Chapter 782: The New Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment Headquarters
While players were eagerly anticipating Chen Mo winning more awards in Europe and America, a piece of gossip suddenly began circulating online.
Chen Mo’s experience store was moving!
Upon seeing this news, many players’ first reaction was disbelief.
Because anyone who had been to Chen Mo’s experience store knew that Chen Mo himself had never shown any intention of moving. He was perfectly comfortable with the current store.
Of course, there was some logic to the rumor. Chen Mo’s current experience store was indeed a bit small.
Given Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment’s financial strength and influence, the current four-story experience store did seem a bit shabby. Moreover, during holidays or when new games launched, players had to wait in very long lines.
But some people felt the current store was just fine, because scarcity made it special. It was easy to run into Chen Mo there, and the crowd was relatively consistent. If they moved to a large-scale experience store, the current atmosphere might disappear.
However, after seeing some materials posted in the leak thread, the story started to seem more and more real.
The post included blueprints for a new experience store’s structure, and sure enough, someone actually found the building in the imperial capital…
It was only then that players realized this wasn’t fake news. It was real.
Chen Mo really was moving his experience store.
Moreover, judging from various clues, the building Chen Mo was currently constructing wasn’t just an experience store anymore. A more fitting name would be: Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment Headquarters.
From the structural sketches, the new Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment headquarters building integrated multiple functions, including three major zones: the experience zone, the office zone, and the themed zone. In other words, this brand-new Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment headquarters would combine a research and development center, an experience store, and a theme park into one, becoming a brand-new landmark building in the imperial capital.
Many players went to the experience store to ask Chen Mo if the news about the new Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment headquarters was true.
Chen Mo confirmed it. The news was indeed real. As early as two years ago, the site selection for the new headquarters had already been planned, and construction was expected to take four years to complete. In other words, the earliest they could move everything to the new headquarters would be next year.
Chen Mo also posted a Weibo message, releasing concept images of the new headquarters, sparking heated discussions among netizens.
After seeing the leaker’s structural diagrams, Chen Mo’s concept images, and the actual local scenery, players all sighed with emotion: It’s great to be rich!
…
Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment’s new headquarters was located in the northeast of the imperial capital, near a large forest park. It was originally a huge golf course.
More than two years ago, this area had been completely sealed off for construction. However, since construction was happening everywhere in the imperial capital at almost any given time, it hadn’t attracted much attention.
Of course, the layout of the imperial capital in this parallel world wasn’t exactly the same as in Chen Mo’s previous life.
This location was between the Fourth Ring Road and the Fifth Ring Road, not too far out, and it was directly accessible via two major subway lines. The vertical subway line went straight to the underground level of the headquarters, while the horizontal subway line, after exiting from the northeast exit, required only a few dozen meters of walking to reach the south entrance of the headquarters. Transportation was very convenient.
Moreover, this area was right next to the forest park. Originally a golf course, it had hills and water, making the environment quite pleasant. It was foreseeable that, besides the main building, the future Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment headquarters would also include a themed zone, allowing players to stroll leisurely amidst green mountains and clear waters.
Many players lamented how much money this must have cost in the imperial capital, where land was worth its weight in gold!
In fact, the entire new headquarters of Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment covered an area of 150,000 square meters, with a construction cost exceeding 1.5 billion US dollars, or 9 billion RMB.
Two years ago, when *League of Legends* had become a global sensation and Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment’s revenue had begun to skyrocket, the new headquarters had already been in the planning stages. At that time, many internal employees felt that such a massive headquarters was somewhat extravagant, since it was already comparable in size to the headquarters of Fortune 500 companies, if not more luxurious.
But judging from the current situation, Chen Mo’s choice had been very wise.
Furthermore, as Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment’s international influence grew and Chen Mo’s reputation within the Game Committee increased, the new headquarters gained more and more conveniences.
In the concept images Chen Mo released, the design of the new headquarters also sparked lively discussions among players.
The main body of the headquarters was a massive spherical building divided into 16 major layers. Here, “layer” didn’t refer to the floors of a residential building, but rather to visible divisions on the building’s exterior.
From the outside, the spherical building looked a bit like a Lego Star Wars toy, full of a sense of technology.
In fact, the entire building was over 170 meters tall. The 16 major layers visible from the outside were each equivalent to about three stories of an ordinary residential building.
This was a building brimming with technological aesthetics. The four central layers were the office zone, the bottom two layers were the rest area and themed tour guide area, the top two layers were the observation deck, and the remaining layers were all experience zones.
The experience zones would adopt a more open design, giving players a better game trial experience.
Outside the building, the entire spherical structure was supported by four massive thunderbolts. These four thunderbolts encircled the huge sphere, serving both to enhance the building’s load-bearing capacity and to symbolize Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment.
The new headquarters was named “New World.” The overall design’s meaning was: Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment changes the world.
Although the new headquarters wasn’t particularly tall by imperial capital standards, there were no very tall buildings nearby, making it stand out like a crane among chickens. After completion, this magnificent spherical building would be visible from the entire northeastern part of the imperial capital. Whether by day or night, it would become one of the city’s new landmarks and a must-visit destination for players traveling to the imperial capital.
Moreover, aside from the massive spherical building, the surrounding area included large expanses of green space. These green spaces would become the themed zone, essentially a small theme park.
In the theme park, all games developed by Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment would have a place. Different games would be divided into different modules, including areas with Western fantasy vibes, areas with Chinese-style aesthetics, realistic zones, futuristic zones, and so on.
Players could see the psychiatric hospital set from *Outlast*, the inns of Azeroth, the buildings from *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* with scattered gun models and supplies, Nathan’s home from *Uncharted*, or a small scene from the abandoned school in *The Last of Us*.
As for other statues, there would be even more. Many statues of heroes from *League of Legends* would be strategically placed throughout the themed zone for players to take photos with.
Statues of major characters from other games would also be placed in their respective themed areas.
Of course, the construction of the entire themed zone would take even longer, likely starting only after the new headquarters building was officially completed. As more and more games were released in the future, the content of the themed zone would become increasingly rich.