"It's done!"
"It's over! Thank you, Old Thief, for developing such a phenomenal game for us!"
"Come on, let's get the sequel to Deep Sea Trek rolling!"
"Haha, for real!"
Seeing the barrage of excited comments, Zoey laughed along. Ending the game like that had left her feeling a bit unsatisfied, but when the credits rolled, she noticed something odd. "Hey chat, what does this 'live without worrying about eating and drinking' line even mean?"
"No idea!"
"Yeah, who knows what Old Thief is trying to say!"
"Literally, it sounds like he's paying tribute to someone."
"If Old Thief is giving them a tribute, they must be a really great person!"
Everyone kept guessing, but even Zoey, the "big sister" of the stream, couldn't figure out what Che meant by it. If she didn't know, how could anyone else?
"Forget it," she said, shaking her head. "No need to overthink. I won't be starting the second playthrough of Deep Sea Trek just yet—because in a few minutes, the New World game conference is about to start, and I'm definitely attending!"
"I'm glad you reminded me, Zoey—I almost forgot!"
"You call yourself a true fan of Old Thief and almost missed this?!"
"Sis Zoey's stream was just too immersive—we got carried away!"
"Alright, time to dip!"
As viewers began leaving the stream to prepare for the event, Zoey watched her viewership drop sharply. She quickly said, "Hey, don't go! You can still watch it on my stream!"
"This kind of event is best experienced firsthand in VR. Who watches a stream of it?"
"Zoey, I love you, but Old Thief is just too irresistible!"
"Yeah, I've got to see with my own eyes how he's going to run this conference!"
"This is his first ever game conference—I need to witness it live!"
"Some of us still have to work. I'll be watching through your stream, Zoey!"
"I literally swapped night shifts to be here for this, haha!"
As her chat lit up, Zoey knew she couldn't compete with Che in terms of fan draw, so she didn't push further.
"Alright then! If you don't have time or a VR headset, just watch my stream. I'll be covering the entire thing!" she said before exiting Deep Sea Trek and entering the New World game platform.
The scene around her shifted instantly, and she arrived in her personalized virtual room—a cozy pink space she had customized herself. The New World platform allowed players to adjust everything from wall color to furniture and artwork, giving each player their own perfect hideaway.
Tifa stood beside her with a warm smile. "Welcome back to the New World platform, Player."
"Oh," Zoey replied coolly. But as she looked at Tifa, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. This gorgeous woman had been created by her own little brother, Che. That alone gave her mixed feelings.
However, she quickly slapped her cheeks and shook her head. Snap out of it. She's just an AI. What are you even thinking?
"By the way, Tifa, how much time until the conference begins?" Zoey asked.
"Five minutes," Tifa replied sweetly. With a wave of her hand, a countdown appeared in the air. "Please remain seated to ensure the best conference experience."
"Got it." Zoey nodded and took a seat. The VR platform used an exoskeleton rig that let users sit, move, or even float comfortably.
And Zoey wasn't alone. Millions of users around the globe had already entered the platform, all seated in their virtual rooms, eagerly awaiting the big reveal.
Across the world, a strange phenomenon was unfolding—household lights were flicking back on in neighborhoods where people had already gone to bed. In colleges, students stayed up all night fueled by caffeine, eyes locked on the countdown.
"It's almost time!"
"Burned through a whole can of Red Bull to stay up—Old Thief better deliver!"
"Set an alarm just to wake up for this!"
"Hyped beyond belief!"
The buzz even reached global celebrities—pop stars, actors, and influencers across the globe were logged in: Sarah Myles, Liam Carter, Hugh Grant, Dwayne Johnson, Orlando Hunt, Leo Dicaprio... the list went on.
It wasn't just stars, either. Executives at major tech firms joined in too. From the Penguin Corp HQ, CEO Tanner and his team, along with rival platform leaders—Tesla's Musk, Microsoft's president, Google's top brass, and more—all logged into the VR system and entered New World's platform in silence.
But none of them were really here to see a new game.
"I want to see what kind of stunt New World is pulling with this so-called 'press conference,'" Tanner muttered, eyeing the countdown.
That seemed to be the consensus among the other tech giants.
Then the timer hit zero.
3... 2... 1...!
In an instant, everyone's screens went black. A moment later, their surroundings shifted—and they found themselves inside an enormous open-air stadium!
It was massive—easily rivaling the world's largest arenas like the Maracanã, capable of holding over 200,000 people!
At the center was a colossal stage the size of a football field.
The players were seated throughout the audience section.
"No way… They really built a full-scale virtual stadium for this?" Tanner muttered in disbelief.
As he looked around, he was even more stunned—every seat was filled.
No way. Over 100,000 people in one instance?! How can they pull this off? A normal server would crash instantly under this kind of load!
Then he noticed something: all the spectators around him looked identical. Shadowy figures, like the generic silhouettes in crime reenactments—no defining features.
"Ah... that makes more sense," Tanner sighed in relief. "They just used shadow NPCs as filler to create a crowd atmosphere. I knew it couldn't be real."
But then—
"WOOOHOO!!!"
"YOUSHAAA!!!"
The shadowy figure to his left suddenly screamed with excitement.
Then the one on his right did too, in Japanese.
Tanner froze. Wait… are these real players?
He turned and cautiously asked the person to his left in English, "Sir, where are you from?"
"Texas, USA!" the shadow man replied enthusiastically. "What about you, buddy?"
Tanner was stunned. That was way too fluid to be an NPC…
The guy on the right was also buzzing in Japanese. From his body language, he was clearly human too.
Which meant—New World didn't just populate the crowd with shadows. They were real people. Maybe not all 200,000, but at least the ones in his area were real.
Just as he was trying to process this…
"WHOOOOAAAA!!!"
The entire stadium erupted in cheers.
It felt exactly like a real-life football match—players jumping out of their seats, waving their arms, shouting with joy.
Then, someone shouted in Chinese, "New World!"
And others followed suit—first a few, then hundreds, then thousands...
Soon, the whole arena echoed with the sound:
"New World!"
"New World!"
"New World!"
The pronunciation was a little rough—most of the players were clearly foreigners—but the excitement was real, and the chant was thunderous.
Tanner was floored.
They really gathered hundreds of thousands of players in a single space... What kind of god-tier server tech is this?
And how the hell did they cultivate such intense fan loyalty?
This is insane... absolutely insane.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
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50 +Chapters
Update Schedule: 7 Chapter/week.
Every 100 Power Stones+1 (5 Review)
= 1 Chapter+1Chapter