Li Ang left the Undersea Bug Nest, rose to the surface, pulled the trigger toward a far-off point, used the Bullet Teleportation Technique to teleport back near the Longqing Cruise Ship, stepped on invisible stairs, and returned to the cabin.
"Ah Chai, you’re gaming again."
He had just pushed open the door when he saw Chaichai had dug out that PS5, which had been gathering dust for a while due to a lack of new gas, from the storage room and hooked it up to the 90-inch ultra-HD Sony TV that Liu Wu Dai had provided for free.
"Nope, I’m using it as a set-top box to watch TV shows."
Chaichai kept fiddling with the PS5 without even turning his head. Once it finally booted up and the Sony logo lit up on the screen, he let out an "Oh yeah," spun around and dove into the sofa, hugged a bucket of popcorn and a cola, and entered the salted-fish mode Li Ang was most familiar with.
The Killing Ga’s impact on the world was all-encompassing. The influx of a huge number of novel items had pushed the developnt of scientific theory and technology forward at a breakneck pace,
with new research results being published and new technologies being realized every single day.
The most obvious examples were city skyscrapers and the armant upgrade and replacent plans of various countries.
Individual firearms, armor, plating, positioning devices, communication devices, attack helicopters, transport helicopters, attack aircraft, AWACS, drones, electronic warfare aircraft, bombers, destroyers, frigates, cruisers...
In order to keep up with how fast Transcendents were growing stronger and how quickly mutation incidents were escalating,
major official forces were basically taking a "better redundant than insufficient" attitude, rolling out new gear regardless of cost to beef up their ard forces.
Even though to the Transcendents at the very top of the Pyramid, these conventional military forces still seed a bit clumsy,
overall military strength was still far, far greater than it had been two years ago.
Apart from the overhaul on the military front, part of the technological成果 was also filtering down into civilian products.
Previously, Protheus Laboratory Company had reverse-engineered Killing Ga items and successfully developed next-gen VR tech,
and lately users only needed to put on a helt to see VR images as clear as the real world.
The helt could emit scents, simulating the slls of the VR environnt.
Paired with full-coverage tight suits that could simulate touch (with motion capture and positioning systems built in),
and small-area anti-gravity floating footpads,
users could even walk and jump freely within a 3×3m area,
seeing, hearing, slling, and touching everything the program had coded in.
This technology was originally ant for new Transcendents under Protheus Laboratory Company, for employee training,
but later, once they developed even better, more mature neural-link technology (similar to King of Shengnan’s group dreaming), they lowered the secrecy level of this VR tech,
and cooperated with so consur electronics hardware manufacturers to release the related products onto the civilian market under the label of "gaming gear."
The VR helts they put on sale were, of course, stripped-down versions of the training model,
with the realism of the VR and the tactile tight suits drastically nerfed,
and the anti-gravity floating footpads replaced with slide carpets that could automatically detect the user and move in the opposite direction.
Even so, this set of VR equipnt still required a living-room–sized space, with a standard price north of 15,000 yuan.
Frontline players who were constantly running script missions naturally had no particular interest in this kind of toy,
but among ordinary people, gaming enthusiasts discovered a new world—
better Chips, better graphics cards, paired with auto-slide carpets, VR helts, and tight suits that could perfectly capture every move and stimulate the muscles via electric shocks to create tactile feedback,
finally allowed gars to play ultra-high-fidelity VR gas right in their living rooms.
At first, these VR gas were just things like "realistic Fighting," "realistic lee weapons," "realistic archery," and the like,
but soon, another Superhuman Organization entered the field.
That was Whale Song Organization.
This Superhuman Organization composed of programrs had obtained a large amount of gear and items related to modern computer tech from the Killing Ga and stood on the very cutting edge of electronic information science and technology.
They released a ga engine for free on platforms like GitHub,
whose lighting and physics destruction effects far surpassed all competing products on the market, and it was compatible with the new VR systems provided by Protheus Laboratory and other companies,
and free for ga companies and ga developers to use as they pleased.
Most importantly, Whale Song Organization also provided a likewise free AI ga-production assistant on cloud platforms,
an AI that could analyze photos and images and, based on those images,
automatically generate modeling project files,
and prioritize simulating physical collision effects of objects according to real-world physics.
If it was sothing that didn’t exist in the real world (like a fire-breathing Giant Dragon), you could also manually input conditions and run simulations.
For ga developers, this tech was nothing short of world-shaking,
as you only needed to feed the AI processing library a huge batch of photos of guns, cars, balls, trees, plants, and flowing water to one-click-generate the virtual-world effects you wanted,
drastically shortening developnt cycles, reducing difficulty, and cutting costs.
Ga companies and gaming enthusiasts were moved to tears by Whale Song Organization’s selfless dedication,
and every programr in the world took joining Whale Song Organization as a lifelong goal.
(Whale Song Organization is semi-open and occasionally recruits ordinary programrs.)
Thus, after Whale Song Organization released their ga engine for free, the market saw a mushroom-like explosion of new gas and remakes of old titles.
A realistic version of "Pokémon," where players, after putting on a VR helt, could see a Pikachu hopping around and perching on their shoulders.
RPGs, action gas, sports gas, racing gas, first-person shooters...
A realistic "GTA5," where players could parkour, shoot, run casinos in Los Santos, and even street-race (with an extra real-world racing seat for best effect).
A realistic "Resident Evil," where players could roll and sprint freely, perform tactical maneuvers, and dance around Evil Spirits and monsters in haunted mansions.
A realistic "Yu-gi-oh," where every card ca with cinematic effects, and you could even flip the table and sock your opponent in the face when necessary.
Once the new VR system hit the market, it absolutely crushed traditional video gas in terms of experience,
and high-tech ga companies were already capable of letting players connect remotely in the VR world
to play gunfight shooters or MOBA gas.
Li Ang had seen quite a few related news reports on civilian dia and forums. Gars worldwide were in collective ecstasy; even so ordinary people who hadn’t been into gas were all diving headfirst into the embrace of the new VR system.
(The new VR tech wasn’t just for gaming; it could also be used for sightseeing, remote online classes, smart ho integration, remote surgeries, and more.)
Chaichai, however, wasn’t that hyped about this tech.
As nice as the civilian new VR tech looked, it still wasn’t truly 100% real, at best roughly 70%,
far inferior to real script missions,
or even the virtual-reality tech used in the Special Affairs Bureau training grounds.
Once you’ve experienced 100% reality, playing this 70% virtual reality always feels a bit lacking. Chaichai planned to wait until VR got better developed before going all-in on it.
"Look, look, it’s starting!"
Chaichai drank his cola while staring at the screen with shining eyes.
"What show is it?"
Li Ang casually asked, "Is it Forgemaster Competition or Wilderness Hunt? Don’t tell it’s the second half of Wind Chaser Season 2?"
"Of course not. Wilderness Hunt is already outdated, and the new episodes of Wind Chaser aren’t out yet."
Chaichai stared fixedly at the TV screen and said without turning his head, "This is a sister show to The Master Chef, called Alien Feast."
"What?"
Li Ang froze for a mont, and saw an aerial shot of the ocean appear on the TV,
The upper half of the screen first shows the logos of the Watcher’s Guild and Netflix,
indicating that the show is funded by Netflix and fild by the Watcher’s Guild,
then on the lower half of the screen, the title of the show, "Alien Feast," is projected.
As the two lines of subtitles gradually fade, an English voiceover also cos from the TV.
"For a long ti, the natural world we’re familiar with has been the only food source for human civilization.
To obtain food, we gather, plant, dig, fish, and hunt.
To cook food, we invented the culinary arts: pan-frying, deep-frying, steaming, boiling, braising, blanching.
And now, we are about to explore the boundaries of food and cooking, to explore flavors unknown to humankind."
Accompanied by the deep, magnetic male voice, the screen suddenly cuts to a dium-sized fishing boat with three middle-aged n standing on it.
The one in the middle is wearing a host’s uniform with the Watcher’s Guild emblem pinned on his chest, clearly the host,
and the two beside him,
one white, one Asian, are both wearing chef uniforms.
Li Ang was full of question marks and asked, "What kind of show is this?"
Chaichai ate popcorn and said, "Just keep watching and you’ll know."
"Welco, viewers, to the latest episode of ’Alien Feast.’ I wonder what kind of impression last episode’s venison dishes made on you—the double-headed deer native to Chernobyl. Was it the soy-sauce-and-garlic sashimi, or the Scottish-style stewed venison that captured your heart?
The voting window will close after this episode airs. Please send your preferred choice to our show’s operations office via text, email, or online voting. We’ll randomly pick ten lucky viewers to receive this episode’s delicacy."
The host said with a beaming smile, "Alright, enough nonsense, let’s get to today’s episode.
Standing beside now are two of the world’s top chefs,
please introduce yourselves to the audience."
The white chef on the left nodded and said, "Hello everyone, I’m Kevin Jars. I own three Michelin three-star restaurants around the world and have 25 years of culinary experience."
The Asian chef on the right waved and said, "Hello everyone, I’m Ouyang Cheng, a special-grade chef, proficient in Shandong, Cantonese, Jiangsu, and Sichuan cuisines."
"What the hell is this? A cooking show?"
Li Ang was a little baffled. Cooking shows are on every day; Chaichai used to be obsessed with them too, even had a three-minute burst of enthusiasm wanting to learn cooking by himself.
Chaichai made a "keep it down" gesture. "Shh, keep watching. This show is really fun."
On the screen, the host continued, "...Today we’re still following the old rules. The production team will provide both chefs with the sa rare ingredient, and they’ll each improvise and cook their signature dishes.
Viewers can vote and participate for a chance to win food prizes.
Alright, let’s take a look at today’s ingredient."
The cara suddenly turns, aiming at the aft of the dium-sized fishing boat, where on the boat’s trawl fra hang two...fish?
That’s right,
on the two iron hooks of the trawl fra there hangs one bizarre-looking fish apiece,
their overall outline is fish-like, but their scales are a sickly pale color that fall off with a touch,
their two fish eyes are cloudy and deathly white,
beneath the fins, spider-like walking legs have grown out, constantly wriggling and swaying,
and their backs are covered with a layer of what looks like black hair; only up close can you see it’s not hair at all but exposed slender nerves.
"Wah, wah-wah, wah-wah-wah."
Apparently because the hooks have pierced through their gills and caused pain, the two fish stare with dead fish eyes and open their mouths to scream, letting out baby-like eerie cries, their tails twitching, scales rustling down.
"Holy shit."
Even though Li Ang himself is pretty skilled at biotech modification, he was still startled by such a grotesque fish. "What the hell is this?
Junji Ito’s fish?"
"These are deford fish that appeared half a month ago after the sewage leak incident on the Japan Island East Coast."
The host on the TV answered Li Ang’s question, speaking with complete seriousness, "The sewage discharged by the shaless and utterly immoral Japan Islands Tokyo Electric Power Company
has polluted the Pacific waters and, under the influence of the Killing Ga, brewed an A-level mutation called ’Ao-bozu.’
Although the Global Occult Coalition and the Japan Islands Abnormal Affairs Investigation Bureau quickly dealt with this A-level mutation,
the mutational Pollution effect still spread, causing deep-sea fish to undergo genetic mutation.
So of the fish turned into this kind of bizarre form.
Our show ’Alien Feast,’ upholding the spirit of "nothing is inedible, nothing is un-cookable," is going to demonstrate how to cook this new type of ingredient so it tastes good."
???
Li Ang looked at the two deford fish hanging on the screen, screaming non-stop, and raised his eyebrows high.
Chaichai, eyebrows dancing, explained beside him, "This show is insanely wild. Unlike ’The Master Chef,’ which is also produced by the Watcher’s Guild,
’The Master Chef’ is all about creating top-notch cuisine—every episode they have to make a divine dish that literally glows gold, makes you unable to stop eating, and blows your clothes off,
but this show is all about weirdness,
like deer contaminated by nuclear radiation,
horses infected by the Ju-On curse,
Piranha Plants, Corpse-slling Arum,
Devil’s Eggs summoned through a Hell demon ritual,
cows from failed biochemical modification,
basically any ingredient you can think of, they can cook it on the show,
if they weren’t worried about public impact, they could probably even invite Transcendents with rapid Self-healing Ability to literally slice out their own kidneys on-site for a barbecue.
I’ve been watching this show while eating lately."
Li Ang smacked his lips, looking at the two chefs on the TV seriously debating whether to steam or fry the deford fish, not knowing what to say. "Don’t they get any side effects from eating this stuff?
Like growing extra eyes or ears after eating?"
"Of course they do."
Chaichai said as a matter of course, "But the Watcher’s Guild is filthy rich and has professional logistics-type physicians on staff,
last ti the host tasted an egg dish made from a Devil’s Egg,
he literally grew a second misshapen head on the spot,
and the physician next to him just went up—snap—with a Scalpel, chopped off the second head, then cast Divine Light Technique to remove the effects."
"...Alright then."
Li Ang shook his head, lanting that people really are getting more and more shaless nowadays. He was just about to make a snarky comnt when he suddenly heard the System notification sound in his ears.
[Task Trigger conditions t]
[Task Type: Script Task (Team)]
[Task Na: Sea of Giant Beast]
[Task Objective: At 20:00 tonight, wait for teleportation in a marine environnt]
[Task Reward: To be announced upon receiving the next task prompt]
[Failure Penalty: Randomly destroy a certain number of player’s personal bound items]
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