Heaven Wants Me Dead!

Heaven! Wants! Me! Dead!

Shen Miaomiao was going insane!

My expression looks bad?

Heh.

How the hell could my expression possibly look good?!

What the hell is this?!

Shen Miaomiao stared at the fax from every angle, scrutinizing it for ten whole minutes before she managed to read between the lines. The entire page contained just four words—

Massive promotional campaign!!!

Early leaderboard exposure! Splash-screen announcement! Major banner promotion!

Shen Miaomiao felt like she was about to be pissed into oblivion.

Had Yan Sheng given Vampire Survivors every single top-tier recommendation slot Yiyou had to offer?!

Not only had he maxed out the promotional push, but it would last five days, all the way until the event ended?!

How was this promotion?!

This was practically an attempt on her life!

Shen Miaomiao screamed inwardly!

I just wanted an explanation so you people would stop treating me like an idiot!

You only had to be sincere and apologize!

I didn't ask for compensation, much less promotional support! Ahhhhhhh!!!

I!

Shen Miaomiao!

Had racked my brains to make this game lose money!

I had exhausted every trick in the book!

For the design! I spent three whole sleepless nights before settling on the most unpopular genre on the market!

For the visuals! I analyzed hundreds of data sheets before deciding on the abandoned pixel-art style!

And for promotion!

I had dodged over ten million in funding, working hard to become a nationally certified master of backing out!

That was the only reason I had barely managed to keep this game popular solely among players, without it being promoted on media platforms or through any other channels!

And then!

Look at you!

One swing of the stick, and all my efforts went down the drain. You shoved me right into the spotlight!

And!

One recommendation wasn't enough for you?!

You're stuffing promotional resources down my throat like your life depends on it?!

Shen Miaomiao clenched her fists tightly!

Her voice squeezed through her teeth, trembling slightly. "This is... Yiyou's compensation for us?"

"Yes."

Chu Qingzhou nodded.

"Yiyou said that this time, they'll do everything possible to minimize the promotional losses we suffered."

"And if you have any other requests, feel free to raise them. Yiyou will do its best to meet them."

Shen Miaomiao slumped in despair, on the verge of tears.

How could I possibly dare make any requests...

If I ask for anything else, they'll probably give us every recommendation slot on the entire platform...

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to slap herself twice.

Shen Miaomiao, you fool!

Why did you have to act so damn tough?!

If they wanted to play favorites, just let them!

Wouldn't that have helped suppress Vampire Survivors' popularity...

But she just had to get mad and march over there to demand an explanation.

And now look.

She had vented her anger, but trouble had arrived too.

After a long while, Shen Miaomiao finally managed to catch her breath. Clinging to her last shred of hope, she looked at Chu Qingzhou.

"Um... is there any chance we could refuse this compensation?"

"Uh..."

Chu Qingzhou scratched her chin with a finger, looking utterly puzzled.

"But why would we refuse it?"

"Because..."

Shen Miaomiao held it in for ages before saying:

"Because this will affect other games. Think about it, everyone came here to participate in the event."

"And yet only we get recommendations. Isn't that... unfair?!"

Shen Miaomiao thought that was a very solid reason.

"Oh, CEO Yan considered that too."

But Chu Qingzhou waved her hand casually.

"Yiyou has already discussed this compensation plan with the game developers participating in this event. More than eighty percent of them said they understood."

"For one thing, we were targeted far too badly this time, so compensation is only natural."

"For another, our actual vote count is already more than five times that of second place."

"In other words, this compensation is mainly meant to improve our sales after the game launches. It's effectively financial compensation in another form."

"It won't have much impact on voting fairness, because we've already won in advance."

"CEO Yan also asked me to reassure you. This compensation plan can be said to be—what everyone wants!!!"

Pff—ugh...

Shen Miaomiao felt blood rising to the corner of her mouth.

She truly hadn't expected the competing companies in the indie game market to be so "friendly."

Where was your fighting spirit?!

Where was your drive?!

Don't admit defeat!

Pull yourselves together and join forces to resist this unfair treatment!

Could it be that just because of this measly fivefold gap in votes, you were giving up on fighting for your fair rights?!

...All right, a fivefold gap really wasn't easy to catch up to.

But you couldn't just lie down and accept it like this!!!

Shen Miaomiao wanted to cry.

It felt like during military training, when the instructor asked who could run ten kilometers, she stayed still, only for everyone around her to collectively take one step backward.

I wasn't trying to step forward, damn it!!!

Most importantly, she had no reason at all to reject Yiyou's compensation plan!

She couldn't exactly refuse when they were practically forcing money into her hands!

That would be way too suspicious!

At that thought, Shen Miaomiao let out a melancholy sigh. "Sister Chuchu, buy me a box of motherwort this afternoon..."

Chu Qingzhou froze upon hearing that, then lowered her voice and asked, "You... have irregular periods?"

Shen Miaomiao's eyes were empty as she slumped in her chair and nodded.

"Soon."

Yiyou Platform's compensation plan went live soon afterward.

That directly turned Vampire Survivors, already wildly popular among players, into the hottest dark horse on the entire platform—even in China's gaming scene!

"A Superstar Is Born! Golden Wind Locks Down Victory a Week Early!"

"Why Is Vampire Survivors So Fun? An In-Depth Analysis of Its Gameplay Mechanics!"

"An Undefeated Legend! Who Exactly Is Gu Sheng, the Creator of One Hit Game After Another?"

"I Won't Allow Anyone to Miss Out on This Bliss—The Ultimate Vampire Survivors Guide!"

"..."

Amid the unprecedented hype, media outlets began reporting on the game of their own accord. Whether major publications or independent creators, all of them tried to uncover more newsworthy angles in this game!

"Alright, everyone, welcome to Lao Ju#@￥% Gameplay! Today, I'm bringing you a very awesome little game—Vampire Survivors. I've already spent ten minutes fully understanding this game..."

"Hello, everyone, I'm San Ren. The game we're playing today is called Vampire Survivors..."

"Yo! Hello, everyone! I'm C Jun! The game I'm bringing you today is called Vampire Survivors..."

"Hello, everyone, I'm Apa. Today, we're playing a pixel-art indie game, Vampire Survivors..."

"..."

One gaming content creator after another experienced this mysteriously addictive game, controlling their tiny characters as they fought to survive wave after wave of monsters, shouting and yelling while enjoying the simplest, purest thrill of gambling.

As for the streaming platforms, things were even more explosive!

Aside from professional indie game streamers like A Yin, Brother Shu, Liu Liu, and Zhuang Zhuang, who were playing obsessively.

Even streamers from the FPS category, singing category, League category, and even the Go category joined in on the carnival!

And the players went from initially having no idea how to synthesize Super Weapons to gradually figuring out the formulas for all kinds of Super Weapons, becoming more and more skilled!

The steadily escalating sense of satisfaction also made the game's reputation among players grow louder and louder!

Until this day!

It was Sunday again, 7:50 p.m.!

Golden Wind Co., Ltd., which should have been closed for the day long ago, was unusually brightly lit!

Inside the conference room, figures took their seats one after another.

And the bun atop the leading figure's head was particularly eye-catching.

It was none other.

Than Shen Miaomiao, wearing the bitter expression of someone waiting to die.