บท 30: Superpower or Black Technology?

บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation

Finally succeeded…

Chen Chen gazed at the item he had sought after for so long.

Even though there were many challenges along the way, he had finally achieved his goal in the end.

Chen Chen looked at the permanent immunity shot he held in his palms. This was the first time he found himself in a dumbfounded state while under the effects of NZT-48.

Even though it had only been half a year since acquiring the USB drive, it was like ages ago to Chen Chen. It felt so long that it was almost unreal.

"From today onward, I shall wield the sword of Damocles, hanging overhead the entire time…"

Chen Chen mumbled in a low voice. He carefully unscrewed the safety valve and aimed the needleless syringe at the veins on his neck.

'Toxicology tests and animal experiments - all of that can go to hell for all I care.'

"Fsst!"

Without a hint of hesitation, the high-pressure needleless syringe instantly punched through Chen Chen's skin. The drug was injected into his veins.

Chen Chen felt a wave of chilliness. It began to spread from his neck and subsequently flowed through his blood veins into his heart. Then, it was pumped into his brain from his heart.

The moment the chilling sensation reached his brain, Chen Chen felt as if he had been jolted awake. The slight headache he was feeling instantly vanished.

"Phew!"

Chen Chen craned his neck upward and breathed out. He could vividly feel a sharp sensation as if the drug was erecting layers of barriers in his brain, protecting it from being corroded by the drug.

This meant that from today onward, Chen Chen no longer had to wake up to a terrible rumbling headache. There would also no longer be any toxicological reaction caused by the residue that could cause him to drop dead one day.

Chen Chen was finally free of the shackles of the drug. NZT-48 was no longer a double-edged sword but an invincible mythical weapon!

Chen Chen contained his excitement. He looked at the USB drive and noticed that it became noticeably worn down, but not as beaten down as it was before.

"Can it still perform one more instantiation?"

Chen Chen's eyes shone at the notion.

This time, he had to make a well thought out decision.

Chen Chen considered for a moment.

He remembered reading a report titled Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs back in junior high. The report categorized the basic needs of humans into five tiers. In the order from the lowest to the highest tiers, they were: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Chen Chen applied the theory to himself. Prior to acquiring the immunity shot, he would be categorized in the second tier: safety.

Now that the safety concerns were dealt with, his current hierarchy of needs naturally escalated to esteem and self-actualization.

This meant that it was time to start pursuing things like wealth, title, and personal aspirations.

Of course, superpowers would be a decent choice as well. Even though he could not show them off, it could be good for self-protection.

There was an old Chinese saying that Chen Chen was fond of:

"He who wields a blade fears nothing."

However, based on the USB drive's current state, it could only perform instantiation one more time.

A wise man would take advantage of this opportunity to guarantee the possibility of ten, perhaps even a hundred instantiations in the future.

Chen Chen took out a notepad and wrote down two options.

"Chronicle, Ready Player One."

These two movies were the two options Chen Chen had for the next part of his plans.

Chronicle was a movie based on real life. Apart from the three main characters, there were not any other forms of superpowers in the world.

Chen Chen had the same concerns that he had in the past. He was not sure if his body would be decimated by the radiation of the crystalline after acquiring the superpower. He also was not sure whether his mental state would be affected by the superpower.

After all, the name itself was ominous enough already.¹

This was the riskier option.

The advantage of this option was that Chen Chen could utilize it by heading to Macau or Las Vegas and make tens of millions with the superpower. Though he could not do so too often, it was still a surefire way to make quick money.

Many people believed that if you won too much in a casino, the mafia would order a hit on you. It was not a false belief, but it was not entirely true either.

In truth, casino operations were not so much different from ordinary shops.They also had to maintain their image. Plenty of gamblers managed to rake home large amounts of winning every night so it was not unusual for people to become wealthy overnight either. These were a part of a casino's advertising technique.

If everyone who won millions in the casino was robbed or even killed on their way home, the casino would not be able to operate much longer either.

As stated above, it would not be a big deal if you only won occasionally. The subject became entirely different if you managed to win millions every night.

The sewers underneath glorious Las Vegas had no shortage of rotten dead bodies every day.

The other option was one that Chen Chen had considered for a long time.

Ready Player One was released in theaters in 2018.

It was the year 2040. Following the end of the third World War, the world was left in devastation and civilization was crumbling. One day, a genius by the name of James Halliday appeared.

He created a virtual reality game known as the Oasis. People could put on a VR set to enter a virtual world that was the stark opposite of the real world.

The virtual world was filled with robust cities and players of all sorts of appearances. Even if you were a loser who was struggling in the real world, you could become a hero in the Oasis. All the most unattainable dreams were within your reach.

This was the basis of Ready Player One.

Simply put, this was a story depicting the future of video games. It was the movie equivalent of a web novel in China.

A pair of VR glasses alone could grant you the ability to soar freely in the virtual world.

If Chen Chen could instantiate the equipment for the game, what would happen?

First of all, the holographic imaging technology in the movie utilized a form of retinal projection technology. Three-dimensional images were formed by projecting light rays into the retina.

All of the dynamic rendering, particle rendering, lighting, real-time calculation, and various rendering techniques were so realistic it was practically the same as the real world.

The universe depicted in the movie was only set about twenty years past the current day in the real world. There was not much technological advancement in that period, possibly a consequence of the world war.

This meant that the technology level within the Oasis was not far off from the real world.

For instance, there was no technique used to manipulate the mind in the movie. Players had to rely on tactile devices and motion sensor devices to play the game.

Chen Chen estimated that the technology within the Oasis was only roughly one generation ahead of the current time.

Since the gap in between was not too significant, this meant that it probably was not too difficult for Chen Chen to grasp the technology behind it.

The real world was ten to fifteen years away from the production of a game of this sort. What if Chen Chen was one step ahead and released a VR game like this?

Chances were it would revolutionize the current global technology sector along with the gaming landscape.

At the same time, it also meant raking in hundreds of billions!

Of course, it was not ideal to unveil the completed game and the technology within right away as it would attract a lot of unwanted attention.

Chen Chen could just use some minor framework and algorithm within the game to serve as the foundation. After three to five years, he could then release the finished product.

It just so happened that Chen Chen already had a similar base component on his hands – the instant translation app that he was halfway through development.

If he could implement the artificial intelligence within Oasis into the app he had designed, would it show some sort of monumental improvement?

Chen Chen made up his mind at this point.

He would begin experimenting the same way that he did with NZT-48 initially.

Even though the superpower was more appealing to Chen Chen, it would be wiser to amass enough capital to build a real lab first. After that, he could start figuring out the safety aspect of the superpower.

Surely that would be more ideal?