What do you mean the games you make are all real?!

Chapter 76 A Month's Rest and Competition Preparations (5200)

When Liao Yunkai saw the message "Successful first call" appear above the giant mushroom cloud on the screen, he was completely stunned.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes as this tough guy sobbed in front of two million viewers in the live stream, but no one in the live stream mocked him.

Everyone understood the immense pressure he was facing this time. This time, he was competing against top players from around the world, a completely different challenge from his previous competitions with domestic game streamers.

The white bullet screen filled the entire screen, and the special effects of various gifts even obscured the huge mushroom cloud.

"Just ten seconds away, Auguste overtook them! Yamashita Yosuke was only half a minute slower! The gap between these three is ridiculously small! It was so close!"

"This is truly a clash of titans!"

"Brother Kai is awesome! You're number one! You're number one in the world!"

"All players from Yan Kingdom, stand up! Salute Brother Kai!"

"Let those arrogant foreigners see the power of our Yan Kingdom's experts! Before, Yamashita Yosuke and August's fans went to Little Brown Box to mock Kai Ge, saying that Kai Ge was just lucky. Now they've been proven wrong!"

Liao Yunkai cried for a full half minute before he recovered.

He took off his helmet, wiped the tears from his face haphazardly with his sleeve, took a few deep breaths, and then put the virtual reality helmet back on. His voice was still a little hoarse, but his tone had returned to his usual calm.

"Thank you everyone for your support. Clearing the final chapter for the first time is just the beginning. Our real goal is to win the speedrun competition. After exploring all the content, the next thing to do is memorize the patterns and save all unnecessary time."

"Let me first look at the complete pass data, and then I'll review the key points of the final chapter for everyone. You can practice with me then. Viewers who didn't receive an invitation can also register online to participate in this competition. If you happen to make it into the top 100, I heard that the top 1,000 will also receive small gifts."

"I'll take a break for an hour first, and then we'll officially begin the debriefing."

The barrage of comments surged again.

"Kai-ge, you're pushing yourself too hard! Your body isn't made of iron! You're a human, not a machine! You need to rest!"

"Take a break, Kai-ge, don't push yourself so hard. You've been training since this morning, and you've been playing at a high intensity for almost thirteen hours straight. We've all seen it. You really don't need to push yourself so hard."

"Brother Kai, go to sleep right now. We'll wait for you here, no matter how long you sleep."

"Brother Kai, listen to my advice. The speedrunning competition isn't starting tomorrow. You still have time, you really still have time. What you need right now is sleep, not reviewing the game. How can you remember anything if you're in this state?"

Looking at the barrage of comforting comments scrolling across the screen, Liao Yunkai felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

These viewers have been with him since the prologue, and now they're watching him achieve the world's first clear of the final chapter. It seems like they've truly developed an emotional connection with each other.

However, he didn't intend to listen to these words of advice. He knew that he didn't actually have time left. Other streamers might have already started reviewing their performances, and his one-hour break was already excessive.

"See you all in an hour." Liao Yunkai smiled and waved before closing the live stream.

He took off the virtual reality headset and let out a long sigh of relief.

At this moment, Captain Ao, who was standing next to him, also took off his helmet. He followed behind Liao Yunkai's phantom, stumbling along the way, but finally managed to pass the final chapter, barely making it past the 100th place mark.

In other words, he just barely made it into the last invitation.

When Captain Ao saw the 100th place displayed on the settlement screen, he almost burst into tears.

He put down his helmet, turned to look at Liao Yunkai, and said with a rare seriousness and gratitude in his voice, "Brother Kai, give me your bank card number, and I'll transfer the money to you."

If it weren't for Liao Yunkai's help, he would never have been able to get the invitation.

Receiving one of only one hundred invitations in the world will cause his traffic to surge again. If he then monetizes that traffic, he can earn more than five million. It's a sure thing for him.

"I don't want the money. Do you remember what you promised me?" Liao Yunkai shook his head and looked into Captain Ao's eyes. Captain Ao was stunned when he heard Liao Yunkai's words. He thought Liao Yunkai would decline and then accept the money, after all, five million was not a small amount. But he did not expect the other party to refuse directly.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but looking into Liao Yunkai's eyes, he swallowed his words back.

"You said that when we get to the Shenzhen Stadium, we have to give it our all and not lose face in front of foreigners. I don't want money, I just want your words. Say it again," Liao Yunkai continued.

Captain Ao was silent for a few seconds, then straightened up, looked into Liao Yunkai's eyes, and said, word by word, "I, Captain Ao, keep my word. When we get to the Shenzhen Stadium, I will give it my all and not embarrass myself in front of foreigners."

"Okay, I believe you. You go back first. I'm going to start reviewing the game. You should also go back and practice the final chapter a few more times. You can also watch my live stream later. There are many parts of the route in the second half of the final chapter that I didn't play well enough. I will explain them in detail during the review."

Liao Yunkai nodded, then pushed his wheelchair to turn on the computer next to him and began to record what was in his mind.

Watching Liao Yunkai's retreating figure, Captain Ao's initial resolve to merely participate in the speedrunning competition hardened.

Unlike the previous times, when the news of Yan Kingdom player Liao Yunkai being the first to clear the game only spread within Yan Kingdom, it also began to appear on the hot topics in other countries.

As the top-tier gameplay of Resident Evil and the actual therapeutic effects of Umbrella skincare products spread worldwide, the influence of the Resident Evil IP has expanded to an astonishing level in just a few weeks.

Add to that the huge hype surrounding the 100 million dollar prize, and every news item related to Resident Evil attracts media from all over the world. The news of securing the first global release of the final chapter is undoubtedly the most significant news of the night.

The gaming and technology sections of major international media outlets updated their headlines almost simultaneously.

In the lobby of a villa in the United States of America, a 17-year-old blond boy took off his virtual reality headset, picked up his phone, and saw this trending topic.

"Ten seconds off?" August raised an eyebrow upon seeing the report.

Ten seconds is neither a lot nor a little. In the world of speedrunning, a second is enough to decide the outcome, but ten seconds in the early stages of the game is nothing.

He had thought that Yosuke Yamashita would be his biggest opponent, having already experienced the stealth abilities of that Japanese man several times in Battlefield Vanguard. He never expected that a Yan man would beat him to it.

Although Liao Yunkai had achieved the first clear twice before, he had watched Captain Ao's live stream of clearing the game for the third time and found his skill level to be just so-so. This Liao Yunkai was even slower than Captain Ao, so how much better could he be? He never expected that he would miscalculate this time.

Footsteps came from the second floor of the villa. A middle-aged man in military uniform came down the stairs, holding a folder in his hand. The ceremonial badges on the chest of his uniform were densely packed in several rows.

He looked at August's unpredictable face and said coldly, "Lost to a Yan person?"

"It was just a matter of seconds! If I had just—" August tried to explain, but was interrupted by the middle-aged man.

"No need for so many excuses. A loss is a loss. If you don't win the speedrunning competition, I'll have to find someone else to be my test subject. My experiments don't need waste." The middle-aged man finished speaking and left without looking back.

"Dad—" August's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. He wanted to grab his father's sleeve, wanted to seize a chance to explain, wanted to grab the man who had only ever shown him his back since he could remember.

But in the end, he just stood there with his mouth agape, watching the middle-aged man in military uniform disappear through the door without looking back.

He was the only one left in the hall. He pulled his hand back, clenched it into a fist, and dug his nails into his palm.

The word "waste" echoed repeatedly in August's mind. In order to gain his father's approval, he constantly learned new skills and achieved various accomplishments.

He achieved the limit that all his peers could achieve, and even far exceeded that limit.

He participated in an intercontinental fighting competition at the age of twelve and won the junior championship despite all his opponents being a head taller than him.

He was selected for the national youth team at the age of fifteen, becoming one of the youngest national-level athletes in the history of the Stars and Stripes. At the age of sixteen, he defeated Yosuke Yamashita, a Japanese player known as the Ghost, at the Battlefield Global Finals. This legendary ninja, who had never been killed by anyone from the group stage to the finals, lost his first blood to Yamashita's gun.

At seventeen, he became the youngest professional player in the history of Stars and Stripes gaming to hold national championship titles in three different games.

His trophies filled an entire wall, his prize money was enough for him to buy this villa at his age, his name was inscribed in the United States Esports Hall of Fame, and he is the greatest gaming genius in the country's history.

But in his father's eyes, he would always be just a good-for-nothing.

Not long ago, August learned by chance that his father was gathering a group of rigorously selected gifted teenagers to participate in a highly confidential experimental project.

According to the fragmented information he pieced together from encrypted communications between his father and other officers, the project aimed to further develop the brain and physical potential of geniuses through some undisclosed technological means, making them even more powerful.

Using his information channels within the military, he bypassed his father and directly contacted another person in charge of the project, a general who greatly admired his past achievements.

On the general's recommendation, he became a participant in the experimental project.

He thought his father would look at him with new respect this time, but when his father saw his name on the list of selected candidates for the experiment, the expression on his perpetually expressionless face became even colder.

From that day on, his father not only did not feel any pride in him being able to get into this project, which even active-duty special forces soldiers were scrambling to get into, but his attitude towards him became even more severe and harsh than before, and he suggested to the other leaders of the project team more than once that his name be removed from the experimental list.

August looked up at the wall covered with trophies and medals, his fists clenching even tighter.

"I'm not a piece of trash, I'll prove myself—" August sat back down on the sofa and put the virtual reality headset on his head.

Inside an old wooden building in Fusang, the night was already very deep.

The stone lanterns in the courtyard emitted a faint orange glow, and the bamboo deer scare cups, filled with water, gently tapped the stone surface under the force of gravity, producing a crisp sound.

The wooden floor of the corridor was covered with old rush tatami mats, and the air was filled with a faint sandalwood scent and the unique stale smell of old wood.

Yosuke Yamashita sat cross-legged in the center of the Japanese-style room, with a high-performance electronic device in front of him that seemed out of place among the old-fashioned screens behind him.

He was wearing a black casual uniform and a black mask that covered most of his face, revealing only a pair of narrow and calm eyes.

He frowned as he took the virtual reality headset off his head. He was genuinely surprised that he hadn't received the first pass.

The final chapter was much more difficult than he had anticipated, and his stealth skills, which had worked perfectly in various games before, were not very effective in this game.

Just then, a man dressed in a special ninja outfit, whose face was completely covered by a mask except for his eyes, appeared silently at the door of the Japanese-style room.

He knelt on one knee on the wooden corridor and said respectfully, "Young Master, the war is about to begin. The patriarch has been transferred to His Majesty the Emperor to perform close protection duties. The Sky Hunting Group is currently leaderless. Before leaving, the patriarch left an order for you to temporarily serve as the leader of the Sky Hunting Group and act as the leader."

The Tengoku Group is a special forces unit composed entirely of ninjas. Since ancient times, it has been an intelligence gathering agency directly under the Emperor. In the era when shoguns and daimyo were numerous, Tengoku Group ninjas would sneak into the residences of ministers and feudal lords under the cover of night, hiding on roof beams, behind screens, and under floors. They would use their breath-holding techniques, which they had practiced countless times, to lie in wait for hours, just to steal a key conversation or a secret letter.

In modern society, the Tenshou Group has also kept up with the times. Instead of wearing traditional ninja attire and scaling walls, they are now responsible for using high-tech methods to monitor unusual situations throughout Japan.

But beneath its high-tech exterior, the Sky Hunting Group still retains a considerable degree of tradition. While mastering modern reconnaissance equipment, all members of the group still undergo rigorous ninja training, including breath-holding techniques, stealth steps, throwing of concealed weapons, and hand-to-hand combat—nothing can be neglected.

"I understand. However, the matter of becoming the leader of the Sky Hunting Group should be postponed until after the speedrunning competition." Yamashita Yosuke did not object.

From childhood, everyone around him has been constantly instilling the same idea in him: you are the future successor of the Sky Hunting Group, your path in life has been paved, you just need to follow it step by step, and even His Majesty the Emperor himself has tacitly accepted this.

He himself agreed, and from the age of three, he received rigorous ninja training. In the dead of winter, he practiced breath-holding steps barefoot on the snow, practiced stealth on the scorching roof tiles under the blazing sun, and climbed the slippery city walls with his bare hands in the pouring rain.

He is now twenty-three years old, and has been preparing for this for a full twenty years.

However, before officially taking over, he still had one unfinished task: to win the speedrunning competition.

Games are one of the few things he truly enjoys in his life. After officially becoming the leader of the Sky Hunting Group, he probably won't have as much time to immerse himself in the virtual world without any worries anymore.

He didn't want to leave any regrets in this final chapter of his gaming career.

Deep underground, about 100 kilometers away from this ancient mansion, Nobuyuki Nakajima had already taken over all 500 death row inmates.

These prisoners were transported in batches to the research institute's disguised ground entrance in sealed prison vans. Each batch consisted of dozens of people. After being injected with sedatives, they were taken by freight elevators to the isolation experimental area on the sixth underground floor.

Standing at the observation window of the isolation area, Nobuyuki Nakajima watched as the researchers pushed the prisoners, still unconscious under the influence of sedatives, into the culture chambers one by one, and then immediately began to deploy the infection experiment plan.

His fingers flew across the tablet, arranging the numbers, physical conditions, expected infection times, and observation windows of all five hundred experimental subjects into a densely packed schedule.

"Director, do we really need to transfer so many people at once? The culture chambers aren't enough, and the isolation area can't hold them all. More importantly, we might not be able to effectively control this scale of infected individuals. If any link in the chain gets out of control and the spores spread outside the lab, the consequences would be unimaginable!" A young researcher stood behind Nobuyuki Nakajima, his voice filled with undisguised worry.

But Nobuyuki Nakajima's attitude was unusually firm: "Everyone must be converted! Not a single one can be left!"

The image of Chambers staggering out of the laboratory was still fresh in Nobuyuki Nakajima's mind. It was the first time he had ever seen Chambers with such an expression. Something that could make the high and mighty Stars and Stripes Commissioner lose his composure like that must have been a very important matter.

If he fails to do this well, he may really be finished, so he must do everything he can to fulfill Chambers's request.

"As for things that can't be controlled—then let's try this—" Nobuyuki Nakajima looked at the tablet in his hand and pulled up a picture of the plant in the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Botanical Garden.

This thing gave him a lot of inspiration. He wanted to see if he could create a super-powerful controller so that he could perfectly control these five hundred spore zombies.

Meanwhile, in the president's office on the top floor of the Miteng Company building in Deep Sea City, Yan Country.

Fang Qingzhou leaned back in the large boss's chair, the computer screen in front of him displaying detailed data on the top 100 speedrunners in the world. However, although the 100 people had been selected, the time for his speedrun competition had not yet been set.

"System, how long will it take before I enter the next world?" Fang Qingzhou asked the system, as this concerned the time it would take him to finish the competition.

[The host will have a one-month rest period. After one month, the system will draw a new world again.]

"A month is alright—" Fang Qingzhou rubbed his chin with his fingers. This period of time was neither long nor short, but it was still better than a week before. At least he could relax completely for a while.

"Then let's set the competition time for half a month from now." The first half month will be used to prepare the competition venue, and the remaining half month can be used to enjoy life.

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