Chapter 11: “Federation Showdown”

Two Earth months after the launch of “Love and the Starry Sky,” the first season of the Earth Entertainment Alliance Association’s “National Treasure Appreciation” finally made its appearance before the public eye.

Originally, this program was supposed to take even longer to materialize. The selection of artists had become a battlefield where managers from every major agency wielded their influence and connections to the fullest; the choice of national treasures, the order in which artists would appear—no one was willing to yield. To call it a bloodbath would not be an exaggeration.

Fortunately, Youjian Entertainment had settled on its participants early on: the first episode would feature the Interstellar Girls’ Group, and the final episode would be Eastern Myth, neatly claiming both the opening and the finale, thus sparing themselves the energy of endless wrangling.

Had it not been for the sudden emergence of “Love and the Starry Sky,” which spurred the Earth Entertainment Alliance Association to take a hardline stance, finalize the participants, and then determine the order of appearance by drawing lots, the process might have dragged on for another two Earth months.

Having witnessed the entire process, Yuhui recorded everything with great interest and shared it with Wordweaver Star Anchor, making it a delightful topic for idle conversation.

·

Yuhui had devoted a great deal of effort to “National Treasure Appreciation.” She genuinely loved these artifacts that carried the weight of the past. Beyond translating the program into Interstellar Common, she also painstakingly searched for items from other star systems that resembled the featured relics, providing additional information from an alien perspective and further deepening the program’s content.

Youjian Entertainment’s art team contributed by providing holographic animation technology, rendering the entire stage in the style of traditional Chinese painting, allowing the audience to better immerse themselves in the era to which the artifacts belonged.

After the first episode of “National Treasure Appreciation” aired, it sparked a new wave of Earth culture throughout the Interstellar Federation, standing alongside the now-concluded second season of “Journey to the West” as the twin pillars of Earth’s cultural exports.

The Earth Entertainment Alliance Association had thus established a new cultural benchmark.

·

On October 25th, 5207 Earth time, Youjian Entertainment updated its official homepage.

This timing reminded everyone of four years ago, when, on this very same date, the first season of the “Journey to the West” animation had burst onto the scene, stunning the entire Interstellar Federation.

Was Youjian Entertainment about to reenact history once more?

With this question in mind, everyone clicked open the newly updated homepage.

·

It was a sun-drenched afternoon. A group of young people, chatting and laughing, walked into an internet café and noticed a promotional poster on the wall behind the manager’s desk.

“‘Federation Showdown’? Is this a new game?”

Hearing the question, the café manager smiled and replied, “This is a new MOBA game from Youjian Entertainment. You guys should give it a try.”

“Us? We can play together?”

“Yes, there are five of you—just enough to form a team.” The manager handed an internet access card to the young man in front of him. “Every computer here has the game installed, and we’ve upgraded all the equipment. Give it a shot, you won’t regret it.”

“Sounds interesting. Shall we try it?”

The suggestion met with unanimous approval. The café wasn’t crowded yet, so they chose a row of five seats, inserted their internet cards, and, after reaching the desktop, saw the “Federation Showdown” game icon.

“The manager wasn’t lying—the equipment really is upgraded. These are 5090s!”

No one rushed to start the game. Instead, they checked out the hardware first.

“They even changed the keyboards. This mechanical keyboard feels incredibly smooth!”

“The mouse too—DPI adjustable. Not bad, pretty professional!”

“Let’s get into the game and try it out. I can’t wait any longer!”

·

The cursor on the monitor selected the “Federation Showdown” icon. With two crisp clicks, the screen went black for a few seconds before lighting up again.

First appeared the Youjian Entertainment logo, followed by the bold characters for “Federation Showdown,” occupying nearly half the top of the screen. In the center was the original artwork for the game’s characters, and below, a blue loading bar.

Once the loading bar reached the end, the login screen appeared.

Since it was their first time logging in, they had to create their characters.

The five of them carefully read through the character descriptions in the game and quickly settled on their roles.

“I’ll go top lane, Second’s the jungler, Third’s mid, Fourth supports, Fifth’s the marksman.”

“OK/Got it/Sure.”

The characters were created in no time, and together they entered the game.

At first, their operations were a bit clumsy, but after a few rounds, the young men grew increasingly skilled. Their win rate soared, and their team quickly became the top-ranked squad in the region.

After claiming the crown, the joy of victory had them high-fiving each other, a scene that caught the eye of the café owner, who came over to ask if they were interested in competing.

At the owner’s encouragement, the young men decided to give it a try.

It was a decision that would change their lives forever.

·

Thanks to their seamless teamwork and genuine skill, this grassroots team soon attracted the attention of major clubs. After a regional tournament, all of them signed on to become professional players.

The life of a professional esports player was monotonous: endless high-intensity practice, scrims, game reviews, and the occasional livestream—this was their entire world.

Yet the young men never gave up. Gritting their teeth, they persevered. Some suffered various shoulder and wrist injuries from the long hours of practice. But none of them ever quit, because the world championship trophy was the dream that burned in their hearts.

At last, on the world stage, as golden confetti rained down, these dream-chasing youths held the trophy they had won, tears streaming down their faces.

And only then did the viewers realize that their own faces were streaked with tears as well.

·

Every major release from Youjian Entertainment was a baptism of Earth’s culture for the Interstellar Federation.

“Federation Showdown” was no exception.

What it presented was an era that had already been forgotten. In that era, there was no StarNet, no personal terminals, no AI—only the most direct human-to-human interaction.

It awakened Earthlings’ nostalgia for the past, and allowed aliens to gain a deeper understanding of one small segment in the vast history of Earth, stretching back millions of years.

This was the reality preserved in Feng Jingyu’s memory, her longing for the past, and the wellspring of her deepest motivation.

The world as it was now was far too dull for her; she longed for a world brimming with excitement. How to make this world interesting—that was her current endeavor.

So she designed “Federation Showdown” as a game within a holographic world, simulating the experience of playing with keyboard and mouse.

When players entered “Federation Showdown,” they first arrived in a life-like scene set within the holographic game. This setting could be at home, in an internet café, or in a team’s training room.

Each scene even had different background sounds for different times of day.

At home, one could hear the laughter of children downstairs, the neighbor’s television, the sounds of cooking—these vividly domestic details.

In the internet café, there were the intermittent requests to the manager for instant noodles, cigarettes, or more time; when a player pulled off a spectacular move, a crowd might gather behind, exclaiming, “Damn!” or “Is this guy even human?”—praise of that sort.

The training room was a quiet environment, with only the sound of teammates’ keyboards. If one wanted other background sounds, selecting the livestream period would let them hear teammates interacting with fans in the stream. Feng Jingyu had even asked voice actors to record a wealth of amusing content.

For example, teammates repeatedly slipping and injuring their hands in the bathroom, or one male teammate confessing to another (?), or the captain of the neighboring team buying back a former teammate as soon as he returned from abroad—little stories like these.

In each of these scenes, players had their own computer. To play the game, they had to learn to use it—only then could they truly begin.

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If keyboard and mouse controls were presented directly to aliens, they would surely be baffled and unable to comprehend why anyone would use such an ancient method to play a game. No, this wasn’t “playing” a game—the game was “playing” them.

But after seeing the promotional video produced by Youjian Entertainment, and experiencing these uniquely Earthly life scenes, the alien public naturally accepted keyboard and mouse controls. They even worked hard to level up, upgrading their in-game peripherals to achieve the best possible gaming experience.

They quickly adapted to the background sounds in their ears; some even made a point of listening to all the training room’s livestream gossip, compiling it and posting it on the StarNet, attracting a considerable fanbase.

This unique holographic game, “Federation Showdown,” brought the alien public not just a game, but an entirely new cultural experience.

This was Youjian Entertainment’s own, most formidable strategy.