The scarlet Chinese characters made Chun Hei’s face flush, a miscalculation!
“This is too much!”
He exclaimed in frustration, “How does this Akagumo have such a trick up its sleeve!”
“Savages have intelligence too. Turns out I was the clown all along.”
After venting, Chun Hei felt much better. His expression returned to normal, and he said with a serious tone, “Brothers, I’m done playing around. This time, I’ll one-shot Akagumo!”
Resurrecting at the ghost statue, Chun Hei headed straight for the Tiger’s Maw staircase.
With the rich experience gained earlier, he faced Akagumo again.
Now, in Chun Hei’s eyes, this guy was like a paper tiger, all brawn and no brains.
It wasn’t until the word 【Slay】 appeared, symbolizing victory, that the viewers in the live stream stared at the screen in stunned silence.
“Awesome!”
“Satisfying!”
“True to his word!”
Chun Hei, full of confidence, straightened his shoulders unconsciously, “Little guy, I’ve seen right through you.”
It wasn’t until Chun Hei shouted with satisfaction that the comments started to trickle in!
‘6666666!’
‘Brothers, is this up the first one on the entire internet to beat Akagumo?’
‘Not sure, but I haven’t heard of anyone clearing Akagumo yet.’
‘Vile outsider, he’s really good!’
‘Not bad, not bad, he’s really impressive. I didn’t expect the streamer to be so skilled when he’s serious!’
……
However, while the live stream was a scene of jubilation.
On the other side, players were being battered and bruised by various elite monsters, lamenting their misfortune.
“My friend told me *Sekiro* is a hack-and-slash game. Now that I’ve encountered a sword dancer, I’m done talking, I need to go gank him offline!”
“Completely mad!!”
“Before playing, watching Old Man Zui stream the demo gave me the illusion that ‘I could do it too,’ but after playing, I think Old Man Zui is a god!”
“Brothers, I recommended *Sekiro* to my ex-girlfriend, and now she’s looking for me everywhere. What do you think are the chances of us getting back together?”
“Not sure about the chances of getting back together, but the chances of resurrection are definitely 100%!”
“Resurrect? Start over!”
“No way, really not worth it, brothers!”
“What kind of monster is Akagumo? I die just by touching him. Is this even a game for humans?”
……
Many players online were on the verge of quitting, but they couldn’t forget the dreamlike sound of deflecting.
Despite the complaints, very few actually refunded the game.
After lunch, most of the players who had been complaining online once again embarked on their journey.
It was a joke. On the first day of the game’s release, everyone was on the same starting line. Who would want to be left too far behind?
During the lunch break, Chun Hei wasn’t idle either. He compiled his experiences and a strategy guide for Akagumo.
Netizens were instantly stirred up!
‘Chun Hei? Who is that? So awesome!’
‘Greatness, support!’
‘Sister Zhou, are you there? Look at the guide!’
……
“Ugh!”
“I can’t even watch a guide without getting cut? Always involved, huh?”
Sister Zhou, drinking coffee in front of her computer, pouted and complained softly, then focused intently on the Akagumo strategy video.
Although one could stay logged in a VR game for about eight hours consecutively, if meals weren’t replenished promptly, physical condition would decline significantly.
What could have been an eight-hour continuous experience might be limited to six hours due to the anti-addiction system.
Therefore, no matter how immersed players were in the VR world, they would maintain regular schedules and eat their meals, otherwise, the experience would become quite unpleasant.
“Feathers galore means weak to fire?”
Sister Zhou muttered, her brows immediately relaxing, “Brilliant! *Dark Souls* knowledge can still be used here!”
“Don’t be stubborn… Upgrade your cybernetic arm at the Sculptor’s Idol more often, pay attention to Akagumo’s splash damage…”
Sister Zhou’s face grew redder as she watched. She felt as if the video was pointing at her nose and scolding her.
Almost all the points of caution Chun Hei highlighted, she had fallen victim to.
“I can’t take it anymore, I have to go online and try it now!”
Sister Zhou decided against taking a nap and went directly into the VR access pod. She believed she would definitely succeed in obliterating Akagumo this time.
Many players harbored the same thought as Sister Zhou, and they entered the game one after another.
Meanwhile,
In Tencent’s conference room.
On a massive screen, a set of data was frantically jumping. The center of the screen prominently displayed the real-time online players for *Sekiro*: 21,055,600+.
The numbers updated every five seconds, each update hitting everyone’s hearts like a hammer.
Real-time online player count was public data, useful for tracking a game’s sales and refund rates. Usually, if players were still in the game in the afternoon, it meant they had no intention of refunding and were immersed in enjoying the game.
As of now, official sales were approaching thirty million, with over twenty million real-time online players. Excluding those on lunch breaks or busy with other things, the player online rate was nearing 70%!
Silence...
The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
While ordinary people might not feel anything from this data, for the game developers present with over a decade of experience, it was undoubtedly astonishing data.
It was worth noting that when *Holy War* launched, its VR dream of a hundred million players had a peak online rate of barely 30%, and that was on the premise of *Holy War* being a free-to-play game.
Even with such data, Tencent made a fortune, and its performance doubled.
Then, with a similar online player count to *Holy War*, this VR game priced at over five hundred dollars… such data was considered historic!
The most outrageous part was that this was just within China.
Games produced by Lingjing had overseas sales no less than domestic sales. How terrifying was this!
“Stop staring at me, all of you! Get back to work, and let’s aim to launch our second VR game next month!”
Ge Wenbin, with a stern and fierce look, waved his hand to dismiss everyone from the conference room.
He leaned back in his chair, and with every jump of the data on the screen, his temples would throb.
Rubbing his aching temples, Ge Wenbin felt a bitter ache in his heart.
“What kind of monster is Lingjing!”
“They’re too strong!”
It wasn’t just Tencent.
Neighboring NetEase, and even overseas giants like Blizzard and Nintendo, who were fiercely competing, felt unprecedented pressure upon seeing the data for *Sekiro*.
Blizzard’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, even moved into his office, declaring the implementation of 007 (working from 7 AM to 7 PM, 7 days a week) to frantically develop new games at Blizzard.
Nintendo, while not as extreme, was aggressively recruiting development personnel, which clearly indicated they were under considerable pressure.
Crazy!
The world had entered an era of intense competition!
The entire gaming industry was in chaos!
While major manufacturers were actively striving, Chun Hei, a player, heard astonishing news from the Sculptor.
In an instant, the entire live stream erupted.
……
(Mentally and physically exhausted, I want to rest for a while and get a thorough check-up.)
(Recently staying up late every night, and feeling extremely energetic at night, what should I do.)