Time rewound slightly.
June 15th, 1,230,048 of the Pseudo-Universal Era.
Blue Star Federation, United Company headquarters.
The top floor of the building was exceptionally spacious. Looking in from the entrance to the hall, there was nothing but pristine, mirror-like floors made of specialized metal, processed with special techniques to give them an antique texture.
Along the outer side stood ten-meter-tall floor-to-ceiling windows stretching all the way across. Under the Intelligent Brain butler's control, the curtains on both sides swiftly closed, and the room was plunged into darkness in an instant.
At that moment, a beam of light shone down from above, illuminating the center of the hall. Compared to the vast area of the top floor, the patch lit by the beam was pitifully small. A round table stood there.
Chairs were neatly arranged around the round table. There were ten in total.
As if everything had been prepared, a phantom figure appeared in the first chair. This was the latest technology: remote projection imaging. It could synchronize sensations with the actual person, allowing them not only to see and hear, but also to touch objects.
As the first well-dressed figure took his seat, people appeared in the other seats as well. Most were men, though there were two women. After sitting down, they began looking at one another.
After more than ten seconds of silence, the man seated in Chair Number 1 spoke. "The investigation results are out. The legend was true. A True Land does exist."
The words "True Land" immediately drew everyone's full attention. All of them became alert.
The current dating system was called the Pseudo-Universal Era. The reason for that name was because 1.23 million years ago, humanity, while exploring the universe, discovered a horrifying truth.
The universe might be virtual. So long as no