Chapter 1: A World Where the Tech Tree Grew Crooked
Imperial Capital.
Chen Mo woke up.
"I feel like I'm about to drop dead..."
"No way, I have to go to bed early tomorrow..."
Chen Mo, clutching his throbbing head, sat up from the bed.
"Lately, I've been staying up so late that I'm hallucinating. Daydreaming is one thing, but dreaming at night too? That seriously messes with my sleep quality, you know?"
Chen Mo was still grumbling about last night's sleep quality, but the next second, he froze, unable to snap out of it for a long time.
"What the hell, where is this? Did I transmigrate?!"
Chen Mo looked around.
He was in a strange room that looked like a standard hotel room. But this standard room clearly wasn't high-end. Apart from being barely clean and tidy, there was basically nothing to praise.
Next to the desk in the room was a large suitcase. On the desk sat a rather unusual laptop, as thick as a brick, with a very large screen. It looked heavy but was exquisitely crafted.
Chen Mo had never seen this kind of laptop in his past life, but imagining it, he felt it must be quite expensive.
He went to the bathroom, washed his face, and looked in the mirror. Chen Mo found that his appearance hadn't changed much, except he looked a bit younger, as if he had gone back four or five years, to when he had just graduated from university.
Gradually, Chen Mo began to receive memories of this parallel world.
This world was about ninety percent similar to the one Chen Mo knew, except for the gaming industry, which he was most familiar with—it was completely different.
The root of all this lay in the difference in technological levels.
In this world, for some unknown reason, a series of technological explosions had occurred. Maybe aliens were behind it, or maybe some transmigrator like Chen Mo was causing trouble. The speed of computer technology development was simply unbelievable, changing in the blink of an eye, faster than riding a rocket.
Before personal computers were even fully popularized, home consoles, first-class artists—like a versatile genius akin to Michelangelo, who was a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet all at once.
Of course, for certain ultra-large VR games, the lead designer would also find some assistants. However, they still held absolute authority, deciding every detail of the game. These assistants were more like apprentices than colleagues.
As mentioned earlier, Chen Mo was a young man who wanted to enter the gaming industry.
However, the way to enter the gaming industry wasn't by applying to a game company, but through another path.
In this world, the game editor was completely open, but the degree of openness and permissions varied depending on the designer's identity. To enter the gaming industry, one had to design a complete game using the editor and pass the review of a professional jury.
In his past life, Chen Mo had actually already obtained the qualification to be an entry-level game designer. As long as he designed a relatively basic casual game, he could automatically become a D-level game designer.
As for why Chen Mo was staying in a hotel? Because he had signed up for a game design competition in the Imperial Capital and needed a quiet environment to complete his design over the next couple of days.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to too much pressure or too many late nights, he had dropped dead.
Chen Mo couldn't help but feel speechless: "Young and healthy, and you drop dead after pulling two all-nighters? My body sure is weak."
It wasn't that Chen Mo's pressure was unwarranted. Even in this world, the path of a game designer wasn't easy.
Chen Mo had graduated almost a year ago but had never found the right path. The games he made never passed the evaluation. Although he had the basic skills for entry-level, he still hadn't managed to become a D-level game designer.
If he dragged it out any longer, he would be completely broke. There were only three paths: starve, go home and live off his parents, or switch careers.
So, Chen Mo had gone all out, hoping to get a good ranking in this game design competition. But before his work was even finished, he was already gone.
After offering three and a half seconds of mourning for the other Chen Mo, Chen Mo quickly calmed his emotions.
Isn't it just designing games? This is my old profession. Given the game design concepts of this era, if I don't completely dominate the entire gaming industry, then I've truly wasted my baptism by free-to-play domestic games.
Chen Mo opened the laptop.
But before that, he decided to order some takeout.
His stomach was already growling. To avoid becoming the first transmigrator to drop dead and then starve to death, Chen Mo picked up the phone on the desk.
Sure enough, some lifestyle apps were more or less the same. Chen Mo noticed that the phone in this parallel world was also similar to the ones in his past life, just with higher specs.
After ordering a rice bowl and milk tea on a delivery platform called "What to Eat," Chen Mo calmed down a bit and opened the game editor on his laptop.