Chapter 711: Chapter 674: Space Elevator
Contrary to what most players had speculated, the Digital Reserve Team was not a small group of sci-fi enthusiasts.
Although these five people looked socially awkward in front of Lincoln, meek and stuttering when they spoke.
But before graduation, they were quite the characters at their school.
If Lincoln had seen them three months earlier, he wouldn’t have seen well-behaved boys dressed neatly in business attire, with immaculate black hair combed neatly to their heads.
At that time, four out of the five of them had long hair, with only the girl, Vanessa, sporting short hair.
But her short hair was blue.’
Among those with long hair, only 50% had black hair, while the other 50% had dyed it various vibrant colors.
What did they do, you ask?
A lead singer, a guitarist, a bassist, a keyboardist, and a drummer.
Yes, the Digital Reserve Team was a rock band.
And a pretty cutting-edge one at that!
They had covered and created dozens of songs based on science fiction themes.
Sci-fi theme songs were extremely rare in the whole Daxia.
Fortunately, they faced an immature market rather than a bunch of young people seeking novelty, hot-blooded youths of the new era.
From their first stage performance, they were hugely popular, spreading their youthful exuberance and unrestrained passion throughout the school for over three years.
Countless fans adored them.
Then, they graduated.
They cut their long hair, dyed it back to black, put on the typical business attire for a working adult, and tried to find an ordinary job, striving to become mature adults.
The Digital Reserve Team no longer practiced as a group or performed on stage, but instead, it became a memory and a gaming team.
…
When they opened their eyes again, they saw the starry sky.
It was not like looking up at the sky from the ground, but standing amidst the stars themselves.
They looked around, finding the place not foreign but quite familiar – it was the work they submitted for the National Construction Competition.
Right in front of them was the Hope Light Space Station.
But, something was off.
The stars in the distance, which relied on visual deception to create the illusion, now, looked incredibly real.
The space station itself, once boxy and unavoidably blocky, now seemed very authentic the closer one got.
Now, the defects at the edges of the space station had disappeared.
The exterior of the space station had gained a delicate texture, replacing the original block-like appearance.
The originally decorative robotic arm now silently operated.
…
Looking at the scene, all five of them slowly opened their mouths in awe.
“Is this…a real space station?” Lead singer Peter asked, shocked.
He knew this was a virtual world, but compared to their work, a “shell” made of blocks, this thing in front of him looked so real!
Lincoln didn’t answer the question but instead said, “I remember you, Peter, the resident singer of the Indiscriminate Death Race.”
This title was a joke among “Speed Chase” players since Peter had been performing almost every week at races for years, singing while racing.
Lincoln had a deep impression of him because the first time he appeared on stage, he was quite eye-catching: Super Tomato pulled a mobile stage with a pickup truck, and Peter stood behind it, singing rock music.
It was also because Mavis, who was driving a heavy truck, crashed around and burned half of his long hair.
But now, it seems that his “rock image” was only used in Night City, and he appeared quite serious now.
“Uh… just a personal hobby,” Peter said, feeling shy and not showing any of his former arrogance.
Lincoln laughed and, without further small talk, began talking about the matter at hand: “Last night, I had a master add some details to your space station. Let’s go take a look.”
As they spoke, the group quickly descended and entered the nearby space station.
“A master?” All five were taken aback as they stepped onto the entrance of the space station, amazed at the lifelike space station before their eyes.
“All in one night?!?!”
“What kind of master can do this kind of thing?”
“You’re not talking about yourself, are you?”
…
Lincoln thought about it and said to Peter, “You know this person.”
“I know?” Peter had a puzzled face full of question marks.
“It’s Mavis!” Mavis, who had been following Lincoln, jumped out of thin air and happily waved and greeted them.
“Oh, I see.” Peter suddenly felt half of his scalp itching…
Unlike his reaction, the only girl, Vanessa, had eyes shining brightly, excitedly pushing her friends away to take the spot closest to Mavis.
“Hi, Mavis! You’re so cute! I really like you!”
“Hehe.” Mavis shook her head smugly and turned to Lincoln to show off her accomplishment.
Lincoln patted her little head and continued with the matter at hand: “What do you think of this space station?”
The group, who barely remembered they were in an interview, quickly examined the space station that Mavis had “added a bit of detail” to.
Even Vanessa, who had been acting like a fangirl, withdrew her gaze from Mavis and looked at the space station.
Undoubtedly, the current space station had retained its original structure and outline, but its details were now much more realistic.
In a metaphorical sense, it was like upgrading from 800*600 to a 4K Ultra HD resolution.
In just one night, the space station had completed an incredible “pixel ascension.”
At first glance, it was beyond shocking.
However, as they stepped further inside the space station and saw more details, their expressions became more complex.
In the end, lead singer Peter was the first to speak up: “It feels…a bit rough.”
Yes, even though the “Pixel Ascension” was completed, and the textures and details handled everywhere had moved from “Block World” to the “Real World,” Peter felt that the space station was “very rough.”
And it wasn’t just him that felt that way—
“Many details don’t seem quite right.”
“The aging looks real, but the old parts don’t seem right.”
“The transition from blurry to precise is indeed amazing, but the places that could be filled in with imagination before have now lost their imagination space due to precision, making them…a bit fake.”
…
As they walked, a few people were pointing out unreasonable and imperfect places.
Lincoln had already mentally nodded from the moment they didn’t praise but started nitpicking.
Behind them, as they continued to point out problems and came up with various ideas for improvement, they occasionally argued for a few sentences over differing opinions.
They walked all the way to the energy center at the deepest part, where through a thick layer of glass, a powerful electromagnetic force bound the energy mass inside, emitting a scorching glow.
The members of the [Digital Reserve Team] couldn’t help but get close to the glass, watching the scorching energy roll and surge at such close range, and became somewhat lost in it.
—In their own work, there are only a few dozen magma blocks behind the glass.
Originally, Lincoln planned to ask them many questions, like—
“What’s your major?”
“Are you usually interested in science fiction works?”
“How did you design the space station? Can you design other things?”
…
But now, Lincoln’s first question was, “What is your favorite science-fiction project?”
A few people came back to their senses, looked at each other, and each gave their answer:
“Battleships.”
“Aerospace planes.”
“Space architecture.”
“Biotechnology.”
“Transformed humans.”
Lincoln was a little surprised, especially by those who said “biotechnology” and “transformed human,” which caught his eye even more.
However, this can be discussed later. The most important thing right now is—
“Are you interested in joining Cloud Dream?”
“Huh?”
Is it that easy?
This is Cloud Dream!
You just walked around and talked about your interest in science fiction, and the interview passed??
Several people found it incredible.
Looking at the five dumbfounded faces in front of him, Lincoln laughed subconsciously: “That’s right, don’t doubt it. The abilities and potential you possess are precisely what Cloud Dream needs, so… ”
“I officially invite the five of you to join Cloud Dream.”
“But what do we do?” Peter asked, puzzled. “Improve the space station?”
He could only think of this reason.
Lincoln shook his head and nodded: “The space station indeed needs work, but not on this one.”
“Don’t you think this space station is too small?”
A few people subconsciously looked up at the spacious energy center and recalled the scenery along the way.
Can this place accommodate thousands of people?
“Is this… small?”
Lincoln shook his head: “Small, too small. It should at least be able to accommodate 100,000 people living in it, right?”
“Huh?” The five people’s eyes widened again.
In reality, the space station can only accommodate five people right now!
What does 100,000 people mean?
What did Lincoln say? “Living”?
That would be the population of a county! Plus, there needs to be space for clothing, food, housing, and transportation…
What scale would that be? How many details would need to be designed?
Vanessa felt somewhat discouraged.
But Lincoln hadn’t finished talking—
“Besides the space station, there’s another essential thing.”
“What?” Peter asked subconsciously.
“The space station is suspended in space, how do players get up there?”
“Just log in directly, right?”
Lincoln shook his head.
“Teleportation Gate?” Another person took over.
Lincoln still shook his head.
“Aerospace plane?”
Lincoln continued shaking his head.
The five people looked at each other in confusion.
Lincoln then looked down at the ground.
As he lowered his head, the floor quickly became transparent, followed by the space station below, everything rapidly turning transparent until it disappeared completely.
Below the rolling lava-filled sun, the surface also began to undergo drastic changes, extinguishing the magma, surging seawater, rising land, day and night changes, and finally transitioning to myriad lights in just a few seconds.
Looking at the distant lights on the surface of the planet, Lincoln asked them, “What do you think if I said I wanted you to build a space elevator that goes straight up from the ground to space?”