Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 993 Is Someone Waiting?

The so-called game museum is actually a museum about games.

Although video games were first created to satisfy people's entertainment needs, and were once slandered as a model of ignorance in the years that followed, by the time Alice lived, they had already developed unprecedentedly with information technology, and gradually became a new art across the ages, comparable to old arts such as literature, fine arts, and architecture. Therefore, it is natural to carefully build a museum for a great art, so that visitors can see its development trajectory more clearly and deeply understand the narrative and interactivity of video game art.

However, it is not so reasonable for a commercial company with the purpose of profit to do such a thing.

However, according to Alice, the founder of Game Command is actually an avid game enthusiast who is well-versed in the history, technology, and anecdotes of all kinds of games. His knowledge covers modern holographic virtual games, 3D games from centuries ago, and even older pixel games that can be called antiques.

She spent a lot of time, energy and money collecting those game consoles, cartridges and even related strategy materials. She also set aside a floor in her company to exhibit these collections, which are open to the public free of charge. She can be said to be a great philanthropist in the gaming industry.

"Some people call her a rich person, saying that she is stupid and rich, but I never said that." Alice skillfully distanced herself from the issue: "The founder of Game Command Company is the person I respect the most. I have wanted to visit here for a long time."

So there is no need to come here at all, and you are just abusing your power for personal gain?

Linger looked at the hall in front of him. It was spacious and bright. The walls were replaced by tall French windows. The floor was made of marble, and the footsteps on it made an empty echo. There was no extra decoration. Different exhibition areas were separated by fences and signs. Each exhibition area was neatly arranged with glass display cabinets, which displayed some small and exquisite game consoles and dull-colored cassettes. Although they were carefully restored, they still couldn't hide the ancient atmosphere.

He casually asked, "Why didn't you come to visit before?"

Do we have to wait until now?

This question made Alice stumped for a moment, but she quickly reacted and said with a smile: "Because I'm busy playing games and I'm too lazy to go out."

After that, without waiting for Lingge's comments, she happily rushed to the glass display cases and began her dream-fulfilling journey. Soon, her shouting could be heard everywhere in the museum: "This, this, this, this, isn't this the original cartridge of the greatest game in history, the Mario series? And it's a whole series, from the FC's Super Mario Bros. to the holographic era's remake Mario XX: Restarted Odyssey! What a joke! The first edition cartridge has been sold for more than 15 million on the antique website. This entire series of cartridges plus the matching game consoles must be worth more than 100 million, right?"

"Oh my god, what is this? The prototype arcade machine of PONG, the first commercial video game released by Atari in 1972!? And it looks like it can still work? I remember that the last prototype of this thing was damaged and scrapped two hundred years ago, but the founder of Game Command Company was able to get it. He is indeed a wealthy man in the industry... ahem, I mean a kind man!"

"Uh, what the hell, ET the Alien, the trigger for the Atari crash? You're worthy of being put together with the prototype of PONG? The founder of Game Command has a unique taste, he's even willing to collect this kind of thing. But one is the beginning, and the other is the end, so it still has some meaning. Do you want to play it later and see how shitty this shit is?"

"Ahem." Hearing this, Ling Ge couldn't help but cough twice and reminded her: "We don't have time for you to play games, Alice."

"whispering sound!"

Alice thought with disdain, when I see the goddess, I will apply to her and play here for a year or two, what can you do to me?
But she couldn't say this idea out loud yet, what if the sinister Linger interfered and ruined her good deeds? So after Alice finished her words, she honestly let go of her hand that was trying to open the glass display case and continued to shuttle between exhibition areas. She got excited when she saw something incredible, shouting and annoyed.

Influenced by her, other companions also walked into the museum curiously, and visited the exhibits with a mentality of watching the fun. They were not really interested in the so-called games. After all, they had played with Alice on the SLP game console for a long time and had been tortured by her for a long time. If the game art in the world of Earth was at the same level as Alice, then there was really nothing to look forward to.

But, it's so strange.

Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Dragon Quest, God of War, Call of Duty, and many other series are dazzling. According to the plots and gameplay described above, they all seem to be more interesting than the cartridges created by Alice. What's going on?
Could it be that the true level of Alice, this genius game producer, is actually very poor, or in her own words, she is so unskilled that she can't even pick her feet?
Everyone looked at each other in tacit understanding, thinking that they might have discovered the biggest secret of Yunjingkong Island, but unfortunately they couldn't say it out loud because it would anger Alice. Of course, Alice's anger is not scary, but when she gets angry, she will start to make trouble, and when she makes trouble, everyone starts to get scared.

"It seems," Ling Ge looked at the excited figure and said to Saint Xia Liya beside him, "She really likes playing games."

"It's a good thing to have your own hobbies." Saint Shallia replied softly. Perhaps because she was thinking about other things, she didn't hear the young man's implication: "Just like Shelia likes to mix cocktails. Although she is an outlier among the traveler fairies, Shesta has always supported her."

Yes, and the common point between these two people is that their level is extremely poor.

Should I support Alice's hobby like Shesta supports Shelia? Shelia's hobby of mixing drinks is an outlier among the traveler fairies, and Alice's hobby of playing games is also an outlier in the mirror star world? It can even be said that it is the biggest outlier and the root cause of her incompatibility with this world.

When will she realize that the real world is not a game... Everyone stayed in the game museum for about ten minutes, until Lingge urged her to leave, and Alice reluctantly put down the game consoles and cartridges and prepared to leave. However, she kept looking back as she walked, making the scene seem like a farewell between life and death, leaving everyone speechless.

"What do you know! They are alive, you know?" Alice was very dissatisfied with Ling'er's statement and rebuked him bluntly, wanting to correct his attitude of disrespecting the art of games: "Games are not simple text descriptions or image descriptions, but they combine them all, allowing you to experience a whole new life through interaction! In different games, you may play different roles, experience different stories, and meet different partners. If you regard each story as a life, then the emotions in the game will naturally be real! So, I bid farewell to my old friends, are you dissatisfied?"

A bunch of fallacies.

No one took it seriously, but Lingge was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: "Don't you always treat our world as a game? If so, do you have feelings for this world?"

"Of course!" Alice patted her chest without hesitation and assured: "I am the leader of the Gransefa Air Cavalry Regiment. It is my mission to gamble on Inochi and open it for the sake of Ma Molu's important members!"

What bird language.

Linger's face darkened, but it was not because of Alice's nonsense, but because he noticed that this guy's answer did not match his question. He asked whether Alice had feelings for this world, but the golden-haired maid didn't know whether she heard it or didn't take it to heart. She only answered about the so-called Gransefa Sky Cavalry Group, that is, the people on Yunjing Sky Island.

Are the rest of the people in this world still like data in a virtual game to her, not worth mentioning?

The young man looked at Alice deeply, but the latter did not notice the deep meaning of his look. After leaving the game museum, he still walked at the front of the team, leading the way for everyone, and introduced: "Next we are going to the president's office on the 99th floor. Let me tell you, this president is an incredible big shot. She single-handedly brought the previously unknown Game Command Company to the altar and dominated the field of electronic games. She even joined forces with other old manufacturers to lead the production of Alice Game and the development of SLP game consoles. She is recognized as the best game producer of this century. It's a pity that she is too low-key, and few people have seen her true face."

Hearing this, Rolena asked curiously, "So, isn't the founder of Game Command Company and the current president the same person?"

Perhaps because game development and alchemy magic are similar to some extent, Princess Umisu is very interested in this so-called Game Command Company. When visiting the museum just now, she was the most interested person besides Alice.

"No." Alice shook her head and said, "They are two people. Although the founder is very rich and built such a luxurious museum, he doesn't seem to have produced any famous games. Therefore, at that time, Game Command was not very famous. Even in the game industry, not many people had heard of its name. It was not until later that the founder resigned in the name of returning home to visit relatives and handed over the position to the current president. The situation improved. However, because her resignation and the new president's appointment were too sudden, many people suspected that there was some conspiracy and imagined a lot of business dramas on the Internet."

"Oh." Rolena nodded thoughtfully. It was similar to the change of dynasty power. As the Princess of the Azure Sky Sea, she had seen this kind of thing many times, so she knew that those people's suspicions were not groundless. However, she was not very interested in these political dramas, so she continued to ask, "Is the president the highest person in charge of this company?"

"I'm not too sure about this. But I heard that Game Command Company is not listed on the stock market, and all R&D funds and employee salaries are privately funded by the founder and the current president. So they should have a lot of power." Alice scratched her hair. It was really difficult for her, a game player, to explain this concept.

But whoever pays the money is the boss, this is definitely true!
When Alice thought about how such a difficult problem was solved with her own wisdom, she felt a sense of pride and pride. She held her head high and her steps became more powerful. The smug look of this villain made Lorena smile awkwardly and quietly took two steps back.

While the two were talking, the sightseeing elevator had already stopped at the 99th floor. After all, it was only one floor away. Although Ling Ge wanted to complain about how the sightseeing elevator could go directly to the president's office, was the president also part of the tourists' visit? But now was not the right occasion, so he did not say it out loud, and silently followed Alice into the president's office, which was not locked.

Basically, it is just an ordinary office with simple and consistent decoration and furniture styles. There are no luxurious decorations just because it is the president's office. The only special thing is that there are traces of games everywhere: game character posters on the wall, doll models with different postures in the display cabinets, which are called action figures in the words of earthlings, and a game console on the desk that is turned off - the appearance is exactly the same as the one Alice holds, and it seems to be the same model.

Next to the game console, the name of the president was written on the nameplate. Ling Ge only glanced at it and frowned deeply: Celestial Themis.

What a strange name! Are all people on Earth named in this style? Is Alice the odd one out? Moreover, this name sounds very familiar, as if he has heard it somewhere before, but he is sure that he has heard this name before.

At this moment, he heard Saint Shalia whisper to herself beside him: "Heaven... Themis..."

It wasn't something special, just repeating the other person's name. It seemed that the shepherdess also had a similar sense of familiarity. Thinking back to the moment when Alice asked her if there were any other people living in the Heavenly Cathedral besides the Girl King, the hesitation and thought that flashed across the girl's face, Linger immediately got the answer.

He raised his head, and his deep gaze seemed to see through the ceiling and see the top floor of the building.

Will that person be waiting for them there?
Give me some meow