(There's a link at the end of the previous chapter. I really am a genius.) At eight o'clock in the evening, the entire world was watching a special live broadcast, including the people in the Virtual World.
Aurora provided the people in the Virtual World with a special plug-in that allowed them to maintain occasional contact with the real world.
The screen worked in only one direction. Only humans could see it; the natives of the Virtual World could not.
Thus, the entire Virtual World fell into a very strange state. Most people found somewhere quiet to sit, and even the taverns were no longer as lively as before.
Although there were so many people that there was practically nowhere to set foot, hardly anyone was making noise.
For the vast majority of humans, this was their first time seeing real, living aliens—aliens who had supposedly joined the Earth Star Civilization.
How should one describe the feeling?
It was like, We've become so great that even our enemies are throwing themselves into our embrace. Everyone was filled from head to toe with something called "glory."
Humans felt little psychological burden over the Octopus Monsters joining the Earth Star Civilization, and no one showed any resistance. During the brief war, it had always been the robot legions doing the fighting.
The birth of collective hatred within a social group required triggers and catalysts. In this matter, several of the most important factors were missing, so humans simply couldn't bring themselves to hate these aliens who had already declared defeat.
Quite a few people even thought... These aliens are freaking hilarious. They traveled all the way to the Solar System, then scared the company into thinking the apocalypse was coming.
Then, just a few months after the war began, they suddenly called