Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Not content to speculate themselves, they frantically flagged Lincoln and Cloud Dream:

“@Lincoln, come quick! Your game has been leaked!”

“@Lincoln, hurry, 500,000! Don’t let him getaway!”

“@Cloud Dream Studio, do you guys know how to make money? So many spies, lining up to give you guys money, catch them and sue them.”

But all these spies were fake.

Not only were the posts meant to stir the pot glaringly fake, but some that seem plausible and many have started to believe were fake too.

Until the next day when Lincoln had already begun work, not a single post that many players were sure was “real” was actually real.

Those who believed fell purely for the tricks of the posters.

As for the blatant spoilers?

Not one.

Otherwise, Mavis would have reminded Lincoln, why would they need the netizens to summon them?

Lincoln’s first workspace today was neither the office nor the virtual world.

Yue Pengju drove him to a commercial street on the Second Ring of Xiajing City.

Here, employees of [Virtual City Building Department] started work early, with four drones flying at the same time, conducting mapping and recording from multiple angles.

Although Cloud Dream has gained a lot of consideration in various approval processes, all departments have greenlighted them.

But even in Xiajing city, even with special favors, it is not possible to unrestrictedly fly a large number of drones.

When Henry originally asked Lincoln how long it would take, Lincoln replied, “Very soon! We’ve got specialized algorithms, with ten thousand surveying drones flying at the same time, we can gather the data of the core city area within three days at most.”

Henry almost smacked him upside the head!

Ten thousand?!

Are you preparing for a world war bombing?!

Ten thousand drones flying over Xiajing is way more outrageous than the airship incident!

The result has turned into the current situation: each survey area can only fly up to four drones at the same time.

In order to complete the [Virtual Xiajing] project as soon as possible, the employees had to divide into eight groups, each group with only two to three people, using a grid-like division of labor, scanning in a carpet-like manner.

By noon, Lincoln had visited the workplaces of all eight groups and greeted everyone.

He even treated everyone to a big meal at lunch.

After accepting the fact that the early version of “Battlefield” could not be completed this week, Lincoln suddenly found that he had more time.

People are like this, once they get used to giving up when things don’t go to plan, they will immediately find the world full of opportunities!

In the afternoon, when he made sure all invitations, plane tickets, train tickets were arranged, and all the players’ accommodations were organized, only then did Lincoln log into the virtual office to check on the progress of [Virtual Xiajing].

Because of the need for the Sky Player Gathering, [Virtual Xiajing] was built using the “exterior first, interior later” approach.

At present, all the buildings are just shells, with nothing inside.

Anyway, when it comes to the time of the Sky Players Gathering, players will be flying over 500 meters high, and apart from a few landmark buildings, most will only see an outline.

The shell buildings will more than suffice.

This shell-like landscape will only be used once.

Once the Sky Players Gathering is over, many of the buildings and landscapes will be immediately removed.

Xiajing is just too big, even if you add Metropolis and Night City together, multiply them by a dozen times, they would only just match the total city area of Xiajing.

This still involves two virtual cities that have been slowly expanding.

Because of this, [Virtual Xiajing] will definitely be much smaller than the real Xiajing.

When the buildings and landscapes that [Virtual Xiajing] ultimately needs are confirmed, the construction of the “interiors” will begin.

Starting with the public spaces: historic buildings, various parks, theaters, stadiums, libraries, museums, science parks, art parks, etc.

Once this phase is complete, the rest of the brand stores can be discussed.

Apply for what needs to be applied, run the procedures that need to be run, negotiate the collaborations that should be negotiated.

The first two steps should be straightforward, while the latter step of collaborating with the brands may entail some uncertainty—because Cloud Dream isn’t looking to pay money for their brand image, but to collect money to help with advertising, this certainly won’t be easy.

But no matter the outcome, it won’t delay Cloud Dream’s construction of [Virtual Xiajing].

If a deal is reached, they will continue to build. If not, they’ll replace the space with similar scenes from Cloud Dream’s database.

If that still doesn’t work, they can simply remove these buildings altogether.

All of these are minor issues.

Once he confirmed that the schedule was on track, Lincoln finally relaxed and returned to work on the development of “Battlefield.”

This week definitely won’t make it, but surely they can’t delay another week, right?

At the same time.

In the world of “Hunter: Call of the Wilderness,” an American lion, swishing its tail, strolled leisurely through the forest.

Unbeknownst to it, it had already entered the sight of a hunter.

At a distance of 70 meters, Hu, clad in camouflage storm gear, silently crouches behind a tree, holding the .270 Hunter Rifle in his hands, his weapon aimed directly at the oblivious American lion.

“Bang!”

The extremely penetrating polymer-tipped bullet leaves the barrel in an instant, piercing through the lion’s chest and inflicting severe damage to both lungs.

The American lion struggles to stand and attempts to escape.

But after only running thirty meters, it collapses on the ground without any strength left, completely lifeless.

Hu stands up and, taking a deep breath, moves towards his trophy.

He is hunting alone here.

As an introvert, Hu has never been fond of socializing.

In the wilderness of “Paradise,” he was confined by his weapons and physical strength—unable to complete hunting alone, he had to organize a hunting team.

Even so, he always kept the hunting team on a small scale, even passing on many chances to expand.

Now that the “Hunter” game has been launched, with both weapons and auxiliary tools, he can completely complete the hunting by himself.

What’s more amazing, the whole hunting process—from the environment, scenery, prey, to searching, shooting, and chasing—all submerges Hu in his bliss.

Especially when hunting alone, wandering on the field, silently seeking and pursuing prey, being able to smell the scent of plants and soil in the forest in the cool, damp air, with only the sound of wind, bird calls, animal running sounds, and the sound of feet stepping on fallen leaves.

The whole process not only provides an exceptional hunting experience, but also gives Hu a long-lost sense of peace and pure joy.

From the launch of the game, he has been obsessed with single-player hunting, unable to extricate himself.

There is only one thing that can interrupt his hunt—

“Hu, quickly get to Dinosaur Island! Someone has discovered a big beast!”

This message interrupts Hu’s tranquility. Without deliberation, he asks urgently, “Can you determine the species? Take a photo and let me see!”

Since increasing the large dinosaur’s hunt, hunting a dinosaur he has not seen before to further advance the Ancestors’ Glory series of achievements has become increasingly difficult.

“Definitely one you’ve never seen before!” swears a friend. “I’ve never seen such a big beast!!”

While talking, a photo was sent over.

Even without any numerical reference, using just the huge trees on Dinosaur Island as a guide, Hu can feel: this dinosaur is unusually big!

Thereupon, Hu does not hesitate: “I’m on my way!”

Accepting the team invitation, quickly exiting the game, borrowing the personal login space, Hu logs into Dinosaur Island.

Then, guided by the teammate icon in the field of view, Hu rushes to the location of the “big dinosaur”.

Along the way, more and more cars come together, quickly forming a rushing car flow.

Obviously, the number of players who are always keeping in mind the Ancestors’ Glory series of achievements is impressive!

Suddenly, a giant and deafening sound comes from the air, and Hu feels his eardrums are vibrating.

Turning a corner, he sees smoke and dust rising in the distance. A huge creature is running wild in the forest. Along the way, huge trees that usually take several people to hug are easily knocked down, raising more smoke and dust.

Even the seemingly flat ground is constantly shaking with every step of this giant creature.

“Shit!” Always mindful of his wording and always polite, Hu can’t help but curse.

Because this fellow is too big!

It looks like there still exists some distance yet in the blink of an eye, it becomes nearby.

Everyone swiftly dodges, and Hu jerks the steering wheel to avoid a fatal stamp.

The cost is the entire car door, along with the right tyres, being torn apart by the dinosaur’s foot and the car loses control instantly.

Hu decisively jumps out of the car.

By the time he stands firm again, the big guy has taken strides and opened a distance of more than forty meters. The originally dense stream of cars is now just a mess.

Unlucky people, even with the cockpit, are flattened by the big foot and embedded into the earth.

“Shit!” Hu can’t help but curse again, “How do you hunt this thing?!”

Without heavy weapons, how can humans hunt a dinosaur that is more than 50 meters long and weighs more than 200 tons?

While Hu is still in shock, a teammate already pursues in a car. Hu hops on his teammate’s car and continues the chase.

Just chase first, worry about the hunt later!

By the way, Hu also has some information: “Some bigshot has identified it as a Brittle Bicameral Dragon.”

Hu looks at the mess outside the car window: broken and discarded cars, trees broken one by one, disbelievingly questions, “Did you say, this thing is called a Brittle Bicameral Dragon?”

“I know, it’s not right,” says a teammate, who is concentrating on driving and avoiding the obstacles constantly appearing on the road, while explaining to Hu, “but that was precisely what the big guy said.”

“He said: ‘This creature is even bigger than a blue whale! If it’s not a Brittle Bicameral Dragon that grew to 50 meters long, I eat shit!’”

Afterward, he adds, “Although the fellow’s ‘Hunter’ world’s shit is strawberry-flavored, I think he wouldn’t take advantage of the loophole. He must be absolutely sure. Otherwise, saying such words would allow people to feed him something sooner or later.”

Hu’s mouth drops open in shock. He doesn’t know which part of what was just said deeply shock him.

But soon, he comes back to his senses again, his eyes unblinkingly staring at the enormous dinosaur.

The progress of the Ancestors’ Glory series of achievements has reached (9/10). He only needs one more to complete.

Although posts are online comparing that the number of Behemoth Slayer achievements is more than 10.

But the Ancestors’ Glory achievement does not require hunting all the large dinosaurs, but only any 10.

So, no matter whether the Brittle Bicameral Dragon is truly “fragile,” it must be shattered today!

He has determined to get the reward for the Ancestors’ Glory series of achievements!