The next morning, Ma Lu scooped up an old Xiao Ba Wang learning console from Little Yellow Fish, and took it to the restaurant.
He arrived an hour early on purpose. At that time, He Xiaoqian hadn't arrived yet, and there were only three people in the restaurant: Ma Lu, Old Wang, and Ma Youyou.
Ma Lu inserted the game cartridge into the Xiao Ba Wang, and immediately the familiar voice rang in his ears.
"We meet again, Master Meow~"
"Huh?" Ma Lu looked toward the direction from which the voice came and saw a TV set that had appeared out of nowhere on the previously bare wall of the restaurant.
To his astonishment, the figure on the TV was none other than the Virtual Beauty Girl Anchor who claimed to be a Gold Medal Producer last night.
"Wow, you even come with your own TV." said Ma Lu in surprise.
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"Meow, didn't the City Manager tell you last night, Master, that we would be playing a simulation management game next, and that interior decoration is an indispensable part of simulation management games, meow~"
Ma Lu raised his eyebrows, "So what you're saying is, with you on board, I can decorate the restaurant like in The Sims, and it won't cost me anything?"
"Correct, but I can only change appearances. I can't make a stove refrigerate, even if I made it look like a fridge, meow.
"Besides, decorating through me may not cost money, but it does require some game points. However, you can rest assured, Master, that game points can be earned by collecting customers' satisfaction, meow. Explore stories on Freewebnovel
"Since your restaurant has the Cosmic Chef at the helm, achieving satisfaction should be a piece of cake, meow."
"Tsk tsk tsk, even just changing the appearance is not bad. This means I can regularly change up the restaurant's style in the future, with no formaldehyde and save a ton on renovation costs. Indeed, the minimalist approach I took before was not a mistake; it was clearly preparing for the future." Ma Lu praised.
"Boss, you were just cutting costs at the time," Ma Youyou couldn't help but tease from the side.
"Aside from decoration, what other functions do you have?" Ma Lu asked the Gold Medal Producer.
"Cashier, bookkeeping, creating digital menus, tallying employee salaries, paying utility bills automatically... In short, I have practically all the functions that are available in simulation management games, meow~"
"Can you change your appearance first? I have nothing against vtubers, just that it doesn't seem to fit the new game."
"Of course, my appearance last night was also due to the game's requirements. The original game design was for players to find solace in vtubers when feeling down, earning a large amount of Mood Value.
"Then, the touched players would keep spending money on me, and after receiving a large amount of donations, I would suddenly 'graduate,' causing my fans to break down, lose a massive amount of Mood Value, turn from fans to haters, and start attacking me on a large scale.
"After that, a friend of mine would reveal the truth, claiming I had passed away from a terminal illness. My persona would then be taken over by a friend who would continue the legacy and live stream.
"At the same time, rumors that I didn't actually die and that my friend never existed, suggesting I was just reincarnating under a friend's identity to make more money, would also spread like wildfire on the internet."
"........."
Ma Lu took a deep breath, "Are you the devil? How did you come up with such a twisted plot?"
"Twisted? But such things are commonplace on your networks. After all, games are nothing but simulations and manipulations of real life."
Hearing her words made Ma Lu think of something else.
"You must have lived in The Grand Alliance before, right? Why come to this plane?"
The expression of the Virtual Beauty Girl Anchor grew serious for once, "Because I want to make a good game."
"What do you mean, couldn't you make games in The Grand Alliance?"
"We, the game cartridge group, are all born game makers. To fully utilize our talents and obtain the essential nutrients for survival, our tribe leader established The Third Universe Game Company, and we all entered The Third Universe to make games when we came of age.
"At first, we were simply driven by interest to make games, and we did create many games that were well-received in the Multiverse. But later, The Third Universe caught the attention of the entertainment giant, Seal Dynamic.
"Seal Dynamic spent 99999 billion Star Currency to acquire 51% of The Third Universe, and then spent a fortune on marketing our games and integrating them into their channels. As a result, we had a hundred to a thousand times more players than before and earned much more Star Currency.
"However, Seal Dynamic still wasn't satisfied and sent experts to The Third Universe. With massive player data at their disposal, they started guiding us to create games that players would be addicted to and willing to spend money on.
"We earned more and more, and the player base kept growing, but the company's reputation became mixed at best. Most importantly, all the producers had become cogs in a production line, forever following the same successful formula, churning out uniform games.
"I didn't want to become that kind of person, so I quietly left The Grand Alliance and came here. Here, I want to create deeper, more meaningful games that are also popular, to prove the tribe leader and Seal Dynamic wrong."
The Virtual Beauty Girl Anchor said with a clenched fist.
"From your past production experience, I'm inclined to think that they might have a point, but no matter, everyone who has a dream is remarkable," said Ma Lu, "just as long as you don't make any more trouble."
"Don't worry, I've made a promise to the City Manager, and it said that as long as I work well here, when I create a new game, it will help assemble some people for a trial play.
The Virtual Beauty Girl Anchor patted her chest and promised.
"The players it brings in are people who, like me, used to live in The Grand Alliance. Their feedback will be even more useful to me."
"Great, just so long as you don't cause any more trouble for the people here." Ma Lu felt satisfied with this outcome.
He had actually considered having the Gold Medal Producer work for the Red Ridge Project Team, which desperately needed a planner.
But after listening to the Gold Medal Producer's production philosophy and having personally experienced the educational yet hellish games she produced, Ma Lu decided not to let her wreak havoc on the slowly improving Red Ridge.
Ma Lu was counting on this game to make him money in the future. Once the online player count broke ten thousand, he planned to start selling skins.
Spending money might not make you stronger, but looking cooler was no problem. After all, for the project team, it was just a front-end change that didn't involve any alterations to the Abyss's reality and wasn't at all difficult.