Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 497 Qian Han's First Experience with Virtual Space
In early January, in the Zhiyun flagship store in the city center of an ordinary city in central China, a Hailan SEV drove into the parking lot outside the store shortly after it opened in the morning.

Soon, a man in his thirties got out of the car and went straight to the Zhiyun flagship store.

As soon as he entered, he said to the clerk anxiously: "I ordered a Yun VW virtual machine. My last name is Qian. You called me yesterday and said that the virtual machine has arrived!"

“Where’s my virtual machine?”

As he spoke, he took out an order contract.

At this time, the clerk immediately said with a smile: "Mr. Qian Han? Your virtual machine has arrived!"

The clerk naturally would not forget Mr. Qian Han. You know, the man in front of him was the first customer in their small city to purchase and pick up Yun VW.

Yun VW is not cheap. You may still see many individual users in first- and second-tier cities, but in small inland fifth-tier cities, there are really not many individual users who can afford it, are willing to buy it, and are interested in buying it.

Especially now that the Yun VW virtual machine has just been released, many people have seen it online, but no one has really seen it, let alone experienced it.

Therefore, many individual users who have money and are interested are also hesitant. It is impossible to place an order just like that... The entry-level model costs 800,000 yuan, the high-end version costs 1.5 million yuan, and the flagship version costs 3.5 million yuan.

Such an expensive thing cannot be bought just like that.

On the one hand, there are few potential consumers, and on the other hand, Yun VW is currently out of stock. Only 1,500 units were released on the first day and people were able to get the goods as soon as possible.

Subsequent orders need to queue up for shipment. Those who place orders early and are at the top of the queue will receive the goods within a month, while those who place orders a little later will have to wait two or even three months to pick up the goods.

The production capacity of Yun VW virtual machines is very tight now, with a monthly production capacity of only a few thousand units. Part of it is supplied to the domestic market, and part of it is supplied to markets in developed regions such as Europe, Japan, and South Korea.

Among these supplies, there are also divisions between corporate users and individual users…Corporate users are companies that purchase virtual machines to open virtual Internet cafes.

The production capacity is tight and the demand is high in a short period of time, which results in a long delivery time after placing an order for Yun VW.

The orders currently queued up have been scheduled until May!
In their small city, the first Yun VW virtual machine was only delivered now!

This is also a very rare thing for the staff of the Zhiyun flagship store... After all, they have never seen this thing before.

Due to production capacity limitations and high prices of the current Yun VW virtual machines, Zhiyun Group has only opened special virtual device experience areas in some Zhiyun flagship stores in first- and second-tier cities, placing a small number of prototypes for potential customers to experience.

However, you cannot get the sample machine at the Zhiyun flagship stores in other cities. However, these Zhiyun flagship stores also provide subsequent offline contract signing, payment of the final payment, installation and after-sales services, etc.

Based on this, the staff at the Zhiyun flagship store in their small city actually saw the actual Yun VW virtual machine for the first time.

Soon, the person in charge of the flagship store came out to receive Qian Han, then took Qian Han to one side and pointed to several boxes in front and said, "Mr. Qian, thank you very much for trusting us and choosing us. The Yun VW high-end version you ordered is already here!"

"Look, does this match the configuration list? Yun VW high-end version, the color scheme is silver-white, and the main chassis is translucent silver-white!"

"There are two sets of display helmets, somatosensory suits, gloves and shoe covers, one is size 2XL and the other is size L."

"One is space gray, and the other is silver!"

"The host configuration is four APO4600 graphics cards, four ZY34 chips, and four NVIDIA X5 graphics cards!"

"The CPU is the WZ320 with 320 cores. Two WZs are used in total."

"The memory is 64GB of Zhiyun DDR4 high-speed memory."

"The storage is 4BT's SDR's sixth-generation server-level high-speed flash memory!"

"Universal virtual game control grip!"

The person in charge held the list and compared it with Qian Han. Qian Han actually didn't know much about these hardware things, but he still patiently compared them carefully.

After all, each of these components is very expensive. If you accidentally overlook them and let someone replace the APO4600 graphics card, there will be some trouble later.

Although this is Zhiyun’s flagship store and such a thing is unlikely to happen, it’s still a good idea to be prepared!
After all, a group as large as Zhiyun can be trusted, but it is hard to say whether the employees of Zhiyun flagship store are trustworthy.

The current price of an APO4600 graphics card is still around or yuan, and four graphics cards would cost more than yuan... It's hard to say whether there will be any employees who are bold enough and short of money to switch the graphics cards.

Although Qian Han is not short of this little money, even if there is a problem, Zhiyun will be happy to replace the equipment for him. However, he still needs to pay attention to avoid subsequent troubles.
After a careful inspection, he didn't find any problems.

At this time, the person in charge of the store said, "We also provide free door-to-door delivery and installation services within the city. When is it convenient for us to deliver and install it?"

Qian Han looked at the large boxes in front of him and said without hesitation: "It must be now. I have been waiting for it for a month!"

The person in charge of the store said: "Well, I'll ask the staff to prepare for loading!"

Soon, he called a few people to help lift the equipment onto a small truck. He also checked it personally and only let the driver set off after confirming that there were no problems.

The delivery of a virtual device worth 1.5 million yuan is something that even the person in charge of this store dare not neglect!

In addition, this was the first time he delivered a Yun VW to a customer in this city. He not only inspected it personally, but also got into the car to escort it and then went to supervise the installation.

For the purpose of publicity, he also took before and after photos, and then posted them on his store’s official account and WeChat Moments for promotion.

Soon, Qian Han drove the car in front and the small truck behind followed, and soon they arrived at a villa community.

The next step was for the staff to move the equipment off the vehicle and then move it to the second floor.

Qian Han had also made preparations in advance and had specially prepared a large room on the second floor to house this set of equipment.

When Qian Han’s wife saw her husband coming back with the virtual equipment, she also came over with her child to watch the fun.

"This is the virtual device. It looks pretty big!"

Qian Han said, "Yes, there are many parts. There are several boxes here. Look at the big box here. It contains the universal treadmill."

"And this big box is their mainframe case!"

"Look at the graphics card in this box. It's an APO4600 graphics card and chip!"

"Only this kind of top-level server graphics card can drive this virtual machine."

"After it's installed, come and experience it. I tell you, once you've experienced it, you'll know that it's definitely worth the money!"

Qian Han’s wife smiled and said, “It sounds so mysterious. I really want to give it a try and see if this virtual world is really as mysterious as what is said on the Internet!”

Qian Han hugged his wife excitedly: "Thank you for your support!"

"Besides, I am a man of my words. If I say I won't spend my pocket money for a year, then I won't spend it for a year. I will stick to my word and I will never cheat!"

Qian Han’s wife was too lazy to even say anything about him… As someone who runs a company, it would be better to believe that he has no private money than to believe that she is Wu Zetian!

However, the money was earned by her husband through hard work outside, and she doesn’t have any other hobbies that cost money. Her only hobby is playing games.

And she actually supports him playing games after work!
Playing games is better than hanging out in nightclubs with a group of friends. It would be more troublesome if you get addicted to gambling.

Although virtual games are a bit expensive, their family has a good income and can afford it!

Don’t other girlfriends support their boyfriends and their husbands in buying a gaming console and an X graphics card?
It's reasonable for her to support her husband in getting a virtual game console, right?

While the couple was talking, the child in the wife's arms stared with wide eyes, watching his parents hugging each other, a smile appeared on his little face, and then he opened his arms and mumbled, "Daddy, hug me!"

Qian Han picked up the child and watched the staff busy at work.

The staff, a specially trained engineer and a few assistants quickly assembled the virtual device.

About half an hour later, the engineer started the equipment after careful inspection.

After starting the equipment, he took a dedicated work computer and connected it to a data interface with a data cable, and then started various tests.

At this time, you can see the disc on the omnidirectional treadmill begin to slide at various amplitudes and frequencies.

He was then seen picking up the display helmet for testing.

He then stood on the treadmill himself, wearing a helmet and gloves, and conducted the test. The entire test lasted for more than half an hour before he stopped and said to Qian Han, "Mr. Qian, the equipment has been safely debugged and everything is functioning normally."

“You try it too!”

As he spoke, Qian Han handed the child to his wife, put on a body suit and gloves, and then put on a helmet.

Because the device has been turned on in advance, I can see the home page desktop after putting on the display helmet!

The scene on the homepage desktop is the beach scene that has appeared in countless pictures or videos on the Internet.

He also saw an option to replace the desktop background next to it. After clicking it with his finger, he found that there were two other desktop scenes, one was a park scene and the other was a modern city scene.

He first clicked on a park scene, and then found that the scene he was in had directly turned into a park, with large green lawns, blue sky, and a small lake not far away.

He squatted down and touched the grass on the ground. The grass moved just like the real thing...even his hands could feel the slight touch.

This slight touch is the force feedback brought by the sensor array on the gloves... Of course, in reality this force feedback is very limited. It can only make people's hands feel some relatively rigid pressure feedback, which is not very real.

But, at least it can simulate some touch feeling!

Then he switched to an urban scene, which was a scene of a large square at night, full of sci-fi high-rise buildings, and flying cars made people feel as if they were in the future!

Just these three homepage scenes were enough to shock him!

Sure enough, just as it was said on the Internet, the actual experience and watching a video on the Internet are completely different!
Although the scenes seen in the video feel very real, they are far from the actual experience. Just watching some virtual game videos on the Internet will not give you the immersive feeling.

Although he really wanted to continue playing, the engineer was still waiting outside, so he immediately took off his helmet and temporarily took off his body suit.

Then I said to the staff: "Thank you, I have tried it and there is no problem!"

The engineer immediately said: "That's great, please help us sign the order, Mr. Qian. If you have any questions later, you can call me directly!"

After signing the delivery note and seeing the staff off, Qian Han talked to his wife and then couldn't wait to enter the virtual world to experience it.

I first tried some common social software, but I felt that they were all boring. For example, the jumping video can be used, but all you can see is a flat picture... Watching the jumping video on a virtual device always feels nonsense.

So he simply tried it and threw these things aside, then searched on the homepage and soon found the "virtual space" that someone had mentioned on the Internet.

This is a virtual space that allows users to enter and communicate with virtual characters... To put it simply, it is a virtual social software where characters can talk face to face and make appointments to play games together. It is said that Zhiyun Group is still continuing to develop it and trying to connect some other scenarios to this virtual space, such as online shopping.

After clicking to enter, he first appeared in a small room, where he could change clothes, dress up, and even pinch the face of the virtual character.

As someone who had already placed an order for virtual equipment, Qian Han had collected and searched a large amount of information and strategies online in the past month.

I immediately changed my clothes according to the guide. The clothes here are much more handsome than those in real life... After all, clothes in the real world cannot have such rich colors and special effects as those in the virtual world.

He also heard that this virtual space will release some paid clothes and decorations in the future.

He is not very interested in these costumes, but his wife may be interested in them in the future, so he will tell her later.
After casually changing into a camouflage uniform, he simply created a young man with a square face and scars on his face, and gave himself a new nickname: "Nine-battle Veteran".

Then I clicked and entered the 'virtual space'.

As the screen shook, a place that looked like a square appeared in front of his eyes. This square could be seen at a glance as the previous homepage scene. The sci-fi-style building in the distance and the flying car in the sky were very conspicuous.

At this time, some guidance tips for novices also popped up on the screen.

As he gradually got familiar with the place, a handsome man in a black suit came over...

If you just look at this, you might think it’s a real scene!
But after a while, a few green words appeared above the suit man's head: "No one is more handsome than me!"

This name... makes people speechless.

No one is more handsome than me and walked over and said in a loud voice: "Dude, newbie?"

Qian Han was still a little surprised when he heard the voice. This was his first time communicating with someone face to face in a virtual space. The experience was much better than text or video chats online.

I immediately said, "Yes, the virtual machine just arrived and this is my first time using it. How do you know I'm a novice?"

The man in the suit pointed at the top of his head and said, "Your name. Although this is a virtual space, few people are willing to stare at a name on their heads. Experienced people will hide their names, just like I did before... After all, it looks weird to have a name on your head."

Qian Han finally reacted and looked up. Sure enough, he saw faint green words above his head.

After hiding the name in the settings.

The man in the suit said, "See, it looks much more real this way!"

As he spoke, the man in the suit also turned off his nickname and continued, "Want to play Doomsday? We are waiting for someone to form a team. We are going to play a four-player team mode. We are short of one player. Do you want to join us?"

Qian Han said: "Okay, but this is my first time playing, I'm not familiar with it, just hope you don't mind!"

The man in the suit said, "It's okay, everyone is about the same. Just be more careful later and don't die easily. It's quite troublesome to save people in this crappy game!"

"Let's go, there are two teammates ahead!"

As he spoke, the man in the suit took Qian Han to a coffee shop nearby and saw about ten people inside!

However, there is a big difference between this cafe and the cafe in the display world, that is, there are no stools in the cafe... because the character actions of the Yun VW virtual machine are feedback from the actions of real people!
Although people on the omnidirectional treadmill have a backrest supported by the suspended beam, it is not convenient for them to sit down. It is okay to sit directly on the ground, but if you try to sit on a stool in the virtual scene, the real character will have no support and can only be hung by the suspended beam backpack... To be honest, this experience is different from sitting.

Therefore, in order to avoid trouble, virtual space and virtual games do not support operations such as sitting on a stool... Either stand, lean, or just sit on the ground!

Zhiyun Group's virtual equipment project team is also currently testing the development of a supporting system that allows people to sit on chairs, but that is a matter for subsequent versions and is not available now.

So you can see a group of people standing or leaning.

Qian Han walked in and met the teammate the man in the suit mentioned. The other one was a young man dressed in ancient costume with long hair... He was much better looking than the Hanfu enthusiasts seen in real life. At least most male Hanfu enthusiasts don't have such flowing long hair!

The other one is a female character wearing a cool dress with suspenders...

Just one look at it made Qian Han almost swallow his saliva...it was so beautiful.

He was sure that he had never seen such a beautiful woman in real life.

Only in the virtual world can you see people who are so obviously unreal and look like AI characters at first glance.

In the past two years, with the development of AI technology, especially after the release of Yun AI, the GTAI2 open source model was subsequently announced.

There are a lot of pictures or videos of various AI characters on the Internet, each of which is so beautiful that it seems unrealistic.

But... those are just pictures or videos. They look amazing, but that's just the way it is.

But now... what I see in front of me is a 3D virtual character, which looks no different from a real person.

Such a stunning beauty is just like what is described in those novels, breathtakingly beautiful. In reality, it is estimated that there is only one such woman in one hundred thousand or one million people!
The man in the suit looked at Qian Han like this and didn't say anything. Most people who play in the virtual space for the first time will be surprised by the handsome men and beautiful women. After playing more, they will know that there are so many beautiful women and handsome men here, each of them is rare to see in a thousand years... Of course, there are only a few who are as beautiful as this female teammate. After all, pinching the face requires skills, and even more patience!
He immediately laughed and said, "Let's all use nicknames so that people can get to know each other, and then we can assign tasks, okay?"

The four of them opened their nicknames respectively. The name of the other man in ancient costume was 'Young Master of Yihongyuan', and the name of the beautiful woman who seemed not like a real person was 'Little Cloud'.

Then the little cloud came over and said, "Brother, is my sister pretty?"

As she said this, she started laughing. She liked seeing others being fascinated by her in this virtual world.

Who would have thought that in real life she is 160*180cm tall. From childhood to adulthood, she was only cute because of the human cub filter that people used to cross her when she was a child. But when she grew up a little, no one praised her anymore.

But in this virtual world, she can create her own virtual character as she pleases... It took her more than half a month to create a perfect virtual character.

And the effect is quite good!

Soon, after everyone introduced themselves, they were ready to enter the game of 'Doomsday Battle'!

Here it comes, the virtual game that Qian Han has been looking forward to for a long time is finally here!

(End of this chapter)