Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1574 Closed Beta
Shangluo hung up the phone—two minutes earlier, he had made a call, telling the person on the other end to come over within half an hour.

Half an hour later, Han Xingzhi arrived.

"What? There's a game to play? And it's a beta version? You're so good to me, bro! You even call me for something like this."

"You, don't move around here." He beckoned. "Mr. Titus, thank you for your help."

"Understood, Your Majesty the King of Rome, I will keep an eye on him."

"Huh??? Big brother, what do you want with me? A trap?"

"Listen up." Shang Luo slapped him on the shoulder. "I'm assigning you a task: you gave a drachma to a fox during the Golden Branch Ceremony, remember?"

Han Xingzhi nodded.

“Things have blown up now, and we’re cleaning up the mess—don’t panic, you’re not responsible, and no one intends to hold you accountable. But after all this trouble, it’s not too much to ask you to lend a hand, is it?”

Han Xingzhi shook his head.

“Very good. So your task is to guide Mr. Titus. He will be carrying the scanner—that fox is very wary, she doesn't see strangers. You are not a stranger, so she will come out after she sees you. Once the job is done, I'll give you a beta test account.”

"So there really are games to play?"

"Yes, and it's really fun—want to play the massively multiplayer online virtual reality game 'Ether Chronicles'? Don't worry about what it is, just know that you'll get a beta test account, provided you finish your work. Got it?"

Han Xingzhi nodded vigorously.

“Very well. Go ahead. Mr. Titus is in your hands.”

“No problem.” Titus saluted and was about to lead him away—

"Hey! Wait, there's one more thing." Shangluo suddenly remembered and called out to him, "Don't give this kid anything to eat. He can only eat grains and drink water from the rootless source. He can't eat anything else."

"Brother, how do you still remember this?"

“Because if you don’t remember this, Master Sa will come and tell you to remember it right away—or he might not. But you understand, he’ll come for your own good. If he doesn’t come, then you’re finished, which means he thinks it’s better to let things take their course. You understand what I mean?”

Shangluo said something that really hit him hard—Master Sa personally instructed him to keep an eye on this kid, which meant that Master Sa himself thought highly of his talent. Because no matter how easygoing Master Sa was, he was still a master, and his daily actions were very mysterious; he rarely devoted too much time to any one individual.

Take Fu Yuanshan, for example. Fu Yuanshan would feel extremely honored even to be glanced at by Master Sa. There are only two possibilities for someone who frequently meets with Master Sa—first, someone like Shang Luo, where Master Sa genuinely feels the need to meet with him often.

The second type is Yanqiu, who interacts with Master Sa outside of her cultivation practice. Master Sa doesn't actually have high expectations for Yanqiu's cultivation, and his occasional guidance is just casual talk. He pays attention to Yanqiu mainly for her acting career.

Under these circumstances, it was an extremely rare and precious favor that Master Sa was willing to indirectly give Han Xingzhi some attention through Shangluo. Shangluo himself never dared to be negligent in front of Master Sa—he respected this old master greatly, both in terms of age and cultivation.

If his friend or younger brother missed such an important opportunity because of his gluttony, Shangluo would feel guilty.

[Because he can fatten them up and sell them?]

"What do you mean by 'out of the pen'? He's fattened up and can work."

That's true. Your friends all have good talents; they're all capable workers, but they have some minor flaws.

"That's perfectly normal. If they didn't have these problems, would they need to wait for me? They would have become immortals long ago! Humans are all flawed to some extent. It's precisely because humans are imperfect that they are human."

I always feel like you're the one who's right and I'm always right.

"We'll talk about it when you grow your own legs and can come out on your own—so, to be honest, you can come out, right? But you only come out for a day or two, and the rest of the time you stay inside."

[None of your business!]

"Tsk, I think you're like one of those toddlers who just learned to walk and insisted on walking on your own the first day. After a couple of days, you don't want to walk anymore, right?"

I'll come down, sooner or later. And once the game is playable, I'll come out even if you don't rush me. So, let that kid do her job well; I have high hopes for her.

"Brother, were you talking to someone very important just now?"

"Yes, that person said he thinks highly of you. You'd better do a good job on this mission, or you'll be in for a treat."

"You sound like you're going to punish me. Anyway, I understand." He glanced at the time. "But if I miss work, won't it count as unpaid leave?"

"Okay, Lei will approve a leave slip for you. Not only will it not be considered an absence, but you can still get internship points."

"Hooray! I'm off then!"

Watching Han Xingzhi happily depart, Shang Luo suddenly felt a little disappointed: "Why is it that what makes him happiest is approving his leave slip?"

[Power, oh power. You now hold the power of life and death; you can let whoever you want pass through. As long as you approve a leave of absence, even if they don't go to school for a whole semester, you can still get them approved.]

"I can't do this kind of thing. Even if I asked the Grand Secretary for this authority, I wouldn't dare to approve it for myself, let alone for others."

The Imperial College's credit system was extremely strict—in the Hongwu and Yongle eras, insufficient credits would result in punishment. Even now, insufficient credits would directly lead to a serious demerit on one's grades.

Although the leave granted by Shangluo allows him to skip classes, he still needs to take the exams to earn credits. The internship credits from this leave are just a bonus, used to apply for a first-class degree. To graduate, he must earn every single credit in his required courses. "I don't want to grant him a semester's leave only to have him fail all his courses; that would be the same as not granting it at all."

[By the way, have you considered moving teaching online?]

“I don’t consider this—I think, based on what I said earlier, this is very important: there must be a divide between the virtual and the real, and Rome must be separated from the Ming Dynasty by a narrative layer.”

[A narrative layer between us? You mean everyone will have to enter as outsiders from now on?]

“I think this is necessary.”

There's a narrative layer separating them—meaning viewing Roman Cybernia as a whole "game," rather than a real world. The Romans within it aren't treated as real people—or rather, as two-dimensional beings.

People who are into anime and manga. That's how Shangluo defines itself.

Specifically, there is a significant difference here—there is a firewall in between.

The virtual world is boundless. Although the world created by the Romans was called a "nutshell," there is an infinite universe within that nutshell. If one rashly becomes immersed in it, it could very well lead to the assimilation of an entire civilization.

Therefore, when entering and using the facilities, everyone must carry an inseparable identity: they are strangers.

Strangers, from the heavens above. They have an exit button; they can enter or leave this world at any time. They are not natives of the new world, but visitors who have descended from the heavens to the "mortal realm."

In this way, besides preventing outsiders from becoming addicted, it also prevents the ideas that Rome originated from the infinite universe from overflowing outwards.

Shangluo has already seen the signs of this.

The Romans have been playing with red, white, blue, green, yellow, and purple for almost a thousand years, and it's about to reach a fever pitch.

Let's not even talk about such weighty stories. Even a sports club with decades of history can be considered a "grande" by fans, who know all the rumors and anecdotes about the team like the back of their hand. The way the Romans played for 1000 years truly opens up another dimension in our minds, allowing everyone who enters to find enjoyment. Because joining in the commotion with those green trees and blue houses can indeed be quite fun.

This dangerous trend must be nipped in the bud. The Ming Dynasty is not Rome; it has not yet entered that infinite universe. Beyond the heavens, there are still vast galaxies to explore. That infinite universe is only for leisurely exploration; it cannot sustain a civilization in the real world.

Therefore, there must be a firewall separating everything here, inside and out. This identity as a stranger is extremely important.

However, from another perspective, this actually deprives all Romans of their right to be human.

"This actually aligns with the Romans' desires. Since they want to disappear, this kind of disappearance is the most thorough. If they don't separate themselves from us with a narrative layer, then it's just a matter of changing how they live—but what the Romans are doing now is a kind of dimensional reduction."

This is a form of dimensional reduction attack, a form of self-imprisonment by the Romans.

By stripping themselves from the narrative of "Earth's history" and escaping into the story of Cybernia, this deliberate dimensional reduction would lower the mystique of all Romans to a "negative number," transforming them from three-dimensional entities into characters in a two-dimensional story.

[I feel like I've gleaned something from your story... something that exists somewhere in between?]

"Ah, you mean virtual idols? Actually, there are two types. If you just use a two-dimensional skin to do live streaming, that's not fundamental. A true fundamental virtual idol has to lower their narrative level and strictly adhere to their own setting, such as 'a poor princess from some otherworldly country,' 'a monster from some alien planet,' 'a virtual resident in some virtual city,' and so on. Strictly adhering to this setting is what makes virtual idol art, do you understand?"

I don't understand.

"In other words, everyone can choose a nickname when they go online, just like you need a pen name when you create a literary work. But virtual idols are different. If a fundamentalist virtual idol wants to call herself 'a princess of a certain country,' then she really has to act like a princess in the interaction, not just interact through a two-dimensional avatar. Do you understand?"

【I don't understand! Who can comprehend all this anime/manga stuff you're talking about?!】

"Hehehehehe, a two-dimensional world is about to unfold before us! Aren't you excited?"

[Mr. Shangluo, although I clearly understood the necessity of your actions from our previous conversation, your current behavior gives me strong reason to suspect that you are guiding the Romans to become fans of anime and manga because you like the latter.]

"Isn't this beautiful? It's beautiful even through a narrative layer, can't you appreciate it?"

[Hmm, I don't understand. Like you said, although I don't have a physical body, I'm not interacting with people using a virtual identity. I haven't lowered the narrative level of my existence; I'm still me. Ah, actually, I already realized that. Why are you indifferent to Yanqiu's existence? Because you really do like anime, right?]

"Wait, why did you only say Yanqiu and not someone else?"

[Because I've realized that only you and Yanqiu have a completely pure mutual affection—you, Fahrenheit, Victoria, and Zhuling are all bound by responsibilities and obligations. I'm not saying the others are bad, but there's truly nothing between you and Yanqiu, yet you still do nothing. Ah, so you like anime.]

"So he likes anime and manga?" Victoria muttered to herself.

Yes, he actually likes to lower himself to a lower narrative level, in terms of the characters within the story.

"Should I follow the others and lower my narrative level as well?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Shangluo reminded them, "Have you all forgotten something? The premise of lowering the narrative level is the isolation of information flow between the inside and outside. The Romans lose their position in the outside world, and the strangers lose their position in Rome. We each have our own views on each other's worlds, but we don't hold any position on the issues of other places, right? So here's the question: Victoria, do you want to stand on the same side as me?"

This is crucial because it represents true "non-interference in internal affairs." Being able to view the affairs of other countries as a soap opera is a truly detached, almost alien, form of ultimate arrogance. Most civilizations are unlikely to develop this mindset, as they often lack independence. But the people of the Ming Dynasty naturally possessed this way of thinking.

All of this is based on the premise that one truly does not get involved in matters in a foreign land.

Victoria nodded: "I think you're right. It seems I'm going to become the only person in all of Rome who doesn't lower his narrative level."

"Your position is crucial, Victoria. Because if all Romans become stories in a storybook, then that storybook needs a custodian, an author. As the Roman Emperor, you must keep your narrative level above it. When your entire civilization is reduced to a single book, you will likely have to bear the weight of that civilization on your shoulders. You must be prepared for that."

(End of this chapter)