Player 1

Chapter 39 Level 3(7)
We continued to chat and found that we understood each other to the point of mutual understanding.Edge and I have been called brothers for several years and have been intimate for the most part.I understand her and cherish this friendship.These do not change with her gender, skin color and sexual orientation.

As night fell, Eddie and I regained the familiar feeling, as if we were back in the basement, we could swear at each other without hesitation. I was worried that this friendship would be difficult in reality. As a result, the anxiety dissipated before the plane landed on Auger's private runway.

We traveled across the entire United States, and when we got to the west coast, there were still a few hours before sunrise, so everything around us was shrouded in darkness when we landed, but even so, Edge and I were almost shocked when we stepped out of the plane. Jaw dropped.Even though the moonlight was weak, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. The two rows of flashing navigation lights on the runway stretched into the distance, and looking in that direction, you could see the towering hazy mountains.The steep cobblestone steps turn to the platform at the foot of the mountain, and there are several faintly visible waterfalls falling from the mountain, and there is a faint rushing sound.

"Like Rivendell." Edge steals my lines.

I nod. "It's almost a copy of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings." I looked up in awe. "Remember? Ogg's wife was a big Tolkien fan, and he built this place for her."

At this time, there was a low sound from the plane, it retracted the telescopic ladder, then started the engine, turned, and took off.We stood and watched it melt into the clear starry sky, and then began to climb along the mountain path to Moreau's villa.

Ogden Morrow was waiting for us at the door in a nightgown and slippers. "Welcome, friends!" He spread his hands, "Welcome to my house!"

"Thank you, sir," Edge said, "for the invitation."

"Ah, you must be Edge," Moreau held out his hand, even if he was a little surprised by Edge's gender, he restrained himself from showing it, "I recognize this voice." He winked at her, and then Hug.Then he turned and hugged me, "You must be Wade - er - Parsifal! Welcome! Welcome! It's an honor to meet you two!"

"It was more of an honor to meet you," I said, "and I don't even know how to express my thanks."

"I think you have thanked enough, so don't mention it again!" He turned and led us through a spacious green area, "You are the only guests I have received in the past few years. To be exact, After Kayla died, I was alone. The cook and the gardener lived in the backyard, but they weren't really guests."

Edge and I didn't know how to answer, so we just nodded and giggled.Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask, "Are the others here? Where are Soto and Artemis?"

Moreau giggled when it came to Artemis, and a few seconds later I realized Edge was laughing at me too.

"What are you laughing at," I said, "What are you laughing at?"

"Well, Artemis arrived first, she arrived a few hours ago. Soto arrived half an hour earlier than you."

"Are we going to meet them now?" I knew I was covering up badly.

Ogg shook his head, "Artemis felt that seeing the two of you now would be a distraction for her. She decided to wait until after this was all over, and Soto seemed to agree with her," he stared at me After a while, "This is the best choice, you still have a lot of big things to do."

I nodded, although disappointed, but secretly relieved.

"Where are they now?" Edge asked.

Auger shook his fist. "They have logged into "Oasis" and are preparing to attack the 'Sixth Man'!" His voice echoed outside the villa, "Come with me, time is running out!"

Ogg's passion made my stomach twitch a few times nervously, sobering up a lot.Following the savior through the moonlit courtyard and approaching the main hall, we passed through a garden full of flowers. The location of this garden was a bit strange, and I couldn't guess its purpose until I saw a large tombstone in the center. Only then realized it was Kayla Morrow's grave.But even with the bright moonlight, I couldn't see the inscription on the tombstone clearly.

Auger led us into the villa through the front door, which was unlit.Moreau didn't turn on the light, but picked up a flashlight on the wall to illuminate the way. The light swept past everywhere, but I was still shocked by the grandeur of the place: huge tapestry and a lot of Sci-fi and fantasy artwork covers the walls, and gargoyle sculptures line the corridors.

Keeping up with Ogg, I finally worked up the courage to go, "Hey, it might not be the time, but I'm a big fan of yours. I grew up playing interactive educational games. They taught me how to read, how to write, how to Counting, how to solve puzzles..." I excitedly repeated the names of those unforgettable interactive games.

Edge probably thought I was nagging because she was secretly laughing, but Ogg didn't interrupt me. "Great," he said, looking amused. "My wife and I are so proud of these games, and you brought back great memories when you talked about them."

Edge and I were dumbfounded as we turned the corner and a huge door to the game collection room opened up in front of us.This must be James Halliday's game collection - his legacy to Morrow.Ogg looked back and saw that we were motionless, and immediately ran back to call us.

"I guarantee that there will be plenty of opportunities to come here to play in the future, but you have to finish your business first." Ogg was panting. For a person of this age, he was indeed on his way as fast as possible.He leads us down the spiral staircase, into the elevator, and down to the basement.The decor here looks much more modern, and we walked down a carpeted hallway to a ring of doors, each numbered.

"Here we are!" Moro pointed to these doors with a flashlight, "They are all oasis motion-sensing suit rooms, and the equipment inside is the most top-notch OIR-9400."

"9400? Isn't it?" Edge sighed, "It's too powerful!"

"Where are the others?" I looked around nervously.

"Artemis and Soto are in rooms two and three," he said, "room one is mine, and you can choose the others."

I looked at the door in front of me, wondering where Artemis would be.

Auger pointed to the end of the basement, "There are motion suits of any size in the locker room, arm yourself."

When we emerged from the locker room a few minutes later, the old man was grinning from ear to ear as he saw us all in our fitted haptic suits and gloves.

"Great!" Ogg said, "Go and log in, time is ticking!"

Edge turned to me. She seemed to want to say something, but didn't know how to say it. After a while, she held out her hand and we shook hands.

"Good luck, Edge," I said.

"Good luck, Patsy." She turned to Ogg, "I want to say thank you again, Ogg." Before the latter could say anything, she tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek and disappeared into the surrounding area. behind door number.

Ogg smiled in her direction, then turned to me, "The whole world is counting on you four, don't let them down."

"We're doing the best we can."

"I know you will."

I took a step towards my somatosensory equipment compartment, then turned around. "Ogg, can I ask a question?" I said.

He raised his eyebrows. "If you want to ask what's in the third door, I don't know," he said, "and even if I did, I can't answer. You should understand that."

I shook my head. "No, it's not that. I want to know what exactly broke your friendship with Halliday. I've done a lot of research and can't find an answer. What happened?"

Moreau stared at me blankly for a moment. He had been asked this question countless times in interviews, but never answered it.I don't know why he is in hesitation now, maybe he has been hoping to find someone to confide in these years.

"It's because of Kayla, my wife," he continued, after a pause, clearing his throat, "like me, Halliday has been in love with Kayla since high school, but he never worked up the courage to make love, so Kayla Ra never knew, and even I didn't know what Halliday was thinking. It wasn't until he was terminally ill, and the last time we talked before he died, that the truth finally came to light. You know, James was never good with people, or It’s about expressing your feelings.”

I nodded and waited quietly for him to continue.

"James fantasized about taking her from me after I got engaged, but our marriage put that out of his mind. He told me he stopped talking to me out of jealousy. Kyra, My Keira is the only woman he has ever loved in his life." Moreau's voice choked up, "I can understand James' feeling, Keira is special, you can't help falling in love with her." He smiled at me He smiled, "You also understand what it's like to meet such a person, don't you?"

"Well," I realized he had stopped talking, "thank you, Mr. Moreau, for telling me this."

"You're welcome." He walked to his room, and the moment the door slid open, I saw a bunch of strange parts added to his suit, and the Oasis console was also modified to look like a Komodo 64 collector's edition.At this moment, Moreau looked back at me and said, "Good luck, Parsifal, you will need it soon."

"And what about you?" I asked, "what are you going to do when the battle starts?"

"No doubt, of course I am watching the battle with great interest!" He replied, "This is the biggest epic battle in the history of the game!" He smiled at me, and then walked into Room [-], leaving me standing alone In a dark corridor.

I thought for a few minutes about what Moreau had told me, then went into my motion gear room.

It's a spherical room, with shiny silver tactile chairs suspended on movable supports that extend from the ceiling, and there are no extra treadmill belts, because the floor of the room is itself a giant treadmill.After logging in, you can walk and run in any direction without worrying about hitting a wall.

Climbed up on the chair, it automatically adjusted to my body shape, and two mechanical arms stretched out from the back of the chair, covering a visual mask on my face.Putting on the gloves, I read the code.

As the system logged in, I took a deep breath.

0034
Parsifal was ready to go.

My character is heavily armed, with an inventory filled with magical gear and weapons and ammo.

With everything in place, it's time to get moving.

In front of the hangar in the fortress, I pressed the button on the wall to open the hatch and walked to the end of the warehouse.Today, I won't be flying an X-wing or a Vonnegut, they're good ships, heavy guns or great maneuvers, but they're not good enough for the big battle that's going to break out on Cthonia .Fortunately, I have a new vehicle.

I carefully placed the robot Repparton at the exit.Shortly before being captured by the IOI, I took some time to do some research and found a way to activate it.The robot is essentially an extremely powerful magic item.And it didn't take me long to guess its activation password, just like in the Japanese Spider-Man special, you can summon it to fly to you just by shouting its name.I took a few steps away and yelled, "Lee Parton!"

The sound of metal tearing was deafening, and in the blink of an eye, the little doll turned into a giant mech [-] meters high.The top of its head almost brushed the top airtight hatch.

I looked up at the towering robot, and it was amazing how detailed Halliday had designed it.Every detail on the giant mecha in the Spider-Man animation has been perfectly reproduced, including the huge flashing sword and spider shield.There is a small door on Lepparton's left foot. When approaching, it automatically opened to reveal the small elevator inside. The elevator took me through Lepparton's legs and waist to reach the cockpit on the chest covered by heavy armor.I sit in the cockpit chair and slip the silver control bracelet off the wall and put it on my wrist—it allows me to remotely operate Repparton with voice commands.

There are several rows of buttons on the driver's platform in front of him, and the labels are all in Japanese.I pressed the main engine button, and the body suddenly roared, and then I opened the damper to activate the rocket boosters on the legs.Repparton rose slowly, leaving the Falcon along the shaft and into starry space.

Halliday had an eight-track cassette[136] on the bridge, and there was a huge pile of it behind the right-hand seat.I picked one of them up and plugged it into the player. Immediately AC/DC's "Dirty Bastards" blared through the speakers inside and outside Leigh Parton, so violently that the chairs shook uncontrollably.

After leaving the fortress, I yelled at the bracelet: "Transformation!" (probably in homage to the special film of the year, the voice control seems to only work when shouting).Lie Parton's legs, hands, and head were all folded up and turned into a spaceship named "Miracle".Then, I left the orbit of the Falcon and flew to the nearest stargate.

After jumping to the stargate of the tenth sector, bursts of light spots erupted on the radar interface, just like the colorful lights on the branches of a Christmas tree, each light spot represents a spaceship.There are thousands of them, and the stars cannot compete with them.Cargo ships as small as shuttles and as large as satellites are all gathered around me. I have never even imagined such a scene.At the same time, the light of the arrival of the new spaceship continued to pour out of the star gate.The entire space has been filled with spaceships, and they are gradually squeezed together, like a long rope stretching towards Cthonia.It looked like everyone in the oasis was heading for the brown-blue planet.I'm somewhat excited, even though Artemis' warning is still in my ears-most people who come here probably don't want to fight the "Sixth Man" themselves.

Artemis is not far away, and I will see her true face after the battle is over.This thought should have left me in a daze, but this time I was as calm and abnormal as if I had learned some Zen mechanism: no matter what happens on Cthonia, being able to reunite with her today, here, has made all my efforts got enough in return.

I made the Miracle return to human form and joined the queue of spaceships. As a unique super robot, Lie Parton was very eye-catching in the team. Groups of small boats quickly turned around and flew up and down beside me, curious. Watching Ray Parton carefully.I had to turn off local chat because there were so many people chatting up.

Ketonia in front of the observation window is gradually getting bigger, and the surrounding ships are getting denser and denser. The atmospheric layer descending on Ketonia is like passing through a huge swarm of metal locusts. When arriving at Anola Castle, the nearby scenery is even more It was what left me stunned: countless spaceships and players occupying the entire ground and sky, and to the uninitiated, this must be the Woodstock of another world[138].People crowded shoulder to shoulder, and many people floated in the air with magic or technological equipment, dodging the new spacecraft that joined the party from time to time.And the center of this crazy stage is naturally Anola Castle, and the shield of the "Sixth Man" is shining like onyx.Every few seconds, some people or spaceships would inadvertently crash into the shield, and they were instantly vaporized in the flash, like moths that hit a candle flame.

After detouring to a closer location, I discovered that there was a relatively empty area outside the castle gate.Just a little bit outside the shield, three giant mechs stood there, and people kept a respectful distance from Eki, Artemis, and Soto.

After passing through the second door, I got my first glimpse of the mech chosen by Edge, Artemis, and Soto, and it took me a while to recognize the female mech that Artemis was piloting.The black and yellow shell, the boomerang-shaped helmet, and the symmetrical red breastplate are simply the female version of Demon Z[139].Then, I immediately realized that it was the female version of Majin Z, Minerva X.

(End of this chapter)