Chapter 30: VR Military Training

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Lin Xuan watched Xiao Sizi playing in the living room, her head drenched in sweat.

She held two controllers, her body occasionally making dodging movements, while laughter gurgled from her mouth.

"Alright, the painting is nearly done."

"Rest for a few minutes, then I'll take you to play something thrilling."

The screen went black.

The sea of clouds and the glowing pavilions vanished.

Xiao Sizi removed the VR Headset, clutching the heavy device with both hands, breathing heavily.

Several strands of sweat-dampened hair stuck to her forehead, yet her eyes shone with startling brightness.

"Lin Xuan! That truly was the Immortal Realm!"

She ran over excitedly, grabbing Lin Xuan's arm and acting coquettishly.

"I couldn't touch the walls, I couldn't feel the ground."

"I could even paint in mid-air; this must be a grotto-heaven and blessed land you opened with Immortal Arts!"

Lin Xuan took the VR Headset, grabbed a tissue, and wiped her sweat.

"I already said it's not the Immortal Realm; this is called VR, Virtual Reality Technology."

"The images you see inside the VR Headset are light projected from these two micro-screens." Lin Xuan pointed to the two lenses inside the VR Headset. "The Personal Computer generates the images and sends them to the screens."

"When you turn your head, the base station on the wall captures your movement, and then the Personal Computer instantly calculates the new perspective image."

Xiao Sizi listened in a daze, catching only a few words.

"Fake? It's all calculated by this iron box of yours?"

"Yes, it's all code, tricking your eyes and your brain."

"When vision and hearing are deprived, the brain will believe that fake world is real."

Xiao Sizi looked down at the Controller in her hand.

A fake world, yet possessing an experience more shocking than reality.

No need to suffer, no need to cultivate the Dao; just put on the Magic Artifact and ascend to the heavens in broad daylight.

"Lin Xuan, is such a divine object in later generations used only for human entertainment?"

Xiao Sizi asked a core question.

If the Great Tang possessed such a divine artifact that could deceive the five senses, it would surely be used to interrogate assassins, or as the supreme Magic Artifact for royal sacrifices.

Using it to amuse children is simply a waste of a precious resource.

Lin Xuan shook his head and clicked open another folder on the Personal Computer desktop.

"Entertainment is merely its most basic civilian function."

"Its true value lies in another field."

Lin Xuan double-clicked an icon.

A software cover featuring a shield crossed with a long sword popped up.

"Drink some water, then put on the VR Headset."

"Next, I'll take you to see how adults use this fake world to handle serious matters."

Xiao Sizi put the VR Headset back on.

The scene suddenly changed.

Grey city bricks rose rapidly around her.

The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds pressing down overhead.

A low, desolate sound of a horn exploded by her ears.

Xiao Sizi shivered all over and looked around.

She was standing atop a towering ancient city wall.

Burning fire basins stood on both sides, and the wind carried a strong smell of gunpowder.

Below the city wall lay a desolate plain.

The horn sound turned urgent.

At the end of the plain, tens of thousands of virtual soldiers clad in heavy black armor, holding spears and siege ladders, surged madly toward the city wall.

The cries of battle shook heaven and earth.

A virtual soldier set up a ladder, half his body protruding over the battlements.

His face was ferocious, a long sword held high.

Xiao Sizi screamed in fright.

Her legs went weak, and she retreated repeatedly.

Her heel struck the edge of the sofa, and her body fell backward.

A pair of powerful large hands supported her back.

"It's okay, don't be afraid; remember, all of this is fake."

Xiao Sizi breathed heavily.

Even though reason told her this was an illusion.

The blades approaching before her eyes and the deafening cries of battle still caused her adrenaline to surge wildly.

Lin Xuan gripped her arms and pushed her forward.

"Raise your hand, press the side button with your left hand, hold it level, and pull the trigger with your right hand."

Xiao Sizi gritted her teeth and followed his instructions.

The moment her hands rose, a heavy virtual recurve bow appeared in her vision.

Her left hand gripped the bow's back, her right pinched the virtual string.

The vibration motor built into the controller hummed, simulating the tension of the drawn string.

A long arrow nocked on the string.

"Release your right hand," Lin Xuan ordered.

Xiao Sizi loosened her index finger.

Whoosh—!

The long arrow left the string, carving a fierce parabola through the air, and pierced the chest of the virtual soldier climbing the battlements.

The soldier fell backward.

Mid-air, his body dissolved into countless blue data points, vanishing without a trace.

"Hit by an arrow and scattered... not flesh and blood?"

Xiao Sizi held the bow, frozen in place.

Lin Xuan stepped forward, brought the straw of his thermos to her lips, and casually lifted the lower edge of the goggles on her face.

"This is called a Cold Weapon Defense City-Defense Simulator. Isn't it thrilling?"

Xiao Sizi took the straw in her mouth and sucked down a large gulp of warm water.

Her wildly beating heart slowly calmed.

She pressed the goggles tight again and rotated her view.

Below, the virtual army continued its charge.

"Lin Xuan, such a lifelike scene, crafted with such effort, merely to amuse a child?"

"This is surely a gross waste of resources."

Lin Xuan explained, "Who said it's a toy for children?"

"Here, cultivating a pilot who can fly a Fighter Jet in the sky, or an armored soldier who can drive a Tank, costs an extremely high price."

"Those high-tech machines cost over a hundred million to build."

Xiao Sizi perked up her ears to listen.

"Letting new recruits operate real equipment directly, if they make a single mistake, it's aircraft destroyed and people dead, a total loss."

"So, the military built Simulation Pods."

"New recruits put on this VR Headset and sit inside."

"In that fake world, Fighter Jets get shot down by missiles a thousand times, Tanks get blown up by mines ten thousand times, and the people remain lively and healthy."

"Take off the VR Headset, wipe the sweat, and if it's time for the cafeteria, go eat."

"But the Personal Computer will record all their lessons for them."

"Having died hundreds or thousands of times in the illusion, the body has already formed the most perfect muscle memory."

Great Han, Changle Palace.

Han Xin, the God of War, overturned the wine table before him.

His muscles trembled slightly from extreme excitement.

"Zero casualties... veterans of a hundred battles..."

He turned his head, looking at Liu Bang, the Emperor of Han.

"Your Majesty! If we can master such a divine artifact, all wars under heaven will be completely overturned!"

Liu Bang sat upright on his dragon couch, his face showing shock.

Han Xin stepped forward, pointing at the sky.

"When two armies clash, the hardest things to predict are terrain and variables."

"If we can load the enemy country's mountains, rivers, dangers, cities, and heights entirely into this iron-box illusion!"

Han Xin's mind raced with frantic War Game Simulations, his breathing rapid.

"Our main generals could then deploy troops and arrange formations in the illusion before setting out, attacking cities ten times, a hundred times."

"Where ambushes hide, where fires can be set, where the city walls are weakest."

"Trial and error a thousand times, without losing a single soldier!"

"When the real army marches out, every soldier will be as if possessed by a god, knowing the enemy's deployment like the back of their hand. They could cut through the enemy lines with their eyes closed!"

Han Xin threw his head back and laughed loudly, his laughter filled with extreme warlike intent.

"The ultimate realm of War Game Simulation! With such a divine object, what city under heaven cannot be broken!"

Tang Dynasty timeline, Taiji Palace.

Cold wind blew through the great hall.

Li Shimin stared at the virtual battlefield on the Sky Screen, with Hou Junji, the Minister of War, standing at his side.

"Your Majesty," Hou Junji swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "when new recruits see blood, five out of ten are lost; only the survivors can be called veterans."

"After a hard battle, it's a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood."

"People of later generations, sitting inside a small room, putting on eye masks."

"Can forge elites who have crawled out of a battlefield of demons from thin air."

"Such a method is terrifyingly so."

Li Shimin said nothing, striding toward the side hall of Lizheng Hall.

The ministers hurriedly followed.