The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

19 – Release of Project Zomboid and expansion

[A/N: For those thinking this is the Injustice Timeline...well, I'm gonna crush your dreams. It's not. It's AU, I haven't even established a timeline for this AU lol]

After the heroes left, Frank left not long after, informing me he would visit again, and hours later, when I had to close the shop, I forced Kyle to exit the game.

He was obviously not pleased, but I did inform him that the cafe was closed, and to come back tomorrow, he could always continue where he left off and use however much time he had left that he paid for when he came back in.

If you have ever seen what a gaming addiction looks like, then you'd be able to tell that Kyle has it, especially with all the signs.

Not that I minded, the man was free to do what he pleased with his own life, even if that means risking his life in the real world just to continue playing the game.

And with him gone, I locked the cafe doors, then began what I have been waiting to do since I got enough money.

I opened the system shop, and after searching for what I was looking for, I soon found it.

[Open New Entrance? ($50,000)]

Without hesitation, I confirmed the purchase, and I immediately noticed a difference.

When looking at the cafe doors, I could see what looked to be two different locations on the other side of the glass, the street I was used to...and what looked to be...well, a wall.

The new entrance must have been placed in an alleyway, although I have no idea where it actually is, it could be somewhere else in the city, or even a different city altogether.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see if I get any customers in the morning.

And since I no longer require sleep or any other mortal needs, so I might as well do some finishing touches to Project Zomboid since I plan on releasing it tomorrow morning when the Cafe opens.

I also spent a few minutes going over every surface of my cafe, removing any cameras and monitoring devices the paranoid bat would have left, as is his nature.

Though I was not even going to bother checking outside, since more than likely, he set up cameras and taps outside as well.

Walking back over to the counter, I floated behind the counter in a lotus pose, and with my mind split into six parts now, I went over PZ to make sure everything was ready.

I added a few things to the base game that I felt should have been a part of the game to begin with, such as other survivor NPCs, animals, and a much more significant amount of worldbuilding, creating a great many more types of encounters, zombies, and overall stories to make the world feel as if it was a lot more alive.

I also added more books and various other items to the world so that the players would have a great many things they could do to keep themselves entertained.

I even expanded the weapons and vehicles, adding things such as bicycles, scooters, trucks, vans, semi-trucks, and so much more.

And the game doesn't even have a set end. The only way to end the game is to die, whether by old age, zombies, or any other mortal way to die.

Something different about this game, however, was that it was multiplayer.

If someone wanted, they could make a server that could hold up to 1,000 players and every one of them could work together to survive for a long time, though doing so would lessen the number of credits a person could gain at the end, while if you attempted the game solo, you would earn a bonus amount of credits at the end.

The game would have different challenges compared to Fallout, with most being Progressional Challenges.

Such as, live for 100 days or 50 years, or slay 100 zombies or 100,000.

There were even challenges to clear out a city or town entirely of its zombie populations or build their own house, or car.

There were a lot more challenges for offer in Project Zomboid than in any of the Fallout Games, and compared to the Fallout Games, Project Zomboid had countless more times free to play the game, you could play however the player wanted since there was no set quest or objective other than to simply survive as long as possible.

Stretching my body, I got to work on making sure there were no problems before I release the game.

---

Soon enough it was 10 in the morning, and while I had one part of my mind control my body and begin opening shop, four other parts of my mind began working on the next project, while the last part started looking over the system shop to see what could be sold to the public from Project Zomboid.

And boy oh boy were there some juicy things for sale.

[Zombie Virus Inoculation: A Serum that can be injected into a living organism to prevent revival after death and infection of the Z-Virus by Hosts of the Virus ($100)]

[Potent Vial of the Z-Virus: An airborne strain of the Z-Virus that will turn whoever inhales into a carrier of the virus, turning them undead after death and allowing for the spread of the Z-Virus ($1,000)]

[Zombie Neural Chip: A Neural Chip that can be embedded into a host of the Z-Virus that allows for the control of the virus's host, Warning: The Chip won't work if the host's brain is damaged past a certain degree ($500)]

There were a few more unique items for sale, but frankly, they were all far too dangerous.

One option even forced the zombies to undergo evolution, allowing them to become much more deadly and survive much longer than the basic zombie which would eventually starve due to not being able to catch their food or running out of food sources.

Imagine a zombie with a human intellect, tougher body, denser muscles, and serrated claws, yeah...that wouldn't be very fun for any of the survivors left in the world.

Focusing back on the real world due to the sound of the doors sliding open,  see Kyle who was clearly tired come into the store.

"Didn't sleep?" I asked.

"No need for it, I'd rather get back," He replied, eyes focused solely on the computers.

"I understand, you have just over an hour of time left from last night, so feel free to hop in," Without hesitation, Kyle went to his computer and jumped back into Fallout 2.

Shrugging, to no one but myself, I kept most of my mind focused on Infamous and waited.

The morning was uneventful for the next couple of hours as Kyle went back into the game after he was forced out.

However, just when it passed noon, I heard the doors slide open, and glanced up, frowning upon what I saw.

Red hair, a green leaf-like dress, and a seductive figure.

"Posion Ivy?" I found myself asking.

"You...what are you?" The Villain asked, as what looked to be vines slithered from the corners of the alleyway behind her.

"They...you shouldn't be here, you don't 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨. For them to feel fear..." She continued with an expression of grimace and hesitation, and with a glance, I could see the plants beneath her were actually shaking.

Are the plants sentient?

Right...the Green. I forgot that this is a weird hodgepodge of a universe.

"I'm just your average shopkeep, say...how would you like to see what 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be?" I asked, making sure to be as cryptic as possible.

"What...What do you mean?"

"How would you like to see Earth, a 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 Earth, and how humanity brought it down to its knees?" I asked, before suddenly feeling as if something else began listening into our conversation.

"Why would I want to see such a thing?!" She asked, provoked.

"So that you can learn, of course. Learn the consequences, learn about that humanity's mistakes, and how to prevent them...how they managed to do something you 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 and began fixing the damage they did and discover a way to fix the many problems this Earth faces even now?" I asked, thinking about a certain technology that Posion Ivy would do whatever it takes to obtain. The G.E.C.K.

Garden of Eden Creation Kit.

Essentially, they were terraforming kits the size of a suitcase that could turn an inhospitable land into one brimming with life within anywhere from a few years to a couple of decades.

You could think of Posion Ivy as an extreme Ecological Activist that wanted to save the planet from being poisoned and destroyed by Humanity's greed.

And while this could be incredibly dangerous, I had no doubt that if she did go down a worse path than the one she is probably on now, then the heroes of the world would put a stop to her.

But if she managed to succeed? She'd probably be able to solve things such as world hunger, climate change, and deforestation, and possibly save the planet.

Or, it could blow up in my face, so, why not gamble? It'll be fun!