"So tell me, what exactly is going on here?" Chu Xiaoxiao looked as though she were interrogating a criminal.
"Well... it's actually very simple! Of course we aren't a bunch of hopeless fantasy role-players. We're... playing a game!" A thousand thoughts flashed through Nie Yun's mind. Having already settled on an excuse, he spoke unhurriedly.
"A game?" Chu Xiaoxiao stared at Nie Yun suspiciously.
"That's right! Our organization recently developed an incredibly realistic virtual reality game, and we're planning to start promoting it!"
"A virtual reality game?! You mean VR technology? That concept has certainly been getting a lot of hype lately..." Chu Xiaoxiao nodded.
"No, no, no. This game goes beyond anything you can imagine! Providing cover for the steel trade was only a side benefit of establishing Atlantis. Its main business is actually this game!
"Now do you understand why our organization held a press conference to raise Atlantis's profile?"
"Don't tell me it was all to promote this game?" Chu Xiaoxiao asked in astonishment.
In Chu Xiaoxiao's vision, Atlantis was supposed to become a steel industry giant, yet now he wanted it to make some virtual game? Though having a wide range of businesses was certainly a hallmark of their organization...
"Exactly! And what we're playing now is the closed beta! That 'Secretary of Defense' is actually just an in-game name. You know how these hardcore gamers are. Sometimes they have trouble separating games from reality. They're really hooked..."
"Then those evil aliens you were talking about..."
"Oh! That's one of the game's main storylines. The overall setting is a bunch of Earthlings fighting off evil aliens from outer space. It really gets your blood pumping!"
"Then why did they ask you to deal with that super bomb or whatever? Is your level higher than theirs?"
"Hmm...