Inside the Marching Ant Company's Holographic Ecology Development Laboratory, over a dozen technicians had gathered. Zhao Min stood among them, eyes fixed on the holographic platform at the center of the lab.
A lively little tiger appeared in the holographic projection—anime-style, highly detailed, and undeniably adorable. It rolled around and played in a simulated pet yard, drawing smiles and delighted gasps, especially from the female staff watching the scene.
Zhao Min turned to Lin Zhiyuan, standing beside her. "How's the result?"
Lin Zhiyuan straightened. As one of the lead developers in holographic ecology, he was in charge of holographic game development. Today, they were testing one of their newest games: Pet Adventure.
"Our self-test report's back," he said confidently. "System stable, program running smoothly."
Zhao Min nodded and brought up the pet store interface.
On screen, over 200 types of virtual pets appeared—ranging from everyday animals like cats, dogs, and birds, to mythical beasts like dragons, phoenixes, and qilins. All of them were designed to exist as interactive holographic pets.
Their design was the result of a collaboration between Marching Ant's art team, AI design tools, and a lot of creative passion.
"How many games have we completed so far?" Zhao Min asked.
"We've got more than a dozen. Chess, Go, Chinese chess, and other board games are the most polished. We also have a tower defense game and a side-scrolling street fighting game."
"Put them all on the store," Zhao Min said without hesitation. "All at once."
In the Marching Ant Company lounge, a white-collar worker named Chen Hui was slouched on a sofa, bored out of his mind. With nothing better to do, he idly scrolled through Weibo on his holographic phone.
He had worked hard to snag this phone—one of the hottest tech items on the market—but recently, he'd found it… a bit underwhelming.
Sure, it looked cool. Sure, it ran faster than anything else. But aside from holographic video calls—rarely useful since his friends and family didn't have compatible phones—there wasn't much he could actually do with the holographic features.
The phone was powerful, no doubt. But for nearly 30,000 yuan, it was starting to feel like an expensive flex more than a tool.
Then, as he scrolled, a notification caught his eye:
[Marching Ant Company Official]: Holographic mobile games now available!
Chen Hui's eyes lit up. Just a few words, a few teaser images, and his interest spiked. Without a second thought, he opened the holographic app store.
As someone who occasionally played games to unwind from his monotonous job, he was instantly drawn in.
Holographic games?
That's something he had never experienced before.
He quickly browsed the listings. Several new titles were featured, but one caught his eye immediately: Pet Adventure.
He tapped on it.
After registering, he was prompted to choose a pet. Ten basic options—cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, fish—were free, while premium or mythical pets required payment.
Chen Hui scrolled past the usual pets and spotted a little tiger with big, curious eyes. For just ten yuan, it was his.
As soon as he activated holographic mode, his phone projected a three-dimensional tiger cub, about the size of a fist. It had soft fur, alert eyes, and a cheerful bounce in its step.
"Meowr!"
The tiger let out a tiny growl, shaking its head and stretching adorably. It looked up at Chen Hui as if recognizing its new owner.
"Whoa... that's adorable."
Gasps of surprise sounded around him as curious colleagues looked over.
"Chen Hui! Where'd you get that little tiger? It's so cute!"
A female colleague instinctively reached out to touch the projection—but her hand passed right through. That only made her squeal more.
Chen Hui grinned. "It's from the new holographic game that just dropped. Pet Adventure. Kind of like Travel Frog, but in 3D and holographic."
His excitement was infectious. The little tiger swayed its tail and chased a holographic ball, mesmerizing everyone around.
"I'm buying a holographic phone," one of the girls blurted out.
"I need that tiger in my life," another murmured, eyes shining.
Many of them had always wanted a pet, but life was too busy—or apartments too small. And animals came with hygiene concerns and daily responsibilities. But this? A virtual holographic pet with lifelike behavior and no mess?
It was perfect.
Scenes like this were playing out across the country.
As the news of Marching Ant's holographic games hit social media and tech news outlets, users with compatible phones rushed to the holographic app store. For weeks, netizens had been urging Marching Ant to release games tailored to the platform. Until now, the company had remained quiet.
But today?
They delivered.
And just like that, holographic gaming went viral.