Chapter 2: New Calamity

After checking the data in the Lord of Calamity's mind for three days, plus some tests coordinated by his sister and Saina, Chen Zhi was finally able to set his mind at ease.

He could control the Helmet to a certain extent, using the Helmet as a connection medium to allow those who wore it to travel freely between the two worlds.

Those who wore the Helmet could force a logout, and if they sustained damage, the connection could also be forcibly severed, allowing the consciousness that had come to this world via the Helmet as a link to return to its original world.

This made Chen Zhi feel much more at ease.

Chen Ai, meanwhile, kept complaining that the game's content was too sparse; after all, she hadn't even left the Sewers yet.

She truly imagined everything here to be a game.

That was fine too; at least she didn't know she had truly disappeared.

Chen Zhi gave his arm a self-deprecating shake, then opened the newly built game forum.

There were only a few scattered posts on it, all posted by Chen Ai herself; as for Chen Zhi, he had posted one thread under the identity of the development team.

This post was quite crude, exuding an air of unreliability.

Respected users:

The latest virtual game "New Calamity," launched by Zhixin Aihe, will begin a new round of data-wiping testing on October 1, 2024, at 10:00.

This is a true virtual reality game, a pioneering feat bestowed by New Knowledge. "New Calamity" will open up the real world of Tana City, allowing you to feel an immersive gaming atmosphere. Put on the Helmet, and you will enjoy the shock brought by the world's latest technology and experience a real world.

Test start time: October 1, 2024, 10:00.

"New Calamity" invites you to explore Tana City together and step into a mysterious, illusory world.

Notes:

(1) This test is for virtual Helmet equipment testing only;

(2) Please follow the Princess account "Lord of Calamity" to apply for a free virtual Helmet;

(3) This test is a data-wiping test; the server will be shut down after the test ends, and data will not be retained;

(4) This test is a free data-wiping test; items generated by characters in the game will be cleared after the data-wiping test ends;

(5) This is only a test; the game's test quality does not represent the final game quality;

—— "New Calamity" Operations Team

As someone who made peripherals, suddenly making a game really felt a bit unnatural to him.

Still, he cobbled it together and published the announcement.

Although Chen Zhi played games occasionally, he didn't play them deeply; he would even find power-levelers to help him with dungeons and daily tasks, and he didn't pay much attention to game announcements or even game content.

Therefore, he had thought almost nothing about the game content.

Anyway, once people arrived, wouldn't it be natural and logical to see how the game should grow and how it should be made?

As for doing it himself, that was impossible; he was a peripheral maker, why would he want to rack his brain over this?

After this announcement was forwarded by Chen Ai, it predictably received quite a bit of mockery.

Chen Ai had quite a few Weibo followers; after all, as a fan-art master, the audience for her drawings was mostly perverts. Besides beautiful women and handsome men, she also often drew male-male and female-female pairings, sitting on 500,000 followers. Even if most weren't active, there were still a few die-hards.

"Ai Ai is finally starting to do promotions? Ai Ai isn't pure anymore."

"I didn't expect Ai Ai to fall this low too. Sigh, if you're going to take promotions, at least take quality ones. Does this game's art team actually have Ai Ai on board?"

"Ai Ai, how do I apply for the Helmet? Are you playing too?"

A few quick-acting active fans had already opened the forum and started applying for the Helmet.

It had to be said that making peripherals did have its benefits; with a bit of overtime at the factory, one hundred Helmets were made.

One hundred of Chen Ai's lucky fans were selected, and the packages were sent out.

When Li You opened the shipping box, he thought the motorcycle helmet he had bought had arrived.

His previous helmet was just cool, but its protective capability wasn't strong. Ever since a few motorcycle influencers he followed had accidents, he didn't dare to play it cool anymore and switched to buying helmets that looked like they had heavy-duty protection—they were heavy just to weigh in the hand.

If it weren't for the user manual inside the heavy box, Li You wouldn't have known what this was for.

After putting it on to try it out, he twitched his mouth in embarrassment.

The test Helmet had a box-pushing mini-game on it, in VR. It was Chen Zhi's fault for not being able to personally oversee production, resulting in the built-in mini-game being installed without any changes.

There was no "New Calamity" game icon on it. After Li You played the box-pushing game for a while, he put down the Helmet, silently opened his phone, and contacted Chen Ai.

"What's up with this promotion of yours? This Helmet can't play games at all."

"Who says? This game is incredible, I can't even describe it, it's definitely epoch-making."

"But isn't this just a VR device? You hyped it up to the heavens, but the effect really isn't that great."

"What are you talking about? The test hasn't even started yet, has it?" Chen Ai touched her head, speechless; she had no idea what was going on with the game's built-in mini-game.

After all, as soon as she put on the Helmet, she had entered the Sewers.

"Even if it has started, your game..." Li You shook his head, "How many people could possibly play this game of yours?"

He wasn't optimistic at all; just looking at the game built into the equipment, he knew "New Calamity" definitely wouldn't be fun.

"Nonsense, it will definitely be a hit. The game is epoch-making. I gave you a Helmet for free and you're still acting up. If I had known, I wouldn't have asked my brother for this spot for you," Chen Ai said unhappily. She had good intentions, but the other party had taken them for granted.

Like Li You, everyone who received a Helmet was deeply shocked.

At first, upon receiving it, they thought this game manufacturer was generous and lavish.

But after trying out the mini-game on it, everyone who received a Helmet fell silent.

They really couldn't understand how there could be such a game manufacturer in this world. Those in the know felt even more that this company, Zhixin Aihe, had become obsessed with making peripherals and had actually taken such a thing to hype up an internet concept.

How to put it? It was simply extremely stupid.

Chen Zhi didn't know what had happened yet. With two days left until October 1st, he still had many things to be busy with.

For example, splitting his own body.

Someone like Chen Ai, who could draw, could take a splash of mud and turn it into a beautiful woman.

But others didn't necessarily have her level of skill; whether they could even mold it into the shape of a human was a problem.

And even if they were molded, the space in front of Chen Zhi was already crowded enough just for a tentacle monster like him; it really couldn't fit over a hundred people.

Therefore, he needed to make some preparations in advance.

For example, molding some basic human bodies himself; as for their appearance, he found an AI program online to generate them automatically, as letting players customize their own faces was out of the question—he simply lacked the ability to develop that feature.

Another example, having his loyal Believers throw these bodies out.

Yes, just throw them out.

Anywhere in the Sewers would do, since he couldn't fit them in front of himself anyway.

When the time came, he would just let those who put on the Helmet enter these bodies; for the past two days, Chen Zhi had done nothing but mold them, then had Andrew throw these "corpses" away.

Andrew was indeed a loyal Believer; he never questioned his Lord about what these corpses were all about.

He loyally did what he was supposed to do.

As for Saina, she did not agree with the Lord of Calamity's approach; these were troubled times, and doing such things could very likely expose the Lord of Calamity's hidden location.

Yet as a Believer, she had no choice but to obey the Lord of Calamity's instructions.

"In two days, a batch of Believers will use those bodies; you must find a way to guide them," Chen Zhi said, looking down at Saina.

Saina lowered her head and said, "I shall strictly follow your will, but what do you need me to guide them to do?"

"Just let them survive," Chen Zhi replied; he did not know if he would ever be able to return, and if he could not, he wanted to do his best to leave behind a fortune for his younger sister, enough for her to spend the rest of her life in happiness.

Without a doubt, this game was the greatest wealth he could leave for his sister.

(End of this chapter)