Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 22: NetDragon’s Backyard on Fire

Translator: 549690339

“Ah!!!” Camille Victoria, who was in the middle of her live stream, suddenly stood up after looking at her mobile phone and started screaming like a madwoman.

She was hopping and jumping while yelling, confusing the audience in her live broadcast room.

“What’s going on?”

“Finally gone crazy?”

“Don’t hop too much, be careful not to break your leg again.” Breaking her leg was an old joke in her live streaming room.

“Closed beta invitation! An invitation for ‘Traveler of the Wind!’ Virtual reality game ‘Traveler of the Wind’ closed beta invite! He invited me! Ahhhhh! He has me in his heart!” said Camille Victoria, excited and out of breath.

“Uh-huh, confirmed, she’s definitely gone crazy.”

“And not just a little bit.”

“You shut up! Wait a moment! I’ll show you!” Camille Victoria raised her trembling phone to the lens, displaying the private message.

‘Dear Camille Victoria,

Greetings, I would like to cordially invite you to the internal testing of the virtual reality game “Traveler of the Wind” at 13:00 tomorrow. If you are available, please click the link below and fill in your personal information.

Lincoln’

“Did you see that?! Now put those cards on the screen quickly!” Camille Victoria was feeling triumphant at that moment.

“Invincible!”

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“Face card!”

“Hurry and put the screen on the face card!”

A large stream of comments erupted at once, and Camille Victoria felt that her small live streaming room hadn’t been this lively in a long time.

Looking at the test invitation Lincoln had sent, she couldn’t help but shed tears of joy, thinking that tomorrow she would be able to experience running with her own two legs again.

She felt quite emotional these past two days and was far from the strong and independent woman she had been before.

“Not good! Lincoln is being boycotted!”

A comment passed by and was accurately captured by Camille Victoria.

“What boycott? Let me see who dares!” Camille Victoria was instantly furious.

Netizens were still immersed in the joy of Lincoln starting to recruit and the virtual reality device getting closer to market when someone exposed that Lincoln was secretly being boycotted.

The news came from a well-connected insider.

This person has previously revealed the contents of yet-to-be-released new games on several occasions and is a highly credible insider. Netizens generally believe that he has access to inside information from multiple large companies.

“I received the news this morning that NetDragon, Flying Fox, and Wild Island are all working hard to stabilize their employees, offer better working conditions, and sign non-competition agreements with high-level talents by offering them hefty compensation. I was wondering what was going on, and it turns out they were waiting for Lincoln!”

Frustrated but powerless.

This is the most genuine feeling of players at the moment.

Apart from cursing on the internet, they can’t even boycott their new games because none of these companies have any games launching soon…

It will be a few months before NetDragon’s “Blaze 3” launches.

As for boycotting in a few months? Everything will be over by then!

The only solace is that the Bluebird Alliance did not join the boycott.

However, they don’t know that NetDragon, which organized this boycott, is also suffering now.

Just at this critical moment, their highly anticipated sequel “Blaze 3,” which has excellent sales and reputation, had its Chief Planner, Randall, suddenly resign.

Nothing could be done to stop it.

Since the morning, the people he had talked to had changed rounds after rounds.

First, his superior, the company’s chief planner, came with a confident proposal to increase his salary by 30% and double his annual bonus.

He thought he had understood Randall’s thinking: Having proven himself through the past two “Blaze” installments, Randall had garnered a good reputation. Although he had a fair share of prize money, who wouldn’t want to fight for more?

Now that “Blaze 3” was to be completed and launched, Randall was suddenly proposing to resign. It was likely a strategic retreat to seek a better deal.

So he offered an irresistible proposal.

However, Randall still refused without hesitation. “I’m not doing it for the money. I just want to resign.”

After hearing this, Randall’s superior stared at him in disbelief, as if reevaluating him, before finally saying, “Alright, you win! I’ll raise your salary by 50%, and double your annual bonus!”

But Randall just sighed and said again, “I really don’t want the money. I really want to resign.”

Next came the human resources supervisor, colleagues, and subordinates, all trying to persuade him in rounds.

But Randall showed no signs of backing down, repeating, “Sorry, but I have to leave,” throughout.

In the end, the company’s young boss, Richard, personally stepped in.

He promised Randall that as long as he stayed, he would get a 1% profit share of “Blaze 3” and all future “Blaze” installments he participated in. This share would be accounted separately from the prize money, and the pledge would be put in writing.

Given the sales of the previous “Blaze” installments, this promise could bring Randall over a hundred million dollars in additional income! And it wouldn’t be a one-time thing—as long as sales remained stable, he would continue to make that much with each new release!

Though Richard was young, he was undoubtedly bold. He believed that throwing massive amounts of money at the problem would make anyone lose their composure.

He had made up his mind to bind Randall—a highly capable game planner—to the company for good. In Richard’s eyes, Randall was the ideal future chief planner candidate.

The current chief planner, a veteran of the industry, had been promoted by Richard’s father. But he had stepped down from his position and was resting on his laurels, unable to keep up with Richard’s pace!

However, what Richard didn’t expect was for Randall to refuse without any hesitation, repeating, “Sorry, but I have to leave.”

Could there really be someone in this world who didn’t care about money?

Richard couldn’t understand.

Ultimately, Richard also left in a huff. After a long entanglement, Randall left NetDragon on bad terms.

“Little Chun, I’m back.” The first thing Randall did when he returned home was to check where his girlfriend was.

Seeing her in the kitchen, he hurried over and carefully took the kitchen knife from her hand. “Didn’t I say I would do it? You just watch TV or play with your phone.”

Little Chun didn’t argue. She didn’t leave but instead stood to one side, smiling as she watched him busy himself.

“By the way, I resigned from NetDragon today.”

“Ah? But why? You were doing well, and the new game is almost done, right?” “I’m planning to find Lincoln and work on realistic simulation games. That’s the future of the gaming industry! After we eat, can you help me put together a resume?”

Despite his casual tone, Little Chun didn’t say anything. Instead, she started tearing up, covering her mouth as she cried.

Little Chun was no ordinary person. She had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis two years ago.

This was a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disease. As the disease slowly took hold, patients would experience muscle weakness, atrophy, then difficulty speaking and swallowing, and ultimately, respiratory failure.

It was an incurable disease that would inevitably lead to death.

Many who suffered from the disease would consider how to leave the world with dignity when their symptoms reached the late stages.

Little Chun’s disease had already progressed to its later stages, with cooking becoming difficult at times. So Randall started preventing her from cooking, fearing she might get hurt.

She knew clearly that she didn’t have many good years left.

As such, she immediately understood that Randall’s insistence on leaving NetDragon to join Lincoln’s company wasn’t simply because virtual reality was the future of the gaming industry.

It was for her..