Meng Shu sat in his chair and closed his eyes.
His attribute panel appeared again.
Planning: 60 (Average) Programming: 60 (Average) Art: 60 (Average) Music: 60 (Average) Total Fear Points: 500
Seeing the panel, Meng Shu pondered for a moment and frowned.
His attributes... hadn't changed?
His Fear Points... hadn't increased at all?
Why? Was it because this was a demo? Or because system-provided content didn't count?
Meng Shu thought for a moment and came up with a rough guess.
"Could it be that since this isn't the full version of the game, even if it scares players, it won't increase my Fear Points?"
The moment that thought surfaced, he immediately accepted it.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why scaring players with the game demo hadn't earned him any Fear Points.
After realizing this, Meng Shu couldn't help sighing.
The mainstream games in this world were guns, cars, and sports.
He had originally wanted to farm some Fear Points through Dark Forest's gameplay showcase, then buy the production method for Titanfall 2 from his original world. He would use the included promotional CG and gameplay footage to secure investment, establish a company with that money, hire people, develop games, and rise to the peak of life.
He believed that in this parallel world, where every FPS was set in modern warfare, no man could resist the appeal of piloting a mech into battle.
That was why he had been certain that once the trailer came out, investors would come knocking.
But reality had been too wishful.
The system was still the system. It had cut off that shortcut entirely, forcing him to honestly develop the full version of Dark Forest.
"Forget it. One step at a time. I'll do this properly."
Meng Shu placed both hands on the keyboard.
Half a month passed quickly.
During that time, he worked in front of his computer every day, developing this horror game.
With the help of the system-produced engine, progress was incredibly fast. He soon completed the first chapter and confirmed through testing that there were no issues!
He had even made the ways to complete side quests better and more polished than in the original version!
After that, he had developed Chapter 2, Swamp, to twenty percent completion.
The finished product was just around the corner!
During this period, the showcase video he had uploaded experienced two surges in popularity.
The first came when an uploader named Zai Zong released a video of himself experiencing the game firsthand, screaming in a male soprano that brought endless entertainment to viewers and drew a massive wave of attention to Dark Forest.
The second came when it made Danmu Network's Weekly Must-Watch list and received the tag "redefining horror games," which was essentially a site recommendation.
That brought another huge wave of attention. Countless people clicked in to watch, sending every one of his video's metrics skyrocketing. Its views had already reached 10.91 million!
The explosive figures for coins, likes, and paid support had risen along with them. Altogether, Meng Shu could withdraw nearly thirty thousand yuan directly from the backend!
And that was only the revenue from a single video!
Through these two events, Dark Forest's name had truly been established.
Now, everyone in gaming circles knew there was an independently developed domestic horror game called Dark Forest. While marveling at how gutsy its creator was, they were also eagerly anticipating its release.
Even people outside those circles had heard of it to some extent.
Gameplay showcases paired with a playable demo—something people could both watch and experience for themselves. That promotional combination was far more practical than the major studios that released a trailer, created a new folder, and kept claiming they were working on it!
As a result, discussions surrounding Dark Forest grew broader and broader.
More and more companies began extending olive branches to him, but he ignored or turned them all down.
Then, amid all that hype, his first investor finally appeared.
Iron Horse Capital!
It was a company specializing in investments, with its main business being investing and taking a share of the profits.
They were willing to provide one million yuan to support development.
At first, Meng Shu had been delighted.
At last, heaven had not disappointed one who worked hard. His efforts had not been in vain.
But afterward, he began to worry.
He was not a business entity. He had no corporate account to receive funds, no company seal for signing contracts, no business license to verify his ability to generate profit, and no tax credentials as a guarantee.
He was a private individual. He had nothing. Even if someone wanted to invest in him, he could not accept it.
If he insisted on taking the money, it would count as a loan and generate interest, which was already completely contrary to investment.
[Mr. Meng, given your circumstances, we may be unable to proceed with the investment.]
Meng Shu frowned at the message on WeChat.
It actually would not be difficult to secure the investment. He only needed to register a company, though going through the procedures himself would be troublesome.
Of course, he could spend some money to hire an agency to handle the company registration. He would only need to visit the bank to open a corporate account and obtain a U-shield.
The rest—getting the business license and company seal through the administrative office, handling agreements and invoices with the tax bureau, and so on—could all be handled by the registration agency.
Once the company officially began operating, he could receive the investment.
Then he could hire people and develop other games. His path to entrepreneurship would naturally fall into place.
No matter what, starting a company was essential. Game publishing and release, as well as filing applications for approval numbers, all required a company.
No matter how powerful the system was, it only truly shone in game development.
For everything else, he still had to rely on himself.
With that plan in mind, Meng Shu replied on WeChat.
[I understand. If possible, I hope to stay in touch with your company. Once I have a corporate account, could we discuss the investment again?]
A reply came quickly.
[Of course, Mr. Meng. However, there is something you need to understand. You would be a new company with no profits, so it would be difficult to pass our risk-control system in terms of qualifications. If you request a manual review, then with only one game of uncertain prospects as your project, the amount may not reach your expected figure.]
Seeing that, Meng Shu had no choice but to accept it.
There were really two ways to put those words.
High emotional intelligence: It would be difficult to pass the risk-control system.
Low emotional intelligence: You won't pass.
High emotional intelligence: The amount may not reach your expected figure.
Low emotional intelligence: The money will be very little.
It was true. As an investment company, they had only come to him because his game had some buzz, taking a risk in the process.
But now they had discovered that he was a one-man operation, the kind without even a base of operations. How could he expect an investment company to believe that he could turn a profit and make money?
Based on one somewhat popular game? And a horror game at that, the kind that killed whoever touched it. The portrait of the last stubborn fool was probably still hanging there.
So it was hardly surprising that they would say something like this.
Although their wording seemed to leave some room for maneuver, that was merely polite phrasing.
In reality, this investment was basically dead.
At least as far as Dark Forest was concerned, it was dead.
Meng Shu gave a bitter laugh and replied.
[I understand. Thank you for explaining. I hope we can work together again if there is an opportunity.]
[You're welcome, Mr. Meng.]
After putting down his phone, Meng Shu let out a long breath and pondered for a moment.
Then, he steadied himself.
This had served as a reminder.
It seemed he needed to resolve the matter of registering a company first.
After all, once he had a company, many things would become much more convenient.
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