1: Chapter 001 Anti-War Games

Inside a dimly lit rental apartment, Zhou Yang suddenly opened his eyes. Countless chaotic memories flooded into his mind.

"A parallel world, an Anti-War Competition?" Once he regained his senses, he realized that he had transmigrated.

Wasn't he just up all night coding? How did he transmigrate for no reason? He didn't die from overwork, did he?

Just as he was still in shock, a noisy ringtone suddenly rang out. He hurriedly picked up his phone from the nightstand beside him.

It was a call from someone saved as Sister Yang. Seeing the contact name, he suddenly remembered who it was. This was the wealthy woman who invested in him, Yang Ruoxue.

He quickly answered the phone. A pleasant, melodious female voice came through, though it carried a somewhat fierce tone.

"Zhou Yang, where the hell have you been? Why did it take so long to answer the phone? Where is the game you were making? You promised to show it to me today. The competition starts in half a month, why isn't your game finished yet?"

Hearing the woman's words, a flood of memories immediately surfaced in Zhou Yang's mind. The Anti-War Competition game she mentioned was a project his predecessor had entered.

In this world, technology is highly advanced. Since the Industrial Revolution, there hasn't been a major war for over three hundred years. Most conflicts have been localized. Even these local wars were just minor scuffles, and hardly anyone died in any given battle.

Aside from the lack of major wars, technological development in this world has been very smooth. They have now entered the interstellar era and begun interstellar exploration. Nations are all competing fiercely in space.

However, because there hasn't been a war for so long, social classes in countries around the world have long since solidified. Consequently, a significant number of war enthusiasts have emerged. They want to use war to rewrite their destinies and achieve upward social mobility.

There are many such war enthusiasts in Huaxia as well. Therefore, to prevent ordinary people from being incited, the Huaxia authorities specifically collaborated with several neighboring countries and major world powers to host an Anti-War Competition.

Whether it is games, music, movies, or literature, as long as it is an anti-war theme, it can be entered into the competition. The first-place winner in each category receives a prize of 100 million Huaxia coins and a National Anti-War Medal of Honor.

For his predecessor, the money didn't matter; what was important was that first place in the competition would garner nationwide attention. With such massive traffic and attention, an ordinary person like his predecessor could achieve upward social mobility if they won first place. Even if they couldn't get first, making it into the top ten would be enough.

As a game developer, his predecessor had decisively entered the competition. The category he chose was naturally games. He even relied on his own looks to attract an investor. However, now the investor was here to urge him about the game.

Zhou Yang learned from his memories that the predecessor's game was currently just an empty shell; the content was superficial and hollow, entirely just piling up assets for the sake of it. This was even with the premise that technology in this world is highly advanced, where ordinary people can use AI technology to create music, movies, and games at will.

Yet his predecessor still managed to make it into a pile of shit. He called himself a game developer, but his actual production skills were worrying. Thinking of this, he felt a bit of a headache.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the phone, a beautiful woman with hair reaching her waist, skin as white as snow, and looking only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, had waited for a long time without receiving a reply from Zhou Yang. Her dark eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her face showed a hint of impatience.

She felt that she had truly been blind back then; how could she have believed Zhou Yang's nonsense? She had actually believed he could make a good game. As it turned out, not only could he not make a good game, he probably couldn't even make a game at all.

"Zhou Yang, why aren't you saying anything? Don't tell me you haven't made any progress in these two weeks?"

On the other side, Zhou Yang felt extremely awkward. It was clearly his predecessor who had caused the trouble, so why was he the one feeling awkward?

"Sister Yang, there is progress. I guarantee that I will definitely be able to finish it before the competition." Zhou Yang had no choice but to say this. He had to.

Because Yang Ruoxue had invested 30 million in him. She was Zhou Yang's big financial backer, and he had shamelessly begged for the investment to secure these funds. He had even sworn that he would definitely be able to make a good game.

However, now those 30 million had been mostly spent by his predecessor. Less than 5 million in funds remained, but the game wasn't even 10% complete. If Yang Ruoxue found out about this, Zhou Yang felt she would be so angry she'd faint.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yang couldn't help but curse his predecessor in his heart for not being a good person. Scamming a wealthy woman was one thing, but having no talent and then dragging him into this mess was another.

"Progress, what progress? Show me then. You say this every time, but every time you haven't shown me anything." "From the time of the investment until now, apart from the initial preliminary content you showed me, I still don't know what stage your game is at."

"Sigh, I will give you one last chance. If you can't produce it by then, I'll have no choice but to drag you in with me." After sighing, Yang Ruoxue hung up the phone.

It was no wonder Yang Ruoxue was anxious. With the way Zhou Yang was handling things, any other investor would have withdrawn their funding long ago. Hearing this, Zhou Yang felt miserable and couldn't say a word.

Just then, with a 'ding' sound. [Ding, host detected transmigrating to a parallel world. Entertainment System binding in progress.]

Holy crap? A system? Zhou Yang was stunned for a moment, then filled with surprise. This system had arrived just in time. Novels truly don't deceive me.

[Entertainment System successfully bound, now automatically connected to the current world.] [Detected that the host has entered the Huaxia Anti-War Competition, providing relevant assistance to the host.] [Automatically loaded memories of entertainment works from the previous life for the host; the host can choose any work from the previous life's entertainment catalog to produce.]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the Newbie Gift Pack, a complete one-stop game development service.] [The system provides the following content options for the host to produce: 1. The Normandy Landings, the turning point of the Western Front in WWII. 2. The Battle of Stalingrad, the most brutal battle with the highest casualties on the Eastern Front. 3. The Battle of Okinawa, the final battle of the Pacific Theater, the prelude to the nuclear bombing. 4. The Battle of Shanghai, the eastern meat grinder, the first clash between China and Japan, the war of resistance with the whole country united as one.]

Seeing these four options, Zhou Yang felt a surge of excitement; he hadn't expected this system to be so reliable. It provided a full, one-stop service right away. His gaze swept over these options, and finally rested on the fourth one, the Battle of Shanghai.

Because this battle was the one that left the deepest impression on him. This battle was the first nationwide war of unity since the warlord era. This period shattered the Japanese Invaders' delusional dream of conquering Huaxia in three months.

As a person of Huaxia, the fourteen-year War of Resistance cannot be forgotten. Even though he had come to this parallel world, he could not forget that century of humiliation. Since it was an anti-war game, without experiencing the cruelty of war, how could one know the value of peace?

But the Huaxia of this world had not experienced these things. Since the Industrial Revolution, the Ming Dynasty had not been replaced by the Qing Dynasty. Instead, it continued to develop into the modern era, where extreme domestic institutional conflicts prompted reforms by aspiring patriots. Through various coincidences, the Huaxia of this world still ended up on the same path as his previous life.

The only difference was that there had been no large-scale wars, though there had been no shortage of bloody incidents. After thinking about it, Zhou Yang finally chose the fourth one. "I choose the fourth one."

[Selection successful, game production content for the Battle of Shanghai has been issued.] At this moment, Zhou Yang felt countless game-related memories flooding into his mind.