Gu Sheng, You Truly Deserve to Die!

Seeing A Yin completely lose it, the livestream audience was losing their minds—

'Hahahahaha holy shit this trap is too cursed'

'The in-game bullet comments are just too abstract'

'Click to check the designer's mental state'

'You can't beat this level at all hahahaha'

'The monkey's totally snapped'

'I can't hold it in anymore, dying once a minute on average, who can take that'

'More anger in this one hour than in a whole year'

'Lmao, watching Boss's stream I thought it was just for show, went and bought the game myself'

'How's the experience? Spill it so we can laugh?'

'Only advice is don't use a new controller or keyboard when playing'

'Otherwise you'll feel bad when you smash it, right...'

'Get out of my computer lmao'

'Absolute masterpiece!!!'

'Straight up made me laugh to death...'

Watching the barrage of laughter flooding the screen.

Then looking at the panting, clearly furious streamer A Yin.

Shen Miaomiao silently raised a question mark in her mind.

There's a saying online: 'When I type a question mark, it's not that I have a problem, it's that I think you have a problem.'

She really couldn't understand—why would a game that seemed so deliberately cruel, even designed specifically to stop players from clearing levels, still have people willing to use over sixty lives to try and beat it? And if not for being so furious in the end, they'd still want to keep playing?

Were all players really masochists?

Shen Miaomiao didn't quite get it.

So she decided to learn through practice.

Getting up and turning on her computer, Shen Miaomiao didn't take long to purchase and install Gu Sheng's "Mario Bros."

After all, it had already sold so many copies now—what's one more flea on a mangy dog? It wouldn't miss her two bucks.

Entering the game, Shen Miaomiao first skimmed the controls.

The operation was very simple: just move forward and back, sprint, and jump.

"Doesn't look that hard either, not even as tough as Carrot Fantasy..."

Muttering to herself, Shen Miaomiao started the game.

But ten minutes later.

"...Gu Sheng, you really deserve to die!!!"

At this point, Shen Miaomiao had completely shed her cute, ladylike image. Both hands gripping a keyboard split in half, teeth bared, veins bulging on her forehead—she looked every bit a violent girl!

This guy should be sentenced!

Taken out and shot for ten minutes!

She finally understood why A Yin had snapped so badly!

Because this game wasn't just plain "hard"!

Shen Miaomiao had dabbled in some difficult games before.

But unlike those that artificially raised difficulty by piling on enemies or obstacles.

"Mario Bros." was entirely Gu Sheng's intellectual crushing of all players on a whole different level!

Only those who played it could feel that those seemingly random, funny trap designs all had underlying logic!

They were interlinked!

A simple example—

In the middle of the first level, you'd pass a small downward staircase.

Following the stairs down and going forward a bit, you'd reach a pipe, with the terrain forming a "U" shape.

It looked calm and peaceful, not even a single enemy.

But in reality, it was hiding deadly traps.

Once you went down the stairs and reached the edge of the pipe, trying to jump up, you'd find—that bastard Gu Sheng had placed a whole row of invisible blocks above your head.

As soon as you stepped down, you could never jump again, stuck right there, forced to restart!

And that wasn't even the worst part.

Generally speaking, even a gaming idiot like Shen Miaomiao would figure out the trap's pattern after falling into it twice.

So the third time she passed by, Shen Miaomiao got clever:

"This granny just won't walk that stretch of road, problem solved!"

"It's not far anyway, I'll just do a speed-boost long jump and land straight on the pipe!"

Shen Miaomiao thought it through nicely.

But she underestimated just how twisted Gu Sheng could be.

She thought a speed-boost long jump would carry her over, little knowing Gu Sheng had already laid out a second layer of invisible blocks, calculated the position, and was waiting for her like a tiger ambushing its prey!

The moment Shen Miaomiao wound up and launched a big jump—

The next second, a brutal slam came right to her face!

The second-layer hidden block would smack her straight down, sending her back into that miserable groove where life was worse than death!

Shen Miaomiao was utterly broken.

A game designer, instead of studying programming languages, had taken up the art of war!

Every move she made, every judgment about the level, was all under Gu Sheng's control!

He was like a psychopath who never miscalculated, standing on the high ground of intellect, laughing at the players who snapped, mocking their naivety, while flaunting his own IQ.

Gu Sheng should be grateful China has a complete criminal code.

That was Shen Miaomiao's verdict.

"Mario Bros." blew up.

As the top streamer in Shark Live Platform's gaming section, there was no denying A Yin's influence.

Add in the explosive streaming effect.

In almost a single night, Mario Bros. took the entire game streaming scene by storm.

It delivered torment to countless streamers, laughter to countless viewers, and material to countless gaming content creators.

"At the same time, our game sales naturally soared."

In the Golden Wind Game Company meeting room.

Senior Secretary Chu Qingzhou sat at Shen Miaomiao's lower right, reporting the sales data with obvious excitement:

"As of now, our company's first game, 'Mario Bros.,' has sold 7,822 copies, with total revenue of 15,644 yuan."

"On launch day alone, sales broke 5,000 copies, achieving cost recovery within 24 hours! Let's give a round of applause!"

Clap—

Applause rang out.

Since Golden Wind was still in its early stages.

Aside from the janitor, the company's employees were only Senior Secretary Chu Qingzhou, Director Gu Sheng, and a female finance director.

So the applause seemed a bit sparse.

Because besides Chu Qingzhou and the finance lady clapping especially hard, Gu Sheng, as the main figure, naturally couldn't applaud wildly for himself.

As for Shen Miaomiao...

Listening to those strings of numbers, she felt like she was having a heart attack.

On top of that, Gu Sheng had cost her a keyboard.

How could she be in the mood to clap for that bastard!

That was all money!!!

Shen Miaomiao wailed inwardly, drooping her head.

Originally, the profit she could have made was far more than this measly ten thousand!

But who would've thought this damn game would recover its costs overnight, instantly crippling her system!

Yet, as if not noticing the boss's lack of enthusiasm, the excited Chu Qingzhou even added another stab after announcing the first-day sales:

"According to our projections, conservative estimates put 'Mario Bros.' first-week sales at around 29,000 copies by this Sunday, with total revenue of 58,000 yuan, achieving a profit of about six times!"

Ugh—stop it, big sister—

Shen Miaomiao clutched her chest, nearly spitting blood.

I could've made ten times in a single day...

Feeling like she'd have a heart attack if she kept listening, Shen Miaomiao quickly pulled Chu Qingzhou to a halt.

"Alright, Sister Chuchu, let's stop discussing 'Mario Bros.' profits here for now."

Shen Miaomiao tried hard to keep her face from looking too dark:

"A good start is certainly worth celebrating, but we can't get complacent."

"A small game's success is merely the first step in our climb to the peak of gaming. So today's meeting is mainly to discuss our next direction for game development."

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances.

In truth, by all rights, this matter should have been left to Gu Sheng, since he was the Game Director after all.

But Gu Sheng, considering how abstract the game he wanted to develop was, found it a bit hard to bring up.

Thus, Chu Qingzhou raised her hand:

"How about this, CEO Shen, regarding the next development plan, let me first share my humble opinion, just to cast a brick to attract jade."

"Given the current explosive popularity of 'Mario Bros.,' my personal suggestion for the development direction is—to release a sequel."

However.

Before Chu Qingzhou could even finish speaking!

From both ends of the conference room, opposing voices rang out simultaneously:

"No."

"Not good."