"Ding-dong."
"Your package has been delivered. Please sign for it."
Hearing the delivery announcement along with the doorbell, Lin Yu wore an expression that said he had expected as much. Sure enough, just as he had anticipated, the game pod had arrived the moment he placed the order.
Having prepared himself this time, Lin Yu was no longer startled by the package's arrival.
He opened the door and, seeing the enormous black package outside, Lin Yu began moving it into the house.
This package was clearly different from the game helmet's. It was much heavier, for one thing, and Lin Yu had to strain with all his might just to move it into the living room and lay it flat on the floor.
Looking at the package before him, Lin Yu carefully opened its outer casing and took everything inside out one piece at a time.
The first thing he took out was the game pod's instruction manual.
He briefly flipped through the manual, then casually set it on the table.
Lin Yu returned to the bedroom and tidied up his belongings to make room for the game pod he was about to bring in.
Once that was done, it was time to move the game pod into the bedroom.
Looking at the game pod before him, Lin Yu took a deep breath and began the arduous task of carrying it into the bedroom.
"Whew, whew, whew, I'm exhausted!"
After struggling to get the game pod in place, Lin Yu wiped the sweat that had beaded on his forehead. He rested for a while, then began preparing to install it.
Next, Lin Yu followed the instructions in the manual to complete the installation.
After finishing everything, Lin Yu returned to the living room and looked at the silver metal case in the package.
Having read the manual, Lin Yu knew the case contained nutrient solution. According to the manual, there were thirty bottles inside, and each bottle was enough to sustain one person for a day without food or water.
The thirty bottles were enough to go a month without food or water, and they were simple to use.
They could be drunk directly or installed in the game pod to supply the player's daily needs.
After putting the metal case in the bedroom, Lin Yu realized he didn't know what to do.
The game called "Epochal Shift" had yet to launch, so he couldn't find out what it was like.
After giving it some thought, Lin Yu decided to throw away the package's outer casing first.
Somewhere Lin Yu knew nothing about, most of the Hua Nation's military and police forces had been mobilized to investigate the company called Starsea Era.
The result was nothing. They couldn't find out when the company had been established at all, as if it had appeared out of thin air.
Bank transactions: nonexistent. The money used to buy the equipment simply vanished into thin air.
Company address: nonexistent.
Employees: none.
Someone tried making a purchase to determine how the delivery was made, hoping to trace it back to Starsea Era's location.
The answer was obvious: the attempt failed. According to the military and police personnel lying in wait nearby and the person who had cooperated with the attempt, the moment the purchase was made, a package appeared out of thin air in front of the buyer's door. A voice that only the buyer could hear sounded in the buyer's ear, announcing that the package had been delivered.
A few days later, when the person involved was questioned again, the answer had changed.
"Appeared out of thin air? No, I saw the delivery driver leave the package at the door."
The person then checked the surveillance footage and paper files and found that every record had changed: instead of the package appearing out of thin air, a delivery driver had brought it to the door.
A large-scale information overwrite.
Why did that person remember when everyone's perception and the records had been altered?
The answer was that several officials and one person who had taken part in investigating the incident remembered.
After a careful investigation, the Hua Nation's upper echelons determined the reason. They had only one thing in common: they were all bound owners of Limited Supreme Edition game pods. Perhaps it was because he was bound to the game pod that he was immune to the memory overwrite phenomenon.
After numerous further attempts and multiple information overwrites, followed by conversations with the other party, the Hua Nation's upper echelons confirmed that this was indeed the reason.
After discovering this, someone tried to get the other party to hand over the Limited Supreme Edition, but the attempt failed.
Once bound, a Limited Supreme Edition could not be bound to a different owner. Of course, some people had also considered taking one by force.
The result was that every operation was forced to stop by various unavoidable circumstances just as it was about to be carried out.
After discovering that Limited Supreme Edition slots could not be seized, certain people finally stopped their private schemes.
Meanwhile, a department called the [Abnormal Affairs Investigation Bureau] was quietly established. There were only two requirements to join: being bound to a Limited Supreme Edition and passing an official review. Anyone who met both could join.
At the same time, game helmets and game pods quietly entered research institutes in various locations.
All kinds of tests on the equipment began.
"Still no good?"
"No use. We've tried every method, and we can't even complete a structural scan."
"We can't take it apart. We've tried every method."
Similar conversations took place one after another in laboratories everywhere. Before long, the personnel's memories and the various experimental records were distorted and altered, and almost everyone forgot what they were researching.
Except them.
That was right. After discovering that any attempt to investigate the gaming equipment or Starsea Era would bring about information reconstruction, the Hua Nation's upper echelons had no choice but to rely on Anomaly Investigation Bureau members to record from memory the information from before the alterations occurred.
Only those bound to Limited Supreme Edition game pods were immune to the information overwrites and could remember what had happened before.
The Anomaly Investigation Bureau currently had 373 members.
Of course, not everyone had chosen to join the Hua Nation's authorities. At present, the authorities had identified 209 Ultimate Edition owners within the country who had chosen not to join them.
After officials visited and held friendly conversations with them, they all stated that they would firmly follow the policies set by the nation, resolutely keep pace with the Party, and never do anything to harm the nation's interests.
The upper echelons were very satisfied with their statements.
The authorities' stance toward these people was that they could choose not to join, but they must not interfere with the authorities' upcoming plans, much less go against the nation.
Anyone who dared interfere with the nation's plans or even go against the nation would face the full force of the state.
After all, being bound to a Limited Supreme Edition only protected the owner's slot from being taken away. It didn't make anyone invincible.
As long as an action wasn't intended to seize the owner's bound status, the power that prevented slots from being taken would not appear.
The Hua Nation had also gained some understanding of this Cognitive Overwrite phenomenon. This power appeared whenever someone tried to investigate Starsea Era or reveal the anomalies.
Under the influence of this power, apart from the thousand Ultimate Edition owners, no one could perceive anything abnormal about the game "Epochal Shift." They all thought it was just an ordinary game.