What? An Interview?

The screen before her went black, but the Narrator continued reciting his lines.

But Xia Xiao was no longer in the mood to pay attention. She sat there in a daze for quite a while.

She suddenly made up her mind to check out her boss's office after work.

To see whether that so-called keyboard and that so-called secret passage really existed.

"Seriously, what am I doing? I got so absorbed in a game."

Xia Xiao suddenly came back to her senses and shook her head with a helpless smile.

At that moment, a new map appeared on the screen. Stanley had escaped this place and gained his freedom.

Then, the game restarted.

"Shouldn't it have ended? Why did it restart? Did the game malfunction?"

Xia Xiao was filled with doubts, but the next moment, her gaze became inexplicably fixed on the game.

Was this ending really an ending?

Stanley had gained freedom, but was I free?

Xia Xiao suddenly realized that she had been playing according to the Narrator's instructions all along. Stanley's freedom felt more like an arrangement made by the Narrator.

An urge suddenly welled up inside her. She wanted to play it again!

"But if I play through it again, I won't have enough time to write my article~"

She was no longer hung up on the game's quality. The fact that it made her want to play it a second time was reason enough.

"Forget it, just one more run. Playing games is also for gathering material~"

After talking herself into it, Xia Xiao launched the game again.

The familiar opening sequence played once more. After entering the game, she was once again met by the Narrator's rambling.

After waiting a moment, Xia Xiao controlled Stanley and prepared to head out and explore.

"Last time, I listened to the Narrator and chose the left. What if I choose the right?"

Xia Xiao absentmindedly controlled the character as she pondered.

Just as she was about to leave, she accidentally clicked on the door and closed it.

The Narrator suddenly chimed in.

"But Stanley couldn't handle that kind of pressure."

"What if he had to make a choice? What if he messed up within the scope of his duties? He had never~~~"

"All Stanley could do now was wait, he thought. Nothing could hurt me, nothing could bring me down~~~"

"Soon, this would all be over. Someone would come talk to him, someone would come give him something to do. That day was drawing closer and closer. He had waited for it with bated breath, and it came."

Then the screen went black, and the game restarted.

"Seriously! This counts as an ending too? I only closed a door~~"

Xia Xiao felt utterly helpless. Who had she offended?

But despite her speechlessness, she now had a different assessment of the game.

It was only a game, yet she could deeply relate to it.

She had a feeling that this game was probably not so simple.

Well, of course, what she was considering now was whether she should give it another try while she still had time.

On a university campus, in the Boys' Dormitory.

Wang Chuan sat in his chair, constantly clicking his mouse.

He had no idea that The Stanley Parable had already begun showing its charm.

It had drawn a game editor into its depths.

At that moment, he was intently looking through information—game-related information, of course.

Because he had been focused on developing The Stanley Parable, he only now had the time to look into the state of the gaming industry in this world.

Since this world's technology was relatively advanced, its game design concepts were comparatively primitive.

As a result, there was little difference between the state of game development at home and abroad.

Both were cases of highly advanced hardware paired with utterly lagging software.

For example, holographic games were already fairly mature in this world, yet their gameplay was still the same stuff from decades ago.

After looking through information for a while, Wang Chuan went to class. Graduation was approaching, and this was considered their final class meeting.

"Didn't they say there was going to be a class meeting?"

After taking his seat, Wang Chuan felt a little speechless.

There was no teacher, and the students were clustered together chatting. He had thought there might be something useful.

But instead~~

"Wang Chuan, didn't you say you were making a game? Are you planning to enter the Newcomer Competition?"

At that moment, his deskmate came over and asked curiously.

The Newcomer Competition was specifically prepared for students like them.

Students would prepare games and compete onstage based on the data.

The champion could still become an official Game Producer.

"No, I uploaded it directly to the official platform."

Wang Chuan did not think much of it as he answered.

Hearing Wang Chuan's words, his deskmate froze.

He had made a game but was not entering the easier Newcomer Competition, instead releasing it on the official platform?

He was taking the market route~~

"Wang Chuan, you're not joking, are you?"

"If you've uploaded the game to the platform, you can't enter the Newcomer Competition anymore."

"You need to think this through. The market route isn't that easy. Forget reaching number one—even getting ten thousand paid purchases is insanely difficult, okay?"

Though his deskmate was shocked, he could not help trying to persuade him.

Because taking the market route to become an official Game Producer was truly difficult.

Their school had fewer than ten people who had managed it.

"Don't worry. I have a lot of confidence in myself."

Wang Chuan felt warmth in his heart at his deskmate's words. At a time like this, only friends would patiently try to talk sense into you.

But he truly had complete confidence in The Stanley Parable.

When choosing a game, he had deliberately avoided innovating in gameplay.

Instead, he had chosen to focus on the story.

After all, if the players in this world were not used to or did not like the gameplay, wouldn't that be a disaster?

But stories were different. A good story never became outdated, no matter the era.

That was also why he had chosen The Stanley Parable.

Its gameplay was simple and universal, but it added META elements and paired them with an appropriate story to deliver a powerful impact.

After saying that, Wang Chuan said goodbye to his deskmate and planned to take a walk outside.

The classroom was too noisy, after all, and there was nothing to gain from staying there.

"Beep beep beep."

Just then, Wang Chuan's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. It was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello, is this Teacher Wang Chuan, the creator of The Stanley Parable?"

After he answered, a sweet female voice came from the other end.

"Yes, this is Wang Chuan. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, it's like this. We're from Game New World, and I'm game editor Xia Xiao."

The other party sounded excited and immediately explained her purpose.

"We'd like to interview you, as well as The Stanley Parable. Would that be possible?"

"Oh, right. If you agree, we can refund your advance payment."

On the other end of the call, Xia Xiao felt somewhat uneasy, unsure whether he would agree.