Chapter 159 : Chapter 159
Chapter : 159
“Right now, immediately, send these game helmets for inspection to see if there are any dangerous factors, and then send them to the advance team!”
“Yes!”
The operational capability of the state department was very strong. With a single command from the leadership above, the officers below began to act, each fulfilling their duties and taking action.
In a short while, the delivery boxes that had suddenly appeared in front of the Special Incident Handling Department were all dealt with.
The official beta test of the game was less than three days away.
***
Having gotten the game helmet, Cheng Tianyu studied it over and over. To be honest, he wasn't very educated.
He was just someone whose family had financial difficulties, whose parents didn't love him and couldn't afford to let him continue his studies, so he dropped out of high school and barely supported himself by boosting games.
He knew nothing about high-end brain-computer interfaces, virtual reality, or the metaverse. At most, he would see them mentioned in the news and barely remember a few fancy terms.
Occasionally, when the topic came up in the group chat, he could follow the conversation so that he didn't seem too out of touch.
At this moment, Cheng Tianyu was playing with the game helmet in his hands, feeling its heavy touch.
He couldn't even come up with any extra adjectives, only able to exclaim that it was truly awesome.
In the group chat, [No 8 AM Class Today] was already excitedly praising how cool the game helmet was and how much he was looking forward to experiencing the game.
However, there were still two days until the official beta test of the game. Even if they put on the game helmets, they couldn't enter the game.
Cheng Tianyu took a look and saw that [No 8 AM Class Today] said there was text displayed inside the game helmet, so he quickly put on the helmet.
In an instant, Cheng Tianyu felt as if his entire being had plunged into a dark universe. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Specks of light surrounded him, like cosmic dust.
Cheng Tianyu was startled and quickly reached up to touch his head. When his fingertips touched the cold surface, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He had indeed just put on a game helmet, not suddenly transmigrated.
However, the sensory experience brought by this game was indeed very real and shocking, otherwise Cheng Tianyu wouldn't have suspected for a moment that he had transmigrated.
He just wore the helmet and looked around. It was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything other than the starlight.
Cheng Tianyu thought: The sensory experience is indeed very good, but if the holographic game that has been hyped for so long is just this, then it's too much of a scam.
After all, this kind of sensory experience could be achieved by some awesome 5D movies. If it was just this, then this game helmet was impressive, but not to the point of being cross-era.
Just as he was thinking this, a white light suddenly appeared before his eyes, and a line of text appeared in front of him.
[Time until beta launch: 59:35:21]
The countdown numbers kept ticking. Time flowed like quicksand through his fingers. Cheng Tianyu's eyes widened.
He turned his head, and the line of countdown seemed to be fixed on his retina. No matter how he shook his head, the countdown remained in the center of his vision.
Cheng Tianyu subconsciously reached out to touch it and was shocked to find that his fingertips felt the sensation of quicksand.
His whole body trembled. He tried to take off the helmet, and his vision instantly brightened. The surroundings were still the cheap rental room he had rented for a few hundred yuan. He reached out and touched, and there was nothing in front of him.
He put on the helmet, and darkness descended again. He reached out to touch the countdown, and the sensation of quicksand appeared at his fingertips.
“This is really impressive.” Cheng Tianyu took off the helmet, a somewhat dazed expression on his face, and muttered to himself, “Is this deceiving the five senses, or some other advanced technology?”
He glanced at the group chat. [No 8 AM Class Today] was still excitedly sharing his discoveries. The group members were chatting happily. Even Big Bro A, who hadn't gotten a beta test slot at first, had joined the discussion—he had actually spent five thousand yuan to buy Ming's beta test slot.
Ming had never believed that Guitu was a real holographic game from the beginning and had always suspected it was a pig-butchering scam.
Now that he saw the game helmet experiences shared by the group members, did he feel a hint of regret?
Cheng Tianyu speculated with a wicked sense of humor, and at the same time, he was glad that he hadn't sold his beta test slot.
[Ming]: Hmph, you guys be careful this helmet doesn't have some kind of mini microwave in it. Once you enter the game, your brain will be kidnapped.
Regarding Ming's sour remarks, everyone in the group naturally laughed it off and ignored him.
Time flew by, and the beta test countdown decreased bit by bit. When there were only ten minutes left, Cheng Tianyu was fully prepared.
He even went to the bathroom specifically to avoid feeling the urge to pee in the game and wetting his bed.
Cheng Tianyu mimicked the posture of the male protagonist in an anime, lying straight on the bed, and put on the helmet.
Speaking of which, isn't this a bit unlucky?
This thought flashed through his mind, and Cheng Tianyu was once again immersed in the pitch-black starry sky.
The countdown was down to just a short five minutes.
Cheng Tianyu adjusted his sleeping position. He didn't know how this game helmet was designed, but lying on the bed with the helmet on wasn't uncomfortable at all. It was as comfortable as lying on his own pillow.
Everything was ready. Cheng Tianyu excitedly waited for the official launch of the game's beta test.
10, 9, 8...
3, 2, 1!
The countdown gradually decreased until it reached zero.
A prompt box suddenly appeared before his eyes, and an ethereal voice sounded in his ears.
“Welcome to "Guitu," a world of infinite possibilities awaits your exploration. Before you begin your adventure, please create your character name, which will be your identity in this world.”
『Your name is _______』
Cheng Tianyu thought for a moment and entered his most commonly used ID, [He Kou Wang], and clicked confirm.
“Please note that your name is an important identifier in this world and cannot be changed during the game. Please consider it carefully.”
Cheng Tianyu clicked confirm again.
“You have successfully entered your character name. Now, let us embark on a journey to the unknown world and unveil the mysterious veil of the Ailman Continent.”
“The adventure is about to begin. We wish you a pleasant journey in "Guitu," and may the stars guide your way.”
These white characters turned into a white light and swept him up in the blink of an eye.
Cheng Tianyu's heart began to beat faster.
Thump, thump...
He seemed to be passing through a white spatial tunnel. He didn't know how long had passed before the white light in front of him gradually faded, turning into a blue sky. A smell of earthy soil after rain permeated the air...
Blue sky?! The smell of earthy soil???
Cheng Tianyu's eyes widened, and his whole body jolted. He instantly jumped up, "Holy sh*t!"
He looked around and found that there were several other 'people' around him who had scrambled up from the ground just like him, looking around with excitement and shock.
Cheng Tianyu sat on the ground in a daze, reaching out to poke the muddy ground he had just been lying on.
It was indeed in a state of just having rained. His finger sank into the muddy ground, and the touch was identical to reality.
This, this...
Isn't this really transmigration?
Cheng Tianyu rolled over and lay flat on the ground. He brought his nose close to the soil and sniffed. The unique smell of soil, mixed with the smell of grass, entered his nostrils.
It was a smell that was difficult to describe. In short, after entering his nostrils and being analyzed by his brain, the final conclusion was that this was the smell of soil.
A guy next to him grabbed a handful of soil and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed it a couple of times and spat it out:
"Pah, pah, pah! This is amazing. It really tastes the same as real soil. Now I have to admit that this is truly a cross-era game."
Cheng Tianyu dazedly sat up. Hearing the words of the guy next to him, his eyes slowly widened. He looked around at the 'people' making all sorts of strange movements, and his heart beat even faster.
Yes, this was a cross-era game.
A brand new, infinitely vast world was about to unfold before him, and he would be one of the first participants in this new era.
Perhaps in future history books, a paragraph like this would be written:
『Since the beginning of the "Guitu" game's beta test, history has opened a new chapter of the holographic virtual world. And the three thousand first batch of beta players, led by Cheng Tianyu, Bai Ye, Lin... embarked on the exploration of a new world at that moment.』
Cheng Tianyu excitedly imagined.
There were many players like Cheng Tianyu. As streak of white lights appeared, one player after another appeared on this open land.
“Holy crap, it's a real holographic game!” Someone looked left and right, trying to do a handstand.
“This is too real. It's not an excuse to transmigrate us, is it?” Someone tried to dig through the earth with their bare hands.
“No, can't you choose your gender in this game? You can't even customize your face. It can't be all random, can it? I wanted to play as a female character!” Someone was dissatisfied.
“No, where's the exit button? It can't be that you can't really exit, right? If it's really a brain microwave, I'll really be honest.” Someone was uneasy.
“You're so dumb. Didn't you read the helmet's user manual when you entered the game? You can exit by swiping down with your right hand or by opening the system interface with your mind. But you can only enter the game once a day, and there's an anti-addiction restriction. Any player can only be online for 8 hours a day. When the limit is reached, you will be forcibly logged out. The online time will be refreshed at 8 AM every day.”
“I'm already an adult, why do I still need an anti-addiction system!” someone wailed, “Don't I know if this game is harmful or not?”
“Alright, but I read the game helmet's manual. When players are playing the game, their bodies are in a dormant state, equivalent to deep sleep, while their consciousness enters the game. Office workers are blessed. Now they can really evolve past sleep.”
“……”
The players who entered the game were all chattering excitedly, and some had already started trying out the various operations in the game.
Cheng Tianyu was one of them. As a young man who made a living by boosting games, he was very quick to get the hang of any game. After being excited for a while, he got up and started studying the game's built-in system.
“Normal online games give out initial weapons when the character logs in, which basically go directly into the inventory. But this "Guitu" game is very realistic, so there should be other ways to get the initial weapon...” Cheng Tianyu muttered to himself and soon figured out how to open the game's inventory.
“As expected.” Cheng Tianyu figured out most of the basic game operations, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. He was full of a sense of accomplishment, and when he looked at the people around him, he couldn't help but feel a touch of superiority.
His gaze swept across a group of players who were still screaming about how real the game was. Just as Cheng Tianyu was about to retract his gaze, he saw a figure that stood out in the crowd.
Among a group of excited players, that person was calmly rotating his wrist, skillfully making a few gestures.
Cheng Tianyu, who had already figured out most of the game's operations, recognized at a glance that the other party was checking the game's personal panel.
Black hair and red eyes, exquisite face customization data—Cheng Tianyu remembered that the game helmet's instructions said that all players' character data was based on the data collected by the real game helmet.
However, to protect the players' information security, all collected information would only be used as a basis for generating game character data.
To put it bluntly, the character's appearance was established on the basis of the player's real appearance.
If you put the game character and yourself together, you could see a slight resemblance, but you would never be recognized as the same person.
Cheng Tianyu was skeptical about the helmet's ability to collect player's appearance data. He had never seen such an advanced technology before.
But on second thought, since the holographic game had already been made, any other unscientific technology had also become scientific.
Getting off topic, Cheng Tianyu carefully sized up the player in front of him. His facial features were very exquisite, and his coarse linen clothes couldn't hide his temperament. It was clear that he was also good-looking in reality.
He didn't show any excitement at seeing such a realistic holographic game, and at the same time, his various operations were extremely skilled, not at all like someone entering this game for the first time...
Based on the above speculations, Cheng Tianyu concluded that the other party was either a professional QA (game tester) or an official GM (game master).
Thinking of this, Cheng Tianyu's eyes lit up. Whether it was a professional QA or an official GM, in a cross-era game like this, the other party's status was not something that ordinary people like them could reach.
With almost no hesitation, Cheng Tianyu decided to go over and strike up a conversation with the other party, preferably to add each other as friends. If he could get on good terms with a big shot like this, his future would be limitless!
As long as the other party could reveal some inside information about the game, it would be enough for him to make a fortune.
Of course, with so many players logging in at once, not all of them could be fools. There were also some who reacted as quickly as Cheng Tianyu.
Just as Cheng Tianyu was approaching the player with black hair and red eyes, another figure had already appeared beside him.
“Bro, are you a GM?” A man with a somewhat cheeky voice approached the other party and asked in a low voice.
Yan Yunqing, who was in the middle of confirming his own panel, paused and looked up at the player who had approached him.
The player had the game ID [Big Bro A] above his head. Although his tone was cheeky, his game character looked very upright, with sharp features and a righteous aura.
Seeing Yan Yunqing look at him without speaking, [Big Bro A] immediately made an understanding expression.
He made an OK gesture and nodded, "I get it, I get it. You're testing in a hidden identity, right?"
Yan Yunqing blinked, only then realizing what this [Big Bro A] had imagined. He had mistaken him for a hidden game administrator.
“I’m not.”
[Big Bro A] nodded repeatedly, "Understood, understood. You're not, you're not. I was wrong."
Yan Yunqing: ……
Forget it, this wasn't a big deal.
He glanced at the still excited players around him without a trace and frowned. This game's launch really just threw the players into this world, without even providing a guide NPC?
Were they just going to let the players explore and mess around on their own?
Yan Yunqing sighed inwardly. Fortunately, he already had a contingency plan for this possibility.
If the game's guide NPC still hadn't appeared after a while, the people he had arranged would appear and act as the game's guide NPCs.
“Big shot, how about we add each other as friends?” [Big Bro A] was very enthusiastic. “If you need anything from me in the future, just let me know. Don't look at me like this, I'm actually a somewhat famous game streamer on Bilibili. I can help you promote the game for free.”
His voice wasn't loud, but Yan Yunqing could hear it clearly. "As long as you give me a heads-up about any game benefits or inside information in the future, that's all I ask."
Yan Yunqing was silent. He paused for a moment and brought up the game's friend list. “Okay.”
Anyway, that Guitu Studio had recorded him and released it as an in-game recording for players to watch without his consent. What was wrong with him impersonating a game GM to tarnish Guitu Studio's reputation?
Maybe he could even make use of this identity in the future.
After successfully adding the other party as a friend, Yan Yunqing saw that a [Big Bro A] had been added to the friend list on his player panel. He could initiate private chats, form teams, trade, mail items, and so on.
Yan Yunqing discovered this just as the game's beta test was about to launch. His game system had been split into two panels, an NPC panel and a player panel.
At the same time, the game system also prompted him to create a new player identity.
It was as if it had finally discovered that this poor child who had been thrown into the game early didn't have an official player identity yet.
Yan Yunqing didn't hesitate at all and directly entered the ID [Ri An]. He also created a new face for himself, only keeping the features of black hair and red eyes, and adjusted all the other details.
It was just that after creating the new player identity, both of his panels were locked. It wasn't until ten minutes before the players logged in that the player panel showed that it was unlocked.
After Yan Yunqing clicked on the [Ri An] identity card, his vision went black. When he opened his eyes again, he was at one of the 'newbie village' locations he had previously speculated that players might log in to, becoming one of the many players who had logged in.
Just now, he was checking his game panel. After confirming that his personal panel had completely inherited his previous panel data and that the points he had grinded for hadn't been cleared, Yan Yunqing was relieved.
At the same time, he also discovered that after his player identity was split off, he basically had an extra controllable clone.
His consciousness could freely travel between the 'player' and 'NPC' bodies, but he couldn't control both bodies at the same time. Otherwise, he could even have himself meet himself.
This was truly a strange thing.
With an extra clone, he could do many things. Many things that were not suitable for his main body to do could be handed over to the player body, which was much more convenient.
Thinking of this, Yan Yunqing couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
[Big Bro A] had added the big shot as a friend and originally wanted to say a few more words to him. But seeing the big shot suddenly start thinking for no reason, his words got stuck in his throat, and he didn't know whether to speak or not.
Why hadn't this GM made a move yet? Shouldn't he be conducting the game test now? Could it be that there was still some game content that hadn't been unlocked? Would new players get achievements or hidden quests for staying at the initial point for a certain period of time?
Before [Big Bro A] could figure out why this big shot had stopped here, another player came over and asked with an uncertain tone, "Big Bro A? Is that you?"
[Big Bro A] instantly put on a bright business smile and met the eyes of the player [He Kou Wang]. "That's right, that's right, it's me. Are you a fan of mine? Haha, what a coincidence. I didn't expect there to be a fan of mine among the three thousand beta testers."
[He Kou Wang] was speechless for a moment, but he did recognize [Big Bro A]. “It's me, Orange.”
[Big Bro A] was about to say something else, but he was stunned when he heard [He Kou Wang]'s words. He looked [He Kou Wang] up and down and had a sudden realization: “So it's you, Orange. I almost didn't recognize you with your new ID.”
Cheng Tianyu was speechless: "Come on, I use this ID for basically all my games. You're the one who remembered it wrong!"
[Big Bro A] scratched his head, “Oh? Is that so? Haha…… I really can't remember clearly. Mainly because you've played on too many accounts, it's a bit confusing for a moment.”
Cheng Tianyu: “……That's because I'm a booster.”
Forget it, there was no point in dwelling on this. He secretly glanced at the black-haired young man standing next to him and was taken aback by his dazzling appearance. He quickly averted his gaze.
“Big Bro A, let's add each other as friends. We're quite lucky to be assigned to the same starting point. I wonder which starting point Xiao Ba and Old Wang were assigned to.”
[Big Bro A] readily agreed, "No problem, no problem."
With his previous experience, [Big Bro A]'s friend-adding operation was even more skilled. Cheng Tianyu looked at the [Big Bro A] added to his friend list and then cautiously glanced at Yan Yunqing, who had no ID above his head.
“Big Bro A, do you know this person too?” Cheng Tianyu's gaze fell on Yan Yunqing.
[Big Bro A] looked at Yan Yunqing, then at Cheng Tianyu, and immediately showed an enthusiastic smile, "Yeah, my brother, he's a big shot. I just happened to run into him at the starting point."
The way he said it, it was as if Yan Yunqing was a brother he had known for a long time.
Hearing this, Yan Yunqing couldn't help but glance at him, lamenting that people who could make it in self-media these days were all super extroverts, with quick minds and active brains. Look at his rhetoric. If Yan Yunqing wasn't the person involved, he would have believed this guy's nonsense.
But it was just as well. Being on good terms with a well-known small-time game streamer would also be convenient for him to subtly manipulate information within the player base through this person.
Yan Yunqing tacitly accepted the reason of being his brother. Seeing that Yan Yunqing didn't deny it, [Big Bro A] became even more confident.
He spoke eloquently, weaving a complete story of his ten-year acquaintance with Yan Yunqing. Cheng Tianyu was almost fooled by him.
Cheng Tianyu looked at Yan Yunqing with suspicion. Could it be that he was really just a rich young master from a wealthy family who had bought a slot to experience the game? His temperament did seem to fit the bill.
Cheng Tianyu hesitated for a moment, but still decided to build a good relationship with the other party.
"Then, Brother An, let's add each other as friends too. I usually make money by boosting games. I'm quick to learn any game. If there's anything you need, you can tell me anytime. Things like running dungeons, doing quests, I can research them."
Cheng Tianyu was indeed exceptionally talented when it came to games. In terms of game operation, even [Big Bro A] couldn't compare to him.
[Big Bro A] wanted to refuse on behalf of Yan Yunqing, but after seeing Yan Yunqing's interested expression, he very consciously shut his mouth.
“This holographic game might be a little different from the games you've played before.” Yan Yunqing sized up the [He Kou Wang] in front of him.
“While the game has a high degree of freedom, it also means that the difficulty of controlling the game increases exponentially.”
“Just like casting a game skill. In other games, you can successfully cast it just by pressing a key, but in this game, it requires complex incantations.”
Yan Yunqing casually summoned a fist-sized fireball and waved it in front of the two of them, "Just like this."