Ancient Secrets (1)
Xiao Yu was speechless after hearing Ma Xiaoyun's words; she made it sound too easy.
"Game bugs? Who are you trying to fool? I didn't see any game bugs. This Old Gods was obviously designed and placed in the game by you, right? The artifact that seals it was obviously placed there by you too. If you didn't want us to take the artifact, why did you leave it there? And what about the consequences of releasing the Old Gods? Doesn't your game company know? If you didn't want the Old Gods to come out, why did you design such a monster in the first place? Since all of this was designed and arranged by you, what kind of bugs are you talking about?"
Xiao Yu, not one to back down once he was in the right, first laid out his reasoning.
Jiang Zeyan, "To be honest, this Old Gods really has nothing to do with us."
Xiao Yu was taken aback upon hearing this, wondering what he meant. He snorted coldly but did not reply.
Jiang Zeyan seemed to sense Xiao Yu's disbelief and was about to speak when Huo Xian pulled him back.
The three of them turned around and looked at each other, then ran to a corner to discuss their plan. Jiang Zeyan casually snapped his fingers, and a semi-transparent dome appeared out of thin air, enveloping the three of them. Xiao Yu, standing outside the dome, could not hear any sound.
"Team leader, we can't tell him about this, can we?" Huo Xian said anxiously.
Jiang Zeyan sighed with a wry smile, "If we don't talk to him, this matter probably won't end well. Haven't you realized that Xiao Yu knows this game very well? Do you think he can easily give up something as valuable as a divine artifact?"
Ma Xiaoyun said worriedly, "What can we do then? Even if you tell him, he's not going to be so noble as to give us the artifact. It's very valuable!"
Jiang Zeyan, "There's nothing we can do about it. But if we explain things clearly, he'll understand that this isn't so simple. As long as he doesn't make unreasonable demands, we can just give him some compensation. If that doesn't work, we'll have to resort to force."
"Team leader, is that all you're going to say?"
"Don't forget, gamers all sign agreements before entering the game. The final interpretation of the game's rules belongs to the game's official team. However, it's best not to resort to this powerful weapon unless absolutely necessary."
After saying that, he waved his hand to stop the two from continuing, "I'm in charge of this matter."
Xiao Yu was standing there bored when, after a while, the three people came back.
Jiang Zeyan seriously, "Mr. Xiao, this matter involves a big secret in the game. In principle, you shouldn't know it, but the problem is that under the current circumstances, I feel that if I don't explain the seriousness of the matter to you, it will be difficult to persuade you to give up this artifact. So after we have discussed it repeatedly, I plan to tell you this secret. However, before I tell you this secret, you must sign a confidentiality agreement and you must never tell anyone about this matter in the future."
As he spoke, Jiang Zeyan took out a document and handed it to Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu took a look. It was a document from the network, roughly stating that the Game Operations Group Six Party A, together with Party B—that is, Xiao Yu —shared a major secret in the game's plot. Party B was not allowed to profit from this secret, nor could it disclose the game's plot in advance; otherwise, it would bear legal responsibility and compensate for all losses incurred as a result.
After reading the document, Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Damn it! How did they uncover another earth-shattering secret?" But he was also genuinely curious.
After thinking it over, he was quite confident in his ability to keep secrets. He was just worried that there might be some traps in the agreement. If the other party had arranged some kind of conspiracy to frame him and then leaked the secret themselves and claimed that he had leaked it, he would have no way to reason with them. Xiao Yu didn't have the confidence to sue such a big company.
He shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I can't sign this confidentiality agreement. I can guarantee I won't reveal it. If you're willing to tell me this secret, I'm all ears. But if you don't trust me and don't want to tell me, that's fine too. But forget about the agreement. Anyway, all my assets are in the game. If I reveal this later, I'm not afraid you'll make things difficult for me."
Xiao Yu's words seemed quite sincere. He was determined; since the other party was so insistent on retrieving the divine artifact, they were the ones in a hurry, so he wasn't worried about them not speaking up. Jiang Zeyan hesitated for a moment, seemingly finding Xiao Yu's words reasonable. "Alright, then I'll speak."
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly several sofas and a wine cabinet appeared in the empty room. He gestured for Xiao Yu to sit down, then took a bottle of hot tea from the wine cabinet and poured it for Xiao Yu. Once everyone was comfortably seated, Jiang Zeyan.
"You might not know this, but the game Sky World is based on a very famous antique game from the early 20th century. Of course, ordinary players like you are unlikely to know about antique games from a hundred years ago, but for us game developers, this game is indeed of great research value."
"When we were developing the game 'Sky World,' we largely imitated and referenced this classic game, copying many of its settings, storylines, characters, and so on. Of course, we made many changes during development, but we also retained many things, including the Old Gods."
"The Old Gods in this antique game, according to the game's background information, come from the Cthulhu Mythos. Your name in the game is Azathoth, which is from the Cthulhu Mythos, so I assume you're familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos, right?"
Xiao Yu nodded. He had played a game based on the Cthulhu Mythos before and had done some research on it. The Cthulhu Mythos was very dark, evil, bizarre, and a very hardcore thing. People who liked it loved it to death, while people who didn't like it were completely indifferent or even disgusted by it.
Jiang Zeyan continued, "At the time, there were two lead designers in charge of the game's production, one named Shen Yuan and the other Li Mingfei."
"Shen Yuan is a huge fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, while Li Mingfei is a fan of the traditional Dungeons & Dragons culture. So when designing this game, Shen Yuan immediately took a liking to the concept of the Old Gods, while Li Mingfei preferred to keep the game's style pure Western fantasy. He valued the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde, various historical events, and things like dragons, demons, and the Undead."
At this point, their ideas clashed, but that didn't matter, because the Sky World was vast. Each person was responsible for their own tasks, creating their own parts. And so, without any communication, the game world was gradually completed.
Li Mingfei designed a vast fantasy world with all sorts of adventures and a variety of monsters, bosses, and races that players could choose from. Shen Yuan, on the other hand, perfected the system of the Old Gods, the alien world they came from, and various bizarre and fantastical designs. But just as the two were preparing to merge the two games into one, a problem arose.
Shen Yuan hoped the game would take a dark and eerie approach, where players would struggle to survive in the game world, surrounded by evil monsters, terrifying enemies, and unknown risks. A frantic adventure would accompany every action; accidentally picking up a Curse item or encountering a wandering evil god could send a player to their grave. The death penalty would be exceptionally high. Some of the game's design could even be compared to horror games; essentially, players would be playing a post-apocalyptic survival game—a fantasy version.
Li Mingfei, however, believed that games should lean towards a pure Western fantasy style, such as Dungeons & Dragons, swords and magic, and wars between gods and demons. While elements like the Old Gods might be acceptable as a diversion in games, they were absolutely unacceptable as the mainstream.
The two men held differing opinions, which even escalated to the company's board meeting. The board members naturally sided with Li Mingfei because his design was more in line with the preferences of mainstream players, while Shen Yuan's design was too niche. No matter how thrilling or classic his game world was, it would all be for nothing if he couldn't make money.