บท 31: VR Headset
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
With all this in mind, Chen Chen had already thought out a rational course of action.
He began downloading the movie Ready Player One.
As the signal in the industrial park was not very strong, Chen Chen had to wait for half an hour to complete downloading the movie.
However, Chen Chen did not copy the movie into the USB drive at once. First, he played the movie and reviewed the plot twice.
In the movie, there were five types of game peripherals.
The first type was in the opening scene, when the protagonist, Wade, used a three-piece set that included a cheap "VR headset", "haptic gloves", and a "pressure-sensitive omnidirectional treadmill".
The second type was an "X1 Bootsuit" that the protagonist purchased after receiving the reward of the first challenge. This suit allowed the player to feel tactile sensations in the game.
The third type was the "OAR9400 Visual Motion Chair" used by the main villain of the movie, which allowed the player to play the game while lying in the chair. In addition, this visual chair had an advanced holographic projection function that formed images in thin air.
Obviously, the motion chair was more advanced than the other two types.
As for the fourth and fifth types of peripherals, they were simplified versions of the first and second types.
Besides that, there was other game equipment that appeared in the end such as slings.
Nonetheless, other than the high-end "OAR9400 Visual Motion Chair", the other devices required corresponding real-life movements to control one's avatar.
Therefore, it was ideal for Chen Chen to instantiate that chair.
Even so, Chen Chen felt that this was not likely.
Ever since he had obtained the USB drive, he had instantiated four items. The first two times were Pikachu's duckbill cap, the third time was the NZT-48 pills and the final time was the immunity shot that he had recently instantiated.
These four items had one thing in common – they were all light, small, and could be grasped in one hand.
Chen Chen was not certain that he would succeed if he tried to extract the movie's hemispherical chair that weighed over a hundred kilograms.
If the instantiation failed, would it drain the USB drive's energy?
All this was unknown for now.
However, Chen Chen would not shy away from trying just because of a fear of failure. It was just like how humans would never have discovered the New World if they did not sail across the sea.
Chen Chen still had to carry out many experiments to test the USB drive's abilities. This was the first thing he had learned as a researcher.
One could say that exploring the unknown would always be humanity's only path forward.
Having considered this, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. He dragged the movie into the USB drive immediately and clicked play.
After that, Chen Chen clicked on the progress bar, locating the image of the "OAR9400 Visual Motion Chair" that the movie's villain, Nolan, was using.
Following that, Chen Chen pressed the pause button.
"Come on out!"
Chen Chen whispered. At the same time, he stretched out his right hand and pictured himself pulling that chair into reality.
"Ding!"
However, just when Chen Chen felt that he could touch that massive chair, the screen turned black.
At the same time, his pointer and middle fingers throbbed with a piercing pain!
Chen Chen drew back his hand as if he felt an electric shock. He saw that there was a missing chunk of flesh, nearly half a centimeter deep, on both his fingers!
He could almost see his bones.
Chen Chen's expression turned stormy and he looked toward the screen, only to see that the movie had shut down. Also, a dialog box had popped up – insufficient energy.
"As I thought, it's an issue of energy."
Chen Chen's mouth twitched. Although his fingers were stinging dreadfully, this pain was swiftly blocked thanks to the effects of NZT. Thus, Chen Chen's thinking would not be affected by this pain.
He used tissue paper to stop the bleeding, then looked toward the USB drive. It appeared that nothing was instantiated this time hence the USB drive did not change.
"No, that's not right."
Suddenly, Chen Chen recalled something and looked up abruptly. "If each item needs to be instantiated by the USB drive, why could I touch them even before they were instantiated?"
Chen Chen could remember that it was not just this time. When he first tried to instantiate the "immunity shot" six months ago, it failed because the USB drive had insufficient energy. Even so, Chen Chen had felt himself touching the "immunity shot"!
If the USB drive could instantiate an item from a movie, why could he still touch the said item even when the USB drive had insufficient energy?
Since he could touch it, did that not mean that the instantiation was successful?
However, if the instantiation had succeeded, why was there a problem of insufficient energy?
Could it be…
Chen Chen frowned. This was a detail he had not considered – the USB drive's ability might not be instantiation. Rather, it created a link between reality and a fictitious space, allowing him to bring out an object from that world into reality!
This was the truth about the USB drive.
In other words, the energy required by the USB drive was not used to materialize things out of thin air. It merely supplied energy for the channel connecting the two spaces.
This explained why only a few hundred thousand kWh of electricity, which was the equivalent of one trillion joules of energy, could paradoxically create something out of thin air.
After all, when a hydrogen bomb produced 1kg of helium, it could generate a hundred trillion joules of energy. The reduction in mass throughout this process would be negligible. Evidently, when matter was converted into energy, it far surpassed the value of "one trillion joules".
Chen Chen wordlessly memorized this rule and he gave up on that stylish, high-end visual motion chair. He copied the movie again and went straight to the opening scene.
In this scene, the male protagonist, Wade, was wearing the game devices.
The haptic gloves and omnidirectional treadmill did not have much technological value and were automatically disregarded by Chen Chen. What he was observing was the VR headset that Wade was wearing.
The VR headset was different from the chair. It was the size of his palm and the USB drive should have enough energy.
With this in mind, Chen Chen paused the image at the opening scene while reaching out with his left hand, brushing against the VR headset.
It was that familiar touch again. Chen Chen's left hand seemed to penetrate space, reaching into the existence of a different world.
Chen Chen clenched his jaw, grabbed the item, and pulled it out vigorously!
"Ding!"
The movie automatically shut down once again!
At the same time, a strange headset had appeared in Chen Chen's hand.
The headset was mostly white with white and red cartoon words emblazoned across it. It was also affixed with an elastic band to help secure the headset on one's head.
At the center of the headset was a strip of black lens.
Although it was called a lens, a user could not see through it. Rather, its function was to project a full range of images onto the user's retinas through the principle of projection, thus forming an omnidirectional visual effect that created an unparalleled sense of reality.
As he looked at the VR headset in his hands, Chen Chen sighed in relief inwardly.
At this point, he was not worried that the USB drive would not instantiate something. Instead, he was afraid that he would be too slow in retracting his hand and the USB drive would sever his fingers.
'Looks like I'll have to find a way to manufacture a mechanical arm to extract items for me…'
Chen Chen thought to himself silently and glanced back at the USB drive.
After he had instantiated the VR headset, the USB drive looked tattered and worn out once more.
The energy within the USB drive had been depleted once more.
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