The world is in trouble

Chapter 242: Closed Beta Test Ends Perfectly! The Doomsday Journey Begins!
In fact, Liao Feng knew quite well how Wang Fengyou made money, and even knew about the shady aspects involved.

But... he didn't really care.

After all, he's a second-generation rich kid, and he's seen plenty of shady dealings.

Besides, if Teacher Zhao can earn this money, why can't I?

Moreover, he immediately understood what Wang Fengyou meant when he said those words.

So Liao Feng casually asked, "About how much can you make in a year?"

Wang Fengyou: "About several billion."

Liao Feng's heart skipped a beat.

Billions?
Depend on! ! ! !

Even with my status and position, I can't make billions a year. And you, a farmer, make billions a year?
Robbery?
This number truly captivated him.

He controls two large websites: Lingxi Island and Renren.com.

The valuation may be very high.

But unless it goes public and a portion of it can be realized, it's all just paper wealth.

Lingxi Island is able to maintain a slight profit, while Renren.com is simply burning money and losing money.

Liao Feng: "You guys really are making a fortune in silence."

Wang Fengyou: "I can't compare to President Liao. He's so young, yet he controls two giant internet companies. How glamorous is that?"

Liao Feng remained silent.

It looks glamorous, but who knows when they'll actually make money?

"Let me think about it, okay?" Liao Feng said.

Wang Fengyou: "Of course, of course."

........................

After Liao Feng returned, he hesitated for a long time before finally seeking Wu Lingxi's opinion.

Wu Lingxi: "Why not take out a bank loan?"

Liao Feng: "I've already borrowed quite a bit."

Wu Lingxi felt this was not a valid reason, because the political and business system that Liao Feng was backed by made it easiest for him to obtain loans.

Why not lend?

Wu Lingxi: "Wang Fengyou's money has a gray area."

Liao Feng: "Actually, the beauty lies in this gray area."

Wu Lingxi: "What do you mean?"

Liao Feng: "He has a string of identities on the surface, including a member of the CPPCC, but it's useless. At a critical moment, if we exert a little effort, he will be doomed. At that time, he won't have to repay his money."

Wu Lingxi was slightly taken aback, and then remained silent.

So that's what Liao Feng was planning.

Wang Fengyou makes money in the gray area, which makes him a lamb to the slaughter for Liao Feng, a second-generation power holder.

They started with 100 million, and now they want another 300 million.

In other words, Liao Feng must swindle at least 400 million yuan from the other party.

And that's not all!
In Liao Feng's plan, the more shady Wang Fengyou's money was, the better. At crucial moments, as long as his system exerted enormous pressure, Wang Fengyou would not only have to give up all his shares, but would also have to spend even more money to buy Ping An.

Wang Fengyou wanted to recruit Liao Feng into his scheme just like he had recruited Teacher Zhao, to protect his money-making endeavors, but little did he know that Liao Feng was already sharpening his knives.

........................

Lightning Group.

"We have already repaid the bank's first loan."

"I just did a very detailed calculation of the possible expenses for next year, including the investment in Kung Fu Panda and the budget for acquiring Android."

“We still have a funding gap.” Xia Xi looked up.

Lin Xiao: "How much?"

Xia Xi: "There are a lot of people. We're actually living beyond our means right now. In order to win this decisive battle, we've spent the money we have for the first half of next year."

No wonder most companies actually die during their expansion phase.

Lightning Group has been making such crazy amounts of money, but it still can't support such crazy expansion.

“Uh…” Xia Xi suddenly said, “These next few days, you should spend more time with Lian Yi.”

Lin Xiao: "You... went to see Mayor Lian again?"

Xia Xi nodded: "This time, I plan to borrow 200 million."

"Moreover, Semir Apparel guaranteed one hundred million of it for us."

Lin Xiao said, "Okay, okay..."

This was the third time Xia Xi had asked Mayor Lian for help with a loan, and she didn't even go through Lin Xiao; Xia Xi contacted him directly.

Xia Xi: "Now we're just waiting for Jiayuan.com to officially go public and raise tens of millions, nearly a hundred million US dollars. Then Lightning Technology will borrow the money."

"This way, we'll be much better off."

"At least, we'll have the money to acquire Android."

At that moment, Xia Xi's assistant's voice rang out from outside: "President Gao."

Gao Changhe: "Are President Lin and President Xia both here?"

"They're all here!"

Gao Changhe: "Please inform them."

Xia Xi: "Old Gao, come in."

A moment later, Gao Changhe walked over angrily.

"Shameless, utterly shameless!"

After he came in, he slammed a newspaper onto the table.

There's a huge title on it.

Congratulations to "House of Flying Daggers" for surpassing 2 million yuan at the box office!

Gao Changhe angrily said, "President Lin, do they have no shame?"

"The box office was 8500 million in the first week and 3500 million in the second week. The data released by Manager Liu from Pacific Securities has always been authoritative."

"Based on this trend, the box office of 'House of Flying Daggers' will be at most 1.7 million yuan, which is about 33 million yuan less than our 'Love is Not Blind'."

"Then, suddenly someone came out and said that their box office had exceeded 200 million."

"They're forcibly surpassing us."

The box office data from Manager Liu at Pacific Cinemas is calculated proportionally. She controls the box office figures for Pacific Cinemas, and by dividing them by Pacific Cinemas' market share nationwide, she can basically get the overall box office data.

This time, however, the ratio changed dramatically.

Two of these cinema chains saw their market share surge.

"Box office manipulation, shameless box office manipulation..."

"To win, they've thrown away all pride."

Xia Xi: "Is he doing this for his reputation, or for that 100 million bet?"

Gao Changhe: "I know him. He doesn't care much about reputation. It's because of this 100 million bet. If he loses, he has to donate 50 million. This 100 million bet caused quite a stir before, and he couldn't back down, so he resorted to this dirty trick."

………………

The good news came out that "House of Flying Daggers" had surpassed 200 million yuan at the box office.

On Renren.com, many celebrities shared and liked the post.

Many celebrities even wrote: "Well deserved, I have won with dignity."

Huayi Brothers' CEO, Xiao Wang, even wrote that they no longer have to watch that movie sit at the top of the box office charts. Director Zhang has delivered a perfect performance, and now it's our turn. "A World Without Thieves" and "Kung Fu Hustle" will be released at the end of the year.

The entire movement was very synchronized.

Hundreds of celebrities shared the post and acknowledged the box office success.

Without a doubt, the goal is to establish a fait accompli.

However, those in the industry know all too well what really happened.

Liu, the manager of Pacific, couldn't hold back any longer and posted a status update on Facebook: Is this even allowed?

Then, the daily box office data and box office curve for "House of Flying Daggers" were clearly posted by Pacific Cinemas.

Immediately afterwards, the manager of Shanghai United Cinemas also posted an update: Is this even possible?

Then, they also clearly posted the daily box office data and box office curve for "House of Flying Daggers".

The meaning is very clear.

You shameless people!
This has never happened before in history. The box office of "House of Flying Daggers" was only around 150 million yuan. Although it was not a success, they accepted it.

Then, everyone waited for Lightning Entertainment's reaction.

Because this involves a bet of 100 million.

If they lose, they really have to donate 50 million.

result……

Lightning Group didn't say anything, only released an announcement.

Lightning Group donated 50 million yuan to help build nursing homes for elderly people living alone and to sponsor impoverished children to go to school.

They didn't even point at the other person and start cursing.

Upon seeing the announcement, Zhang Guoshi called Lin Xiao.

"Mr. Lin, please excuse my poor appearance."

“I really didn’t know about this at first, and I had a big fight with him.”

"Thank you, thank you, for still protecting my old face."

Lin Xiao said, "Director Zhang, he's not a good person. You should make your choice sooner rather than later."

Our doors are open to you.

Master Zhang: "Thank you, President Lin. I will definitely consider it seriously."

………………

Let's go back a while.

The last shot of "The Last Days" has been filmed.

Then, director Ning Hao and director Yan Shanghao hugged each other and cried tears of joy.

Finally... filming is finally over.

During this period, both directors were going crazy.

The film, which was originally scheduled to be shot in three to four months at most, was more than two months overdue.

It took more than half a year to film.

Moreover, the original budget of $700 million has been consistently exceeded.

The producer and director Ning Hao called Lin Xiao three times during the production, trembling as they reported that the money might not be enough and they needed to add some more.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao always said, "No problem."

The delay was not due to a lack of cooperation between the two directors, nor was it due to poor acting skills by the actors.

They simply underestimated the difficulty of filming.

Because computer-generated special effects weren't very good at that time, and most importantly, in order to meet the deadline, computer-generated special effects were avoided in almost all scenes, so makeup effects were relied upon entirely.

Several of these scenes were quite large.

A zombie horde will appear.

Is it very difficult to film? It requires a lot of control.

Moreover, at that time, the makeup and special effects teams were generally mediocre both domestically and in South Korea, so it really required hiring a large number of Hollywood teams.

Then, we had domestic special effects teams learn and work together with us.

This cost a lot of money and a lot of time.

Director Ning Hao knew all too well how important this film was to the Lightning Group.

This is the first step towards going global.

Moreover, it must be released by the end of the year.

The timeframe is extremely tight, but the quality must be top-notch.

He was genuinely worried about becoming a sinner against the Lightning Corporation.

Filming has finally wrapped up.

Of course, time will still be extremely tight.

Although this film was almost entirely shot on location, requiring very little computer-generated special effects in post-production, editing still takes time.

And there are less than three months left until the film's release.

In fact, the Korean and Japanese markets must release the film earlier than scheduled.

Lightning Group still needs this movie to suppress the domestic market. In a private meeting, Lin Xiao slammed his fist on the table and said that the Lunar New Year film season must crush Huayi Brothers' movie to the point of no return, and make their movie lose a fortune.

No matter how successful "Love is Not Blind" is, it's still a small-budget romantic comedy and can't dominate the entire film market.

However, a mega-production like "The Last Days" is perfectly capable of doing so.

It can create box office dominance and crush pressure.

Of course, if this movie were simply released domestically, it might do well at the box office, but it wouldn't be dominant enough to create a box office phenomenon.

It needs to be released in South Korea and Japan first, creating a box office phenomenon in those two markets.

That's not even enough.

Sony and Columbia Pictures also need to step up their efforts to release it simultaneously in the North American market and achieve similar box office success.

Then, the products were exported and then sold domestically, which in turn boosted the domestic box office.

Moreover, the promotional materials portray it as a film entirely dominated by China. Even the male lead is of overseas Chinese descent, and in the domestic version's dubbing, most of the dialogue between the male lead and his daughter is in Chinese.

This version of "The Last Days" will have three voice-over versions.

Chinese, Korean, and English. (Of course, apart from the English version, the rest are a mix of Chinese and Korean. The Chinese version has more Chinese text, and the Korean version has more Korean text.)
So the later stages were extremely tense.

Firstly, editing takes time, but most importantly, the dubbing process is quite lengthy.

It will cost a lot of money to hire the most professional voice actors and do the dubbing at the same time.

Moreover, movies nowadays are not like Hong Kong movies from over a decade ago, where the production cycle is incredibly fast, with a movie being completed in just one month.

So after filming was completed, there wasn't even a formal wrap party.

The two directors immediately took the original film and flew to Shanghai in the shortest possible time, where they edited it at Flash Entertainment.

Moreover, this editing work also requires Lin Xiao's approval and leadership to be fast enough.

Because it's so close to its release date.

Therefore, besides his daily work, Lin Xiao spends most of his time working tirelessly in the editing room with the two directors.

The editing process for a typical film usually takes several months.

But Lin Xiao can't give that much time; it needs to be shortened, shortened, and shortened again.

A relatively complete version was edited out in the shortest possible time, and then full-scale dubbing work began immediately.

Meanwhile, the closed beta test of "Perfect World," which is crucial to Renren Group, is also in full swing.

The announcement of the technical closed beta test on October 15th immediately sparked a frenzy.

Of course, if "Zhu Xian" were to conduct a closed beta test at this time, the resulting buzz would only be greater.

After all, both of these games are touted as the first 3D masterpieces in China, aiming to carry the banner of national games.

Initially, Renren Group only offered 1,000 slots.

However, countless players posted messages demanding more slots be added.

Li Qing, the project leader of Perfect World, insisted that the number of participants should not exceed three thousand, and that the technical closed beta test should be as conservative as possible.

However, seeing the players' high level of enthusiasm, Liao Feng decided to increase the number of slots.

The number of people increased to 3000 for the first time.

However, countless players still expressed their dissatisfaction on the Renren.com community, saying that there were too few closed beta codes.

Therefore, Renren.com increased the number of beta testers to 5,000.

In addition, a mini-program has been launched. All players who apply for closed beta testing must first download this mini-program to test their computer configuration. Only computers with a configuration above the standard level, preferably far exceeding the standard level, will be eligible for a closed beta test code.

Ultimately, to Renren.com's delight, more than 100,000 people applied for the closed beta test.

Moreover, this was after screening based on computer configuration requirements, totaling 100,000 people.

This popularity greatly boosted Liao Feng's confidence.

There hasn't even been a large-scale promotion yet, but there are already so many people interested in Perfect World.

Once the closed beta ends and a massive advertising campaign begins, how high will the game's popularity be?
11 Month 1 Day!
The closed beta test for Perfect World has officially begun.

Meanwhile, Lightning Games also managed to snag dozens of closed beta codes.

Lin Xiao, along with the core members of Lightning Games, also began to try out the game.

Upon entering the game, Zhang Chun was immediately disappointed. (Actually, she had already been disappointed once before.)

Just...that's it?
Your visual presentation is quite different from our "Zhu Xian".

Lin Xiao had played "Perfect World" in his previous life. He closed his eyes and tried his best to recall, and he could say with great confidence that, in this era, "Perfect World" had sufficient graphics and could even surprise a large number of players.

However, it still falls short of the historical version of "Perfect World".

After all, the production cycle is much shorter than in the past, and the pace of production is quite tight.

The game mechanics are similar to those of the historical Perfect World, but there are also some differences.

After playing for about two hours, Lin Xiao logged off.

Zhang Chun also went offline.

Lin Xiao: "How is it?"

Zhang Chun: "I feel ashamed, and also a little scared."

Lin Xiao: "How so?"

Zhang Chun: "At first, I belittled it to the point of being worthless because I spend almost every day with our 'Zhu Xian' game, so I couldn't stand the sudden decline in graphics and the relative backwardness of the game's extreme features."

"But now that I think about it carefully, the quality of Perfect World is actually quite good."

“It’s even better than our first version of ‘Zhu Xian’.”

"I can't imagine what the consequences would have been if you hadn't directly ordered 'Zhu Xian' to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch?"

What consequences?
Of course, it was Waterloo.

There's also the collapse of Er Gou's reputation.

At the time, Zhang Chun's team felt that the first version of "Zhu Xian" was pretty good, and it was also quite good compared to the competing products at the time.

But in today's world, it can't even compare to "Perfect World".

However, now, "Zhu Xian" has undergone at least two major upgrades, bringing in two of the world's top teams to complete various improvements.

The Unreal Engine 2 was even upgraded by half a generation because of this game.

The project's budget kept increasing, almost doubling.

The production cycle has been extended time and again. The project started being produced for the first Facebook Night, and now that the third Facebook Night is about to begin, the project is still not finished.

The cycle has been extended from more than a year to more than two years.

Everything is for the sake of game quality.

Therefore, the current presentation and game completion of "Zhu Xian" far surpass "Perfect World".
It's fair to say that in terms of sheer visual presentation, it's absolutely world-class.

But... most players don't know that.

In fact, none of them had ever played 3D online games before, so they were already very satisfied with Perfect World being available.

..............................

After the closed beta test began, almost all of Renren's top executives sat in front of their computers, waiting for player feedback.

Keep an eye on Facebook and Renren.

They're also keeping an eye on various social media platforms.

Renren.com has even created a dedicated community for "Perfect World".

The number of posts above is increasing.

"Damn, this game is pretty good!"

"The graphics of this game are amazing, beyond my expectations."

"I don't know how good 'Zhu Xian' is, but 'Perfect World' is very good."

"I've played The Elder Scrolls III, and I can clearly feel that Perfect World's graphics are better than The Elder Scrolls III's. Renren.com is awesome!"

This is the core reason.

The gaming industry has been evolving rapidly in recent years. Although The Elder Scrolls III was released two years ago, its development actually began in 2000, considering the hardware limitations at that time.

Moreover, at that time, World of Warcraft had not yet entered China. Putting aside the long-ago King of Kings, the most recent 3D online game was probably Lineage II.

“I’ve played Lineage II, which is currently the world’s top 3D online game. I think there’s not much difference between Perfect World and Lineage II. I’m proud of Chinese games.”

This is a typical filter effect. According to Lightning Games' very professional review, this version of Perfect World is still quite different from Lineage 2.

However, the graphics of Lineage 2 are somewhat different from those of Jade Dynasty.

However, Lineage 2 is a typical Western fantasy game, while Perfect World is a typical Chinese game, which feels more familiar to players.

Therefore, most domestic players feel that there is not much difference between the two.

"I don't know how 'Zhu Xian' is, but I think 'Perfect World' is definitely worthy of the title of China's number one 3D online game."

"Second Dog Cult Leader, your 'Zhu Xian' has been out for two years. If you don't release it soon, it'll be too late."

Liao Feng was captivated by these posts, and his confidence soared once again.

He even left Renren.com and moved to Facebook's gaming community.

Because of their influence, most of Er Gou's fans are relatively pragmatic, and Facebook doesn't delete posts or control comments, so even in Facebook's gaming community, most comments about Perfect World are positive.

"Damn, guys, this is getting dangerous. Perfect World is really good quality."

"Why isn't 'Zhu Xian' released yet? Is there a problem with its development? Why is 'Perfect World' being released first? 'Zhu Xian' was developed much earlier."

"If this continues, the title of China's No. 1 3D online game will really be snatched away by Perfect World."

"We call for the release of *Zhu Xian*! We call for the release of *Zhu Xian*!"

Seeing these comments made Renren's executives feel even more at ease.

Liao Feng felt even more pleased and walked out of the office to symbolically inspect the various positions.

This is more like a protest.

Many of you opposed my decision to conduct closed beta testing several months early, but now it's proven that everything I did was right.

If "Zhu Xian" comes out first, how can "Perfect World" have such popularity?

....................................

Lightning Game secretly reported to Lin Xiao.

"Mr. Lin, based on our careful analysis..."

"Perfect World was good at the beginning, but its roughness appeared in the mid to late stages, and many bugs also appeared in the mid to late stages."

"Currently, the closed beta of Perfect World only includes the first 40 levels." (This is different from previous versions.)
"Some of the most vicious bugs will only appear after level 50."

"In addition, we have almost completed the anti-malicious cheats for this game and can secretly deploy them at any time!"

Lin Xiao: "In other words, if Renren.com follows the normal process and conducts a second and third small-scale closed beta test, it will likely escape unscathed?"

Zhang Chun: "At least in terms of malicious bugs, they can be seen in the extreme closed beta. But malicious cheats, they should be unable to avoid them no matter what."

Lin Xiao: "So you're saying we should force Liao Feng to shorten the cycle as soon as possible and get into large-scale internal testing?"

Zhang Chun: "That's right."

Lin Xiao picked up a phone and dialed a number: Mr. Cai from Alibaba.

"Mr. Lin, why did you call me? What brings you here?"

Lin Xiao: "President Cai, congratulations! Alibaba's momentum is so strong, and Taobao's user base is constantly reaching new highs."

Mr. Cai: "Mr. Lin, you don't need to say such things to me. You should understand our pain better than anyone else, but you don't experience the kind of pain I have."

Funding chain.

This year, everything at Alibaba has been progressing by leaps and bounds, especially after the launch of Taobao, which has seen explosive growth.

In August, Taobao's monthly transaction volume exceeded 120 million RMB, and in September, its daily sales exceeded 7 million RMB. The annual turnover increased several times over.

Alibaba has also been increasing its investment in Taobao, initially investing 7 million yuan and then adding another 3.5 million yuan in July.

The key point is that this crazy growth rate is not only continuing, but is getting faster and faster.

So, Alibaba is going to run out of money.

Its cash flow is even tighter than that of Lightning Group and Renren Group.

Lin Xiao: "Our businesses not only do not conflict, but are actually complementary, so I would like to make a suggestion."

Mr. Cai: "Go ahead."

Lin Xiao: "Yahoo! Group, Mr. Yang is increasingly dissatisfied with the Yahoo! China team, and it is also in urgent need of transformation. I think it would be far better to invest in you than to invest in Renren.com."

Mr. Cai: "A gentleman doesn't take what belongs to others. Isn't Yahoo! Group in talks with Renren Group?"

What a joke! Lingxi Island is your most direct competitor, and I'm afraid my idea is exactly the same as yours.

"President Lin, but I completely understand what you mean."

"The friendship within the Lightning Group is invaluable."

Lin Xiao: "The same applies to me."

....................................

A few days later!

Liao Feng received news that Cai, the CEO of Alibaba Group, had traveled to the United States to visit Yang Zhiyuan of Yahoo! Group.

Immediately, Liao Feng felt a great sense of crisis, and then immediately called Yang Zhiyuan to try and get some information.

Then I got a positive answer.

Alibaba is also seeking cooperation with Yahoo! Group, and Jerry Yang has expressed some interest. More importantly, Alibaba is also an investment target of SoftBank's Masayoshi Son.

"Mr. Yang, our Perfect World has already undergone closed beta testing and has received a huge amount of positive feedback."

"The game is extremely popular, and I am fully confident that the number of online players will exceed 20 in the shortest possible time."

"In addition, we are actively vying for the exclusive distribution rights for World of Warcraft in China, which will be a double guarantee. In the second half of next year, Renren Group will be able to obtain massive profits."

Yang Zhiyuan: "I'll wait and see."

"But I must also say that Alibaba Group has shown unprecedented promise."

Liao Feng: "My Lingxi Island is also a leading e-commerce website, and we have already achieved profitability a long time ago."

"In the Chinese market, online games will be the biggest source of cash flow for the next few years."

Yang Zhiyuan: "Sina has just become the agent for Lineage 2, and its commercial performance so far can only be described as mediocre."

Liao Feng: "We are different from Lineage 2. We carry the banner of the first domestic 3D online game and the first national game. You should have some understanding of the national sentiment of the people of this country, and these national sentiments can be transformed into huge commercial value."

Yang Zhiyuan: "I'll wait and see."

"But don't worry, as long as you produce sufficiently strong results, my determination remains unchanged."

"Even if I cooperate with Alibaba to some extent in the future, it will not hinder our cooperation."

But Liao Feng felt that these words were just for show. Yahoo Group's money was also limited. After all, this might involve hundreds of millions of dollars. If it were really given to Alibaba, how much would be left for Renren Group?

After hanging up the phone, Liao Feng immediately convened a meeting.

"Our closed beta test was a great success."

"Therefore, I suggest that we bring forward all the schedules."

"In December, we will immediately enter the internal testing phase, and it will be a large-scale internal testing phase."

Immediately, the senior management of the Perfect World development team expressed strong opposition, arguing that even if a third closed beta test was not conducted, a second closed beta test was still very necessary.

Is it going to enter closed beta testing in December?

That's way too risky.

However, in Liao Feng's view, this was a matter of necessity, a schedule that had to be rushed.

Just like Flash Entertainment, they're rushing to meet deadlines, not only in editing but also in dubbing.

We must make sure the movie can be released in December.

For Lin Xiao, "Journey to the End of the World" has a corresponding mission.

For Renren Group, Perfect World also has an even more important mission, and it is entirely related to the success or failure of the upcoming decisive battle.

....................................

11 Month 21 Day!
The first closed beta test of Perfect World has successfully concluded.

It was a pretty big success.

Following this, Renren.com announced that Perfect World would undergo its second large-scale closed beta test in mid-December.

That's considered leaving room for maneuver.

It was clearly an internal test, but in order to be able to both attack and defend, it was called a large-scale closed beta test.

They didn't even explicitly say whether or not the data would be deleted.

11 Month 26 Day!
Lightning Entertainment's most important film, "The End of the World," has finally been completed and is now a finished product.

Next, Lin Xiao invited the president of Columbia Pictures, the big boss of South Korea's CJ Entertainment, Lee Mi-kyung, the former princess of Samsung with a net worth of billions of dollars, and the head of Sony Classics to Shanghai to attend the preview screening of "The End of the World".

This screening is also very important.

Lin Xiao needed to convince Lee Mi-kyung and Sony Classics to invest the largest amount of publicity and theater resources in South Korea and Japan based on the quality of this film.

Furthermore, we need to persuade Columbia Pictures to release the film in North America, and strive for as many theaters and screens as possible.

Only with the support of the three giants, Sony Classics, CJ Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures, can the company guarantee maximum box office returns in Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

11 Month 28 Day!
The global internal screenings of "The Last Days" have officially begun.

Giants gather here!

....................................

Note: I was more than ten minutes later than planned, but the pacing of the story really sped up a lot. My benefactors, could you please give me your monthly votes? Deepest gratitude!
(End of this chapter)