Ch. 5 - The Worst Ways to Die Are Naturally Reserved for Players to Experience
We Agreed to Create Casual Games, What the Hell is this World War Nonsense?This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Police and medical personnel arrived quickly after the arrival of the two reporters that Shen Qinghan had arranged. Soon, a news story hit the trending topics.
【EXPOSED: Emperor Penguin Group's new project "Wasteland Future: 2100" suspected of plagiarism, original creator and boss of Polar Star Games Company, beats up mole】
Below was a photo of a person with their entire body pixelated, but you could still make out that it was an adult male covered in blood. News quickly shot to the top trending spot on the federation's largest news and entertainment website, Federal Headlines. Comments scrolled continuously below.
[Holy shit, I knew it! Emperor Penguin Group being scumbags again]
[Emperor Penguin plagiarizing AGAIN?]
[Bro they literally never stopped lol]
[Ngl respect to this boss for beating up the snitch]
[What's the point though? If you can't compete, you can't compete. Better to let Emperor Penguin Group handle it—their version will obviously be way better]
[This is the age of computing power. Whoever has more money makes better stuff. Why not let the company with deeper pockets do it? They actually invest in quality]
[Exactly. We get polished games instead of some indie trash with constant patches. Better to make it right the first time]
[Imagine shilling this hard for a corporation. What do they pay per comment? I need that gig]
[Go touch grass you corporate bootlicker]
Numerous netizens kept flaming each other. The online environment here wasn't much different from Earth—if anything, it was worse. After all, with new energy sources in this era, humans had become too idle. Idle enough to constantly advocate for war...
Nightfall.
Sky Shark Streaming.
As the Great Xia Federation's largest gaming livestream platform and the platform with rights to stream the [Anti-War Competition], it had always been the most beloved platform among the federation's gamers.
As a pillar streamer for gunfight games, the old-school games, Mo Xiaomo's stream suddenly lit up.
A young, energetic girl in police cosplay appeared on screen.
"Hello hello, good evening everyone~ Welcome to Mo Xiaomo's stream~ Let's begin today's conquest journey~
Today we're playing 'Wasteland Future: 2100.' This game is entering the [Anti-War Competition], but thanks to this big streamer's efforts, I managed to get a beta access slot~ Hahahaha, brothers, are you excited~"
As Mo Xiaomo finished speaking, the bullet comments in the stream went crazy:
[YOOO Little Juice getting cocky now? 'Big streamer' lmaooo]
[Wait, you actually got early access? Thought all the streamers were getting it today]
[Ugh another Emperor Penguin Group ripoff]
[Don't stream it! It's plagiarized af, you'll get canceled]
[We're boycotting Emperor Penguin Group games!]
[Did you not read the news? It's literally trending that this is stolen and you're still gonna play it?]
[Bad karma incoming fr]
The stream's bullet comments didn’t sound as excited as expected. Even the viewers who were simply joking around were drowned out by people criticizing Emperor Penguin Group, leaving Mo Xiaomo somewhat at a loss.
Looking at the comments, she said, "Ah... wait a moment. Let me look into this."
She quickly stood up and asked her equally anxious assistant.
"What's going on? This game plagiarized someone else's work? Why didn't we know about this before?"
The assistant looked confused, browsing online news.
"I didn't know either. News only broke this afternoon. But there's been no statement from Polar Star Games Company. Right now online opinion is unanimously talking about Emperor Penguin Group's plagiarism and the Polar Star Games Company’s boss beating up the mole.
Should we... stream normally? It isn’t Emperor Penguin Group’s first or second time plagiarizing. The original creators always end up dead every time. This time probably won't be an exception."
Mo Xiaomo frowned deeply.
"No way. Even if we stream it, we can't do it now. We have to wait for others to stream it first and for the public to accept it before we stream."
The assistant smiled bitterly.
"But we already took their money. Won't this offend them?"
Mo Xiaomo glared.
"Anyway, we definitely can't be the first to stream a plagiarized game. This counts as them breaching the contract first."
The assistant sighed. "I understand."
The assistant went to contact Emperor Penguin Group's staff.
Mo Xiaomo quickly returned to the livestream camera.
"Sorry about that, brothers. I didn't know about this—I just found out through my assistant.
We won't be streaming this game today. So let's just browse around online today. See if there are any fun games to play."
With the [Anti-War Competition] approaching, many games had begun promoting themselves.
This was also a hard rule—promoting too early would allow powerful companies to kill off all the small workshops. Any violations of early promotion would result in being disqualified. Only within ten days of the competition could promotion begin.
At this moment, bullet comments frantically rolled in.
[Check out Polar Star Games's website and tell us if it's actually plagiarized]
[RIP to this Polar Star boss, about to go bankrupt lol]
[Schadenfreude intensifies]
[Emperor Penguin being soulless as usual, though when were they ever not?]
Mo Xiaomo looked helplessly at the bullet comments.
These people really had no end to their criticism, but this incident did have some buzz. She then said, "Alright, responding to our viewers' requests. Let's go check out Polar Star Games' official website~"
She then opened the search engine, typed in "Polar Star Games Company," and clicked lightly with her mouse.
A search interface appeared.
The first result was Polar Star Games Company's official website. Mo Xiaomo clicked on it and immediately saw a sci-fi futuristic CG animation, with the camera panning from a far shot to a closer shot, showing Blue Star transformed into ruins.
The city was shrouded in darkness, humans merged with machinery, creating a very strong sci-fi atmosphere.
This made Mo Xiaomo gasp.
Damn!
It really was plagiarized.
Since she was going to stream, Mo Xiaomo had naturally researched "Wasteland Future: 2100."
The CG on Polar Star Games' official website was basically identical to "Wasteland Future: 2100," except Emperor Penguin Group's "Wasteland Future: 2100" had more exquisite and detailed visuals. This was Emperor Penguin Group's usual tactic.
But... they weren't even trying to hide it?
Even the transition timing and camera angles in the CG were basically the same...
Mo Xiaomo silently mourned for Polar Star Games Company's boss. Being plagiarized by Emperor Penguin—just accept your bad luck.
Suddenly, the CG playing on Polar Star Games Company's official website disappeared. Mo Xiaomo was surprised.
"Huh? Why did the video disappear?"
She refreshed twice, but it still wasn't there.
Mo Xiaomo's gaze moved to other areas. The promotion for "Cyber Blue Star: 2077" at the top of the official website had been moved to second place.
The first position was now replaced by "World War II: Rise of Empire."
This immediately piqued Mo Xiaomo's interest:
"Ooh— This title? Pretty interesting. Is it a new game? Did Polar Star Company move this fast to find a replacement?"
She double-clicked the game link but couldn't get in.
Her curiosity was definitely piqued.
Bullet comments also began actively discussing the new title that appeared on the company’s website.
[YOOO Empire? That's some old school terminology]
[Empire = conquest and war, doesn't this go against federation ideology? Is this boss trying to get arrested?]
[Plot twist: Polar Star is run by war fanatics]
[I think he snapped from rage and is just going full scorched earth]
[Wait wait wait, doesn't anyone see the real issue here?]
[Why is it the SECOND World War? What happened to the first one?]
[Oh shit you're right! Where's World War I?]
[NOW I'M CURIOUS! What's the lore here?]
[Polar Star about to drop some serious worldbuilding]
[Waiting for news: 'Polar Star Games CEO arrested' LMFAOOO]
Curiosity continued building in the stream’s comments. Whether it was "Second World War" or "Rise of Empire," it made the viewers' hearts itch, but they could only worry helplessly since Polar Star Games Company hadn't released any information.
News about Polar Star Games Company's official website quickly spread among netizens, and many came to check it out.
The buzz quickly climbed to trending topics on Federal Headlines.
At this time, Zhao Ming, who had all the netizens scratching their heads in curiosity, was in his office, tinkering with a virtual helmet.
After an afternoon of promotions, many people knew about his company's situation, providing him with quite a few Emotion Points. Zhao Ming had first exchanged for a segment of "Normandy Landing" video, then used the purchased photon supercomputing cluster’s computing power to render it.
He had now turned that segment into a virtual game, connected it to the virtual helmet, and just needed to test it.
Following the memories in his mind, Zhao Ming put on the helmet and pressed the button.
His vision briefly went black before brightening again.
When it cleared, he found himself on a landing craft.
An endless ocean stretched before him. Warships and landing craft surrounded him, with planes roaring overhead toward the island ahead.
The rumbling of the landing craft filled his ears.
This was the opening scene from "Normandy Landing," exactly the same. If he didn't know it was a virtual game, Zhao Ming would have thought he'd transmigrated again.
Virtual helmets could achieve this level of realism?!
Being there in person,couldn't he turn all of Earth's films into games?!
This was an experience impossible to have on Earth.
The swaying of the landing craft, the ocean waves, the press of soldiers around him, the damp salty smell from the sea water—everything felt so real. Zhao Ming pinched his arm, and the subtle sensation of pain came through.
Hiss—
"Pretty impressive."
This was just a virtual helmet. According to the memories in his mind, those virtual haptic pods could simulate reality one hundred percent.
Thinking about this, Zhao Ming's expression turned strange. One hundred percent simulation—wouldn't that mean the pain sensation was almost the same...
Tsk.
He'd need to add a warning notice for those playing with virtual haptic pods.
Otherwise, someone might get hurt from the pain.
Just as he was thinking this, Zhao Ming suddenly heard an urgent whistle in his ear.
Beep———
Beep———
"Everyone! Form two lines, avoid the shell craters!"
"Prepare for landing!"
"May the Lord bless you!"
As the words fell, the ramp at the front of the landing craft was lowered.
Zhao Ming snapped back to reality, thinking of what came next. Looking at the lowered steel ramp, his scalp tingled:
"Damn!!!"
Zhao Ming tried to dodge to the side, just barely managing to lift his foot.
Rat-a-tat-tat—heavy machine gun bullets came strafing over.
The four or five NPCs in front of Zhao Ming were instantly mowed down by the machine gun, flesh exploding everywhere, followed immediately by Zhao Ming.
Bang!
His helmet was blown apart, sending a spine-chilling sensation from his forehead to the back of his head.
His body was also riddled with heavy machine gun bullets.
Before he could exit, the screen went completely black.
In the office, Zhao Ming, wearing the virtual helmet, shuddered and quickly removed it, his heart pounding.
"Holy shit... being too realistic isn't good either. I can't test this anymore. Better to torture the players instead."