In the South District of Talin City, inside a dilapidated office building, the sign for "Dream Creation Studio" swayed precariously in the wind.
This seemed to foreshadow the studio's fate, which was already hovering on the brink of collapse.
"Boss Yu, we're down to our last few thousand."
"The three million investment we brought in has all been burned through."
"If there's no other way, you should go talk to that playboy again."
Inside the studio, four team members were sighing in frustration. If this kept up, they wouldn't even be able to eat.
"Let's just hang on a little longer. I'm sure we'll find a way!"
Yu Dongcheng wore a troubled expression. It wasn't that he didn't want to ask their previous investor for more funds, but the man was busy with his debauchery and seemed to have lost interest in the company.
'Sigh... It's probably because I've been unable to deliver a finished product for so long. I must have disappointed him.'
However, what Yu Dongcheng didn't know was that the person he had met last was Ireland Zoff.
This man had little interest in making games, especially in a venture that looked like it would lose money at first glance.
He'd rather spend that spare cash at a nightclub.
But Yu Dongcheng's break finally came. Soon, the game studio received a call from the Chris Group.
The chairman was coming for an inspection!
······
'This place is really out of the way!'
Twenty minutes later, Chen Qi's motorcade arrived at the office building.
Before he even got out of the car, he saw five people rushing over with immense enthusiasm.
"Mr. Jomoya, you've finally remembered us!"
"We promise we'll succeed soon this time."
"Your investment definitely won't go down the drain."
After getting out of the car, Chen Qi was treated with father-like reverence.
His gaze swept over Yu Dongcheng, but he didn't sense anything special about him.
So Chen Qi didn't waste any time and began his tour of the studio.
"Big Boss, this is our prototype. Most of the functions are already complete!"
"As you know, the Lanyu Kingdom currently prohibits virtual games, including the import of various electronic components."
"We had a very hard time just getting the development equipment in. Our only hope for mass production and a market launch is for you to successfully lobby the cabinet and get the virtual game ban lifted."
Yu Dongcheng placed a helmet-style game login device in front of Chen Qi and began to explain his development progress in detail.
Chen Qi feigned interest, all the while internally roasting Jomoya Chris.
'To "recruit" Yu Dongcheng, that guy really knew how to spin a yarn.'
'As a Traitor, he's lucky he isn't being hunted down. Where would he get the nerve to lobby the cabinet?'
Moreover, Chen Qi had a faint idea why the Kingdom had banned virtual games.
'It had to be related to the King's Game!'
'Could virtual games interfere with the King's Game?'
This was Chen Qi's primary motivation for visiting the game studio.
He believed this was also why Jomoya Chris had tried by all means to keep Yu Dongcheng around.
No one would willingly resign themselves to their fate, and no gamer could resist exploiting a loophole to cheat the system.
······
"After our last conversation, your persistence left a deep impression on me."
"That's why I've decided to continue funding your dream!"
"Thanks to you, I've also grown curious about immersive virtual reality technology. I'm hoping to learn a bit about its history from you!"
Of course, Chen Qi had no idea what Yu Dongcheng's dream was, but the name was right there on the door: Dream Creation Studio. It had to have something to do with a dream.
Otherwise, only a fool would give up the superior opportunities outside to start a business in a virtual game wasteland like the Lanyu Kingdom.
When it came to prying information out of people, Chen Qi was now a seasoned, well-practiced professional.
"Mr. Jomoya, you really do understand me, just like you did before."
"Everyone thinks I'm a madman, trying to find a dream that doesn't exist."
"But that dream of mine is absolutely real."
"I really saw Gods at war!"
The moment his dream was mentioned, Yu Dongcheng became incredibly animated and began to recount his experiences, talking so endlessly that he was simply unstoppable.
Chen Qi chimed in with agreement from time to time, creating a remarkably harmonious atmosphere for their chat.
According to Yu Dongcheng's account, he had been plagued by a peculiar dream since childhood.
Starting from around the age of seven, he would always dream of a Divine Spirit, wreathed in roaring flames, battling other powerful beings.
They flew through the sky and tunneled through the earth, wielding all sorts of powers that should only exist in fantasy.
Yu Dongcheng told others about his dream, but no one ever believed him.
Chen Qi wasn't paying much mind at first, but one particular sentence from Yu Dongcheng made his expression shift dramatically.
"Mr. Jomoya, I really, I really found the battlefield of the great war between the Divine Spirits!"
"That hundred-meter crater on the Carlos Plains wasn't created by some meteor from outer space. It was caused by a massive explosion from the battle of the Gods!"
"And that train, the one caught in the blast—it was destroyed by the God wreathed in roaring flames!"
As he spoke, Yu Dongcheng's expression grew frenzied, as if the scene from his dream was replaying in his mind.
Chen Qi quickly soothed him, finally managing to calm him down.
"I believe you."
"We'll definitely find the truth."
"I will give my full support to the login device you want to create, the one capable of reading deep-seated memories."
Chen Qi made his promise to Yu Dongcheng with incredible sincerity, even writing out a check for three million on the spot.
This immediately sent Yu Dongcheng and his four team members into a state of ecstasy.
The rest of the conversation, naturally, went even more smoothly, and Chen Qi effortlessly obtained more information.
Yu Dongcheng had gone abroad to study immersive virtual reality development technology for the sole purpose of recreating the scenes from his dream.
He had returned to the Lanyu Kingdom, however, because only there could he re-experience the dream as if he were truly present.
Whenever he left the Lanyu Kingdom, the Dream would gradually fade, and he would even go long stretches without dreaming at all.
In truth, Yu Dongcheng himself didn't know why he had impulsively given up a better job and lifestyle to return to the Lanyu Kingdom.
He had often started to regret his decision, yet he could never bring himself to leave.
Chen Qi knew the reason perfectly well. 'This is definitely the influence of the King's Game.'
'Based on the timeline,' Chen Qi thought, 'if nothing unexpected happened, the great battle Yu Dongcheng witnessed should have been the major reshuffle of the game's fifth round.'
'He must have been near the battlefield at the time and witnessed everything that happened with his own eyes.'
'Perhaps there were many others like him, but they were all later made to forget by the power of the King's Game.'
'Yu Dongcheng, on the other hand, had recovered this memory due to some unknown accident, but only perceived it as a dream.'
The rest of the story was simple: Yu Dongcheng ran into funding problems and met Jomoya Chris.
Or rather, Jomoya Chris had actively sought him out.
As for Yu Dongcheng, developing a virtual game was not his ultimate goal.
He wanted to use his accumulated technical expertise to replicate a login device "capable of reading deep human memory" in order to project his dream into a virtual game.
For some reason, these types of login devices were strictly monitored and very difficult to acquire, so his only option was to build a replica.
This was also why the game studio had burned through so much money without having a finished product to show for it.