Break out of the courtyard

"It's not safe to proceed yet!" Zhang Heping stood up and declined Director Wang's offer, then shook hands with Secretary Chen, Teacher Li, and others who came to greet him to say goodbye.

After most people had left the lecture hall and Zhang Heping had sat back down, Director Wang finally asked why the virtual reality game equipment could not be installed at Shenzhen Heping Academy.

"These devices are still in the testing and improvement stage. We will consider installing them there after the safety factor of the devices is improved."

Having said all that, Director Wang couldn't press for more equipment, lest he become disliked.

"Dad!" Zhang Hu, who had survived the game until it ended without dying, excitedly leaned over and asked, "Next, are we going to test the speed-up mode?"

Zhang Bei, who came along, frowned and said, "The Nanjing Massacre lasted for more than a month. If the virtual dream game world doesn't speed things up, it will probably take three or four months of real time to complete this disaster game!"

"Give me a year, and I still won't be able to beat the game!" Zhang Feng stood to the side, still shaken by what had just happened.

Just as Zhang Heping was responding to his children, Director Wang followed the last group of students out of the lecture hall.

The noisy group of students came out of the teaching building and saw a neat formation of black-clad bodyguards standing outside. They were intimidated by the silent aura of the bodyguards and quieted down one by one.

Director Wang glanced at the cleaning staff behind him carrying mops, brooms, and buckets, then followed the students out of the teaching building. He took another look at the bodyguards lined up quietly beside them before walking to Secretary Chen's side and whispering:
"How about we give these kids a lesson tonight, talking about the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan? What do you think?"

"It's necessary to talk about it, which can also be considered a form of psychological counseling!" Secretary Chen nodded and said, "Otherwise, I'm worried that some students..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Shuting and Zhang Nan got out of a black car, followed by several attendants carrying plastic bags.

After a brief greeting, Chen Shuting excused herself, saying she was delivering food, and led her people to the virtual dream lecture hall.

"Judging from this, it seems that Consultant Zhang and his team are going to test this virtual dream game equipment all night long!" After saying this, Secretary Chen turned to look at the students, teachers, and parents with their various expressions, and then called them to line up and head to the Peace Hotel.

As the student group set off, a teacher leading the group quickly approached Secretary Chen and Director Wang and asked, "Secretary Chen, it's already this late, should we still take the students who didn't pass the assessment back to Shenzhen?"

Secretary Chen and Director Wang exchanged a glance, and then Director Wang said, "I'll have Pandi check with the hotel front desk to see if you can extend your room reservation!"

"Let's go to the restaurant for dinner first!" Secretary Chen chimed in. "If we can extend the reservation, we won't be in a rush to go back tonight!"

After the team leader left, Director Wang finished his phone calls, but he still had to wait for Zhang Pandi's reply.

Secretary Chen walked slowly beside the students and quietly asked Wang Sumei, who was standing next to her, "Director Wang, do you think it's still necessary to organize the materials and then ask Consultant Zhang to create a virtual dream game about the Korean War?"

“It’s necessary!” Director Wang Sumei nodded and said, “In addition to the Korean War, it is also necessary to consider turning other events of the War of Resistance against Japan into virtual dream games, so that more children can remember those histories and know that the peace and stability we have today did not come easily!”

Secretary Chen looked at the student group that had started making noise again and said, "I thought these students would be traumatized, but I didn't expect them to recover so quickly!"

Director Wang remained silent for a while, until they were almost inside the Peace Hotel, before she spoke again, "Secretary Chen, how much of the virtual dream you just experienced can you still remember?"

Secretary Chen was taken aback by the question and stood there thinking for a while.

About half a minute later, Secretary Chen said with slight surprise, "I only remember randomly being put into the body of a woman, hiding in a building, and then being discovered by the Japanese soldiers..."

"Are many details so vague, like in a normal dream?" Director Wang asked, leading the question.

"Hmm!" Secretary Chen nodded. "It seems we can skip the psychological counseling part!"

"Let's talk about it after the ideological education class!" Director Wang frowned as he looked at the young men and women lining up to enter the restaurant. "If there are any students who have a strong memory of something, we'll probably have to give them some guidance!"

……

Chen Shuting ate a piece of bread with Zhang Heping until all 600 bodyguards had entered and taken their seats, and then she left with her children who did not want to go back.

Once his wife and children left, Zhang Heping put aside eating and drinking and began assigning tasks to his bodyguards on the podium.

"Next, you will enter Nanjing, which fell in December 1937, as randomly selected characters!"

"I have only one requirement for tonight's test: kill the Japanese devils!"

After he finished speaking, the 600 helmets under the ceiling descended in unison, and the 600 bodyguards below, though their eyes darted around, remained seated upright.

Zhang Heping's mental energy did not follow the regeneration brain server, but instead spread out in all directions to detect any dissipated mental energy.

As long as no mental energy escapes from either the classroom or the computer lab, we can try to make the virtual dream game equipment here run independently, thus taking a big step towards commercialization!

These bodyguards were professionally trained, so no matter how bloody and brutal the encounters in the virtual dream were, they would only react with anger and curses, not with tears.

In addition, their test was different from the student test just now.

After these bodyguard players die, they will immediately and randomly respawn into a living person in the city.

This mid-life resurrection could randomly land on a prisoner about to be shot, or it could land on a Japanese soldier who is currently shooting prisoners.

The reason why players can be resurrected as a Japanese soldier is mainly to allow them to understand this bloody history from different perspectives.

At the same time, it is also Zhang Heping's screening method!
If anyone joins the Japanese side, there's nothing more to say, they just get out!
If you choose to fight against the Japanese, this mark will be left in your subconscious!
An hour and a half after the virtual dream started, Zhang Heping walked outside wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

The relevant equipment was operating normally, and not a trace of spiritual energy was leaking out. Zhang Heping didn't need to stay inside any longer. He came out to get some fresh air and grab something to eat.

Wei Chunqiao, the head of the Umbrella Security Company, and Zhu Chengguang, the security manager, had arrived long ago. However, after waiting for a while and not seeing Zhang Heping come out, they got into their car to rest.

It's really hard to believe that the big boss is conducting all-night testing here, and it's not the heavily guarded Victoria Peak. It's hard to explain why the two big bosses, Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang, didn't come to show their loyalty.

So, just as Zhang Heping stepped out of the classroom and placed the bread, biscuits, and milk on the railing, Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang received the news and hurriedly got out of the car parked next to the teaching building, running over to Zhang Heping to report on the security arrangements for the night.

After sending the two old men away, Zhang Heping went to the computer room next door.

Currently, the virtual dream game time is 1:1 with real time.
In other words, if a player spends one hour in a virtual dream game, one hour of real-world time will also pass.

This time ratio seems normal.

However, in ordinary people's dreams, the content of the dream changes rapidly under the influence of multiple factors such as subjective feelings, neural activity, and memory integration, thereby enhancing the perception of time and distorting the dream's time. To put it simply, theoretically, in a typical five-minute dream, under maximum brain activity, the dream process can be accelerated by 20 times!
This is also why some people, even though they haven't slept for long during their midday nap, frequently have multiple consecutive dreams.

Furthermore, this difference in perception caused by brain activity has also been explained using the theory of relativity.

The example is that when a man is on a date with a beautiful woman, time seems to fly by; but when a man is forced to sit with a woman he dislikes, time seems to drag by!
So the question is, does time really exist?

Based on this difference in brain perception, Zhang Heping will conduct an important test tonight, which is the game acceleration mode that his sixth son, Zhang Hu, just mentioned!
This test is actually quite simple: add more artificially synthesized acetylcholine to the multi-species gene regeneration brain server to increase the activity of the regenerated brain, thereby accelerating the brainwave output speed and allowing players to passively receive a faster virtual dream time flow.

Of course, this is just the simplest one-sided test.

If we want to achieve even faster acceleration in the future, we will have to put more effort into the nutrient solution in the game pod; otherwise, the player's brain may not be able to accept such a large difference in perception.

It is precisely this simplicity that led Zhang Heping to have 600 bodyguards participate in this test.

Even if there are any dangers during the test, at most it will just require more mental exertion, and we can give them a few days off to rest.

Whether the multi-species gene regeneration brain used in the experiment would be damaged was beyond Zhang Heping's consideration.

Would lab personnel care whether a white mouse lives or dies?

The next day, early in the morning.

As the first rays of sunlight streamed into the virtual dream lecture hall, Director Wang and Secretary Chen came over with two lunchboxes, intending to deliver breakfast to Zhang Heping and check on the progress of the experiments.

But as soon as they arrived, they saw the bodyguards walking out of the lecture hall looking exhausted.

"How many Japanese soldiers have you killed these past few days?"

"I killed 35, and died 28 times. I didn't have a good weapon, otherwise I would have wiped out those little devils!"

"I'm a bit better off than you. I died 15 times and killed 66 Japanese soldiers!"

"Awesome! How did you do that?"

"I was randomly assigned to be a Japanese islander 8 times, hehe!"

"Bro, we've been playing virtual dream games for days? My head feels throbbing, and my eyes are blurry!"

"Three or four days! I've died so many times I haven't even noticed the time!"

"Holy crap! The guys on guard duty said we only played all night, that can't be right! I feel like I've been in a dream game for days!"

……

While Director Wang and Secretary Chen were eavesdropping on the bodyguards' conversation, Zhang Heping, holding his gold-rimmed glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose, walked out of the teaching building.

"You've all worked hard!" Zhang Heping put down his hand, looked at the bodyguards who were standing in a crooked line with a slightly tired expression, and then waved his hand and said, "Breakfast has been prepared for you on the second floor of the hotel. After you eat, go home and catch up on your sleep. You don't need to go to work for the next two days. You're dismissed!"

Upon hearing that they could have three days off, the bodyguards were overjoyed, their earlier fatigue and headaches completely gone.

After saying goodbye to Zhang Heping, these guys scattered like birds and beasts, heading towards the Peace Hotel in small groups, chatting about their achievements and experiences the previous night.

Last night, after adding neurotransmitters to the nutrient solution for the regenerating brain, Zhang Heping also diverted a portion of his mental energy into the virtual dream world.

In addition, monitoring all the gaming devices takes a lot of mental effort.

This is the first time he has experienced such a significant mental strain since he stopped using the first-generation brain-computer interface.

His mental discomfort made him much less patient than usual.

Therefore, upon meeting Director Wang and Secretary Chen, he did not control his facial expressions, casually yawned, and accepted the breakfast they brought.

While Zhang Heping was eating his steamed bun, Director Wang asked with a smile, "Heping, could we try out the virtual dream game here again today?"

"Come this afternoon!" Zhang Heping looked at Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang, who were standing to the side, and waved them over, but he was still answering Director Wang, "Those who didn't pass the second round of assessments shouldn't come. There should be foreigners coming to experience it this afternoon."

After speaking, Zhang Heping looked at Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang who were approaching and said, "You two arrange for someone to guard the equipment in the classroom. I'll come back this afternoon!"

Wei Chunqiao quickly replied, "Okay, boss! Take care, we'll definitely guard this area!"

"Received! Don't worry, boss!" Zhu Chengguang saw that Zhang Heping looked tired, so he gave a simple reply and waved to the car next to him.

Zhang Heping asked Director Wang and Secretary Chen if they wanted to take a car back to the hotel. After they shook their heads and refused, he got into the car and went straight home.

His wife and children were at home, clearly waiting for Zhang Heping.

"Dad! Did you test the acceleration mode last night? What was the time ratio?" Zhang Hu excitedly greeted Zhang Heping as soon as he saw him return.

“I tried it!” Zhang Heping rubbed his throbbing temples and walked straight toward the restaurant. Without turning his head, he said to his children who were following behind him, “To ensure the success of the subsequent assessments, we didn’t add too many neurotransmitters.”

"Based on initial observations, time in the virtual dream world last night was 8 times faster than in the real world!"

"Eight times?" Zhang Hu exclaimed in surprise. "That means those people who did the test last night spent at least two or three days in the virtual dream game?"

Zhang Bei frowned and asked, "Dad! With such a large time difference, will there be any aftereffects?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Heping took the hot towel handed to him by his first wife, Tang Xin, washed his face first, and then said while wiping his hands:
"We have discovered a few problems. First, after the brain regeneration process is overstimulated, the brainwave activity level decreases by about 20%. We let it rest in the morning and then see if it recovers in the afternoon."

"Secondly, most of the bodyguards who participated in the test experienced time perception disorders, with many feeling that they had spent three or four days in a virtual dream."

"Thirdly, it consumes too much mental energy. This kind of acceleration is not suitable for gaming helmets. You need to use a gaming pod with targeted nutrient solution to replenish your brain."

"Fourth is..." (End of Chapter)