advance/early chapters : p atreon.com/Ritesh_Jadhav0869
Time flew by, and the afternoon sun cast dappled light and shadow on Blake's computer screen through the window.
He was browsing the players' eager discussions about test qualifications when a text notification suddenly chimed.
He glanced at it — a message from Ivy.
[Ivy: "Do you have time?"]
Blake raised an eyebrow and replied:
[Blake: "Yeah, what's up?"]
The other side seemed to hesitate for a moment before sending the next line:
[Ivy: "Emm, actually, I'm just a bit curious about Delta Force's setting and wanted to get some information in advance."]
Immediately after, she quickly added, sounding very considerate:
[Ivy: "It's okay if you don't want to say — game settings should probably be kept confidential anyway."]
Blake smiled. It was perfectly normal for the boss to want to know some background story, especially since she was responsible for securing the game license.
Since she needed his help with something, and it was just a matter of providing some lore, there was no reason to refuse.
[Blake: "It's normal for the boss to know the game setting. Nothing wrong with sharing it."]
The other end of the screen seemed to instantly light up with excitement:
[Ivy: "!!!"]
[Ivy: "Then come to my place to talk. (Address: 9 Lakeview Drive, Willow Hills) Don't worry, I absolutely won't tell anyone else."]
[Ivy: "Oh, and if someone stops you outside, just call me and I'll talk to them."]
[Blake: "OK."]
After replying to the message, Blake got up and left.
As he typed the address into the ride-hailing app, his heart stirred slightly.
"9 Lakeview Drive, Willow Hills... isn't this the gated community with all the mansions?" He muttered to himself, watching the bustling streetscape flash by outside the window. "Hiss... I feel like this one villa might be worth more than the entire valuation of Crane Interactive?"
If Willow Hills in this world was anything like the equivalent in his previous life, then his thoughts were probably correct.
Although he didn't understand why discussing a setting required an in-person meeting, since the boss had spoken, he naturally had to comply.
The taxi quickly arrived at the heavily guarded area.
Sure enough, as soon as the car approached the gate, it was politely stopped by uniformed security personnel.
Blake called Ivy, briefly explained the situation, and handed the phone to the security guard.
The guard took the call, listened for a few moments, and his attitude instantly became respectful.
"Let him through."
Someone who looked like a captain said briefly.
Blake got out of the car and walked — the taxi still had to pick up other fares and earn money, and he couldn't delay them.
However, the advantage of this place was its size, and the disadvantage was also its size. It took him a long time to walk there.
He rang the doorbell, and the door quickly opened.
Ivy stood behind the door. At home, she had shed her previous somewhat rigid CEO attire, replaced by simple casual clothes.
"Come in." She stepped aside, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. "Calling you over so suddenly — did I interrupt anything important?"
"No, I was just resting."
Ivy led Blake to the living room, where a meticulously tended garden was visible through the French windows, looking quite pleasant.
She sat on the sofa, handed him a glass of water, and her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Mainly, after watching the Longbow Valley promotional video and that Abyss Shark · Reis today, and then reading some of the fan analyses, I felt like the background story seemed really complex. I couldn't help but want to ask."
"I see." Blake took the water glass and took a sip, his expression becoming a little more serious. "Actually, the overall background framework of Delta Force was already set by our project team a long time ago."
He leaned slightly forward and began to elaborate.
"The game's story is set ten years from now — 2035."
"The core conflict isn't complicated. Mainly involves three factions."
"One side is the G.T.I. — the Global Threat Initiative — that players embody."
"One side is Ahsarah — a resource-rich but turbulent nation."
"And the other side is the Haavk Corporation you saw in the promotional video."
"G.T.I. is an international joint special forces unit, with members from all over the world."
"For example, D-Wolf, whom I use more often, is a South American-descended American. Vyron is from Sichuan in mainland China. And Stinger comes from the UK."
"The relationship between Ahsarah and Haavk can be simply understood as: Ahsarah possesses a huge natural resource treasure trove, but lacks the technical capabilities for development and utilization."
"And the Haavk Corporation provides all the cutting-edge technology they need."
"The two sides take what they need, forming a cooperation."
"The backstory of the Haavk Corporation is quite detailed: it was founded in 2007 by Jacob Haavk and Chief Technology Officer Bashir Warabe."
"Haavk was initially just a logistics software company, but later successfully transformed into an artificial intelligence technology platform."
"By 2011, they reached a cooperation agreement with the Ahsarah royalty and began helping to build the massive Zero Dam project — but this sparked great public controversy locally."
"In 2020, Haavk officially completed their global headquarters, 'Haavk Spire,' and the company fully shifted towards deeper technological research and development."
"By 2035 — the game's timeline — Haavk has become the super enterprise with the highest market value globally."
"Even calling it an 'enterprise' is inappropriate, because the technology of most countries can't compare to it."
"But precisely because of Haavk's increasingly obvious militarized actions and certain behaviors that overstepped international norms in the Ahsarah region, it eventually led to direct conflict with the G.T.I., which represents international order."
Blake paused slightly, his tone growing heavier.
"So Haavk is by no means a representative of justice."
"Their actions are essentially a form of economic colonization. They secretly use the ordinary people of Ahsarah for inhumane brain-computer interface experiments."
"These actions ultimately provoked armed resistance from the Ahsarah people."
"And Saeed and Reis are both Ahsarah natives — although they share the same country, their stances are completely different."
"Saeed is the one who leads the Ahsarah Guard in resisting Haavk's oppression. He wants to defend his homeland and people."
"As for Reis..." Blake's expression shifted. "He's more like a warlord who only wants to rise during the chaos."
"He cares nothing for the well-being of the people. Whether Ahsarah wins or Haavk wins in the end — as long as he can maintain his power and status, that's all that matters to him."
"He is a pure egoist."
"Of course, neither of them knows the specifics about the MandelBrick."
After introducing the main factions and characters, Blake discussed the game's technological level.
"Because the setting is 2035, the technological level in the game is much more advanced than ours today."
"For Haavk, controllable nuclear fusion provides almost limitless energy. Quantum storage technology is widespread. There are even weather weapons that can influence the climate."
"The 'MandelBrick' you see in the game, and the Mandel supercomputing unit it's associated with — a small unit of it has computational power far exceeding our current Frontier supercomputer."
"As for the 'resurrection from the dead' speculated by some content creators..." Blake looked at Ivy. "For Haavk, which possesses cutting-edge biological and neural technology, it's not entirely impossible."
"They can extract the brain memories and information of the deceased through brain-computer interfaces, and then 'resurrect' them."
"Of course, those who have been dead for too long won't work."
"This process is carried out by Haavk, so the personality and memories of the 'resurrected' person might be altered or implanted. They're no longer the original person."
"If Haavk doesn't alter anything, then it can indeed be called a perfect resurrection."
"Of course, some people might believe that having memories ≠ that person is me — they lean more towards the body theory. But that's a philosophical question."
Finally, he mentioned the most crucial MandelBrick.
"The MandelBrick can be said to be the key item that allowed the Haavk Corporation to develop to its current scale."
"Most of Haavk's cutting-edge technology was obtained through continuous analysis and research of the MandelBrick."
"However, regarding the most fundamental origin and deeper secrets of this brick..." Blake spread his hands, showing a hint of 'the screenwriter's helplessness.' "The project team and I haven't fully figured it out yet. Or rather, we don't feel the need to think about it in too much detail."
"In the current stage of the story, it only needs to serve as a powerful backdrop and a fuse for conflict. That's enough."
Ivy listened with extreme concentration throughout, her eyes unblinking, afraid of missing a single word.
It wasn't until Blake finished speaking that she let out a long sigh of relief, her eyes filled with shock and excitement.
"So that's how it is..."
"Three-way power struggle, technological colonization, an idealistic resistance leader, and a chaotic, brutal warlord..."
"The background is even grander and more profound than I imagined!" She couldn't help but exclaim. "So the G.T.I. that players embody is actually a third-party international force intervening in this complex conflict?"
"That's one way to understand it." Blake nodded. "Players need to both counter Haavk's militarized expansion and illegal experiments, and sometimes deal with the armed forces of different factions within Ahsarah."
"That's fantastic..."
Ivy seemed to be completely immersed in this near-future sci-fi military world.
Her previous small thought of "hoping the game fails" had been completely thrown out the window in the face of such a grand and self-consistent setting.