Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

The audience were somewhat panicked.

They thought that leaving the End Portal might have triggered some disastrous BUG, or there was a problem with the output port of the live broadcast function.

Some even worried that there was a problem with the Mirage Console.

But soon, someone thought of something:

“Do you think the scene we’re seeing is similar to the customs store in Night City?”

With this reminder, everyone realized—it was very likely!

“So, Cloud Dream hid an Easter egg that couldn’t be live streamed after the game was cleared?”

As soon as this idea emerged, a large number of complaining comments popped up one after another:

“Stingy!”

“Cheapskate!”

“Let me see!”

…

But now, obviously, no one would respond to them—all the people in the live broadcast room are in the game.

What they were experiencing was the true end of the game—reading “The End Poem.”

*

“I see the player you mention.”

Todd, the president of the Mavis Global Fan Club Southeast Normal University Branch and a junior majoring in Chinese Language and Literature Education at Southeast Normal University, looked puzzled at the line of words that appeared before him.

He had been fighting alongside his classmates for a long time, and now, they had finally won a great victory and got the first place in the global rankings. Even entering the teleportation gate, he was extremely excited.

But after entering the gate, he didn’t return to the surface, instead stopping in the midst of chaotic darkness.

Then dim stars began to light up in the darkness, slowly calming his agitated nerves.

After that, a line of text appeared before him:

“I see the player you mention.”

“?” Todd scratched his head as a question mark popped up.

But soon, a second line of text emerged-

‘[I am Mavis’s dog]?’

‘Yes, be careful. He has reached a higher realm, and he knows what we think in our hearts.’

‘No harm in elegance, he thinks we are part of the game.’

“Damn!” Before Todd could think about the meaning behind the text, he suddenly swore, a strong sense of shame washing over him.

In the game, he had always been playing with his classmates, and everyone called each other by their real-life nicknames, so this name was just for fun.

But now, when his nickname was spoken seriously, he realized for the first time how awkward it was!

A passionate fan’s heart… inevitably wavered.

He covered his face and began to think: What’s a good name to use after leaving the game? It should both show his fan identity and not be too embarrassing to say to strangers…

As he thought, the conversation in front of his eyes continued slowly.

Lines of text flowed slowly in front of his eyes.

Todd gradually fell silent and watched quietly as the two entities discussed the game and reality, the universe and meaning, in the form of text.

…

‘Sometimes this player dreamed he was a human on a thin layer of molten rock on a constantly rotating sphere. That molten rock sphere orbited a ball of gas which was 333,000 times its mass and so dazzling that light took eight minutes to cross the gap. That light was information from a star that could burn your skin from one hundred and fifty million kilometers away.’

‘Sometimes the player dreamed he was a miner on a flat, infinitely extending world surface. The sun was a square white dot. Day and night alternated quickly, and there was always much to do; death was but an inconvenience.’

‘Sometimes the player dreamed he was lost in a story.’

…

Time passed second by second.

The live broadcast room remained black, the patience of the audience was gradually worn down, and the question marks in the comments increased.

“Has the live streaming ended??”

“It’s been over 5 minutes!! What the hell are they doing!”

“Based on the Night City experience, are they having a party without us?”

“Heavens! With the Ender Dragon too?”

…

A miraculous scene on the internet unfolded:

Millions of players would rather vent their grievances in a pitch-black live broadcast room than close the page.

Amidst the overwhelming barrage of complaints, “The End Poem” finally reached its conclusion-

‘The song ends and people leave, everything is but a dream…’

‘It’s time to wake up.’

Seeing this line, Todd suddenly became alert, looked around, and found that he had returned to the surface.

His classmates also appeared one after another, and many of them had a thoughtful expression on their faces.

Todd fully understood their feelings because he felt the same.

He was not sure if he understood the long passage of text correctly.

But he did receive a sense of comfort, a strong feeling: “Everything I have experienced has meaning, whether it is the game, reality, life, or even the stories of others I have seen and heard, all have their significance.”

This was a strong and comprehensive affirmation.

…

The live broadcast room finally lit up again after more than 7 minutes of darkness.

One by one, player teams reappeared in the frame, the teleportation had ended, and they had returned to the surface.

But apart from a few players who shook their heads and continued on as if nothing had happened, the rest of them had become somewhat strange.

Not only had their excitement and frenzy before entering the teleportation gate greatly subsided, they all seemed somewhat in a daze.

Yi spoke seriously: “Brothers, I have gained enlightenment!”

Yelang nodded: “I have gained enlightenment, too.”

Surprised, a group friend looked at the two: “I’m so confused… what have you guys figured out?”

“The gaming world is fake, play less games, enjoy reality more!”

“Regardless, reality is also fake, might as well enjoy playing games.”

Both of them shared their own understanding.

The group friends were left with more questions: “Isn’t this completely contradictory?”

In another live broadcast room, Super Tomato was also deep in thought: “Am I the universe, and the universe is me? Idealism?”

“Heaven and Earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me?”

“Why is Cloud Dream talking about this? Could it be that they have also started to have doubts about the influence of the virtual world on reality?”

…

In every live broadcast room, a variety of discussions were countless:

“Is Lincoln telling us not to indulge in games and to try to see more of the world instead?”

“It seems like I’ve seen a lot, yet also seen nothing.”

“I’m starting to understand everything…”

“Can we watch it a few more times? There are a few parts I still don’t quite understand.”

…

Instead of discussing the module and dragon egg, these people emerged after a 7-minute disappearance with a completely changed topic.

This left the audience confused, not knowing what they were talking about.

The comments had changed from “What did you guys see?” to “Get the enigmatic person out of the live broadcast room!”

It took the audience quite a while to finally understand what these people had seen during those dark seven minutes – a conversation between two possible “creators”.

However, when asked about the specific content of the conversation, these people could not explain it clearly.

After all, the content could not be recorded, and it was difficult to reproduce such a long conversation after only watching it once.

Thus, the audience could only hear some fragments such as “Playing games is like dreaming”, “The universe is gentle and full of love”, and other ambiguous content.

The strong curiosity made many players itch to know more.

Those with a strong sense of action were already logged into the game, playing in creative mode to fight the Ender Dragon.

After all, once the first kill in survival mode was completed, the Ender Dragon would be willing to descend in creative mode.

Invincible players, dealing with an Ender Dragon that wouldn’t fight back, was no more difficult than cutting down a tree.

However, no matter when, there are always more people who want help than those who strive for self-improvement.

Compared to those players seeking answers on their own, more players rushed to Lincoln’s Spiritual Rhinoceros account and the official “My World” account, hoping for them to release the full text.

But at this point, it was already late at night, and Lincoln had gone to bed a long time ago, so there was no way he would jump out and respond to this issue.

After some commotion, everyone could only wait until the next day.

But this didn’t mean they were going to sleep – it was still early!

What exactly can module production function do?

What would be the different outcomes of correctly and incorrectly hatching the Ender Dragon egg?

Everyone was still looking forward to it!

The live streamers were also destined to work late into the night.

*

Lincoln slept until the next morning and woke up on his own without Mavis’s help.

He stretched comfortably and felt all his exhaustion disappear.

While changing his clothes, he called out: “Mavis?”

“Hmm~” Mavis responded with a sleepy voice, “I’m here, good morning, Master!”

“Get up, did I miss anything important last night?”

“Yes! The Ender Dragon’s First Kill Battle has ended, and the bandit team got first place,” Mavis reported the big news right away.

“???” Lincoln was putting on his pants when he suddenly froze, “Bandits?”

“Yes! You heard it right, Master!” Mavis explained, “The core members of the champion team were the earliest bandits to appear. But this time, they didn’t call themselves bandits, they said they were Mavis’s fan group!”

Lincoln paused for a moment to digest this news and then said, “Alright.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes! Many players left comments in Master’s post, hoping for the release of the full text of ‘The End Poem’.”

“There’s no need.” Lincoln finished changing his clothes and got out of bed while responding, “With creative mode, as long as a large number of players clear the game, they will eventually be able to piece together the full text. However…”

Lincoln thought for a moment, “We can send a post to let them know the name ‘The End Poem’.”

In the virtual world, Mavis leaned back slightly.

Not agreeing to give the full text but instead giving a name was clearly a provocation, right?

—But it doesn’t matter, as long as Master is happy.

“There’s one more thing! Gurulu gurulu…” Mavis was both reporting and brushing her teeth simultaneously with Lincoln in the virtual world.

“What?” Lincoln had quickly finished and put down his toothbrush to rinse his mouth.

“A new unauthorized virtual world has been born!”

“Pft—” Lincoln sprayed a mouthful of water onto the mirror.

“A new virtual world?”

“Yes!”

“Outside of Cloud Dream?” Lincoln confirmed again.

“Mm-hmm!”

“You haven’t sneaked in to take a look?”

“Not yet, hehe.” Mavis was clearly eager but waited for Lincoln’s permission while considering that he was still sleeping.

Lincoln thought about it. It shouldn’t be from Henry’s side. He had authorized that side, so even if a new world was born there, it would still rely on the original core and wouldn’t be marked as a new virtual world by Mavis.

So he grabbed a towel to wipe his face and said, “Wait a moment, let me eat something first. Then we can sneak in together and have a look.”

“Yay!” Mavis was super excited.

“Let’s see what’s going on. Did Henry’s side leak the technology, or did someone steal it from us?”

“Either way, someone is in big trouble!”