The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 702 Brainwave Flat Line! Stealing the Sun for the World! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Overseas players were still in a daze.

Players from Xia Kingdom have already rushed in.

The number of registrations surged, exceeding one million in less than five minutes!
And more than 90% of them are players from the Xia Kingdom!

They didn't hesitate at all; the notions of 100% pain or the inability to force them offline didn't scare them at all.

Although overseas players were somewhat confused and apprehensive, they quickly began to sign up after a brief hesitation.

Even if it's dangerous, it's a problem in the virtual world. How scary can it be?

They didn't believe that Xu Meng, who personally organized the event, would dare to kill them.

As long as I don't die, the more exciting the better!

Not to mention, this mission could also permanently reduce the price of dream-making machines worldwide, or even sell them at half price. This is a super project worth trillions.

At the current rate of development of the virtual world, it's possible that all of humanity will eventually enter the virtual world.

If they can complete this task today, their names will likely be recorded in history!

Who can resist the promise of "a name to be remembered in history"?
At least for players in the Xia Kingdom, they simply cannot resist!

As a result, the number of applicants continued to soar! It easily surpassed the ten million mark and is still rising rapidly!
Above the sky, Xu Meng looked at the number of applicants while planning the selection criteria.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that his abilities in the digital world had undergone a qualitative change after that previous "ascension" and "baptism".

Now he can use "silk thread" to do many things that were very troublesome in the past.

Even something like Xiaomeng "creates things with a wave of her hand," completing the compilation and generation of a large amount of code in a very short time.

This excited him.

However, while he was busy, a phone call suddenly came in.

Xu Meng glanced at it and saw that it was Wu Shuang.

Did she feel uneasy about having to get players to do a quest that involved 100% pain and couldn't be quit?
Xu Meng guessed what was going on and answered the phone: "Hello, Sister Wu, what's up?"

"How are you?" Wu Shuang's voice was urgent and flustered.

Xu Meng asked, somewhat puzzled, "What do you mean, 'how'?"

"Your health! How are you feeling? The medical team is already outside! Open the door quickly!"

Xu Meng looked at Xiao Meng.

Xiaomeng pointed her finger, and the scene outside the house appeared before Xu Meng's eyes—

There were a total of eight police cars and six ambulances parked outside.

The flashing lights, the anxious doctor, the flustered Wu Shuang—it all looked like the sky was falling.

Several SWAT officers were standing in front of the door with breaching tools—clearly, if he hadn't answered the phone, the door would have been smashed down by now!
"?"

Xu Meng was stunned.

He checked the records again and found that a few minutes earlier—probably after the door was opened—Wu Shuang had called him more than a dozen times.

However, because I was in the vast ocean of information, I did not receive these calls.

"I... I'm fine, right?"

As Xu Meng spoke, she pulled up her physiological data monitoring records.

All dream machines can monitor the user's brainwave activity. If any abnormality is detected, the user will be refused login, or even kicked offline if they are already online.

Xu Meng's situation is somewhat special.

His health is no longer just a personal matter, but is related to the development of the country and even civilization.

Therefore, the dream machine he used had been specially modified to monitor more comprehensive information.

In addition, he wears a wristband that collects and analyzes his physiological data in real time and transmits it to his health monitoring team so that medical intervention can be carried out immediately in case of special circumstances.

And it's not just about healthcare.

In some extreme contingency plans, if Xu Meng suffers an accidental injury, this team even has the authority to mobilize military and police forces to rush to the scene immediately to provide Xu Meng with treatment and protection.

In the contingency plan with a minimum guarantee, Xu Meng even saw a scheme where armed helicopters, under the cover of holographic equipment, would fly straight through the city center.

But he always felt that this thing was just a contingency plan and would never be of any use.

—As Yin Zhiyuan once said, the military staff has also formulated contingency plans for "alien invasion" and "zombie crisis".

When these contingency plans were made, people weren't really going to fight aliens or zombies; they were just doing them for fun, thinking it was better to be prepared.

But now, looking at the row of police cars outside the door, it's clear that the contingency plan has been activated!
As Xu Meng flipped through the data in confusion, Wu Shuang on the phone exclaimed loudly, "No problem? What do you mean no problem! Your brainwaves are practically flat!"

"A horizontal line?" Xu Meng was surprised.

As he spoke, he also found the relevant records.

He was shocked to discover that as he chased the light upwards, his brainwave waveforms began to show obvious abnormalities.

The moment you cross the door, it becomes a straight line!
Even if it only lasted for less than 10 seconds, it was still terrifying enough!
This is a sign of brain death!
“I’m blanching…” Xu Meng instantly understood why Wu Shuang was so panicked.

"Was I... dead for a moment just now?"

He was even a little surprised at this moment: he hadn't been kicked offline?
But he clearly didn't feel any discomfort at all!

With these questions in mind, Xu Meng remotely opened the door and simultaneously logged off to receive a quick check-up from the medical team.

Wu Shuang practically rushed in.

As soon as she saw Xu Meng, she grabbed his arm tightly and frantically looked him up and down.

He looked completely terrified.

This was the first time Xu Meng had ever seen this calm and strong woman so flustered.

However, she quickly calmed down again and made way for the doctors.

Doctors, equipped with various devices, swarmed around Xu Meng and began conducting a series of rapid physical examinations.

Xu Meng was very cooperative—he was also very curious as to why he had experienced that situation.

He just had a full medical check-up last week.

He has no hidden illnesses and is extremely healthy.

Chen Mengling and Xiaomeng would even regularly drag him along for walks and exercise.

Xu Meng had a vague suspicion that this phenomenon might be hiding more obscure knowledge in the information universe.

It is even related to the technology of "consciousness uploading".

But the most important thing now is to determine if there will be any long-term consequences.
-
The answer is no.

After a quick check-up, Xu Meng's data were highly consistent with her physical examination a week ago.

Although the projects that require more time to process are still pending, everyone on site breathed a sigh of relief.

The medical team could not explain why Xu Meng's brainwaves suddenly flattened for several seconds, nor could they explain why the flattened brainwaves did not cause any obvious negative effects.

But in terms of the outcome, Xu Meng's life was indeed as usual.

He is even healthier than all the doctors and civil servants in this room.

While the doctors discussed the matter and awaited more results, Wu Shuang temporarily suppressed her anxiety and doubts, and asked Xu Meng about his latest actions in the virtual world, wanting to advise him to be more cautious.

Like everyone else in the world, she thought it was just a new area designed by Xu Meng.

As for the inability to quit and the 100% pain, these were just things Xu Meng decided on a whim, wanting to try something exciting.

Xu Meng thought about it and realized there was nothing to hide about it.

It's just a bit complicated to explain.

After a moment's thought, he said, "The situation is a bit complicated. The world behind that door wasn't designed by me." "I do need some people to help me get what's behind that door."

"What's behind the door can indeed change the world."

"As for the danger, you don't need to worry about that. I will take all necessary precautions to ensure that everyone returns safe and sound."

Wu Shuang was both shocked and confused by what Xu Meng said:
"You mean: in the virtual world, there's content designed by an unknown person that you can't control?"

She couldn't understand it at all.

It's unimaginable that anyone in this world could be more powerful than Xu Meng, so powerful that she could invade the virtual world and leave Xu Meng helpless!

Xu Meng shook her head: "No, it's not quite what you think."

"It's too complicated to explain now."

"Wait a minute. After this is over and I've sorted things out, I'll explain it to you in detail."

“Then…” Wu Shuang frowned, “Do you need the military’s assistance? Whatever you want to do, the soldiers’ discipline is far superior to that of the players.”

Xu Meng shook her head: "I need to select 60 special people from tens of millions of people."

"They not only need to have sufficient combat power—I mean combat power in the virtual world—but also a special physique that can continuously generate a large amount of data-driven thoughts."

Wu Shuang didn't understand what "data-driven thinking" meant, nor was she sure if Xu Meng's "virtual world combat capability" was the same as what she thought, but she still said, "There's a special virtual world combat regiment in the cyberspace forces now. Maybe they can help you?"

"?" Xu Meng was taken aback. "Why would there be such a regimental headquarters?"

Wu Shuang blinked. "It's better to be prepared. Who knows where the enemy might come from in the future?"

Xu Meng was speechless.

The military has contingency plans for alien invasions, so it's not surprising that they also have contingency plans for digital human invasions.

"Okay, maybe I really need some help." Xu Meng thought about her "flat" situation and decided to do one more test.

"Please contact them first and tell them to wait for me in the virtual world."

"Before that, while the doctors are all here and the equipment is complete, let Zhu Hongyi come first."

A few minutes later, Xu Meng explained the situation to Zhu Hongyi.

Zhu Hongyi agreed without hesitation and used the dream machine to come to the door to undergo two tests: being bombarded with information and stepping inside.

The result was as Xu Meng had guessed:
None of Zhu Hongyi's data showed any abnormalities.

My physical state was similar to that of someone who was sleeping normally, and my brain waves did not show any signs of straightening throughout the entire process.

Following Zhu Hongyi, the cyberspace forces that Wu Shuang contacted also conducted a round of tests, and still found nothing unusual.

Xu Meng then asked everyone present to conduct another round of testing.

Everything remains the same.

At this point, he can basically confirm that the key to the "horizontal line" is not crossing the door and entering the ocean of information.

Rather, it is the process of myself and Xiaomeng constantly "flying upwards," a transformative process in which that "digital sense" becomes more and more acute and clearer.

Only after completing that process and entering the ocean of information will a fundamental change occur, leading to a brief period of flat brainwaves.

The "horizontal line" is merely a manifestation of a deeper change.

Xu Meng's intuition told him that this change was likely related to the uploading of consciousness.

But now is not the time to study this.

There are still hundreds of millions of users waiting for him in the virtual world.

Under the care of the medical team, Xu Meng returned to the virtual world.
-
At this moment, the number of people who have registered worldwide has surpassed a staggering 5000 million.

It's even continuing to rise!

Xu Meng's selection process began—she had no doubt about the discipline and combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the cyberspace force, but unfortunately, their efficiency in producing "threads" was mediocre.

Therefore, the screening process must continue.

The filtering method is very simple:
The players who had registered were summoned to the door in batches, and the door was briefly opened to let the torrent of information from the universe flow over them.

During this process, the efficiency with which players produce "threads" and their resistance to this information erosion will become very apparent.

This makes the screening process very fast.

To ensure everyone felt they had made a wasted trip, Xu Meng would give each player who participated in the selection process an extra red envelope.

As a result, the players who were not selected immediately felt much better.

Xu Meng said from the beginning that she would select 60 people. Selecting 60 people out of tens of millions of people is not an unexpected thing. Being selected is a low-probability event.

In this selection process, some special individuals also emerged:
Since the Dream Machine was born, Longcheng Feijiang, who was the first player to participate in the test and has always stood at the peak of the player group's combat power, had silver-white flames uncontrollably appear on his body amidst the torrent of information.

Xunfei, who is also at the top of the player combat power pyramid, was surrounded by blazing electric light.

To the players, nothing seemed amiss with Electro Edison, the guy who was obsessed with cyber research. But to Xu Meng, the "threads" on his head were at least 10 times thicker than those of an average player!

Li Liangcai's situation was completely different: Xu Meng initially thought that this guy would not produce "threads" at all.

But upon closer inspection, it was discovered that he did produce "threads," but rather that all the threads he produced were automatically wrapped around his body, with not a single one spilling out!

Xu Meng wanted to use his "silk thread," so he had to pull it with extra "force."

This guy's corrosion resistance must be off the charts!
……

Whenever such a "rare Pokémon" appears, Xu Meng immediately marks it for future use.

Correspondingly, some less-than-ideal situations also arose during the screening process:

Most older people have very thin, even broken, data threads – a condition that cannot be changed even with [rejuvenation].

New players who have just joined the virtual world produce significantly less and lower quality silk threads than veteran players.

Some players even showed obvious symptoms of "overload," and Xu Meng had to teleport them away immediately.

He speculated: Since some people are naturally gifted with numbers, there must be others who are naturally very poor at adapting to them.

The latter is probably not suitable for entering the ocean of information.

Xu Meng went through round after round of selection, choosing one million people from tens of millions.

Then select 1000 people, 100 people... from a million people.

In the end, only 60 people remained in front of the door.

Xu Meng raised his wrist, and a large number of newly formed threads gathered in his hand, weaving them into a spool taller than a person and visible to everyone.

The threads on the spool floated up one by one, connecting with each of the 60 soldiers.
"If you suffer fatal injury after entering the room, this line will pull you back."

"Don't be reckless. If you encounter a heavy blow that you can't avoid, you can shout 'quit' and turn back on your own."

"Don't worry, quitting doesn't mean giving up. We can always start over."

"On the contrary, it was your refusal to withdraw that led to your own severe injuries behind the door, forcing you to leave the team and undergo at least three days of offline recuperation."

"So remember: Don't be shy, retreat as soon as you encounter unavoidable danger."

As Xu Meng spoke, more threads wrapped around their bodies, weaving them into armor and weapons.

"Alright, before we leave, I'll ask one last time: Does anyone want to quit?"

No.

The 60-year-old in front of him showed no fear whatsoever; on the contrary, his face was full of eagerness.

So Xu Meng stopped talking nonsense.

"Then, let's set off!"

"Steal the sun for this world!"

(End of this chapter)