Chapter 434 A Completely Real Game, You Can Even Play Games in the Game (1/2)

The slowly setting sun is blending into the horizon of Luoxia Province, but at this moment, the ideal city has already been covered with the curtain of night.

On the translucent observation elevator.

Fang Chang glanced at the business card in his hand, and then turned his attention to the holographic screen on the viewing window.

Behind the jumping floor numbers are colorful neon lights, and if you look down below, you can see an abyss with no bottom.

The building under his feet is called Yunjian University.

Although it may sound outrageous to integrate the entire university into one office building, making it seem as if the students here are all employees who clock in to work, but in a place like Ideal City, it surprisingly doesn't seem out of place at all.

After all, the people living here are nominally employees of this "indescribably huge" company.

Most students who graduate from here will become engineers and enter various departments of the company, as well as subsidiaries with specific functions.

It would be much easier to understand if the title of the university was replaced by "Induction Training Section of the Human Resources Department".

But there is a saying. Although this university is named after a province, the feeling of riding an elevator through the clouds does feel a bit like being among the clouds...

The number is fixed at 227.

With a ding, the alloy door behind Fang Chang slid to both sides and opened like a subway arriving at the station.

Looking away from the layers of neon lights outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, Fang Chang turned around and left, looking for the address on the business card, and continued walking along the corridor without stopping.

Soon, he came to a silver door.

Almost as soon as he put his hand on the button of the doorbell, the door in front of him opened with a bang, and a smiling face full of enthusiasm appeared behind the door.

"Welcome! Dear friend, are you the Fang Chang who is popular all over Duandianyun? Haha, please come in! I don't know what makes you, a famous person, interested in me, or is it my research field that interests you? ?”

Fang Chang was slightly startled, looking at the man in front of him with a warm and exaggerated smile, and then looking at the business card in his hand, his expression showed a strange expression.

[Ai Chen, male, 55 years old, is a professor of neural algorithms and bionics at Yunjian University, and a technical consultant for the product research and development department of Kangmao Group. His main research directions are logic operations, fuzzy algorithm simulation, and mind uploading. 】

There was no doubt that it was him, and he had not found the wrong person.

If he didn't have a twin brother...

"I'm sorry to bother you at this time. I hope my visit will not disturb your rest."

"How could you be so presumptuous! What could be more pleasant than the fact that the heroes of the Alliance are interested in my research direction?"

With a happy smile on his face, Ai Chen invited Fang Chang into his office and continued.

"And you came just in time. If it had been an hour earlier, I would still be in the laboratory."

The office is very spacious, and the decoration is simple yet stylish. However, Fang Chang's attention is not on the room in front of him, but on the man in front of him.

Unlike those slovenly scholars and professors in my impression, he was dressed very delicately. Although he was in his 50s, he looked only about 30 years old.

Dressed in a suit and leather shoes, and with his hair slicked back, he doesn't look like a professor, but like a lawyer or a bank or financial practitioner.

Since arriving in Ideal City, Fang Chang has been cooperating with Ambassador Shuyu to attend various occasions to attract investment and sponsorship for the alliance.

In addition, he did not forget the other purpose of coming here - to find a way to upload thoughts to the circuit board.

Players have countless lives, but NPCs only have one. Although this sounds a bit whimsical, he feels that since the background of the game is a future world, there should be a way to permanently retain human consciousness.

It's like a game in a fantasy setting, with props similar to horcruxes that store souls.

Fortunately, his status as a war hero helped him a lot, and the viral videos on Duandian Cloud made him a star or "Internet celebrity" in Utopia.

When he learned that he was interested in his research direction, the professor immediately made an appointment with him.

The two sat down on the sofa.

Fang Chang complied with his request for a photo, and after a brief exchange of greetings, he revealed his purpose.

"...I would like to ask you if there is a way to upload thoughts to the cloud or a hard drive or similar place."

Perhaps because the conversation came to his professional field, the middle-aged professor put away his exaggerated smile and showed a thoughtful expression on his face.

But it wasn't like thinking about academics per se, but more like thinking about how to speak.

After about 5 minutes, he sighed softly and spoke.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Fang Chang was slightly stunned.

His instinct told him that that expression probably didn't seem like he was planning to say anything optimistic.

"No...just give me a glass of water, thank you."

"A cup of coffee, a cup of lemonade." Ai Chen gestured to the android assistant on the side.

The assistant shook his head slightly, turned around and went to the next room. After a while, he came back with a tray and respectfully placed the silver teacup in front of the two of them.

"Please use it slowly, sir."

After leaving these words, it turned around and stood quietly by the wall.

In order to avoid the uncanny valley effect, most bionic people will either make their facial features exactly like those of humans and install an almost realistic transmission system, or they will simply omit the facial features or make the facial features very exaggerated.

And this bionic man belongs to the former. Not only is it the same as a real person, but it is also very beautiful.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you. I know what you're thinking, but...that's not something science can do."

Ai Chen picked up the cup and took a sip of coffee to moisten his throat. His eyes stopped on the beautiful android assistant not far away. After admiring it for a moment, he suddenly continued.

"My wife left three years ago."

Fang Chang paused slightly and said hesitantly.

“Can’t you even cure the medical conditions in Ideal City?”

The bionic technology here can even replace a complete set of body parts. He really can't imagine any disease that cannot be cured.

Professor Ai Chen coughed slightly in embarrassment.

"When I say leave, I mean leave... She ran away with the merchants outside to seek the adventure and excitement of her dreams."

"……Feel sorry."

"Don't be sorry, it's nothing, not to mention it's all in the past. Everyone has the right to choose how to live, and she is free to go wherever she goes. But I am a little petty because I keep thinking about it, haha."

Putting the coffee cup gently on the tray, Ai Chen smiled and nodded to the android beside him, signaling it to take the cup away.

His eyes stayed behind the android, and his voice seemed to be caught in a distant memory.

"Actually, I once thought about making it look like her, not just in appearance, but also in her memories and thoughts... and make a copy of it."

Keenly capturing the key words in this sentence, Fang Chang held his breath for a moment and subconsciously grasped his knees with his hands.

It seems that what is grasped is hope.

"and after?"

Ai Chen smiled lightly.

"Later, of course I succeeded."

Fang Chang looked at the android in surprise, and then at the professor sitting opposite.

"Then it is now..."

"Now it is just an ordinary android assistant. Because later... I deleted its data again."

Fang Chang was stunned.

It took a long time before he continued.

"……Why?"

"I've told you the reason, because it's not something science can do."

Before Fang Chang could speak, Professor Ai Chen continued.

"The person I love is gentle and kind, beautiful, generous and passionate...but in fact it is just my imagination. There is no perfect person in this world. Brave people are inevitably reckless, cautious people are inevitably hesitant, and smart people are often arrogant. , and arrogant people cannot see their feet. She is never perfect, just because love puts a filter on her."

"So when I tried to write her into an algorithm based on my memories, I quickly realized that the fictional personality I had created was not her at all... Do you know what I mean?"

Fang Chang nodded silently, but quickly shook his head.

"I know what you want to express...but I don't quite understand. Can't you just add those shortcomings as well?"

Ai Chen smiled lightly and said.

"Because here's the thing, are you sure you understand someone completely? Even yourself."

This sentence stopped Fang Chang, and he was speechless for a while.

Looking at the young man who fell into silence, Professor Ai Chen leaned back on the sofa and slowed down his speaking speed, giving him enough time to think.

"It is not impossible to upload thoughts to the cloud. As long as a person is not isolated from society, there will always be several brains that have backed up memories about him. Convert these third-person memories into first-person, and then use these collected memories The fragments are programmed into intelligent algorithms, and you can get a person who is almost exactly like her...even if they are not objectively the same person, she can roughly match your imagination of her."

"However, after all, the replica is not the real person, it is just a talking doll that happens to look exactly like me. If that's what you want, of course I can help you, as long as you fill out a 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 was silent for a long time, and the thoughts in his mind became a mess.

If it were in reality, there wouldn't be anything wrong with saying this, but in the game it sounds like there's something seriously wrong with it.

When a piece of data is copied from one hard drive to another, why is it not the same piece of data?

And isn’t there a successful precedent for Vault 101? Not only did they reduce their consciousness to the virtual world, they even reproduced in the eternal virtual world!

This is obviously something that can be done!

Fang Chang felt that his request was not excessive at all. He just wanted to leave a backup of Dolly's data. However, the operator reminded him through the NPC, "Even if you use the backup data to create a new NPC, it will not be the same as the NPC." The original NPC is not the same NPC."

Then what am I? !

A completely real virtual reality game, even such superfluous details must simulate reality...

Fang Chang felt a dull pain in his forehead.

He suddenly regretted why he didn't choose the intelligence department.

"I just want to save one chance of resurrection for the important people, please, even just once..."

There was a hint of pleading in that voice.

This sentence was not addressed to the NPC in front of me.

But to A Guang, who didn't know where he was but was watching them all the time.

Professor Ai Chen stared at the young man in front of him for a while, then his eyes suddenly slowly moved towards the colorful neon lights outside the window.

The gorgeous light and shadow make people unable to help but indulge in it, and all people's thoughts can be satisfied in the prosperity visible to the naked eye.

There seems to be everything here.

But there was nothing.

It's like a holographic image of that era, impeccably real, but not.

He stretched out his hand to touch the bridge of his nose and sighed softly. It was rare that he did not follow the fashion and imitate the speech of young people.

"...Many people have said this to me, but few realize that life is precious precisely because it only comes once."

"If that person is really important to you, then be nice to her during the time you have left. Don't let her leave your side, don't let her get hurt, and don't let things get irreversible before you start to regret it. …Don’t try to find comfort in memories like I did.”

"This is the right thing to do."

…

Expectations were dashed.

There is another sad person in the ideal city tonight.

However, Fang Chang's loss is just an exception. The vast majority of people in this city are still very happy, especially at this point where the nightlife begins.

An office building on the edge of Ideal City.

In a small and light-tight studio, there are simply a few worthless sofas, tables, chairs and simple office equipment.

Bathed in the light of cheap incandescent lamps, a certain mole and several employees of the newly established [Skeleton Studio] were dancing excitedly at the moment.

"Oh my god...this game is so fun!"

After taking off the virtual reality glasses, Mole's face was filled with excitement and excitement.

Some time ago, everyone on the forum joked about going to Utopia to make a game, but he was the only one who took action and actually made the game come out.

The studio directly used the logo of the Skeleton Corps, and the name of the game is "Battle Royale". The gameplay cannot be said to be very similar to the game of chicken, it can only be said to be almost exactly the same.

Just switched to a virtual reality platform.

Although it is not as realistic as "Wasteland OL", the degree of completion is already very high!

If it's not popular, he invites Fang Chang to eat Xiang!

After all, he is a man who has seen the world. The technical director and CEO Xue Hongliang he hired did not react so much. He simply sighed after taking off his glasses.

"...The only pity is that you only have one life. If you die, you will be gone."

Just in that game just now.

Not long after he landed, he was taken away by the man-machine he designed.

Mole said with a chuckle.

"You don't understand this. The essence of this game is here! Although the search for equipment will be in vain if you die, but if you think about it from another angle, wouldn't the person you killed have the same mentality?"

The employees sitting in the room looked at each other, and after exchanging glances, they thought it seemed to make sense.

The Mole paused for a moment, then continued slowly.

"Especially when you have made it all the way to the finals and are waiting in the grass for the final battle. When you think that half an hour of hard work will be in vain with just a small mistake, your adrenaline will surge and your hands will be so nervous. Sweat! And if you successfully eat chicken, all these hormones will be converted into happy dopamine in an instant——"

"Wait a minute, there's a question." The employee in charge of programming raised his hand.

Although he was unhappy about being interrupted, Mole graciously gave him a chance to speak.

"explain."

The programmer said seriously.

"The virtual reality system will shield the senses from excessive stimulation that may cause health risks. It is impossible to have adrenaline surges and sweaty hands..."

Mole rolled his eyes.

"I'm just making a metaphor! Don't be so rigid. There will always be tension, right?"

The programmer scratched the back of his head.

"Well, that's true..."

Mole glanced around at the dozen or so employees present, and continued to inject them energetically.

"In short, this is the selling point of this game!"

"You only have one life and only one opportunity! Whether our studio can occupy a place in the ideal city depends on this sale!"

After a week-long development, the trial version of "Battle Royale" has been completed and has just logged into the game platform on Endpoint Cloud. It is open to users for free download and trial play. Charges will be charged after the trial time exceeds two hours. 20Cr buyout fee.

Functions such as selling boxes and drawing out-of-print skins will be updated in the future. Mole not only copied the game itself, but also copied the method of cutting leeks.

Since there are ready-made development tools available and ready-made virtual models available for purchase on the endpoint cloud, and those that cannot be purchased can be outsourced, development is not very difficult.

As for the rent of the company's premises, it is 1200 Cr per month, which is not very expensive. Labor is a bit more expensive, and it is impossible to pay the minimum hourly wage of 1Cr to technically savvy employees. They still have to pay 8,000 to 10,000 Cr a month.

The bulk of the expenditure is not rent or labor, but the cost of purchasing the right to use development tools, purchasing technical services and virtual models, and leasing endpoint cloud computing power.

All the expenses were calculated up to 1 million Cr!

This money is enough to buy a "Cerberus" unmanned vehicle and an airborne missile!

As for where the money comes from?

Of course it was in exchange for silver coins.

A few days ago, with the efforts of the administrator and Ambassador Shuyu, the Alliance and the enterprise reached two key and important agreements.

One of them is the currency swap agreement.

According to the agreement, the two parties exchanged a total of 300 million Cr worth of currency at a fixed exchange rate of 3:1.

That is, 1Cr to 3 silver coins.

Due to the lack of a fixed and stable market, it is difficult to convert purchasing power directly. After all, the price of the same commodity in the River Valley Province and the Cloud Province may be one in the sky and one in the ground.

This exchange rate actually includes a part of the subsidy, and the content of the subsidy is the "technical added value" provided by the enterprise to the Alliance.

In addition, currency swaps alone are obviously not enough. In addition, the two parties have also agreed on how to use the money.

And this involves the second trade agreement.

In principle, only residents of Ideal City can register companies and trade equity, so residents of the Alliance cannot work in enterprises or run industries.

But there is room for flexibility.

And this newly signed trade agreement is one of the flexibility methods.

As a permanent partner of the enterprise, companies registered in the Alliance and endorsed by the Alliance can also enter the white list of the enterprise.

After entering the whitelist, you can set up a branch in Ideal City and invest in non-core industries other than electricity, transportation, energy, etc.

Because it is endorsed by the credit of the alliance, you need to pass the approval if you want to enter the alliance's whitelist.

However, the approval process is not complicated.

Companies that have made outstanding contributions to the alliance or are collectively controlled by the shelter can be quickly approved and obtain exchange quotas and tickets to invest in Ideal City.

The former include Goblin Technology, Lister Factory, etc., and the latter include Niuma Brick Factory, Factory No. 81, Bachi Aluminum Factory, etc.

1 million Cr, converted at a fixed exchange rate, is 3 million silver coins.

Mole himself definitely does not have so much money.

Moreover, this is only the initial investment, and the actual funds required are definitely far more than this.

However, after all, he is the "second smartest" boss of the server. After he used his little brain, he quickly thought of a solution.

According to the rules of the alpha version, he took out all his belongings and raised 1.5 million silver coins with his good brothers to register a company called Skull Group.

Then he successfully raised 12 million silver coins in start-up capital with a beautiful business plan and 80% of his shares.

4 million Cr.

It was enough for a while.

He shared the remaining 20% ​​of the shares with Irena, Elf King Fugui and other investors.

Although the shelter took the lion's share, the shares he could get were not small.

For example, he took 8%. As long as the game sold 100 million, that would be 8 million!

After deducting the cost and tax, he would get at least 6 or 7 million Cr!

If this was converted into silver coins...

Mole didn't dare to think about it anymore.

After just a while of YY, he couldn't help drooling. He was worried that he would get too excited if he continued to imagine.

In short, he took everyone's hard-earned money and shouldered everyone's expectations to open the Skeleton Studio, which was wholly owned by the Skeleton Group.

Under his unremitting encouragement, everyone finally restored this virtual reality version of the skydiving and eating chicken masterpiece in "Wasteland OL".

I have to praise A Guang.

"Wasteland OL" can not only play games in the game, but also make games in the game.

This idea is simply amazing!

Although the trial version of "Battle Royale" is only the area of ​​​​an island, it is a little smaller than those "super A-level" masterpieces that restore a world at any time in the ideal city, but he believes that gameplay and fun are the core of a game.

This market, which is still a blue ocean, is destined to have a place for him!

However——

The ruthless reality soon gave him a heavy blow.

The newly launched "Battle Royale" did not become popular on the entire network as he expected. It was even as unknown as a piece of dust falling into a pond, without even a little wave.

So far, the only few visits to the server are still contributed by the employees in the studio.

Looking at the unchanged download volume, the mole, who was dancing with excitement a few minutes ago, was now sweating with anxiety.

The only thing that brought him some comfort was that the lack of big sales seemed to have nothing to do with the game itself, but just insufficient exposure.

Maybe when the exposure is increased.

Maybe it will suddenly become popular...

Standing next to the boss, staring at the data on the screen, several employees in the studio also had regretful expressions on their faces.

"What a pity... Such a fun game is not popular at all."

"Yeah... It's obviously quite fun."

"We'd better not delay it too long... No matter how delicious the soup is, it will go bad if it is left for too long."

The development tools on the endpoint cloud are very mature, and the working hours required to develop a game are not long. However, it is precisely because of this that the highly involutionary environment has caused most games to not only be highly homogenized, but also have a shortened lifespan.

Except for those open world games that focus on the development of virtual communities and have huge and non-repetitive content, the lifespan of most games is only one month, and the average game time of players is often no more than 24 hours.

Xue Hongliang, CEO and technical director of the studio, frowned and thought for a moment before saying.

"We should increase investment in marketing and promotion."

"Recently there is a very popular game promotion program on Duandianyun. Although the cost is a bit high, I think we can give it a try."

Mole's eyebrows suddenly twitched when he heard that the fee was a bit high.

"How many?"

"Around 1.2 million Cr?"

When he heard this number, he almost spit out a mouthful of blood.

1.2 million? !

I can buy six missiles!

"Our development costs are less than 1 million... Isn't this price too expensive?" Mole couldn't help complaining.

Xue Hongliang was stunned for a moment.

“Isn’t it common sense that publicity costs are higher than development costs?”

The mole was also stunned.

However, looking at the other employees around him, they also had expressions of approval, and it didn't seem like they were bullying him for not knowing what he was doing.

After taking a deep breath, Mole controlled his emotions and spoke.

"Anyway...let me see what that show is like first."

Xue Hongdian nodded, walked to another desk, and turned on the holographic TV placed there.

Light blue light and shadow appeared, and the current channel was broadcasting news.

He was about to change the channel, but his boss suddenly stopped him.

"Wait a minute...I'll finish reading this news."

Xue Hongliang was stunned for a moment, then took his index finger back to the side.

The images in the hologram continued to play, and the news being broadcast seemed to be interviews and reports about the situation on the Western Front.

"...In order to reverse the decline in the frontal battlefield, the legion is deploying nuclear weapons with a million-mil equivalent capacity to Luoxia Province."

"Minister of the General Management Department Yue Qian emphasized that nuclear weapons with a density of more than 100,000 should be strictly restricted. If those alien species are allowed to continue to mutate and the fragile ecosystem continues to evolve in an extreme direction, the planet will become unviable in the future. !”

"Alliance administrators also spoke in public speeches, strongly condemning the Legion's deployment of nuclear weapons to the battlefield and stating that the citizens of the Alliance will not succumb to the nuclear threat."

"The Supreme Council meeting is currently being held to discuss a more specific response plan. According to people familiar with the matter, if the situation is true, the Supreme Council of the enterprise will approve the use of the sealed weapons inventory..."

In the holographic image.

The council representative, surrounded by interview drones, spoke firmly.

"...There is no doubt that those weapons were prepared for this moment!"

Looking at the news in the holographic image, the employees in the studio looked at each other, and when they came to their senses, they all gasped in unison.

"Hiss...a million-density nuclear bomb!"

An employee asked curiously.

"What is that concept?"

Another employee thought for a moment and replied.

"If it's an ideal city, everyone in the city can get an average of 100 kilograms or 10 kilograms equivalent. And if it's an alliance with a population of about 100,000, everyone can get about 10 kilograms."

There was a loud "hiss" sound.

The cold air in the whole room was sucked away.

Everyone couldn't help but steal a glance at their boss.

They knew that the man whose name was Mole came from the alliance in the southern part of the River Valley Province.

However, what surprised them was that they did not see fear on this man's face.

The expression seemed to be pure surprise.

And this was indeed the case. Mole's eyes were blank as he stared at the holographic image.

He had seen the news on the official website that the legion was deploying nuclear weapons to the Luoxia Province. The announcement even clearly mentioned that the legion planned to use them in the fertile capital of the Lion Kingdom.

However, look at the managers’ serious words and tone in this news...

It feels like this nuclear bomb is going to be thrown over the heads of the alliance.

really?

Seeing everyone looking at him, Mole coughed slightly and said in a serious voice.

"There's a fire at your boss's house...I'll probably have to go back and take a look in two days."

If the news is true, the mobilization order will probably come out soon. As the leader of the Skeleton Corps, he certainly cannot wait behind and let his brothers do it for him.

Xue Hongliang was stunned for a moment.

"You... want to go to the front line?"

Good guy.

They are playing chicken in the game.

Unexpectedly, their boss was eating real chicken on the front line.

No wonder I can come up with such interesting ideas, it turns out they are all real experiences!

"That's for sure! In fact, to be honest, driving a tank is your boss's job, and running a company is just a side job."

Mole smiled sheepishly, coughed and continued.

"But don't worry about me. Working hard is the greatest support for me! In fact, I have never told you that most of the revenue from this game will become the alliance's military expenditure against the Legion. Every 10,000 you sell If you play another game, one more missile will be fired at the Legion.”

"When this battle is over, I will come back and fight alongside you!"

After hearing this speech, almost all the employees in the office looked at him with admiration.

Xue Hongliang stepped forward with excitement on his face and held his right hand tightly.

"Boss, go ahead with peace of mind. Leave the company to me... We will definitely live up to your expectations! Realize your dream of millions of sales!"

The Mole smiled and patted his right hand.

"Okay! With your words, I feel relieved!"