This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 213: Is Spring for the Intelligence System Coming Again?

Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Is Spring for the Intelligence System Coming Again?

Testing it myself was out of the question.

Chu Guang, being such a cautious person, would never experiment on himself.

Without a second thought, he summoned a little player from the Intelligence System and handed over the device Dr. Yin Fang had given him.

"Try this on."

Debt Giant Eye, confused upon receiving the headset, quickly realized what was happening and excitedly hung it on his ears.

A hidden quest!

And it seemed like the kind that rewards you with gear!

How could he let such an opportunity pass?

Having put on the device, he immediately couldn’t wait to ask,

"Respected Manager, what’s the next step? What should I do?"

Chu Guang looked at Yin Fang.

Yin Fang, undeterred by Chu Guang’s exceedingly cautious approach, simply turned and walked into the sanatorium, found a flat surface amongst the enemy’s side, placed the robot down, and flipped on its power switch.

Clapping his hands and standing up, Yin Fang made a welcoming gesture and said in what he thought was a succinct manner,

"First, turn on the switch of the connection device, then try to imagine that you’re a... um, a quadruped, and with intense mental effort, try to swing your limbs forward, project your thoughts with all your might onto the machine."

Chu Guang: "...?"

Overwhelmed by the many absurdities, for a moment he didn’t even know where to begin with his complaints.

Boss Xia was more straightforward; she burst into laughter upon hearing this, crossing her arms and teasingly added,

"Are you suggesting that he imagines himself as a dog?"

Yin Fang shrugged nonchalantly, not taking the mockery to heart.

"Although I’ve added a gait adaptation program to the robot, basic commands still need to be transmitted via neural signals. Direct limb movement is the most convenient choice if he can’t quite grasp the knack of thought-driven activation."

Xia Yan retorted.

"I always feel like you’re making things unnecessarily complicated, I’d rather just use a tablet to operate it."

Such expensive equipment was, of course, out of her reach, but some mercenary groups in Giant Stone City could afford it.

She had never touched it, but had seen others use it, and it seemed fairly straightforward.

"What do you know?" laughed Yin Fang, "Once you’ve mastered the trick of using it, it can perform operations far more complex than you can imagine!"

Looking at the expectant player, Chu Guang was silent for a while, deciding to express himself in a more tactful manner.

Adjusting his expression, he said sternly,

"Turn on the switch on the headset and feel it with your heart."

Debt Giant Eye was puzzled.

What did it mean to feel it with his heart?

Nevertheless, he was still confused, but he reached out and pushed on the headset, turning the switch on.

The signal light flickered, and the red light turned to green.

Then, something unbelievable happened!

The robot, as if coming to life, suddenly jerked up from the ground and began stomping its four mechanical limbs on the spot, shaking its blocky body from side to side.

Big Eyes, covering his ears with his right hand, was completely startled, staring incredulously at the four-legged robot.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! What’s happening?!"

The sensation was incredible!

It was as if part of his thinking was projected onto a circuit board, which then converted some electrical signals into neural signals, creating a "mirror image" in his brain!

He could sense the presence of that robot, even sense the motion of its motors, but this perception was not rooted in touch, vision, or any other conventional sense; it was closer to an "intuition"!

Gradually, he began to grasp the trick to control the machine, and the robot, which had been flailing its limbs wildly, started to settle down.

Debt Giant Eye closed his eyes outright, heeding the Manager’s "instruction," feeling with his soul that novel Sixth Sense.

As he began to understand this sensation, the four-legged robot seemed to transform into his arm, becoming a part of his own flesh and blood!

The "VM model" laser sensors distributed on the robot’s body, by emitting lasers at a specific frequency intermittently, could continuously map the space within a 5-meter range, scanning the terrain, doors, windows, obstacles, shelters, and everything else, all into a net-like structure of a three-dimensional image.

He could clearly see that image in his mind!

Although not with his eyes, the vision was even more precise than that of the eyes!

Standing with his arms crossed, Dr. Yin Fang watched the little player gradually becoming proficient with the controls and a look of interest was clearly aroused in his eyes.

"Uh? The activity level of this person’s nervous system is a bit high."

"To be honest, he surpassed my expectations. I originally thought he’d have to exert all his strength just to lift a robotic leg."

Yet, this guy took less than a minute to fully master the tricks of using the Neural Connection Device!

That was simply inconceivable!

So inconceivable that it even seemed a bit absurd to Dr. Yin Fang.

Such talent, even if you put it before the war, would definitely be considered top-notch genius! If he was in the Academy, there would surely be someone willing to take him on as a disciple and train him as a Level F researcher or prospector.

Chu Guang gave a faint smile, thinking to himself that he had a dozen players just like this one.

After a pause, he gave the order.

"Move the robot inside the room, immediately."

Chu Guang needed to understand the robot’s capabilities when out of sight.

"No problem!"

Already eager to do so, the moment he received the order, Debt Giant Eye, with his eyes closed, immediately controlled the quadruped robot to dance its four legs and nimbly crawl into the nearby house. It skillfully overcame obstacles on the ground and completed a scan of the room’s environment.

The scanned images would be synchronized to the VM and shared with the nearby teammates.

If within the signal coverage of the Shelter, they could also be uploaded to the Shelter’s server, allowing sharing with other players.

After a two-minute test, Chu Guang gave his assessment in his mind.

This thing is simply a scouting divine artifact!

If it had an LD-47 welded on top, it would be perfect!

"Enough, let it stop now. If he keeps on like this, I’m worried his brain won’t handle it. Any Neural Connection Device is a burden on the nervous system, especially external ones," Dr. Yin Fang said, turning to Chu Guang as a reminder.

Chu Guang asked,

"How long is the limit?"

"The limit?"

Dr. Yin Fang was slightly taken aback, hesitating for a moment before continuing.

"I do not recommend using it for more than 60 seconds, but the specific limit, I’m not clear as it varies from person to person. Some people have naturally active nervous systems and can last a bit longer, but if someone has innate defects in their nervous system, they might not even sustain 60 seconds."

Chu Guang checked the Attribute Panel of Debt Giant Eye and saw that his level was LV7, in the Intelligence Sequence, with attributes at 10 points.

According to statistical observation, from LV0 to LV9, with 9 Sequence Level advancements, the usual pattern is 5-6 points in the main attribute and 3-4 points in other attributes.

Generally, beyond LV6, the main attribute breaks 10.

This player named Debt Giant Eye had an Intelligence attribute of exactly 10, which was quite significant for reference.

Chu Guang wanted to know his limit.

"No matter, I want to see how long he can hold on."

Dr. Yin Fang looked at Chu Guang with a face full of surprise, as if he were watching a madman.

Xia Yan, on the other hand, was unfazed, as she had long been used to it.

Being used to dealing with corpses, she could sense that these players might be clones, or something similar.

So what if they were?

Clones in the Wasteland were not big news.

She still believed till today in a certain rumor circulating in the slums—that there were technologies available in the Wasteland that could synthesize a normal person in one day, and that such technology was very likely hidden in the humble Giant Stone City.

Otherwise, it was completely inexplicable why so many people died in the slums each year, but there never seemed to be a shortage of people.

That was just too strange!

Regardless of what the two of them thought, Chu Guang felt quite composed in his mind.

Not only did he know all the secrets of these players, but he also knew they didn’t fear pain and that theoretically, their pain tolerance should be stronger than the average Waste Land Wanderer’s.

As expected, the little player in front of him did not disappoint. He held on for a full ten minutes before he started to feel a dizziness impacting his brain.

Noticing his mental stupor, Chu Guang immediately ordered him to turn off the power to the headset and disconnect from the little robot.

After the disconnection, the quadruped robot didn’t shut down immediately but entered standby mode. Following predetermined commands, it folded its fragile legs to disguise itself as an inconspicuous, cube-shaped metal block—although it was obvious to any discerning eye that this object was no simple thing.

"My head feels a bit dizzy, Manager," Debt Giant Eye shook his head, looking nervously at Chu Guang out of concern for failing the mission, "... I think I could hold on a bit longer, can I try again?"

Chu Guang looked at him encouragingly and said.

"No need, you’ve already done very well. Take a break for now."

"Okay."

The young player nodded; he indeed needed to catch his breath.

Just a moment ago, he had actually been disconnected and ejected from the Game.

If it hadn’t been for the fast re-login speed, he would have been lying on the ground by now.

"Unbelievable... ten minutes!"

Dr. Yin Fang’s face was filled with disbelief as he stared at Chu Guang, unable to help but ask, "Could it be that his pain nerves have been removed?"

Neural connection overload initially manifested as a headache, with the brain beginning to sound an alarm, followed by unbearable acute pain, and finally, confusion or even fainting.

Almost no one could hold out until the end; they usually removed their headsets when the pain became unbearable.

However, that person had completely skipped the first two stages!

Honestly, he didn’t think this was a good thing.

Losing the sense of pain also meant losing the warning signs.

However, Chu Guang, standing beside him, was currently thinking about something entirely different.

Clearly, the higher the Intelligence attribute of the player, the better their control over the neural connection device and the longer the operating time.

So, in that case...

Setting the minimum attribute requirement for this equipment at 10 points of Intelligence seemed quite reasonable.

Rubbing his chin, Chu Guang perfunctorily answered Dr. Yin Fang’s question.

"It’s possible, but my guess is that he doesn’t feel no pain; it’s just that the transmission of pain signals to the consciousness entity has been blocked. Therefore, he simply can’t feel ’pain’... But let’s not discuss this issue now."

After a pause, withdrawing his gaze from Big Eyes, who was steadying himself against the wall, Chu Guang continued speaking to Dr. Yin Fang.

"The endurance of this thing is still somewhat worrying. What can you do in ten minutes? Can’t you find a way to make it last longer?"

Dr. Yin Fang responded speechlessly.

"Are you not satisfied with an AI that appears intelligent for ten minutes?"

"Intelligent AI?"

"Singularity Technology, it’s complicated to explain... In summary, the original purpose of the neural connection device isn’t for you to keep it on at all times, but to take over direct operation from the AI at critical moments, accomplishing tasks or making judgments that the AI can’t."

After another pause, looking at the robot on the ground, Dr. Yin Fang continued.

"This thing is just an experimental model. I’ll develop a set of rudimentary AI for it so that it can recognize a few simple commands. In the event of a neural connection breakdown, it will be able to return by the original route, stand by on the spot, follow targets, and so on. Mhm, I also plan to install a camera on it for use in conjunction with laser scanning."

Hearing this, Chu Guang felt a surge of interest and immediately asked.

"Do you know how to make cameras?"

Dr. Yin Fang gave Chu Guang a curious look.

"Of course, what’s so difficult about that? Many facilities can be found with security cameras, all kinds of models and resolutions, some of which even work to this day, two hundred years later... Although most of them are broken, they can just be fixed with a few parts, it’s not a big deal."

Communication chips were also easy to handle.

VM was much like a mini-computer; its graphene circuit board integrated many components, and many things could be modified for use.

Including the processor and the laser scanning system in this quadruped robot, everything was taken from the VM.

Chu Guang stared at him with wide eyes for quite a while before finally saying.

"It’s that simple?"

Dr. Yin Fang scratched his head.

"Well, it requires a little bit of foundation, but nothing too profound. The Academy provides every Prospector with a 1.2G ’Waste Survival Guide,’ which records in images and text some easily attained and usable parts on the Wasteland, along with more advanced modification knowledge, such as making simple weapons, explosives, fuel, and emergency medicines. The use of optical components and graphene circuit boards might require more advanced knowledge, necessitating some basic tools, but it’s still not a big issue for Prospectors above Level E."

Chu Guang: "..."

MMP!

With such a great resource, why didn’t you say so earlier!

Previously, Chu Guang had not ruled out the possibility of reclaiming the cameras from facilities such as bank buildings. He even specifically asked knowledgeable players to collect a couple for research, but once they were dismantled, they were completely baffled.

Pre-war civilization’s electronic devices saw a high ubiquity of carbon-based chips, which had, to a large extent, even replaced the traditional silicon-based chips. And these cameras used neither traditional CMOS nor CCD components.

Many players had discussed this issue on the forum, trying to repair them, but the final consensus wasn’t far from "it looks like the developers have run out of ideas".

After all, there was a significant technological gap, perhaps even one spanning a "technological explosion."

This wasn’t something that could be figured out by just picking up a couple of devices and looking inside.

In the end, only the lens coatings of these cameras could be recycled; many optical sights in the Outpost Base weapons shop came from that source.

Xia Yan, who had once been a mercenary, was particularly skilled at making such things, roughly as adept as Dr. Yin Fang was at "analyzing pre-war civilization data."

Chu Guang, his eyes burning with eagerness, immediately asked Dr. Yin Fang, "That skill book... I mean, do you have the ’Waste Survival Guide’ on you?"

Dr. Yin Fang paused, then nodded and said,

"That thing? I haven’t used it since I reached Level D, probably still at home... But if you need it, I can sort it out for you, though it might take some time."

Chu Guang’s eyes gleamed as he said,

"No problem! I can wait!"

A Scavenging skill +3—oh no, it could be +5 skill book!

How could he possibly pass up such a treasure!

Not only could the players use it for reference, but his NPCs could also study it as a tutorial.

Even if they couldn’t master the essence, at least they’d know what trash on the Wasteland was valuable and what it could be used for.

That alone made it worthwhile!

The little player standing beside them watched the exchange between the Manager and Dr. Yin Fang with a completely bewildered expression.

Without subtitles, he couldn’t make heads or tails of the whole conversation.

So, did that mean the mission was complete or what?

Finally unable to contain himself, Debt Giant Eye cleared his throat, preparing to ask.

Just then, as if the two NPCs had reached some form of consensus, Dr. Yin Fang picked up the robot while the Manager turned to him with a serious look.

"Thank you for your assistance!"

"Thanks to your help, we now have a new understanding of the neural connection devices, and soon a batch of new equipment will be available on the shop shelves."

"Your mission reward has been sent to your VM; I wish you a pleasant day!"

Debt Giant Eye: "???"

Wait.

That’s it?!

As the Manager began to walk away after collecting his headset, Debt Giant Eye suddenly felt a burst of inspiration and blurted out,

"Manager, I believe there is a serious design flaw in that equipment!"

Hearing this, the Manager stopped in his tracks and turned around with a puzzled look.

"What design flaw?"

Debt Giant Eye immediately said,

"Disconnecting! No, I mean dizziness! While I was operating that robot just now, I suddenly felt a strong spell of dizziness, almost passing out!"

Humph.

I thought it was something serious.

Chu Guang smiled and said to the enthusiastic little player,

"Neural connection devices are all like this; prolonged use can cause a certain level of strain on the brain, let alone equipment that hasn’t been fully developed—"

"I volunteer to be a new equipment tester!"

Before he could finish, the little player spoke up with a solemn expression.

"Respected Manager, as a member of Shelter No. 404, I am prepared to make sacrifices for our cause! For the grand goal of reviving the United Human, please allow me to contribute to the development of army equipment for the shelter!"

Watching the longing written all over the face of the little player before him, Chu Guang gave a slight start, then quickly understood what the guy was thinking.

Clever boy.

He’d laid the groundwork for so long, all to freeload some Divine Artifact!

But then...

That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Chu Guang was also curious about how that little guy cradled by Dr. Yin Fang would perform on the battlefield.

Since someone had volunteered to be the guinea pig,

It would save him the trouble of having to post a mission.

After pondering for a moment, Chu Guang looked at Dr. Yin Fang and asked,

"Do you need a volunteer to test the equipment?"