The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 375: First Day Settlement! Kill the King!
Players are using various unique strategies, and the popularity of [Ocean Survival Competition] is rising steadily.

But Xu Meng didn't have the time to continue paying attention.

Summoning the Kraken to play with Count Zero was just a way to squeeze out a little break from the busy work.

After finishing this matter, I quickly got back to business.

The so-called "real business" is, of course, the research and development of photon topology server arrays.

After Wu Shuang led the team to fly across the country and work non-stop for many days, the framework of the R&D team was basically established.

This framework is still relatively rough, and we will need to continue to add more talents and several times more scientific research workers to move the work forward.

By then, the number of participants in the entire project will increase tenfold or twentyfold.

The human and material resources invested will be staggering.

What’s even more amazing is that with such a large project and so many scientific research talents, they not only coordinated it in such a short time, but also took into account the confidentiality work.

There was no news at all from the outside world.

On the contrary, the national security department has been reporting good news frequently.

——These days, all of Xia Country’s overseas spies have their eyes fixed on the Dream Machine, and are willing to risk being exposed in order to collect more information about it.

The traps and traps set by the national security department around the dream machine were almost all stepped on.

Several spies were caught every day, and the results were fruitful.

As the hub and irreplaceable core figure of this large-scale project, Xu Meng became busier with work.

If not, how could Lu Ming get the chance to host such a big event?

What bothers Xu Meng more than being busy is:
The project encountered some problems.

He had read the technical introduction before and felt that the technical path for making silicon photonic chips was different and that the most advanced EUV lithography machine was not needed. The existing DUV lithography machine in China would be sufficient.

But after actually understanding all the technical information, I found that things are not that simple:
The production of silicon photonic chips does not require the most advanced lithography machines, but another key part - the design and simulation of topological insulator materials - requires chips with ultra-high computing power.

Not only that, the design, simulation, and verification of the subsequent photonic topology architecture also require huge computing power.

The supercomputing platform is barely adequate and its efficiency is just average.

If you want to get the best results and make things as quickly as possible, you still have to get a large number of the most advanced chips and build a new supercomputing system with them as the core.

And this requires a large number of the most advanced chips currently available.

But the problem is: under the strict semiconductor ban, it can almost be said that a "semiconductor war" is now going on on both sides of the Pacific, and these chips are in short supply domestically.

——Even the newly built large-scale server center of Zhumeng does not use the most advanced chips.

In this context, it is difficult to obtain a large number of advanced supercomputing chips in a short period of time using normal means.

This made Xu Meng really want to rob.

But the ship carrying Photonautix's latest lithography machine has set sail and is now sailing across the Atlantic.

Even if you really want to grab it, it's too late.

"Do we have to wait until domestic chip research and development makes a breakthrough and fills this gap before we can continue to move towards photonic topology server arrays?"

——If there is no sufficiently powerful computing platform, a slightly inferior one can still be used.

But that would take too much time and seriously slow down the project progress.

……

This problem made Xu Meng quite upset.

However, after dealing with the little episode with Count Zero with Xiao Meng, he was in a good mood and was no longer troubled.

After making a mental note of Earl Zero's important contribution to the research and development of the photon topology server array, Xu Meng picked up his phone, called Wu Shuang, and explained the situation.

I hope she will focus on coordination and mobilize as many existing advanced computing platforms in the country as possible.

He even gave her a rough calculation of the direct impact of computing power scale on the R&D cycle.

After that, we focused on assigning tasks and designing experiments to each R&D team based on the existing computing power scale.

……

When you are concentrating on your work, the whole day passes in a flash.

The live broadcast of [Ocean Survival Competition] also ushered in a halftime break——

"OK, now it's 18:, time to rest!"

"[Ocean Survival Competition] The first day of settlement begins!"

In the live broadcast room, even though someone took over and took two breaks, Lu Ming was still a little depressed.

Next to him, the host who had just taken over the show was full of energy and interacted enthusiastically with the audience.

Lu Ming pulled himself together and read the data on the card:
“[Ocean Survival Competition] Total number of registered players: 48217736! When the competition started, the actual number of people present was: 42663821.”

As he read out the numbers, bright red numbers popped up above his and the host's heads in sync.

——The dream-building studio is, of course, equipped with holographic display equipment.

"So far, 13465896 players have been eliminated!"

"The elimination rate is as high as 31.56%!"

The big red number above their heads jumped and decreased rapidly. When it stopped, it had become 29197425.

The host took over the conversation: "Among them, the most common cause of death is: [Drowning]!"

"Nearly half of the players who died died from drowning."

The director inserted the scene of two players drowning at the right time:

One is that at the beginning, the rafts are crowded on the sea surface, and the players who can't climb up drown and slowly sink into the deep sea.

Another one is: a second-level player tightly grasps the fishing rod and is dragged into the deep sea by a hooked shark!
His mouth was bubbling, but he didn't let go of the fishing rod.

Finally, when I saw that I was running out of oxygen, I decided to let go of the fishing rod and float up, but it was too late...

“The second-ranked factor is: [Player PVP].”

"More than a third of players died in battles with others."

The director skillfully released the "wonderful" battle highlights:
A melee on the raft floating island.

A fierce battle for supply boxes.

An alliance on the surface, but in reality a sneak attack that stabs you in the back.

There was not enough food, and people started fighting each other over the last potato.

Using the Thousand Years Kill skill on teammates caused them to fall into the water and die unexpectedly in an inexplicable battle.

The audience was dazzled by the sight.

Lu Ming couldn't bear to look at it and lowered his head.

The host was quite excited, and announced in a very provocative tone: "The first day's [King of Kills] has been born!"

"He is——【Honest Fisherman】!"

"Killed 233 opponents and successfully won the title of [Kill King]!"

"He will receive a mysterious reward from the [Black Flag] project team."

"At the same time, he will also gain a special status: [Resentment]!"

"[The ID will turn red, and the body will be entangled by visible evil spirits. Ordinary marine creatures will consciously avoid them when they see them.]"

"Players, please take note - if you see a red ID on the sea in the future, be sure to pay attention to safety."

"Of course, if you are confident in your own abilities, you can also try to take the initiative!"

"If you can kill it successfully, you will not only get a lot of supplies, but the liberated resentful soul will also send you blessings!"

The host was full of passion, but the netizens were complaining like crazy:
"God damn honest fisherman, honestly killed more than 200 people??"

"What kind of reward is this... This is basically a red name, right?"

"Okay, okay, let's team up to kill the red names!"

"Okay. Before there was a sea monster, now there are vengeful spirits. It's getting magical, right?"

……

Lu Ming had been paying attention to the comments, and when he saw the messages from his fans, he couldn't help but laugh in his heart.

Magic?

Once you enter the game, you will find plenty of magical elements!
Now these are just a sprinkle of water.

He reminded the players with a smile:

"The third leading cause of death is [sharks]."

"More than 10% of the survivors were killed by sharks."

"As time goes by, there will be more and more sharks coming to attack, and they will become stronger and stronger, so everyone must be more careful."

"As for the rest, the way they died is a little hard to count..."

On the live screen, the director began to exert his strength——

A player encountered a random thunderstorm, so he used a spear and iron tools to make a lightning rod for his raft.

As a result, the lightning came too fast, and before he could let go, a bolt of lightning struck the metal spear he held high!
A strong electric current ran through the whole body, even the cartoon skeleton special effects were electrocuted.

He died on the spot without any suspense.

Several large characters appeared in the middle of the screen:
【Explore Nature】
-
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" the brave sniper shouted at several players.

But the fishermen were a little slow to react. They looked at him with confusion, holding their fishing rods in their hands.

It wasn't until I was covered by shadows that I realized something was wrong.

Looking up, I saw the top floor of this "Tower of Babel on the Sea" suddenly break and fall down with a loud bang!
"Oh!"

The foundation of the raft shook violently.

The three fishermen and six carpenters in the building died instantly.

Four big words appeared on the screen:

【Construction Accident】

(End of this chapter)