The players, especially the male ones, instantly gave a massive thumbs-up to the fucking goat on stage. This was the only thing players actually cared about, wasn't it?!
Lucien Sinclair hadn't expected a question like this either, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words.
'These pervs actually chased me all the way here...'
After a moment of thought, Lucien decided to just make up an excuse to brush it off.
"Ahem," Lucien coughed, explaining, "It's like this. In the backstory I designed for Tifa, she is a highly skilled female martial artist with incredible agility. If you want to physically interact with her, you must possess equally superb martial arts skills. So, I am very sorry to say, but right now, none of you are qualified."
Hearing Lucien's words, it finally dawned on the players.
"So Tifa is meant to be a martial artist? Tsk tsk, no wonder her figure is so good!"
"I don't know why, but hearing the words 'female martial artist' just gets me all fired up."
"My thingy went up."
└ "Fucking pervert."
"Sigh, isn't Anon just implying that it's completely impossible for us to interact with her?! Goddamn it!"
"I love the feeling of conquering the strong, especially a powerful woman like Tifa. Too bad the New World Studio won't give us the chance!"
'Heh, if I gave you guys the chance, the ESRB[1] probably wouldn't give me a chance to survive.' Lucien muttered internally. Then, he spoke up, "Alright then, let's draw our final player."
After another round of random selection, the fourth player appeared on the stage.
This player had a very distinct look. Although his facial features were designed rather crudely, he possessed a head of incredibly dark, lustrous hair that flowed all the way down to his waist.
Standing in the center of the massive arena's stage, the long-haired man was visibly surprised and bewildered. He truly never expected to be the lucky winner chosen for this.
Because he was actually one of the top executives at Tencent! He had attended this showcase alongside Ma Huateng (CEO of Tencent), and by some crazy coincidence, he had been picked!
"Hello, do you have a question?" Lucien asked routinely.
The Tencent executive was someone who had seen his fair share of grand stages. He quickly regained his composure. 'This might actually be an opportunity for me.'
His eyes darting slightly, the Nintendo executive instantly drafted a plan in his head.
"Producer, I'd like to ask," he began, "as the head of a game studio, do you genuinely have the players' best interests at heart?"
"Of course," Lucien nodded.
"If that's the case, then I think you should release your studio's game engine to the entire world!" the Nintendo executive immediately declared loudly, his voice echoing throughout the massive venue. "That way, other game developers would also be able to create hyper-realistic, immersive games just like your studio does. Wouldn't that be far more beneficial for all of us gamers?!"
Pausing there, the Tencent executive dramatically raised his head and swept his gaze across the audience. Throwing his arms in the air, he shouted, "Am I right, players?! Don't we all want to play more games with this level of realism?!"
It was an incredibly shameless thing to say, but it didn't matter. Although over a billion people were watching this showcase, not a single one of them knew that in real life, he was a high-ranking executive at Nintendo. This was the beauty of the internet!
The shameless one was this long-haired man on stage, what did that have to do with him, a Tencent executive?
Therefore, the Tencent executive had absolutely no reservations. He directly attempted to rally the massive crowd to put New World Studios in an impossible position, while simultaneously showing off his cunning to his boss in the audience!
However, following his grand question, not a single player in the entire arena responded.
"Are you a fucking idiot? You fucking Ching hoe bitch dog eater."
"What is this guy saying? Yes we want to play more game with this level of realism, but certainly not from a chinese spyware games."
"Where did this clown pop out from?"
└ "No idea, but why isn't he back in Gotham fighting Batman? Why did he come here?!"
"This is hilarious. New World developed their own engine; why the hell should they just hand it over for other companies to use?"
"Yeah, being so generous with someone else's property... can you share your wife to me?!"
"I'm dead. He's standing there looking all impassioned and righteous, actually expecting us to back him up."
"Never in my 11 years of life have I seen an adult humiliate himself like this."
└ "You're practically a baby. What are you doing here?"
└ "Don't worry, my mom is with me :)"
As the players murmured among themselves, they began to jeer. A massive wave of boos instantly washed over the arena.
The Tencent executive's heart skipped a beat. 'Oh crap, I overplayed my hand!'
Why was this completely deviating from his plan? Weren't the players supposed to echo his sentiments and jointly condemn New World?
It seemed he had severely underestimated the loyalty of New World's fanbase!
Lucien's gaze turned sharp as he stared the man down. "You wouldn't happen to be a plant sent by another game developer, would you?"
After all, anyone who would ask such a blatantly manipulative question was practically begging to be suspected as a corporate spy.
The moment those words were spoken, the Tencent executive panicked. He vehemently shook his head. "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!"
That classic, defensive denial only made Lucien more certain of his suspicion. He discreetly pulled up some backend data.
As mentioned before, the VR headsets were equipped with built-in heart rate monitors. As the administrator, Lucien had access to the players' heart rate data in the backend.
Very quickly, he located the heart rate data for the long-haired man standing in front of him. 'Hmm, his heart is indeed beating pretty fast.'
Armed with this information, Lucien continued, "There's no need to pretend. I know for a fact you are. Since you're speaking Chinese, you're most likely an Chinese rep. Let me guess, which company do you work for? NetEase? Tencent? miHoYo?"
As he asked, Lucien carefully monitored the long-haired man's heart rate fluctuations.
He quickly noticed that the moment he mentioned "Tencent," the guy's heart rate visibly spiked!
"Oh, so you're from Tencent," Lucien instantly chuckled.
'Fuck?!!'
The Nintendo executive's face contorted into an expression of sheer disbelief. He had kept his mouth completely shut just now. How on earth did Lucien know he was with Tencent?!
"HAHAHA, look at this ching ching dumbfounded face! He's definitely from Tencent, no doubt about it!"
"This is so awkward. He came here trying to incite a riot and got caught red-handed on the spot!"
The audience marveled at the deduction and immediately began to revel in his misfortune.
"So," Lucien continued in a slow, leisurely tone, "since you're an employee of Tencent, coming to my turf to stir up trouble... don't you think that's a bit inappropriate?"
Faced with Lucien's interrogation, even an experienced executive like him wanted the ground to swallow him whole after having his identity exposed in front of billions of people.
In this dire situation, he immediately made the only decision that could stop the bleeding.
The Tencentexecutive abruptly ripped off his VR headset, severed the connection, and forcefully logged out.
Whoosh! The long-haired man in the center of the stage vanished into thin air.
The players quickly realized what happened.
"This guy just logged off and ran away, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Tsk tsk, he rage-quit already?!"
"Just the fact that he ran away practically confirms he's a Tencent employee!"
As the audience chatted away, Lucien chuckled and shook his head, feeling utterly speechless. He really hadn't expected the event to end with such a stunt.
In reality, even if he did release the Unreal Engine to the public, other game developers still wouldn't be able to create a flawless game like Subnautica. There were far too many other proprietary technologies involved.
Of course, Lucien wasn't stupid or saintly enough to just give the Unreal Engine away for free anyway.
"Well, I didn't expect friendly forces to provide us with such prime entertainment at the end. That concludes today's showcase," Lucien announced.
"By the way, I've prepared a gift for all the players who attended this event. Until next time, everyone!!"
With a snap of Lucien's fingers, everyone's vision instantly went black.
Poof!
The players found themselves back in their familiar personal virtual rooms.
Stretching their limbs, the players felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
This showcase was genuinely incredible. The special effects were maxed out. They had observed a terrifying Ancient Leviathan up close, received the custom avatar feature, and watched the breathtaking Sekiro trailer and live gameplay demonstration, which left them trembling with anticipation.
Even more unexpectedly, right as the press conference was ending, a clown had taken the stage to put on a show.
Being able to attend an event like this for free was an absolute steal. It was even more thrilling than watching a Fifty Shades of Grey!
However... what was that gift Anon mentioned at the very end?
Just as the players were pondering this, Tifa, who had been standing next to them the entire time, suddenly moved. With her hands clasped behind her back, she skipped in front of the players and smiled. "Player, I just received a new outfit. Would you like me to try it on for you?"
"Wait, what?" The players were stunned for a second before the realization hit them. The men of culture among them were instantly ecstatic. "Did I hear that right? A new outfit?!!"
"That's right. Every player who attended this showcase receives a new outfit for me," Tifa continued with a gentle smile.
The players suddenly understood.
'Wow, so that's what it is.'
"Then change, change into it right now!!!"
The degenerates immediately demanded, silently turning on their screen recording functions and aiming their cameras directly at Tifa.
"No problem," Tifa nodded. The next second, she spun around in place.
Swish!
The clothes on her body instantly transformed.
'Wait, she just spun around and the clothes changed?'
'What is this situation? Where is the animation of Tifa actually changing her clothes?! You cut that part out?! Do I look like I'm pressed for time?!'
The men of culture furiously cursed Lucien in their heads, but their attention was quickly recaptured by the sight of Tifa standing before them.
Tifa had swapped her sporty tank top and suspenders for a stunning, elegant black dress. The dress's sleek, form-fitting silhouette hugged her curves perfectly, accentuating her incredible figure without sacrificing its refined charm. At the same time, her aura had softened, becoming irresistibly alluring and as gentle as water.
"Does it look good?" Tifa asked, slowly doing a twirl.
"It looks good, it looks good, it looks so fucking good!"
The men of culture sighed in unison, their eyes continuously raking up and down Tifa's body like a pack of starving wolves. They absolutely loved it!
[I'm starving and my mom is kinda homeless, please read 30 advanced chapter on my patreon .com/EdgyReader]