It Can Be Like This?

Xu Meng's doubt had barely surfaced when new information flooded in again—

[Company Owned: Dream Building Game Network Technology Co., Ltd.]

[Employee Count Exceeds One Hundred, Task Over-completion]

[Task Complete!]

[Basic Reward: 2 Million Cash Value in Cryptocurrency]

[Bonus Reward: Intelligent Collaboration Development Tool]

[Reward Issuance Complete]

[Task Update—]

[Fortunately, you picked up a company; unfortunately, this company is about to vanish.]

[Task: Turn Crisis into Safety]

[Task Objective: Reverse the deteriorating reputation and revenue of the "Frost Snow Project," pulling the company back from the brink of bankruptcy.]

The light screen vanished.

Xu Meng froze for a moment, then slammed the table in disappointment—

What good was this?! Two million wasn't pocket change.

If he were still in his original world, he'd be celebrating for at least a month.

After all, building a game company from scratch usually meant a studio model, at most ten people.

Two million would cover a year's salary.

But in Dream Building, it only bought one more month of life.

The advanced development tool was the same—just improving work efficiency.

Yet Dream Building's current problem couldn't be solved in a month or two—turning a failing shooter into a top-tier product within two months? Wasn't that a joke?!

The media and competitors had already pronounced Dream Building dead, and even players were lighting candles.

Assistant Chen Mengling saw Xu Meng's grim expression and assumed he was upset about the trending topic. She quickly tried to comfort him:

"Boss, don't panic. Only two or three people have secretly submitted resumes; most are still loyal!"

Xu Meng looked up at his assistant, a question mark slowly forming over his head.

If you can't talk, just don't!

If even you, the general manager's assistant, have caught wind of this, the reality is far worse! "Got it, got it. Go handle your stuff." Xu Meng waved his hand.

"Oh, okay." The little assistant looked uneasy but could only leave the office.

Xu Meng, head throbbing with pain, opened his computer to study this "Frost Snow Project" of theirs, wanting to see what was really going on and if there was any hope.

From the initial planning, "Frost Snow Project" had targeted the market gap for a [2D + Shooter] genre, aiming to seize this relatively empty track.

The idea was good, but the final product...

Was neither 2D nor a shooter.

As a shooter, it didn't do multiplayer, didn't do competitive play, and didn't seriously study shooting feel.

It was solely focused on how to choke player resources, how to design bosses and gun stats to force players into spending.

As a 2D game, it didn't put effort into the designs and appearances of the cute girls, instead cramming in a bunch of irrelevant plot and forcing CPs between male and female characters...

Of the three most prominent female characters in the opening—Tong Que, He Yin, and Xiao Ningxi—two had obvious flirtatious dialogue with male characters! Only Xiao Ningxi escaped, and that was because she was too young.

—Even so, Xiao Ningxi had a close male mentor, Yun Fei.

Xu Meng's head filled with question marks:

Are you sick? Who designs a 2D game like this?

Others make games by playing to their strengths and avoiding weaknesses. You play to your weaknesses and avoid your strengths, using every bit of trash you can find! If you don't crash and burn, who will?!

Xu Meng felt his blood pressure spike, his head splitting with pain.

He suddenly understood why, in his past life, the games he'd developed by riding trends had succeeded.

—Sure, he rode trends, but he always designed games from the player's perspective, studying how to make them fun and how to surprise players.

And yet, so many game designers out there didn't care at all about what players thought?

Even more bizarre: now, under his command, he had all these "geniuses"!

Xu Meng was utterly speechless, almost wanting to laugh.

"Fine, fine... So that's how it is, huh..."

The straightforward way to turn a game's reputation around—improving quality through hard power—was out of the question. Impossible in the short term.

"Then... I'll have to take an unconventional path."

He'd seen 2D shooters come back from the dead before.

Though the method was a bit unsightly and would inevitably draw accusations of vulgarity from moral guardians, it was still better than the company going under, employees losing their jobs, and him being saddled with tens of millions in debt.

He logged into the official account for "Frost Snow Project," thinking as he began drafting the announcement.

Ten minutes later, on the Weiguang social platform.

The official account of "Frost Snow Project" released the announcement.

Because [Game Observer]'s prediction of their demise had trended, a flood of media and netizens were waiting for "Frost Snow Project" to respond.

[Game Observer] trading barbs online with the companies they predicted would fail was a staple act, one that always drew a crowd of netizens eager for the drama—this time was no exception.

Now that "Frost Snow Project" had finally taken the bait, the gossip-hungry netizens swarmed in.

And then, they saw something completely beyond expectations—

"Thank you all for your concern about 'Frost Snow Project' and Dream Building Game.

But such a trivial matter hardly warrants beating drums and gongs to summon everyone here.

Still, since you're here, to make sure no one came for nothing, we'll take this opportunity to announce a few things.

'Frost Snow Project' has begun its remastering process. Some changes that can be disclosed are as follows: 1. Story Changes: All character CP settings have been removed, and no such content will be produced in the future.

(Note: The writing team has been replaced with fresh blood. We are recruiting game copywriters and male-oriented harem web novel authors to join the writing team.) 2. Character Costumes: All female characters will undergo a full costume overhaul, and we will continue to release more outfits that fully showcase the characters' figures and personal aesthetics in the future.

Male characters unrelated to the main storyline will be removed, and relevant characters will undergo gender swaps to become female.

(Note: We are recruiting concept artists. All employees of Dream Building Game warmly welcome bishojo H-artists to go legit!) 3. Rating Upgrade: We regretfully announce—

Due to the scale of the remastered characters' figures, costumes, and actions, the rating of 'Frost Snow Project' will be raised from the original [12+] to [18+].

Effective immediately, users under 18 will no longer be able to register.

After the version update, already registered users under 18 will also be unable to log in.

A refund channel for minors will be launched within a week.

More changes will be gradually disclosed in the future. Stay tuned!"—Everyone who saw the announcement—whether it was the editors at [Game Observer], industry peers, "Frost Snow Project" players, or pure gossip netizens—was completely stunned.

The same sentence kept looping through their minds—

"What kind of move is this?!"

They couldn't understand it! Absolutely couldn't! Weren't you supposed to fiercely refute [Game Observer]'s stance, angrily denounce their inaccurate data and baseless rumors, demand that [Game Observer] apologize for the losses their false statements caused to Dream Building Game, and threaten legal action while doing nothing but talk tough?

—Netizens saw this kind of script seven or eight times a year; they were practically experts at it! How come Dream Building Game suddenly broke the pattern and didn't play by the rules?!

Not only were you not angry, but you took the chance to release an announcement?

And...

Do you even realize what you just posted?!

Once the netizens snapped out of it, the comment section exploded: "The writing team got sacrificed just like that?"

"Good riddance! So satisfying! But what's with recruiting harem novel authors?"

"Is this hinting that we can build a harem in the game in the future?!"

"I know a harem novel writer, writes great stuff, but three flops in a row, almost can't make ends meet. @Wheel Turner, come beg for food!"

"Gender swap characters? Awesome! All I can say is, freaking awesome!"

"Costumes, 18+, H-artists... Is this a full-on armor removal? Things are looking up, bros!"

"Genius! 2D games should have been taking notes from hentai ages ago."

The uproar wasn't just online.

Just one door away from Xu Meng's general manager office, the open-plan workspace quickly grew noisy.

And the liveliest spot, without a doubt, was the writing team, who had been slacking off and scrolling through Weiguang at work.

They scrolled and scrolled, and suddenly realized they'd been fired...