Free Web NovelChapter 1544: Chapter 960: Path of Transcendence (9): Mysterious Guest
Breakfast time passed very quickly.
After breakfast, Tony went with Ye Ye and Nai Nai to the convention center next door.
Today was the first day of the offline celebration, with grand festivities and performances being held in the exhibition hall. It was also the liveliest day of the entire event.
You could call it an opening ceremony too; since there was a gala in the evening, they decided to hold this part during the day.
When the three entered the venue, it was already packed, a sea of people, heads as far as the eye could see. In front of the entrance to the multi-function hall, a long line snaked all the way back.
Everyone was lining up to enter.
The few of them joined the line as well. At this point there was no distinction between invited players and registered players; at most, once you got in the hall, your seat would be different, with invited players getting the better spots.
It was just that there seemed to be way too many people in line—more outrageous than some large international anime cons.
Tony had done his homework before coming here, and this scene was really a bit beyond his expectations.
He couldn’t help voicing his question, and in response got slightly surprised looks from Ye Ye and Nai Nai:
"Brother Tony, you didn’t look at the promo for this event?"
"Event? Promo?"
Tony was slightly taken aback.
Uh... he really hadn’t paid attention.
After finishing his map exploration, he’d either been working or playing around in Segus. Once he knew the exact date of the offline celebration, he just asked Little Xian Miao for an invite ticket and stopped following the news.
Even after coming over yesterday, he’d gone straight back to the hotel to rest and hadn’t carefully checked any info about the celebration.
Even with Dongdong and the others, they had only briefly caught up before going their separate ways.
Thinking back now... ever since yesterday, every player he’d run into seemed more excited than the last.
He thought for a moment and pulled out the celebration brochure to flip through it.
It was in both Chinese and English, but his Chinese was pretty good, so even if it had been entirely in Chinese, it wouldn’t have been a problem to read.
And when he saw the black silhouette on the cover that could be vaguely identified as female, along with the big question mark on top of it and the explanatory text next to it, his heart stirred:
"Opening ceremony speech? A mysterious guest from in-game?"
Every offline celebration, they would invite some heavyweight guests to give an opening speech.
These guests were generally all related to "Elf Kingdom."
For example, well-known players in the game; or celebrities in real life who also played "Elf Kingdom"; or, like a few years ago, a famous movie star who’d acted in a blockbuster film set in the world of "Elf Kingdom."
But... what the hell is a "mysterious guest from in-game"?
"Could it be some other heavyweight player again?"
Tony was suspicious.
But Ye Ye and Nai Nai both shook their heads:
"No way. Last time when Brother Mu gave the speech, they weren’t this secretive. Is there even any player in-game more famous than Brother Mu the streamer?"
"That’s true..."
Tony nodded.
Aside from Li Mu, there really weren’t many high-popularity players in the game.
Wind counted as one, but to the general public he still couldn’t compare to Li Mu, not to mention that Wind had already said he wouldn’t be coming this time.
Then... who would it be?
And "from in-game" at that... they couldn’t mean an NPC from the game, right?
Tony felt a faint unease.
He glanced at his two Tianchao friends beside him and shared his guess, while Ye Ye and Nai Nai exchanged a look and smiled faintly.
Tony’s eyelid twitched:
"It really is an NPC from in-game?"
"According to the rumor mill, yeah, probably. Supposedly the official team of ’Elf Kingdom’ is also participating in the event this time, and they’re planning to use virtual projection technology."
Ye Ye finally stopped playing coy and revealed what he knew.
"Virtual projection?"
Tony’s eyes lit up.
Projection technology had appeared as early as the latter half of the 20th century, also known as holographic projection.
However, it only saw widespread application after the era of virtual networks fully arrived.
The NPCs in "Elf Kingdom" were extremely intelligent; if they used virtual projection technology to reproduce characters from the game, they really might be able to pull it off!
In that moment, Tony’s mind ran wild, and his mood gradually grew excited.
Game is game, reality is reality.
But sometimes, that boundary could be broken.
Thinking of this, he looked again at the cover of the brochure—or more precisely, at the indistinguishable female silhouette. One familiar NPC after another flashed through his mind.
Alice, Big Sis, Diana, Aurora...
Who would it be?
He didn’t consider the Goddess, because starting a few years ago there had been rumors that the Goddess seemed to have fallen into slumber.
It was even said that because this rumor had spread, the Abyss Demon Gods had all started to stir, almost triggering another Abyss War. But then, internal strife seemed to have broken out in the Abyss, and Tony wasn’t too clear on the details.
Anyway, it was something like the Demon Gods not seeing eye to eye.
In any case, given "Elf Kingdom’s" usual style, since the Goddess had fallen into slumber, it shouldn’t be her.
Then...
Could it really be Alice?
No, no, no... it might also be Fairy King Fenrir!
Tony kept speculating, growing more and more curious about this so-called mysterious guest.
And at this time, Ye Ye also mentioned the most popular guess on the internet:
"But... right now what most people are betting on is Eve Goddess. That’s exactly why there are so many people here this time."
"The Goddess? No... that shouldn’t be possible. You both know the Goddess fell asleep ten years ago in-game, and the one who’s been active in front of players since then is supposedly just an avatar."
