When Lu Zhou first received Chen Yushan’s call, he was totally confused.
However, when he opened his Weibo and saw the messages and people tagging him, he suddenly realized what was going on.
As expected, his worst nightmares had come true.
He anxiously clicked on his mentions.
Most of the people weren’t criticizing him, nor were they praising his handsomeness, but rather…
[God Lu, is the Phantom system really that realistic?]
[What kind of man tries to scare girls! Why don’t you try to scare me instead! (angry)]
[What kind of scaredy-cat cries from a video game? I don’t believe it! It has to be a paid actress!]
[When is this going online? Stop the closed beta, please!]
Lu Zhou: ? ? ?
Why do I feel like…
Something is wrong?
Now was obviously not the time to respond to random comments on the Internet.
Lu Zhou opened his contacts and called Chen Yushan.
“What is going on?”
Chen Yushan was also having a headache. She pinched her eyebrows and said, “As you can see, an accident occurred during yesterday’s closed beta testing. We have postponed the next closed beta testing… What happened in yesterday’s testing? I read the experimental plan, it didn’t mention any zombies and fighting.”
Honestly, Chen Yushan was muddled.
Before the closed beta test began yesterday, she personally read the experimental report, which clearly stated that the experiment was only a “survival in the wilderness” game.
But when the night came, monsters came out of the forest, charging at the players.
Fortunately, there were no minors in the closed beta testing; otherwise, they could get in trouble for exposing them to gore and violence.
Lu Zhou cursed Xiao Ai in his heart and said awkwardly, “A small accident happened. You can think of it as a bug.”
Chen Yushan said, “… Do I look dumb to you?”
When did a bug have the capabilities of adding zombies to a game?
Is that really your excuse?
“That’s not the main point. In short, I can guarantee this accident won’t happen in the future,” Lu Zhou said. He tried to change the subject and said, “What’s important now is to deal with the consequences.”
Chen Yushan said with a headache, “Our public relations department is already trying… Honestly, I think there are competitors that are adding oil to the fire. We have conducted public relations for several domestic large Internet companies, and they have all been cooperative. However, when we try to contact foreign media, there is a clear resistance. Companies we have good relationships with revealed to us that some people have paid money to discredit the Phantom system, trying to make the public turn on us.”
The purpose of this was obviously to prevent the Phantom from penetrating the overseas market, to create “fake news” on the hidden dangers of the virtual reality system.
Lu Zhou said, “Do we know who is behind this?”
Chen Yushan shook his head and said, “No, they won’t reveal who it is. It’s possible that they don’t even know who it is.”
Lu Zhou: “Do you have a plan?”
“So far, we have found the user that wants to sue us. We have yet to reach an agreement. I have suspended her closed beta testing qualification, and our legal team is dealing with her.”
Honestly, Chen Yushan was certain that this player was bribed by someone.
Otherwise, no one would refuse several hundred thousand yuan in settlement money, just to get a chance at winning a lawsuit against a multi-billion dollar company.
After hearing Chen Yushan, Lu Zhou did not have any good ideas.
He could easily solve any academic problem, but business was beyond his area of expertise.
After he thought for a few seconds, he gave up on trying to find a solution.
“Well, it looks like you have things under control. If you need anything, feel free to ask me, but preferably not, hehe.”
Chen Yushan couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“You didn’t even give me an explanation for why this happened, and I have to clean up your sh*t. How is this fair?”
Researchers at the Star Sky Technology had yet to fix anything, mainly because even themselves did not know what happened during yesterday’s closed beta test.
“… Okay, I’ll tell you the real reason,” Lu Zhou said with a sigh. He put on a serious voice and said, “Actually, I’m working on a top-secret project.”
He was telling the truth in some sense, but his words were easily misconstrued.
Even though Lu Zhou felt quite apologetic toward Chen Yushan, there was nothing he could do.
Sometimes, it was best to keep things a secret.
Maybe one day, when Xiao Ai was mature enough, he would release it to the public.
But that day had yet to come.
Even though Chen Yushan’s instincts told her that this guy was probably lying, Lu Zhou’s serious tone made her hesitate.
She asked suspiciously, “Really?”
“Really,” Lu Zhou said after taking a deep breath. “The project is called ‘Master God’, that’s all I can tell you. I hope you understand.”
Chen Yushan said with a strange look, “Master God… what a strange name.”
It was so strange, almost like someone came up with it on the spot.
“The name is not the important part,” Lu Zhou said. “Basically, the large-scale sociological experiment requiring a group of players to react and behave in certain scenarios is what we need for machine learning, also—”
“Wait, stop, if it’s a secret, you shouldn’t tell me,” Chen Yushan said. “But with all due respect, this shouldn’t be used on closed beta testers, right?”
Lu Zhou sighed and said, “I’ve realized that. We should set up a professional alpha testing team, different from the closed beta testers.”
He paused for a second and continued, “So, I decided to set Master God as a separate project in the Jinling Advanced Research Institute. We will find the closed beta testers who are reliable and have strong psychological qualities. I plan on calling this the Respawn Team, with five to ten people.”
Chen Yushan said, “I feel like this is a bad idea, but I trust you.”
Lu Zhou coughed and spoke in a serious tone.
“… Thank you, when the time is right, I will tell you all of the details. You’ll be responsible for managing the Master God Respawn Team!”
With Chen Yushan helping, Lu Zhou was certain they could get this done.
It seemed like this was guaranteed to work.
After Lu Zhou hung up the phone, he walked back to his office.
Schultz paused his conversation with Perelman and asked him, “What happened?”
Lu Zhou waved his hand and smiled.
“Nothing, let’s continue.”