Chapter 564: Chapter 538: Feeling Disheartened as if Dead, and... Virtual Couple?
15 seconds later, Quentin was handcuffed with his hands behind him, pressed down onto the floor.
The instant his face touched the cold ceramic floor, he greatly regretted not satisfying his wife’s preference and choosing wooden flooring instead.
5 minutes later, Quentin, adorned with a pair of silver handcuffs, was shoved into a box truck and taken away for interrogation.
1 hour later, Quentin arrived at the interrogation room.
From complete denial to spilling all the beans in pursuit of leniency, it took only three minutes in between.
1 and a half hours later, while waiting for their lawyer to go through the procedures, Quentin saw Richard and Wesley — the main culprits naturally had to enjoy the privileges of “priority interrogation” and “repeated interrogation.”
Regarding crimes that endanger national security, lawyers are not allowed to meet with their clients as they please; they need to obtain approval from the case handling department — in this case, the Xiajing National Security Bureau, which is currently interrogating them.
As for whether their lawyer could actually get approval to meet them...
That’s another matter entirely.
And now, they had no choice but to stay here, waiting for something uncertain — to be precise, something with little hope.
Quentin looked at the two people in the room. He was familiar with Wesley, who had swindled him quite a bit.
The other one looked somewhat familiar, probably NetDragon Boss Richard.
The reason for the uncertainty was that this person looked so different from the spirited, confident young man in the video —
His eyes were lifeless, his hair unkempt, his lips pale, and his limbs trembling, looking just like a terminal patient.
The good news was: The phantom pain in Richard’s ass seemed to be cured, and he was now sitting stably in the chair.
Quentin looked at Wesley and pointed at Richard to confirm, “Your boss?”
Wesley glanced at Quentin and, without bothering to engage, replied weakly with a single word, “Yes.”
Quentin then walked towards Richard, who had no reaction, as if he had completely lost his perception of the outside world.
But Quentin had no sympathy for him. He had inexplicably been implicated in such a serious crime, and it was all due to this stupid boss who had a screw loose in his head!
Bending down, with handcuffed hands, he struggled to take off his crocodile leather shoes and, without any hesitation, violently swung them at Richard’s face!
“Slap!”
With a crisp sound, Richard was struck by the shoe and stumbled back. Half of his face swelled up, and it hurt like hell. This instantly pulled him out of his personal world.
Quentin showed no signs of stopping. Raising his shoe, he continued to swing with all his might.
Richard hurriedly lifted his arms to block.
But being hit by a sturdy shoe swung with the full force of an adult man, even if it hits the arm, it still hurts to the bone!
“Ah! Stop! You madman!” Richard cried out in pain.
Quentin ignored him and merely exerted all his strength to keep swinging down.
“Wesley!!” Richard shouted for help while crying out in pain.
Wesley at the side glanced over and stood up, but did not come forward, instead moving farther away.
He sat down in a different position, acting as if he hadn’t seen anything.
“Ah! Ah~ah~~ah——” Richard was in so much pain, he yelled frantically, “Someone, come quick! There’s a madman here!!!”
Finally, two police officers rushed in, pulled Quentin away, and handcuffed him to the iron armrest of the chair, warning, “Behave yourself! Don’t cause trouble!”
Across from him, half of Richard’s face was swollen with a clear shape of the shoe sole. His suit and sleeves were covered in shoe prints, and even his head had been hit hard with dust all over his hair.
After hesitating for a long time, he stomped his foot and bit the bullet under Lincoln’s incredulous gaze, saying, “I can!”
“You can, my ass!” Lincoln couldn’t help but curse, “You want to have a relationship with a virtual character? You’re just lusting after their body! Ugh!”
Wu Di didn’t find it embarrassing and just shook his head in disappointment.
“Even if in the future, the virtual world allows opposite-sex interactions like this, it would only be between players,” Lincoln ruthlessly shattered his fantasies, “So let’s talk about something else, something more serious.”
Lincoln rushed to change the subject, partly because it was not convenient to talk about this aspect yet.
For example, the planned [Marriage Certification System]: as long as the process is completed and the relevant departments support it, the married couples will be allowed to have intimate relations in the virtual world once certified.
In all honesty, it would even be theoretically possible for couples.
Didn’t adult products catering to long-distance relationships sell openly and aboveboard for many years? In comparison, the “illusory experience” of the virtual world is even more like a dream, so there’s no reason it should not be allowed.
However, the problem is that once it’s open, it’ll be hard to determine if the two parties are “real couples” or just provide “half-hour relationships” for a fee.
Obviously, the latter is illegal.
In contrast, marriage relationships are much easier to determine, as the marriage certificate issued by the Civil Affairs Bureau is a readily available form of certification.
There is no such convenient certification for couples. Are they supposed to go to a department to get a “couple’s certificate”?
...
...
Hold on a second!
It doesn’t necessarily not work!
Lincoln suddenly had a brainstorm——
A couple’s relationship doesn’t need official certification, nor does it need notarization!
As long as users are adults and have entered into a relationship in the virtual world, Cloud Dream could lift the physical contact restrictions for them.
However, the lifting of these restrictions would only be valid between the two parties who entered into the relationship.
If they want to change the relationship partner, they will have to go through a “relationship termination” process. As long as the issues of time, process, and player protection are well-controlled, at least “half-hour relationships” can be completely banished.
This way, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?
It is neither illegal nor against social morals and customs, it’s just a bit advanced and open-minded.
Moreover, there are unexpected advantages: in this way, in the virtual world, physical infidelity becomes absolutely impossible!
Because the rules of the virtual world do not allow it.
If the person isn’t the one you’ve entered into a relationship or married, you can’t even take off their clothes, so even thinking of cheating is out of the question.
In this way, the couple or marital relationships established in the virtual world are even more powerful, to some extent, than those in reality!
If we think a bit more: if long-distance couples and spouses can see each other every day in the virtual world and maintain a stable physical relationship, the probability of a change of heart could be effectively reduced, right?
So this matter is greatly beneficial for maintaining stable emotional relationships!
When families are stable, society will be stable.
Therefore, Cloud Dream’s opening up of intimate relationship systems in the virtual world is needed for stable social development! It’s completely in line with social morals and customs and shows the courage to shoulder social responsibility!
“This reason is great, very positive energy! I’ll use this reason to convince Lorin later!”
As Lincoln chatted with Wu Di, he was filled with ideas and quickly decided to put this matter on the agenda.
By the way, he also subconsciously thought: once this matter is done and everyone gets used to it in time, if they take a small step forward and allow players to enter a one-on-one relationship with virtual characters, wouldn’t people stop making a fuss about it?