After the countdown ended, Wu Peng unconsciously entered an immersive state.
Immediately after, the scene changed. Noises came from all around. Wu Peng opened his eyes, then widened them in shock.
"Heavens, is this real?"
"It's unbelievable."
"Are these ancient people really just strings of data?"
"..."
Compared to Wu Peng's quiet reaction, the other guests entering the virtual world reacted much more strongly.
At this moment, Wu Peng and the others were located on a bustling, lively ancient street.
On the street, the expressions and movements of men, women, old, and young were all different.
Most importantly, in the eyes of Wu Peng and the others, these people looked exactly like real humans, not at all like virtual characters.
After coming back to his senses, Wu Peng boldly walked up to a small stall and reached out to touch the goods on display.
Instantly, Wu Peng's body jolted.
This intense sense of touch, the indistinguishable reality of the surroundings, the authentic atmosphere of the noisy street – it all struck him deep in his soul.
Wu Peng wanted to walk forward but found his movement restricted. At the same time, the pedestrians on the street didn't seem to see him.
Afterwards, Wu Peng tried to exit the virtual world, and unexpectedly, he really did exit.
Meanwhile, in the real world.
The live stream room set up on the Super Dimension Technology official website also had visuals now.
The only unfortunate thing was that the live stream audience was pitifully small, with almost no bullet comments (scrolling messages). However, as the feed from the virtual world connected, the bullet comments began to increase.
"Damn, is this really a virtual world?"
"My god, am I dreaming?"
"Just came from Weibo, the VIPs attending the press conference are already starting to leak info."
"..."
Virtual world. A representative from Super Dimension Technology appeared.
"Esteemed guests, we have now lifted the restrictions. Everyone can freely explore and experience this street area. The live stream in the real world will broadcast the feed simultaneously."
The representative continued, "The press conference will officially begin in half an hour."
Before he finished speaking, some guests had already started moving.
Wu Peng happened to be in front of a mobile stall and heard the vendor ask with a smile, "Esteemed customer, you must be 'Yiren' (Outsiders/Different People), right?"
After a moment of surprise, Wu Peng asked, "What does 'Yiren' mean?"
The vendor explained, "A month ago, Heaven and Earth sent down a divine oracle, saying people in strange clothing would descend upon the Divine Land (Shenzhou Continent), telling us not to panic."
Wu Peng suddenly understood and smiled.
The vendor packed two Hu Bing (a type of flatbread) and handed them to Wu Peng. "Esteemed customer, please try one. They just came out of the oven, still hot."
Wu Peng's eyes lit up as he thought of something. He took the Hu Bing and took a bite.
"This... the feedback is exactly the same as eating in the real world."
From seeing the virtual brain-computer interface to entering the virtual world, Wu Peng was shocked again and again, and his understanding was repeatedly refreshed.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Peng thanked the vendor and began his journey experiencing the virtual world.
Real world. The internet had completely exploded.
On the Super Dimension Technology official website's live stream, the number of online viewers had already surpassed three million and was still rapidly increasing.
Backstage at the press conference venue, Xu Zhijun breathed a sigh of relief after confirming with the technical staff that the live stream wouldn't crash.
Lu Shaojun, standing nearby, chuckled, "Old Xu, what do you think? Wasn't I farsighted?"
Xu Zhijun nodded and gave Lu Shaojun a thumbs-up.
Back when they were setting up the live stream, Lu Shaojun had demanded that the room be able to handle at least five million concurrent viewers.
At the time, Xu Zhijun thought CEO Lu was too confident. Looking at it now, the requirement of five million might have even been too low.
Lu Shaojun glanced at the time and said, "Alright, bring the guests to our press conference venue."
Xu Zhijun agreed with a smile, "I'll arrange for someone to notify them right away."
Virtual world.
All the guests attending the press conference arrived at a square.
This square floated above the surface of the sea. Sitting in the square, one could feel the gentle sea breeze, see the churning waves, and watch the soaring seabirds.
After the host gave the opening remarks, Lu Shaojun appeared on the stage in the square.
"Hello everyone, I am Lu Shaojun, the founder of Super Dimension Technology."
Applause erupted.
Lu Shaojun smiled slightly, pacing back and forth on the stage. After the applause died down, he began to speak:
"Before the press conference begins, I want to apologize to those who slandered, cursed, and doubted Super Dimension Technology recently. I'm sorry to have disappointed you."
"What you claimed was impossible, Super Dimension Technology has achieved, and achieved very well."
The audience below burst into laughter.
The bullet comments in the Super Dimension Technology official live stream also flew across the screen.
"Hahaha, that's savage."
"Can those VIPs and bloggers who jumped on the bandwagon to criticize please come out and apologize?"
"Let me state upfront, I didn't follow the trend and bash Super Dimension Technology back then."
"I did. I sincerely apologize to Super Dimension Technology here."
"Sorry."
"..."
On stage, Lu Shaojun continued, "Getting back to the main point, when I founded Super Dimension Technology, the philosophy I set for the company was to change the world."
"We all know that humans' subjective impression of the objective material world originates from the biological information acquired by our five major sensory organs, which the brain then processes."
"In fact, the biological information transmitted to the brain by these sensory organs is not much different from the information generated and transmitted to the brain by a computer."
After a moment, Lu Shaojun's voice sounded again, "If we analyze the brainwave information from the five sensory organs, then use a compiler to decode and digitize it, and then interact with the brain's neural network, what would happen?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Even the audience in the live stream felt it was profound but didn't quite understand.
Could it allow people to enter a virtual world?
Lu Shaojun on stage suddenly laughed, "It would cause people to have hallucinations, and artificially created ones at that."
"A hallucination is a perceptual experience that occurs without objective stimuli. Its characteristic is that it's a sensation."
"Due to the lack of corresponding real stimuli, from an objective perspective, it is illusory. However, for the person experiencing it, it doesn't feel illusory; on the contrary, it feels incredibly real."
At this point, everyone finally understood.
This was the operating principle of the virtual brain-computer interface.
Lu Shaojun paced back and forth on the stage, head slightly lowered, and said, "Actually, in medicine, hallucinations are a serious cognitive disorder, and once a hallucination begins, it's very difficult for the person to break free from it."
"For this reason, our research team combined hallucinations with dreams. In the virtual world created this way, a person can consciously control whether to exit the virtual world."
Below the stage, the seated guests all nodded.
Exiting the virtual world freely – they had just tried it many times, and it was indeed very smooth.
Lu Shaojun faced the guests and said, "After completing the foundational creation of the virtual world, our research team began developing virtual games."