Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Ocean Stronghold was essentially still an online game. More than 90% of the gamers spent their time playing it. Comparatively, its story mode was more like an addendum. Every once in a while, it would update a small part of the plot to entertain gamers who were addicted to shooting. At the same time, it would advertise the new epic weapon.

There was a special highlights effect on the button for the story mode to hint at new plot updates.

Qiao Liang entered the story mode and was stunned.

That was because the new story mode was not squeezed together with the previous entry but at a totally new entry point. It was impressive from the start.

This made Qiao Liang feel a little strange. According to his estimates, the new story mode would only last two to three hours. There was no need to create a new entry. It was quite a waste.

Could this story mode be rather important? That didn't make sense, right?

Qiao Liang began to experience the new story mode with a little confusion.

…

The screen was dark. First, an emotionless electronic voice sounded in his ear. "AS-371-45 Team. Mission Objective: Sneak into the Zergs' nest and search for the Zerg Queen. Execute the decapitation operation."

A deep male voice answered in a calm tone. "Roger."

An image of the game appeared on the screen. It was still played from the first-person perspective. In front of the screen was a special round platform was a set of "Cloud Sparrow Type III Battle Armor" that had been taken off. On the right shoulder was the archaic character "righteousness".

The first-person perspective protagonist paused for a moment before pressing the button beside the round platform.

The circular platform began to spin. The back of the Skylark combat uniform faced the protagonist's field of vision, and the small glider and jet could be seen clearly.

With a click, the back of the combat uniform split open. The protagonist stepped in, and a series of mechanical sounds rang out. It was as if the entire combat uniform was tightly wrapped around him.

The first-person image showed various light blue and high-tech UIs, indicating various battlefield information. Even the small map had been changed to a more technological packaging.

The sound of jetting air could be heard. The first-person perspective floated up and landed steadily in the cabin.

After that, the players officially took over. They could move freely and look around.

Qiao Liang was slightly surprised because this was completely different from what he had expected.

Ocean Stronghold's original plot was in English and Mandarin. This time, it was in Mandarin.

That emotionless electronic voice sounded like the style of artificial intelligence, but the tone was a little special, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Qiao Liang recalled carefully and realized that this was the style of Otto Technologies' new voice assistant.

The conversation made Qiao Liang confused.

Originally, Ocean Stronghold was a story about biochemical viruses and zombies. However, there were now words like 'Zerg nest' and 'Zerg Queen' in the conversation.

The UI layout of the first-person perspective had also changed. It immediately made him think of science fiction.

The most ridiculous thing was this combat uniform.

Qiao Liang took a quick glance and saw a mini fusion reactor, a huge magnetic rail rifle, and a gravity machine on the technologically-developed combat suit. This was obviously not the same timeline as Ocean Stronghold's original plot.

This simple opening made Qiao Liang realize that the downloadable content had nothing to do with Ocean Stronghold's plot. It was a sci-fi story.

Qiao Liang turned around and saw four other team members who were also dressed in the same battle uniform but with different decorations.

The mission was about to begin. The four team members had different reactions. Some were making jokes and livening up the atmosphere while others were silent and only smiled in agreement.

There were still subtitles even though they were dubbed in Chinese. Their names were also written on the subtitles: Xu Kaile, Meng Yu, Zhao Yongxiu, Wu Shaojun.

The four of them had different personalities and were dressed in different combat uniforms. Qiao Liang quickly got to know them.

After simple preparation, the four players stood at the exit of the cabin together and left a seat for the protagonist Qin Yi.

Qiao Liang controlled Qin Yi to walk over. Then, the cabin door opened instantly. All the team members in their Skylark combat uniform fell off rapidly!

Qiao Liang guessed that they had jumped off from a large aircraft.

Below him was a scarlet land.

In the sky, countless flying transports and ferocious Zergs were engaged in a fierce battle. On the ground, one could vaguely see dense Zergs attacking the human defense line like a tide. The smoke and fire everywhere reminded Qiao Liang that this was the battlefield of the alternate universe that was unimaginably cruel.

All the team members maintained their formation and fell rapidly headfirst into a dark cave on the ground.

This scene, which was only a few seconds long, was an animation made using real time rendering. It was not expensive, but the effect was not bad. It clearly informed players of their current situation.

Qiao Liang regained control of the protagonist after falling into the dark cave. The plot officially began.

There was no need for a newbie to guide them since the basic operations such as moving, shooting, and switching weapons were the same as Ocean Stronghold.

Some larvae and worker Zergs emerged from the depths of the cave and were quickly wiped out before the powerful firepower.

Qiao Liang only realized a very shocking fact after he really started playing the game: I'm probably cheating!

He gently pressed the left button of the mouse, and flames immediately shot out from the huge muzzle. The momentum of the firepower was at least several times stronger than the guns of Ocean Stronghold.

It was not just the firepower. The number of bullets in the magazine, the speed of changing the magazine, the recoil, and so on were completely different concepts!

Qiao Liang might not have played Ocean Stronghold often but he knew how to use the most basic guns in FPS games. In the end, he realized that there was no need to use the guns at all. The recoil of the guns was negligible. It could be seen as shooting wherever he was pointing!

However, this recoil function seemed to have a cooldown after using it for some time.

Ocean Stronghold had reduced the recoil of the game because of its difficulty compared to other FPS games. However, it was not that ridiculous.

Not only that, there was something even more ridiculous.

Ocean Stronghold's regular mode was jumping when hitting the space button. Under this mode, the space button was jumping when it was pressed lightly. The height of the jump was much higher than that of ordinary people. If one pressed the space button for a long time, the jetpack behind them would shoot out air currents to lift the person up. They could also do short-distance sliding with the direction key.

There were gravity devices in his feet that allowed him to slide on the wall. He would not be harmed even if he fell from a high place.

There was a 'tactical disguise' function in the special function. Once activated, it would become semi-transparent. Their movement speed might be slower but it would not attract the attention of the Zergs.

What was even more ridiculous was that the helmet also included infrared detection, topographic navigation, ballistic calculation, and other functions. The topographic navigation was a three-dimensional small map. Ballistic calculation would indicate the bullet trajectory and would play a major role when the recoil function failed. It could guide players where to point their guns.

In fact, this ballistic calculation function had a strengthened mode. Once it was activated, it would automatically lock onto the enemy and aim at them. Players only had to pull the trigger mindlessly.

The detection function was also very ridiculous. Simply put, it could detect the location of the Zergs.

What was this called? It wasn't considered a hack because it was a minor X-ray vision?

However, this was not just X-ray vision. It was obviously a super cheat that combined flying, X-ray vision, recoil, invisibility, and self-observation!

If Ocean Stronghold were to use this setting as a standard model, it would definitely be possible to mascare an entire city with just one player.

This kind of upgrade in combat power made Qiao Liang feel much better. He was experiencing the thrill of it.

As the plot progressed, the four members of the team had their own lines. The artificial intelligence AEEIS was also continuously giving orders.

Qiao Liang was so immersed in the joy of fighting the Zergs that he completely lost track of time.

However, the situation gradually became strange as the plot progressed.

The number of Zergs increased, and the battle became more and more difficult. The team members began to raise doubts one after another. Fragments of Skylark combat uniforms were found in the cave, and the team members sacrificed one by one during the mission…

Qiao Liang had gotten carried away unknowingly.

The design of the entire plot process was obviously a little sinister: At the beginning, players would be addicted to cutting grass, but the deeper they went, the more difficult it would be. The plot would become more tense, and players would not be able to stop themselves.

The players' sacrifices and riddles made the players eager to play to the end.

Finally, Qiao Liang saw the Zerg Queen. The entire scene shook after the story. The ceiling collapsed. Human reinforcements had arrived…

However, the protagonist's eyelids seemed to become heavy. They were completely closed after blinking a few times. The story of the downloadable content came to an abrupt stop.

Qiao Liang was confused.

"Huh? That's it?"

"F*ck, how is this Ocean Stronghold's downloadable content? This is obviously a huge promotional video for Boss Pei's new game!"

After completing the downloadable content, Qiao Liang realized that he had been fooled.

When he looked at the time, it was already 7 PM!

The doorbell rang. Fish-Catching Take-Out was delivering dinner on time.

Qiao Liang opened the door and took his dinner. It was only then that he realized that he had been playing for hours.

After lunch, he spent two hours playing Repent and be Saved's reincarnation mode. Then, he started playing Ocean Stronghold's new plot. It seemed like he had to play for at least five hours before he could get through.

Qiao Liang was speechless. "Didn't you say that it was just ordinary downloadable content? I thought that it would only last for two hours. In the end, it took five hours!"

"This is almost as good as the previous game!"

"Boss Pei is so awesome to have given away such a good downloadable content and an epic weapon…"

"Eh, wait, did I forget something?"

Qiao Liang scratched his head in confusion. He looked at the time and suddenly realized. "Ah, I missed the GPL competition! F*ck!"