February 12th, the third day of the Lunar New Year.
On Rabbit Tail Livestream, in Zhang Yan’s streaming room.
“Huh? Why are you all asking me to play ‘Bullet Mark 2’?”
“I’ve already said I don’t play FPS games, and I’m a ‘Safe and Civilized Driving’ streamer—I won’t easily defect!”
Zhang Yan felt helpless seeing all the comments urging her to play “Bullet Mark 2.”
“Bullet Mark 2” had been extremely popular recently, dominating across the entire internet. Many large streamers had viewers flooding their chats, asking them to try it out.
Some smaller streamers, seeing “Bullet Mark 2” as an opportunity to explode in popularity, had already completely shifted their streaming focus to it. While those bigger streamers hadn’t acted rashly, they were observing the situation, preparing to allocate some less prime time slots to try playing and streaming it.
The streamers had keen instincts and could tell that “Bullet Mark 2” was actually a game very suitable for streaming.
On one hand, “Bullet Mark 2” had excellent pacing, with moderate intensity and alternating periods of development and combat, allowing streamers time to banter with viewers and create entertainment; on the other hand, “Bullet Mark 2” had rich game mechanics with an extremely high skill ceiling. Whether in survival mode or classic mode, whether playing as a lone wolf or as a commander, players could showcase their skills effectively.
Without a doubt, it would become another hit game on streaming platforms after GOG.
But Zhang Yan ignored the chat’s requests and, after a brief explanation, continued with today’s driving practice.
Although Zhang Yan wasn’t considered a major streamer yet, she had a clear mind and knew exactly where her core audience was.
Often, the bigger streamers were more prone to anxiety, and despite knowing their core audience, they still worried about missing trends. So when new games came out, they would dive in headfirst, only to end up losing their original audience.
After some time, when the new game’s popularity waned and they tried to return to streaming their previous games, viewers would no longer be interested.
Zhang Yan didn’t have such concerns. She had always been a content small streamer who didn’t pursue viewership and popularity too much.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have persisted in practicing the boring track mode during periods of low popularity.
“Hm? At two o’clock this afternoon, Shenhua and Stefer Automotive will have a joint press conference?”
“Shenhua? Stefer?”
These two brand names activated certain memories for Zhang Yan.
Could it be related to the new car called K1 in “Safe and Civilized Driving”?
Until now, there had been significant controversy online about this car, mainly focused on its safe driving performance.
The safety performance was so strong that players thought Tenda had taken money from Stefer to forcefully advertise.
But many people felt the matter was still debatable, as there were many suspicious details. For instance: Why was it named K1? Why use a car model that didn’t exist in reality? Tenda positioned “Safe and Civilized Driving” as “simulating real driving,” so why would they introduce such an advanced level of autonomous driving that contradicted their own positioning?
Past experience told players that projects with suspicious elements from Tenda were often foreshadowing, with more to come!
For rational observers, the best choice at this moment was to avoid rushing to question, let the situation develop further, and patiently wait for any potential reversals.
But unfortunately, rational people were still the minority, and most people found it hard to hold back.
That’s why Tenda’s approach worked time and again because most people weren’t fighting against Tenda but against the weaknesses of human nature.
Moreover, even without connecting to the K1 model in “Safe and Civilized Driving,” the brand names Shenhua and Stefer together were enough to catch attention.
Shenhua, as a major domestic phone and smart hardware brand, was at the top level in software development, synonymous with rigor and stability. Stefer Automotive’s quality was also renowned, with good technological accumulation in the field of new energy vehicles.
What else could these two companies release at a joint conference? It had to be a new car!
Surely they wouldn’t release a Stefer-branded phone? That would be insane!
So, many people couldn’t help but make a bold guess.
Could it be… they were about to release the K1 model from “Safe and Civilized Driving”?
But this idea seemed far-fetched and hard to believe. Since when did games release new products before reality? And that K1’s autonomous driving technology seemed too incredible, not something that could be achieved in reality.
In any case, as soon as this news came out, it immediately attracted the attention of people who had nothing better to do during the Spring Festival holiday!
…
The press conference was scheduled for 2 PM rather than evening, which was a bit odd.
After all, an evening conference would obviously generate more buzz.
This time, Lin Yu personally hosted the conference, just like when she had previously released Shenhua’s new phone, except that the content changed from phones to cars.
The livestream was already flooded with a large number of viewers. Some were expecting to see what new product Shenhua and Stefer would bring, while others simply wanted to see if “Safe and Civilized Driving” was engaging in false advertising, and whether this autonomous driving technology was really as impressive as the game claimed!
If not, then “Safe and Civilized Driving” would deserve criticism!
Lin Yu had hosted many conferences and controlled the pace perfectly. The audience followed her explanation, gradually deepening their understanding of this new car.
Then everyone realized: isn’t this just the new K1 car from “Safe and Civilized Driving”?
The only difference was that Lin Yu spent some time introducing the new brand “JiFeng” (Extreme Edge), explaining the deeper concept behind the name and the meaning of the logo.
“Safe and Civilized Driving” deliberately didn’t mention the “JiFeng” brand name, probably to prevent spoilers and leave the explanation for the conference.
Next came the car’s performance, safety features, and so on.
As Lin Yu’s explanation went deeper, the comments began to gradually change.
The observers’ skepticism started to shift from the game “Safe and Civilized Driving” to Shenhua and Stefer Automotive.
At the beginning, many critics came to watch the conference with the mindset of seeing “Safe and Civilized Driving” get embarrassed.
As long as the real K1 wasn’t as impressive as in the game, it would essentially confirm that the K1 in “Safe and Civilized Driving” was unrealistic and contradicted itself!
But as Lin Yu continued her introduction, viewers found that many parameters matched those in the game!
Such as the car’s acceleration performance, handling, safety, and so on.
Especially the autonomous driving technology!
In the climax of the conference, Lin Yu emphasized the two major advantages of this JiFeng K1: the Blade Battery and the autonomous driving technology!
These two points immediately excited the watching audience. Some were excited about the new technology, while others were excited thinking they had caught them in the act of exaggeration!
While Lin Yu was still introducing the basic principles and core parameters of these two new technologies, the comments section had already erupted into fierce debate!
“So it’s actually real in ‘Safe and Civilized Driving’? Looks like we wronged Shangyang Games—they just made the vehicles in the game according to the parameters provided by the manufacturer!”
“Wait, doesn’t Shangyang Games verify anything? Shenhua has always exaggerated. Just because they say it’s L4 level autonomous driving, it is? Wouldn’t they verify that?”
“There’s no L4 or L3.5, those are just terms thrown around by netizens. The game always said it was L2.”
“The game said it was ‘L2 within the conditions allowed by laws and regulations,’ but the problem is that current laws only allow L2. Isn’t that implying the real level far exceeds L2?”
“I don’t think this is Shangyang Games’ fault. It must have been Shenhua and Stefer Automotive who demanded it.”
“And everyone should note that autonomous driving in reality is different from in the game. In the game, the entire city’s vehicle operation is calculated by the system, so it’s easy to create L5 level accident-free autonomous driving. It would even be difficult to lower the autonomous driving level. But reality is completely different.”
“Right, maybe the game had no choice but to make this level of autonomous driving, it was an unintentional error.”
“Anyway, I don’t believe reality can achieve this level. Even if Shangyang Games can escape false advertising accusations, they can’t escape scrutiny for inadequate review!”
As the parameters of the JiFeng K1 were introduced in more detail, the audience’s focus gradually shifted.
But those who had previously accused Shangyang Games of false advertising still weren’t completely convinced, because they absolutely couldn’t believe that the JiFeng K1’s autonomous driving technology could reach the level shown in the game!
But then, after Lin Yu finished introducing the principles and parameters of the Blade Battery and autonomous driving technology, the conference entered its most crucial segment.
“Next, we will conduct two public tests, respectively at Stefer Automotive’s battery research center and on the open road outside Shenhua’s Autonomous Driving Research Institute in Magic City.”
“These two public tests will be conducted through live broadcast, demonstrating to everyone the achievements of the Blade Battery and Shenhua’s autonomous driving technology!”
After Lin Yu finished speaking, she pressed the remote control in her hand, and the PPT on the big screen switched to the live scene.
Product managers and hosts had been arranged at the scene to broadcast the two tests live.
The comment section exploded instantly.
“Damn? They dare to live broadcast this?”
“Many similar high-tech live broadcasts from companies have failed before, be careful!”
“Uh… shouldn’t they prepare the audience first? If the test fails, the live audience would have to chant ‘Long live Sister Li’ together!”
“I can understand the live test for the battery, they’ve probably done similar tests many times before, but how about the autonomous driving technology? For a live broadcast, road conditions change every moment! What if something goes wrong and it fails?”
“Did they clear the traffic in advance?”
If many people had been drowsy during the parameter introduction earlier, when Lin Yu announced these two tests would be broadcast live, the entire streaming room instantly heated up.
Some people were looking forward to the success of the tests, eager to witness the realization of this black technology, while others were eagerly anticipating the failure of the live broadcast.