The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 669 "Launch" the Rocket (Seeking guaranteed monthly votes at the beginning of the month)
Players scattered throughout the outer city's blocks turned around to attack the giants and defend the breach in the wall after seeing the wall break open.

This scene left the city's original inhabitants completely baffled.

The girl in the red scarf, who possessed both exceptional combat power and striking beauty, couldn't help but ask as the players around her dispersed:
"Who...are you?"

"Why was there a sudden invasion, and now suddenly we have to protect our city?"

The players around her looked puzzled when they heard the question.
"What, your city?"

"Wake up, girl, this is our city now!"

The girl, who was spared by the players because of her good looks and outstanding combat skills and was chosen to be captured rather than killed, immediately frowned upon hearing this, her face showing humiliation and anger.

But there was nothing she could do.

The number of players who have now flooded into the city and bound their resurrection points is already greater than all the warriors in the city combined.

Even if they lose their unity after entering the city and become like a scattered pile of sand, the situation is already beyond saving.

They could have hoped that the inner city's legions would come out to provide support, but the inner city's gates remained closed from beginning to end. Not only were they not coming out to provide support, but they were even unwilling to open the gates to receive the refugees from the outer city.

They only dare to fire their cannons in defense when they are threatened.

This attitude clearly indicates that the outer city has been abandoned.

In the end, she could only sigh, lower her head, and resign herself to fate.

……

……

The huge gap in the city wall was quickly filled by a large number of players, who even pushed it outwards by dozens of meters to allow more players from outside the city to enter.

As for the wild giants that squeezed into the city, which were only about twenty meters tall, they were swarmed by the players who were free to do as they pleased and were killed on the spot as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

Seeing the players' reactions, the NPC troops in the outer city also gave up their resistance and used the 3D stimulation device to leave the battlefield.

Thus, the large-scale conflict came to an end, and the players began to extinguish fires, kill monsters, and clean up the mess.

Story-driven players and casual gamers finally have the opportunity to interact with various NPCs in the city and try to piece together the fragmented storyline.

Corey King, who suffers from persistent high blood pressure, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the players starting to understand the city.

Then, supporting his deputy's shoulder, he said, "Take another look at the follow-up; I need to rest for a bit..."

If he doesn't take a break soon, not only will his high blood pressure worsen, but his heart disease will also be triggered.

……

Corey King exited the virtual world, tossed aside the dream machine, and returned to his bedroom, where he had no electronic devices, to lie down slowly.

He didn't even want to think about asking Xu Meng to reset the NPC's memories. He closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and tried to fall asleep.

He's been through a lot of stress lately and really needs a rest.

But unfortunately—

He had just relaxed and was feeling a bit drowsy when his phone, which he had left in the living room, started to vibrate.

He didn't want to pay attention.

But the continuous tremors dispelled his drowsiness.

He had to get out of bed, go to the living room, and pick up the phone: "Hello? Who is this?"

"Corey! There's a huge problem in Norringen!" the deputy's panicked voice came through the phone.

Corey didn't speak immediately, but instead let out a long sigh.

Then he said, "Okay, what happened now? The players have stormed the inner city?"

"That's not true."

Corey King breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. So what exactly happened?"

"A new breed of giant has emerged in Norringen!"

The deputy continued in one breath:
"Our protagonist and the female giant in the inner city have been parasitized by the parasitic vines thrown down by the players. We don't know how the AI ​​program works, but the parasitic vines and the giants have become symbiotic! Now, whenever they transform, they become mad vine giants!"

"Destructive power and survivability have skyrocketed!"

Corey King was shocked.

"What the fuck?!!"

"Can this still happen???"

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart and clutched his chest.

"Stop talking! My heart can't take it..."

"I need to call my family doctor now. Now, please help me issue a notice and then write a complete report to send to Mr. Xu."

"You wrote the announcement like this..."

……

Five minutes later, Corey King posted an update on his social media account—

"Congratulations, player, you have successfully entered the fortress city of Norringen!"

This city embodies the hard work of the entire development team. We have a long-term development plan for the future of the city and hope to tell players a grand epic built from multiple storylines.

But the massive chaos that engulfed the entire city tonight completely disrupted the fates of many people and caused enormous damage to the established story.

The original development and renovation schedule was also severely affected, and we had to re-examine the current state of the entire city and formulate a completely new development plan.

Due to this force majeure event, we are forced to announce with great regret:
All content updates for Fortnite Norringan have been delayed!
We sincerely ask for the players' understanding.
-
As soon as the announcement was released, the comment section immediately became lively:

"Hahaha, force majeure! Players are now on the same level as natural disasters and wars!"

"Hahaha, just thinking about how frustrated the development team must be makes me laugh so hard!"

"Let me translate this for you: You mess with my mentality, so I'll mess with yours!"

"No! I don't understand! I order you to update immediately!"

"Sigh, I told you long ago that this was too harsh, but nobody listened..."

"If you don't want to update, then don't. Developers all over the world are participating in creative competitions right now. If you don't update, plenty of others will!"

……

The excitement and clamor of the virtual world and the internet continue.

However, some people do not intend to continue participating in this commotion.

The valiant sniper, Qihuahua, and Huanyue all bid farewell to their viewers in the live stream:

That concludes today's live stream.

"We're going to watch Mr. Xu's rocket launch tomorrow, so we need a real long break to recharge."

"Mr. Xu has given permission to broadcast the live stream. We'll broadcast the real rocket launch live for everyone!"

……

That night, all the invited honorary players and the lucky players drawn by Xu Meng had arrived at the hotel that Zhu Meng had prepared for them.

The devices they used to log into the game were also provided by the hotel.

Because each dream machine costs 29800 yuan and is always in high demand, only a few high-end hotels in China have them, and you usually have to specify in advance and have the staff deliver them to your room.

Only a very few well-established luxury hotels will go to such lengths to prepare all their guest rooms.

This hotel is only two kilometers from the rocket launch site and is not located in the bustling downtown area, so it is naturally not a luxury hotel.

So when the invited players checked in, they were pleasantly surprised to see the dream machine in the room and exclaimed that Mr. Xu was very hospitable.

Even more impressive is—

This hotel is only 600 meters from the VIP viewing area!
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the players gradually woke up.

After washing up, they all went to the balcony and used binoculars to look at the rocket launch site in the distance.

There, six reusable rockets, modified from the Long March series, were already erected on the rocket launch pad, ready to launch.

It was not surprising to everyone that:
Both the launch pad and the rocket's design are exactly the same as the one Xu Meng created in the virtual world.

It even gives one a strange premonition—

'These rockets... won't they explode into colorful fireworks too?' The brave sniper couldn't help but have this thought.

You can't blame him for overthinking.

There were just too many rocket fireworks that Xu Meng had blown up before!
He turned to look at Huan Yue and Qi Hua Hua on the balconies on both sides, and unsurprisingly saw the same unspoken words on their faces.

I wanted to ask, but I felt it was really unlucky.

In the end, he shook his head, simply greeted her with "Good morning," and said no more.

Even stranger things happened while having breakfast at the hotel restaurant—

Meanwhile, the media, armed with their cameras and microphones, ate and chatted, creating a lively atmosphere and brimming with confidence in the rocket launch.

My mind is filled with how to take good videos and photos.

However, the players felt a sense of foreboding because of the overly familiar scenes, and they had little interest in talking during the meal.

Aside from exchanging a few quiet words with his friends, he would just eat in silence.

After this bizarre breakfast with its polarized atmosphere, everyone left the hotel under the guidance of staff and took a shuttle bus to a viewing platform 1 kilometer from the launch center to watch the rocket launch.

Under normal circumstances, the nearest viewing location that non-staff members can reach is about 1.5 kilometers away.

Their ability to get within 1 kilometer was clearly another operation by Xu Meng.

Zhu Meng prepared seats for everyone, but no one seemed very interested in them.

One by one, they leaned against the railing, adjusting their cameras or phones, trying to find the most suitable angle and position.

The valiant sniper set up his phone and started the live stream as scheduled.

Good morning, everyone!

"Those who have woken up can turn on the holographic device and then start the official Dream Building live stream."

"Those who are still sleepy, wake up quickly and turn on your holographic devices to watch the Dream Building live stream."

"For this rocket launch, Dream Club will launch a holographic live stream, which will reportedly allow viewers to 'see the rocket launch as if they were there'."

"I'll just use this as a secondary screen for a distant view."

As soon as he said that, a lot of question marks appeared in the live stream chat:

"???"

"Do you even need to say this?"

"Who doesn't know?"

The valiant sniper didn't interact with the chat. After greeting the viewers and giving a shout-out to the official Dream Building livestream, he stopped looking at the screen and focused on the rocket.

The rocket launch is about to begin.

At Xu Meng's request, today's launch schedule is very tight—six rockets must be launched in one day.

There's not much time to waste.

But soon, the valiant sniper's attention was drawn to a sound—he heard someone speaking a foreign language.

I turned my head and saw that they really were a few foreigners!

These foreigners were all beaming with enthusiasm, snapping away with their cameras at the rocket launch site.

The valiant sniper frowned as he watched.

Although they knew that these people were only able to appear here with the permission of Xu Meng and the authorities.

Moreover, the camera in the official Dream Building livestream room will be closer and clearer than those people's shots, so there is absolutely no need for secrecy.

Seeing foreigners snapping photos of their own rockets, the brave sniper felt very uncomfortable and even had the urge to go over and knock their camera lenses to the ground.

It took him a great deal of effort to suppress this "evil thought" and turn his attention back to the launch site.

Then, to his surprise, he saw a huge countdown appear above the leftmost rocket—

[5: 00]
The countdown started moving the next second:
[4: 59]
[4: 58]
……

This time is completely suspended in mid-air, clearly generated by a holographic device.

The valiant sniper took off his binoculars and discovered that the numbers were so clear that they could be seen with the naked eye!
As the countdown began, the atmosphere at the scene quickly became enthusiastic.

This feeling is completely different from watching a rocket launch in a virtual world!

As the last minute approached, almost everyone started counting silently.

In the last 30 seconds, some people couldn't help but start counting aloud.

In the final 10 seconds, the entire viewing platform began to count down in unison.

Countdown to zero, rocket ignition!

The dazzling flames propelled the pristine white rocket slowly into the sky.

It must be admitted that:

This distance is much greater than watching a launch almost face-to-face in the virtual world, making it impossible to see many details.

The launch of a single rocket is far less impressive than the simultaneous launch of dozens of rockets in a virtual world.

Even so, the invited players at the scene were still very excited!
This feeling of excitement is many times stronger than watching a rocket launch in a virtual world!
Some players even hugged each other's arms excitedly, jumping and hopping with excitement.

Of course, many people, though excited, tried their best to control their expressions.

Having prior experience in the virtual world, they were well aware that:

The most dangerous time has not yet arrived.

The most difficult and dangerous moment is when the first-stage rocket separates and re-enters the Earth.

This is also the technology that this launch most wants to verify!
The first round of verification in the virtual world resulted in more than half of the tests failing!
Because of this anxiety, the higher the rocket flew, the more nervous they became.

The excited audience noticed their tension and quickly realized what they were worried about, so they also became tense.

Nine minutes later, everyone squinted and saw the rocket, now as small as a toothpick, "break" into two pieces high in the sky.

Its head continued to fly higher into the sky, while its long tail began to descend.

The descent was rather long, but everyone craned their necks, which had become stiff, watching the free-falling rocket grow bigger and clearer until it returned to the sky above the launch site.

Secondary ignition, braking, and then...

It starts to tilt and rotate sideways!

One engine failed unexpectedly, and another lost power, resulting in uneven rocket thrust and rocket body imbalance!
This kind of problem has also occurred in peripheral industries.

As a result, the rocket failed to land and crashed into the launch site, exploding into a huge fireball!

As the rocket began to spiral out of control, everyone's hearts clenched, as if they could almost see it explode right before their eyes!

But at that moment, the main engine at the bottom of the rocket and the attitude control engine on the side both shut down!

The moment it was turned off, it restarted in a very short time, shooting out bright flames rhythmically like playing the piano.

Then, a magical performance began—

Under incredible control, 21 engine nozzles in different positions and at different angles began to work together.

先是底部6台发动机喷口和侧面3台喷出火焰，之后是底部熄灭3台、侧面熄灭1台，再之后是底部14台和侧面4台同时喷射出火焰……

The engine's ignition status changes almost every minute!
Even more amazing is that the angle and length of the flame emitted by the engine are subtly different each time it is ignited.

Clearly, the thrust of these engines is also being constantly adjusted!
With such incredible skill, the rocket managed to regain dynamic balance despite the four engines malfunctioning in a chain reaction, and finally stood steadily upright next to the launch pad.

The first stage rocket has been successfully recovered.

And the recovery was successful despite an engine malfunction!
This was an incredible success.

But no cheers were heard from either the command center or the viewing platform.

Even the live stream room was filled with question marks.

The whole world was stunned.

They simply couldn't understand: how incredibly advanced must the flight control algorithm be to achieve this?
It wasn't until viewers using holographic mode and watching the official live stream saw Xiaomeng suddenly appear next to the rocket, proudly tapping it with her chin raised, that they vaguely understood what had just happened—

It was Xiaomeng... who brought the out-of-control rocket back!?
(End of this chapter)