Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 407: 391: What? Bandits are back again?!

Translator: 549690339

Having lamented NetDragon’s publicity strategy, Lincoln was somewhat conflicted.

Originally, he had planned to wait until NetDragon’s DLC was released, then Cloud Dream would directly issue an announcement, proclaiming the “Night City Virtual Concert” of Queen of Heaven An Rongyi.

He would then grab all the attention and let NetDragon experience what it’s like to be “cold, desolate, and miserable.”

But now, he had to admit that after NetDragon played the Gavin card, the attention was somewhat guaranteed.

Moreover, Lincoln noticed that many core-oriented players still had deep feelings for “Blaze 3.”

Before Gavin appeared, most players’ discussions revealed a sense of “proper farewell.”

This made him feel somewhat reluctant to do so.

He indeed had issues with NetDragon, but he could also fully understand the players’ sincere expectations for a decent ending to a game.

If on the day the DLC goes on sale, at the end of the story, everyone is discussing An Rongyi and Gavin – a singing celebrity and a sports star, and not many people are discussing the game itself.

Obviously, this could not be considered a decent ending.

–Although both are great people, it doesn’t change the fact that they had nothing to do with the game beforehand.

It’s somewhat overshadowing.

So, Lincoln decided to be generous for once and not make the announcement tomorrow, but instead–

Postpone it to the day after tomorrow!

Give the players a day’s time, without any interference, to properly bid farewell to their youth.

And then—

Come and join the concert in Night City, you bastards!

I’ve reserved the whole venue!

Lincoln got up to find Samuel and Fred to arrange the upcoming plans.

*

In the game, Yi also finished watching the trailer.

Then he shouted, “Yang is amazing!”

Afterward, he closed the page and looked back at the modified garage in front of him – he was waiting for the flip door to open again.

Last night, he played so late that he didn’t have time to fix the car.

It wasn’t until he logged in today that he started repairing the pickup truck.

Last night, when Yi took the lead and rushed into the crowd, he used his fast speed and simultaneous fire from two firepower points to exert considerable deterrence, even knocking down twelve players in an instant!

However, such attention-seeking behavior also immediately drew concentrated fire.

The two people in the car had very rudimentary defensive measures – two layers of metal baffles that Yi temporarily welded onto the car.

The thickness was actually sufficient, but the structure wasn’t great, so only the sides could be protected, not the top.

As a result, more than a dozen hand grenades were thrown at them and, after a series of explosions, the two firepower points were ruined, leaving Yi in the driving room feeling dizzy and battered.

–Death was out of the question; Yi’s own driving room naturally had much more stringent and robust defense measures than the car others sat in.

But without the firepower points, the car turned into a defenseless lamb, inevitably falling completely under the siege, its entire body riddled with bullet holes.

If it weren’t for the modified garage offering towing and repair services, this vehicle would have been completely scrapped long ago.

The cost of repairing the car was also not as high as in reality, and only required the consumption of some resources from the warehouse, giving Yi the confidence to boldly rush past.

However, during the repair, the modified garage had to be kept empty, so he waited outside.

This was also a choice made by the game development team after weighing the options.

Neither making a bunch of mechanics to repair the car nor having futuristic automatic repair equipment was suitable.

Considering the players’ antics, the cars they bring in might be in rough shape, making it impossible to repair them properly.

And unconventional means not only waste computational power but also look uncoordinated with the realistic style of Night City.

Finally, everyone decided to simply kick the players out and close the door.

Then deduct the resources, delete the damaged car, refresh a good car directly, and it’s done!

Simple and efficient.

As long as the players can’t see it, there’s no issue with coordination!

By the way, “waiting” is also meant to make players feel more realistic and make “repairing cars” seem like it’s actually happening, rather than magically being fixed in an instant.

Even the duration of the players’ waiting time is determined based on the extent of damage to their car.

Of course, it only takes a few minutes at most, and players won’t have to wait for a long time.

At this moment, a conspicuous paid message in the live broadcast room caught Yi’s attention:

“The Continental Hotel has put a bounty on the Bandits, an open bounty with 500,000 per person! Yi, do you want to check it out?”

“The Continental Hotel has put a bounty on the Bandits?” Yi was surprised, “Aren’t the Bandits players? Does the game actually put bounties on players?”

“So this is a bounty commissioned by the casino?”

“The question is, didn’t that group of Bandits change their name already? Who can find them?”

Yi couldn’t help but feel it was getting ridiculous, with a bunch of question marks in his head.

At this point, the door of the modified garage slowly opened, revealing a brand-new — well, not brand new. This pickup truck was stolen by Yi from a gang member, and the first time he drove it into the modified garage, it was already a third-hand car.

Now it has only been restored to its condition before last night’s battle — excluding the player’s rifle.

Without giving it much thought, Yi got into the car and rushed to the Continental Hotel to see what the bounty was all about.

After all, he had already completed the main storyline before yesterday’s battle and wasn’t planning to use the [Experience Mode] to start a second round yet, so he needed something to do.

Upon arriving at the Continental Hotel, Yi immediately found that quite a few players gathered to watch the excitement. It seemed that just like him, they had completed the main storyline and had time to spare.

However, there wasn’t a single player to be seen in front of the bounty board that should have been the center of attention, leaving Yi a bit puzzled: “Aren’t these people here to see the bounty information?”

Once he walked to the bounty board himself, he immediately understood the reason for the lack of people.

There was hardly any useful information given on the bounty board-

「Bounty Target: Bandits (numbering over 20)

Bounty Amount: 500,000 per person.

Target’s Evil Acts: Robbing Paradise Casino.

Target Characteristics: Using Mahjong tiles as their codenames, including[One Cake], [One Stick], [Ten Thousand], etc., who are suspected to be the leaders, and the bounty amount for these three is doubled.

Additionally, the leader[One Cake] is suspected to be incredibly ugly.

Bonus Reward: Killer Ranking Rises.」

For the players, this information is completely useless rubbish.

Codenames are just player nicknames which can be changed at any time.

In previous games, changing nicknames required deleting the existing account and recreating it, or purchasing renaming items, but in Cloud Dream, even these costs don’t exist, as long as it’s not something excessively offensive, you can change it as you please.

And what kind of information is “suspected to be very ugly”?

Unless someone is genuinely so ugly that it’s earth-shattering and leaves a lasting impression, it can barely be considered information.

“By the way, if I find someone to change their name to[One Cake], then I kill them, can I get the bounty?”

Yi discussed the idea with his live streaming audience, “We can split the money in half!”

“If it works, we could get every name that appeared that day and earn 10 million in bounties! Even if shared between two people, it’s still 5 million, which is such a great deal!”

Unfortunately, his idea was immediately proven infeasible by the stream chat:

“If it was possible, do you think it would still be your turn?”

“With the stinginess of this development team, it’s clearly impossible…”

“This bounty is probably going to be a dud.”

“Hard to say, it mainly depends on the judgment. If the Continental Hotel in the game is in charge of judging, there’s no hope. But if the game system judges, then maybe one day when you’re lucky, you might accidentally kill a real bandit and get the bounty money right away.”

Yi thought about it and felt that the money would indeed be hard to earn, so he decided to look at other bounties instead, finding one with less money but more information and easier to earn from.

After all, no matter how much money a bounty offers, the key is to actually get it.

Just as he started looking at other bounties, he heard a burst of intense gunfire!

“Ratatatatatat—”

Many fully automatic rifles were firing at once!

Bullets were shot into the Continental Hotel from the entrance, indiscriminately and without aiming or specific targets!

A bullet almost grazed Yi’s ear, as marble walls, floor tiles, and luxurious Roman-style columns were hit by the storm of bullets, with rubble flying everywhere!

“F*ck!” Yi dove past the marble platform, crouching down and immediately drawing his pistol.

— He felt that if he stayed in Night City for a few more days, he would be able to survive even in America!

At the same time, in the hotel lobby, a cacophony of gunfire, screams, and swearing ensued!

The gunfire came from the attackers, the screams from the hotel service staff, and the swearing was from the players:

“Who the hell is it! F*ck your mother, I’m just a spectator here!”

“If anyone else tells me that the Continental Hotel is a safe zone, I’ll absolutely slap them with a big earlobe!”

“F*ck, my gun is in the car! Yesterday I had a small pistol, and someone cornered me in the casino, today I have a small pistol again, and someone corners me in the Continental Hotel! F*ck! Want to bully me alone, huh?!”

Compared to the players who were swearing and not hesitating to fire back, the NPC hitmen were somewhat indecisive, unsure if they should open fire inside the hotel.

Soon, the attackers barged into the hotel lobby, finally revealing their identities—[One Cake], [One Stick], [Ten Thousand] led the group, followed by others with mahjong tile names.

Moreover, their attack was clearly better prepared this time, and they even made mahjong tile-shaped masks to cover their faces!

“F*ck! Bandits!”

“F*ck! Bounty!”

“They’re delivering themselves to us!”

The players in the lobby immediately perked up, and the counterattack gunfire intensified.

At this point, no one thought about joining the attackers to fight against the Continental Hotel. It was the bounty right in front of them that was more tempting!

Yi didn’t expose himself but instead felt a bit sentimental: “Brothers, do you see? That’s what you call a muscular man!”

“You dare to put a bounty on me, and I’ll mess with you in minutes!”

He glanced at the small pistol in his hand, and quickly started shaking people up, “There’s meat right in front of your mouth, not eating is a waste! Brothers, grab your weapons and get ready for battle!”

Outside of the game, Cloud Dream Virtual Office.

Lincoln had just finished discussing the virtual concert arrangements with Samuel, and also looked over the final list of Honorary Players, nodding his approval.

Just as he was about to go find Fred, he heard Mavis’s voice-

“Master, Master, the ‘Bandits’ are making a move again!”

“Bandits? What are they trying to do?”

Mavis’s voice sounded again in Lincoln’s ear:

“They’re going to rob the casino’s cash transport truck!”