Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 30: It must be a fraudulent company!

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: It must be a fraudulent company!

Gu Fan’s pupils shook uncontrollably. "Holy moly!"

It had to be said that when it came to being unscrupulous, these demons had the edge.

This was an absolute disaster for the enjoyment of "Rotating Blocks"!

Gu Fan could even imagine the expression on the players’ faces as they desperately waited for a straight piece that never came.

Lilith was obviously very proud of her "innovation", continuing, "I’ll directly provide the art resources for this game myself, to ensure its graphics and effects alone will make it stand out and slaughter its way to the main competition!"

Clearly, Lilith didn’t care about winning prizes, but according to the schedule, the further they went, the more exposure they would get, which was beneficial for collecting more negative emotions.

"Alright, I’ll officially start developing this game tomorrow," Gu Fan said, putting away the design proposal.

Lilith was extremely pleased with herself. "Hmph, I want to see what tricks Michael can pull with a game that has such simple mechanics!"

"This time, I’m sure to win!"

...

...

The next day, Gu Fan arrived at the company, signed up for the 6th Mini Game Design Contest, and posted a job advertisement online.

After all that, he began to get ready for the development of "Heaven Defying Block".

Online, the popularity of Sisyphus didn’t decrease but actually experienced a second wave.

Of course, this was directly related to the video Su Tong posted!

Players were abuzz with speculation about the identity of this mysterious master. Some thought it was a reclusive expert from the masses, while others guessed that it might be a foreign gaming god based on the name.

But regardless of the speculation, no one understood why they would push the big rock off the cliff at the last moment, intentionally preventing their score from making the leaderboard.

Some said it was because there were minor flaws in the process, and the expert was a perfectionist who didn’t want such a score.

Others suggested it was a foreign master’s deliberate provocation towards domestic players, disdaining to appear on the same leaderboard as these amateurs.

The theories were many, but they were clearly unsatisfactory.

The reason was quite simple: Su Tong was an employee of Nitian Paradise Company.

As an employee who got to play Sisyphus two weeks before everyone else, she felt she shouldn’t be in the rankings as it would compromise the fairness of the leaderboard.

But regardless, the video did bring huge popularity to the game, and if rewards were to be given based on merit, Su Tong indeed deserved a bonus.

Gu Fan glanced at the time; Friday was payday.

He planned to give the first meritorious employee of Nitian Paradise Company a little surprise, as he had pinched pennies in the company’s operating funds to win people’s hearts.

...

...

April 27th, Friday.

At 5:10 PM, Su Tong returned to her residence.

Today was payday at the company.

The Nitian Paradise Company’s payday was arranged peculiarly: neither at the beginning nor the end of the month, but "the day before the last weekend of the month."

There was no special reason; it was purely Gu Fan’s personal preference.

By now, Su Tong had been at the company for a full two months.

Last month, she received her first paycheck after starting work. It was 6,400 before taxes. According to standards in this world, there was no tax after deducting for social insurances and housing fund, leaving her with a take-home pay of 5,183.55 yuan.

This income was definitely not much in expensive Capital City, but Su Tong had set her expectations low from the start, so she was quite content with her salary level.

Especially since the two games developed by the company, "Infernal Trajectory" and Sisyphus, were very much to her taste, so she quite enjoyed her current work situation.

After simply frying up two dishes and having dinner, Su Tong sat in front of her computer and continued playing Sisyphus to improve her gameplay.

It was at that moment the doorbell rang.

"Ding dong!"

Su Tong was somewhat surprised. She got up to open the door and saw an unexpectedly familiar figure.

"Ming Yu? How come you’re back?"

The person standing at the door was a tall girl who was almost one seventy-five meters in height, dressed in a black trench coat with sunglasses hanging from the pocket, exuding the vibe of a mature lady.

Her expression carried a natural aura of iciness, fitting the description of an "ice queen" perfectly. However, seeing Su Tong now, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but lift into a smile.

"This is my home, why can’t I come back?" she asked with a smile.

Su Tong didn’t quite know what to say for a moment, "If it’s your home, why knock at the door! And besides, weren’t you abroad having fun?"

The tall girl entered the room and started to tidy up while speaking, "I was worried about your job search, so I came back early."

Her name was Xiao Mingyu, and she was Su Tong’s good friend from their university days, although she had not studied literature but finance.

After graduation, the two of them had both given up the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies, embarking on different life paths: Su Tong was attending interviews everywhere, trying to enter the gaming industry; while Xiao Mingyu had no plans whatsoever to look for a job and just wanted to be unemployed for two or three years and have some fun.

The reason for her confidence was that Xiao Mingyu’s family background was far from ordinary.

The large apartment that Su Tong was living in, located near Imperial Capital University, was a property owned by Xiao Mingyu. It was in a high-end neighborhood, with the price per square meter reaching as high as 110,000, and the total price amounted to 32 million.

Since this apartment was vacant for a long time, Xiao Mingyu let Su Tong live there for free. All she had to do was help with cleaning occasionally.

"How’s the job search going?"

Xiao Mingyu lay down on the large sofa in the living room and stretched leisurely.

Grabbing a box of strawberries from the fridge, Su Tong began to wash them and said, "I’ve already found a job, and I’ve been employed for two months."

"Hm?" Xiao Mingyu seemed surprised, "You’ve found a job already? Which company? What position?"

Su Tong placed the washed strawberries on the coffee table, saying very proudly, "It’s a start-up game company. My position is game testing. The workplace is at the Dream Chasing Cafe not far from here..."

About this job, Su Tong was indeed quite proud, talking animatedly about it.

However, Xiao Mingyu’s expression became increasingly unsightly and she eventually interrupted Su Tong’s words, even leaping off the couch to grab Su Tong’s shoulders and shook her violently.

"You’re really acting like my own dad! You’re counting the cash for someone who’s deceiving you!"

"Ah! This is driving me mad!!"

Su Tong felt dizzy from the shaking, "Stop shaking... I’m getting dizzy..."

Reluctantly, Xiao Mingyu lay back down on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling with a despondent expression.

"Didn’t I specifically tell you before I left to message me before looking for a job, so I could give you some advice, and make sure you didn’t end up in a scam company... How could you make such a decision on your own!"

Of course, the "scam company" Xiao Mingyu referred to didn’t mean the kind of company where going on a team-building trip to Southeast Asia incidentally leads to a kidnap scam, but rather the "start-up type of company where the boss likes to promise the moon."

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Su Tong lowered her head and said, "You were abroad, with the time difference, I was afraid of disturbing your rest... Besides, this job is quite good, I’m quite satisfied with it."

Xiao Mingyu didn’t even know how to begin criticizing the situation.

Although she wasn’t looking for a job, her affluent background and her major in finance meant she was very clear about the ins and outs of starting a business and even knew a lot of insider information about many industries.

And naturally, she was somewhat knowledgeable about the gaming industry, too.

She sighed silently and said, "This company doesn’t look reliable at all!

"Isn’t this just an average start-up? And a particularly stingy one at that!

"Have you ever seen a company that asks for a 20% pay cut when changing jobs? There’s no sincerity in that; it’s just purely trying to get lucky in hiring cheap labor!

"It can’t be simply explained by ’insufficient funds’; it’s purely shameless!"

After a moment’s thought, Su Tong said, "But this company treats everyone equally, and even if it involves a career change, they still pay according to this standard.

"My salary is 6,400, which was calculated based on the previous 8,000 standard. No other game company can offer that much."

Xiao Mingyu’s mouth twitched slightly, "You are a distinguished graduate of Capital City University! Even 8,000 is too low, let alone 6,400! Besides, how can there possibly be equal treatment for everyone?

"I can earn an annual salary of 400,000 in a foreign company. If I went there, are you saying they would also pay me 80% of that salary?"

After pondering for a moment, Su Tong said, "I think so."