On Blue Star, a black car drove into a patch of low hills on the outskirts of Whale City. Forest Birds called in the woods, reptiles darted past, and the drone of insects competed with the roar of the engine.
Ke Meng got out of the car and carried his filming equipment, a folding table, and a cardboard box onto a flat patch of grass.
For an unboxing review video, the sense of ceremony around opening the package was important.
Unfortunately, the Kobolds had little aesthetic sense. Both of their deliveries had come with a basin. Some attractive packaging would have been better.
Ke Meng put the Mighty Gloves into the cardboard box, then taped it shut himself.
Once everything was ready, Ke Meng stood before the camera and delivered his opening lines:
"Hi, everyone, I'm Ke Meng. Today, I received a strange item from a friend in the Crocodile Continent. Supposedly, wearing this glove lets you lift very heavy objects. Today, I'll test it for you and see whether that's true."
Ke Meng opened the cardboard box in front of the camera and pulled out a worn black leather glove studded with round rivets.
On camera, he demonstrated its automatic attachment function. The moment he slipped his fingers into the opening, the glove automatically clung to his right hand, fitting snugly against every inch of skin.
He turned his hand back and forth before the camera, giving his viewers as complete a view of the Mighty Gloves as possible.
With the item showcase finished, it was time for the practical demonstration.
Ke Meng walked over to his car, bent down, lightly gripped part of the chassis with one hand, and lifted.
It felt heavy in his hand, and he could clearly feel the resistance.
His car weighed at least 1,300 kilograms, while he weighed seventy kilograms-a normal weight for a young man who stood 1.8 meters tall.
With the Mighty Gloves, he could lift 1,400 kilograms with one hand.
As it turned out, Ke Meng really could lift his own car.
With a whoosh, Ke Meng raised the front of the car to shoulder height.
However, afraid of crushing the chassis in his grip, Ke Meng moved very gently.
Ke Meng lowered the car, then walked back to the camera and excitedly explained what the Mighty Gloves could do.
"With this glove, you can lift objects twenty times your own body weight. As you can see, the item my friend in the Crocodile Continent sent me is the real deal..."
Ke Meng explained with a delighted expression, never doubting for a moment that it was genuine.
This kind of exaggerated effect was exactly what viewers wanted to see. Most people would never believe someone could actually lift a car with one hand.
After filming his footage, Ke Meng drove home.
He edited the video and uploaded it to Bilibili.
He glanced at his pet unboxing review video. Its view count had risen to forty thousand, and it was spreading quickly.
Video approval took time, so Ke Meng began writing and drawing while he waited.
He drew an Octagram Magic Circle on a sheet of drafting paper, using the same design the Kobolds and Cat-Faced People had drawn.
Their magic circles shared a common origin. The summoning knowledge had presumably been taught by the Black Ghost apostle, so the designs of their summoning circles followed the same tradition.
After finishing the magic circle on paper, Ke Meng blinked. It seemed pretty unremarkable, with no obvious changes.
Right, the summoning circle needs spacetime stone powder. Just knowing how to draw it is useless.
Summoning Great Cthulhu required the power to travel through spacetime, and only spacetime stone had the power to cross between worlds.
Spacetime stone powder was probably rare. Although Ke Meng was not a player over there and had no idea how much the powder cost, he doubted many groups of believers could easily hold a sacrificial ritual.
Orange Star.
A group of experts had finished watching the entire video. It ended on the scene of the leather-armored assassin player staring up at the sky before being forcibly ejected from the game.
Throughout the footage of the sacrificial ritual, nothing appeared in the sky. The night remained pitch-black.
However, according to the accounts from the three players and the Kobold mobs, the mobs had been afraid of something terrifying, while the players had been looking at something with a horrifying appearance.
The video had failed to capture that horrifying thing. A game bug might have caused a discrepancy between what the players saw and what the gaming pod's system recorded.
"I need the head of the game company to give us a reasonable explanation. Why doesn't the recording function capture everything the players see?" a researcher demanded sternly.
The head of the game company was sweating profusely. He had never expected such a serious bug to appear in the game.
"Our engineers are investigating the exact cause," he said, stalling for time.
He had been busy rushing over to take the scolding. Naturally, the team behind him was responsible for finding the cause of the bug. His current task was to buy as much time as possible, obtain a professional report, and then explain the full circumstances to the director of the Mech City Research Institute.
"This is an extremely serious gaming incident. The Orange Star General Research Institute is giving it its full attention. If those three players really have suffered brain damage, your game can no longer remain in operation," the director of the Mech City Research Institute said.
The Orange Star General Research Institute was the planet's highest-level scientific research institution, with work spanning interstellar aerospace and heavy industry. Once the higher-ups got involved, banning a virtual reality game would take little effort.
Yet no virtual reality game had ever experienced a safety issue before, so none had ever been banned.
Today might see the first virtual game banned by the Orange Star General Research Institute.
Hearing that the Scientific Research General Institute was taking the matter so seriously, the head of the game company hurriedly swiped across his light screen. Sure enough, he saw that the institute had released a media report about the incident involving the three players, stating that the cause was still under investigation.
"Director, our company will shut down the game for maintenance immediately. We won't reopen it until we find the cause. Please rest assured." He sent a message to the game company ordering the shutdown.
Shutting down a virtual game for maintenance had never happened on Orange Star. After all, its global network was so advanced that even massive updates could be downloaded in an instant. Thus, the company behind "World" became the first virtual game company in recent decades to shut down for maintenance.
Before long, the hospital sent over three updated medical examination reports.
"All physical readings for the three patients are within normal ranges. There are no abnormalities. They're in excellent health."
"Have their brains been injured? What is the state of their brain waves?"
"There is no physical trauma to their brains. Their brain waves are consistent with deep sleep, which is an effect of the powerful sedatives."
The researchers breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that the three players were physically unharmed.
When the head of the game company heard the latest news from the hospital, his tense muscles relaxed as well.
The players' brains were fine. His company's virtual game was still safe, and there was no risk of it being banned.
"Question the patients as soon as they wake up."
"Have the two female players who voluntarily forced themselves offline come here. We need to ask them about some details in person," the director told the AI.
"Understood."
Meanwhile, in two girlishly decorated bedrooms in Mech City, two girls each received an invitation from the research institute's director to assist with the investigation.
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