Chapter Twenty-Eight: A True Man Fears Nothing

Page (1/3) (Content coming soon)

Seeing the line of text appear before him, Li Shang couldn’t help but feel he’d never encountered such an outrageous designer in all his years. The way you cut things off so skillfully—do you realize you might get beaten for it?

“The little world’s like this, and this game’s the same. Damn it, I could roast you to death, you dog designer!”

That feeling of excitement being snuffed out just as it began made Li Shang unbearably frustrated.

He immediately exited the game and opened the comment section for “Spore Evolution,” ready to vent his feelings.

He wanted the designer to understand that the players are the true masters—provoking them like this is just wrong.

His fingers became a blur, and in just a few minutes, hundreds of heartfelt words spilled out onto the screen.

Surveying his lines with satisfaction, Li Shang nodded approvingly, then suddenly paused as a thought struck him.

It wasn’t a pang of conscience, but the realization that if he posted this comment, wouldn’t he be suffering alone?

That simply wouldn’t do!

Good things must always be shared.

A twisted smile crept across Li Shang’s face.

“Let the world taste pain with me,” he muttered, indulging a bit of melodrama as he swiftly deleted the hundreds of words he’d just written.

Then, as he prepared to lavish praise upon the game, his fingers hesitated.

“How does one praise a game, anyway...?”

It dawned on him that he was nothing but a professional critic, utterly inexperienced when it came to complimenting others.

In other words, he was at a loss for words.

But that didn’t stop him.

He simply copied a few balanced comments from some phenomenon-level games, added a touch of his own sentiment, and called it a day.

“Perfect.”

Satisfied with his handiwork, Li Shang clicked ‘send.’

He was certain the others would be captivated by the game after reading his comment.

“Dog designer, prepare yourself!” he grumbled.

...

...

A week passed.

Yin Jian received news that his game had advanced to the strong district and logged into the game assistant backend to check the detailed data.

His heart was filled with uncertainty.

After all, it’s a bit like a lottery—you never know if you’ve won until you look.

He opened the game interface, and immediately his gaze was drawn to a conspicuous number: twelve.

That number was in the lower right corner of the game’s cover, impossible to miss.

Instinctively, Yin Jian clicked on it and saw a list titled [Baiqiao New Game Recommendation Ranking].

12. “Spore Evolution” Recommendation votes: 8,404

Staring at the ranking and the number of votes, Yin Jian’s mouth fell open.

He’d never imagined his game would receive so many recommendation votes.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

He knew that players only get one recommendation vote per day, and most people, even when wasting it, wouldn’t bother voting for a designer’s game.

So the number of votes essentially reflected the true level of affection for his creation.

But...

“I only posted one trial promotion, isn’t this a little over the top?”

He knew every detail about his own game. The trial content surviving the players’ wrath was already miraculous; getting them to vote was beyond belief.

Honestly, he couldn’t make sense of the numbers.

Confused, he clicked into the comment section, hoping to uncover the reason behind it all.

[Shocking! This is a game that can heal everything!]

[A hidden gem 99% of players don’t know about! Play now!]

[A veteran gamer of fifty years, moved to tears by this game!]

[I’m not playing a game—I’m living life.]

[After playing “Spore Evolution” a hundred times...]

[The deepest game in history!]

???

These mystifying headlines left Yin Jian utterly dumbfounded.

Are they really talking about my game?

He began to suspect he’d clicked the wrong title.

But the reality was, he hadn’t. This was indeed the comment section for “Spore Evolution.”

He was completely at a loss.

“Is it that times have changed too quickly, or is my game really that good? That can’t be.”

He’d created the game aiming for the science fiction contest’s grand prize. The playability was there, but only after the official launch.

The trial content was just bait for the players.

“Or do people simply enjoy being abused?”

With that question in mind, he opened one of the comments to see the replies from other players.

[Bubble Teapot]: Those who know, know.

[Looks like a dog]: Those who know, know.

[Yun Tianxing]: ??? What are you all talking about? Riddlers, get out of the comments section.

[Young Master of the Yakumo Family]: @_Yun Tianxing All I can say is, those who know, know. If you don’t, it’s pointless to explain. The interests involved are too great to go into detail.

“...”

Staring at the uniform responses, Yin Jian’s mouth hung open.

What is this?

What the hell are they talking about?

“Is there not a single normal person?”

He only wanted to see genuine feedback, nothing more.

“Forget it.”

Yin Jian sighed—he truly couldn’t fit in with this crowd of eccentric players.

Feeling a bit fatigued, he closed the comment section.

He opened the backend and checked the favorites for “Spore Evolution.”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Favorites: 14,110

Fourteen thousand favorites—in the world of trial games, that was a solid upper-middle result.

It started nearly seven times higher than “My Little World.”

The reason for this was that “Spore Evolution” maintained quality throughout, unlike “My Little World,” which suffered from eye-searing visuals due to budget constraints.

So as long as you didn’t mess up, you could achieve decent results in trial promotions.

However...

“It feels like these numbers might not be enough to win the sci-fi contest’s grand prize.”

Yin Jian felt a little unsure. “By the way, what are the judging criteria for the contest?”

If they were based on first-day sales...

“That could be tough.”

Yin Jian wanted to consult Stone about the contest details, but...

(Prompt: The other party has blocked you)

“...”

Seeing this, Yin Jian decisively opened the group chat.

——————

You Forced Me: @_Stone What are the judging criteria for the contest?

Happy Afro: Handsome guy peeks in

Green Hat Landlord: Little brother, are you planning to join this sci-fi contest?

You Forced Me: The game has already advanced to the strong district.

Sword Sect Leader: The contest is comprehensive—monthly bestsellers + player reviews + Starting Games Operations Department vote.

You Forced Me: Sword Sect rocks!

Sword Sect Leader: Noob rocks!

Sword Sect Leader: Bring Sword Sect along.

...

——————

Just as he was basking in mutual flattery with Sword Sect Leader, Yin Jian saw his operator, Stone, message him.

“Hmph.”

Swollen from being praised, Yin Jian snorted coldly and promptly added Stone to his blacklist.

The wheel of fate turns.

A mere operator daring to block him? Unforgivable.

...

...

Starting Games Tower

Yu Jia stared blankly at the notification that Yin Jian had blocked him, unable to believe his eyes.

“He... he actually blocked me.”

Page (3/3)