PUBG's core; Zhang Sheng recreates the Old Summer Palace

Inside the office.

After thinking in silence for a while, Su Ye picked up the teapot on his desk, poured Luan Le'an a cup of water, and gestured for him to sit.

Luan Le'an hurriedly accepted it with both hands and sat down opposite Su Ye.

"A game is a game because some things in it are a little different from reality."

"Those differences are there to give players a better experience. Take the gun damage you mentioned, for example."

"If we really followed reality, let me ask you this: if someone took you out with one shot before you'd even put on armor, wouldn't you think they just got lucky?"

"Gunfights are about short bursts of excitement, but short doesn't mean instantaneous. You need to understand that."

"..."

As Su Ye explained, the thrill of a gunfight in a game wasn't meant to last just an instant, especially in a battle royale game like this.

Landing before you were ready, only for someone to take you out with one shot, felt terrible.

What he wanted was the thrill of a gunfight, that tense, urgent excitement as health kept dropping.

Luan Le'an listened from the side, continually writing down what Su Ye said in his notebook. He found it deeply inspiring.

So this was what games were about: stirring up players' passion and excitement.

That feeling of adrenaline surging was what players truly needed.

When Su Ye finished, Luan Le'an sat across from him, lost in thought.

Su Ye said nothing either, quietly watching him think. He knew Luan Le'an should be able to understand what he meant.

Games came in all kinds, but whether they were battle royales or tower-pushing games, they all relied on players' competitive instincts and the excitement and fun they experienced in the game.

Once PUBG was finished, they could start preparing esports tournaments.

He wanted to see players around the world sitting tensely in front of their computers and televisions during matches. He wanted esports tournaments to draw as much attention as the World Cup.

That might still be a distant goal, but... weren't dreams made real one step at a time?

He refused to believe that the diverse games of his previous life couldn't shake up the gaming world here.

Minecraft was growing more popular by the day. It was time to start promoting the game overseas.

Luan Le'an raised his head and looked at Su Ye, his eyes now filled with the excitement of a believer.

"Mr. Su, I understand what you're saying."

"Only a game that lets players experience excitement is a truly good game."

Su Ye smiled and nodded, then said, "That's right."

"Oh, and when you have time, recruit a group of people. We're going to prepare to enter the overseas market."

Luan Le'an was dazed for a moment. Not long ago, their company had been struggling to stay afloat, yet now they were already preparing to enter the overseas market.

You could say Minecraft had truly given the company a shot in the arm. No, it had given it a new lease on life.

Luan Le'an stood up. "All right, Mr. Su. I'll go tell Old Liu in the HR department right now."

Su Ye nodded. He had complete confidence in Liu Maosheng from HR. Liu was a veteran who had worked alongside his father in the early days, and he was very responsible.

After Luan Le'an left, Su Ye took out his phone again and scrolled through videos made by players.

Although players' imaginations hadn't truly opened up yet, some excellent creations were already appearing.

Things like giant birds and giant houses were all pretty interesting.

That evening, an official video from Su Ye was posted on a short-video platform, instantly sparking a flood of heated comments from players.

[You can build something like this!? That's seriously impressive.]

[They even made the Forbidden City. Starfield really knows how to pull things off.]

[With the shaders on this video, I feel like I'm watching an actual promotional video for the Forbidden City.]

[Compared to this, I feel like... my little wooden house is absolute garbage.]

[I've got an idea. I'm going to recreate the Old Summer Palace and blow you all away.]

As the passionate discussion unfolded beneath the video, some players had already gotten to work.

Meanwhile, Chen Ze saw a message from Starfield on his phone.

The message was simple: online judging for the Starfield Building Cup was approaching. A week later, during the final few days of the competition, he, Xiao Dingdang, and several others would judge the entries together online.

They would conduct a second round of judging on the hundred most-liked entries and select the best build.

At Mountains and Rivers University, Zhang Sheng was hunched over his desk, dark circles under his eyes, completely focused.

He hadn't slept properly for days. Ever since seeing Starfield's video of the Forbidden City, he had decided to recreate the Old Summer Palace.

Although it had been destroyed, he had already reconstructed it using old photographs and AI.

After comparing the reconstructed images with the photographs, he had spent nearly a week continuously building the Old Summer Palace in Minecraft.

Looking at the photographs alone, the workload seemed small. But when he actually started building it block by block, he found that he had to think carefully about how to place every block in the most sensible way and how to capture the Old Summer Palace's former glory.

His dormmates had headaches over the sight too. Although he wasn't making noise, they couldn't just keep watching him stay up all night.

"Zhang Sheng, why don't you get some rest?"

"How many days has it been since you slept properly?"

"You're still at it when we go to bed, and you're still at it when we wake up. Man, you really don't want a graduate school recommendation, huh?"

Zhang Sheng stared intently at the build on the screen. He was refining the final details: the twelve zodiac animal heads of the Old Summer Palace, its most iconic feature.

Seeing him like this, the others shook their heads helplessly and said no more.

They played Minecraft too. They knew about the Starfield Building Cup and had also considered entering.

But they had only thrown together a few builds and posted them online. They hadn't received many likes, so they had basically no chance.

Zhang Sheng was different from them. They didn't know what had gotten into him, but he actually wanted to recreate the Old Summer Palace. The sheer workload was easy to imagine.

The three of them gathered around Zhang Sheng and looked at the Old Summer Palace on the screen.

The scene showed the most complicated and difficult part: the gardens of the Old Summer Palace.

The twelve zodiac animal heads stood around a pool, spouting water inward. Zhang Sheng had used blocks to create the shapes of the streams, making them look lifelike, as though they were really spouting water.

When he finally clicked the mouse one last time, both his hands fell limply to his sides.

"It's finished."

He spoke softly, smiling involuntarily as he looked at the dragon head before him.

The three beside him let out a long breath at the sight. "You finally finished it, man."

"Quick, let us see."

Zhang Sheng smiled. "Wait, there's one more thing I haven't turned on."

He opened the Minecraft resource packs, installed a shader and a texture pack, and turned them on.

The image before them changed in an instant.

The somewhat rough-looking scene and buildings instantly became exquisite and radiant. It seemed that what appeared before their eyes was not merely something else, but a tourist destination.

He took out his gaming helmet and said, "I've sent you the code. You can come in once you connect your gaming helmets."

With that, he quickly put on his gaming helmet, unable to hide his excitement.