The Starfield Building Cup
With the gaming headset on, Zhang Sheng saw the game appear before his eyes.
The dragon head faced him, so vivid and lifelike that it was as though a real one stood before him.
He controlled his character and flew higher and higher. Below him, the Old Summer Palace grew smaller until the whole scene lay before his eyes.
Clear lakes and waterways crisscrossed the grounds. Pavilions and halls stood along the water, arranged among green mountains and rivers.
Against the vermilion palace walls, the golden glazed tiles looked particularly beautiful with the texture pack. Looking at them, he could even make out faint flashes of light.
In the distance, peach groves covered the hills of Spring Scenery of Wuling, and fallen blossoms carpeted the ground in pink. A sense of tranquility spread through him.
Looking toward the center, he saw a royal hall of gray brick and dark tiles, its magnificent grandeur carrying an air of dignity.
Suspended high in the air, Zhang Sheng held his breath and gazed at it.
Was this the garden of gardens at its peak, the one I built myself?
There were no broken walls, no scorched earth or ruins, only endless splendor spread before his eyes.
For a moment, he felt that all his recent hard work had been worthwhile. He felt... so at ease.
Zhang Sheng turned on the headset's recording function and recorded the Old Summer Palace he had built before him.
That evening.
A Minecraft video went viral across the internet.
"Old Summer Palace: When a Modern Game Meets the Past"
The video showed the Old Summer Palace, from its entrance to the royal pool at the center, where the twelve zodiac animal heads appeared in lifelike detail.
As the view gradually rose, several distinctive groves came into sight. At the very center stood the royal hall of gray brick and dark tiles, its decoration dazzling.
The video was a little over ten minutes long. Most of it showed his building process, while less than a minute at the end showed the finished result.
One minute on stage took ten years of practice offstage. In that brief minute, the results of his days and nights of work were clearly displayed.
[This was made by a player? The Old Summer Palace is incredible. It's so spectacular.]
[I never thought I'd see what the Old Summer Palace once looked like in a game.]
[Those twelve animal heads look so real. They look even more real from farther away.]
[Was the Old Summer Palace really this spectacular? I'd love to visit the capital and see it if I get the chance.]
[I declare this the winner of the Starfield Building Cup. Nobody disagrees, right?]
As the comments piled up, the number of likes kept changing too.
From hundreds to thousands, then to tens and hundreds of thousands. In just one day, the video broke the hundred-thousand-like mark and was racing toward a million.
A few days later, Chen Ze joined a video call with Xiao Dingdang and the others.
The five of them were serving as judges, reviewing and scoring the hundred videos with the most likes.
Chen Ze looked at the number of viewers in his livestream and was overjoyed.
Less than five minutes after he started streaming, his online viewer count had already passed a hundred thousand, far more than when he usually played games.
At the same time, viewer numbers in Xiao Dingdang's, Da Sima's, and the others' livestreams were also climbing wildly, each having already passed a hundred thousand.
Across the entire short-video gaming channel, the five of them claimed all five top spots in gaming streamer popularity.
[Whoa, the livestream's passed five hundred thousand viewers! Let's go, brothers!]
[I've been waiting all evening for God Ze and the others to review the Starfield Building Cup. I didn't expect it to be this popular.]
[Just look at what game it is. This is an epoch-making game!]
[Excuse me, can I still get a refund for Mini World?]
[Brother, there's no chance of a refund. Qisheng doesn't even have a way to request one, hahaha.]
Seeing that the livestream had passed five hundred thousand viewers, Chen Ze couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from lifting.
He looked at the livestream and said with a happy laugh, "Guys, today Teacher Da Sima and the others are joining me to review the Starfield Building Cup entries."
"You can look forward to seeing what amazing builds turned up in this competition."
As he spoke, the livestream switched to show the video call with Da Sima and the others.
After saying a few words to the livestream, they turned on their microphones and began talking.
"A-Ze, I heard today that a few players built some particularly spectacular structures. Did you come across them while scrolling through videos?"
Dan King spoke into his microphone, still impressed by the aircraft carrier on the water that he had come across earlier that day.
Hearing Lü Zhenghao's words, Chen Ze replied with a laugh, "Of course. Whether it's the reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace or the giant cherry blossom tree, I think they're both outstanding. What do you think, Teacher Ma?"
Da Sima pushed at his glasses and said with a serious expression, "I didn't expect players to be this creative. I've come across a lot of their builds these past few days, and Along the River During the Qingming Festival really stood out."
As they talked, they opened the Xingye Gaming Platform.
It displayed the hundred competition videos with the most likes, along with their corresponding map codes, so the five of them could enter the maps for a closer look.
The five of them said in unison, "How about we start from the bottom?"
"Sounds good to me. It'll give us a chance to see just how skilled the players are at building."
The popularity of the five livestreams continued to soar. Even after the online viewer count passed five hundred thousand, there was no sign of it slowing down. Bullet comments rolled past as densely as a tide, nearly covering the entire screen.
[Going from lowest to highest is the best way to do it. Start low and build up to the masterpieces at the end!]
[The earlier entries are probably just appetizers. I'll bet the Old Summer Palace is the best one tonight!]
[So many masters competing on the same stage. Even the thumbnails look visually explosive. I can't wait!]
[Starfield's Building Cup was definitely worth holding. I think it's going to uncover a lot of building experts among the players.]
As the bullet comments continued to appear, the video of the hundredth-place build came up in the livestream.
It was a type of building familiar to everyone: a treehouse integrated with a tree.
The treehouse was no small thing. Several wooden houses nestled into the enormous tree, blending harmoniously with it as a whole.
Da Sima watched the video closely and commented, "This treehouse is built in a really interesting way. The houses and the tree are integrated into one. I think it's pretty good."
Chen Ze also commented, "Yeah, looks like it's about as good as something I'd make. I'll go into the game and take a look when I have time."
They continued reviewing one contestant's video after another and gave them different scores.
At present, the highest scores were an average of 96 for Along the River During the Qingming Festival, which ranked third in likes, and an average of 96 for the naval battleship fleet, which ranked fifth.
The two contestants had tied on average score.
P.S. I feel like writing about this is slowing the pace, so I want to get through it quickly. There will be even more exciting developments later, so I hope all you readers will bear with me.