319: Chapter 319: Creating a Brand New World!

"second world?"

Elder Long's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard this term, a flash of deep contemplation flitting through them.

After a brief moment of thought, Elder Long spoke in a steady voice.

"You mean... a virtual reality world?"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan's lips curled up imperceptibly, and he nodded calmly.

"Exactly!"

"Since the physical framework of the real world has a limited capacity, and the massive labor force freed up by intelligent production lines cannot find enough space in reality..."

"Then why can't we... create a brand new world for them?"

As his voice fell, a brief silence enveloped the office.

Elder Long was in no hurry to express his stance.

But Lin Yuan could see that Elder Long's slightly tightened knuckles and the deep, contemplative light in his eyes all indicated that the elderly man had been deeply moved by this concept.

"Go on."

After a long pause, Elder Long spoke, his voice steady.

Lin Yuan leaned back on the sofa, regaining his relaxed, casual posture.

"Elder Long, you should be well aware of the south heaven gate project we are currently advancing."

Elder Long nodded slightly.

"Among the supporting subsystems of the south heaven gate project, there is an extremely crucial deployment, which is the global coverage of the space-based communication satellite network."

Lin Yuan raised a slender index finger and continued unhurriedly.

"The orbital deployment of this batch of satellites has already been mostly completed."

"Once this space-based network is fully established, it will provide an ultra-high-speed, ultra-low-latency, and ultra-large-capacity information pipeline covering every inch of the globe without any blind spots."

Lin Yuan paused for a beat, then raised his eyes, his gaze locking precisely onto Elder Long's.

"And this invisible information pipeline happens to be the underlying infrastructure required to build 'second world'."

"In other words, we have actually already completed most of the hardware-level infrastructure for second world in the process of advancing the south heaven gate project."

Hearing this, Elder Long raised his eyebrows slightly, a flash of realization passing through his sharp eyes.

"You mean..."

Elder Long spoke slowly, his voice carrying a touch of inquiry.

"Using south heaven gate's space-based satellite network as a foundation to build a system supported by seventh-generation communication technology..."

"A fully immersive virtual reality world?!"

"Exactly."

Lin Yuan nodded in confirmation without hesitation, then leaned forward slightly, interlacing his fingers, his tone carrying a hint of intrigue.

"Elder Long, I don't know if you usually pay attention to the online literature market."

Elder Long froze for a moment, clearly failing to keep up with Lin Yuan's wild, leaping train of thought, and then shook his head slightly.

"I'm just an old man now; how would I have the spare time to read those things?"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan chuckled softly. Without beating around the bush, he explained in the most easily understandable way.

"In recent years, a certain genre of novels has become extremely popular on the internet, sought after by countless young people, called 'Second World online games'."

"To put it simply, it's about the protagonist entering an extremely realistic virtual game world, leveling up by fighting monsters, building up forces, and even establishing an empire."

"The audience for this genre is massive, covering all age groups from students to working adults."

"The reason it can become so popular is essentially because it precisely hits a most simple desire deep within modern people—"

"To escape the exhaustion, involution, and class barriers of reality, and live the way they want in another, relatively fair world!"

Hearing this, Elder Long's expression stirred slightly.

Although he did not read online novels, his grasp of public opinion and the people's hearts was more precise than anyone else's.

He understood the 'desire' Lin Yuan spoke of all too well.

After being crushed by the era of intelligence, those ordinary people who lost their jobs and could not find a direction, after getting battered and bruised in reality, desperately needed an outlet that could allow them to find a sense of presence and value again.

"So, Elder Long, imagine this."

"When an unemployed young person puts on a virtual device and finds themselves entering a massive world that is as good as real."

"In that world, every bit of effort they put in can yield rewards and have value, and can even be directly exchanged for real-world economic income."

"Then, would this young person still feel lost and despondent, or even go so far as to take revenge on society, just because they lost that assembly line job in reality?"

These words were like a stone cast into a deep pool, stirring up ripples.

Elder Long took a sharp breath.

In his mind, he had already begun to rapidly deduce the societal picture after this proposal was implemented.

A nation-led, top-tier technology-supported virtual world for all people.

In that world, thousands of brand-new 'professions' and 'jobs' would spontaneously emerge...

These jobs would not require any traditional academic credentials or technical barriers.

What they would require is creativity, passion, time commitment, and the social nature of collaboration between people.

And these happen to be the very things that Artificial Intelligence and automated machinery can never replace!

Even better, this world would be built and its underlying rules dominated by Great Xia's official authorities.

This meant that its economic system, social order, and even moral standards could undergo top-level design and macro-regulation by the state.

This was not the wild growth allowed by Western capital's laissez-faire approach, but an orderly, controllable second social system that perfectly served the overall strategy of Great Xia!

"What a brilliant 'second world'..."

Elder Long murmured softly, the light deep in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

But immediately after, the rigor and prudence he had developed over decades quickly pulled him out of his initial shock.

He pondered for a moment, his brow furrowing deeply as he slowly shook his head, a touch of gravity inevitably entering his eyes.

"This is a good train of thought."

Elder Long spoke in a steady voice, word by word.

"But... Lin Yuan, this second world must never be treated as a simple game."

"Once hundreds of millions of citizens flood into it, investing a vast amount of time, energy, and emotion into this virtual world..."

"If our planning is inadequate and the design of the rules is not rigorous enough..."

Elder Long's gaze darkened slightly, staring straight at Lin Yuan like two sharp swords.

"Then it will not be a safety valve to buffer social conflicts, but a bomb capable of blowing up the very foundation of Great Xia."

"Addiction, dependency, the cognitive split between virtuality and reality, the chain reactions triggered by the collapse of the virtual economic system..."

"If a problem arises in any single link, the resulting social turmoil will only be far more violent than an unemployment wave of tens of millions!"