The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 636 This isn't a bug, it's a game feature! (Seeking monthly votes at the end of the month!)
[Real World]
In the live stream of the valiant sniper, Huan Yue, and Orange Juice's Qi Hua Hua, viewers were all typing question marks:
"Hey buddy, you just fell asleep like that???"

"You're not planning to wake up, are you? Just killing time?"

"Livestream yourself sleeping, earn millions a month!"

"It should be: A famous female streamer is live-streaming herself sleeping with a group of men! That would be a much more sensational headline!"

"Wait...isn't he awake yet? Something's not right, is it?"

……

As they chatted, they gradually began to feel that something was amiss.

Of course they knew that there were all sorts of negative states in the virtual world, such as [ignite], [freeze], [unconscious], [bleed], [blind]... and so on.

However, the so-called "coma" is always just the character being unconscious; the player's consciousness remains clear.

It's standard practice for streamers to take a break from their physical restraints to check the chat, thank viewers for gifts, and interact with them.

But now...

Did these four people actually fall asleep in the game and then just drift off to sleep?

And a full five minutes passed, and the camera remained fixed on the sleeping streamer, without any change.

These four people, apart from their chests rising and falling, looked practically dead.

The surrounding drowsy players and animals, the gently swaying grass in the breeze, and the tranquil atmosphere all contributed to a very good hypnotic effect.

Some viewers got sleepy while watching.

Ten minutes later, the four anchors were still not awake.

The live stream room has completely turned into a sleep aid live stream.

Some enthusiastic viewers have begun to feel intense unease and have been contacting Zhumeng's customer service through various channels, or even sending private messages to Xu Meng directly.

—For all players, in the virtual world, Xu Meng is omnipotent and an absolutely reliable safety net.

Little did they know that at this very moment, Xu Meng was lying right next to these four livestreamers, also caught up in a dream!
-
[Dream World]
In reality, viewers see the anchor sleeping for 10 minutes, but in the dream world, two hours have already passed.

Xu Meng has already come up with a solution to the problem:
The reason this bug is so serious is that it involves the dream machine and the random code program created by AI, both of which send signals back to the brain.

Everyone knows that the brain is complex, sophisticated, and fragile.

If not handled properly, and if unexpected consequences arise, the impact will undoubtedly be terrible.

This is not just about potentially harming one or two people.

The reason why the dream machine, a device that subverts traditional lifestyles and even greatly affects the rhythm of social operation, has been able to spread so quickly around the world and be widely accepted by the public is naturally multifaceted.

But one very important key point is that it has never had a problem!
Even so, conspiracy theories that Xu Meng intends to brainwash the world with a dream-making machine have never disappeared. They have simply been overshadowed by Xu Meng's continuous high-profile actions, preventing them from gaining mainstream attention and making them less credible to most people.

If a SAO-style crisis were to occur at this time, with hundreds of people falling into a coma or even worse—suffering from amnesia or becoming mentally disabled—it would truly become a "turning point of World War II"!

Of course, Xu Meng has implemented multiple preventative measures at both the software and hardware levels, which theoretically can completely eliminate this risk.

But he was unwilling to gamble on that "what if".

Fortunately, the breakthrough point was right beside him—

Xiao Meng has no brain at all.

Her mode of consciousness and logical thinking are completely different from those of humans, so there is no need to worry about issues such as damage to brain neural nodes.

Compared to that, the fact that she was able to enter this public dream with Xu Meng is an incredibly magical thing.

Therefore, she could easily drag the main consciousness out, activate invincible mode, and eliminate the culprit who hypnotized everyone, so that everyone here could wake up first, and then slowly solve the code problems.

The reason for the delay is not a technical issue.

Instead, the little one said that she could learn a lot in this very special space.

A digital life, by chance, enters the complex dream space woven from human consciousness through the bridge of numbers and code.

Xu Meng was not surprised at all that she was able to learn new knowledge.

He has no doubt that when he leaves this place and looks back at it from a digital and scientific perspective, he will gain a great deal of knowledge.

Such an opportunity is truly once in a lifetime!
So Xu Meng caught up with a few "wild dream weavers" who looked very skilled and had a detailed chat with them to make sure they had been doing it for several days without any problems.

Then they agreed that Xiaomeng should not burst the "bubble" for now, allowing some time to absorb the valuable new knowledge.

Xiao Meng cheered "Yay!" and ran off eagerly.

While interviewing the "wild dream weavers" along the way, Xu Meng would occasionally look for her.

No matter when you go to see her, she's always having a great time in the strange and wonderful buildings and facilities created by all sorts of amateur dream architects.

This inevitably made Xu Meng suspicious:
Was she genuinely interested in learning, or was she simply drawn in by the grand party atmosphere and wanted to join in and have fun with everyone?

Fortunately, two full hours passed, and she finished gathering the information and had enough fun.

Finally, it ran back, closed its eyes in front of Xu Meng, and its body turned into handfuls of tiny flowers that scattered.

The next second, we're on the fourth level of the Abyss.

Xiao Meng opened her eyes and climbed out of Xu Meng's arms.

The live stream of Qihuahua and Orange Juice included Xiaomeng's location, which is why she was able to see this scene.

But before they could speak...

Xiaomeng spun around in place, scanning everything and code within a radius of more than ten kilometers.

Without needing to think for a second, Xiaomeng simply raised her right hand.

A tiny point of light appeared at the tip of the index finger.

The point of light slowly rose into the air, and then suddenly exploded.

A sun rises in the fourth layer of the abyss.

Thousands upon thousands of four-leaf clovers, no bigger than a fingernail, withered rapidly under the intense sunlight.

The sporangia fall off, and the root system retracts underground.

In just 5 seconds, all the hypnotic plants on the fourth level of the Abyss Cave fell into a state of slumber.

The tiny hypnotic spores, invisible to the naked eye and diffused in the air, quickly dissipated.

Afterwards, Xiaomeng returned to the furry beast, slapped its bear-like head, and manually added a sleep package to her routine.

Only then did she return to Xu Meng's side, lift his arm, adjust her position, and lie back down.

I closed my eyes comfortably and fell asleep again.

After being hit by a flashbang in two live stream rooms, hundreds of thousands of viewers were left bewildered, typing a series of question marks in the chat.

……

The little flower in front of Xu Meng reassembled into a human shape, transforming back into Xu Meng's appearance.

"Did it go smoothly?" Xu Meng asked.

“It’s so easy! Xiaomeng finished it in just 15 seconds!” Xiaomeng shook her head proudly. “But the time is different on both sides. One second outside is equal to 12 seconds here, which is why the master felt it took so long.”

The moment Xiaomeng appeared outside, she noticed the difference in the flow of time on both sides.

She was no ordinary player after all; those ten-odd seconds outside were enough for her to gather a massive amount of information.

—Not only was it enough for her to solve problems, collect bug information, build sandboxes to retain samples, and monitor bug-related public opinion, but she even took the time to sign 18 application documents in the office system on behalf of Xu Meng.

"A 12-fold difference in flow rate over time?"

Xu Meng was somewhat surprised.

It wasn't the time difference that surprised me, but rather the tight-lipped nature of those amateur dream weavers.

I asked several people, but not one of them mentioned the time issue.

More accurately—

They didn't mention anything unusual at all; all they said was that the place was "super safe," "super fun," "no discomfort," and "no dizziness"...

Anyway, there are no problems at all, you don't need to worry about it, just let us play by ourselves.

"If we don't do anything, when will they wake up?" Xu Meng asked again. "It's hard to say!" Xiao Meng shook her head. "Xiao Meng has already cleared away the effects of the hypnotic spores. The rest depends on when they wake up on their own."

Xu Meng shook her head: "I can't wait any longer."

"Now that external influences have been eliminated, they will regain consciousness once they die."

"Master, what do you mean?" Xiao Meng blinked, already guessing Xu Meng's plan.

Xu Meng replied with a smile, "Of course, I want to show them who the strongest dream weaver is!"

Xiao Meng's eyes lit up: "Xiao Meng wants to help too!"

"Okay," Xu Meng readily agreed. "Can Xiao Meng also create dreams?"

"Mmm-hmm." Xiaomeng nodded repeatedly, "I learned it while playing just now!"

"Okay, let's get started."

After Xu Meng finished speaking, she began to devise a plan of how to win over the players.

It's too much trouble to do them one by one; it's better to deal with everyone at once.

While he was pondering, Xiao Meng was already growing rapidly!
In just a few breaths, he grew from a little over 1 meter tall to over 100 meters tall, and at the same time, he was wearing a green Godzilla-themed pajama.

But this was clearly not just pajamas—a large green tail swayed and easily swept down several buildings.

When Xiao Meng roared at the sky, it actually spewed out large swathes of flames.

Looks really fierce!
Several players who were admiring the scenery on the Rainbow Bridge were instantly burned to death and sent away from the dream.

The other players weren't angry at all; instead, they laughed and rushed forward, pulling out all sorts of weapons to attack the pajama Godzilla.

Little Godzilla brandished its claws and toppled a building with a single wave of its hand.

Then he bent down, picked up the jelly building, shook it to shake out the swimming players and mermaids inside, and then took a big bite!

They were wreaking havoc with impunity while simultaneously cleaning up the surrounding players.

In this public dream, not everyone possesses the ability to create dreams.

— Dream makers make up at most 5%. The rest either haven't been here long enough to master these skills, or they have absolutely no talent in this area and can only play with things created by others.

These people are now helpless against Little Godzilla, except to run away and shout "Little Godzilla, have mercy!"

Someone saw Xu Meng and rushed over to ask for help.

But Xu Meng shook her head and pointed to the sky: "Look there."

These people looked up and saw five meteors of different colors streak through the clouds and crash into the earth.

"What is that?" someone asked.

Xu Mengshen replied understandingly, "The red one is simpler; it's an orbital bombardment."

"The yellow ones are virus bombs, the purple ones are atmospheric incineration torpedoes, the orange ones are Modalis atmospheric missiles, and the cyan ones are Cyclone torpedoes."

"This is a powerful weapon of the extermination order level. Under normal circumstances, only one is needed to complete the mission."

"But everyone's come to the right place today, as we can see five at once!"

Everyone's face showed a "What the hell are you talking about?" expression.

But before they could protest, the "meteor" had already fallen to the ground.

Devastating flames and impacts easily filled every space.

In the blink of an eye, all life was wiped out.

Along with Godzilla and Xu Meng herself.
-
The fourth level of the Abyss Cave.

The players who had been asleep gradually woke up.

The beasts were still fast asleep—but they wouldn't sleep for long, because once the players woke up, the place quickly became lively:
"Holy crap! What is that thing???"

"More than a dozen buildings collapsed in an instant! I suddenly felt nothing beneath my feet, and the buildings were gone!"

"That's too cruel! The entire sky is on fire!"

"What happened? How could the world suddenly be destroyed?"

"It seems like Boss Xu came and destroyed that world?"

"Boss Xu? Holy crap! Who brought him here? Weren't we supposed to keep it a secret?!"

"It's over, it's all over! Will we never be able to play again?"

"Where is Boss Xu? Where did Boss Xu come from? I protest!!"

……

These increasingly loud complaints immediately roused the sleeping beasts, who roared and lunged at the player who was right in front of them.

Some players struggled to escape, while others resigned themselves to their fate and waited to die.

The surroundings became even more chaotic in an instant.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xu Meng grabbed Xiao Meng and quickly made their escape.

Only the four members of the Seven Flower Clan, who had been searching for him since waking up, noticed the disappearance of "Iron Chariot".

Their viewers in the live stream, after witnessing Xiaomeng's previous actions, had already realized part of the truth—

The so-called "Iron Chariot" is just Xu Meng's pseudonym!

A group of people were so angry they laughed on the spot.

However, it's not that I was really angry.

The fact that the big boss of a game company is so addicted to games that he even goes so far as to play them under a pseudonym is definitely good news for gamers.

This is much better than game developers testing their own games with invincibility and instant kills enabled.

The monsters on the fourth level of the abyss are incredibly strong.

Faced with a direct confrontation, most cave explorers were powerless to stop it, resulting in heavy casualties.

The four members of the Seven Flowers Squad also died and returned to the city.

The chaos finally ended only after he was resurrected on the edge of a cliff.

Viewers began asking questions:
What was the story behind the "live-streaming of sleeping" incident?

How come everyone woke up at the same time?

At first, the four of them were worried about whether they could answer the question and whether it would cause a public relations crisis for Zhumeng.

But soon, they no longer needed to worry about this problem.

Because the popularity of related topics on social networks has begun to explode!
Once a hypnotic plant enters a state of dormancy, it can no longer enter not only public dreams but also private dreams.

Players who had been immersed in the dream world for several days (a few days in reality, but at least 12 days in the dream world) felt a sense of loss and left messages on social networks, hoping that Xu Meng would restore this gameplay.

Many netizens and players only now realize that there is a "restricted area" in the virtual world where there are no restrictions and you can do whatever you want!
They were even more enthusiastic than the players who had experienced this event, loudly calling for the restoration of this gameplay in Dream Building.

Even if we have to shut them down, we should let them experience it first!

……

A vast number of players jumped out of the game, teleported to Cliff Town, and headed to the fourth level of the Abyss Cave with their friends.

While scrolling downwards, people online urged Xu Meng to quickly reinstate this gameplay.

Xu Meng originally planned to study and analyze the data saved by Xiao Meng before deciding how to deal with the bug.

However, the voices of netizens and players were simply too strong.

He had no choice but to pause his work and write an announcement stating that "the random generation function caused a bug in the game, and we are blocking it for user safety."

However, players have only one opinion regarding this announcement:
"I don't care! I want to play!"

"The bug where Huo Huo's butt gets stuck in the wall hasn't been fixed for so long, why are you fixing it this time? I won't allow it!"

"This isn't a bug! It's a game feature!! Don't fix it!!!"

(End of this chapter)