This "mixed martial arts" tournament will last for half a month, in addition to the ABC TV in the United States, BBC TV in the United Kingdom, Australia's national television, and Canada's TV station...... Even Hong Kong's Lai TV and TVB Jade also sent reporters and camera teams to follow the whole process.

With such a long time in the competition, Huo Yaowen naturally couldn't stay forever, and he planned to go back directly after watching the primary competition of Li Tiezhu, Zhang Qing and Mo Chengfei. There are still a lot of things waiting for him to deal with in Hong Kong, and he doesn't have so much time to watch the whole competition, anyway, there are Jade Channel and Li's TV stations to broadcast it, and he can also see it when he returns to Hong Kong.

Originally, I came to the United States only to come to see the "mixed martial arts" tournament at the invitation of Bruce Lee, but who knew that the day after I stayed, Mark of Bantan Books came to the door with Isaac Asimov.

...

Restaurant downstairs from the hotel.

"Hello Mr. Asimov!"

Huo Yaowen greeted Isaac Asimov warmly.

Isaac Asimov stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Evan, you look young, much younger than I expected. ”

Huo Yaowen smiled and said, "Mr. Asimov, you yourself are much more handsome than the photo." ”

"Haha. ”

Isaac Asimov was quite handsome when he was young, but now in his fifties, coupled with the writer's usual sloppiness, he looks very old at this time.

So when he heard Huo Yaowen's praise, he felt happy in his heart, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and said: "Mr. Evan, you are much more handsome than me, I heard Mark say that you are very well-known in Hong Kong and are known as the youngest science fiction writer in Hong Kong, I think this should be well deserved." When I was your age, I submitted to Amazing Stories and was rejected nine times in a row, almost making me give up on my love of writing. ”

Isaac Asimov, as one of the world's recognized science fiction triumvirate, has written many science fiction classics, who would have expected that he would be rejected the first time he submitted, and it was nine rejections.

Huo Yaowen also heard this for the first time, smiled and said: "Rejecting a world-class science fiction master, I think this "Amazing Story" magazine will probably be very remorseful and self-reproachful, and it will also be despised and complained by science fiction fans, because their ignorance almost killed a soul figure in the science fiction world!"

The invisible flattery made Isaac Asimov extremely happy: "Yes! I did almost give up my love of science fiction at that time, but maybe God couldn't bear to see me like this, and finally I managed to publish my first science fiction story in another magazine "Amazing Story". ”

Seeing that the two were getting more and more in love, Mark said helplessly on the side: "Okay, two gentlemen, if you continue to talk like this and don't bring me to participate, I think I can go back now." ”

"Oh ~ Mark, you probably don't. Isaac Asimov laughed.

"Well, let me share the good news with Evan first. Mark shrugged his shoulders and said happily to Huo Yaowen: "Evan congratulations, "Virtual Second World" has just exceeded 2.5 million copies in the United States recently, and we have professionally evaluated it and agreed that it will sell more than that. ”

"Sold 2.5 million copies so quickly?!"

Huo Yaowen was overjoyed, when Lituo returned to Hong Kong this year, he said that Bantan Book Publishing Company was already operating and distributing his own book, and later during the Chinese New Year, Mark also sent a telegram, saying that "Virtual Second World" had sold one million copies in just half a month.

But who would have thought that in just a month and a half, another 1.5 million copies have been sold, and the total sales have reached an astonishing 2.5 million copies, which is much better than the previous "1999" which sold more than 2 million copies a year.

Isaac Asimov congratulated: "Congratulations to Evan, I asked Mark to ask you to ask you this time, I am also curious about the virtual world mentioned in your book. Do you know? Recently, not only science fiction fans in the United States have loved your book, but even many people who don't read science fiction are interested in the virtual world mentioned in your book.

Isaac Asimov was particularly optimistic about this new Chinese science fiction writer when Huo Yaowen published his first book "1999", and praised him in the New York Times at that time. After the release of "Virtual Second World" at the beginning of this year, he was completely attracted by Huo Yaowen's unbridled imagination.

This time, when I heard that Huo Yaowen came to the United States, it was the first time to ask Mark to lead him to meet this thoughtful and creative science fiction writer.

"That's not all!"

Mark added: "Evan, do you know? Just a few days ago, before you came to the United States, people from Wang Computer Company, IBM Company, and Intel Company all sent invitations to our publishing company, saying that they wanted to invite you to be a consultant for their company's virtual reality technology. ”

Forehead???

Huo Yaowen looked confused, not to mention what kind of consultant he was acting in, just talking about virtual reality technology, let alone now, even if they were given another fifty years, it would be impossible to develop it.

He is very clear about the general direction of scientific and technological development in the next few decades, except for a small achievement in technology, virtual reality technology like the one mentioned in the book, which cannot be done in a hundred years.

Mark said: "It's such a ......"

With Mark's explanation, Huo Yaowen instantly realized that this was all a gimmick made by these technology companies in order to raise the company's stock price, and at this time, "Virtual Second World" was popular in the United States, and many newspapers were reporting on the feasibility of virtual reality technology. In order to absorb more funds and raise the stock price, these high-tech companies have spared no effort to make a lot of efforts in this regard, and even invited Huo Yaowen, a person with no skills, to serve as a consultant.

Huo Yaowen shrugged: "Mark, you helped me push these invitations, I don't want to get involved in these things, I'm just a writer, a science fiction writer, I don't know any technology." ”

Mark nodded, "I knew you would say that, and I'll push the invitations when I get back." ”

Isaac Asimov said: "Mr. Evan, I am particularly curious about whether the virtual world you mentioned is possible?"

Huo Yaowen shook his head: "Theoretically, I think it is possible, but this requires a long period of research, and it is impossible to achieve it without a hundred years." ”

"I don't think so. ”

Isaac Asimov is full of confidence in American technology companies, he said: "Thirty years ago, I think most people didn't even know what a satellite is, but who would have thought that just last year, the United States successfully launched the Apollo manned spacecraft, allowing us human beings to enter outer space for the first time, stepping into the moon that people have loved since ancient times?"

Hearing this, Huo Yaowen smiled and said nothing, last year's successful Apollo landing on the moon, how confident the Americans' hearts are, he can still understand.

Virtual reality technology will inevitably be realized in the short term, and this is not only Isaac Asimov's idea, this is the heartfelt idea of the people of the United States at this time.

From the 20s to the 70s, not only did xx have a big yuejin, but there were many similar crazy behaviors all over the world. On the eve of World War II, the Soviet Union proposed to develop heavy industry projects in five years, implement a planned economy, and concentrate the country's efforts on the development of heavy industry, and they did it.

This also led to the later Cold War when the Soviet Union and the United States were vying for hegemony, and the Soviet Union put forward more crazy and absurd plans, such as landing on the moon within 10 years, manufacturing space weapons within 20 years, and colonizing outer space within 30 years.

But who would have thought that 20 years after the end of World War II, the moon landing program was first completed by the Americans, the plan to manufacture space weapons was far away, and the idea of colonizing outer space was even more in the mirror.

Despite the fact that the USSR did not become the first in the lunar project, their achievements in aviation were already ahead of most countries in the world. But the Soviet Union was not willing to do this, so it thought, since you Americans can go to the sky, why don't we continue to study the underground?

So there was an even crazier plan.

Since the successful Apollo moon landing in the United States in 1969, the Soviet Union has announced a new project, a new plan, that is, to dig through the earth!

They believe there is another world below the surface, and the program is called "Kola Ultra-Deep Drilling", and since 1970, at the beginning of this year, they have been drilling in the Kola Peninsula near the Norwegian border.

This plan to "dig through the earth" has caused an uproar in the United States, and when the Americans were already bursting with self-confidence due to the successful landing of Apollo on the moon, they suddenly heard the news and scolded them, they did not think that there was a world underground.

However, in this relatively crazy era of Soviet-American hegemony, although the Americans said that they did not believe it and were not optimistic, they were still a little worried in their bones, for fear that the Soviet Union would really dig up something amazing, after all, modern science had not yet developed so thoroughly at this time, and many people still believed in the occult.

Whether the underground world is real or not, even in the Internet era decades later, many people firmly believe that there is a world underground that cannot be imagined by human beings, let alone this crazy era.

So for various reasons, this has led to the publication of Huo Yaowen's "Virtual Second World", in addition to science fiction fans, many American people are extremely enthusiastic about the virtual world!

Americans want you to make a plan to "dig through the earth" to find the underground world, so let's make a "virtual world" plan.

This is also why those technology companies do not study computer technology well, but instead study the "virtual world" mentioned in Huo Yaowen's book.

No way, shareholders like it, newspapers like it, and the public likes it too!

Huo Yaowen has only been in the United States for three days, and he is not unaware of these things, but Bruce Lee, who has the most contact, is not very interested in science and technology reports, and he is busy with the "mixed martial arts" competition, so he naturally does not know how much the United States is looking forward to the "virtual world" at this time.

And it is precisely because at this stage of the Soviet-American hegemony that the people of the United States are so keen on the so-called "virtual world", almost to the point of madness, which also led Isaac Asimov, one of the three giants of the science fiction industry, to "specially" come to visit Huo Yaowen to hear his views on virtual reality technology as a creator.

...

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