In the passage, Dr. Bartholomew passed by Wu Tianlan, the president of Taihao Company. The plump Chinese woman stopped, straightened the old man's tie, glanced at him worriedly and whispered: "This is not a simple work report. , you have to be careful..."
Bartholomew nodded: "Don't worry, I'll be fine,"
The staff led Wu Tianlan outside. The woman's lake green short shirt flashed around the corner and disappeared. The white-haired doctor adjusted the hem of his suit and walked along the passage. This is the center of the thirteenth underground floor of the GTC headquarters. The passage, where the Ninth Department is called "Hell", has walls and floors that are shiny silver, with several small doors scattered here and there. At the end of the passage is the circular conference room of the Ninth Department, the destination of his trip. location.
"Dear father, your heart rate is 28% higher than the normal range, and you are at risk of premature beats. It is recommended that you be injected with beta-blockers to reduce the risk. Do you agree," a gentle male synthesized voice sounded, " "Genesis" precisely controls the twelve loudspeakers in the corridor, allowing sound waves traveling in other directions to cancel each other out, leaving only a line of undetectable sound waves that can accurately pass into Dr. Bartholomew's eardrums.
"No need," the old man replied calmly, "where is Luxor Mohammed now?"
Without a moment's delay, the reply from the quantum computer immediately sounded: "Deputy Director of the Communications Department and Chief of the Alien Intelligence Section, Luxor Mohammed, last appeared in the surveillance area seven hours, thirteen minutes and 20 seconds ago, and then took the elevator and descended underground. Entered the 'Black Room' on the 30th floor and never appeared again."
"Where's Donovan?" Dr. Bartholomew took off his gold-rimmed glasses as he moved forward, and took out a handkerchief to wipe them with.
"Charles Donovan, acting director of the Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Division and commander of the European Rapid Reaction Force, last appeared in the surveillance area seven hours, six minutes and 10 seconds ago, and then took the elevator down to the 30th floor underground and entered the 'black room'. He never appeared again," the gentle male voice gave a very similar answer.
"How long has it been?" the old man put on his glasses and asked.
"Fifty-five seconds, the time until reaching the detection threshold is still five seconds, four, three..." The synthesized voice of the quantum computer began to count down.
The doctor waved his hand: "Go ahead,"
"Goodbye, dear father," the voice disappeared.
Brandon Bartholomew stood in front of the door, calmed his mind, and knocked on the door panel with his knuckles. "Please come in," a man's voice came from inside.
The old man pushed open the cold metal door and walked into the circular conference room. There were more than a dozen people sitting behind the oval conference table, and there was only a lone chair left on this side, "Brandon," a man with a thick neck. The middle-aged man with a protruding belly stood up and extended his hands to welcome him, "You are the last person to report on your work. Let's finish the routine report and defense quickly, and then go have a drink. How about,"
"Mark," Bartholomew waved to GTC annual executive chairman Dr. Mark Thompson across the round table, then pulled out the swivel chair and sat down, leaned deeply into the back of the chair, put his left leg on his right leg, and crossed his hands on In front of me: "Can I start now?"
Mark Thompson sat down, looked around, and nodded: "Okay, let's start now." Next to him sat Yorden Smith, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Division, Guy Cookery, Director of the Ninth Division, and Director of the Communications Division. Leighton W. Holt, Director of the Internal Affairs Division Marfa Ikimed, Director of the Timing Distribution Division Dick Van Dyke, etc. The twelve members of the current GTC Executive Committee are basically here. Sitting in this conference room is the master of the most powerful quantum computer and quantum network on earth, the god in charge of unlimited power.
There was no expression on the face of former GTC executive member Brandon Bartholomew. He leaned forward slightly, opened the terminal on the conference table, entered his account to log in to the quantum network, and retrieved a report material: "At the meeting at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, I have given a detailed explanation of the operation of 'The World'. The data report has been distributed to everyone, and the budget execution is also within control. I believe that just now Taihao Ms. Wu of the company has already shown you the mid-term profit plan. After three months, if the comprehensive complaint rate of one million test accounts is less than 1% and the accident fatality rate is less than 0.002%, Taihao Company will use the game's form to announce the "World" to the whole society, but in order to avoid ethical disputes, the login method will be changed from implanted chips to biochemical cabins. It is worth mentioning that Taihao Company has made a new technological breakthrough in oxygen-rich solutions, which will basically The discomfort when entering and leaving wet breathing is minimized, and I have also received a certificate from the European Medical Research Institute that there is no organic damage to the lungs. I believe..."
"Brandon, Brandon," Dr. Thompson raised his right hand to stop the old man from continuing, "We already know these. What we care about is how many players the 'world' will attract after its release, and how many people will Ms. Wu Tianlan did not explain the purchase of expensive biochemical cabins to enter the game,"
Bartholomew pushed open the terminal screen, "I wouldn't use the word 'player' to describe the users of the 'world'. You know, in a world without a mission system, blood volume display and upgrade mode, there would be no such thing." The normal experience of an RPG game is actually closer to "The Sims," an old game from the last century. People enter the "world" to experience another period of life in a simulated environment that is as real as reality. As long as Once you try it, no one can refuse the feeling of being reborn. Didn’t Ms. Wu tell you? According to Taihao Company’s estimates, the number of users will reach 500 million to 600 million within six months of launch. If you enable no down payment With the biochemical cabin finance plan of low-interest loans, this number can be doubled,”
"Two billion," the executive chairman of GTC was stunned for a moment, as if he was digesting this number. Next to him, Guy Cookery, director of the Ninth Division, glanced at the old man with falcon-like eyes and whispered in Mark Thompson's ear. He said something, "So, how many people are there in the 'world' to meet the needs of 1.2 billion players?" Dr. Thompson asked.
"Yes," Bartholomew replied. "At the beginning of the operation of 'World', a total of one billion virtual personalities were put in. Now they have multiplied to nearly 1.3 billion, which can barely withstand the arrival of large-scale users." He paused. , added: "But the consequences of this are devastating. If most of the characters in the 'world' are replaced by personalities from reality, the social order will soon collapse, and people will destroy the characters in the background setting." rules, turning that world into a second anarchist paradise waiting to be developed,"
Thompson nodded: "I am also worried about this. What is the upper limit of the number of Adventers that you think can stably maintain the operation of the world?"
The old man raised a finger.
"One hundred million people, that's too few..." the executive chairman frowned.
"No, ten million," Dr. Bartholomew said loudly, "Now ten times the number of test clients is the limit. If the number of people increases further, the possibility of interconnection between the descendants will increase exponentially. Personalities from reality New forces will be formed, trying to change the basic structure of the world, and establish new organizations and even political powers based on the values of earth civilization,"
Hearing these words, the big shots across the round table began to buzz and discuss among themselves. After a while, Mark Thompson spread his palms flat to signal everyone to be quiet, "Brandon, although the virtual personality is created by collecting the characteristics of real samples, But it is still fundamentally different from humans, right? Only human thinking can provide the diverse needs for species reproduction,"
"It can be said that," after thinking for a while, the old man replied, "the fertility model in the 'world' is based on personality, and the mutations of various physical representations are also taken into account. I am not sure about the relationship between virtual personality and us humans. However, to maintain the continuation of the human species, a certain necessary base must be reached. Is the question you raised considering the possibility of human beings abandoning their bodies and completely entering the "world"? We have discussed this topic many years ago. With the current technology, the brain is still indispensable as the generator of thinking, unless the biological groove component of the quantum computer can create a nerve impulse cloud similar to the cerebral cortex structure. As far as I know, this This technology has been banned by the International Committee on Scientific Ethics,"
"Just tell me what the base number is, Brandon," the executive chairman asked deadpan.
"...Taking into account the size of the 'world', settlement conditions and productivity, at least 100 million people are needed to maintain human genetic characteristics," Bartholomew gave the answer.
"That's enough," Dr. Thompson nodded.
The old man said loudly: "But I want to remind you again that the native civilization of the 'world' will be safely changed by the arrival of those who come. That is not our original intention of establishing a rich and colorful alien civilization,"
"I know, Brandon, that's not an issue you need to consider," the executive chairman said, rubbing his fleshy cheeks and looking a little tired. "That's enough for the debriefing. Here's an example of an 'Executive Security Plan' Line defense, cover,"
"Got it," the director of the Ninth Branch stood up and made a gesture. Two staff members wearing the Ninth Branch badges came over and attached two sensors to Dr. Bartholomew's temple and wrist respectively. "Dr. Brandon Bartholomew, leader of the 'World' project and honorary consultant to GTC, are you willing to undergo a brainwave traversal examination and use a lie detector?"
"Completely voluntary," the old man whispered.
"Please look here," Guy Cuckrey pointed with a thin finger at one of the lenses of the holographic camera on the side, "and repeat it again."
"I completely volunteer," Bartholomew looked at the camera with the red light flashing, and there was no joy or sadness in his voice.