The slowly descending sun was rging with the horizon of Sunset Province, while the Ideal City was already shrouded in the veil of night.
On the semi-transparent observation elevator.
Fang Chang glanced at the business card in his hand and then cast his gaze toward the holographic screen on the viewing window.
Behind the jumping floor numbers were the colorful, neon lights, and looking down revealed an abyss without end.
The building under his feet was nad Yunjian University.
Although integrating an entire university into one office building might sound far-fetched, making it seem as though its students were clocking in for work like corporate employees, in a place like Ideal City, it surprisingly didn’t feel out of place at all.
After all, the residents here were nominally employees of this "imnse and indescribable" corporation.
Most students who graduated from here would beco engineers and enter various departnts of the corporation, including subsidiaries with specific functions.
If one were to replace the title of the university with "Human Resources Departnt’s New Employee Training Division," it would be much more understandable.
However, to be fair, while the university was nad after a province, the sensation of riding an elevator through the clouds did invoke a feeling of being amidst them...
The number stopped at 227.
With a ding, the alloy doors behind Fang Chang opened to the sides like a subway at a station.
Retracting his gaze from the layered neon lights outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, Fang Chang turned and left, following the address on the business card without a pause as he continued along the corridor.
He soon arrived in front of a silver door.
His hand had barely touched the doorbell when the door in front of him whooshed open, and a face filled with an enthusiastic smile appeared.
"Welco! My dear friend, you must be Fang Chang, who’s all the rage on Endpoint Cloud, right? Haha, please co in! What got you interested in , or is it my field of research that piqued your interest?"
Fang Chang paused, looking at the man whose smile was so warm it bordered on extravagant, and then at the business card in his hand, his expression turning slightly peculiar.
[Ai Chen, male, 55 years old, Professor of Neurological Algorithms and Bionics at Yunjian University, Technical Advisor to the Kang Mao Group’s Product Developnt Departnt, main research directions include logical operations on fuzzy algorithm simulations and thought upload, etc.]
Without a doubt, this was the man, he had not mistaken the person.
Unless he had a twin brother...
"It’s rather presumptuous to disturb you at this ti, and I hope my visit hasn’t interrupted your rest."
"Presumptuous? What could be more delightful than ’the Alliance’s hero being interested in my research’?"
Ai Chen’s face was all smiles as he ushered Fang Chang into his office and continued.
"And you arrived at just the right ti. If you had co an hour earlier, I’d still be in the lab."
The office was spacious, decorated in a simple yet stylish manner, but Fang Chang’s attention wasn’t on the room before him, but on the man himself.
Different from the unkempt scholars and professors he had envisioned, this man was dressed impeccably. Although he was in his fifties, he looked to be in his thirties.
His outfit, resembling a suit and formal shoes, along with his slicked-back hairstyle, made him look less like a professor and more like a lawyer or soone working in banking or finance.
Since his arrival in Ideal City, Fang Chang had been attending various events with the allied Ambassador Shu Yu to secure investnts and sponsorships.
Besides that, he had not forgotten the other purpose of his visit – to find a way to upload thoughts onto circuit boards.
Players had countless lives, but NPCs only had one. Although it might sound fanciful, he felt that since the ga’s setting was the future, there should be a way to preserve a person’s consciousness permanently.
It was like the phylacteries, items that store souls, in gas with fantasy settings.
Fortunately, his status as a war hero had been very helpful, and the viral videos on Endpoint Cloud made him a star of Ideal City or, to put it another way, a "virtual celebrity."
When the professor learned of his interest in his field of research, they promptly scheduled a eting.
Both took their seats on the sofa.
Fang Chang fulfilled his request for a photo together. After so simple pleasantries, he stated his purpose.
"... I’d like to ask if there’s a way to upload thoughts to the cloud or sothing like a hard drive."
Perhaps because the topic had shifted to his field of expertise, the middle-aged professor’s exaggerated smile faded, replaced with a contemplative expression.
But it didn’t seem like he was pondering the academic subject itself, more like how to broach the topic.
After what felt like five minutes, he sighed softly and began to speak.
"Would you like a cup of coffee?"
Fang Chang was slightly startled.
His intuition told him that the expression likely didn’t bode well for optimistic news.
"No need... Just a glass of water for , thank you."
"One coffee, one lemon water," Ai Chen signaled to the synthetic human assistant on the side.
The assistant nodded slightly, heading into the next room. Soon after, it returned with a tray, respectfully placing the silver teacups in front of the two n.
"Please enjoy, sir."
After leaving these words, it turned and stood silently by the wall.
To avoid the Uncanny Valley effect, most synthetic humans either had facial features identical to a human’s, with almost lifelike transmission systems, or they would simply omit the features or exaggerate them significantly.
This synthetic human belonged to the forr category; not only did it look like a real person, but it was also very beautiful.
"I’m sorry about your situation. I know what you’re thinking, but... that’s not sothing science can accomplish."
Ai Chen picked up his cup, took a sip of coffee to moisten his throat, then his gaze lingered on the beautiful synthetic assistant nearby. After admiring it for a mont, he continued abruptly,
"My wife passed away three years ago."
Fang Chang was taken aback, hesitating,
"Even the dical technology in Ideal City couldn’t cure her?"
The biotechnology here could even replace an entire set of one’s parts; he truly couldn’t imagine what kind of illness was incurable.
Professor Ai Chen awkwardly cleared his throat.
"By passed away, I an she left... She ran off with a traveling rchant for the adventure and excitent of her dreams."
"...I’m sorry."
"There’s no need to be sorry. It’s nothing, besides, it’s all in the past now. Everyone has the right to choose how they live their life, where to go is her freedom. It’s , still holding onto her mory, who’s a bit narrow-minded, ha ha."
He gently placed the coffee cup back on the tray. Ai Chen smiled and nodded to the synthetic human on the side, indicating for it to take the cup away.
His gaze lingered behind the synthetic human, his voice delving deep into a distant mory.
"I once thought about making it in her image, not just her appearance, but also her mories and thoughts... to replicate them all."
Grasping the key word in that statent, Fang Chang montarily held his breath, his hands subconsciously tightening around his knees.
As if grasping onto hope.
"What happened after that?"
Ai Chen smiled faintly.
"After that, of course, I succeeded."
Fang Chang looked at the bionic assistant in surprise, then glanced at the professor sitting across him.
"That it is now..."
"It is now just an ordinary bionic assistant. Because later... I deleted its data again."
Fang Chang was stunned.
It took him a while before he continued to speak.
"...Why?"
"I’ve already told you the reason, because that’s not sothing science can achieve."
Before Fang Chang could speak, Professor Ai Chen continued.
"The person I loved was kind, gentle, beautiful, and lively... but in reality, that was just my imagination. There’s no such thing as a perfect person in this world. The brave are inevitably reckless, the cautious are invariably hesitant, the intelligent are often arrogant, and the arrogant cannot see what is beneath them. She was never perfect; love simply put a filter over her."
"So when I tried to write her as an algorithm based on my mories, I soon realized that the fictional personality I created was not her... Do you understand what I an?"
Fang Chang nodded silently, but soon shook his head again.
"I understand what you are trying to say... but I don’t quite understand, why not just include those flaws as well?"
Ai Chen smiled faintly and said.
"Because the problem is right here, are you sure you completely understand a person? Even if it’s yourself."
This question stumped Fang Chang, and for a mont he couldn’t say a word.
Watching the young man fall into silence, Professor Ai Chen leaned back on the sofa, slowing down his pace of speech to give him plenty of ti to think.
"It’s not impossible to upload thoughts to the cloud; as long as a person is not isolated from society, there will always be multiple brain backups holding mories of them. Converting these third-person mories into first-person perspective, and collecting these fragnts to compile into an intelligent algorithm, you can get soone almost exactly like her... Even if objectively they are not the sa person, she would roughly fit your image of her."
"However, a copy is ultimately not the original; it’s just a puppet that can talk and just happens to look alike. If that’s what you want, I can certainly help you, you just need to fill out a very long form. But based on your description, I have to ask you again, is that what you want?"
Looking at the middle-aged man leaning on the sofa, Fang Chang remained silent for a long ti, his thoughts tangled like a ball of yarn.
In reality, this might sound reasonable enough, but in the ga, it sounded like so serious ailnt.
How is it that the sa data copied from one hard drive to another is not the sa data?
And isn’t there a successful precedent in Shelter 101? They managed to downscale consciousness to the virtual world and even reproduce offspring in the eternally virtual world!
This is clearly sothing that can be done!
Fang Chang felt that his request was not excessive at all; he just wanted to keep a backup of Dolly’s data. But the operator reminded him through the NPC’s mouth, "Even if a new NPC is made with the backup data, it is not the sa NPC as the original."
Then what am I?!
A completely realistic virtual reality ga, even simulating such superfluous details...
Fang Chang felt a faint headache.
He suddenly regretted not choosing the Intelligence System in the first place.
"I just want to preserve a chance for resurrection for soone important, please, even just once..."
His voice carried a hint of pleading.
This sentence was not addressed to the NPC before him.
It was to Ah Guang, who was sowhere out of sight yet always watching over them.
Professor Ai Chen stared at the young man in front of him for a while, then his gaze slowly drifted, floating toward the colorful neon lights outside the window.
The dazzling play of light and shadow was irresistibly imrsive, satisfying all of one’s desires visible to the naked eye.
It seed to have everything.
Yet it was empty.
It was like the holographic images of that era, so real as to be beyond criticism, but ultimately not.
He touched his nose bridge and sighed softly, unusually forgoing the trendy lingo of the youth.
"... Many people have said this to , but few realize that life is precious precisely because it happens only once."
"If that person really matters to you, then treat her well in the ti you have left. Don’t let her leave your side, don’t let her get hurt, don’t wait until it’s too late to regret... And don’t be like , seeking comfort in mories."
"That’s the right thing to do."
...
Expectations ca to nothing.
Tonight, Ideal City gained another saddened soul.
However, Fang Chang’s disappointnt was an exception; most of the city’s residents were very happy, especially when the nightlife started.
On the edge of Ideal City, in an office building.
In a cramped and dimly lit studio, a few worthless sofas, tables, chairs, and simple office supplies were placed haphazardly.
Bathed in the light of cheap incandescent bulbs, a certain mole and the newly established Skeleton Studio’s employees were dancing and gesticulating with excitent.
"Holy crap... this Ga is just too damn fun!"
The mole had removed his Virtual Reality Glasses, his face brimming with excitent and thrill.
Recently, so folks on the Forum joked about making a ga in Ideal City. He was the only one that took action, and he really did it.
The studio simply adopted the Skeleton Army’s logo, while the ga was nad "The Great Escape." The gaplay couldn’t just be compared to battle royale gas; it was almost identical.
Except on a Virtual Reality platform.
Though it wasn’t as imrsive as "Wasteland OL," the completion level was already very high!
If it didn’t take off, he’d eat his words in front of Fang Chang!
Having seen the world, the tech director and CEO Xue Hongliang he hired didn’t have such an extre reaction; after removing his glasses, he simply remarked,
"...The only pity is that there’s only one life, and once you’re dead, that’s it."
In the very last round.
He didn’t last long after landing and was taken out by an NPC he designed.
The mole chuckled and said,
"You just don’t get it; the essence of this ga is right here! Although you lose all your gear when you die, think about it from another angle—doesn’t the person you took down feel the sa explosive frustration?"
The employees sitting around the room exchanged glances, nodding to each other, thinking there seed to be so truth in it.
The mole paused for a mont and continued thodically,
"Especially when you’ve made it to the final circle, hiding in the bushes, waiting for the final battle—just thinking about how half an hour of effort could be ruined by one small mistake, your adrenaline rushes, your palms sweat with nervousness! And if you win, all that stress instantly turns into dopamine of pure joy—"
"Hold on, there’s a problem," interjected a programr.
Although annoyed by the interruption, the mole generously gave him the opportunity to speak.
"Go ahead."
The programr said with all seriousness,
"Virtual Reality System will block sensory stimulation that could pose health risks, such as adrenaline surges and sweaty palms... it’s impossible."
The Mole rolled his eyes.
"I’m just making a comparison! Don’t be so rigid. There’s always a sense of anxiety, right?"
The programr scratched the back of his head.
"Uh, yeah, that there is..."
The Mole glanced around at the dozen or so employees present, then continued to energetically rally the troops.
"Anyway, the selling point of this ga is right here!"
"You only live once, you only get one chance! Whether our studio can secure a spot in Ideal City all depends on this launch!"
After a week-long developnt, the trial version of The Great Escape was completed and had just been uploaded to the Endpoint Cloud’s gaming platform a mont ago, available for users to download and try for free. After two hours of playti, a buy-out fee of 20Cr was charged.
More updates will follow, including features like buying crates to draw limited-edition skins. The Mole didn’t just copy the ga itself but also the thods of reaping profits from it.
Developing wasn’t very difficult, given the availability of developnt tools and virtual models for purchase on Endpoint Cloud. If sothing wasn’t available, outsourcing was an option.
The monthly rent for the company’s office space was 1200Cr, which wasn’t very expensive. Labor was slightly more costly, as employees with technical expertise couldn’t possibly be paid the minimum hourly wage of 1Cr. They had to be paid between 8000 to 10000Cr a month.
However, the main expenses were not rent nor labor, but rather the cost of purchasing developnt tool licenses, technical services, virtual models, and renting computational power from Endpoint Cloud.
The total cost ca to a staggering 1 million Cr!
That money could buy a "Hellhound" drone car plus a missile!
As for where this money ca from?
Of course, it was exchanged with silver coins.
A few days ago, thanks to the efforts of the Manager and Ambassador Shu Yu, the Alliance and the Company reached two critical agreents.
One of these was the currency exchange agreent.
Under the agreent, both parties exchanged a total inco value of 300 million Cr at a fixed exchange rate of 3:1.
That is, 1Cr to 3 silver coins.
With no set and stable market, it was difficult to directly translate purchasing power; after all, the sa commodity could have sky-high prices in River Valley Province and dirt-cheap prices in Province of Yúnjiānxíng.
This exchange rate included a subsidy of sorts, in the form of a "technology added value" that the Company provided the Alliance.
Moreover, currency exchange alone was not enough. Besides that, the parties also stipulated agreents on how the money should be used.
This involved the second trade agreent.
In principle, only residents of Ideal City were allowed to register companies and trade stocks, so the residents of the Alliance were unable to work or run businesses within the Company.
But there was so flexibility.
The newly signed trade agreent was one such makeshift solution.
As permanent partners to the Company, businesses registered in the Alliance with the Alliance’s endorsent could also enter the Company’s whitelist.
Once on the whitelist, companies could start branches in Ideal City and invest in non-core industries excluding electricity, transportation, energy, etc.
Because it was backed by the Alliance’s credit, to get on the whitelist required approval.
But the approval process was not complicated.
Companies contributing significantly to the Alliance or collectively owned by shelters could quickly get approved, earning the right to exchange currency and invest in Ideal City.
Examples include Goblin Technology, List Factory, Bull Horse Brick Factory, Factory No.81, and Bachi Aluminium Factory, among others.
million Cr equated to 3 million silver coins at the fixed exchange rate.
The Mole certainly did not have that much money on his own.
Not to ntion, this was just the initial investnt; the actual amount of capital needed was sure to be far greater.
However, as one of the smartest players on the server, he quickly thought of a solution after a bit of brainstorming.
Following the alpha version’s rules, he put together his entire fortune and pitched in with his close friends to gather 1.5 million silver coins to register a company called the Skeleton Group.
Then, he used an impressive business plan and sacrificed 80% of the shares to successfully secure 12 million silver coins of startup capital.
million Cr.
That was enough to last for a while.
He and so of the investors, such as Elena, Gno King Riches, and others, shared the remaining 20% of the shares.
Although the shelters owned a large portion, he also obtained a significant share—he owned 8%. If this ga made a billion, that would be 8 million!
After deducting costs and taxes, he would pocket at least 6 or 7 million Cr!
If he exchanged that to silver coins...
The Mole dared not think further.
He’d only daydread for a mont, but he couldn’t help drooling, worried that if he continued, he would beco over-excited.
In any case, he started the Skeleton Studio, fully funded by the Skeleton Group, carrying both the hard-earned money of the people and their expectations.
Under his relentless urging, the team managed to reproduce this virtual reality version of the parachute chicken-eating masterpiece in Wasteland OL.
Ah Guang deserved so credit.
Not only could players play gas within Wasteland OL, but they could also make gas within the ga.
The idea was simply aweso!
Although The Great Escape trial version only featured the area of an island, slightly smaller compared to those super A-grade works popular in Ideal City that recreated entire worlds, he believed gaplay and fun were the core of a ga.
He was destined to secure a place in this still unexplored market!
However—
The cruel reality quickly dealt him a severe blow.
The newly-launched The Great Escape did not beco an instant hit across the web as he had anticipated; it was as unnoticed as a speck of dust falling into a pond, not even creating a ripple.
Up until now, the server’s few visits were contributed by the studio’s own employees.
Watching the static download numbers, the Mole, who had been excitedly jumping around just thirty minutes ago, was now so anxious he was almost sweating.
The only consolation was, the lack of sales didn’t seem to relate to the ga itself, but rather, it was due to insufficient exposure.
Maybe once the exposure increased.
It might suddenly take off...
Standing next to the boss and staring at the data on the screen, the few employees of the studio also wore expressions of regret.
"It’s such a pity... Such a fun ga and completely unnoticed."
"Yes... It was actually pretty fun."
"We better not drag it out too long... Even the tastiest soup will go sour if left out for too long."
The developnt tools on Endpoint Cloud were quite mature, and the man-hours required to develop a ga were not long. However, it was precisely because of this that the highly competitive environnt led to not only severe homogenization of most gas but also shortened lifespans.
Apart from those open-world gas that focused on virtual community developnt with vast and non-repeating content, the lifespan of most gas was only one month, and players’ average ga ti seldom exceeded 24 hours.
The CEO and technical director of the studio, Xue Hongliang, frowned and pondered for a mont before saying,
"We should increase our investnt in marketing promotion."
"There’s a very popular ga promotion program on Endpoint Cloud lately. It’s a bit pricey, but I think we can give it a try."
As soon as he heard it was a bit pricey, the Mole’s eyebrows twitched.
"How much?"
"Around 1.2 million Cr?"
Hearing this number, he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
1.2 million?!
That could buy six missiles!
"Our developnt costs are less than 1 million... Isn’t this a bit too expensive?" Mole couldn’t help but complain.
Xue Hongliang was taken aback.
"Isn’t it normal for promotional costs to be higher than developnt costs?"
Mole was stunned for a mont.
But seeing that the other employees seed to agree with this, it didn’t feel like they were picking on him for not understanding the industry.
Taking a deep breath, Mole cald his emotions and spoke.
"Anyway... let first take a look at what that program is like."
Xue Hongliang nodded, walked over to another office desk, and turned on the holographic television placed there.
Pale blue lights and shadows appeared, the current channel was broadcasting sothing exciting.
He was about to switch channels, but his boss suddenly spoke up to stop him.
"Wait... let finish watching this news segnt."
Xue Hongliang paused and drew back his index finger, retreating to the side.
On the holographic image, the news continued to play, apparently covering an interview and report on the situation on the western front.
"... In order to reverse the declining situation on the front, the Army is deploying nuclear weapons with a yield of millions of tons to Sunset Province."
"The Minister of the Integrated Managent Departnt, Yue Qian, emphasized that nuclear weapons of more than 100,000 tons should be strictly controlled. If we allow those Variants to mutate further and let the fragile ecosystem continue to evolve towards extres, this planet will beco uninhabitable in the future!"
"The Manager of the Alliance also made a speech in a public lecture, condemning the Army for deploying nuclear weapons to the Battlefield and stating that the residents of the Alliance will not succumb to nuclear threats."
"The Supre Council is currently convened and discussing more concrete response plans. According to insiders, if the situation is true, the Corporate Supre Council will authorize the use of the sealed weapons stockpile..."
In the holographic image.
The council representative surrounded by interview drones spoke firmly.
"... There’s no doubt, those weapons were prepared for this very mont!"
Seeing the news in the holographic image, the employees of the studio looked at each other, and after regaining their senses, they gasped in unison.
"Sheesh... A million-ton nuclear bomb!"
One employee asked out of curiosity,
"What does that an?"
Another employee thought for a mont and answered,
"If it’s the Ideal City, each person in this city would get an average of either 100 kilograms or 10 kilograms equivalent. And for a population of around 100,000 in the Alliance, everyone would get about 10 tons."
The sound of "sheesh" filled the room.
All the cool air in the room seed to have been sucked away.
Everyone couldn’t help but sneak a peek at their boss.
They knew that the man who spoke hesitatingly in United Human language, nad Mole, was from the Southern Alliance of River Valley.
However, to their surprise, they didn’t see fear on the man’s face.
His expression looked more like one of pure astonishnt.
And in fact, that was true, staring at the holographic image, Mole’s eyes were completely blank.
He did see on the official website that the Army was deploying nuclear weapons to Sunset Province, even explicitly ntioning that they planned to use it on the City of Abundance in the Lion Kingdom.
However, the phrasing and tone in the Manager’s eyes in this news piece...
It felt like the nuclear bomb was about to be dropped on the head of the Alliance.
That can’t be real, right?
Seeing everyone looking in his direction, Mole coughed lightly and spoke in a serious tone.
"Your boss’s house is on fire... I might have to go back and check it out in a couple of days."
If the news was true, the mobilization order would probably co before long. As the commander of the Skeleton Corps, he certainly couldn’t stay behind and let his brothers fight for him.
Xue Hongliang was stunned.
"You... are going to the front line?"
What a thing.
They were just having a Battle Royale in the ga.
He hadn’t expected their boss to be out there fighting for real.
No wonder he could co up with such interesting ideas; they were all real experiences!
"Of course! Actually, to be honest, driving tanks is really your boss’s main job. Running the Company is just a side job."
Mole chuckled embarrassedly and coughed before continuing,
"But don’t worry about , just focus on your Work. Actually, I haven’t told you guys, but most of the revenue from the ga will go to the Alliance as military funds to fight the Army. For every 10,000 copies of the ga you sell, one more missile will be fired at the Army."
"When this war is over, I’ll co back and fight alongside you guys!"
After hearing this speech, almost all the employees in the office looked at him with admiring eyes.
Xue Hongliang stepped forward excitedly and shook his right hand firmly.
"Boss, go ahead with peace of mind, leave the Company to ... We won’t let you down! We’ll make your dream of a million sales co true!"
Mole smiled and patted his right hand.
"Good! With your words, I’m relieved!"
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