Chapter 182: Mystery Revealed (bonus)

As the GAMENOVA booth officially opened, huge waves of fans poured in, filling the place to the brim in the blink of an eye. 

If the venue staff hadn't been there to maintain order, it probably would have become impossible to move. The line stretched all the way from the front of the GAMENOVA booth into the distance, even winding around until it reached the Atari section at one point. 

Everyone gathered here had come for that legendary 16-bit machine. What none of them had probably expected, however, was that the surprises awaiting them today would be far more than just a few playable machines. 

Amid the crowd, Emma held tightly onto her son Vincent, doing her best to make sure the terrifying flow of people wouldn't separate them. 7

When she heard that GAMENOVA would be attending this year's CES, she immediately bought two tickets without hesitation and traveled all the way from New Mexico to Las Vegas, Nevada, bringing Vincent with her. 

"My God, Vincent, hold on tight to me." 

"Okay, Mom." 

Going with the flow and following the movement of the crowd, the two finally reached the entrance to the booth after enduring the long ordeal. Only once they arrived here did things regain some semblance of order. 

After all, there were only so many machines available for visitors to try. GAMENOVA had chosen to let in only a limited number of visitors at a time, while everyone else had to wait outside in line. It was practically being run like an amusement park attraction. 

"Mom, look at that!" 

Vincent rose onto his tiptoes and carefully examined the inside of the booth. It would soon be their turn, so he had to quickly decide what he wanted to play. 

His mom had already preordered NovaXeno for him, but judging by the current situation, the earliest he could probably get the actual unit would be sometime in February. So, if he could get some hands-on time with a demo machine right now, that would be good enough. 

Vincent narrowed his eyes and immediately spotted something in the center that looked completely different from the other equipment. It was a PC, but there was nothing particularly different about it from other PCs. A large rectangular metal box sat beneath the monitor, that was the PC's main unit. 

Vincent didn't have a PC of his own, nor was he particularly interested in getting one. To him, the NovaBox was the true object of his affection. All those fancy functions on a PC were of little use to a child like him. 2

But this PC was different, because it had a themed exterior. Just like the decorated cabinets of arcade games. The people from GAMENOVA had drawn quite a few designs across it. 

Emma followed Vincent's gaze and immediately locked onto that PC. The artwork painted on it looked unmistakably like Wolfenstein 3D. 

A muscular figure clad in military-green armor stood there, holding the horned skull of a demon in one hand and standing atop a mound formed from the corpses of demons. The entire background was rendered in a deep, ominous red, with what appeared to be the burning ruins of a city in the distance. 4

"Could this be a PC port of Wolfenstein 3D?" 

She glanced over a few times and saw the player sitting in front of the computer, waving his hands around excitedly without a trace of restraint. 

Seeing how completely carried away he was, Emma couldn't help covering her mouth and laughing softly. Once, when she had first gotten into Wolfenstein 3D, she had been just like him. 

But things were different now. The Emma of today was a Wolfenstein 3D expert, known among players by the nickname "Devil Mom." 

She was not only one of the best players in New Mexico but also ranked near the very top of GAMENOVA's online leaderboard. That achievement had given her at least a little of the pride and composure befitting a true expert. 2

A master was expected to remain calm no matter what happened, never allowing panic or excitement to show. Whatever the circumstances, their mindset had to remain steady. The same principle applied to the game. 

Even when the final boss pushed her to the brink of defeat, she could never afford to give up. She had to stay calm, maintain her focus, and work through the situation step by step. 

"Hehe, this guy is already this excited over the PC version. He definitely hasn't experienced the NovaBox version yet." 

She snickered to herself, growing even more amused. But when her gaze drifted over the player's shoulder and fell on the screen, Emma suddenly froze. 

A moment later, she narrowed her eyes in disbelief and leaned forward, craning her neck to get a better look and make absolutely certain of what she was seeing. 

"Hm? Is that... a staircase? And a pit...?" 

How was this possible? 

Emma had lost count of how many times she had played through Wolfenstein 3D. She knew all too well about the game's limitations when it came to three-dimensional space. 

Its level design had depth only along a flat plane, with no sense of elevation. Every level was essentially one enormous, cramped floor with a low ceiling. 

More importantly, all the rooms were made up of walls that met at right angles, making diagonal or angled corners impossible. 

As a result, every room was essentially rectangular. Whether long and narrow or roughly square, the spatial layouts always felt monotonous and repetitive. 

Ultimately, that made the gameplay experience feel as though something was missing. Especially now that studios around the world had already mastered the rendering techniques behind Wolfenstein, pseudo-3D was no longer considered cutting-edge. 

The industry desperately needed something new and powerful enough to shake things up. And the stimulus Emma had been waiting for seemed to have appeared right before her eyes. 

"That isn't Wolfenstein..." 

At the very least, this definitely wasn't the Wolfenstein she knew. Emma stared carefully at the game screen, becoming more and more certain that this couldn't possibly be that simple. 

The game looked completely different from what she remembered. 

Inside a space surrounded by several concrete pillars was an obvious depressed area, connected by a single step. This was a scene that could never have appeared in Wolfenstein. 

Let alone platforms with changes in elevation, even those independent concrete pillars would have been impossible to implement in the old Wolfenstein, because they didn't conform to the game's rendering logic. 

This wasn't a flat plane with right angles; it was an independent geometric object. And that wasn't even the only thing that made her heart tremble. 

As the player rotated the camera, Emma suddenly noticed obvious changes in the lighting on the screen. One side of the screen clearly lacked a light source and was completely enveloped in dim shadows. 

On the other side, although Emma couldn't see what was there, she could see light spilling over from that direction, illuminating the walls. 

"A lighting system..." 

Emma murmured in disbelief. 

A lighting system capable of creating striking differences between light and shadow. Combined with richer, more three-dimensional texture mapping, the game before her had already become something completely different from the Wolfenstein she remembered. 

Emma swallowed instinctively, the quiet sound somehow carrying to Vincent despite the noise surrounding them. 

"Mommy? What's wrong?" 

Emma remained frozen in place, unable to utter a word for several moments. Then, a word flashed through her mind. 

Or rather, a "mystery" that had been deeply etched into her memory for years, one whose true meaning she had never been able to decipher. Her red lips parted slightly as she finally breathed out the single word. 

"DOOM" 

DOOM, the urban legend that had circulated among gamers for years, the supposedly incredible successor to Wolfenstein 3D. 3

This was DOOM! So, the legend was real. That mysterious Easter egg hidden inside Wolfenstein. 1

As if confirming her realization, the player made a careless move. A flying demon lunged forward and slammed straight into his face, bringing the game to a crushing end. 

At that very moment, a massive title suddenly appeared across the screen. The letters were jagged and brutally carved, as though hewn by an axe, and they were unmistakably identical to those of the mysterious Easter egg hidden within Wolfenstein. 

DOOM 5

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