Found the Traffic Password
"Public opinion? He has the nerve to tell me to handle public opinion? Why doesn't he handle the mess his precious son Jia Xianglan caused? And how did that young master find out about our revised map selection process, anyway? Tell me that." Director Yin of the League Center was furious after listening to the deputy director's report about getting scolded at the CEO's office.
Sky Network's original headquarters was in the Federation's A Star Domain, but after opening the Imperial market, they built a Sky Network tower on the Capital Star as well. Since then, Sky Network had firmly positioned itself as neutral, earning from both sides.
Every year, the League Center was temporarily established before the competition, with the Imperial and Federation zones randomly selecting a planet to host. Director Yin did most of the work; Jia Tu, as CEO, was her superior and had caused her no shortage of headaches over the years.
"Calm down, calm down." The head of Sky Network's game department had rushed to the Yuheng Star League Center after the desert map. Director Yin was discussing map reform with him. "He always pretends to understand our work and meddles."
"You know, we've stuck with combat maps all this time, but the audience still got tired of them..." Director Yin rubbed her temples, feeling a headache. The league was huge, so the audience didn't notice, but as insiders, they knew full well that traffic had been declining year after year.
The main reason was audience fatigue—every day they watched hundreds of people blasting each other on different terrains, with similar weapons. Large-scale mech space battles involving real interstellar war were impossible to stage, so the League Center had been considering map reform for a long time. This year was a good opportunity.
This year, the league's traffic had rebounded rapidly, trending upward, and successfully monetized, boosting the game department's revenue.
"He likes to set up those cruel mechanisms, and in the end, both the Federation and Empire audiences get fired up. Sure, that brings heat and attention, but how much money do you actually make? And you risk offending both sides. Frankly, if this sentiment keeps building, whether the Empire beats the Federation or the Federation beats the Empire, we won't end up with anything good."
Director Yin was from the Federation, but she had the mindset of a pure businessman. As long as there was profit, that was fine. Ever since Sky Network decided to open the Empire market, it was destined to make money by sitting on the fence... dancing on a blade, hosting military academy leagues but never doing anything too sensitive.
So she really hated her superior Jia Tu—he was self-righteous, sending his son and daughter to military academies in the Federation and Empire respectively, practically pushing Sky Network into a fire pit.
Director Yin wanted to earn more and live a couple more years!
"Sin City's game setting is fun; Dolanston and Moye are definitely going to have a great match." The game department head stretched lazily. "But we should lower the pain threshold for students to fifty percent; otherwise it'll be too intense..."
"Of course, we're only making this money once this year. If we go too entertainment-heavy, the league's prestige drops, and I'm also worried those military academies will think the league has become lowbrow and voluntarily withdraw." Director Yin finally finalized the details of the Sin City map with the game department head, and then they just waited to see the results on match day.
After the quarterfinal draw, the matches didn't start immediately like the qualifiers. The schedule had one match per day for four days, with Moye and Dolanston playing on the second day.
Xu Lingqu wasn't quite sure what Sin City was. After exiting the competition cocoon and returning to the Moye Military Academy rest area, she learned it was a game.
Guan Zhongli was more familiar with this stuff and directly played the promotional video for Sin City from when it was released. The game was fully immersive; players entered and got a random identity—could be a politician or a dishwasher scrubbing plates in a kitchen. Different identities gave players different skills.
Basically, once you got your identity, everyone was brawling in the streets. The NPCs were also more martial and vigorous than anyone, and the city's atmosphere was all about rustic simplicity...
"Once we get in, we'll still be fighting. In the process, we'll need to distinguish between NPCs and players, find the Dolanston people, and fight them." Guan Zhongli hadn't expected Sky Network to pick this game as a map. "The promotion for this game wasn't great; it was delayed at launch, and there's only one promotional video now."
He turned to look at Xu Lingqu, wanting to see what she thought.
Xu Lingqu was deep in thought.
How was it that the interstellar world also had its own Gotham City?
"It's too random. This time it will largely test everyone's individual combat ability," she said, snapping back to reality.
In previous maps—formal battlefields with large, open terrain—even if everyone was scattered, they could regroup.
In Sin City, everyone was in one city, so the chance of running into Dolanston people before regrouping was too high, not to mention the combat-ready NPCs. Moye cadets would have to solve some problems on their own.
That mindset of "as long as we listen to Xu Lingqu, everything's fine" needed to be reined in.
Everyone's expressions turned serious. In the previous three qualifiers, especially the second one, they had relied too much on Xu Lingqu's command and arrangements.
Commander Xu was strong, but putting all the pressure on her alone wasn't right.
"It's time for us to grow. This time, let's all show our personal abilities," Lin Xiao said, taking the initiative.
Wang Qihu nodded in agreement. "Maybe Sky Network also wants to see students display their individual skills, which is why they added this game map."
Guan Zhongli turned off his smart device projection and said calmly, "That's probably not it. They're just trying to make money."