The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 634 A Dream Within a Dream (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

A week ago, when Yayuan Town had just opened, the place was sparsely populated.

As they flew into the sky aboard Deep Rock's landing capsule, they saw hot air balloons taking off and landing one after another.

At the time, I praised the unique scenery and thought the cave explorers had great taste.

But now, with players flocking in, that slow-paced, leisurely atmosphere is gone forever.

Hot air balloons rose one after another in the sky, almost forming a line.

Hot air balloons are no longer the mini models that could only accommodate five or six people; various large hot air balloons have also emerged.

The one that Qi Huahua and the others rushed up to now was a large hot air balloon with a basket large enough to hold more than ten people.

When they ran up, the gondola was already full.

Staff from the Cave Explorers Association shouted "Full" to stop people from boarding later.

"That was close!" Qi Huahua gasped for breath, one hand on the edge of the basket and the other on her chest.

The same goes for Valiant Sniper, Phantom Moon, and Orange Juice.

Their bodies have been enhanced to some extent, but they can't resist carrying two large bags filled with all sorts of supplies.

—The tragedy caused by the previous depletion of supplies has taught them a lesson.

In addition, since they were hoping to find a powerful ally this time, they were likely to be able to explore deeper into the world, which would require more supplies. Therefore, they prepared double the amount of supplies.

Once Qi Huahua caught her breath, she didn't have time to pay attention to anyone else and immediately looked at the two people who resembled Xu Meng and Xiao Meng.

Just as I was about to say hello to test the waters, I heard a staff member shout:

"Hold on tight! Ready for takeoff!"

The next second, the flamethrower overhead roared violently, silencing the surrounding noise.

A wave of scorching heat hit me, the smell of burning kerosene mixed with dust and sweat, the humid heat almost suffocating.

Qi Huahua instantly felt a sweat break out all over her body, and swallowed back all the words she wanted to say.

Fortunately, after a slight sway underfoot, the hot air balloon began to slowly rise into the air, and the uncomfortable heat quickly subsided, and the sticky feeling of sweat also disappeared in no time.

As the hot air balloon rose higher, leaving behind the surging crowds and cacophony of the square, the wind swept across the basket and over my body, even making me feel a little cool.

The passengers in the gondola were no longer quiet; they chatted casually while overlooking the scenery of Cliff Town and the Abyss Cave.

Qi Huahua threw her backpack into the bottom of the hanging basket and breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, I had some free time to verify my guess.

She crept up behind the adult man and the little girl, and suddenly greeted them without warning:
"Mr. Xu! Xiao Meng! You're here too! What a coincidence!"

The two turned around in surprise.

The man looked at her, puzzled, then scanned the surrounding crowd, searching for Xu Meng, whom Qi Huahua had mentioned: "Boss Xu is here too? Where is she?"

Qi Huahua stared intently at his expression and movements, trying to find a flaw.

But she wasn't a criminal investigator, nor had she studied micro-expression analysis, so she couldn't tell at all and could only bite the bullet and say:
"Stop pretending, Mr. Xu! Besides you, who else would play games with such a young child?"

"Even if there are such open-minded parents, they would only go to aquariums and amusement parks. Who would bring their child to such a dangerous place as the Abyss Caves?"

Upon hearing this, the man turned his attention to Qi Huahua.

A thin gold chain hung from his monocle, making him look more like an aristocratic archaeologist than an explorer.

After looking him over for a few seconds, he calmly said, "You've mistaken me for someone else."

The little girl in the mini adventurer uniform huddled shyly behind the man, peeking at Nanaka and the brave sniper with only one eye showing.

At this moment, Qi Hua Hua did have some self-doubt.

They have had considerable contact with Xu Meng, and have never missed any of her public appearances, so they are quite familiar with her.

Xu Meng has always given people a very approachable feeling, whether she is serious and focused at work or joking and having fun.

Like a successful and easy-going neighbor, they rarely make you feel distant.

But now, the man's expression revealed a coldness and aloofness that kept people at arm's length.

Her temperament was completely opposite to what she had in mind when she thought of Xu Meng.

That little girl was the same way—Xiao Meng was always lively, cheerful, and fearless; when had she ever been shy?!

"Could I have really mistaken someone for someone else?" Qi Huahua blinked, beginning to doubt herself.

She stared at the man for several seconds until his ID appeared before her eyes—

[Iron Chariot]
Qi Huahua blinked, somewhat confused: What does "Iron Control" mean?
However, she quickly dismissed this question because it didn't matter at all—players didn't have all sorts of strange IDs.

What's really important is that Xu Meng uses her real name most of the time; even when she's faking her identity, her ID uses a homophone.

For example, when I played Deep Space Echoes in my last live stream, I used [Xu Meng].

"I'm sorry, I might have really mistaken you for someone else." Qi Huahua said, but in her heart she was thinking about chatting a few more words to get some information out of him.

"Are you also going for the honorary player spot? Or that hidden city?"

But the other person just shook their head and ignored her attempts to get closer: "Sorry, I don't want to talk right now."

After saying that, he turned around and chatted with the NPC next to him about the details of exploring the cave.

Qi Huahua could only tease the little girl: "Little girl, what's your name?"

The little girl's eyes darted around, glancing at herself, then at the brave sniper and Phantom Moon, before finally shaking her head and hiding behind the man again.

Qi Huahua couldn't help but sigh.

Her teammates, watching her actions, understood what was going on and whispered, "You think those two are Xu Meng and Xiao Meng in disguise?"

“Yes.” Qi Hua Hua nodded.

She had already noticed: there were only six players in the basket—they, the boy, and the little girl—everyone else was an NPC, so she made no attempt to hide her voice, "Look, who would let a little girl come to a place like this? Aren't they afraid she'll cry?"

“But…” the valiant sniper was skeptical. “If it were Xiao Meng, wouldn’t she disguise herself as a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl? Wouldn’t that be a better disguise?”

After a moment's thought, Qi Huahua stopped arguing with her teammates and instead changed the subject, directly speaking ill of Xu Meng:

"What do you think Mr. Xu is doing right now?"

"You haven't shown up at all. Are you just being lazy and playing video games at home all day?"

"Or perhaps they'll hide among the players, spying on us while we play? Watching and saying, 'I'm so good!'"

"?"

The valiant sniper's eyes widened immediately. "Wait, sister! What are you talking about? Have you forgotten we're live streaming?"

"Mr. Xu only smoked the US president, but not you, right?"

Qi Huahua silently told herself, 'It's alright, it's alright. Xiaomeng and I are close. Boss Xu is very magnanimous.'

He forced himself to continue speaking ill of her: "Don't you think Boss Xu is really capable of doing such a thing?"

"He would secretly hide among the players, watching them die tragically while searching for the Easter eggs, and then stand on the sidelines and chuckle to himself."

As Qi Huahua spoke, she kept her eyes fixed on the little girl Tie Yu, hoping to see them make a mistake. But although the two of them glanced at her in surprise, they didn't say anything and quickly looked away.

Instead, her three teammates silently took a step back and distanced themselves from her.

The orange juice even looked up at the sky with concern.

"What are you doing?" Qi Huahua asked.

Orange Juice: "I'm afraid a bolt of lightning will suddenly strike you down and kill you..."

Huan Yue: "If you want to die, stay away from us."

Brave Sniper: "Don't drag so many people down with you! You know how stingy Boss Xu is!"

Beside Qi Huahua, the man and woman turned their heads slightly and glanced at the valiant sniper.

The valiant sniper realized something was amiss and quickly tried to salvage the situation in the live stream: "I meant... a vengeance! Yes! Boss Xu, a vengeance!"

The netizens didn't care about any of that; they started posting screenshots on social media, calling on Xu Meng to punish him.

Qi Huahua, relying on her good relationship with Xiao Meng and her position in Xiao Meng's "Animal Kingdom" development team, still had a way to explain herself if she really angered Xu Meng. She spared no effort in searching for clues and trying to find out if the person named "Tie Yu" was Xu Meng.

Unfortunately, nothing was accomplished until the hot air balloon landed.

Qi Huahua almost dismissed her doubts.

Until the leader of the NPC cave explorers, whom he had ignored all along the way, blew the [Black Flute] at the entrance of the forward base.

Orange Juice was overjoyed: "Are we that lucky?! We just randomly boarded a hot air balloon and it just so happens to be Black Flute's team!?"

Qi Huahua looked at Tie Yu suspiciously: "Is it really such a coincidence? These two are so lucky?"

Her suspicions resurfaced.

After passing through the forward base and entering the second level of the great cave [the Upside-Down Forest], the pilot's performance quickly dispelled her nascent suspicions.

This person's curiosity seems a bit too strong!
The second level is called the Upside-Down Forest because the caves on this level have limited height, and the roots of many trees are embedded in the cave ceiling, while the tree crowns grow downwards.

It stretches as far as the eye can see, looking like a forest growing upside down.

Within the dense canopy, various birds sing and fly.

It's hard not to be amazed when you see such a spectacular sight for the first time.

Qi Huahua followed behind the group, watching intently for a long time. She tripped over tree roots and stones on the road several times, but was saved from falling by the help of her teammates.

Interestingly, she noticed that the player named Iron Rider also accidentally stepped on something and almost twisted his ankle.

He was clearly also intrigued by the scenery, his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings.

It's not just the scenery.

He was unfamiliar with the appearance and habits of many plants and monsters, and listened very attentively as the master cave explorer with the black flute explained.

This made Qi Huahua believe that this person might not actually be Xu Meng.

Richard stated in an interview that the Abyss Caves were primarily Xu Meng's idea.

Whether it's the topography of the large cave, or the ecology and mechanisms inside, it's all within the framework provided by Xu Meng.

If this person is Xu Meng, it's impossible for her to be so unfamiliar with the Abyss Cave, right?
If it was a performance...

If Mr. Xu has such good acting skills, then she really has nothing to say.

After letting go of her delusions, Qihua finally calmed down and immersed herself in the cave exploration journey.

Of course, this didn't stop her from taking every opportunity to get close to that girl and strike up a conversation.

After all, she's a cute and adorable little girl; who wouldn't like her?
This little girl is a bit shy and always avoids her...
-
The seven cave explorer NPCs are very comprehensive.

They followed behind, learning a great deal of cave exploration techniques from local cave explorers along the way, and also becoming familiar with many edible plants and animals.

The massive plant hunt that the valiant snipers had previously stirred up has completely disappeared this time.

The group reached the edge of the third level without any problems and set up camp to rest.

But this is just the beginning.

Upon reaching the third level [the Great Fault], one needs to descend rapidly from 2600 meters underground to 7000 meters underground!
It was only along this journey that Black Whistle's true power began to be fully revealed.

Black Flute could warn them of all sorts of dangers they were completely unaware of.

The unexpected predators were even overwhelmed by the powerful abyssal relics that Black Flute had acquired!
When the group saw the Black Flute Cave Explorer, who was only 1.7 meters tall, smash the large, scaleless lizard dragon with his fists, their eyelids twitched wildly.

—This big shot was very quiet the whole way, and he was very polite when he was reasoning with people and teaching them knowledge. I never expected him to be such a beast when he got into a fight!
As for the Iron Pilot, he also played an important role along the way: the monocle he wore seemed to be a powerful relic.

Sometimes you encounter things that even the Black Flute masters don't recognize—that's normal. Cave explorers have very limited knowledge of the Abyss Caves and often discover all sorts of strange new things.

His glasses would come in handy, providing valuable information every time.

On another occasion, everyone cooked a large pot of mushrooms, and the NPC cave explorers had already tested the toxicity with relics and confirmed that they were safe to eat.

However, after actually eating it, they were all poisoned and saw the entire Abyss cave soften like putty, and the earth undulated like waves.

Various colors are mixed together, turning the whole world into a colorful palette.

Even the most senior Black Flute fell down, rolling around and singing a sad love song that had faded away.

At the critical moment, it was this guy named Iron Control who was the first to come to his senses, holding down his teammates who were rolling around and tying them together.

They found a bright white crystal, ground it into powder, and rubbed it between their eyebrows. This awakened them and saved the team from the brink of annihilation.

Similar incidents have occurred three times.

This seemingly ordinary Iron Rider always manages to turn the tide at crucial moments, leading the Black Flute Cave Explorers to formally invite him to join their team.

This good fortune lasted for a long time.

It wasn't until the team successfully reached the fourth level, the [Chalice of Giants], that they finally solved the problem that even Black Flute and Pilot couldn't understand—

Before them stood a cave explorer who was fast asleep.

At first, no one thought there was anything wrong with it, since they weren't the only group in the Abyss.

But soon, several players were the first to frown.

They discovered that the sleeping cave explorer was not an NPC, but another player.

I shook it a few times, but couldn't wake it up.

After confirming that he was not unconscious, but simply in a deep sleep that could not be woken up, the group frowned even more deeply.

Tie Yu, who had remained calm throughout the journey, frowned deeply.

The valiant sniper was utterly bewildered: "Didn't he log into the game using a dream machine? How could he still be asleep?"

Tie Yu's expression was serious: "No, he used the Dream Machine."

"Use the dream machine to enter the game, and then enter the dream again in the game?" Qi Huahua's eyes widened in surprise.

"A dream within a dream?"

"Is this still possible?"

(End of this chapter)