Isn't This a Game? Why Are You All Cultivating for Real!

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: The Body Is Evolving

An underground research lab somewhere abroad.

"Huaxia has a full-dive simulation game? A game like Second Life? Are you kidding me? Have the Huaxia people gone crazy again?"

"It’s been trending like crazy over there. They say over a million people watch the livestreams every day. It doesn’t look fake. The cost to fake something on that scale would be astronomical."

"Full-dive? I don’t buy it. Wasn’t that your home country? You go and look into it."

"Yes..."

*

"What’s this about a full-dive simulation? The Huaxia people secretly developed some new tech again. Don’t tell me they’re planning to use it against us."

"That’s nonsense. It’s just a full-dive game, and their own people are the first to play it. Even if it is new technology, we certainly deserve better."

"..."

*

"A full-dive game? What the hell? Go to Huaxia and investigate. See if they’ve been up to anything new lately..."

"Yes, Boss."

...

As the hype for the full-dive game exploded within the country, the rest of the world gradually began to take notice of Huaxia’s extraordinary new game.

Every move Huaxia made had global repercussions, and many countries secretly planned to send people to investigate.

Some, dedicated to scientific research, were more direct, calling up scholars in Huaxia without any hesitation.

They asked if Huaxia had truly developed a generation-spanning full-dive technology.

After all, holographic technology already existed in a rudimentary form, but it was limited to virtualizing scenery, allowing people to experience a virtual environment for a brief moment.

But to completely immerse a person in another holographic world, even simulating their senses—that was considered fundamentally impossible.

First, it would require deceiving the brain.

But for the person to remain conscious while the brain is being tricked... that’s just not possible.

The scholars within Huaxia were all utterly confused.

Except for the younger ones who paid more attention to current events and knew about this new game, most of the scholars engrossed in their research had never even heard of a game called the Broken Sect.

It was only after receiving these calls that they belatedly realized such a game even existed on the market.

’Is it some kind of black technology developed by the state in secret?’

But the state itself was just as clueless!

The game hadn’t made any attempt to hide itself from the government; in fact, their own people had already entered the game to experience it.

According to the reports, the game was the real deal.

And setting aside whether it was truly full-dive or not, the world inside, according to the players’ own reports, was a completely real, existing world.

Why were they so certain?

Probably because while they were playing, although their minds were crystal clear inside the game, their physical bodies back on Blue Star were actually in a state of deep sleep.

"It’s just that the game’s monitoring system is exceptionally sharp. When we touched Zhan Sheng, she woke up immediately and told us she’d received a system notification. This shows that the system can, at least to some extent, monitor the player’s immediate surroundings."

"We can’t yet be sure of the extent of the system’s monitoring capabilities. At the very least, personnel are not allowed to play the game on base, as confidentiality regulations forbid it."

"This also confirms that while in the game, the player is effectively in deep sleep in the real world."

In a room, watching Zhan Sheng in the adjacent room playing the game with a helmet on, Liu Wen Yu pushed up the glasses on their face. "No wonder Shuitan reported that their mind feels fine even after playing the game."

Being in the game is like being in a deep sleep, so they’re full of energy after logging out.

They don’t need to sleep anymore.

The reporting staffer looked surprised. "But according to messages in the group chat, most players still need a normal amount of sleep."

"That’s normal. Their brains have simply been tricked," another staffer said. "Right now, besides Zhan Sheng and Shuitan, only Jiang Tianya has told us he doesn’t need much sleep. The other players are mostly ordinary people, and the changes aren’t very obvious yet. It means their brains haven’t accepted this evolution."

Liu Wen Yu looked over, lost in thought. "Are you suggesting this game is causing people to evolve?"

This researcher clearly had their own theory. "It’s just a hypothesis of mine. I know it sounds unbelievable, but based on our observations of Jiang Tianya and Shuitan, it really does look like a form of evolution. I minored in psychology before. I don’t know if you’re familiar with dual personalities."

"Under certain conditions, a person can develop a completely different personality. When this personality emerges, the person’s body can also undergo changes that science can’t explain. For example, we generally believe the brain controls everything and has absolute authority to change the body."

"For instance, a primary personality might have a potentially fatal allergy. But if the secondary personality has no concept of that allergen, they won’t have a reaction—even though it’s the same body. Incredible, isn’t it? The players are in a similar situation. By entering another world, they are effectively living out the life of a separate persona. The difference is that it’s all their own consciousness. If they’re affected in that world, it will naturally affect their bodies on Blue Star as well."

As soon as the words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room grew heavy.

The game had been out for two months now.

Two months, combined with the state’s swift response, had been enough time to uncover a few things.

But unlike ordinary people who were merely amazed by the full-dive simulation technology, they had discovered the game’s far more terrifying underlying logic.

—It was causing the people who entered the game to evolve.

Essentially, everything that happened in the game would feed back into reality.

Except for the magical Spiritual Energy, which didn’t carry over, the brain was clearly using the game to gradually change the physical body.

"Unbelievable..."

Liu Wen Yu murmured, "This thing is simply insane. It’s more than just a game..."

"It certainly is unbelievable," the researcher said with a wry smile. "If this news got out, it would drive the whole world into a frenzy. Thankfully, it doesn’t allow us to use any backdoors to enter. Getting in seems to be purely a matter of luck, and the number of slots is too small. For now, it won’t cause a major earthquake."

Liu Wen Yu continued to ask, "Will this game have a negative impact on us?"

The researcher was silent for a moment. "To be honest, with technology like this, even if the creators behind it have some ulterior motive, I’m afraid we’d be powerless to resist."

"..."

That was indeed the truth.

But Liu Wen Yu’s gaze sharpened at that moment. "I know. This technology is beyond our comprehension. But we have an entire nation behind us, and we are responsible for our people. Even if it’s unbelievable, we have to try to engage with it, observe it carefully, and never let down our guard."

"Yes, we will proceed with our research cautiously and meticulously."