After New Year's Day passed, while everyone across the country was enjoying the extended holiday period, the full promotional campaign for Swallowing Heaven and Earth officially kicked off at maximum intensity. Unlike the previous warm-up phase and grassroots viral marketing, this time around, the fifteen-second cinematic CG could be seen prominently displayed on major portal websites and popular app homepages across the internet.
It was also precisely at this time that Evan finally received a message from the Reaper Server again after what felt like a very long absence.
Ever since Evan had advanced the overall completion progress of Swallowing Heaven and Earth to 50% about a month ago and received that promotional video reward, he'd developed the consistent habit of checking the Reaper Server's internal space every single night before going to bed. However, what had been consistently disappointing was that while there had been a reward gift package available at the 50% completion milestone, there seemed to be absolutely no gift package notification or reward appearing even as the research and development progress climbed toward 100% completion.
Now, with the test version finalized, the entire game—though certainly not absolutely perfect in every detail—was definitely over 98% complete by any reasonable measure. Evan, habitually entering the Reaper Server's dimensional space before bed as he always did, finally heard the long-awaited system prompt he'd been hoping for:
"Ding. 'Swallowing Heaven and Earth' completion detected to exceed 100%. Connect to server infrastructure?"
Standing there in the void before the source code planet representation of Swallowing Heaven and Earth, Evan looked carefully at the simple binary choice options that had appeared before him floating in space:
"YES OR NO?"
Although there were absolutely no other explanations, additional context, or helpful details provided whatsoever, Evan thought carefully about what the Reaper Server system seemed to be offering him. It appeared to be providing him with a server itself—an actual functioning server infrastructure. What was the fundamental function and purpose of a game server? Did he even really need to ask that question?
Without any further hesitation, he firmly pressed and selected the "YES" option.
"External network infrastructure connecting..."
"Server systems self-adjusting and optimizing internally..."
"'Swallowing Heaven and Earth' connected successfully to network."
"'Swallowing Heaven and Earth' World record completed and archived."
"Special reminder: Reaper Server all functions unlock progress: 1/7."
"External network bridging operational rules and protocols—please click to read full documentation."
The game's source code, which had appeared visually as a planetary sphere floating in space, suddenly unfolded dramatically before Evan's eyes. The code refreshed and cascaded in a waterfall-like streaming manner, data flowing rapidly, then the entire structure reassembled itself smoothly into a gleaming gray planet with a distinctly different appearance. A feeling that Evan couldn't quite adequately describe or put into words surged powerfully through his consciousness, telling him with absolute certainty that this particular planet was now completely and fully lit up—activated and online.
Although Swallowing Heaven and Earth had been successfully lit up and brought online, Evan's questions and confusion only increased exponentially, because he definitely hadn't experienced this same powerful feeling when Killing Planet had been lit up previously. So what was the fundamental difference between the two experiences? And that special reminder message he'd received at the very end—"Reaper Server all functions unlock progress: 1/7"—also left Evan feeling thoroughly bewildered and puzzled about what it actually meant.
However, these complex problems and mysteries were clearly beyond his current ability to solve or understand properly, so he decided pragmatically to put them aside for now and not worry too much. Anyway, with his larger goals and ambitions, he certainly wasn't planning to stop making games after just this one project. The more games he successfully created and lit up, the sooner the fundamental truth about the Reaper Server would inevitably come out and reveal itself.
For him right now in this moment, the current Swallowing Heaven and Earth project was the absolute foundation and priority. Evan directly clicked on that last notification sentence about the bridging rules, and a detailed documentation page popped up, comprehensively explaining the working principle and operational framework of the Reaper Server to him.
Regarding the working principle of online game servers in normal real life, if explained in the simplest and most accessible terms possible: all of your game data is stored on the server infrastructure. Players log into the game with their account credentials and password through the client software provided by the game developer, using that client interface to modify and interact with the data stored on the server. This represents the basic working principle of a server system. In other words, if you encounter a slime monster in the game client and choose to attack it, the attack command and damage calculation information will be sent to the server through the client connection. The server then performs all the necessary calculations and computations, and feeds the final results and damage values back to the client software. The client then uses those feedback values to properly display the scene of you successfully defeating the slime. This is a complete server workflow cycle from start to finish.
The working principle of the Reaper Server was somewhat similar to what's known as a dual-line server configuration, but not quite exactly the same thing. If an analogy needed to be made to explain it properly, the Reaper Server would function as the master server—the true origin point where all actual game data is genuinely stored and processed. Meanwhile, the servers in the external real world that Evan would ostensibly be "using" would function more like super administrator accounts with elevated privileges—seemingly possessing all the normal capabilities and functions of a standard server, but all operating under the ultimate authority and control of the Reaper Server as the true master. Evan personally had the direct ability to control the Reaper Server and revoke all permissions and access rights of those external world servers instantly if he chose to do so.
However, Evan would absolutely certainly not do something like that now, because after all, how would he possibly explain to his employees that they had a game running normally and successfully without any visible server infrastructure in the real world...
Evan honestly didn't know how he would explain such an impossible situation to his team. For now, maintaining this current state of having one apparent and one real server—one true and one false infrastructure—was already working very well and seemed like the best approach...
Early the next morning, Evan arrived at the company offices significantly earlier than usual.
Upon arriving at the company, Evan immediately intercepted Owen Matthews, who had just walked through the door with a steamed bun still clutched in his mouth, and sent him directly to test the server performance and capabilities. This sudden request left Owen completely confused and bewildered:
"Evan, aren't we still using the exact same leased server infrastructure as before? Does it really need additional testing at this point?"
"Their CEO contacted me late last night and said the server had been upgraded with new hardware, and then I went ahead and opened two additional paid service packages to expand capacity. In short, just go run comprehensive tests on it and report back."
Evan could now lie smoothly without batting an eyelid, believable reasons and explanations flowing effortlessly from his mouth.
Owen, looking thoroughly puzzled and confused, bit into his half-eaten bun and headed into his office to run the tests.
Not very long after that, a visibly shocked and excited Owen rushed back out of his office again, still with the steamed bun clutched in his mouth. Evan looked at the bun still in Owen's mouth as Owen was eagerly trying to say something important, and couldn't help but feel the situation was a little awkward:
"Finish eating the bun in your mouth first, then talk properly. That poor bun is suffering—just put it out of its misery."
Owen quickly finished the rest of his breakfast in just a few large bites, then said excitedly:
"I just ran a quick but comprehensive test of the system. The server is now compatible with virtually all browsers on the market, and the stability and connection speed have both increased by at least twofold compared to before—maybe more. Although the overall performance is dramatically stronger, it actually supports significantly lower machine configurations now, which means even pretty old computers can basically run our game stably without issues. Overall, your server upgrade decision was extremely, extremely worthwhile and well-invested!"
Evan nodded calmly, indicating he understood and had expected roughly these kinds of results. After all, it was something given to him through his transmigration and the Reaper Server system, so it wasn't too far off from what he'd anticipated. After thinking for a moment, Evan said:
"I understand. Today, I need you and your entire department to prepare everything and double-check all matters one final time. The internal beta test will officially start tomorrow morning, so be ready and absolutely don't make any mistakes or overlook anything."
Owen said with complete seriousness:
"Rest assured, Evan. In fact, it's not only external players who are attracted by our promotional advertisements—our own department members are also completely full of confidence in this game. These past two days, my side has been absolutely flooded with people applying for overtime hours to test the game, but in reality, they just want to play Swallowing Heaven and Earth during their overtime shifts. So everyone is genuinely full of confidence in the market prospects and success potential of this game."
Evan nodded approvingly and said:
"That's excellent to hear. Then go arrange and coordinate today's work, and also ask Logan to come see me for a moment when he gets in."
A short while later, Logan knocked on Evan's office door. "Evan, you wanted to see me?"
Evan nodded, gesturing for Logan to sit down, and said directly:
"I called you in mainly to prepare you for tomorrow. We need to start discussions with GAME World about them distributing and publishing our game through their platform."
Logan looked startled and surprised. "Evan, when did you actually get in touch with GAME World about this?"
As a genuine giant in the physical gaming publications industry, GAME World also operated and maintained one of the largest portal websites in the entire gaming industry, with daily traffic and user engagement ranking consistently among the absolute top in the country. They also served as distributors and publishers for many browser-based web games. Rachel had told Evan during her interview that GAME World was seriously considering discussing the distribution rights of Swallowing Heaven and Earth with Redbird Studios. After all, the sheer volume of attention and buzz was already there—so as long as Swallowing Heaven and Earth wasn't completely terrible, GAME World was almost certain to come knocking on their door.
Evan smiled mysteriously:
"You don't need to worry about those specific details. However, after our internal beta test starts tomorrow, there should be quite a few different companies and platforms looking to discuss opening channel servers and distribution deals with you. Be prepared mentally for that."
Logan nodded, indicating he understood, then hesitated slightly and asked:
"Evan, if it's about channel servers and distribution agreements, which side are we on? What's our position?"
Evan said without any hesitation whatsoever:
"We will, of course, always be on the players' side! We safeguard the players' interests above all else!"