The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 657 Rocket Celebration!

To gain the [Honorary Player] status, countless players, armed with spaceship crash trajectory maps, battle against all sorts of bizarre and terrifying flora and fauna in the rainforest, struggling to search for the unknown city.

Those who have already obtained the [Honorary Player] status do not need to go through such trouble.

Not only do they not need help, but even if they wanted to help, they would be dissuaded by a large number of players who would tell them to stay in the city and rest...
-
With players engaged in fierce battles outside the city, peace naturally returned to the city.

Casual gamers and virtual residents enjoyed the best security in the Sprawling City in a long time, with not a single explosion or gunshot heard all day long.

The street vendors, flower shops, and coffee shops in the square had far fewer customers, but the atmosphere was much more peaceful than usual.

Only the massage parlors run by prostitutes on the World Tree still have long queues and are bustling with noise.

The honor players, who were bored out of their minds, were naturally a little unaccustomed to suddenly having so much free time.

Then the valiant sniper, Phantom Moon, and Seven Flowers remembered a major forgotten matter—

Titan!
After completing the world mission [Beyond the Cradle], a significant reward is unlocking space through Dream Building, transforming planets from "background textures" into real planets.

Although the announcement said that this would take time, the number of planets with realistic models in the sky should not be large at present.

but--

Titan must be real!
But as soon as the battle ended and they finished cleaning up the mess, their attention was drawn to a series of events caused by the crash of the lost ship.

Only now have I finally been able to free up my hands.

They returned to their cliffside courtyard in Cliff Town, activated the drone, and instructed it to contact the Deep Rock Mining Company headquarters to send a ship to pick them up for a visit.

But the drone immediately delivered bad news to them:

"The transport ships of Titan's headquarters were almost completely wiped out, and the combat fleet also suffered heavy losses."

"At present, we need to concentrate all our efforts on reorganization, repair and resupply in order to recover from the losses as soon as possible, so as not to affect the outer defense line and allow the metal necromancers to take advantage of the situation."

"During this period, all branch visits will be suspended."

The valiant sniper tried bribery (changing the drone's paint job) and using connections (getting the drone to contact the dwarf captain Dovark), but all attempts failed.

In the end, they had no choice but to give up temporarily.

—If it were to fly by itself, it would probably take seven or eight years to travel from its own geostationary orbit to Titan.

The three of them went there excitedly, but returned looking disappointed.

I could only run to the central square to feed the flamingos, feeling rather bored.

The valiant sniper bought a large bag of crayfish from the vendor, casually tossed a handful to the flamingos, and then popped a few into his own mouth.

Peeling crayfish in the virtual world is much easier than in the real world.

There's no need to wear disposable plastic gloves and peel it bit by bit like in real life. Just hold it in your hand and gently squeeze it, and the shell will crack open and fall off on its own.

As it falls, it will decompose and disappear on its own, requiring no subsequent cleanup.

Players who want to eat in big bites can even grab a large handful, rub it in their hands, and then blow on it!
The crayfish shell will fall off and crumble on its own, flying out of your hand.

It's similar to eating roasted wheat.

Similarly, foods such as crabs, nuts, and fruits with irregular pits have all been meticulously optimized by the development team.

The Xia people's passion for food can sometimes be so intense that it's hard to understand...

As a result, food in the virtual world is extremely popular among players!

Even though most foods don't increase attributes, and dying from hunger and being resurrected will restore full satiety, players are still keen to spend credits to buy various foods to eat.

Even when they're not hungry at all and their satiety level is at its maximum, they'll still excitedly spend money to eat, just to satisfy their cravings.

This "food system" has evolved into a massive content system that rivals "combat," "quests," and "professions."

It has made significant contributions to "recovering credits and maintaining the balance of virtual world currencies".

"Cyber ​​restaurant review anchors," "cyber chefs," "cyber ingredient hunters," and other "professions" are already taking shape.

Some people even set up stalls in the virtual world, creating unique dishes and skipping credit point payments to collect cash directly.

Of course, this approach will greatly limit sales.

Even if the price is reduced by half or even 80% compared to real-world prices, it is still difficult to achieve good sales.

However, there are indeed a few cyber chefs who have created dishes that are delicious or unusual enough to pique people's curiosity and have become "internet celebrity dishes" in the city, earning a lot of money from them.

Because of the successful examples before them, the central square, where the players have the highest traffic, has an absurd number of food stalls.

Moreover, it is filled with all sorts of strange and wonderful "creative foods".

The valiant sniper had previously tried several of these techniques based on recommendations from his fellow viewers.

After eating it, I almost regretted being born.

So at this moment, he had no intention of visiting those stalls. He honestly bought the NPC's crayfish and fed them to the flamingos while eating sunflower seeds.

As we were eating, we saw a group of people carrying banners, balloons, red carpets, and thick wooden stakes, walking over in groups, marking out a spot and starting to decorate.

The valiant sniper was bored, so he fed the birds while watching the commotion.

After a while, he figured out what these people wanted to do by looking at the banners and wooden stakes.

With October fast approaching, these people wanted to set up a stage and hire people to perform lion dances on October 1st to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Xia Kingdom.

"No wonder those people were so easy to talk to, they gave up their seats right away."

The idea popped into the mind of the valiant sniper.

Then, in a flash, another idea suddenly popped into my mind!
He couldn't wait to throw a handful of crayfish to his side, making the flamingos rush over to grab the food and clear a path for him. He then rushed over to Qi Hua Hua and Huan Yue in a few quick steps.

"I have an idea!"

Qi Huahua and Huan Yue looked at his excited expression, both somewhat puzzled: "What's your idea?"

"National Day is just around the corner. How about we launch a rocket on that day to celebrate?" The valiant sniper rubbed his hands excitedly.

Huan Yue and Qi Hua Hua were stunned for a moment before they realized: he was talking about launching rockets in the virtual world.

The launch site is not difficult to arrange.

Previously, in order to complete the global mission, the launch site and rocket were 90% complete.

However, compared to other science fiction themes, rockets are technologically outdated, so people aren't very enthusiastic about them.

In the subsequent battles, it was indeed completely useless.

After the battle, it was left there, ignored by everyone.

If we hurry and ask some fans for help, we should be able to make it in time for National Day.

But the problem is-

"Won't someone cause trouble?"

"If the rocket explodes in the sky because of someone else's interference, wouldn't that be incredibly unlucky..."

Huan Yue and Qi Hua Hua both frowned slightly.

The virtual world now has over 100 million users, with users from all countries and with all kinds of ideas gathering here.

The game is too lenient, almost never punishing players for their misbehavior in the virtual world.

As a result, everyone particularly enjoyed misbehaving.

If they planned to launch a rocket on National Day, the people of Xia would naturally understand that this was a big deal and would not cause trouble at this crucial juncture.

However, this may not be the case for overseas players.

In particular, the Xia Kingdom has a large number of players, a strong style, and a strong tendency to stick together.

Whether it's a large-scale conflict or a small-scale skirmish, they have the upper hand eight out of ten times.

The Xia Kingdom players were naturally thrilled, but the players who got beaten up were very unhappy.

They were all very resentful.

Given the chance, they might just come over and cause them trouble.

Even the valiant sniper hesitated upon hearing this. Normally, if someone sabotaged something and a rocket exploded in the sky, nobody would care.

—Let it explode.

But if it explodes on National Day, which is supposed to be a celebration, that would be really bad luck!

Moreover, Xu Meng's rocket is indeed scheduled to launch in mid-October.

Before launch, their own virtual rocket exploded.

This doesn't sound like a good omen!

The brave sniper got a headache the more he thought about it.

But it's different for the viewers in the live stream.

When they heard the brave sniper's idea, they all thought it was brilliant!

They all enthusiastically urged the brave sniper to get started.

As for the risks...

"Risk my ass! As long as we prepare thoroughly and bring in ten thousand security guards, I don't believe anyone can cause trouble!"

"Bring in the best! Bring all the top experts over to help!"

"Issue a direct warning: Anyone who dares to cause trouble, kill them for a whole year!"

"In the virtual world, problems like loose screws, over-tightening screws, or uneven welding stress are impossible. As long as the integrity is maximized, the success rate is 100%! What's there to be afraid of?!"

"Shoot! We must shoot! Isn't this much better than burning incense and lion dancing?!"

……

The enthusiasm of the viewers was quickly ignited, and they all began urging him to go to Treasure Island to start a project.

Not just the fans of the brave sniper.

Viewers in Qihuahua and Huanyue's live streams also joined in the commotion.

These top streamers weren't doing their jobs properly; they were just lounging around in the central square feeding birds, creating absolutely no entertainment value. Their viewers simply couldn't stand it anymore.

The idea of ​​launching a rocket to celebrate National Day sounds exciting, and it also makes one feel like they can participate.

This makes everyone want to do it.

The number of viewers in the live stream also began to rise sharply, with more and more netizens coming to support the idea.

The three exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and finally decided:

Do!
Once their minds were made up, the three, who had been idle for several days, immediately sprang into action—

The valiant sniper has logged into [Treasure Island] and launched the [Rocket Celebration] project.

Huan Yue assembled a large team in Mansheng City, and with construction equipment, headed straight to the rocket launch site to begin building defensive fortifications on-site.

Qi Huahua contacted the player team that had previously organized the construction of the rocket launch site and tried to bring them into the [Rocket Celebration] project.

Netizens and fans spontaneously mobilized to donate unused supplies and to support the rocket launch site and rocket manufacturing.

After successfully launching the project, the valiant sniper immediately contacted various experts, hoping they could join the project and help with some security work.

However, this step is a bit more complicated.

Players with exceptional combat skills are currently exploring and fighting in the rainforest, working tirelessly day and night to compete for the title of [Honorary Player].

The valiant sniper was well aware of this, so he didn't make a public announcement, but instead asked in private messages that his viewers couldn't see.

And the first people they contacted were all those who had already obtained the honorary player status.

Most of these people readily agreed.

However, things will get a bit more complicated later on—

Most of them joined a team, where they suffered, explored, and fought together in the rainforest.

Before the battle in the rainforest began, they had already been fighting intensely in the Sprawling City for three days.

At this critical juncture, asking someone to leave the team and come back to work as a security guard is really going too far.

Especially for security guards, it's not like the job can't function without them.

Therefore, the opening of private messages from brave snipers all follow the same format:

Good morning!

"What are you doing? Still looking for a city in the rainforest?"

If the other person answers "yes", he will then say "good luck".

Then I'll mention that I'm going to be having a big celebration, and you can check it out if you're interested.

Then the conversation ended without any mention of asking the other party to come back and help.

But if the other party is not in the rainforest, regardless of the reason for not participating in the competition, he will take the opportunity to extend an invitation.

There are so many players from Xia Guo, and the valiant sniper has a really wide network of connections.

Even using this method to recruit people, they still managed to attract a large number of experts to join.

After lunch, the launch site, which had been shut down for many days and was almost abandoned, became lively again.

A large number of players poured in, some donating supplies, others building houses, like a swarm of hardworking ants, finishing up the remaining construction work at the launch site at a speed that was almost visible to the naked eye.

After that, while conducting acceptance tests, they worked tirelessly to build more rockets.

This project is a bit more complicated.

Building a tower doesn't require very precise operations, and the main goal for a launch pad is to be sturdy and durable.

Rockets are much more meticulous, requiring every link and every component to be installed precisely and perfectly, with a 100% completion rate!

At this point, many players stop interfering and let calm and steady players take over.

Once they had some free time, instead of just standing around watching the excitement, everyone quickly switched roles and became security personnel.

They voluntarily patrolled and took precautions around the launch site.

And this is absolutely necessary!
The sudden gathering of Xia Kingdom players quickly attracted a lot of attention.

Outside the launch site, a dense crowd of onlookers had gathered.

Normally, people wouldn't be so arrogant as to claim land and prevent others from coming to watch the spectacle.

But the current situation is special; rocket launches are too easily tampered with.

With the high degree of realism in the virtual world, if someone successfully sneaks in and secretly makes a cut on the fuel tank, or throws screws or sprinkles sugar inside... it could cause problems with the rocket launch.

So in the end, everyone chose to cut it off completely:
First, cordon off the area, and no unrelated people are allowed to enter.

After the rocket launch is successful, issue a public apology and allow everyone to visit and tour the site freely.

This cautious approach quickly proved to be absolutely necessary.

Not only did some people try to rush in directly.

More and more Indians, Americans, and Baekje people are appearing outside the protective perimeter, constantly inquiring about the progress inside and whether they need help.

The Xia Kingdom players found it hard to believe that these people were there to help, so they thanked them politely but stopped them all without backing down.

Before nightfall, a conflict had already broken out between the two sides.

They attacked from the ground to the sky, from night to dawn, and even destroyed a rocket that was almost finished.

The fighting continued until the morning of the 30th, when it finally came to a halt.

However, small-scale harassment, infiltration, and probing continue unabated.

Until October arrived.

(End of this chapter)