Perhaps startled by the megastructure-like spaceship, people who had still been cheering in excitement over the successful ignition of controllable nuclear fusion finally recalled the terror of once being dominated by *Shang[hai] Fortress*, snapping back from their previous exhilaration one after another.
The reason was simple.
The gap was simply too vast!
Even Earth's top physicists could not offer a reasonable explanation for the power source and propulsion method utilized by the vessel. They could only infer, through clues found within the "game," that it likely employed some form of antigravity technology.
As for how that was actually accomplished, no one could provide a plausible explanation.
And this meant that the science and technology of human civilization lagged behind by far more than just a little, starting right from its foundational logic...
Academia quarreled from the four fundamental forces all the way to the conservation of energy, and debated from Minkowski spacetime theory to the ten-dimensional strings of superstring theory and the extra strings of M-theory.
While no physicist committed suicide over "physics not existing anymore," the debates over this new physics certainly caused many to shed whatever hair they had left.
Some physicists proposed that a special particle might exist in dimensions invisible to humans.
This particle would not only obey the laws of physics in three-dimensional space, but also the laws of other dimensions unfamiliar to humanity, thereby allowing humanity to indirectly manipulate gravitational fields situated in higher dimensions through it.
Others suggested that the gravitational field itself might be a higher-dimensional particle,
such that humanity—and everything visible to humanity—was nothing more than the projection of this particle onto a three-dimensional surface.
Though these conjectures were incomplete and full of baseless speculations that could neither be proven nor disproven with humanity's current technological means, they were, in some sense, a form of progress.
Even if this blind-men-feeling-an-elephant exploration was still an immense distance away from the "cosmic brane" existing in eleven dimensions...
The debate did not stop within academia; it generated an enormous ripple across public opinion as well.
Confronted by the overwhelming technological superiority of an advanced civilization and the limited goodwill it had already displayed, the "Adventists" gradually became the mainstream of public opinion.
After all, counting on humanity to rid itself of its deep-rooted flaws and achieve broad-based equality was far too difficult.
If what the higher civilization imported into human civilization was merely advanced productivity without a matching distribution model, then no matter how advanced the technology was, it would ultimately serve only to construct cages for the old order.
Since they were going to help, they might as well help thoroughly and usher in galaxy-wide prosperity together. And compared to liberating others, being liberated was not a bad form of salvation.
The Adventist representatives supporting this argument were too numerous to list, primarily radicals from industry and academia.
Of course, a considerable number of Darwinists continued to vividly paint the threats lurking beneath the surface, maintaining that this superficial peace was merely a sugarcoated bullet wrapped around a blade, and that aggression from the higher civilization was just around the corner.
They called themselves the Decisive Battle faction.
Their key figures were conservative establishment forces, spearheaded by former CIA agent and current head of a civilian ad-hoc team, Fick.
Neither voice represented absolute truth; they were merely viewpoints scattered across the ideological spectrum.
While checking and balancing one another, the two diametrically opposed voices also pushed each other forward.
And apart from these two mainstream voices, several fringe viewpoints also emerged.
The "Virtual Game" theory was one of them.
Faced with a spaceship far beyond what human science and technology could fathom, some opinion leaders proposed that the universe "we" inhabited was actually just a virtual playground for an advanced civilization, where everyone's destiny was preprogrammed from the moment of birth.
To the higher civilization acting as GMs, they could alter the rules of the game at will, or even disregard them entirely... Therefore, whether cooperating with them or resisting them, it was all utterly futile.
Just like *The Matrix*.
Not a few people subscribed to this theory, and it faintly began evolving into a burgeoning cyber-religion.
Besides that, there was also the Divine faction, which viewed the "higher civilization" as the Creator, believing *Wasteland OL* was a future of human civilization envisioned by the Creator.
Yet regardless of the viewpoint, one thing was beyond doubt—
The nerves of the entire world were strung taut by that spaceship flying toward Mars...
...
A research facility in eastern Huaguo.
The air-conditioning in the spacious command center was blasting on high, yet it could not disperse the restless heat hovering above everyone's heads.
Operators clad in uniforms sat meticulously before their terminals, busily aggregating data transmitted back from astronomical observation stations across the country.
Yet after analysis, processing, and compilation, the information displayed on the command center's main screen consisted of only a flickering green blip alongside several blurred photographs.
Standing before the big screen, an old professor in his fifties knitted his brows, muttering under his breath:
"...It's far too bizarre. Our radar can't detect it at all, and even the radio telescopes can't spot it. The only thing that can pick up its trail is optical telescopes... but it moves too fast. Our focal tracking can't keep up with it at all. Every time it switches orbits, we have to recalculate its position."
Beside the old professor, a square-faced man also had his brows tightly furrowed.
Failing to spot it during its launch phase was understandable enough; after all, they hadn't deployed radar in the middle of the Pacific, and satellites couldn't stay locked around the clock onto an unpopulated expanse lacking strategic value.
Yet now that the ship had flown beyond geosynchronous orbit, their radar still couldn't lock onto it... That was downright baffling.
With radio detection methods utterly failing, optical telescopes had unexpectedly become the most effective means of observation.
"Is this the technological generational gap...?"
Hearing the square-faced man murmur, the old professor gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"I'm afraid it's not merely a matter of a generational gap... It might very well be technology we have zero understanding of."
"Like a deflector shield?"
Hearing a term he had never encountered before, the old professor paused, furrowing his brow as he asked:
"...What is that?"
The square-faced man smiled sheepishly.
"Nothing... just a concept from the game."
Old Professor: "..."
Though bringing up a video game on such an occasion felt somewhat frivolous, it was exasperatingly the closest clue to the truth they currently possessed.
According to Professor Yan Feng, the vessel's anti-detection technology was likely related to a certain anti-radar coating that had appeared in the game, and probably had nothing to do with deflector shields.
Of course,
considering the ship was even equipped with antigravity devices, mounting a deflector shield didn't seem like much of a stretch either.
While everyone was deep in thought, an operator sitting before a terminal suddenly let out a startled, delighted cry:
"New update! The spaceship just broadcast a radio message toward Earth!"
Hearing this, the head of the investigation agency, who had been standing with his arms crossed in silence, abruptly raised his head and strode over to the terminal, leaning close to the screen.
"What does it say?"
The operator clattered away on the terminal keyboard, quickly saying in a tense voice:
"After decoding the message, it seems there's only a single symbol... Translated, it appears to be α?"
"Alpha..." The investigation agency chief froze, his expression shifting slightly. "Only this symbol? Nothing else?"
"...No." The operator shook his head with difficulty. "It didn't respond to our transmissions either... In the three-second broadcast, there was only this single symbol."
This time, his tone was certain.
For just moments ago, other observation stations had successively reported the same discovery, all detecting the identical message.
Including their international partners.
"Alpha..." The chief rubbed his chin with an index finger, a grave look on his face as he turned the word over in his mind.
The veteran aerospace professor standing beside him pondered for a long while before suddenly looking up, speaking in an uncertain tone:
"Could this be their name? Or rather, a name they gave themselves using a symbol we can understand?"
"We can't rule that out," the chief said in a low voice. "What bothers me more is why this specific symbol... Could there be some deeper meaning behind it?"
The people in the command center exchanged glances and uneasy expressions.
They simply had too little information.
Deducing anything useful from a single symbol was nearly impossible.
Just then, the square-faced man, who had been contemplating deeply, spoke up:
"I just remembered that the early build version of *Wasteland OL* seemed to be designated Alpha... and only later became Beta."
"Alpha, Beta..."
"I'm wondering if what they want to express is... they are Alpha, and we are Beta?"
Though such an interpretation seemed a bit of a stretch, he voiced his hypothesis nonetheless.
Whispers broke out all around.
Several officials from Shangjing turned their gazes toward him one after another.
"What do you mean...?"
"Can you elaborate on that?"
Meeting the gaze of everyone in the room, the square-faced man paused for a moment before continuing:
"It's just my speculation.
"Perhaps what they are trying to say is that they are our future as well as our precursors. We are their past, yet at the same time, we are their continuation?"
"Both past and continuation..." Turning the words over, the chief frowned. "How would that even be possible?"
It sounded as though the civilization calling itself Alpha was both their past and their future.
"I don't know," the square-faced man admitted, shaking his head. "Parallel universes, perhaps? Or a multiverse? Or maybe both... and some universes were born earlier than ours.
"As for the specifics, I have no idea... Besides, I'm no expert in that field. Take this theory purely as food for thought."
"That really does sound absurd..." the aerospace professor said with a bitter laugh. "A parallel universe's version of us? Why would they contact us? Are they trying to gain something from us?"
After a long silence, the agency chief didn't agree with the old professor. Instead, he said thoughtfully:
"Absurd as it sounds, it would actually explain their unprovoked goodwill toward us."
The square-faced man shook his head.
"I don't think it was unprovoked either."
The chief looked at him. "How so?"
Noticing every eye fixated on him once more, the square-faced man thought for a moment before speaking.
"The reason they contacted us might have been to resolve certain issues of their own. And that objective has very likely already been achieved... which is why we're seeing that spaceship."
The chief's expression grew solemn. "Laying their cards on the table...?"
"Yes," the square-faced man nodded slightly, casting his gaze toward the screen ahead. "They no longer need anything from us, so they no longer conceal their whereabouts... But I think putting all the cards on the table might not be a bad thing.
"At least from now on, we won't need to harbor mutual suspicions. We can communicate with each other on a more equal footing.
"Probably."
...
Though that "probably" lacked much conviction, events took an unprecedented turn—surprisingly matching the square-faced man's expectations.
Shortly after the unidentified vessel arrived in Mars's orbit, an organization named "Shelter Technology" suddenly burst into the center of the public eye.
Representing it was a man named Yuan Li, who introduced himself as the CEO of Shelter Technology, the Overseer of Shelter 404-Beta, and the Alliance's Ambassador to Universe Beta.
In a pinned video on the *Wasteland OL* official website forum, he declared in a clear, articulate voice:
"We are not extraterrestrials.
"We are another version of you.
"You may call us precursors, the Alpha Civilization... or simply your compatriots of Universe Alpha."
In the video, Dr. Yuan Li briefly described the theory of the eleven-dimensional cosmic brane and the soap bubble theory.
These theories were originally the masterpieces of the "Professor," but now that the Professor was no longer here, Yuan Li had to step in on his behalf to explain the theoretical foundation that had enabled contact between the two sides.
Naturally,
he did not disclose the morphogenetic field or further technical details in the video.
From the perspective of someone who had walked the path before, they would continue, as they had in the past, to offer proper guidance and inspiration to their Universe Beta compatriots, without dumping advanced knowledge that the latter did not yet possess all at once.
Forcing growth prematurely would do no good for either side.
People of Universe Alpha might only miss out on a "+3 Sociology" opportunity, but the people of Universe Beta would be stripped of their growth potential and the tools and methods that might emerge from exploring the unknown.
If faced with identical dilemmas, it would be fine—Universe Alpha's experience could help Universe Beta speedrun through them with ease.
However, if Universe Beta encountered crises on its future timeline that Universe Alpha had never faced, such obstacles could very well prove insurmountable for them.
After all, according to the Observer, conditions across different universes could vary.
Taking Universe Beta and Universe Alpha as examples, while human civilizations in both might have shared similar or even identical histories, they could encounter completely different circumstances beyond their horizons.
For instance, the Precursor civilization that Universe Alpha's humanity had encountered at Alpha Centauri would most likely be encountered by Universe Beta's humanity as well.
The same applied to Tau Ceti.
The remnant consciousness of the Precursor civilization left at Alpha Centauri had once stated information regarding the ruins at Tau Ceti, meaning that for both human civilizations, that place strictly fell within the "horizon."
Yet for parts of the cosmos farther than Tau Ceti, that might not hold true.
Those would be completely new permutations and combinations.
Perhaps humanity in Universe Alpha had found nothing in a star system a hundred light-years away, while humanity in Universe Beta might be fortunate enough to discover the ruins of another Precursor civilization there, opening up an entirely different path... All of this was entirely possible.
"We are distinctly different from one another... whether in our faces, our names, or the maps beneath our feet.
"Yet we are also the same... because what you are going through, we have gone through before. And the past we experienced is currently unfolding for you.
"We have embraced an indivisible destiny, and from now on, we shall advance hand in hand through the Void. We thank you for the aid you once gave us... and we hope our history can offer you some enlightenment, so you may avert the tragedies that might occur in your future.
"If a tragedy proves unavoidable, do not lose heart.
"When that time comes, we will come to save you!
"Just as you once saved us."
Regardless of whether the people of Universe Beta could digest this massive influx of information, Dr. Yuan Li methodically laid bare the truths that "he and Chu Guang unanimously deemed necessary to make public."
Furthermore,
Dr. Yuan Li, in the name of Shelter Technology, issued a global public tender for regional publishers of *Wasteland OL*'s open-beta servers, as well as equipment suppliers for true holographic gaming helmets.
Although fully immersive virtual reality technology was equally epoch-making for the human civilization of Universe Beta, it wasn't as mind-boggling as the "morphogenetic field" technology. Even without carbon-nanotube circuit boards, there were viable ways to achieve it.
The cost would just be slightly higher, that was all.
As a mirror of the closed-beta's earliest version, the open-beta server would be operated as a truly fully immersive "MMORPG." All game data would be stored in local data centers across various regions on Universe Beta's Earth, using "Wasteland Era Year 211" as the entry point to participate in Universe Alpha's magnificent epic.
Open-beta players would begin in the harsh winter preceding the "Bone Chewer Turmoil," retracing the journey they had once only watched as spectators, and using flashier stat panels and skill trees to battle even stronger mutant beasts, marauders, and mutants.
At the same time, NPCs in the open-beta server—including the Administrator—would be portrayed by AIs supplied by Ideal City, and certain story NPCs would possess the same resurrection abilities as players—unless they were special characters written out by plot-mandated deaths as versions progressed.
Simply put, the open-beta server was essentially an all-ages nostalgia edition of the closed-beta server.
Exaggerated skills and stat panels would soften some of the darker, heavier themes. For instance, being captured by marauders or mutants wouldn't result in being thrown into a boiling cauldron to be stewed; instead, one's vision would simply go dark before respawning immediately.
The strict rules of the closed-beta server would no longer exist in the open beta. Malicious player-killing wouldn't result in an immediate kick offline; rather, just like other MMORPGs, offenders would be marked with red names, and penalties would only trigger if they were killed by other players or safe-zone NPCs... thus turning it into part of the gameplay.
In theory, open-beta players could even play as marauders if they wished, no longer bound to the lawful order factions.
Additionally, respawn cooldowns would be abolished in the open beta.
Moreover, compared to the already dampened pain sensations in the closed beta, open-beta pain levels would be reduced even further, alongside a sanitized mode—no pain, no scars, and no armor-stripping battle damage—to prevent giant crybabies who "wanted to play but couldn't handle the heat" from whining.
After all, since it was just a virtual game, making it hyper-realistic was somewhat unnecessary anyway.
Open-beta players could still bond with AI-driven NPCs, gift items to build affinity, develop sworn brotherhoods or sisterhoods, or even ignite romantic sparks... though explicit elements would be censored at the regional publishers' discretion according to local laws and regulations.
Although Shelter Technology was not an entity registered in Universe Beta, it would still comply with local laws.
As for the closed-beta server, everything would continue as before.
Players could carry on playing with the mindset of treating it as a game or a dream experience, charting uncharted futures alongside the "NPCs," supplying expansion data for the open-beta server, or even becoming bosses within the open-beta server... so long as they adhered to the server's rules.
After all, no material exchange could occur between Universe Alpha and Universe Beta anyway—only consciousness could be transmitted—so regarding it as a dream was perfectly logical.
For those players who could no longer see the game as merely a game, they would no longer need to carry any mental burden. They could openly reveal their origins to their friends in the New Era, and perhaps even invite them to visit their world in the future.
The *Player Handbook* would delete the confidentiality clauses regarding "game" content and add explanations concerning Universe Alpha and Universe Beta, along with declassified files from Project 404.
How to perceive everything in Universe Beta was entirely up to the players themselves!
*Wasteland OL* had promised there would be no data wipes, and it would continue operations as always.
Even closed-beta slots would continue to be distributed at their original pace to pre-registered players or standout performers on the open-beta servers... at a rate of roughly one to two hundred accounts per day.
Even if it wasn't an online game at all, but an entirely real, separate universe!
Additionally, if any closed-beta player wished to experience the nostalgia server in the open beta, it was simple: they could just purchase a commercial gaming helmet sold by their local regional publisher.
Open-beta accounts and closed-beta accounts would not share data, and the in-game settings across various aspects would feature significant differences.
However, as a perk for closed-beta players, they would receive special medals and exclusive skin rewards issued by the system upon registering an open-beta character.
As for further specifics, players would have to explore them on their own once the open beta launched.
The moment Dr. Yuan Li's video went live, the *Wasteland OL* forums erupted instantly.
Not just that—the entire world was thrown into an uproar!
The operator behind *Wasteland OL* wasn't extraterrestrials, but another group of humans from the future?!
At this moment, whether Adventists or Decisive Battlers, everyone was rendered utterly awkward by their own previous conclusions.
*Turns out the advanced civilization was us all along...*
*Talk about jumping the gun!*
——
Chapter 1069