Chapter 340: Suggestion 340

Yang Jinxia stayed in the game for a few days before exiting. In the real world, she had important matters to attend to.

Chen Xu also left the current chibi-style game and chose another one to play–this time a leisure game, fishing. It was undoubtedly a niche game.

After entering the game, he found himself beside a fishpond, with no one else around. On the empty space nearby, there was a small shop with a man sporting a beard slumped in a chair at the door, wearing a straw hat, and gnawing on a toothpick, taking shelter under the shade of a tree.

Chen Xu had nothing on him, so he felt in his pockets and found a banknote worth one hundred yuan. Looking at the fishing rods placed outside the shop, it was obvious that he needed to use this one hundred yuan to purchase his starting equipment.

He asked, “How much for a rod?”

The man replied lazily, “Thirty.”

Not bad, he had some change left to buy other things.

“Give me two rods. And a bucket,” Chen Xu paid the man, got two fishing rods, a bucket, and had thirty yuan left. He bought some bait and then walked over to the pond.

He chose to invite Luo Xiyun. After clicking send, he picked up a rod, attached the bait, cast the line, and threw the hook into the pond.

Then, he just stood there, watching the float, waiting patiently.

After sending the invitation, it would take some time for Luo Xiyun to receive it, find a quiet place to lie down, and enter the game. The ratio of real-world time to dreamtime was close to one to eleven hundred. A minute’s delay here means eighteen hours had passed there.

The time flow rate was terrifying.

Luo Xiyun, unlike Yang Jinxia, didn’t have such convenience–she was very busy lately.

Chen Xu had to wait several days. He caught hundreds of fish by then, and his level had risen to eight. He had moved to a spot by the river and finally saw fellow players, who even came over to greet him.

This game also boasted a realistic style–everything was just like in real life, including eating, drinking, going to the toilet, and sleeping. He thought that the game developer who decided on this setting must be twisted. It’s just a game; was all of this really necessary?

Moreover, he seriously doubted how such a game could make any money.

People who truly enjoyed fishing were likely to have plenty of patience and would surely prefer honing their fishing skills themselves rather than spending money on cheat-friendly equipment.

It would be so cool to catch the hardest fish with the simplest gear.

He believed that the developer of this game was probably a hobbyist.

When Luo Xiyun appeared next to him, the guy across the river was taken aback.

“This is…” As soon as Luo Xiyun appeared, she cautiously surveyed the surroundings, relieved to see another person across the river. She retreated a bit and held her words back.

“A new game I discovered.”

Chen Xu noticed that the float that had been sinking just stopped, so he lifted the rod to check that the bait was still there, then cast it into another spot in the water, saying, “A fishing game.”

“A fishing game?” Luo Xiyun repeated, seemingly incredulous at the drastic shift in scenery.

The first game was about the end of the world; the second wasn’t far off, landing on a strange planet and having to fight the natives. And now, a fishing game–not even in the same dimension.

Chen Xu explained briefly.

Luo Xiyun’s expression changed dramatically, glancing subconsciously at the person fishing across the river, “You mean that’s an alien, a living one?”

Chen Xu looked across to see the fellow waving over and mumbling something. He waved back and said, “Right, a living alien.”

The river was over ten meters wide with a current that wasn’t too fast, but the sound of rushing water was loud enough that they didn’t have to worry about being overheard from the other side.

“This…” For a moment, Luo Xiyun was at a loss for words.

In the previous high-level game, she had encountered characters like biohumans, natives, and even natural humans. But she knew those were all virtual characters, so it didn’t bother her.

Now, Chen Xu was telling her that through the game, they could encounter actual living beings from alien civilizations. It was too sudden, almost unbelievable.

After a while, Luo Xiyun said, “He doesn’t seem much different from us.”

“Maybe it’s because all intelligent life forms look similar,” Chen Xu agreed. Now he knew that the half-human, half-animal, and strangely shaped creatures he had encountered in the plaza were actually the appearance of players in the game, brought into the plaza.

In fact, the vast majority of aliens looked similar to humans. One could tell they were of the same kind.

Luo Xiyun thought of another issue and quickly asked, “Is the time flow rate here the same as in the previous game?”

Chen Xu smiled, “It’s the same. So we’ve got lots of time here.”

Based on the rate ratio, one year in reality was a thousand years in the game. In a sense, staying in the game was like gaining immortality.

He recalled reading a science post about this issue. Because of such a time ratio, countless people were buying Life Support Chambers, allowing them to stay in the dream games for extended periods.

As more people did this, it seriously impacted society’s functioning. As a result, the authorities had to enact specific laws to limit a person’s gaming time–no more than a third of a day.

For times when one needed to stay in the game longer, there were flexible arrangements, such as postponing the share of time to a later date.

For instance, a player could refrain from playing for ten consecutive days, followed by logging in for eighty hours straight.

Moreover, dream devices were mandated to include anti-addiction systems. Those who logged into the games daily, most would probably not remember what happened in their dreams once they woke up.

Like Chen Xu now, he had racked up a considerable amount of game time. By regulation, only the time accrued after the first use of the dream device counted; previous time didn’t.

Otherwise, people like Mu Shang who hadn’t played dream games before would have an excessively long gaming time. If they became addicted, their prime years would be squandered in the game.

Chen Xu revealed to her the matter of becoming a game developer and the ability to bring a thousand people into the game.

After hearing this, Luo Xiyun was stunned for a while before saying, “You should decide on this yourself.”

Chen Xu turned to look at her, saying, “I just want to hear your opinion.”

Luo Xiyun thought for a moment, then said, “My advice is to be cautious.”