CHAPTER 80: END OF THE EVENT

[A.N This Chapter is basically filler with nothing important. I don’t really like this one but I can’t remove it without rewriting the entire end of the event so early Chapter]

The moment the male players in the audience heard the question, they instantly gave the man on stage a collective thumbs up. Was this... truly the top concern for most players?

Even Tony was caught off guard. He didn’t expect anyone to ask something like this and was momentarily speechless.

After a moment’s thought, he decided to bluff his way through. Tony cleared his throat and said, "Here’s the thing. Tifa’s backstory is that she’s a master martial artist, highly agile and extremely skilled in combat. If you want to ’interact’ with her, you’ll need to have martial arts skills on par with hers. Unfortunately... you’re just not qualified right now."

The crowd immediately reacted.

"So Tifa’s set up as a female fighter? No wonder she’s got such a killer figure!"

"I don’t know why, but hearing the words ’female fighter’ makes me feel fired up."

"Wait a second... isn’t this just his way of saying we can’t interact with her at all?!"

"Exactly! I like the thrill of conquering strong women the most! And you’re telling me I can’t even try?"

Tony then he spoke up loudly, "Alright, let’s draw the last player!"

The random selection system spun again, and the fourth player appeared on stage. This one was... interesting. His facial features were coarse, but he had a full head of thick, jet black hair that flowed all the way down to his waist.

The sight of this long haired man standing in the middle of such a massive venue drew quite a few surprised looks, especially because he hadn’t expected to be chosen at all.

In fact, he was one of the senior executives from Netpack. He’d come with Tanner to attend this press conference, and somehow... fate had put him on stage.

"Hello. Do you have a question?" Tony asked as usual.

The man was quick to recover. He’d been through plenty of big events before, and his mind worked fast. This... could be an opportunity. He quickly formulated a plan.

"Producer," he began, "as the head of a game studio, do you really care about the players?"

"Of course," Tony replied with a nod.

"If that’s the case," the man said loudly, his voice carrying across the hall, "then I believe you should make your studio’s game engine public to the world! That way, other developers can also create realistic, immersive games like yours. Wouldn’t that be a huge benefit to all of us who love gaming?!"

As he finished, he dramatically raised his arms and turned to the crowd. "Am I right, players? Don’t you also want to see more games with this level of realism?!"

It was shameless, but in his mind, it didn’t matter. Over a hundred million people might be watching this press conference, but no one knew he was a Netpack executive in real life. That was the beauty of the internet, whatever this long haired man did here had nothing to do with his real identity.

So he went all in, trying to rile up the audience to pressure New World Studio and, if possible, show off in front of his own boss, Tanner.

Unfortunately... his plan fell flat.

Not a single player in the venue clapped or cheered. Instead, they all stared at him with an expression that clearly said, what kind of clown act is this?

"Where did this joker even come from?"

"No idea. But shouldn’t you be in Gotham fighting Batman right now instead of here?"

"This is ridiculous. Why should another company give away their own tech for free?"

"Yeah, what’s with stupid logic? It’s pathetic."

"Pfft... look at him, all passionate, expecting us to back him up."

The crowd quickly turned on him, booing and laughing.

The Netpack executive suddenly felt a cold chill down his spine. Wait... this isn’t how it was supposed to go. Weren’t the players supposed to side with me and demand New World share their tech? It seemed he had seriously underestimated the loyalty of the studio’s fanbase.

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "Tell me... you’re not here on behalf of another game company, are you?"

After all, a question like that practically screamed corporate sabotage.

The man immediately panicked and waved his hands. "No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong!"

That familiar, overly defensive denial only made Tony more suspicious. Quietly, he pulled up some backend data. All VR devices came with built-in heart rate monitoring, and as the server owner, Tony had access to it.

He quickly located the man’s stats. Sure enough, his heart rate was spiking.

"Don’t bother pretending," Tony said with a smirk. "Let me guess... which company sent you? Sony? Microsoft? Apple? NetPack?"

As he spoke, he kept one eye on the man’s heart rate graph, watching for any spikes that might betray the truth.

Tony quickly noticed something, whenever he mentioned the NetPack, the man’s heart rate spiked.

"Oh? So you are from NetPack..." Tony chuckled.

The long haired man froze. What the hell?! I didn’t even say anything, how did he know?!

"Haha! Look at his face, he’s 100% been caught!"

"He read him like an open book!"

"This guy came here to stir trouble and got caught instantly. Serves him right!"

"So," Tony continued with a faint smile, "since you’re an employee of the NetPack, don’t you think it’s a little inappropriate to show up here trying to stir the pot?"

Even for a man used to the public eye, being exposed in front of tens of millions was unbearable. His face flushed, and he wished he could crawl into a hole and disappear.

The employee made a quick decision, cut his losses.

Without another word, he yanked off his VR headset, severing the connection and vanishing from the stage in an instant.

The crowd reacted immediately.

"Haha! He rage quit!"

"Tsk tsk, look at him panic. Total mental breakdown!"

"That escape was so fast."

"Yup, they just took a public L today!"

Tony could only shake his head with a helpless smile. He hadn’t expected the press conference to end with such a sideshow.

In truth, even if he did release their game engine, no other company could make a title like Subnautica. The technology involved went far beyond just the engine itself. And of course, Tony wasn’t nearly naive enough to give it away.

"Well, I didn’t expect a cameo to wrap things up," Tony said lightly. "On that note, today’s press conference will officially come to an end. Oh, and to all players who attended, I’ve prepared a small gift for you. See you next time!"

With a snap of his fingers, Tony’s figure faded, and the players’ vision went dark.

A moment later, they were back in their familiar personal VR rooms.

They stretched and grinned. this had been one hell of an event. From the jaw dropping special effects to the chance to see the colossal Leviathan up close... from the new character customization features to the mind blowing Sekiro gameplay demo, it had been an absolute feast.

And just when they thought it was over, a random clown barged in to stir trouble, only to get roasted live. An unexpected bonus.

Best of all? It was completely free, more exciting than a Hollywood blockbuster.

Still... what was the gift he had mentioned?

As they were wondering, Tifa, who had been quietly standing nearby, stepped forward. With her hands behind her back and a teasing smile, she asked,

"Excuse me, player... I just received a new outfit. Would you like me to show it to you?"

The room went silent for a beat, then the they exploded.

"Wait, did I hear that right?! New outfit?!"

"That’s right," Tifa said sweetly.

"Everyone who attended today’s conference will receive my new costume."

Realization hit instantly. So that’s the gift!

"That guy he really does know us too well! Quick! Change into it! Now!"

A dozen recording functions quietly flicked on as cameras locked onto her.

"No problem." Tifa turned gracefully in place, and in the blink of an eye, her clothing changed.

The players blinked. "Wait... that’s it? What happened to the usual animation for changing clothes?"

Their mock complaints died quickly as they took in her new look.

Gone was her usual battle vest, now she wore a crimson dress. Its form fitting silk traced every curve perfectly, and the high slit revealed just enough to make pulses race. Her whole demeanor had softened, instead of the capable fighter, she now exuded warmth and elegance.

"How do I look?" she asked with a slow spin.

"Beautiful. Absolutely stunning."

"Tsk tsk... a dress, huh? The dev’s got taste!"

"This just turned into a dress up game. I’m in!"

Hungry wolf stares locked onto Tifa as the male players silently thanked Tony for this gift.

No question about it, they loved it.

1512 Words.