Chapter 567: Chapter 541 “What is an Early ess Experience?”


    It was aste as 8 o’clock in the evening that day when the excitedizens finally received an official announcement in white text on a blue background –


    “At 8:45 a.m. on November 27, 2030, ourmand center received an important tipoff:


    NetDragon Game Technology Co., Ltd. had stolen important technology rted to national security, with clear and reliable evidence.


    Upon receiving the information, our bureau immediately organized a team to conduct a full investigation of the involved unit and arrested three main suspects on the spot, Zhao-surnamed guy (Male, 29 years old), someone surnamed Wu (Male, 38 years old), Qian-surnamed guy (Male, 47 years old), along with 67 other rted individuals.


    Following preliminary investigation and interrogation, the facts of the crime are clear, and the criminal suspects confessed without denial.


    At present, the suspects have been criminally detained ording tow, and the case is under further processing.


    Xiajing National Security Bureau


    November 27, 2030″


    …


    The dust had settled!<div>


    Although the case is not over yet, there are still more investigations, more inquiries, more confidentiality agreements toe, followed by the defense ofwyers and the trial of criminals, and so on.


    Not to mention the future path of NetDragon and what will happen to the remainingrge number of employees.


    The subsequent impact will undoubtedlyst for a long time.


    But forizens, seeing this announcement was equivalent to the final judgment.


    NetDragon’s boss, Zack, was charged with “endangering national security”, and there is a high possibility that he will spend the next ten years in jail.


    The other two key criminals are also highly likely to be sentenced to between 5 and 10 years.


    – This was the legal knowledge shared by the numerouswyers who cited relevant legal provisions as soon as the announcement was released.


    At this point, NetDragon was nailed to the pir of shame, never to rise again.


    Yes, not just Zack himself, but the entire NetDragon!


    This is after all not a business crime, not apany boss single-handedly sneaking into apetitor’s factory to take pictures of the production line…


    This is officially confirmed as “endangering national security”!


    The severity of the situation is fundamentally iparable to business crimes!


    Netizens only understood at this moment that NetDragon was not a regr business crime.


    Almost visibly, the online criticism immediately climbed several notches.


    By the way, everyone started to analyze some content in the announcement.


    That “important tipoff” mentioned in the announcement, was it provided by Lincoln? Is he the informant?


    Otherwise, how could he appear directly at the scene?


    Thinking back to NetDragon stealing technology and Lincoln being there, the answer is clear –


    NetDragon stole Cloud Dream’s virtual reality technology, but was caught by Lincoln, who then brought the SWAT team to NetDragon’s door and conducted a raid!<div>


    Such dominance!


    What no one expected was that the virtual reality technology was actually rted to national security.


    But no one questioned this, as long as they gave it a slight thought, they felt it was just right.


    *<div>


    The National Security Bureau moved quickly.


    The istion cordon at NetDragon’s headquarters was removed the next morning, and the employees were no longer restricted from going to work as usual.


    Although NetDragon is on the verge of copse, it won’t fall overnight. For such argepany, employees who were anxious and worried still arrived on time for work.


    Gary was one of them.


    But he didn’t expect that NetDragon’s headquarters would be surrounded again!


    However, this time the perimeter was not formed by relevant departments, but by –izens and yers.


    Not yers in the broad sense, but NetDragon’s own ever-shrinking yer base.


    The reason for the certainty was that there were as many as six Flying Dragon 3rd generation VR devices lined up outside the main door of NetDragon.


    The expensive device that was once sold for seventy to eighty thousand per unit was now carelessly ced on the asphalt surface by its owners.


    “What’s going on?”


    Unlike many other employees, who rushed into thepany as soon as they saw this scene, even wearing hats and masks for fear of being caught on the phones at the entrance.


    Gary, being a public rtions worker, did not run away but bravely approached them to ask what they were doing.


    A big guy disdainfully nced at Gary and said, “Live streaming the smashing of the equipment!”<div>


    “…” Gary widened his eyes in shock, “Is it necessary?”


    “It’s absolutely necessary!” The big guy gritted his teeth with anger, “Today I’m going to break all ties with NetDragon!”


    Gary swallowed, suddenly feeling dry-mouthed.


    His professional integrity as a Public Rtions Worker told him: This is a sign of NetDragon’s total copse of reputation. Irreparable, something must be done quickly.


    But another voice was telling him: “Don’t struggle, give up, hurry up and find a newpany.”


    While he was hesitating, the entrance of thepany became even more lively and banners were even put up –


    [Refund our Money, NetDragon!]


    Looking at the dense mobile phones and tripods, Gary dares to bet: everything here is being live-streamed in real time.


    This made him finally give up the idea of getting involved and instead turned and entered thepany.


    In thepany, as expected, there was a stir.


    Everyone had theirputers on, but they didn’t touch their keyboards or mouses. Instead, the mobile phones in their hands buzzed incessantly.


    All this gave Gary a strong sense of impending doom.


    Even with people in the group saying “the old chairman has returned”, it did nothing to alleviate this feeling.<div>


    Looking out the window, the row of eight Flying Dragon 3rd Generation VR devices had grown to eight, and amidst the apuse and cheers from the crowd, they were being smashed to pieces by their owners, their parts scattering all over the ce.


    The “thud” “thud” noises reverberating in his ears were like the death knell for NetDragon.


    This gave him an incredibly strong intuition: NetDragon was done for.


    And it would happen very quickly!


    *


    The yer gathering at the entrance of NetDragon entertained theizens all morning.


    Especially the scenes of VR consoles and apanying equipment being smashed to pieces one by one, elicited shouts of “Brother is awesome!” from them.


    Even if the price of this device has drastically dropped in the secondhand market, it could still sell for seven or eight thousand right now.


    Yet, these people didn’t hesitate to smash it!


    And it wasn’t just eight devices, as more and more people arrived on scene with their equipment. During the morning, a total of thirteen Flying Dragon 3rd Generations were smashed!


    The atmosphere at the scene went from a righteous indignation of “punishing NetDragon” to bing an outdoor party.


    The crowd grew bigger and bigger, even causing the tech park’s security guards to take actions. But instead of dispersing the yers, they began to maintain order and even offered help.


    ——In Daxia, “endangering national security” is highly detested.<div>


    Theizens had been partying all morning, just as their excitement was subsiding, they were greeted with exciting good news.


    Both the official Cloud Dream ount and the newly registered “Battlefield” official ount simultaneously posted announcements——


    『Battlefield Early ess Version, will be avable worldwide at 14:00 tomorrow afternoon!』


    Samuel led a team to carefully study the news reports on the arrest of the NetDragon boss by many overseas media outlets, particrly in Europe, and the yers’ reactions on relevant forums andmunities.


    After working all afternoon, the answer they gave to Lincoln was: they could absolutely release it and there would be nothing but benefits.


    The grudges between Lincoln and NetDragon, after being reported to the yermunity in Europe, didn’t make at all make Lincoln seemed excessive there. Rather, they felt that this was a “Real Man”.


    It actually increased their favor towards him considerably.


    So, this time the “Battlefield” early ess version will beunched simultaneously in all regions worldwide.


    In Europe, there is also a socialwork tform with functionality identical to Spiritual Rhinoceros – [Bluebird].


    After Mirage was sold in the European market, Cloud Dream also registered an ount on Bluebird where they posted this announcement too.


    Arge number of yers cheered while opening the announcement to read the details——


    『’Battlefield’ Early ess Version, will be avable worldwide at 14:00 tomorrow afternoon!


    Purchase Notice:


    Early ess yers can immediately gain permission to y the game and participate in its development.


    However, the content of the Early ess version is iplete and may change subsequently. If you don’t want to y this game that badly at the moment, you should wait for a while to watch the game’s development progress rather than buying it immediately.


    —— Why do we use the Early ess model?


    …』


    This purchase notice left the yers a little confused.


    They had never seen such a strategy before.


    Not only was the game notpletely finished, even the alreadypleted parts could be altered.


    Isn’t this equivalent to buying an uncertain product?


    And they openly advised yers against rushing to buy it, what kind of strategy is this?


    If anotherpany tried this seemingly unreliable distribution method, who knows what the yers’ reactions would be.


    But Cloud Dream’s consistently reliable image and good reputation made yers willing to believe: Cloud Dream did not intend to make a quick buck from an unfinished game.


    Therefore, they could be more tolerant of this “early release” model.


    Although there were doubts in thement section, they were not intense, and there were hardly any outright curses:


    “The announcement says, ‘Early ess buyers can enjoy price discounts. How much of a discount exactly?”


    “This ‘unfinished’ aspect wouldn’t be like how ‘ze 3’ was where the end of the plot was unfinished, right? Cause then I’ll have to rush you!”


    “It’s too sudden, way too sudden! If you said it a day earlier, it wouldn’t have been such a hassle to ask for leave!”


    “I don’t like the idea of selling an unfinished game; but I am happy that I can y a new game earlier. So I’ll hold off on my judgment, once I have yed the game tomorrow, I’ll decide whether to praise or curse you.”


    …


    While the yers had diverse opinions, there was no excessive praise like before.


    Obviously, they still had doubts about this “Early ess Mode”.


    So most yers chose to reserve their opinions, and nned to y it first hand the next day and then evaluate the game based on its performance.


    ——And that was enough.


    Whether it was Lincoln, or Randall, Fred, or even every single member of the “Battlefield” development team, they all had a strong confidence in this game.


    In 24 hours, they would find out whether it was gold or dross!