As if they were in a movie, the private jet landed on an island. From what Yi Qiang could see from the air, it was about the size of multiple football fields. And covering over 90% of that area was what Yi Qiang presumed to be Universal Technologies.
At the beckoning of Mr. Yang, Yi Qiang stood up and exited the jet, taking less than a second to survey the area in case of emergency - it was a skill he had developed in his line of work, and with the constant danger he was in back when he was a sniper, it was something Yi Qiang did by instinct now.
"We're here at the main location, Mr. Yi, which I'm sure doesn't mean much to you, but if you had any idea how hard it is to get here, you'd be a lot more impressed than you are right now. Anyways, this is where your consciousness will be uploaded into Ascend, after some necessary procedures, of course," Mr. Yang said. "But treat everything here like the last things you will see in this world."
Coming from someone else, Yi Qiang was sure that would have sounded ominous, but the way Mr. Yang said it was well-intentioned and positive - they had not spoken much, but from what he could tell, Mr. Yang was an enthusiastic man.
They engaged in small talk as Mr. Yang escorted his recruit to the entrance of the sprawling buildings. Now that Yi Qiang had a closer look, he could see them perfectly - the outside was beautiful in its simplicity, with perfectly smooth stone walls forming a fortress. The flowing walls were also marked with long windows, the glass tinted black such that it was impossible to see through. As someone trained to be entirely practical from birth, Yi Qiang was indeed impressed by the sheer, understated majesty of the building.
The only entrance in sight was protected by multiple visibly experienced guards, and no doubt, a great array of currently-hidden technology. When walked near, a pair of security guards left their post.
"Identification, please."
Mr. Yang pulled out his badge and, at the same time, did something very few people would have noticed. As his right hand held out a retrieved badge, his left hand, still next to his body, discreetly made multiple hand signs. The movements of the signs themselves were also very slight, in that most people in Yi Qiang's position would have confused it as a simple twitch or a nervous tick.
But Yi Qiang's sharp eyes saw it for what it was: a signal. That was information that would very likely be useless, but it was interesting nonetheless. And his initial observation was only further confirmed by the ever-so-slight head tilt of both guards towards Mr. Yang's left side.
Filing that information away in the back on his mind, Yi Qiang continued along with Mr. Yang, walking through the huge building until Mr. Yang stopped at a white, metal door.
"Forgive me for being so hasty, but this is where we will briefly conduct medical tests and then send you into Ascend. It's just that we haven't much time before the game begins, and it's best for everyone involved if you get as much as an advantage as possible - that means we get you in the game when it starts."
The pair walked in, Yi Qiang's sharp eyes surveying the room to find several things of note.
The first, and most obvious, was the obtrusive pod-like object. The surface was made from some kind of metal, and the pod itself was tall enough and wide enough to contain him standing up easily. There was an outline of a door of the same material, that was currently closed, not allowing Yi Qiang to see into the depths of the machine. Coming out of the back(assuming the side with the door was the front) were a bunch of neatly-organized, many-colored wires, all leading into the wall. Yi Qiang reasonably assumed that was the gaming pod - where he would officially be uploaded into the game servers.
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The second thing to notice was the large desk directly in front of the pod, which held three oversized monitors, all three linked up to the gaming pod. This was likely for monitoring the process of Yi Qiang's upload.
Finally, way off on the side, there was a standard nurse's table, or bench, with all the relevant tools lined up on the wall.
"Please wait here, Mr. Yi, while our nurse comes. We have to make sure your physical aspects are normal, just in case some complications in the process of assimilation occur based on unforeseen circumstances. It's unlikely, but I'm sure you understand, Mr. Yi."
That turned out to be a very short waiting time, as the door was suddenly opened right after Mr. Yang finished his words. A hunched, short old woman entered the room, dressed in attire that made it clear she was to be Yi Qiang's nurse. He had no problem with this, as the woman certainly seemed experienced, and he had always found it troublesome to deal with younger women - there was an unwelcome, primal attraction to them he found easy to curb, but its presence was unsettling to him. The very fact that something he had not allowed could invade his holy space, his mind, deeply unnerved him, and while he would not go out of his way to avoid confrontation with those types, Yi Qiang was still relieved to avoid something so annoying this time around.
"Yi Qiang? Hello, I'm your nurse, Mrs. Lu. So, since we're in a rush and all, why don't you sit down over there?" she said, bowing slightly and nodding her head in the direction of the bench
"Yes," Yi Qiang responded. "I don't know if Mr. Yang has always informed you, but my line of work does require me to be in excellent shape, so there shouldn't be any physical health problems. You can dispense with the usual questions - if it were up to me, I'd enter the pod right now."
"Good to know we've someone who actually bothered to keep their body well", Mrs. Lu chuckled, "but I find that people well-acquainted with violence have more problems than they think. Anyways, evem if you were perfect, this is still routine. So let's get this done, huh? And no, I wasn't going to ask those questions that normal nurses usually do."
Yi Qiang nodded and sat down.
The next twenty minutes consisted of multiple tests, including a blood assessment and a scanning with some strange device Yi Qiang hadn't yet seen before, but Yi Qiang was indeed quickly cleared for download into Ascend. With that, Mrs. Lu left and a tall man dressed in a lab coat quickly entered.
"Hi! I'm the, uh, guy that'll get you into the game. So, you actually don't have much left to worry about before getting into the game - all you need to do is get into the pod right" - he walked over and punched some numbers into the keyboard on the large desk - "now." He grinned.
Yi Qiang nodded back and looked into the pod, only to find it just as bare as the outside, before hopping into it, standing up inside the roomy machine.
A voice echoed out from inside.
"In a moment, please touch the red triangle that will appear direcly in front of you. And then, prepare to wake up in Ascend!"
True to his words, a glowing red triangle appeared on the metal in front of Qian Feng's face, which Qian Feng promptly touched. What's the worst that could happen? I'm only being transferred from here to a game world, eh? The instant his finger touched the triangle, a powerful electric shock knocked Qian Feng out, and a viscous liquid began filling the space.
Seeing this on one of the monitors, the man in the lab coat that entered previously smiled, and got to work.
Just then, the door burst open and a young woman in the same nurse's outfit that Mrs. Yu was wearing ran in. Mr Yi! Dr. Chuan! Don't let Mr. Yi enter the game yet!"
Mr. Yang, who had stayed in since the beginning, and the man identified as Mr. Chuan looked at her, alarmed.
"W-where's Mr. Yi?" she asked, breathing heavily from running all the way to the room here.
"His consciousness has already begun the transference," Mr. Chuan responded, worry emerging on his face. "What's wrong?"
"It's Mr. Yi's blood, sir. He's perfectly healthy, but we found a device in it. After analysis, we couldn't find its use, but we know that it has even taken its hold in his consciousness. And we found its source, sir.
The device comes from Digital Innovation Organization, sir."