Chapter 1089 An Exciting Future

He could study at the library any other day of the week. It would be a waste to reject the invitation letter. Especially since he had used up all of his luck to receive this invitation.

Not to mention that he was too triggered by the fact that Li Mo was partic.i.p.ating in G.o.d Lu’s research project.

Even though he never compared himself to Li Mo, seeing the kid brag in front of him every day made it hard to ignore him.

He wasn’t giving up on studying.

However, he felt like if he changed his environment, maybe it would benefit himself…

It was soon the last Sat.u.r.day of the month.

Duan Siqi handed in his cla.s.s a.s.signment one day before the deadline. He ate some breakfast and headed toward the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study.

Even though he had heard about this famous academic temple many times, this was his first time coming here.

After he presented the invitation letter to the security guard, he soon arrived at the virtual reality experience center.

When he arrived at the center, he was shocked by the crowd.

In addition to the 30 experimenters who were attending, there were also a dozen researchers and staff members, as well as security guards.

He thought he had arrived early; he didn’t expect so many people to come even earlier.

Duan Siqi looked at the crowded experience center and hesitated, unsure of what to do.

He was wondering if he should ask someone for help, but suddenly, a middle-aged staff member walked up to him. The staff member looked at him and then looked down at the name list.

“You’re Duan Siqi?”

Duan Siqi nodded and said, “… Yeah.”

“I’m the person in charge, the closed beta is about to begin. I’ll show you the equipment, come with me.”

Duan Siqi: “Okay.”

In fact, the equipment was very simple to use as there were only a few steps.

Lie on the chair, put on the helmet, press the power b.u.t.ton. After that, the user would be in the virtual reality world.

The closed beta soon began.

Duan Siqi followed the instructions of the researchers and lay on the virtual reality chair. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down the muscles in his body.

He was worried about not being able to “fall asleep” into the virtual reality world, but he suddenly felt a tingling sensation from his spine.

When he tried to itch the back of his head, he suddenly began to lose consciousness.

It was almost as if his soul came out of his body and went into another world. Into a world that he had never seen before.

He was standing on a six-lane highway, there were no cars on the road. Huge futuristic skysc.r.a.pers surrounded him.

Many other people were standing here.

The person standing closest to him was a foreign closed beta tester.

This blonde girl looked like a YouTuber, and her eyes were wide open in disbelief.

He couldn’t help but look at her.

Everything felt so real.

He had no idea how they were able to capture their faces.

Reading brain wave information?

Active mapping by using subconscious hints?

Or maybe the helmet is equipped with a scanning device?

Duan Siqi touched his cheek and felt emotional.

The last time he felt this way was at the Shanghai Expo.

Back when he was still in elementary school, he went to the expo with his father. At one of the company booths, his father and he used a head-mounted neural scanning device to manipulate a toy car.

He was amazed, and everything he knew about the world had changed.

And now, more than a decade later, he was feeling the same way.

I can’t believe how advanced technology is getting.

“… This is crazy.”

…

It was eight o’clock at night when he finally returned to his dorm after a busy day.

Their job was very simple. Staff members a.s.signed them to complete tasks in specific environments, depending on their real-life occupations.

For example, since he was a college student, he had two environments a.s.signed to him. One was a library, the other was a cla.s.sroom. His task in the virtual world was to listen to a math lecture in a cla.s.sroom and spend an afternoon at the library.

This experience left him wanting more.

He came to the closed beta test to escape from studying. However, in the end, he still ended up spending his time in a library.

The next closed beta test was scheduled for next Sat.u.r.day.

Due to the limited testing equipment available, the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study told them that the Chinese closed beta testers would be allocated to the weekend slots.

Apparently, they would get to experience new sensations next time.

Duan Siqi was lying on his bed, scrolling through his phone. He thought back to what he experienced during the day and suddenly sighed.

“That was incredible…”

Even though he only tested a simple virtual reality game, in his mind, it wasn’t a game at all.

Shopping, entertainment, finance, public services, even education, military, politics, and other things existed in the virtual reality world.

This was just the beginning.

As for what could happen in the future…

He looked at the stars outside his window and looked forward to the future.

He opened his Weibo and typed out his thoughts. He attached a few photos he took this morning and made a post.

He was surprised to see that he began to gain followers and likes.

Li Mo was studying hard at his desk. He leaned back in his chair and turned off his lamp. He then climbed into his bed.

Ever since he joined Academician Lu’s research project two weeks ago, he had been studying non-stop. He would either be at his desk or the library.

Duan Siqi heard the crickets chirping outside the window as he plugged in his phone and closed his eyes.

Dorm room 201 was asleep.

While most of the people in this city were asleep, all the way in Zhongshan International, Lu Zhou yawned as he began uploading his first paper on his new project—research on motive theory.

On the other hand, the public was going crazy over the first closed beta test of virtual reality technology…