The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 595 Boss Xu, this is inhumane! (Seeking monthly votes)
The comments under the announcement of the "Great Frontier" were full of surprise from players:

"Is the Great Frontier Construction Beginning Now?"

"Dude, isn't your development speed a bit too fast?"

"Although after reading Mr. Xu's [Genesis], it seems like I can develop a game in one day, it still feels a bit sudden!"

"Is there only an announcement? Where is the route? Isn't there a map?"

……

Xu Meng's [Genesis] live broadcast had a powerful and lasting impact on the world.

After witnessing the magnificent scene of him creating an entire digital planet with a wave of his hand, the previous doubts about the absurd speed of Zhumeng's development quickly vanished.

With the support of three powerful tools—artificial intelligence, super servers, and the Genesis Engine—Xu Meng only needs to allocate a little energy and resources to his team to achieve rapid development speeds!
It was to be expected that the content of [Great Frontier] could be developed and completed quickly.

If there's a problem, it's that the testing time was too short, and the AI ​​might not be able to find all the bugs.

If it were truly opened to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of players worldwide, problems would be inevitable.

However, this concern was quickly dispelled by Xu Meng's arrangements—

Richard Moreno, who was in charge of the development of [Misty Mine], has reappeared and released an announcement:
Phase 1 development of [Misty Mine] is complete!
The core gameplay of "Under the Deep Rock" has entered the testing phase, and we sincerely invite all pioneers to participate in the trial!
This test is free and will last for 15 days.

All players who can reach [Misty Mine] before the end of the test can try it out for free.

You can still retain free game access after the gameplay is officially launched!
Everyone is welcome to sign up for the experience!
-
After Richard Moreno came Knight Walker.

He also appeared and posted an almost identical test announcement—

Phase one of development for [The Lost Ship] is complete!

The core gameplay, "Deep Space Echoes," has entered the testing phase, and we sincerely invite all pioneers to participate in the trial!
This gameplay contains certain horror elements. Players suffering from epilepsy, heart disease, high blood pressure, or other similar conditions are not advised to try it.

This test is free and will last for 15 days. All players who reach [Lost Ship] before the end of the test can try it for free.

Even after the gameplay is launched, you can still retain your free gaming privileges!
Everyone is welcome to sign up for the experience!
-
Next was Hideo Kamiya.

However, his announcement was quite different from the previous two.

There was no mention of testing or pricing methods; they simply used the opportunities presented by [Rebuild Homeland] and [Great Frontier] to launch an [Infrastructure Expansion Pack].

This allows players to better repair the dilapidated, overgrown city and has the opportunity to build infrastructure in the wilderness outside the city.

……

After Hideo Kamiya, players around the world waited for a long time, but Corey King never appeared.

Cade Hawke and Sofia Mikhailova remained silent.

After confirming there would be no further announcements, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to their respective group chats to discuss the matter.
"Has Dream Building really started doing charity work? And they're not charging anything!?"

"Mr. Xu is truly generous!"

"They've really made it big; they look down on our measly money now."

"Haha, you'll be unhappy when they actually start charging you!"

"They're really good at hiding things. They've already started testing, but they haven't released a single gameplay PV yet."

"That's called self-confidence!"

"Enough talk, let's go!"

……

The location of [Misty Mine] is not easy to find.

Although Richard Moreno released a map with red dots, the wilderness was shrouded in fog of war, making a single red dot marker insufficiently accurate.

However, the location of the [Lost Ship] is very easy to find.

—Back then, everyone witnessed Boss Xu piloting this malfunctioning spaceship down from the sky and plunging headfirst into the mud of the wilderness.

If it weren't for the ant colony and ant-men blocking their way, everyone would have found their place long ago.

Now that Ant-Man's nest has been destroyed by an alien orbital laser cannon, it's the perfect opportunity to cross the anthill and head towards the spaceship!

The players donned the [Ember Rebirth] combat boots and marched out of the Sprawling City in a grand procession toward the spaceship's crash site.

Of course, many players have also been captivated by the [realistic robots] and are now enthusiastically taking on quests and rebuilding.

After the main force rushed into the wilderness, they made their way to the foot of Ant-Man's city.

Not a single ant or Ant-Man was seen.

The main force, no longer interested in the city, immediately bypassed it from the side and continued deeper into the wilderness.

But some people, hoping to find a bargain, still ventured into Ant-Man's city, hoping to find some treasure.

They did indeed find the treasure—

Some associated minerals and gemstones of unknown composition, and...

A catgirl, half-dead and barely clinging to life. Looking at Neferpitou, coughing up blood and on the verge of unconsciousness, Huazhou asked in surprise, "You...you're still alive?"

The entire city has become a wasteland, with houses collapsed and the ground littered with the corpses of ant-men.

Around the central platform, there were hardly any corpses left; it was clear that they had been completely destroyed by the orbital strike.

Even the strongest Ant King couldn't be left with a complete corpse, but Catwoman, an early-game mini-boss, survived...

This inevitably made Hua Zhou suspicious:
Is it because of some kind of personal XP of Mr. Xu?
after all……

Xiao Meng, whom Boss Xu always keeps by his side, also has a pair of soft, floppy cat ears!

With a subtle feeling of "seeing through Boss Xu's XP", Hua Zhou stuffed the seriously injured cat girl - or rather ant girl - into his pocket, carried her on his shoulder and headed back.

On the way back, she kept thinking—

How should this role be assigned?

Should I send her to an [interspecies massage parlor]?

That place should all be gone by now, right? And it gives off a strange feeling of forcing someone into prostitution.

Let's try another place.

Keep it at home?

This catgirl is, after all, a monster; whether she can even enter my house is another question.

Resell it to players?

Or should we send it to Youkexin Auction House and sell it to her?
"Wow...that's incredible."

Hua Zhou couldn't help but shake his head.

"How about I support her myself, and she goes to work at [Pacemaker Club] to support me?"

……

With these strange ideas swirling in her mind, Hua Zhou returned to Mansheng Metropolis.

However, they found that the players on the road didn't look too good, and some of them were even cursing.

She patted a random player on the shoulder, puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong? Why do you look so upset?"

The player frowned: "Didn't you notice? It's already past midnight."

Qi Huahua checked the time; it was already 1 a.m.

—It was almost midnight when everyone finished fighting the aliens.

Afterwards, there was the settlement of rewards and the release of announcements. Before everyone knew it, the time had passed midnight.

"It's 1 o'clock, what's wrong?"

The player sighed and said dejectedly, "Those NPCs who were abducted by aliens haven't respawned."

"what……"

Although players had already guessed this possibility, she was still somewhat surprised to see that the NPC hadn't returned.

Hua Zhou looked around and indeed found that many shops were empty.

Time travels in the sprawling metropolis twice as fast as in reality.

A day lasts 6 hours, and a night lasts 6 hours.

After midnight, it is the time when the sun rises.

It is 1 a.m. in reality, which is equivalent to 8 a.m. in Mansheng City.

This should have been the time when all NPCs left their homes and went to work.

But now the NPCs on the street are few and far between, and all the shops on both sides are closed, showing no intention of opening for business.

The whole street was permeated with a desolate atmosphere of postwar.

"No way... we won't get coffee unless we defeat the aliens?"

It's not just coffee.

There are also flower shops, gun shops, haunted houses, theaters, mahjong parlors, clothing stores, and murder mystery games...

A huge number of shops are now completely unmanned!
Upon realizing this, the people of Huazhou were dumbfounded.

She had thought that the Dream Building Society wouldn't let the NPCs come back, but she never expected that the Dream Building Society would go all the way and even close the shops!
"No way! I'm going to protest to Boss Xu!"

Upon hearing this, the player with the gloomy expression immediately responded:
"Yes! Protest! We must protest!"

"How can we allow so many intelligent NPCs to be enslaved by aliens? That's inhumane!"

When they shout in the street, they immediately receive a huge response!
Everyone rushed to Xu Meng to demand an explanation.

(End of this chapter)