A Little Ambiguity

Although these past few days, the four of them had all put on an optimistic front.

Deep down, they were all holding in a fire.

That fire wasn't anything else—it was a genuine hope that the game would blow up, and then give Penguin a harsh lesson.

After all, during this time, all four had been involved in the game's development.

They could feel Wang Chuan's position.

But now, over at Penguin, Tian Boxun had already released the first-hour results for "The Parable of Illidan."

The numbers weren't bad.

Which left them feeling a bit uncertain.

Even though the first-hour downloads of "Soul Knight" far exceeded those of "The Parable of Illidan."

That was only natural.

Because "The Parable of Illidan" used a buy-to-play model, while "Soul Knight" was free with in-app purchases.

On the other hand, if you looked at the rankings, you could see the data for all kinds of games more directly.

On the new game chart, "The Parable of Illidan" had jumped straight to number one.

But "Soul Knight" was nowhere to be found on that chart.

Seeing that, the four of them grew even more anxious.

Compared to their lack of confidence, Wang Chuan was much calmer.

He knew exactly why the chart looked this way.

It was simply because this new game chart only included games that had been online for less than a month and ranked in the top thirty.

And it was a ranking across all platforms.

That meant even the free platforms of Penguin, Net Entertainment, and Bali were counted.

And "The Parable of Illidan" was Penguin's own game, with all those promotional resources thrown at it.

Especially those front-page banner features—even if they only lasted a day.

They were more than enough to skyrocket "The Parable of Illidan's" performance.

So if it didn't hit number one, that would be the real surprise!!!

And this situation now was pretty much what he had expected.

"Alright, you don't need to worry so much. What's that saying? If you want something to be destroyed, you must first make it mad."

Wang Chuan looked at the four of them, their expressions all the same, and couldn't help but smile as he spoke.

"And right now, let it go mad for a while~~~"

"Boss, has anyone ever told you you're kind of... that thing~~~"

Hearing Wang Chuan's words, the four exchanged glances. After a moment, Huang Shanshan hesitated.

"Oh? What? Handsome??"

Wang Chuan rubbed his chin, feeling pretty good about himself, muttering under his breath.

"No, boss, has anyone ever told you you're a lot like a fortune teller!!!"

Huang Shanshan shook her head seriously, then burst out laughing.

At the same time, Liu Qiang, Zhou Wei, and Zhao Jing were all doubled over with laughter.

"Oh yeah? Daring to tease the boss, huh? Fine, I'm going to punish you!!"

Wang Chuan pretended to be angry, and it actually scared Huang Shanshan a little.

"Ah? Punish me with what??"

Huang Shanshan's laughter cut off abruptly as she asked nervously.

"Heh heh heh, I'll punish you by giving me a shoulder rub~~~"

Wang Chuan looked at Huang Shanshan with a sly grin, sizing her up. Seeing her expression grow more tense, he finally said it as a joke.

He had to admit, this girl Huang Shanshan was really pretty.

Long hair draped over her shoulders, light makeup on her fair face, dressed like an office lady.

Mm, those black stockings and long legs were pretty captivating too~~~

"Phew, a shoulder rub. I thought it was gonna be something else~~~"

Huang Shanshan let out a sigh of relief and naturally walked over, her hands pressing into Wang Chuan's shoulders with just the right amount of force.

She'd done this so many times now that she was used to it.

For a moment, the room fell silent.

"Ahaha, Manager Wang, we'll get back to work now~~"

The others exchanged winks and left, leaving Wang Chuan and Huang Shanshan, who was still rubbing his shoulders with her head down.

A slightly ambiguous atmosphere enveloped the two of them.

Wang Chuan was dumbfounded inside. I was just saying it casually, how did you take it seriously?

And you three, is this a setup? Could you be any more obvious?

Besides, I have no interest in romance right now!!!

Sure, Huang Shanshan was pretty and had a nice figure, but...

Well, it didn't seem entirely unacceptable, heh~~~

"Oh, I almost forgot—today's the launch day of 'Soul Knight'."

Liu Bo slapped his forehead regretfully and muttered to himself.

He was an ordinary gamer, and by chance, he'd played "The Stanley Parable."

He'd played countless games in his time.

But compared to "The Stanley Parable," they fell far short.

The art assets were rough, and the gameplay was pretty dull.

Still, the music was decent—it had heart.

And what stuck with him most was the story, the endless endings.

And the thought-provoking reflections.

That was why Liu Bo remembered Wang Chuan and his next game, "Soul Knight."

But he'd been so busy lately that, despite keeping "Soul Knight" in mind, he'd forgotten.

If he hadn't seen a new article from Game New World during dinner, he might have missed it.

With that thought, Liu Bo opened "Soul Knight" and skimmed through it.

"Huh? This game isn't a metagame~~~"

Seeing that, Liu Bo hesitated, but then he checked the price and his interest stirred.

Hell, it's free anyway—no loss in playing it.

So why not???

With that, Liu Bo decisively pulled out his phone and downloaded the "Soul Knight" app straight from the game store.

Since he was out, he didn't bother using his computer.

"But is this game really that small? Less than three hundred megabytes??"

Liu Bo had been worried about his phone's storage, thinking he'd need to delete something to free up space.

Now he saw—well, he'd been overthinking it.

Of course, that didn't make him think less of "Soul Knight."

He was a veteran gamer, long past the stage of judging a game by its file size.

Take "The Stanley Parable," which he'd played before.

Was that game big?

No!

In fact, it was pitifully small.

But was it excellent???

Absolutely!!!

Liu Bo had never seen a better indie game.

Soon, the game finished loading.

A few simple taps, and he was at the game screen.

"Hmm? Is this about dodging shots?"

As soon as Liu Bo entered the game, he was greeted by a familiar tutorial.

No denying it—the game's controls were incredibly simple.