"Man, this is gonna be a bit troublesome. Being famous isn't all it's cracked up to be," Lucien sighed after hanging up the phone. Now there were a few more people in the world who knew the real details about New World.
But this bank president didn't know much. He probably just thought Lucien was an employee at New World, something in finance.
He definitely couldn't guess that Lucien was actually New World itself.
As long as he didn't know the rest, it was fine, and the president probably wouldn't dare to spill anything.
After all, such a huge deal was still sitting there waiting.
Whatever, whatever. No point thinking about this now.
"Let's go, Sis. We should head out and have some fun," Lucien suddenly realized he had money now and didn't feel like catching up on sleep anymore. He smiled at his sister.
"Where to?" his sister asked blankly.
"Of course to buy stuff. We earned so much money, we've gotta spend some of it," Lucien shrugged.
"Great idea!" His sister nodded like a pecking chicken. "Wait for me a sec. I'll wash my face and put on some makeup."
With that, his sister finished her steamed bun and hurried into the bedroom. "Oh right, we made so much money. Should we tell Mom and Dad?"
"Better not for now. We'll reveal it slowly so their old' hearts can handle it," Lucien thought for a moment and replied.
"Okok!"
Just as Lucien and his sister were about to head out for a big shopping spree, it never occurred to him that he had still underestimated the players' tenacity.
Nicolas Cage had always been a devoted video game enthusiast. In his previous life, he had been obsessed with Elden Ring, unable to pull himself away, and after beating it, he even took screenshots and posted them on X.
As a veteran gamer, he had known about the first game from New World, Silent Hill, right from the start. But it was too scary, so he had never dared to play it.
It was only after Benjamin achieved the perfect ending for Silent Hill that Nicolas Cage finally logged in and became one of the hundreds of thousands of players who cleared it.
And now, the release of Subnautica had truly hit him right in the feels.
Alien planet exploration, incredibly realistic graphics, everything around him felt like a real extraterrestrial world. Less than a minute into the game, he was completely hooked.
Because he was so immersed, the sudden death of the woman in escape pod number two at the start of the game genuinely shocked him to the core.
So Nicolas started trying to find a way to save the woman in pod two.
He had originally thought it would be simple, but he soon discovered the game developer's malice.
Every time he started a new save, the player's escape pod dropped in a different spot in the ocean, which meant the surrounding terrain varied slightly.
Not only that, the drop location of pod number two was also different. Sometimes it fell in the southeast, sometimes in a completely different northwest area.
This meant Nicolas couldn't just memorize the map to pinpoint pod two's location and rescue her in advance.
That was only one difficulty. There was another: the woman in pod two always got eaten by a sea crocodile.
A three-meter-long sea crocodile couldn't be beaten in hand-to-hand combat by a player. For this, Nicolas had even asked Gaia, who told him he needed to craft a gunpowder pistol.
Nicolas had done exactly that, but he soon found that time was way too tight.
To save the woman in pod two, you first had to head to the spouting flower to gather sulfides and craft a gunpowder pistol, then make your way to pod two and use the gun to take out the sea crocodile.
The whole process took way too much time.
Nicolas had tried countless times, but either he got bitten to death by the crocodile or the woman in pod two did.
It made him question his life choices. Later, he searched online for guides and found that other players said it was game design. The woman in pod two couldn't be saved.
Nicolas was skeptical. Had he really wasted all that time last night?
He felt unwilling to accept it, so this morning he specially posted on X and tagged Jenny Sinclair.
Soon, Jenny replied.
The woman in pod two can be saved! But the difficulty is extremely high!
This answer slapped countless players in the face while also giving Nicolas confidence.
His efforts weren't meaningless!
After learning this, Nicolas tried even harder, but the result was the same.
Time was too short. It was impossible!
After trying all morning, Nicolas was exhausted. He felt like he probably couldn't save her on his own.
But at this stage of the game, he had become obsessed. If he couldn't save this woman, he'd feel restless all over!
So Nicolas came up with a clever trick. At noon, he posted another tweet:
[Is there any player who has managed to save the woman in pod two yet? Whoever is the first to succeed in rescuing her and posts a video tagging me, I'll reward them with ten grand!]
As soon as this post went up, people were amused:
[errrrm… Nicolas is just throwing cash around at this point.]
[LMAO how fixated is this guy on saving her? Straight-up dropping ten grand?]
[I mean, I get it. I've tried a bunch of times too. Her screams right before she dies are brutal.]
[Alright, man--definitely not just for the money… I'm giving it another shot.]
It had to be said that Nicolas tweet really motivated a lot of players' initiative. They all started new saves to try.
But their outcomes were just as miserable as his. Not only did they fail, but they got thoroughly schooled by the sea crocodile, experiencing for the first time what it felt like to be eaten by an alien creature.
After dying so many times, people started doubting the authenticity of his Jenny's post.
Could the woman in pod two really be saved?!
Michael Ledecky was a loyal player of Subnautica and also a fan of Nicolas Cage.
When he saw the post Nicolas made, he really wanted to help his idol and earn that ten thousand dollar along the way.
But he knew full well that with his own skills, it was impossible. That's when he thought of his sister, Katie Ledecky, who had just won the gold medal in swimming at the Olympics not long ago.
"Sis, can you do me a favor!!!"
At the time, Katie Ledecky was on break at home. Facing her little brother's request, she was a bit puzzled. "What favor?"
"Help me play a game, Subnautica," Michael replied.
As a professional athlete, Katie spent most of her time training, so she wasn't too up to date on outside info. She had only heard of Subnautica and knew it was popular, but nothing else.
"You're asking me to help you play a game?" Katie was a bit confused. "I'm not good at this stuff. How am I supposed to help?"
"No, this is right up your alley!" Michael answered very seriously.
"Huh?"
Under her little brother's persistent urging, Katie still put on the motion-sensing suit and stepped onto the VR platform.
Once she entered the game, she was stunned.
"Wait, wait, is this a game? How is it so realistic?!"
"Whoa, why am I falling! Ahhh, what do I do, Michael, save me!!!"
"Aaaaaaah!"
Hearing his sister's screams, Michael rolled his eyes. This woman clearly hadn't seen much action.
After finally plunging into the sea, Katie was again stunned by the vast ocean before her and the burning Aurora in the distance.
"My god, have games really advanced this far?"
"Is this really a game or did I time travel?"
She murmured to herself.
"Alright, Sis, stop acting like grandma touring the Paris! Hurry up and swim into the sea!!!" Michael grumbled from the side and began teaching her how to play the game.
After experiencing the grand scene, Katie naturally developed a strong interest.
She plunged into the water with a splash and started swimming freely.
"Wow, wow, wow!" The moment she entered the water, Katie let out several wows in a row because she found the game's simulation of swimming underwater was way too realistic!
The water resistance, the way it contacted her body, it was almost perfectly replicated.
She was a professional in this area. Even the slightest difference she could detect quickly.
But now, what she felt was that swimming in the ocean in the game was no different from reality.
Well, there were differences. In reality, she mostly trained in swimming pools, but here the seawater was colder, with greater resistance.
"My heavens," she tried breaststroke, butterfly, dog paddle, every style. Katie's evaluation of the game grew higher and higher.
She suddenly thought she could even practice swimming in this game!!!
Training in a pool was ultimately too boring, but in the game it was completely different. With this scenery, she could swim here for a lifetime!
'This was too nice!'
"Maybe we could promote this game to the national swimming team, let the other athletes experience this feeling too. Training here is so much more enjoyable than in a pool, and everyone's motivation would go up!" This idea flashed through Katie's mind.
Even without experiencing the game's story content, just the swimming alone would be excellent for them.
"Sis, stop focusing only on swimming. You need to help me with something!!" At this point, Michael's helpless voice rang out.
Had his sister gotten so addicted?
"Oh, okay, okay!" Katie snapped out of it. "What is it?"
Michael told her the mission objective. Just then, she also heard the desperate cries for help from the woman in pod two over the broadcast.
"That's it, Sis. I want you to help me save the woman in pod two!" Michael said quickly.
"Sure, no problem!" Katie agreed readily and swam full speed toward pod two's location.
It had to be said, she was worthy of being a swimming champion. Soon she spotted the escape pod number two that had crashed onto the beach ahead.
"A piece of cake!" Katie smiled slightly and immediately picked up her speed. But right at that moment, Michael's worried voice sounded: "Hey, Sis, I forgot to remind you. There's a monster next to that pod!"
"What!?"
Just as she responded, Katie saw a ferocious beast charging straight at her!
"Aaaahhh!"
Her scream could be heard throughout the entire building.
"Why didn't you say so earlier." After dying once, Katie stared at Michael gloomily.
"I forgot," Michael covered his right cheek, holding back tears as he spoke. There was still a fresh red handprint on his right cheek, left by his dear sister just moments ago.
"There's a monster there. How are we supposed to save the woman in pod two!" Katie said somewhat helplessly.
"Sis, you need to go collect sulfides first, craft a handgun, and kill that crocodile before you can," Michael said.
Kill that crocodile.
Hearing this, Katie furrowed her brows. If it was just swimming, of course she had no problem since it was her specialty. But fighting monsters, and such a terrifying one at that, was really tough.
But seeing her little brother's eager gaze, Katie didn't want to let him down.
"Fine, I'll give it a try!" She gritted her teeth.
Thanks to her powerful swimming skills, the initial process went smoothly. After a few attempts, Katie could successfully dodge the exploding fish and collect the sulfides.
Soon, she had crafted the handgun.
But the biggest problem came next.
How to kill that terrifying crocodile?
Katie's idea was to avoid its sharp edge and use the handgun's advantage to shoot it down from dozens of meters away.
It was a good idea, but she found she had overestimated her shooting skills.
The distance was too far. Out of ten shots, she only hit about one, nowhere near enough to kill the crocodile.
And the crocodile was terrifyingly aggressive. After taking one bullet, it would go into a frenzy and charge straight at her to attack. Even with Katie's swimming ability, she couldn't escape at all.
Under these circumstances, Katie tried five or six times in a row and got bitten to death by the crocodile five or six times.
Each time she was bitten, she instinctively let out a scream. As the number of times increased, her screams grew weaker until finally they stopped altogether.
Because she was practically numb from being bitten.
"Michael, are you sure the woman in pod two can really be saved?" At this moment, Katie lay slumped on the VR platform, weakly asking to Michael.
"New World Studio said so, and they emphasized that the difficulty is very high," Michael replied in a low voice. "But Sis, if it's not possible, let's just forget it. Shooting that crocodile to death really is too difficult."
Michael couldn't bear to watch anymore. His sister kept dying in the crocodile's mouth. It was just too miserable.
Even though the game had no pain system, it was still mentally devastating!
If his idol's wish couldn't be fulfilled, then so be it.
Hearing her brother's words, Katie was about to give up, but the latter half of his sentence suddenly gave her an idea!
"Wait a second," Katie suddenly perked up, clapping her hands. "You're right. Shooting that crocodile to death is way too hard, and I really can't aim accurately. But I know one person who can!"
"Who?!" Michael asked curiously.
"Yusuf Dikeç!" Katie said loudly.
"The multi-time world and European champion?!"
Michael exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right, it's him. I happen to have his contact info, and he's actually touring in Canada today. Haha, we're saved!!!" Katie excitedly hugged Michael and shouted.
"Really?" Michael was shocked too!
"Of course it's real. I'll contact him for help right now. I refuse to believe I can't save this pod woman. I'm calling him now!"
"Alright, hurry hurry hurry!"
In the blink of an eye, it was already evening. At this time, Lucien was having dinner with his sister in a private room at the Philippe The Original.
It was peak dinner hour, and the restaurant was packed with people. For some peace and quiet, the two had booked a large private room with a minimum spend of five hundred bucks.
But now, to Lucien, that was nothing.
Throughout the day, the two of them had first gone to look at houses, then checked out a 4S dealership, but ended up not buying anything.
Lucien had originally wanted to buy, but Jenny stopped him, saying that even if they had a lot of money, they shouldn't spend recklessly. They needed to do more research and compare shops.
This left Lucien quite speechless. He really felt like the whole day had been wasted.
Fortunately, the restaurant chosen for dinner was nice. The dishes at Philippe The Original were all colorful, aromatic, and delicious. Lucien had ordered the most expensive items on the menu, and sure enough, you get what you pay for!
"Huh, Lucien, someone on X really managed to save the woman in pod two!"
Just then, while eating squirrel mandarin fish and scrolling through Weibo, Jenny suddenly shouted.
[Advanced 30 chapters on my patreon .com/EdgyReader]