Riding the wind of rebirth

For the reasons mentioned above, 3D personal gaming PCs are still very expensive devices at this stage. If you include the large-screen monitor, the price is equivalent to three times that of a regular home computer, and the top configuration can cost as much as 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. This has led to the formation of a club culture, which requires well-funded esports organizations to support.

But there's no need to worry about that. The appeal of esports, especially to young people, is undeniable.

Conversely, due to the superior performance of non-linear GPUs and the high popularity of Quake in China, Ding Lei made higher demands on id Software, and Zhou Zhi agreed to invest and jointly develop a new game.

The game was named "Tron: Legacy" by Zhou Zhi, and it was basically a direct copy of the famous Disney movie that followed.

The Tron series should be considered one of the most incredible science fiction film series in Hollywood, but the first film was actually made back in 1982, originally titled Tron.

The story is roughly about a young man named Kevin Flynn who is sucked into the program space by the powerful master program MCP and forced to fight in the virtual world.

This film can be considered the first cyberpunk movie in history, but it was not well-known more than a decade ago. It was not until more than a decade later, when Disney remade it, that it became widely known.

Zhou Zhi took advantage of this opportunity to buy the story copyright, and based on his memory of the movie scenes and characters from 2011, he asked id Software to develop a competitive game very similar to Quake.

The game's setting and lighting effects, as well as its jumping and rolling techniques, which incorporate many Eastern martial arts moves, far surpass Quake. With its unique cyberpunk lighting and cool costumes and equipment, shooting and movement effects, it caused a strong reaction in the West as soon as it was released.

There are now competitive events in the West specifically for "Tron," and the videos have been collected and broadcast on sports television. These videos have been moved to domestic video websites by malicious individuals, which has inspired domestic game fans to follow suit.

Ding Lei is currently preparing for competitive matches in "Quake" and "Tron: Legacy," and may move towards a world championship in the future.

Zhou Zhi is also terrible at games; his hand speed is even slower than Mai Xiaomiao's. However, being bad at games doesn't mean he's not addicted. He also enjoys watching videos of skilled players playing online.

Due to the limitations of average internet speeds, videos of 200-300 MB now require an entire night to download. If it's a high-definition video of the original game, the data size can even reach 500-600 MB, making it difficult to meet the needs of online live streaming.

But with the dedicated Tianxing-Diwang network, things are different. Zhouzhi can now enjoy internet speeds that ordinary people won't be able to enjoy for another thirty years. Original quality videos of 500-600 megabytes can be downloaded in about ten minutes, which is quite satisfactory.

Don't underestimate this 500 Mbps download speed in ten minutes. It's much better than Wanda Prince spending 200,000 yuan a month on internet fees to install a dedicated fiber optic cable with 5 GHz upload and download speeds!
The vast map, the dazzling lighting effects, and the visually stunning battles between the handsome men and beautiful women drew praise from Zhou Zhimei every time she saw it: "This investment was definitely worth it. Are there any novels on the forum based on this theme?"

Mai Xiaomiao brought up the forum and glanced at it: "Not yet."

"How about we hold an essay contest?" Zhou Zhi pondered for a moment. "We can encourage everyone to write about e-sports. If they write well, we can give them rewards, publish their work, or even make a movie or an animated film."

"You'll have to tell Sister Yijia about this; she's the administrator of the forum's novel section," Mai Xiaomiao said with a smile. "But I think it's quite interesting." Winter days are short; the train had only passed through one or two hills after leaving the station when it emerged from the tunnel, and it was already completely dark.

Zhou Zhi simply drew the curtains: "Why don't we lie down and chat, and when we feel sleepy, we can close our eyes and fall asleep."

“Yes, this sofa is quite wide,” Mai Xiaomiao said.

This is because the pretty girl didn't want Zhou Zhi to climb up to the upper bunk. Since she had extended an invitation, Zhou Zhi naturally didn't stand on ceremony.

They took the blanket off the top bunk and crawled into bed fully clothed.

Looking at the occasional flashes of lights outside the car window, Mai Xiaomiao said, "I never paid attention to the sky when I was in Chengdu. Are there stars in the sky in Chengdu?"

If Zhou Zhi has any complaints about Chengdu now, it's the weather in winter, the pollution is too severe: "In summer you can still see them occasionally, but in winter even the streetlights at night are dim and yellowish, let alone seeing the stars."

"Oh right, what did Lulu and the others say about the newts we found in the ditch behind the mountain?" Mai Xiaomiao suddenly remembered this for some reason.

“Hey! I forgot to tell you, the salamanders we found are actually very precious protected animals. They are large Liang newts, which are a national second-class protected animal.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “Moreover, the ones we found were all close to or over 20 centimeters long, which is larger than the largest specimens found in Shimian County and other places.”

"The large individuals of asbestos have been classified as mutants, so Li Lu and the others suspect that what we found is also a mutant. They asked me to tell them the address where we found the salamanders so they could go and find them themselves."

"Level 2 protection? That means they're hard to find, right? They must be really good at hiding, right? How come we caught them so easily?"

"We were lucky. There are fewer people going to the back mountain, and the animals there aren't very afraid of people. That's one reason. Also, it was early winter when we went, and the amphibians were starting to hibernate and were moving slowly. Li Lu said that several salamanders gathering together to live in groups is one of the characteristics before they hibernate. Before that, they all lived alone."

“The newts are very slow to react when they begin to hibernate, which gave us the opportunity to catch them,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “Sister Lulu said that the large-scale warty newt usually crawls slowly and its routes are not fixed, so its anti-capture ability is relatively weak; but when it moves in the water, it not only swims very fast, but it can also change its direction of movement flexibly, so its anti-capture ability is very strong. If it were in the mountain stream in summer, we would not be able to catch it at all, or even find it.”

“We were actually pretty lucky,” Mai Xiaomiao said. “Except for the fact that the giant salamander was really ugly.”

"Yeah, ever since I met you, my luck has been pretty good." Zhou Zhi rubbed his nose against Mai Xiaomiao's nose twice. "Or rather, my luck has always been pretty good, which is why I met you." (End of Chapter)