It has only been half a year since Xu Meng officially took over Zhumeng.
In this half year, Zhumeng has undergone a complete transformation, no longer requiring its big boss to handle everything personally.
During his absence from the company, all the planned tasks have been progressing steadily.
The launch and promotion of Lingzhou Studio's "Damn! I'm Surrounded by Evil Ghosts" has also been going smoothly.
Moreover, producer Li Yunchuan has truly implemented "learning from Xu Meng" in every aspect.
He not only kept his word by adding a seductive female ghost to the game, but also learned from Xu Meng's "advanced experience" in promotion.
Back when "Project Frost Snow" was being promoted.
Xu Meng pulled in a bunch of virtual streamers to "denounce" "Project Frost Snow" for being too lewd and corrupting children.
He used reverse marketing to create huge buzz among players.
In Li Yunchuan's view, this was a prime example of spending little money and achieving great things!
With such a successful case before him, how could he not learn from it?
At the same time, he also realized that he couldn't just copy blindly; he had to make targeted adjustments based on the characteristics of his own game, otherwise he would only be imitating poorly and making a fool of himself.
After careful consideration, Li Yunchuan finalized the plan—
"Boss Xu gives business deals to virtual streamers, so we have to too!"
"But the main selling point of our game is horror, not sex appeal, so the promotion method needs to be changed."
"How about we specifically choose some virtual streamers who are easily scared?"
Partner Zhou Ning lowered his head and gave a thumbs up: "Okay, you've graduated!"
"So, is that why you were still listening to virtual streamers licking ears at dawn?"
"???" Li Yunchuan's confident smile froze on his face.
"How do you know what I was listening to before bed??"
"No! I didn't listen at all! Stop slandering me!"
Zhou Ning shook his head, "It's not a big deal. Now that you've decided, hurry up and push it forward. Don't waste time."
"You… never mind." Li Yunchuan felt a little guilty and quickly moved on, starting to screen streamers.
—Although the distribution work was handed over to Zhumeng, the studio couldn't really be a hands-off manager.
Especially for small studios, it's common for bosses and founders to do everything themselves.
…
After "King of War" achieved huge sales success by stepping on "Nebula Commando" and Xinli Game Station's reputation, its influence is now completely different.
So when the distribution department started promoting that Zhumeng Game Platform would be launching games from other companies, Lingzhou Studio and their "Damn! I'm Surrounded by Evil Ghosts" immediately gained huge attention.
The P station account gained over 300,000 followers in one day!
—After all, Lingzhou Studio is a new face, and the new game is a horror theme, which doesn't match well with Zhumeng's core player base of ACG gamers and shooter players, otherwise it would definitely be more than this number.
The game trailer topped the 24-hour trending chart and reached the weekly chart the next day.
The discussion was extremely popular, almost on par with the final stage of the Global Survival Competition.
Horror game enthusiasts were itching to play this "most immersive horror game ever."
But a large number of ACG gamers and casual players hesitated.
Qi Huahua is one of these players.
From the moment "Evil Ghosts!" announced its release date, she had been constantly urged by her fans to play the game.
Even on the Global Survival Competition arena, her teammates kept advising her while bailing water out of the boat:
"Just play it! The show will be amazing!"
"You're a professional streamer, you have to show some professionalism, right?"
"You're only one step away from a million followers. How can you miss such a good opportunity?"
"I'll give you rockets if you play it. I mean it!"
…
"No matter how much traffic and gifts there are, I won't play it!"
"Absolutely not!"
Qi Huahua said decisively.
Her teammates were disappointed and even bailed water weakly.
—After Xu Meng was eliminated by the players, and the giant beasts died one after another, the Global Survival Competition quickly entered its final stage.
The lightning storm, centered on the corpse of the Vajra Thunder Rhino, quickly spread to the entire map, catching many people off guard and eliminating a large number of them on the spot.
Marching in the open area immediately became difficult.
After weighing their options, many players chose to hide in the giant burrows dug out by the sandworms.
In their opinion, although it would rain continuously on the island after the Nightmare Rain Squid died, wasn't the desert also spreading?
Only when these rains flooded the desert would they be threatened under the burrows, not to mention they could make lids and partitions for the burrows.
They really did it.
And they really got flooded.
There were heavy casualties.
Like many others, Huan Yue suspected from the beginning that this was a measure to force a reduction in the players' activity area, and ran to the highest snow mountain to take refuge early on.
They watched as the rain quickly gathered in a way that defied physics.
The water level rose almost visibly, as if it would not seep into the soil at all.
Players stranded on the surface and in the burrows welcomed total annihilation.
Then the snow mountain was submerged section by section.
And the higher up the snow mountain, the smaller the space available for players.
So the players who stayed on the snow mountain to take refuge fought fiercely for survival space, and the death announcements continued to flood the screen for a whole day.
Until the very end, only the last wooden shed remained on the narrow summit.
Under the wooden shed stood the last three players.
All three were decked out in divine gear.
Xun Fei, the muscular player who first discovered "elemental weapons" and ignited Xu Meng with the divine sword, was also among them.
This was the final showdown of the [Global Survival Competition].
However, due to the limited space, the technical content of this final showdown was not very high—everyone could only fight hand-to-hand.
But the blood-exchanging fight, where you give a cut and I give a cut, was also a passionate sight!
In the end, the muscular man narrowly won, successfully laughing to the end—when both opponents fell, he had a sword stuck in his chest and only a sliver of health left.
He waited for the system to announce the end of the game.
But he did not wait.
Confused, the [Bleeding] status drained his last health, and he was tragically eliminated.
And more than 300 meters away from the summit, the remaining 12 teammates of Qi Huahua's team were riding a simple wooden boat. Six of them were holding monoculars, peering through the rain to admire the final battle.
After synthesizing glass from sand, plus wood, you can synthesize a monocular, which is not expensive.
The reason why only six people were watching was because the other half were bailing water.
Their wooden boat was too simple.
The wind and waves were too big, and water kept coming in, so they had to split into two teams to bail water alternately.
They were able to hold on until now, all thanks to the [Survival Master] prize money and the thought of bragging about surviving to the end.
Now that they saw that even the summit was submerged, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It should be really over now."
"I never thought we would actually stay until the end."
One person said.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, feeling excited, relieved, and a little regretful and lost.
But in the end, everyone high-fived each other and happily celebrated the victory.
Someone once again seized the opportunity to urge Qi Huahua: "Huahua, please play 'Evil Ghosts'! If you agree now, I'll jump off the boat and die!"
His reminder energized the other teammates: "Hurry up and say you'll play! Otherwise, we'll throw you down!"
Qi Huahua refused to the death: "Then throw me down!"
Of course, the viewers wouldn't do that…
To ensure that everyone in the team gets a share of the 250,000 prize for [Survival Master], the safest way is for Qi Huahua to claim it.
To be honest, the other teammates are all internet acquaintances, and the distribution of the prize money is only a verbal agreement.
If everyone has good character, then everything will be fine.
But when it comes to interests, if someone is tempted and takes the money without acknowledging the agreement, everyone has no good way to fight back.
Just like when someone stole the golden poop of pickled radishes before, everyone can only condemn it and do nothing.
Only Qi Huahua is considered a public figure, and she can't mess around for the sake of her reputation.
So in the end, except for Qi Huahua, everyone else held hands and jumped off the boat together.
After the system announcement flashed the last round of death announcements, it immediately announced the end of the game:
[Current number of players remaining on the map: 1]
[The final survivor has appeared!]
[Congratulations to player [Qi Huahua] for becoming the [Survival Master] of this year's Global Survival Competition!]
[Server shutdown countdown: 10, 9, 8……]—
When the countdown ended, the competition server officially closed.
Qi Huahua was sent back to her frontline camp.
A special collection item also appeared in her hand—[First Global Survival Competition Commemorative Knife].
The rosewood handle was engraved with a small [001] number.
"Yay!!" Qi Huahua said excitedly.
"I knew it! As long as I stay away from disputes and prepare well, I can definitely survive to the end!"
As Qi Huahua spoke, she took off her VR glasses and put on a thin mask to cover her face—actually, it was just a token gesture to maintain the virtual streamer's last dignity.
Afterwards, she sat on the carpet, interacting with her viewers on her phone, sharing her excitement.
The viewers in the livestream room had been following along for several days, and at this time they also felt honored.
Various applauding and cheering comments flooded the screen.
Some people jokingly said, "Why not speedrun 'Evil Ghosts' to celebrate?"
Seven Flowers quickly refused, "I'm about to die from exhaustion after working overtime for so many days. Let me rest."
Just then, her work phone suddenly vibrated.
Seven Flowers glanced at it, quickly apologized to her viewers, muted the microphone, and answered the phone.
The viewers watched Seven Flowers' expression change from seriousness to surprise, then to hesitation and entanglement, her brows furrowing together.
But in the end, she nodded.
After hanging up the phone, Seven Flowers turned the microphone back on but didn't speak immediately.
The viewers then began to speculate about what had happened.
The most reasonable guess came from a moderator: "What's wrong, Flower? Is it because the Dream Building Awards want to take a photo, and you have to show your real face?"
Seven Flowers shook her head.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she suddenly took a deep breath and announced:
"I've decided!"
"After 'Evil Ghost!' is released, I will do a full playthrough, streaming until I beat it!"
This 180-degree turn completely baffled the viewers:
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! Weren't you refusing to do it to the death three minutes ago?"
"Is it because of that phone call? Who is so powerful that they could convince you?"
"You fickle woman!"
… …
"I've been thinking, I'm a full-time streamer, and a streamer's duty is to meet the audience's expectations."
"I can't let down everyone's support and love."
"So, I'll risk my life to accompany you, gentlemen!"
Seven Flowers said with extremely high awareness.
Unfortunately, no one believed her.
— These were all the words everyone used to persuade her before!
She never listened, okay?!
How could she suddenly change her mind after just one phone call?
"Alright," Seven Flowers tried once and quickly gave up, "Actually, I just got a sponsorship…"
"I didn't accept the platform's commercial deal; Spirit Boat Studio directly asked the platform for my work number and called to make an invitation."
"The game producer personally called me. With such a sincere invitation, it would be too disrespectful if I still refused."
Seven Flowers really thought so.
As soon as she answered the phone, the other side immediately said, "Hello, I'm Li Yunchuan, the producer of Spirit Boat Studio's new work 'Evil Ghost!', and also your fan."
Seven Flowers was immediately stunned.
Li Yunchuan adopted a very humble attitude, praising her for a long time. His admiration could be felt even through the phone.
After praising her, Li Yunchuan earnestly expressed his wish for Seven Flowers to try out Spirit Boat's new work, 'Evil Ghost!'
The wording wasn't "give you a commercial deal" but "hope you can help us," "the fee we give will definitely not be low."
After the phone call, he had given her enough face and benefits.
So Seven Flowers reluctantly agreed.
The viewers were a little suspicious.
Mainly because the game was about to go online, was the producer really so free?
Seeing that the viewers didn't believe her, Seven Flowers tried to explain: "They admire me!"
"And he said he was my fan."
Seven Flowers really believed it.
Because Li Yunchuan fought for special treatment for her—
In addition to the normal commercial fee, as long as she could stream and achieve the true ending, she would receive an extra bonus.
"This is a special favor for you, and I hope you can keep it a secret," Li Yunchuan said.
Seven Flowers was a little secretly pleased.
She was determined to stream seriously and promote "Evil Ghost!" well.
Although the viewers were a little speechless about this fickle woman, they were super excited to see this coward stream "Evil Ghost!", so they didn't say much.
In just these one or two days, some female streamers—not just virtual streamers—had also taken on commercial deals from Spirit Boat Studio.
However, they didn't specifically mention it, and their attention wasn't as high as Seven Flowers, who had just won the [Survival Master] title, so it didn't cause much discussion for the time being.
However, as "Evil Ghost!" went online simultaneously on the Vapour and Dream Building Game platforms, this scene quickly attracted the attention of players—
"Is this really a horror game? Why is there so much 'sister content'?"
"They're not! Aren't Lazy Lazy, Xingyue Motao, NamiNami… famous cowards?"
"Wait… a group of virtual streamers are simultaneously involved with a game! Where have I seen this scene before?!"
"Don't 'seem'! It's the trick 'Frost Snow Project' used!"
"Outrageous, is it not enough to harvest the leeks of second-dimensional games? Even horror games are joining in? Is two-dimensional money so easy to earn?"
"I think Spirit Boat is doing a good job! Haha, I won't lack streams to watch these days!"
"Spirit Boat, don't let us down, it must be super scary!"
"Waiting to see them get scared to tears!"
… …
"Don't daydream! There's absolutely no way I'll be scared to tears!" Seven Flowers retorted to the gloating viewers in the stream.
"It's just playing a game!"
"It's all fake! It won't scare me!"
She had already put on the somatosensory synchronization suit, stood on the omnidirectional treadmill, and jogged a few steps to warm up.
"You just watch, I've already thought of a strategy—as long as I run fast enough, demons and ghosts won't be able to catch up with me!"
She put on the VR glasses and said energetically, "'Evil Ghost!' start!"
—
After entering the game, the first scene Seven Flowers saw was a distant view overlooking the sky.
Under the lush green trees, an ancient castle appeared on the mountainside.
Winding mountain roads stretched all the way from the foot of the mountain to the castle gate.
Only one car was driving on the road.
The camera slowly descended and stopped outside the car window.
There were a young man and a woman in the car, but because they were both Western faces, Seven Flowers couldn't tell whether they were high school or college students.
However, the following NPC dialogue answered her doubts—
This was a college couple who accidentally discovered that a super cheap luxury castle was being rented out for short periods.
So the two hit it off and ran over to enjoy a luxurious castle vacation.
This opening made Seven Flowers couldn't help but complain on the spot: "What a classic (clichéd) opening."
"I've seen at least a dozen horror movies with similar beginnings…"
The viewers also said: The sense of déjà vu is too strong!
After that was the character selection stage, choosing one of the couple in the front row.
Seven Flowers didn't think much and randomly chose the blonde female character.
After selecting, the opening ended.
The car drove into the castle, the two pushed open the door and got out of the car, Seven Flowers took over the body of the blonde girl and walked into the castle with her boyfriend.
"Okay, let me see, is there a murderer hidden here, or a cannibalistic pervert, or a cultist," Seven Flowers had already thought about the development of the story.
— After all, Spirit Boat is a small studio, and Dream Building's technical support is on somatosensory synchronization suits and VR adaptation, and does not involve AI-related technology.
It is impossible for Spirit Boat to create miracles like the 'Frost Snow Project' team and set a bunch of keywords to trigger speech for the characters.
Seven Flowers could safely complain without worrying about what outrageous things the NPC would do if they heard her.
"But this game is called 'Evil Ghost,' so it should be haunted?"
As she was thinking about these things, she suddenly heard a "bang" behind her!
Then the picture smashed to the floor uncontrollably.
A bloody color appeared at the edge of her vision.
"I was attacked?" Seven Flowers was stunned, "But why???"
The character turned around and saw "her" boyfriend holding a blood-stained bat in his hand, walking towards her step by step.
"Why????" Seven Flowers was super puzzled.
Until a crack sounded, this boyfriend, who was still normal the second before, suddenly broke his knee, and his entire calf was twisted outward! Blood instantly dyed his jeans red!
"Ah!" Seven Flowers was startled by this sudden change.
She quickly pushed with both hands, trying to get away.
But before she could move a few times, the person in front of her also broke his left elbow with a crack! Blood even splashed in front of Seven Flowers!
Seven Flowers' mouth was wide open, her lower lip trembling, and she was speechless with shock at this sudden change.
Fortunately, her aphasia was cured in the next second—
Huge wounds were suddenly cut open on the "boyfriend's" chest and waist!
But he didn't care. His eyes were red, his eyes were wide open, and he dragged his bleeding body, twisting his body and moving towards Seven Flowers step by step while roaring!
Looking at the movements, he looked like a manipulated puppet!!
"Ah, ah, ah, ah! Don't come over here!!!!!"
Seven Flowers waved her hands frantically on both sides of her body, trying to make the character in the game rub the floor quickly and stay away from the blood-spraying maniac!
But Li Yunchuan is a mature game producer, how could he miss such a good opportunity?
Even if Seven Flowers waved her hands into a propeller, the character's movement speed in the game was fixed!
— As slow as a snail!
"Don't come over! Don't come over!"
"I beg you!"
"I'm sorry!"
"I'm sorry!"
… …
Seven Flowers apologized frantically while pushing the floor.
But that person, who was already covered in blood and didn't know whether he was dead or alive, still walked up to her and raised the baseball bat in his hand high.
The shadow of the baseball bat appeared on the character's face.
The next moment, the bloody bat smashed down hard!
"Ah!" Seven Flowers screamed, instinctively turning her head sharply to avoid it, while raising her hands above her head, trying to block it.
She succeeded.
This stick didn't hit her head.
— Because her action of shaking her head was too forceful, and at the same time the angle was a bit downward, the VR glasses happened to be thrown off by her!
With a "thump", it hit the thick carpet.
