Chapter 97: Wildly Popular

Inside the vast stadium, Fuyun Technology Group’s press conference had already ended, yet not a single person who had come to attend was leaving. Instead, everyone rushed at remarkable speed to the experience stations nearby, waiting for the afternoon trial event to begin. Before long, long lines had formed at more than a hundred stations.

With more than two thousand people on site, each station had roughly twenty people waiting in line. And while they waited, everyone naturally made sure to send the news to their relatives and friends. Message after message went out from here, and before long the whole world knew about Fuyun Technology Group’s epoch-making new products.

“The people at Fuyun Group are really pushing it—why won’t they open the trial event until the afternoon? What are we supposed to do at noon, starve with empty stomachs?”

Zhang Lei and Li Qiang were among the faster ones; by now they were actually at the very front of one of the experience lines. Holding their somewhat hungry stomachs, they grumbled softly.

“Skipping one meal won’t kill us. Right now I’d rather go try this virtual machine at once. If we go eat now, who knows how long we’ll end up waiting later? Can’t you see people are still pouring in? Let’s bear with it for a while. I think it should start as soon as noon passes.”

Li Qiang was brimming with excitement. Looking at the virtual machine displayed ahead of them, he wished he could have it right that instant. Though he was already a little hungry, he could also see that many people, upon hearing the news, kept arriving at the entrance and stretching the lines longer and longer.

“Oh no, we forgot something important. Hurry and check the Fuyun Technology official website to see whether we can reserve the virtual machine now.”

Zhang Lei suddenly slapped his own forehead and hurriedly took out his phone to log in to the Fuyun Technology Group official website.

“Zhang Lei, that virtual machine costs a full ten thousand dollars. Converted to our currency, that’s more than sixty thousand. Where are you going to get that kind of money?”

Li Qiang at his side curled his lip. The price was simply too high, and this was still within the country, where people could order directly from Fuyun Technology Group’s website. If it were overseas, the price might even double.

“Of course I don’t have that much money. But as long as we can secure a quota, we could make a huge profit by reselling it later. Haha, they’ve actually opened reservations already, and there aren’t many people booking yet. Hurry and reserve it on your phone.”

“And besides, overseas they only sell the Fuyun Technology products for ten thousand dollars. For us here, it’s probably just a matter of changing dollars to yuan. Heh, I just looked at the AIDS-curing medicine—they did the same thing. Heh heh!”

Zhang Lei looked full of confidence. Opening the Fuyun Technology Group official website, he saw that aside from the new AIDS treatment drug, the Third Eye and virtual machine products were already online and accepting reservations, so he quickly placed an order.

“Damn it, a single person can only order one unit, and it’s even tied to an ID card. You have to take a photo while holding your ID card too. That’s just too cruel!”

He had originally wanted to reserve several units, but Fuyun Technology Group had clearly anticipated this and imposed corresponding restrictions, naturally to prevent scalpers from reselling them.

As Zhang Lei and Li Qiang used their phones to place reservations, the foreigners nearby looked on with envy. As for the other Chinese attendees, once they heard the news, they all hurried to do the same. A price of ten thousand dollars clearly wasn’t enough to make anyone back down.

“Trial begins now!”

As soon as noon arrived, a Fuyun Technology Group staff member in charge turned to Zhang Lei, who was first in line, and said this. Zhang Lei, who had been idly waiting while playing with his phone, immediately stepped forward in excitement.

Each experience station had three chairs, allowing three people to try the device at once. Every product being tested was also tied down with a long cord to prevent anyone from taking it away.

Zhang Lei and Li Qiang eagerly put on the virtual machine wristbands. A foreigner behind them did the same, then everyone gently pressed the start button. By then, everyone already knew how to use the virtual machine; it was extremely simple. There was only one button. Put it on, press the button, and that was all.

In Zhang Lei and Li Qiang’s minds, a computer interface appeared at once. The two could not help but begin operating it with nothing more than thought. Out of habit, their hands were even still making the motions of holding a mouse, which made the people behind them laugh.

“Haha, amazing. This feels so amazing!”

Zhang Lei opened Penguin Messenger. In a single thought, he had already entered his account and password, then instantly logged in. All the information appeared in his mind at once, and then was immediately returned.

“Li Qiang, you’re slower than I am, you know.”

“Damn it, you’re a three-second man. Everyone in our class knows that.”

“If you’ve got the nerve, come duel me in Honor of Kings.”

“Fine, let’s go. Who’s afraid of who?”

Zhang Lei and Li Qiang chatted furiously through Penguin Messenger, the speed almost identical to thought itself. Then they both immediately opened Honor of Kings and began a one-on-one duel.

“Damn, Zhang Lei, since when was your Zhuge Liang this flashy? You can even pull off perfect combo chains now? I remember when you couldn’t even trigger the passive.”

“Like you’re any better. Out of ten Li Bai players, nine are disasters, and you’re the worst of them. I can’t believe you can actually dodge my skills now—damn, you can even ult me? I’m dodging!”

The two of them dueled with great relish. Because they could control the game with nothing but thought, they were almost instantly immersed in battle, and their skill level soared to a completely different tier.

“One-on-one is boring. Come on, let’s team up and stomp the newbies.”

“Yeah, drag in the rest of our class and let them see what a god-tier Li Bai looks like.”

The two had had enough of dueling and immediately decided to play ranked matches, pulling along three other classmates who were online to form a five-man squad.

“Damn it, Zhang Lei, don’t play Zhuge Liang, I’m begging you. What? Xiao Qiang, you’re still playing Li Bai? You get us killed every time!”

Their classmates, seeing Zhang Lei and Li Qiang choose Zhuge Liang and Li Bai again, instantly felt a stab of dread, and the painful memories of countless past disasters came flooding back.

“We guarantee we won’t troll this time. If we lose, dinner’s on us.”

“Right, dinner’s on us.”

The words from the two of them were almost answered the instant they were spoken.

“Do you two know exactly what I was about to say? How can you reply so fast?”

“But since you’ve said so, if we lose this one, we lose it. A meal, huh? Let me think about where to eat.”

“Heh heh!”

The two replied almost instantly again. Then, under the powerful control of pure thought, their Zhuge Liang and Li Bai displayed the level of true masters. They cut through the enemy with effortless ease, leaving them no chance to fight back, and in less than ten minutes they pushed straight down the middle lane and won the match.

“Gentlemen, your trial time is over. Our apologies!”

Just as the two were still savoring the joy of the game, a staff member nearby removed the virtual machines from all three of them with an apologetic smile. Zhang Lei and Li Qiang immediately felt reluctant to let go, wishing they could own one at once.

“Ten thousand yuan... looks like from here on out I’m either going to starve to death or work myself to death. I need to save money and earn enough to buy a virtual machine!”

Seeing that the line was still not very long, Zhang Lei and Li Qiang hurried to the back and lined up again, while already forming plans in their hearts.

“Xiao Qiang, let’s find some people and start a game company together. With the arrival of the virtual machine, the gaming industry will definitely explode even more in the future. Let’s do that.”

As more and more people personally experienced the power of the virtual machine, all the miraculous things about it spread rapidly by word of mouth.

“Hurry over to the Bird’s Nest to try the virtual machine. It’s incredibly powerful. It definitely won’t disappoint you.”

Message after message like this kept being sent out. By the afternoon of December first, more than twenty thousand people had already come to the Bird’s Nest to experience the virtual machine. Many of them had gone hungry since morning, standing in line all the while to feel the machine’s power and wonder, and only left reluctantly after the trials were officially announced to be over that day.

On the morning of December second, the Bird’s Nest had not even opened its doors yet, but long lines were already forming at every entrance. Many of them were people who had come the day before. Everyone was constantly telling their friends, relatives, and acquaintances about the virtual machine’s astonishing power.

“Everyone knows how good I am with Li Bai, right? But in yesterday’s match, Zhang Lei and I absolutely crushed the other side. Zhang Wei practically won by lying down. It was all thanks to the virtual machine—everything can be controlled with thought. You’ll understand once you try it today.”

“Heh heh, Zhang Lei and I have already successfully reserved ours on the official website. We’re just still short a bit of money. If you all can support us a little now, then later we can let our reservation go and everyone can play together.”

Li Qiang, speaking to the classmates beside him with an exaggerated expression, did not forget to ask them for money to help buy the virtual machine.

Outside the entire Bird’s Nest, more than a hundred thousand people had formed long lines. Everyone was discussing this miraculous new technology product and wanted to experience its wonders for themselves.

On December second, even though Fuyun Technology Group had increased the number of experience stations to one thousand, it still felt insufficient in the face of a crowd of one hundred thousand. On that day, they barely managed to accommodate everyone, allowing all of them to personally feel the power of the virtual machine.

By the third day, the crowd was so enormous that, for safety reasons, the Bird’s Nest management had to negotiate with Fuyun Technology Group and begin limiting the ever-growing number of visitors, allowing no more than one hundred thousand people per day.

The entire Bird’s Nest was extraordinarily lively. It was even more bustling and more feverish than during the Olympic Games. Every day, more than one hundred thousand people stood in long lines to experience the power of the virtual machine.

Of course, even more feverish was the sales of the virtual machine. There was no stock yet, but that did not stop Fuyun Technology Group from selling the product in advance.

Special thanks to Book With a Gun Rack, and to Reader 161***1384 for the five-hundred-tip; thanks also to Whirlwind Charge Tornado, the book-loving Xiao Tang, Hidden Blade of Destruction, Gu Ye Xuan, and AG Cloud for their support. Thank you for backing Old Niu.