Chapter 412: 396: A Glimmer of Hope?

Chapter 412: 396: A Glimmer of Hope?

Translator: 549690339

The next day, as soon as Lincoln arrived at the company, he saw Fred coming over with an aggressive air, which made him feel a bit guilty.

Last night, Mavis had specifically shown Lincoln the footage of Wu Yu and Fred chatting in the virtual world.

— What happens in the virtual world is hard to hide from Mavis’s eyes, let alone that Lincoln had specifically asked her to keep watch.

Fred’s expression went from confused, to calm with a hint of smug, to puzzled and slightly uneasy, which was a fascinating series of changes.

Especially when Fred enthusiastically asked Wu Yu which department she had joined and her position, offering his help if she needed it.

At the mention of [Emergency Medical Team·Psychological Counselor], Fred’s face turned green.

Lincoln and Mavis laughed heartlessly.

As a result, when Lincoln saw Fred coming over aggressively, it was impossible not to feel guilty.

“Boss, about...” To Lincoln’s surprise, Fred didn’t come over to blame him immediately, but seemed a bit hesitant.

“Can I take a look at Wu Yu’s resume?”

“Huh?” Lincoln looked at him in surprise, “There’s no need for a retaliatory strike, is there?”

“Huh?” Fred was even more shocked, “What retaliatory strike?”

“If you’re not trying to strike back, why do you want to see someone else’s resume?” Lincoln was puzzled.

“Well, I just want to know more about her.”

“Huh?” Lincoln felt like he was playing a game with Fred called [Who’s More Surprised], because he felt even more surprised himself!

“Have you fallen for her? Didn’t you just meet her for the first time yesterday? Don’t you like matchmaking anymore? No, wait, do you really like women?” Lincoln felt a million question marks popping up in his head.

Lincoln had a million question marks in his head, but Fred’s head wasn’t lacking in question marks either—

“Who likes matchmaking! It was a last resort! If there’s a choice, who’d want to go matchmaking?”

Bullshit, you obviously enjoy matchmaking, Lincoln didn’t believe:

“Tell me honestly, have I ever exploited you at Cloud Dream? Did I give you less salary and bonus, or is it that you’re off work too late at 5 p.m., leaving you no time to find a partner so you have to go to matchmaking events?”

“But, that...” Fred was somewhat tongue-tied, “That’s just inertia from the start, isn’t it? I haven’t been matchmaking since either!”

“Isn’t it because you were busy leading the team to develop ‘Speed Chase’ that you didn’t have the mood to even attend those events after work?” Lincoln hit the nail on the head.

Fred seemed to have been hit in a sore spot and couldn’t refute it for a while. But after a moment, he suddenly became depressed.

“Actually, after the game was launched, I went to a matchmaking event. I found myself suddenly in high demand.”

“Huh?” Lincoln didn’t understand why he was saying this: “So what?”

“But I suddenly lost interest.”

“So, why is that?” Lincoln asked hollowly, “Is it because you only enjoy it when no one pays attention to you, and your potential partners all look down on you?”

“What?” Fred was stunned, “No, of course not! I mean, it feels like they’re all after my money and job, all because of my conditions, not me as a person...””

“Ah, is that so...” Lincoln felt very surprised.

He didn’t expect Fred, who had a veteran driver’s attitude in the game, to be rather innocent about this...

“Isn’t your money, your future, your material conditions, part of your talent, values, ideals and ambitions? Is money necessarily more vulgar than talent?” Lincoln tried to persuade Fred.

But as soon as the words came out, he immediately regretted it.

A quick scan showed that it was almost on par with “Speed Chase”!

Except for a few “Paradise” anchor sticklers still stubbornly running the Candy Track, almost all other live streaming screens were dominated by these two games.

And Gary had only signed up twenty-three anchors for this collaboration.

Which meant that most of these anchors were playing the DLC entirely on their own initiative!

The current situation was even better than the best-case scenario Gary and Jason had imagined!

How could this be the decline of VR games? It looked more like they were directly competing with each other, and neither was losing ground!

Even on overseas live streaming platforms, many anchors were streaming this expansion pack.

—Although the titles of their streams still had keywords like “filling the hole”, “repentance”, and “giving one more chance”.

But exposure was still exposure!

This astonishing performance undoubtedly shocked the industry.

Everyone was surprised to find that NetDragon, which had been in decline for several months and was thought to be on the wane, had unexpectedly staged this impressive comeback without any warning!

After the surprise, many people couldn’t help but think: “Could it be that Lincoln’s judgment was wrong, and it’s nowhere near time for VR games to be eliminated?”

As for what the players were talking about online—farewell, last time and so on, it was all just talk.

Seeing was believing, and the current situation where both sides were competing against each other was clearly displayed before everyone’s eyes!

Online rates, popularity, and exposure were all more credible than hollow words.

And NetDragon was on par with Cloud Dream, so who could say that it was inferior!

Countless new players who had never played VR games before were particularly shocked by the scene.

These people had only started playing and learning about gaming due to Cloud Dream’s continuous expansion of the gaming market, so they were especially surprised by what was happening now.

Many of them even took the initiative to learn about VR games.

Because it was obvious at a glance from the live stream: VR games and virtual reality games are two completely different types of games.

And the number of gamers watching live game streams at this time had increased by who knows how much compared to before Cloud Dream was born.

As a result, many people who had no prior understanding of VR games had gained exposure to VR games through this opportunity, even to the point of considering purchasing VR equipment.

After all, people’s needs are diverse, and VR games have developed precisely because they cater to the needs of a certain group of people. With demand, exposure, and available products, there will naturally be sales.

This was another unexpected pleasant surprise for NetDragon.

And it wasn’t just NetDragon that was pleasantly surprised. Wild Island and Flying Fox both got a taste too.

This taste made Flying Fox somewhat hesitant, wondering whether the decision to shut down the factory and completely transition was a bit hasty.

However, this taste also gave Wild Island more confidence: they wanted to explore more possibilities on the path of VR gaming!

Was this a sign that VR games still had greater potential?

Or was it just a brief resurgence?

No one could tell for sure at the moment, not even Zoe—who had previously surveyed both industries in-depth and had the perspective of an outsider.

Everyone needed more time to observe and see the outcome of NetDragon’s desperate battle.

Although the result of this battle was no longer related to the domination of the gaming industry—because Cloud Dream’s position was already unshakable—

the result of this battle could, to a large extent, determine the future direction of VR gaming.