Chapter 391: End Of Internal Testing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A month quickly pa.s.sed. It was the equivalent of twenty months in the game.
During this period, Li Dong launched a series of diplomatic operations. The overall purpose of the operations was always the same. He hoped to establish bilateral relations characterized by non-aggression and long-term peace with neighboring countries. He also wanted to strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and even to establish regional economic and trade organizations. Through this, he would be able to leverage other countries’ strengths to make up for his country’s weaknesses and bring about economic growth.
It just so happened that the Kingdom of Bregslo was surrounded by many small countries whose military power was far weaker. Li Dong believed that his invitation to strengthen economic and trade cooperation would receive a positive response. Instead:
“I’m sorry, there is no need to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between our two countries.”
“My country’s industrial and agricultural sectors cannot resist the impact of cheap goods coming in from your country. We are fine with maintaining the status quo.”
The more arrogant countries replied, rather rudely, “We have no interest in the goods of your country, but there is a major dispute over a territory of 300,000 square kilometers. We could establish comprehensive economic and trade ties if Bregslo is willing to return these territories.”
These remarks gave rise to strong and violent public opinions in the Kingdom of Bregslo. A large number of people voiced the sentiment that Bregslo should employ force to punish the provocateurs, causing Li Dong to feel significant pressure.
“I just want to enlarge everyone’s piece of the pie and increase their resources and wealth through economic cooperation! Although the resulting economic growth is only a small percent of the total GDP, the pie slice would still get bigger for everyone involved.”
Li Dong shook his head. Even a small percent growth was progress. Modern warfare would never lead to huge amounts of wealth; usually, it only led to a loss of lives.
On the contrary, a country could get some positive scores by doing the same things Li Dong did.
But the players who controlled other countries in the game looked down on the tiny profit that could result from Li Dong’s approach. The only thing they wanted was to devour a fat bounty in a single bite and dominate the entire planet.
Therefore, only a dozen small countries, who were not neighbors to Bregslo, responded and agreed to strengthen economic and trade ties.
However, by this time, everyone had found sufficient reasons to declare war; conflict was inevitable.
On the other hand, in order to avoid an overly low score or withdrawal from the game, the major powers signed a “No First Use of Nuclear Weapons” Treaty. The treaty stipulated that only conventional weapons should be used, so that countries could only wage war with that limited destructive power. Three superpowers, fifteen great nations, 48 medium-sized countries, and more than 10 billion people were involved.
Still, after they poured all sorts of stealth fighters, robot armies, and legions of heavily configured tanks onto the battlefield, the casualty rate remained terrifying.
Population-wise, more than 200 million were lost after only a month of war (equivalent to 20 months in the game). By this point, the warring nations were in such a temper that many were voicing the question of whether they should use nuclear weapons.
Li Dong had drawn together a Neutral Alliance, which consisted of three big countries and ten medium-sized countries. The Alliance strictly abided by the principle of neutrality, while continuing the policy of arming everyone who could fight. Once a neutral country was invaded, other neutral countries would be obliged to provide a.s.sistance. Thus, the Alliance was also one of joint self-defense… With this compact, Li Dong drew together a large force.
The internal test continued up until the 66th day.
A player suddenly made a post on the discussion forum that sent shockwaves through the community.
“Alien forces are arriving soon.”
The post continued, “I control a superpower in the game with the ability to build large observation facilities in s.p.a.ce.
“Officials from the astronomy department told me yesterday that the s.p.a.ce telescope has discovered a huge alien fleet fast approaching the planet of Nidru.
“The fleet is expected to arrive in ten days. If we can’t build a perfect planetary defense system during this time, the alien fleet will fly straight in, unchallenged. They will pierce the heart of Nidru like a sword, kill all our forces, and occupy the planet.
“I think this is Xing Hai Technologies’ intention. Human forces are not the threat. Aliens are the biggest enemy and the ultimate challenge!
“If we can’t reach a consensus within a short period of time and concentrate all our resources and strength to withstand this challenge, there is no doubt that destruction will rain upon us! If that happens, I’m certain that we will only get a few points toward our game score.
“Hurry up and quit warring! Don’t waste too many resources slaughtering one another. Focus all our power against the aliens. We must withstand the attack of the alien fleet before the end of the internal test. Then the system will reward us with points toward our game score!”
An alien fleet. All the players were taken aback.
“What kind of fantastical twist is Xing Hai Technologies playing at? They’ve even created aliens. I’ve just annihilated five countries.”
“Aliens have now become the main enemy, and we have to stop the ongoing war immediately?”
“In my current round in the internal test, the astronomy department has also found anomalies in s.p.a.ce. A lot of red flags have been observed.”
“Stop the war? Impossible! The country that I control is a democracy. The parliament is now controlled by fanatical military hard-liners. Once I stop the war, I will be booted out of office immediately!”
“Everyone is in a killing rage. It’s impossible to stop.”
“This is terrible! All the nuclear weapons have been used up. It is impossible to stop the aliens.”
…
“They’ve actually arranged for alien forces to appear on the scene?”
“I suppose that the ‘ultimate challenge’ is the wave of aliens.”
Li Dong shook his head. He understood Xing Hai Technologies intention. The company wanted to tell the players something through a small test: problems could not be easily solved by war. Wisdom in other areas was also required: for example, diplomacy, economic and trade exchanges, cultural exchanges, and so on.
This was the true meaning behind Galaxy Era and was also in line with certain aspects of reality.
For sure, it was not purely about war.
…
Soon.
It was the 93rd day of the internal test, and it could be said that the end had arrived.
Of the 50 million players who partic.i.p.ated in game testing, there were fewer than one in ten thousand who were still fighting in the game at this moment.
At 10:00 A.M. of this particular day.
Li Dong took off his virtual reality headgear and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Cai Qinghai quickly craned his neck over and asked, “Boss, how is it? How many points did you get? Did you resist that wave of aliens?”
“No,” Li Dong said helplessly. “The aliens are too strong. I’ve unified all our forces and launched all our nuclear weapons to no avail. Only half of the alien fleet was destroyed. Everyone surrendered after fighting a few days of guerrilla war on land.”
“How many points did you get?” asked roommate Liu Yichen.
“Resources, zero points; reputation, 87,000 points; time, 9,300 points…. A total of 96,000 points. I received an A-minus evaluation.”
“F*ck, boss, isn’t 87,000 points for reputation just plain ludicrous? According to the conversion formula, it means that you’ve united 8.7 billion humans and persuaded them to side with you, listen to your orders, and then attack the aliens… How did you do it?” Cai Qinghai exclaimed.
“Commander, the person with the highest score among all the people I know only received 36,000 points. Yours is just completely ridiculous!” Mu Wanqiu said in the group chat, very surprised.
“It’s so-so.” Li Dong smiled modestly. “I very much agree with the words of big boss Chen. The most precious resource will always be the human race, and not anything else! If you follow this principle, you will always achieve something beyond your expectations. ”
People became even more important, especially at a crucial juncture. Uniting a sufficient number of people at that critical time was the equivalent of gathering enough resources.
“Hmm…”
Cai Qinghai, Liu Yichen, and Mu Wanqiu nodded thoughtfully.
The internal test of the large-scale online virtual game Galaxy Era had basically ended.