The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 621 Secret Update! The World is Handed Over to the Players! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Amid applause from the media and players, Xiaomeng pulled Keke onto the stage and ran to Xu Meng's side.

Xiao Meng was very familiar with the place and happily waved and greeted everyone, showing no stage fright whatsoever.

Keke was a bit more introverted, clinging tightly to Xiaomeng's arm and refusing to let go, looking rather timid.

The players were a little confused when they saw Coco appear:
The Frost & Snow Project updates monthly, and this month a new character has been added to the gacha pool. He is a rock guitarist with fire dragon features, and his popularity is soaring.

Logically, shouldn't the new character be given more screen time to increase their exposure?

What's the point of bringing back the familiar character, Keke?
Not only do players not understand, but the media and industry peers also cannot understand it.

Despite the confusion, the live stream was flooded with welcome comments like "[Keke's little wife]" and "[Guess where I am]".

Coco's popularity is by no means low.

Because of her "blind girl" characteristic, everyone loved playing hide-and-seek with her in the back courtyard.

Hide beside her, poke her with your finger, listen to her soft gasp when she's startled, and when Keke tries to touch the player next to her, the player dodges and avoids her touch.

This simple little game is so fun that everyone enjoys playing it.

This timid and gentle personality of Coco makes her popularity extremely stable.

Xu Meng patted Xiao Meng and Ke Ke on the head, without explaining much, and went straight to the point:

"Now that the guests have arrived, the press conference can officially begin!"

"Right now, everyone's biggest concern is probably the release of new games."

"Then let's talk about this first."

Xiaomeng raised her hands and clapped them twice.

The lecture platform quickly transformed into a hibernation hall for lost ships.

After the release of Resonance, this place immediately became bustling with activity!

Spanning 1.5 kilometers, the hibernation hall, with its semi-roller layout, houses a total of 98000 hibernation pods, none of which are idle.

In fact, after the game is officially launched, players can use keys to teleport to their personal cabins and log in to the game directly from there.

Logging into the game through the Hibernation Hall is actually quite inconvenient.

Only players who enjoy excitement and socializing, or those with trading needs, will come here.

Even so, the place was packed to capacity.

The small market that the player created on his own expanded more than tenfold in just two hours.

Moreover, the expansion of 10 times is not because there are only so many people trading, but because after deducting the space for hibernation pods, there are only so many places left in the hibernation hall where stalls can be set up!
This demonstrates just how popular the game is.

"Everyone must be very curious about how well this game is selling."

"Why don't you announce it?" Xu Meng said, patting a player who was looking at the goods on the stall on the shoulder.

The man turned around, and it was Knight Walker, wearing a full set of composite armor.

Knight Walker wasn't surprised and smoothly picked up where Xu Meng left off:

"Within two hours of its release, The Echoes of Space sold over 3400 million copies worldwide."

"The top three countries in terms of sales are China, the United States, and Izumo."

"The current number of active players in the Lost Ship region is 2583 million. It is speculated that the remaining players who have not logged in are still working and have not yet logged into the game."

As Knight Walker laughed and rattled off a series of numbers, gasps of surprise rose and fell from the audience.

Everyone knew that Zhumeng was very strong, but they were still quite shocked by this amazing start.

This achievement greatly encouraged Knight Walker.

His previous work, "Bloodstained Sea," only managed to sell over 2000 million copies across the entire series, and it took many years to reach that number.

But now, Resonance has surpassed the sales of the entire Uncharted series over more than a decade in just two hours!
This left him and the entire development team feeling somewhat intoxicated, as if they were in a dream.

"Congratulations!" Xu Meng nodded to Knight Walker, offering her congratulations.

"Now you can go back and pop some champagne with your team!"

After Knight Walker expressed his sincere gratitude to players around the world through the camera, the holographic scene slowly disappeared.

Instead, a small town on the edge of the Abyss Cave was built.

"Welcome everyone to Yayuan Town," Xu Meng said.

The streets were packed with people, making it difficult to squeeze in. So Xu Meng, Xiao Meng, Ke Ke, and Richard appeared together on a small clock tower with a red roof.

From this vantage point, you can see both the bustling town and the magnificent Abyss Cave on the other side.

Around the Abyss, every ten seconds or so, one or four landing craft would take off from the edge of the cliff and plummet in parabolic arcs toward the cave.

Those are the players fighting in the game.

Like Knight Walker, Richard Moreno reported that Under the Rock had outsold the game—3600 million copies!
They immediately thanked the players for their support.

But he received slightly worse treatment than Knight Walker—

A bunch of netizens expressed their dissatisfaction with Deep Rock Mining Company, feeling that he designed such a terrible thing and had a terrible conscience!
Although Richard couldn't see the comments, he knew he was being heavily criticized by netizens.

But there's no way to explain this problem; explaining it would spoil the plot.

We can only endure it for now.

After Richard Moreno left, Xu Meng, while admiring the scenery of the town and the abyss, said unhurriedly:
"[Outer Wilderness]'s gameplay isn't just about rainforests, spaceships, and this abyss town."

"We've also developed some other things."

"However, I always believe that the most fun thing in the world is exploring the unknown."

"Therefore, I've always liked to hide Easter eggs and hidden missions in games so that everyone can discover them on their own."

"Many buildings, characters, and quests in the Sprawling City that are not mentioned in the update announcements also reflect this concept."

"Now, I intend to take this idea to a higher level—"

"This time... we've hidden an entire city!"

“A city with a unique style, whose size is between this cliffside town and the sprawling metropolis.”

"Name, location, clues... all unknown!"

"The only thing I can say is that it has been updated in the virtual world and is quietly waiting for everyone to arrive."

"If everyone can find it, then this will be a massive free update."

"If we can't find it, then let's pretend it never happened."

"Don't worry about the development team, I've already paid their bonuses."

"In the future, this practice will become a routine for Dream Building—in addition to the publicly released updates, we will continue to conduct large-scale, non-public, secret updates!"

"Whether or not it can be found, and what to do after it is found, is up to each explorer to decide."

Let's embark on a virtual geographical discovery together!

The press conference hall fell silent for a moment.

Then it suddenly turned into thunderous applause!
The viewers in the live stream were even more excited!
"There's a secret update!! Boss Xu is awesome!!"

"This month's update is huge! I can't wait to log in!"

"Explorer...that's a good identity! I'll register an explorer's association tonight!"

Does this mean there will be a constant stream of free content in the virtual world in the future?

"Great! Long live Boss Xu!"

……

A virtual geographical discovery has stirred the hearts of countless people!
Many people are only now realizing why Xu Meng created a different planet during the creation of the world, instead of directly replicating a digital Earth.

—Although many media outlets still use terms like "[Digital Earth]" or "[Virtual Earth]" when reporting on it.

But players and netizens who have actually watched the entire Genesis are well aware that Digital Planet is not Earth.

The Sprawling City, and all the areas where everyone is currently active, are located on a super-large island.

The shape of this island has no corresponding terrain on Earth.

Now everyone finally understands:

Xu Meng did it on purpose!
His goal is to create a new, unexplored world so that everyone can experience the joy of "exploring the world"!

This perspective transcends the level of "business." If someone else were in this position, people would probably question their true motives.

But Xu Meng...

He's no longer just a businessman!
It's perfectly reasonable for him to do something like this!

Xu Meng had to raise her hand to stop the applause and shouts of "Awesome!" from the press conference audience.

"I saw someone say that we should set off now."

"Don't rush, there's still time after this press conference."

He waved his hand, and the holographic image of the town quickly dissipated, and the place where they were stood transformed back into a seaside town.

This town is much smaller.

Looking at the vast, boundless sea outside the town, the players quickly realized—

"Sailing on the Blue Sea!"

“That’s right, ‘Sailing on the Blue Sea’.” Xu Meng nodded.

"The major update for 'Sailing the Blue Seas'—[Ashes of Benin]—will be officially released tonight."

Amidst gasps of surprise, Xu Meng touched Xiao Meng's head with her left hand and stroked Ke Ke's head with her right, turning around with the two little ones.

The camera also rotated along with it.

The vast and ancient land of West Africa slowly unfolds before the world's eyes.

Scorching sun, parched land, rugged towns, greedy slave owners, suffering indigenous people...

All of this is condensed into this gaze.

"The Bay of Benin was historically known as the Slave Coast and the Gold Coast due to its thriving slave trade."

"It was the place where the slave trade was most developed in history."

"That was a brutal plunder that lasted for more than four hundred years, and Africa has not been able to escape its influence since then, even to this day."

“After tonight, everyone will be able to personally arrive at the Slave Coast and witness firsthand what happened in that era.”

"But please note: the virtual world still has its limits, but in reality, there are often no limits."

"The most brutal acts you can see in the virtual world are still far less than what actually happened in history."

Xu Meng's words quickly made the atmosphere at the scene and in the live broadcast room serious and oppressive.

Users in the United States and Europe dared not speak out at all.

—This is a very sensitive topic for them.

However, Xu Meng did not elaborate on this point—making the world aware of the suffering in Africa is the task of Africans themselves, not his.

What he needed to do was something else:

"Now, with your participation, the history of the virtual world will be changed!"

"After the version update, you will still have maximum freedom."

"Should we join the raiders to maximize our profits?"

"Or should I join the ranks of the indigenous people of Africa, lead them in resisting oppression, and fight for freedom?"

"Or perhaps, become a third-party force?"

"The development team designed several storylines, but this was not mandatory."

"After the Genesis Engine update, the direction of the story will be in your hands!"

At this point, Xu Meng recalled the excited expressions on Li Xingyun and Lu Ming's faces when they found him together.

"You want to unite the whole of Africa? To build an African empire?"

"Sure! As long as you overcome the key hurdles, DreamWorks will make Africa happen for you!"

"You want to launch a counterattack on Europe?"

"Sure! We'll build Europe for you!"

……

Xu Meng's voice grew louder and louder.

The audience at the scene and in the live broadcast room became more and more excited, and they were so excited that they could not contain themselves!

The European players, who were just feeling down because of the slave trade, quickly went from the bottom to the top!

Even the suggestion of "counterattacking Europe" did not anger them at all.

It is really……

The things Xu Meng described were astonishing!
Let the players decide the direction of game development?
This is incredible!

But since Xu Meng herself said those words, that was the final decision!

The audience could no longer contain their excitement, and the chatter quickly grew louder, turning the press conference hall into a noisy mess.

Xu Meng had no choice but to raise her voice further, almost shouting her final declaration—

"After tonight! Where will the world go?"

"That's for you to decide!"

Enthusiastic applause and cheers resounded throughout the press conference hall.

The barrage of comments also surged wildly—

"Brilliant!"

"Invincible!"

"god!"

……

The audience enthusiastically used all sorts of exaggerated words to express their excitement.

The media couldn't wait for the press conference to end and began releasing their stories as soon as possible.

Their peers were completely dumbfounded.

"How can you do that??"

"The number of players in 'Sailing the Blue Sea' might have already exceeded 100 million! With this mechanism, sooner or later the players will force them to build an entire 19th-century Earth!"

Yu Liyan was completely dumbfounded, sporting greasy hair that hadn't been washed for a week.

Several of his close associates reacted similarly:
"Are the development team behind 'Sailing the Blue Sea' this amazing???"

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, no wonder it's called Dream Building!"

"Just listening to this is making me anxious!"

……

The press conference hall was filled with applause and cheers, making it impossible for the conference to continue.

Xu Meng's repeated gestures were to no avail.

In the end, we could only stop trying and patiently wait for their excitement to pass.

Everyone was somewhat surprised to see Xu Meng acting as if "this isn't over yet."

Is this really not the end of the story? Such a bombshell announcement!

Does Xu Meng have another big job to do?
Thinking about it this way, their intense curiosity prompted them to suppress their excitement and gradually quiet down.

As soon as the room quieted down, Xu Meng raised the microphone again:
"Now that we've covered the game, let's talk about things outside of the game."

"The first phase of the [Civilian Reconstruction Project] has been completed, and the promised rewards should be distributed."

"The virtual rewards can be collected at any of the Mansheng stores."

"But I think it's necessary to show off the physical rewards and explain them to everyone in detail."

With just a few words, Xu Meng once again shocked everyone.

What are the rewards for the "Rebuild the Sprawling City" mission?
Controllable dragon wings and tail!
as well as--

Realistic robot!
(End of this chapter)