Chapter 942: A Three-Pronged Layout
Lin Xue was completely speechless.
She had thought of so many questions before the stream!
Before the stream, everyone was so indignant, united in denouncing Chen Mo!
But after the stream ended, how had everything changed...
The bullet comments had been completely derailed; the players had all been brainwashed!
Many players expressed feeling inspired. If a girl could so easily defeat the Diablos, then surely they could too!
After the stream, Li Jingsi asked Lin Xue, "Since Xue is here for a rare visit, how about we grab a meal or something?"
Lin Xue thought for a moment. "No, I need to go home right now and try to take down the Diablos using the Slice Ammo Cult!"
...
This stream not only quelled the players' anger but also served as a basic tutorial for *Monster Hunter*. It explained the standard usage of weapons and the application of special items.
When fighting the Diablos, you could use Sonic Bombs; when fighting the Rathalos, you could use Flash Pods. Other items like Pitfall Traps and Barrel Bombs also played crucial roles in hunting. In *Monster Hunter*, the developers highly encouraged players to use these special tools.
After all, trap-type items were one of the important combat methods for hunters!
Although many players still got wrecked when fighting the Diablos on their own, following the guide made it feel... not so difficult anymore.
Hmm... maybe it was an illusion?
Still, players realized that the initial difficulty of *Monster Hunter* had been somewhat exaggerated.
Moreover, Chen Mo had deliberately left behind the Slice Ammo Cult as a backdoor for players who wanted an easy way out.
...
In the underground cave of the Wildspire Waste, the Diablos let out a mournful roar and collapsed to the ground.
"Wow!! I finally won!! I finally defeated the Diablos!! Hunt successful!! Call me Monster Hunter·Xue!!"
Lin Xue stood beside the Diablos's corpse, taking photos like crazy.
The bullet comments instantly flooded with "66666."
"Amazing, even Xue managed to beat the Diablos!"
"Honestly, if you joined the Slice Ammo Cult and still can't beat the Diablos, that's just too much. There's no skill involved at all!"
"How come I suddenly feel like this game has turned into a grind-fest? No matter how strong the monster is, as long as you max out your gear and practice your skills, it's not as punishing as *Dark Souls*!"
"Yeah, this game was always about grinding. It's just that the early difficulty was low, so you didn't notice it!"
Many players had come to terms with it and stopped complaining about *Monster Hunter*'s difficulty design.
On the contrary, after defeating the Diablos and Rathalos, these players felt a surge of confidence and wanted to challenge even stronger monsters ahead!
It was the same with similar games. When stuck on a boss, it felt terrible, like suffering every day. But once you killed that boss, you felt a sense of emptiness. If the next boss was easier, it would actually feel boring.
Many players started showing off online: "You all say the Diablos is hard? Hard how? I beat it in twenty minutes without any pressure! You scrubs!"
Immediately, other players would reply: "Twenty minutes to beat the Diablos? What's there to brag about? You cheesed it with Slice Ammo, right? I beat it in thirteen minutes with the Charge Blade. Am I bragging?"
The players' tone had shifted in a strange direction...
Many players also said, "Serenity, is the hardest monster only at this level? After the Diablos, it's just the 'Zorah Magdaros Repulsion Operation'? *Monster Hunter* is disappointing; the late-game difficulty is nowhere near *Dark Souls*!"
To this, Chen Mo just smirked.
How about getting to know the twin-tailed Nergigante?
...
...
While the players were happily hunting in the world of *Monster Hunter*, Chen Mo was steadily advancing his next-phase goals.
Thunder Interactive Entertainment Headquarters, Office Area.
The entire office area spanned four large floors, with Chen Mo's own R&D team occupying only a small portion.
At this stage, Chen Mo's R&D team was split into three. The *Assassin's Creed* team's main task was to continue developing sequels and refining the art resource library. The *Monster Hunter* team, formerly the *Dark Souls* team, continued accumulating experience in action game development, focusing on deep-level development of the Pangu Engine. The *Pokémon World* team focused on deep applications of artificial intelligence, as well as MR and VR technologies in games.
Art resources, physics engine, and artificial intelligence—these were Chen Mo's three most important strategic pillars in the gaming industry, into which he had poured immense effort and resources.
To support the R&D work of these three major teams, other departments within Thunder Interactive's headquarters each performed their duties, ensuring no bottlenecks occurred.
Additionally, games like *League of Legends*, *Overwatch*, *Arena of Valor*, and *PUBG* had dedicated operations teams, customer service teams, and esports departments responsible for global deep promotion and esports industry layout.
Even so, these "Praetorian Guard" units directly under Chen Mo's command only occupied half of one floor in the Thunder Interactive headquarters. Even if their scale expanded further, they would only take up one full floor.
This team represented the core strength in Chen Mo's hands—the highest pay, the strictest selection.
So far, thanks to Thunder Interactive's dominant performance in the global gaming industry, they had practically swept up all top-tier domestic talent. Anyone Chen Mo wanted, he didn't even need to spend much to poach; a little persuasion was enough.
"Want to change the world with me?"
Strictly speaking, this wasn't really persuasion. Because what Chen Mo was doing right now *was* changing the world.
Perhaps in Chen Mo's previous life, due to the influence of certain unscrupulous companies, "sentiment" had become a derogatory term. But for Chen Mo, "sentiment" was still something very precious.
For other top talents in the gaming industry, Chen Mo offered both sentiment and abundant resources. A company that could satisfy both spiritual and material needs—there was only one like this in the country.
Thus, in the domestic gaming industry, Thunder Interactive had become a league of its own. For many people, getting the opportunity to work at Thunder Interactive was a no-brainer.
Furthermore, the entire Thunder Interactive headquarters office area still had three large floors of empty space, capable of accommodating a massive number of people.
As for what this space was reserved for...
According to the original plan, this space was prepared for independent game designers.