The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 629 A Mighty Man Descends from the Sky, a Plot Turning Point! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

In the game world, sailing from Port Royal to the Gulf of Benin in West Africa is a seamless journey with no pirates, naval forces, storms, or other unexpected events; the [fast sailing] takes only half an hour.

But at this very moment, the fleet of ships led by the Polaris Chamber of Commerce is being held back by a ship—or rather, a person—and is unable to enter [fast sailing] mode.

The time of arrival in Benin has become completely unpredictable.

Even whether they can reach their destination intact is questionable.

In the center of a fleet of dozens of ships, three French passengers huddled in their cabin, whispering secrets:

"The general has caught up already. How did he get here so fast? Do you have a high level of affection for him?"

"Um... I don't think so?"

"What do we do next? If they catch up, won't the plan fall apart?"

"Not necessarily. After all, he's a member of the navy, so he probably wouldn't attack legitimate merchant ships indiscriminately."

"should?"

"More than that, I'm worried that the people from the Polaris Chamber of Commerce will come looking for us and kick us off the ship."

……

All three of them were somewhat anxious.

There were more than 200 people providing cover for the fleet.

But if the general really catches up and attacks the fleet, 200 men can neither stop the general nor the experts of the Polaris Merchant Guild.

—Every ship of the Polaris Merchant Guild has a [Hero] level player of level 10 or above in charge.

Every [Hero] level player is a force to be reckoned with, not to mention a team of a dozen or so together.

Rather than expecting these 200-plus people to protect them, it would be better to hope that the Polaris Chamber of Commerce would not be willing to damage its reputation and would rather confront the general head-on on the vast ocean for the sake of a few passengers.

Or perhaps there are a few [Legendary] level players hidden in the fleet who will rush out and tear the general apart.

——Of course, this is impossible.

Currently, the highest level that players who actively disclose their level information is only level 14.

Moreover, it is said that in order to break through level 15 and advance to [Legendary], you also need to reach the [Legendary Reputation] standard.

Leveling up becomes very difficult after level 10, and gaining legendary reputation is even more difficult than leveling up!

—The methods for gaining experience are at least clear, and even if it's a bit slow, you can always accumulate enough experience after playing for a few years.

However, there is no fixed way to obtain legendary reputation.

Only by accomplishing something extraordinary on the high seas and causing a sensation among all players and NPCs can one gain legendary reputation.

And it cannot be a completely negative event.

For example, one person massacring an entire town.

That would only make you wanted by all factions at the same time, turning you into a stepping stone for others to gain prestige.

Under this mechanism, it is almost impossible for a player to gain enough legendary reputation and advance to legendary status while remaining unknown and hiding their identity.

"It's not just a question of whether we can survive!"

"Even if this admiral is unwilling to attack civilians and merchant ships, the Polaris Merchant Guild values ​​its reputation and won't abandon us... The navy has been following us, and the fleet is unable to sail quickly. When will we reach Benin? Has anyone tried sailing for a long time?"

The core of this elaborate scheme was the anxiety of Fernand, who had been an undercover agent for over a month and had become a trusted subordinate of Aokiji.

A teammate said uncertainly, "Nobody's tried it."

"The longest continuous voyage record seems to be that a group of Chinese people, who were bored and had nothing better to do, sailed two ships to Nassau to provoke the pirate king. They were chased for ten days and ten nights before finally escaping to Santo Domingo."

Another teammate shook his head: "That's testing the game mechanics and the pirates' aggro range."

"Less than a week after that incident, they used the same method to trap and kill a level 15 pirate at sea."

“So…” Fernand said incredulously, “if we keep being chased like this, it might take us another month to reach Benin?”

"Cotonou is on the verge of falling!"

"In a month, not only will the port of Cotonou be wiped out, but all the French in Cape Verde will be slaughtered!"

Fernand was very anxious.

This is the first time French players have ever launched a major operation in the virtual world!

French players have participated in large-scale events with hundreds of thousands or even millions of participants before, but they participated as ordinary players.

This is the first time that a group of [French players] has done something big.

But now, the operation is about to fail before it has even begun!

How is this possible?

If this gets out, I'll probably be laughed at by gamers all over the world for a whole year!
-
Fernand certainly had reason to be anxious.

In fact, it won't even take a month.

If they cannot reach Benin within eight hours at the latest and use their general to disrupt the situation, they will lose their last stronghold on the African continent.

[Cotonou]
Apart from Cotonou, all of France's slave trading posts had been dismantled.

Even now in Cotonouri, only one in ten French NPCs remain, with only the French players who can be resurrected still struggling to hold on.

And the defense line is already in grave danger!
……

"Merde! (Damn it!)"

"Hurry and send backup! We can't hold them off!!"

"Damn it, why are there so many natives? Who taught them how to use guns?!"

Behind the makeshift defensive line built by French players in Cotonouri, a French player with a bandage wrapped around his head and the ID [xoxo] on the bandage roared incessantly.

Ahead of him, a group of indigenous blacks were firing indiscriminately at the defensive line.

To the left front are players from the Xia Kingdom, and to the right front are players from the UK.

Further away, there were also shadowy figures of people, but it was impossible to tell what nationality they were.

If these people hadn't been wary of each other and occasionally turned on each other over minor squabbles, they would have been wiped out long ago.

Even so, the total annihilation is not far off.

In this tense moment, xoxo couldn't help but think:
How did things get to this point?

It wasn't like this at first!
On the afternoon of September 1st, [Ashes of Benin] was updated.

The shipping route from the Caribbean to the Gulf of Benin is experiencing an unprecedented period of prosperity.

One after another, large ships fully loaded with players set sail, crossing the ocean and heading to West Africa.

Everyone was very friendly back then.

Players from the Caribbean Republic and the Free Alliance put aside their differences and ceased their conflicts due to the major update.

On the Chamber of Commerce's large ship, players of different nationalities gathered together, chatting, trading, playing cards, and taking photos.

The atmosphere was amazing!

The first African city the fleet arrived at after passing Cape Verde was the port of Cotonou.

At that time, although Cotonou was nominally under French control, virtual NPCs from all over Europe gathered there.

Trading companies have offices in the UK, France, Spain, and Portugal.

Players from all over the world have gathered here, almost making it the main city of the new version.

Players explore the city, complete quests, and search for items and trade opportunities.

Finally, they left the town and set foot on the vast African land, to come into contact with the indigenous African tribes and the most powerful native nation—the Kingdom of Apome.

Back then, players would stand in the small square, shouting to gather their teammates to explore mysterious ancient ruins or hunt large beasts.

Nobody cares about a teammate's nationality; they only look at rank and combat strength.

Even if you don't speak the language, it doesn't matter—DreamChaser has a translation plugin.

At the time, everyone thought that the core storyline of this major update, [Ashes of Benin], would definitely revolve around the Abomey dynasty.

Historically, the Apomean dynasty virtually monopolized the slave trade with various European countries. They sold captives to Europeans in exchange for guns and cannons.

They then used the guns and cannons they acquired to attack other tribes, plunder more land and slaves, and sell them to Europeans in exchange for more wealth and weapons.

And so, day after day, they accumulated enormous wealth.

Until the French attacked Abomey and destroyed the Kingdom of Abomey.

There's clearly a lot that can be done here.

A vast number of players—and even media outlets outside the game—only recently learned that Africans themselves had participated in the slave trade.

Everyone is curious: From what perspective will Zhumeng tell this complex history?

But the good times don't last long.

Soon, Nelson, the mascot king of the Caribbean Republic, a leader-level NPC, and the Black Panther, suddenly left Santo Domingo and headed straight for Benin with the Black Panther Guard.

It seemed poised to launch a campaign to West Africa, overthrow the Abomey dynasty, and liberate their African compatriots.

Nelson's actions then quickly provoked another group of people—

The player groups on [Treasure Island] who were obsessed with [Virtual World War] couldn't sit still when they saw [Caribbean Republic] suddenly take action.

One by one, they began to mobilize and organize a large-scale rally in Benin.

This has brought the issue of nationality to the forefront.

The Third French Empire, the German Empire, the British Empire, and the African Empire were the most active.

They quickly assembled a large group of players of largely the same nationality and began their operation.

French, German, and British players share a similar goal—to first help their respective NPC factions unify West Africa and control all slave trade.

Then, using this as a springboard, we will shift the focus of the plot to Europe!
After that, you can begin your journey to conquer the French Empire/German Europe/the super empire on which the sun never sets!
As for [African Empire], most of them are players from the Xia Kingdom.

This group of people prides themselves on being true idealists and pure internationalist fighters.

They really wanted to help Africans build an empire.

The first step in building an empire is to wipe out all slave trading posts! To stop Africa from bleeding out.

The only problem is that there are too many ideas and too many organizations among the players in Xia Kingdom, and the idea of ​​[African Empire] has not been able to attract enough people.

It's simply impossible to face off against players from multiple countries head-on.

After several days of fierce fighting, the situation remained extremely tense.

Finally, some impatient players suggested: We can go and persuade the king of the Kingdom of Apome to use his strength against him!

The Kingdom of Apome in the game not only possesses cannons and muskets acquired through trade, but also extraordinary powers native to Africa, making its combat strength quite formidable.

Although Xia Kingdom players despise the Abome Kingdom's practice of selling off its own people for profit, and the future [African Empire] will not have a place for this kingdom, it is not unreasonable to make use of it for a short period of time.

Therefore, [African Empire] sent a 24-person player "delegation" to the Kingdom of Apome to conduct diplomacy.

As they arrived at the Royal Palace of Apome, they witnessed a momentous event—

A coup d'état at the Abomey Palace!
By the time everything had settled down, the Abome Palace had changed hands.

The chiefs and priests of the six indigenous tribes entered the palace and formed an alliance to attack and defend.

A day later, the delegation was finally received and successfully met the new native king.

as well as--

Hand of the King: Liu Guang.

The 24 players in the delegation were dumbfounded when they saw the two Chinese characters above "King's Hand"'s head.

What they found even more incomprehensible was that this guy, without any help from anyone, relied solely on his own words to persuade six conflicting tribes to unite and advance on the Kingdom of Apome.

He then entered the palace alone several times, persuading the young king's son and three army leaders to launch a coup.

Success on the final attempt!
Even the position of [Hand of the King] was something he gave himself.

If the delegation from the African Empire, which only exists on Treasure Island, doesn't come, he has already begun planning to continue eastward, westward, and northward, absorbing more indigenous tribes and attempting to unite them all.

When will we unite all the tribes that have updated their Dream Building system? When will we stop?

The head of the delegation from the [African Empire], [Tian Tian Quan], couldn't help but exclaim, "Awesome!!!"

Then, he decisively invited Liu Guang to join [African Empire].

He patted his chest and guaranteed that as long as Liu Guang joined, he would immediately be able to enter the highest decision-making level!

But Liu Guang shook his head and refused without even thinking: "We have different paths, so we cannot work together."

Tian Tianquan asked, puzzled, "Different paths? You mean..."

"I don't want an empire," Liu Guang said without concealing his purpose. "I want to establish an African unity!"

"If Nelson can wield a sickle and hammer, why can't his fellow Africans?!"

"I am not here to look down on them and bestow peace and sustenance upon them. I am here to tell them: peace and justice must be earned by themselves! Let them be the masters of their own destiny!"

Tian Tian blinked.

"what?"

He almost blurted out, "No, buddy, the superstructure cannot be separated from the economic base."

But thinking about this guy's outrageous feat of "passing through Benin in a week," I forced myself to hold back.

Who knows, this guy might actually make it?

—If it succeeds, the prestige he gains from this event will be enough to help him break through to the [Legendary] level!
He quickly changed his tune: "The colonizers didn't want to see a united and strong Africa."

"For their own benefit, they will definitely stir up trouble and cause you a lot of trouble."

"But now, players from all over Europe have gone berserk and have started killing each other's NPCs."

"The power of the colonizers is at its lowest point."

"Now is the best opportunity to eliminate European colonial forces!"

"You don't even need to be the main attackers, just cooperate with us."

"You can also use war to unite these scattered tribes and truly bring them together as one!"

These words successfully persuaded Liu Guang.

So the army set off.

The largest NPC force in Benin—the Kingdom of Apome and the tribes—has also joined the chaotic war!
The whole of Benin is in complete chaos.

France is poised to be the first to be eliminated.

At the crucial moment, Qi Hua Hua made a decision—

Three ships were separated from the fleet and deliberately slowed down to meet the pursuing naval warships and buy time.

By creating distance from other ships, you successfully enter [fast sailing] mode.

……

……

Thirty minutes later, the fleet arrived at the port of Cotonou.

Fernand joins the already crumbling French defenses.

Fifty minutes later, General Aokiji set foot on the land of Benin.

I saw with my own eyes the city of Cotonou, littered with corpses.

An hour later, Xu Meng appeared in Cotonou with Xiao Meng.

An hour and a half later, Lu Ming, along with several core members of the "Sailing on the Blue Sea" development team, logged into the game.

They all keenly noticed that the first key plot point was about to arrive!

It was so fast it caught everyone off guard!

(End of this chapter)