To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 297: Chapter 191: Hidden Easter Egg (Three More)_1

Although “Heavenly Demon” was selling hot in overseas markets, domestic media were strangely silent.

Chen Rang, a well-known media journalist, looked at the sales of “Heavenly Demon” every day, and the gaming group he was part of shared updates about “Heavenly Demon” daily.

When sales broke ten million, he even saw players in the group covertly changing their signatures to ten million, and the Game Inn’s headline was also changed to a large celebration icon, but surprisingly, there was not a single piece of news inside—there was an air of unspeakability.

There were also players wearing T-shirts printed with “ten million” walking on the streets; occasionally, two ten millions would brush past each other, exchange a knowing smile, and instantly feel the déjà vu of finding their organization.

Some people found related resources through scientific methods of circumventing internet blocks, and after excitedly paying for the download and starting to play, they were immediately touched by the great kindness of Fang Cheng Studio and said that this game indeed was not suitable for release in China.

Nothing else, it was just too despairing.

Although everyone always said “Under the Plum Tree’s Sacrifice, Mana is Boundless”, when they actually saw the tragic state of their own plum tree, a large number of players broke down.

The game was good, but we were not worthy; let the overseas players play it instead.

There were also players who wouldn’t believe in bad luck and insisted on continuing to play to see how the ending would turn out.

They believed that Fang Cheng Studio’s games must have sweetness—every cut was in service of the sweetness, and the very last bite would be especially sweet.

Then, they went from the first playthrough to the second, from the second to the third.

With each playthrough, their strength grew significantly, each time unlocking some special areas and some special magical weapons.

Every time they discovered a new area, those players felt they could find a way to save everything, but in the end, they just repeated the tragedy in an even more brutal fashion.

Everyone was wounded all over but still marched forward bravely, madly searching for the legendary perfect ending.

Not many players were able to continue playing such a despairing story, and Qiu Yu was among those few.

By day he worked on his own games, rewarding himself with a session of “Heavenly Demon” when tired, which after leaving him heartbroken, gave him the courage to continue with his game development.

Seeing the current state of his good friend, Alan, who was in the middle of composing music, began to feel restless.

This handsome Gaul had already successfully integrated into his surroundings; although he still didn’t understand most of Chinese, he had learned to argue in Rong City dialect and knew how to retort when foreigners in Capital City sneered at him online.

Recently, drinking tea around a stove had become popular, so he set up a small stove downstairs; later, he was reported for producing too much smoke while roasting beef.

Alan, now half a Rong City native, noticed that his good friend Qiu Yu had completely immersed himself in the game.

He was fine while developing games, but when playing “Heavenly Demon,” he began grinding his teeth; he had already filled three notebooks with game-related notes and was continuously adding more every day.

With each playthrough, players grew stronger, but as new areas unlocked, the strength of the demons on the other side increased synchronously. There were rumors that the storyline would change after the tenth playthrough, but those were quickly corrected as false information.

Some people had already started to give up, but Qiu Yu was still persisting.

Seeing the slightly crazed Qiu Yu, Alan could understand.

He had a similar experience as a child with a music game he particularly loved; he just couldn’t get past the highest difficulty level of 13. Every strategy guide said that level was impossibly difficult, but he kept trying and playing and finally passed after three years, then deleted the game.

For a long time afterward, he didn’t touch music games until coincidence led him back to music.

Addiction can quickly teach people some things, but it also wears away patience and eventually makes one lose the joy of gaming.

As a good friend, Alan admired Qiu Yu’s dedication to making games; however, judging by Qiu Yu’s attitude, if he didn’t help him get out early, he might end up not wanting to make games at all.

After some thought, he decided to start with the game itself.

He didn’t much like playing these heart-wrenching horror games, but he could try to find those involved and see if they might have some good solutions.

While Qiu Yu restarted the game, Alan opened “Heavenly Demon” and then checked the staff credits.

The planners and programmers were all from the studio’s internal staff, but only a name, “motang,” seemed a bit unfamiliar.

“Original author Tang Mo, is it adapted from his novel? Is he famous?”

While translating web pages, Alan opened a browser and, using his own methods, began searching in the vast sea of the internet.

The process wasn’t easy, and the search was quite troublesome, but he still relied on his perseverance and resolve to follow limited clues and eventually found Tang Mo’s Q group.

When he saw the line “Original author of ‘Heavenly Demon'” in the group’s description, Alan was filled with emotion.

It wasn’t easy!

The internet is really huge!

With great joy, he clicked to join the group only to find another dialogue box popping up, “What is the name of the male protagonist in Tang Mo’s latest novel?”

Seeing this question, Alan fell back into confusion.

What latest novel?

Where is it serialized?

Where should I go to read it?

With no other choice, Alan started again, following this clue to search for Tang Mo’s novels.

After overcoming each obstacle and finally joining the group, he felt he had gained a deeper understanding of Huaxia culture.

The internet here was truly marvelous.

He clicked on Tang Mo’s avatar and sent his request earnestly.

When Tang Mo received Alan’s message, he was still moved.

He had played “Heavenly Demon” a long time ago; the atmosphere of despair was exactly what he had been expressing, and it had become even more so after being adapted into a game.

Just thinking that his novel had been turned into a game filled him with pride; he felt like he had reached the pinnacle of his life.

What moved him even more was that his soulmate, Fang Cheng, had truly understood his thoughts!

He had indeed made arrangements!

Seeing the little secret door appear in the starting village, he knew Fang Cheng understood his feelings and intentions, which touched him even more than seeing his novel adapted into a game.

Unfortunately, up to now, no one had come to ask him about the easter egg.

Not many domestic players had played it yet, and foreign players couldn’t find him; though he wanted to publicize it, he felt it was a bit too showy, so he had been stifling it, and it was still bothering him.

Just as he felt he couldn’t hold it in any longer, Alan’s message came through.

“Dr. Tang, is there really only despair in ‘Heavenly Demon’?”

Seeing this sentence, Tang Mo felt relieved, and then replied, “Try taking a look at the water tank in the starting room, how about that?”