"I'm sorry!"
"Sorry!"
"Sumimasen!"
...
The Monster Hunter development team had barely entered the office when they saw their boss, Xu Meng, standing in front of the hand-drawn Monster Hunter poster wall, apologizing to the camera in various languages.
"? ? ?"
Everyone hurriedly stopped, staring in shock at their apologizing boss.
"Um, Boss..." Xue Liang said awkwardly, "What are you... doing?"
"?" Xu Meng looked at the group of people who had suddenly appeared, also a bit stunned.
"Filming a video, can't you tell? If there's a bug in the middle of the night, or some troublesome problem, I can't very well get up in the middle of the night to work, right?"
"I'll just release this to deal with emergencies then."
"But what's up with you guys?"
"Don't tell me I was in a coma for five days yesterday, and it's already the 25th?"
Xue Liang had seen this preemptive apology maneuver once before.
—Although he hadn't joined Zhumeng at that time, he had seen Xu Meng leading the entire Frost Snow Project development team in an apology online.
It got to the point where several other gacha game companies had problems, and their bosses were forced by netizens to apologize on camera.
Xue Liang had almost died of laughter when he saw the boss of Dawn of Light—an old man nearing fifty—pitifully sitting in front of the camera apologizing to the players.
Now that he was seeing this maneuver again, it didn't shock him as much.
As for the reason for ending his vacation early, he had already thought it through:
"The vacation was too long, I couldn't adjust."
In reality, of course, that wasn't the reason.
Just one look at the long string of numbers in his bank account, and he couldn't relax at home.
[20% of Zhumeng Games' business profits]
In Xu Meng's mouth, it was just a light and airy number.
But for Zhumeng employees, it was an unbelievable windfall!
One year-end bonus was worth several years, even a dozen years, of regular salary! Even the company's cleaning lady received a bonus equivalent to two years' salary!
Working for a boss like this, Xue Liang couldn't wait to work himself to the bone to repay Xu Meng.
But Xu Meng wouldn't allow it.
In his team, everyone was asking if they should go back early to help the boss.
"Even if it's just to lend the boss a hand!" That's what everyone was saying.
Unfortunately, Xu Meng flatly refused everything, telling everyone to rest easy at home.
They could only discuss it in private, and finally decided to act first and report later—they would go straight to the company before the Monster Hunter beta test began!
The boss couldn't possibly send them all home again, right?
In fact, this trick really worked.
The development team members each prepared reasons, such as "I don't want to watch the kids at home," "My mom嫌弃 me after a long time," "I'm addicted to work," "I'm worried about my cats in Ningzhou..."
All sorts of strange reasons.
Xu Meng felt it was ridiculous.
But since they were already here, it would be too pretentious to send them away.
So he said, "Alright, since you're all here, let's all do it together."
"Do what together?"
"Film a video together!"
"Oh, okay, OKOK."
Everyone had no psychological burden, put down what they were doing, and gathered behind Xu Meng, taking a dozen seconds to adjust their mood.
Finally, they all put on solemn expressions and said to the camera together:
Some even begged, "Boss, Boss, let's take a group photo!"
Xu Meng didn't refuse.
So in the same position, with the exact same camera angle, the entire development team and Xu Meng took a large group photo.
Everyone was smiling, making V-signs, and couldn't be happier.
"Alright, alright, since you're all here, I'll leave the rest to you," Xu Meng said easily, stretching lazily.
"Ah?" Xue Liang was surprised, "What about you, Boss?"
"Me? I'm the boss, of course I'm watching you guys work!" Xu Meng replied matter-of-factly.
A burst of laughter immediately rang out in the office.
"Dongdong?"
"Xiaoxi?"
"Azi!"
"Amao?"
...
As everyone turned on their computers, they habitually called out to their digital companions.
And so, cats and dogs of various breeds and colors, a purple eggplant, a running alarm clock, a flying hat...
Appeared from the air, responding to their owners.
Xiao Meng also quietly appeared beside these little guys, grabbing the eggplant and tickling it.
The eggplant laughed wildly, unable to speak.
The eggplant's owner was stunned.
"Xiao Meng, don't bully him," Xu Meng had to stop Xiao Meng.
"Oh, okay!"
Xiao Meng obediently released the eggplant.
Then turned around and gently tickled the hat, causing it to tremble non-stop.
—Throughout Zhumeng, there were many different digital companions, but none of them were human-shaped.
This was a restriction Xu Meng required.
The only person who had a chance to be an exception was Xu Meng's little assistant.
He had said he wanted to make a virtual hunk for his little assistant, but she repeatedly waved her hand in refusal.
Xiao Meng looked at these digital companions in much the same way humans looked at cats and dogs - whenever she saw them, she couldn't help but want to touch them and tease them.
Under Xue Liang's control, a huge countdown appeared in the office—
[1:45:38]
That was the time remaining until the Monster Hunter beta test began.
...
...
On Mengjinli, as the poster posted photos, the discussion about the development team quickly disappeared.
The happy group photo was also posted on Moments by the development team members, and after being seen, it was forwarded to social networks and received a lot of likes.
The small storm quickly subsided, and the Monster Hunter beta test once again became the focus of attention.
But here's a small problem:
Like the beta test rules of countless other games, the Monster Hunter beta test was also confidential.
Only 2,000 people could learn in advance what the game was like.
As for betting on whether there would be ruthless people who dared to ignore Zhumeng's confidentiality agreement and expose the game content...
Anyone who thought about the game companies that Xu Meng had messed up would have to think carefully.
—
[10:00]
The invitation cards in the hands of all beta testers flickered with a faint light, turning into a roll of parchment.
A system prompt appeared before their eyes:
[Door Key Activated]
[Proceed to Unknown World?]
"Is that even a question? Let's go, let's go!"
More than 2000 internal beta players couldn't wait and set off one after another.
The newest novel is first published on !
Qihua Hua was also one of them.
However, her situation was slightly different—
She had two invitation cards in her hand, which turned into two scrolls at the same time when the time reached [10:00].
One of them was no different from other players.
But the other one directly pointed to a specific location—
[Door key has been activated, do you want to go to the Eternal Hunting Ground?]
“Eternal Hunting Ground? Go directly? ”Qihua Hua became curious and chose this invitation letter.
[Generating rocks and mountains… …]
[Laying soil and plants… …]
[Releasing insects and beasts… …]
[Crafting armor and weapons… …]
[Guiding frost… …]
[Opening the gate to the world… …]
[Matching opponents for you. (1/100)]
[Matching… … (1/100)]
[Matching… … (1/100)]
… …
Qihua Hua waited patiently.
Qihua Hua's patience gradually decreased.
Qihua Hua's patience quickly ran out.
Qihua Hua suddenly realized—
“It seems that because of Xiaomeng's operation, I am the only one who has two invitation letters.”
“If only the second invitation letter can lead to the Eternal Hunting Ground, does this mean… …that I am the only one who can enter this mode now! ? ?
She looked at the jumping system prompt and waited for another three minutes before finally accepting the reality—
That's right.
This thing just can't gather enough people now.
“I must rub Xiaomeng's face hard when I see her next time!”
Qihua Hua felt that she was being teased by Xiaomeng, and secretly made up her mind to get back at her next time they meet!
She helplessly put down the parchment scroll and switched to another one.
This time it was much more normal.
The lakeside cabin scene quickly faded away, replaced by a brand new scene.
Noisy and bustling sounds poured into her ears.
Qihua Hua looked around and found that this seemed to be a tavern.
Men and women in leather armor were talking and laughing loudly, warriors in armor sat at the table wiping their helmets, and the bartender carried large glasses of beer through the crowd, passing a petite girl with silver hair and a steel sword in her arms, handing a large glass of beer to the scholar opposite the girl.
The scholar was wearing a simple robe, ignoring the beer in front of him, and intently looking at something like a newspaper in his hand.
As Qihua Hua's gaze focused, some words appeared on the newspaper—
[Ancient Dragon Crossing the Sea], [White Frost Ecological Disaster], [New Creature Outbreak]… …
“Hey! What are you looking at? ”
A voice interrupted Qihua Hua.
Qihua Hua came back to her senses and found a lively girl dressed as an adventurer opposite her, greeting her.
“Are you here to investigate the cause of the rainforest disaster too? ”
Qihua Hua was a little dazed: “What rainforest disaster? I don’t know, I thought I was here to hunt ancient dragons.”
“? ”The NPC girl on the opposite side couldn't help but laugh.
“Hahaha! Did you hear that? She said she was going to hunt ancient dragons!”
“Hahahaha! ”
Almost everyone in the tavern burst out laughing at the same time, even the scholar reading the newspaper was no exception.
—Only the silver-haired girl was confused, looking at the laughing crowd strangely.
Before Qihua Hua could ask questions, the girl opposite her put her hands together and apologized repeatedly:
“Sorry, sorry!”
“We don’t mean to laugh at you, but what you said is too exaggerated! I know novice adventurers are brave, but ancient dragons… …too exaggerated, too exaggerated! ! ! ”
“Oh right, I don’t know your name yet? ”
In front of Qihua Hua, a small pop-up window appeared:
[Please enter your game nickname—]
In the blank space of the input box, the three words [Qihua Hua] have already appeared by default.
Qihua Hua didn't change it and directly clicked confirm.
“Your name is Qihua Hua? ”The adventurer girl immediately confirmed, “What a cute name!”
“But ancient dragons are really impossible.” She shook her head vigorously again.
“Few people who have seen ancient dragons can survive. I think you’d better pray that you don’t encounter ancient dragons.”
Qihua Hua raised her chin slightly when she heard this:
“Hmph, a mere ancient dragon… …it should be the ancient dragon praying not to encounter me!”
“Otherwise, I’ll peel off its scales to make armor and draw its tendons to make bowstrings!”
Qihua Hua spoke wildly.
The adventurer girl—and everyone in the tavern—stared at Qihua Hua in stunned silence.
After a moment of silence, unrestrained laughter erupted again!
Qihua Hua was a little angry.
But the next second, the ground of the tavern suddenly shook violently!
Several people were caught off guard and fell to the ground, beer spilled everywhere, and the adventurer girl opposite her also staggered and almost fell.
Qihua Hua took a step forward and helped her.
“What’s going on? Is it an earthquake? ”Qihua Hua asked.
The girl looked at her in shock: “How is that possible! We are in the sky! ! ”
“Ah? ”Qihua Hua looked at the tavern environment around her, “In the sky? ”
The next second, the ceiling of the tavern was torn open, along with an entire wall and a third of the floor!
The sky and the sea of clouds suddenly appeared before her eyes!
Huge scales, like stubborn rocks and like gold and iron, swept past the tavern with crisp collision sounds.
Looking at only two or three scales, they were larger than an entire wall of the tavern, making it difficult to imagine how huge its entire body would be.
The magnificent battle music also began to play!
“Could it be… …that we really ran into an ancient dragon? ”The adventurer girl looked at this scene in shock.
Then, she subconsciously looked at Qihua Hua, who had just said she was going to peel off the dragon scales and draw the dragon tendons.
Her twinkling big eyes seemed to be saying—
‘Aren’t you going to hunt ancient dragons? Now is your chance.’
The corners of Qihua Hua's mouth twitched.
I do have the confidence to hunt ancient dragons, and peeling off dragon scales and drawing dragon tendons is not a problem.
But—
I have to wait until the later stages of the game, when I'm fully equipped with divine gear!
Why would the novice tutorial let people fight the ultimate BOSS? ! !
Is the development team sick? !
