On the plane, Yin Zhiyuan's face was numb.
After a moment of blankness, he couldn't help but ask the same question for the fourth time: "Are you sure there's no mistake?"
"It was made in just one week? ? ?"
Xu Meng rolled her eyes, "Why don't you go ask the research institute?"
"We can only see the parameters; the specific effects can only be known after it's implemented."
"But, if they didn't fake anything, and the data they gave is real, then it really was made."
The National United Laboratory for Materials Science faking data?
Yin Zhiyuan subconsciously shook his head.
How could that be?
So many people are watching this project right now, who would dare to fake anything at this time?
But he still couldn't believe it: "But this is too fast… …"
In his common sense, such major technological breakthroughs are always positively correlated with time.
Even if an unreasonable genius appears, the time required for substantial progress is often measured in years.
Especially when it comes to the stochastic nature of materials science experiments.
But now… …
With the rapid advancement of the special working group, after Xu Meng handed over the experimental procedure, the other side produced the thing in just one week.
This doesn't seem like creating a new material from scratch at all; it's more like replicating the results of a published paper!
Even many published papers are difficult to replicate.
In comparison, Xu Meng's is too outrageous!
Completed within a week… …
I'm afraid they didn't take any detours at all. After the equipment was debugged and the experimental process ran smoothly, they produced the finished product a few times!
Yin Zhiyuan felt that his scientific research common sense was facing a severe challenge.
Not only him, but the five special action team members traveling with him were also in a state of serious existential doubt.
Only the little assistant Chen Mengling didn't have much scientific research common sense; besides thinking that her senior was awesome, she had no other thoughts.
Two and a half hours later, the plane landed in Shencheng.
Without any extra procedures, the group went straight to the laboratory.
The staff in the laboratory had very interesting expressions when they greeted them.
Just a few days ago, the higher-ups suddenly requested that the ongoing project be put on hold, and all equipment, personnel, and laboratories were to make way for this sudden task.
Of course, everyone didn't dare to neglect the execution, but their schedule was disrupted and their experiments were delayed, so they inevitably complained.
Especially the magical operation of giving the physical properties of the compound first, and then giving the synthesis steps.
— Shouldn't you synthesize this new substance first, and then measure the various physical properties?
Now that the thing hasn't even been made yet, you're already writing the requirements?
Are you acting as a product manager here?!
But later, when they followed the experimental requirements step by step, they finally synthesized a "brand new" substance that fully met the requirements!
Looking at the magical compound that constantly changed color with electromagnetic waves, everyone was silent.
Therefore, they were extremely curious about the true creator of this "X substance"—the mysterious and strictly confidential initiator of the experiment.
After confirming the other party's arrival time, a group of people waited early at the door, thinking of admiring which big shot in the industry this was.
Then they saw a group of people walking in, surrounded by a young man.
"?"
They looked at their colleagues, their eyes full of confusion.
A young graduate student named Chen Zhi suddenly recognized Xu Meng, and his eyes widened instantly.
But he was afraid of making a mistake and didn't dare to call out.
When the leader stepped forward to shake hands and greet them, leading the group to the laboratory, he also followed behind the crowd in a daze, not daring to show his face at all.
He was afraid that Xu Meng would suddenly wave to him at this time and say: "Hey! Isn't this the bastard who poked my ass yesterday?"
Then he would be completely finished!
He took leave yesterday to play games!
The teacher was dragged by the big leader to do experiments, and the experimental level was too high, so he, a bottom-level drudge, couldn't participate.
In this case, no one usually cares if you are bored and play games.
— Provided that you don't get caught in front of the big leader!
Who would have thought that Xu Meng, who is involved in games, would suddenly parachute into the Materials Research Institute? ?
Isn't this cross-border a bit too big!
Obviously, Chen Zhi was not the only one confused.
Because he followed behind the crowd and actually walked into the electromagnetic shielding room.
Therefore, he saw a magical scene—
In the transparent observation room, it was filled with red… …
"Substance."
Besides this word, Chen Zhi found it difficult to describe the things in the observation room at this moment.
Because this red substance of unknown nature filled the observation room to the brim.
It even looked like a huge jelly was stuffed into the entire observation room at first glance.
When he saw this thing, he was worried about whether the observation room could be cleaned up.
But soon, he was no longer worried.
Because the big leader stepped forward and personally pressed [2] on the keyboard.
This red jelly instantly turned orange!
"What… …" Chen Zhi opened his mouth in surprise.
Before he could say his question, the big leader pressed [3] again.
The orange jelly turned yellow again.
Then came green, cyan, blue… …
The observation room changed through red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet in a whole cycle.
Finally, the leader clicked stop with the mouse.
The white "jelly" disappeared instantly, and the observation room returned to the appearance Chen Zhi was familiar with, looking empty.
It was as if everything he had just seen was an illusion.
Xu Meng smiled and applauded, thanking the other party for the demonstration.
Then he took out a hard drive.
"Can this be connected to the control system?"
Naturally, no one refused him.
So after Xu Meng was busy for a while, even more bizarre things happened—
The white tiger that Chen Zhi had seen in the game yesterday appeared in the observation room!
It was just reduced in size to be about the size of a normal tiger.
After the white tiger strolled leisurely in the observation room, it lay down and began to lick its fur as if no one else was there.
Chen Zhi was completely stunned now.
His teacher, his teacher's colleagues, the big leader, and even those who came with Xu Meng… …
Everyone, without exception, was stunned.
—A lifelike white tiger appearing out of thin air in the air has a much stronger visual impact than a simple color change!
Everyone squeezed in front of the glass of the observation room, staring at the white tiger licking its fur.
Everyone was still surprised and didn't know what to say, when Xu Meng suddenly said, "I'll go in and take a look."
After speaking, he took out his haptic gloves and walked towards the entrance of the observation room with his laptop.
Yin Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment.
After reacting, he grabbed Xu Meng without hesitation, holding his arm tightly.
"No!"
"You can't go in!!!"
The safety hasn't been verified yet!
A female researcher from the special working group looked at the person in charge of the laboratory: "Do you have monkeys here?"
"What?" The chief person in charge with graying temples turned his head, "Monkeys?"
"No." After reacting, he shook his head and said, "We are not a pharmaceutical research institute, how could we have experimental monkeys?"
Xu Meng shook his head, "As long as the experimental steps are strictly followed, there will be no risks."
"No! You stay outside for me!" Yin Zhiyuan's attitude was firm.
The female researcher also persuaded: "Wait a moment, we'll coordinate and transfer a few monkeys over, it'll be quick."
Others also persuaded him.
Xu Meng had to give up the idea of going in and started waiting boredly.
Because Xu Meng was not an insider at all, and was too young, although the scientific researchers in the laboratory were super curious about him and had a lot of questions to ask, they didn't know how to start for a while.
They could only communicate the situation with the people from the special action team.
On the contrary, Chen Zhi, this little transparent person, quietly approached Xu Meng, who was typing on the computer, and greeted him cautiously:
"Boss Xu?"
Xu Meng raised his head: "You are?"
"I'm a Dream Building player! I have the complete character illustration book for 'Frost Snow Project', 10,000 kills with the grenade launcher in 'War of Kings', and I've also bought the Mirage Gaming Kit."
"Oh!" Xu Meng immediately put on a smile, "Thank you for your support, thank you for your support."
"It must be hard to do scientific research usually, right?"
"No, no." Chen Zhi quickly shook his head—joking, the teacher was watching him from behind.
"Boss Xu, are you still working?" He admired him very much.
At the same time, he subconsciously glanced at the computer screen.
But he found that the screen was not a work software, but the page of the overseas social media Warble.
Xu Meng was writing a reply to a post:
"Good die!"
"?" A question mark slowly appeared on Chen Zhi's head.
Good Die?
Solid-state drive? Blank slate? Good chip?
It can't be… a direct translation, right?
He subconsciously moved his gaze upward and glanced at the post Xu Meng replied to—
[Due to some shortcomings in 'Nebula Commando', its performance in the initial launch failed to meet expectations. We are very sorry to announce:
The game will be removed from all platforms (including New Force Game Station and Vapour Game Store) immediately and the server will be shut down on November 17th.
After the server is shut down, refunds will be arranged for all players who purchased the game.]
‘It really is a direct translation…,’ Chen Zhi immediately understood.
He looked at Xu Meng again, his expression undergoing a huge change.
The newest novels are first released on !
So, Boss Xu also secretly uses a smurf account to angrily curse opponents with "Good riddance"!
I feel even closer to him now!
“That’s right, working,” Xu Meng said, closing the page without changing his expression, shamelessly admitting it with a nod.
Chen Zhi held back from laughing out loud.
Just as he was about to ask about the white tiger in the observation room and whether this new material would also be used in the gaming field, the page that Xu Meng had just closed suddenly popped up again.
‘Is the computer malfunctioning?’ Chen Zhi wondered.
Xu Meng wasn't surprised and went directly to look at the re-opened page.
It was still the Warble page, but no longer the official account of Xinli Games Station, but the latest post from a gaming media outlet, Gamespot.
It was an internal email from the CEO of Xinli Games Station to employees—
[Today, I want to share some important changes from the Sony Interactive Entertainment studio business group.
We are constantly evaluating our game portfolio and project status to ensure that we meet short-term and long-term business priorities.
As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen our business, we have had to make a difficult decision regarding one of our studios—Firewalk Studios.
As has already been announced, *Concord* was excellent in some respects, but it didn't attract enough players in others, so we are taking the game offline.
After careful consideration, we have decided that the best course of action is to permanently abandon the game and close the studio.
I want to thank everyone at Firewalk Studios for their skill, innovation, and dedication.
We will also learn from the lessons of *Concord* and continue to improve our real-time service capabilities to achieve future growth in this area.]
“Hahaha, good riddance!” Chen Zhi laughed out loud on the spot.
Xu Meng glanced at Chen Zhi and stopped pretending.
He directly replied to the comment: “A lesson worth 300 million dollars, Xinli Games Station is really eager to learn!”
Seeing Xu Meng being so sarcastic, Chen Zhi covered his mouth and chuckled non-stop.
As he laughed, he noticed something wrong—
The account Xu Meng used to reply to this news was actually [Xumeng]!
And it even had a blue V for verified real name!
“Boss Xu… you, it’s your real name?” he asked dumbly.
“Yes, so what?” Xu Meng asked back.
Chen Zhi opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Normally, as the founder of a company, a business owner, a public figure, one would be very careful about their public words and actions on the internet, trying to create a refined and approachable personal image as much as possible.
This would be very beneficial to the company's brand image.
But Xu Meng was so brazenly online with his real name, even commenting "Good riddance" on *Concord* with his real name…
This was… too bold!
Unsurprisingly, Xu Meng's appearance instantly ignited the enthusiasm of countless players, the comment section exploded with activity, and players from all over the world popped up to reply to him:
“As expected of Boss Xu, he plays it real!”
“Surfing the internet again! This is the second time I've seen you!”
“Firewalk Studios got what they deserved!”
“*Concord* is taken down, Firewalk Studios is closed, it’s a beautiful day, the only regret is that SBI didn't die along with them.”
“When will the global competition for *King of War* start? Hurry up!”
“When will the second season of the survival competition be held?”
…
…
At Firewalk Studios, Johnson also saw this internal email, as well as Xu Meng's reply.
But he no longer had time to be angry at Xu Meng.
He had received wind yesterday that *Concord* would be taken down today.
He also learned of the group's handling of Firewalk Studios, which would take place in the next two days.
He even took out that “Layoff Order Table”, considering the recent performance of all employees, and carefully adjusted the ranking of eight people.
But he never expected that what awaited him was not a large-scale layoff.
But the overall closure of Firewalk Studios!
Johnson contacted his friend at Xinli Games Station headquarters to verify the authenticity of the internal email.
His friend replied: “It's true, I'm very sorry.”
Just 10 minutes later, the head of the studio, his old friend of many years, walked in with a look of dejection.
“I received a phone call and email notification from the group, the studio will be closed soon.”
“Thank you for notifying the employees.”
After speaking, he shook his head and left the office.
Johnson slumped in his luxurious leather boss chair, losing all his strength.
What to do next?
After a moment of stunned silence, his professional spirit made him get up again and pick up the phone.
…
10 minutes later, the official account of Firewalk Studios issued a statement—
«This is the last announcement from Firewalk Studios.
Firewalk Studios' original idea was to bring the fun of multiplayer games to more players.
Along the way, we have assembled a very remarkable team.
They are able to:
Build a brand new custom FPS engine on the basis of the existing engine, which can run stably on consoles and PCs, and has rich expandable space.
Mature project integration management can carry out technical preparation, game development and preliminary testing at the same time, and finally provide players with an excellent FPS game experience.
Although our results have not been as we wished in terms of sales and IP operation, new ideas and attempts to implement them are crucial to the advancement of the game industry.
The talent and personal skill level of Firewalk Studios are indeed world-class.
If you are interested in working with this outstanding team in the future, please contact us via email.
Finally, thank you to the many teams, partners and fans who have supported us along the way.
—Firewalk Studios»
—
Obviously, the main purpose of this “last announcement” is not to reply to that internal email at all.
This is completely a “job application announcement”!
Bragging about the capabilities of the studio's employees, and then lightly glossing over the tragic failure of *Concord*'s huge losses and violent death.
It seems that this matter will be turned over, and everyone can pretend that this matter never happened.
Those who should look for a job should look for a job, and those who should cooperate should cooperate.
Career and life will not be affected.
But…
How is that possible!
Xu Meng charged ahead—
[World-class? Does it refer to an investment of 300 million dollars, 1,000 sales, and an output of 40,000 dollars? That's really top-notch, even money laundering isn't as ruthless as you guys.]
The players also followed suit:
“The employees are talented, but Xinli Games Station doesn't want any of them!”
“The fans who have supported you along the way? Wouldn't it be the six people who are still online now?”
“Tui! A few days ago, you said that players were all freaks, but now they have become fans?”
“Who would dare to cooperate with you? Do you have too much money and nowhere to throw it?”
“[Promoting the advancement of the game industry], by engaging in diversity and sexual minorities? Stop disgusting people!”
“Closing Firewalk Studios is the wisest decision Xinli Games Station has made this year!”
…
If Johnson hadn't scolded the players as freaks before, the closure of Firewalk Studios might have really gained the sympathy of many players.
After all, Firewalk was once a star studio that players had high hopes for, and many employees had participated in the production of well-known shooting games, which could be called a “veteran team”.
But his previous statement completely destroyed the last trace of pity from the players.
Now they only fear that they will not die thoroughly enough, and will continue to poison the game industry!
And speaking of tumors…
Many people have thought of another important team—
SBI, Super Baby Co., Ltd.
*Concord*, Xinli Games Station, and Firewalk Studios suffered this fiasco, and SBI is absolutely to blame!
But now *Concord* is taken down and closed, Xinli Games Station admits the loss, and Firewalk Studios is completely closed…
Everyone has paid the price, but they are unscathed?
Who can bear this?!
Of course, Xu Meng would not watch SBI pretend to be dead and easily get through the whole storm.
Taking advantage of this opportunity when global players and industry insiders are paying attention, he presented the network of connections and interests, centered on the two founders of SBI, that he had prepared long ago.
Along with the flow path of the 300 million dollars of funds that Xinli Games Station injected into *Concord* on this network.
He released it completely!
And it was released across the entire internet!
In just an instant, SBI, which had been silently pretending to be dead since the release of *Concord*, was pulled to the very center of the spotlight!
Continue to ask for monthly tickets!
