The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 658 "A Barrage of Arrows"

8: am.

One kilometer south of the city of Mansheng, outside the rocket launch site.

Players from the Xia Kingdom surrounded the spacious launch site in layers, making it impossible to move.

Normally, at this time of day, Xia Kingdom players are rushing to their early morning commutes and don't have much time to spend in the game.

But today is different.

With the whole country on holiday and no one needing to go to work, and having nothing else to do, everyone came to join in the fun.

The advantage of having the largest virtual population is fully demonstrated.

With such an absolute numerical advantage, users from other countries, whether they wanted to cause trouble or simply wanted to join in the excitement of watching the rocket launch, simply couldn't squeeze into the inner circle.

Moreover, behind the two temporary fences, there are two more layers of player security.

After the two layers of player security, there is a small bunker equipped with a heavy machine gun every 15 meters.

Behind the bunker were players clad in armor and wielding dragon weapons.

Further inside are Nen masters and Peregrine Assault Troopers.

Further inside are renowned top masters such as Longcheng Flying General, Xun Fei, Chen Zhenjiang, Fang Shuo, Yan Luo, and others.

—In previous small-scale conflicts, these top players killed those players who rushed in to cause trouble as easily as killing chickens, with ease.

Finally, outside the crowd, a large number of players formed another invisible defensive line to prevent anyone from interfering with the rocket launch using long-range weapons such as sniper rifles.

On the southern edge of the sprawling metropolis, rows of hovercars silently hover in the air, forming a giant, square net facing the city, ready to defend against threats from the sky.

In such a short period of time, Huan Yue has done its best to build the most comprehensive defense possible.

Once these layers of defense are fully in place, they will be extremely effective in deterring enemy attacks.

No more stragglers dared to attack this defensive line.

The entire launch site finally calmed down completely.

Although people on the periphery were still chatting animatedly, the conflict had completely subsided, and everyone was waiting for the rocket launch.

At the launch site, all preliminary preparations have been completed.

Edison, who was originally searching for an unknown city in the rainforest, returned midway and joined the project after learning about it, becoming one of the "project engineers".

Although his arrival was not necessary—the project already had many engineers from the real aerospace field, including two extremely important aerospace veterans who had been retired for many years.

Even if Edison were to return, he could only become an ordinary maintenance worker.

Even so, he still rushed over excitedly to join the maintenance team.

Inspection in the virtual world is quite simple; it involves carefully observing the integrity of every component of the rocket.

They have discovered:

Minor issues will not affect the overall integrity of the rocket.

Items left inside the rocket will not affect its integrity.

However, both of these issues could affect the successful launch of the rocket, so everyone had to check them repeatedly.

Therefore, there is never too much maintenance worker.

Amidst these repeated checks, the scheduled launch time finally arrived.

In the control center, Qi Huahua was very excited and led the countdown—

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

Everyone at the scene and in the live stream were very accommodating and joined in the countdown.

Soon, the excitement reached the Xia Kingdom players watching the spectacle outside the launch site.

In the final seconds, even in the central square of the bustling metropolis, the spectators watching the lion dance turned back to look at the southern sky and joined in the countdown—

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"emission!"

The engine spewed out blazing flames, and the thrust surged from 0 to thousands of tons in an instant!

The steel-framed launch tower trembled violently under this astonishing force.

The rocket, weighing over 800 tons, slowly rose under this powerful thrust.

The starting speed is so slow that one worries that it might fall off at any moment due to insufficient thrust.

But soon the ascent became stable, and the speed gradually increased.

The onlookers no longer needed to stand on tiptoe to clearly see the pristine white rocket and the intensely erupting flames below.

Because the distance was so close, you could even feel the lingering heat.

Excited players fired their ceremonial cannons and began cheering wildly.

Moments later, the residents of Mansheng City also saw the rocket slowly rise into the sky.

Excitement then swept through the city like a tidal wave.

Inside the command center, everyone started clapping, hugging, and cheering!
The virtual world was engulfed in a sea of ​​joy.

—Until that super cannon in the city was suddenly activated.

The violent charging caused power instability in the surrounding unfortunate neighborhoods and shopping malls, causing holographic signs to flicker incessantly and televisions to turn on and off intermittently.

Finally, it went completely dark.

A dazzling blue energy pulse surged across the cannon barrel of the Deep Space String.

The charging progress indicator light is flashing!
With a deafening roar, the cannon barrels began to spin, turning from the eastern sea towards the southern sky.

Finally, lock onto that rocket rising into the sky!
"?"

The players on the street stopped cheering and stared at the glowing cannon barrel with puzzled expressions.

"What's the meaning??"

Why activate the cannon now?

"Holy crap, are they going to launch a rocket? Do they even have a chance of hitting it??"

"Who the hell is controlling the cannon? How dare they?"

"He still has the mind to ask this at a time like this? Go stop him!"

……

Players who were closer didn't have time to think and sprinted towards the control center of the Deep Space String.

The neat "wall of hovercars" in the south of the city collapsed instantly, rushing headlong towards the cannon barrel.

Below them, a bolt of lightning shot out from the rocket launch site!

The bolt of lightning pierced through the dense crowd, swept past the city gate, flashed through the busy traffic, and headed straight for the Deep Space String!
That's Xunfei, who has mastered the Lightning Nen ability and is currently recognized as the king of speed!

With sufficient "battery power" and "psychic power" reserves, his speed is undoubtedly the strongest among all players in the world!
Upon receiving the news, he didn't even listen to the surprised, confused, and panicked voices. He immediately went all out and charged towards the Deep Space String!
Of all the people at the rocket launch site, only he had the ability to rush into the city in a very short time!
He exhausted all his reserves in one go before he could finally reach the cannon.

They were almost as fast as the players who were already nearby.

But he was still a step too slow—

A powerful electromagnetic pulse surged through the entire barrel, and a beam of lightning shot out from the muzzle!

The strong electromagnetic effect even caused Xunfei's magnetized body to flicker continuously, like a television screen with a faulty connection.

But he didn't care about any of that. He and everyone else there craned their necks to look at the beam of light and the rocket.

Those were clearly not the large shells used when attacking the alien spaceship.

— Judging from the size of the beam of light, it's less than a quarter of the original size.

It is much less powerful.

But rockets are not interstellar spaceships.

The beam of light brushed past the rocket, leaving a long trail as it soared into the higher reaches of the sky.

The rocket still took off steadily.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But in the command center of the launch site, a group of people stared wide-eyed in horror—

On the rocket status diagram on the big screen, a striking red mark appeared where the shell had just grazed the rocket.

The red mark is rapidly extending into the rocket's interior!
The valiant sniper's eyelids twitched wildly, and two words flashed through his mind:

‘It’s over! ’

This ominous premonition immediately came true—

Only a rocket the size of a chopstick remained in the sky, when it suddenly tilted.

It went from vertical to skewed.

It flew a short distance before its outer shell suddenly cracked. And then it was out of control!
More and more metal fragments were detached from the rocket like a shower of flowers.

Finally, amidst the despairing gazes of countless Xia Kingdom players, it exploded with a deafening roar.

The atmosphere in the bustling metropolis froze for a moment as they watched the spark explode in the sky.

Then everyone's attention turned to the control center beneath the Deep Space String.

"Who the hell did this?" The valiant sniper clenched his fist.

After asking the question, he immediately shook his head, "Never mind."

"No matter who did it, I'm going to smash their head in!"

After saying that, he turned around and was about to leave the control center to go to the Deep Space Strings to settle scores.

"Damn it, if you won't let me have a good time, then nobody should have a good time either!!"

More than half of the people in the control center immediately turned around and followed, wanting to vent their anger and find the troublemakers to beat them into a pulp!

The valiant sniper walked out of the command center, expecting to see a large group of angry, foul-mouthed players.

but.

Outside, a dense crowd of players stared blankly at the sky, mouths agape and necks craned upwards.

It was as if I had seen something beyond my imagination and beyond my comprehension.

The valiant sniper sighed inwardly:

It was definitely not the right time to launch the rocket today.

Look how discouraged everyone is, they can't even speak.

But he quickly realized—

How can it be? !
How could these bastards be deterred by something so trivial?!

What were they looking at?

He suddenly raised his head—

In the southeastern sky, more than a dozen rockets were rising slowly, leaving long white trails behind them!

They are arranged in a row from left to right.

Like a comb, slowly brushing across the azure sky.

Because of the distance, people cannot hear the roar of the engine ignition, nor can they feel the heat of the explosive combustion of fuel.

All that could be seen was a dozen or so rockets silently taking off.

Tranquil, yet elegant.

It's so captivating that you can't take your eyes off it.

The valiant sniper forgot his revenge, staring blankly at the spectacular scene before him, too shocked to speak.

But soon, something even more outrageous happened—

Beneath this row of rockets, another round of rockets took off!
Having just counted the 17 rockets launched in the previous round, the valiant sniper was shocked and continued counting the rockets in the second round.

This time it's 10 shots.

But soon, the third rocket took off again!
Then comes the fourth round!

Round …

Everyone was dumbfounded.

They had absolutely no idea where the rocket had been launched from.

The location looks to the southeast, but there shouldn't be anything there!

Even the most reclusive fisherman wouldn't go to such a remote place to fish.

But now...

Is it possible that dozens of rocket launch sites were built and launched simultaneously?

Endless questions arose in everyone's minds.

But the magnificent scene before him completely dispelled his distraction, and he stared at the view with such greed that he didn't even want to blink.

"Holy crap, a barrage of arrows?!"

"This was definitely done by the Xia people!"

"The question is, who is it? Who could pull off something so incredible without a word?!"

"Wait... a name popped into my head."

"……Me too!!"

"Holy crap, Mr. Xu?! Is that you?!"

……

The sight of those rockets lined up and stretching across the sky was so visually striking that it not only overwhelmed the single rocket launched by the brave snipers, but it was also a scene that no one had ever seen in reality.

Everyone quickly guessed that this was probably a big scene orchestrated by Xu Meng.

But what puzzled everyone was:

Why did he launch so many rockets? There was no prior notice.

Is this also a gift for National Day?
He could have simply given advance notice and let the players have some fun.

Given his love of excitement, it would be completely unreasonable not to invite everyone to watch in person!
The valiant sniper stood rooted to the spot, looking at the woods to the south, then at the overgrown metropolis to the north, caught in a deep dilemma—

Should we go south to see Mr. Xu's super rocket launch site?

Or should we go north and find those troublemakers, and tear them to pieces?
The players gathered here were just as hesitant as he was.

However, time is precious—the wild rocket launch could end at any time, and the adversaries causing trouble in the Deep Space String could slip away at any moment.

They must make a decision immediately.

The valiant sniper gritted his teeth, turned around, and charged toward the sprawling metropolis.

— In another half month, he will be able to see Mr. Xu's rocket in real life.

While it won't be as spectacular as dozens of rockets launching at once, it's still a VIP seat, which somewhat makes up for the disappointment.

But once you miss out on the troublemakers, you might never find them again.

That’s absolutely not possible!!

To dare to cause trouble at this critical juncture is a provocation to all Xia Kingdom players involved in this matter!

This is no ordinary skirmish; we must strike hard!

"People in the city, hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Charge into the Deep Space String and take control of everyone!"

"I mean everyone! Players from all countries, bring them all under control!"

"Players from the Xia Kingdom are the same!!!"

"Record it! Record it!"

"Drag the person into battle as soon as you meet them to prevent them from suddenly logging off."

"Hurry up!"

Behind the valiant sniper, some players headed south, some north, each pursuing their own goals.
-
It spreads in the southeast of the city.

Between the rainforest and the sea lies a vast, flat peninsula.

In the past, only small animals such as rabbits, foxes, and groundhogs were active here, and there was nothing worth seeing.

In just three days, the entire site was transformed into a rocket launch site of astonishing size.

Furthermore, in this unprecedented launch site, the underlying physical rules are different from those elsewhere—

More detailed, more comprehensive, and more complete.

All the parameters are exactly the same as in the real world.

For the first time, Xu Meng set aside considerations such as gameplay, convenience, and comfort, focusing solely on pursuing maximum realism!

Only in this way can we simulate those precise experiments in reality to the greatest extent possible.

The results and data generated by the "simulation experiment" should have real reference value.

And today marks the first large-scale simulation experiment—

Together with the entire rocket launch team, he recreated and simulated rocket launches and recoveries under the new design scheme in the virtual world.

They hope to build on this experience, identify problems, and improve the success rate of the rocket launch in half a month.

It now appears that, at least in the area of ​​rocket launches, China's aerospace engineers possess extremely rich experience.

So many launches, and not a single one exploded!

Xu Meng was full of praise.

But the engineers around him remained serious and unsmiling.

—Because the real test will be the rocket recovery that follows!

(End of this chapter)