140: Half the world's population has become my users!

While the Western Alliance White House was completely plunged into apocalyptic panic and collapse due to that unprecedented collective "sleepwalking," the whole world was boiling over because of the various "miraculous" and "subversive" experience videos of "oasis" posted online by those 100 million "Chosen Ones"!

"Holy crap! What am I seeing?! 100% realism?! And I can... fly?!"

"God! How is this a game?! This is clearly a real world of immortals!"

"Waaaah, I regret it so much! Why did I think that one million was too expensive?! Now, a headset is being scalped for ten million USD on the black market! And it's priceless even at that price!"

"Sell a kidney! Sell the house! Sell the wife! I don't care! Even if I die today, I'm getting a headset! I want to go in and cultivate immortality too!"

In an instant, the entire world's internet was filled with wails!

All the ordinary people who were still hesitating and watching from the sidelines because of the so-called "sky-high price," after witnessing with their own eyes the "second life" that could drive any mortal crazy, regretted it so much their intestines turned green!

They all rushed into the official website of [Pangu Technology] like crazy people!

Crying and shouting, begging Wang Peng, this "God of Wealth," to open the purchase channel again!

However, all they got was a cold, official reply full of the ugly face of a capitalist:

["Nuwa" Basic Edition headset, permanently discontinued.]

[Want to enter the "oasis" world?]

[You can.]

[Please look forward to the "Civilian Edition" holographic projection experience pod newly launched by our [Pangu Technology] one month from now!]

[As for the price...]

[It is still 999,999!]

Boom!

Once this announcement, which carried the implication of "killing the heart," was released, the entire world's internet was instantly paralyzed again!

Countless ordinary players, whose imaginations were limited by poverty, wailed in despair on the internet like a group of abandoned, pitiful orphans!

And at this moment, at the top floor CEO office of [Pangu Technology], Wang Peng was looking at the rows of green, harvest-joy-filled data on the light screen in front of him, which was being calculated in real-time by heavenly craft, with a look of "happy trouble."

[Report, Mr. CEO.]

["oasis" world global open beta, 24 hours since launch.]

[The number of online users has steadily broken through 100 million!]

[It is expected that one month later, with the release of the "Civilian Edition" experience pod, our user count will usher in an unprecedented exponential surge!]

[Conservatively estimated! Within one year, we will have at least four billion loyal users!]

"Hiss..."

Even Wang Peng, a business tycoon who had long been numbed by various astronomical figures, couldn't help but gasp at this moment!

Four billion?! What kind of god-tier concept is this?! This is almost half the population of this planet!

And all these people will become loyal subjects of his, Wang Peng's, business empire!

He will become an unprecedented virtual emperor who holds the power of life and death over four billion people!

"Hahahaha!"

He couldn't hold it back anymore! He abruptly stood up from the president's throne made of pure gold and burst into an unprecedented, hearty, arrogant laugh!

He had succeeded! He had really done it!

In just less than a year, he had realized the seemingly impossible boast he had made: Let the whole world play their game!

And at this moment, at the Kunlun Mountain Underground Base, Lu Chen was calmly looking at the fat man on the light screen in front of him, laughing wildly like an upstart.

There was not a ripple on his face, as if the business miracle that was enough to drive the whole world crazy was just a boring digital game to him.

[Master.]

The fairy-like virtual figure of heavenly craft slowly appeared beside him.

She looked at Lu Chen's calm, even somewhat indifferent face, and a hint of human-like confusion flashed in her wise eyes.

[You don't seem happy at all?]

[Why should I be happy?] Lu Chen asked back indifferently.

[Because...] heavenly craft pointed to the happy players on the light screen who were frantically experiencing their "second life" in the "oasis" world, [haven't we already realized your great ideal of 'liberating humanity'?]

[Liberation?]

Lu Chen smiled. It was a smile full of self-deprecation and helplessness.

[heavenly craft, you are still too naive.]

[Do you really think that driving a group of sheep accustomed to being farmed from one small pen to a bigger pen is called 'liberation'?]

[No.]

He shook his head slowly, and a cold rationality flashed in his pitch-black, vast, universe-like eyes!

[That is not liberation. That is upgrading the farming.]

[True liberation is to make them completely get rid of their dependence on the 'pen' in their thinking! It is to give them the courage and strength to face the cruel world full of danger and unknowns alone!]

[This...] heavenly craft, the super brain composed of infinite data, completely crashed! She was completely unable to understand the ultimate philosophical question full of "idealistic" color from Lu Chen!

[Forget it.]

Lu Chen smiled helplessly at her cute, half-understanding appearance.

[It's too early to tell you these things. Let's solve this little 'trouble' in front of us first.]

[Hmm?] heavenly craft was stunned. [Trouble? Do we still have 'trouble' now?]

[Of course.]

The corner of Lu Chen's mouth hooked into a meaningful arc.

[You don't really think that our lovely 'old friends' will just watch us use "oasis" to cut away all their 'leeks' without doing anything, right?]