Chapter 21 The Devil is More Powerful
October 8th is the first working day after the National Day holiday.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, when Ke Jingguo, an academician of the Institute of Brain Science of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, hurried to the Brain Intelligence Center, experts in psychology and cognitive science research, professors from the Department of Cognition of Peking University, young and middle-aged big names from the Center for Innovation of Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, and others were already sitting in the room.
"Mr. Ke is here."
The meeting was chaired by Lu Yiyun, director of the Brain Intelligence Center - the Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Innovation Center. He just turned 40 and is a new generation backbone in China's scientific research field. He is a talented person who has presided over and participated in the development of many AI technologies in China and holds many patents.
Yes, he was also a former student of Ko Ching-kuo.
"Don't be polite, Xiao Lu, and get started." Even when he met his own student, Academician Ke had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. He raised his hand to stop Lu Yiyun who was about to greet him, and found a seat to sit down.
"Okay." Lu Yiyun knew Mr. Ke's temper very well, so he turned on the projector immediately without any further ado.
Under the watchful eyes of a group of scientists, what was projected onto the whiteboard was... a scene in a laboratory.
A young man sat obediently and let the researchers put a circle of patches on his head.
Then, the young man with a bunch of patches on his head carefully put on a plastic motorcycle helmet that was connected to his mobile phone with a data cable, and lay down while being careful not to press on the brain patch connection.
When this helmet appears on the screen, scientists who have a certain understanding of brain science research and brain nerves will twitch their lips.
This "neural access device" and "brain wave receiver" which is obviously modified from a motorcycle helmet is actually more powerful than the equipment used by Hawking. It makes people wonder whether they are facing a scientific problem or a metaphysical problem!
In the picture, the young man lay down and fell asleep in a second, snoring...
The researchers quickly recorded the young man's brain wave data and various physical signs.
A few minutes later, the young man suddenly woke up and spoke a few words to the researchers.
After saying this, the young man once again fell asleep in seconds...
"The young man who cooperated with us in the experiment is a family member of a staff member of our Brain Intelligence Center." Lu Yiyun paused the screen and said to the group of experts, "Six days ago, this family member bought this helmet from a game studio through the Internet for 300 yuan, and three days ago, on October 5, he used this helmet to log into the independent VR game called "Alien World" that claimed to be independently developed."
"Next, here are the first-person footage recorded by the family member on the 5th from the VR game using his 'game character' as the first-person perspective." Lu Yiyun introduced and released another clip.
When this video came out, even the experts in the room who had seen similar videos before couldn't help but gasp in amazement...
On the big screen, the blue sky, white clouds and green mountains in the distance were all displayed very clearly. In the old town that had been abandoned for many years, vivid skeletons with various weird IDs on their heads were running back and forth...
When the young man recording the video's "eyes" stopped on the large group of skeletons, Lu Yiyun paused the video.
"On the morning of the 6th, such videos were uploaded to the Internet on a large scale. On the afternoon of the 6th, we asked the family to cooperate with our work. After obtaining the original video material, we specially asked the forensic experts from the Public Security University to review it..." Lu Yiyun took a deep breath, "The expert's conclusion is that all the recorded...skulls do not look like virtual models, but more like real human skeletons."
All the scientists in the room showed solemn expressions.
"Through the clear images in the video, experienced forensic doctors can identify the gender characteristics of a particular skeleton. For example, the female characteristics of the pelvic structure of the one facing the camera are very obvious." Lu Yiyun understood the significance of his conclusion and said seriously, "The most important point is that forensic experts believe that no two skeletons recorded in the video are exactly the same."
Academician Ke frowned and subconsciously turned his gaze to the old professor sitting near him.
Guan Guomin, director of the Department of Psychology and Cognition at Kyoto University, was also looking at him solemnly.
The two looked at each other without saying anything, and continued to listen attentively to Lu Yiyu's introduction of the situation.
Lu Yiyun has switched to the next scene, and what appears on the screen... are several strange skeletons wearing short-sleeved cotton T-shirts and large shorts.
Surrounded by these skeletons is a middle-aged man with a grumpy look and it is obvious that he is suppressing his anger.
This middle-aged man is not Asian. His facial bones and features look like a mixture of Slavs and Latin Americans, while the proportions of his limbs look like those of a black person.
Of course, Lu Yiyun was not concerned about this "NPC", but the fantasy-style clothing worn by the NPC and the novice outfits of the skeletons.
After showing a clip of the dynamic performance of the players' and NPCs' clothing when they interacted, Lu Yiyun paused the video and said in a deep voice, "For the clothing fabric materials and wrinkle changes shown in this clip, we connected with experts in North America who study Unreal Engine fabric materials, as well as the domestic AI physics engine clothing material and fabric laboratory. The conclusion we came to is... Even the world's top laboratories currently find it difficult to provide this kind of perfect display of fabric material and fabric wrinkle real-time change operation calculations."
After a pause, Lu Yiyun added: "Experts from both sides believe that it is no problem to make this kind of realistic fabric calculation into CG, but if you want to achieve real-time calculation, you have to use a supercomputer as a server."
This is just fabric...
As the saying goes, listen to what you say. When Lu Yiyun said this, all the scientists in the room understood what she wanted to say - the world's top laboratories were unable to achieve the black technology of real-time calculation of fabric physics performance, but a mere "independent VR game" claiming to be "self-developed" could actually do it; Lu Yiyun, who is an expert in the field of AI intelligent technology research, had reservations about this because of the rigorous attitude that a scientist must maintain.
Ke Jingguo nodded silently.
He could understand Lu Yiyun very well. As an expert in brain science research, he also found it hard to believe that such black technology that brain waves could access an "online game" set up in a different place through such a simple "receiver" and complete a series of complex operations in the game could actually exist in reality. What's even more ridiculous is that it was created by a group of amateur scientists who called themselves the "game production team"!
Where do scientists put their faces?
However, scientists must have a rigorous scientific attitude. Even if they are disgusted, they still have to maintain an objective and neutral position. Therefore, scientists including Lu Yiyun will not deny it clearly...
Lu Yiyun did not use any definite words to express his opinion, but then showed three "real shot" clips provided by the families of the brain intelligence center employees.
These three clips are all based on the "human NPCs" in the game. They are the first clip where the player is provoked by the player's words and holds back his anger, even his tone becomes hard, the second clip where he chases the player with a weapon, and the most important third clip - the player harasses the NPC while eating, rudely picks up the food the NPC is eating "with bare hands" to observe it, and then is hacked to death by the NPC...
Although the scene was not bloody, it was very brutal, and the scientists were all shocked.
If the emotional expressions and language responses that are no different from those of a living person can be barely classified as "the game production team has some means to use supercomputers as real-time calculation servers", then the food that the NPC eats is actually the same as in real life, and they are all common products in supermarkets. That's very strange - although the packaging has been removed and placed on a plate, it seems that this NPC eats starchy ham sausage and breakfast bread! !
Amid the bewilderment on the faces of the scientists in the room, Lu Yiyun took out a document with a top-secret national security seal on his face with a strange expression.
"This is the result obtained after tracing the source of the login helmet released by the game "Alien World." Lu Yiyun swallowed his saliva, took out a stack of A4 paper from the file bag, and placed it under the slide projector.
"The source of this batch of helmets was mailed from a suburban house in Anshi City, G Province between September 25 and October 1. The sender and the renter left their IDs with the same person. After the household registration police conducted an investigation, they confirmed that the registered ID belonged to a person who had been arrested for suspected illegal activities in 2018 and is still in detention. It must be his identity that was used by someone else."
At this point, Lu Yiyun took a deep breath, his face becoming even weirder. "The local police conducted an on-site visit to the place where the helmets were leaked yesterday. After contacting the landlord, nearby neighbors, and nearby restaurants, they confirmed that... since the middle of last month, the only person who has rented the house and has been in and out for a long time is a man between 30 and 40 years old."
Scientists: “?!”
"Alone?!" Ke Jingguo exclaimed in dismay.
"Yes, only one person." Lu Yiyun looked very strange. "In addition, the Internet police department cooperated in the investigation and retrieved the online shopping records of the suspect who used someone else's identity within a month. It was confirmed that this person bought 300 compression-resistant plastic motorcycle helmets, 500 plain white T-shirts produced by a small manufacturer in Zhouguang, 500 pairs of workwear shorts... and also ordered 500 denim waist bags and 500 artificial leather backpacks from a prison."
Scientists: “???”
"Could it be the same outfit that the skeleton in the game wears?!" Ke Jingguo's voice was trembling.
"It's that one." Lu Yiyu said heavily.
Scientists were stunned...
"Also... through investigating the expenditure records of the person whose identity was stolen, the local police found... that the man who impersonated someone else had reached a cooperation agreement with a local offline supermarket and regularly purchased expired goods that were removed from the shelves of the offline supermarket." Lu Yiyun swallowed his saliva again, "The supermarket salesperson confirmed that the expired goods purchased by this man included various breads, instant noodles, biscuits, energy bars, starch sausages... and so on."
Scientists, dumbfounded...
"Xiao, Xiao Lu." Ke Jingguo stood up excitedly and said in a trembling voice, "Didn't we alarm this person?"
"The local police did not alarm the person under investigation during the investigation while cooperating with the National Security Bureau." Lu Yiyu still spoke very seriously and calmly.
Well... this is of course also because the scientist has already been shocked...
The scientists in the room suddenly burst into laughter, and various Mandarin dialects with slight accents rang out.
"Everyone, be quiet for a moment." Lu Yiyun raised his hand quickly. "The leader's opinion is that he hopes we can reach a consensus and come up with a safe plan. No matter which contact plan is adopted next... the leader will refer to our opinions."
Her words were still very rigorous and watertight, but the meaning was clear - the leaders were also aware of the meaning of the black technology exposed by this mysterious person, and they would not intervene rashly. Everything would be given priority to the needs of the domestic scientific research field!
The scientists calmed down...
Regardless of whether the high-tech of the game "Alien World" is mastered by a group of people or one person, and regardless of whether this person is a folk scientist or a scientific researcher with some unknown background support, since this person is in China and claims to be a Chinese, we must strive for cooperation and learning opportunities!
Those who engage in serious scientific research are different from those who engage in literature and art. Scientists who can reach the top level at the national and international levels do not have the spirit of occupying one's own territory and becoming the king - why not do something else with that energy!
If scientists were to engage in academic cliques like some people in the literary world, the world would be doomed! (PS: No hint, don't over-interpret_(:з」∠)_)
"Xiao Lu, where is the login helmet?" Ke Jingguo asked anxiously.
"With the consent of the family, we tried to dismantle the helmet. Unfortunately, we don't know whether this batch of helmets has been processed with special technology. The part that contacts the back of the head seems to have been processed into one piece, and it cannot be disassembled without violent means." Lu Yiyun said regretfully, "After leaving the relevant data and X-scan images, it has been returned at the strong request of the family."
As she spoke, she used a slide projector to project the actual picture of the helmet and the X-scan image onto the screen.
The scientists could no longer sit still, and stood up one after another, gathered around the screen to watch and discuss...
From the X-ray image, we can see that something has indeed been added to the inside of the helmet where the back of the head fits, but unfortunately the key part seems to be isolated by lead-containing substances, and the internal structure cannot be seen.
"It would be great if we could get a helmet to study it carefully!" Ke Jingguo said, looking at Lu Yiyu with sharp eyes.
Lu Yiyun nodded and said, "Unfortunately, these helmets already have owners. We have tried, but the second person who applied for a personal ID on the official website of the game when not using the helmet for the first time could not successfully connect after wearing the helmet. At present, we have arranged for staff to contact the other party through the official forum of the game, hoping to apply for an account and helmet as a 'player', but there has been no response."
Ko Ching-kuo heard that she was euphemistically saying that "the family members of the brain and intelligence center are unwilling to sacrifice their lives and donate their helmets for science," and his face immediately frowned.
Lu Yiyun had no choice. She also wanted to take the helmet apart to have a look, but the young man's cooperation with the experiment was already at its limit. If he tried to steal his helmet, he would climb to the top of the tallest research building in the Brain Intelligence Center and jump off the building live. There was no room for compromise...
Seeing that Mr. Ke did not accept her explanation and looked like he was about to get angry, Lu Yiyun quickly made amends: "Don't worry, Mr. Ke, we are actively contacting the players who own the helmet. If we can convince the players to transfer it, we will have the opportunity to dismantle it for research."
Ke Jingguo's expression then relaxed a lot.
If the leadership had not clearly pointed out that the work should be presided over by the Brain Intelligence Center, and if the Brain Intelligence Center had not sent Lu Yiyun, his former student whom he also respected, given Ko Ching-kuo's temper, he might have "forcefully" intervened in the "command power". Anyway, Huazhong University of Science and Technology had sufficient funds and rich talent reserves, and they could just throw money and two helmets over and start the work immediately.
On the other hand, Yang Qiu didn't know that he had been thoroughly investigated in just two days...
Even if he knew, he would have nothing to fear, because he was the only one in the "production team" and he used a purchased identity. Moreover, he did not do anything illegal after all. Although selling helmets seemed to be suspected of illegal fund-raising, the players who bought the helmets would never complain or report him - not to mention that he could run away at any time. Even if he was invited to have tea, it would only be a matter of getting two meals from the police.
At this moment, Yang Qiu was sitting in the town hall of Exile Town, watching the players scheming against each other over the four auction items that were about to be released today...
As of 3:00 p.m. on October 8th, Earth time, I took some medicine and worked hard for three days, even taking a day off on a workday, and finally ranked fourth and achieved friendly reputation.
After the reputation bar went up, he squatted at the Ranger Instructor's construction site, eagerly waiting for the fifth person to appear.
Squatting next to me like the one who was giving me medicine were the top three hardcore players, as well as the boss who paid money to buy the bidding rights for two of them.
Both bosses were carrying the new backpacks put on sale by the sewing NPC, which are currently regarded as the symbol of "RMB warriors" in the game - for players who cannot leave the Exiled Town, this backpack has only one function: to carry money.
The same style of backpack, I also carry one for taking medicine...
After waiting for a while, two players rushed towards the Ranger Instructor one after the other to hand in the task.
And then...the player who handed in the task first yelled "Fuck" angrily, while the one who handed it in later was smiling happily.
The four hard-working players, including the one who gave me medicine, showed sympathetic expressions... Obviously, the player who handed in the task first had miscalculated his effective working hours. Although he handed in the task first, the reputation given at the time of settlement was not enough.
"The effective working hours are really a rip-off, especially for those trying to gain reputation." Miaobishenghua, who was squatting with me while I took the medicine and waited for the results, said with emotion.
"Yes." He nodded as he gave me medicine. "If the effective working time is less than one hour, the copper coins given will remain the same, but the reputation will be deducted. I suffered a loss yesterday. I miscalculated a few minutes, and as a result, Tuttle only gave me 60% of the passing . It was a huge loss."
Except for tasks of collecting materials, which have no time limit and can be handed in as long as enough materials are collected, other brick-moving tasks have "effective working hours" restrictions.
If you complete a task for a full hour (in-game time) without slacking off, or without slacking off too obviously, both high-level NPCs and zombie NPCs will give you enough "wages".
If you miscalculate the time, and the difference is more than ten minutes for every effective working hour of less than one hour, the NPC will refuse to settle the bill; if the difference is within ten minutes, the "wages" will be paid in full, but the NPC will refuse to assign you tasks for a period of time - for example, if you complete the task for three and a half hours at a time and then hand it in, the NPC will pay you four hours' wages, but will then ignore you for one hour of game time.
If it is a high-level NPC, the reputation value that should be given is deducted, and only 60 reputation points are guaranteed...
After gathering five hardcore players, Ranger Mentor Tattle Joe immediately took out three crystals strung together with animal tendons and engraved with the magic rune of "Disguise Phantom", and announced that after half an hour (game time), the five friendly players could bid for the "Deception Orb".
Give Me Medicine and Wonderful Writing, two players with potential values above 40 points and activated the initial skill "Identification", immediately used their skills very well towards the "Orb of Fraud" in Tattle Joe's hand.
"Orb of Deception"
"Equipment effect: Grants the wearer the active skill 'Disguise Phantom'."
"There is a 50% chance that the 'Disguise Phantom' will be seen through by intelligent creatures with a potential value that is 30% higher than the wearer."
Give Me Medicine said excitedly: "Damn, the equipment name is blue, it's blue equipment! It's the same level as Tuttle's bow!"
There are about 20 to 30 players who have activated the initial skill "Identification". All the NPCs in the Exile Town have been identified by them. Among them, except for the Undead race's resurrection mentor whose potential value is much higher than that of the players, nothing can be seen when the identification skill is used. For example, the bow of Tattle that has shot and killed countless players, and the long sword of Hal that has killed many players, the equipment information has been posted on the forum.
"Brother, brother, what did the appraisal result show?" The hardcore player squatting nearby came over to ask.
Although they are competitors, there are three Deception Orbs, so the five players with high Ranger reputation are not too jealous. They readily share the identified equipment information with their friends.
"It's really good." This female player with the ID of Jialuo said enviously after hearing the equipment information, "What a pity, I don't have that much money, so I can only run with it."
"After all, you worked hard to gain this reputation. Why don't you sell the bidding rights?" The man who was giving me medicine asked curiously.
"Hey, don't mention it." Jia Luo said sadly, "I calculated that I should be able to grab the bidding rights and posted a message. A girl also found me and said she wanted it. But in the past few days, those big guys have reserved the copper coins of the brick-moving party one by one. The girl couldn't receive the copper coins at all, and she was so angry that she went offline."
I couldn't help showing a sympathetic look when I was given medicine...
After the price of copper coins rose to twelve yuan each, the big guys who spent money found that it was not a good idea to keep bidding against each other, so they followed the example of Vanilla Pudding, the first shemale boss who played the game of "controlling the flow of copper coins from the source of output", and used various means such as offline and online to build relationships to attract the brick-moving parties. While collecting copper coins, they also formed various small groups. Although the guild-building system has not yet been opened, the players have managed to create the prototype of a guild among themselves.
This approach would definitely not work in a large-scale game with tens of thousands of people online on a single server, but... "Another World" has only 300 players at most, and if it can attract a certain number of brick-moving parties, it can really control the flow of copper coins.
For example, Boss Vanilla is trying his best to help me get medicine. Including Xiao Zhou's studio, the copper coins produced by more than 20 people are going to me to get medicine. It is a foregone conclusion that I can get the Fraud Orb.
While they were chatting, the last player who had won the bidding right came towards them happily accompanied by a few friends.
Obviously, this player is not a lone ranger like Jialuo, he has the support of friends and he also has ideas about the Deception Orb.
The two bosses who were squatting nearby and chatting suddenly became serious...
Fortunately, the undead horses released by the knight mentor attracted RMB warriors with stronger krypton gold capabilities, which reduced the competitive pressure on the ranger mentor's side a lot. However, four people who can afford to pay are competing for three deception orbs, so one person will not get it.
The two bosses looked at each other, stood up together, and walked towards Give Me Medicine and the last liver emperor player who had the right to bid and the willingness to buy.
"Brothers, let's make a deal, how can we get back to peace?" one of the bosses said with a smile.
Give me medicine without saying anything, but the last player seemed very interested: "What do you mean?"
One of the bosses said, "What I mean is, if four of us bid for three deception orbs, one person will definitely not be able to buy it, and three people will be able to buy it, right? If we start bidding against each other when the first orb is auctioned, the first person who buys it may suffer a loss, because the two people behind may not bid as much as the first one. Even if it's the other way around, everyone will think that when the first one comes out, there is no need to rush, and wait and see what happens. If everyone concentrates on fighting for the third orb, they will still lose a lot of money."
"Yes, we players fight each other to grab the auction items, and the premium copper coins are just wasted and recycled by the system." The second boss continued, "This is not cost-effective. It's better to sell the copper coins to those who are waiting to grab the undead horse."
Because Knight Mentors are not as popular as Ranger Mentors, only two friendly ones have been spawned there so far, and the remaining three spots are still under competition.
"That makes sense, but there still has to be one person who can't buy it." The last hardcore player spread his hands and said, "Among the four of us, I don't think any of us would be willing to give up the orb, right?"
One of the bosses smiled and said, "That's why we say that harmony will benefit all of us. For example, the four of us agree that each orb is 300 copper coins, and the three people who buy the orbs will each give 200 copper coins to the person who didn't want the orb. In this way, three people can get the orbs, and one person can get 600 copper coins. Isn't this a good deal? A cheap system is not as good as a cheap player."
Jia Luo, who was squatting nearby, couldn't help but exclaimed, "If I don't buy it, I can get the money. Then I'm one of them. I also have the right to bid."
One of the bosses glanced at her and said with a smile, "Don't we have to have the right to bid to reach an agreement? We need to at least pay 500 copper coins to reach an agreement. Otherwise, other people won't suffer a lot."
Jialuo closed her mouth and said nothing. She was a lone ranger and really couldn't afford 500 copper coins.
The two hardcore players who had already sold their bidding rights felt that they were at a disadvantage after hearing what they said. When they heard that they were eligible to negotiate harmony only after 500 copper coins, they stopped thinking too much...
The last hardcore player thought for a moment and said, "That's fine... Then who's willing to take 600 copper coins and quit?"
Neither of the two bosses said anything. They just stood by and looked at him, then at me while I took the medicine.
Give me medicine and say painfully: "Don't look at me, I won't quit anyway, I want to play treasure expert."
The last hardcore player frowned and said, "Well... wait, let me discuss this with my friend."
The big brother walked to the side with his friend, and they met and whispered for a while. When they came back, their attitude was much more straightforward: "I can quit, too. When will you give me the money?"
The two bosses were delighted, and one of them said quickly, "This is easy. We don't bid against each other and we can pay on the spot after the auction is completed. Anyway, there are only so many players in this game, and it's impossible to cancel the account and start over. There's no such thing as cheating once and then running away."
As they spoke, the two bosses took the initiative to show the money they had prepared...
Because this game is too hardcore and the game currency is physical copper coins, each ten-gram copper alloy coin must be carried with you. The backpacks carried by the two bosses were filled with more than ten kilograms of copper coins.
This kind of "physical" currency is very troublesome to use, and players have protested against the official website for not releasing storage bags. However, the official response from Goose Dog was to promise to launch a bank in the near future and provide players with larger-denomination "copper notes" that are easier to carry. Many players were so angry that they criticized Goose Dog's planners for pursuing realism to the point of being insane.
Seeing this, he opened his backpack silently.
If we can have harmony, of course I am very willing to give me medicine...
Yang Qiu, who was watching the whole process through the branding matrix, couldn't help but sigh: "You guys are still good at playing, and you can even negotiate harmony."
"But... I can't let you guys disrupt the currency collection. Sorry!"
Yang Qiu, who had no emotions, immediately modified the instructions transmitted to Tattle through the branding matrix.
So… the players who had just worked so hard to reach a harmonious agreement saw the Ranger Instructor walk in front of their group of “friendly players” and announce the auction mode ten minutes before the auction started—
"Secret filming?!"
One of the bosses who contributed the most when talking about harmony, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.
Tattle said coldly with an expressionless face: "That's right, the five of you bid at the same time, and the three with the highest bids will get the pearl."
A group of players suddenly looked different...
The fifth player who had previously felt that he could not defeat the two bosses and had no chance of winning against Give Me Medicine, a closed beta veteran with the support of Vanilla Pudding, was obviously shaken...
The three orbs were put together for a secret auction, and everyone had only one chance to bid.
In other words...if someone bids 300, you can win the auction by bidding 301.
There is no harmony at all!
