Madison Square Garden. Dead silent.
Like the deep sea.
That Eastern woman, in a tone so calm it was almost cold, had uttered the phrase.
FullDive.
The air seemed to solidify, pressing down on everyone's chest.
On the stage's holographic projection, the nonchalant smirk on Paul's face froze for the first time.
He had prepared countless ornate speeches, designed layers of unfolding suspense. He was going to be an elegant magician, pulling an entire universe out of a top hat in front of the whole world.
But he never expected that just as the curtain was being pulled back, someone had seen through all his tricks.
That momentary lapse lasted less than half a second.
The curve of Paul's lips lifted again. This time, the smile had less of a performer's slickness and more of the genuine thrill of meeting a worthy opponent.
He turned to the woman and applauded softly.
*Clap. Clap. Clap.*
The crisp applause echoed through the sound system, reverberating in the silent venue and shattering the frozen air.
"Brilliant."
Paul's voice carried a note of sincere admiration.
"This beautiful young lady, not only did you guess correctly, you even delivered my tagline for me." He winked at her. "Looks like I'll have my HR contact you after the conference."
The well-timed joke instantly eased the tense atmosphere. A wave of good-natured laughter rippled through the audience.
Paul dropped the pretense. He spread his arms wide, as if to embrace the entire world.
"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she's right!"
"We're tired of screens, tired of keyboards, tired of touching the worlds we love through a pane of glass!"
"Today, I will shatter that glass!"
With a sharp wave of his hand, the magnificent world of Aincrad behind him shattered, dissolving into countless streams of data before reconverging.
A silver-white, streamlined head-mounted device hung suspended in mid-air.
It was less like any of the bulky VR headsets on the market and more like a work of art from the future, imbued with a sleek and ultimate sci-fi aesthetic.
"Its name is NERvGear!"
"Neural-connecting-External-Reality-vision-Gear!"
"It will intercept all commands from your brain to your body, while simultaneously feeding all the sensory signals of a virtual world directly back to your brain!"
"Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch... everything!"
"When you put it on and speak the command—"
Paul's voice suddenly rose, laced with a captivating, almost hypnotic power.
"You will enter a brand new reality!"
"Link Start!"
*BOOM—!*
The long-suppressed excitement exploded in that single moment.
Thunderous applause and deafening cheers threatened to blow the roof off Madison Square Garden.
People leaped to their feet, waving their arms, screaming, and roaring.
This wasn't just another product launch; they were witnessing history! The dawn of a new era!
Paul smiled, waiting for the roar to subside slightly.
"I know you have questions. It sounds too crazy, too incredible."
"So, from tens of thousands of applicants worldwide, I have selected four volunteers."
Spotlights ignited, and four individuals with varying expressions walked onto the stage, guided by staff members.
The first was a young man in his twenties. He wore sunglasses and held a guide cane, each step careful and deliberate.
He was congenitally blind.
"Hello, John." Paul approached him gently.
"Mr. Paul." John's voice trembled, a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.
"Are you ready? Ready to see the world you've never seen?"
John nodded emphatically.
Under the watchful eyes of thousands, a staff member fitted the NERvGear onto John's head.
Paul's voice sounded in his ear: "Link Start."
The world exploded in John's mind.
He saw light.
Not an imagined concept, but real, warm, illuminating light.
He saw the stage lights, the glittering screens of phones in the audience, the gentle smile on Paul's face.
Slowly, disbelievingly, he raised his own hand. He saw the lines on his palm, the texture of his skin.
Then, Paul handed him a mirror.
In it, John saw himself.
A young, strange, yet incredibly familiar face.
Tears burst from his eyes without warning.
He dropped the guide cane, tossed aside the sunglasses, and covered his face with his hands, yet he couldn't stop himself from peeking through his fingers at the brand new world.
"I... I can see..."
His voice was choked, the words broken.
"My God... is this... is this what color is... is this... me..."
He fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
In the audience, countless eyes turned red. The cameras faithfully captured this moment, broadcasting it to every corner of the globe.
Beneath the cold shell of technology was the warmest human compassion.
The second volunteer was a middle-aged man in a wheelchair.
He was once a decorated soldier who had lost his legs on a mission.
When he put on the device and entered a lush green virtual plain, he froze.
He looked down and saw his own two feet, clad in combat boots, planted firmly on the ground.
He tentatively wiggled his toes.
They moved.
A jolt of electricity shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He tried to stand.
He stood up!
A look of ecstatic joy erupted on the man's face. He started to run, stumbling at first, but quickly finding his stride.
He ran wildly across the meadow, leaping, even attempting a clumsy cartwheel before tumbling heavily to the ground.
He felt no pain, only endless freedom and joy.
He lay on the grass, gasping for breath, his face beaming with a radiant smile he hadn't worn in a decade.
"I can run... hahahaha! I can run again!"
His laughter was infectious.
The third was a pale young girl. She suffered from a severe heart condition and had been warned by doctors against any strenuous activity.
In the virtual world, she stood on the peak of a snowy mountain.
The wind "howled," the snowflakes felt "cold."
She spread her arms, faced the wind, and screamed with all her might.
She ran, she skied—all the things forbidden in reality, she could do here without restraint.
On the large screen on stage, one side showed her unrestrained release on the mountaintop, while the other displayed the steady data of her real-world heartbeat.
The freedom of the mind had completely broken free from the cage of the flesh.
She stopped, clenching her fists tightly, her face filled with the determination of someone reborn.
The fourth was a veteran gamer, a tech geek.
He entered the first floor of Aincrad, the "Town of Beginnings."
He didn't get emotional like the first three. Instead, he examined this world with an almost ruthlessly professional eye.
He touched the rough texture of a stone wall, felt the real sensation of wind on his cheek, drew his novice iron sword, and listened to the faint whistle of the blade cutting through the air.
"'Zero latency... haptic feedback is perfect... neural synchronization rate is... absurdly high...'"
He muttered to himself, his expression shifting from scrutiny to astonishment, and finally, to fervent zeal.
He charged at the same wild boar Paul had just defeated.
There were no fancy techniques, just the simplest slashes and dodges.
When the blade pierced the boar's body and he felt the realistic resistance and the visual impact of the monster bursting into data fragments, he completely lost it.
"This isn't a goddamn game! This is another world! This is another world!"
He threw his arms up and roared, voicing the heartfelt cry of every gamer.
Four volunteers, four completely different lives, all saved, changed, and shaken by the same technology in this one moment.
The atmosphere of the conference had reached its absolute peak.
Paul walked back to the center of the stage. The entire world was waiting for his final verdict.
"I know what you're thinking."
"How much?"
"When can I buy it?"
He smiled.
"Before I announce the price, I must be honest. The manufacturing cost of the NERvGear is extremely high."
"Every single unit is a crystallization of the most advanced technology from the Paul Research Center."
"But my original intention was to give everyone a chance to touch this new world."
He took a deep breath and announced a number.
"Therefore, the global unified price for the NERvGear is—"
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars."
The entire venue fell silent again.
But this silence was completely different from before.
It wasn't shock or horror, but a kind of... disbelieving ecstasy.
It was too cheap!
This revolutionary product, capable of changing the world and even the course of human civilization, was selling for less than a thousand dollars?
It was insane!
After a brief silence, someone started clapping.
Then, the applause spread like wildfire, instantly engulfing the entire venue.
People chattered excitedly, making calculations. Everyone's face was written with a single thought—*I have to have one.*
"The first global release will be one million units."
"The official website will open for pre-orders after the conference ends."
Paul watched the frenzied crowd, the same composed smile on his face.
The gates to the virtual world had been opened by his own hands.
And he would be the... God of this new world.
However, as everyone was lost in the revelry of the coming new age, no one noticed that in the shadows where the stage lights didn't reach, Paul's gaze cut through the frenzied crowd and landed precisely on the front row, at the booth for Stark Industries.
Tony Stark hadn't come, but Pepper Potts and Obadiah Stane were both there.
Pepper's face was a mask of pure shock and admiration, while Obadiah...
The portly and shrewd man was looking down, the expression behind his glasses unreadable. He seemed to be sending a message to someone.
A cold smirk touched the corner of Paul's lips.
The game had only just begun.