This short film...
It was truly heartbreaking. She was in so much pain, yet she had no idea whom to blame.
Blame the production team? No!
The fact that it had made her cry like this was precisely proof of the care the production team had put into it.
Himeko had truly been elevated. It felt as though someone like Himeko really existed in this world.
"So this is... The Last Lesson..."
Every smile and gesture of Himeko's, along with those final words, kept replaying in her mind.
Himeko!! She just... died?
Aaaah... damn MiHoYo!
Looking for teammates to farm dungeons. MiHoYo Studio, anyone coming?! (furious)
Eden, stop crying. She's just a fictional character. She isn't worth it!
There should... be a twist, right? Himeko is a playable character in the gacha pool. How could she possibly get killed off?
Sob sob~ My Aunt Himeko...
Killing off characters just to grab attention? What kind of garbage is that?
What kind of trash Studio is this? What kind of idiotic game? Fuck you! I'm done playing!
The Danmaku kept scrolling, filled with hostility.
But Elysia and Eden had no time to deal with any of that.
Seeing Eden cry nonstop, Elysia had no choice but to close the livestream.
"Eden..."
Before long, the matter spread across the internet and rapidly climbed the trending charts.
#Honkai Impact 3rd#
#Himeko#
#"The Last Lesson"#
#EdenCried#
#MiHoYo#
In just a few short hours, Honkai Impact 3rd-related topics had completely dominated Weibo's trending list.
Countless hotheaded guys even declared that they were going to raid MiHoYo Studio.
At the same time, though, plenty of rational players spoke up for MiHoYo.
Meanwhile, the official Honkai Impact 3rd accounts on Douyin and Bilibili were being reported and cursed at by countless players.
This time, Honkai Impact 3rd had truly broken out of its circle.
Even people who did not play games knew about Honkai Impact 3rd, MiHoYo, and Himeko.
Eden's fans were even more furious.
A tiny Studio had actually made Eden cry?
How could they tolerate that?
Right now, Honkai Impact 3rd's ratings and reputation were plummeting.
The girls at MiHoYo Studio were practically frantic with worry.
"Boss, how about we change the story and bring Aunt Himeko back to life?" Kiana had just finished playing through Honkai Impact 3rd's main story.
Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked eagerly at Mo Li.
Hearing Kiana's words, Himeko rolled her eyes. "Kiana, isn't it a little inappropriate for you to curse me like that?"
Kiana wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "What? When did I curse Sister Himeko...? I meant the character in the game."
Mo Li smiled and handed Kiana a tissue. "No need to change it, and we can't change it..."
"But... the way people online are judging our game right now..."
Mo Li waved his hand. "What was our original intention? Wasn't it to make games seriously?"
"The players have merely lost their heads. We can't lose ours too."
"You've all seen the later parts of the story, right? If Himeko hadn't died, then the game's theme would have fallen apart..."
In Mo Li's view, the best thing about Honkai Impact 3rd was neither its gameplay nor its beautiful girls.
It was the story... If the story fell apart, then it would no longer be called Honkai Impact 3rd.
It had to be said that Honkai Impact 3rd's story was truly strong.
After all, nearly everyone on its production team had been an EVA fan, and many aspects had drawn inspiration from EVA.
Having learned from the plot of a masterpiece, how bad could it possibly be?
At the very least, it was far better than most of Dragon Country's anime.
Back to the point.
What was the theme of Honkai Impact 3rd's story?
To fight for all that is beautiful in the world?
No, that was merely a slogan.
In Mo Li's eyes, Honkai Impact 3rd was about growth and inheritance.
The inheritance from the Previous Era to the Current Era.
The inheritance from Himeko to Kiana.
If Himeko were revived, then the story's theme would truly become that of beautiful girls fighting monsters and saving the world.
How would that be any different from plain water?
It was not that killing off characters was necessary for a good story.
Rather, that was Honkai Impact 3rd's theme. If it were changed, then it would fall apart.
"Then it's decided... Even if this game loses money, I'll make it according to my own ideas!"
Losing money was impossible. Not to mention that Mo Li did not need to spend money making it.
With Honkai Impact 3rd generating this much buzz, he had instead gained a huge amount of popularity points.
There was no loss at all, okay?
Besides, Honkai Impact 3rd's story had only just begun.
When it reached the Herrscher of Flamescion chapter, that would be the true climax.
In those memories from Earth, when Mo Li experienced the Herrscher of Flamescion chapter, he had been completely immersed for an entire afternoon.
There had been so much dialogue, yet he had not skipped a single line.
And the animated short, "Everlasting Flames," was even more incredible.
It was clearly an intensely passionate animation, yet it could still bring viewers to tears.
What were everlasting flames?
"When firewood is exhausted, the flame passes on, and one never knows its end."
This line came from an ancient Earth text, Zhuangzi: The Nourishment of Life.
It meant that firewood would eventually burn out, but the Core Flame would not be extinguished and could still be passed down.
By then, when you looked back at those haters, you would only find them laughable.
PS: Back then, the author was also a hater. (laughs) I even quit the game for a long time, only returning during the Black Seele version, hahaha...
Eden: MiHoYo, You Have No Heart (Crying)
Ever since Honkai Impact 3rd updated to version 1.2, Zhao Yi and his uncle Zhao Wenbo had been keeping a close eye on it.
After all, the game they were currently making was "modeled after" Honkai Impact 3rd.
After more than half a month of work, their game, Maiden Voyage, was nearly complete.
And now that Honkai Impact 3rd had suddenly exploded in popularity and dominated Weibo's trending charts, they naturally noticed it quickly.
"Hahaha... Young people really are young people. They actually arranged for a character they were selling to get killed off."
Zhao Wenbo looked at the densely packed information on Weibo and was delighted rather than angry.
The moment he saw "The Last Lesson," Zhao Wenbo had almost instinctively seized the opportunity.
An opportunity to make Honkai Impact 3rd universally despised and turn it into a stepping stone for his new work, Maiden Voyage.
The instant Elysia ended her stream, Zhao Wenbo immediately contacted online trolls and had them stir up trouble everywhere.
They relentlessly smeared Honkai Impact 3rd over its decision to forcibly kill off a character just for popularity.
After several hours of brewing, his goal was finally achieved.
Compared with half a month ago, the internet's evaluation of MiHoYo had almost completely reversed.
Sixty percent of people were cursing MiHoYo.
Another twenty percent were merely spectators, while only about twenty percent spoke up for MiHoYo.
Honkai Impact 3rd's rating had also rapidly dropped because of his maneuvering.
"Uncle, that move was brilliant. You only hired a few online trolls, yet you made all the fans Honkai Impact 3rd had accumulated turn against it."
"But... what if Honkai Impact 3rd's production team changes the story?"
Zhao Yi was no fool. The problem Honkai Impact 3rd faced now was simply that Himeko had been killed off.
The players' fury was precisely proof that they genuinely loved the game.
If MiHoYo really changed the story, the current public backlash would quickly disappear, and they would win over the players as well.
If that happened, Honkai Impact 3rd's reputation would rapidly recover.
"You're not so stupid if you could think of that." Zhao Wenbo nodded approvingly before smiling confidently. "Even if that MiHoYo boss really changes the story, it doesn't matter."
"I never expected such a minor trick to bring them down anyway, so..."
"What we need to do now is hurry up and finish Maiden Voyage as soon as possible."
"Go announce our new game on the official website immediately. Release the news and pull in those players while they're disappointed."
"Also, notify everyone. They need to work harder lately and speed up production even more. It would be best if we could launch the open beta within three days."
After hearing his uncle's words, Zhao Yi immediately understood.
Brilliant, truly brilliant. As expected of his uncle.
As long as Honkai Impact 3rd did not alter the story within three days, they could completely use the players' anger to draw them over to their side.
With Honkai Impact 3rd's current popularity, along with Tencent's enormous traffic and user base, Zhao Yi could not even imagine how explosive Maiden Voyage would be once it launched...
At that moment, discussions online were still intense.
Under Honkai Impact 3rd's official Bilibili and Douyin accounts, countless players left messages begging them to change the plot and revive Himeko.
The latest video on the official account had already received over two million likes.
Just as the players wailed and flooded the comments, Honkai Impact 3rd's official account suddenly uploaded another new video.
Before you continue