The news that Xie Yunfan had opened a restaurant in the game quickly spread across Yangfan Group and Qihang Group. Many employees participating in the internal closed beta ran over to Little Sailboat Restaurant to order dishes—this was a rare opportunity to taste food personally prepared by President Xie inside a game!

Xie Yunfan hired waiters, front desk cashiers, and kitchen assistants from the talent market, taking on the roles of store manager and head chef himself.

He meticulously attended to every employee who came to dine, cooking for everyone and simulating the authentic process of managing a restaurant as much as possible. Thanks to the daily influx of customers, his restaurant actually earned a substantial amount of money. The message board was filled with reviews from internal testers:

“The boss’s cooking is delicious~”

“My absolute favorite is the braised pork ribs—the texture is truly incredible!”

“Little Sailboat Restaurant’s decoration style is very special, five-star review.”

Since the restaurant was run by their own boss, everyone was too embarrassed to give low scores out of courtesy; this rating system was only being used for testing purposes anyway.

During the restaurant management process, Xie Yunfan also discovered several areas needing improvement, which he recorded and sent to the programming team for modification.

Besides Xie Yunfan, other colleagues had also opened food and beverage shops in the game. In particular, several members of the testing team each owned a restaurant. They repeatedly tested every single detail—from shop leasing and interior decoration to employee recruitment and menu customization—to ensure there would be no bugs when it officially launched.

Most other participants in the closed beta spent their time “tasting various delicacies.”

Everyone ate to their hearts’ content in the game, enjoying it immensely while giving extremely high praise to Qihang’s gustatory system.

The texture and taste of the food in this game could genuinely pass off as real!

After the testing ended, an employee who participated in the closed beta emailed Xie Yunfan with a question: “Running a restaurant in the game requires money, and players eating also need to top up. Does it have to be a one-way top-up? Can in-game currency be converted back into real-world currency? For example, if I want to open a restaurant in the game in my spare time and manage it well, could I treat it as a side hustle to make some money?”

If a fixed currency exchange rate were set, the suggestion raised by this employee was worth considering. Shop owners who opened businesses in the game could make a lot of money if business went well, or even rely on the game to acquire wealth and fortune.

However, after careful deliberation, Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang rejected this “reverse exchange” design.

Whenever real money was involved, people would inevitably engage in rule-breaking behavior “to make money”—for instance, hiring game studios to farm ratings in bulk so their restaurant ranked higher, or employing unfair competitive tactics to fight for customers.

Moreover, if opening a restaurant in the game could earn real money, it would also exert a massive impact on the physical food and beverage industry.

Xie Yunfan still hoped this game would bring players pure joy, allowing shop owners to simply enjoy the fun of running a store and diners to pleasantly savor delicious food. If real-money exchanges were involved, the gaming environment would become foul and chaotic, undermining long-term, stable development.

Xie Yunfan carefully replied to that employee’s proposal.

The other party expressed understanding and supported the boss’s decision. Their own thinking had been too naive; once the currency system was altered, it could easily shake the very foundation of the game. If reverse exchange channels were opened, the game would end up belonging to professional gold-farming studios.

The closed beta ended a week later, with the testing team summarizing a vast array of details requiring modification.

There was still some time before the game officially hit the market. Xie Yunfan instructed the various groups to rush bug fixes, while Luo Hang urged the R&D team to input more data, keeping game development progress orderly and structured.

In June, Luo Hang suddenly called Xie Yunfan and said, “I have some bad news to tell you. Wings of Dream also made a food-themed game. I suspect the news of us surveying and visiting places everywhere reached President Tang’s ears, so he rushed to greenlight a project and made a similar competitor, hoping to launch before us to seize the market share first.”

Xie Yunfan replied, “Isn’t that good news?”

Luo Hang was taken aback. “Good news?”

Xie Yunfan smiled and said, “It all relies on our industry peers acting as foils. I believe that with President Tang serving as a foil, even more players will lean toward us after comparing the two games of the same genre. We should thank him for helping us warm up the crowd in advance—it’ll save us a huge chunk of publicity expenses.”

Luo Hang: “…”

Yunfan’s perspective was certainly novel.

Competitors making rival products was a normal phenomenon in the gaming industry—whoever did a worse job would be the embarrassed one.

Wings of Dream making knockoffs wasn’t a one- or two-time occurrence either.

President Tang seemed to love acting as a “green leaf” to highlight Xie Yunfan’s conscience. Thinking of this, Luo Hang couldn’t help laughing softly in a low voice. “Fair point. Let them take a step ahead, and we’ll counterattack later.”

What would Wings of Dream’s food game actually look like?

Xie Yunfan was actually quite looking forward to it.

In such a short time, the tuning of their gustatory system certainly wouldn’t be as refined as Qihang’s. Perhaps they merely converted the mobile game Simulated Restaurant into a holographic version. Their company had always walked the path of “making a quick buck,” never changing their original intent.

In late June, an official announcement suddenly popped up online:

“The holographic food game ‘Simulated Restaurant,’ independently developed by Wings of Dream, will launch grandly on July 15 during the summer vacation! Want to become a restaurant shop owner in a holographic game? ‘Simulated Restaurant’ Holographic Edition welcomes you to experience it!”

This news sent shockwaves through the industry, topping the trending searches on the day of the official announcement.

Back then, the mobile game Simulated Restaurant had also been wildly popular for a time, only to be ruined later by aggressive pay-to-win operations. Player retention dropped lower and lower until it was forced to shut down three years ago. Now making a comeback as a holographic version, many new and veteran players expressed their anticipation.

Gaming forums were filled with threads discussing holographic food games everywhere:

“A holographic food game? Can you actually eat the dishes you like in the game?”

“How does it taste? I’m a bit hesitant to try!”

“I’m severely allergic to the three words ‘Wings of Dream’ right now… games made by this company aren’t fit to play without money.”

“Forget it, let’s wait and see the reviews first.”

On July 15, the launch day of Wings of Dream’s Simulated Restaurant Holographic Edition, countless players flooded into the servers. As a result, less than 10 minutes after opening, the servers crashed, and vectorless players were inexplicably kicked offline.

Recalling the incident where Detective Di Renjie and Age of Sail were attacked by hackers, Luo Hang couldn’t resist sending a message to vent to Xie Yunfan: “The boomerang came back so fast. The server Wings of Dream whipped together in a short time isn’t even as good as Cool Play’s.”

Xie Yunfan said, “Reluctant to smash money into R&D, yet wanting to snatch a piece of the online multiplayer cake—I already expected them to just fool around.”

In such a short timeframe, Wings of Dream couldn’t possibly break through the technical bottleneck of holographic networking. The so-called “online multiplayer” was merely rhetoric to fool players.

The servers underwent emergency maintenance, and compensation was distributed server-wide; their PR plan this time was decent.

However, players quickly discovered—wasn’t this gameplay just an upgraded version of the mobile game Simulated Restaurant?

After entering the game, all players automatically obtained a shop and initial funds. Then, following system prompts, they upgraded shops and hired employees. Once the shop reached Level 1, NPCs would walk in to order food.

The NPCs visiting your shop were fixed, and even the menu was fixed.

Many players who had played the mobile version dug up guides from years ago, coupled with pay-to-win boosts, to quickly upgrade their restaurants to Level 4.

Players took to the internet to complain: “For a pure management game, why wouldn’t I just play a mobile game! They claim it’s online, yet there’s zero player interaction—at most, a wave of friends visiting each other’s restaurants once a day. How is this any different from friends sending stamina to each other in a mobile game?”

Others commented: “Making a holographic food game like this is a waste of the theme! I feel Wings of Dream only grabbed the two keywords ‘food and dining,’ but failed to grasp what truly makes holographic food attractive—if you only manage a restaurant and can’t eat anything delicious, what am I playing holography for?”

Someone attached a screenshot: “Already quit. This isn’t called a food game, this is called a ‘management game.’ The promotional ads are lying!”

Negative reviews online mounted up, as players’ eyes were sharp.

Luo Hang completely put his mind at ease and said, “A game whipped together in such a short time indeed didn’t carefully build a gustatory system. That’s why they didn’t dare let players actually taste anything, and could only copy the mobile management route to turn a food game into a pure restaurant management game.”

To fine-tune the gustatory system, Qihang invested several hundred million yuan and spent nearly two years, even establishing a specialized taste experimentation center and experimental kitchen. Wings of Dream had only hurriedly greenlit their project after hearing about Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang’s visits and field research.

The level of dedication both sides put into this game wasn’t in the same league at all.

Xie Yunfan didn’t care about this competitor.

He always had his own approach to game development and wouldn’t rush out a half-baked product to snatch market share just because a competitor was doing something. Yangfan and Qihang’s Food Street was still slated for an August release, with three complete rounds of testing planned before hitting the market.

A week after Wings of Dream’s Simulated Restaurant launched, player attrition was severe.

In truth, this was a single-player holographic game wrapped in “MMO skin.” All the guests coming to eat at your restaurant were pre-set system NPCs with identical names. After playing for a while, players suddenly felt… it was so boring.

Many people had already played the mobile version three years ago; doing it again in holography felt like eating leftovers.

What’s more, upgrading restaurants cost money, unlocking menus cost money, and hiring higher-level chefs also cost money!

The number of players abandoning the game grew larger, and online ratings slid all the way from an opening 8.5 down to 7.3—dropping further, it might not even hold onto a 7.0 score.

Right at this moment, Yangfan and Qihang jointly posted a promotional Weibo announcement:

“The holographic online game ‘Food Street,’ jointly developed by Yangfan and Qihang, will enter open beta on August 8!”

The official Weibo released the game’s promotional PV.

Many players complained: “Is another ‘Simulated Restaurant 3.0’ coming?”

After all, Wings of Dream had just pulled that stunt, leaving everyone disillusioned with “holographic food.”

Yet after clicking on the PV out of curiosity, players’ eyes widened in astonishment—

“To create the game ‘Food Street,’ Qihang Group spent two years meticulously tuning the gustatory system of holographic gaming pods. Currently, the texture and flavor of food in the game have achieved over 90% similarity to real life. Certain common food items have reached over 95% similarity.

Our original intention in making this game is to allow players, no matter where they are, to taste delicacies from all over the country to their hearts’ content as long as they have a gaming pod, unrestricted by time and region.

In ‘Food Street,’ you can be a shop owner, decorating and running a restaurant according to your own preferences.

You can also be a chef, sharing the dishes you cook with other net-users.

You can even purely be a diner, wandering between different shops to taste all kinds of delicacies in the game without worrying about weight gain, internal heat, stomachaches, diarrhea, allergies, or other physiological issues.

This will be a joyful capital of gastronomy!”

A massive volume of in-game footage appeared in the promotional PV.

Everywhere on the in-game food street, all kinds of restaurants and snack shops lined the streets and alleyways. Players dressed in diverse attires walked freely along the streets, stepping into whichever store they pleased, with many shop entrances hanging various promotional discount signs.

Every restaurant featured a distinct decoration style.

Players felt as though they had truly arrived at a bustling “food street” filled with the warmth of everyday life.

At the very end of the promotional PV, a line of text was displayed:

“A gastronomic feast in a holographic game—looking forward to your arrival.”

After watching the PV, players could not calm their minds for a long time.

Netizens who weren’t good with words flooded the comment section with “Holy crap!”

The official Weibo was overwhelmed by a wall of “Holy crap!” spam.

This wasn’t even in the same league as Wings of Dream’s food game, alright? This was a true holographic online food game!

For the sake of food taste, they spent so much time tuning the gustatory system alone, even ensuring every shop had a unique style? Players could also taste food freely?

—A holographic food game where you’d never get fat no matter how much you ate.

Who wouldn’t be tempted by this?

Yangfan and Qihang’s promotion also caught the attention of many food bloggers.

“Pangpang,” a famous food blogger with millions of followers, posted a Weibo: “I can’t help wanting to try this game out too. Having never played a holographic game before, is there anything I need to pay attention to?”

Many fans left comments offering suggestions in his reply section:

“Little Pang, why don’t you go into the game to scout the path for us? Recommend whichever shop is delicious!”

“As a ‘food recommendation officer,’ welcome Little Pang to become the guinea pig in the holographic game and help everyone test-eat!”

“I don’t really believe that 90% similarity claim—the promo must have some exaggeration, right? Pangpang, you go first!”

A large number of mukbang streamers were also drawn to this game.

With just a single promotional PV, Yangfan and Qihang’s food game left Wings of Dream’s rival product far behind in popularity.

Tang Tonghai was nearly driven mad with rage.

By rushing out a rival product, had he instead served as Xie Yunfan’s stepping stone?!

He had assumed Yangfan and Qihang’s food game was also a holographic management simulation. Who could have imagined they actually brought the gustatory system into reality??

How long did it take? Two years?!

Were those two insane!

Just for a silly food game, spending so much time and investment to research some gustatory system?

Tang Tonghai could never understand Xie Yunfan’s logic in game development.

Yet strangely enough, Xie Yunfan succeeded every single time.

After Yangfan and Qihang posted their promotional PV, the player loss for Simulated Restaurant became even more tragic to behold.

Obvious to all, everyone had moved on to anticipate the new game.

Wings of Dream didn’t suffer unjustly at all acting as a “stepping stone,” while other companies silently watched the farce unfold.

Discussions were rife within Wings of Dream as well, with some even venting in private—

Don’t you feel President Tang’s quick-buck mindset is slowly failing to keep up with the times?

After multiple blockbuster games, the eight words “Jointly Developed by Yangfan and Qihang” had practically become a reassuring guarantee in the gaming industry.

In players’ eyes, Yangfan and Qihang had become an “inspection-exempt brand.” As long as a game was crafted together by these two companies, whether in terms of playability or conscientious operation, it was worth diving into!

Half a month before the game launched, the Weibo supertopic #HolographicFoodStreet# had already gathered hundreds of thousands of followers. Across major platforms, official Food Street account follower counts combined to break one million.

Some people even checked in daily, counting down the days until open beta.

On August 1, the official team released a second promotional PV.

Simultaneously, they announced: “The Shop Owner System will go live one week in advance. Players who want to become restaurant shop owners in the game can log into the ‘Food Street Shop Owner’ APP or log into holographic gaming pods at 12:00 PM on August 3 to lease shops, decorate storefronts, and recruit employees in advance.”

The promotional PV introduced the in-game Shop Owner System in detail.

Novice shop owners could purchase a “Shop Owner Starter Pack,” which included primary shops, intermediate shops, and advanced shops. Each tier offered slightly different rents depending on geographic location and restaurant area.

This starter pack required real-money purchases, priced from 68 yuan to 298 yuan.

Seeing this, many players felt skeptical—asking people to pay money before even playing the game, was that reliable?

There were also some well-funded players who paid for a starter pack first to give it a try.

Of course, for players with a “shopkeeper dream,” spending around a hundred yuan to open a shop truly belonging to them was a rare opportunity. After all, in reality, without tens of thousands of yuan in startup capital, you wouldn’t dare touch a storefront.

A Weibo influencer with the ID “Food Reviewer Lin Fei” specially reserved a gaming pod at Qihang Gaming Center, wanting to try her hand at opening a shop.

Having traveled everywhere to review stores over the years, she was extremely familiar with various restaurant operation models.

Upon entering the game, she first faced the face customization and outfit selection systems. Expecting outfits to cost money, she was surprised to find the outfit shop allowed arbitrary mixing and matching for free—truly conscientious.

After all, as a food game, the focus was on cuisine; charging for outfits would put the cart before the horse.

Lin Fei casually picked a set of clothes that looked pleasing, then opened a shop in District 3, “Starlight City.”

She wasn’t short on cash, so she directly bought a 298-yuan Advanced Shop Owner Pack right off the bat. Entering the game and opening the pack, she found a lease agreement inside, along with several “Employee Recruitment Contracts” and a “Decoration Choice Pack.”

There were many advanced shop spaces, leaving her dazzled with options.

For example, street-side storefronts at crossroads enjoyed massive foot traffic, but their area wasn’t as large.

Or riverside storefronts, which had lower foot traffic but boasted excellent views, where sitting by the window granted a view of the river.

Or storefronts in the middle of a street: though location and scenery were average, the area was huge across three floors, capable of hosting large-scale dining.

Lin Fei was instantly stunned: “Holy crap! The design of these storefront rents is really meticulous—the R&D department must have investigated the market in detail. In reality, these shops would also belong to the higher rent tier.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she ultimately chose a river-view restaurant.

The scenery in the game was top-tier as well, and enjoying a meal while taking in the river view in a holographic game offered an immensely satisfying, immersive experience.

After selecting the restaurant, a shop owner guide popped up from the system:

“Please arrange your restaurant under ‘Decoration Mode.'”

Decoration mode granted an overhead perspective of the entire restaurant. Lin Fei opened the decoration store and was shocked once again.

The available assets were way, way, way too many!

It was practically as if an entire furniture and building materials market had been moved into the game!

Just for floor tiles, there were over a hundred varieties across different patterns and colors. There were also all kinds of wooden flooring, artificial lawns, quartz tiles for yards, bluestone slabs, colored pebbles, and more—players wanting to open a private kitchen could even build a courtyard inside the game!

The wallpaper selection was also vast, ranging from elegant to ornate; any color you wanted could be found here.

Bar counters, sofas, dining tables and chairs, light fixtures, green plants, and small ornaments were far too numerous to count.

Lin Fei stared at the dazzling decoration store and fell into silence.

This was what a 298 starter pack got you?

With so many items, you couldn’t even buy them for 2,980 in other games!

In the shop-opening phase, the “interior design” gameplay alone allowed players to unleash their creativity as they pleased—it was immensely user-friendly. Moreover, a single starter pack unlocked the entire decoration store for free selection, leaving players without any financial burden.

Forget managing a store—she could play the “interior design” aspect of this game alone for a month!

Oh no, she suddenly really wanted to open several more dining shops of different styles.

Restraining her urge to lease another shop, Lin Fei began meticulously designing the river-view restaurant she had rented. Upon entering, customers definitely needed a carpet, followed by the front desk, and further inside, a beautiful screen partition could be placed.

Deep-colored wooden flooring looked more classy, while a row of crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, sparkling brilliantly at night to create a wonderful atmosphere.

Further inside was the dining area, where sintered stone tables matched with complementary dining chairs appeared high-end, grand, and stylish. A flower arrangement was placed on each table, alongside a carefully designed menu…

Improving her restaurant bit by bit felt truly wonderful.

Lin Fei spent a whole afternoon, yet only completed 30% of the restaurant’s decoration.

Exiting the game, she thought: Anyway, there’s still time before opening day. I’ll continue tomorrow and definitely design the restaurant to look beautiful!

Qi Kai had just graduated from college and currently worked at a company with a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan.

The biggest dream of his life was to open a hotpot restaurant. Unfortunately, he lacked capital for entrepreneurship, and his parents couldn’t provide much financial support either, leaving him only able to occasionally dream about being a restaurant boss.

The public beta of Food Street made him extremely excited.

Without money to open a hotpot restaurant in reality, could he satisfy his craving in the game instead?

Grit teeth, he purchased a 198-yuan “Intermediate Shop Owner Pack.”

Entering the game, during the shop leasing phase, he picked and chose carefully before finally selecting a street-side shop at a corner—the layout was an L-shape he preferred, allowing the kitchen area and dining area to be separated.

His absolute favorite food was spicy hotpot.

Sensual, fragrant chili oil boiling away; dipping a skewer of tripe, scalding it for a few seconds—it was incredibly tender and fresh upon entry, both spicy and refreshing!

Eating hotpot in reality often caused internal heat and breakouts, so he ate it at most once a month.

In the game, there was no need to worry about such issues; eating it every day wouldn’t matter.

How could a spicy hotpot restaurant attract customers?

Qi Kai had always wanted to make a boldly styled “cave hotpot restaurant.” The ground and wall decorations would utilize large amounts of raw stone materials rich in texture, offering a tactile sensation of touching “stone walls.”

In hallways and public areas, he could craft some stalactite sculptures, paired with lighting and flowing water.

The environment of caves and stone walls would give people a psychological feeling of “coolness,” balancing out the heat of spicy hotpot to create a unique dining atmosphere. He wondered if it would be popular.

Whatever, he would just build it according to his own preference.

Even if he lost money in the game, it was only two hundred yuan—he could afford the loss!

Countless “shop owner players” like Lin Fei and Qi Kai entered the game.

The dazzling array of decoration options brought immense surprise to the shop owners.

Everyone was immersed in decorating their shops, striving to stand out among the crowd of restaurants.

When the Shop Owner System first opened on August 3, some players who had low intent to open shops and merely wanted to “enter early to check out the excitement” saw the pay-to-win starter pack right away and complained: “Charging money right at launch, will anyone actually buy it?”

A great deal of discussion also surfaced online:

“The Shop Owner System requires spending money on starter packs, is anyone buying?”

“The game hasn’t even officially launched, yet top-up channels opened so early—I don’t understand the operational logic this time!”

“Presumably it mimics reality? After all, in a real-life food mall, shop owners enter in advance to handle decoration and recruit staff! Otherwise, what would players eat on launch day when they go in? Eat air?”

“I took a glance at the pack and backed out. Hoping for more shop owner players, so it won’t be awkward with barely any shops around.”

People originally thought few would be willing to buy a pack so early before launch.

As it turned out, on the night of August 3, the number of players participating in shop creation… far exceeded everyone’s expectations!

District 1: Nebula City.

“We are deeply sorry, all shop spaces in this city have been completely leased out. Please select another city.”

District 2: Beijiang City.

“We are deeply sorry, all shop spaces in this city have been completely leased out…”

The shop spaces in the first 10 districts were actually rented out completely?

Subsequent major districts also gradually shifted from “smooth” at launch to “popular” and even “overcrowded.”

Many players expressed shock one after another:

“Are shop owners really this enthusiastic? All the prime districts were snapped up!”

“To do business, you obviously have to be quick on your feet and sharp with your eyes; if you hesitate, good storefronts will be leased by others.”

“Who on earth is spending money! The game hasn’t even opened its servers, how much confidence do you guys have in Yangfan and Qihang?”

“Speaking personally: I was super tempted after watching the promo PV, so I spent 68 yuan to lease a primary storefront. Personal experience—the starter pack is insanely cost-effective, the contents of the 68 pack rival a 648 pack in other games!”

“Decoration depends entirely on personal preference, which is awesome. I just want to own a storefront of my own in the game~”

“I spent a whole afternoon decorating and still haven’t finished, the selection of dining tables and chairs made my eyes wander.”

“My family runs a restaurant in real life, so playing this game gives me a super strong sense of immersion. Must say a word—praise for the decoration system! Free material selection is too friendly; the dining tables my family couldn’t bear to buy back then, I bought over twenty of them in the game!”

“District 3, Xiushui Road A-10, Rainbow Restaurant, currently under decoration. Main business: Cantonese cuisine. Everyone is welcome to visit when the time comes~”

“What’s the situation? Shop owners are already running ads, huh! Then I’ll join in too: District 8, Linjiang East Road C17, restaurant named ‘Just That Spicy,’ main business: Sichuan fast food, affordable prices, welcome everyone to grace us with your presence!”

“District 13, Zhengxin Avenue D-13 shop ‘Sunny Mood,’ main business: Cantonese desserts. Hope everyone has a bright and beautiful mood when dining in the game. Opening mega discount: all desserts will be 20% off for a limited time, looking forward to diners coming to taste~”

A massive surge of advertisements from shop owner players appeared across Weibo, forums, and other platforms.

Other players watching the excitement also left comments to lend support.

There truly was a sense of bustling excitement for a “food street” about to open!

“The competitive rat race of the food industry begins today.”