The entire virtual world system seemed to have suffered a serious malfunction. Gao Jian logged in several more times, but the helmet displayed nothing but a void. He had even braced himself for an electric shock, yet the helmet never short-circuited.
That left Gao Jian, who had prepared himself to be shocked, sorely disappointed.
He unplugged the USB drive and inserted it into his laptop. Although it was encrypted, judging by the file size, it probably contained all the rendering data for Steam Ming.
The brain-computer interface helmet merely served as a reader. The vast majority of the "commoners" inside were played by various commercially available large AI models, with a few real players mixed in.
There were at least a thousand commoners throughout Steam Ming, especially around the raised platform in the square. Assuming a ten-to-one ratio, at least a hundred real players had mingled with them to watch Wan Hu's spectacular ascent into the heavens.
A highly mature virtual game world,
A communication platform completely beyond the oversight of any nation,
An alternate-history steampunk Ming Dynasty world...
Wait, perhaps it wasn't necessarily "alternate history"?
Gao Jian reached into his Storage Bag and immediately pulled out the fragment of the Yongle Encyclopedia that described the Fire Wheel Engine.
Fueled by spiritual energy, the Yongle Fragment gave off a faint golden glow, its thousand-odd characters clearly visible.
Then there was that Ming Dynasty city of Beijing, filled with steam technology.
Gao Jian grew thoughtful.
"Could I assume that Steam Ming actually existed?"
Gao Jian waved his hand, and the books on Ming history he had taken from his grandfather's extensive collection flew out of his Storage Bag. They all opened to the sections covering Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youcheng's reign, forming a row and floating quietly in the air, turning a