The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 599 Monster Appears, Teammates Die Tragically

"Saturn is a gas giant."

This isn't exactly obscure knowledge; anyone with even a little astronomical background knows this little tidbit.

The valiant sniper naturally knew this as well.

But at this moment, when he actually saw this enormous gaseous sphere almost fill his entire field of vision, and the pale yellow cloud bands slowly rotating like liquid amber...

He gained an unprecedentedly profound understanding of this statement!
That's more than just a visual impact.

The valiant sniper and several unfamiliar opponents stared blankly at the astonishing view outside the window, a view that could only be seen from the depths of space. They were all deeply moved and unable to look away.

This immersive, close-up feeling is many times stronger than watching it through a monitor!
Then a block of ice the size of a truck suddenly flew into view and smashed into the glass, which was made of some unknown material.

The dull sound startled the ten people who were lost in thought by the window.

"Building Dreams... Awesome!"

"Knight Walker... awesome!"

The valiant sniper expressed his heartfelt admiration.

The others echoed this sentiment: "That's absolutely awesome!"

"Knight Walker said on his livestream that there was a chance to see some 'unimaginable extraordinary scenes' on [The Lost Ship], and at the time I thought he was bragging..."

"Don't be ridiculous! Just based on this scene, this planet is enough to be considered a god!"

……

Viewers in the heroic sniper's live stream didn't feel this strongly through the lens.

I just felt that this planet was indeed exquisite and delicate, and its level of detail was even more beautiful and spectacular than Saturn in all the astronomical documentaries and movies.

Knight Walker lives up to his reputation.

But that's all. The players' exaggerated behavior in the video is somewhat absurd.

They were actually concerned with something else:

"So... has another Saturn appeared in the virtual world's space now?"

"Why does Zhumeng always do these big things secretly?!"

"Good, good, good! Digital Galaxy progress +1!"

……

Knight Walker smiled contentedly.

Creating a virtual Saturn is not as simple as replicating publicly available photos of Saturn from space agencies around the world or various astronomical documentary footage.

The effort and resources they invested would make most of their industry peers question their existence.

Of course, this is also because this planet is not just a background, but a real planet that has been updated into the virtual world.

If it's just for gameplay background, then the maximum is ten million.

Seeing the players' reactions now, he is naturally very pleased.

This is also why he used this scenario as a "teaching challenge".

The importance of first impressions is beyond doubt.

……

While the group was showering Zhu Meng and Knight Walker with compliments, an even larger meteorite crashed down.

The ten people by the window finally lost their composure—

The impact actually created a shallow crack in the glass!
In space, it's easy to imagine what would happen if a spaceship were to be smashed and punctured.

The group finally turned their gaze away from Saturn and stepped away from the window.

As if afraid of disturbing their admiration of the masterpiece outside the window, the spaceship, which had remained silent until then, finally came alive—

The warning light in the corner flashed red.

The alarms in the communication system sounded simultaneously:
"Warning! Warning!"

"The spacecraft's navigation system has malfunctioned."

"Power transmission pipeline failure."

"A dangerous organism invaded the spacecraft, causing numerous crew casualties."

"Spacecraft has entered an asteroid belt; risk of asteroid impact: extremely high!"

Overall assessment: Danger level 5

"The spaceship could be destroyed at any moment!"

"All crew members, proceed immediately to Sector G6 and board the emergency evacuation pods to escape!"

"Warning! Warning!"

"Evacuate immediately!"

……

The game tutorial also popped up in front of the 10 players—

[Current Mission: Arrive at Sector G6 and escape the spaceship]
[Optional Mission: Arm Yourself]
[Optional Task: Search for Resources]
[Optional Task: Search for Blueprints]
[Optional Mission: Face the Monster Head-on and Escape Death]
The warning from the spacecraft's communication system was urgent.

Several players were indeed very anxious and wanted to take action immediately.

But the seasoned veterans remained remarkably calm.

Before the valiant sniper could speak, a guy with a small mustache chimed in, "Brothers! Don't rush, how about we plan this out first?"

"Aren't you in a hurry? There are so many problems! If we wait any longer, the ship might explode!" A young man who looked only eighteen or nineteen years old said anxiously.

The guy confidently said, "Young man! My ID is Daze. I'm an expert in all of the Dream Building games. I've participated in all the major events in the virtual world. My total playtime in Dream Building is 5100 hours."

"Trust my judgment! This is a tutorial level, and the game will progress according to the tutorial. There will definitely be plenty of time."

"They say the ship could sink and everyone could die at any moment, but as long as we don't trigger the next step, we can drift for a year without any problems!"

"It's definitely better for us to discuss things first before taking any action than to run around blindly!"

The valiant sniper silently complained in his heart: Isn't 5100 hours a bit too damn outrageous?

However, the game's length successfully deterred younger players.

He stopped and said, "Okay, you go first."

"But please don't call me 'little brother,' I'm 81 years old this year. Just call me Old Yang."

The surrounding players all turned their heads to look.

Because of the existence of [rejuvenation], it is indeed difficult to tell whether a young player encountered in the virtual world is an 18-year-old or an 81-year-old man.

However, this situation usually occurs in casual settings like the city of Mansheng, or in more realistic games like Lord of War.

But what is this place?
This is where the remaining hundred or so people, after working tirelessly through the night, traversing wastelands and rainforests, suffering countless deaths and injuries, and then being slaughtered by the bellbirds, finally activated their respawn points and successfully entered the game.

The time spent in between has long exceeded 6 hours!

This old man can still maintain a youthful appearance; surely he couldn't have been in an old man's condition on the way here?

An old man's bones traversing the rainforest?
That's just too awesome!

Osawa's attitude immediately became respectful.

The valiant sniper looked at him suspiciously, thinking, 'Could this guy be a college student pretending to be an old man, trying to take advantage of us?'

But now is not the time to question, so he could only suppress his doubts for the time being.

Osawa had already skillfully begun giving instructions: "The main mission is to evacuate."

"The fastest way to pass the level is to find the map and head straight to area G6."

"But the purpose of the Great Frontier is to collect resources and technology blueprints, so to maximize our gains, we shouldn't rush to run, but rather explore as much as possible and get all the resources and blueprints we can find."

"That way, no matter who takes it out in the end, it will end up in the hands of us players."

"It will be helpful for the pioneering work!"

Upon hearing this, some people nodded subconsciously, while others had subtle expressions.

The valiant sniper also realized: Yes, he had chosen [single-player game].

Whether the other nine people matched with you are "teammates" or "opponents" is not definitively determined.

It's said that whoever takes it out will benefit the great frontier, but the problem is—

Is it the same whether you take it out yourself or someone else takes it out?

Thinking about it this way, he began to wonder: Did this guy named Osawa have some other ideas about taking the initiative?
Don't blame him for thinking too much.

When any game is first released, as long as it is popular enough and has a trading system, it will attract a large number of players and studios who want to make money.

When the game is first released and resources are scarce, it presents a golden opportunity to make money. There's a chance to earn tens of thousands in just three to five days.

—Even that's the traditional way of playing the game. In the virtual world, the value of precious items will only be higher!
He knew very well that many people made a fortune in the first month after the release of "Sailing the Blue Sea".

In his fan group, there are more than one person who earns 10 times the monthly salary of a regular job!

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, the valiant sniper began to observe his teammates more closely.

Meanwhile, Osawa was still doing his analysis:

"But if we want to explore, we will inevitably encounter the unidentified creatures mentioned in the evacuation notice."

"Considering the game's warnings about high blood pressure and heart disease, this monster must be extremely terrifying."

"So I suggest we split up."

"Two people go directly to the evacuation pod. If the others are killed or can't make it to the evacuation time, they should evacuate directly to avoid the worst-case scenario of total annihilation."

"Two daring individuals took the initiative to find the monster, track it, and distract it, making it easier for the remaining six people to scavenge the spaceship."

In the end, everyone split the spoils equally.

"How about it?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Another guy with the ID [Green Plum Pig Bone] enthusiastically chimed in, "I'll handle restraining the monster!"

"To be honest, I'm a horror game enthusiast, a 500-hour player of 'Demon!', and I can outmaneuver the witch without taking any damage as easily as taking candy from a baby!"

Osawa reminded him, "This game has a heart condition warning, and the monsters are supposed to be terrifying. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Easy peasy!" Green Plum and Pig Bone scoffed.

"OK."

The rest is quite simple.

Soon they encountered several forks in the road. The two unlucky guys who lost the rock-paper-scissors game followed the instructions from the tutorial system and took the road leading to the evacuation point.

The remaining people split into teams and took different routes.

They agreed that if the "exploration team" encountered a monster—or a clue about the monster's appearance—they would call the "combat team" to take over via communicator.

The valiant sniper was paired with Lao Yang.

Not long after separating from the team, the spaceship's energy malfunction became apparent.

The light source is no longer stable, flickering every now and then.

Some of the light sources were even broken, plunging the entire road into darkness.

The surroundings quickly quieted down.

The communicator has limited battery power and cannot be used for chatting.

The valiant sniper had no choice but to chat with Old Yang: "Sir, what year were you born?"

"According to the current legislation, it should be 45 years." Old Yang stared nervously at the shadows near and far.

He looked extremely nervous.

"The old man is in good health. He doesn't have high blood pressure even in his 80s. It's really enviable. My dad has been taking blood pressure medication every day since he was 50."

After the valiant sniper said this, the viewers in the live stream finally realized what was going on.

"An 80-year-old man playing a horror game, isn't that... a bit too thrilling?"

"Wait, does he really not have high blood pressure or heart disease? Or is he lying?"

"Damn... I hope nothing bad happens?"

……

The viewers were panicking, but Lao Yang calmly shook his head: "How could there not be?"

"However, I take my blood pressure medication on time every day, and I took it today as well. My blood pressure is normal now."

The valiant sniper was speechless.

Just as I was about to ask again, I saw something new—

A uniform lay scattered at the entrance to the planting area.

The owner of the uniform had clearly met with misfortune—his blood was sprayed everywhere, even splattering onto the roof, which was three meters high.

"Was this... killed by a monster?" Old Yang's hands trembled slightly.

"Probably, the corpse was eaten by the monster too." The valiant sniper crouched down to examine the uniform.

"It's normal for monsters to eat people, but... how did it manage to keep its armor intact and only eat the person inside?"

"The zipper on the uniform was not even unzipped, and even the underwear was intact."

The valiant sniper was utterly bewildered.

"Should we notify Pig Bone to come over?" Old Yang asked.

The valiant sniper suggested waiting, saying, "Maybe the monster has already left. Let's find a clear clue before calling them."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the gate of the planting area.

This heavy metal door, which originally required an identification card to open, has now been bent by tremendous force.

The force that bent the door left behind thick bloody handprints and a layer of blood on it.

It seemed to be a giant covered in blood who forcefully pried open the metal door, yet squeezed through the narrow hole, which was only a little over a meter wide.

The valiant sniper picked up the ID card he found in his uniform, swiped it to open the iron gate, and went in first.

Inside is a large open space, with rows of plants planted neatly.

However, this place has clearly been in chaos.

The lighting equipment was half-dead, flickering from time to time, and even sparking further away, rendering it completely ineffective.

The cart collapsed, scattering equipment all over the ground.

The sprinkler system is severely damaged and continues to spray water outwards.

Meanwhile, many plants have withered and turned yellow due to lack of irrigation.

Of course, there's also the indispensable—

Uniforms were scattered everywhere, along with large patches of blood.

"What kind of monster is it?" The valiant sniper frowned.

Old Yang kept looking around, his face full of tension.

"~~Sizzle~~"

In the quiet, eerie atmosphere, the communicator suddenly rang, startling the old man:
"The evacuation pod cannot be used directly because there is a problem with the energy and five energy nodes need to be repaired."

"If you see it on the road, please remember to repair it. We'll turn back and look for it too."

After a few seconds of silence, Osawa's voice rang out:
"receive."

"If anyone sees an energy node, please let us know what it looks like so that others don't miss it."

"In addition, we have seen clues about the monster. This monster is very strong and can suck blood and flesh. Try to arm yourself and avoid direct confrontation."

After a few more seconds of silence, Qingmei Zhugu's voice rang out: "I found a stun gun and the blueprints for its manufacture. It's very powerful."

"I can't wait... Holy crap! What is that?"

"what!"

"Damn it! What the hell is that?! Take this shot, you son of a bitch!"

"Slap slap slap-"

"Ugh... Ptooey! Don't fucking put it in my mouth..."

"Ugh~~~"

……

Green Plum and Pig Bone were proudly recounting their harvest when they were suddenly attacked by something.

The incident happened so suddenly that there wasn't even time to turn off the communicator.

His curses, the crackling of electricity, a sticky, smacking sound and sucking noise, the sound of debris collapsing during the struggle, the disgusting whimpering of a pig bone with a foreign object stuffed into its throat...

All sorts of disgusting and terrifying sounds were transmitted to the ears of all teammates through the communicator.

In the end, all that remained was the crunching sound of flesh being chewed.

The brave sniper's limbs stiffened and his hair stood on end upon hearing this!
(End of this chapter)