Meng Lichuan's head was in a mess.
She was well aware of the influence of the summit competition.
Before the battle, the captain and some of the leadership of the Dim Moon Fund had solemnly explained to them that the outcome of the strategic deduction would not only influence the public opinion but also the result of the vote in parliament.
The future of countless people was in their hands.
That was why Meng Lichuan had tried her best to exploit the maximal computational ability to accomplish the mission even at the cost of her brain.
Halfway through the battle, the result of the forum showed that the public opinion was closely related to the progress of the battle.
When the 'Moon Demon Battle Squad' had a slight advantage, there were more people who supported sending out troops. When the 'Bloodshadow Battle Squad' gradually gained an overwhelming advantage, there were more people who opposed sending out troops.
Right now, Team Moon Devil had suffered a crushing failure, which meant that the expedition army of the Federation had been annihilated. Shouldn't the result of the poll have plummeted? Why were more and more people in favor of the deployment of troops?
"What happened exactly?"
Meng Lichuan asked in a daze. "Sister Taozi, did you say it wrong, or did I hear it wrong?"
"I didn't say it wrong, and you didn't hear it wrong, either. The result is indeed unexpected. I'm still dizzy and haven't figured out what happened yet!"
Jiang Baitao said with a smile, "However, the result of the poll did not change for no reason. During the three days when you were in a coma — no, during the summit competition five days ago, a lot of things happened. Let me explain them to you one by one.
"First of all, a game popped up on the forum."
"A game …"
Meng Lichuan frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You know that the summit competition between Team Moon Devil and Team Blood Shadow has received the support of the authorities. It has even become a tool for the authorities to explain the situation and policies to the public. The Dim Moon Fund, the military, and the major sects of the Federation, including the Glorious Sunlight Group, have all turned on their propaganda machines. Almost all the people in the Federation have learned and participated in the game. Tens of billions of people have watched it online at the same time, setting the most unbelievable record in the history of the game 'Civilization'.
"It can be said that everyone in the Federation knows about this. In the past few days, even if they don't watch the live broadcast, they have been paying attention to it through the forums and the news."
Jiang Baitao said, "However, to be fair, the DLC of 'Glorious Expedition' is too professional. It's even more boring and complicated than the military's simulations. It's all data, information, and icons. It's so time-consuming that it will take at least a couple of days to finish a battle.
"The general public couldn't understand what we were doing at all. It was impossible for them to spend days and nights on such boring things. Therefore, in order to attract more attention, relieve the people's fatigue, and increase their participation, the organizer — the Dim Moon Fund behind us — launched a mini game together with the production team of 'Civilization'.
"No. It was not until later that I learned that the 'minor game' was not minor at all. It could be regarded as a sister to the 'Glorious Expedition' named 'Darkness Invasion'."
"Darkness Invasion?"
Meng Lichuan mumbled, "A new DLC?"
"Yes. The target audience of 'Glorious Expedition' is the professional players, Cultivators, and military personnel with high computational ability. Because of the confidentiality level, it is impossible for the common players to get in touch with the critical data. 'Darkness Invasion', on the other hand, is much more approachable. Its target audience is millions of ordinary users. It does not have complicated calculations and operations. The sound and visual effects are delicate and realistic, too, making the players feel that they are dwelling in the darkness as if they are in the game."
Jiang Baitao opened the introduction menu of 'Darkness Invasion', the sister game of 'Glorious Expedition', from her portable crystal processor and pointed out the features of the game to Meng Lichuan. Then, she said, "The quality of the game itself is very excellent. With the gimmick of 'Glorious Expedition' as a sister game to 'Glorious Expedition', the game was advertised on the relevant forums and stream channels when all the people of the Federation were paying attention to our summit competition. It was even directly pushed to the users. As it turned out, the game attracted countless eyes in only a few hours after it was launched. It became the most popular DLC on the platform of 'Civilization' that day.
"The audience originally came to watch our Summit Showdown, but they couldn't understand it after watching for a long time. Just when they were getting impatient, they were suddenly pushed such a 'sister story' by the official platform. Since they have nothing to do anyway, let's give it a try. What do you think?"
Meng Lichuan thought carefully for a moment and nodded. "Exactly. If it were me, I would've certainly tried such a gimmicky game, too. Then, what is the game about exactly? How is it related to the poll results?"
Jiang Baitao smiled and clicked on the detailed introduction of 'Darkness Invasion'.
Meng Lichuan was immediately deeply attracted by the pictures of corpses and rivers of blood. She was even somewhat frightened.
"Since it is a sister game of 'Glorious Expedition', it is naturally connected to a certain extent," Jiang Baitao said. "The background of 'Darkness Invasion' is the story of the victors at the center of the cosmos after the failure of the 'Glorious Expedition', who gathered the resources of hundreds of prosperous worlds and invaded the Federation at the edge of the cosmos, destroying the Federation completely.
"Although it is a mini game, it is very free and realistic. You can choose to be a common soldier of the Union Army and fight until you run out of food and ammunition. You can also play the role of a defenseless civilian of the Federation who tries to protect his family in the postwar purgatory. You can also play the role of the captain of a civil carrier who flees in a hurry with thousands of people and limited assets toward the colder and more barren sea of stars.
"The most interesting plot, which is also the source of the name of the mini game, is in 'Darkness Invasion'. You can play the manager of a shelter. To avoid the scourge of the strong enemies at the center of the cosmos, you and your people have been hiding in the underground shelter for thousands of years. After ten thousand years, under the pressure of the harsh environment, your humanity has been falling apart, and your feelings have been twisted. Even your appearance has been deformed. Like lizards and vipers, you have been enduring the incessant … scourges of darkness."
While talking, Jiang Baitao clicked on an advertisement of the mini game 'Darkness Invasion'.
The advertisement was not very long, but it extravagantly occupied ten seconds of darkness and silence to attract the attention of the audience.
When Meng Lichuan suspected that the video was jammed, a high-pitched scream suddenly echoed in the darkness. Then, a monster that looked neither human nor ghost and was covered in a black shell lunged out of the darkness abruptly. Under the contrast of the 3D special effects, it almost lunged at Meng Lichuan's face.
"Ah!"
Meng Lichuan was so shocked that her heart was beating faster. "Sister Taozi!"
"Ha. You must be shocked. I was shocked too when I played it for the first time," Jiang Baitao said. "Basically, the game seems to be designed to scare you, infuriate you, and make you depressed and desperate.
Jiang Baitao said, "No matter what character you choose, no matter what storyline you follow, you will still end up dead.
"You can choose to be a member of the Union Army, or even the commander-in-chief of the Union Army, or an omnipotent Cultivator. What's the use of that? Faced with the assault of millions of starships from the center of the cosmos, you won't be able to do anything even if you have dozens or even a hundred Colossi. You will be crushed. You will be completely crushed!
"There's no need to mention the civilians. Whether the enemy is from the Holy League or the Immortal Cultivators, they will not let go of even a single civilian. The Federation is large, but where can they run to? As a result, they will be minced into pieces by the enemy in the end.
"Run to the depths of the cosmos? Ha. We are already at the end of the cosmos right now. It will be even less likely for us to find any resources if we run further away. The scale of one or two starships is not enough to support the effective functioning of a society at all. In the end, it will only be a tragedy of man-cannibalism. Are there any shortage of such examples in the Flying Star Sector in the past?
"Run to the shelters at the center of the planet and never come out for hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years? It's true that both the Holy League and the Imperium value the return of resources. It is indeed not worth turning the entire crust of the planet upside down for a few hundred civilians. However, the outcome of such an action is exactly the theme of this DLC, 'Darkness Scourge'. Darkness scourges not only the bodies of human beings but also our most precious feelings and hearts. When our descendants crawl out of the darkness again tens of thousands of years later, will anyone still admit that they are real human beings? "
"Well …"
Meng Lichuan watched the videos of 'Darkness Scourge' uploaded by countless players, especially the endings that were full of pain, horror, and desperation. The more she watched, the more chilled she felt. She shuddered and said in a low voice, "This — this does not look like a normal game."
"It does not look like a game at all. It is more like history that has happened countless times and a future that is unavoidable and about to arrive."
The smile on Jiang Baitao's face was gone at some point, replaced by a vague haze. Her eyes were filled with black mist. Behind the mist might be regret or fear. "If we don't send out troops, or if we send out troops but fail, this will be the ending that we, all our family, and the entire civilization will have to face."
BOOM!
Thousands of videos of 'Darkness Scourge' flooded into Meng Lichuan's head and bombarded her fragile faith like surging tides. She subconsciously exclaimed, "This is impossible!"
"Why is it impossible?"
Jiang Baitao opened her hands and said, "Do you think that the Holy League cannot march toward the Federation after swallowing the Imperium, or do you think that all the resources of the Holy League and the Imperium are not enough to crush the Federation?
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