Chapter 623: The Explosive Experience
Zou Zhuo was still deep into *Prototype*, showing no intention of taking a break from the VR game pod. This was nothing like *Dark Souls*. When playing *Dark Souls*, Zou Zhuo felt like he was in a classroom—every second was exhausting and draining, because he had to constantly memorize various patterns and work hard to learn the game’s mechanics just to push forward.
But *Prototype* was different, especially on the easy difficulty. The protagonist was essentially invincible, freely mowing down enemies in the city and doing whatever he wanted! The game didn’t set up any obstacles for the player, rarely caused them to get stuck, and certainly didn’t let monsters dominate them.
While experiencing the power of a superhuman, the story was also one of the driving forces that kept Zou Zhuo playing. The plot of *Prototype* wasn’t complex—in fact, it was relatively simple, and not understanding the story at all wouldn’t hinder the player from finishing the game. However, because the storytelling techniques in *Prototype* were quite clever, they effectively masked the weakness of the narrative.
Starting from the morgue at the beginning, a mystery ran through the entire game: Who exactly was Alex? And how did he obtain such incredible abilities? As the story progressed, Alex encountered various characters—the military, the virus host Elizabeth—and he constantly absorbed them, taking their memories and uncovering the truth piece by piece, like solving a puzzle.
As the plot advanced, Alex slowly unlocked more skills, including claws, a shield, armor, a hammer, tentacles, blades, and more. *Prototype* featured a highly extensive skill tree system, where abilities like combat, stealth, movement, and driving could all be upgraded. Throughout the entire game, players constantly felt themselves growing stronger.
In the end, the player defeated the final boss and uncovered all the memories. The truth was finally revealed, and the story reached its climax in the final cutscene, with the ending providing a perfect conclusion to the game. For a fast-food game, achieving this level of quality was quite commendable.
Although the *Prototype 1* from Chen Mo’s previous life didn’t become a flagship title for various reasons, it was undeniable that the game had a significant impact domestically. It even remained a staple in internet café game lists, becoming a shared memory for many gaming-addicted youths. From that perspective, while *Prototype* was a fast-food game, it was also an exceptionally good one.
…
Without realizing it, the audience in Zou Zhuo’s livestream was growing larger and larger.
“What game is the streamer playing? It looks so intense! What’s the name of the game?”
“It’s Chen Mo’s new game, *Prototype*. Isn’t it on the screen? Anyone who hasn’t seen it, go get your eyes checked!”
“Awesome, isn’t this game not released yet? Did the streamer go to the experience store to play it?”
“Did the streamer just… eat a passerby?! A people-eating streamer, I’m following!”
“Bro, climb the wall again! I want to see you climb, that’s so cool!”
“Can’t wait, release this game already! Watching it is making me itch!”
The comments were getting lively too, as many players were paying close attention to Chen Mo’s new game. While Zou Zhuo was streaming *Prototype*, many viewers also spontaneously went to Thunder Game’s official forums to advertise, and some searched for the keyword “Prototype” on the streaming platform. Gradually, the audience kept increasing.
After watching Zou Zhuo’s stream, many players couldn’t help but post on the official forums: “Chen Mo didn’t lie this time, it really is a grass-cutting game, super satisfying!”
Many players were still skeptical, instinctively not believing that Chen Mo would be so generous, so they all flocked to Zou Zhuo’s livestream to watch his playthrough.
*Prototype* could only be played at the experience store for now, so there weren’t many players actually streaming it. Zou Zhuo had caught a good opportunity, and riding on the popularity of *Prototype*, the number of viewers in his stream kept rising, quickly reaching several thousand!
Not only that, but free gifts also started pouring in. With so many people watching, the chubby guy played even harder, interacting with the comments while playing.
Meanwhile, the VR game experience area at the store quickly became packed!
At first, many players were still on the fence, afraid that *Prototype* would be another game where they got mowed down like in *Dark Souls*. But after some early adopters tried it out, the VR pods in the experience area were instantly full!
Many players who got in didn’t want to leave, and after the pods were all occupied, those outside could only wait in line!
Soon, the entire VR game experience area was crowded, with lines forming next to each VR pod. The players waiting in line watched streams on their phones and chatted.
“Damn, watching the chubby guy play *Prototype* is so satisfying! It’s really like in the video—the protagonist is basically a superhero. It’s already this awesome watching it on stream, how great must it be to play it yourself?”
“Damn it, if I’d known, I would have come in earlier to play! I hesitated for a second, and the last pod was taken! I regret it so much!”
“No choice, just wait! Anyway, when the game comes out, I’m definitely buying it immediately! A game this satisfying, you can play it anytime in the VR pod. When you’re in a bad mood, just hop in and have some fun—it’s absolutely perfect!”
…
Soon, various videos about *Prototype* appeared on major video websites, and more and more streamers specifically came to the experience store to stream *Prototype*.
Zou Zhuo, who had started streaming the earliest, also benefited a lot. The number of viewers in his stream skyrocketed over these few days, going from being unknown to having over twenty thousand followers. Although he couldn’t compare to the big streamers, he had gained a lot of attention in just a few days.
Moreover, due to the sustained high popularity of Zou Zhuo’s stream, the Moyu streaming platform specifically expressed interest in signing a contract with him, promising to give him some promotional resources after signing.
After *Prototype* opened for experience, its popularity suddenly exploded, at a speed that left many designers stunned!
During this time, Chen Mo wasn’t idle either. On one hand, he was placing ads on major video and gaming websites; on the other hand, he was negotiating partnerships with various VR internet cafés.
Although “hype” is something many people look down on, it’s undeniable that it’s effective.
Just like *Blade & Soul* from Chen Mo’s previous life. Its world-building, combat system, and story design weren’t top-tier, but it had one thing going for it: amazing graphics! Players could create characters with slim waists, big butts, long legs, and even bouncing chests when running. This unique visual style became its biggest selling point.
The operators seized on this and hyped it relentlessly, amplifying *Blade & Soul*’s strengths to create a bubble of popularity far exceeding its actual quality. At its peak, *Blade & Soul* swept across major video sites, and getting a beta key was incredibly hard. Some players who bought memberships found that the queue time for member servers was even longer than for regular servers…
Of course, after the game officially launched, its popularity naturally settled back to a reasonable level—that’s just how it works. But regardless, the early frenzy of hype made it a huge profit, far beyond what its quality warranted.