Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game Chapter 21: The Stakes are raised

October 8, first work day after the long National Day holiday.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when Academician Ke Jingguo of the Chinese Scientific Institute of Neuroscience hurriedly arrived at the Center for Neuroscience and Intelligent Technology Innovation, experts in the field of psychology and cognitive science, professors from Beijing University, as well as impressive young talents from the NeuroTech Center, were already seated in the conference room.

"Teacher Ke is here."

The person chairing this eting was Lu Yiyun, NeuroTech Center's—Center for Neuroscience and Intelligent Technology Innovation—director. Just turned forty, she was a rising force among the new generation of scientists in China, having presided over and participated in the developnt of several dostic AI technologies. She was an impressive talent possessing many patents.

She was also a forr student of Academician Ke.

"There's no need for formalities, Xiao Lu. Let's begin." Ke didn't bother with any polite greetings even when seeing his forr student, raising a hand to stop Lu Yiyun, who was about to greet him, and found a seat for himself.

"Alright." Lu Yiyun knew Ke's temperant well and didn't waste any more ti, imdiately turning on the projector.

As the room of academics and scientists watched on, what appeared on the screen was a scene in a laboratory.

A young man sat compliantly as researchers attached several patches, which were sensors, to his head.

Then, this young man with electrode sensors attached to his head carefully put on a plastic motorcycle helt connected to a mobile phone with a data cable. He paid attention not to dislodge the wires connected to the patches as he laid down.

When this helt appeared on screen, several scientists in the field of neuroscience and brain couldn't help feeling a little twitching at the corner of their lips.

This helt, which seed nothing more than a modified motorcycle helt, was a "neural interface" or "brainwave receiver" that was even more impressive than the set of equipnt used by Stephen Hawking. It really made them wonder whether they were dealing with a scientific issue or the occult!

Within the video, the young man fell asleep instantly the mont he laid down, and snoring could clearly be heard.

The researchers quickly recorded the young man's brainwave data and various physical indicators.

A few minutes later, the young man suddenly woke up and had a conversation with the researchers.

After this conversation, the young man perford the act of falling asleep in seconds once more…

"The young man cooperating with our experint is a family mber of one NeuroTech Center's staff," Lu Yiyun paused the video and addressed the room of experts. "Six days ago, the subject purchased this helt online from a ga studio for 300 yuan. Three days ago, on October 5, he logged into a VR ga called 'OtherWorld' using this helt, which claims to be independently developed.

"Next, we have the footage recorded by the subject on October 5 within the VR ga, in first-person perspective using the subject's 'ga character.'" Lu Yiyun gave a brief introduction and played another video.

As this footage played, even though many of the experts in the room had already seen similar videos before coming here, they couldn't help but be amazed…

On the large screen, the blue sky, white clouds, and verdant distant mountains were displayed with incredible clarity. In the abandoned ancient town, skeletons with various bizarre IDs on top were running around wildly.

When the perspective of the subject's "view" was on the large group of skeletons, Lu Yiyun paused the video.

"On the morning of the 6th, many such videos were uploaded onto the Internet. By that very sa afternoon, we managed to get the cooperation of the subject. Upon obtaining the original video footage, we specifically invited forensic experts from the Public Security University to examine it…" Lu Yiyun took a deep breath before continuing, "The conclusion of the experts was that all the fild skeletons didn't resemble virtual models, but rather, real human skeletons."

Solemn faces filled the room full of scientists and academics.

"Based on the clear images in the video, experienced forensic experts can identify the gender characteristics of a skeleton. For example, in the case of the skeleton facing the cara directly, the female characteristics of the pelvic bone structure are quite obvious." Lu Yiyun understood the implications of her conclusion and said solemnly, "The most important point is that the forensic experts believe none of the skeletons recorded in the video are identical."

Academician Ke's brows furrowed, and he instinctively glanced at the old professor seated near him.

Guan Guomin, head of the Departnt of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Beijing University, also looked back at him with a grave expression.

The two exchanged a silent glance while continuing to listen attentively to Lu Yiyun's presentation.

Lu Yiyun had already switched to the next segnt, and in the display appeared… several bizarre skeletons wearing short-sleeved cotton T-shirts and shorts.

Surrounded by these skeletons was a middle-aged man who appeared to look impatient and was quite obviously gritting his teeth in anger.

This middle-aged man was not Asian. His facial bone structure and features resembled a mix of Slavic and Latin Arican descent, while his limb proportions were like those of a black person.

Of course, Lu Yiyun wasn't focused on this "NPC" but rather on the fantasy world-style clothing worn by the NPC as well as the beginner outfits of the skeletons.

After showing a segnt demonstrating the dynamic representation of clothing and fabric wrinkles during player-NPC interactions, Lu Yiyun paused the footage and said, "We consulted material and texture model virtual engine experts from both North Arica and the dostic AI physics engine lab, and the conclusion reached is that… even the most advanced laboratories in the world would have a difficult ti achieving the real-ti dynamic calculation of fabric materials and wrinkle changes."

Li Yiyun paused for a mont before adding, "Experts from both sides agree that while this level of realistic fabric simulation could be achieved using computer graphics (CG), achieving real-ti calculation would require a supercomputer acting as a server."

And this was only fabric…

At this point, all the scientists in the room could grasp what Lu Yiyun ant. Even the most cutting-edge laboratories worldwide would struggle to achieve real-ti calculation of fabric physics, yet a self-proclaid "independent developnt team of a VR ga" managed to achieve it; Lu Yiyun, who was originally an expert in AI technology research, had her reservations as any scientist should.

Academician Ke silently nodded his head. He could understand what Lu Yiyun was getting at. As an expert in neuroscience research, he found it hard to believe that brain waves could be accessed through such crude "receivers" and integrated into a "network ga" located elsewhere, allowing for a series of complex operations. To make matters worse, it was all achieved by a group of self-proclaid "ga developers"!

How could scientists show their faces if that were true!

However, scientists must maintain a rigorous scientific attitude. Even if they felt disgusted, they still needed to maintain an objective and neutral stance. Therefore, scientists like Lu Yiyun wouldn't outright deny it in clear language…

Without explicitly stating her stance, Lu Yiyun proceeded to present three "real footage" clips provided by the subject.

These three clips mainly featured "human NPCs" in the ga. The first clip showed an NPC who beca visibly angry and spoke aggressively after being provoked by a player.

The second clip showed the NPC chasing and attacking the player with a weapon, and the most crucial third clip depicted a player harassing the NPC while eating, rudely picking up and examining the food, only to be killed by the NPC with a knife…

These scenes, though not bloody nor brutal, left the scientists astonished.

While it could be argued that the emotional expressions and language responses similar to those of a real person could be attributed to the ga developnt team utilizing so ans of using supercomputers as real-ti calculation servers, the fact that the food eaten by NPCs being identical to commonly found products in supermarkets was eerie. Despite being removed from the packaging and placed on a plate, the NPCs' food consisted of sausages and white bread!

While the scientists in the conference room wore perplexed looks, Lu Yiyun presented a docunt sealed with a top-secret stamp from the National Security Bureau.

"These are the results of a trace investigation conducted on the login helts released for the ga 'OtherWorld.'" Lu Yiyun swallowed nervously and took out a stack of A4 papers from the envelope and placed them under the projector.

"These helts were sent out between September 25 and October 1 from a suburban residential house in An City, G Province. The sender and the person who rented the residential house have the sa identification docunts. After conducting an investigation and retrieving the household registration records, it was confird that the registered identification docunts belong to a person who was arrested in 2018 for suspected illegal activities and is currently in custody. It should be his identity that has been stolen."

At this point, Lu Yiyun took a deep breath, and her expression beca even more peculiar. "Local police conducted on-site visits to the area where the helts were sent from and made contact with the landlord, nearby neighbors, and surrounding restaurants. It has been confird that starting from the middle of last month, the only person who has regularly entered and exited the rented house is a man in his thirties to forties."

Scientists in the room. "?!"

"One person?!" Ke Jingguo exclaid in disbelief.

"Yes, only one person," Lu Yiyun confird. "In addition, the cyber police departnt coordinated with the investigation and retrieved the past month's online shopping records of the suspect impersonating soone else's identity. It was confird that this person purchased 300 plastic compression motorcycle helts, 500 plain white T-shirts produced by a small factory in Guangzhou, 500 pairs of workwear shorts… and even placed orders for 500 denim waist pouches and 500 faux leather backpacks from a certain prison."

Scientists. "??"

"It can't be… the outfits worn by the skeletons in the ga?" Ke Jingguo's voice was trembling.

"The very ones," Lu Yiyun answered.

All of the scientists in the room were dumbfounded.

"Furthermore… Through investigations of the impersonated identity's expenditure records, local police discovered… that the suspect entered into a partnership with a local supermarket to regularly bulk purchase expired products removed from their shelves." Lu Yiyun gulped once again.

"Staff from the supermarket confird that the expired products purchased by this man include various types of bread, instant noodles, biscuits, energy bars, sausages… and so on."

Every scientist in the room appeared to be in shock.

"X-Xiao Lu," Ke Jingguo got up agitatedly, his voice trembling non-stop. "W-we didn't alert this person, did we?"

"During the joint investigation by local police and National Security Bureau, the person under investigation was not alerted," Lu Yiyun answered with precision and composure, although it couldn't be denied that she was still shocked.

The conference room broke into a cacophony of noise at this mont, with various Chinese accents thrown all over the place.

"Silence please, everyone." Lu Yiyun hurriedly raised her hands. "The opinion of the leadership is that they hope we can reach a consensus and co up with a reliable plan. Regardless of what approach we take next… the leadership will consider our opinions."

Her words were still precise and didn't divulge anything, but the aning was clear—the leadership was aware of the implications of the black technology exposed by this mysterious individual, but wouldn't recklessly interfere and instead prioritized the needs of dostic scientific research!

Only then did the group of scientists calm down…

Regardless of whether the black technology of the "OtherWorld" ga was in the hands of a group or an individual, and regardless of whether this person was a practicing pseudoscience or a researcher with undisclosed background support, since this person was within the country and claid to be a dostic resident, striving for cooperation and learning opportunities was necessary!

Scientists who were dedicated to serious research were different from those in the fields of literature and arts. Such scientists who reached the top levels nationally and internationally didn't have the desire to establish exclusive domains or claim exclusive rights! They just wanted to channel their energy and ti into excelling in their respective fields and making significant contributions.

If scientists were to behave like so people in the literary world, creating academic fiefdoms, then the world would be dood!

"Xiao Lu, where is the login helt?" Ke Jingguo asked urgently.

"With the consent of the subject, we attempted to dismantle the helt. Unfortunately, it seems that the part in contact with the back of the head has been processed as a whole, possibly through so special technique. As a result, we couldn't open it without using force," Lu Yiyun regretfully explained. "After leaving collecting relevant data and X-ray scan images, it was returned at the strong behest of the subject."

As she spoke, she displayed photographs of the helt and X-ray scan images onto the screen.

Many scientists were no longer able to sit still and got up, gathering around the screen to discuss.

From the X-ray scans, it was apparent that sothing had been added to the area where the helt ca into contact with the back of the head. However, the crucial bit was as if it was shielded by lead or a similar substance, which prevented the internal structure from being visible.

"It would be great if we could get hold of a helt for thorough research!" Ke Jingguo said, looking toward Lu Yiyun eagerly.

Lu Yiyun nodded. "Unfortunately, all these helts are already bound to their respective owners. We have attempted using a second person to apply for an account on the ga's website and use the helt, but a successful connection couldn't be established.

"Currently, we have arranged for so staff to contact the developnt team via the official forum in hopes of acquiring both an account and helt as 'players,' but there has been no response."

Ke Jingguo sensed that she was tactfully indicating that the family mber of the NeuroTech Center employee wasn't willing to contribute the helt for scientific purposes, and his face imdiately beca stern.

Lu Yiyun's hands were tied as well. She very much wanted to dismantle and study the helt, but the young subject's cooperation with the experints had already reached its limit. He had threatened to climb to the top of the NeuroTech Center's tallest research building and livestream his suicide if anyone tried to forcefully take his helt. There was no room for compromise…

Seeing that Ke Jingguo wasn't accepting her explanation and was about to get angry, Lu Yiyun quickly reassured him, "Teacher Ke, rest assured. We are actively in contact with the player who owns the helt. If we can convince them to transfer the ownership, we will have the opportunity to dismantle and study it."

Ke Jingguo's expression softened after hearing this.

If it weren't for the leadership's clear instruction to have the NeuroTech Center take charge of the work and if the representative wasn't Lu Yiyun, a forr student whom he highly respected, given Ke Jingguo's temperant, he might have forcefully intervened and taken command.

After all, the Chinese Scientific Institute of Neuroscience had sufficient funding and a rich reserve of talent. If they wanted to, they could imdiately start the work by obtaining two helts.

Elsewhere, Yang Qiu had no idea that within just two days, so much about him had already been investigated…

And even if he was aware, he wouldn't be fearful. After all, he was the only person in the "developnt team," and the identity he used was a purchased one. Moreover, he hadn't done anything fundantally illegal or unethical.

Even if selling the helt might seem like illegal fundraising, the players who bought the helts wouldn't file complaints or report him, let alone the fact that he could run away at any ti. And if he was "invited down for tea," it would just be a matter of getting a free al from the police.

At this mont, Yang Qiu was sitting in Exile Town's Town Hall, happily watching the players about to engage in fierce competition over the four auction items that would be unveiled today.

As of 3 p.m. on October 8, Earth ti, Give dicine who had ground tirelessly for three days, and even specially took a day off from work, had finally beco the fourth to achieve "friendly" reputation with the NPC.

Once his reputation bar reached the requirent, he had been camping at the Ranger Instructor's construction site, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the fifth person.

At Give dicine's side were the top three reputation grinders, and two that had bought the bidding rights.

These two bosses were carrying new faux leather backpacks bought from the tailor NPC, which were currently considered symbols of "pay-to-win warriors" in the ga. For players who couldn't leave Exile Town, the sole purpose of these backpacks was to carry money.

Give dicine, too, was carrying the sa backpack…

He didn't have to wait long before he saw two players rushing toward the Ranger Instructor to complete a quest, one after the other.

And then… the player who completed the quest first angrily exclaid, "What the hell!" while the one who completed it later had a joyous smile on his face.

Give dicine and the other three top reputation grinders showed looks of sympathy. Obviously, the player who completed the quest first had miscalculated his effective working ti. Even though he had completed the quest ahead of the others, the reputation points given during settlent weren't enough.

"Effective working ti is really tricky, especially for reputation grinders," said Blossoming Strokes, who was also waiting to see the results alongside Give dicine.

"Yeah," Give dicine nodded. "If the effective working ti is less than an hour, the amount of copper coins given remains the sa, but the reputation reward is deducted. I had a loss yesterday when I miscalculated by a few minutes. As a result, Tuttle only gave 60% of the reputation rewards."

Except for quests that involve collecting materials, which had no ti limit as long as enough materials were collected, other labor quests had a restriction called "effective working ti."

To avoid slacking off or making it too obvious, players needed to complete quests for at least one hour of in-ga ti to receive the full "wages" from advanced and zombie NPCs.

If there were miscalculations and the effective working ti was less than an hour, with a disparity of more than 10 minutes, NPCs would refuse to settle the task. If the difference was within 10 minutes, the "wages" would still be given, but NPCs would ignore the player for a certain period of ti. For example, if a player completed tasks continuously for three and a half hours and then submitted them, NPCs would "pay" the player for four hours of work but wouldn't interact with the said gar in the next hour of gaplay.

Also, if it was an advanced NPC, only a minimum of 60 out of 100 reputation points would be given…

As soon as the five top reputation grinders gathered, the Ranger Instructor, Tuttle Joe, took out three crystals strung with sinew, each engraved with the magic rune of "Illusory Disguise." Then, he announced that in half an hour's ti (ga ti), the five players could start bidding for the Orb of Deception.

Give dicine and Blossoming Strokes, both players with Potential values above 50 and the beginner skill "Identify" activated, imdiately used the skill on the Orb of Deception in Tuttle Joe's hand.

[Orb of Deception]

Equipnt Effect: Grants the wearer the active skill "Illusory Disguise.'"

"Illusionary Disguise" has a 50% chance of being exposed by intelligent creatures with Potential value higher than the user's by 30% or more.

Give dicine exclaid excitedly, "Oh my god, the equipnt na is in blue, it's a rare item! It's on the sa level as Tuttle's bow!"

Currently, there were between 20 to 30 players that had activated the beginner skill "Identify," and these players had already "Identified" every NPC in Exile Town. Other than the Undead Resurrection Instructor, whose Potential value was much higher than that of players and nothing was shown when "Identify" was used, information about everything else, including equipnt like Tuttle's bow and Hal's sword which had slain countless players, had been posted on the forums.

"Bro, bro, what did you identify it to be?" a fellow reputation grinder camping at the side hurriedly inquired.

While they were all competitors, since there were three Orbs of Deception available and five bidding rights, the competitive atmosphere wasn't that intense. Thus, Give dicine readily shared the identified equipnt information with his fellow grinders.

"It's really impressive," remarked a female player whose ID displayed above her head read "Jia Luo." She listened to the details about the equipnt and couldn't help feeling envious. "Unfortunately, I don't have enough funds to participate, so I'll just have to watch from the sidelines."

Give dicine, curious about the situation, asked, "Considering the amount of effort you put into earning that reputation, why don't you sell your bidding rights?"

Jia Luo sighed in frustration, saying, "Don't even get started. I calculated the perfect timing to post about my bidding rights, and there was even a girl who contacted , expressing her interest. But those big shot players monopolized all the copper coins from the laborers, leaving that girl unable to obtain any. She got so pissed that she just logged off."

Give dicine couldn't help feeling sympathetic for her.

As the price of copper coins soared to 12 yuan each, the big spenders realized that continuously raising their offers wouldn't work. Thus, they followed the lead of Vanilla Pudding, the influential player who controlled the flow of copper coins from its source, using both online and offline thods to establish connections, recruit laborers, and create small groups. Although the guild system hadn't been introduced yet, the players had managed to form the foundations of guilds within their community.

Such a strategy would be impractical if it were in a ga with tens of thousands of players on a single server. However, in "OtherWorld," where the maximum player count was only 300, it was possible to control the flow of copper coins by recruiting a sufficient number of laborers.

For example, Vanilla Pudding's efforts, together with Xiao Zhou's studio, had a network of approximately 20 people contributing copper coins. This virtually guaranteed Give dicine success in acquiring the Orb of Deception.

During the casual conversation, the last player who had obtained the bidding rights happily approached them.

Clearly, this player wasn't a lone wolf like Jia Luo. He had the support of friends and also had a strong interest in the Orb of Deception.

anwhile, the two big shots that bought bidding rights and were conversing nearby suddenly turned serious…

Fortunately, the introduction of the Undead Horse by the Knight Instructor attracted the attention of the wealthier RMB warriors, alleviating so competition pressure for the Ranger Instructor. However, with four people vying for three Orb of Deception, soone would inevitably be left empty-handed.

The two exchanged glances and simultaneously got up, making their way toward Give dicine and the last player who had made the reputation requirents and expressed a desire to bid.

"Hey, guys, how about we have a discussion and find a harmonious solution?" said one of the big shots with a smile.

Give dicine remained silent, but the last grinder to earn the bidding rights seed interested. "What do you suggest?" he asked.

The first big shot continued, "Here's my idea: since there are four of us competing for three Orbs of Deception, one person is bound to miss out, while three will get what they want, right? So, instead of engaging in a bidding war right from the start, where the first buyer might end up at a disadvantage because the later buyers might not bid as aggressively, we should approach it differently. Even if we reverse the order, with everyone waiting for the third orb to bid fiercely, it would still result in substantial losses for each of us. We players would end up fighting each other and paying a premium in copper coins, essentially letting the system reclaim them for free."

"That's true. It's not profitable. It's better to sell the surplus copper coins to those wanting to grab the Undead Horse," the second big shot chid in.

As the Knight Instructor didn't have the sa popularity as the Ranger Instructor, only two friendly relationships had been established so far, leaving three spots still in contention.

"That makes sense, but soone will still miss out," the fifth-place reputation grinder said with a shrug. "Also, it doesn't seem like anyone among the four of us would be willing to give up on the orb, right?"

The first boss gleefully said, "That's precisely why I suggested finding a harmonious solution. Say, for example, let's agree to set the price at 300 copper coins for each orb. The three buyers who acquire the orb will then give 200 copper coins each to the person who doesn't get an orb. This way, three people get the orb, and one person gets 600 copper coins. Wouldn't that be a win-win for us all? It's better to benefit the players than the system."

Jia Luo, who was just beside and listening, couldn't help but exclaim, "Whoa! I can still get money if I don't buy. That counts for too, right? I have the bidding rights!"

The first boss glanced at her and continued, "Having the bidding right alone isn't enough for harmony. To negotiate a harmonious solution, you'll need to be able to contribute at least 500 copper coins. Otherwise, wouldn't the others be at a loss?"

Jia Luo closed her mouth and fell silent. As a lone Ranger grinder, she couldn't produce 500 copper coins indeed.

The two players that had already sold their bidding rights felt a sense of loss when they listened in on the discussion, but they didn't dwell on it any further upon hearing that 500 copper coins were the required eligibility to negotiate a harmonious solution.

The final player to achieve the bidding rights mulled for a bit, then said, "Well that's doable… So, who's willing to take 600 copper coins and quit?"

The two big shots didn't say anything and stood at the side, alternating between eyeing him and Give dicine.

Give dicine sighed. "Don't look at . I'm not going to quit. I want to play as a Treasure Expert."

The fifth-place grinder frowned. "Well… wait a mont, let discuss it with my friends."

Then he brought his friends to the side, huddling up and whispering for a while. When they returned, his attitude had beco much more cooperative. "I'm willing to pull out too. When will you all give the money?"

The two big shots were elated, and the first one responded at once, "That's simple. We'll pay you on the spot once the auction without raising bids is completed. This ga has a limited number of players after all, and it's not like we can create new accounts and restart. There's no possibility of cheating you and running away."

While saying that, the two big shots voluntarily displayed the money they had prepared…

Due to the ga's extre hardcore nature, where in-ga currency was actual physical copper coins, both big shots had backpacks filled with several kilograms of copper coins.

Using such "physical" currency was very inconvenient, and players had protested against the lack of inventory on the official website's forum. However, the response from the ga's developers was a promise to introduce banks soon and provide players with larger-denomination "copper notes" for easier portability. Many players were furious at the developers for their pursuit of realism, which seed borderline insane.

Observing the situation, Give dicine silently opened up his backpack as well.

If a harmonious solution could be attained, Give dicine was certainly willing…

Yang Qiu, who had been observing it all through the imprint matrix, couldn't help but sigh. "You guys really know how to play, even managing to negotiate a harmonious solution.

"However… I can't allow you guys to disrupt the currency recovery. Sorry!"

The heartless Yang Qiu imdiately modified his instructions transmitted to Tuttle through the imprint matrix.

And so… ten minutes before the start of the auction, the Ranger Instructor walked up to this group of players that had managed to painstakingly achieve harmony and announced the auction mode—

"Blind bidding?!"

The jaw of the first big shot, who had put in the most effort to negotiate this harmonious solution, nearly fell to the floor.

An expressionless Tuttle said icily, "That's right. All five of you will bid simultaneously, and the three highest bidders will obtain the orbs."

Varying emotions ca over the group of players.

The fifth reputation grinder, who previously thought they couldn't compete against the two big shots and Give dicine, a closed beta veteran who had the support of Vanilla Pudding, clearly started to waver.

The three orbs would be auctioned off in a blind bid, and everyone only had one chance to place a bid…

In other words… if others bid 300, 301 would be enough to win.

There was simply no way of achieving harmony!