[GodOfReader: Let me get a couple of hours of sleep. I've been fighting the urge to sleep, and if I force myself to finish and upload the last chapter right now, I won't be able to focus and I'll probably end up making a lot of mistakes.]
After the press conference ended, the Ma Huateng (CEO of Tencent) led a group of top executives into a meeting.
In the conference room, the executives all looked grim. The atmosphere was not only heavy but also incredibly awkward.
At that moment, Ma Huateng suddenly looked at a bald man sitting not too far away and asked, "I say, Wang Ching... the guy who got randomly selected by New World to go up on stage, that was you, wasn't it?"
Hearing this, Wang Ching hastily shook his head. "It wasn't me, Boss. How could it be me? Do I look like someone who doesn't know his limits?"
"If it wasn't you, then who was it? I recognized your voice!"
"Exactly! And you even gave yourself a head of long, flowing, lustrous black hair, anyone could tell that's a classic move pulled by someone who's bald in real life!"
"Yeah, it was way too obvious!"
The other executives chimed in, leaving Wang Ching utterly speechless. After a moment of silence, he finally puffed out his chest and argued stubbornly, "Well, I... I just wanted to take New World's arrogance down a peg. Who knew the players wouldn't back me up..."
"Gamers aren't a bunch of self-righteous saints. Why would they back you up? You really made Tencent lose a massive amount of face this time!" The CEO couldn't help but shake his head.
He could foresee that for the near future, people would ruthlessly mock them online. But it didn't matter; they would just give it the cold treatment. If they played dead for a while, the internet would naturally forget this embarrassing incident.
If playing dead didn't work, they could always throw a temp worker under the bus to resolve the PR crisis smoothly.
However, after watching this press conference, the Tencent CEO was genuinely and profoundly shocked by New World once again. The technology showcased during the event was simply lightyears ahead of theirs. It seemed it was time to officially execute their plan.
The New World game showcase undoubtedly caused a global sensation. In an instant, the internet was ablaze with passionate discussions.
[By the way, did everyone receive Tifa's black dress?]
↳ [Got it, It's so incredibly alluring. The moment Tifa changed into it, I almost couldn't suppress my primal urges!]
↳ [Yeah, after Tifa changed, I couldn't help but chase her around the room for an hour. It's just too top-tier.]
↳ [Ahem, let me tell you guys a little pro-tip: lie flat on the floor and look up at Tifa for more surprises.]
↳ [Tsk tsk, when it comes to being a degenerate, you guys take the crown!]
Everyone had been chatting happily, but the moment some guy suddenly dropped the "lie on the floor" tip, it was as if he had awoken a crowd of dreamers. What followed were droves of people rapidly logging off the forums and impatiently booting up the New World platform to test it out.
This exact scenario played out across major gaming forums all over the world. However, just a few moments later, this army of perverts returned feeling utterly unfulfilled.
[I'm here to deliver a tragedy to everyone. You can't see anything. There are fucking safety shorts!]
[Sigh, I hold so much resentment toward the Anon. Why would he program something like that? Is there no basic trust left between human beings?!]
↳ [Yeah, it's too much. Anon went way too far. To guard against us like this... it's truly disappointing!]
↳ [The invention of these safety shorts is a massive roadblock hindering the progress of human civilization!]
↳ [What? What are you guys talking about? What new outfit? Why doesn't my Tifa have one?]
↳ [One look and I can tell you didn't watch the showcase. Anyone who attended the press conference received a free black dress skin for Tifa directly from the Anon!]
↳ [Holy shit, it's that good?! Fuck, I got held up with some stuff and missed the broadcast!]
↳ [Fuck! Why didn't Anon announce this earlier?! If he had said something, I would have watched that showcase instead of playing Grow a Garden Admin Abuse event!]
For a time, countless players were heartbroken over the safety shorts incident, but the ones whose hearts ached even more were the players who had missed the press conference and hadn't even received Tifa's dress skin.
At the same time, on major video-sharing platforms across the country, the popular YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a brand-new video. The title read: [Successfully Raised a Ghost Leviathan, and I Found a Way to Kill the Reaper Leviathan!]
Such an explosive title instantly piqued the player' interest, and they all eagerly clicked in.
In the video, PewDiePie was positioned in the Safe Shallows of Subnautica. Behind him were rows of circular, underwater habitats.
As previously mentioned, ever since discovering the blueprint for the Alien Containment tank, PewDiePie had dedicated himself entirely to breeding marine life in the game. The habitats behind him were absolutely packed with massive aquariums, and those aquariums were teeming with all sorts of creatures. It was practically his own personal breeding farm.
At this point, PewDiePie began to speak.
"So... you might remember that I made the completely reasonable decision to steal a Ghost Leviathan egg in the last video."
"Well, against all odds, it actually hatched. It was surprisingly cute... for about ten seconds. Then it started growing at an alarming rate, which is exactly what you'd expect from one of the most terrifying creatures in the game."
"So I figured keeping it in my Alien Containment wasn't exactly the smartest long-term investment. I took it outside and released it into the ocean."
"Let's go check on it. Hopefully it still remembers I'm the one who raised it... and not as lunch."
As soon as PewDiePie finished speaking, he swam in a specific direction. Soon, a juvenile Ghost Leviathan appeared in the viewers' line of sight.
This Ghost Leviathan did indeed look very young. It was only about thirty feet long, roughly a tenth of the size of an adult.
But even so, compared to PewDiePie's character, it was already a massively intimidating sea serpent, easily as large as the Crabsnakes in the Jellyshroom Cave!
Seeing PewDiePie approach, the Ghost Leviathan swam toward him. Just when everyone expected the beast to launch an attack, the Ghost Leviathan simply began swimming in circles around him. Then, it used its massive head to gently nudge PewDiePie's body over and over.
PewDiePie reached out and stroked the Ghost Leviathan's head with both hands. The man and the beast looked incredibly harmonious.
The viewers were instantly blown away.
"As you can see, the Ghost Leviathan isn't trying to eat me, which is... honestly pretty reassuring."
"After spending way too much time raising random creatures in this game, I'm pretty convinced there's some kind of hidden loyalty mechanic. The game never tells you it exists, of course. You just sort of figure it out after enough trial and error... and near-death experiences."
"I actually kind of respect that. It's one of those systems that lets players discover things on their own instead of putting a giant tutorial in your face."
"Judging by how it's behaving now, once this guy gets a little bigger, I should be able to ride it around the ocean. Which sounds incredibly stupid... so naturally, we're going to try it."
Saying this, PewDiePie simply wrapped his arms around the Ghost Leviathan's translucent, bioluminescent blue body, letting the creature drag him gently through the ocean.
Seeing this scene, the viewers were overflowing with envy and jealousy. They simultaneously started wondering if they should risk their lives to go steal an egg from the Tree of Cove themselves.
After all, no one could resist the temptation of riding a massive, three-hundred-foot-long sea monster!
"Alright, now let's talk about another topic, killing a Reaper Leviathan!" In the video, PewDiePie abruptly changed the subject. "I've actually wanted to do this for a while, but I never really committed to it. Then the developer casually mentioned it during the showcase, and I thought, 'Well... now I kind of have to try it.' The plan is... to use Gasopods to kill a Reaper Leviathan!"
With that, PewDiePie let go of the Ghost Leviathan, turned around, and swam back toward his breeding farm.
He arrived at one of the habitat rooms, opened the hatch, and stepped inside. The viewers then saw that the entire room was crammed with two massive Alien Containment tanks, and those tanks were filled with an absolute sea of green... It was entirely populated by Gasopods.
The Gasopods were huddled closely together. A rough count showed there were nearly twenty of them in there. Every single one was emitting its signature, bizarre honking and laughing noises. The moment you entered the room, you were hit by a continuous barrage of chaotic sounds. It was incredibly noisy.
The viewers watching the video instantly lost it.
[It's so fucking loud, it sounds like a chicken farm in there!]
[What is this, the auditions for American Idol?!]
[I can practically hear a chorus of Carnival (Kanye west) echoing on loop in my ears.]
"So, what you guys are looking at is my entire current stock of Gasopods," PewDiePie announced. "Today, I'm planning to go kill a Reaper Leviathan. Just to be safe, I've decided to bring this entire squad with me. Let's go see if we can pull off a big one!"