Chapter 19 Joe Bro is on the Hook

At the time, Joe Bro's rant about "Lonely Desert Road" was never intended to promote Tengda; it was just a spur-of-the-moment video to boost his own popularity.

Although the result was a win-win – the game became popular, and Joe Bro gained popularity – the show was, after all, a roast. How could the game's producer not resent him for being so harsh?

He could only hope the guy was magnanimous...

Soon, Lu Mingliang replied.

"President Pei is very pleased, but he says this video must be released in the 'New Games of the Month' column, and the video commentary cannot be changed. Also, we can't let the audience think it's ironic. The acting must be top-notch and from the heart."

Joe Bro was dumbfounded.

Crap, this President Pei was indeed holding a grudge!

He just wanted to see him make a fool of himself!

Although "New Games of the Month" was a column specifically for taking money, the audience knew it all too well. But to shamelessly lick a game like this would definitely be criticized!

Moreover, because the column itself was for paid promotion, the audience wouldn't think it was ironic or sarcastic.

Plus, President Pei demanded top-notch, heartfelt acting...

Predictably, the audience would see this video as lowering the bar for taking money and betraying Joe Bro's personality!

Was President Pei doing this on purpose?

Revenge, this was blatant revenge!

He wouldn't take this job, not for any amount of money!

Joe Bro immediately typed a reply: "Sorry, Manager Lu, this request is really too high, I might not be able to do it. Please find someone else."

Lu Mingliang: "Six thousand, Teacher Joe!"

Joe Bro: "..."

Are you kidding me?

Are you trying to test my bottom line by constantly increasing the price? Are you trying to humiliate me?

It's not about the money, although six thousand is indeed very tempting...

Joe Bro's heart was bleeding.

What a huge sum of money!

Saving a little, six thousand would be enough to live freely for two months.

Not having to work for two months and just playing games – that was such a huge temptation...

He struggled internally.

Alas, he still couldn't get over this hurdle; he couldn't bring himself to do it.

After a long consideration, Joe Bro began to type.

"It's not about the money..."

He had only typed half the sentence when a new message came in.

"Teacher Joe, I just consulted with President Pei again, and he said we can increase it to ten thousand! This should be the final offer. I know you cherish your reputation as a video creator. If you really don't want to accept it, we won't force you."

Joe Bro's hand trembled, and he accidentally pressed the Enter key.

"It's not about the money,"

The two sentences were sent one after the other.

It looked like Joe Bro was flatly refusing.

Lu Mingliang: "Okay, then I wish you all the best in your work. I won't bother you any further."

Joe Bro panicked instantly. Crap, that's not what he meant! Don't go!

He quickly pounded on the keyboard, his hand speed, honed over twenty-odd years of being single, erupting to its peak at this moment.

"It's not about the money,"

"President Pei is an old friend of mine. I will definitely help with this favor!"

The message was sent.

Joe Bro breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Lu Mingliang hadn't had a burst of hand speed and blocked him.

Lu Mingliang: "Really? That's great. Then I'll send you more video materials."

Joe Bro received the new video materials. In just a few short minutes, his mood went from anger to worry to fear to joy...

In short, he was now calm as still water.

Releasing it in "New Games of the Month" would ruin his reputation?

Paid promotion, so what!

The audience would understand, yes, that's how it was!

...

...

"Joe Bro accepted it?"

"Yes, not bad."

In the office, Pei Qian listened to Lu Mingliang's report and nodded with satisfaction.

Let that be a lesson for messing with me back then!

If it weren't for you, the five thousand yuan he lost might have changed the whole script!

He had to have Joe Bro release the video first and see how skillfully he handled it.

Of course, Pei Qian wasn't entirely motivated by revenge. Part of the reason was that he was afraid of repeating the mistake of "Lonely Desert Road."

According to Joe Bro, releasing it on "Trash Game Rant" might make it popular again due to the roasting, and Pei Qian would rather die.

So, he would release it on "New Games of the Month," which had the lowest traffic and no viewers, and directly write "I'm Taking Money" on his face. There was definitely no problem!

The thought that such simple happiness could be easily achieved with just ten thousand yuan of system funds made Pei Qian want to laugh.

But in front of Lu Mingliang, he had to be reserved. He couldn't let his persona collapse.

"What about the other up-loaders?" Pei Qian asked.

Lu Mingliang answered truthfully: "Some refused to accept it even after increasing the price, but quite a few accepted it; about more than half."

"Originally, most people rejected it when they saw the script, but when they heard that other video creators were also going to say the same commentary, and they wouldn't be the only one or the first to release the video, and they could delete the video after a month, plus we increased their money, many people agreed."

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this.

Sure enough, no matter how embarrassing the script, as long as you paid more, someone would recite it.

And for the other video creators, it wasn't that serious; at most, it would just leave a little black history.

If n up-loaders had already posted it, all they had to do was re-dub the passage, which wasn't a big deal.

It was the first video creator who would have a harder time, because at first, the audience wouldn't know the truth and would be fed sh*t, so the firepower would definitely be concentrated on him.

Pei Qian planned to have Joe Bro be the first one.

As for why...

Heh, President Pei was a petty person, okay?

...

...

In the rented apartment.

Joe Bro almost pinched his nose to finish watching the video he had recorded with great difficulty.

"What have I done..."

Joe Bro's mood was now very complicated.

On the one hand, making a video could earn him ten thousand yuan, and the money had corrupted his will.

On the other hand, he felt very pained.

Because eating sh*t was much harder than he imagined...

Logically, this job didn't require much work. All he had to do was read the commentary and cut the video sent by the other party, and it would be done in a day or two.

But Joe Bro spent a full five days, until the deadline, to barely feel that it was almost done.

Just making the "slurp, slurp" licking sound as required took Joe Bro seven or eight tries to make it not feel obviously out of place.

All the time was spent on this!

Tomorrow was April 1st, April Fool's Day.

According to the original plan, Tengda's new game would be released on this day, and Joe Bro would also release his video on this day.

Joe Bro was grateful. It seemed President Pei still had some conscience!

Releasing it on April Fool's Day would make many viewers think the video was an April Fool's joke, allowing Joe Bro to suffer less scolding.

But...

Also, precisely because it was April Fool's Day, the video would probably have more viewers, right?

"Forget it, never mind."

"I'm getting paid to do things. At worst, I'll just post the video and not log in again, playing dead like a turtle."

"With ten thousand yuan in hand, I'll play games every day and disappear from the world until the storm passes!"