In the Internet age, who still makes traditional games?

Surprised, Qi Huahua discovered that the spirit, which could previously only be commanded with a few gestures and commands, now responded as easily as an extension of her own arm.

With a simple point of her finger, the Little Thief Dragon could immediately understand where she was indicating, stopping precisely at the designated location without the slightest deviation!

It was as if it could understand what she was thinking!

The Heroic Sniper also arrived at the huge cave where the jumping puzzle was located.

The fluorescent plants on the cave ceiling had become even more dreamlike, and her nose could detect the subtle astringent taste of the sap from those massive roots, as well as the fresh, earthy smell after the rain.

The sound of the underground river flowing slowly also exuded a sense of coolness…

Even though it was the same cave, after transforming from the Illusion Scenery Gaming Suite into the Dream Weaver, it felt like arriving in a completely new place!

The Heroic Sniper was momentarily surprised, then began to climb again.

Xu Meng was right; he immediately noticed that the feeling was completely different.

But the problem was… the difficulty hadn't decreased at all.

It was even harder!

Previously, when climbing on the rock wall, all he had to do was choose the correct handholds and control his stamina.

There was no issue of not being able to grip properly.

But now, the rock wall was both wet and slippery, and he could easily slide off if he wasn't careful!

The "platform jumping" section was the same: things made of different materials felt different underfoot, which affected the force and distance of the jumps.

Even more outrageous was that he had developed a slight fear of heights!

When playing on the Illusion Scenery Gaming Suite and PC, this was never an issue.

Even though the holographic display looked lifelike, he didn't feel this way.

But after switching to the [Dream Weaver], looking down at that very real twenty or thirty meter drop, his legs started to tremble.

…

Whether his hands slipped, his feet slipped, or his legs were too weak to jump far enough, the result was always the same—

"Splash!"

The water in the underground river was icy cold!

The Heroic Sniper climbed out of the underground river, shivering all over, his teeth chattering.

He cursed "fuck" several times before slowly warming up.

The Heroic Sniper was indeed heroic; even though failure meant being thoroughly chilled, he continued to challenge himself again and again after his body warmed up.

…

Xun Fei and Dragon City Flying General were hunting dragons in a team.

Zhang Siming was experiencing the feeling of bullets whizzing past his ears in 《War of Kings》.

Of course, some people went directly to Silver City to listen to Qing Ling sing, or went to the Pacemaker Club to watch the mechanical dancer Alicia dance.

There were also gluttons who ran to the Overgrown Metropolis to sample the colorful and fragrant dishes, or things that had strange shapes and didn't quite resemble human food.

Each of them was full of interest.

In the end, no one knew how it happened, but a group of people ran to the side of Jing Lake to take a group photo, and they even dragged Xu Meng along.

…

…

Today was the last day of February.

It was both the day the 《Monster Hunter》 closed beta ended and the day before 《Wolf of Fear》 went on sale.

Shengcai Entertainment, which had become the new force in the game station and the Softer Game Box and the forefront of Dream Building Confrontation, was under tremendous pressure.

Gary had been so anxious that he hadn't been able to sleep for days, and he had been making meticulous arrangements for the work before the release of 《Wolf of Fear》.

The staff of Sony's Xia Country branch were also equally anxious.

They had spent far more money than ever before to finally secure enough game streamers and up-loaders before the deadline to broadcast or create positive content as soon as 《Wolf of Fear》 was released.

—Even Qi Huahua, Huan Yue, and Dragon City Flying General, who had just eaten in the Dream Building Canteen, had received commercial orders from Sony China.

The treatment was quite generous.

Qi Huahua was almost tempted.

Then, at the dinner table, she heard Huo Dao talk about what Xu Meng meant by his previous statement that it was "suitable for hunting wolves."

After listening, she didn't say a word and silently rejected the commercial order.

After completing this task, the employees of Sony's Xia Country branch finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Gary, who was far away in Edmonton, also breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news, feeling that he had finally filled the hole that Dream Building had created.

He could lie down and have a good night's sleep.

…

An hour later.

The employees of Sony's Xia Country branch saw a group photo.

A group photo released simultaneously by Heroic Sniper, Huan Yue, Qi Huahua, Dragon City Flying General, Huo Dao… and everyone else.

Not only were they in the photo, but Xu Meng and Xiao Meng were also there.

Qi Huahua, as a virtual streamer, stubbornly photoshopped a cat ear onto her head.

So, there were two cat ears in this group photo, Qi Huahua's and Xiao Meng's.

—After hearing that they were going to take a group photo, Xu Meng specially brought the upgraded holographic belt customized for Xiao Meng and brought Xiao Meng along to take the photo together.

This group photo quickly caused a huge discussion in the gaming circle!

This was the first time the [Honorary Players] of Dream Building had gathered offline—even if it wasn't a full gathering, it was most of them.

Just seeing these people gather, players could guess that Dream Building must be planning something big!

Xu Meng quickly released a preview, confirming everyone's guess:

「March 1st, 4 PM

《Monster Hunter》's last special program before release, a large-scale hunting challenge—

[Hunting the Wolf]

Stay tuned!」

Like Qi Huahua and the others, no one initially realized who Xu Meng was targeting.

They were just looking forward to this special program:

"Finally, we can see the official content of the game!"

"This group of closed beta players is too ungrateful. They haven't released any news in so many days, which is killing me. Boss Xu is still generous, coming up with a big move right away!"

"Good lord, this group of people has nearly 30 million fans combined, right? Even without Boss Xu, there are 10 million. How much money did it cost to put this together?"

"Large-scale hunting challenge? Does that mean 《Monster Hunter》 can hunt with a dozen people together? That's so awesome?!"

…

The players' eyes were all on 《Monster Hunter》.

Until various media outlets and independent media began to forward and comment on Xu Meng's event preview.

As everyone knows, the three essential elements of news in the new era are no longer [authenticity], [timeliness], and [accuracy].

Instead, they engage in out-of-context quoting, twisting meanings, and stirring up conflict.

In the internet age, media outlets and independent content creators alike love to provoke antagonism, manufacture public opinion, and create trending topics.

They can seize upon the smallest hint of a possibility and blow it up into a massive conflict.

What's more, this time, they aren't just fabricating things out of thin air.

Soon, the conflict between Shengcai Entertainment and Zhumeng, and the competition between 'Fear of the Wolf' and 'Monster Hunter,' were being spread with great detail and conviction.

The players' reaction to this was:

"Are you serious, bro? Shengcai and Zhumeng? 'Fear of the Wolf' and 'Monster Hunter'?"

In the players' eyes, these two opponents are not even in the same league and cannot constitute any meaningful competition.

Shengcai Entertainment challenging Zhumeng?

The newest novels are first released on 69shu!

That's just pure madness.

They don't know about the alliances and rivalries between Game Station, Game Box, and Zhumeng in the global market, nor do they understand the role that Shengcai Entertainment plays in it.

But they are all clear on one thing: Shengcai Entertainment is in for a rough time.

It didn't even take until the next day.

The afternoon that the "antagonistic relationship" became clear, the impact began to appear—

Xinyi's Xia Country branch suddenly received messages from some streamers and content creators.

They all claimed that due to personal reasons, they could not continue with their promotional contracts for 'Fear of the Wolf'.

They expressed their regret but still had to cancel the contracts.

In order to avoid offending Xinyi's Xia Country branch as much as possible, they all returned their advance payments, and some who had signed detailed agreements even readily paid the penalty fees.

This made Xinyi's Xia Country branch extremely uncomfortable.

They were well aware that these streamers and content creators had suddenly changed their minds because of Xu Meng's announcement and the media hype.

Digging deeper, Zhumeng's [Honorary Player] system was just too attractive to these streamers and content creators!

Before Zhumeng, no game company had ever truly done a good job with a [Honorary Player] system.

—In the past, the gaming community certainly had similar concepts, but those were more like "VIP", "major customer", or "whale certification" than "honor".

Ultimately, they were still created to make money and exploit players.

But Zhumeng is completely different.

Zhumeng never exploits [Honorary Players]; instead, they take care of them in every way.

Not to mention game testing, they always think of these people first when there is new hardware, and they give away holographic devices without hesitation.

With the [Honorary Player] ID card, you can even go straight into Zhumeng's company and even knock on the door outside Xu Meng's office.

The most outrageous thing is that the red envelopes that Xu Meng sends out during the Spring Festival, the money that [Honorary Players] draw is guaranteed to be higher than ordinary players!

This is truly treating [Honorary Players] as their own people.

Because of this special treatment, countless players yearn for this recognition.

Many artists clock in like they're at work, drawing every single character that is released in the 'Frost Snow Project', without missing a single one.

During festivals, they also create illustrations with corresponding themes for the characters.

A large number of streamers with extremely strong skills are fighting fiercely in 'War of Kings' every day, even more diligently than they go to work.

The whales with money don't even need to be mentioned.

Anything that Zhumeng sells, whether it's software or hardware, they all have to buy a copy.

… …

Zhumeng doesn't plan to profit from [Honorary Players]; instead, they have gained far more than that.

Many companies in the industry want to learn from Zhumeng and create something similar.

But Zhumeng's system is tied to a huge player base, an outrageous technical foundation, and Xu Meng's unreplicable personal charisma.

Simply giving benefits to specific players is just following suit blindly.

However, Zhumeng's [Honorary Players] don't have a definite standard; whether or not you can become one depends entirely on what the boss, Xu Meng, says.

Helping 'Fear of the Wolf' at this critical juncture, Xu Meng might not say anything—after all, it's a normal business cooperation, and streamers and content creators need to eat.

But the [Honorary Player] status is probably out of the question.

After all, loyalty that is not absolute is absolutely disloyal!

Any streamer or content creator who still has ideas about becoming an [Honorary Player] is absolutely unwilling to stand on the side of Xu Meng's opponent at this time.

Even if it's just an opponent created by the media!

The staff of Xinyi's Xia Country branch see all of this clearly.

But they are powerless.

Should they say that the antagonism hyped up by the media is fake, and that Zhumeng and Xinyi actually have a good relationship?

Or should they say that Xu Meng is actually broad-minded and not petty at all?

They don't even believe that themselves!

Far away in Edmonton, Gary, who had finally fallen asleep, was awakened by a phone call again, learning that the hole that he had finally patched up had been poked through by Xu Meng again.

But this time, he was surprisingly not so anxious.

Instead, he threw down his phone and went back to sleep.

… …

Xinyi's Xia Country branch was in a state of chaos because of Xu Meng's activity announcement.

Xu Meng himself was not affected at all.

He was already sitting in the investigation base of 'Monster Hunter', starting to distribute weapons with everyone.

Before distributing, Qihua, who had a clear understanding of her own abilities, asked: "Boss Xu, after we choose our weapons, should we start rehearsing?"

"Rehearsing? What rehearsal?" Xu Meng asked rhetorically.

Qihua was stunned, "The big hunt tomorrow! Don't we need to practice a few times in advance to familiarize ourselves with the BOSS's combat mechanics?"

Xu Meng shook his head and said calmly in Qihua's desperate eyes: "No need."

"We want to present the most authentic hunting process to everyone."

"What if… what if we can't win? If we can't win on a global live broadcast, the publicity effect will be affected, right?" Qihua tried to persuade Xu Meng to change his mind.

But Xu Meng smiled and encouraged her: "How could that be! I believe in everyone's strength!"

"If it really doesn't work, there are cats!"

Qihua closed her eyes in despair.