The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 624 [Asian Union], Interstellar Mining Company (Seeking monthly votes)

The German player who posted this wasn't joking.

He is very serious.

Not all the replies from European players below the post were against it.

This is actually a very real problem—

The influence of Chinese and American players in the game is simply too strong!

They can influence the course of almost all major events that occur in the virtual world.

In previous major events, everyone shared the same goal.

Aside from major events, Chinese and American players dislike each other and fight all the time. Everyone is just looking for fun and doesn't feel any sense of crisis.

Until recently, players from China and the United States suddenly joined forces and brutally beat up Indian players, who also have a large population!

Everyone was laughing and joking around, and some even helped them beat up the Indian players.

But looking back, they quickly realized something was wrong—

So many people in India get beaten up, what about us?
Once Chinese players and American players unite—or even without uniting, as long as they reach a certain understanding—who can stop them?
Especially now, Dream Building has decided to hand over the development of the world of "Sailing the Blue Sea" to the players.

This is certainly a great thing that excites everyone.

but……

Who can represent the players?

If we don't do something, in the end, it will only be Chinese players and American players!
But who wants to be represented by someone else?
At least these European players are absolutely not willing!
From this perspective, uniting to counter the influence of Chinese and American players in the virtual world is an urgent matter!

Forward-thinking players have already realized this.

So while some people in the thread objected and spammed question marks (especially from Polish and French IPs), many others supported it and agreed on the necessity of the alliance.

However, “recognizing the alliance” is not the same as “recognizing German players leading Europe”.

"Why should you Germans be the representatives? Just because you tried to unify Europe twice? We French tried too!"

"In terms of the area under our rule and global influence, our British Empire is the only choice!"

"So you're starting to talk about history, huh? Then I have to mention the Holy Roman Empire and the religious heart of Europe, the great Italy!"

"I don't care, if you won't let us be the boss, we'll go and join China and the United States."

"Are we, a small country, destined to be represented by you forever?!"

……

In reality, at least there's the European Union.

Since the virtual world didn't even have this, players from different countries quickly started fighting amongst themselves and arguing amongst themselves.

True unity is still a long way off.

However, the good news is:

Their hypothetical enemies—players from China and the United States—did not unite as one.

Without any external force, they themselves disagreed and split into many different camps.

Especially the players from the Xia Kingdom, their discussion was incredibly intense:
"Brothers, it's time to travel around the world and sail to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Wake up, buddy. This era is already the Qing Dynasty over there. The Ming Dynasty is long gone."

"Then let's establish the Heaven and Earth Society! Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming!"

"Screw you, what kind of historical regression is this! I suggest we follow the Soviet Union's example and establish the [Asian Union], so that the red flames can burn across the whole of Asia!"

"Conservative, far too conservative! Why can't we look to the world?"

……

American players weren't much better off.

Initially, it followed tradition and split into the Democratic and Republican parties.

Soon the New America Party emerged, followed closely by the Communist Party of the United States.

Then came religious organizations, then the Rust Belt, and finally, players from over a dozen states emerged, all wanting to break away and operate independently.

……

Under this general trend, various chat groups, forums, and even live streamers' rooms are filled with ideological debates and alliances, and there is no sign that they will end anytime soon.

And it wasn't just casual chatting.

Soon, one large recruitment project after another appeared on the Treasure Island app.

[African Empire], [German Europe], [Third French Empire], [The British Empire], [Heaven and Earth Society], [Asian Union], [Red Alliance], [New United States], [Lone Star Republic]...

These projects are attracting new users at an astonishing speed!

The most popular ones—such as [African Empire] and [Asian Union]—had over 600 million people register on the first day!

Even the second-highest tier has millions of applicants.

As a result, large-scale projects in Izumo, Baekje, Italy, Poland, Australia, and other countries, which are also close to one million in size, have not been able to squeeze onto the first page.

You should know that [Treasure Island] is full of real players!
This is different from posting updates on Weiguang. All projects you participate in will be recorded in your account history.

If you sign up for the project now, you'll definitely have to contribute when the time comes to use your skills!
Even if the project cannot be launched for the time being, the requirements are relatively broad, but there are still certain constraints.

—This at least shows that these people really want to see these projects come to fruition.

This has already affected the subsequent development of "Sailing on the Blue Sea" to some extent, and even the work arrangements of the development team!
Even more exaggeratedly, the discussion surrounding the "[Virtual World War]" quickly spread from players of "Sailing the Blue Sea" to users across the entire virtual world, and then gradually spilled over into the virtual world, bringing in a large number of casual netizens as well.

Sales of "Sailing on the Blue Sea" also surged by millions of copies!

However, compared to the overall increase in popularity, this sales growth was far below the expectations of the marketing department.

The reason is very simple -

Many netizens have found that online debates seem to be more interesting than playing games!
Lu Ming, having worked as a second-generation gamer, was quite familiar with this situation.

He wasn't anxious about it at all, and even comforted his employees instead:
"These are all natural amplifiers of popularity. As long as our production capacity keeps up and the game quality and player reputation keep improving, the popularity can grow steadily."

"When the day comes that they really reach the [virtual world war] stage they've been hoping for, many of these people will be unable to resist getting involved and turning into users."

So... let's keep going!

"In the next few years, we won't need to worry about user acquisition anymore!"

This is the ideal state for Lu Ming, and for many of his peers: no need to worry about marketing and new user acquisition, just focus on making good games and providing high-quality game content for players.

That's exactly what they need right now – full commitment!
Players have only just arrived in the Bay of Benin and begun to experience the new expansion, yet they have already split into four groups, simultaneously developing four lines: [Africa], [United Kingdom], [South America], and [North America].

The original plan was to wait until the players decided on the storyline direction for the next version before allocating the main resources to one of the storylines.

But now, due to the strong inclinations of the players on Treasure Island, they have to hold an emergency meeting to seriously consider the possibilities of [European unification] and [Asian unity].

If we decide to do [Asian Union], we still need to report to the boss and see if this topic is feasible...

……

……

While players and developers of "Sail the Blue" were engrossed in coloring and dividing up the world on a virtual planet, players of "Under the Rock" were not neglecting their work and made a major breakthrough in the game's progress.

The four advanced professions for D-level miners were quickly all discovered:
[Scout]: Uses [Grappling Hook Gun] and [Illumination Gun], excels in mobility and movement, responsible for illumination and mining in special terrains, and has a certain level of difficulty to operate.

[Gunner]: Uses [Shield Generator] and [Zigzag Generator], mainly for rushing in and dealing damage, and can also cover teammates.

[Drilling Rig Operator]: Uses [Power Drill Rig] and [Explosive Pack] to not only dig holes and destroy terrain, but also deal close-range area damage.

[Engineer]: Uses [Platform Gun] and [Sentry Turret], responsible for building platforms and setting up turrets. Extremely effective in modifying terrain and coordinating with teammates, but requires some battlefield prediction ability. "Simply put!" Orange Juice summarized for the viewers while firing at the swarm of insects in front of him.

He raised his hand and pointed to the illusory moon above his head.

"Reconnaissance—you damn bastard!"

It also refers to the heroic sniper.

"Drilling rig—a stinking hole-drilling machine!"

Then came Seven Flower, who charged into the swarm of insects and wreaked havoc.

"Gunner—you lousy bastard!"

Finally, he pointed his thumb inward to his chest.

"Engineers—the brave and fearless nemesis of insect swarms!"

Their four-person team has already identified all four pathways for D-level miners to advance to C-level professions.

The first valiant sniper to complete the promotion mission even tried to modify his support equipment, hoping to see if he could take on other jobs as a side job.

The answer is yes, he successfully obtained the promotion to gunner.

However, after unlocking each profession, the effort required to advance to B-level privileges increases dramatically.

In addition to upgrading the corresponding profession to level 25, you also need to complete the corresponding breakthrough quest, which consumes a lot of money.

That would require completing at least a hundred mining missions using the corresponding profession.

Therefore, he temporarily put aside the idea of ​​"mastering all professions" and planned to focus on [drilling machine operator] first, so as to complete the second promotion as soon as possible and obtain B-level authority.

However, for now, C-level privileges are sufficient to achieve their initial goal—

Get more information about Deeprock Mining Company!

Four people surrounded the shady drone, intentionally or unintentionally pointing their guns at it, their threatening intent palpable.

The valiant sniper asked, "Now can you tell us more about Deeprock Mining Corporation—especially the location of its headquarters?"

This is the second time this question has been asked.

When I asked the question last time, the drone scanned all four of us and said there were three other people on site who didn't have the necessary permissions, and they absolutely refused to answer.

After its three teammates were also promoted, it finally stopped keeping everyone in suspense.

"The squad's permissions have been met; C-level permission information has been unlocked."

"Query information: [Deep Rock Mining Company]".

Once the permissions are confirmed to be met, the drone projects a holographic image directly onto your head!

The video opens with a small asteroid traveling through the endless universe.

As the camera zooms in, the large equipment and busy workers on the asteroid's surface become clear.

A friendly female voice slowly rang out:

Deep Rock Mining Company is a cross-stellar resource mining enterprise.

"Core businesses include: mining minerals from high-risk planets, space mining, mining in enemy-occupied territories, interstellar pest control, training of highly skilled miners, and interstellar mineral trading..."

Headquarters Location: Titan

……

"???"

The promotional video for Deeprock Mining Company is still ongoing.

But looking at the four heroic snipers in the trailer and the huge audience in their respective live streams, my mind was already in a mess.

The valiant sniper was completely stunned: "Wait a minute!"

"This is some kind of interstellar mining company?!"

"Headquarters is... Titan? What the hell is Titan?"

"Does this planet exist in the virtual world? Is this another secret update from Boss Xu?"

The moment the question was uttered, the promotional video played at the headquarters of Deeprock Mining Corporation—leaving aside the dense steel buildings and bustling spaceport, the enormous Saturn and its bright rings in the background alone already revealed the answer.

"Holy crap! Saturn's moon?" Huan Yue exclaimed in shock. "This Titan?!"

"You know?" The three of them looked at Huan Yue at the same time.

“Titan! It’s a moon of Saturn! Its name is Titan,” Huan Yue explained.

After saying that, he seemed a little confused: "When I played Echoes of the Deep Space, I didn't notice whether Saturn has moons. Did you guys notice?"

The three of them shook their heads at the same time.

If it weren't for this recent incident, who would have noticed whether Dream Building made a satellite for Saturn?!
The valiant sniper sighed deeply: "It doesn't matter anymore."

“I was thinking that the company’s headquarters might be in this Yayuan Town or Mansheng City, and I was planning to take 10,000 people to raze their headquarters once I found out.”

"Now they've built their headquarters right on Saturn's moon, how are we supposed to fight them?"

"It's impossible to reach it!"

"We still have a fleet of Plans Shrimp People above us! If we want to take down these heartless capitalists, we'll have to break through the Plans Shrimp People first..."

The brave sniper became more and more discouraged as he spoke.

The viewers kept pouring cold water on him:

"What shrimp people... Let's build the rocket or spaceship first!"

"Even if you could fly there, would you need 1 people to shoot down a satellite? Are you that awesome?"

"An interstellar corporation... that sounds pretty impressive. How about we defect? ​​Maybe exploiting employees is the norm in the universe?"

……

At the end of the corporate promotional video, Deeprock Mining Company delivered another blow to the four valiant snipers and many still-unconvinced viewers—

The circular space station that has been suspended high above the digital planet's orbit and that no one has ever been able to reach is also the property of Deeprock Mining Company!
Even now, they don't know the name of the space station:

[Titan Ring]
"So, Mr. Xu started laying the groundwork months ago?"

The valiant sniper was speechless. "What if, after a while, they suddenly tell us that the giant whale also comes from some cosmic-level superpower?"

He was a little discouraged.

Qi Huahua's eyes lit up as she realized a loophole.

She asked the drone that had finished playing the promotional video, "We're all company employees, so can we go to headquarters?"

“Of course.” The drone became lively again. “All employees with A-level privileges can apply to visit headquarters and receive more professional training after being promoted.”

"Upgrading to S-rank grants the ability to enter and exit headquarters at any time and the authority to join more dangerous missions."

Nana turned to look at the valiant sniper: "Do you understand now?"

"If we can't beat them head-on, we can break through from the inside!"

"And think about it: if we get promoted to A-level and apply to go to headquarters, wouldn't the company have to send us to headquarters?"

"But if we want to get to Titan, we have to break through the blockade of the Plans Shrimp People above us."

"Is it possible to manipulate the situation so that these two groups start fighting each other?"

Upon hearing this, the valiant sniper's eyes lit up!
(End of this chapter)