Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 649: Chapter 616: The Seer’s Second Prophecy!

Camille Victoria had a hard time understanding why Lincoln was laughing so happily.

Lincoln couldn’t explain it either, so he simply didn’t try.

With a light push on her shoulder, the two of them continued forward to see the “lousy” Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

However, in order to catch the thick fog, they had arrived too early, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was not yet open for visitors.

“It’s not open yet.”

“Yeah, we’re too early.” Princess nodded.

“You shouldn’t be nodding.” Lincoln reminded her, “You’re a princess, you should just make a phone call, and their superiors will come running to open the door for us.”

Camille Victoria laughed and slapped his arm: “What are you thinking! There’s no such thing.”

As if she couldn’t admit defeat, she tried to hold back her laughter and said, “You’re the richest man here, shouldn’t it be you who makes a phone call, and the director of the tourism bureau rushes over to open the door for you?”

As they talked, they both found it amusing and laughed like fools outside the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

In the end, they didn’t even go inside. They just took a bunch of tourist photos around the pagoda, like two out-of-towners who had never seen the world before, and then continued their leisurely walk.

They strolled until the fog gradually faded before they began to return.

That’s when Lorin’s call came in.

“Hello? Director Luo? What’s the matter?”

“NetDragon has officially filed for bankruptcy liquidation, and the bankruptcy settlement process will start soon.” Lorin had just heard the news and immediately notified Lincoln.

However, Lincoln already knew about it.

There was no way around it. Cloud Dream had nearly monopolized NetDragon’s grassroots backbone, especially the experienced developer backbone.

Last Monday, Douglas announced at a meeting that they would apply for bankruptcy “a week later” and told employees to “seek other opportunities,” so there’s no way Lincoln wouldn’t know.

Moreover, well, ever since Lincoln and Mavis had visited NetDragon’s server once, there had been no secrets left about NetDragon for him.

Even now, Mavis still kept an eye on what was happening at NetDragon, always on standby.

They wouldn’t relax their surveillance until they saw Richard convicted with their own eyes.

This move in online games was called “corpse pressing,” and in fighting games, it was called “pressing rise.” In any case, they wouldn’t stop until the dust had settled.

“Then let it go bankrupt. Thanks for the good news, Director Luo. My appetite has improved, and I’m going to buy a Chinese hamburger later.”

“I’m not here to let you gloat over others’ misfortune.” Lorin helplessly laughed.

“I’m just asking if there’s anything you want from NetDragon? Anyway, there will be a liquidation sale or auction during the bankruptcy process. If there’s anything you want, I’ll help you keep an eye out.” Lorin was quite blunt.

But after thinking about it, Lincoln had already taken in most of the talent from NetDragon, and there wasn’t much else of interest.

If he had to say, there was really only one thing left –

“How much for the intellectual property rights of the ‘Blaze’ series?”

“I’m not sure yet, but it won’t be too expensive. It’s a bankruptcy liquidation, so it can’t be sold at the price of a treasure.”

Lorin’s answer reassured Lincoln quite a bit.

Mainly because buying the “Blaze” game back meant that Cloud Dream didn’t have the capacity to handle it. Plus, if it was just a collection of IPs, it would be very uneconomical if the price was too high.

“That’s good. Shall I notify Jerome to pay attention to it later?”

“All right. By the way, I’ll also let you know that Richard’s trial is on the 16th, which is next Monday.”

“Another week? That’s so long!”

“Long??” Lorin paused, “This is already rocket speed, and you still think it’s slow?”

Some cases, from arrest to trial, could take one or two years or even longer. In Richard’s case, his treatment was already considered “top-level.”

“Just go buy your Chinese hamburger.” Lorin was no longer in the mood to chat, “I’ll let you know when there’s a result.”

So Lincoln hung up the phone and really did go to line up to buy a Chinese hamburger.

*

At this moment, the employees selected by Cloud Dream had just arrived in Chang’an.

The tour group that Lincoln had booked in advance had already gone to pick them up.

Lincoln himself had never intended to go.

Lincoln was too lazy to engage in formalism like leader speeches and didn’t plan on assigning tasks for them. Instead, he just let everyone relax and enjoy themselves.

Even the “tour group” he had found wasn’t meant to drag the employees around to all the sights.

At Lincoln’s request, where to go, what to see, and which route to follow were all up to the employees themselves. The tour guide was only there to provide assistance.

Of course, for employees who were too lazy to think, the tour guide could still lead the itinerary.

Anyway, the purpose of this team-building event is to keep everyone as relaxed and happy as possible, and see if any special inspiration can be gained in this carefree environment.

However, such a big event definitely can’t be hidden from the omnipotent netizens.

As soon as Cloud Dream’s employees boarded the plane in Xiajing City, they were discovered by netizens who immediately started to guess: Where is Cloud Dream going?

Now that they have landed, the answer naturally appears-

Chang’an.

But a new question arises: Why is Cloud Dream bringing so many employees to Chang’an?

They can’t figure it out.

But Wu Di knew very well: It must be for [Virtual Chang’an]!

In his excitement, instead of posting the usual [coo-coo-coo] status update on Spiritual Rhinoceros, he changed it to two words-

[Awesome!]

As soon as this was posted, the netizens immediately connected the two events together.

Wu Di had been posting [coo-coo-coo] status updates for almost half a month straight without missing a day.

Now that Cloud Dream’s staff has arrived in Chang’an, the status immediately changed to [Awesome!]. No one would believe there’s no connection!

When Wu Di got the [New World Travel Ticket] before, everyone thought it was for “Battlefield”.

But “Battlefield” has been launched, and when people asked him what he did that week, he still remained tight-lipped.

It’s easy to think: The world he went to wasn’t “Battlefield”, so the confidentiality agreement still applies.

So, there have been early speculations that Cloud Dream is secretly developing a new game.

Related content has always been a “daily post” on the Whirlpool Game Forum, pulled out and discussed whenever there’s nothing else to talk about.

However, due to a lack of evidence and only some hearsay, there aren’t many people who believe it.

But now, things are different!

Oracle [Jason] posted another prediction-

[Cloud Dream’s next new game! Solid evidence, indisputable!]

Known facts:

First: After [I’m Really Called Wu Di] used the [New World Travel Ticket], he did not go to the “Battlefield” world.

Second: Lincoln is learning martial arts – after Alex’s virtual concert backstage, Lincoln bravely fought against Bandits; also, Lincoln just posted a group photo in front of the “Xu Family Boxing Gym” yesterday.

Third: Lincoln has funded the establishment of the “Ancient Architecture Recording and Protection Foundation”, and all the research projects supported by this foundation are required to be backed up in the virtual world.

Fourth: More than 80 employees of Cloud Dream fly to Chang’an on a workday; [I’m Really Called Wu Di] immediately expresses excitement.

From this we can conclude:

Cloud Dream is making a martial arts game set in “Ancient Chang’an”!

It’s obvious, brothers!

I’m putting my words here; if I guess wrong when the game comes out, I’ll shave my head while doing a handstand!

Post as proof!

——

This post quickly became popular in a very short time, with replies from forum netizens skyrocketing.

Aside from a few jokesters and people engaging in “eyeball trade” to watch the excitement, the rest were all extremely excited.

Jason is originally a strong predictor, having successfully predicted the game content of “Terraria”.

Now he has made a second prediction and provided clear evidence, it’s very convincing!

This excitement and joy quickly spread from the forum, causing quite a stir in the entire Daxia player circle.

It’s a martial arts game!

Countless people went to Cloud Dream and Lincoln’s accounts to ask for confirmation, and some locals in Chang’an even drove to the airport highway.

They couldn’t make it to the airport in time, but they might be lucky enough to intercept the vehicles picking them up.

There are more than 80 people, at least three large buses, perhaps even more! The target is very clear and not difficult to find.

As long as they find it, follow it, they might have a chance to figure out which hotel they are staying in.

Once they know the hotel, they might be able to block Lincoln!

At that time, if there’s any problem, they can just ask Lincoln directly!