers to attack the tower...” Tang Mo sighed and concluded, “The ck tower is reminding all yers not to forget this iron-d rule. It wants the global yers to not ck off and continue to build up their strength. That’s why it didn’t mention the other two rules, only thest one...”
Tang Mo didn’t say anything else but Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng understood his meaning.
The ck tower would no longer allow things like the Nanjing Group to appear.
Tang Mo didn’t know if apart from Nanjing, the other nine districts involved in the game two days ago were judged as beingst by the ck tower because of a strong organization. Setting aside the additional mandatory tower attack game at the end of march, there was no doubt that the most important piece of information it wanted to convey about this 3.0 version update was:
[All yers please attack the tower.]
From now on, organizations like the Nanjing Group wouldn’t exist. Thest yer game that opened once a month would be like the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, not allowing anyone to ck off.
Tang Mo said, “But this time, the ck tower also revealed another pierce of information. The world is divided into 10 regions. It will open thest yer game in each of the 10 regions. In other words, thest person’s garbage cleaning game that we participated in before also happened to yers of other countries but the ck tower didn’t publish the information. Its announcement was only within each region.”
Fu Wenduo suddenly said, “Five months ago, on November 15th, it announced that the earth was online. After that, at 8:00 on November 18th, the global yers officially came online.” Tang Mo and Fu Wensheng looked at Fu Wenduo, waiting for his next words.
Fu Wenduo whispered, “UTC +8?”
Fu Wensheng heard this and eximed, “Eh? Is it because of time zones?” The Nanjing Group and Strategy Group’s affairs were always handled by Xiao Jitong. Maybe it was because of Fu Wensheng’s young age but Xiao Jitong didn’t disclose this information to him.
Tang Mo had long guessed this matter. “The ck tower’s time is based on GMT. The second iron-d rule is that the game time is 6:00 to 18:00 every day. This time corresponds to the standard time of each region. If there is another event simr to the Christmas instance, there is a solution.”
Fu Wenduo replied, “Running with time?”
“Yes, running with time. Of course... if there is a strength that can go faster than the Earth’s rotation then it is better to participate directly in the game.”
Fu Wenduo let out a lowugh. Tang Mo also shrugged.
Fu Wensheng stood silently as he watched his brother and Tang Mo talking. Their leaps in thinking was very fast. Many times, Tang Mo didn’t have to say anything and Fu Wenduo could already think of associated matters. Then once he spoke his thoughts, Tang Mo could follow his ideas and specte on the next step.
Fu Wensheng could barely follow their thinking. This wasn’t saying that he was slow and not smart. He just didn’t have the special tacit understanding between the two of them. Fu Wensheng looked at them and inexplicably felt that he couldn’t get in. Fortunately, the child hadn’t thought too deeply about what role he would y in this group when Tang Mo spoke about the second thing.
“The third rule of the 3.0 version is that the mentally handicapped mode is turned on. I don’t know what this mentally handicapped mode is.”
Fu Wensheng immediately said, “When I was pulled into the tower attack game by Brother, the ck tower said that it was currently in mentally handicapped mode. Perhaps this mentally handicapped mode is simr to the original? But this time, the ck tower said that it is the mentally handicapped mode of ck tower games, not the tower attack games. Maybe it is just an ordinary game, not a tower attack game.”
The trio carefully discussed the three rules of the ck tower’s 3.0 version as well as the male voice used by the ck tower.
In the middle of the night, Fu Wensheng filled a few empty water bottles. His ability allowed him to fill up 30 bottles of water a day so he never wasted his chances. As Fu Wensheng poured the mineral water, Tang Mo quietly walked out of the service station.
Fu Wenduo looked at him and Tang Mo said lightly, “I wille back soon.” He walked past Fu Wensheng as he said this. The child looked at Tang Mo and realized he was going out. Fu Wenduo stared at Tang Mo’s back. As Tang Mo’s figurepletely disappeared, his lips curved but he didn’t speak.
Tang Mo walked to a remote corner behind the service station and looked around. Once he was sure that no one was present, he took out a red gem from his pocket. Tang Mo put on Mario’s hat without any expression, looked at the wall in front of him and them... silently mmed into it.
Bang bang bang!
After three hits, Tang Mo put away the three types of trash that had fallen to the ground and returned to the service station.
Early the next morning, the trio continued on their journey.
Fu Wenduo imed that it would take up to four days to go from Yangzhou to Beijing. However, they had just entered the Hebei area when they were identally pulled into a tower game. Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng were pulled into the game, with only Tang Mo left behind in the car. The surprised Tang Mo found that his two teammates had disappeared.
Tang Mo quickly reached out and grabbed the steering wheel from the passenger seat. He controlled the direction and gradually stopped the car.
Three dayster, two figures appeared on the highway.
Fu Wenduo had some injuries. Fu Wensheng was better but a bit of blood was flowing from his forehead. During the course of the game, Tang Mo had been using the turkey egg’smunication to talk and he knew the situation of the two people. Now that both of them emerged, Tang Mo returned to the passenger seat and the three of them drove to the nearest service station.
Tang Mo found some supplies from the service station. He returned to the car and handed a bottle of water to Fu Wenduo. “You are fine and smoothly passed the game but today is March 14th.
Fu Wenduo epted the water. “This is Handan. If there are no idents when driving, we should be able to arrive in Beijing before tomorrow.
Tang Mo pulled out a map book from his bag and opened it to the map of Hebei. He pointed to the map and said, “The map shows that it is 100 kilometres from the Handan area. I have observed it from the highway and based on the size of the ck tower, it isn’t very far away.”
The two of them looked at each other.
Fu Wenduo said, “Go to Handan tonight.”
Handan, Hebei, March 14th, 23:30.
Fu Wenduo drove the car to the edge of the city and parked it in a hidden underground parking lot. He and Tang Mo got off the car, leaving Fu Wensheng to wait in the car for their news. The child had simr experiences before and he said, “Don’t worry about me. Brother, Brother Tang, be careful. In Nanjing, our Nanjing Group was rtively strong. When the ck tower’s 2.0 version updated, the captain and Captain Xiao directly went to Xinjiekou to observe the changes in the ck tower. But this is Handan. Be careful.”
Tang Mo nodded lightly.
Fu Wenduo didn’t answer.
Fu Wensheng watched Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo leave. The two of them were extremely fast as they disappeared from the parking lot in a few seconds. Fu Wensheng stared nervously at the entrance and exit of the parking lot. He held his props and carefully watched every possible yer.
Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had never been to Handan but the ck tower was the best signpost. The two of them walked on both sides of the road, paying careful attention to the surrounding movements. The two of them gathered again once they reached the ck tower. They found an abandoned clothing store and quickly hid it.
There was silence all around them.
Fu Wenduo immediately shut the door when he entered the clothing store and then Tang Mo whispered, “Here,e over here.”
Fu Wenduo was stunned and quickly moved over.
This clothing store was a single room store located on themercial street next to the centre of Handan. On the street facing side, apart from a small door for single entry, the rest was a ss window for clothes. Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo formed a triangle by the ss window and wall, staring intently at the ck tower not far away.
A minuteter, a ck figure shed across the road and entered a nearby mall to hide.
Tang Mo stared closely at the shadow.
After waiting another five minutes, they didn’t see anyone apart from the person who had just hidden.
The cool breeze blew across the road, causing the dust on the ground to rise and covering the long dried blood. Through the ss window, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo watched the ck tower in the sky. Tang Mo waited patiently as time passed.
At midnight, a dazzling white light lit up the ck tower.
Tang Mo didn’t think that the ck tower would actually give off a strong white light when it updated. His eyes were pained and he reflexively narrowed them. Before he could react, a hand covered his eyes, blocking out the white light.
Tang Mo’s breathing paused.
A hot palm was tightly attached to his eyelids and the hot temperature passed to his skin. A faint white light shone through the gap between Fu Wenduo’s fingers. Tang Mo’s lips slightly opened and he didn’t speak for a long time. After three seconds, the white light dissipated. Fu Wenduo removed his hands.
A momentter, Tang Mo said, “...I didn’t expect that this update would be different fromst time.”
Fu Wenduo asked, “Did you go to see themst time?”
Tang Mo still felt a bit awkward but there was an indescribable feeling in his heart. He heard this and asked curiously, “Didn’t you see the ck tower’s 2.0 version updatest time?”
“I just entered an instance.”
It was like this. Tang Mo exined, “AT that time, the ck tower emitted a colourful light, simr to the light ball at KTVs. Then it said that the new version went online and the updatepleted.”
Fu Wenduo asked, “Just that?”
“It also said the total number of yers in the world at the time. In addition...”
Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed and he quickly turned his head to look at the ck tower.
There was a shing white light dot at the top of the ck tower. This dot was so small that it was hard to detect. Tang Mo squinted and counted the number of times the light shed over and over. The light dot blinked very quickly, the frequency almost exceeding the visual limit that humans could achieve. It shed again and again. Tang Mo counted them but he wasn’t sure if the number he had was correct.
It shed onest time before the white light stopped. Tang Mo whispered the number, “...It is 9,927.”
Fu Wenduo had also counted the number of shes so the two people had no time tomunicate. Then Fu Wenduo saw that second shing white spot that appeared before the first one. This time it blinked a bit slower and once it finished, Fu Wenduo said, “364.”
Tang Mo clearly remembered that three months ago, the first white spot only shed 62 times while the second light lit up halfway. His lips tightened and Fu Wenduo prepared to speak. Suddenly, a dim white light spot unexpectedly lit up below the second one.
Tang Mo’s eyes narrowed.
In the darkness, the third white spot was shining so faintly that it was hard to detect. Then it lit up.
It shed slightly before stopping.
After three seconds, it shed again. Finally, it permanently stopped.
The next second, a cheerful child’s voice was heard. The loud music filled the sky as countless children sang in unison. They sang cheerfully and as Tang Mo previously said, the ck tower radiated a colourful light, like an inferior light ball in an old-fashioned KTV, instantly illuminating the entire downtown area.
In the cold wind, the joyous song seemed to change. Once it finished singing, the cold mechanical voice was heard.
“Ding dong! 21.42 million yers have sessfully loaded the game...”
“Game saved...”
“The yer data is loading...”
“The game data is loading...”
“Save is sessful...”
“Loaded sessfully...”
“Thest yers instance has been updated...”
“Ding dong! On March 15th, 2018, the ck tower version 3.0 has officiallyunched. All yers are wee to enter the game.”
“All yers, please attack the tower.”
“Ding dong! Happy games!”
The author has something to say:
ck Tower: These two dogs, give me that dog food! I won’t tell you how many times the first light shed ╭(╯^╰)╮
Added a ko-fi for the people asking for an alternative to Patreon:
You can also join my discord channel to chat with fellow readers about the novels;