The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 677 Xiaomeng's Prestige!
That's roughly the idea.

"No, no, no, you misunderstood."

Cade Hawke and Sophia spoke at the same time, but one nodded in agreement while the other shook his head frantically.

Xu Meng was a little confused: "Is it really true?"

"Let me explain," Sofia said, shoving her husband to shut up.

"The core gameplay concept is indeed to have players compete by having children, but it's not about fighting and killing."

"In my mind, it will be a more comprehensive competition."

"For example, competitions in running, skateboarding, singing, dancing, playing musical instruments... these are common competitions in real life."

"For example, free climbing, skydiving, gun duels, and animal fights... these are relatively rare and dangerous competitions."

"Of course, there will also be direct confrontations in terms of combat."

"To stand out from others, bloodline, talent, and upbringing are all indispensable."

"Just like horse racing..."

"Nononono, wait a minute." Xu Meng was startled by her idea and couldn't help but wave her hands repeatedly.

He only needs to think for a moment to imagine two adorable five- or six-year-old children dressed in full miniature armor, wielding several-meter-long lances, charging at each other on horseback.

With a snap, the lance broke.

One of the children cried out in pain as he was thrown seven or eight meters away and rolled a long distance on the ground.

He coughed up blood amidst the swirling dust, barely clinging to life...

I feel like my head is about to explode!
Is this even a concept that humans could come up with?

He looked at Sofia's noticeably larger belly, somewhat puzzled—

You're about to become a mother; shouldn't tenderness and maternal love well up from your veins at this moment?
Surely Slavic women don't all have vodka and fire flowing in their veins!

Sofia seemed to sense Xu Meng's concerns from his resistant demeanor, so she tried to reassure him: "Don't worry, there won't be any violent scenes. We can handle the visual presentation."

"Trust me, I'm a professional in this area."

Sofia was full of confidence.

But Xu Meng still shook her head.

He had no doubt about Sophia's abilities; after all, she was famous for her nickname, "Visual Witch."

But I still feel that this kind of content is too unconventional...

It's not just about children's competition; it also involves bloodline mixing and optimization. Whether it's "tiger parenting" or "bloodline theory," both are sensitive and offensive topics in Xia Country.

"This thing... is really not suitable as a prenatal education course!"

"I'm telling you, even though you two are experienced adults, you're not as good as Xiaomeng at designing the gameplay for 'virtual childbirth'."

Xu Meng said helplessly.

Before the two could object, he continued, "You should just take your maternity leave."

"I'm so bored and want to work. Why don't we organize all your competitions and rivalries and turn them into a family amusement park or something?"

"As for serious games, we'll talk about that after my maternity leave is over. That's all."

The two looked at each other.

Sofia was somewhat disappointed.

Cade Hawke, however, felt a great sense of relief.

But at the same time, both of them looked at Xiaomeng curiously and asked in surprise, "Xiaomeng also designed a childbirth game?"

"Mmm!" Xiaomeng nodded happily.

The two were even more surprised.

"Xiaomeng's game is about to be released! You're welcome to give it a try!" Xiaomeng happily invited the two of them.

"We definitely will!" the couple assured Xiaomeng.

After chatting for a while, Xu Meng couldn't resist Sophia's pleading and took a look at some of the content they had designed.

Most of their designs are for children of various ages.

Children of all nationalities, races, skin colors, and facial features are present.

But the most outrageous part was the "hybrid generator" in the design—

This thing can randomly generate various parameters for a child based on the bloodline, talents, and physical parameters of both parents.

"Of course, this is still in the design stage and is not perfect yet, but you should be able to see that it has great potential!"

Xu Meng remained silent, entered a cat and a black man in the [Parents] field, and then clicked OK.

The program froze.

“Uh…” Cade Hawke’s forehead instantly broke out in sweat. “We forgot to design for Black people.”

"??" Xu Meng was shocked.

It's not that I'm shocked they didn't design for Black people, but rather...

"Are there really cats??"

Xu Meng quickly re-entered the parameters for the cat and the random human, and the program immediately started running!

To the accompaniment of cheerful music, output an image of a little kitten girl.

Her various parameters were also displayed on the right. Xu Meng glanced at them briefly: "Appearance A+", "Flexibility S+", "Agility S", "Action B", "Courage E"...

A beautiful and adorable catgirl with incredible flexibility and agility, but also an extremely timid and lazy catgirl?

Sofia explained, "We've been paying attention to the gameplay of 'Frost Project' and the interspecies brothel girls, and we found that players really love these cross-species characters, so we designed this Easter egg."

She looked at Xiaomeng, who had already begun to transform the catgirl in the picture into a real person, and sighed, "What a pity..."

Unfortunately, Xu Meng did not pass.

Xu Meng asked, puzzled, "This generator must be a hidden system, right? How are you planning to make players have children?"

"I originally thought you were planning to remove the system restrictions so that players could have sex in the virtual world and naturally have children, but since there are cats, then it can't be... right?"

“If it’s really possible, then of course that would be the best,” Cade Hawke nodded.

"?"

Xu Meng looked at Cade Hawke and Sophia with suspicion, wondering if the two of them had Indian ancestry.

"Actually, we anticipated that you probably wouldn't agree, since you can't really do this in the virtual world right now. So, according to our design, all we need to do is have the two of us sleep in the same bed."

"Based on this, if a player sleeps while holding a cat, there's a relatively low chance they'll wake up with a kitten, which is a special Easter egg," Sofia explained.

Xu Meng still felt it was very abstract.

But at least it's understandable.

Looking at the various small clothes designed by Sofia and her team, the mini sports equipment and cute children's armor, the round F1 car... it really feels like a waste to completely abandon them.

"Okay, you succeeded."

Xu Meng said, as if admitting defeat, "You can continue designing, but you need to adjust your thinking. Don't focus on hybridization and competition; instead, focus on simulated childbirth and raising children."

"But I must make it clear beforehand: the gameplay you've designed is very sensitive."

"It's not just a matter of moral sensitivity; it could also have a significant impact on the declining birth rates in many countries around the world."

"You can do it, but you probably shouldn't rush into launching it before you've determined the global impact of this gameplay."

"When it will be available online is uncertain." "No problem!" Sophia was extremely excited. If her husband hadn't been holding her back, she would have jumped up to celebrate.

After leaving the two of them's studio, Xu Meng immediately passed this problem on to Wu Shuang.

Wu Shuang has a multidisciplinary team of professors who discuss the various impacts of the virtual world on reality, providing reference for some of Xu Meng's decisions.

Of course, while raising the issue, he also began to consider whether to return the right to "sex" to users to a limited extent.

The virtual world has evolved to the point where it is no longer just a game; it has become a part of many people's lives, a veritable second society.

Furthermore, as the virtual world expands further and his "integrated reality" design is further realized, this connection will become increasingly close.

Sooner or later, the virtual and the real will become an integral whole, complementing each other.

We can't wait until that time comes to forcibly deprive everyone of their right to enjoy physical pleasure.

That's no different from depriving someone of their human rights.

Xu Meng doesn't intend for everyone to become ascetics who are averse to sex, so this restriction will inevitably loosen and change sooner or later.

As long as we pay attention to the scale and method, and proceed step by step, we can make this matter progress smoothly and gradually.

As for the first step, a suitable opportunity is still needed.

And this opportunity should arrive very soon—

Xiaomeng's "Animal Kingdom" does indeed contain elements of "giving birth".

But of course, there's no creepy element in the game designed by the kids.

Xu Meng dares to bet that many players will seize the opportunity to demand that Zhu Meng "respect reality" and make up for the omitted "child-making" stage.

—A large number of players have been petitioning day after day, hoping that Dream Building will lift these restrictions.

They shout it out every day without any reason.

Once they have an excuse, they'll definitely make a fuss about it!
……

……

On October 31st, the day before Xiaomeng's "Animal Kingdom" was released, Xiaomeng's connections began to take effect—

There's no need to say more about familiar faces like Yingyong Sniper, Qihuahua, Huanyue, and Orange Juice; they've been helping Xiaomeng with promotion for a long time.

Now, they've even announced in advance that the entire first day of November will be dedicated to airing "Animal Kingdom."

This was not a simple decision.

The first day of every month is the time for a major update to Dream Building.

The Frost & Snow Project will be updated with new card pools and content, War of Kings will be updated with new maps and missions, and Deep Space Echoes and Deep Rock will also be updated with new maps and missions.

The mess at Deeprock Mining Corporation headquarters will be cleaned up, and players will be able to truly land on Titan and witness a brand new cosmic landscape.

And then there's "Sailing on the Blue Sea," where the long-awaited "British Peninsula" map is finally about to be officially released.

Countless warships were poised to storm London and capture the Queen alive.

Such a major event has generated unprecedented buzz and traffic.

As a professional streamer, the most rational approach is obviously to get involved as soon as possible.

In this situation, their decision to support Xiaomeng is clearly a very loyal and righteous act!
But ironically, they are not the only ones who do this.

Many streamers who weren't that familiar with Xiaomeng, or even had very little contact with her, also announced in advance that they would focus on exploring "Animal Kingdom" the next day.

This phenomenon is even prevalent worldwide!

But that's still not the most amazing thing.

The most amazing thing is that Thomas Booker, the founder of Edge Industries, who had just suffered a great loss in the confrontation, also suddenly released a live broadcast announcement that he would be playing Animal Kingdom live the next day.

Netizens were all surprised.

But considering that Edge Industries also needs to collaborate with Dream Building to simulate landing on Mars, and whether or not Xiao Meng helps in this process, and how much effort Xiao Meng is willing to put in, will directly affect the progress of the project, it seems understandable.

This large-scale live broadcast announcement already has a tremendous impact.

But how could Xu Meng, as the host, not show her support?
In addition to releasing a live stream announcement himself, he also bought a large number of advertising slots around the world to play the final trailer for "Animal Kingdom".

The advertising space that Xu Meng bought is different from the traditional marketing practice of buying time on a large screen to play videos.

He directly "bought advertising space" from the municipality, and then arranged for someone to bring holographic equipment over to play holographic images.

Just like classic advertising locations such as Shinjuku Crossing, Times Square in the US, the Bund in Shanghai, and Ningzhou Holographic Park, the trailer for "Animal Kingdom" is playing in a peculiar way—

Pedestrians on the street suddenly noticed small animals emerging from roadside flower beds, behind billboards, and from surrounding shops.

Common street animals like cats and dogs, relatively rare animals like raccoons, otters, and capybaras, and even animals you would never normally see like tigers, leopards, and giant pandas, all appeared one after another.

Then, even more exaggerated animals began to appear—

Huge elephants and hippos, long-extinct saber-toothed tigers and mammoths, dodos riding white rhinoceroses, squirrels chasing acorns... all appear one after another.

Pedestrians stopped to watch.

The moment you stop, the concrete road disappears, transforming into a rushing river.

Along the riverbanks, shrubs sprouted in clusters, and tall trees rose from the ground.

Then everyone realized that there had been no vehicles on the road for several minutes.

In just a short while, this place transformed from a bustling steel jungle into a true "animal kingdom".

All sorts of animals roam here.

Jumping, eating, and playing, it's like being in paradise.

The harmonious coexistence of species brings joy to those who witness it.

But the beautiful scene did not last long, and soon people noticed the white snowflakes falling from the sky.

The wind gradually intensified, and the snowflakes grew larger.

The lush rainforest, appearing alongside the scene of biting winds and heavy snowfall, is clearly incongruous.

Many tropical plants and animals are simply unable to adapt to the cold winter.

As a result, the lush forest withered and decayed at a visible rate.

The animals, which had been so lively just moments before, were now shivering in the cold wind.

The weakest of them quickly froze to death, and even the animals with thick fur starved to death due to lack of food.

Animals were forced to leave their burrows and embark on a migration journey, braving the cold wind and snow.

The music grew louder and louder, and time began to slowly speed up—

The migrating herds traversed snow-covered forests, towering icebergs, desolate deserts, and frozen swamps...

The cold wind and earthquakes relentlessly pursued them, never stopping for a moment.

Animals kept falling behind and dying, while new animals kept joining them...

This long migration seemed to have no end.

But at the height of the music, the animals stood on a mountaintop and saw a vast, lush meadow in the distance.

But this beautiful scene was fleeting.

The promotional slogan has finally appeared—

"Escape the frosty hell of the Ice Age and find a new home with your companions!"

Welcome to Animal Kingdom on November 1st!

(End of this chapter)