Chapter 52: Big Production_1

"Ring Ring Ring! Ring Ring Ring! Ring Ring Ring!"

Just then, the ringtone from Cao Ge's phone echoed from his pocket.

Cao Ge stood up, fished the phone out of his pants pocket, and pressed the answer button, bringing it to his ear.

"Hello!"

"Is this Mr. Cao?"

"Yes, it's me. Who's this?" Listening to the unfamiliar female voice on the phone, Cao Ge spoke.

"Hello, Counselor Cao. I'm Xu Bingbing, staff at the operations center. Our leadership is looking for you. Can you come by today? I went to your house, but you weren't home."

"Oh, I had some things to take care of, so I wasn't home."

Hearing it was from the operations center, Cao Ge roughly guessed it was about the Three-Body issue.

"Does Counselor Cao have time this afternoon?"

"What time in the afternoon?"

"Would two o'clock be okay?"

"May I ask, what's the matter?"

"I'm sorry, Counselor Cao. The invitation comes from the commander-in-chief, so I'm not sure what it's about."

"Alright, no problem." Seeing he couldn't get a precise answer, Cao Ge wasn't too bothered and replied with a laugh.

"Two o'clock, let me check my schedule."

Cao Ge muttered it to himself, then glanced at the bottom right of the computer screen, and realizing it was only just past eleven, he agreed.

"Two o'clock is fine."

"Okay, Counselor Cao, then let's confirm for two o'clock this afternoon," the woman on the phone said.

"Alright."

"I won't disturb you any further then, Counselor Cao. See you at two."

"See you at two."

"Doo doo doo!!!"

The sound of the phone hanging up rang out.

Cao Ge gazed at the incoming phone number on his screen.

"What could it be at this time?"

For a moment, Cao Ge couldn't figure it out, then he pocketed his phone, turned off the monitor in front of him, and stood up to leave the laboratory.

He pulled open the grand doors of the lab and walked out.

Outside the laboratory was an even larger lab, filled with numerous documents and materials.

Cao Ge walked out, following the stairs. Yes, he was in a basement.

This property was one Cao Ge had purchased, costing him a total of three hundred million.

The reason he bought the house was that renting was no longer sufficient for his work demands.

Like those few hundred servers he had just dealt with, his previous house had no space for them.

Another reason for buying this luxurious property was that it resembled Tony's house from the Marvel Universe.

Although it wasn't by the sea, it was nestled against the mountain with a large natural lake nearby.

The house had a vast basement and three floors above ground; both its surroundings and size were more than adequate.

More crucially, the roads were relatively unobstructed,

Even though it cost him three hundred million, Cao Ge didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache over the expense.

As the crisis era approached, money became less valuable, and it was more practical to exchange it for the actual items one needed.

He had already decided that the upstairs would be his rest area, and the basement would be his workshop, where he would research technologies from other worlds.

...............

"Click~"

Cao Ge walked up from the basement staircase.

The lighting in the house was excellent, with large floor-to-ceiling windows.

It was still early, and Cao Ge had time for lunch before setting off.

He had been in the lab all morning, and now he was truly hungry.

Cao Ge went to the open kitchen, opened the fridge, then took out the pork belly and green peppers he had bought yesterday and quickly whipped up a dish of stir-fried pork with green peppers.

After cooking, he took a bowl filled with steaming rice from the rice cooker, then covered it with the stir-fried pork and green peppers, including the sauce.

Once finished, Cao Ge sat by the table in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the lake, eating spoonful by spoonful.

Twenty minutes later, after finishing his lunch, Cao Ge went to the bathroom for a quick shower, then picked up the car keys hanging on the wall and left the house.

He then drove towards the operations center.

............

Along the way, Cao Ge contemplated the company's next phase of development while driving.

"First off, there's no need to plan the content of the game, 'Deep Space Amnesia World' itself is a vast plan, with entirely open gameplay, a nearly limitless map, hardcore mechanics, and a brand-new form of gaming, which should attract a large fan base," he thought.

The more Cao Ge thought about it, the more reliable the plan seemed. This game could not only help humans break free from the Trisolarans' suppression of human science but also assist the people of 'Deep Space Amnesia World' in their conquests. Both sides would benefit, and what was more valuable was that he could make a fortune from this game.

If his game indeed became the only avenue for scientific development in the current world, it would become people's second world.

The international community would strongly support its dissemination, as the development of science was bound to require a large population base; it could not be achieved by a few scientists alone. It needed masses of ordinary people to keep learning, and only then might a new scientist emerge.

Moreover, in the future, there may even be a new academic subject at universities to study this game.

He had even already thought of the core question for them, which was why science could develop in a virtual world.

Of course, these were just his speculations.

But this game was the most reliable method he could think of thus far to help humanity deal with the Trisolarans.

As for the light-speed spaceship, although it indeed could help humans escape the Trisolarans' invasion, Cao Ge did not have confidence in it.

Even Thomas Wade, a determined character in the original work, had perished; Cao Ge did not believe he could do any better.

The path to developing a light-speed spaceship meant that one day he would stand opposed to all humanity.

Although he knew that the light-speed spaceship was the only way out for humanity, the rest of humanity did not know this, meaning that they would still ban the technology due to the spaceship's trajectory, possibly forcing him to stand against the will of the entire human race. He didn't have the mental strength for that and didn't want to go down that path.

Compared to the paths taken by Thomas Wade, Zhang Beihai, and Logic, the path chosen by Cheng Xin seemed more appealing.

Standing with all humanity meant everything he did felt effortless, and the key point was that whether he succeeded or failed in the end, he could still maintain a good reputation, unlike those three who were all labeled as anti-human.

These were Cao Ge's thoughts as he drove.

He had already taken the first step in creating the game.

Of course, the current computing power of artificial intelligence was not enough, as the game he intended to create was meant to accommodate hundreds of millions of people.

The number of servers needed would be astronomically high.

Murphy's level of intelligence was just about sufficient to serve as customer support; after all, it wasn't for researching cutting-edge science.

As for the other two technologies, they were still a bit out of reach.

Game capsules and cloning technology.

He did have hibernation pod technology, but game capsules were a bit different from hibernation pods, and as he was not an expert in this field, modifying them would be quite a challenge for him.

As for cloning technology, while complete technology and equipment for it existed aboard the Elysium Spacecraft, the discrepancy with what was needed for the game was significant, meaning that during his next traversal, he would need to make major modifications in 'Deep Space Amnesia World', then let Murphy control the production of the clones.