Chapter 40: Yuxuan's New Game is Actually This Massive?

Handong City.

Qi Tongping sat at the head of the conference table.

The application period for the game competition had already closed, and the preliminary evaluation stage for the "Heroes of Chivalry" contest was now underway, aiming to select the finalists from hundreds of submitted wuxia games.

Usually, there would be around ten finalists. If the overall quality of the games fell short, the number of nominees would be reduced accordingly.

All finalists would receive a baseline traffic boost, along with varying degrees of free promotional resources across major domestic cooperative platforms.

On the official website of the competition, the covers would be showcased in rotation. Once the competition officially commenced, small-scale offline events would also be held, and the finalist exhibition booths would be much more prominent.

As for the one with the highest ranking this time—unless some unforeseen and drastic changes occurred after the official release—they would practically become the strongest contender for the championship.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Qi Tongping announced the start of the meeting.

Then, he got straight to the point:

"Let's address one matter first. My vote for the first place in this competition goes to Game Metaphysics' *Legends of Heroes: True*."

Ah?

Just like that?

Even if it were predetermined, wasn't this a bit too blatant and unseemly?

Some of the judges who had not yet played the game looked around, only to find that the influential figures in the front row were nodding almost in unison, wearing approving expressions.

What was going on? The connections were this rock-solid?

Wasn't Game Metaphysics that... company that used to push suggestive content, whose boss was subsequently assassinated in broad daylight, causing a massive news sensation?

If they had backers, how could things have ended up like that?

They didn't understand, but since the big shots in the front row had already made up their minds, the judges of this official competition naturally didn't have any major objections.

Just as they were about to chime in with a few words of agreement, Qi Tongping cleared his throat, signaled for everyone to quiet down, and then spoke once more in a calm and forceful tone:

"Comrades who haven't played it yet can try the game first. Once you pass the beginner chapter, you will understand. If this game doesn't win the championship, it will be our disgrace."

"To be honest, for a game like this to be willing to participate is entirely elevating our credibility."

Ah?

This competition had been running for many years. At least within China, it was far from some disreputable award show; where did it ever need a video game to boost its credibility?

If there was no first place, there was always a second; if not a second, then a third. As long as the award wasn't handed to someone completely outrageous, giving it to anyone would probably suffice.

Most wuxia games adopted pixel art styles or were very simple independent games. This year, there wasn't even a single prominent mobile game to hold down the fort. Even if those minigames were crafted with exceptional detail, how could they possibly warrant such high praise?

Anyway, I'll play it first and see.

...

"Good evening, everyone, I am Hakusai."

On Bilibili live streaming, the broadcast room of the virtual VTuber Hakusai.

Hakusai had just turned three years old this year (this is a lie), and was a virtual streamer (this is the truth).

The avatar's expressions were extremely cheeky.

Remarks were even cheekier.

She was a Japanese VTuber who had been gaining massive momentum on Bilibili over the past two years.

In this parallel world, the gaming industry was exceptionally developed, to the extent that streamers of all sizes would stream themselves playing games for a bit.

Compared to professional gaming streamers, streamers of other genres only differed in the amount of time they dedicated to it.

For instance, playing games only accounted for a third of Hakusai's streaming content; the rest consisted mostly of video reviews or other activities.

Since her recent video review was on the CCTV version of *State of Divinity*, and coupled with the recent official launch of the new "Chinese Wuxia · Heroes of Chivalry" contest—which still held a certain level of recognition within the domestic gaming circle—

A multitude of new wuxia games were being released concurrently, resembling a miniature gaming festival.

Consequently, Hakusai was also urged to find some wuxia games to try out.

"Wow, so many wuxia games, they all look... quite interesting."

Hakusai spoke in a halting yet rather cute Mandarin:

"Sugoi! Lately, just the new wuxia games alone total over a hundred, plus the classics recommended by Pachinko-hime. So, what on earth should Hakusai play today?"

It was a bit affected; in reality, her fans had already noticed that Hakusai had installed Game Metaphysics' new game, *Legends of Heroes: True*, which had generated considerable buzz on Pixiv after releasing its promotional PV last month.

A shortcut was sitting right there on the desktop.

Not that Hakusai intended to hide it anyway, considering she was quite cheeky by nature.

The bullet comments were already urging her on:

"Yoshi, the familiar big-wig accent."

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Start already, I downloaded it too, going to open it in sync with Hakusai."

"Together, let's become martial arts masters together!"

"Legends of Heroes, launch!"

...

The bullet comments flashed by at a blistering pace, demonstrating Hakusai's immense popularity.

She didn't stall for much longer and directly clicked launch.

The screen went black, leaving only Hakusai's big head in the bottom right corner.

Immediately after:

[Shaders compiling...]

...

"This game is huge, 91GB, plus several official enhanced art packs. If you install everything, it reaches nearly 200GB. What kind of wuxia game can be this massive?"

"Not long ago, *Legend of Life and Death Swordsmen*, which didn't even have clear facial models, was over fifty gigabytes, but it's turn-based and the modeling is very rough. I actually wondered how they made it so large, though the game's plot was pretty good."

"No matter how good the plot is, I'm already jaded. But since it's the *Legends of Heroes* IP, it's still worth looking forward to. President Gu's creativity is truly outstanding, and his writing is top-tier. I feel like a genius like his could become a supreme author even if he wrote fanfiction."

"I heard the engine they used this time is Phantom 5... and they finished development in less than half a year?"

"Okay, definitely not put together with care."

"Serve it up quickly."

"Probably stuffed with a bunch of meaningless scenery."

"And having to wait this long—Hakusai's graphics card is an RTX 6090 Ti. Let me make another conclusion: this game's optimization is terrible."

"Don't talk nonsense, this game's optimization is actually quite decent. I've played it, and I daresay 91GB is an impossibly small capacity. President Gu really knows how to pack things in; fitting all this stuff into under 100GB is practically black technology."

"Wait a minute, what are you guys talking about? Is this really *Legends of Heroes*? I played it a few months ago, wasn't this a minigame?"

"Hehe, the one you played was a pirated version. The one being played now is the official release."

"Or rather, the one you played was female, and the one I'm playing is male."

"Didn't *Legends of Heroes: Zero* hint in quite a few cutscene interfaces and ending animations that Game Metaphysics also had *Legends of Heroes: True*? This is that 'True' one."

"Have you been disconnected from the internet for months? You didn't even know this? Underground rumors have been blowing up constantly, but they were too exaggerated and hard to tell true from false. It felt like false advertising or competitors trying to hype them up to failure."

"Dark and evil forces..."

"I did know there was a second installment of Legends of Heroes, but I honestly didn't expect it to come out so soon."

"So it's still a cash grab?"

"Dragon King probably wouldn't stoop to that."

"What Dragon King? Aren't they all capitalists? He probably didn't expect that minigame to become so popular, so instead of letting others ride the coattails of his heat, he decided to ride his own and rushed out another Legends of Heroes."

"He invented it, so it's only natural for him to take the first bite."

"That's true. This wuxia contest has several copycats doing a hodgepodge wuxia style; their stitching feels mediocre, and the better plots are completely plagiarized from Legends of Heroes."

"I told you guys to try playing it yourselves first. This game is really conscientious. I've been fighting wildly for nearly two hours today and have already beaten many martial arts masters. The ultimate moves for every single martial arts set are unique—turns out that promotional PV was actual live gameplay, not CGI. Priced at 198, I'm afraid President Gu might actually lose money; if Freedom's Ni released this price, they'd charge four or five hundred."

"Huh? That really wasn't CGI?"

"Whether it's real or not, you'll find out as you keep watching. It's finally done loading. As expected of the 6090 Ti, much faster than my 6080."

"Let's get this show on the road."

"Genshin, launch!"

"Hakusai must learn the Exorcising Evil Sword Technique!"

"With a head this big, it'd be a waste not to practice Iron Head Skill."

Hakusai chuckled cheekily with a "hehehe" and adjusted the settings to maximum graphics.

The game began.