Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

In the ruthless era of clickbait, even negative attention is still attention.

As long as one does not mind shame, there’s always a way to survive.

On this blacklist, there are more than a dozen media outlets that generate traffic by criticizing Cloud Dream on a daily basis.

They dare not blatantly badmouth these outlets as even a single careless phrase can lead to legal trouble from Cloud Dream’s legal department.

Whether they receive the repercussions on the same day or the next depends on whether Cloud Dream’s legal team has gone off duty when the disparagement occurs.

Trying to take advantage of their off hours for slandering them is also futile. Even if offensive comments are made and deleted at dawn, once they have been publicly spoken, they will be recorded by Cloud Dream.

Among these blacklisted media outlets, there is an unconfirmed rumor: Lincoln might have deliberately developed a software to monitor their online activities, backup in real-time, and seek opportunities to sue whenever possible.

Yet, they cannot abstain from attacking Cloud Dream.

The blacklist of Cloud Dream has already tarnished their reputation almost completely. The proper way no longer works for them, so they have to rely on sensationalism to attract negative readship to survive.

Therefore, nit-picking game flaws, and casting sarcastic comments on Cloud Dream updates and announcements, have become their daily work.

Despite all this, they are still berated by countless players in the comment sections every day.

How frustrating!

Now, finally, Cloud Dream has shown a loophole!

Why not take this opportunity to vent their anger?

[Cloud Dream’s arrogance finally has its retribution! Disrespecting players will eventually lead to the backlash!]

[Lincoln’s first major failure! The rise and fall of Cloud Dream Games?]

[Cloud Dream Games for the first time faces backlash, “My World” scores the lowest in history!]

[Rough and shoddy production work, and yet it claims the pole position in the gaming industry?]

[Virtual reality technology should not be held by Cloud Dream, it should be handed over to NetDragon, which is what the public wishes for!]

…

The comment sections of these reports are filled with numerous question marks, with players either posting “Unbelievable” or “Another madness.”

The most outrageous one is the report suggesting “The virtual reality technology should be handed over to NetDragon.” The number of comments on it almost equals the total number on the previous several reports, and they all boil down to one word— “Absurd.”

Indeed, there are players who rate “My World” less than satisfactorily, but even the less satisfied ones rate it above the pass mark.

There aren’t many players who are truly dissatisfied with the game, they just hope for better improvement.

However, these media outlets are different – they wish for nothing more than Cloud Dream Games to drop dead, there is no way the players would tolerate that.

The onslaught of criticism continues.

Many people habitually mention Lincoln in the comment section, hoping that he would come to refute these media outlets.

But of course, Lincoln won’t respond.

Not because he can’t deal with these media outlets, but because he has already set out on his journey with his dog, heading for the airship landing field.

*

Not just Lincoln, the players invited to the Sky Meet-up also left their rooms an hour in advance. After having lunch together, they got on two buses to the airship landing field.

Among them, 39 were selected from the live broadcast room, 40 were selected from all Mirage console users, and the last 20 were invited by Lincoln himself.

They are mostly players that Lincoln is familiar with and a few employees of Cloud Dream.

Randall and Little Chun were also brought along by Lincoln for the experience. Shuihua and Lance were also on the guest list, with Lincoln and Xiaomeng secretly fulfilling their couple goals.

Intern Camille had also returned back to her princess identity, boarding the airship under the protection of her teacher Alex.

Before coming, her older sister Zhu Qinglu had insistently wrapped around her, wanting to join in.

The reason being “a field trip to see the boyfriend-in-law.” However, she was rejected immediately by her sister blushing furiously, who then threw her onto the sofa.

If she had asked nicely, she could have gone, since Lincoln had set aside two places for Camille to invite others.

But after Zhu Qinglu said what she did, Camille adamantly refused to invite anyone else and just boarded the airship with her teacher.

Of course, not everyone can directly board the airship.

Only Lincoln, the princess, Alex and the employees of Cloud Dream are allowed to.

Others have to first receive a safety education course to understand what can and cannot be done on the airship, what situations they might encounter and what to do in the event of such situations…

Only after completing this half-hour course can they officially board the airship.

As for Lincoln and his team, they had already completed this safety briefing – conducted directly in the virtual world and even simulating a problem scenario.

When Lincoln and others boarded the airship, there were already 20 crew members preparing on the airship.

Among them, 10 were flight team members, responsible for the overall flight control and external communication of the huge airship.

The other 10 were all security personnel, who could contact the emergency rescue helicopter within 10 minutes and evacuate all passengers into the cabin.

Although Lincoln found this absurd – even if the airship had a problem and the airbag was leaking, the airship would slowly land within 10 minutes, why the need for this over-precaution?

Of course, taking into account the sheer bulk of the airship, it’s likely it would be stuck amid the skyscrapers of Xiajing City.

However, with the use of inert gasses, there’s absolutely no chance of the airship’s gasbag exploding, so it’s still not a major issue – monetary compensation for any negative impact on traffic or post-incident cleanup would suffice. After all, compared to human safety, these are minor concerns.

There’s only one scenario where the rescue helicopters would be needed: in the event of a sudden and intense typhoon, all four engines of the airship malfunction, eventually leading to an uncontrollable airship being tossed around.

But how would that even happen?

Nevertheless, Lincoln swiftly coughed up a sum of cash, keeping a total of fifteen rescue helicopters on standby, just in case.

While the passengers were undergoing safety training, all the online players in the virtual world received an invitation –

[Sky Player Gathering Invitation]: Use this invitation to summon a teleportation gate, head to the airship login point, and be part of the Sky Player Gathering.

Even users who are not in the virtual world also received notification reminders on the Cloud Dream Game App. There is plenty of time to log in.

After all, flying in a virtual world doesn’t come with as many concerns as in reality.

There is absolutely no need for safety instructions, just take flight as you wish.

If someone is interested in attempting to sabotage the airship or even jumping off it, feel free to do so.

Lincoln won’t stop them.

…

Half an hour later, just as the virtual world’s players were growing impatient, the safety training class in reality finally came to an end.

The passengers lined up to board the airship with cable ropes being unhooked sequentially from the ship’s body.

Shedding off its weight, the airship began to ascend slowly.

Utilizing several key cameras, the airship in the virtual world also simultaneously reflected images of what was happening in reality.

The Sky Players Gathering began.

*

Lincoln’s live broadcast room was once again streaming.

But this time, the primary view wasn’t focused on Lincoln. Instead, it was Cheryl shaking her camera about on the airship, filming whatever caught her eye. Occasionally, when she spotted a cute girl or a handsome boy, she’d stroll over to chat.

After the successful liftoff of the airship, there was a segment of increased velocity that required everyone to remain inside the cabin. They could only watch the scenery outside through the glass windows on both sides, all while curiously surveying the interior of the airship.

Upon finding something worth showcasing, they took a few selfies and posted them for friends to see.

It wasn’t until the airship soared over the main urban area of Xiajing that it reduced its speed to a level similar to a hot air balloon.

At that time, the lower chamber would open, allowing passengers to descend onto the actual deck. Protected by a five-foot-high fence, they could enjoy the breeze in the sky and the view of Xiajing below.

Lincoln had not yet appeared on camera as he was doing something he had long wanted to do –

Introducing Yelang and Fred.

Before introducing them, he first asked Fred, “How’s the pursuit of Vincent going?”

He was busy lately and hadn’t had the time to catch up on the gossip.

Fred, who was leisurely glancing out of the window, was thinking about the upcoming promotional material for “Battlefield” and was in a great mood.

However, Lincoln’s question instantly destroyed his mood.

He wore a distressed expression and said, “It’s not going well. There’s no progress at all.”

“Although she never refuses when I ask her to chat, I can feel that she still sees me as a patient…”

“How about it, boss, do you have any good ideas?”

Fred was completely at a loss, so much so that he was even looking to Lincoln for help.

However, Lincoln waved him off and said, “Let’s not talk about that now, no progress is fine. Here, let me introduce you to someone.”

He then led the puzzled Fred over to Yelang and formally introduced them: “This is Fred, a game developer at Cloud Dream Games. You probably met him at the “Speed Chase” player…no, the Milkshake fan meet-up.”

“This is Yelang, a very distinctive anchor on the Cloud Dream Live Streaming Platform.”

“I think you two will have a lot in common, get to know each other.” After introducing them, Lincoln watched as they shook hands and greeted each other. Then he turned and left, affording them some space to get to know each other.

But he didn’t go far. Lincoln just found a small table nearby to sit down at, with Little Princess already waiting for him, holding her dog.

Lincoln donned his enhanced [Eight Sides] Helm, discreetly sitting down to eavesdrop.

The [Eight Sides] Helm was originally meant to help visually or audibly impaired individuals have a normal sensory experience.

However, during its development, Lincoln discovered its huge potential – night vision, farsightedness, enhanced hearing were all possible.

These capabilities, though, wouldn’t be made available to ordinary users.

Lincoln had no doubt that other capabilities had already been explored and implemented to some extent by Henry and his team.

Little Princess was rubbing her dog in her arms while curiously asking: “Why are you wearing the headband?”

“Eavesdropping.” Lincoln admitted, not hiding his intentions.

“Huh?” Camille Victoria was surprised. “Eavesdropping on what?”

“An unexpected encounter between two men.”

“???”