Chapter 167: Chapter 166: The Commander’s Call
BZZ... BZZ...
The phone on the desk buzzed softly, and Satoshi immediately looked at it out of reflex.
The long-awaited blood-red eye icon lit up again, making his breath quicken and his whole body tense with excitement.
More than a week had passed since he received the last prompt from the True Apocalypse Game telling him to purchase a virtual reality device.
Just this morning, he had paid a premium to get his hands on an "Other Shore" virtual reality device produced by Hua Country’s Huawei, and had it installed in his villa.
Immediately afterward, he received the notification that the Gray Tide apocalypse of the True Apocalypse Game was beginning.
This once again made him feel the Commander’s immense power.
The Commander seemed to be omnipresent, able to know their every move at any time.
This should have repulsed him, but right now, it was somewhat reassuring.
But even such a powerful being still feared the Whisperer, who was preparing to drag all of human civilization into the Abyss.
’Just how powerful is that Whisperer? How mysterious can they be?’
Speaking of which, he himself had once been one of the world’s mysterious figures.
After he created Bitcoin, he had completely hidden his existence, minimizing his contact with the internet. He even went as far as to completely withdraw from all online social networks for two full years.
The whole world speculated about who Satoshi Nakamoto was, and many impostors emerged. For a time, some people even believed them.
As the real Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, he had once found all of this amusing from behind the scenes. He would look down upon the masses obsessed with blockchain with a god-like gaze, enjoying the pride that belonged to a creator.
That was, until he was chosen by the Commander and became a member of the Salvation Army.
When the True Apocalypse Game accurately stated his real name and exposed the identity he thought he had hidden so perfectly, Satoshi Nakamoto felt lost and furious, but then he slowly came to accept it.
After going through two apocalypse missions and personally witnessing the crises happening in the real world through various pieces of information, he now felt a sense of pride at being chosen.
He was an extremely proud person to begin with. His main motivation for creating Bitcoin had been to advance human society, and now that he could do something for all of civilization, he felt it was his undeniable responsibility.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Satoshi walked quickly to the virtual reality device, picked up the object that looked like a motorcycle helmet, put it on, and then lay down on the sofa.
The neural-link technology used in Huawei’s "Other Shore" virtual reality device seemed more advanced, as it didn’t require a large virtual pod.
He activated the virtual reality device. A soft light suddenly appeared before him, and a circular, blood-red eye icon materialized.
Clearly, this device was also under the developer’s control.
Just like his phone.
He raised his hands to look and saw that he could see them just fine.
This device was driven by perceiving and stimulating neural signals.
Without the slightest hesitation, Satoshi immediately walked toward the eye icon in the Virtual World and stepped inside.
Another flash of white light, accompanied by a faint sense of dizziness—it seemed to be a bug in the machine itself.
In the next instant, a gray metal structure appeared before his eyes. He seemed to be in a metal workshop, with a gray dome overhead.
There were many other people around, but everyone’s appearance was blurry, obscured by a mosaic effect that hid their faces.
Unlike the nuclear-warfare-wasteland apocalypse, they were no longer ugly, radiation-mutated freaks.
A prompt appeared before him:
"Please select character model."
Satoshi thought for a moment and casually chose the appearance of an Asian man.
By now, the surrounding players had all chosen their appearances and began to curiously examine their surroundings.
New players were still continuously entering. The workshop-like area was about the size of several football fields, large enough to hold nearly ten thousand people without feeling crowded.
Surrounding this area were numerous metal corridors leading to other zones. They were winding and deep, and for the moment, no one made a move to leave.
"This must be the inside of a construct formed after being devoured by the Gray Tide. Judging by the smoothness of the metal surface, some of the individual Nanomechanical Insects have even broken the 1-nanometer limit... Tsk, tsk, that’s terrifying..."
"That’s right. Based on the shape of this place, we’re likely inside what was once a mountain. The original interior was limestone, and you can still see marks from water erosion—of course, they’re just traces simulated by the Nanomechanical Cluster after it devoured everything."
"I wonder what kind of world we’ll find outside when we leave this place. It’s hard to imagine what kind of person could survive a disaster like this..."
"The concept of a runaway Nanomechanical Cluster creating a Gray Tide that devours the whole world appeared in science fiction decades ago, but I never thought it would feel this real."
"The Commander is incredible. What kind of powerful technology does he or she possess to be able to modify existing virtual reality devices to this extent?"
"Yeah... The sense of touch, the temperature, the texture... I almost feel like I’ve been transported to another world... Humanity’s current virtual reality and neural-link technology can’t achieve this level of realism..."
The players were all discussing animatedly, but after hearing that last sentence, they couldn’t help but fall silent again.
’Not human technology... Could it be technology from beyond Earth?’
’The kind of aliens that always show up at the end of a third-rate sci-fi mystery?’
Everyone then gently shook their heads, dismissing this hypothesis in their minds.
Aliens wouldn’t be so concerned with the demise of human civilization.
Just then, a player using the appearance of a blond man with heterochromatic eyes suddenly asked:
"Everyone, do you have any news about the Purification Society? I know this is a bit sudden, but I just can’t help but ask..."
Previously, they had all received a prompt from the game system: The Whisperer is connected to Cthulhu’s Purification Society.
Though it was only one sentence, it had stirred up a storm in everyone’s hearts.
During this time, the questioner had been secretly investigating Cthulhu’s Purification Society, but he hadn’t found many useful clues in the end—just leads on a few former peripheral members or some ex-students who had gone mad.
Nothing else.
It was as if the great fire at the Purification Society’s sanatorium in Wuyou Town had burned away all traces of the organization.
Hearing his question, most of the people present shook their heads, indicating they had no news.
The remaining few hundred people shared the clues they had, all of which were just fragments—some even as small as a single sentence or a photo from a twenty-year-old Wuyou Town promotional brochure.
Everyone selflessly shared all this information, and it was then that they discovered a unique feature of this virtual reality system.
If they wished, they could simply state the information aloud, and text and images would appear floating in the air beside them, seemingly able to directly pull information from their brainwaves—only with their tacit permission, of course.
The entire underground space now resembled an information market, with hundreds of pieces of information floating in the air for all the players present to see.
Everyone was now rapidly memorizing this information, saving it to their devices using the virtual reality system’s automatic screenshot and storage technology.
These clues were extremely useful for finding the Purification Society.
After they finished exchanging information, the crowd finally began to discuss a way out.
Just then, a cry of alarm came from a corner. Satoshi immediately looked over and saw dozens of players crowding around a few others as they walked out.
The players at the very front looked very familiar, as if he’d seen them online before.
"Mr. Li Tongchen! Mr. Bolat! Mr. Aldred! Mr. Crotilda..."
Someone had already shouted out their names, and a look of realization dawned on the faces of the surrounding players.
These thirteen people were all winners of the Lasker Medical Award—the doctors who had "invented" the Medicine for Petrification Disease!
They were actually showing their real faces!
"Mr. Li Tongchen, why are you..."
"This is... very dangerous!"
A few players said with no small amount of concern.
Li Tongchen gave a wry smile and said:
"Our identities have long been public knowledge. Everyone has been through the Stone Statue Apocalypse mission, so they naturally understand that we didn’t research the Healing Potion ourselves. We were given the opportunity thanks to the Commander’s favor. All the players understand that we are the first Disciples."
Bolat, who was standing to the side, laughed and said:
"Exactly. So even if we hid our identities, we’d only be kidding ourselves. It’s better to just be open about it. It also makes communication easier for everyone."
At these words, everyone present nodded silently.
What they said was the truth.
Anyone who wasn’t an idiot—any player of the True Apocalypse Game—could figure out where the Healing Potion from the Stone Statue Apocalypse really came from.
The true identities of these doctors had long been exposed.
Moreover, by revealing their true identities in the game, they were helping to strengthen the cohesion and solidarity of the Salvation Army’s players.
If they didn’t know each other’s identities, long-term suspicion would naturally create rifts between them.
As for the danger, it was clear these doctors had long since disregarded it.
Perhaps one day, led by their example, all the players would trust each other enough to show their real faces.
This was an extremely important step.
At this, the crowd bowed to Li Tongchen and the others to thank them for their contributions.
After all, even though the thirteen of them made it sound easy, they had clearly endured great hardships during the Stone Statue Apocalypse mission. And their courage—to disregard life and death and dare to be the first—was also worthy of admiration.
Satoshi also gave a deep bow.
At the same time, an elderly man with an Asian face said:
"Everyone, this time we will once again explore in batches, organized by brigades within the legion structure. You may now assemble according to your original unit numbers."
He added at the end, "I am the Legion Commander."
The players’ hearts skipped a beat. They immediately recalled the Legion Commander’s powerful strategic and tactical abilities during the nuclear-wasteland apocalypse mission, and they began to fall into formation.
Just then, a dull THUD THUD THUD THUD suddenly echoed from the hollows around the space, as if some giant animal was crawling toward them.
In the next instant, hundreds, then thousands, of gray humanoid machines poured into the space from the surrounding passageways. Their eyes glowed with a blood-red light, and they emitted a cold, electronic voice:
"Primary construction material... detected."
"Primary construction material... detected."
"Detected..."
A few players who were clearly industry experts couldn’t help but exclaim:
"It’s the Gray Tide’s defense mechanism!"
"My god, this thing actually exists!"
"EMP! We need an EMP!"
"And special-frequency sonic vibrations! Damn it, we have nothing!"
Before they could finish, the humanoid machines were already lunging toward the crowd like monsters!
Satoshi realized with horror that he was completely unarmed and had no way to fight these monsters!
Just as he clenched his fists, ready to fight for his life, he felt a sudden chill in his chest. A mechanical arm, covered in fresh blood, had burst out from his torso!
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