Chapter 1 The Fans' Outrage

Qiao Laoshi's fans were in an uproar, unable to accept this video!

But there was nothing they could do, because they couldn't find Qiao Laoshi.

He wouldn't respond to @ mentions in the fan groups, nor would he reply to private messages. Some of the administrators who had Qiao Laoshi's phone number tried calling, but found that the call wouldn't even connect.

Clearly, he was planning to play the shrinking turtle.

The fans went from bewildered to angry, from angry to disappointed, from disappointed to indifferent, and then from indifferent to gossiping...

Qiao Laoshi's magical behavior added a lot of festive atmosphere to April Fool's Day.

But everyone soon discovered that this wasn't the end!

On various video websites, many video creators started posting promotional videos for *Game Producer*!

Moreover, these videos were quite strange. They had differences, but the differences were limited to the video titles, the editing of the art resources, and the voices of the video creators.

The text of all the videos was exactly the same, using a mix of Chinese and English, and even the "sliurpsliurp" sound was there!

The fans collectively collapsed.

What the heck was going on!

Although these were all video creators with average influence, they spanned various categories such as games, ghost畜 (a type of remix video), lifestyle, digital, and technology, covering a particularly wide range.

And their titles were all different, so you might accidentally click on them!

When players clicked in and saw this familiar scene, they instantly felt a "thump" in their hearts, knowing something was wrong.

Sure enough, after saying their signature opening remarks, what followed was a blatant attempt to get paid!

"Its name is *Game Producer*, g~A~m~e, game, gamedesigner!"

"Awesome!"

After watching two or three videos in a row, many people found themselves brainwashed, their minds filled with "wow, awesome, sliurpsliurp"...

Moreover, these video creators, without exception, chose to disappear and play dead.

Nonsense, as soon as this video was released, they could foresee that they would be scolded relentlessly, who would dare to stand up now and bear the fans' anger?

They could only let them scold in the comments section, and when the storm passed, they would pretend that nothing had happened.

Sure enough, as Pei Qian had expected, these money-grabbing videos were all scolded miserably!

All of these paid videos had very low views, and the comments section was simply unbearable. Many people who clicked in and saw the miserable state of the comments section would not even bother to watch the video!

...

In the office.

Pei Qian scrolled through these paid videos, checking the views and the audience's feedback.

Well, he had perfectly achieved his goal!

He had spent a high price to find many video creators, and the resulting advertising videos were frantically唾弃 (tuoqi – spat on/despised) by the audience, and the number of views couldn't go up. Basically, they had not achieved any promotional effect.

Great!

Limiting the content of everyone's commentary was really a good way!

Pei Qian knew that these video creators were very talented. What if they were allowed to use their creativity freely and create another tragedy like *A Lonely Desert Road*?

So, he simply had everyone use the same script, which would definitely not bring any good feelings to the players!

Pei Qian was very satisfied. The plan was half successful!

Next, he would see if the game could live up to expectations!

...

In the rented house.

Qiao Liang lay on the bed, looking at the dozens of missed calls on his phone, feeling a little hopeless.

Ah, sure enough, it was hard to earn dirty money!

He didn't even dare to open the fan group, he could imagine what it would be like.

*Ren yi shi yue xiang yue kui, tui yi bu yue xiang yue qi.* (忍一时越想越亏，退一步越想越气 - Enduring for a moment makes you feel more and more wronged, and taking a step back makes you feel angrier and angrier.)

Ah! So regretful!

Now that he thought about it, ten thousand yuan was indeed thick enough, thick enough to blind him.

He thought that earning ten thousand yuan would make him feel happy, but Qiao Liang had been lying on the bed for a long time, always feeling that something was not right.

The game was no longer interesting, and the instant noodles no longer tasted good.

Could it be... was this the feeling of a guilty conscience after earning bad money?

After thinking about it for a long time, Qiao Liang sat up from the bed, turned on the computer, and downloaded *Game Producer*.

"No, I must die clearly today!"

"Qiao Laoshi's lifelong reputation has been ruined, but I must at least figure out what the killer is all about, right?"

He paid 28 yuan to purchase *Game Producer*.

Although he had received the art materials for *Game Producer* a long time ago, Tengda had not sent him the demo of this game.

This was because Pei Qian didn't want to give it to him.

He had already written the video script, and as long as he matched it with the visuals, he could make a rough video, so why bother giving him the demo?

If he gave him the demo, and the video creator played it through himself, and used excellent editing skills to dilute the money-grabbing feel of the video, wouldn't that be very awkward!

Therefore, Qiao Laoshi himself didn't even know what kind of game this was.

With the feeling of "dying clearly," Qiao Laoshi entered the game and began to experience it.

...

...

Perhaps because it was the first time entering the game, he didn't enter the options interface, but directly entered the game after a black screen.

Somewhat unexpectedly, before the game screen appeared, a narration sounded first.

"This is a story about game production."

"You are a fledgling game producer with a great ideal to save the domestic game industry."

"Your job is very simple. Come up with an idea, make a game, the passersby are surprised, the peers envy, the media touts, the sales explode, make money and continue to develop the next game, and so on."

"Until you become a star producer, you can use public funds to chase stars, win the game of the year award, appear on the cover of *Time* magazine, make the company reach a trillion-dollar market value, and reach the pinnacle of life."

"Okay, please wipe the drool from the corners of your mouth."

"These are all too distant things."

"Now, you only have one goal, and that is to make a successful game that can... survive in this cruel market."

Along with this narration, the game screen was also changing.

The game screen was in first-person perspective. Along with the narration, this perspective began to move forward in a corridor-like space.

When it came to the part about "passersby are surprised, peers envy, media touts, sales explode," enthusiastic fans, designers at award ceremonies casting envious glances, countless reporters holding cameras and flashing lights, news of the game's great sales, and other scenes appeared on both sides of the corridor.

These scenes were a bit like silhouettes, or like pages of a pop-up book unfolding, constantly appearing along with the narration.

Walking in this corridor-like space gave a sense of immersion.

Sometimes it felt like being surrounded by enthusiastic players, and sometimes it felt like being frantically photographed by reporters.

But Qiao Liang always felt that he was in a state of ambiguity, and he was not completely immersed in the game.

Qiao Liang felt a little surprised.

The video materials he had received before had no narration, and the videos were not controlled by the player, so they looked very confusing and he didn't know what was going on.

But after experiencing it personally, the feeling was completely different!

First-person perspective + free exploration gave players a good sense of immersion and exploration, and the various backgrounds that appeared like silhouettes around them gave an excellent sense of being there.

On the other hand, the voice of the narration was very peculiar.

This was a very special male voice, a bit sharp, with a narrow and thin vocal range, and a bit of a hoarse, smoky taste.

If you listened carefully, you might feel a little irritable and have the urge to hit someone, but if you didn't pay too much attention, it was easy to ignore the male voice and only focus on the text of the narration.

The fusion of immersion and alienation produced a rather unique gaming experience.

On the one hand, you could immerse yourself in the game, experience the joys and sorrows of a game producer, rejoice in the cheers of the players, and feel elated by the media's touts;

On the other hand, you always maintained an objective and calm perspective, with a feeling of examining from God's perspective.

This experience was very magical. Even though Qiao Liang had played so many single-player games, this was the first time he had encountered this experience.

"Strange, this game... seems pretty good?"

Qiao Liang was even more certain that President Pei was holding a grudge! This was revenge!

This game, if properly promoted, would have no problem with a high-quality paid video.

Then why did he make me do that kind of video?

Isn't this targeting me?!

With three points of curiosity and seven points of displeasure, Qiao Liang continued to experience the game.