Chapter 1 Someone Said

"Some say the virtual world of the Star Network is actually another world."

Yan Hui, having endured countless sleepless nights, finally replaced the alternating strong tea and coffee in his cup with warm milk.

With a stubbled beard, Yan Hui slumped wearily on the long sofa, his eyelids drooping. He glanced at Ruan Xun, who was sitting across from him on a single sofa, his eyes also bloodshot, clearly having been up for many days as well.

He raised his hand, signaling the robot to bring another cup of warm milk. After drinking the milk, both of them, who had been awake for who knows how many nights, should get a good sleep.

"So, you mean completely separating from the physical body and entrusting the spirit to the virtual world is another form of immortality?"

Ruan Xun accepted the warm milk from the robot. The heat slightly moistened his dry eyes.

"What you're saying sounds simple, but if it were that easy, my project would have been completed long ago. It sounds simple, but it's actually very difficult." Yan Hui caressed the mug, taking a sip of warm milk. "Those spiritual bodies, without the support of a physical body, are just like in the real world. Eventually, their energy will be depleted over time."

"So, are you saying that the bug suddenly went crazy after more than a decade because it realized it was really running out of time and wanted to go wild?"

Ruan Xun finished speaking and slammed his teacup down heavily, glaring at Yan Hui. For the first time, his gaze met Yan Hui's with a fierce expression, barely suppressing his anger. Yan Hui glanced at him and chuckled.

"You're still laughing?! Do you know that because of that bug, Sixth Brother was almost ambushed and had his body stolen? If the main brain hadn't discovered it immediately, that bug wouldn't still be rampaging in your game, but would have already escaped. I don't believe it was your negligence in supervising these guys..."

"You already know so much. What else do you want to know from me?"

Yan Hui finished his milk and comfortably rubbed against the sofa beneath him, closing his eyes and adopting a sleeping position with his back to Ruan Xun.

Yan Hui sighed lazily, "You know, the mental strength of the Zerg is much higher than that of humans, and their bodies are much stronger as well. But even so, their bodies simply can't withstand their powerful mental strength.

Ordinary Zerg, if there is no war, can actually live for a long time. But those Zerg generals, and especially the Zerg mothers above the rank of general, have much shorter lifespans than ordinary Zerg.

If there were no wars to consume their mental energy, their bodies would not be able to withstand their ever-increasing mental strength. In the end, they would only explode and die. After that, they would continue to exist as spiritual bodies for a period of time before truly disappearing.

Therefore, high-level Zerg learned long ago to extract their vast mental energy and store it separately. It is said that within the Zerg, meetings between Zerg are held in spiritual form.

However, this does not mean that they can exchange the consumption of mental energy for the extension of their lifespan. Their bodies are simply incompatible. As long as mental energy exists in their bodies, it will constantly erode their flesh.

Therefore, they have been eyeing the topic of 'eternal life' for a long time... Like humans, they also want to pursue eternal life."

"Is that why they targeted the research institute?"

Ruan Xun recalled that some research institute data had been stolen, and it was then that they suddenly became interested in Yan Hui.

After all, Yan Hui was the leader of this project back then, but he chose to participate in a certain project of the main brain and left the research institute midway.

After returning, Yan Hui embarked on the road of game development and never looked back. Ruan Xun later entered the research institute and announced that he would no longer study the topic of "eternal life," changing the research direction and conducting other scientific research based on Yan Hui's research.

Therefore, the Zerg, wanting to continue to deeply understand the topic of eternal life, had to risk stealing data, and at the same time, they paid attention to Yan Hui while stealing materials.

Even after changing their faces, they boldly approached Yan Hui, who had the same name as the leader of the original project and was still shining brightly in another field, to probe him.

"And then?"

Listening to how much Yan Hui knew, Ruan Xun even suspected that he had been foolish in his research. How did it feel like he had missed so much?

"They didn't get anything from me. The only oversight was letting them know about the existence of that bug in my game. But they noticed something even more interesting."

"What?"

Hearing this, Ruan Xun, who had been up for several nights, immediately perked up.

"Lu Gui, that child's body material... is the same as Sixth Brother's." Yan Hui yawned, "Fortunately, that child wasn't successfully sold by his mother last time, otherwise there would have been more trouble."

"According to you, the Zerg's foothold for eternal life is actually to have a strong body that can match their mental strength?"

"Yes." Yan Hui's lips curled slightly, his voice getting softer and softer, as if he was about to fall asleep. He murmured again, "But a strong body also needs to be conquered by a strong mental strength... When it's almost exhausted by the students... hehe~"

Yan Hui chuckled mockingly twice. Ruan Xun didn't hear the following grumbling and saw him fall asleep.

This made Ruan Xun, who wanted to ask a few more questions, give up. Seeing the other party lying on the sofa, Ruan Xun also couldn't help but feel sleepy after quieting down...

Ming Mei didn't know what was happening outside the game. At this moment, she had already arrived at the gate of the Zhang residence with Qi Hai Kui and the others. Red lanterns were already hung up.

The abnormally red lantern skin covered most of the candlelight inside. In the dim sky, they looked like two red, glowing spheres from a distance.

This had deviated from the true function of the lantern - lighting.

It was just placed outside for "festivity."

"Wow, this gate, there's a really long line..."

Zhen Hu and his group hid in an alley next to the gate and poked their heads out. They saw the paper figures holding umbrellas, carrying gift boxes, standing in line outside the Zhang residence.

"Damn, just the people in line, I counted over a hundred umbrellas."

Qi Hai Kui's newly emboldened courage was once again shattered by reality. He couldn't help but look back at Ming Mei, as if struggling. He was about to ask, "Can I buy more boxed lunches?" when he heard Ming Mei speak -

"Why haven't these people who sent gifts gone inside? Also, there seems to be a red sedan chair at the door. Is that the Bai family sending the bride? But didn't they say the bride had already arrived? The appearance of this sedan chair seems to be sending the bride somewhere else?"

The IQs of these two were sometimes online, sometimes offline. Ming Mei listened to them for a long time and finally couldn't help but remind them.

Anyway, she was an NPC; her role at the critical moment was to help the players pass the level!

Ming Mei thought this in her heart and continued to say, "Looking at the direction they're leaving, it doesn't seem to be the direction home, but out of town."

"Ah?"

After such an obvious reminder from Ming Mei, the two immediately turned their heads to look outside again. Sure enough, those people were leaving in one direction after handing over their gifts.

"Where are they going? Out of town? Why go out? I remember that leaving town means the ending, right?"

Ming Mei was instantly choked by Zhen Hu's words.

What the hell, the ending if you go out!