Chapter 326: Going Home to Take a Look
The Male God’s incognito visit!
Oh, this is good stuff.
Lu Yuan immediately donned his power armor and left his flagship, Taibai, through the airlock.
Entering space, the expedition fleet was enveloped in a huge warp bubble by the Zerg fleet, hitching a ride.
Seven colossal Zerg bio-warships loomed overhead, providing both a sense of oppression and security. Their six thick tentacles at the stern swayed rhythmically.
Scholars, including the Mages, speculated that these were both their melee weapons and biological warp engines.
Every 5 to 15 hours, the fleet would exit warp at a Jump Point, precisely adjust its course, and then pass through a wormhole, allowing for one 3D printing operation during this time.
Lu Yuan turned his head to the left, seeing that the last set of engines and cerium-gold armor had been printed. Industrial drones were now transporting them to Longhu for installation.
The warship’s repairs, which had been delayed for a full 34 days, were finally complete.
At this moment, four “print head” ships were carrying material boxes, printing space fighters, decoy drones, and warp missiles.
Currently, the number of fighters had recovered from the 15 previously captured to 26.
Since the Empire's attack aircraft and heavy fighters were both larger than the owl, this was essentially the limit of hangar capacity.
Lu Yuan activated his flight pack, flew to one of the working print ships, opened the hatch to enter the airlock, and after the pressure equalized,
He then entered the cockpit.
“Executive Officer? Why are you here?”
The two Engineers operating the controls quickly stood up and saluted.
“You two keep busy.”
Lu Yuan gestured for them to remain seated.
“What are we printing next?”
“It’s time to print the military transport ship designed to house psionic communication equipment. The design blueprint has already been sent from Li Star. Please take a look.”
“It’s quite big. How long will it take to print?”
Lu Yuan saw that the transport ship was 300 meters long and 130 meters wide, roughly 10 times the volume of a frigate.
“Actually, it won’t take long,” the Engineer said. “Aside from the power section, cockpit, and living quarters, this ship only has a cargo hold. Its structure is incredibly simple, basically hollow, so it will only take 11 days to print.”
It was precisely because of its incredibly simple structure that the designers on Li Star were able to churn out the blueprints in a short amount of time.
This meant that the transport ship would be printed 5 days after the transport ship arrived at its destination, the X13 Black Hole Cluster.
And on the third day after the transport ship was completed, the powerful deep sea would also arrive at X13, forming the complete expedition fleet!
Speaking of deep sea, there was a small anecdote.
When it set off at near light speed, the players on board reached the Jump Point of the Ruins Star’s stellar system within what felt like half an hour.
However, when they began their next warp journey, the system forcibly disconnected the players because their real-world bodies had been playing continuously for over 12 hours without eating or using the restroom.
This was the time dilation effect brought about by relativity.
When traveling at 60% the speed of light, this effect was not very noticeable; one second inside the ship was only equivalent to 1.3 seconds outside.
However, when traveling at 99% the speed of light, time slowed down sevenfold, meaning 12 hours in reality was only equivalent to 100 minutes on the ship.
Players who experienced this began to further question whether “Star Ocean” was truly a game. If it was, a game that could alter human perception of time while conscious was simply too fantastical.
“Well, that’s good then. You two, squeeze in a favor for me and print something.”
Lu Yuan transmitted the blueprint to the two Engineers. “Is this VR operating equipment?”
“Yes, pretty much. So, can you handle it?”
The two thought their boss wanted to play a motion-sensing game in the captain’s cabin.
“Of course we can! Leave it to us!”
After exercising some privilege, Lu Yuan first left the printed “incognito visit device” in space, then went to Longhu to use the lithography machine and other equipment there to produce the chips and motherboards for the machine’s interior.
In fact, the giant 3D printer surpassed previous similar products in all aspects. Unlike small and large 3D printers, it could print microscopic chip structures with process technology no less than 10 nanometers.
However, when this high-precision mode was activated, the printing speed would be greatly reduced, making it not worth the effort.
It would be better to install the motherboard himself. He had been an Executive Officer for eight months, so he still had this much hands-on ability.
An hour later, Lu Yuan dragged two large boxes of items back to the captain’s cabin and assembled the components inside into the “incognito visit device.”
It was essentially an omnidirectional treadmill, plus a set of haptic full-body suit.
Lu Yuan put on the full-body suit, stepped onto the omnidirectional treadmill, secured his back to a suspension device to prevent accidental falls, and finally put on the VR glasses and connected the signal.
In the VR headset display, a butler in a black and white formal suit appeared, bowing respectfully.
“Welcome back to Li Star in avatar mode, esteemed Executive Officer. If you’re feeling well, please take a few steps.”
“That sounds a bit strange.”
Lu Yuan controlled the simulated android, which was the same height as him, and walked with stiff steps to one side of the cave, reaching out to touch the cave wall.
A stiff sensation came from the fingers and palms of the full-body suit, merely reminding the operator that something had been touched, but it was difficult to simulate the true texture, as well as temperature and humidity.
This control method was too clumsy. It seemed he would have to install a brain-computer interface soon.
“Your remote control has almost no delay,” the butler stepped forward to assist. “But your movements still need to be refined. I estimate that after you walk another 500 steps, the program will help you correct your movements, making you appear over 95% similar to a normal human.”
“Of course, even in this situation, humanoid robots still find it difficult to perform large-scale, complex movements exactly like humans, because, as you know, there are structural differences in nerves, joints, and muscles.”
“Hmm, this invention actually has great development prospects.”
Lu Yuan said to the butler while relearning how to walk.
“Once the performance of humanoid robots improves by another generation, we can allow the aboriginals to also join the battle by remotely controlling robots via brain-computer interfaces. This way, we won’t have to worry about large numbers of casualties triggering war-weariness.”
“Provided there is no strong electromagnetic interference,” the butler reminded him.
“Right, you’re correct. On the battlefield, enemies with technology not inferior to ours can easily implement localized electromagnetic suppression, causing wireless remote control to fail.”
After a period of practice, Lu Yuan fully mastered the remote control of the synthetic human.
He eagerly changed into a Cangyuan combat uniform, put on a Li Star-style robe over it, and then, accompanied by the butler, walked out of the cave and into the canyon of Devil Mountain Camp.
This was where the dream began!
“Wow.”
For a moment, Lu Yuan thought he had time-traveled.
He thought he had returned to reality, returned to Earth.
He saw that both the left and right halves of Devil Mountain were almost hollowed out. Below the 12th floor, the inside of the mountain was filled with various exquisitely decorated shops and restaurants serving various cuisines.
They were connected to each other by skywalks and escalators. At first glance, one might think it was a canyon-themed shopping mall built by some wealthy developer in reality.
It was unbelievably prosperous!
Above the 12th floor were commercial office buildings and hotels.
The top of the canyon at the 40th floor, over 200 meters high, and the canyon openings at the front and back, were all completely sealed with UV-resistant glass.
This allowed for small-scale climate control inside the canyon. The ground level had become an indoor park, planted with ornamental plants, and artificial streams, ponds, and fountains had been built.
“This is the Star Alliance merchants’ and technicians’ favorite place,” the butler introduced to Lu Yuan.
“On holidays, they spend almost the entire day here shopping, relaxing, going to arcades and board game cafes, or watching old Earth movies from before the disaster all day long.”
“The most popular dishes among these outsiders and aboriginals are hotpot and barbecue.”
“Good, very good. Are these shops all owned by players?” Lu Yuan asked.
He also hoped to boost the income of the aboriginal folks.
The butler replied, “The vast majority of the owners are ‘player’ level employees, while over 90% of the staff are aboriginals. However, the first shop taken over by aboriginals has recently appeared. They learned Xinjiang cuisine from the players. Look, the shop is right there, and business is booming.”
“Ha! Xinjiang cuisine, very good. It’s very suitable for the aboriginals here. I estimate they have a great talent for cooking this type of cuisine.”
Lu Yuan looked around with great satisfaction, admiring the employees’ construction achievements, and saw a huge sign.
The sign featured a cartoon dragon-man with sharp teeth, giving a thumbs-up.
“Mad Dragon BBQ & Beer! The boss’s gladiatorial matches will begin soon. For every victory, the entire tab is on the house that night!”
Well, well.
The owner of this shop was clearly a Male God. This fellow certainly had a knack for business!
