WTYTIAAN Chapter 257

## Chapter 257

After more than a dozen emergency meetings, the various departments of the Hua Country government began to operate in high gear.

According to the instructions from the meetings, several strategies were implemented one by one. The public opinion department launched a “muddying the waters” style clarification targeting the ‘strange phenomenon,’ exaggerating the truth to make the general public believe it was a gimmick released by merchants, to avoid causing public panic.

At the same time, major granaries actively began operations, halting all exports of food and increasing the purchase of imported food, initiating wartime alerts, and inspecting the reserves of strategic and emergency materials, to ensure that once war broke out, the national government could stabilize the situation as quickly as possible and ensure that wartime material supplies were not affected in any way.

The military forces of major military regions were also rapidly gathering, because researchers predicted that, based on the death rate of 50,000 players simultaneously online in the game, the two worlds would officially overlap in at least half a year and at most a year and a half. At that time, terrifying monsters from another world would land in their world—even more terrifying was that once the two worlds overlapped, there might even be a trend of fusion and replacement.

This was only calculated based on the number of 50,000 players; if the game once again increased the number of internal beta testers, or simply went public, the speed at which the two worlds overlapped would only increase.

Once the world overlapped, besides the warriors who had received special missions and gained enhancements in the game rushing to the front lines to fight against the tens of millions of magical creatures, these ordinary but numerous soldiers were the backbone of the entire country’s combat power.

Major military regions quickly launched secret training, with courses including: “Basic Course in the Use of Cold Weapons (Original: Swordsman Basics),” “Decomposition and Synthesis of Natural Elements (Original: Magic Basics),” “Analysis of Western Fantasy Creatures (Original: Monster Encyclopedia),” and so on.

Yes, these were all books and materials that teams assigned to collect information about the other world had painstakingly brought back bit by bit from the minds of people in that other world.

The soldiers thought the country was about to go to war, so the atmosphere in the military region was extremely tense. But when they saw these courses, the soldiers who were ready to shed blood on the battlefield slowly typed out a question mark: ?

What is this?

Could it be that what was about to begin was not a real armed struggle, but a war of words?

Or was it related to fantasy creatures…uh, would this be considered a novel or a myth?

However, since it was arranged by the higher-ups, the soldiers could only learn the strange and bizarre knowledge in the textbooks as hard as they could, while being completely confused.

At the same time, the general public was completely unaware of the tense atmosphere in the upper echelons of the country, and life continued as usual. Social media was full of big scandals from the entertainment sector, each one more explosive than the last. All netizens were concerned about the affairs of the entertainment industry, unable to sleep well at night and unable to concentrate on work or school in the morning, just waiting to see if there would be new twists and turns revealed next.

*

Public Opinion Department.

“Are we really doing the right thing?” One person wiped the sweat from their brow with a tissue. “That celebrity’s fans are about to flood my account, and if this continues, I’m afraid I’ll be doxxed.”

The girl sitting next to him had a chocolate Pocky stick in her mouth, her slender fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard in front of her, so fast that they seemed to blur. Without even pausing, she said, “What’s there to be afraid of? Our IP information is all encrypted, how could ordinary fans possibly doxx you?”

“Besides, even if you are doxxed, there’s nothing to worry about. There are people who specifically manage this area, ensuring that the moment a fan doxxes you, the police will be at their door inviting them for tea.”

As she spoke, the girl bit off the Pocky stick in her mouth, crunching it loudly, and her fingers moved even faster. “Hurry up, we haven’t met today’s quota yet, and I don’t want to stay and work overtime with you tonight—I’ve been working overtime for seven consecutive days, have mercy on me.”

Before her, countless lines of code jumped incessantly, appearing on the screen with the sound of the keyboard being struck.

*

Internal group chat for “Returnee” players

The group chat was nominally for internal players, but in reality, those who joined this group were players with relatively high reputations on the “Returnee” game forum, mostly top-ranked players on the current level leaderboard, and a few were big streamers famous on the forum for their strategy guides, live streams, and research posts.

[Big A Bro]: Did you guys receive it?

After a while, there was a new reply.

[Pig Who Chases the Butcher]: A Bro, you too?

[Big A Bro]: Yeah, they suddenly came to find me today, gave me a shock.

[Kunlun Sect Leader]: Did you all join? The terms feel a bit harsh…

[Big A Bro]: Of course you have to join in this kind of thing, right? This might…make history.

[He Kou Wang]: But it’s also very dangerous, right…

[Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow]: Danger and opportunity coexist, I joined.

[Pig Who Chases the Butcher]: Agreed.

[Kunlun Sect Leader]: I’ll consider it.

[Big A Bro]: Is Orange not planning to come?

[He Kou Wang]: …I was still hesitating, but the offer is really too good. Since you’re going too, Bro, then I’ll go too.

[Big A Bro]: (Thumbs up)

…

[No Early Morning Classes Today]: What what? What are you talking about? It’s all cloudy and foggy? Don’t be a riddle-solver, riddle-solvers get out of Hua Country!

[He Kou Wang]: …

[Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow]: …

[Pig Who Chases the Butcher]: …

[Pig Who Chases the Butcher]: Alright, this isn’t your business, go play.

[Big A Bro]: @[Ying Yi], Reporting to the leader, there’s still one fish who slipped through the net here, quickly capture them!

[Ying Yi]: 1

[No Early Morning Classes Today]: ???

[No Early Morning Classes Today]: What is it? So mysterious.

…

[No Early Morning Classes Today]: Holy crap? Is this for real, guys?!

[No Early Morning Classes Today]: Holy crap crap crap—so, in reality, could I possibly be Spiderman?

[Big A Bro]: No, you could also be a failed man.

On the same day, dozens of players who had signed confidentiality agreements with the government used the newly added feature of the game helmet to start live streams on various video websites. Under the government’s operation, several live stream rooms were instantly promoted to countless people’s phones and computers.

【Huh? What game is this? “Returnee”? Never heard of it】

【This game’s graphics are pretty amazing, not inferior to foreign AAA masterpieces—wait?! A full-immersion game? Really?!】

【I’ll eat if this is a full-immersion game. The current technology can’t even do AR (Augmented Reality) well, and they’re doing VR (Virtual Reality)? Real VR games are all about playing with mosaic-quality blocks with two small controllers, how could there be this kind of high-quality scene in the live stream!】

【Ahhhh, is it actually full-immersion? That’s amazing, quickly tell me the name, just for these graphics, I’ll try it even if it’s dog poop!】

【What? It’s actually a game in internal beta testing? Wait, why is the internal beta enrollment publicly recruiting 50,000 people, but I haven’t heard any news at all??】

A special otherworldly science popularization course and otherworldly survival teaching course, led by the government, was launched by dozens of players who had performed extremely well in the game.

At the same time, the official public opinion department personally handled some soft articles, short videos, and even articles disguised as hot news for the middle and high school entrance exams, which were also released under the operation of official forces, ensuring that more than 70% of the country would have some understanding of it, and even be able to say a thing or two about it.

In order to prevent ordinary people from feeling panic and causing even more malicious incidents, the government would never completely reveal the truth unless forced to the point of desperation, as that would only cause unnecessary anxiety among the people, panic-driven hoarding of food and materials, slow down official actions, and possibly lead them to feel despair about the impending future and choose to end their lives.

But in the face of such a difficult future, the government could not let ordinary people enter the abyss without knowing it. Therefore, they used the gimmick of “Cross-Century Full-Immersion Game Internal Beta Live Stream” to focus the attention of the vast majority of people on “Returnee,” and to have some awareness of “Returnee.”

Hua Country was using its entire national strength to do its best to meet the upcoming unknown challenge.

As for foreign countries? Foreign countries were still arguing endlessly because of the suddenly appearing monster projections. Some people believed that this was a prank by aliens, while others believed that this was a punishment from the gods on this world, and that this punishment was about to descend.

Hua Country: You know, you really do know.

But in the end, Hua Country did not reveal much about the upcoming crisis, mainly because people might not believe it even if they did!

However, the large-scale hoarding of food and materials was still noticed by those few foreign countries that kept a close eye on Hua Country. They had been calling every day to ask if Hua Country was about to launch a war against any country, making the foreign ministries of many countries nervous, fearing that the Hua Country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would declare war on their country in the next second.

Foreign countries: (Nervous) Isn’t the giant panda a peace-loving nation, advocating the construction of a community of shared future for mankind?

Hua Country: (Innocent) Yes, we advocate working together to build a world of lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.

Foreign countries: (Sweating profusely) Then why are you hoarding food and materials? Who are you going to fight?

Hua Country: (Innocent) We have always had a hoarding habit, it’s an instinct passed down from our ancestors, you know, store up grain widely!

Foreign countries: (Angry) Bah, do you really think we don’t know what the full meaning of this saying is?!

Hua Country: (Shrugging) Then just assume that we are preparing to fight aliens!

Foreign countries: (Certain) There’s a trick! The giant panda is going to attack the whole world! The United Nations hereby calls out: “We should love peace! Maintain peace!”

Foreign citizens: ? Has the giant panda gone crazy?

Hua Country citizens: Chew chew chew, you’re saying (chew chew chew) this full-immersion (chew chew chew) game is so (chew chew chew) interesting?

Hua Country: I told you, but you wouldn’t believe me.

*

While the world was in turmoil, Zhai Yingyi also re-entered the game with a mission. His mission this time was not difficult, but it was very important.

He was to invite a guest from another world to join Hua Country’s “Delay and Prevent the Overlap of Two Worlds, Bring a Glimmer of Hope to the World” plan.

Also known as: Project Dawn.

“I’m leaving it to you.” Zhai Yingyi’s superior solemnly said to him.

Zhai Yingyi nodded, put on his game helmet, and entered the specially made nutritional capsule.

Zhai Yingyi’s superior looked at the nutritional capsule slowly closing in front of him, and couldn’t help but show concern.

Although they had analyzed a whole room’s worth of data on that mysterious otherworldly guest who could even disguise himself as a player, and could confirm that there was an 80% chance that the other party would agree to this plan, they still couldn’t help but worry.

Those who are not of our race must have different intentions.

No one could be sure whether that guest from another world, who even had a good understanding of their world, [Ri An], would be willing to contribute to preventing the overlap and fusion of the two worlds.

The superior asked himself, even if it was him, after discovering that another world was about to overlap and fuse with his own world, and that everyone in that world was ordinary people without any “talent,” who were at the very bottom of society, and that the world was extremely safe, with countless cultural entertainment and resources…

It would be difficult for him to refuse the fusion of the two worlds, after all, for people from another world, their Blue Star was far less dangerous than the otherworldly world that had to face monster attacks at any time.

Persuading that otherworldly guest to participate in the plan would be an extremely difficult and unknown task.

Hopefully Zhai Yingyi could do it.

The superior sighed deeply, sincerely hoping that Zhai Yingyi’s mission would succeed.

*

Serinwahr.

Reghys, who was buried in dealing with affairs, seemed to sense something, and suddenly looked up towards the direction of the Elf Mother Tree.

The Elf King, Sylph,

Returned.