Night shrouded the desert wasteland.
Two figures lay prone atop a gently rising sand dune.
Draped in desert-colored cloaks and each holding binoculars, they peered toward the valley on the eastern horizon. Beside their elbows, a small sprig of sand-sage swayed softly in the breeze.
Not far behind them at the foot of the slope tilted an electric motorcycle manufactured by Goblin Technology.
The clock rolled back a few hours.
At that time, dusk had not yet completely faded.
After settling on their treasure-hunting plan, Sisi proposed heading out to scout the vicinity of the ruin entrance first. She said goodbye to Rou Rou and Sesame Paste, hopped onto the group's only motorcycle, and took Tail east toward Lost Valley.
According to the plan, they would arrive around eight o'clock in the evening, confirm the state of the ruin entrance, and return before nine to relieve Rou Rou and Sesame Paste for the night watch.
In reality, however, the journey took far longer than anticipated.
Although the Goblin Technology electric motorcycle packed ample horsepower and could reach speeds over a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour, that was strictly on paved surfaces.
The nearest route, Highway 7, was shattered into severed segments.
They had no choice but to travel off-road along the road's edges at a modest forty to fifty kilometers per hour; any faster and the slightest rise risked sending them airborne.
Over a distance of nearly a hundred and fifty kilometers, it took them a full three and a half hours just to catch the faintest glimpse of the valley's silhouette.
Right at that moment, an untimely sandstorm abruptly swept across the gravel flats. Visibility plunged under a hundred meters, and howling, shrieking gales made forward progress virtually impossible.
With no alternatives, they were forced to halt, sheltering in the lee of a dune until the storm blew over.
Fortunately, the storm did not last long.
Yet just as they prepared to move on, Sisi caught sight of faint, scattered lights flickering in the distance where the storm had cleared.
There were people in Lost Valley!
And quite a lot of them!
Out of caution, she laid the bike flat on the ground and led Tail up to a nearby vantage point, scanning the area with her binoculars.
That single look gave them both quite a shock.
"...Patrols."
Gripping her binoculars tight, Sisi swept her gaze along the distant horizon, her brow furrowing slightly.
"And they're Legion soldiers!"
Though she saw no black robes, she couldn't mistake the ballistic armor and the rifles in their hands; she had clashed with them at close quarters far too many times.
A motorized tricycle was broken down on a sand dune, likely crippled by the recent sandstorm.
Several soldiers huddled around the front of the vehicle, tinkering with tools from a repair kit as they attempted to get it running again.
Another ten-man patrol arrived from the distance, approaching the stranded trike to assess the situation.
Their patrol density was remarkably high, their vigilance sharp.
Evidently, the valley behind them concealed some extraordinary secret.
Sisi shifted her field of view toward a camp enclosed by sandbag walls in the distance.
Construction was underway to the north, looking like excavation work, while mounds of earth sat piled at the southern entrance of the valley, seemingly hauled out from within.
*What are they planning to do?*
Sisi found herself puzzled.
"Tail, lend me your thermal imager for a sec... Tail?"
No response came for a long while.
Sisi glanced sideways only to find Tail lying motionless on the sand, unresponsive.
After a brief pause, Sisi chuckled and shook her head.
She didn't need two guesses to know what Tail was doing.
Reaching over to take the thermal imager from atop Tail's head, she strapped it onto her own and continued gazing east.
The world shifted into black and white.
Bright white specks shifted across the pale, glowing sand in the distance.
Looking at the clearing north of the camp, an expression of astonishment spread across Sisi's face.
"Whoa..."
*So bright!*
...
In another world.
On the official *Wasteland Online* forum, inside the player discussion section reserved exclusively for closed-beta testers, a thread suddenly popped up.
Tail: "Ooooh! Huge discovery!!"
Jieyan: "What happened???"
Ye Shi: "What did you find? (Shocked)"
Elaina: "Is it delicious? (Doge)"
Tail: "Uh, probably not edible. It's the Legion! We saw lots and lots of Legion soldiers!"
Lao Bai: "???"
The mention of encountering the Legion immediately brought the thread to life.
Compared to running into a wild Deathclaw somewhere or getting one's head bashed in by a polypod's tentacles, elite mobs appearing in massive groups were naturally far more interesting.
Brother Edge: "Are you guys in Golden Lizard? There might actually be Legion activity there... The Restoration Army guerrillas made off with fifty of their tanks along with a huge convoy of trucks and supplies. Right now, Legion patrols are all over north of Oasis No. 9. We almost ran right into them."
In Debt God: "+1. Careful, Tail, don't let the Legion capture you. (Doge)"
Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "+10086. Watch out for Mole, that guy draws doujinshi. (Doge)"
Fugitive Mole of the Canyon: "Screw off! Only dogs draw that crap, I've already washed my hands clean of it! Heh, just you wait, once my game sells like hotcakes in Ideal City, every single one of you will be calling me Daddy! (Eye roll)"
Ever since Brother Guang had muted him, the fellow had indeed refrained from drawing strange adult comics on the forum for a while.
Yet that only made everyone more worried.
An unemployed artist, and in River Valley Province no less.
The warning flags were practically stacking up to the sky.
Elven King Fugui: "Haha, good brother, you'd better give it your all! Old Na gave you all the money he saved by eating praying mantises! (Doge)"
Elaina: "Doesn't matter, if he goes bust he'll sell his backside to pay us back. He said so himself. (Doge)"
Makabazi: "Hahahaha."
"..."
Tail: "Whoa! Don't worry, Brother Edge, we're not in Golden Lizard anymore! We heard Oasis No. 4 is right next to the sea, so two weeks ago we turned around and headed south!"
Ye Shi: "(Sweat)"
Tail: "And then, and then, a hundred and fifty kilometers from the Zhubar Mountains, in a place called Lost Valley, we found a Legion base! There's at least a ten-thousand-man division there!"
Brother Edge: "South?! Wait, why would the Legion be down south?"
Commander Spring: "I'm more interested in knowing just how many troops the Legion actually has... Looking at the map, their forces are way too dispersed. Unless they intend to invade three kingdoms all at once, I've got a bad feeling about this."
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Did you see clearly what they're doing there?"
Tail: "Treasure hunting, of course!"
Brother Edge: "Treasure hunting?!"
Tail: "Yeah! There's a massive camp there, about the same size as Fallen Leaves Camp back then! Outside to the north, tons of people are digging around in the ground with shovels and wheelbarrows. Tail saw them with the thermal imager! Hehe."
Kuang Feng: "About the size of Fallen Leaves Camp... then it really could be a ten-thousand-man division, or maybe even twenty to thirty thousand."
Commander Spring: "Atmosphere..."
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Don't ask me. The Administrator told me to keep lurking. I honestly don't know a thing. If I did, I would've said so already. (Awkward)"
Kakarot: "Damn it, are you useless or what! The chicken soup is about to spoil!"
I'm the Darkest: "Exactly! Still haven't made Marshal yet? Pathetic!"
Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "@%&$!"
...
At the same time, in the wasteland world.
The operational war room of the Army Command in Dawn City was packed.
Though it was well past midnight, there was no sign of adjourning.
Seated at the conference table, Wrench, the commander of the First Corps, spoke up suddenly.
"There's a question I've been pondering."
Everyone in the room turned their eyes toward him.
Except Chu Guang, who remained staring at the map.
"What question?"
Chu Guang answered casually without taking his eyes off the map, his expressionless face deep in thought.
Wrench organized his thoughts and carefully voiced his opinion.
"I'm wondering... what does the Legion gain by dropping this nuke on the City of Abundance? In the eyes of the people of Sunset Province, that river dike isn't just an irrigation project; it's a blessing from the spirits. Even if the Legion doesn't care about destroying fertile land... aren't they worried about turning the entire desert into their enemy?"
Chu Guang nodded.
He was pleased to see his subordinates maturing, weighing broader factors in strategic decisions, including viewing the battlefield from the enemy's perspective.
"That is one of the questions I've been weighing as well... Vannus, tell him why."
Vannus, seated at the table, nodded and addressed the First Corps commander across from him in mild tones.
"There are many advantages. Although the cost is an increase in suppression expenses down the line, the immediate benefit is shattering the Lion Kingdom royal family's will to resist, bringing a swift end to this war."
"Evidently, the Legion was never prepared for an all-out war against the Enterprise. Whether dispatching an airship to intercept fleeing Enterprise personnel, launching a sudden blitzkrieg, or deploying a nuclear weapon as they are now... rather than a meticulously prepared plan, this looks more like a gamble."
"They are betting that they can bring Sunset Province under total control before the Enterprise completes mobilization. Once they establish a fait accompli, they can negotiate with the Enterprise from a position of strength... bargaining over the ownership of the Pioneer, Vault 0, territorial control over Sunset Province, and an entire series of issues."
Chu Guang nodded.
The key to Vault 0 was in his hands.
If the Legion's military operations in Sunset Province achieved their expected goals, they could use the Pioneer and its crew to barter with him for that key.
The officers in the conference room exchanged glances and murmured in low voices.
Vannus looked at Chu Guang.
"However... there is still a suspicious point here. Should I continue?"
Chu Guang gave a slight nod.
"Say whatever comes to mind."
Vannus inclined his head, cleared his throat, and proceeded.
"Deploying a nuclear weapon is an overt move, but where they intend to use it might not be. I believe our ally's intelligence is trustworthy, but the problem is that their intelligence is far too specific."
"They not only know that the Legion is deploying a nuke to Sunset Province, but even know precisely where it will strike... I cannot help but wonder: how could they possibly know that?"
"Unless the king or marshal of the Falcon Kingdom is a traitor, I can conceive of no one capable of obtaining such detailed operational plans."
"What our esteemed Administrator is currently pondering is most likely this very matter."
Hearing that seamless flattery, Chu Guang smiled faintly.
To be fair, Vannus genuinely had sharp instincts.
Ever since meeting with Prince Kaliman, Chu Guang had indeed been turning this over in his mind.
He thought about it during diplomatic exchanges with the Enterprise.
He thought about it during the morning's mobilization speech...
Because it truly was too suspicious.
Prior to the blitzkrieg, the desert kings hadn't caught the slightest whiff of danger. Yet after taking a flurry of wild punches, it was as if their strategic senses had miraculously opened up, their intelligence apparatus suddenly turning so sharp that they could read the Falcon Kingdom and the Legion like open books.
That was a nuclear weapon.
Vannus's estimate was still conservative.
Forget the king and marshal of the Falcon Kingdom—in all likelihood, across the entirety of Sunset Province, Griffin was the only person who knew where that nuke was meant to land.
Chu Guang had a lingering ominous premonition: that bait wasn't merely meant to flush out the mole who leaked Camp 530, but an overt strategic gambit.
Underestimating an opponent was a fatal blunder.
The Legion possessed tremendous strength. If this escalated into total mobilization and all-out war, the Academy and the Enterprise combined might not necessarily overcome those fanatical warmongers—no matter how impressive the Enterprise's Ideal City and high-tech arsenal appeared.
Take the Battle of Ruigu City: even with the entire Alliance pitted against the Air Marines of the *Heart of Steel*, where players held an absolute edge in individual combat capability, every corps executed orders with unwavering resolve, and commanders performed far above standard, the Alliance's odds of victory were still under thirty percent.
Had MacLaren not been so conceited and made a cascade of tactical misjudgments, even losing a battle wouldn't have cost him the *Heart of Steel*.
In fact, despite those blunders, the man had nearly turned the tables at the final moment.
And now, the Alliance was not facing MacLaren, but an old fox far more cunning and cautious—a man who had climbed his way up from the army's grassroots.
Rather than an enraged commander desperately pulling out a nuclear trump card, Chu Guang saw a player calmly seated at the card table, declaring with a knowing half-smile:
*I intend to use a nuke.*
*Now it's your turn to play a card.*
As Chu Guang pondered, Xiao Qi's voice suddenly buzzed in his ear.
"Master, your players spotted Legion movements north-northeast of Oasis No. 4! There seems to be a ten-thousand-man division stationed there. The player named Tail says they're treasure hunting, but Xiao Qi feels it's not that simple..."
Xiao Qi monitored forum posts constantly and immediately reported anything resembling vital intelligence.
Hearing this, Chu Guang paused.
Oasis No. 4?
North-northeast?
His gaze shifted across the map to the Zhubar Mountains, tracing eastward until it halted at Lost Valley, a hundred and fifty kilometers northeast of the Camel Hump Kingdom—the ruins at the southwestern corner of Oasis No. 7.
This Lost Valley sat roughly nine hundred kilometers away from the City of Abundance at Oasis No. 9, exceptionally distant from the front line.
Another eight hundred kilometers east would bring one to River Valley Province... Wait.
A sudden realization struck Chu Guang. Snatching a marker from the side, he drew a red circle around Lost Valley on the map.
Seated at the table, Vannus frowned slightly.
"Is there a development there?"
Chu Guang answered concisely.
"...According to our informants, massive Legion ground forces have been sighted north of Oasis No. 4, numbering between ten and thirty thousand."
Murmurs of surprise rippled through the conference room.
Liu Ding, commander of the Second Corps, widened his eyes.
"Oasis No. 4? Is the Legion splitting forces to strike the Camel Hump Kingdom?"
Another officer frowned.
"If I recall... Camel Hump has a population around 1.5 million, with well-developed industry and commerce. At a conservative estimate, they could muster five full ten-thousand-man divisions... If it were Legion regulars, they might stand a chance, but relying on Falcon Kingdom retinue forces, how do they expect to take it?"
Beside him, Wrench nodded and said in a heavy voice.
"Besides, Oasis No. 4 is separated from the desert by the natural barrier of the Zhubar Mountains. Even tanks won't be much help there... To mount a frontal assault against Petra Fortress, they would need substantial support squadrons and a massive, coordinated infantry-artillery offensive to have any prayer of success."
"Their objective is likely not Oasis No. 4," Vannus interjected suddenly.
The bustling conference room fell dead quiet.
Every pair of eyes turned toward him.
Staring at the map, Chu Guang nodded and spoke slowly.
"Indeed. If the target were Oasis No. 4, there would be no reason to station troops there... They could easily camp to the northwest, closer to their rear, rather than stretching their supply line straight across the fortress they intend to breach."
Pausing, he continued.
"Their objective... might very well be us."
Startled expressions broke out across the faces of the officers.
A few had considered that possibility, yet had hardly dared believe it.
To seize air superiority over Qingquan City, the Legion would have to face not only the Alliance, but neighboring Boulder City as well!
Although Boulder City's castellan had maintained an extremely low profile in this war—practically invisible—the radars, anti-air cannons, and missile launchers mounted on the giant wall were no joke.
"You mean... that nuke is actually meant for us?" Liu Ding asked, visibly shaken.
Chu Guang nodded.
"If the City of Abundance falls, the Lion Kingdom's resistance collapses... As the Alliance commander, conventional doctrine dictates I must prevent that from happening. The optimal counter is redeploying the *Heart of Steel* to Oasis No. 9. With the *Heart of Steel*'s air-defense capabilities and battlefield suppression, we could block the delivery of any nuclear weapon into nearby airspace."
"Yet if we do that, we walk straight into their trap."
"They clearly want to end this war swiftly. Knowing we've deduced their intentions, they deliberately feigned impatience, flaunting a nuke and exposing an apparent flaw for us to see. In truth, it's a feint to divert our attention."
Chu Guang narrowed his eyes. The entire picture fell into place, every disparate clue on the map interlocking seamlessly.
"...The moment our strategic focus shifts to Oasis No. 9, their aircraft will launch from southern Sunset Province to carry out a nuclear strike against our homeland."
Lost Valley offered a natural redoubt.
Compared to the wind-swept sand of the gravel flats, it was far better suited for quartering a large force over prolonged periods.
They didn't need absolute air superiority over the river valley.
They only needed one or two suicidal pilots flying Mach 2 jet fighters to breach our lines and release the bomb.
Then detonate it in midair.
What occurred in Qingquan City two hundred years ago would repeat itself.
A megaton yield meant an absolute lethality radius of 6.3 kilometers for exposed personnel in open terrain, 3.6 kilometers for troops in trenches, and 2.8 kilometers for tanks... Those were standard Cold War reference figures.
The actual destructive effects would vary with circumstances, but that cataclysmic power was beyond doubt—more than enough to wipe both Boulder City and Dawn City off the map.
They wouldn't even need pinpoint accuracy.
"The distance from the Falcon Kingdom near the Great Wasteland to River Valley Province is too vast, likely exceeding the operational range of their aircraft. That is why they need a stepping stone."
"If my assessment is correct..."
Looking down at the marked-up map, Chu Guang said with absolute certainty:
"What they are building near Lost Valley must be an airfield!"
...
On a sand dune seven or eight kilometers from Lost Valley.
Tail, lying on her side in the sand, fluttered her eyelashes and slowly opened her eyes, met by a pair of bright, smiling pupils.
"Ugh..."
Rubbing her eyes, Tail smiled sheepishly.
"Hehe, I went offline to deliver the intel to everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting!"
Sisi teased lightly.
"Well, if you hadn't woken up soon, I was planning to take a pen and draw tally marks all over your forehead."
Tail gasped.
"Eh?! In that case, let me sleep a little longer!"
"Save it for when we get back."
Crawling over to the reverse slope of the dune, Sisi stood up and brushed the sand from her clothes.
Good thing she hadn't bathed before leaving.
Covered in all this grit, she would definitely need a thorough scrub when they returned.
"By the way... are we really just going to leave it alone?"
Tail cast an anxious glance toward the distant valley, clearly worried someone else might beat them to the treasure buried there.
It was a very real possibility.
Heaven knew how long those soldiers had been digging.
Sisi replied casually.
"Yeah, pulling back first is smarter. There are at least ten thousand troops stationed there. If we get captured, having tally marks drawn on our foreheads will be the least of our worries."
"Eep! Terrifying!"
Tail shivered, quietly crawling down the dune as well.
At the bottom of the slope.
Watching Sisi hoist the motorcycle out of the sand, she whispered.
"But what if the Legion digs up our treasure first? That's a Titan! It might even still be functional!"
Sisi offered a helpless shrug.
"Never mind a Titan—even if an interstellar cruiser were buried there, the two of us couldn't do anything about it alone."
At the very least, they needed to head back and prepare.
Petra Fortress was the southern trade hub of Sunset Province. Once they sold their cargo and used the earnings to hire extra hands, it would still beat charging in blindly on a motorcycle.
Soloing an infantry division?
Forget their "legendary SSR-card" Administrator—even God-Emperor Sigmar couldn't pull that off.
Awakened were powerful, but not powerful enough to shatter a planet with a single punch.
Tossing a motorcycle helmet to the rueful Tail, Sisi patted the rear seat and smiled reassuringly.
"Alright, don't look so glum. I'll help you find that giant prize no matter what... Hop on, let's head back. Otherwise, Rou Rou and Sesame Paste will start worrying."
"Oh! True... Holy crap! Look at the time!" Glancing at the time on her VM, Tail gasped and leaped onto the bike.
A smile crossed Sisi's face. She pulled down the goggles on her helmet and twisted the throttle, revving the electric motor.
"Hold on tight!"
...
Dawn crept over the eastern coast.
Honestly, although he wasn't of the Perception branch, Mole sometimes truly marveled at his own sixth sense.
Just yesterday he had set up a flag in front of his underlings, and before he even logged in today, he received a mobilization order from the Administrator—demanding his immediate return to Dawn City.
Ideal City.
On the rooftop helipad of a corporate skyscraper.
Standing a short distance from the pad, Mole wore a look of reluctant farewell, hugging the staff of Skeleton Studio one by one.
Watching his boss prepare to board, Xue Hongliang couldn't help but ask.
"Can't we just donate money so you don't have to go to the front lines?"
"What are you talking about?" Mole looked at him with an earnest, solemn expression. "Is this a matter of money?"
The Alliance rallied under the banner of the shelter precisely because the residents of Vault 404 were always the first to charge the front lines. They never used their blue jumpsuits to claim superiority or push the Alliance's inhabitants ahead of them.
It was an obligation!
A responsibility!
Of course, that was the grand, high-minded version.
On a more practical note, these "realm war" events and missions always yielded the highest rewards.
Making money could be done through trade, but reaching Tier 1 or Tier 0 required stepping up whenever the Alliance needed you.
Two things in this game could never be bought with silver coins:
One was a gaming helmet.
The other was contribution points.
The latter, especially, was invaluable.
Seeing the resolve in his eyes, Xue Hongliang dropped the subject and said solemnly.
"Boss! Take care!"
Mole smiled.
"Don't worry, your boss has nine lives; I won't die easily! Once I'm back, we'll create glory together again! We'll make our studio bigger and stronger!"
With that, he turned resolutely toward the aircraft, leaving behind an imposing silhouette for his employees and the gathering reporters.
Stepping into the cabin.
Mole immediately spotted a long-legged young woman seated inside.
She was remarkably attractive, possessing an aura of sharp competence. Her posture and demeanor exuded the bearing of a corporate executive.
Mole was hardly the shy type, especially around NPCs, but out of instinct, he took a seat two spots away.
To his surprise, the moment he sat down, the beauty struck up a conversation.
"Hello, my name is Li Shuyue."
"Hello... I'm Mole." Caught off guard, Mole felt slightly embarrassed, suddenly regretting choosing such an offhand gamer handle.
However, the woman showed no surprise at the name, continuing naturally.
"Where is the person who came with you?"
Mole grinned.
"You mean Fang Chang? The recall was only for corps commanders this time. That little brother doesn't have the rank yet; the mobilization hasn't reached him."
The two of them were actually close friends, but that never stopped him from roasting him given the chance.
After all, Fang Chang roasted him just as often.
So what if he had massive contribution points?
He was still just an armchair strategist!
Mole was a genuine corps commander; calling him "little brother" was completely fair!
"I see."
Li Shuyue nodded and said nothing more, ending the exchange.
As for things like corps commanders or ranks, she appeared wholly uninterested, leaving Mole somewhat awkward.
"..."
*Damn it!*
*Are the NPCs in this game really that lifelike?*
He had never thought that dog Fang Chang was particularly handsome—certainly not much better looking than himself.
Why did that guy constantly have women falling over him?!
Even a random NPC passerby seemed interested in him!
Mole cursed inwardly.
*Rigged! It's absolutely rigged!*
*He definitely traded his sacred backside to Brother Guang!*
Amidst the quiet cabin, the Orca transport slowly lifted off, trailing faint blue arcs of light as it streaked toward the western skies.
Beside the helipad.
Xue Hongliang and the employees clad in Skeleton T-shirts remained immersed in the sorrow of "losing" their boss.
The battlefield.
A place where nine out of ten didn't return.
He hoped that the next time they met wouldn't be over a box of ashes and a memorial portrait...
Just then, a reporter noticed the somber group of young men.
Professional instinct caught the scent of breaking news, and the journalist immediately hurried over with an interview drone.
"Excuse me, what relation is that Skeleton Corps commander to all of you?"
Xue Hongliang sniffled.
"He's our boss."
"Your boss?"
The reporter looked astonished.
Other journalists passing by overheard and flocked over, pulling out voice recorders and deploying their drones once more.
Facing a barrage of cameras made Xue Hongliang slightly nervous.
At the end of the day, he was merely the CEO of a small studio. Though he had seen some public attention, he had never faced a spectacle of this scale. He nodded stiffly.
"Yes... We're Skeleton Studio. We develop games."
The reporter gasped.
"Develop games?! But... isn't that gentleman a corps commander? That rank should belong to a military officer."
"It is... He told us his day job is driving tanks, but developing games is his dream."
*A dream!*
The moment they heard the word, the surrounding reporters' eyes lit up. The first journalist pressed on immediately.
"Could you elaborate on that?"
Xue Hongliang had been tense at first.
Yet seeing the rapt curiosity on their faces, he found his rhythm, his pace and tone steadily turning natural.
"I still remember the day of my interview. When I first met him, he told me... he had never seen anything so wonderful."
Watching the attentive crowd, he continued.
"All it took was putting on a pair of glasses to enter a completely virtual world, to communicate seamlessly with real people, share his stories, and bring joy to others..."
"He said that from the moment he arrived in this city, from the second he donned those VR glasses, he found a new purpose. His life gained a new dream—"
"Though born into a world ravaged by death and ruin, he hoped that through Endpoint Cloud—this miraculous medium—he could share his stories with the people of Ideal City and bring them happiness..."
Facing the camera wasn't as terrifying as he had imagined.
All one had to do was tell people what they wanted to hear.
Seizing on his boss's unique background as the core hook, Xue Hongliang monitored the crowd's expressions as he spun his tale.
A wastelander living through hardship and misery.
Even after suffering through fate's cruelty and torment, he still held fast to a pure, noble dream, striving to bring more joy to the world.
He had even poured every cent of his savings into it!
What profound kindness!
And when his homeland was threatened by the fires of war, this millionaire willingly abandoned the opulent comforts of Ideal City, boarding a flight back home to rush to the front line and repel the wolves invading his land...
Admiring expressions surfaced across the faces of many in the audience; several reporters even had tears welling in their eyes.
Of course, it wasn't purely from sentimentality.
Many were simply thrilled to have struck journalistic gold.
In their minds, they were already outlining a full-length screenplay and a two-hour cinematic feature.
A reporter looked at him intently, thrusting a recorder forward.
"What is the name of your game?"
Scanning the circling interview drones and the eager, expectant gazes, Xue Hongliang's mind blanked for a fleeting instant.
Only for an instant, however.
He understood perfectly.
This exact moment was the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" his boss had spoken of.
"*Battle Royale*..."
Xue Hongliang blurted out almost by reflex.
Although his boss had never actually uttered those lofty words, after inventing so much of the story, one or two extra lines made no difference.
With effortless enthusiasm, he carried on.
"It is a game adapted directly from our boss's true experiences in the wasteland. Every single member of our studio witnessed its birth."
"I stake my personal reputation on it: this game is as real as it gets!"
Chapter 434