[Twigs is an absolute machine! I'm still screwing around on my first playthrough, and he's already about to beat his second!]
[Seriously! While normal people have nerves of steel, this man has a liver of steel!]
[I can't wait. I bet Twigs is actually going to meet another living human NPC in this game!]
[Yeah, logically speaking, with the alien cannon offline, the Firework should be able to land safely!]
"This probably triggers a secret second ending where you can leave the planet with them. Honestly, that sounds way better than the original ending. At least the crew survives!"
As the chat vibrated with anticipation, the wireless radio on Twigs's wrist crackled to life. "This is Captain of the Firework Ship. We've got a visual on you! Wow, buddy, I honestly have no idea how you managed to survive down there!"
"I can see you guys too!" Twigs replied enthusiastically. It was obvious from his voice that he was incredibly hyped. The lingering regret from his first playthrough was finally about to be corrected.
Up in the sky, the sleek, aerodynamic silhouette of the Firework came into view. As it descended, the Precursor platform remained completely stationary, showing no signs of transforming into its firing mode.
[Fuck yeah! The cannon didn't activate!]
[Looks like they're going to land safely! But... are they really going to land safely?.]
[Saving the Firework Shipon a second playthrough... I guess Anon does possess a shred of humanity after all!]
Yet, the moment those comments flashed across the screen, a deafening roar shook the environment. The previously calm ocean erupted into absolute chaos. Waves over a hundred feet high exploded into the air, surging outward in every direction as if a nuclear warhead had just detonated underwater, triggering a terrifying localized tsunami!
But the tidal wave wasn't the main attraction. Before the eyes of the utterly shell-shocked viewers, a colossal, nightmarish leviathan breached the surface.
The creature was incomprehensibly massive. Its elongated body rose from the ocean like a secondary horizon, its titanic form instantly blotting out more than half the sky.
The entire sky plunged into darkness, cast under the shadow of a monster that looked like a mythical fish straight out of ancient legends!
"What the fuck!" Twigs screamed in sheer terror.
"Oh my god, what is that monster?! It's coming right for us! Pull up! Pull up!" the Firework captain shrieked in absolute despair.
The next second, the gargantuan beast leaped thousands of feet into the air, its colossal jaws snapping shut directly over the Firework!
BOOM!!!
The captain's voice cut off instantly as the Firework shipdetonated into a massive fireball. Yet, the raging explosion looked like nothing more than a flickering match inside the monster's cavernous maw. The leviathan swallowed the flames and the ship whole in a single gulp.
Having consumed the Firework ship, the creature arched its body gracefully in midair and dove straight back into the ocean.
RUMBLE!!!
Another earth-shattering crash echoed across the sea. The impact of the beast's descent triggered a massive wall of water, sending waves dozens of feet high washing up onto the shores of Twigs island! The leviathan was so absurdly long that its massive body continued to writhe and churn through the air for a full thirty seconds before disappearing entirely beneath the waves.
Only after the monster vanished did the darkened sky clear up, allowing the bright sunlight to pool back over the ocean. Twigs stood frozen on the island, staring blankly at the empty sky.
As for the viewers watching the video, every single one of them was utterly paralyzed with fear.
[Holy fucking shit... what the hell was that?!]
[That thing was way too massive! My scalp is literally tingling!]
[Jesus, that monster launched itself thousands of feet into the air, and its body wasn't even fully out of the water! It must be at least twenty thousand feet long!]
[It's the Ancient Leviathan! Go watch PewDiePie's video from a few hours ago, he encountered it down in the Dead Zone!]
[My god, the sheer scale of it is breathtaking. A creature like that belongs in ancient mythology, not a video game!]
[This has to be an Easter egg developers designed just to give us some insane eye candy.]
[Not just eye candy. If you go out to the Dead Zone, you can get up close and personal with it.]
"Chat, did you see that? If I'm not mistaken, this is the exact same species as the skull in the Lost River... No, wait, maybe the skull in the Lost River was just a juvenile. This thing is a fully matured adult!"
Twigs's voiceover cut back in, his tone dripping with profound awe. "This Easter egg Sinclair cooked up is absolutely phenomenal. It literally blew my mind. I am completely submissive to the majesty of this beast. Now this is what you call a fucking Leviathan! I have to say it: thank you, New World Studio!"
"But in conclusion... man, I feel so bad for the Firework ship. I really thought we could save them on a second playthrough, but I guess I was too naive. Developers Easter egg completely blindsided me, leaving me both awestruck and utterly devastated..."
The video ended there, but viewers kept looping it, filling the comment section with frantic discussions.
[Damn, what kind of personal vendetta does developers have against the Firework ship? You finally go through the trouble of shutting down the planetary defense cannon, only for him to spawn a twenty-thousand-foot Ancient Leviathan to eat them!]
[Now I see the true depth of New World malice. The Firework... guess it was always destined to burn like a firework!]
[Imo, Nicolas Cage shouldn't see this video. Otherwise, his mental state is going to completely collapse. He was genuinely looking forward to saving the Firework on his second playthrough.]
[But man, that sequence was breathtaking! Way more epic than the Aurora explosion or the original Sunbeam crash!]
[New World really gets their players. Whether it's our visual tastes or anything else, They understands us perfectly!]
The discovery of the two Ancient Leviathan Easter eggs brought a fresh wave of adulation for Anon (Lucien alt persona). At the same time, the community's deep-seated fascination with massive sea monsters was temporarily satiated. It became glaringly obvious that Subnautica still held plenty of secrets waiting to be unearthed, providing players with the thrill of a grand treasure hunt.
And that was exactly the charm of a single-player game like this. There was no need to rush; players could just comfortably enjoy the experience and explore at their own pace.
Unsurprisingly, the Ancient Leviathan Easter eggs sparked a massive viral wave across social media, elevating developers status to that of a living legend in the eyes of the gaming community.
To them, while developers definitely had a sadistic streak, loving nothing more than trolling players, messing with their heads, and dropping emotional gut-punches, those flaws were completely negligible compared to their absolute genius.
In their eyes, the developers was practically omnipotent. At least within the confines of the virtual world.
As a result, the anticipation for the New World game showcase reached a fever pitch.
Before they knew it, Saturday night arrived. There was less than half an hour left until the promised start time.
Countless players had already prepped their gear. They logged into the New World gaming platform ahead of schedule, chatting and joking with Tifa while eagerly counting down the minutes.
During this time, a lot of the thirsty players tried various methods to touch or interact with Tifa, but after failing repeatedly, they were forced to give up.
They comforted themselves internally: 'Whatever, who cares about physics anyway? Having a gorgeous girl standing right next to you, keeping you company and chatting, is already a massive win.'
It wasn't just gamers, either. To attend this showcase, a massive number of international players had set alarms to wake up in the dead of night or the morning.
Some of the cleverer ones simply put on their VR headsets and went to sleep right inside the New World platform, instructing Tifa to wake them up the second the showcase started.
Over on Twitch, Jenny was currently streaming Subnautica. At this stage of her playthrough, she had successfully met the Sea Emperor Leviathan, hatched the babies, and disabled the Precursor defense cannon.
On top of that, she had gathered every single material required to construct the Neptune Escape Rocket.
[IMAGE:]
It was finally time to finish her first playthrough.
"Alright chat, we're finally going to build the Neptune Rocket now," Jenny announced to her chat. She brought up her 3D fabricator platform and commanded, "Gaia AI, construct the rocket launch platform."
To build the rocket, she first needed to establish the floating launch pad. The blueprinted design sent down by the government had clearly been optimized for local fabrication, allowing it to be assembled directly on the ocean surface.
"Initiating construction. Estimated time: three minutes."
As Gaia AI's voice echoed, a swarm of micro-construction drones flew out, emitting precise structural lasers. Three minutes later, a compact floating platform materialized on the water.
The launch platform was perfectly square, supported by massive air-compression stabilizers that ensured it floated flawlessly on the water while capable of bearing immense weight.
Jenny quickly climbed up the ladder onto the platform and issued the next command.
"Gaia AI, construct the Neptune Rocket."
"Commencing fabrication. Building stage one: thruster assembly. Estimated time: five minutes..."
Following Gaia AI's update, the nanobots went into a frenzy. Building a full-scale rocket was an incredibly time-consuming process, far more complex than fabricating the Cyclops. Finally, after fifteen minutes, a magnificent rocket stood tall before Jenny.
Erected dead center on the launch platform, the rocket stood at roughly 360 feet tall. It was a spectacular sight.
Jenny grabbed onto the maintenance ladder running up the side of the rocket and began her ascent to the top.
The ladder was over 330 feet high with absolutely no safety harness. If this had been the old Jenny, she would have hesitated for ages out of sheer vertigo. But things were different now. Her time in the deep sea had forged a powerful mental fortitude, and she climbed straight up without a single shred of hesitation.
Before long, Jenny pulled herself through the hatch and slid into the pilot's seat of the cockpit.
On the control panel ahead, the primary ignition button was incredibly obvious. Since it was a video game, the rocket featured a highly streamlined, user-friendly interface that avoided unnecessary real-world complexity.
"Alright chat, it's time for us to leave," Jenny said, her finger hovering over the button. Her emotions were surprisingly complex at this moment; she felt a deep, lingering reluctance to leave, as if a beautiful, wondrous world was about to vanish from her life forever.
But reminding herself that she could always start a second playthrough, she smiled and pressed down on the ignition.
"Propulsion systems active. Hydraulic systems engaged," Gaia AI's voice chimed smoothly. "Preparing for launch. Countdown initiating: 10, 9, 8, 7..."
The deafening rumble of the engines began to vibrate through the hull.
"3, 2, 1... Liftoff!"
BOOM!
Accompanied by the ferocious roar of the thrusters, the Neptune Rocket spewed brilliant, blinding pillars of fire from its base, instantly tearing away from the launch platform and rocketing straight into the sky!!!
In that instant, Jenny felt her body grow several times heavier, as if an invisible, immense weight was pressing her flat against her seat!
"So this is what riding a rocket feels like?! My very first time!" Jenny gasped, her eyes wide as she screamed over the noise. "Whoa! It actually simulates G-force acceleration! This is wild!"
Jenny had never imagined that she would get to experience a rocket launch in her lifetime. Through the cockpit glass, she watched the massive layer of white clouds get shredded like cheap paper as the rocket tore through the atmosphere!
[Wow, this looks absolutely incredible!]
[Developers really went all out when it comes to the vehicles in this game!]
[Devs, even right at the very end, they gives us the absolute thrill of a rocket launch!]
[It would be so epic if an Ancient Leviathan suddenly breached right now and swallowed the rocket whole!]
[Haha, true!]
The viewers watched in awe as the thick clouds quickly faded away. The bright sky began to dim, transitioning into a deep violet before plunging into the absolute, star-speckled blackness of space.
"Orbit achieved," Gaia AI's voice resonated gently inside the cabin. "You may now take one final look at the planet you called home."
"Ah, we can see the whole planet!"
Hearing this, Jenny craned her neck to look out the side window. Sure enough, a breathtaking celestial body had materialized on the right side of her view.
The planet was a magnificent sphere of vibrant azure, looking so perfectly blue that it seemed painted with a single, pristine color. Swirling, majestic white cloud formations drifted across its surface, giving it a mysterious and ethereal beauty.
[Wow, look at all that blue... the planet really is just one giant ocean!]
[No wonder land was so scarce. Even at the end, there were only a couple of tiny islands!]
[Looking at it from outer space like this... it's genuinely stunning.]
[Man, just for this final view of the planet, I'm motivated to go finish my own playthrough!]
[Seriously, this kind of cosmic beauty needs to be experienced first-hand in VR to get the full effect.]
Amidst the collective awe and praise of the audience, the screen slowly began to fade to black, dissolving into a quiet void. Two lines of crisp, white text gently faded into view:
[GAME OVER]
[Produced by New World Studios.]
[Advanced 30 chapter on patreon.com/EdgyReader]