Chapter 60 - 58: Official Invitation (Please Follow)
Little Kitten from someone else’s family was a game review vlogger, or at least he considered himself to be one.
Having graduated from a prestigious university, he enthusiastically joined the ranks of virtual players after coming into contact with his first virtual game during university.
As a newcomer to virtual games, he was unfamiliar with eSports events and didn’t know about eSports players; he simply had a passion for gaming.
Unfortunately, fate did not favor him, and in his first year of playing virtual online games, he became one of the initial victims of the "virtual disaster incident."
At that time, the well-known virtual game developer RECT developed a virtual game called "Global Invasion" which, with its unprecedented realism, shocked the entire Human Federation and drew the attention of a multitude of game enthusiasts.
Little Kitten from someone else’s family was one of them.
"Global Invasion" was undoubtedly a good game, but it fell into the hands of a game development company with questionable professional ethics.
In order to make "Global Invasion" even more popular, the developer RECT fabricated an outrageous lie.
They began to set the stage during the game’s closed beta test period.
First, they orchestrated a massive campaign on the dark web, claiming that "top hackers trying to crack ’Global Invasion’ were horrified to find that the game had no code."
Then, they arranged for a group of people to pose as "net experts who often visit the dark web" on various virtual social platforms.
This group would occasionally post related information they allegedly saw on the dark web to increase their credibility.
Once the public beta test of "Global Invasion" started, they had this group, already labeled as "internet tech experts" by a small portion of netizens, begin spreading anxiety.
Thus, in a small circle, the message that "Global Invasion is actually a real Otherworld" began to quietly spread.
Industry experts and rational individuals naturally wouldn’t believe this, but there were young kids who truly did.
"Join ’Global Invasion,’ protect the Human Federation from invasion!"
Under such a simple notion, the virtual gamer community, represented by students, began to spiral into madness.
Some among them genuinely believed that the game was a real Otherworld.
In an atmosphere of frenzy that even the developers at RECT could not have anticipated, even someone as relatively sensible as Little Kitten from someone else’s family could be swept up by the hysteria.
Even when some believers failed in their raid attempts, they became depressed.
They believed that because of their failure, somewhere in the world, creatures from Otherworld might quietly infiltrate a corner of our world and unleash an unknown killing spree.
Such a naive thought, isn’t it?
Yet under this "false" pressure, there were indeed student groups who were unable to cope and committed suicide.
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Once the media reported this incident, it undoubtedly unleashed massive public outrage.
The culprit RECT was immediately penalized and declared bankruptcy, and even the global virtual gaming industry was impacted to some extent.
Consequently, the players of "Global Invasion" that year became the victims of the "virtual disaster incident."
However, Little Kitten from someone else’s family was different; his way of "victimhood" was a bit special.
Perhaps due to his innate talent, Little Kitten achieved in-game feats like a god, and it was from that time that he got the nickname "Cat God."
You couldn’t expect a freak who, after other players’ teams failed in the raid opening, went in solo and cleared the entire dungeon, to feel that kind of pressure.
Moreover, he had always been clear-headed, unaffected by the frenzied atmosphere of the time.
He just thought those noisy kids, as well as the teachers and parents who were worried about distinguishing between reality and virtual, were quite bothersome.
That probably also counts as another kind of victimhood.
Of course, that incident back then still had a rather adverse effect on him.
After all... Who would have thought that just starting out in virtual gaming, one could exhaust all their enthusiasm in a single game?
As a result, despite having the talent of a top eSports player, he never entertained the thought of pursuing that path again.
Playing professionally was out of the question. He was never going to play in eSports; he couldn’t just make easy money without the skills. Only by doing reviews and live streaming could he make a living.
Livestreaming was much more entertaining than having a girlfriend; everyone there was talented, spoke pleasingly, and he loved that place.
Little Kitten took a bite of a crawfish and looked towards the gaming pod, a hint of gloom passing through his eyes.
"Thinking back now, the last time I felt like this while playing a game was that time."
"This game is even more excessive than ’Global Invasion’ was back then; the reality of the game nearly reached the limit of all types of virtual games. Whether it’s the simulation of all five senses or the NPCs’ intelligent interactions, it’s all top-notch."
"And there’s no need to mention the freedom it offers. If it were not for the fact that the pants-droppers and Bug exploiters would inevitably be sanctioned, this kind of unrestrained interactive experience, with dynamically changing NPCs, wild monsters, and scenes, has surpassed any game I’ve reviewed in the past. To call it a second world wouldn’t be an exaggeration."
"Is this pain block mechanism really legal? Recovering from the stimulus of dying once requires longer time. It seems that the rumor about military technology being adapted for civilian use is mostly true. Such a scale is definitely beyond what normal virtual games can achieve."
"Even if it’s about making a quick buck, this game also has its value. The traffic from the last short video was unlimited, all thanks to its dramatic effect."
"This time, I still need to focus on the short video content. Ha, my promotional video suddenly cuts me? A qualified player not only has to cut themselves but also needs to give a cut to all those bastards who haven’t been cut!"
When he saw Kael’s past, he felt a bit melancholic, but then a spark of inspiration struck his mind.
After getting the consent from Little Fish, he logged off to have breakfast. He wiped his hands and immediately lay back in the gaming pod to start the video editing.
He searched through his old playlist and dug out three somewhat old songs, "White Reflection," "May Rain," and "Flicker"—
These were all music found from the ruins after the war, from the time after the establishment of the Human Federation, their origins unknown.
"White Reflection" started playing, its melancholic and reminiscent guitar tones mixed with AI-generated illustrations of a young Kael sitting alone on a bench, watching other children play. Without a word, the video started with a knife to the heart.
Little Kael, shunned by others with cold looks.
Little Kael, crying in hiding.
Little Kael, frail and clinging tightly to his father Anthony’s leg.
...
Oh no! Little Kitten was shocked.
He was a sucker for looks, couldn’t bear to see AI-generated illustrations of Little Kael getting hurt, and for a moment felt a coldness in his chest.
But... it kinda felt good?
Ha, cutting myself, huh!
Slash! Slash everyone! They all must die!
As for whether this really happened in the game?
Little Kitten didn’t care. All he wanted now was for everyone to feel the pain together.
After creating 1 minute and 52 seconds of video full of slashes with various AI-generated illustrations, the mood suddenly shifted. The promotional video showed Anthony fighting desperately to the sound of "May Rain," resonating with the bells of Kagura, violin, shamisen, shakuhachi, and drums thundering in.
If the musical instruments were the main ingredients cooking up the emotions, then Anthony’s soliloquy during battle, his unshakable concerns and longing, was the flame that fully ignited those emotions.
Ouch! It hurts so much! Why did I edit a MAD? Have I gone mad myself, hammering my own head into stupidity?
But as it hurt... it seemed that my body got used to it and numbed.
Even imagining many others sharing the pain with me, I couldn’t help but curl my lips into a sly smile.
When he came back to his senses, he realized that in a burst of inspiration, he had only spent half the morning and had already roughly cut out the framework of the MAD video.
Huh? When did I, someone who loves slacking off, become so efficient?
He instinctively went to save the roughly edited video, but suddenly, without thinking, his hand moved faster than his brain, he opened the gateway to Otherworld’s Player Forum and clicked to upload the video.
"Oh no!" Little Kitten was startled, ready to delete the upload, but he found that the video had failed to upload.
That scared me!
Little Kitten breathed a sigh of relief, about to close the forum, but then he noticed a system message popping up in the background. He clicked on it and was slightly taken aback.
’"Otherworld" Official Operation Invitation’
’Dear Player:
Hello, "Otherworld"’s AI "AO" has detected that you have posted relevant videos related to this game on the Player Forum, with excellent quality, meeting "AO"’s operational promotion standards. Do you agree for "AO" to correct the video and use it as an official promotional video for operations?
If you agree, you will receive the following compensation:
1, "AO" will autonomously optimize the video and send the improved video to your personal email. You will own all rights to the video outside of the official use by the game’s operations; any profits derived from the video will belong to you;
2, "AO" will compensate you with a supercomputer optimization in the game, which will automatically unlock after you reach a certain level or meet specific requirements;
3, "AO" will gift you an exclusive and non-tradable, non-droppable costume, which will be bound to your game account.’
’Do you agree to "AO"’s operation invitation?’
’Yes/No’
"This is such good news? Yes, definitely yes! Today, even if Nai Feitian himself comes, it would still be a yes!"