Chapter 388: On Sale
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After the virtual helmet launched.
Without much to say, the VR era that had prospered for more than a decade had basically came to an end.
Most certainly, many VR manufacturers would not sit still and wait for their demise. They were definitely going to struggle with all they could. After all, this was a superma.s.sive cake involving more than 10 trillion dollars of benefits.
Hence, in order to stop Xing Hai Technologies, they spread a variety of defaming remarks:
“The virtual helmet technology is not safe. It may lead to brain death.”
“The degree of addiction caused by virtual helmets will be ten times that of VR games. This is disadvantageous for our youngster’s physical and mental health.”
“At present, virtual technology is still immature. There are ten huge defects that lie within the technology.”
“Using the virtual helmet for too long will cause irreversible damage to the brain. This is a route that should be abandoned.”
But in the face of a demon lord such as Xing Hai Technologies, all struggles were futile. Xing Hai Technologies didn’t even need to deny the rumors themselves. The gamers have already voted with their feet, automatically.
“Unsightly garbage, get out of my way!”
“With Xing Hai Technologies out of the arena, the VR industry had been becoming too cool and comfortable all these years. Now, it is time for them to return to their nightmare.”
“Huhuh, not safe? Harmful to the brain? These rumors are base. Xing Hai Technologies broke through virtual technology more than ten years ago. After so many years, there are actually people who still think that the tech is immature. Do you think that Xing Hai Technologies has been eating dry rice for the past ten years?”
“Just accept your fate of being steamrolled!”
Obviously, the gamer population was not stupid. The players knew how to choose between virtual games and VR games and determine which one was the future – which one was the more exciting one that they were looking forward to.
Besides, the gaming field was almost the only field where “vested interest groups” did not exist. If a game was fun, it would immediately attract more than hundreds of millions of players. If another better game then emerged, players would again swarm into the new game and cause the other games to lose a substantial amount of its player base.
The idea was something like “winner takes all.”
There was essentially no game that could retain their players forever.
After relevant inst.i.tutions confirmed that the Xing Hai Technologies virtual helmet was “technically mature, safe, and stable,” it was allowed to be launched on the market.
…
Federal eighth year, 24th of December.
Xing Hai Technologies’s “Fantasy: Third Generation” Virtual Helmet hit the racks.
The initial batch of 50 million virtual helmets was first launched in the Z nation market.
In order to prevent scalpers from stockpiling them, the virtual helmet was sold in the form of an “offline store, real-name purchase system”… To put it bluntly, it was necessary for buyers to queue up at designated stores.
…
Chuzhou City.
The most prosperous commercial street.
A virtual helmet sales outlet.
There was a long queue that had no end. Many police officers were maintaining order at the roadside.
Li Dong, Cai Qinghai, Liu Yichen, and the others were at the middle of the queue.
“Since the day I was born, I’ve never been in such a long queue.”
“At the best stall in our school’s canteen, the queue is at most 15 minutes at peak time, right?”
“This queue is moving so slowly. I think it’ll be at least three to four hours before we will even get to see the store.”
“We came too late. If we came at 12 in the morning, perhaps we’d have already got the goodies, but we woke up at 4 o’clock.”
“Bruh, it just snowed two days ago. The temperature today is minus five. Who’d get their b.u.t.ts up in this G.o.dd.a.m.n weather?”
“Bringing our beds and blankets would have done the trick. Look at those people at the front of the queue; which one of them doesn’t have a bed and a blanket with them? … Sigh. There’s only 50 million units in the first batch of virtual helmets, and the amount allocated for our city is even less. I wonder if we can get one today.”
Liu Yichen seemed a little sad.
Li Dong tiptoed and observed the length of the queue, opened the map on his phone and roughly estimated their distance to the store. With a few taps on his calculator, he said, “There’s about 1,300 people in front of us. The average purchasing time for each person is 10 seconds. So, in about three and a half hours, we will be able to buy the helmet.”
Of course, the premise was that the helmet would not sell out.
They could only advance slowly, bearing an anxious heart.
Time pa.s.sed swiftly.
It had been more than three hours; their legs were swollen and numb, and they were feeling tired and hungry.
The virtual helmet store was finally in their sight, and was getting closer and closer.
“Bro, I’ll transfer you 10 thousand dollars; could you give me your place and let me go in and buy one first?”
Li Dong and the others heard a voice. There was a short and stout man of good economic condition that wanted to spend some cash in return for a front position.
“Sorry. I’ve been queuing for more than 10 hours; I can’t sell you my place,” the scrawny teenager who heard the request answered.
“20k! Is 20k enough?”
“I’m not selling my place; stop bothering me!”
“50k!”
“Not even for ten million! It is my virtual helmet and my ultimate dream that we’re talking about here! They are priceless; don’t you even think about using money to tarnish them!”
The scrawny teen pushed away the chunky guy and rushed into the store in a somewhat childish manner.
Approximately half a minute later.
The scrawny teen came out with a stony look on his face. “16 days till I turn 18; ‘not eligible to purchase the helmet’…”
He yelled at the sky, “Xing Hai Technologies, I’m suing you for age discrimination!”
“Hahahaha!”
Li Dong and the others couldn’t hold their laughter anymore.
“Sorry, this chance is as precious as a lady’s first night. Just go line up behind.”
After rejecting the plea of the dumpy man, Li Dong and the others went into the store’s purchasing lanes—there was a total of three.
The process of purchasing a virtual helmet was very simple. After selecting the regular helmet with a price of 3,999 dollars (the luxury version costs 19,999 dollars), they proceeded with a fingerprint input, a face scan, and a whole-body image scan to bind one’s personal information to the virtual helmet. After ident.i.ty binding, the virtual helmet would be unusable for other users for one year. They paid with the automatic facial recognition payment system, and a box containing a virtual helmet would be delivered to buyers by robots.
With fast enough efficiency, buyers would be able to leave with a virtual helmet within six to ten seconds.
“Purchase successful. Please take your helmet.”
“Yay!”
Li Dong picked up his virtual helmet, pumped his fist, and walked out of the store.
Cai Qinghai, Liu Yichen, Xukai, and his other roommates also got their hands on a virtual helmet.
When they had walked less than a hundred meters away with their virtual helmets in pure satisfaction, the queuing site blew up abruptly.
“The virtual helmet has been sold out. Please come back in two weeks.”
“What? Sold out that quickly?”
“What the f*ck, is my more than 10 hours of lining up all in vain?”
“Those despicable teasers!”
The site was rendered chaos. Li Dong and the others chose to leave ASAP.
…
Dorm 302.
“Haha, our luck is not bad; but we almost let it slip,” Cai Qinghai said, feeling a strong sense of good fortune.
“50 million units in the first batch, and around 10 thousand units for each outlet. That’s far from enough. I think at least half of the people couldn’t get one.”
Li Dong, on the other hand, asked Mu Wanqiu in the chat group, “Wanqiu, did you manage to s.n.a.t.c.h one? All of us already got it.”
“Nope,” Mu Wanqiu replied. “The queue was too long. I’d been in it for six hours and I couldn’t hold on any longer. I plan to buy it when the situation had relaxed a bit.”
“Then won’t you be missing the chance to experience the virtual game firsthand?”
“So be it, then. I had no choice. The queue was simply terrifying. There are too many people living in Shanghai. In comparison, small cities like the one you live in are better.”
“Alright. Galaxy Era will be officially released after three months. It’s still in beta. We’ll go in and look around first to see how the game works… we’ll update you on the situation.”
“Okay. Thanks, commander! I wish you guys a successful exploration!”
…
10 o’clock at night.
Li Dong, Cai Qinghai, Liu Yichen and the other put on their virtual helmets and waited for their most antic.i.p.ated moment.
A countdown sounded in their ears.
“Ten, nine, eight…”