Chapter 62: Play If You Wish, Or Perish

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A single helmet for three used digital devices? That’s not the price I set… The helmet is free; it’s the custom character creation that costs this much…

Given the spending power in this world, a helmet is unlikely to be used by only one person. It’s just like when computers first appeared—those who opened internet cafes raked in the cash…

But, well, if you’re willing to pay a high price, I certainly won’t save you money. The helmet stays at this price, and custom characters are extra!

Alpha Ji was unaware that, even at this price, it was already exceptionally—exceptionally, exceptionally, exceptionally, exceptionally, exceptionally—cheap!

Similar virtual space training scenarios are usually even more expensive, and the key is, they charge per session…

Even a single session costs more than hers!

It’s like how the overnight rate at other places costs more than buying one of her devices…

And it’s not even a real overnight stay—just overnight at an internet cafe, with no one to play with you—yet she’s still delighted about it. If other internet cafe owners found out…

凸(｀0´)凸

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

While Alpha Ji was puzzling over her pricing model, Ye Chao sat in a daze, staring at the orderly Fang Ju family.

“All right, all right, stop daydreaming. Don’t you have me now? If you’re jealous, come to the virtual space and let me give you a hug.” Alpha Ji nudged Ye Chao, thinking he was feeling envious.

Ye Chao shook his head, as if he were a rattle, jolted by her push.

She had done it again!

Bringing the virtual into reality!

Unfortunately, the effect faded instantly, and she couldn’t do it anymore…

“Huh? A hug?” Ye Chao snapped out of his trance, not noticing anything strange. “What hug? I’m working on a lesson plan, I’m busy.”

A lesson plan?

Yes, he was writing a lesson plan, not lost in thought.

What was Ye Chao’s ideal in life?

Everyone knew he wanted to build a library and be a librarian.

But why build a library? To preserve the flame of civilization, hoping people would learn more, study more, and that one day, humanity might return to its peak.

Compared to being a librarian, there was another profession that could accomplish this more directly and effectively—being a teacher!

That’s why Ye Shu Lou later became a teacher, and it was Ye Chao’s dream as well.

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Is it strange for someone to have two ideals at once? Especially when they don’t contradict each other at all…

Librarian Ye Shu Lou had been a teacher; librarian Shen Congwen had been a teacher; librarian the Grandmaster had been a teacher; even the Sweeping Monk liked teaching.

It’s practically a set career path, so naturally, Ye Chao wanted to try it too.

Originally, he wouldn’t have had the chance. He’d managed to enter university and graduate, but with the virtual space and its learning mode, he now had that opportunity.

No matter what head he put on—dog, pig, or alpaca—he could grandly teach people in the system. Though, for now, there was only one student, Fang Ju, just like in reality, but he was optimistic about the future.

At worst, he could enforce a rule: helmet users must master certain courses and pass tests before qualifying for training mode…

“They have to pass a test to enter training mode?” Even Alpha Ji was speechless.

That’s like making internet-addicted kids score high enough before they can go online… Just imagining that scenario is absurd.

Wait, hang on… Suddenly, a thought struck her.

What’s wrong with requiring a certain score before going online? It might be unreasonable, but it’s entertaining.

Why should those internet-addicted kids have it so easy?

Tsk, without realizing it, she’d reverted to the pre-catastrophe game designer mindset: if it’s not addictive, it’s not satisfying.

But now, after the catastrophe, there’s no internet, no games, and so much is gone; to put it plainly, this business is a monopoly…

So it should be: if you want to play, play; if not, too bad.

Just like a Blizzard designer—brilliant!

And there’s another benefit: dispersing the player base and reducing server pressure.

Even though the virtual space resembles reality and, once planned and set up with rules, NPC refreshes, equipment, and stat data, it can run itself,

Don’t overlook one thing—the virtual space has its limits.

No matter how big a building seems, if you lay out all the floors, it’s still not as big as a single LOL map.

So for now, Alpha Ji could only support three concurrent games: AI, casual, and ranked—one of each…

As for the maps, it’s LOL turned into Honor of Kings, CS with fy_iceworld, and as for Overwatch maps, not for now; PUBG is out of the question—even Sanhok won’t do…

Now, with a rule requiring an exam before playing, she could easily cut server load by half, or more—ingenious!

Wait, why did she call Ye Chao here for this? How did he get her so distracted again?

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“Hehehe, stop writing lesson plans. It’s not like you’re in a relationship, what’s the rush? I’m here to discuss business with you.” Alpha Ji once again roused Ye Chao from his lesson-planning trance.

“What business?”

“Earlier, you mentioned that the toughest part of Project B might have a solution—what exactly is the solution?”

She called it a discussion, but it was really a stalemate, one-to-one, and Alpha Ji had the final say. So when Ye Chao suggested going through official channels, Alpha Ji had shot it down immediately.

Of course, Ye Chao’s idea of going through official channels was truly official: becoming the general agent, discussing with teachers, promoting in schools, completely exposing himself—not like now, where Alpha Ji played the boss and he just… prepared lesson plans.

If things had started that way, Alpha Ji might not have objected—how interesting would that have been!

But now, with plans twisted and transformed by circumstance, the biggest problem had to be solved—distributing helmets was easy, but how to collect all those used digital devices, and, essentially, how to collect payment?

Ye Chao seemed oblivious to the need for secrecy, but Alpha Ji understood well: “Innocent men get into trouble for holding treasures.” That was why she kept making a fuss.

Now wasn’t like before the catastrophe, with QR codes everywhere and delivery men darting through every street.

Hiding her identity was easy, and keeping her relationship with Ye Chao secret wasn’t hard either, but hiding the destination of all those used devices, keeping it completely unnoticed, was much harder.

If Ye Chao went to collect them, people would inevitably suspect his identity.

If they were piled up somewhere, who’s to say others wouldn’t secretly watch or track them…

It’s not that buyers necessarily had ulterior motives, but if you cut out the middleman and deny them their profit, most people would operate that way.

And as soon as they did, some things simply couldn’t be hidden.

“The solution depends on how far, and how quickly, you can transform objects into seeds and bring them into virtual space…” Ye Chao gave Alpha Ji a strange look.

She had seen that expression often—it was the look Ye Chao gave Fang Ju when he explained a problem and Fang Ju couldn’t follow…

Does he think my intelligence is on the same level as that blockhead?

I’m just… lacking a bit of creativity, not stupid.

[Ye Chao’s favorability -99]

[Alpha Ji doesn’t want to talk to Ye Chao at all, and sends him a fist the size of a bowl.]

“Bang!”

Once again, Ye Chao’s nose bled profusely.

Eh, hit him again?

=￣ω￣=