Chapter 295 Players outside the game

   "800 silver is equal to forty thousand, 8,000 is equal to 400,000, 80,000 is equal to four million...four million..."

All right.

   This is actually a big problem.

   You don’t need epoch-making immersive virtual reality online games, but anyone who has played two phenomenal MMORPG games knows what the so-called “G price” is.

   Wait until he can just take out hundreds of thousands of silver coins and hang them for sale on the forum, I'm afraid the silver coins are not so valuable long ago.

but--

   If he can train to level 30 or even level 40 when others are at level 20, and when others wear power armor, he drives a spaceship and throws power armor down, even if the silver coins are not so valuable?

   When someone else has ten thousand silver coins in his pocket, he may have several hundred million in his pocket.

   As long as he stays in the first echelon and always walks ahead of the version, even if he earns 50 silver coins, he may not earn less than when he earns 50 coins per silver.

  If a new version is opened, new equipment is released, or a large number of players enter the pit, the price of silver coins may increase instead.

At present, there are only 1,600 players in the "Wasteland OL" beta test, and the number of reservations has already exceeded the one million mark. In the voice of science, the price of silver coins has been smashed into the sky.

   Where is this going?

  Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, everyone will wear a helmet and close their eyes to be the second world, and human civilization will enter a new era from now on.

  At that time, no matter what the price of silver coins is, his return will be far more than 40,000, and maybe even more than 400 million...

  This is just the beginning!

   Ye Wei felt his heart beating fast.

   This was the first time he had the idea of ​​becoming a professional.

   On the way back from the computer room to the dormitory, Ye Wei, who was carrying a large sum of money, felt that his whole body was floating, and when he reached the door, he remembered that he forgot to eat lunch.

   "Awei, do you miss a girl?"

   "Fuck off."

   Ye Wei looked up at his roommate who was lying on the bed.

   That little guy is called Sun Gan, and he has a very close relationship with him. Before, the two often ate chicken double steak together, but they have been out of the pit for a while.

   Ordinary games can no longer satisfy him.

   "Whether to go to dinner or not."

   The roommate replied with a smile.

   "Go, if someone asks me to go."

"I'll treat."

   That buddy's eyes widened instantly.

   "What the hell? Really fake?"

   He just jokes every day.

   I never thought about getting out of bed.

   I heard that someone invited me to dinner, and the head of the dormitory and Brother Liu also joined in the fun and started booing.

   "Awei Ba Ba!"

   "Brother Wei is awesome!"

   Ye Wei rolled his eyes.

   "Don't beep, get up quickly."

   The four of them just didn't eat and went to the snack street together.

   Looking for a lakeside grilled fish with a good reputation, Ye Wei picked up the menu and checked a few strokes, and it only cost two hundred.

   Usually 20 yuan for takeaways hurts him, but now he even thinks it's cheap.

   After all, 200 yuan is only 4 silver coins...

calm.

   can’t be counted like that.

   Ye Wei took a deep breath and tried to convince himself to calm down.

  Because just now, he suddenly realized that he had eaten a bowl of ramen for 6 silver coins a few hours ago.

   That was probably the most expensive bowl he had ever eaten in his life.

   Seeing his good brother take a deep breath and smirk for a while, the three roommates looked at each other and made eye contact.

  ‘I don’t think Wei is right today...is there something wrong at home? ’

  'My good brothers, heroes see the same thing! I also think that Wei Ge is probably out of the order! ’

  'That makes sense. When this kid entered the door just now, I thought he was in a trance. Maybe he was dumped. ’

   After a few conversations, the head of the dormitory's eyes gradually became firmer. He looked at Ye Wei who was sitting there counting the fishbone, and put his right hand on his shoulder.

   Ye Wei raised his head in confusion.

   "...what are you doing?"

   The head of the dormitory said with a serious look.

   "The road in life is still long, there are no obstacles that can't be overcome, and there are no people who can't let go. I want to open up a little brother, I really want to cry, Brother Liu can borrow your shoulder."

   Ye Wei almost didn't get caught by the fishbone in his throat, and Brother Liu, who was sitting opposite, was even more exaggerated, and almost spit out a sip of tea.

   "Get out! You have to borrow it yourself! You want me to sell my body for one meal...except for two."

   "You bastard! What about the relationship that has been in the same bed for more than a year? We've all been like this, how can you help him!"

   "Are you serious?"

   "Gag gag."

   Ye Wei looked at the three of them with a bewildered expression.

   "What the hell?"

   The head of the dormitory said with a dry smile.

   "It's nothing, we just see that your mood is not right, and we are a little worried about you."

   Ye Wei couldn't help laughing and crying.

   "No, no, you misunderstood, I just... I encountered a good thing, and my mentality is a little impetuous. Give me a little time to adjust, and I will be fine by myself."

  Sun Gan asked curiously.

   "What's the good thing?"

   Brother Liu also asked excitedly.

   "Tell me, my impetuous kidneys are empty."

  “…”

   Ye Wei didn't know how to speak.

   This topic has been discussed many times in their dormitory, but even if he showed them the official website, none of them believed it.

   Show them their bank card balance?

   His EQ is not that low yet.

   "If, I mean, if...there was a 100% real virtual reality online game, how popular would it be?"

   The three roommates looked at each other.

   "Brother Wei..."

   "Why?"

   "If ha, I mean if..." Sun Gan said weakly, "One day you will go crazy - oh no, you've done a great job, can you start killing Brother Liu and the dormitory first?"

   Brother Liu: "Fuck! Vicious, you!"

   "Hey, forget it." Knowing it would turn out like this, Ye Wei shook his head helplessly, took a sip of beer, "When your father farted."

   It’s past two o’clock in the afternoon.

   The group went back to the bedroom.

  People feel sleepy when they are full, and do not want to work when they are sleepy. The three of them decided to eat two handfuls of chickens to study, and called Ye Wei.

   Although I know that this guy is mostly not interested, and he shouts in vain, whether he shouts or not is another matter.

  Standing on the balcony, Ye Wei thought about it, and finally decided to be conservative and transfer 6000 to my mother's bank card first.

   Before he could send a WeChat message to make it clear, the old lady called.

   "Weiwei, what's the situation with the 6,000 yuan?"

   Hearing the concerned voice on the other end of the phone, Ye Wei couldn't help feeling warm.

   "Mom, I recently... found a part-time job. I paid the tuition for this semester with my salary. If you transfer my tuition, I will pay you first."

   Ye Wei was embarrassed to say that he made money from playing games, so he could only find a reason to deal with it first, and then explain a little bit later.

   "Part-time job? What part-time job? Why did you suddenly run to a part-time job?"

   "Electronic product reviewer... Anyway, specifically to help test some new equipment," Ye Wei said with a blushing face.

   The voice on the other end of the phone hesitated.

   "Testing new equipment... Isn't that a guinea pig?"

   "It's okay, it's safe, and it's night... I mean it doesn't conflict with the class time, it doesn't affect learning."

so close!

   I almost missed the point!

   Ye Wei felt that if he said that he went to work at night, he would have misunderstood something.

  The other end of the phone was silent for a while.

   "...Don't tire yourself out too much. You still need to learn more knowledge when you go to college. It's easy for you to go to college because of our family's financial conditions."

"Don't worry, Mom, part-time work is also a form of learning. I learned a lot from the friends who took the test with me, and I don't want to share some for the family? Jiujiu will take the college entrance examination in June this year, and she is still learning. When it comes to painting, tuition fees, living expenses, buying paints... There will still be more places to spend money."

   "That's right, you don't have to call me for living expenses in the future, I have enough money on me..."

   said a lot.

   Finally finished dealing with my mother.

   Ye Wei, who put down his phone, took a deep breath, and after thinking for a while, he opened Goudong, picked a phone with a value of about 4,000, and sent the link to his sister.

   Jiujiu loves to eat pineapple: "?"

  Wei: "Like?"

  Jiujiu loves to eat pineapple: "What do you want to do? Let me state first, I only have a little pocket money. If you can't afford to eat, I can lend you a little bit, but you can't buy a mobile phone. (Alert.jpg

  Wei: "Bang Gun, your brother is the kind of person who eats soft rice? Forget it, I originally wanted to send it to you directly, but after thinking about it, it will affect your study too much, so let's talk about it after you get admitted to Humei."

   Jiujiu loves to eat pineapple: "NO! Brother!! I was wrong! QAQ"

   Looking at his sister's bombarded emoji, Ye Wei's mouth curled up unconsciously.

  How to spend money after making a fortune?

   He really hadn't thought about it carefully.

  Although he is an all-powerful T0 player in "Wasteland Online", but with "Wasteland Online" slowly testing the progress, he never expected to rely on this thing to eat.

   And now, his previous efforts have paid off.

   While playing with your friends, you can also solve your worries and let your family live a better life.

   Damn!

   The **** operator is playing sugar-coated cannonballs again!

   Turned off the phone, Ye Wei looked at the bedroom behind him.

  The roommates are eating chicken for three rows, and a fierce gun battle is breaking out on the screen, and they keep shouting "pull the gun line" and "smoke smoke".

   But it is a game in the "two-dimensional era", and those rough pictures are no longer attractive to him.

   Looking at the black helmet on the table, Ye Wei suddenly felt a little warm in his heart.

   "Thanks, brother."

  …

  The same world.

  The far side of the ocean.

  The lights in a room in Virginia were dark, except for one computer.

   This is the only laptop without internet connection.

The    flashing screen is nothing but a string of understated characters.

   "Don't try to be clever."

   "Don't think your own rules will solve other people's problems."

   "You have your own problems to solve. It's better to take care of yourselves when you have that time."

   "This is a warning."

   is also their only progress in the past six months.

   Rubbing his messy hair with his left hand, the curly-haired man shook the mouse with a broken face.

   "It's useless... This computer is also not saved."

   This is the office of the CIA's special operations team, codenamed "Wasteland", and their goal is a "non-existent" but "normally accessible" website.

   At first they found this site in a gaming community.

   In the beginning, no one took it seriously, only as a group of netizens in the Chinese cultural circle playing tricks.

   Until more and more CGs were released, a senior agent named Fick tried to find the backdoor of the website out of curiosity, and then gradually realized the seriousness of the matter.

   This site does not exist at all.

   but it can be accessed normally.

   This abnormal situation made him think he had discovered aliens for a while.

  The Federation didn't pay attention to such details at first. After all, they had to pay special attention to such matters, and their grassroots personnel were exhausted to death.

   However, considering that this phenomenon is really abnormal, after level-by-level reporting, the CIA finally set up a team dedicated to this case.

   This is a great opportunity for Fick, who is in charge of this group. As long as he can complete this task beautifully, he will definitely be appreciated by the minister.

  In this way, they worked overtime in this dim room day and night for half a year, and even learned Chinese by themselves, but unfortunately they have not made any progress.

   The security of the other party's server was flawless, and there was no flaw at all, which caused a headache for the network information security experts invited by Fick.

   However, things have finally turned around recently.

   The other party released the game currency transaction of "Wasteland Online" in the update of "Beta 0.2".

   As we all know, when a system is just developed, it is often the time when there are the most vulnerabilities. Haven't the bugs been fixed in the previous version announcements?

  Fik has reason to believe that this newly launched "silver coin trading platform" will become a breakthrough for conquering the city wall of Troy!

   To make this operation a success, Fick brought in the strongest IT team he could find and asked them to hack the website's servers at all costs to find the location of the anonymous business.

  If conditions permit, it is best to get the relevant data of the "Dreamland" system, which will become the key to his meritorious service!

  Whether you can succeed or not, you have to give it a try.

   Anyway, the other party has always been very Buddhist before, and he didn't respond to their frequent temptations, and he didn't dare to offend the powerful Milikian.

   However, what Fick did not expect was that for the price of one bitcoin, the entire system collapsed.

  The other party not only killed their server, but also deleted all the data on their server.

   Looking at the paralyzed computers in the room, Fick only felt blood dripping from his heart, numbness in his scalp, and cold hands and feet.

   As if he had foreseen it, his boss scolded furiously.

   "All 147 servers were destroyed... It's over."

The    hands completely left the keyboard, and another information technology expert sitting in front of the computer finally gave up struggling.

   "Our opponent is a monster, and it's not how good they are that's frustrating, it's their technique that I can't understand."

"You know what I just went through? I feel like a primitive man with a stone spear guarding the city, and in front of me is a giant sent by Odin. I'm not even sure I've angered it, but It's still reaching out to me..." As he said, he pointed out the little finger of his right hand, and continued to ramble on incoherently those incomprehensible words.

   "...a little finger at most, no more, and that's beyond what our servers can handle."

   Fick swallowed hard.

   "Don't scare yourself..."

   He admitted that they may have some gaps in the field of information technology, but at most it is the level of T64 and Leopard II, not to the level of Xie Mantou.

However--

   The lack of self-confidence in his heart caused him to put a hint of doubt at the end of his words.

   The information technology expert shook his head.

   "It's not that you scare yourself... Forget it, you don't understand. IMHO, this is an asymmetrical duel, they won't be honorable, and I'm not ashamed if I lose."

   dropped the sentence, and leaned back in his chair exhausted.

   That expression was somewhat self-defeating.

   "I just wanted to ask, who of you turned off the lights?"

   glanced at the extinguished light above his head, and then glanced at the extinguished charging signal light on the notebook, he suddenly frowned.

"power cut?"

   What is the use of the power outage now.

  Fik took out his phone and glanced at it, but there was no signal.

   At this moment, his subordinates hurried in from outside, with disbelief and horror written on their faces.

"Stopped, not just us, the whole state! Damn, base station has no signal, it takes time to switch backup generators, and the whole department is a mess right now. I don't want to tie the two things together, but it happens a few seconds ago."

   Looking at the man walking in from the door, the room was dead silent.

   Power outage...

   And the whole state.

   Compared to the economic loss caused by the power outage across the state, their broken over 100 servers seems insignificant...

  Fick's Adam's apple moved with difficulty. Although it was still March weather, he felt that the heat in the room was suffocating.

  His mind is messed up.

   even more confused.

   It is clear that the other party's previous cyber attacks on them were all "yielding" and "don't dare to fight back", why did they suddenly fight back this time?

   Now that I think about it, the other party didn't dare to offend him before, but simply didn't bother to pay attention. And this time, the other party not only shot, but also countered indiscriminately and without limit, directly pulling the switch of the entire state.

   Would this be too much?

   The curly-haired man sitting in front of the computer punched the table angrily.

   "This is a terrorist attack!"

  Fick gave him a quick glance and coughed softly.

   "Do you have any evidence? If there is no evidence... it's better not to connect the two things together."

   Once these two things are linked, they must respond formally. And once a formal response is made, he, as the person in charge, will be held responsible for the losses caused by the failure.

Why bother?

   No one has claimed responsibility for this.

   The generator restarted, communications resumed, and the room returned to light.

   However, the atmosphere in the room was full of depression.

   An agent pinched his eyebrows and said with a headache.

   "...What kind of business is this?"

  Fick wanted to say the same thing.

  With such a heaven-defying technology, they actually used it to make a game?

   What is the difference between this and being reborn and running to play DOTA?

   Helmet...

   If only I could get a helmet.

   Fick's heart moved.

If the wallet that received the bitcoin can be traced, at least one player’s identity can be locked. Even if the other party is on the other side of the ocean, it is inconvenient for them to send someone to contact them directly, but there are too many indirect means to win over citizens of third world countries. now-

and many more.

  Fick's forehead suddenly flashed a drop of cold sweat.

   Just now, he suddenly realized that he might be planning an extremely dangerous thing.

   It's not hard to get a helmet.

   But just getting the helmet doesn't solve anything.

   The cost is even more unknown.

  Those lunatics have a way to paralyze a state's power system in seconds, and not only can't they find the problem on their own, but they don't even have evidence that it's related to them.

   Maybe...

   You should seriously consider what that "warning" really means, and the risk of "hidden danger" spreading from the federal power system to other systems.

   Rearranging his thoughts, Fick took a deep breath and glanced around the colleagues in the room.

   "There is a problem with the idea of ​​hacking the server...I don't doubt that we have the ability to break into their server, but we don't need to take this risk."

   "The technical strength shown by the other party is obviously not owned by organizations or institutions known to our intelligence network, otherwise those people would have used it long ago."

   "It's also clear that we don't actually have a direct conflict of interest... Maybe a gentler approach would make them feel more honest about us."

   Although everyone's expressions were very strange, no one refuted it.

   "I'm glad we came to an agreement."

  Fik heaved a sigh of relief, nodded, and continued speaking in a soft tone.

   "My expression may be more euphemistic, I mean..."

   "Shall we fill out a form first?"

  …

   The same thing is happening elsewhere.

   Across the ocean.

   somewhere.

  It was quiet in the bright and spacious room, the desk was full of documents, the trash was full of cigarette butts, and a few fell to the ground.

  A dozen people were busy quietly. Judging from the dark circles on their faces, they had been working hard for several days.

   However, we should be able to take a holiday tomorrow.

   Probably couldn't stand their days of hard work, and there was only one computer left that didn't go down.

   That’s it.

   In fact, rather than what happened to the "non-existent website", they wanted to know how those "helmets that should not exist" appeared in the hands of players out of thin air.

   This is more serious than an economic problem.

   "Can you find that person?"

   "I can find it, but I can't find it either."

   The old policeman frowned.

"What's the meaning?"

   The young police officer sighed.

"The messages before April last year are all gone. There is no trace of deletion, but nothing at all. He is like a ghost that appeared out of nowhere. Our only clues are the Penguin and a few chat records up to April last year. , he didn't hide it deliberately, or he didn't bother to hide it at all."

   Another colleague frowned.

   "He always has his own social connections, right? What about the friends in the account? What about the registered mobile phone number?"

  Compared to the "Xiaoqi" who doesn't even have a social account, the plan code-named "Aguang" is likely to be their only breakthrough.

  The young man was silent for a while.

   "The most evil place is here."

"We know a lot, but we couldn't find where he worked or his parents. We searched the archives of Jiangcheng University and the local talent market and couldn't find any files about him, or those materials. It was faked, or it was tampered with... He disappeared and never even appeared before our eyes, like a UFO flying in the sky and sucking him away with the traces of his existence."

   But the opposite of this bizarre phenomenon is.

   Locking the identities of those players is easy.

The information on the    website is shady, but monitoring group chat information can always find some clues.

   Their team is very high-level, and the circumstances of the case are extremely special.

  Generally, relevant personnel still need formalities to check these sensitive things, but they can get them directly.

"In addition to chat records, there is also bank transfer information. Although the information on the website cannot be locked, all transfers of the same amount at the same time period can be locked and then screened. Buying game items is not illegal, but we can ask them to cooperate with our investigation... Do you need to contact them?"

  The silent old man suddenly spoke up.

   "You're talking about the bank, I was just thinking, what if something goes wrong with the banking system."

   The young man was stunned for a moment and said nervously.

   "Silver, bank? Not so much..."

  The old man thought for a moment and said, "It's just an assumption. Our work may add unnecessary trouble to the comrades in the banking system."

   The man with the national character face who had been silent for a while suddenly spoke up.

   "Not really necessary."

   See everyone is looking over.

   he continued slowly.

   "First of all, we have to admit that the other party's information technology is above ours."

   Sitting in front of the computer, a look of shame appeared on the face of the middle-aged man wearing glasses.

"Feel sorry……"

The    Chinese character face man shook his head.

   "It's not your fault. They have technology that we have never heard of, and can interfere with dreams. Using this technology to steal secrets I feel like a child."

   "I even thought about whether there will be aliens. Through this method, I understand our civilization level and thinking form, and then decide whether to..."

   said, the man with the national character face gestured around his neck.

   Everyone in the office looked at each other.

   But soon realized he was joking.

  The old man coughed dryly and said in a soothing manner.

   "No matter how you say aliens..."

   is outrageous.

   Even if this is likely to be the closest guess to the truth.

"It's just a hypothesis, just now my colleagues informed me that there was a massive power outage across the ocean in Virginia...and not in one district, but the entire state. The power grid there was out for a full hour, and Washington only had a power outage. Across the Tomac River. Their external explanation is that the aging of the circuit caused the power company's system to fail. After emergency repairs, it has returned to normal, but they are not the only ones who know it."

   The man with the national character face thought for a while and continued.

"They know where we are, and they even showed a hand. Aside from the dream system built with the help of 'thinking cognition', their achievements in the field of information technology may be at least half a century ahead of us... or even possible More."

   "I still reserve speculation that the operators of this game are aliens - or extraterrestrial civilizations. This is not earth technology at all, and this is not my opinion alone."

   No technology can be created out of thin air without the foundation of theory, and the existence of that website is beyond their cognition.

   A layman might not see the difference between it and a normal website, but to those who really know it, it looks like an isolated singularity.

   The two sides are not in the same dimension at all.

   And this is the source of the thorny problem.

   The old detective coughed lightly.

   "Looks like we need to add a space system comrade."

The person next to    made a joke to ease the atmosphere.

   "Is there a budget to increase the Nantianmen project?"

   The middle-aged man with glasses sitting in front of the computer was still a little unwilling.

   "This world-changing technology, if we could—"

The    Chinese character face man coughed softly.

   "Returning to the topic just now, I think active intervention is the most unwise choice. Someone has already fallen for us, and we don't need to follow them in the river."

  The old man frowned.

   "Can you just let it go?"

   The man with the national character face continued.

   "We don't know their motives for running this game, the rationale, or even...whether they are people from Earth."

   "However, they clearly knew us, and just a few months after the mastermind with the code name 'Aguang' evaporated, the MMORPG "Wasteland Online" was launched soon."

   "And he explained to other netizens in the group chat that he changed jobs."

   "We assume that they are from outside the solar system, then this will be our first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. We represent more than our own civilization. I prefer the most cautious contact than the possible consequences of arrogance."

   "Why not observe for a while?"

   "The other party has shown us the sincerity of civilization. We should be vigilant and show the sincerity that a civilized person should have."

   "Whatever their purpose is, the game has just run to the B round, maybe they are from a distant world trying to send us some kind of message or metaphor through the 'game' - this cultural form that we can understand."

   "At least for now, this doesn't mean hostility. And if it means aid, we could benefit a lot from it."

  The old man pondered for a long time and nodded.

   "It's really rude to interrupt someone in the middle of what they're saying, at least until they've finished."

The person next to    nodded.

"I think so too."

   The young man raised his hand.

   "I am against it. I am worried that external forces will attack those players. At least we should protect those 'players'."

The    national character face man did not speak, the old man smiled and shook his head.

   "You think our opponent is too stupid."

   Destroy it if you can't get it?

   This is the plot of some third-rate romance drama.

   There are such stupid opponents who have already won.

   As for controlling the player...

   There is no need for that.

The number of reservations has exceeded one million, and it is still increasing. The existing technical means can only know who forwarded the link, but who has been on the website when, and there is no way to know who will get the helmet next. .

   There is a black hole that absorbs information, more mysterious than the world outside the solar system.

   The other party chose them.

   You can also choose someone else.

   The young man sighed.

   "If only I could get a helmet."

The man with the    Chinese character face smiled and said.

   "That thing, it's useless. I've asked people to study it, and the structure inside is so simple that it makes people confused. We haven't mastered the most basic principles. As for the reverse... just listen to it as a joke."

The old man    looked at him in surprise.

   "Where did you get the helmet?"

The man with the    Chinese character face smiled embarrassedly.

"It's quite a coincidence, maybe I discovered it earlier. It's just... a very normal form, including age, major, things you're good at, games you've played, and some multiple-choice questions that young people may be more interested in, Then clicked the YES button."

   Honestly, he didn't play many games, most of them were online games like Legends in the early days, and he never thought that he would actually be able to enter.

   The other party didn't seem to care at all.

The    helmet was placed directly at his door.

   In fact, he has been playing for a while.

   And that's why the superiors called him to help in this group from the very beginning.

  The old man was stunned.

   "Did you fill out that form?"

   "Does it make any difference? Unless my profile is completely deleted from the system, it's just graffiti on the wall for them."

   After a pause, the man with the Chinese character face looked at the computer whose screen was flickering.

   "I even have a feeling."

   "We are meeting here today behind closed doors, and the audience is far more than ourselves."

  ——

(This one has recovered a few foreshadowings from Chapter 1. If you forget the previous ones, you can go back and look at them. As for the expensive silver coins sold, big brother, which game has a stable transaction price? You use ramen to compare, why don't you use exoskeleton to compare? ? You bought me a solid hydrogen exoskeleton with 10,000 yuan in reality? For example, is the 10,000 yuan Kraken expensive? A CG without a real game, you can't even fly if you buy it , but every time it comes out, it takes seconds. Yes, I am talking about the citizens of the pie. I am too lazy to mention the example of the metaverse, that is not as good as the pie. The logic has pros and cons, but we can't ignore the reality, right?)

   (end of this chapter)