Although Zhou Qiming's game company didn't make much money, the contributions could be exchanged for cash. Because making games was too expensive, although he wasn't a member of the Special Operations Department, he always went on missions with others to earn contribution points.
It turned out that when an internet addict played games, even if their crush was right next to them, they would be completely unaware.
Lu Yan looked at the screen. Zhou Qiming was controlling a character, fighting monsters underwater. He was playing with great enthusiasm.
The screen brightness was high, but the visibility was extremely low. Vaguely, one could see some grotesque monster silhouettes. Eyes grew on the ground, strange dead fish floated in the blood pool, and occasionally, dark octopus tentacles attacked from behind.
The staff whispered, "Dr. Diteng, he has been playing games all night. I hope you can persuade him."
At that moment, a CG plot was triggered in the game. The screen went pitch black, accompanied by the mournful sound of funeral bells.
A few seconds later, a dialogue box popped up below the game.
Chinese characters and strange symbols were mixed together, and Lu Yan had to guess and decipher them, making it very difficult to read.
[You shouldn't have come. The truth doesn't really matter.]
[I will fall eventually, and you will be reborn in my death.]
[...Brother.]
Lu Yan leaned in suddenly, wanting to take another look at the screen. But the next moment, the game forced quit.
[Health Reminder: You've played "Global Evolution" for 10 hours today! The system will force you to log off for 1 hour.]
[Moderate gaming for a healthy life. Thank you for your support and love for this game!]
Zhou Qiming threw away the mouse and cursed, "Shit!!"
Lu Yan rarely cursed, but in that moment, he strangely sympathized with Zhou Qiming.
Zhou Qiming's eyes were bloodshot, and when he turned his head to grab a water cup, his expression was shocked when he saw Lu Yan. "Dr. Lu, when did you come?"
Lu Yan pursed his lips. "A few minutes ago. What game are you playing?"
"Ah," Zhou Qiming felt a bit embarrassed. "It's a game made by our game company, called 'Global Evolution.' It was selected as a supported project before, so it's quite popular on the Stime gaming platform."
"Because the sales are good, the development department said to make a DLC* as a welfare. It uses the latest super AI brain, so there are many random plots. I received the deo* before coming to City X, so I tried playing it today."
Lu Yan frowned slightly. "Can you send me a copy? I want to play too."
Zhou Qiming immediately handed his laptop to Lu Yan and said, "You can use my laptop, the password is your birthday! Just return it to me after you're done, there are many important files inside that I can't afford to lose."
"Thank you," Lu Yan replied.
After comforting Zhou Qiming, he took the laptop bag and went to visit Yan Bei, Michael, and Bai Ze, expressing his condolences.
When he returned to his room, exactly an hour had passed.
Lu Yan opened Zhou Qiming's laptop and immediately saw "Global Evolution" on the desktop.
He hadn't played many games before, except for the built-in smartphone games. However, since it was all in Chinese, he should be able to navigate it.
The game interface offered options to continue playing or start a new game.
Without hesitation, Lu Yan chose to continue playing.
However, the screen on the computer showed something different from what he had seen before.
Lu Yan looked at a character model that looked a lot like him, bending down with a gentle smile on his face. "Zhou Qiming, awake again? Did you have another nightmare?"
In addition, there was a name displayed on the dialogue box: Doctor.
System: [Congratulations to the host for becoming a "Boardwatcher." Surprised?]
[Doctor: Based on the test, your current level of contamination is 74.5. Next time, don't go to such dangerous places and worry me, okay?]
This NPC in the game was nameless but served as a doctor in the Prevention and Control Center.
It was said that because the doctor's model was so attractive, there were many highly popular fan art pieces online.
Lu Yan searched and found out that in this game, "Global Evolution," initial characters were all ordinary people who could only choose their gender. In the beginner's tutorial, players controlled the protagonist, who awakened as different types of Harbingers due to various pollutants. After that, each time they entered the game, there would be new mission scenarios. These scenarios were designed based on materials from the Harbinger Forum, totaling more than three hundred. After failing a scenario, players would enter the "Mission Hall," which was the Intensive Care Unit of the Prevention and Control Center. After receiving treatment with "Precognition," they would be fully healed and could start a new round of missions.
It was worth mentioning that in the game, a character's contamination level would not decrease unless treated with medicine. If the contamination level exceeded 100, it would be considered as death. However, players could choose to inherit half of their previous character's inheritance.
Now that the game had been released for half a year, no one had yet cleared all the in-game scenarios.
Clearly, due to the sudden appearance of the health system, the character "Zhou Qiming" was deemed to have "failed the mission" and returned to the starting point.
Lu Yan tried for several hours afterward, even killing the boss of the Mermaid Club again in the game, but he still didn't encounter the initial mission scenario.
Unable to resist, he clicked on the dialogue box with Zhou Qiming: "Do you have any scripts for your game scenarios?"
Zhou Qiming: Hehe, our company's game is generated based on a certain algorithm and data, creating scenarios within a framework! This game has received strong support from headquarters and applied many cutting-edge technologies that have not yet been introduced. In other words, there are no scripts.
"Okay," Lu Yan said.
He closed the computer and asked, "Is this a coincidence?"
The system ambiguously replied, "[Everything that has happened is inevitable. It depends on how you think about it.]"
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