CHAPTER 76: COUNTDOWN

In the blink of an eye, Saturday night arrived. There was still over half an hour before the launch time Tony had promised.

Countless players were already prepared. They had logged into the New World game platform early, chatting idly with Tifa as they waited for the press conference to begin.

By now, most curious players had already tested countless ways to ’interact’ with Tifa, only to realize that there was absolutely no way to touch her. Though a little disappointed, they had no choice but to give up.

In the end, they consoled themselves, forget it. Who needs anything more? Having such a beautiful girl here to chat with is already enough.

In order to attend the conference, many players all around the world had set alarms for the early hours of the morning, or late at night, just to join on time.

Some even took it a step further, they entered the VR platform early, lay down inside their equipment, and went to sleep. Before sleeping, they even asked Tifa to wake them up the moment the press conference began.

---BREAK---

Meanwhile, on Twitch, Natalie was broadcasting her playthrough of Subnautica. At this moment, she had already met the Sea Emperor Mother, petted the Sea Emperor Baby, and shut down the Pioneer Cannon.

She had also gathered every last material needed to build the Escape Rocket.

It was finally time to finish the game.

"Alright, let’s build the Rocket now," Natalie said, summoning the Fabricator. "Cortana, build the rocket launch platform."

To make a rocket, you first needed a launch platform. The blueprints, sent by NUSA, had clearly been designed with improvements in mind, they could even be built directly on water.

"Under construction. Estimated time: three minutes," came Cortana’s calm reply.

Miniature robots flew out, spraying beams of light across the surface. Within minutes, a sturdy floating platform had formed.

The platform was box shaped, supported by an air compression system that kept it afloat and able to bear enormous weight.

Natalie quickly climbed aboard via the ladder and gave the next order: "Cortana, build the Rocket."

"Beginning construction," Cortana replied. "Starting with the third stage propulsion module. Estimated time: five minutes..."

The nanobots got to work once again. Constructing a rocket was far more complex than building a Cyclops submarine, and the process took time.

Fifteen minutes later, the completed Escape Rocket stood proudly at the center of the launch platform, over 110 meters tall, gleaming under the sun.

Painted boldly across the front of the rocket was an enormous flag of the NUSA.

Natalie began climbing the ladder running along the rocket’s side. It stretched over a hundred meters high with no safety rails. The old Natalie might have hesitated, but now her mental fortitude had been tempered through countless in game experiences. She climbed without a moment’s pause.

Soon, she slipped into the cockpit through the hatch and settled into the pilot’s seat.

The launch button sat in plain view on the console, after all, it was still a game. Complex launch sequences had been replaced with a simple press.

"Alright everyone, it’s time to leave," she said.

Though her words were steady, her heart was conflicted. She couldn’t deny the bittersweet feeling, like a beautiful Chapter in her journey was about to close. Still, the thought of replaying in New Game+ gave her some comfort.

With that, she pressed the launch button.

"The power system is online. Hydraulic systems online..." Cortana’s voice came through. "Final check complete. Countdown Beginning: ten, nine, eight..."

The engines rumbled to life.

"Three, two, one, launch!"

Boom!

Flames roared from the rocket’s base. The Rocket tore free from the platform, accelerating skyward.

Natalie immediately felt a crushing weight pressing her into her seat, her body several times heavier than normal.

"So this is what riding a rocket feels like? My first time ever!" she gasped, eyes wide. "Wow, it even simulates G-force! That’s amazing!"

White clouds shredded apart as the rocket pierced through them.

"This is incredible!"

"The dev really nailed the vehicle experiences in this game."

"Yeah, even at the very end, we get to ride a rocket."

"If an Ancient Leviathan popped out right now, that’d be wild."

"Haha, you’re crazy."

The rocket rose higher and higher. Soon, the clouds were gone, the light dimmed, and then, darkness.

"You have exited planetary orbit," Cortana announced. "You may take one last look at the planet you’ve called home."

"I can still see it?!"

Natalie craned her neck. Sure enough, to her right was the planet.

From here, it was a flawless blue water sphere, as though painted with a single shade. Patches of atmosphere swirled gently above the oceans, adding a mysterious touch.

"Wow... so this world really is covered almost entirely by ocean."

"No wonder land was so scarce in the game."

"It’s gorgeous from space."

"Honestly, even if I didn’t want to clear the game, this view alone would’ve made me do it."

"Seeing it in first-person is breathtaking."

As the audience admired the view, the screen gradually faded to black.

Two lines of text appeared.

[Game Over]

[Produced by New World Studio]

"Game complete!"

"It’s over! Thank you, New World for creating such an amazing game!"

"Come on, hurry up with the sequel! We want Subnautica 2 already!"

"Haha, agreed!"

Reading the barrage of chat messages, Natalie couldn’t help but laugh. Still, ending the game like this left her with a lingering sense of unfinished business. But then, as the end credits rolled, something caught her eye.

"Wait a minute," she said aloud, frowning. "What’s with this line at the end, ’A tribute to Life Without Worrying About Food or Shelter’? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"No idea!"

"Yeah, who knows what the dev is thinking. Maybe it’s a tribute to someone?"

"Whoever it’s for, it must be someone amazing."

The viewers guessed among themselves, but no one had a clear answer.

Natalie thought wryly, If even I don’t know what Tony meant, there’s no way they do. She decided to drop it for now.

"Alright," she said, exiting the game, "we won’t be starting a New Game+ run for Subnautica. In just a few minutes, the New World press conference will begin, and of course I’m going!"

"Oh wow, I almost forgot!"

"Seriously? You all call yourselves a fan of New World and you almost missed this?"

"Hey, I was just too caught up in Natalie’s stream, okay?"

"Same here, alright, logging out!"

Viewers began leaving the livestream, and Natalie watched her viewer count drop sharply.

"Hey, don’t go!" she called out. "You can watch the press conference through my stream too!"

"This is the kind of thing you have to experience firsthand in VR," someone replied.

"Natalie, you know I’m a loyal fan, but the Announcement’s got my attention more right now."

"Yeah, I need to see with my own eyes what he’s got planned."

"It’s his first press conference, I’m not missing this for the world!"

"I switched to the night shift just so I could watch live, haha!"

Others, though, stuck around, saying they’d watch through her broadcast since they couldn’t log into VR themselves.

"Alright then," Natalie said, smiling, "if you can’t get into VR, stick with me, I’ll stream the whole thing." She closed Subnautica and entered the New World platform.

The world around her shifted, and she found herself inside her virtual room, a cozy, pink space she had decorated herself. The platform allowed complete customization, wall colors, furniture, paintings, anything to make it feel like home.

Standing beside her was Tifa, smiling warmly. "Welcome back to the New World platform, Player."

"Oh," Natalie replied casually. But looking at Tifa, so flawlessly beautiful, and remembering she was created by Tony, a tiny pang of jealousy flared. She shook it off immediately. Come on, Natalie, she’s just an avatar.

"By the way, Tifa, when does the press conference start?"

"In five minutes." Tifa raised a hand, and a holographic countdown appeared in the air. "Please remain seated for the best experience."

"Got it."

All over the world, millions of players were waiting just like her. In some countries, it was already late at night, yet lights glowed in countless windows. In universities, dorm rooms were buzzing, students chugging coffee or energy drinks, determined to stay awake.

"It’s starting soon!"

"I’ve downed an entire Red Bull for this, they’d better make it worth it!"

"I woke up at 3 a.m. just for this!"

And it wasn’t just fans, corporate giants were watching too, the heads of NetPack, Tesla, Microsoft, Google’s top executives, and more.

None of them were here to just enjoy a game reveal. They wanted to see exactly what New World was capable of.

"I want to see what kind of tricks they’ve prepared this time," NetPacks CEO, Tanner Held muttered, eyes fixed on the countdown.

3... 2... 1...

The screen went black.

When it faded back in, Natalie found herself in a massive open air stadium. The scale was staggering, easily rivaling the world’s largest football arenas, capable of holding more than 200,000 people.

In the center, a stage the size of a football field stretched out under the lights. Rows upon rows of seats surrounded it, every one of them filled.

"Impossible," Tanner thought. "A virtual map this small holding over a hundred thousand people? The server should have crashed instantly."

At first, he assumed the crowd was just background NPCs. But then.

"Wooo!!" someone shouted beside him.

"Yossha!!" came another cheer from the other side.

Turning, he realized they weren’t NPCs, they were real players. One was from Texas, the other from Japan, both hyped beyond belief.

That meant at least this section of the stadium was full of actual people.

Before he could process it further.

Roar!

The entire stadium erupted in cheers.

Voices in countless languages merged, until somehow, the chant unified.

"New World! New World! New World!"

The pronunciation was a little off with so many different languages, but the energy was electrifying.

For a moment, it didn’t feel like a virtual space at all, it felt like standing in a real stadium, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of fans shouting in unison.

Tanner sat frozen. What kind of server power does it take to pull this off?

1721 Words.