Lux was very angry.
In order to get in touch with the person in charge from the Roland Empire, he could only start with the natives of Orange Clouds. But that guy… actually refused!
He never expected that a small nation ranked second last in the interstellar rankings would dare to be so domineering when facing the people of Bekra.
He was angry and hateful, but there was nothing he could do.
His immediate superior had given him an ultimatum. If he couldn’t handle this matter within a week, he would have to pack up and leave!
Lux really wanted to take a spaceship directly to Orange Clouds to look for someone. However, he was a bit hesitant when considering the military strength of the Roland Empire.
Orange Clouds might belong to the United States of Bekra, but it had been leased to the Roland Empire. During the contract period, breaking in by force would be an illegal invasion and the Roland Empire had the right to attack him.
In the end, after much deliberation, Lux decided to target the natives of Orange Clouds.
Since the minister was only interested in the ingredients from the Roland Empire, why not ask the natives of Orange Clouds to get some? If these ingredients were average or even unpalatable, perhaps the minister would calm down?
Lux acted the moment he thought this and came to ask for help with gifts.
The natives of Orange Clouds knew that the Roland Empire was very popular recently and were interested in Roland’s cuisine, so they agreed without much hesitation.
They maintained a good relationship with Litch. As long as they asked to buy it, Litch would simply give them some to taste.
The planet Saikon was only half a day’s journey from Orange Clouds, so the things were very fresh when they arrived. Judging from the appearance alone, they were much better than those on the market and were almost the same as those picked on the same day from local plants.
According to the agreement, the natives of Orange Clouds gave a small portion to Lux.
In fact, they also found it strange. Litch must’ve brought samples when he came to discuss business. Could it be that Lux, the person in charge of foreign food trade, had never tasted them?
Lux naturally hadn’t done so.
Therefore, his face turned pale when he saw the fruits and vegetables sent by the people of Orange Clouds. After tasting them himself, he ate all of them with a distressed expression.
Wow, how could they be so delicious?
What should he do now? How could he save the situation? Should he really pack up and leave?
***
Xu Sili was far away in the Roland Empire and naturally had no idea that such an incident happened in the distant universe.
Trade with alien planets naturally had to wait until the end of the year to be summarized and made into a financial report that was submitted to the emperor for review. Now it was just a small business that had been negotiated. Litch didn’t even report the good news to Val.
Right now, Xu Sili’s attention was attracted by another thing.
“The opening ceremony of the e-sports competition?”
He was a bit surprised when he heard Xu Yuheng’s proposal. “Let me attend with Si Sheng?”
Xu Yuheng nodded.
“I just want to ask if you are interested. If you can appear as a special guest and interact with the audience, the effect will definitely be maximized!”
He spoke with great interest. Xu Sili was somewhat tempted, but he still asked, “Will there be no technical difficulties? Can you use projections to bring Si Sheng and I into the real world?”
If that was possible…
However, Xu Yuheng shook his head regretfully.
“Projection… it is just a projection. You are still in Starry Sky Age.”
It was just like how players were active in the arena. The competition process might be projected into reality, but they were in the game and couldn’t see the audience.
Xu Sili was a bit disappointed but quickly suppressed his emotions. After all, this was a game, not two real worlds. Could the gaming team be powerful enough to allow a virtual world and reality to communicate with each other?
“So how do I interact with the audience?”
He thought about what Xu Yuheng had just said and asked.
Xu Yuheng briefly explained it to him.
“The game team will select players as representatives and invite NPCs to the City of the Braves to attend the opening ceremony of the e-sports competition. The official e-sports competition has already set up a venue in the City of the Braves.”
“In reality, the designated location of this place will be projected. The audience appearing on the projection platform will also have a corresponding image generated synchronously in Starry Sky Age.”
However, in Starry Sky Age, the audience image couldn’t be completely restored. Instead, they would adopt the character image set in advance by the game team.
As long as players wore the corresponding equipment, they could make the game characters perform actions and say what they wanted to say, indirectly realizing the connection between the game and reality.
In the NPCs’ perception, they were just attending the opening ceremony of a competition hosted by the braves. Thus, they wouldn’t find it strange.
Xu Sili had to admit that this design was really brilliant.
He felt a bit regretful, but he didn’t object to being invited to participate. After all, before his accidental death, he was very concerned about e-sports competitions as a game fan.
It was a pity that nearly 12 years had passed in reality. The e-sports players he liked at the time had probably retired long ago.
If the first e-sports competition of Starry Sky Age could be held, its influence would definitely be further expanded. This was a good thing for the Xu family and Roland, so he had no reason not to support it.
Finally, Xu Sili nodded and took the initiative to ask, “Do I need to prepare any programs?”
Xu Yuheng was stunned for a moment.
He suddenly remembered his brother’s dazzling appearance on the concert stage more than ten years ago, attracting everyone’s attention.
He smiled and said, “It depends on your mood. Even if you just stand on the stage, it is enough to drive those people crazy.”
After so much time, Xu Sili still had many fans in real life and they contributed to the early development of Starry Sky Age.
As for Snow Roland, he had even more fans.
Among all the merchandise products of Starry Sky Age, his and Si Sheng’s sold the most. As the leader of the faction, his popularity was even higher.
Xu Sili nodded and started to think about it in his mind. After Xu Yuheng finished speaking, he went offline first. He still had many things to deal with in real life.
During the time they talked, Si Sheng had been standing outside the door very obediently.
Recently, he had been paying attention to gaining favor with Father and Mother Xu. Since Second Brother Xu was too busy and had little time to contact them, he was smart enough not to interrupt when the two brothers were talking.
He waited until Xu Yuheng went offline before entering the room. Then he saw Xu Sili with crossed arms, frowning while thinking.
A light flickered in those purple eyes and it wasn’t known what he was thinking.
He didn’t ask, but walked over silently and sat next to Xu Sili. He skillfully took Xu Sili’s hand and held it in his palm, playing with it.
Xu Sili noticed but didn’t pull his hand back. Instead, he smiled and moved closer to the man, kissing him on the lips.
Feeling his closeness, Si Sheng’s lips curled up. He suppressed the urge to pull Xu Sili in and kiss him. Instead, he whispered, “What are you so happy about?”
As a result, Xu Sili smiled mysteriously. “You will know in two days.”
Si Sheng frowned slightly but didn’t ask any further questions. He hugged the man on his lap before capturing the young man’s seductive lips.
Soon, some ambiguous noises were heard in the emperor’s bedroom, but they were controlled by the soundproof barrier. The guards outside were unaware of it and continued to stand guard dutifully.
Around half a month later, the auditions for the First Starry Sky Cup E-sports Competition finally ended. 500 players were selected to participate in the preliminary round, and 32 teams were selected for the team competition.
Not long after the auditions ended, the opening ceremony was quickly put on the agenda.
Xu Sili also received an invitation from the player representative a few days after Xu Yuheng notified him.
This player seemed to be a famous wealthy person in Starry Sky Age. Once she appeared in front of Xu Sili wearing a god-level suit, Xu Sili was almost blinded by the special effects of the halo.
He hadn’t expected there to be players in the game who actually collected all these god-level suits that weren’t very useful except for looking good.
However, the game team sent this player to invite Xu Sili, which was very thoughtful. It wasn’t known what reward they used to make this rich girl take on this errand task.
Due to Xu Yuheng’s prior greeting, the wealthy girl naturally completed the mission quickly.
Xu Sili originally thought that once he agreed, the news would spread throughout the city. Unexpectedly, this girl did a good job of keeping it a secret and few people knew about it before the opening ceremony.
In addition to him, other NPCs were also invited such as Silin and Xenos. Even Li Zhecheng and the others were invited by players, but only a few were successfully invited.
The game team didn’t promote this matter as a gimmick, but it was still a popular topic among players.
The tickets for the evening party were sold out within an hour of being released.
Players who failed to get tickets on site changed their target and aimed at tickets for the City of the Braves’ hall. If they couldn’t get them, they could only watch the live broadcast.
At 8 o’clock that evening, the opening ceremony of the Starry Sky Cup started on time.
Before the party started, Xu Sili and Si Sheng had already appeared in the hall but no one noticed them.
It was naturally impossible to leave the entire program of an evening party to NPCs. The wealthy officials had invited many famous superstars to come as support, many of whom were fans of Starry Sky Age and were making a friendly appearance.
The game team had obviously made careful preparations for this party.
Once the first singer in reality came on stage to sing, the singer’s image and voice also appeared simultaneously in the hall of the game. However, the image was slightly different from that of reality.
In terms of stage effects, the game was even more colorful and dreamy than the real thing. This made the players at the scene feel extremely excited.
Xu Sili also watched with great interest. He found that among the guests invited to perform, there were actually a few familiar faces to him. They were all his peers or predecessors of the same generation.
He held Si Sheng’s hand, listened to those familiar songs and felt as if he had returned to reality in a trance.
This was until the host invited him to the stage.
“Next, let’s invite a mysterious guest to come on stage. No one will ever guess who this guest is, but I can be sure that it is a huge surprise!”
“Let me invite His Majesty, the emperor of the Roland Empire—Snow Roland!”
After a moment of silence, there was a sudden burst of warm applause and crazy screams, both in reality and in the game.
“Snow! Snow! Snow!’
Voices gradually gathered from the mix, resounding through reality and the game.
Xu Sili came back to his senses and he heard Si Sheng’s deep voice beside him. “Ah Li…”
The young man smiled and looked sideways at him.
“Let’s go up together.”
He said this softly.
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