Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 334: 330: This must be Lincoln’s work! No doubt about it!

According to Mavis’s statistics, more than half of the sales came from old players who had purchased the first-generation console.

Out of all the first-generation console owners who bought the new console, over 90% of them used the trade-in method, paying only 500 dollars to upgrade their consoles.

So, even though Lincoln released 20 million consoles this week, the increase in new users was less than 10 million.

Lincoln noticed Super Tomato’s live broadcast advocating for old players to upgrade their consoles.

To him, it felt almost like a betrayal!

But he knew that while Super Tomato did have a significant influence, it was not enough to make millions of people spend hundreds of dollars on a whim.

The current exaggerated sales phenomena were primarily due to the spontaneous actions of the old players.

So, Lincoln didn’t get too upset about it.

However, this did help him make up his mind: next week, he would increase production capacity and go for 25 million units.

By today, many players had already received their new consoles.

They began to experience the novelty of wearing the headband and walking around their homes without the constraints of cords.

Today is also the day “Light Encounter” unlocks its fourth season’s quest.

Camille Victoria opens her live broadcast room, wearing the headband, and gives her audience an alternative “unboxing experience” before logging into “Light Encounter” early.

As a thank you to Xiaomei for helping her with the quest yesterday, she and Xiaomei decided to do the new quest together today.

Still finding the sea islands fresh on the new map, Camille Victoria flaps her wings freely among the islands before swiftly meeting up with Xiaomei.

Under Xiaomei’s guidance, they head to the research ship to find the Ancestor and accept the latest task.

On their way over, they occasionally pass by Little Black Men, but upon stepping onto the research ship, it’s as if they’ve entered a mirrored map with no other players passing by.

The task seems straightforward: dive into a specific sea area and search for the missing Ancestor investigator.

All previous tasks in the seasonal map involved diving underwater to either find fragments, paintings, or people.

So, Camille Victoria and Xiaomei didn’t think there was anything special about searching for the investigator this time. They ran to the target location without hesitation and began to dive.

Soon, they experienced the same monotonous, never-ending beacons stretching downward, just as the girls in the “Light Encounter” development team had.

As they dive deeper, the dim ruins on both sides become increasingly dilapidated and dark. Below lies the impenetrable abyss, and above the ever-shrinking spots of light.

The deeper they dive, the more uneasy they become.

After diving deeper for a while, Xiaomei can’t help but get cold feet: “How about we just call it quits? Let’s go back and see how others complete the task before we try again.”

— In virtual reality games, underwater experiences aren’t entirely realistic. You can not only talk underwater but also breathe underwater without a facemask.

At the same time, no matter how long you swim, your clothes will instantly dry upon emerging from the water, never sticking to your body.

In short, player experience is the top priority!

Camille Victoria is reluctant after hearing Xiaomei’s words.

Ever since being scared in the haunted house a long time ago, it’s as if a switch has been flipped and her courage has grown.

Moreover, she feels that she cannot back down in front of the tens of millions of viewers watching her live stream.

“Let’s give it a shot; this is a game for all ages. Cloud Dream wouldn’t put anything too scary,” she says.

“But…” Xiaomei looks around at the increasingly dark environment, lacking confidence.

Camille Victoria holds Xiaomei’s hand: “Don’t worry, I am here, aren’t I? I’ll protect you!”

Xiaomei finally musters up the courage and nods, with the two of them continuing to dive hand in hand.

The live stream’s comments section started quite normal, with viewers lamenting the difficulty of the task and feeling uneasy just by watching it on the computer screen.

But upon seeing Camille Victoria and Xiaomei’s interaction, the comments quickly went off-topic:

“Ohhh, what did I just see?!”

“Camille Victoria, the lily flowers in our hometown have bloomed!”

“Camille Victoria is such a manly big sister!”

“It’s a girl’s night! Beautiful girl’s night!”

“Give us more; we all love to watch this kind of thing!”

Camille Victoria appears unfazed, but she’s actually quite nervous. Otherwise, she would definitely pick out a few of the most excited viewers and grant them a half-hour block from the stream.

Fortunately, they finally spot the floating Ancestor in the water.

They both breathe a sigh of relief and quickly swim over, each grabbing one of the Ancestor’s arms and start ascending without any pause.

They have no lingering attachment to this abyss-like environment, nor do they have the time to wonder why the Ancestor lost consciousness and floated here, needing their rescue.

But that’s okay, Lincoln is gentle.

Even if the players do not carefully search for clues or figure out the reason behind the Ancestor’s unconscious state, the answer will come knocking on its own.

Just like at this very moment—

A sudden current sweeps up from below, causing Camille Victoria and Shuihua, who are both struggling to ascend, to lose their balance. They almost let go of the Ancestor in the process.

Once they’ve regained their footing, they both look down at their feet.

That’s when they see it: the colossal, dark, and cold Abyssal Dragon, the King of the Abyss Dragon. Its sharp horns, pitch-black as night, contrast with its massive head covered in countless blood-red eyes, emitting an ominous red glow as it swims rapidly.

Even though they were still far away, both of their ears were filled with a roar that sounded like the Abyssal Dragon, yet a terrifying ten times louder.

For an instant, both of them held their breath, tightening their limbs, and had a hard time calming down.

But seeing this terrifying behemoth approaching rapidly with its wide-open bloody mouth, Camille Victoria and Xiaomei forced themselves to act quickly!

Ascend! Ascend! Ascend!

No matter what, ascend with all their might!

Xiaomei was gentle and kind-hearted, focusing solely on ascending.

But Camille Victoria, who had been streaming for a long time, had not only seen a lot but had also become quite ruthless. Looking at the terrifying monster approaching closer, she couldn’t help but yell at Xiaomei: “How about we throw away this Ancestor!”

“Huh?” Xiaomei was shocked.

The audience in the live broadcast room was also initially startled, almost everyone holding their breath, watching anxiously as Camille Victoria and Xiaomei’s lives hung in the balance.

But when they heard Camille Victoria suddenly blurt out those words, they immediately burst into laughter:

“No wonder she’s the big boss, she instantly grasped the key!”

“Throw it, throw it! Just throw it away!”

“When a hot air balloon is overweight, it has to drop passengers, and now that we’re about to die, why not just throw it away instead of waiting till New Year?!”

“So right! What’s the point of this task, just throw it away and it’s done!”

However, Xiaomei couldn’t bring herself to do it.

— Not only Xiaomei, but according to later statistics, more than 90% of the regular players of “Light Encounter” still persisted in dragging the unconscious Ancestor with them as they fled in the face of this terrifying scene.

It can be seen that most players are still very kind-hearted.

Of course, this also means that: more than a million players, upon seeing the King of the Abyss Dragon for the first time, decisively dropped the obstructive Ancestor in their hands and ran for their lives…

But in fact, regardless of whether they chose to abandon the Ancestor and run or insist on dragging the Ancestor to escape together, the outcome was the same —-

Camille Victoria and Xiaomei swam upwards desperately, and after quickly exhausting their wing’s energy, they swam desperately.

But the colossal body of the Abyssal Dragon King still closed in rapidly. Its enormous bloody mouth slowly opened, revealing densely packed and sharp teeth like a stone forest. With a terrifying pressure, it chased behind the two of them, and then —-

Swallowed them in one bite!

The audience in the live streaming room almost unconsciously leaned back.

And then immediately followed up by a barrage of complaints:

“What’s the meaning of this? Were they really swallowed?”

“Failed to escape? Outrageous!”

“What kind of game is this?”

“This must be Lincoln’s doing! No doubt about it!”

“Only he would treat people like this!”

Fortunately, just six seconds after the screen went black, three people appeared in the darkness.

Camille Victoria, Xiaomei, and the unmoving Ancestor.

The audience was a little confused: waking up in complete darkness seemed much like the familiar Realm of Rebirth they encountered once a week.

However, Camille Victoria and Xiaomei both woke up fully dressed instead of as little black figures.

Obviously, this meant they hadn’t died, and therefore didn’t need to be resurrected.

Under the confused eyes of the audience, Camille Victoria and Xiaomei groped their way forward together, igniting a giant black plant not far away.

With the help of the faint light, they replenished some of their wing’s energy and then used Resonance together, awakening a Distant Fish completely made of light, pure and flawless.

The Distant Fish soared through the darkness, flapping its wings as its Resonance sent out colorful ripples, causing the dark surroundings to tremble slightly.

Finally, the Distant Fish approached Camille Victoria and Xiaomei, resonating again.

This Resonance affected both of them, followed by countless points of light in the darkness resonating together!

The Resonance rang out in an endless chorus.

So, the trembling became more intense until everything in this dark world was shaking violently!

The next moment, Camille Victoria, Xiaomei, the Ancestor, the Distant Fish, and many more far-flung Distant Fish and dazzling swimming fish were swept away by a torrential current, moving rapidly.

It was only a matter of an instant, as the torrent broke through the darkness, and entered the illuminated depths of the sea.

Camille Victoria and Xiaomei looked back, only to see a monstrous maw behind them.

They had just escaped from the belly of this abyssal creature!

And coincidentally, the still-unconscious Ancestor returned in front of them.

Fearing that the terrifying behemoth would catch up again, they quickly grabbed the Ancestor and continued their ascent.

Clusters of beautiful red-headed, white-bodied fish emitted a soft glow, automatically forming a ring, swimming in formation around them, following them as they ascended.

The Distant Fish led the way above, with its Resonance echoing through the water, causing a huge and splendid array of colors to appear.

For a moment, Camille Victoria and Xiaomei swam through the fish swarm, their eyes filled with beautiful fish and colorful lights.

Both in the game and in the live streaming room, everyone fell silent at this moment, staring blankly at the beautiful scene.

All of them widened their eyes, not even wanting to blink, for fear of missing even a single moment.

But as Camille Victoria and Xiaomei ascended, with the sunlight of the blue sky shining down from above, the sea level was just before their eyes.

The swimming fish and the Distant Fish slowly dispersed.

The task was over.

At the same time, outside the game, the crusade against Lincoln began.