Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

There were fewer players, and most of them were heavy-duty players, which gave them an advantage in terms of win rate.

But as more and more ordinary players got Mirages, numerous average or even inexperienced players joined the game “Battlefield,” causing the average win rate of German players to decline, as expected.

And now, on the second day, they were about to be overtaken by France!

What about in two more days?

And a week later?

What about two weeks later?

Won’t they be on the same level as the UK, Poland, and Italy?

This was unbearable!

Carl was furious: “No, we must protest!”

The good news was: in Germany, to hold a protest rally, they only needed to report to the government 48 hours in advance.

They filed the application on Sunday, and on Tuesday, two days had passed, so they could go out and protest tomorrow!

Moreover, as the number of players increased, the scale of the protest could be expanded.

There would be an even greater chance that the government would take notice!

*

The next day, in Super Tomato’s live streaming room.

After starting the broadcast, Super Tomato didn’t play “Battlefield” but instead logged into “My World,” World No. 66.

He hadn’t forgotten about the Redstone Challenge. If he wanted to participate, he had to be deeply involved, personally building and coordinating the progress.

But when he started his broadcast, an audience member suddenly sent a conspicuous message worth 500 dollars.

Super Tomato couldn’t help but pause to read the message:

[My child suddenly became uninterested in studying, saying he wants to leave the city and live in seclusion in the mountains. I remembered your video, so I bought him a Mirage and let him go into “My World” to live in seclusion. Now he plays games as soon as he gets off school and never mentions seclusion again.]

After reading the message, Super Tomato wasn’t sure what kind of expression to make.

The live-streamer community didn’t hesitate to tease him—

“Going against the heavens!”

“What a new age cyber recluse!”

“Come to think of it, shouldn’t you be thanking Cloud Dream?”

“Mom, do you still need a son?”

“This behavior is commonly called ‘middle school syndrome,’ a beating would fix it. I have experience—I was knocked to my senses by a combination of my parents’ attacks.”

…

In the end, Super Tomato could only give an awkward laugh, reassuring, “Well, it’s a good thing, but be careful not to let him become addicted to the game and communicate more with him.”

Quickly, he changed the topic.

He didn’t even have a girlfriend. How could he know how to raise a child?

“Let’s check out the progress of the artwork.” As Super Tomato spoke, he began building stone pillars and ladders to climb higher.

To make the painting with redstone circuits, they had to flatten a huge plain as a canvas, so huge that it couldn’t be seen from the top of the Forbidden City buildings anymore. He had to climb higher.

So now, on the plain, besides the redstone dust used to paint lines, there were stone columns with ladders, convenient for players who wanted to view and adjust their paintings.

After a while, Super Tomato finally reached the top of the stone pillar and looked at the entire plain canvas.

But the moment he saw it clearly, he immediately shouted “Oh shit” and turned his camera away towards the Forbidden City Building Group.

Rarely losing his composure, the always polite Super Tomato blurted, “Goddamn it, you guys, don’t mess with me! Don’t ruin my live streaming room!”

His outburst was not unwarranted—

At that moment, on the plain canvas, there were red lines depicting naked men and women of various ages from the world of anime!

None of the portraits he’d been told about, including Mavis, celebrities, or even Lincoln had shown up!

It was all adult material!!!

“No! Adult! Material! Allowed!” Super Tomato warned in a loud voice.

He was still worried after issuing the warning, asking his viewers, “I wasn’t warned by the Super Administrator just now, was I? There weren’t any Super Administrators watching, right?”

The viewers didn’t answer his question but instead egged him on—

“Take another look! We couldn’t see clearly because you moved too quickly.”

“This is the art that the general public loves to see!”

“Don’t change it, just use this! I guarantee you’ll be number one! Everyone will vote for this piece!”

“That’s right! Don’t chicken out!”

“Hurry up and show us, it’s fine. The Super Admin also loves watching!”

“Hold on, brothers, I just remembered I left the gas stove on in World No. 61. Let me go turn it off.”

“Yeah! I’ll go check it out myself! I’ll be back soon, brothers!”

…

Seeing the situation getting out of control, and the fans in front of him not quite willing to destroy their creation—although he didn’t really want to call these adult images “creations”—

Super Tomato made a decisive move, immediately exiting the game and returning to his virtual house.

He needed to rethink how to deal with the Redstone Challenge.

Before that, it’s necessary to divert the attention of the live-streamer community, so as not to escalate the situation too quickly.

How can everyone’s attention be diverted?

The simplest way is to—give everyone bigger news!

“Next, let’s focus on the German players!”

Super Tomato ignores the dissatisfaction of the live-streamer community and forcibly switches the topic.

He enlarges the panel, enters the German Internet, and plans to show the audience the protest march of German players.

But it seems a bit early now. Due to the time difference, German players are still gathering, and the protest rally hasn’t officially started yet.

So Super Tomato pacifies the players while waiting: “It will start soon, let’s wait a little longer.”

Anyway, he won’t log in to “My World” publicly anymore; this incident must be handled privately.

The live-streamer community protested that he only cared about his own excitement, ignoring the demands of the audience.

Super Tomato immediately retorted, “It’s not about watching excitement, really! If I wanted excitement, I’d follow America, it’s more exciting over there.”

“What’s going on in America?” Many live-streamers were puzzled.

“You actually don’t know?” Super Tomato was surprised, “It’s really absurd over there!”

“Speaking of which, Cloud Dream has provided us with such a convenient ‘eye-opening world’ channel. They’ve even thoughtfully prepared translation software. Haven’t you tried it to see the overseas world?”

“Come, let me show you!”

Super Tomato then opened a second window and jumped to the overseas Internet.

Of course, not the American homeland, because Cloud Dream is not allowed there yet.

But there’s plenty of American news in Europe, and a simple search reveals a lot.

Various texts, pictures, and videos fully demonstrate the chaos at the protest site: protesting, clashing, looting, and burning…

While showing the news to the live-streamer community, Super Tomato explained: “Actually, they weren’t so violent from the beginning—okay, not entirely. But as the protests went unanswered, the behavior gradually became radical.”

At this point, he hesitated for a moment and then added: “There has been some feedback. Some politicians and lawmakers support them, but it’s a pity that those sympathizing with them are the opposition party, while the ruling party has not been moved at all.”

“Of course, how much sincerity politicians, especially opposition politicians, have in their sympathy…I don’t need to say much, do I?”

Upon hearing the question, the live-streamer community immediately laughed:

“A joke: politicians’ sympathy.”

“No need to say, 0% real, 100% fake.”

“I bet it’s -10% real! Anyone who believes it is crazy!”

“I’m not American, so I won’t comment. But judging by the protesters’ reactions, I guess the locals don’t believe it, hahaha!”

…

“Sigh.” Super Tomato sighed, “Although I understand their desire for Cloud Dream Games— after all, it’s a virtual reality game, a true Second World! I feel sorry for anyone who can’t experience it due to external factors.”

“But such intense conflicts, especially looting, and plundering innocent shops, I feel like it’s a bit too much…”

“Right! Speaking of which, there’s one thing I must mention.”

Super Tomato remembered another thing.

“I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but Cloud Dream Experience Stores are not only in Xiajing City anymore. As of yesterday, besides Xiajing, they have opened four more stores in Magic City, Hangcheng, Rong City, and Yangcheng, basically, one every week.”

“And what’s crazy is that they all charge 10 dollars per hour. I dare to bet with you, each one loses money!”

“Why do you think Lincoln is doing this money-losing business, and obviously planning to open more and more?”

The audience played along: “For publicity, like mobile phone flagship stores.”

“Many people think it’s for publicity. But I think more: he wants to give people who can’t afford it or are reluctant to spend the money the opportunity to enter the virtual world.”

As Super Tomato said, he is a staunch Cloud Dream fan!

Looking at the time, there is still some time before the German protest rally begins, so he continues to find topics to chat about—

“There’s one more thing you may not have noticed: our situation is different from that of American players, and it’s not necessarily a question of better or worse in terms of the system or government but a matter of luck.”

“???” The audience was puzzled.

“We can freely play virtual games simply because we are lucky that Lincoln is from Daxia.”

“Think about it…” Super Tomato prompted the audience, “If an American scientist had developed virtual reality technology, do you think we could be freely playing virtual games now, or…”

The rest of the sentence, Super Tomato didn’t say aloud.

After all, it wasn’t conducive to unity.

“Would the American government, at that time, be as vigilant against ‘technology security issues’ as it is now, or would it have given the green light to promote it to the whole world?”

There was a momentary silence in the live streaming room.

The live-streamer community suddenly changed the topic:

“Let’s talk about today’s weather!”

“Let’s talk about soccer.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Don’t chat randomly, or we won’t be able to watch the news in time. Has the German protest demonstration started?”

“Watch the news, watch the news.”

…

In the live news, the German players’ protest demonstrations had indeed begun.

Carl waved a banner mixed with German and Chinese characters, fearlessly walking at the forefront of the protest team.