Chapter 201 At the Same Time

Meanwhile, at Chixing Studio.

"Come on, this way." Meng Chang gestured to Qiao Liang with a "please."

Qiao Liang nodded hurriedly and followed, his face a mixture of anticipation and flattery.

He never expected that Tenda would invite him to be a special experience officer for this brand-new VR game!

Although Qiao Liang had been invited to experience *Turn Back Ashore* before, that was a long time ago. For the recent games, such as *Mission and Choice* and *Fitness Battle*, Qiao Liang hadn't received such treatment. He hadn't even heard much about the new games.

He didn't know that President Pei was deliberately hiding it from him. He thought that President Pei had some special considerations in terms of promotion or marketing.

Although he had thought of many reasons and excuses for President Pei, Qiao Liang still felt a little bit resentful about "not being invited to test the new game."

Come on, as Qiao Laoshi, the person who understands President Pei the most, don't I even have the privilege of experiencing Tenda games in advance?

This was really upsetting.

Therefore, this time, Qiao Liang was so expectant, excited, and flattered to receive Meng Chang's invitation to Chixing Studio to experience Tenda Games' first VR game developed in collaboration.

Tenda's new game needs me again. Could this be a very positive signal?

Am I not far from officially becoming an external employee of Tenda?

Qiao Liang couldn't help but start to imagine.

As they were about to enter the work area, Meng Chang stopped.

"Qiao Laoshi, it's like this."

"Because this game is still in the testing stage, the current quality cannot represent the final completed quality. We are also unsure of what kind of modifications will be made later, so I hope you can keep this project confidential and not let any news spread online."

"If possible, I hope you can minimize online discussions, including forums, fan groups, etc."

Qiao Liang patted his chest. "Don't worry, I'm a professional!"

"I'll definitely keep my mouth shut and won't reveal a single word!"

"Um... daily fan group chat is okay, but I won't talk about this game, okay?"

Meng Chang thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay."

Although it was just a verbal promise, according to Meng Chang's understanding, Qiao Laoshi was a man of his word and would try his best to keep his promises.

Moreover, the most Meng Chang could ask for was a verbal promise.

Otherwise, what could he do? He couldn't possibly imprison Qiao Liang during the playtest and prevent him from speaking in the fan group, right?

That would be too outrageous and impossible to do.

Therefore, a verbal promise was enough for Meng Chang. Even if Qiao Laoshi chatted in the fan group, as long as he didn't talk about *Animal Island*, it would be fine.

After all, the main purpose of inviting Qiao Laoshi to playtest this game was to divert his attention and prevent him from interfering with *Eternal Reincarnation*.

Keeping *Animal Island* a secret was just a side effect.

After reaching a consensus, the two continued to walk inside and soon met Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou.

Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou both knew Qiao Liang. They shook hands cordially after meeting each other, and the scene was very harmonious and pleasant.

However, Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou's gazes towards Meng Chang were not very friendly, with a hint of vigilance in their indifference.

Although Meng Chang was now the head of the advertising and marketing department, and in terms of status, he was considered a member of Tenda, Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou still knew something about his previous behavior and actions.

Although Meng Chang was gradually being changed by President Pei after entering Tenda, who knew to what extent he had changed?

Therefore, Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou and others were still naturally wary of him.

Meng Chang keenly felt that he was out of place in the atmosphere here, so after a few casual remarks, he prepared to slip away. "Okay, President Lin, you guys receive Qiao Laoshi and coordinate the game experience with him. I'll be leaving now."

After leaving Chixing Studio, Meng Chang breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly!

Although there were a few minor flaws, his plan was a success. Qiao Laoshi would definitely devote himself to reviewing *Animal Island* for a period of time and wouldn't pay attention to *Eternal Reincarnation*.

Eliminated a hidden danger on the road to getting a commission!

The so-called minor flaw referred to the fact that his plan had slightly aroused Lin Wan's suspicion.

Meng Chang first called Lin Wan and said that Qiao Laoshi wanted to participate in the test of *Animal Island*. After Lin Wan agreed, he called Qiao Laoshi and said that he was inviting him to Chixing Studio to participate in the test of *Animal Island*.

That's how they were connected.

But this plan was not perfect. The biggest hidden danger was that Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Qiao Laoshi were very familiar with each other, but Lin Wan, Qiao Laoshi, and Meng Chang were not familiar with each other...

Why would acquaintances need a stranger to connect them...?

This was quite strange.

Meng Chang's explanation was that as the head of the advertising and marketing department, he happened to be doing a promotion plan next month that was related to Qiao Laoshi and Chixing Studio.

He managed to muddle through with this slightly lame excuse, but it obviously couldn't completely eliminate Lin Wan's suspicion.

Of course, this wasn't a big problem. Even if Lin Wan suspected his motives, she couldn't possibly guess the truth behind it. After all, Meng Chang's agreement with President Pei was absolutely confidential, and no outsiders would know about it.

After arranging Qiao Laoshi, Meng Chang felt much more at ease and prepared to go back and continue to think about where there were still loopholes.

...

In Chixing Studio, Lin Wan found a workstation for Qiao Liang in the office area and then handed him a VR headset from a foreign brand.

There was a demo of *Animal Island* on the VR.

"It's still in the development stage, and there are still many problems. If you find any problems during the experience, you can always give feedback to our project's chief designer," Lin Wan said.

Qiao Liang nodded immediately. "Don't worry!"

"President Pei invited me to participate in the internal testing of *Turn Back Ashore* before. I made a huge contribution to the balance of that game back then!"

Speaking of this, Qiao Liang looked proud.

His so-called "made a huge contribution to the balance" was actually that he had painstakingly selected the best weapons in the game, and then President Pei had nerfed them all.

In particular, a few weapons such as the Guandao that could reduce the difficulty of the game were nerfed so badly that even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them.

At that time, Qiao Liang also didn't understand it very well, and even mistakenly thought that President Pei was deliberately making things difficult for him.

But when "Salvation" came out, Qiao Liang instantly understood President Pei's intention in nerfing these weapons.

It turned out that it was to highlight the power of "Salvation" so that players could better experience the game content!

Therefore, Qiao Liang had always been quite proud of his contribution to *Turn Back Ashore*.

Lin Wan smiled. "*Turn Back Ashore*? That's great. Our project will probably be completed in more than a month, so it can be seamlessly connected by then."

Qiao Liang was stunned. "Seamless connection? Connect to what?"

Lin Wan originally wanted to say the new DLC of *Turn Back Ashore*, but suddenly realized that it was wrong.

She couldn't say it.

Because the DLC *Eternal Reincarnation* involved the copyright development of the works of the Inspiration Class of Qidian Chinese Website, and President Pei had clearly stated that it should not be leaked!

Fortunately, Lin Wan only said "seamless connection" and didn't mention anything else.

This shouldn't be considered a leak, right?

Lin Wan quickly changed her words. "It's nothing, you'll know when the time comes."

"Okay, I have something to do, so I'll go and get busy. You can experience the game, and you can come to me at any time if you have any questions."

After Lin Wan finished speaking, she quickly slipped away, lest Qiao Liang noticed something unusual and asked questions to get to the bottom of it.

Looking at Lin Wan's departing back, Qiao Liang was a little confused.

How is it a seamless connection?

Could it be that there will be a new game for me to experience in more than a month?

...

While the authors of the Inspiration Class of Qidian Chinese Website were frantically modifying their works, more and more readers in their reader groups were discussing the same question.

What happened to these salted fish authors of the Inspiration Class?

The state of work before and now are completely different!

Especially Cui Geng and other three authors, who have been modifying their works with high intensity these days, and have to revise a dozen chapters every day.

Moreover, this is not an ordinary minor repair, many of the content on the plot have changed, and it is more reasonable and perfect.

It is estimated that the working hours of these people must reach at least five or six hours every day, not including the time to re-conceive the story and sort out the structure of the novel.

If all the time is counted, it is estimated that the working hours will be full eight hours.

For these salted fish, how outrageous is it to work for eight hours!

And the other authors, although the frequency of modifying their works is not so frequent, either the updates have become more, or they are preparing for new books, and they have all got rid of the state of salted fish.

Is this a distortion of human nature or a decline in morality?

The sense of happiness came too suddenly, and it was even a little unreal, causing the readers to speculate about what was going on.

"Salted fish are collectively turning over one after another. There must be a special reason behind this! If all the treatments remain the same, they can never be in this state now!"

"Increased royalties?"

"Doesn't look like it. As far as I know, the buyout royalties for the Inspiration Class are already very high in the industry, and the possibility of an increase is small. What's more, if it's really an increase in royalties, Cui Geng and Yu Fei should update more or start a new book. Why are they always catching the old book and repeatedly modifying it? There's no money for revising."

"Maybe there are new regulations, and money is given for revising?"

"Then why don't other authors revise their articles to cheat money?"

"Then... what else could it be? I really can't think of it."

"Maybe they give special recommendation slots based on performance? Or go to other channels? Or is there a guaranteed bonus?"

The netizens opened their minds, but basically they didn't guess the point.

After all, Qidian Chinese Website has not had any copyright development works before, so the netizens subconsciously did not think in that direction.

All they can think of is a better recommendation slot, a better distribution channel, or a better website contract.