133: Chapter 133 Crisis Resolved

[Excerpt of Top Community Comments]

["otherworld" is going to die.]

[They were bragging about AI technology before, but look at this mess they made.]

[Is this the strongest masterpiece in the universe?]

[They probably turned on AI automation, and the operations team couldn't fix the bugs in time.]

[If "otherworld" dies, what will everyone play?]

[Gold prices have plummeted! But what's the point?]

[This is the last chance, brothers. I'm out.]

[What can you do if the World Tree destroys "otherworld"? Besides complaining, what else can you do?]

Contrary to Fu Hao's expectations, most players were no longer blaming him, turning their anger toward the operations team's inaction instead, and merely watching the sudden "doomsday" of "otherworld" with sorrowful eyes.

Although the global map of "otherworld" was turning into a barren wasteland, the game service had not yet terminated—however, the rise and fall of an online RPG highly depends on player atmosphere: even if the gameplay remains unchanged, the experience brought by a "masterpiece played by everyone" and a "trash game everyone avoids" is vastly different.

Thanks to the originally strong market share and reputation of "otherworld," most players could still joke about the "trash game theory" in the first few days—"A single Summoned Beast ruining the whole game? That's more ridiculous than predicting Earth being destroyed by a meteorite."

But when the barren wasteland eroded into the human territory (the main area of player activity), the situation changed drastically: like animals that can sense earthquakes earlier than humans, merchant players were the first to smell the scent of doomsday, starting to dump Fu Hao-related items, triggering panic selling, and the "doomsday theory" instantly swept through all players.

Public opinion might be manipulated, but economic indicators do not lie.

When gold prices and item prices plummeted due to panic selling, the players who had once treated the "trash game theory" as a joke finally felt the crisis of "otherworld."

This chaos was not limited to players—"otherworld" was the pillar of the Red Nation's gaming industry, and looking globally, its influence was unprecedented in gaming history.

High influence meant huge amounts of capital revolved around it: shareholders and politicians worried about the domestic economy kept their eyes on the "World Tree Incident," pressuring the operations team and forcing them to intervene.

But the operations team was unable to solve the problem directly—the only one with the authority to intervene in the game was the AI "The Creator" responsible for managing the otherworld, and the only one who could drive The Creator was its creator, "Department Head Chen Guyun."

"Department Head! Please reconsider! If we don't clear the World Tree, 'otherworld' will really die!"

"We also know that the 'non-intervention principle' is the primary guideline, but surely that's better than watching the game be destroyed, right?"

"Are you really going to watch 'otherworld' go to ruin with your own eyes?"

The operations and development teams' love for "otherworld" was no less than that of ordinary players; even without external pressure, they would have desperately tried to persuade Department Head Chen Guyun to clear the World Tree.

But no matter how earnest they were, Department Head Chen Guyun remained firmly in refusal:

"'otherworld' will not die. Even if it really does, I will not intervene."

Department Head Chen Guyun's mouth twitched, but he tried hard to maintain a serious expression, acting out the role of a "principled stubborn person"—he believed the protagonist to solve this matter should be the person involved.

After the operations team confronted Department Head Chen Guyun for two hours, a special notification sounded simultaneously for him and several other operators:

['Fu Hao' channel has started a livestream.]

Seeing the notification, Department Head Chen Guyun smiled: "It's here."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll know once you watch."

After saying this, Department Head Chen Guyun returned to the development room, and the automatically locked door left the operations team only able to knock in vain: "Department Head! Please reconsider..."

"Wait! Look at Fu Hao's livestream title!"

An operator read the livestream title aloud: "Crisis Resolved?"

"My Summoned Beast caused a huge disaster, I am very sorry! Everyone!"

Fu Hao bowed deeply as soon as the stream started.

Although it was unintentional, the incident did originate from him, so he had to apologize formally.

"I, I am also sorry!"

Yongyuan, who was observing the situation from the side, also followed along and bowed—he didn't actually feel much guilt, but inexplicably felt that he had to bow.

Perhaps because the beautiful and mysterious female elf also bowed, the audience's reaction was milder than expected—or to be more precise, everyone had already passed the anger stage and entered a "giving up" stage:

- "It wasn't intentional, why are you scolding him!"

- "People who scold Fu Hao must have something wrong with them!"

- "What does 'Resolved' mean?"

- "Did Hao ask the operations team?"

- "Isn't Fu Hao actually the biggest victim? Hahaha"

Of course, among the hundreds of thousands of viewers, there were inevitably trolls, but there were so many chat messages that the scolding was quickly drowned out.

Since the tipping function was turned off, there was no need to worry about tips inciting conflict.

Fu Hao originally wanted to explain the ins and outs to the audience (or more accurately, to his old fans), but ultimately decided to solve the World Tree problem first: "As the title says, I will take responsibility for what I have caused."

He immediately activated the "Elf King Stabilization Spell" in collaboration with 100 elves—before leaving Mei's nest, he had already had the elves sign a blood pact, so there was no need to worry about refusal, and the stabilization work proceeded smoothly.

Fu Hao originally thought it would take at least a day, but it was unexpectedly completed within a minute:

[Exited 'Barren Wasteland' area.]

[All negative status effects caused by 'Barren Wasteland' have been removed.]

"Phew..."

Having finally completed the last step, Fu Hao let out a long sigh of relief, while the viewers who previously concluded that "otherworld" was doomed were left only in shock:

- "What the f*ck?! Is that it?"

- "My negative status effects are gone too."

- "The color of the land changed back? What's going on?"

Shortly after, all viewers confirmed that the catastrophe of "otherworld" had been completely resolved:

- "I was ready to quit the game, but it turned out to be nothing, hahaha."

- "Even the politicians were panicking like crazy, and it was just this?"

- "Those idiots who panic-sold are hilarious."

- "Holy crap! Now is a good time to buy the dip on gold prices, hurry up!"

Watching the audience's reaction, Fu Hao finally felt at ease and made a joke for the first time since the broadcast started: "That was just a small interlude, haha."

After finishing the livestream where he apologized and solved the World Tree problem, Fu Hao closely monitored the community and news reactions—although the stream went well, other platforms might have different attitudes.

But his worries were superfluous: all media, including the official community, were cheering that "otherworld" had escaped disaster, overflowing with a celebratory atmosphere, and the most important economic indicators were also recovering rapidly—although not fully restored, at this rate, it would soon warm up.

"That's great."

Economic indicators are easy to fall but hard to rise; Fu Hao wasn't too worried about the recovery of player sentiment, but was somewhat worried about the recovery of the indicators.

But after the World Tree problem was solved, the indicators recovered at such a speed that it showed there was no need to worry.

"Now only my personal problem remains."

After stabilizing the World Tree, Fu Hao immediately tried to unsummon the World Tree, but failed:

['World Tree' refuses to be dismissed.]

"Sigh..."

Although the World Tree was stabilized, Fu Hao wanted to completely put it into his Summoned Beast slot—once successfully stored, he wouldn't let it out again.

Of course, storing it wouldn't restore the Lepis Territory that had been swallowed by the World Tree, but leaving it alone and not knowing when it would go berserk again meant it had to be stored.

Besides the psychological unease, there was also a practical need: only by storing the World Tree could he freely use the other Super-Rank Summoned Beast, "Black Dragon Dragon King".

Although the World Tree was a Super-Rank, it only brought losses and was of no help—although he accidentally obtained many hidden items when resolving the crisis, this was not the World Tree's credit.

However, all of this was Fu Hao's misunderstanding: the World Tree had absorbed the vitality of the entire human territory to grow; the stabilization operation did not make it shrink, but stopped its growth and shared its vitality with the land.

If he forcibly uprooted it now, the human territory would once again become a barren wasteland.

[Summoned Beast 'World Tree' has started to bear 'Elf Fruit'.]

[After the 'Elf Fruit' fully matures, a Mythical Rank elf will be born, and this elf will belong to the Summoned Beast.]