Chapter One: System, Activate!

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Huaguo, Maodou Game Company, President’s Office.

Gu Meng awoke from a dreamlike state.

Opening his eyes, he looked around, still unable to believe it.

He thought to himself, “No way... getting hit by that phantom dump truck really can cause a crossover!”

In his original world, Gu Meng was just an ordinary corporate slave.

After unfortunately developing hemorrhoids, he took advantage of a day off to seek treatment from the renowned Dr. Du.

Unexpectedly, on the way, a dump truck speeding abnormally suddenly “whammed” into him, sending him flying.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself here.

From the residual information in this body sharing his name, this world was no longer the original one, but many things were largely similar, belonging to the realm of parallel worlds.

Earth was still called Earth, but China had become Huaguo; all city names had changed, yet the major historical events had almost identical progressions.

The biggest difference was that people in this world were even more passionate about games, obsessed with virtual worlds, so the gaming industry had gradually reached a golden age over the past decade, completely dominating humanity’s spiritual realm.

Perhaps in many years to come, civilization might advance along the path of virtual reality and mechanical transcendence.

But those were not Gu Meng’s concerns. Those matters were too distant, and if the sky fell, there would be taller people to watch over it.

As a mundane crossover, his primary concern was the survival of this Maodou Game Company!

Because he was the tall one in charge here—the president.

Though he hadn’t yet sorted through all memories, he still vividly recalled that this company was on the brink of bankruptcy.

“President Gu, you’re finally awake. There are still many formalities that require your personal attention.”

A gentle yet somewhat “clingy” voice came from beside him.

Gu Meng looked up. So striking!

There was a faint melancholy in the brows, yet an elegant softness like willow leaves; the mouth was unseen, the skin like delicate porcelain, flawless and fair with a healthy flush. She wore a simple, neat white shirt with sleeves slightly rolled up, a graceful figure embodying both charm and generosity.

The key was the generosity—only the upper half of her face was visible. What was blocking his eyes?

Ah, that was good!

Recalling... it was the beautiful secretary Wu Mengyou, the late father’s assistant.

Tsk, it seemed father and son shared the same aesthetic.

Previously, the former Gu Meng suspected she harbored ambitions to become a stepmother...

The old scoundrel Laodeng’s youthful escapades should have long ended; he wondered if Laodeng had any improper relations with her.

Oh right, the old self was an orphan, but this world’s Gu Meng actually had a father—a second-generation heir.

His father, Gu Ritian, was the founder and former president of this very Maodou Game Company.

Fortunately, before the crossover, his father had died crushed by a dump truck; otherwise, it would’ve been a bit hard to get used to.

It was unclear whether it was a real assassin sent by a business rival or just an accident, but in any case, this company was now up to him, the young President Gu, to take over.

“Mm, I understand.”

Gu Meng’s mind was a whirlwind, yet his expression remained calm as he cooperated with Wu Mengyou, handling a jumble of trivial matters he had just inherited.

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Of course, before signing anything, he had to concentrate; otherwise, he might stumble and fall into the gutter.

During the work, the memories of this parallel world counterpart gradually poured out without reservation.

Gu Meng began to piece everything together.

...

Maodou Game Company was formerly called Maodou Media, a small to medium-sized entertainment company built single-handedly by the late Laodeng Gu Ritian.

Over the years, they had diligently produced various risqué online films, boasting numerous female internet celebrities and minor stars under their banner, with development once thriving.

But as the parallel world’s film industry gradually declined and online film regulations tightened, gaming rose to dominate the entire entertainment sector.

Laodeng decisively pivoted, continuing to produce borderline short videos while switching tracks to establish Maodou Game Company.

In gaming, leveraging past experience and strengths, they created romantic real-life interactive movie games.

Also of the risqué variety.

For a time, thanks to early transition and the advantage of female stars, Maodou thrived in the niche of real-life interactive movie games with well-received titles like “Damn, Surrounded by Married Women” and “Teachers, Please Don’t Distract My Studies.”

They made quite a splash in the gaming world.

But that was before.

As other professional competitors entered this already niche real-life movie game track in recent years, Maodou’s games lost their competitive edge.

With the film industry’s complete decline, major film companies turned to gaming for survival, and first- and second-tier stars began to “descend.”

From filming movies to TV dramas, to livestream selling, to movie games—making money without shame.

Industry peers tacitly sabotaged Maodou, the once-successful trailblazer now losing value. Troll armies attacked them with claims of “exploiting women, promoting unhealthy trends,” labeling them “the root of all evil in celebrity borderline content.”

Others poached their people and stirred up scandals from Maodou Media’s past.

Subsequent releases—“Director’s ‘Happy’ Life,” “Early Retirement with Billions,” “Charming Hospital,” “The Super Star’s Garden”—sold increasingly poorly, criticized for lack of innovation.

Desperation led Gu Ritian’s last ambitious projects to be disasters.

“Running a Special Restaurant in Ancient Times,” “The Never-Setting Sun’s Strange Desires,” and “Rebirth: The Beauty’s Single Choice” were all high-budget, carefully crafted movie games that lost huge sums consecutively.

The first two were taken down permanently due to violations after complaints, with forced refunds for all sold copies.

No arguments—these were indeed Maodou’s problems.

Without any powerful backing, and increasingly crossing lines under scrutiny, failure was inevitable.

The last, “Single Choice,” was a pivot to pure love.

Though initially praised by casual players for its lavish production and storyline, false advertising outraged Maodou’s loyal old players.

It ignited a scandal, went viral on Weibo, and on the second day of release, it was locked in a fierce battle with “Three Kingdoms Fight” atop the Forbidden City’s summit.

The upheaval was earth-shattering.

Competitors seized the opportunity to revive old rhetoric about “objectification,” causing both pure love and harem players to distrust the company.

Offending both sides, game sales naturally plummeted.

After a series of blows, Maodou Game, once a rising star, was now gasping for breath.

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If Maodou had only lost its leading position in the movie game field and returned to a small workshop’s normal niche, it might have survived on its previous assets.

But after these three massive losses, whether it could survive was uncertain.

At this critical juncture, the stubborn Gu Ritian decided to bet everything, abandoning the increasingly fierce real-life movie game track.

With their last funds, they created a new romance game—“Pure Love Warrior Simulator.”

The late Gu Ritian never did things halfway; because game production costs had soared, his first non-real-life game also suffered heavy losses. Even at the scheduled release, it was only a half-finished product.

Gu Meng tried the game demo—poorly modeled, bizarre special moves.

The male and female leads’ close embrace became a fusion; kissing turned into a headshot kill.

Frequent clipping, scant content and gameplay, completely inconsistent with early promotional claims of simulating reality.

Selling this would only end in disaster. Meanwhile, funds were nearly exhausted.

The bank was about to demand repayment, and salaries still needed to be paid.

“...If we don’t delay, we can only release an early access version, but with this quality, even in this parallel world, it won’t pass muster.”

Gu Meng felt a headache coming on. No, this mess couldn’t be sustained.

Should he just take the last marketing budget and flee to the US?

At that moment, the headache worsened, and a semi-transparent panel appeared before his eyes.

Lines of text kept appearing...

[Dimensional Game System activated!]
[Novice mission: Own a game company]
[Searching... Novice mission completed]
[Rewards are being bound to the host...]
[Host is the great Mr. Gu Meng, your rapid progress impresses me]
[Basic rewards bound to the host; extra reward: novice grand gift, free one-time use of synthesis optimization function to develop a game]
[New mission issued: Release a game co-developed by the system and turn a profit]
[Success reward: Bronze Chest x1]
[Failure will result in system self-destruction]
...

Gu Meng’s eyes widened, then he came back to his senses.

After all, having crossed over, having a system was only natural.

Since that was the case, he decided not to run away for now.