"But I never expected you and that father of yours to do something so shameless."
Seeing Wu Wei's suddenly stern expression, Xiang Tianming's heart skipped a beat!
His heart sank!
Had Wu Wei figured it out?
Impossible!
Only he, his father, and the core members of his father's company's development team knew about this!
Wu Wei couldn't possibly know!
But if he didn't know, what was the reason for saying all that?
"What do you mean?!"
Xiang Tianming asked instinctively, panic creeping into his voice.
"You know perfectly well what I mean."
Wu Wei turned and shot Xiang Tianming a glance.
"Impersonation. Xiang Tianming, you've really got some nerve. Do you even deserve to call yourself a game designer?"
With that, Wu Wei strode away!
Xiang Tianming was left standing there, chilled to the bone, his hands and feet icy cold!
Wu Wei's sensitivity toward games far exceeded Xiang Tianming's understanding.
Earlier, in order to independently design and develop a "personal latency calibration system" for rhythm games, Wu Wei and his team had tried an enormous number of music games.
Although every game company did its best to reduce that latency and seek an average value,
each company's calibration methods varied greatly.
It was like stir-fried shredded potatoes.
They were all called shredded potatoes, but some households added scallions, some added sliced garlic, some added Sichuan peppercorns, and some added nothing at all.
This kind of signature gameplay feel was unique to every company.
As it happened, Wu Wei had played two rhythm games produced by Ming Ye Game Company.
And Xiang Tianming's rhythm game used exactly the same distinctive latency calibration method as Ming Ye's!
Both used slow notes at the moment they fell onto the line, extending the input window and giving players enough time to react.
If another designer happened to overlap with Ming Ye's design, Wu Wei might have considered it a low-probability coincidence.
But who was Xiang Tianming?
The biological son of Xiang Dahai, Ming Ye Game's planning director!
Judging by the things Xiang Tianming had done, it was hard for Wu Wei to believe that father and son had any professional ethics to speak of.
Lost in thought, he returned to his own booth.
As soon as Wu Wei sat down, Zhang Zhiyuan came over.
"Old Wu, we're in a really passive position right now."
"Mm... I know."
Wu Wei sighed and looked at the demo machines occupied by the three young men on the platform.
He had used underhanded tactics to get rid of the blond guy, but he hadn't forgotten that Xiang Tianming had originally sent four people to mess with him.
One had left, but three remained.
Now, those three were hogging their demo machines and refusing to leave, effectively cutting off seventy-five percent of their traffic.
They really were in a difficult spot.
But Xiang Tianming's relentless blockade went far beyond that!
"No, these three idiots are the least of our problems."
Zhang Zhiyuan shook his head, pulled out his tablet, opened the Zhiyou mobile app, and handed it to Wu Wei.
"Take a look at this."
Wu Wei took the tablet.
Zhiyou had created a special section specifically for this expo, titled "University Student Game Expo Entry Collection."
As had been mentioned before, the final judging criteria for this expo was each game's market performance.
And market performance, put simply, was the total sales from both online and offline platforms.
Now, offline traffic had been cut by seventy-five percent due to Xiang Tianming's rabid pursuit and obstruction.
Online sales through the Zhiyou Platform had become their only path to victory.
But now, something had gone wrong online as well...
.
Wu Wei opened Zhiyou's Game Expo section.
Right at the top was Xiang Tianming's "Music Master."
As he scrolled through the pages, all one hundred games should have been there.
But Wu Wei counted as he scrolled and discovered that there were only ninety-nine games in the section.
Their "Dance of Ice and Fire" was missing!
Wasn't this blatantly obvious?!
He truly hadn't expected Xiang Tianming to be able to reach his hand into Zhiyou as well!
Looking at it this way, Xiang Tianming's father at Mingye Game had definitely intervened!
Xiang Tianming alone could never have influenced Zhiyou!
"But this is a blatant violation! We can report Zhiyou for manipulating things behind the scenes!"
Lu Bian frowned and said angrily.
A hundred games were exhibiting, yet they deliberately targeted one of them and even kicked it out of the rankings!
This was serious unfair competition. If they were caught, the entire game industry would condemn them!
Yet upon hearing Lu Bian's words, Old Zhang merely gave a bitter smile.
"That was what I thought at first too. It's a serious violation."
"But look at this."
Old Zhang swiped backward on the tablet again.
The screen lagged for a moment.
Then, another page actually appeared.
What the hell, that was such a sneaky move?!
Wu Wei exclaimed in surprise!
Anyone would have assumed they had reached the final page, yet it could actually be swiped again!
And their "Dance of Ice and Fire" lay quietly on that last page in the farthest corner, like a hidden stage in a game—alone and ignored.
Was this deliberate targeting?
Of course it was.
But could they say Zhiyou had violated the rules?
Zhiyou hadn't broken any rules!
All one hundred games were there, neat and complete. None were missing.
At worst, they could just admit it had been a formatting error.
Seeing this, Lu Bian fell silent, Old Second burned with rage, and Old Zhang's face was full of worry.
Were they really going to be sabotaged to death by Xiang Tianming this time?
Yet Wu Wei remained as calm as ever, sitting firmly in command.
"Old Wu, what's with you? The fire's already at our eyebrows!" Old Second said anxiously to Wu Wei.