“When is the new video coming out? I can’t wait anymore! Ahhhh…”

“Don’t rush me, it’s in progress. Has Old Qiao ever lied to you?”

“Every time I ask, it’s always ‘in progress, in progress’! ‘In progress’ my ass! I doubt Old Qiao can even beat this game.”

“Are you even a real fan? Old Qiao was invited by the official team to experience the game a long time ago, and he supposedly already beat it. But he has an agreement with them not to reveal any game content.”

“Damn it, this game makes me so mad. I’ve been playing for four days and I’m still stuck on the Road to Huangquan.”

“Being stuck on the Road to Huangquan is pretty noobish. I’m stuck on Meng Po.”

“Meng Po is easy to beat if you just play it safe, right? It’s encountering the Judge afterwards that’ll teach you a lesson. You’ll die so much you’ll start questioning your life choices.”

The fans were all discussing the game content and sharing their experiences.

Relatively speaking, the atmosphere in Old Qiao’s fan group was pretty good. There weren’t any heated arguments over the difficulty of the game.

This was probably because most of Old Qiao’s fans were hardcore gamers who were more patient than casual players.

“Sigh, it seems like this game isn’t for clumsy players. Watching you guys play makes me, a clumsy player, so envious.”

“It’s not too bad, depends on how you play. Actually, you can still have fun even if you suck. I’m clumsy too, so I’m planning to just ignore all the monsters, run to the Buddha statues, and see how far I can get.”

“No way, you haven’t even beat the game yet and you’re already thinking about speedrunning?”

“Not speedrunning, just entertaining myself. I can’t beat any of the monsters anyway, hahaha.”

There were also some players with big imaginations who were trying out some flashy playstyles.

Qiao Liang sent a message in the group: “Everyone, while you’re playing the game, please pay attention to the plot. If there’s any suitable material, I’ll use it in my video.”

As an excellent video creator, Qiao Liang always believed in the power of the masses.

There was so much fun content in the game that he couldn’t possibly find it all by himself. Sometimes, silly netizens could provide a lot of inspiration.

“Catching Old Qiao!”

“Old Qiao’s crowd-sourcing for videos again?”

“You’re asking the wrong people. We’re all still getting our asses kicked by the small monsters in the Burial Mound. Who has the mind to study the game’s plot?”

“…I remember this game has an official novel, right? Just go read the official novel.”

Old Qiao was stunned.

Official novel?

How come I’ve never heard of it?

He quickly asked, “Where’s the official novel? It’s not fan-made, is it?”

The guy in the group quickly replied, “It should be the official novel. Go to this website.”

“Do you know TPDB? It’s supposedly a rating website inside Tengda. This website has Zhongdian Chinese Network. And the front page of Zhongdian Chinese Network has this novel, *Turning Back is the Shore*, so it should be the official novel.”

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but marvel.

So there was such a thing?

The silly netizens really are resourceful.

Qiao Liang quickly clicked on the website and took a look. It really was!

The cover recommendation on the front page was prominently displaying *Turning Back is the Shore*.

And after clicking in and taking a quick glance, a lot of the content was highly consistent with the content in the game, including characters like the old monk and the scholar in the starting village.

However, the stories in the book were quite fragmented. It was more like a collection of game plot settings than a novel.

Although it was a bit awkward to read, and the continuity of the plot was very poor, making it difficult to read smoothly, Qiao Liang was very happy.

Because it further confirmed that this was the official novel of *Turning Back is the Shore*!

This way, many of the plot doubts in the game could be confirmed!

“Thanks, bro, you’ve helped me a lot!”

Qiao Liang sent a "cupped fist" emoticon in the group, quickly closed the chat box, and began reading the official novel of *Turning Back is the Shore*.

The first chapter was published in July, and the earliest comment appeared at the end of July.

This further confirmed to Qiao Liang that this book was the official novel.

Because in July, *Turning Back is the Shore* had not been in development for very long.

It couldn’t be that some author just happened to have the same idea as Tengda and wrote such a book, right? That was impossible.

It must have been written by someone inside Tengda!

After reading for five minutes, Qiao Liang frowned frequently.

Not because the book was badly written, but because the comments on the book were disgusting!

There were too many trolls, especially in the first chapter.

The situation in the second and third chapters had improved a lot, probably because the readers had all run away.

“What kind of crap is this?”

“Is the author completely lost in their own world? Poisonous.”

“Why is this book still on the front page of the website? Nepotism?”

“Incomprehensible, get lost!”

“Heh, no wonder this website can’t get popular. Who’s going to read books like this garbage?”

And so on.

Obviously, these comments were written before the release of the game *Turning Back is the Shore*. Most people were judging this book by the standards of ordinary online novels, so naturally they couldn’t get into it at all.

However, Qiao Liang was reading with relish, because a lot of the content in the official novel was very valuable to him.

Some content verified his guesses, some negated his guesses, and some detailed content could guide him to discover more details in the game.

“This is another work that hasn’t been buried.”

“Although the story itself isn’t very good and doesn’t qualify as an online novel, when paired with the game, it suddenly becomes different.”

“Did President Pei create this website too?”

“Strange, why does President Pei always like to play this kind of ‘suppress before you praise’ routine? Is it some kind of unique fetish?”

“Or does he like this rollercoaster feeling, watching his game and website fail first, and then reversing the situation and bringing them back to life through some special means?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Maybe this is just a business genius.”

There was a lot of content in the book, and all kinds of plots were quite fragmented. Some of the content wasn’t even in the game.

Qiao Liang guessed that the plot was probably written by a lot of people working together, but the game only used a small part of it. The rest of the content was at most included as easter eggs or small details, and some of it wasn’t used at all.

“Strange, this old monk has quite a few scenes.”

Qiao Liang noticed that the old monk had a strong presence in the original work.

According to his understanding of the game, there was no Buddha in this world, only dilapidated Buddha statues, symbolizing the legendary Dharma-ending Age.

It was probably because President Pei only wanted to incorporate the content about Buddhism as one of the elements into the game, integrating some of the content of traditional culture.

Apart from the Buddha statues on the path that served as save points, the only place where Buddhist elements appeared was the dilapidated temple outside the village and the old monk inside the temple.

In the game, this old monk was very weak. Killing him and taking the item was his only purpose.

But in the official novel's setting, the old monk had a rather tragic storyline, and his combat power after losing his mind was very strong. He should be a hard-to-provoke elite monster.

Qiao Liang scratched his head, a little confused.

“Did the design team mess up? How is it different from what’s written in the official novel?”

“Indeed, it seems more reasonable to make him an elite monster.”

“After all, this old monk has a separate model. Although he is thin, he is taller than the average monster, and his attack animation is also made separately. The model is also very detailed…”

“As a result, he was only made into such a weak monster. It’s a bit unreasonable.”

Qiao Liang re-entered the game. This was a newly created account after the game was released, and he had already reached the second playthrough, just arriving near the town.

After finding the old monk and saving the game, he began to tease him madly.

Killing him with different skills.

Trying to lure him out of the dilapidated temple.

Dying.

But no matter how he tried, no special plot occurred.

“Could it be that this old monk can’t be killed? Do I need to get a special prerequisite item somewhere?”

Qiao Liang was deeply confused.

After trying for a long time without any clue, Qiao Liang decided to mobilize the masses and ask the players in the group to help him try.

“Everyone, see if the old monk in the dilapidated temple can trigger any hidden plot? Try all kinds of methods. I feel like something is wrong.”

Qiao Liang didn’t have much hope, so he just asked casually.

“Old monk? Already killed him.”

“I killed him too. He’s too squishy, gone with one touch.”

“I haven’t reached that place yet…”

“I can try, but I’m not sure if I can beat him… I ran straight here, without any items or good weapons…”

Qiao Liang remembered the last netizen who spoke.

This was the player who said he was going to try not killing any monsters and see how far he could run.

Qiao Liang didn’t take it seriously. After all, it was also possible that the official novel was wrong, or that the game’s numerical balance had been adjusted in the middle of development for some reason, turning the old monk, who was originally intended to be an elite monster, into a tool person.

A few minutes later.

“Old Qiao! Old Qiao, look quickly! What kind of weapon is this!!”

“[Image]”

“[Image]”

“[Image]”

Probably because he was so excited, the player sent three pictures at once.

Qiao Liang was stunned and clicked on the first picture.

A golden staff!

He was a little confused, because he had seen and used the staff before. It wasn’t very useful, its attack power was low, and it was particularly inconvenient to use.

However, the staff that the old monk dropped before didn’t glow.

But this staff was emitting a golden light. It looked cool and arrogant when carried on the back, and was clearly different from other weapons!

The next two pictures were the name and description of the weapon.

“Pudu”

“The Buddha said: Illumine the emptiness of the five aggregates, and deliver all from suffering.”

Qiao Liang was dumbfounded, and then overjoyed.

There really was a hidden plot???

He quickly typed and asked, “How did you trigger this?”

The player in the group: “I’m not too sure! I just ran over and opened the nearby Buddha statue, and then I wanted to come over and take a look. But I didn’t have any equipment or good weapons, so I couldn’t beat the old monk at all, and I kept getting chased and killed by him.”

“But after dying a few times, I found that the old monk had become an NPC! So I went over and talked to him, and he babbled a bunch of things, and then he gave me this weapon.”

“Damn, this weapon is really awesome!”

His excitement was overflowing.

Qiao Liang was even more puzzled: “Why? Why doesn’t it work for me? I also died several times, but I didn’t trigger anything? Is it because I’m on the second playthrough, so I can’t trigger this hidden plot?”

The player in the group: “Possibly.”

Qiao Liang instantly lost his composure.

Big news!

There was actually such a magical hidden weapon in this game?

He had to start a new save file and go die in the first playthrough to see!

After carefully recalling the whole process of getting the weapon, Qiao Liang couldn’t help but sigh. It was hidden too deeply, as if the designer had deliberately hidden it and didn’t want the players to find it!