Chapter 998: Daily Hustle
Han Lu gathered her thoughts: “So, Mr. Chen Mo, could you give us a rough idea of this game’s gameplay? Can it really rival *The Legend of Zelda*, the open-world game that won Game of the Year?”
Chen Mo: “*Grand Theft Auto* will also be Game of the Year. As for which is better, they’re both my games—how do you expect me to compare? I can’t disclose the gameplay details.”
Han Lu nodded: “Alright, then what about the game’s story?”
Chen Mo: “No comment.”
Han Lu’s mouth twitched slightly: “What about the combat system?”
Chen Mo: “Gunfights. Hard to elaborate.”
“The character voices in this game are in English, and they’re all foreign faces. Which city in the Lighthouse Country is it based on?”
“It’s hard to say outright. Everyone will understand once they play the game.”
“Will this game contain violence or other content unsuitable for children?”
For this last question, Chen Mo thought for a moment: “Strictly speaking, this game… basically has no content suitable for children.”
Han Lu: “Huh?”
Chen Mo nodded: “Right. Most of the content in this game is stuff you want to do but don’t dare to. You can think of it as an encyclopedia of crime.”
Han Lu’s eyes widened: “And that can pass censorship?”
Chen Mo said with righteous indignation: “You know, as an honorary committee member of the Game Committee, I must shoulder the heavy responsibility of exposing the ugly veil of capitalism. Through this game, we can better understand the deep-rooted flaws of capitalism, realize that the people of the Lighthouse Country are living in dire straits, and thus cherish our current happy lives even more…”
Han Lu quickly interjected: “Alright, thank you very much, President Chen, for joining us for this interview. Due to time constraints, we’ll wrap up here. Everyone, please continue to follow our Sky Net Gaming Channel for more updates on *Grand Theft Auto*. I’m Han Lu. See you next time!”
Han Lu completed this whole routine within a minute. Before Chen Mo could even finish speaking, the camera signal had already been cut.
“Uh… actually, I could still reveal a bit more,” Chen Mo said.
Han Lu’s mouth twitched again, and inside, ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through her mind.
You still want to reveal more? Not only are you spouting nonsense, but you’re treating everyone like idiots!
But what could she do? It wasn’t the first time Chen Mo had somehow gotten a game past censorship. From *Outlast* to *Prototype* to *Silent Hill*, if what Chen Mo said was true, *Grand Theft Auto* wasn’t even that hard to get approved…
She could only say: honorary committee members do whatever they want, right?
Han Lu forced a professional smile: “Still, thank you very much, President Chen, for accepting our interview. We can continue discussing the reveals on our next show.”
Chen Mo glanced at the time on his phone: “Actually, I’m free this afternoon…”
Han Lu: “…Goodbye.”
……
Sure enough, as soon as this interview aired, it sparked a frenzy of comments from players.
In fact, Han Lu’s editor-in-chief had known this would happen from the start. But wasn’t that perfect? It created buzz and drove traffic—why not?
Players chimed in: “Everyone, come look! Serent is bragging again!”
“You can’t believe a single punctuation mark in what Chen Mo said during that interview!”
“Serent dropped so many golden quotes… ‘Selling *Grand Theft Auto* after a technological explosion’? ‘This game will redefine triple-A games’? ‘Locked in for Game of the Year’? ‘All other games will tremble’? ‘Designers who can’t keep up will be abandoned’? Damn, even if this guy does have the right to say that now, isn’t he bragging a bit too much?? The game isn’t even out yet!”
“This interview is amazing. On the surface, they asked a ton of questions, but in the end, nothing substantial came out—just Chen Mo blabbing on and on…”
“I always feel sorry for Reporter Han. Every time she finishes interviewing Chen Mo, she probably has to chug several cans of six-nut brain tonic to recover.”
“Not just brain tonic—she’d need a doctor to fix her legs too, since they’d be completely twisted by his nonsense!”
“Looks like interviewing Chen Mo is mentally and physically exhausting. I hope next time this glorious and arduous task falls to me, so I can kneel down on the spot, grab his leg, and call him ‘Daddy’!”
Most players just laughed off the interview. Everyone knew Chen Mo wasn’t telling the truth—he was just throwing up smoke screens for his new game!
Everyone knew that once Chen Mo got on an interview, he’d habitually spout nonsense, just like when he tricked everyone into spending money. Get used to it—never take it seriously. Even though Chen Mo’s past boasts had all come true not long after, people still chose to laugh it off when he made new ones.
It wasn’t about trust; it was more that his bragging was just too over the top…
This would have to be a once-in-a-decade masterpiece to withstand all this hype, right?
So, no one took it too seriously. After all, Chen Mo was already this impressive. If he said his new game was amazing, then it was amazing. Even people in the gaming industry didn’t dare to call him out. What more could players say?
Anyway, whether the game was good or not—once it came out, they’d just take a look and know.
……
……
Chen Mo looked at the virtual screen on his wristband. Three hundred draw chances had been accumulated.
That meant he could now unlock the technology point for [Hardware Technology] storage capacity expansion. Once this tech breakthrough began, it would increase the storage capacity of all smart devices by ten times and the read speed by ten times.
Clearly, this technology would affect almost all smart devices, especially those with limited storage like phones and smart glasses, giving them a massive boost.
But the most important thing was that the Matrix Game Pod could store more resources, drastically reduce loading times, and take a big step toward a future of diverse gaming worlds.
Chen Mo tapped the technology point on the virtual screen to activate it.
Just like last time, Chen Mo felt a slight ache in his brain, which subsided after a moment. Then, all the details of this storage capacity expansion technology were deeply imprinted in his mind.
“Okay, next up, I’ll give the Matrix Game Pod players a huge surprise.”
……
On May 22, Thunderbolt Interactive announced a blockbuster piece of news.
All players who had already purchased a Matrix Game Pod would receive a free hardware update opportunity.
This hardware update mainly involved a hard drive storage upgrade. After the update, players’ Matrix Game Pods would get a tenfold increase in storage space. Specifically, the official team would mail the new Matrix Game Pod hard drive directly to the address players had registered, and players could install it themselves following the instructions. The game pod had a reserved hard drive interface, so no disassembly was needed for a smooth installation.
And all of this was completely free.
After May 22, new players purchasing a Matrix Game Pod would default to the new hard drive storage, and the price of the Matrix Game Pod itself would remain unchanged.