Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 524: Mogadishu
Its purpose is to restore the realistic shooting feel as much as possible.
However, if we compare the degree of realism, the combination of VR game and gun handle cannot compare to this virtual world that allows people to completely immerse their consciousness. Ke Lan tried to raise his arm and bent his elbow. Through the movement of the muscles under the skin, he could clearly feel the muscles on one side contracting and the muscles on the other side relaxing, and the tendons at the ends driving the bones to complete the entire process of the movement.
He opened his palms again, and immediately there was a crisp "cracking" sound from the joints. The tense palms turned pale, and when his palms relaxed and the blood flowed back, they immediately turned red again.
If you take a scalpel and cut open Ke Lan's chest now, and push aside the muscles and bones, you can even see the beating heart and the lungs rising and falling with his breathing. The oxygen-filled blood is pumped to all parts of the body along the two arteries, and then flows into the left and right atria along the pulmonary veins and the superior and inferior vena cava respectively.
If a person's consciousness is connected to this virtual world without knowing it, he might regard everything as real... Of course, the prerequisite is that all heads-up displays that show vital signs and connection status must be turned off.
This virtual world is much better than the zombie-killing game that Ke Lan created using the "Aguna Tor" console. Although that game was developed using the technology of the Alpha Civilization, its essence is similar to most of the "pseudo-immersive games" on the market. The character modeling is actually a hollow shell, and at most some nested layers are added at the joints to prevent exposure. As for the calculation of the impact effect, it depends entirely on the bullet hitting the limbs. A series of data such as the hit position and the kinetic energy of the bullet are substituted into the formula, and the result is then fed back to the character itself.
For example, when a character in this type of game is shot, the changes that occur to the character are "hit in the left leg by a 5.56 NATO bullet flying at a speed of 650 meters per second. According to the location and angle of the bullet, and the effect of the leg armor on the trajectory, it is determined to be a penetrating wound, no fracture occurs, and the health value is directly damaged by XXXX. At the same time, a DEBUFF is added to the character: XXX units of blood are lost per second, the movement speed decreases by XXX percentage points, and the aiming stability decreases by XXX percentage points..."
In this completely immersive virtual world, players can even see the broken flesh of their wounds turning out after being shot, and hot red liquid constantly gushing out from broken blood vessels. The large amount of foam produced by the blood must be washed away with clean water or something like that, so that the broken blood vessels that have been retracted into the muscles can be found and clamped with hemostatic forceps.
If it is not a penetrating wound and the bullet remains in the body, the situation will be even more troublesome. People without battlefield first aid skills cannot even remove the bullet stuck in the bones and muscles - in this virtual world, if you are injured, you can't just right-click on the bandages and first aid kits in the backpack to complete the treatment and bandaging.
In the final analysis, it comes down to two words - real and hardcore.
"I just don't know how the Battle of Mogadishu has been changed in this virtual world..." Ke Lan muttered to herself as she clicked on the secondary menu under the game icon.
There is a scene in the movie "Black Hawk Down", the prototype of this game, that left a deep impression on Ke Lan: a Ranger was shot while trying to cover his teammates. His leg aorta was severed, and the broken blood vessel shrank deep into the muscle due to its elasticity. The medic took a lot of effort to pinch the blood vessel from the torn flesh and stop the bleeding.
Although the injured Ranger eventually died from his injuries, if it had not been for the timely treatment of the medics, the number of American soldiers who died in this operation would probably have been far more than 19.
As for the Somali armed militiamen standing in the opposing camp, once they were shot, they were basically declared dead - even if they were not hit in vital parts, even if the bullets did not take their lives immediately, but due to the harsh conditions and scarce medical resources, the ensuing blood loss, infection and various other complications were enough to take the lives of these wounded within a few months after the end of the battle.
In this world-famous conflict in the old era, the direct casualties of the militia organization could not be counted in detail, only a general figure of "more than 3,000 people", not to mention the wounded who died from various complications after the war... Only those around them know their final outcome.
In a country riven by constant war, human life is often just a number...it has been like this since ancient times.
"Battle of Mogadishu, fully immersive version, loading..."
As the progress bar in the air gradually filled up, the white room where Ke Lan was gradually darkened, and a faint smell of gunpowder gradually spread in the air.
"First, the character selection interface..."
Ke Lan remembered that in the game "Battle of Mogadishu", there were two types of characters available for players to choose from, one was the "Ranger Force" and the other was the "Delta Special Forces". The former had slightly inferior equipment and character attributes, but the combat missions assigned to it were relatively simple, while the latter had much stronger equipment and character attributes, but the responsibilities it needed to bear were also more arduous - whether it was main missions such as attacking the enemy or evacuating the rear, or side missions such as supporting a certain team, eliminating fire points, and searching and rescuing the wounded, all of them would be given to the players at once. As long as one of the tasks was not completed, the final score would drop significantly.
Not only that, players who choose the "Delta Force" will have to face enemies that are several times more than the "Ranger Force". They will often need to go deep behind enemy lines alone and complete a large number of tasks that seem impossible to complete.
Because of this, the "Delta Force" gameplay route is also called "Hell Mode" by many players.
As a veteran gamer, the speed run mode represented by the "Ranger Force" is no longer challenging for Ke Lan, and he has already completed the "Hell Mode" of the "Delta Force" no less than ten times. He remembers clearly the shortcuts in the city ruins that can be used to quickly travel between various mission points, which room hides fully armed enemies and which room has only unarmed civilians. Although he is not as good as those big guys who break records, he is still confident that he can pass the level without any damage.
Of course, there is still a big difference between getting injured in VR games and fully immersive games - in VR games, if you are accidentally shot, Ke Lan only needs to open his backpack to use medical items or find the nearest medic to recover from the injury, but in this fully immersive system, once you are shot, it might be better to start over.
Not to mention whether the AI medic he found while enduring severe pain and dragging his injured body has the ability to perform surgery on a "real human". Even if he can treat the wound, it is impossible for him to fight again with a "full health bar" like the game character.
"How about choosing a Ranger to test the waters this time? As long as you don't randomly get assigned to a high-risk combat position like an armored vehicle machine gunner, it shouldn't be a big problem to pass without getting hurt..."
Just as Ke Lan was thinking about this, three character cards appeared in front of him.
"Huh? What's going on? Why are there three optional characters?" Ke Lan was stunned for a moment and looked closely at the description on the character card.
There is nothing wrong with the first and second character cards, which are the "Ranger" and "Delta Force" in the VR version. The shield and triangular badges belonging to the two forces are also exactly the same as in the previous work, but this third character card is something Ke Lan has never seen before.
This character card has no badge or unit number. The example character is a black man wearing a tattered T-shirt, a greasy scarf on his head, an akS-74U submachine gun with the stock removed hanging on his chest, and an RPG rocket launcher on his shoulder...
The explanation text below is just one simple line: Mogadishu armed militia.
“Ah, this…”
Ke Lan originally thought that the difficulty of "Delta Force" was already hellish enough, but this new character card obviously raised the difficulty of the game to a whole new level.
Although the armed militia of Mogadishu was the victorious party in the Black Hawk Down incident, they suffered 200 times more casualties than the US military!
In other words, it takes at least two hundred armed militiamen's lives to exchange for the life of one American soldier... In human history, such a huge disparity in casualties would only occur when armies using hot weapons massacred enemies who were still in the cold weapon stage.
But whether it was the war between the armies of the great powers equipped with Maxim heavy machine guns and the Japanese samurai using samurai swords and spears, or the atrocities committed by the US army armed with modern weapons against the Native Americans...these confrontations between cold and hot weapons rarely resulted in a casualty ratio of more than two hundred.
For the American soldiers participating in this operation, these militiamen may really be just a "number".
For some reason, Ke Lan, who had originally decided to choose the "Ranger Corps", suddenly hesitated - he paced back and forth in front of the three character cards for half a minute, and finally, he stopped in front of the third character card.
As an old player who has completed the game more than a dozen times, the temptation of a new "DLC" is really too great - although Ke Lan knows in his heart that if he chooses this camp, he may not survive even a minute.
But this is just a game after all. If he doesn't even have the courage to try... then he might as well just use a cheat device.
"It's okay to die. Since I didn't die from the bullet, I can just restart the game - choose the third character card, Mogadishu Armed Militia!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene around Ke Lan suddenly changed.
Although it was still dark, a few rays of light coming through the window told him that he had entered the game.
Ke Lan looked around. This should be an ordinary house in Mogadishu. On the table next to it was a tattered AK47 and dozens of 7.62mm bullets of extremely crude workmanship. A dark-skinned "companion" was sitting in the corner, holding a booklet with a completely faded cover in his clasped hands, and silently reciting something with his eyes closed.
Ke Lan has some understanding of the background of the game. What this NPC is holding in his hand should be the Islamic holy book, the Koran. After all, Islam is the state religion of Somalia, and more than 95% of the country's people are Muslims.
An early model RPD light machine gun was placed at his feet... Ke Lan estimated that this firearm made in the Soviet Union was probably over 40 years old.
It was very quiet outside, and the capture operation originally planned by the US military had not yet begun.
The NPC companion finally finished praying. He turned his head and looked at Ke Lan silently without saying anything.
It was not until this time that Ke Lan finally realized the source of the weirdness he had been feeling after switching to this game scene - although he was wearing a set of clothes similar to those of the local residents, his character did not change at all.
A Chinese man with black hair, black eyes and yellow skin appeared in the militia in Mogadishu. It must be a very strange thing, right?
Fortunately, due to the settings of the game program, Ke Lan's companions did not have any questions about his skin color and ethnicity. It was thought that the American soldiers, as the enemy, would also ignore this matter.
Games are just games after all, but if put into reality, they would probably become an international incident.
Just as Ke Lan was about to go to the window to see what was happening outside, a rustling sound came from the intercom that was placed on the table together with the AK47. The NPC companion immediately jumped up and grabbed the intercom.
"The sentinels have spotted American planes! And a convoy! There are a lot of enemies! They are going to attack our city! Everyone, prepare to fight!"
As if to take care of the only player in the entire game, the voice coming from the walkie-talkie was automatically converted into Chinese, which made Ke Lan, who was used to the original dubbing, feel a little uncomfortable.
In the movie "Dark Shadows Fall", before the US troops arrived in Mogadishu, their whereabouts had been seen by children on guard at the edge of the city. Before they entered the streets, militia organizations throughout the city had already taken action.
In this regard, the game is quite faithful to the original.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Act quickly!" The NPC companion hung two drum magazines tied together with ropes around his neck, picked up the RPD machine gun and said to Ke Lan.
He also spoke Chinese, with clear pronunciation and without a single accent.
"Where should we go?" Ke Lan picked up the AK47 on the table and stuffed the bullets into his pocket. He discovered something depressing. This AK47 only had one magazine. That is to say, if he emptied the magazine in a battle, he would have to remove the magazine and push the loose bullets in his pocket one by one...
No, I must pick up a few more spare magazines when I have the chance... Ke Lan said silently in his heart.
