Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 76: The Game Officially Launches!

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Game Officially Launches!

Lilith was so angry that she crushed the soda can, clearly in a state of fury.

Gu Fan quickly opened the interview on his laptop and scrolled directly to the original interview text at the bottom.

"Look, what I said during the interview and what’s written here are completely different things!

"The report is biased, it’s obvious some unscrupulous media are trying to frame me! My loyalty to Nitiandang games is undeniable!"

Lilith looked skeptical as she finished reading the original interview.

Then she looked at Gu Fan, her brain clearly experiencing a short freeze.

Gu Fan hurriedly explained, "President Li, every word I said was true, not a single false statement.

"I said, the name Nitiandang symbolizes defying the heavens, that no matter how slim the hope of success is, no matter how many obstacles we face, we are brave enough to challenge and prevail. Isn’t that praising your spirit of fighting against heaven’s might as a lone hero?

"Besides you, who else in this vast Hell could stand up and directly confront the formidable Archangel Michael?"

Lilith’s expression eased a bit, "Okay, I’ll give you credit for that statement.

She also understood that such matters shouldn’t be spoken of too plainly since Heaven and Hell were still in a phase of "covert conflict" and it wasn’t wise to provoke an all-out war.

Gu Fan continued, "I emphasized that the design documents shouldn’t be changed by a single word and the game code not altered by a single line. Isn’t that also following your vision? I must set an example for all the staff in the company, to resolutely make the game according to your design plan without changing any details!"

Lilith thought for a moment and then nodded again, "Mhm, you’re not wrong about that."

Gu Fan pointed to the original interview and said, "Look, here the reporter directly asked whether that was an intended core game mechanic or not. I said to give him a realistic answer. And what did I say? I very firmly stated it was a BUG!

"Those truly were words from the depth of my heart, as heaven is my witness!"

Lilith frowned and stared at the original interview text, finding that Gu Fan had indeed firmly admitted that it was indeed a BUG.

Even later he emphasized that the Nitiandang game team had built a very strong testing team, diligently testing every line of code in the game, but despite their best efforts, a few BUGs were still inevitably encountered.

It seemed... indeed heartfelt!

But Lilith quickly realized something was off, "Hold on! Then why did you insist on giving the reporter ’an ideal answer’ and ’a realistic answer’?"

Gu Fan looked innocent, "Both answers I gave were without fault?

"The so-called ideal answer is not only the ideal of our Nitiandang game, but isn’t it also your ideal?

"We want to challenge heaven, to struggle against it to the very end; we want to not change a single word of the design, not a single line of the code, and then reap a lot of negative emotions upon the game’s release. Isn’t that your ideal?

"But the reality is, we indeed still have a gap to bridge from this goal, so we must continue to strive!

"I never expected that the journalist would twist my words like this!

"Ah, journalism!"

Lilith looked at Gu Fan, then back at the original interview; back to the original interview, then at Gu Fan again.

Could it really be an issue with the report?

Everything Gu Fan said was true, so how could the reporter not believe a word?

"Damn it! Shouldn’t we call the officials to demand a retraction for such false reporting? It has seriously damaged the reputation of our Nitiandang game!" Lilith pounded on the massage chair.

Gu Fan quickly said, "It’s not really necessary, President Li. While the article indeed twisted the facts, it may not be a bad thing for us.

"Through this article, the ’Mechanism faction’ has completely taken the upper hand, believing that there must be a special mechanism in our game, and this obsession will support them to keep on playing.

"The longer they play, the more negative emotions they generate, right?

"On the other hand, if they truly think it’s a BUG, then that means our game is purely a trap, would they still play it? No!

"We didn’t gather too much negative emotion because of the bizarre BUGs at the beginning, but at least we accidentally got a good reputation. And now, it’s time to capitalize on that reputation and harvest a large amount of negative emotions!"

"Giving up such a good reputation voluntarily, isn’t that just foolish?"

Lilith’s mouth was slightly open, and the expression on her face gradually changed from confusion to bewilderment, then to sudden realization.

"Eh? You make a lot of sense!

"If they continue to suffer in ’Prometheus’ without finding any bugs, they’re bound to have a lot of negative emotions, and we can make back all our previous losses!

"This is indeed a plan with all benefits and no harm!"

Gu Fan’s expression became pained: "No, it’s beneficial but there is one harm, and that harm is that, as the President of Nitiandang Games, I might be cursed by thousands of people and have my reputation utterly ruined.

"But don’t worry, President Li, I can take this minor injury. Since the moment I joined Nitiandang Games, I’ve been ready to lose my head and shed blood for the company! Fame and fortune are just external possessions; I’ve long since stopped caring about them."

Lilith was actually a bit touched, she stood up, tiptoed, and patted Gu Fan on the shoulder: "Not bad! I knew I hadn’t chosen the wrong person!

"Don’t worry, even if you can’t make it in the Human World, I’ve got your back in Hell!"

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Lilith and Gu Fan each returned to their massage chairs, waiting for the streamers to officially start the game.

...

o’clock in the evening sharp.

Instructor Ding had long since completed the pre-download of ’Prometheus’, and now he was even waiting on the game’s detail page five minutes early, ready to jump into the game the moment the time came!

"Brothers, don’t stop me, I have to become the first player to beat ’Prometheus’, to make my sugar daddy take me back!!"

Instructor Ding’s expression was very determined, as if he had once lost something precious.

For the past two months, he had been pondering a question every day.

Why hadn’t Nitiandang been hiring him to promote their new games anymore?

If the promotions for ’Infernal Trajectory’ and ’Sisyphus’ had been unsuccessful, that would be one thing, but he had actually done well!

Why had he been abandoned by his sugar daddy?

Especially tonight, when Chen Tingquan received a pure gold trophy, it was a heavy blow to Instructor Ding.

So, Instructor Ding did some digging for inside information about Nitiandang Games, hoping to solve his own puzzle.

These rumors were all circulating among industry insiders, but there was no definitive evidence, and many of the rumors were contradictory.

For example, some rumors said that the working environment at Nitiandang Games was particularly bad, the boss was very stingy, and the employees had taken pay cuts to work there;

Other rumors claimed that big companies were offering double or even triple the salary to poach staff, with the intention of completely gutting Nitiandang Games;

There were also rumors that Nitiandang Games offered extravagant salaries that could crush the top companies, which was why they couldn’t be poached at all...

However, given the current state of the domestic gaming industry, it’s very likely that many firms indeed attempted to poach from Nitiandang Games, but as to why they weren’t successful? That’s hard to say.

Some speculated that maybe Nitiandang Games made employees sign ridiculous indentures from the start, with astronomical buy-out prices.

But this was quickly debunked, as current labor contracts are strictly regulated and not like contracting arrangements—how could there be such blatant legal loopholes?

Instructor Ding couldn’t figure out which of these rumors were true or false and couldn’t find the reason why his sugar daddy had fallen out of love with him.

This made him very sad.

But regardless, the release of the new game ’Prometheus’ today might just be his chance to win back his sugar daddy!

If Chen Tingquan could get an official pure gold trophy for being the first to clear ’Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon’, why couldn’t I?

This time, he was determined to succeed!