Chapter 1 After Returning to His Residence

Back in his apartment, Meng Chang couldn't wait to pull out his phone and check the online discussions.

Whether he could pull it off depended on tonight.

After the official Tengda Games account posted that message, it quickly garnered numerous comments from netizens, and people on various forums reposted it as well.

"Huh? So the new game Tengda is developing... is a fitness game?"

"What the hell! I got my hopes up for nothing. I thought it would be some big production."

"What's with a fitness game?"

"What a letdown! So disappointing!"

"Hey, does everyone think it's boring? There's no need to jump to conclusions just yet. A fitness game sounds pretty innovative. Tengda Games always has the power to turn the ordinary into something magical. I think we can still look forward to it!"

"Hey, it's not that I don't trust President Pei, it's just that not many people like this type of game. Fitness games are ultimately for fitness, so it's hard to make them particularly fun."

"The key is that Tengda Games has been holding back for over half a year. I was expecting a masterpiece like *Be a Real Man*, but all they came up with was a perfunctory fitness game? That's too hard to accept!"

"Is President Pei getting complacent? Is it because he's too busy with other industries?"

Meng Chang scrolled through a lot of comments and finally a smile appeared on his face.

Yes, it worked!

Everyone's attention had clearly been diverted.

Before, many people were speculating about what type of game the new one would be. Some even guessed the RTS genre correctly, but the official statement had a "finalizing" effect.

Although some people questioned that "the two pictures don't look alike," neither *Mission and Choice* nor *Fitness Battle* had been released yet, so who could know what the specific images inside would look like?

Moreover, most players couldn't imagine that the officials would be so shameless as to release information to mislead everyone. Meng Chang had successfully led them astray.

Meng Chang breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, it was a narrow escape!

A huge crisis had appeared, but fortunately, his magical operation had successfully reversed the situation and put it back on track!

This way, he should be able to continue to hide it until the game's release on May 1st. Even if he couldn't get the full commission, getting seventy or eighty percent shouldn't be a problem.

However, just as Meng Chang was starting to relax, several new replies popped up.

"Something's not right! Everyone look at this Weibo post!"

The comment included a screenshot. The Weibo post was from the official account of Fanqi Media, and the content was: "The Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster *Warship Fury* is coming to the May 1st Golden Week!"

"With a budget of two hundred million dollars, a renowned director, a star-studded cast, and numerous real warships making appearances!"

The Weibo post also included various promotional images of *Warship Fury*, presented in a nine-square grid.

Just looking at this Weibo post, there was nothing wrong with it. It was all normal promotion.

But the problem was the top-voted comment below the Weibo post.

"Rumor has it that a certain domestic sci-fi film was so scared that it changed its release date on the spot? (Dog head emoji)(Dog head emoji)(Dog head emoji)"

Most of the hot comments below expressed anticipation for the movie. This top-voted comment, which was ranked first, seemed a bit out of place, yet it was hard to ignore.

Soon, this comment had several hundred replies.

"Scared into changing the release date? Does anyone know which movie it is?"

"Although changing the release date is a normal operation, I can't help but laugh, hahaha..."

"Insiders revealed that it seems to be a Tengda movie!"

"Huh? Really? Tengda has a new movie coming out? What's the name?"

"Bullshit, would Tengda's movie change its release date out of fear of a foreign blockbuster? At least have some limits when you're trying to piggyback off someone else's popularity!"

"Exactly, *A Beautiful Tomorrow* was a success in both box office and reviews. That was only Flying Carp Studio's first movie. The second movie will definitely be even better after summarizing the experience! I'd believe it if other companies were afraid of Hollywood blockbusters and changed their release dates, but Tengda afraid of Hollywood blockbusters? Don't make me sick!"

Soon, the comments below this top-voted comment were in a heated argument.

This was obviously the work of internet trolls, who increased the number of likes on this comment and then started arguments in the comments section. When everyone started arguing with each other, the popularity would naturally increase.

Moreover, this account was disguised as a random passerby's account, so it could distance itself from Fanqi Media's official account. That way, even if there were any problems, it wouldn't draw fire to itself.

And a large number of internet trolls were secretly releasing relevant information bit by bit while everyone was arguing.

"Don't disbelieve it, just check it. *Mission and Choice* is the new movie made by Tengda. It was originally scheduled for the May 1st holiday, but it was urgently moved up to this weekend."

"Obviously, they chickened out, otherwise why would they give up the May 1st Golden Week and take the initiative to go to a trash weekend slot?"

"I think this is a wise move. They must know in their hearts that they can't beat it in the May 1st holiday, so they simply moved it up to get more box office revenue."

"I checked it! It's true, Tengda made a new movie without saying a word? How come I haven't seen any promotion, and even the ranking on the ticketing app is very low? I didn't even notice it before!"

"And it stars Lu Zhiyao! Huh, why is he the only one on the cast list? Is it a mistake?"

"I saw it before, but I was disgusted by the name and didn't even click on it. I didn't expect it to be produced by Tengda?"

Fanqi Media's internet trolls fanned the flames a little, and the popularity increased.

Many people didn't believe it at first, but after taking a closer look, it turned out to be true!

Tengda really did release a movie called *Mission and Choice*, and it was indeed moved up from May 1st to this weekend. Everything said in the top-voted hot comment was true!

But many Tengda fans couldn't accept it even more.

Flying Carp Studio, which made *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, already had a good reputation. Although *Warship Fury* was a Hollywood blockbuster, it didn't seem to be one of the top ones.

Could such an enemy make Flying Carp Studio admit defeat? Actively change the release date to avoid it?

This didn't make sense at all!

Tengda fans, who were being ridiculed and used for publicity by the internet trolls, were all furious. They sprayed back on the internet while desperately looking for evidence everywhere.

It's definitely not because they were afraid that they moved up the release date. This doesn't fit Tengda's style at all!

Finally, someone spoke the truth.

"Everyone, look at the movie's title and synopsis. Isn't this the *Mission and Choice* that's been called the 'shame of domestic games'? The plot is about a Zerg invasion. The more I look at it, the more it seems like it?"

"Hey, you're right. I thought it was a coincidence before, but after a closer look, the name is exactly the same?"

"Remake? Or did they buy the rights?"

"Are you crazy! Even if they bought the rights, they would definitely make a game out of it. Why would they remake it into a movie?"

"Hmm... have you considered the possibility that maybe they made both a game and a movie?"

"Huh?"

"Do you guys remember that picture in the official interview before? Many people guessed that it might be an RTS game, for two reasons: First, the picture was from a top-down perspective; second, Tengda rarely makes games of the same type, and they haven't made an RTS game yet. With comprehensive analysis, the possibility of an RTS game is actually very high!"

"But didn't the official say that the new game is *Fitness Battle*?"

"But the official didn't say it explicitly! Tengda is a marketing genius. What's so strange about fooling the players? If they really wanted to promote it, the movie is about to be released, but there's no promotional material to be seen anywhere. Isn't that even stranger?"

"Indeed, the game graphics in these two pictures look very different to me!"

"That's right, how could a fitness game take Tengda so long to develop?"

"Could it be... that something big is coming?!"

"Tengda's new game wouldn't really be *Mission and Choice*, would it? Don't mess with me!"

Players were indeed worthy of being called Sherlock Holmes, and after finding a breakthrough, they all swarmed up!

The message that Meng Chang posted in his official capacity had temporarily misled the players, but unfortunately, Fanqi Media's Weibo post brought the war to the movie *Mission and Choice*. As a result, the players' attention, which had been so hard to divert, returned, and they became even more convinced that the game was an RTS game!

Meng Chang's expression was blank, and his mind was empty.

But that wasn't the most terrifying thing for him.

The most terrifying thing was that, according to the information on the internet, the movie *Mission and Choice* was scheduled to be released on April 14th, which was this weekend!

What did this mean?

Although Meng Chang didn't know the specific plot of *Mission and Choice*, he knew that the game and the movie were conjoined twins. If the movie was released, the game would definitely be released on the same day.

Otherwise, after the movie was released, the plot would be discussed to death, and the players would be spoiled rotten. How could the game be played?

If the movie was moved up, it meant that the game's release date would definitely be moved up as well.

"That's not right, how come no one told me about such a big thing?"

"I always thought the movie was going to be released on May 1st!"

"This is a rip-off!"

"So, that game is also..."

Meng Chang didn't dare to think any further.

So, he lowered his face and asked President Pei for another ten million, and did a bunch of strange operations, but it was all for nothing?

Wait, it wasn't all for nothing, he seemed to have exposed *Fitness Battle* as well...

"Are you crazy!"

"What was wrong with the May 1st holiday?"

"The movie will be released and the game will be released on the 14th. What commission am I going to get? There's no way this won't be discovered!"

It wasn't that Meng Chang had lowered his guard, it was just that no one had told him about this. Moreover, Meng Chang couldn't have imagined that a movie with such a huge investment wouldn't be released on the May 1st holiday, but would instead be moved up to a trash weekend slot.

This was completely unreasonable!

Meng Chang's mentality completely collapsed. Although he could still pray that the game's sales would be poor after it was released, even if that were the case, he wouldn't get much of a commission.

The key was that he had done all these operations, but in the end, he didn't even know that the time had changed. It was like fighting against air.

If he had known that it had been changed, what was the point of struggling? He should have just given up!

Meng Chang slumped on the sofa, as if he had lost his soul.

It's over, it's all over!

He had been tricked by President Pei again!