Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 392: The 401st - : How Can One Obtain the Tiger Cubs Without Entering the Tiger’s Lair?

Chapter 392: The 401st Chapter: How Can One Obtain the Tiger Cubs Without Entering the Tiger’s Lair?

The next morning, in the editorial department of Play Less Games Network.

Zhang Qifeng had just settled into the office when the door was abruptly pushed open with a loud "bang."

"Zhang Qifeng! Look at the mess you’ve made!"

Startled, Zhang Qifeng hurriedly looked up to see the person storming in was none other than Play Less Games Network’s supervisor, Liu Dong.

His immediate boss, essentially.

Perplexed, Zhang Qifeng rarely saw Liu Dong this furious. The last time he had witnessed such anger was when one of his editors made a foolish mistake during an interview with an important foreign gaming company that led many players to misunderstand that the game was ’disregarding the domestic players.’

That time, Play Less Games Network had plummeted in reputation swiftly, and Liu Dong had furiously reprimanded both Zhang Qifeng and the editor involved, a dark Chapter in history that Zhang Qifeng was not keen to revisit.

Unexpectedly, after so many years, he was once again faced with CEO Liu’s uncontrollable rage.

"CEO Liu, what’s wrong? What happened?"

Zhang Qifeng stood up in an attempt to appease Liu Dong’s anger, his mind racing to recall what mistake he could have possibly made.

As a fairly popular game media outlet, Play Less Games Network published various game news and briefings every day. In the past few days alone, Zhang Qifeng had reviewed at least a dozen or so articles—how could he possibly remember what might be the issue in such a rush?

Moreover, Zhang Qifeng was puzzled; he had carefully reviewed all these articles, how could there be any major problems?

Liu Dong’s anger was evidently justified, "Have you played ’Heartbeat Dream’ or not?"

Zhang Qifeng paused, "No, I haven’t. Isn’t that Nitiandang’s new game? Has it been released already?"

Liu Dong pointed at him with a frustrated look, "You, you, go check what the current public opinion is about this game online!"

This left Zhang Qifeng even more confused. Hold on, what does Nitiandang’s game have to do with us?

Although they were game media editors, it was impossible for them to play every single game. After all, they were usually busy with their work, writing articles, and at any given time might be involved with a dozen different games—there was no way to play them all.

At most, a few colleagues would divide up games, each playing one, and only for the top-level, highly-anticipated games would multiple editors play together.

This was also why many game media outlets were prone to mishaps; indeed, they were understaffed and couldn’t cover everything, which made mistakes in the articles all too likely.

But Zhang Qifeng was an experienced senior editor who took great care in this aspect and verified the accuracy of his articles rigorously.

So far, the intersection between Play Less Games Network and ’Heartbeat Dream’ seemed only to involve that exclusive interview, right?

Though Play Less Games Network indeed planned to publish a game review and play strategy of ’Heartbeat Dream’ and the writing tasks had been assigned, it was still a while away from the submission deadline!

If that interview was problematic?

That would be even less reasonable because Zhang Qifeng had simply recorded the words of Zhou Yang, the producer of ’Heartbeat Dream.’ Could that have caused a controversy?

Unless he was deceiving me!

With this thought, Zhang Qifeng quickly explained, "CEO Liu, I swear that interview was written exactly as per the words of the producer of ’Heartbeat Dream,’ with no embellishments at all. You can verify it with the recordings if you don’t believe me."

At this moment, Zhang Qifeng felt extremely relieved that he had the habit of archiving all recorded files. If they had been deleted, he would have been unable to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

Liu Dong clearly wasn’t entirely convinced by Zhang Qifeng’s words.

After all, they were in the media business; he wasn’t unaware of the kind of people his editors were.

The allure of journalism is ever-present, who wouldn’t understand that?

Of course, Play Less Games Network had some semblance of a bottom line; they would slightly embellish the interviewee’s content, occasionally fan the flames a bit, but on the whole, they didn’t stray too far from the facts.

However, seeing the conviction in Zhang Qifeng’s stance, could it be that this interview was indeed unaltered?

In fact, that seemed probable, because when the interview was conducted, ’Heartbeat Dream’ hadn’t even been released, meaning Zhang Qifeng had no material nor reason to fabricate anything.

With this in mind, Liu Dong frowned deeply, "So you’re suggesting we were used?"

"Was it Nitiandang’s producer who deliberately exploited our interview to convey false information to players, leading them astray?"

"That’s a bit too unethical!"

The more Liu Dong thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

At that point, ’Heartbeat Dream’ was already considered a scam by players, and Nitiandang’s official actions—be it releasing demos, promotions, or selling merchandise—were essentially misleading players.

If all these were deceptive, then misleading an interview for the media wouldn’t be strange, would it?

Zhang Qifeng was somewhat uncertain, "This... CEO Liu, it’s hard to say. The producer of ’Heartbeat Dream’ seemed pretty honest to me, not too talkative; it’s unlikely he would intentionally lie to me."

Liu Dong replied with irritation, "Honest, not talkative, you say? Appearances can be deceiving, remember that!"

Zhang Qifeng didn’t know what else to say with the facts laid out before him—it was hard to argue.

He could only quickly skim through the relevant information on the web page and then cross-reference it with the content of the interview at the time.

Afterwards, Zhang Qifeng said with complex emotions, "CEO Liu, you’re really not kidding, this producer was telling the truth. It’s just that I didn’t pick up on it at the time...

"Look, he told me not to assume the gameplay of the game, and also mentioned that the game would bring a dream-like experience to players, make them feel their heartbeats, and experience love that transcends dimensions..."

Liu Dong was stunned, he thought carefully, and those statements seemed perfectly fine!

Even many of the contents here were indeed hinting that this game was extraordinary.

For example, playing this game required players to have excellent mental quality, decent operational skills, and good cultivation...

Do normal romance games require these? Clearly not.

But obviously, whether it was Zhang Qifeng at the time of the interview or the players who later saw this interview, nobody really considered it in that way.

But to say Zhou Yang was deceiving? Not really. It was more of a misunderstanding in terms of comprehension.

Zhang Qifeng continued, "CEO Liu, look at the last sentence. The producer also said that whether or not a surprise can be achieved varies from person to person, but generally speaking, achieving half of it should be no problem.

"At first, I thought he meant that only half the surprise would be achieved, but now it seems his meaning was that at least the players would be surprised if not delighted..."

Liu Dong couldn’t help but hold his forehead, "We’ve been duped!

"Who would have thought, after years of hunting geese, a goose would peck out one’s eye..."

As media professionals, they have always been the ones coaxing interviewees, how could they themselves be coaxed by an interviewee?

"So, CEO Liu, what do we do now..." Zhang Qifeng quietly asked.

Liu Dong didn’t know what to say either.

Well, now the truth is out, does anyone have a problem? It seems like no one has a problem!

First of all, Zhang Qifeng certainly didn’t have a problem; he asked questions seriously and wrote according to the recording without any artistic processing.

The website definitely didn’t have a problem either.

What about Zhou Yang?

First of all, every word that he said was indeed true; it was just that everyone’s understanding was off. Secondly, if the game was about sca**ing, it must have been a decision made by Nitiandang’s higher-ups. As a producer, he certainly couldn’t lay bare the game’s true colors directly. He could only hint in this manner and send out a distress signal to the outside world.

But it’s not that the outside world could really understand such a distress signal!

So in the end, the blame has to fall on the boss of Nitiandang who decided on this matter!

President Li and President Gu, well, President Gu seems kind and gentle, without a sense of aggression, so the main culprit is quite obvious.

Liu Dong’s anger had more or less subsided. He sat down on a chair nearby, "The urgent task now is to think carefully about how to eliminate the negative impact!

"After all, the angry players are looking for outlets everywhere, and making rant videos no longer satisfies them. Nitiandang has always liked playing turtle, giving them nowhere to vent their frustrations, so they just vent it all on us.

"We’ve got to find a way to clear ourselves! We can’t let the players think we’re accomplices of Nitiandang."

Zhang Qifeng also felt troubled, "In that case, CEO Liu, keep your peace, I’ll think of a solution."

If we talk about the simplest way to handle it, it would be to just issue a statement saying that Play Less Games Network hadn’t played the official version of the game at that time, and that the interview article was written entirely based on the producer’s answers.

Basically, it’s to clear any association.

But to do so would seem too abrupt and could readily sour relations with Nitiandang.

You face a bit of public pressure, and if you immediately wash your hands of responsibility and cut ties, then the next time you want to arrange an exclusive interview with Nitiandang, they might just ignore you.

So unless absolutely necessary, it’s better not to take such action.

But to consider other ways of dealing, Zhang Qifeng couldn’t come up with any at the moment.

Luckily, this matter was not so urgent, it wasn’t a particularly serious public relations crisis, so he still had two or three days to consider carefully.

Liu Dong nodded, "Alright, you set aside your other work for now and focus on handling this matter! There isn’t any new major game release in the gaming circle coming up soon anyway, the focus is all on ’Heartbeat Dream’.

"If there’s a new discovery by then, perhaps a few more articles could be written."

After saying that, Liu Dong turned and left.

Zhang Qifeng heaved a sigh and hurriedly downloaded ’Heartbeat Dream’ onto his computer.

It seems he had to take matters into his own hands!

How can one capture tiger cubs without entering the tiger’s lair? He needed to try playing the game himself, and then see if the reputation of the game and the interview had any chance of redemption.

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