Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Super Tomato was absolutely stupefied.

“Officer, why are you gone? If you’re gone how will I know where to go?”

A comrade’s call came from ahead —

“They’re coming!!”

Super Tomato quickly sprinted a few steps, hid behind the half remaining wall in the front.

From the cracks in the wall, he saw an armored vehicle steadily advancing and firing off artillery shells!

Before he could celebrate, a sudden and violent explosion occurred on the tank. The fierce explosion even formed a small bright yellow mushroom cloud on top of the tank.

The distance was so close that the ground was shaking, and the intense tremors made Super Tomato feel like his internal organs were about to shake out!

But there was no time to adjust, for a comrade was already yelling: “They’re coming! Open fire at will!”

“Coming? Where from? Where are they coming from?”

Super Tomato held his gun, and staring at the thick smoke in front, he could not see any figure – he was completely in the dark.

But in the next moment, a rapid wave of bullets swept from the smoke, leaving a long string of bullet holes on the wall. Ten pieces of tiny rubble splashed onto his face, scaring him into retreating behind the wall.

The comrade next to him was already returning fire, and a fierce gunfight broke out between the two sides.

Super Tomato peeked out again, his vision filled with a burning vehicle amidst rolling black smoke.

He still hadn’t spotted a single enemy —

“What the hell? Where are the people? Who are you guys shooting at?”

Super Tomato was on the verge of breaking down.

Only by seeing the furious comments saying, “Would you please find a different spot?!” did he finally realize, he was standing right where the smoke from the exploded tank was blocking his view…

Super Tomato quickly left and peeked out from the side of the cover, and his field of view instantly expanded, making him finally realize how important “visibility” was on a battlefield.

He raised his light machine gun and fired rapidly against the advancing enemy.

The sound, recoil, and crisp ejection of the light machine gun were indeed a pleasure.

The only problem was: He could only aim quickly, but that wasn’t very accurate…

Even though the enemy was less than 20 meters away, and not running fast, a full row of bullets only managed to kill three enemies. It seemed like the number of enemies was increasing and the battleline was getting closer!

Adding insult to injury, because of the huge disadvantage in numbers, his comrades were dying one after another.

Super Tomato changed the magazine quickly, getting familiar with the weapons in his hand. Plus with enemies getting closer and denser, it was getting easier to take them down.

The machine gun in his hands was roaring constantly. Three men rushed out from a bullet hole on the left, they were shot dead!

Two men emerged from behind the trees on the right, aiming at him, they were suppressed!

Enemies charged from both sides of the wrecked vehicle in the front, bringing a sweep of submachine gun fire. Super Tomato was hit twice.

He quickly ducked back into cover, reloaded, and waited…

As expected, at the next moment, enemies rushed right in front of his face, directly into the muzzle of his machine gun!

“Ratatatatatat — ”

While Super Tomato was firing, he was also moving his gun, shooting a lethal streak of bullets, that didn’t kill only the two enemies in front, but also the three enemies on the right who were about to rush up!

He had no time to consider the groans and screams of the enemies anymore!

Left side!

Right side!

Reload, center!

The machine gun in his hand roared incessantly. Taking advantage of his weapon, he constantly shifted among the broken ruins, launching a bloody slaughter on the enemies who encircled them.

The initial pity, hesitation, and panic all vanished. He was singularly focused on killing as many of the oncoming enemies as possible. In a short span of minutes, he had turned into a killing machine on the battlefield.

“Boom!”

A shell landed only four meters to his right. The smoke and dust covered his vision, the bullets sweeping past his feet.

But Super Tomato wasn’t the least bit scared, not even considering evasion. He swept his machine gun towards the direction where the bullets were coming from.

What followed were more shells and thicker dust and smoke that nearly blinded him.

The enemy had already rushed to within four to five meters. Super Tomato could even clearly see the death state of the enemy.

Until a flame burst out from the smoke and dust!

The flame leapt more than four meters in the air and directly ignited him!

“Damn, what’s this!”

This weapon was way beyond his expectation!

Super Tomato hurriedly threw himself to the ground, rapidly rolling around in an attempt to put out the fire on his body.

Unfortunately, the enemy had already rushed up, standing just one meter away from him, blasting fire right into his face!

When his health bar was fully depleted, Super Tomato felt like he’d been thoroughly roasted!

Even when his consciousness started departing from the ground, he deliberately looked down and felt that his corpse had turned into a charred piece.

The next moment, a massive shell fell here. His corpse, the flamethrower soldier, and the remnants of the building were all blasted into bits!

Then the next moment, his consciousness traveled through the dense debris, quickly pulling back to the rear defense line and becoming another soldier defending the tactical position.

The weapon in his hand also upgraded to a larger and fiercer beast — the Vickers MK.I heavy machine gun!

Looking at the nearly completely lost first line of defense ahead, Super Tomato excitedly held the heavy machine gun and said, “Come on! Meet my new friend!”

*

Meanwhile, Lance was still persevering at the first line of defense!

He was truly a star professional player of the [Burned Boat Club]. In this level, his performance was exceptionally brilliant —

Not only was his adaptation extremely strong, quickly getting the hang of new weapons, but he was also methodical with his enemy location, avoidance, and movements. He even had extra capacity to strive for the highest combat achievements and kill counts.

This allowed him to hold on the first line of defense for a long time!

His kill count significantly outstripped Super Tomato’s.

Even while Super Tomato began a wild spray of bullets at the second line of defense, Lance was still persisting at the first battle line!

He wasn’t insistent on his light machine gun.

When his comrades were almost entirely dead or wounded, and the enemy rushed up to bring the fight within two or three meters (akin to close-quarter combat), he decisively discarded his machine gun and picked up the rifles or even handguns that he collected from the bodies of friends or adversaries, killing the enemy in the most efficient way.

Sometimes, when he had no time to reload, he would simply switch weapons from an enemy he just killed.

His superior combat instincts, shooting skills, and environmental utilization allowed him to create a feeling of invincibility in this tiny space!

Just like he would not die!

How you fight, he doesn’t die!

But Lance didn’t realize one issue —

This line of defense was destined to be breached in the game’s design…Players would certainly fail, retreat to the second line defense, and learn new weapons.

Put plainly: dying was the correct way to progress.

The better he played and the longer he persisted, the longer he would actually be stuck on the same level…