You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Wang Anguo's words lingered in Lu Ran's mind all night.

He had expected the other party to give him further instructions or at least provide a direction, but Wang Anguo simply threw the question back at him as it was—he needed clearer data and more accurate images.

The meaning is clear: can you push things forward one more step?

Lu Ran tossed and turned in bed until after 1 a.m., and finally sat up against the headboard, staring blankly at the white wall opposite in the dark.

He certainly understood what Wang Anguo meant.

Players have indeed reached a bottleneck in the materials they can provide now. The outline of the wall has been pieced together, the ventilation ducts have been photographed, and the tire tracks on the ground have been recorded, but at most these can only prove that there are facilities inside that area.

As for the purpose, scale, and operational status of the facilities, the existing images are simply not high enough to make a judgment.

He picked up his phone and looked through the data records from the past few days.

Location requests in the western United States are still growing slowly, and players are still walking around, stopping, and taking pictures repeatedly, but there is not much new information in the newly collected environmental images.

Everything that needed to be captured has been captured. The remaining details require higher resolution to be seen clearly, but increasing the resolution means crossing the boundaries of privacy.

He put down his phone and thought for over an hour but couldn't come up with any new ideas.

If players continue to delve deeper into this path, it has indeed reached its end.

The next morning, he arrived at the company with dark circles under his eyes. After sitting down, he made himself a strong cup of tea and then stared blankly at the computer screen for more than ten minutes.

The door to the break room was pushed open and closed several times. Every time someone passed by his office door, he would subconsciously look up, but no one knocked.

Around ten o'clock, he stood up and walked out of the office. He didn't go to the technical department or to find Zhou Mingzhe; he went directly to Chen Mo's office.

Chen Mo was sitting at his workstation looking at a channel cooperation agreement for North America when he saw Lu Ran walk in, his expression showing obvious surprise.

Lu Ran usually sends messages on WeChat when she needs something and rarely comes directly to someone's workstation. Chen Mo put down his documents, looked up, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing happened. There's something I want to talk to you about." Lu Ran pulled up a chair and sat down opposite him. "Among the player groups you've reached through your channels, are there any... people who understand the game mechanics well and are willing to participate in in-depth testing? You mean the core players we were talking about before?"

Chen Mo thought for a moment: "There are indeed a few people who fit your criteria. They're very active on the forums, have created many guides and map annotations, and have provided a lot of product feedback. But what do you want them to do?"

"It's not about asking them to do anything in the game, but rather to talk to them about things outside of the game. For example, their understanding of the game, how they usually play, and if there's anything they think could be improved. After the conversation, if it's appropriate, we can consider inviting them to participate in some targeted testing."

Chen Mo leaned back in his chair and looked Lu Ran up and down: "You want to find a breakthrough from the players' perspective. You feel that the data provided by the existing players is not precise enough, and you want to find a group of people who understand the game better to play and have them conduct more detailed explorations in those areas?"

"That's roughly the idea, but I haven't figured out the specifics yet. The biggest difference between hardcore players and regular players is that they're willing to spend more time repeatedly testing in the same place. Regular players might catch a legendary pet and leave, but hardcore players will figure out the spawn mechanics, quality distribution, and optimal routes, and then stay in the same spot for a long time."

Chen Mo nodded and didn't press further. He said he would organize the list and send it to Lu Ran that afternoon.

After returning to his office, Lu Ran looked through the list, which contained more than a dozen people, most of whom were familiar faces in the gaming community.

He looked through the activity records of those people and found that three of them did have relatively frequent location records in the vicinity of the western United States, and the number of environmental collection pictures they uploaded was much higher than that of ordinary players.

He didn't rush to contact those people, nor did he arrange any targeted tests.

He's still unsure which direction to guide the players. Without a clear direction, it's pointless for others to run as fast as they can.

He thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and sent a message to Zhou Mingzhe: "Could we call a meeting at 3 PM this afternoon?"

Zhou Mingzhe replied quickly: "What is it?"

"We need to discuss something. Don't ask, we'll talk when you get here."

At 3 p.m., there were more than a dozen people sitting in the largest conference room at TUTU headquarters, more than the usual number of people at the morning meeting.

Zhou Mingzhe sat to his right, Chen Mo opposite him, Zhao Yiming sat in his usual spot by the window, and Lao Wang was also there, holding that unchanging cup of tea.

Wang Huabing happened to be in the city branch today on business, so he sat down in the back as well.

Several people from the art team and operations team also came, all thinking that they were going to discuss some new version content.

After Lu Ran and the others were seated, they stood up and walked to the whiteboard. Lu Ran picked up a pen and drew three circles on it. Then, next to the first circle, he wrote a line of text: "The positioning accuracy is sufficient, but the image details are insufficient."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment; someone glanced at the whiteboard and then at Lu Ran.

Lu Ran turned around and placed his pen on the edge of the board: "I called everyone here today to discuss something. Our game's location data is already widely available globally, and you've all seen the heatmaps; it covers most of the areas that need to be covered. But there's a problem—location data alone isn't enough. To confirm the specific conditions within those areas, we need higher-precision environmental information. The images provided by players are currently blurred, so we can only see the outlines; the details are insufficient. If we were to increase the precision, it would touch on privacy boundaries, and we can't go down that path."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the conference room. "So I'm thinking of a different approach—instead of improving the accuracy of individual images, we can increase the time players spend in specific areas and the frequency of their activity, allowing the system to piece together a clearer composite image from repeatedly collected blurry images. This logic is technically sound, but the problem is that players' gameplay needs to be guided to those specific areas, and they need to stay there for a sufficient amount of time, not just pass through and leave."

Zhao Yiming leaned back in his chair under the whiteboard and spoke first after listening: "Technically, there's no problem. We've already tested the multi-frame synthesis part. As long as there are enough images input at the same location, the backend can generate a higher-resolution composite image. The problem is why players would want to stay in those locations. We've already farmed all the existing legendary creatures, and the quality ratings are up, so the novelty has almost worn off."

Chen Mo added, "If we continue to use rare creatures to attract players, the marginal benefit will diminish. The same method might work once, be halved twice, and be basically ineffective a third time. Besides, players aren't stupid; if legendary creatures appear in the same area several times in a row, they'll start to suspect something's wrong."

"Then we won't go down the legendary route," Zhou Mingzhe said. "We'll introduce something new that players can understand."

Someone from the operations team raised their hand: "If we don't release new creatures, what about releasing something else? Like region-exclusive collectibles? Or special resources linked to the territory system?"

"The resource accumulation in the territory system has entered a stable period. Players' daily tasks in their territories have become muscle memory. They won't be motivated to go to a specific area just because there's another type of resource. Unless that resource can unlock something they particularly want, but now there's nothing in the TUTU game that they 'particularly want but can't get'."

The steam from the tea rose from the rim of Zhou Mingzhe's cup, dispersing into a thin mist in the warm yellow light.

He looked at Lu Ran but didn't ask any further questions.

A moment of silence fell over the meeting room. A young woman from the art team whispered, "We've actually been thinking about adding a customizable base to the game. Players could display the creatures they catch there, decorate the environment, build structures, and invite friends to visit. Many players have raised similar requests on the forums. If this feature is implemented, combined with decorative items that can only be obtained in specific areas, it should serve as a targeted guide."

After hearing this, Lu Ran's fingers paused on the table. He turned to look at the art team: "Tell me more."

The girl sat up a little straighter: "We previously worked on an internal concept design called the 'Base System.' Players can choose an empty space on the game map as their base. Initially, it's a flat area where players can collect materials to build structures, plant plants, and place decorations. Captured creatures can be placed in the base, where they can roam freely. Different creatures have different preferences for the base environment."

She scrolled through her phone, pulled up a few concept images, and then projected them onto the conference room screen.

The screen shows a simple base interface with a rectangular green space in the center, surrounded by a low fence, and a small tree and a wooden bench in the corner.

A creature was standing on the green ground, slowly moving around.

The screen edge features a row of decorative options, including small flower beds, stone paths, streetlights, and several seats in different styles.

She continued, "Players can actually do a lot in their base. They can place creatures, decorate the environment, expand buildings, and visit each other's bases. Moreover, the base itself has a growth system; as players accumulate total activity points in the game, the base's level will also increase, unlocking more advanced decorations and building appearances. If we set up base-specific decorative component acquisition points around those specific areas, players will actively go there to obtain those decorations."

"This plan is feasible." After Lu Ran finished speaking, his gaze swept around the conference room again. "But I have one more requirement—the base system cannot be a purely decorative function. I need it to be deeply integrated with the players' daily activities. Specifically, the quality and attributes of the creatures that players put in the base will be affected by the amount of time players spend in those specific areas. The longer the activity, the better the creatures will perform in the base."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Zhou Mingzhe paused for a moment while holding the teacup, and Zhao Yiming sat up a little straighter in his chair.

"This is forcing players to stay in those locations," Zhou Mingzhe said.

"It's not about forcing them, it's about giving them a reason to stay. Players won't see this as a quest; they'll see it as part of 'pet raising.' What's the core logic of pet raising? It's investing time and effort and then seeing a return. As long as the quality of the creatures in those specific areas is linked to the quality of the creatures in the base, players will calculate for themselves—'If I stay there for an hour, the rating of that creature in the base will increase significantly, is it worth it?' Most people will think it is."

Chen Mo flipped through his notebook, looked up, and asked, "How long will the development cycle for this base system take? If we complete all the core functions, including construction, biological placement, decoration acquisition, and the growth system, it will take at least two months. If we add the linkage logic linked to activity data, it might take even longer."

"I can accept two months. But the premise is that these targeted decorative components must be made simultaneously, not after the base system goes online. We need to work on the linkage logic first, prioritizing the connection between base quality and regional activity duration." After Lu Ran finished speaking, he added, "These targeted decorative components are all located around those key areas. As long as the conditions are met—such as staying in a certain location for a certain number of minutes, or completing a certain type of operation within a certain time period—the corresponding base decoration will be unlocked."

"Okay, then I'll start scheduling." Zhao Yiming added. Zhou Mingzhe put the teacup back on the table and said, "We've discussed the core functions of the base system a few times before. This is the official project launch, and I'll keep a close eye on the progress."

Lu Ran nodded: "Three days. After three days, we'll meet again to break down our respective responsibilities in detail, and then we'll determine the specific implementation plan and priorities."

After everyone left, Lu Ran stood alone in front of the whiteboard, looking down at the line of words that hadn't been erased yet.

He read the line of text aloud, then wiped the whiteboard clean and went back to his desk to sit down.

He opened his phone and glanced at the data panel in the background. The number of location requests in the western United States was still slowly increasing, and the tracks of ordinary players were still drawing those winding arcs on the map.

He turned off the panel, put his phone on the table, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling for a while.

If the base system can be implemented, players will spend more time in specific locations to better nurture the creatures in their base.

The longer you stay, the more pictures the system can collect from the same location.

Once you have enough images, you can synthesize multiple frames to generate a clearer internal image.

With a clearer image, it becomes much easier to see what's inside.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Wang Anguo: "We are preparing a new plan, which may take a few weeks to take effect. Keep the existing data for now, and I will update you with any new developments."

Wang Anguo replied, "Understood. No rush, just proceed at your own pace."

Lu Ran put his phone aside, turned on his computer again, and looked at the concept diagrams of the base system that the art team had projected earlier.

The green space, low wall, small trees, and wooden benches in the picture are placed in that square base grid, which looks too simple and a bit too plain.

But he knew that once this thing was made, players would come up with all sorts of unexpected uses for it.

He closed the image, opened a new document, and wrote down the basic framework and design ideas of the base system, preparing to discuss and improve them with his team members at the meeting three days later.

...