Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

However, unlike Lincoln, the employees of Cloud Dream, who saw the uproar online, couldn't help but feel uneasy, and they had already started discussions in their private chat groups:

"What's going on with our boss?"

"Yeah, when making casual games, everything is filled with love and peace, and a good atmosphere. Why does it get so messed up when it comes to big games?"

"This is the second time, right?"

"Indeed, last time it was a girlfriend cheating, brother's betrayal, killing his own father, and the secret crush committing suicide on the spot..."

"This time's too much too, killing his wife right off the bat!"

"Could it be that there is a conservation law, after healing players with a casual game, you have to make a big game to hurt them again?"

"Ah, if that's the case, that's kind of psychologically twisted, isn't it?"

...

Eventually, they came to a temporary conclusion:

"It's only been two times, so it's too early to come to a conclusion. Let's just wait and see what happens with the next one."

"But if the next big game is still like this, then it's pretty much confirmed!"

Intern Camille looked at the messages in the employee chat group, chuckling and feeling helpless.

How could that be? Lincoln was completely normal!

But looking at the overwhelming "emotional trauma" and "single dog resentment" online, it was hard to ignore.

Finally, she couldn't help but take out her mobile phone and send a text message to her class monitor, Xu Qiuyun-

"Monitor, do you know anything about Lincoln's past? Has he ever been hurt emotionally?"

...

On the other hand, Super Tomato hurried back to his home.

Walking through the spacious living room, looking at Helen in a wedding dress in the picture frame, he didn't know what to do for a moment. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

—At this very moment, friends and family were supposed to be coming to mourn, drink, and console each other in the living room.

But in order to maintain the coherence of the players' emotions, this part was also removed by Cloud Dream.

After scattering in the cemetery, Helen's friends and family would not appear again.

Super Tomato looked at the living room and the task panel.

On the panel, there was only a moving countdown timer – it seemed like the second hand moved once per second, but looking at the quickly changing sky outside, Super Tomato realized: the moving hand was probably the hour hand...

One second was equivalent to one hour.

The sky quickly darkened.

"Ding dong—"

The doorbell rang.

A delivery truck was parked outside, and Super Tomato opened the door to sign for the "package."

Out of habit when testing games, he didn't write "John Wick" on the signature, but drew a tomato instead.

The courier in front of him remained expressionless, calmly accepting the document and handing him a letter and a pet travel box.

Super Tomato took the box, looked at the familiar little beagle inside, and raised the corner of his mouth with interest.

After saying goodbye to the courier and returning to the living room, Super Tomato opened the box, took out the familiar beagle, and noticed the nameplate on the beagle's collar, which read "Nancy" on the front, and "Milkshake" on the back.

Super Tomato didn't care about the English name at all, and directly greeted the dog—

"Hello, Little Milkshake!"

Milkshake was very sensible, barking softly twice, then immediately stretching out her tongue, intending to lick Super Tomato's face.

"Hahaha, no way! No licking!"

Super Tomato pulled Little Milkshake away, rubbed its doggy head, and finally put her on his lap, picking up the letter.

'John, I'm sorry I can't accompany you anymore, but you still need to go out and love someone or something. Why not start with her?

After all, that car of yours doesn't count.

I love you, John.

We've both been tormented by illness for too long. Now that I've found peace within, it's your turn to find it.

Your best friend forever,

Helen.'

After reading the letter, some scenes flashed through Super Tomato's mind via the neural modulator-demodulator's translation of digital to neural signals:

The priest's sermon in the church.

Helen surrounded by flowers in a coffin.

Emaciated, gasping Helen on a hospital bed.

Helen walking hand in hand in the setting sun, smiling as she looked back.

The intimate embrace on the beach, the warm and ticklish touch of cheeks pressed together.

Moving into the new home, waking up together in the morning light, and her gentleness as she looked at him.

...

Finally, the scene returned to the familiar wedding.

Only this time, he was not sitting in the audience, but standing on stage.

Helen, wearing a white wedding dress, quietly looked at him, her eyes full of love.

...

When the flashback ended, Super Tomato clearly knew that these were all false memories, someone else's story, but he still felt a bit choked up.

"Lincoln, you're absolutely despicable."

After saying that, he picked up the Milkshake on his lap, "From now on, it's just the two of us together."

Super Tomato stroked the dog while checking the task guide: The next task is the second day, and the clock on the panel starts jumping hour by hour again.

Super Tomato waited for the countdown while analyzing for his audience, "Although it's really tough to start with killing your wife, Cloud Dream is indeed serious about making games. You can see they put a lot of care into many details. So, my reasonable guess is: They didn't do it just to disgust players; this must be an important trigger event."

"Plus, Lincoln didn't completely lose his humanity. After hurting players, he still knew to send each person a little milkshake to console them."