Chapter 250: A Brand New Chapter for Honkai Impact 3rd! The Second Honkai War Chronicle Arrives!
June 26th, 7:30 PM.
To celebrate Titanfall 2 surpassing ten million copies in sales, the production team launched an official livestream. Welt Yang and Tesla appeared as invited guests, Firefly attended as a lead creator, and Elysia served as the host.
When asked for his evaluation of Titanfall 2, Welt's expression grew animated, and he made no effort to hide his absolute love for the game. For Welt, who had personally experienced that virtual campaign, finishing the game had left him with a profound sense of emptiness. He had spent the last few days in a daze, barely eating or sleeping.
Such is the charm of the "Ninth Art"—it can haunt even a middle-aged man's dreams. If not for this scheduled appearance on the special livestream, Welt might still be wandering around like a lost soul.
"In this game, players take on the role of an accidentally promoted Pilot to experience over ten hours of spectacular adventure. In those hours, you experience a unique bond with BT and a masterpiece with fluid movement and incredible gunplay. More importantly, you get to pilot a mecha!"
"That's a mecha! A mecha! It's every man's dream, a man's romance!!"
Welt was so excited he nearly stood at attention right then and there, only held back by Tesla pulling on his sleeve. Despite that, the middle-aged man remained fired up, his eyes brimming with tears of passion.
Welt's genuine display of emotion resonated with many viewers. Below the game's listing on the Houmu Game Platform, a massive community of players had gathered to share their thoughts.
[Whether it's BT-7274's character development, the vertical level design, or the overall performance, the experience of Titanfall 2 is breathtaking!]
[Wall-running, mechas, holograms, biological experiments (dinosaurs), time travel, electromagnetic drives... this game has so many futuristic designs. The combat system is exhilarating, and the optical camouflage and hacking mechanics deserve a perfect score alone. That feeling of boarding a Titan for the first time is unforgettable!]
[I don't like sci-fi, mechas, or shooters, but I must say this is the best FPS ever made. Period.]
[God-tier level design perfectly blended with excellent graphics, interesting mechanics, and a flawless plot. The Arc Tool is fun to use, the gunplay feels great, and the emotional connection with BT-7274 is spot on. If the assembly line level was impressive, the time-travel level belongs in the history books!]
["Protocol 1: Link to Pilot; Protocol 2: Uphold the Mission; Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot." "BT, what are you doing?" "Trust me." Who could watch that without tearing up?]
[Time travel is indeed a stroke of genius in level design, and the time-stop at the end of that chapter confirms that this is truly the Ninth Art!]
[If mechas are a man's romance, then BT-7274 is the ultimate fantasy of that romance. I love this big guy and his dry humor. In the first level, I chose "BT, I'm not going anywhere," and I chose the same line in the final level.]
[It's more than a game; it's a man's romance!!!]
As the saying goes, word spread like wildfire. Titanfall 2, with its extreme polish and god-tier single-player campaign, left a permanent mark on the world's gaming history. Specifically, the mechanic of shifting between two timelines and the time-stop sequence in the final chapter showed the world what the "Ninth Art" truly meant.
This propelled the game to the top of the Houmu Game Platform's best-seller list for standalone blockbusters. Success stories regarding Titanfall 2 dominated every forum. Players who fell in love with the game were lavish with their praise, resulting in a staggering 98/100 rating on the platform.
To maintain such a high score despite massive sales volume proved how extraordinary the game was. Titanfall 2 swept through the industry, leaving other games released in the same month looking dull and powerless by comparison. Industry insiders predicted that for the rest of the year, no other title would be able to compete with it.
The massive success of the game once again brought the name Su Mu into the spotlight. While he was already famous among Honkai Impact 3rd players and mobile developers, many major studios focused on console and PC gaming had previously viewed him as someone whose talent was limited to the mobile market. After all, premium buy-to-play games and free-to-play mobile games were different playing fields.
When miHoYo first announced it was making a major premium title, many onlookers treated it as a joke. Some even insulted Su Mu and miHoYo directly, suggesting a small mobile company should stay in its lane and focus on making money rather than dreaming unrealistic dreams.
They didn't want them embarrassing themselves on a different stage.
However, they never expected Titanfall 2 to achieve such monumental success, surpassing ten million sales in just three days. Such numbers were among the top ten in gaming history. Furthermore, this was achieved in June, a time when many students in Shenzhou—a massive gaming demographic—had not yet started their holidays. It was predictable that come July, sales would see another massive surge!
This was a resounding slap in the face to the "experts" who had previously looked down on them. Overnight, many of these experts deleted their accounts and vanished, fearing the vitriol of the comment sections.
— "Haha, let the world burn. I'm tired."
In stark contrast to the celebratory mood of the gaming world, Kiana Kaslana felt no excitement—only a desire to laugh hollowly. Scrolling through news about Titanfall 2, she felt that human joy and sorrow were truly disconnected; the world was just too noisy.
Although she'd had a strange premonition, the moment the game actually succeeded, Kiana's heart truly died. Losing money to become the richest? The system? What system?! Where could there be such a useless, invisible system!
Kiana was filled with grief and indignation, unaware that the system was also crying internally. Damn it, isn't this your own problem? How do you have the face to blame me? Who told you to be so lucky that out of everyone in Cyberspace City, you managed to recruit a literal cheater!
As Kiana was wallowing in self-pity, a chime rang in her head.
[Congratulations! A project handled by the host's manager, Su Mu, has incurred a loss. Loss amount: 1,200. Tenfold refund activated: 12,000 has been deposited into the host's bank account!]
[Congratulations! A project handled by the host's manager, Su Mu, has incurred a loss. Loss amount: 5,100. Tenfold refund activated: 51,000 has been deposited into the host's bank account!]
[Congratulations! A project handled by the host's manager, Su Mu, has incurred a loss...]
Huh??
Hearing the continuous notifications, Kiana was stunned. What on earth was happening? Wasn't Titanfall 2 a huge success? Why was she getting refunds? But she quickly noticed the amounts were odd—some were a few tens of thousands, while others were just one or two thousand.
Su Mu was still lying in a hospital bed. What projects was he "handling" that were losing money?
—
Su Mu was naturally unaware of Kiana's confusion. He was currently using a laptop brought by Bronya to check the download numbers for several small games he had created on the Interstellar Game Platform.
Unsurprisingly, since he wasn't a signed creator on that platform and was using a secret alias without revealing his identity, the download numbers were dismal. This was the source of the losses.
The Interstellar Game Platform, a rival to the Houmu Game Platform, required fees to publish games and took a percentage of sales. Although many of Su Mu's small games were free or priced very low (under ten yuan), the production costs—including copyright fees for assets—still had to be accounted for. Consequently, his alias account, "4399," had accumulated several tens of thousands in losses.
While downloads were low, the players who did play gave unanimous praise. The platform even noticed the potential and sent signing invitations, which Su Mu ignored. As mentioned before, Su Mu created this alias to capture traffic from both major platforms. Since miHoYo was essentially tied to the Houmu platform, the Interstellar platform was on high alert against them. This was just a standard, "unpretentious" business war.
However, Su Mu had a dream: to let the people of this world feel the charm of Earth's games. Naturally, he needed another way to pry open the doors of the Interstellar platform. Truthfully, he didn't want to use an alias, but several studios under the Interstellar banner were the ones who had previously spread rumors and hired internet trolls to smear him. Even a clay figurine has a bit of fire in it, and Su Mu was no exception.
So, he began using the alias to play the "pig to eat the tiger," infiltrating the enemy platform to rise unstoppably and snatch the resources of those studios. Once he became a pillar of the platform, he would drop the act: It was me, Su Mu, all along. Surprised, kids?
This was why he didn't sign immediately upon receiving the invitation. If he signed as just a "promising" developer, his resources would be limited. But if he joined as the creator of a viral hit, the platform would treat him with the highest priority.
"It took some time, but it's finally finished."
Su Mu looked at the completed Cat Mario on his screen, a slight smirk playing on his lips. As a "Unfair Platformer" (UPG) game, Cat Mario was guaranteed to drive streamers crazy, and the livestreaming potential was explosive. His plan was simple and transparent—not even a conspiracy.
In July, he would upload this game to the Interstellar platform and then have a poor streamer "accidentally" discover this little game of suffering and frustration. The streamer would then play it, create a massive wave of content by breaking down on camera, and the clips would go viral.
And who was this lucky soul? Who would it be?
It was...
Pardofelis's...
Friend, Guinaifen!!
Guinaifen: "Eh? Me? Playing Cat Mario??"
Actually, Su Mu had originally thought of Pardo. After all, Pardo's livestream of Getting Over It had been instrumental in Su Mu's initial success. However, everyone knew Pardo and Su Mu were close; he had even appeared in her streams. To be safe, he didn't use Pardo for this promotion.
Although Guinaifen had streamed Honkai Impact 3rd, she did so rarely. She was an "all-rounder" who did everything: street performances, smashing stones on her chest, midnight ghost hunting, and gaming. She was known for being "real" and doing whatever it took for the content. She had also taken many contracts from the Interstellar platform. Since she was famous for her "shenanigans," she was the perfect fit.
However, for Su Mu, his current priority was getting discharged and returning to his familiar office. The livestream for the new Honkai Impact 3rd version, "Wings of Reawakening," was approaching. In this new version, the Chronicles storyline was finally getting an update.
And the title of this new Chronicle...
— Was "The Second Honkai War."
END OF CHAPTER
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