Chapter 43: Public Recruitment

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

“These guys really did that.”

Qiu Ren scratched his head as he looked at the laptop before his eyes.

Today, he was using a VPN to surf the Internet in front of the prison guard lady again.

Foreign websites had recently started to gradually ban the live broadcasts of Battle Royale for reasons like “violent and bloody.”

This caused a tiny bit of effect on Tapir, but it wasn’t significant. The transmission speed of Battle Royale was much more terrifying than Qiu Ren had imagined.

Even though the limit of Tapir’s own server led to fairly average growth in the number of players, the great effect of live broadcasts helped multiply the cloud gamers…

Simply put, in the universities in the United States, people who didn’t know what ‘Battle Royale,’ ‘eating chicken,’ or ‘dying right after landing’ meant would probably not be able to integrate into conversations.

Even if the live broadcast platforms in the United States had banned it, there were other platforms in Europe and Japan. Anyway, the netizens could always find a place where they could play this game.

However, the problem Qiu Ren was facing right now couldn’t be solved by live broadcasts.

“Naifei Dream Media takes down thirteen non-compliant overseas drama series!”

“The overseas agent of ‘The Secret Realm of Dragons’ announces that their service will be suspended for some time due to technical reasons.”

In Qiu Ren’s eyes, the news was really… No matter which world he was in, the war of public opinion was still the same.

The dream drama series and games that used the children of that Lord of Nightmare as containers were all banned on foreign websites…

They weren’t simply banned in the United States. Since those were the platforms where the drama series streamed online, once these platforms were banned on the Internet, fans who watched the drama series around the world could only look for other sources.

It wasn’t a big deal for them to look for other sources, but the popularity and transmission speed would drop a lot compared to the past.

The power of the nightmare guardians in Dark Souls would also be reduced accordingly. After their doubles were killed by the invaders, they could originally absorb the energy from their own worlds to heal.

However, most of this source of power had been cut off now.

“Isn’t it enough to rely on the popularity in the country? Like making arrangements to broadcast the drama series on TV again…”

Qiu Ren looked at the list of drama series that had been banned. Their quality wasn’t bad. They could totally be promoted within the country and be broadcasted on TV again.

“We’ve already arranged it beforehand, but… some drama series didn’t have a great effect. The Dream Seeds extended from that Lord of Nightmare are all fantasy-oriented. They also target overseas markets. Some productions will be a bit… difficult to acclimatize in the country, like ‘The Giant and The Little Bee’ and ‘Lion Heart Workplace.’”

The person sitting at the same desk as Qiu Ren right now was the chief director of Ocean Dream Media, Feng Nian.

He was also a professor of the Dream Making Major at Qingbei University and a registered researcher at the Central Research Institute.

While Director Lu was determined to summon all the children of this Lord of Nightmare back, he had discussed it with Feng Nian beforehand…

He had worked and communicated with the dream consciousness of “Lion Heart Workplace” for a long time. He also wanted to fulfill the last obsession of the protagonist, so he agreed to let him return to this Level S Nightmare Dungeon to be a boss in Dark Souls.

“So, I have a suggestion. I wonder what Director Lu and Qiu Ren think about it.”

Feng Nian was an extremely experienced Dream Maker in the country. Whether it was game dreams or movie or drama series dreams, he had participated in all their construction.

He had a strong ability of appreciation. That was why after the nightmare of Dark Souls was constructed, he dragged his old body in to experience the easier levels.

He barely defeated Iudex Gundyr and walked all the way to Bordeaux. The experience of exploring around Lothric had reignited his long-gone passion.

So, he believed that even ordinary people could experience the fun and extraordinary sense of achievement in this Nightmare Dungeon of Dark Souls.

However, the realistic sense of pain and the harms caused to the human body after death in the Nightmare Dungeon were fatal reasons that made normal players leave.

Feng Nian found a way to solve the problem. He was reluctant to use it because of his old friend, but he must do so now.

“Here’s the recent level of purification of the Level A Nightmare Seed, ‘Lion Heart Workplace.’ It had been stuck at 95% for almost six months before it rose to 98% today.”

Feng Nian put a report on the purification of the Nightmare Seed in front of Qiu Ren and Director Lu.

The higher the level of the Nightmare Seeds, the more difficult it was to completely purify them. This 3% increase was a huge surprise for Feng Nian!

The protagonist of “Lion Heart Workplace” played one of the main characters in Dark Souls—Iudex Gundyr.

This showed that when it fought a thousand battles and killed the invaders for its king, the last hint of obsession in its mind had also dissipated.

“After I defeated Sirius, he told me that he could endure… part… of the pain I suffer in the Nightmare Dungeon for me if I want,” said Feng Nian.

“No! This is totally putting the cart before the horse!” Director Lu was the first one to step up and disagree this time.

“There’s such a way?” This was the first time Qiu Ren had heard that the harm people suffered in a Nightmare Dungeon could be transferred.

“This is indeed a method to purify population-type Nightmare Seeds. Most nightmare consciousness can take negative emotions of pain and suffering, but they’re difficult to digest! However, doing so would increase the level of contamination of a purified Nightmare Seed again!”

Director Lu glanced at the calm Director Feng Nian and refuted him.

“It took a lot of hard work by countless Dream Explorers to make the consciousness of those Level A Dream Seeds stable enough to be filmed into drama series! Your decision might make them lose control again.”

“Director Lu, you know that this is controllable. Once the level of contamination of the Dream Seed, ‘Lion Heart Workplace,’ rises over 50%, the risk of losing control over it will appear. We can stop the connection between it and that Lord of Nightmare, but if that day really comes… it might be the day we lose! We should probably grab the chance right now.”

Director Lu knew this even more clearly than Feng Nian.

Qiu Ren also understood what the chance of opening the Nightmare Dungeon of Dark Souls to the public signified.

Those invasion organizations weren’t dumb.

They had indeed sent invaders into the Nightmare Dungeon to explore and plunder. After they were killed by the nightmare guardians, they became the food for the Lord of Nightmare.

Nevertheless, they wouldn’t just let Qiu Ren control them obediently. It was enough for the Lord of Nightmare to devour their emotional consciousness. Its children had their own drama series worlds and game worlds for getting power.

However, some of its children didn’t have enough to eat at the moment. Not only that, the invaders even took their power. Therefore, the balance between the growth and consumption of power immediately broke.

“If Dark Souls is opened to the public, we can organize a joint event with these drama series. Explorers who enter Dark Souls can have the pledge and protection from the characters they like. Then, their pain and harm will be reduced, but the price is… After they die, the characters they like will devour this pain as energy, and the self-consciousness will gradually lose control.”

Qiu Ren thought about the feasibility of opening Dark Souls to the public. He didn’t have to worry about the promotion. Even if those drama series were banned overseas, there should still be channels and ways to promote the joint event.

The ban of so many popular drama series on foreign websites this time had caused an uproar.

The diehard fans of “The Giant and The Little Bee” and “Lion Heart Workplace” couldn’t accept and understand the move at all. They even wanted to go and smash their governments.

There certainly wouldn’t be many people who were willing to try in reality, though. Maybe a lot of them were willing to try in a Nightmare Dungeon?

“In fact, Dark Souls also has this part of the system, but I’ll further improve it. Director Feng Nian, please contact the production teams of the other few drama series and promote this joint event.”

Qiu Ren had already foreseen the future of this Nightmare Dungeon: it would become even more popular.

The large number of invaders wasn’t a problem originally, but their supplies had been cut off.

And now, the Lord of Nightmare and its children were fighting alone. The Undead Legion of Farron, the Darkmoon Knights, and the Warriors of Sunlight should start recruiting members publicly!