Chapter 266: The Ark Sets Sail
"A bunch of candied haws on a stick -- a bunch of candied haws on a stick --"
"New Town College is about to enroll! New Town College is about to enroll! Attention to those who want to sign up! You can get the "Selected Exam Questions of New Town College in Previous Years" for just three gold coins! Three gold coins! Just three gold coins will allow you to join New Town College smoothly!"
"Sir, have you just arrived in Xincheng? Do you need a guide? I'm telling you, there's nothing I don't know about food, drinks, and entertainment in Xincheng!"
Rong Jing pushed away the thin and dark boy next to him who kept squeezing towards him to recommend himself, looked around blankly, and was unable to react for a moment.
Everyone around him was wearing ancient Tang Country clothing, including himself. Most of the surrounding buildings were full of ancient style, even the lanterns hanging under the porch, the snacks sold on the street, the bluestone floor under his feet, everything seemed like the scenery of Tang Country hundreds of years ago.
——I traveled through time?
He couldn't help but think so, looking down at his palms, clenching his fists, without any strange feeling, as if this was his hand, his body. He twisted his arm hard, and a sharp stinging sensation came, making him grimace in pain without any defense.
What is going on?
The strong sense of reality made Rong Jing feel as if time and space were out of sync. He reviewed his memories bit by bit, trying to find the gaps in them.
He, Fat Cat, and Yuan Xueqian walked into the auditorium of B City University. After waiting for more than half an hour, the press conference started on the hour. A famous host from B City TV came on stage first and said some nonsense like thanking everyone for coming, saying that the weather was good, the country was good, and everyone was good. Then he introduced the well-known Dr. Rong Yuan's journey, and then talked about the less well-known Dr. Rong's efforts and expectations for the [Ark] project. It was all routine, but the host had a strong ability to control the situation, sometimes sighing and sometimes excited, and the words were extremely touching, making people almost completely unaware of the passage of time, which was not at all worthy of his reputation.
But the people sitting in the auditorium were not there to appreciate his hosting ability and the beauty of his vocabulary, so this opening speech only took a few minutes to finish. The host waved his hand and got to the point. On the projection screen behind him, four huge official script characters appeared: [The Ark sets sail! ]
There is another row of small words at the end: [Ten years of sharpening the sword, now its sharpness is tested for the first time].
However, after talking for so long, I'm afraid that except for the senior officials of the countries sitting in the front, no one still knows what the "Ark" is.
Everyone stared at the host intently, expecting him to explain "Ark" next, or - more importantly - Dr. Rong Yuan to come out and personally introduce to them this product that he had worked so hard for.
But the plot did not develop as they expected. After typing two lines of words, some young soldiers in camouflage uniforms (Fat Cat complained: "There is not even a beautiful woman in cheongsam!") walked along the aisle and handed out something like a motorcycle helmet to everyone. Rong Jing unpacked the helmet he got and looked it up and down. The helmet looked thick, but the quality was not very heavy. The appearance was very simple and there were not too many fancy decorations. There were only a few indicator lights at the temple. He tried to wear it and found that it could cover most of his head, with only the nostrils and mouth exposed, and the black lenses covering his eyes were also designed to be completely opaque.
"Hey." Fat Cat poked him. Rong Jing turned around and saw his childhood friend's lips trembling with excitement. His hands holding the helmet were shaking. He lowered his voice and said in a tone that was full of expectation but also very afraid of disappointment: "Well, this can't be... the legendary, that, right?"
Rong Jing knew what he was talking about . In fact, the moment he saw the helmet, he had the same thought.
"But..." The fat cat who made the guess got scared again and couldn't help but say worriedly, "Isn't it said that... the technology is not mature yet? Besides, I heard that both the Nut Country and the Flower Country have research in this area... It can't be a semi-finished product that Dr. Rong spent ten years researching, right? It's what I think, right?"
"Of course! Don't you see who invented this!" Rong Jing replied unhappily, thinking silently in his heart: "That's my brother!"
This sentence went around in his mind, and when he looked at the helmet again, he felt that it was much cuter and more friendly. Rong Jing touched the helmet from inside to outside lovingly, and found that the outside of the helmet was smooth, but there were many subtle protrusions inside, like... electrodes?
He silently put down his hands, his heart pounding, and felt that he had no regrets in his life.
Yuan Xueqian looked at the fat cat staring at the helmet with a coveted look as if he was about to drool but didn't dare to touch it, and then looked at Rong Jing's twisted expression that was about to curl up but was forced down abruptly, and asked in confusion: "What are you talking about?"
The fat cat was about to speak, but suddenly he was afraid that what he said would not work, so he blinked his eyes mysteriously and said, "Don't worry, you will know in a moment!"
There was also a lot of discussion in the field, but before long, everyone got a helmet in their hands. The host did not waste time and demonstrated how to open it directly and concisely, and then asked everyone to put on the helmet.
Rong Jing did as he was told, and then he seemed to have traveled through time and space to come here.
"Mirror! Mirror!"
Rong Jing was in a daze when he suddenly heard someone calling him loudly in the distance, causing passers-by to look over in dissatisfaction. When he looked up, it was Fat Cat. Fat Cat didn't care about the reactions of the people on the side of the road. He jumped and waved his hands vigorously. Seeing that he had finally attracted Rong Jing's attention, he waved happily and asked him to come over.
Rong Jing saw that he seemed very anxious, so he quickly bypassed the crowd and ran over. Fat Cat didn't have time to explain, so he grabbed his arm and dragged him to a beautiful woman in ancient costume, saying, "Three people, three tickets, thank you!"
"Okay." The beautiful woman in ancient costume with double buns smiled slightly, took out three gold-edged printed cards and said, "I wish you a pleasant journey."
Fat Cat grabbed the card and pulled Rong Jing hurriedly into a house on the side of the road that looked like a grocery store. Yuan Xueqin had been waiting at the door. When the three of them rushed in, Rong Jing saw the last bit of sand falling out of a funnel hanging on the door.
With a click, the door closed behind him. Rong Jing looked around and saw that there were already dozens of people in the room. They all looked familiar, like the people who had just sat in the auditorium to attend the press conference. The layout of the room was completely different from the outside. It looked like a train compartment, with seats arranged in the same direction, but the chairs were spacious and comfortable, the decorations were gorgeous and exquisite, and the size was at least several times larger, so thirty or fifty people would not seem crowded inside.
The three of them found an empty seat in the front row and sat down. After the door closed, a beautiful woman in a long dress walked out from the front of the carriage. She had a ring on her waist and held a flower branch in her hand. She smiled and said, "Welcome to the interstellar tourist train. Please fasten your seat belts. Our train will leave soon."
Everyone then realized that there were seat belts on the seats, and they all fastened them. Fat Cat leaned over and whispered to Rong Jing, "Did you see that? A holographic virtual gaming helmet. Dr. Rong actually made this thing! It's simply..." He shook his head and sighed, obviously not knowing what to say.
Rong Jing immediately pulled his chaotic thoughts back to normal, and a surge of pride surged in his heart again. He smiled, nodded modestly, and said, "Yes."
"What are you talking about? It wasn't you who made it." The fat cat snorted .
Yuan Xueqian next to him whispered with envy and jealousy: "That girl is an NPC, right? She is so beautiful!"
Fat Cat felt that he really couldn't understand what girls were thinking. Their focus was always different from his. He looked at Yuan Xueqian in surprise, and then said sincerely: "You are prettier than her."
This is the truth. NPC beauties are beautiful because they are flawless, but their faces and figures can be said to be the popular templates of two-dimensional beauties. So although they are beautiful, they lack the kind of charm that makes people's hearts flutter. The appearance and figure of the tourists from the three-dimensional world are basically the same as the real people, but they seem to have been beautified by a beauty software with one click. Their skin is delicate and even in color. Scars, acne marks, spots, moles, etc. are all invisible. The bloated fat has also shrunk, and the beauty has more than doubled. NPCs can look the same, but the various flaws that humans, as natural creatures, are born with can make any two of them look different. Because of the differences and defects, they appear more vivid.
The beautiful woman holding the flower seemed not to hear the whispers of the crowd. After they all fastened their seat belts, she turned the flower branch in her hand and said, "The train is now heading to the first stop of the tour - Pikkhu Star!"
…
Rows of huge bookshelves formed a maze-like pattern. Looking up, you couldn't see the roof; looking down, you couldn't see the abyss. As far as the eye could see, there were only countless books. The titles of the books were written in many different languages on the spines, but no matter who picked up which book, they would see the language they were most familiar with.
Such a tall bookshelf is naturally different from ordinary bookshelves. There are circles of stairs on it, all made of unconnected wooden boards. Through the gaps in the wooden boards, you can see the bottomless darkness below. A timid person may not be able to take a step out. The wooden bridge rises in a spiral shape, which makes people feel dizzy at first glance. There is a slightly wider semicircular platform at a long distance above, on which there are desks and stools made of logs, and some even have teapots and snacks for people to take a rest. Unfortunately, the person who designed this library is very bad. No matter which entrance you come in from, you are on a certain staircase in the air. A reckless person may fall to his death if he misses a step.
It was deserted here at this time. Apart from an NPC administrator who was sitting cross-legged in the air reading a book, there were only two people sitting at a small round tea table.
"The library!" One of them sighed and said, "It is indeed your favorite."
The other person did not speak, but his eyes and brows showed a rare gentleness.
The person in front of him, Jin Yang, said, "I was just wondering why you didn't show up at the press conference. It turns out you've already come here."
"Of course I have to test the results of my work first." Rong Yuan poured two cups of tea, gestured with his hand, and asked, "At this time, half of the people are going on interstellar tours, and the other half are wandering around on Earth. Why are you here?"
"I was just wandering around here," Jin Yang said. Actually, he saw so many books when he entered the room, and thought Rong Yuan might be inside, so he walked in. He picked up the tea and looked at it for a while, and the hot steam and fragrance hit his face repeatedly. The color, smell, and heat were all real. After a while, he took a sip, swallowed the slightly hot tea into his mouth, and even the feeling of ironing his throat all the way to his stomach was the same as usual.
"The best Lu'an Guapian!" he commented.
"I don't understand this. It was done by the people in the design team." Rong Yuan shook his cup and said casually.
“How can it be so real?”
Rong Yuan said: "It just deceives your brain. But we also have a more expensive game cabin that can stimulate the corresponding parts of the body when the player enters the virtual world. Basically, you will not feel tired, but the effect is similar to aerobic exercise. I will give you a few sets later."
Jin Yang was silent for a moment, then suddenly put down his teacup, stood up, and randomly pulled out a book from the bookshelf and opened it. Most people who had just entered the library and saw so many books would think, based on their gaming experience, that the countless books inside were actually background decorations, and that only when a specific task was triggered could the designated books be obtained from the books. But at this moment, Jin Yang randomly opened a book and saw the densely packed black and white words inside. Every word and sentence exuded a sense of rigor, seriousness, and striving for accuracy. It was definitely not something that the game planning team had shoddily made to set off a background.
At the same time, this is not done by randomly copying books that have already been published on Earth.
He closed the book and saw a line of gold-plated characters on the cover: "Basic Tutorial on Starship Maintenance".
He raised his head and looked at the books on the bookshelf in front of him: "Introducing a Thousand Star Beasts", "The Development of the Interstellar Alliance", "The Complete History of the Landia Empire", "Mecha Manufacturing", "Memorial - Those Ancient Civilizations Swallowed by Black Holes", "The Weird Customs of the Planets in the Milky Way"...
He slowly turned around and asked Rong Yuan: "If I'm not mistaken, the contents of these books are all true...right?"
