Chapter 153: A Two-Way Journey Toward Each Other

After finishing the Beef Wellington, Bai Rinzong took a shower, helped Han Jiayi blow-dry her hair, and since it was still before eight o'clock, he decided to spend some quality time with her before starting his live stream.

"Hey, Lao Bai, do you know Jonathan Blow?" Han Jiayi asked, gently shaking Bai Rinzong's hand.

Bai Rinzong shook his head, and Han Jiayi smiled. "He's amazing, and any indie game developer definitely knows him. He's called 'the man who redefined games.' Even though he has only made two works, *Braid* and *The Witness*, both of them are masterpieces!"

"I've heard of *Braid*, but I've never played it," Bai Rinzong replied. "And as for *The Witness*, I've watched other people stream it; it looks pretty boring. Isn't it just various line-drawing puzzles?"

"That game has a lot of depth, you should check it out!" Han Jiayi urged, shaking his arm playfully.

Unable to refuse his girlfriend, Bai Rinzong went and watched the playthrough videos of both games.

He wouldn't have known if he hadn't watched, but once he did, Bai Rinzong was utterly blown away: it turned out these two games contained so many hidden Easter eggs!

After watching the entire game walkthroughs, Bai Rinzong suddenly felt inspiration surge like a spring: "I have my material! This is it!"

Starting from that night, Bai Rinzong began live-streaming *Braid*, continuing the next morning as soon as he woke up.

He needed to produce the video for this game before his inspiration faded away.

Once the video footage was recorded, the next steps were the script and the background music.

Bai Rinzong sorted out his thoughts and then began typing on his keyboard: "Hello everyone, today I'm going to introduce a game called *Braid*."

"Its creator, Jonathan Blow, has deeply polarized evaluations in the gaming circle. Some people view him as a paranoid and arrogant madman, while others regard him as a supreme idol. It is precisely through *Braid* that he became the foremost figure in indie games."

"A multitude of gaming platforms, including IGN, gave this game extremely high scores or even perfect marks, yet he felt very angry at their praise, saying, 'These people simply do not understand my game.'"

"At first glance, *Braid* appears to be yet another cliché princess-rescue game, but its brilliance lies in the gameplay element of 'time.' This is the first truly complete game centered solely around time mechanics as the protagonist's ability, but its charm does not stop there..."

"When I finally struggled all the way to the final level, watching a muscular man bring the princess here, the princess broke free from his embrace and sprinted away. I chased after the princess until she returned to her room and lay down on the bed, at which point the game came to an end. Just as I was bewildered about what to do next, I subconsciously pressed the time-reversal key..."

"Everything instantly became crystal clear."

"The game began to flow in reverse. The traps and obstacles you thought were cleared through mutual cooperation, when viewed from the perspective of time flowing backward, were actually two people hindering each other's progress. It turned out that you were not rescuing the princess at all; rather, the princess was fleeing from you... It was at this moment that I finally understood: I was the monster..."

"Under my pursuit, the princess fled all the way to the entrance of the level. She cried for help, threw herself into the arms of the muscular man, and was carried away by him along the vines, leaving me all alone. So I opened the door to the game's epilogue and returned to the starting point. In truth, I had been there all along. The entire game was nothing more than a dream running backward, and the very end was the forward-moving reality."

"This divine plot twist of a game gave me goosebumps all over my body at that moment, compelling me to applaud in sheer admiration. Just like on the game's poster—a mirror image showcasing two completely different worlds through forward and reverse perspectives."

"Jonathan Blow intentionally presented an ambiguous resolution with the purpose of letting everyone interpret it for themselves. Do not ask what the name of the wind is; the whisper that brushes against every person's face is different."

Bai Rinzong finished writing his script, then leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief. He instantly felt an immense sense of ease, as if some profound emotion bottled up inside him had been completely vented.

He closed his eyes, waiting for his emotions to calm down, yet he only grew more and more excited.

He suddenly realized that what he wanted to do was not a review of this game, but a review of Jonathan Blow himself—an exploration of the gaming philosophy expressed by this man.

Not only *Braid*, but *The Witness* is likewise an outstanding work. These two games shattered conventional game concepts and genuinely propelled gaming toward the concept of the "Ninth Art."

Therefore, Bai Rinzong intended to wait until the *Braid* video was released before making the review for *The Witness*, and finally do a standalone character-review video about "Jonathan Blow."

He was full of confidence that combined together, these three videos would surely secure his foothold in the gaming circle on Station D!

After sending the footage to He Guang with repeated instructions, along with the selected background music, Bai Rinzong waited for the latter to finish post-processing. He then reviewed the final product and uploaded it.

This time, Bai Rinzong found himself unexpectedly nervous. Perhaps it was because he had poured all his understanding and emotions into this video that he felt both expectant and anxious about everyone's reactions upon watching it.

By the time he finished all this, it was already half-past twelve. Only then did Bai Rinzong head over to Yijia Xuan to get some food.

"Lao Bai!" Han Jiayi immediately rushed over upon seeing him, frowning as she asked, "Why are you only getting here now?"

"I lost track of time while making a video," Bai Rinzong said with a soft smile. "How are the Beef Wellingtons selling?"

"Humph..." Han Jiayi looked at him and smiled, then did a joyful little hop. "We sold ten portions by noon!"

"Oh? That's quite good then," Bai Rinzong said with a gratified smile.

Looking at the happy expression on Han Jiayi's face, Bai Rinzong felt it was all entirely worth it. In essence, he felt that he and Han Jiayi were the same: they both wanted to share the things they loved with others, only he did so through making videos, while Han Jiayi did so through cooking.

"How's the video?" Han Jiayi asked with a smile at that moment.

"Terrific," Bai Rinzong nodded confidently. "And I can continue using this material to make two more game videos. I believe everyone is going to love this series... hopefully."

"Hehe, that's good then," Han Jiayi smiled brightly, her little nose wrinkling up. In the past, it was always Bai Rinzong helping her, so she felt exceptionally happy that she could finally be of help to him this time.

"Could you say we are running toward each other in a two-way street now?" Bai Rinzong wrapped his arms around Han Jiayi's waist and teased.

"Yes!" Han Jiayi said with a proud smile. "We agreed to strive forward together, after all."

"No more talking, I'm starving to death," Bai Rinzong said, taking a seat nearby. "The ratatouille set meal, please."

"Got it, coming right up!" Han Jiayi replied cheerfully and hurried off to busy herself in the kitchen.

After this video about *Braid* was released, it immediately garnered a massive amount of praise and was quickly pushed to the homepage of Station D. In fact, although the quality of *Braid* was rock-solid, its penetration rate was not high. On one hand, this was because the game was released in 2008, and at that time, there was no gaming platform in China suitable for promoting indie games.

On the other hand, as an indie game, it lacked the promotional muscle of those AAA blockbusters.

Indie games all originated from small studios, often consisting of just a handful of people with shaky funding—how could they possibly afford to launch massive advertising campaigns for their games like the big corporations did?

Through this video, many people learned about the game *Braid* for the very first time, and everyone expressed absolute awe at the divine plot twist at the end of the game.

As soon as the video was released, it immediately received a flood of likes and coin donations, propelling it all the way to the homepage of Station D.

This was of extraordinary significance to Bai Rinzong. Although he had already made it to the homepage of Station D many times, every single one of those homepage features had been for food-related videos.

This was his very first gaming video to hit the homepage, which meant the quality of his gaming content had finally won the recognition of Station D!

Yet this was merely a beginning. For Bai Rinzong, this video was just a "stepping stone."

The upcoming video on *The Witness* would be the main event. Through that game, he would introduce the gaming philosophy of "Jonathan Blow," which would be his true trump card.

The next morning, after Han Jiayi left for work, Bai Rinzong began recording the footage for *The Witness* with high aspirations.

At that moment, Wang Bei pushed the door open and barged in, looking thrilled.

"Lao Bai!" Wang Bei placed her laptop on the desk, then eagerly stepped forward and grabbed Bai Rinzong by the shoulders. "A commercial collaboration has arrived! A huge order! The client is offering half a million to have you do a 'full-package promotion'!"

"Full-package promotion? What kind of full-package promotion?" Bai Rinzong asked, puzzled.

"It's the exact same full-package promotion you did for Sister Jiayi! From live streaming to video production to official WeChat account articles!" Wang Bei said with an excited smile.

Wang Bei gave a brief explanation: put simply, the three-pronged promotional campaign Bai Rinzong had executed for Han Jiayi had yielded exaggeratedly good results, allowing her restaurant to sell twenty portions of Beef Wellington on that day alone.

One had to know that the price of something like Beef Wellington was not something the average person readily accepted.

Therefore, a high-end restaurant in Beichang City had taken notice of these promotional results.

And the party issuing the commercial collaboration request was a famous five-star hotel right there in Beichang City.

"Prince Restaurant!?" Bai Rinzong asked in astonishment, then replied without a second thought, "We'll take it!"

This establishment was extremely famous in Beichang City, boasting a history of thirty years. Whenever the wealthy folks of Beichang City held celebrations or banquets for weddings and funerals, they invariably chose this restaurant.

Moreover, Bai Rinzong shared a certain connection with this establishment, so he was determined to make this project a success.