Chapter 149 - Sad.

In the darkness of the room, the clock ticked on and off.

It is already dark and a thin veil of daylight is drawn over it. The city lights shine through the veil, casting a pale, dark light on the living room floor. The house is frighteningly quiet, the mobile phone has been dropped on the floor and a mouse has fallen to the ground, cracked in several places, obviously having been dropped.

A drop of water slowly drips from the kitchen hand tap.

"Snapped--"

At the sound, the tall, thin young man huddled in the corner of the bedroom shuddered, then he buried his head in his legs again, trembling.

Li Miaomiao is lying on his desk in a classroom in Chaoyang District's eightieth middle school, his voice calmly narrating: "That copy is the strangest copy Qi Heng and I have ever seen. There was no boss, nor any other The black tower monsters. After entering the copy, The black tower only told us to find a way out of the copy, but gave us no other conditions." Li Miaomiao spoke slowly, "At first Qi Heng and I were wary of the human who appeared in the copy, but gradually we realised that he couldn't see us, and we couldn't touch him."

"He is 'official player Wang Zexin'."

The Transparent Man could reappear at any time, and maybe the next time it would be a higher ranked and powerful Transparent Man. Li Miaomiao briefly recounts the scene he saw in that copy. A dimly lit house, as if time had stood still. At first the player called Wang Zexin tried to contact the outside world, to escape. But it was impossible for him to escape.

The windows are sealed, the glass is made of steel and cannot be broken.

Can't open the door.

When you call, all you get is a "not in service" message. There is no internet access and no communication with the outside world.

Li Miaomiao: "The time was from 7pm on the 17th to 7am the next morning, i.e. 7pm on the 18th. This was the first night, and Qi Heng and I did nothing but simply observe the copies. In the morning the neighbour across the street was out and Wang Zexin kept banging on the security door, but the people across the street couldn't hear him."

Ruan Wangshu: "This copy is the equivalent of separating that house from the outside world, making it a separate copy. It's impossible to leave the copy without passing the game."

At the end of the sentence, Ruan Wangshu looked up at Tang Mo.

Tang Mo is standing in the middle of the classroom, looking calm. Ruan Wangshu had heard Qi Heng say that Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo had tried to enter Wang Zexin's house and that they should have known Wang Zexin, or even been friends. But now Tang Mo is not showing any signs of abnormality, so maybe he is hiding it well, or maybe he is really just a friend.

Tang Mo: "At 8am on the 18th, did he disappear? Into the world of the transparent man?"

Li Miaomiao shook his head: "No. He's not a transparent person and he's not an official player. Because he only finished half of The black tower game, so he's really dead."

Li Miaomiao knew that this man was a friend of Tang Mo's, but she had no regard for the emotions of her so-called friend, and she was straightforward: "Qi Heng and I spent a total of five nights, or 60 hours, in that copy, repeating Wang Zexin's last day before he died over and over again. At the end we finally noticed something strange, the clock on the living room wall."

Tang Mo was stunned: "... clock?"

Li Miaomiao's injuries seem to have healed and she sits up from the table. Her face was still bloodied and her body was hanging by a thread. When she looks at Tang Mo with those bloodshot eyes, there is a surprising sense of gloating. Li Miaomiao says: " Beijing time, November 18, 2017, 8am, Earth online. One minute no more, one minute no less. The moment Earth went live, The black tower sent out an announcement to the world that all humans who didn't make it into the game would disappear into the world of the Transparent. This is a fact we already know."

Fu Wenduo: "So that copy has something to do with time?"

Li Miaomiao sat upright: "Qi Heng and I spent sixty hours in there trying to guess these two words. Over and over again we saw Wang Zexin die, and then over and over again we watched him enter the room. These two words are time. Wang Zexin played a game of The black tower before returning to the room, in which he and another player competed to take each other's time. This is what we were told by The black tower after the copy was cleared, and Wang Zexin won that game by five seconds. He was eliminated and then he went back to Earth."

Tang Mo's body shook as he slowly lifted his head and looked at Li Miaomiao.

The Chosen have known the truth about this copy for a long time, and Chen Shanshan, one of the four Tang Mo members, is slowly coming to grips with the answer.

Li Miaomiao looked at them like that and smiled, shaking his head, "Yes, you guessed it right, Tang Mo, your friend died because he got those five seconds. He won, five seconds. He also got an extra five seconds after he 'left the game' and returned to Earth. During those sixty hours, The black tower came online four times, and Qi Heng and I had no idea what The black tower wanted us to do or what it was thinking. It wasn't until the third time that the Earth came online, when Wang Zexin disappeared, that I noticed that he made an effort to turn his head and look in the direction of the living room as he was dying. I think he understood at the end that he had been given five seconds, because the clock on the living room wall at ... showed 8:05 seconds."

At the end of his life, when Wang Zexin heard the sound of The black tower, he suddenly realised what he had been missing all along.

He's a smart guy, otherwise he wouldn't have won that game of The black tower and become a halfway decent player. But he lacked information. The second he stepped into the room, he had no idea that he had five seconds more to live than the outside world, and he had no idea why he was suddenly in such a strange place.

However, he knew that three days earlier, at exactly 8am, The black tower had made its first sound, announcing that the Earth was online.

Now that The black tower had made another sound, he watched his body slowly disappear as a million thoughts flashed through his mind. In a flash, he understood the truth and turned his head as hard as he could to see the clock that was five seconds faster than the outside world. But it was too late; he had only one head and one eye left, and it was impossible to turn that time around.

So he watched the clock, and then died.

Tang Mo looks at Li Miaomiao quietly: "So if you adjust that time back, you win?"

"Yes, Qi Heng and I took that clock off the wall and set the second hand back five more seconds ... then we cleared the copy. I didn't understand why this had to be a separate copy, this Wang Zexin had just come across a very strange copy. But then Mu Huixue cleared the fourth level of The black tower and I realized that The black tower was a reminder to surviving players that this could happen in The black tower game."

Li Miaomiao concluded, "This copy of reality has no meaning, its only purpose is to give players a warning to always be aware of whether they have actually passed the game or not." After a moment, looking at Tang Mo's calm expression, Li Miaomiao deliberately laughed, "Aren't you sad, I thought that was your friend."

Tang Mo: "Sad."

The crowd looked at Tang Mo in surprise, wondering how he could suddenly say what he was feeling, when he was so calm. Even Fu Wenduo did not expect Tang Mo to answer this question and looked at Tang Mo in surprise, thinking that Tang Mo would ignore Li Miaomiao's words.

The female doctor also looked stunned, and after a long moment, she said, "Sorry."

Tang Mo speaks calmly and looks to Ruan Wangshu: "I see what you mean. The end of The black tower game is likely to affect the player's reality. At ...", Tang Mo continues, "In Wang Zexin's copy, he thought he had cleared the mysterious game and returned to Earth, but in fact the game had not yet ended. His time was misplaced, so he was blocked in that space and needed to make a move to return to the right timeline before the game was really over. Mu Huixue too?"

Ruan Wangshu: "Yes, Mu Huixue is probably the same way. This would explain why The black tower suddenly said she had started the 4.0 update and then aborted it. Because moments after finishing a game, she starts another one. She has not really cleared all four levels of The black tower, and perhaps until now, she was still looking for a way to do so. When she has fully cleared the fourth floor of The black tower, version 4.0 will be available."

Tang Mo pulled up a chair and sat opposite Ruan Wangshu.

Chen Shanshan spoke for the second time: "So for now we have two things to look out for. The first is to catch the Transparent People who have fallen alone. Kill as many of them as we can before they all know the two worlds are merging and take us lightly. Secondly, raid the fourth floor of The black tower." After a pause, the young girl's gaze swept over the few Chosen members in the classroom one by one, "The people in this classroom are supposed to be the core members of Chosen?"

Ruan Wangshu: "Chosen started with six people, Yu Zheng joined later, and then Qi Heng was removed, and now there are still six."

Chen Shanshan: "You've cleared all three levels?"

Ruan Wangshu nods, " Li Miaomiao is the first floor."

Chen Shanshan turns his head to Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo and gets their approval before looking at Ruan Wangshu: "There's something we didn't say earlier. Mr. Fu got an extra bonus from The black tower when he cleared the third level of The black tower, and The black tower recommends that surviving players raid the fourth level of The black tower immediately. The black tower is generally a very low-talker, and at best plays with words. This time its advice is likely to be related to the Transparent Man."

After Chen Shanshan's words, Ruan Wangshu fell into an eerie silence.

Tang Mo instantly noticed the other party's strange look, only to hear Yu Zheng's voice ringing out: "We didn't say anything about this earlier. When the first person passed the third level of The black tower, he also heard a The black tower boss say that it would be better to pass the fourth level of The black tower in a hurry. His exact words were, 'You're all going to die anyway, and none of you have passed the fourth floor, so I won't bother with a bunch of dead people'."

Tang Mo brushes his head to look at Fu Wenduo and their eyes meet.

After a few seconds, Tang Mo made a quick decision, "The team attack on the Transparent Man is settled, as for raiding the fourth floor of The black tower, that's our own business. There's no way we'll be able to find Su Xiao, so the more important thing now is to kill the Transparent Man and get through the fourth floor."

Ruan Wangshu: "Chosen has an intelligence network in Beijing."

"Good, then we can share information."

After a brief exchange of information about what they had, Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo decided to leave the area and rendezvous with Fu Wensheng. Although neither of them thought that this invitation to practice Yu Zheng was a trap, they asked Fu Xiaodi to hide in a safe place and wait for their news, just in case. With only Chen Shanshan, they could safely leave the Chosen camp with the young girl, but with Fu Xiaodi, it would be difficult.

After deciding on a general plan for cooperation, Tang Mo turned around and wanted to leave. At that moment, a voice rang out from behind him: "Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo, do you want to raid the fourth floor of The black tower directly after you return this time?"

Tang Mo's steps stop and he turns his head to look at the pale teenager.

Tang Mo does not deny it.

Ruan Wangshu said, "You and Mr. Fu School should be the two of you to take on the fourth floor of The black tower. With your strategy and strength, you really don't have much of a problem getting through. There is a boy younger than me in your group, who is supposed to have healing powers? But it's obvious he's not up to the force, otherwise you wouldn't have not brought him along today."

Fu Wenduo lowered his eyes: "What do you want to say?"

"How about adding another person to the mix?"

Tang Mo laughed: "Plus you?"

The next moment, Ruan Wangshu shook his head gently, "Plus her."

Li Miaomiao, who was pointed at, also looked shocked as she said in disbelief, "Head?!"

Ruan Wangshu did not reply. He flipped his palm and a small knife appeared in his hand. No one expected him to move suddenly, and without hesitation he slashed at his own wrist. Blood spurted out, but Ruan Wangshu did not even blink. The broken hand falls to the ground and Ruan Wangshu holds his still bleeding wrist out to Li Miaomiao.

"... head?"

Li Miaomiao is answered by the cold stare of Ruan Wangshu.

Li Miaomiao's face changed and she clenched her teeth. After a few seconds, she reached out, mumbling inaudible words, and pressed her hand to Ruan Wangshu's broken wrist.

A thick cloud is blown away by the wind and moonlight shines on Ruan Wangshu's broken wrist. As quickly as the eye can see, blood vessels and skin are created and a new hand appears on the cross-section of the broken wrist. Tang Mo's heart fluttered and he looked back at Li Miaomiao. A hand suddenly disappeared from Li Miaomiao's wrist. No blood was coming out, but her face was a little pale, as if she was holding back the pain. But after half a minute, her hand also gradually grows.

Ten minutes later, Li Miaomiao raises his left hand and everything is the same as it was a moment ago.

Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo looked at each other, both instantly understanding what the other meant.

Fu Wenduo has the "genetic reassembly" ability, which allows him to quickly grow new limbs even after they have been broken. But his speed is definitely not as fast. Meanwhile, Li Miaomiao's hand is not his own, but that of Ruan Wangshu.

Ruan Wangshu: "This is her psychic ability. You only know the first effect of her powers. Not only can she transfer pain to others by hurting herself, but she can also transfer others' wounds to herself, and then recover through her own powerful self-healing ability. Li Miaomiao goes, and each of you has an extra life. She is only the second level of The black tower and will not increase the difficulty of your copy. Other than that ..."

Ruan Wangshu took a golden coin out of his pocket and threw it to Li Miaomiao.

Li Miaomiao rushed to catch it: "Head? Is this for me too?"

"She also has the King's gold." Ruan Wangshu said coldly, "The Transparent is so much more powerful than us, we must raid the fourth floor of The black tower quickly. I am badly injured and will need to rest for a few days." So, it's up to you.

Tang Mo's gaze swept over Ruan Wangshu and Li Miaomiao's bodies. After a long time, he smiled and nodded, "Good."

One day later -

"Dingdong! The black tower level 4 (normal mode) is officially open, team games are starting to load ..."

"Sandbox Generation ..."

"Data loading complete ..."

"Welcome to Schrödinger's Iron Forest!"