Chapter 98
Chapter 98:
SCAM.
Go back to Apex.
Cash sighed. He rubbed his temples. “Fine. Let’s switch to Apex. At least the beta was stable p>
He maximized Apex Ascendant.
He clicked Start.
There was no loading screen. No logos. No pop-ups.
One second, he was looking at the menu. The next, he was standing on a cliff edge overlooking a sprawling, alien jungle. The transition was seamless. Instant. The music swelled—a haunting, orchestral piece with a cello solo that sounded like it was weeping.
Cash stopped talking. He moved the mouse. The camera panned with liquid smoothness. The leaves on the trees swayed individually in the wind. He looked down at his character’s hands. He could see the pores on the skin, the scratches on the armor.
“Wait,” Cash whispered. “Is this real-time? The 2.0 engine is insane p>
He pressed W. The character moved instantly. The physics of the cloak flowing behind him were perfect. He jumped off the cliff. The wind rushed past his ears. He landed in a roll, the impact feeling heavy and real through the screen shake.
He encountered an enemy—a mechanical beast with glowing blue eyes.
Cash engaged. He dodged. The response was 1:1. He struck. The sparks flew, illuminating the environment dynamically.
He fought for ten minutes. He didn’t say a word. His persona—the loud, obnoxious hype man—vanished. He was just a gamer, completely immersed.
An hour passed. He hadn’t checked his donations. He hadn’t asked for subs.
Finally, he cleared the first new zone. He sat back, exhaling a breath he felt like he’d been holding for sixty minutes.
Discover where it all happens: gⱯlnσν𝒆𝓁s․cøm
He looked at the camera. His eyes were wide.
“Chat,” he said softly, “This isn’t just an update. This is… this is a masterpiece p>
The chat was going nuclear.
WTF
LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS
I just bought the expansion.
Thorne is dead.
Cash found a lore tablet in the game. He clicked it. The text appeared.
History is written by the victors, but truth is preserved in the shadows. – Phoenix.
“Phoenix,” Cash read. He paused, tilting his head. “Who is that? Is that an NPC? Or maybe the dev signing their work? It’s cryptic. I like it. ‘The truth is preserved in the shadows.’ Sounds like someone with a vendetta. Or a legacy p>
At Thorne Industries HQ, the IT war room was silent as a grave. The large monitors on the wall displayed server load. The line for Celestial Dominion was nosediving. It looked like a cliff.
“We’ve lost forty percent of concurrent players in the last hour,” a technician whispered. “Refund requests are crashing the support portal p>