Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 238 - 238: 236: Can I t Carry This Burden

Translator: 549690339

Players who were preparing for Sunday’s match were thrown off by this news.

Without a care in the world, Yi was busily leaving comments saying “sorry” and “pure, handsome man” under every post denouncing Lincoln’s downfall.

But the still competing anchors and esports players were a different story. They were too flustered to focus on their tactics.

The new game from Cloud Dream! Lincoln even hit up the night scene for inspiration, is he trying to tap into the 18+ market?

A virtual reality 18+ game? Seriously, who could compete with that?!

In the meantime, countless gaming industry professionals, both established bigwigs and small start-up teams of less than five, were shocked beyond words by this news.

“How can Cloud Dream Studio’s game development pace be so fast?” “That’s too absurd!”

“While Lincoln created virtual reality technology, did he also invent a wish – granting machine?”

“Does he rent out his wish-granting machine?”

“Forget about the wish-granting machine, doesn’t he ever run out of ideas? I heard all Cloud Dream games are based on ideas proposed by Boss Lincoln, including the plot and framework!”

“This is absolutely crazy — beyond ridiculous!”

Naturally, Richard also saw this post. His dissatisfaction instantly doubled.

Just moments before, the R&D department supervisor, Warner, had requested to quit.

Warner had been actively leading the team in tackling virtual reality technology. They had opened up Mirage consoles one after another and tried various ways to crack microchip encryption.

Warner was not just yielding a task from his work but a matter of professional pride. He felt that if he couldn’t crack this chip, years of research would have been wasted !

After making huge efforts, Wesley from the marketing department had hired multiple teams to turn a functioning Mirage console production line into “junk.” He had processed it round and round outside before finally getting it into NetDragon’s R&D center. Warner, however, refused to accept anything.

He even blocked the entrance to prevent the key equipment from the production line from being brought into the lab.

No one could persuade him!

Richard finally had to intervene personally to try to convince Warner, even though he was not supposed to be part of the task or even show his face.

Richard told Warner many comforting things, like the production line was a coincidence, and we are just researching the technical route, which is the same as what you are doing by disassembling the Mirage console. Moreover, Cloud Dream guards its technology so much that it didn’t even register patents.

But no matter what Richard said, Warner just shook his head firmly.

“These are completely different matters,” Warner firmly opposed. “Disassembling and reverse engineering to gain reference for secondary innovation is regular market behavior, bordering on potential infringement at most. However, getting hold of someone else’s source code and original command set is a criminal act of trade secret theft!”

Warner added “suspected,” but in fact, after seeing the complete production line, he was definite in his mind that this was definitely a commercial crime!

Whoever touched it would be the one to take the blame! And as the supervisor of the R&D department, he would be shouldering a huge burden!

But this was a burden he did not want to bear.

He could not bear it!

Not only did he refuse to shoulder this burden, but he also didn’t allow anyone to move the equipment into the lab, in order to protect his researchers from any inadvertent involvement.

As for patents, Warner, being a tech guy, knew well that some crucial patent technologies, even though registered, couldn’t be found through ordinary channels.

Whether Cloud Dream had registered virtual reality technology or not was something only they knew. Either way, Warner wasn’t willing to take that risk.

Richard had no choice but to threaten, “We must get a hold of this technology. If you’re not willing to do it, then I’ll have to find a new R&D department supervisor.”

Warner still showed no respect and even lashed back directly, “Go ahead, I’ve been meaning to resign anyway.”

Richard was about to explode from anger, he was on the verge of swearing on the spot, but he couldn’t! He didn’t even dare to speak harshly.

If he went too far, Warner could expose the news, and NetDragon would be in big trouble again.

Seeing his dilemma, Warner further consoled him, expressing: As long as you cancel the non-competition agreement, I will act as if I know nothing. And he repeatedly emphasized: This is not a threat, it’s just that I also need to provide for my family, let’s part ways amicably.

As Warner was responsible for research and development of hardware and software technology, he signed the highest level of non-compete and confidentiality agreements, which heavily restricted him.

If he violated the non-compete agreement, NetDragon could sue him to bankruptcy. Yet he didn’t want to sit at home for three years waiting for the agreement period to expire due to Richard’s despicable behavior.

He had no choice but to take this measure.

Richard eventually left with a sour look. Back in his office, he cursed at the air.

Warner, meanwhile, began packing up and tipping off some of his closest colleagues to be on their guard.

The progress of NetDragon’s technology breakthrough was once again interrupted.

Shuihua was also in a tough spot.

The event Lincoln announced had a ridiculous time, which happened to overlap with her classes.

If Shuihua wanted to experience the event, she’d have to do it on Sunday, which is tomorrow.

But her peers, besides Camille Victoria, were all third-year high school students and couldn’t possibly play the game with her.

And her non-age group friends, she used different personas when chatting they couldn’t form a team together.

As a result, she couldn’t find a team to join.

The most frustrating thing was that there was a strong player next door, but she couldn’t team up with him.

That was really upsetting!

Even teaming up with Camille Victoria to form a duo was impossible – Camille Victoria hadn’t even completed the main storyline of “Assassins’ Alliance”. Participating in a PVP event would only result in being humiliated.

Though Shuihua was in a similar situation…

But it didn’t stop her from enjoying the event! Even if she had to sign up alone and team up with random players, she wanted to join the fun!

Not far away was Lance’s home, but he wasn’t home at the moment.

His club had been communicating with several friendly clubs, and they had staggered the dates of their preliminary selections. They decided to do theirs on Sunday.

Which is tomorrow.

So, for the past two days, Lance had been at the club, watching games with his teammates under the guidance of the coach, summarizing experiences, discussing tactics, and enjoying every minute.

But before bedtime, it suddenly occurred to him: Shuihua would probably participate in the same game event on Sunday, just like his club.

Wouldn’t they…bump into each other in the game?

If that happens, what should he do?

To shoot or not to shoot, that is the question!