Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

The tank roared out of the base, rolling across the battlefield, crossing trenches, and even crashing directly through walls, allowing Camille Victoria, who was immersed in it, to feel the surging power of the tank.

But she didn’t get a chance to fire.

—They were not the only tank, but five tanks were dispatched at the same time, and the infantry-tank cooperation began to reclaim the defense line!

The enemy, who had just tangled and fought with her, collapsed at the first touch!

The bullets pinged and ponged off the thick tank armor, sparking but posing no threat.

And so, amidst the rumbling noise, they easily regained the second line of defense they had just lost.

During this process, Camille Victoria even had the leisure to look through the sight and see the outside environment:

The other tanks, the easily annihilated enemy, the soldiers wrapped in blazing fires, struggling desperately for their lives, a soldier carrying his seriously injured comrade, retreating arduously…

The gunner suddenly spoke up: “Look! That’s our fighter plane!”

Camille Victoria raised her head and saw fixed-wing fighters streaking across the gray sky; further back, a huge airship slowly entered the battlefield, dropping one large bomb after another…

“Keep an eye on the ground!” the vehicle commander warned loudly, “They’re attacking from the trenches, using that machine gun! Take them out!”

Camille Victoria had been itching for action—yes, the battlefield situation was terrible, but wasn’t that all because of the enemy?

Wipe out all the enemies, and you can protect your comrades!

This round of sweeping fire was more satisfying than the heavy machine gun, because the enemy’s counterattack didn’t need to be dealt with at all, and the tank’s speed was not fast, it was almost like mindlessly shooting at targets.

Aiming at the distant and near enemies, they fell like mowed wheat as she swept past them.

“Forward! Forward!”

As the tank rolled forward, Camille Victoria clearly saw through the sight other tanks, knocked-down scorched trees, and fearless charging soldiers, pushing the battle line further and further forward, all the way to the original defensive position.

Camille Victoria even spotted the half-wall she initially had been hiding behind.

Past this defensive line, the enemy’s resistance became fierce in an instant!

Heavy bullets swept in, comrades falling one after another, and the dense sound of bullets hitting the tank rang out. The driver skillfully turned the tank to the side, and the vehicle commander shouted, “Blast that firepower point for me!”

“Got it!” Camille Victoria had been looking forward to this!

Firing directly at the heavy machine gun that was still shooting fiercely dozens of meters away!

“Boom!”

Not only was the heavy machine gun destroyed, but also the building it was in was blown to pieces by that shot!

“Awesome! Let’s do more!”

But the opponent was not a lamb to be slaughtered, as a barrage of artillery shells suddenly landed nearby, blasting large chunks of rubble and debris, which then rained down on the tank like a downpour. The driver hastily accelerated away from the area.

“It’s a field gun! Blast it! We’re sitting ducks in its sights!”

“Go around! Get to the back, surprise them!!”

Bearing the enemy’s fierce blockage, the tank began its rampage!

Camille Victoria became busy in an instant, sweeping away nearby enemies with the machine gun while bombarding enemies in hiding one after another.

Facing the tank’s artillery fire, the shelter was meaningless. With a shot, the enemies and their shelter were gone!

The already ruined buildings were further reduced to rubble after Camille Victoria’s bombardment.

“Hang in there! We’re about to break through!”

The tank crashed through collapsing beams and wildly shattered another wall, directly breaking into the enemy’s position!

Camille Victoria, who had been controlling the cannon, saw the enemies up close and fired a shot at them subconsciously!

The terrified enemy, just three meters away, stared at the tank that suddenly charged out and poked the cannon right in their faces!

And then— it actually fired!!

“Boom!”

A loud noise, a cloud of smoke and dust.

The tank drove over the empty trenches.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it slipped, I really didn’t mean it,” Camille Victoria apologized repeatedly.

While apologizing, she didn’t forget to adjust the cannon and fire another shot at the field gun five meters away!

“Well done!” the vehicle commander was thrilled, “Keep moving forward, follow the other tanks, and let’s charge in!”

The wheel of fortune turned, and this time it was their turn to charge into the enemies’ defenses.

Through the sight, Camille Victoria clearly saw the comrades lining up in a long column, valiantly charging with angry roars, and in the blink of an eye, being covered by the enemy’s artillery fire and flames.

The vehicle commander yelled, “Keep charging! We’re about to break through the line! Fire at all moving targets!!”

Camille Victoria had already abandoned the machine gun, firing one cannon shot after another with great satisfaction, flattening everything in sight— enemies, shelters, houses, bunkers alike!

But just as they were about to break through the line, the vehicle commander suddenly yelled, “Artillery fire—”

“BOOM—”

Time suddenly slowed down, Camille Victoria’s consciousness detached from her body, floating above, looking down and clearly seeing the tank below exploding from the inside out, with slow yellow flames, and then time resumed, the tank instantly blown to pieces.

She pulled back her sight—

She didn’t fly away high this time, but descended slowly, skimming close to the ground, retreating along the dense smoke, rubble, bodies, and trenches on the ground, everything was clearly visible.

Until she passed through a thick layer of grayish-yellow smoke and stood in the trenches again.

Here she still was— at the original defensive line!

The next task target appeared before Camille Victoria’s eyes— [Final Goal: Defend! At all costs!]

The unknown yellow fog was quickly spreading forward.

“What is this?” Camille Victoria hesitated for a moment, and then a long-lost memory suddenly rushed into her mind, “Poison gas shells?!”

She quickly lowered her head to find a facemask and put it on.

A team of comrades-in-arms charged past her from behind, fearlessly rushing into the poisonous fog ahead, to fight against the enemies taking advantage of the fog.

Camille Victoria stood there for a moment, looking through her thick gas mask at her exposed hands.

“Poison gas, skin contact can also cause poisoning, right?” she thought subconsciously.

But she soon shook her head, hugged her submachine gun, and started charging to support her comrades-in-arms.

By now, the battlefield had turned into a complete chaotic mess.

In the thick smoke of gunpowder and poisonous fog, everyone’s vision was severely limited, and the enemy and comrades were mixed together, shooting at each other, sweeping gunfire, throwing hand grenades, fighting with bayonets, and swinging axes.

Camille Victoria tried hard to identify which ones were enemies and which ones were comrades. Once she could tell them apart, she immediately held up her submachine gun and fired away.

She felt that there were battles everywhere, and from time to time, one or two enemies would suddenly burst out from the poisonous fog, behind big trees, or from the edge of a pile of rocks to ambush her.

When she died, she didn’t even know which direction the enemy that killed her was from.

After her resurrection, the level did not change, and the battlefield was still here!

Camille Victoria could only continue to fight, and, looking at the lingering poisonous fog, she couldn’t help but ask, “Was there poison gas on the battlefield a hundred years ago?”

The live broadcast room immediately informed her, “There was plenty! It was used everywhere, and at that time, it was considered an advanced weapon!”

“This thing has a long history, and several international agreements have been signed to ban it, but it is still not banned.”

…

Distracted for a moment, Camille Victoria was burned to death by a flamethrower soldier’s faceshot, and as expected, she was reborn again.

“Alright then.” Camille Victoria sighed helplessly, then clenched the gun in her hand and continued to fight!

Fighting and fighting!

…

They fought until the poisonous fog completely dissipated, countless people had died on both sides, but the battle was still not over.

However, while the ground battle seemed to have no end, the aerial battle was nearing its conclusion. The fighters had gone from flying in formation across the sky to just two or three left.

Camille Victoria had no knowledge of this—not surprisingly, as new soldiers in intense battles would unconsciously ignore the threat from the sky, which was a very common problem.

It wasn’t until she saw a huge airship burning with raging fire, plunging and crashing onto a scarred patch of land in the distance.

Then, the bombing began—

At first, two violent explosions occurred thirty meters away from Camille Victoria, setting off several meters high waves of earth.

After that, there were explosions at twenty-five meters, eighteen meters, and six meters!

Violent explosions set off waves of earth, and in the blink of an eye, they covered Camille Victoria’s sight from a distance. Before she could find cover, carpet bombing swept over her position, covering the entire battle line.

Camille Victoria was blown to pieces, and the world plunged into darkness.

…

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself still in the ruins, the heavy leaden clouds dyed warm yellow by the setting sun, making her realize that it was already evening.

She used her gun to prop herself up and looked around, just in time to see an enemy soldier behind her standing up straight as well.

She subconsciously raised her gun at the enemy, but he raised his gun even faster! In that moment, she thought she was done for, but her opponent did not fire immediately.

This made Camille Victoria hesitate for a moment too, not pulling the trigger right away.

For a moment, they both held their guns, aiming at each other, yet neither fired.

Camille Victoria was a little confused, but soon she found that the environment around her was strangely familiar: It seemed to be the same place where she first entered the game.

It was also the location of the initial defense line.

‘So,’ Camille Victoria suddenly realized—

After countless deaths, both sides had repeatedly fought back and forth in this less than one hundred meters’ distance, breaking through defense lines, then reclaiming them; rushing into each other’s lines, only to be pushed back by even stronger firepower…

Finally, in the middle of the defense line, the soldiers fought a bloody battle all day long.

In this less than one hundred meters area, which adds up to less than two soccer fields, both sides had no idea how many lives were lost!

But in the end… everything returned to the beginning.

So, what was the meaning of all this?

At this moment, the thick clouds that had covered the sky all day finally broke, and the warm yellow sunlight of the setting sun shone on this small piece of land.

Camille Victoria looked at the young face on the other side and sighed, lowering her gun.

The young soldier on the other side also relaxed and lowered his gun.

This action seemed to trigger something, and a familiar voice sounded in Camille Victoria’s ears—

‘They dare to push forward, and we will push back.’

‘Every once in a while, we push forward, push forward, and push forward again! Until a ray of dawn appears in the clouds and illuminates a world beyond war.’

…

Camille Victoria suddenly realized, wasn’t this the line from the battlefield promotional material?

And looking around, this place was so familiar!

Not only because she had been here several times already, but also because: when she first watched the trailer, the scene of the two soldiers confronting each other at the end of the trailer was right here!

“So, just now, the soldier on the other side and I recreated the end scene of the trailer?”

Camille Victoria exclaimed, “That’s amazing!”

After the exclamation, her consciousness left the battlefield and saw the promotional material again, but this time—

Immersive!