Since Wen Fan was freed from his phone, Lou Wei hadn’t allowed him to help design games again to prevent drawing attention like when Minister Li Yunqing visited LouV Technology in the past.
However, time passed quickly. In just half a year, one morning Lou Wei and Wen Fan woke up from their dreams to receive a phone call.
It was from the chairman of Maple Leaf Technology Co., Ltd. — Hua Feng.
The main content of his call was to inform Lou Wei that the 3D holographic projection smartphone he had been involved in designing was about to be released.
This news was truly one of the most delightful pieces of information in these past few months.
Due to the visit from Minister Li Yunqing of the Ministry of Technology, Louv Technology had been discreetly updating games, avoiding designing overly remarkable new ones, and even had to put aside the game designs they had previously worked on.
Now that Hua Feng’s 3D holographic projection smartphone was hitting the market, it could be considered one of the relatively high-end design products to be released in these few months.
On the day after the call from Hua Feng of Maple Leaf Technology, the company held a product launch event for the smartphone.
The country’s first 3D holographic projection smartphone was released, and thanks to Lou Wei’s technical input, more time was allocated to the headquarters of Maple Leaf Technology for designing and refining the appearance of the phone.
As a result, this phone was released in four different styles right after its launch: a simple and elegant style, a design catering to young female customers, a network security version customized for children, and an explosively dynamic version designed for passionate young people.
It met the expectations of most customers.
Not to mention the “3D holographic projection” feature that all customers had been anticipating for a long time. As soon as they heard about this primary feature of the phone, customers would buy it without hesitation.
As a result, within just two months at the end of the year, Maple Leaf Phone rose to become the top-selling smartphone of the year in all categories!
However, according to the agreement previously signed with Hua Feng, Lou Wei received a monthly share of the funds generated by the holographic phone, and he was also responsible for protecting Lou Wei’s and not disclosing to the outside world that the holographic technology was from Lou Wei. Therefore, no one outside knew that Lou Wei was the true designer behind this phone.
With this fund, Lou Wei directly set up a public online platform for Wen Fan called “Dreamer.”
Everyone could use this platform to propose their design ideas for software and all sorts of imaginative programming concepts.
Each user of the platform was like a designer.
If “someone” found the software design idea presented by a user interesting, and if that user’s design received a significant number of likes from other users, then this user’s design might gain recognition from “certain software design experts” and even lead to them designing the software.
This software could only be used on the online platform “Dreamer” that Lou Wei had created.
But the income generated through usage would allocate 40% to the designers of the software solutions and 60% to the software manufacturers.
Designers didn’t have to personally develop the software; they only needed to propose ideas to bring their imaginative software designs to life.
“Dreamer” had truly become the most beloved design platform for young people.
However, in reality, all the “software manufacturers” on this website were anonymous Wen Fan.
When Wen Fan designed software, he used an anonymous account and processed all his online information in a special way to prevent tracking.
Therefore, nobody knew who the genius designer on Dreamer was. They couldn’t even be certain if this designer was a single person.
But these details didn’t matter to everyone. What mattered was that every young person who felt imaginative but lacked the ability to create loved expressing their design ideas on this platform. Because on this platform, everyone’s imaginative flights were regarded as thoughtful design aesthetics, and no one would belittle or scorn you because of your impracticality.
They longed for the recognition of that magical software designer or a group of brilliant software creators on this website, and they enjoyed exchanging their design ideas on this platform.
Wen Fan also had a blast on this platform.
No one could trace his relevant information. He could secretly help others design software without being discovered. After signing an agreement with System 999, he maximized the use of his newfound ability to benefit everyone.
Creating software that everyone liked was already the dream of this software designer.
And now, Lou Wei had helped him achieve it.
—
On this day, Wen Fan was humming a song while logging into Dreamer to research software issues when he noticed Lou Wei taking out his notebook and placing it next to his desktop computer.
“Two hours of ‘Dream of Heaven’?” Lou Wei said.
Having already experienced the game pod, Wen Fan looked at the ordinary computer screen and found it tasteless.
“If only the game pod could officially go online,” Wen Fan sighed, but he also felt it was unlikely.
Lou Wei fell silent too.
Since being with Lou Wei, there were rare moments of silence. Now, when Lou Wei suddenly stopped talking, Wen Fan’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly thought about comforting him.
But at that moment, someone knocked on Lou Wei’s office door.
“Brother Wei, Brother Wei!!!”
Lou Wei raised his hand and soothingly patted Wen Fan’s head. “Come in.”
The office door was abruptly opened from the outside, and a head of blond hair popped in, revealing a sunny and handsome face.
It was Zhao Mengke.
Lou Wei nodded at him. “What’s the matter?”
Zhao Mengke met Lou Wei’s gaze and immediately rushed into the office, heading towards Lou Wei’s desk and sitting down. He was about to prop his leg on the desk but jump up when he noticed Wen Fan was also in the office.
A flicker of unease crossed his face. Clearing his throat with a light cough, he put his leg down and said, “Wen, Wen Fan is here too.”
Wen Fan smiled slightly. “Hello.”
Lou Wei looked at Zhao Mengke’s hesitant and staring expression towards Wen Fan, frowned, and asked again, “What’s wrong?”
Only then did Zhao Mengke remember the reason he rushed into the room, and his voice trembled as he spoke, “Brother Wei, you won’t believe it when I tell you! Earlier, because the performance of the game pod wasn’t secure enough, it didn’t pass the review from the government! Just now, it just, it just got… approved!!”
Wen Fan was taken aback.
Lou Wei: “Really?”
Zhao Mengke quickly nodded.
“Yes, Brother Wei, it’s true. The new security supervision feature you added proved to be effective. Now, we can closely monitor the internal conditions of the game from the outside. The reviewers didn’t cause any difficulties, and the patent certificate has been granted.”
“That’s fantastic,” Wen Fan said, his voice carrying an undisguised excitement that he hadn’t noticed.
He turned to look at Lou Wei and met his gaze, finding Lou Wei looking straight at him.
“It seems that in a few days, we’ll be able to play ‘Dream of Heaven’ in the game world full of players.”
Wen Fan nodded vigorously, even the QQ penguins on his phone screen were excitedly hopping around.
Lou Wei continued, “Regarding the price, the cost of producing the game pod is not low, and the selling price won’t be budget-friendly. This way, those who play the ‘Dream of Heaven’ game pod version will have a reasonable limitation. This achieves the maximum value of the game pod while also making it easier for us to quickly produce a suitable amount of game pods for the market.”
Wen Fan wholeheartedly agreed with Lou Wei’s words.
The technological design and cost of the game pod were set, making it unlikely for it to be the type of gaming console that could be casually bought and put at home. Moreover, the higher price served two purposes: it filtered out kids who lacked independent abilities and accountability, while also elevating the status of the ‘Dream of Heaven’ game pod.
Diamonds are popular precisely because they are more expensive than stones. If diamonds were priced the same as stones, eventually, they would be regarded as stones.
The next few days indeed progressed smoothly. All official certifications for the upcoming ‘Dream of Heaven’ game pod went exceptionally well. When the game pod was finally released, gamers across the nation and even the world were thrilled.
Just a few days ago, they had bought a 3D holographic projection phone. How long had passed since then? An exclusively game pod that had only appeared in movies had suddenly emerged?!
When Lou Wei and Wen Fan explained the ‘Dream of Heaven’ game pod during the product release conference, various passersby online who didn’t believe in the game pod were skeptical:
“Game pod? Haha, are you sure it’s not just VR glasses connected to a shoddy stool??”
“People can research game pods now? Don’t treat everyone as fools. If the technology isn’t there, don’t pretend. VR glasses are VR glasses, why bother with a game pod?”
Some comments were even more vulgar than these. When Wen Fan browsed Weibo, he felt a sense of unease, but Lou Wei remained exceptionally composed. “People are always anxious about things they can’t believe. They’ll understand once they actually use it.”
And the day of the release conference was the day when the public got to test the game pod for themselves.
Lou Wei had directly placed the first-generation game pod on the side of the press conference venue.
He personally went on stage to explain how to use the game pod to everyone.
Meanwhile, Wen Fan, clad in white, proactively lay on the game pod and entered the game map. Through the live monitoring of the “Dream of Heaven” game pod on the side, people could see his status within the game.
As the game servers hadn’t been opened yet, the game map of “Dream of Heaven” contained only Wen Fan. However, this didn’t hinder the astonishment of the reporters and faithful players of “Dream of Heaven” who were amazed by the lifelike effects within the in-game map.
When they saw Wen Fan, who was completely indistinguishable from real life, along with the fallen leaves rustling in the wind and the maps of various countries that resembled fairylands, they became enraptured in the dreamlike scenario of “Dream of Heaven.”
“Oh my god?! Have I… have I crossed over to a new world?!”
“What am I seeing! Are you sure this is a game world?? Don’t fool me just because I’m not well-educated.”
“I’m in love, awoo awoo awoo awoo. I knew LouV Technology was amazing, no need to say anything more, I love President Lou, and I love Big Shot Wen Fan!”
Online platforms were filled with praises for the game pod, and some were even ready to spend their money:
“I won’t say anything more, even if I have to sell the shirt off my back, I’ll buy this game pod!”
“I declare that this is the thing I’ve most wanted this year, no, since I was little!”
“I want one too, tell me the price, put me out of my misery.”
Reporters at the scene also asked the question everyone wanted to know:
“May I ask, how much does this game pod require to own?”
Lou Wei paused for two seconds and then recited the most reasonable estimate provided by the company’s financial personnel, “110,000.”
Netizens exploded with comments:
“110,000? You want me to spend that much for a gaming gadget?”
“Damn, this is too expensive, isn’t it? Does LouV Tech have any shame, charging so much?”
“I’m disgusted, no thanks, no thanks, trying to sell this so expensively? Born broke?”
“What about all those people who praised Lou Wei and Wen Fan’s divine love? Heh heh, come take a look now, businessmen are businessmen, who knows if the so-called love before was just marketing, a fleece waiting to be sheared!”
Some people thought the price was reasonable:
“The world’s first batch of game pods, I find this price very reasonable. And it’s made of alloy, it has nanotechnology, a fully covered protection system, and a government-certified neuro-hypnosis that causes no brain damage, plus all kinds of tactile nerve sensation. I think 110,000 is worth it.”
“Agree with the previous poster +111111”
“I think so too. And the price of the game pod is really conscientious, just the materials alone would cost tens of thousands.”
The online comments were mixed, but regardless, the “Dream of Heaven” game pod brought an intense level of excitement. When people opened various communication software platforms, almost all the discussions were about the game pod.
Of course, most of them were exclaiming that it was expensive.
This continued until the first batch of the “Dream of Heaven” game pods went on sale.
With just 30,000 units available worldwide, they were sold out on the day of release.
Netizens reacted:
“What the heck?!”
“30,000 units sold out in three hours? What about those who said they wouldn’t buy and were forcing the price down?”
“Games like this should be free for us to play, right? Paying for appearance, are they treating themselves as gods? It’s not even a legitimate product, and they want me to pay so much? Pff.”
However, humans were clearly creatures that followed their desires.
The more harshly they criticized, the more honestly they acted.
Half a month later, when the second batch of “Dream of Heaven” game pods were released, they sold out again. This also happened at the time when the first batch of game pods had been successfully delivered and installed. The first batch of players had successfully entered the game.
Most of the initial purchasers of the game pod were game streamers, wealthy individuals seeking novelty, or colleagues interested in researching the internal technology of “Dream of Heaven.”
However, the majority were still game streamers.
As they gradually received the game pods and began to globally live stream their usage, billions of players around the world were browsing and watching their live streams.
Due to Lou Wei’s previous activation of the “Internal Game Network Supervision Function,” anyone could monitor the public views within the game.
The streamers connected this function to their computers and then live-streamed it through their computers.
Viewers in the livestreams could witness the streamers entering the game in their presence, and then enjoying themselves in the incredibly realistic and beautiful game world.
They even forgot they were live-streaming and started excitedly teaming up with other players.
All netizens were in various livestream rooms of “Dream of Heaven” game pods, listening to streamers of all kinds praising the perfection of the games in the vault:
“Oh, my god, friends, I know what I’m about to say sounds incredibly unbelievable, but I have to say it! I really… I can touch other players!! See that? When I hit him, his arm even trembles! It’s true, right now I feel like I’ve entered another legendary world, a world full of martial arts, magic, and fantasy!”
“I apologize for my previous disbelief. LouV Technology and Lou Wei’s Game Studio never disappoint. This is my favorite, my absolute favorite game, no doubt about it!! None!”
“Darlings, I really want to invite you in to see, hahaha, my goodness, it’s really too wonderful, buy it!!! If we buy it, we can live in a paradise on earth. It’s so amazing! And did you notice the instruction manual I showed you before? Lifetime maintenance! Lifetime!! If there’s a new version or new features for the game pod, you can exchange the old one for the new one. For a little more than 110,000, I can play for a lifetime, and I think it’s worth it!!”
The live streams of each streamer further fueled the curiosity and desire for the game pod across the entire internet. The hype around the “Dream of Heaven” game pod reached its peak. Those who owned the game pod passionately recommended it to those around them, and those who hadn’t bought it began to look forward to the third batch of “Dream of Heaven” game pods.
However, just as they thought that the third batch would be released in half a month, the expected third batch didn’t arrive as planned.
The netizens who had previously mocked the game pods were no longer composed. They desperately flooded the official forum of “Dream of Heaven,” urging the release of the third batch.
But as they waited and waited, the result they received was a response from Zhao Mengke, the chief planner of “Dream of Heaven”:
“Because the game pods involve real human nerves entering the game, and in order to bear the brain safety of each player and to serve each player without any blind spots, we’re only releasing two batches of ‘Dream of Heaven’ game pods this year. Thank you for your support.”
In an instant, the netizens who had been sarcastically saying that LouV Technology had dollar signs in their eyes fell silent.
Such a lucrative game pod! A game pod that everyone in the world wanted! Only 60,000 units were released this year?!
Who would believe that if it were said out loud?!!
Now the entire internet, those who criticized LouV Technology, Lou Wei, and Wen Fan, fell silent.
If they were in this position, if a game pod cost 110,000 and they were in a situation where so many people liked the game pod and wanted to buy it, they wouldn’t be able to endure releasing only 60,000 units.
Thinking about it now, what’s 110,000?
It’s not even the price of a mediocre old car!
People who hadn’t bought the game pod finally lost their pride at this moment, openly admitting that they regretted it and that they should’ve bought it!
There were also clever individuals who tried to purchase the game pod from those who had already bought it at a higher price.
Unfortunately, the consistent response they received was “rejected.”
One reason was that no one was willing to sell, as the game pods they had purchased were appreciating in value every day after LouV Technology announced that they would only release 60,000 units this year, and who knew how many they would release next year.
The other reason was that LouV Technology had long anticipated this situation. To prevent those who had purchased the game pods in the first two batches from turning into “scalpers,” they set the game pods to be registered with identification cards.
Furthermore, each machine could only be bound to one identification card number, and when players entered the game, their physical appearance, facial features, and personal information on their identification cards would be compared. Others could also use different identification cards to log in to the game pod for an experience, but it would only be temporary.
Amidst this atmosphere of high demand and limited supply, the gaming live streams of “Dream of Heaven” entered an unprecedented height.
All the streamers who could live stream the game version of “Dream of Heaven” pods became global sensations.
People from all around the world were watching their game live streams.
And on this day, as all the streamers were broadcasting the game version of “Dream of Heaven,” including their fans in the live streams, they all saw a massive flaming phoenix suddenly burst out from the lush forest within the game, its wings obscuring the sky. The golden flames that engulfed its body burned in the virtual sky above the dense woods.
Wherever the phoenix went, a series of crimson letters appeared in the sky—
“Congratulations to player ‘Wen Fan Fan Fan’ for maxing out their luck value, unearthing the hidden treasure of the Dream of Heaven map. Livestream coordinates [116.255]. Welcome all players to witness it in person.”
Everyone was astonished.
Even on the public platform of the “Dream of Heaven” game pod service, there were exclamations from other players:
“Is this ‘Wen Fan Fan Fan,’ the one I know?”
“Yes, yes, I remember Wen Fan’s game name. Damn, I’m amazed. Is this really the legendary ‘European Emperor’?”
Meanwhile, on the other side, Wen Fan was also in a daze.
Rewind to ten minutes ago, Lou Wei suddenly called him to play a game, and just as he entered the game, Lou Wei exited the game pod, saying someone was looking for him.
So Wen Fan ended up playing alone.
But as soon as he teleported into the game map, he had an indescribable feeling.
He felt that something was different about the current map compared to the previous one, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
And while waiting for Lou Wei, he began to do the daily quests out of boredom.
The daily quests in the “Dream of Heaven” game pod weren’t much different from the quests in the regular version. They are still involved in going to different places to find various spirit beasts for capture, following the instructions in the quests.
However, the spirit beasts in the game pod looked lifelike and fierce, and if one wasn’t careful, they could even get bitten by the beasts. Although “Dream of Heaven” had set all the spirit beasts to not have teeth or sharp claws, players wouldn’t get hurt at all, but they would lose health points when bitten.
When a player’s health points dropped below 20%, they would become sluggish in movement and need to purchase potions to restore their health and continue playing.
As soon as Wen Fan entered the game, due to a bug in his account’s nature, he possessed all kinds of peerless treasures. He didn’t need to do main quests, nor did he need to tirelessly grind for levels. He had already reached the pinnacle of life.
The reason he still played “Dream of Heaven” was purely because he loved the game. He remembered the times he and his friends stayed up all night, passionately competing in alliance matches and taking turns grinding levels every night. He loved the past when he sacrificed sleep and food for the sake of “Dream of Heaven,” and he loved the beautifully developed storyline of “Dream of Heaven.”
And, the game’s designer—Lou Wei.
Whenever Wen Fan thought of Lou Wei, he remembered that Lou Wei had told him to play the game, but as soon as he logged in, Lou Wei disappeared.
His movements faltered. He miscalculated the force, and instead of just trying to capture a spirit beast, he killed it instantly.
Wen Fan: “…”
And before he could think of a remedy, the slain spirit beast automatically turned into…
A roast.
Wen Fan: “…”
But the game pod lived up to its name, as Wen Fan could clearly smell the aroma of roasted meat. He reached out to try and pick it up to taste the flavor of the roasted spirit beast, but suddenly, the ground beneath his feet began to shake.
Wen Fan quickly stepped back a few paces and saw a small yellow chicken emerging from the broken ground where he had been standing just moments ago.
The little yellow chicken was plump like a ball, tilting its head as it stared at the pile of spirit beast meat on the ground for a long while. Then, it suddenly turned around and looked at Wen Fan.
Its chubby eyes were so lifelike, carrying a hint of curiosity and inquiry.
Wen Fan swallowed nervously as he locked eyes with it. He was about to say something to test whether this chubby chicken was an NPC designed by the game, when he saw the chubby chicken suddenly puff up and inflate. In no time, it grew larger than the size of his palm, becoming even taller than his own thigh.
And then—
It gulped down the pile of spirit beast meat in one bite.
Wen Fan’s back suddenly chilled. He didn’t understand where this chubby chicken came from, but he had a subconscious feeling that something was off. He turned around, intending to run.
But right at that moment, a torrent of intense heat surged from the chubby chicken’s body. The next second, flames shot up into the sky, and the chubby chicken’s figure within the flames rapidly expanded in size and height.
Eventually, it burst out of the forest where Wen Fan was.
Next was the scene that all players on the server saw simultaneously.
The soaring phoenix notified players in the entire “Dream of Heaven” server that Wen Fan had unearthed a treasure. It also sent them the in-game coordinates of Wen Fan’s location.
When other players clicked on the coordinates to watch Wen Fan’s live broadcast on-site, they saw Wen Fan standing in front of a giant stone, his white robe fluttering with an ethereal air. The massive stone rose from the ground, and facing Wen Fan, it had been split open, revealing a passage leading straight into the depths of the earth.
As Wen Fan’s front foot stepped into the black hole within the stone, when others tried to follow, they found themselves blocked by an invisible wall outside the giant stone.
At that moment, in the sky within the game world, a pitch-black cloud emerged, massive and almost obscuring half of the blue sky.
And within that dark cloud was the scene of Wen Fan entering beneath the giant stone.
In the scene, Wen Fan took a deep breath and walked forward, and suddenly, a dialogue box appeared in the previously dark surroundings:
【Congratulations, you’ve uncovered the first treasure in the “Dream of Heaven” game pod. The treasure is guarded by a fierce and evil dragon. Defeat the dragon, and you’ll obtain a one-of-a-kind treasure that will shock the heavens and move the earth!】
All the players around were astonished.
“One-of-a-kind?”
“What kind of treasure could it be?!”
“Wen Fan gkdgkd!”
Wen Fan was also surprised. He thought for a moment and then—
“No need, thanks.” He wasn’t really after treasures like this. After all, he already possessed many peerless items that were unique to the entire server. Such a great thing should be left for the next fortunate person.
Thinking this, Wen Fan turned around, ready to leave.
The viewers watching the live broadcast were all screaming:
“Don’t leave, ahhhh!”
“If you don’t want it, I want to see it, go back! Go back and get it for me!”
However, the game mechanics of “Dream of Heaven” were evidently more effective than their comments.
Just as Wen Fan turned around, another dialogue box appeared in front of him, blocking his path once again:
【Ding Dong, due to your previous non-cooperation, the dragon guarding the treasure has unleashed a dragon’s roar at you!】
As the content of the dialogue box ended, from the depths of the passage, Wen Fan heard a distant and resolute cry:
“Roaaar!!!”
Players:
“…”
“This dragon isn’t holding back.”
Wen Fan’s lips twitched. He bypassed the dialogue box and continued walking towards the exit of the tunnel, only to be halted once again by a new dialogue box.
【Ding Dong, because you didn’t respond for an extended period of time, the dragon has been replaced with a higher-level enemy!! Warning, repeated warning!! The dragon has been replaced with a higher-level enemy!! High risk ahead, the server’s most powerful monster awaits! You have three choices: a. Run—】
Wen Fan had originally intended to leave, so he immediately said, “I choose to run.”
【Ding Dong, because you chose option a— “Run away,” you’ve angered the monster and will be confined to the small black room in five seconds, treasure data will be reset to zero.】
“…” Wen Fan’s lips twitched, “Give me another chance! I choose b.”
【Ding Dong, thank you for influencing the monster with love. Please don’t proceed carelessly into the depths, lest you become the monster’s meal.】
“…”?
The viewers outside were already laughing hysterically:
“Whoa, hahaha, what kind of storyline planning is this by LouV Technology?!”
“I’m amazed, quick, look at Wen Fan’s expression hhhh”
Wen Fan hadn’t moved for quite a while, and the dialogue box started rambling again:
【Ding Dong, if you don’t reach the deepest part of the passage within ten seconds, you’ll lose the treasure that would haunt you for life!】
When Wen Fan heard the words “haunt you for life,” he didn’t know why, but his eyelid twitched suddenly.
Without thinking further, he dashed straight into the pitch-black passage.
When he was getting close to the ten-second mark, Wen Fan suddenly saw a burst of light ahead.
His hesitant steps immediately quickened, and he rushed forward.
Then—
Wen Fan actually saw Lou Wei standing under a massive peach tree in ancient wedding attire. Around him were Lou Xia, Zhao Mengke, Liu Junhao, Lin Xiao… and others, all the familiar faces.
Wen Fan’s brain, yet to react, instantly froze, staring blankly at Lou Wei, who held a bunch of red silk flowers bound together, cradling it in his hands.
Then, he pulled another section of red silk extended from the bouquet.
Smiling, he looked at
him.
“Fan Fan, will you marry me?”
Author’s note:
It’s a complete ending!!
Love you all, love you all, embracing you tightly!! Love you!!!
This seems to be the story with the most extras I’ve written without a secondary couple?! Hugging you all!
Thank you for your companionship, really, thank you so much~
If fate allows, we’ll meet again in the next book.
Also, don’t forget to bookmark the author, QuQ, the new story “Crybaby’s Guide to Love [Transmigration]” has been updated a lot.
TL’s note: And that’s the end~ Thank you for reading 🙂
