July!

The weather was getting increasingly hot.

By now, exactly two months had passed since Golden Wind released It Takes Two.

As the weather grew hotter and the games sold wildly, Golden Wind seemed to be thriving beyond just "game production," becoming increasingly busy.

First, in June, after preparations and version adjustments, the "Overwatch International Tournament System" officially announced. Hosted by Golden Wind and jointly sponsored by Yiyou, XunTeng, and three major streaming platforms from Huaguo, Neon, and the United States.

In the tournament system, the global region was divided into six major competition zones. Every registered club would have its own points, which needed to be earned in minor tournaments within their respective regions.

During the first to fourth quarters of each year, Golden Wind would also host four global major tournaments.

Based on the number of registered clubs in different regions, each zone would have a fixed number of direct invitation slots, with higher-ranked clubs receiving them.

As for other clubs, they would need to fight their way out of minor tournaments to earn tickets to the majors.

Every August, Golden Wind would also host an "Overwatch International Invitational," the highest-level global competition for the Overwatch project.

During this period, the seasonal passes purchased by players would automatically upgrade to the [International Invitational Pass] for free.

This pass was also the most cost-effective one of the year.

Not only would the rewards double, but it also included free online viewing tickets, and even a chance to obtain "Limited Edition - Witness Cosmetics" through watching matches.

Not only that!

Additionally, 25% of the funds from passes purchased by players would be extracted and added to the prize pool, providing higher bonuses for ranking teams!

As soon as this brand new tournament system was announced, the entire esports community and players were thrilled.

After all, Overwatch was currently at its peak.

There were many clubs participating in esports events, and the esports market was booming.

Plus, this time players could also participate in the competition and even increase the prize pool for their favorite teams.

Instantly, various clubs announcing the establishment of Overwatch divisions sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Players passionately supported their favorite teams.

The league's popularity soared, and players prepared plenty of pocket money, eagerly awaiting the announcement of the global invitational pass.

That was the first thing.

Secondly!

Beyond games!

At the end of June, the "First Global Extreme Downhill Challenge" jointly organized by Golden Wind and Tiansi Bull was held as scheduled in Utah, United States.

This was the first official extreme challenge event hosted by [Golden Bull].

Although it wasn't as innovative as the previous soapbox challenge and no-parachute descent.

The number of viewers was no less than before, even 11% more than the previous challenge event!

The wild and thrilling downhill race attracted extreme sports athletes from over 25 countries and regions worldwide.

The heart-pounding track made audiences scream.

The extreme sports format attracted nearly three million viewers globally!

After this battle!

The terms "Golden Bull" and "extreme sports" were perfectly engraved in every viewer's mind, becoming synonymous with extreme.

There was even a saying that started trending—

To see if a sport is extreme enough, check if it has the Golden Bull logo.

For a time, Golden Wind was unstoppable, clearly looking like "the entire world is filled with my legends"!

However!

Players never forgot that Golden Wind was ultimately a game company.

After It Takes Two, for two whole months, there was absolutely no movement from Golden Wind regarding game releases.

No news about new project development, no announcements of new project plans.

Such a "long" wait obviously made many loyal fans impatient.

Players rushed to the comment sections of various Golden Wind games, urging Old Thief to update—

.......

'When are you going to fix BT for me, Old Thief! I want to play TTF2!'

—This was from the Titanfall player comments section.

'Mountain Mental Hospital is practically my home now! I come and go freely! So when is the sequel coming?'

—This was from the Escape player comments section.

'In Ashina, dragons don't roar nor tigers growl, little Isshin, laughable laughable! On the divine altar, big fish are touched with no sequel, call Old Thief, release new games quickly!'

—This was from the Sekiro player comments section.

Besides that, Golden Wind's official Twitter and Gu Sheng's personal social media comment sections were also filled with players urging for updates—

'How dare you rest at your age? Get up and make games!'

'Without Golden Wind games I'm going to die ahhhhhhh (crawling in darkness) (screaming) (twisting) (splitting) (squirming in darkness) (rolling) (convulsing)'

'Golden Wind games?'

'Golden Wind's games, abbreviated as [Golden Wind games]'

'Who the hell taught you to abbreviate like that?'

'Old Thief getting up in the middle of the night: Are you sick? So all these years I've been releasing a bunch of Golden Wind games?'

'I really can't wait anymore, bro, release a new game, any genre is fine, please (pleading), I'm so itchy (crying), please I'll behave, my body feels like ants are crawling all over (tongue out) (twisting and crawling)'

'The most severe Golden Wind game addiction episode, lying in bed, desperately reciting the Great Compassion Mantra, uncomfortably scratching myself, thinking playing It Takes Two would help, only to realize I don't have a girlfriend, I desperately slap myself, slapping harder and harder, until tears flow, really don't know what to do, I really want Golden Wind games so badly I'm going crazy (cry) (cry) (cry)'

[Checking Golden Wind players' mental state]

'We Golden Wind game players are like this....'

'Too abstract, I fucking saw this in class, laughing so hard it hurts'

......

Players laughed and joked, comment sections everywhere were filled with joy,

However!

Such abstract and interesting comments made one person particularly unable to laugh—Seiichi Nakamura.

Although!

As a director of one of the new Big Three, Seiichi Nakamura had never faced Gu Sheng directly, belonging to the "post-Big Three era," the last studio director to appear.

But as a long-time employee of Komera, Nakamura was very familiar with Golden Wind.

First defeating Yamamoto, then killing Koizumi.

Golden Wind, this game company, was truly a major nightmare for Komera.

Although Komera had always held an absolute advantage in scale,

The problem was, Golden Wind was purely a hard-shelled turtle,

Not only completely uninterested in going public, but even internally it was fucking solid, needles can't penetrate, water can't seep through,

Nakamura found it bizarre.

Clearly Golden Wind's internal composition was almost like the United Nations!

Huaguo, Neon, Gaul, United States...

Three-day studio, eighteen hundred and fifty-six nationalities, truly that world unity.

So how could it be so sturdy?

CloudPower such a large enterprise, whether poaching talent or causing damage, were masters among masters.

Yet they just happened to be overturned by Golden Wind.

Not only failed to poach people, but also got a studio acquired by them, made It Takes Two, righteously crushed Vivendi's stock price.

Nakamura couldn't figure it out.

Now, the only thing he could understand was—

When Golden Wind is quiet, nine times out of ten they're up to no good!

This was a truth passed down to him by 'predecessors' through blood and tears.

Three years.

If he still thought Golden Wind wasn't releasing games because Gu Sheng was slacking off, or because Golden Wind was shifting focus away from game development, then Nakamura might as well quit and go get his brain checked.

Without a doubt!

Golden Wind was secretly accumulating strength, definitely preparing for the [E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo] lineup announcement at the end of next month!

After all, as early as two months ago, there were rumors that Golden Wind was negotiating the purchase of a horror game IP.

And this just happened to clash with the Silent Hill: Restart project he was currently responsible for!

Nakamura would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

That was Golden Wind's Gu Sheng after all!

The pioneer of psychological horror! The deserved King of Horror!

If he were given another top-tier horror game IP?

Just thinking about it made Nakamura's scalp tingle..

Thinking.

Nakamura raised his hand and casually refreshed the page.

But the next moment—

Click.

In the keyword search page for "Golden Wind new game," a black screen video suddenly appeared.

In the pitch-black screen, Nakamura's trembling pupils were reflected.

Because at this moment.

He clearly saw the tweet above this black screen video:

[Gu Sheng Sam: Not a hero--]

Extremely brief! Mysterious and obscure!

Instantly!

A chilling aura like piercing bone-chilling wind instantly struck Nakamura through his heart!

As everyone knew!

Whenever such mysterious and obscure tweets appeared, it meant the arrival of Golden Wind's horror games!

The return of the Horror Master!

What IP would he bring this time?

Immense pressure struck, Nakamura took a deep breath, filled with anxiety and unease, and clicked on that black screen video.....

......

Ding ling ling ling—

In the frame, a somewhat dated landline phone rang.

It could be seen that the phone's location seemed to be a dark storage room, somewhat messy.

With the incoming call ring, the indicator light on the phone flashed on and off.

The frame gradually darkened.

Only the indicator light continued flashing.

Click, someone picked up the phone.

The indicator light instantly went out.

In the darkness, a man's voice sounded.

"She's back….."

As the black screen continued, the voice seemed to come from a void.

Like the whisper of a wraith, like the crawling of dense insects, and like the sound of flesh rapidly rotting.

Then, a flashlight beam slowly lit up.

The flashlight's owner walked through a dilapidated house, steps slow.

The floorboards creaked underfoot, the floral wallpaper on the walls curled at the edges from age.

And the ceiling was filled with intricate spiderwebs.

The entire building exuded a sense of old decay.

Even through the screen, viewers could almost smell the musty dust rushing toward them.

Immediately after!

The sound of rusty metal hinges creaking, violin strings pulling at heartstrings, filled with intense unease.

A nursery rhyme adapted from a Polish folk tune, like a startling bell in the night, more like words suddenly spoken from under the bed at midnight, a delicate ethereal female voice singing, making scalps tingle!

【Go tell aunt rhody (Tell Aunt Rhody)】

[Go tell aunt rhody (Tell Aunt Rhody)】

【Go tell aunt rhody (Tell Aunt Rhody)】

【That everybody's—— (Everyone's——)】

[dead! (dead!)】

As the eerie singing began!

The trailer's style became increasingly eerie!

A refrigerator with rotting strands.

Maggot-like soup rice.

A basement spreading with mold.

Spinal bones that looked like either ox or sheep.

Inexplicable fear and audiovisual language filled with metaphors drew all players into this eerie dilapidated villa.

Camera footage filled with unsettling noise frequently flashed!

It seemed like two men in suits were exploring this abandoned house.

But the next moment!

One had blood flowing from his waist and abdomen, while the other had blood streaming from all seven orifices, a terrifying dead face pressed right against the lens!

And now, the female singing accompanied by symphonic chorus erupted loudly, just like a terrifying curtain being unveiled!

Mysterious flickering figures! Gleaming sharp knives! Black mold mycelium spreading! And an old wheelchair moving on its own!

As the song reached its climax, the trailer's visuals rapidly cut with the tense atmosphere!

Finally, everything returned to calm.

Viewers finally saw the full view of this house.

Because under the pitch-black night sky, a man's footsteps stopped before car headlights.

Ahead of him was this two-story old house.

And in the house's attic, a light turned on!

A figure stood under the light.

【That everybody's—— (Everyone's——)】

[dead...... (dead)】

At this moment, Nakamura felt chills all over his body, throat tight, goosebumps everywhere!

And the next moment!

As the Roman numeral seven "VII" gradually emerged, transformed, morphed.

A name even more terrifying than the horror trailer!

Finally appeared—

《Resident Evil VII: Not a hero》

【Resident Evil 7: Not a Hero】

【Golden Wind】

【Coming Soon】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com