The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 610 A Second Blossom! This can even be a crossover? (Seeking monthly votes at the beginning of the month)
In the bustling hibernation hall, seven hibernation pods suddenly emitted dazzling white light!
Players who were setting up stalls and those who had just completed the [Road of Death] and arrived at the lobby stared in shock at the white light, unaware of what had happened.

Inside the game, the surviving players were all sitting by the porthole.

At the moment the nuclear bomb exploded, the entire glass wall almost turned into a giant light bulb, instantly blinding them.

—Except for Xiaomeng, who put on sunglasses early on.

Even Xu Meng suffered in silence, covering her burning eyes and exclaiming that she couldn't take it anymore.

The viewers in the live stream were hit along with Xu Meng, while those watching the live stream indoors felt as if they had been hit by a flashbang through their screens.

At that moment, countless people around the world screamed in agony, some even snapping their headphone cords.

Xu Meng was blind, but she could hear the screams of two women:

"My eyes!"

The good news is that they will soon no longer have to worry about their eyes, and their vision will return to normal.

But the bad news is: they were all wiped out.

When a player is transformed into a soul state, all negative statuses are instantly cleared.

They could clearly see the seemingly indestructible glass melting under the high temperature, and the spaceship's outer shell, made of an unknown alloy, turning into liquid and flowing down.

They even clearly saw their bodies turn to ashes in an instant and be blown away by the powerful impact, leaving only a blurry black shadow on the ground.

One extremely lucky guy even saw the previously invisible monster manifest itself in the intense light of the nuclear explosion, howling as it was burned into a wisp of smoke under the terrifying stellar heat.

After the unparalleled intense light and temperatures of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of degrees, comes the shock of the explosion.

However, at this moment, these physical damages can no longer affect players in their soul form.

Xu Meng and the other players watched from the soul's perspective as the shockwave of the nuclear explosion swept past them, blowing away the molten iron from the spaceship.

Further away, the unmelted spaceship wreckage was also torn apart by the nuclear storm, which swept at speeds of over 300 kilometers per second, bending and twisting it into a pile of garbage.

As for the mushroom cloud that everyone is expecting...

Those at the very center of the nuclear explosion couldn't see it; they only saw a dark, oppressive mass of dust and smoke in the sky.

As for the towering skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo and the renowned Shibuya Crossing...

There is no trace left.

What was presented to everyone was only a huge pit and a large expanse of flat land outside the pit.

Black rain began to fall from the sky.

At that moment, no one spoke.

The world is silent.

Even the live stream room fell silent.

……

Only after their stay ended and the souls departed one by one did netizens become lively again:
"Awesome! Six shots at once, super double!"

"As expected of the capital city, it has surpassed its predecessors in one fell swoop and become the first in history!"

"It's really spectacular! It's just a pity there's no panoramic view; I'd love to see a full panoramic view."

"As expected, if you live long enough, you'll see all sorts of things. I even got to see a live broadcast from the center of a nuclear explosion... What a steal!"

……

Xu Meng and Xiao Meng are resurrected in their personal cabins in "Deep Space Echoes".

The first thing I did after being resurrected was to complain:

"Don't blame us for not being able to see the full panorama."

"The development team designed the 'best nuclear explosion viewing area,' but these people just slack off and didn't see it."

"Now it's great, I went into the map wearing a full set of high-level equipment, and came back with everything looted."

"I don't know what the point is..."

Upon hearing this, the audience immediately raised a barrage of question marks:
"The best viewing spot for a nuclear explosion? There's such a thing??"

"Why the hell didn't you say something so important sooner? Why did you only tell me after it was all over?"

"Explain in more detail! A friend of mine just entered this map, and I asked him to record it and show it to me."

……

The barrage of comments was so dense and fast that it was impossible to see them clearly.

Xu Meng shook her head: "What's the rush?"

"I'm here to test the game, not just to play one match."

"My main purpose in this game was to observe how everyone played the game... Of course, if the observation failed, then giving up and waiting for the nuclear bomb was obviously not the normal state of the game for everyone."

"So, let's play one more round!"

"If this round is still on the Tokyo map, I'll show you another option."

The audience was overjoyed when Xu Meng said this.

The screen was filled with comments like "[Hurry up! Hurry up!]"
Xu Meng didn't delay and immediately started the second round.

He came here to play games, but his teammates collectively conceded defeat in the first game, making for a terrible gaming experience. Now he wants to play a serious game.

To recreate the feeling of this match as much as possible, he secretly acted as a privilege hog, locking the map and monsters for the next match to [Tokyo] and [Phantom] as well.

This time, hundreds of people matched with him at the exact time.

The final eight people matched with her were all watching Xu Meng's live stream.

Everything went very smoothly after that.

Explore the newly generated terrain while searching for supplies.

The next part is the same: find a window and see soldiers and tanks outside.

Find the transponder, explain the situation properly, de-escalate the conflict, and delay the nuclear launch.

Xu Meng then gave instructions via broadcast:

They communicated with the outside world every 5 minutes to postpone the launch of the nuclear missile.

During this period, repair energy nodes as soon as possible and be prepared to evacuate at any time.

As for the "leap engine" that completely avoids nuclear bombing, we can simply ignore it.

Following Xu Meng's plan, they successfully repaired five energy nodes in just over 20 minutes, at the cost of two lives.

Meanwhile, the NPCs outside the spaceship realized that the players had no sincerity, announced the breakdown of negotiations in their last communication, and hurriedly boarded a helicopter to evacuate.

Inside the spaceship, Xu Meng urged everyone to evacuate with their spoils.

One tricky issue is that in multiplayer mode, there are only 3 evacuation pods.

Xu Meng felt that he was the commander and had made many contributions in this game - he was the one who repaired the last energy node.

He also rescued two people from the monster.

There should at least be one spot.

Xiaomeng's situation is special, so she can share a room with him.

It's like saving two people with one evacuation pod, making it incredibly cost-effective.

But when he arrived at the evacuation zone, he was shocked to find it completely empty.

The three evacuation pods have been ejected.

The remaining survivors have also disappeared without a trace.

Xu Meng stood there stunned for a moment before blankly asking three questions in a row:
"what?"

"What about people?"

"Where's the evacuation pod?!"

—His teammates had worked together seamlessly throughout the game, but then surprised him at the very last moment!

"Hahaha, I can read lips! Boss Xu was swearing just now!"

"I can see that too, [you fucking bastards!]"

"Hahaha, I can't take it anymore, it's just too funny."

"Mr. Xu, you want to know the current state of the game? Now you know! This is our daily game routine!"

"It's so realistic, so incredibly realistic! You can't trust anyone until the very last moment of this game!"

……

Nuclear explosions struck again.

Xu Meng was once again blasted out of the map empty-handed. His face remained expressionless, but he began to curse inwardly.

Unconvinced, he entered the same map a third time.

This time, he was on high alert throughout, and when there were only two energy nodes left, he waited in the evacuation zone early on.

After all that effort, they finally managed to squeeze into the evacuation pod amidst the laughter of the players.

The system is configured so that the evacuation pod can only accommodate one person.

But when Xiao Meng shook her head, transforming from a gothic girl back into a pink-haired little girl, she easily followed Xu Meng into the evacuation pod.

The development team's code restrictions are as if they don't exist.

Seeing this, both the players on site and the viewers in the live stream remained incredibly calm, showing no sign that anything was amiss.

The remaining people have begun deciding on the last two positions.

In normal mode, this is where skill truly comes into play.

But since it was Xu Meng's live stream, everyone didn't make things too awkward and quickly selected the last two escape seats by playing rock-paper-scissors.

The players who were spared gave the blueprints and weapons they had collected to the surviving players.

……

The moment the evacuation pod was ejected, accompanied by a deafening sonic boom, a large cone-shaped cloud appeared at the front of the streamlined pod.

In just a moment, from stillness to breaking the sound barrier.

While the development team did not fully replicate this terrifying overload, they did replicate a portion of it to ensure a realistic experience.

"After three full rounds, I finally managed to escape..."

Xu Meng was somewhat emotional.

The audience, however, showed no mercy: "You were the one who got to let you win!"

"Shame on you!"

"I would never do it. A gentleman does not accept charity!"

……

Xu Meng pretended not to see it.

Players who can now complete the [Road to Death] and play Deep Space Echo are either incredibly skilled and have exceptional overall abilities, or they are incredibly lucky.

To outmaneuver these people—especially while they're live—is far too difficult!
What's wrong with receiving charity?
They eat handouts!

While the viewers were complaining, they suddenly saw a different scene from Xu Meng's perspective—

Some people previously said that this picture of Tokyo did not showcase Knight Walker's pursuit of "ultimate visual beauty".

The streets of Tokyo outside the spaceship window looked like they had been destroyed by the spaceship crash; they were a mess and didn't look good at all.

But now, as the evacuation pods are ejected and fly into the sky, everyone's view expands beyond the small area on the ground, allowing them to appreciate the entire city of Tokyo from a higher and more macroscopic perspective.

The feeling immediately became very different:
The spaceship did indeed cause destruction:
It crashed down a large number of buildings, and the surrounding buildings were also on the verge of collapse.

Deep trenches split open in the ground, a raging fire broke out in Akihabara's electronics district, and fire trucks and tanks rushed to the scene...

But further out, the entire city remained intact.

The endless stream of vehicles and the speeding monorails are like the beating veins of the city, transporting people to every corner of the city.

The buildings of varying heights are arranged in a staggered manner, with the red and white Tokyo Tower standing quietly.

The cherry blossoms in Ueno Park are in full bloom, contrasting beautifully with the white snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji...

……

Under Knight Walker's meticulous adjustments, the entire city presents a dreamlike beauty and delicacy.

Within this overall harmony, the spaceship embedded in the city center not only does not detract from the aesthetics but also adds a touch of fantasy.

A few seconds after the evacuation pod flew a few more seconds, even the azure Tokyo Bay appeared in the frame.

At this moment, viewers around the world realized that Knight Walker had not made a mistake.

He has once again demonstrated his talent!
The viewers were amazed.

At this moment, the audience in Izumo also forgave Knight Walker and Zhumeng for their offense.

Before anyone could speak, a fiery meteor streaked past.

— Three evacuation pods and six nuclear warheads passed close by over Tokyo.

After a two-second pause, the nuclear explosion occurred again.

This is the third nuclear explosion broadcast live today.

But it was a panoramic view of the entire nuclear explosion from a high altitude.

From this angle, you can't actually see many details of the explosion—just a flash of light, and what's left is the shockwave and the mushroom cloud.

But the effects of the explosion were far more clear than those on the ground!
Even from such a distance, the intense light from the explosion was blinding.

A massive amount of dust was blasted into the sky, and the dust from the six explosions coalesced into an astonishingly large mushroom cloud.

A visible ring-shaped nuclear storm spread in all directions at an alarming speed.

High-rise buildings collapsed one after another like dominoes.

The fragile glass curtain wall shattered, revealing the reinforced concrete skeleton.

Vehicles nearby turned into molten iron, and pedestrians became black shadows.

Further away, pedestrians, vehicles, billboards, construction debris... were all blown away, like fragile sheets of paper, torn apart before they even hit the ground...

The exquisite, gentle, and beautiful image that had been cultivated before was completely shattered in that instant!
The magnificent scenery has turned into a purgatory.

Everyone fell silent once again.

Xu Meng remained silent, watching the carefully designed scene by Knight Walker.

He couldn't help but think:
Isn't this considered anti-war propaganda?
After Xu Meng successfully evacuated, the live stream chat was once again abuzz with discussion, marveling at the amazing visual spectacle.

Some people even urged Xu Meng to go and get the [Leap Ending].

But Xu Meng shook her head and chose random matching.

—The other person is still here, but a new idea pops into my mind.

……

After playing for another hour, he and Xiaomeng said goodbye to the players and wished them a happy gaming experience.

After ending the live stream, he immediately appeared in front of Knight Walker via holographic projection.

"boss."

Knight Walker thought Xu Meng had discovered something wrong in the game and needed to adjust it as soon as possible, so he greeted her with a serious expression.

But what Xu Meng said was, "I have an idea."

Knight Walker nodded, indicating that he was listening attentively.

“I think we can allocate another budget to promote ‘Echoes of Deep Space’.”

Upon hearing Xu Meng's words, Knight Walker's face instantly broke into a smile.

The boss thinks the game is good and plans to invest more!

However, before he could even thank his boss for his high regard, he heard Xu Meng say the next thing:

"Do you think we could collaborate with the city governments of Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and New York to create a real-world crossover?"

“?” Knight Walker was stunned.

"what do you mean?"

"When it officially launches in September, let's do a nuclear explosion collaboration," Xu Meng said without hesitation. "Let's do a live stream event where the development team and players play the game together, just the nuclear explosion maps."

"Then when a nuclear explosion occurs in the game, these cities will also issue a nuclear explosion warning simultaneously. We can also install several high-power holographic devices to simulate the visual effects of a nuclear explosion."

"???"

"!!!"

Knight Walker's expression twisted, his pupils dilated, "Are you serious, boss??"

“Of course,” Xu Meng said confidently. “Is that not allowed?”

“Of course not!!” Knight Walker was on the verge of a breakdown.

"What a pity," Xu Meng said regretfully.

"Not a bit of a pity!!!" Knight Walker clenched his fists tightly, resisting the urge to punch Xu Meng.

(End of this chapter)