Chapter 140 A Good Strategy

After Yingqi Studio was exposed, it was bound to be in big trouble. Everyone with extraordinary confidence knew this. However, no one expected it to be this bad. You Ge spent the night doing his signature trick of flipping between the game, the forums, and back again, excitedly relaying what was happening on the forums to everyone.

The others were used to You Ge's broadcasting and didn't bother to check the forums themselves. Nor did they participate in the Cloudrise City protests against Yingqi Studio. At this point, they were just thinking, "We planted the trees, and you enjoy the shade." They saw the protests as the result of their efforts, happily watching the scene unfold while listening to You Ge's updates from other main cities. Everyone was thrilled.

It wasn't until You Ge discovered the doxxing thread and shared the news that everyone finally felt truly satisfied.

Gai Shi Qiying being doxxed was something even Han Jia Gongzi hadn't foreseen. He realized he had underestimated the players' resentment towards this unscrupulous merchant.

The parallel world had tens of millions of players, full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Now, they were all working together. Those with technical skills used them, and those without cheered from the sidelines, adding fuel to the fire. Gai Shi Qiying quickly became the most thoroughly investigated person in doxxing history. Even death threats, which were going a bit too far, were sent his way.

Some softer-hearted people couldn't help but feel sorry for Gai Shi Qiying, but things had gone too far to turn back. Most of the descriptions of Gai Shi Qiying on the forums at this point were fabricated smears, but even if someone objectively tried to say a few words in his defense, they would be accused of being Gai Shi Qiying's sock puppet or lackey and drowned in the flood of criticism.

Most people were no longer thinking about right and wrong. Everyone was just participating for the sake of it, making sure to kick Gai Shi Qiying a few times to feel good.

The doxxing thread was naturally the focus of the strongest attacks.

By the time dawn broke, Gai Shi Qiying had been so scared that he had left his home. The players, unaware, were still actively discussing what kind of revenge would "surprise" him the most.

"This guy won't have a chance to recover," You Ge, exhausted from running back and forth all night, finally concluded.

"Opposing this young master was the biggest mistake of his life," Han Jia Gongzi finally commented.

After a moment of silence, Yu Tian Shenming, who couldn't resist a good jab, finally said, "Was he even considering you an opponent? I seriously doubt he even knew you existed."

"That's his misfortune. If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have made that biggest mistake," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"This person is beyond saving," Yu Tian Shenming said, tearfully.

Everyone was silent. Dawn had broken, and it was time for them to rest. They all silently logged off. Gai Shi Qiying and his Yingqi Studio seemed to be finally defeated. Other studios would likely be afraid to act recklessly after seeing this example. Although there had been some unexpected turns, the ending was what it was. Everyone felt a sense of relief.

The main players went to rest, but this event wasn't going to end so easily. The game had an active population that worked around the clock. The night owls went to bed, and the early birds came online. When they heard about all the stories from last night, they re-enacted what the night owls had done, and then the afternoon crowd, then the night crowd, and then the night owls again...

The doxxing thread on the forums made new progress throughout the day. Some local players even managed to find Gai Shi Qiying's residence, but he was already gone. So everyone discussed Gai Shi Qiying's whereabouts in the thread, ultimately concluding that he had been scared away by the doxxing. It was a great victory for the doxxing party, worthy of being written down in history.

The protesting players in the game hadn't dispersed either. Although they also knew about the doxxing on the forums, doxxing was just exposing someone's information. Gai Shi Qiying wasn't the type to spread false information to deceive the public. His information being exposed, while it would cause him a lot of harassment, wasn't really a punishment in theory.

The protesting players were targeting the game company. They knew that this was the true "God" who could punish Gai Shi Qiying and Yingqi, so they were intensely praying to this "God" through their protests.

With so much happening, the game company couldn't just do nothing. But for the game company, the severity of the situation wasn't as bad as Qian Li Yizui filling up the prison. A studio provoking public anger? What was a studio? The game company actually wished these groups didn't exist, but there was no way to eliminate them. So over the years, they had taken the path of normalizing studios.

Now that a studio was disrupting the game, the game company didn't hesitate for a second and sided with the players without asking questions. Before noon the next day, while the protesting players in each main city were still having fun, the game company had already issued an announcement with lightning speed. The announcement basically said that after investigation, Yingqi Studio was indeed scum and would be resolutely shut down.

In an instant, the players felt lost. Was this really the game company? When did they become so efficient? Compared to the slow and sluggish responses when complaining to GMs and customer service, were these two even part of the same system?

The game company fulfilled the players' wishes so quickly that everyone's newly ignited enthusiasm had nowhere to vent. So some people started pushing their luck, claiming that all crows are black and demanding that other studios be shut down as well. The other studios panicked upon hearing this news. They vigorously communicated with the game company while holding massive sales in the game, trying to win back the players' hearts.

As a result, the game company made another unexpected move. That afternoon, the game company issued another announcement, stating that it would closely monitor the various studios in the game and carefully observe their behavior to see if any were engaging in unscrupulous behavior for profit like Yingqi Studio had.

This announcement was long and seemed to be full of standardized requirements for studios, mostly just lip service. However, those who understood the underlying meaning saw that the game company was targeting efficient leveling methods.

"A good strategy..." Ya Xiaosuan Gen sighed. Those who understood the underlying meaning had long known that the game company couldn't ignore efficient leveling methods. They hadn't done anything before because it wasn't widespread. But now, with their studio's strong intervention, efficient leveling methods had instantly spread throughout the entire game. Ya Xiaosuan Gen figured that the game company would become restless and had been imagining what methods they would use to stop it.

Now he finally saw it. The game company was using this opportunity to crack down on Yingqi and regulate studios to prevent their studio from promoting efficient leveling methods.

This was a brilliant move. What was the players' attitude towards efficient leveling methods? Were they happy or worried? The game company didn't even need to consider it because they weren't directly confronting the players but instead were targeting the studios.

Although studios weren't the original source of efficient leveling methods, they absolutely didn't dare to offend the game company. Now, with a legitimate excuse, they couldn't continue, and they could only listen. The game company could put in the effort to update and modify the monsters to eliminate previously popularized methods. And after this, if studios weren't allowed to interfere with this business, efficient leveling methods couldn't be promoted on a global scale like this.

People like Qian Li Yizui, without the resources of a studio, couldn't achieve the kind of instant spread to thirty main cities that Yunteng had. The game company should have enough ability to use technology to respond to them immediately. If they did this just once and let the players discover that the efficient leveling methods they had learned were useless, there wouldn't be a second time.

Unless Qian Li Yizui continued his free promotion in Cloudrise City. This was a completely different method from paid operation. It eliminated a lot of organizational work and could be quickly popularized without too many resources.

But since it was free, why would they do it? Take Bai Shi Jinglun as an example. He definitely wouldn't do such a boring thing if it didn't make money. Although Qian Li Yizui had done it once, it was for a purpose and likely wouldn't happen a second time. If he was really someone who wanted to benefit the players, would he be killing people in the game all day? Is that how you benefit the players?

Ya Xiaosuan Gen thought it over and over again and finally concluded that efficient leveling methods were really going to be eliminated by the game company. This was a very quick move. Ya Xiaosuan Gen didn't expect that immediately after Yingqi fell, he would encounter this big trouble. If they didn't do the business of efficient leveling methods, it wouldn't be a big deal for other studios, but the large number of people he had poached from Yingqi were all relying on this business to be supported. Now that it was just starting and had only gone a short distance, it was being called to a halt. The days ahead would be very difficult!

No matter how difficult it was, they had to persevere. Ya Xiaosuan Gen thought, suddenly clenching his fist. Because he had expected this day to come, he had initially spread to thirty main cities and negotiated cooperation with other studios to sell off his resources as soon as possible. At this point, this part of the income was enough to support them for a while.

The crucial moment had arrived!

Whether Yunteng would replace Yingqi as the industry leader or collapse due to indigestion depended on now. Clenching his fist tightly, Ya Xiaosuan Gen was full of ambition and immediately began contacting the studio's personnel to prepare for the upcoming series of tough battles in advance. Success or failure, it all started today.

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I'm here!! Long time no see, comrades! How was your New Year?