The reason the game Oasis could attract so many Earth players in 2045, when the real world was on the brink of chaos and collapse, was simply that it could endlessly recreate classic elements from movies, games, novels, anime, and more from different dimensions, allowing every player to find the works they loved or their favorite games and forms of entertainment.
Whether it was adventure, role-playing, exploration, racing, casual entertainment, tourism, dancing, sports betting, epic battles, battleship duels, giant robots fighting, hunting in the mountains, fishing at sea, fashion design, massage and wellness, and so on—anything people could imagine could be done here!
And even if something wasn't available yet, that didn't matter. Players only needed to organize the relevant information and submit it to Oasis's central database. Once the system approved it, it would quickly generate a new, expansive game world within twenty-four hours, leaving players with little to complain about.
That was why it had endured for so long and why it was loved and pursued by nearly everyone on Earth!
So naturally, the first-person shooter PC game Counter-Strike v1.5, released in June 1999 and based on Half-Life—a game praised by mainstream media at the time as an "epic masterpiece"—had also been recreated in Oasis, where it was welcomed by players who enjoyed competitive shooters.
And now, after accepting the invitation from that shoulder-bone warrior, Edge, Annie had naturally been transported to a closed desert-town arena in Combat Zone 12, on a map called de_dust2.
"Huh?!"
(.)
As soon as she materialized, Annie saw a group of people, some familiar and some not, gathered beneath a building that looked like a bridge, arguing heatedly about something. Then, when they saw her appear, they all turned to look at her in unison.
"Hello, everyone..."
(▽)
As she greeted them,