Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Leonard, the president of the [Ancient Architecture Recording and Protection Foundation], knocked on Lincoln\'s door, intending to pay a visit to this honorary president.

Despite his busy schedule, Leonard came only to express his gratitude to Lincoln.

The reason for his gratitude, however, came as a surprise to Lincoln:

"The number of graduate students enrolling in the ancient architecture-related majors this year has increased significantly compared to the previous years."

Old Man Leonard was elated, "Although the final confirmation has not yet been done, many professors have reported that not only are their own quotas filled, but they have also received many more emails than in the past."

"Before this year, the number of enrollments in ancient architecture-related majors had been declining. Now we no longer need to worry about a shortage of students leading to a lack of talent."

After saying this, Old Master Liang looked at Lincoln, his face full of emotion.

In this era, money, indeed, is a wonderful thing.

It can even change the current state of an entire industry.

However, people who are willing to spend money without considering the return on investment and devote themselves to the benefit of the nation and the race are simply too few.

This is not just a question of whether or not one is willing to spend money or contribute.

It is also a question of whether one\'s financial resources are strong enough to withstand it!

And the young man in front of him, without a doubt, could withstand it!

Old Master Liang kept thanking Lincoln, seemingly without end.

It was only when he was about to leave that he couldn\'t help but complain about how Sisi would run off to the virtual world after school to play with her "animal friends" and not cling to him anymore...

Lincoln was speechless and thought for a moment before suggesting, "How about I block her account?"

Leonard immediately widened his eyes and waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need, that\'s not necessary!"

Leaving Lincoln\'s house, even after Lincoln had closed the door, the old man still reached out to block the door and reiterated, "Really, there\'s no need! Please don\'t!"

Lincoln couldn\'t help but smile, "I know, I was just joking with you."

Old Master Liang looked at Lincoln with a few suspicious eyes before leaving with unease.

On major matters, he believed Lincoln was reliable.

But on small matters, he was less trusting...

After sending Leonard away, Lincoln checked the progress of the speedrun competition.

Unfortunately, the gap had not only not been narrowed but had even shown signs of widening.

[Drawing a Snake with Horns]had also dropped out of the top three.

The development of this situation had been noticed by the players.

The players from Izumo were cheerful and excited, while those from Daxia were inevitably pessimistic.

Lincoln quickly glanced at the Internet posts, sticking to the mantra of "out of sight, out of mind" before washing up and going to bed early.

Anyway, the result would come out tomorrow.

*

Yelang spent all day Monday in Night City, trying to catch up on his progress while the majority of people were at work or school.

However, things didn\'t go as smoothly as he had hoped.

Having stayed up late into the dawn of last night and finally obtaining the silver trophy of the stealth challenge, he had chosen to log off.

Struggling to get out of bed and start his live stream early this morning, he found himself in Night City with no time to catch his breath, and countless security officers were rushing at him the moment he opened his eyes!

The constant sound of gunshots, shattering bottles, and screams of fleeing club-goers filled the air!

Moreover, since he logged off in the underground bathhouse of the Red Circle Club, all the guests and service staff here were wearing swimsuits and shuttling between the baths.

When startled and fleeing, there were benefits everywhere, and Yelang didn\'t know where to look!

All he felt was a great view.

Then he was shot to death by the security officers firing wildly, taking more than thirty bullets and falling into the bath.

The automatic savepoint of this task was actually in the bathhouse, and opening his eyes would start a chaotic battle!

Yelang felt utterly absurd, "If someone with less skill came here, wouldn\'t they be stuck in an endless loop of dying?"

While he complained verbally, his hands were quick to pull out his gun and fight back.

Although the battle was still tough, at least his task was only to escape the Red Circle Club and not necessarily win.

After a fierce fight, he managed to return to the Continental Hotel quite smoothly.

By a coincidence, he saw the beautiful female killer Perkins again as he entered the Continental Hotel.

The last time he saw her, Perkins had taken the initiative to talk to him, and he had played along, trying to obtain side mission information or such, but unfortunately, in the end, he only learned about some trivial old stories.

Of course, the "playing along" here was selecting a few auxiliary keywords provided by the system and organizing language for communication.

Otherwise, forcing players who don\'t like socializing to chat with NPCs and gather intelligence would be too difficult, right?

This time, Perkins was even more proactive, greeting Yelang, and her attitude was significantly different from last time.

Not only was she closer and warmer, but she also unconsciously leaned closer to Yelang during the conversation.

Upon seeing that Yelang didn\'t resist, she even reached out to touch his arm and quickly hugged Yelang\'s arm to her chest.

The strange sensation made Yelang\'s body stiffen, his thoughts running wild.

Even though he had assumed John Wick\'s identity, asking him to remain heartbroken and chaste because of his late wife Helen\'s death seemed unrealistic...

Seeing the gorgeous female killer coming towards him, Yelang didn\'t even think about the fact that his "wife had just passed away."

He just felt that John Wick, as a well-known figure in the killer world, was truly charming and had female killers throwing themselves at him!

And Cloud Dream certainly didn\'t hold back when it came to giving players benefits!

Almost losing his mind, Yelang took Perkins to his Room 818.

The female killer showed no signs of resistance and was affectionate throughout, just short of winking at him.

Entering the room and seeing the huge double bed, she even took the initiative to undress Yelang, removing his suit and bulletproof vest before pushing him down onto the bed.

The next moment, the female killer took out her soft black belt from her waist and gently covered Yelang\'s eyes.

"Wow! I knew I misjudged Cloud Dream!" Yelang was astonished, "So when they send out benefits, they\'re this bold!"

In the darkness, he felt some pressure on his chest.

He wondered to himself: had the female killer already undressed and climbed on top of him?

So quickly?

Before he could even process the thought, he suddenly found himself standing at the entrance of the Continental Hotel.

Cars flowed like water along the road beside him, with hurried men and women passing by.

Yelang blinked, confused.

"What\'s happening? Is there a bug in the game?"

He looked at the live broadcast room only to find all the comments filled with unstoppable laughter.

"Don\'t just laugh, tell me what\'s going on!"

After waiting a while, finally someone who had laughed enough explained what had happened:

"Classic female killer seduction tactics!"

"I\'m so dead, you got stabbed right in the heart and died on the spot!"

"A knife hanging over the word \'lust\'!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Serves you right, you womanizer! Stabbed, huh? Haha."

"I suggest you check out the bounty poster at the Continental Hotel, your name is at the top of the list!"

"Couldn\'t see it coming, huh? As soon as you entered the hotel lobby, you were mesmerized by the female killer\'s breasts, benefits, and a big bed. You wouldn\'t have noticed the bounty anyway!"

[Lincoln\'s Malice]

...

After reading the comments for a while, Yelang finally understood what had happened—

The big bad Vigo had put out a huge bounty on him. The female killer, Perkins, was tempted by the reward and tried to seduce him. She planned to launch a surprise attack and kill him when he let his guard down, then collect the bounty.

—And he had fallen for it completely!

Looking at the Continental Hotel right in front of him, Yelang was speechless again.

"Cloud Dream, Lincoln!" he said through gritted teeth: "You just won\'t stop torturing the players, will you!"

"Seducing in a game? Are you insane?"

Unfortunately, his words didn\'t win the audience\'s sympathy. Instead, more gleeful comments appeared:

"It\'s just that you\'re too easily fooled. Super Tomato didn\'t fall for it at all."

"Not to mention Super Tomato, even Yi didn\'t get tricked!"

"I wonder, this female killer isn\'t even more attractive than you in disguise, so why is your resistance so low?"

"It\'s over; it\'ll become a dark history, and you probably won\'t find a girlfriend in the future... I suggest finding a boyfriend!"

...

Seeing the comments, Yelang found it hard to accept.

Setting aside the other comments, but...

"Yi didn\'t fall for it? That\'s impossible!"

—Yelang and Yi had played games together many times.

He was well aware that whether Yi truly enjoyed risqué stuff or deliberately exaggerated this aspect of his personality for the sake of live streaming, he would hardly be able to resist the female killer\'s seduction.

So he found it hard to believe the comments.

"There\'s no way Yi can resist the temptation of a beautiful killer!"

The moment the words fell, the comments immediately flooded with "Bet!" "Loser cross-dresses!" "Whoever backs down is a coward!"

Yelang gave in immediately, not saying another word, and sulkily entered the Continental Hotel to check his bounty.

And just like the previous time, the moment he stepped into the lobby of the Continental Hotel, the female killer Perkins appeared "coincidentally" in front of him again.

But it was obvious that the same trick wouldn\'t work twice on a saint!

Yelang took the initiative to confront Perkins.

*

Yelang\'s decision not to bet with the audience was a very wise move.

Because Yi really wasn\'t fooled.

It\'s just that the reason he didn\'t fall for it was a bit special...

When he realized that the female killer was approaching him and even grabbing his arm, Yi didn\'t hesitate to pull away.

—Then, he embraced the female killer in his arms.

The female killer suggested, "Go to your room?"

Yi replied, "No hurry, let\'s have a drink first."

Then he carried the female killer, intending to go to the bar downstairs for a drink.

—Come on, Yi had tested it on the first day of the closed beta: while the game seemed to have a startlingly large scale, it still had one crucial issue left unresolved.

—You can\'t take off your pants!

What\'s the point of going to the room with a female killer if you can\'t take off your pants? To share past memories and confide in each other while holding hands?

What a joke...

As for other benefits?

Given Cloud Dream\'s scale, you can\'t even touch her butt—why bother going to the room?

For a "high-end" player who tested the game extensively during the closed beta, it would be tough for a seduction to work!

So Yi wasn\'t immune to being fooled; he just felt that there was no need to enjoy the benefits the female killer could offer inside a room.

The female killer tried to persuade Yi to go to the room several more times, but to no avail.

In the end, when Yi took her to the underground of the Continental Hotel, passed through the staff restroom, and opened the hidden door to the bar, she couldn\'t hold back any longer.

Taking advantage of having no witnesses, she initiated a swift attack!

Then she stabbed her knife into Yi\'s bulletproof vest before he could even take it off!

"Damn it!" Caught off guard, Yi was startled: "Isn\'t the Continental Hotel a safe zone?"

As he fumbled to deal with the female killer\'s onslaught of knife attacks, he shouted, "Can we attack each other in a safe zone?!"

There was no time to draw his gun, so Yi tangled up with the female killer in a fight, amidst the audience\'s laughter. After a few hits, both of them fell to the ground, rolling into a tangled mess.

Caught off-guard during the struggle, he was violently stabbed in the waist by the female killer!