Li Mingfei's Grand Plan

As Elena Sunstrider spoke, she glanced at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu shrugged. He was already quite self-aware of his status as a master. Being able to defeat Naiser, he could be considered the number one player in the game, so he wouldn't play the self-deprecating game.

"That's natural. Even though Blood Elf are royalty, they're still just a mortal race. How strong can they be if you just buy them with money? But Chaos Elemental are a unique mythical race template. I'm the only one in the entire game with that, and it's unlikely there will be a second one. The only one that can compare to me is Nephalem templates like Naiser."

His unashamed self-admission surprised the girl in front of him, who then couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ailin. May I tell you your real name?"

"Xiao Yu," Xiao Yu said, shaking hands with the other person.

Just then, a girl with a ponytail poked her head out from the pantry of the adjacent meeting room, "Hey, Xiao Ai, we don't have coffee here, how about a milk tea?"

"Anything is fine!" Ailin said, and the girl nodded, coming out with a cup of milk tea.

"This is my girlfriend, Ashes. In the game, she's my mount and also my pet," Ailin said enthusiastically, hugging the girl.

"Hey, I'm your battle partner, okay? What pet!" Ashes protested.

"Yes, yes, my battle partner," Ailin said, affectionately ruffling Ashes's hair.

Girlfriend? Well, Xiao Yu thought to himself, this is quite an eye-opener.

Just as the two sides were having a friendly conversation, another group of people walked in from outside. There were five people in total, four men and one woman, all dressed in gothic style, looking like a rock band. They were stunned when they saw the group.

The guy with long hair, who was in the lead, walked over with his hands in his pockets and glanced at the group.

"The Samat the Dracolich, perhaps you've heard of me." He wore a nonchalant yet arrogant expression.

"Azathoth, Elemental King, you must have heard of me," Xiao Yu introduced himself with a smile.

Samat instinctively took a step back. "You're Azathoth!? I watched your match, and I must say, you're very strong. Taking down that Naiser guy is quite unexpected."

Samat still felt awkward. Originally, his strength was ranked above Xiao Yu's, but now that Xiao Yu had even defeated Naiser, who was ranked first, he could no longer feel that sense of superiority. In fact, not only did he not feel superior, he felt inferior when he saw Xiao Yu. He watched that match and believed that if he met Naiser, he would definitely be defeated. So his tone was naturally more polite.

He then looked at the two women beside him.

"Phoenix Woman"?

"That's right." Ailin nodded.

Xiao Yu said, "You've been summoned too. So all three winning teams are here? Do you know why we've been called here?"

Samat shook his head. "I don't know, but we should find out soon. It might be related to the audience vote."

At this moment, a beam of light suddenly appeared in the center of the conference hall, and an old man in a sharp white suit slowly descended from the beam of light. His white hair was neatly combed back, and he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, giving him a solemn look reminiscent of Blackhand godfather.

The old man glanced around at everyone, then spread his hands. "Welcome to my reception room. My name is Li Mingfei; perhaps some of you know this name."

"Who is Li Mingfei?" Samat asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Idiot, he's the boss of the game company," someone next to him pointed out.

"Not only that, he's also the game's lead designer," Xiao Yu generously shared his information.

While the group whispered amongst themselves, Li Mingfei walked over on his own, his feet seemingly floating in the air as if treading on invisible steps. He quickly arrived beside them with an air of superiority.

You must all be very curious about why I called you here. You might be thinking it's related to the audience vote, but in fact, this matter is much more important than that.

Compared to the tens of millions in prize money for the champion and runner-up, you will receive much more today.

I've called you here because I have something very important to discuss with you.

Long ago, I conceived a grand plan. If successful, this plan could alter the very laws governing the world. I'm not talking about the virtual world of games, but the real world, and you are the most crucial link in this plan."

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Why does this sound so familiar? Are these people only happy when they can change the world? Why do they always have such grand plans?" But he decided to listen to his plan anyway.

Li Mingfei continued his speech, "This great plan is called the Virtual Idol Project. The plan is very simple: to replace the existing celebrity idols with a new generation of virtual idols."

In fact, this plan has been implemented before, but no one has ever succeeded. Although countless popular virtual characters have emerged in various games and animations over the past few decades or even centuries, none of them can surpass real-life celebrities. Do you know why?

Li Mingfei glanced at everyone, but instead of waiting for an answer, he continued speaking.

"It's very simple. These virtual characters don't actually exist. For a fan, the first thing is to have a target to follow."

Could you get Illidan's autograph? Could you take a picture with Mario? Could you go to Sylvanas's concert?

Yes, with current technology, these things are already achievable, but the audience is well aware that the singer is not Sylvanas, but merely Sylvanas voice actress. Sylvanas's actions have nothing to do with the voice actress, or perhaps it is simply a computer-generated voice.

This is the biggest problem with virtual characters: they don't have a real physical form.

Besides, so-called e-sports stars have emerged in the virtual world. These are the top players who Fengyun e-sports games, but they also have a fatal weakness: their appearance is too ordinary. I've seen many e-sports masters before, and they look no different from you or me. Why should I idolize them? Just because they're good at the game? What's the difference between them and ordinary athletes? Even game stars in some role-playing games have a huge flaw: their skills are too weak. There was once a world's strongest gamer, equipped with legendary gear, claiming to be the world's number one player. In the end, he was killed more than ten times by a small, unknown guild with hundreds of members, and they even posted the video online. Imagine, what's so great about such a star that's worth idolizing?

Therefore, although virtual characters have huge popularity, they are not truly idolized, and although e-sports stars have some fans, they are clearly not as popular as real movie stars and singers.

And now, I have successfully combined the advantages of both, and the result is you.

You possess real human identities while simultaneously enjoying immense popularity in the virtual world. You will become the future stars and idols of this world, superstars, with product endorsements, concerts, movies, and television appearances all within your future.

And you are only part of this plan. Once my plan is successfully implemented, I will develop more game worlds, which will become a complete star-making factory, where one virtual star after another will be born from my hands.

You will replace those real-life celebrities and idols, becoming the stars of the new era. Join me, everyone, join this bright future!

As Li Mingfei spoke, he looked at everyone with eager eyes.

(Damn, this guy's plan is really out of the blue.) Xiao Yu had thought a lot, but he still didn't expect Li Mingfei to have such a grand plan. But you know what, with the reputation of these BOSSes and heroes in the game, they can really attract a lot of admirers. No wonder the game company is trying every means to promote the BOSSes with good images. It's a bit unreasonable to bring out someone like Abbas and make people idolize him.

It must be said that Li Mingfei's plan is at least much more tempting than Shen Yuan's plan.

Even if Shen Yuan's plan succeeds, he will only have created a perfect game, just a game.

If Li Mingfei's plan succeeds, it will change the landscape of the entertainment industry in no time. Just imagine becoming a big star—it seems pretty cool.