Chapter Three: The "Otherworld" Project

“Cough, cough, Sister Vilvie, of course I don't doubt you all. I just want to have a look at the test results. Could you send me a copy?” Ling Feng wore a flattering smile, his eyes sparkling as he gazed at Vilvie.

Vilvie nodded slightly, her smooth brown hair swaying gently with the motion. She looked at Ling Feng, her beautiful brown eyes closing and opening in a blink, then nodded again, “Alright, I’ve sent it to you.”

Without her saying so, Ling Feng had already noticed the device glowing on his wrist, which looked much like a bracelet.

This device was called the “Personal Bioelectric Data Processing Unit Terminal.” For convenience, everyone usually referred to it as the “Personal Biocomputer,” or more simply, the “Personal Terminal.”

With breakthroughs in brain-computer interface technology, aside from the gaming industry, another sector hit hard was the smartphone industry. The combination of brain-computer interface and the already mature holographic imaging technology led to the creation of the biocomputer, whose advantages over traditional phones and computers were obvious.

It was easier to carry, had superior performance, greater functionality, and was safer, more reliable, and more durable. With the “Personal Terminal,” even traditional ID cards were abolished; personal information was directly stored in the terminal, eliminating any worry about losing it.

Since the biocomputer established a connection through bioelectric signals and brainwaves, it recognized its owner and operated only for them. Even if someone else got hold of it, they couldn’t access the information within.

In this context, traditional personal phones and computers gradually gave way to personal terminals. Several phone and computer manufacturers went bankrupt at the time, causing many to lose their jobs, and triggering significant social unrest. Yet, there was no helping it—society progresses, and industries that can’t keep up are inevitably eliminated.

...

Ling Feng checked the received test report, nodding with satisfaction after a moment.

Excellent. All the indicators met the expected requirements, and several even far exceeded them. As expected of Mobius and Vilvie—they never disappoint.

“Well then, with this, the foundation of the ‘Otherworld’ project is now solidified,” Ling Feng said, a heartfelt smile spreading across his face.

“Otherworld” was a new virtual reality game development project that Ling Feng had proposed two years ago after formally taking over Splendid Age. Its ultimate goal was to present players with a fantastical journey of crossing into an otherworld, like a dream.

Games with similar concepts had existed before. After all, with the advent of virtual reality technology, people’s imaginations soared, and the idea of otherworlds filled with fantasy naturally came to mind.

However, previous otherworld crossing games mostly followed preset plots and worldviews, with players’ freedom still rather restricted.

Moreover, when players entered these games, deep down, they clearly knew they were simply playing a virtual game, facing a world built from cold lines of code.

That subconscious awareness made it impossible to truly feel the subtle, authentic sensations of facing the real world. It was hard for genuine emotions like embarrassment or shame to arise.

Naturally, true immersion was unattainable.

Hence, when these more open virtual reality games first emerged, some people who acted differently online and offline would often perform outrageous actions in-game that left others dumbfounded...

In short, Ling Feng’s ambition for the Otherworld project differed from past otherworld games. He wanted to simulate a genuine otherworld crossing experience.

He was bold enough to plan for players to customize their own worldviews and scripts, even create their own exclusive “golden finger” abilities, then seamlessly integrate themselves into the game, as if they had truly crossed into another world and begun their own legendary adventure.

This was undoubtedly an astonishing idea. If any other game company of the current era considered it, the sheer prospect would likely make them hesitate.

Why? Because for the project to take root, it would require enormous server computing power, and the operational challenges after launch would be equally daunting.

For most companies, these two issues were insurmountable obstacles. Even if a few could overcome them, they’d regard it as not worth the effort.

But for Splendid Age, these challenges were not problems at all, because they held the trump card: Prometheus.

As the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence, with Prometheus overseeing everything, Ling Feng never needed to worry about insufficient computing power. Instead, he had to rack his brains figuring out how to fully utilize and maximize the surplus power.

As for game operations...

Well, Splendid Age boasted the most complete and elite operational team. As the boss, all he needed to do was trust them fully, believing they would blaze a trail and live up to expectations.

Yes! They definitely can! (￣３￣)a

Therefore, for Ling Feng, the real obstacle to realizing this project was actually the third problem.

To realistically simulate the feeling of crossing into another world, the key was to immerse the player so thoroughly that they forgot they were in a game—ideally, even temporarily forgot their memories related to the real world.

Only then could they truly believe they had crossed into another world.

But making someone lose their memory entirely was easy; making them temporarily forget only specific memories was much more challenging.

To solve this issue, Ling Feng had sought Mobius’s help, and Mobius agreed, though the price was Ling Feng serving as her plaything for half a month...

Yet, it was all worthwhile. Afterwards, a satisfied Mobius not only agreed to help solve this problem but also took charge of all the biological aspects of the project.

So it could be considered a gain... right? (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

Now, after two years of effort, it was finally time to reap the rewards.

As the first project he proposed after taking over the company, Ling Feng naturally wanted to be its first tester.

Thus, relying on his privilege as boss, he made an executive decision to conduct the first comprehensive real-world test himself—no objections allowed!

With Mobius and Vilvie present, he had no worries about safety at all.

Before the test, when choosing the worldview and story, Ling Feng didn’t hesitate for a second—he directly chose “Teyvat.”

The reason was simple. In the long history of gaming, when it came to open world otherworld games, there was one title that could not be ignored: the classic from the 2020s, “Genshin Impact.”

That game was undoubtedly the most well-known open world game of its time.