Chapter 64 We brought our own dry food
Zhou Qian originally worked in a research institute, engaged in research related to materials science.
Although his resume includes many papers published in various journals, it is still far inferior to those industry leaders who have studied abroad. However, it is precisely because he has no overseas study background that he seems to have a more legitimate background.
So far, the interaction and communication between the Dragon Group and "Ten Continents" has remained in a restrained state, and each of the new quotas is precious. In order to keep the confidentiality smooth and out of some special considerations, Zhou Qian, who is only in his forties and studied under the academician of the school, stood out and was successfully selected into the Dragon Group project team.
This was Zhou Qian’s first experience with a virtual reality game in his forty-plus years of life.
He had played a lot of mobile games and PC games when he was a student, but when virtual reality games became popular, he had already devoted himself to scientific research and had no extra time to play them.
So, when he found out that the "China's Level 1 Confidential Project" he was asked to participate in was actually to play games, he was completely stunned.
But when he learned that the game he was going to "play" might actually be a completely new and unknown world, he immediately became ecstatic.
As we all know, science and technology throughout the world are currently in a relatively slow development period. Compared with the rocket-like development of science and technology in the hundred years after World War I and World War II, the entire scientific research community has not had any discoveries and achievements that can be called cross-century discoveries for a long time.
What limits the development of science and technology is not the ability of the world's top geniuses - only fools would look down on the past and think that people in the past were smarter than people today.
The real reason is actually very simple - material limitations.
It took less than 150 years from the time the periodic table was proposed in 1869 to the time it was declared complete in 2015. In fact, in the 1920s, there were only four elements left in the periodic table, but it was not until 2015 that IUPAC confirmed the artificial synthesis of four new elements, 113, 115, 117 and 118.
Since then, human exploration of materials has reached a bottleneck period, and can only find new breakthroughs through the arrangement and combination of microscopic elements such as molecules.
Now, a brand new, unexplored world appears before our eyes. What this means is self-evident.
However, Zhou Qian has not had the opportunity to carry out scientific research in this strange world. In addition to the fact that a good cook cannot cook without rice, the project team also needs to send someone to connect with Wang Ergou to help the second group members (Wang Ergou's group) build the city smoothly and fulfill the strategic role of guiding and taking the lead for other players.
As a result, Zhou Qian, who was young and inexperienced, was thrown out and had to wander around the "construction site" in Chang'an City.
Just as he was analyzing the various "technological points" that could be rubbed and improved under the existing conditions and could greatly improve production and construction efficiency, a noise suddenly came from the distance.
"My God, all the strong men in our village are here!"
The players who were working hard to move bricks looked over and saw that it seemed to be the NPCs from the Shenyou Village. There were more than 30 of them. The youngest was not even as tall as an adult's chest, and the oldest was even the village chief.
The players who saw this scene were so shocked that their eyes almost popped out of their heads. They gathered in twos and threes and talked about it non-stop.
"What the hell! What are these NPCs trying to do!?"
"I don't know! Is this the NPC from Shenyou Village?"
"Is Brother Gou up to something again?"
"Haven't you heard of it?"
"Could it be that they were hired to move bricks, just like the group of NPCs in Taiping Town?"
…Amidst all the speculation, the village chief who was walking in front finally saw Wang Ergou. His eyes lit up immediately and he eagerly went to meet him, saying in a loud voice: “The work in the fields is light these days and any boy can do it. I heard that the immortals are going to build a city here. If we don’t come to help, we will despise ourselves!”
"That's right! Yesterday, an immortal prayed for rain for our medicinal fields, but he didn't even have time to drink a sip of water. We feel really bad about it!"
"Don't worry, immortals. We have prepared our own food!"
The NPCs were talking at once, showing no trace of the timid look they had shown in the past few days.
In a sense, this is also thanks to the players who have no idea of being a human being in front of the NPC, which has successfully demystified the villagers of Shenyou Village from the "immortals".
However, Wang Ergou, who was facing this scene, almost couldn't hold back his tears.
The plot of the God-blessed Village makes people want to send knives to the dog planner, and the players' mentality of respecting the elderly and pitying the weak leads to everyone being more active than the other when doing the group tasks that Lu Renya shared with everyone before.
The original rough thatched roofs were all replaced with coarse pottery tiles that the players bought from Taiping Town at their own expense. In order to facilitate the villagers' irrigation, some players spent a night in CNKI and used magic to dig several ditches.
There are countless spontaneous actions like this.
But when players do those things, they don't consider the emotional feedback from NPCs at all. After all, those are "mission requirements", and at most, out of sympathy, they are more active while doing the "mission". After getting the mission reward, for the players, the whole story is over.
Just like other games, after a plot, the player and the NPC will no longer have any intersection with the plot. Even in the most detailed games, it is just a casual chat, saying something like "thank you for your help back then". The NPC's programmed action trajectory and life rules in the game will not change in any way that is relevant to the player.
But now, this shocking scene seemed to tell the players that what they did for the mission was rewarded! It was as if those NPCs were living people, people with feelings and memories, who could truly have emotional connections with the players!
Many veteran players who have roughly understood what is going on sighed in bewilderment: "As expected of an AI autonomous evolution, the NPCs in this game are actually this smart!"
However, Wang Ergou and his companions were not shocked by the "intelligence" of the NPC because they had already guessed it.
However, precisely because they guessed something, they were even more moved by the villagers' behavior.
Previously, Wang Ergou and his colleagues were active in Shenyou Village, not only because of the requirements of the project team, but also because of empathy for the suffering people. Everyone had suffered, and Shenyou Village had no hope at the beginning - the objective existence of immortals, gods, demons and monsters would not care about the thoughts of ordinary mortals as consumables, not to mention that this world had no soil for the independent development of industrial technology.
But this kind of empathy is merely a manifestation of realizing self-worth.
We are natural persons in the peaceful and beautiful new era. We have the personality and dignity of a dragon, so we sympathize with you and help you. In essence, even Wang Ergou has an inexplicable sense of superiority, and it even manifests itself as "charity" from one party to another.
However, until this moment, Wang Ergou seemed to have taken a lesson called "Human Nature". His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by someone. An indescribable shame and self-blame surged into his chest, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
He said blankly: "You guys..."
The villager with the loudest voice grinned, revealing his uneven yellow teeth, which looked a little funny.
He repeated: "We all brought our own dry food!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
