Chapter 1 What Kind of Game Am I Playing?

Lin Wan closed her laptop and sank into contemplation.

This game, called *Hot-Blooded Battle Song*, completely shattered her bottom line for what a game could be.

Could there really be such a terrible game in this world???

Even though it had gone through a new version update and changes, these changes were mainly in gameplay and design.

No matter how it was changed, *Hot-Blooded Battle Song* was still a web game, and clicking into it gave countless reasons for Lin Wan to quit.

The graphics were terrible, still filled with the aesthetic style of the last century. The characters dragged around intricately patterned, designless armor, wrapped in gaudy and vulgar golden special effects, with a pair of colorful wings on their backs.

The scenes looked chaotic, especially in the main city, where a large number of players were clustered together, each wearing brightly colored equipment and sporting super-long names above their heads, including IDs, guilds, titles, and a series of other information. The whole scene was a complete mess.

The game thoughtfully provided a function to shield other players, and turning it on did indeed make it easier to find one's own location.

But the problem with this was that the entire game was immediately exposed for what it was, appearing extremely deserted, and those not-so-refined scenes were clearly presented to the player.

The game's music and sound effects were reminiscent of the previous decade. Not exactly unpleasant, but there was always a sense of disconnect.

And the most important thing was that this was a web game.

Therefore, most of its art resources needed to be downloaded from the internet.

Each time a new map or scene was entered, because the art resources had not been completely downloaded, a small progress bar would always appear on the screen, showing "Loading resources";

Moreover, all the players turned into black default figures, and the map scene also needed some time to load;

In some places where the scene might switch frequently, each switch felt like a collapse.

As for the gameplay, it was even more old-fashioned and monotonous, nothing more than killing monsters, leveling up, running quests, etc. Calling it "old hat" was a bit of an exaggeration.

Lin Wan played for almost five minutes while holding her nose, and she only had one feeling.

Low-class!

Even if the game paid her, she wouldn't want to play it.

Lin Wan was a little regretful.

She had trusted Boss Pei too much, so she had accepted this task without thinking too much about it at the time.

She vaguely knew something about Shang Yang Games, and also knew that this company had a relatively unsuccessful game.

But she never expected it to be so unsuccessful!

In Lin Wan's mind, so-called unsuccessful works were probably several levels lower than Tian Huo Studio's *Bullet Marks*.

But after seeing *Hot-Blooded Battle Song*, she realized that this wasn't a matter of being a few levels lower, it was a matter of being several years behind!

This game even made her feel like she had returned to ten years ago.

After trying out this game, in addition to some instinctive discomfort, Lin Wan also felt deeply suspicious and puzzled by Pei Qian's decision.

Boss Pei... why would he want to acquire such a game company?

From any point of view, this game company should only have one destination: to be eliminated by the market.

This company should go bankrupt on the spot, and the designer who designed this game should find another job. If no company wanted him, he might as well change careers.

Judging from the situation of this game, its main designer should not exist in this industry!

But Boss Pei still acquired this company, and it was said that he personally promoted a newcomer and put forward rectification opinions.

What Lin Wan was seeing now was the version after Boss Pei's rectification.

But obviously, this was still far from a truly profitable game.

Lin Wan was a little hesitant, a little reluctant to go.

How good it would be to develop *Turn Back to the Shore* at Tenda Games?

With Boss Pei in charge, this game would most likely be critically acclaimed and sell explosively. At that time, as a member of the production team, Lin Wan would feel sincerely proud and honored.

But now, going to Shang Yang Games to develop *Hot-Blooded Battle Song*, the script was completely different!

Let alone whether the game could be successfully developed, even if it could, it would probably only end up being despised by mainstream players.

With this kind of game, Lin Wan wouldn't even be embarrassed to tell her friends and classmates that she made it.

However, considering that this was Boss Pei's arrangement, Lin Wan felt that there might be other profound meanings in it.

After all, when he handed this task to her, Boss Pei had shown that he had high hopes for her, calling her the "link of connection" and the "transmitter of spirit."

If she retreated just like this, perhaps she wouldn't be able to comprehend Boss Pei's true intentions...

And within this, there might be hidden the key to becoming stronger.

Lin Wan considered for a long time, and finally made up her mind.

In any case, Tenda had reserved her position, and she could go back at any time. Taking this opportunity to challenge herself at Shang Yang Games was also a pretty good opportunity.

...

...

Shang Yang Games.

Conference room.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin and others, were nervously glancing at Lin Wan sitting on the other side of the conference table.

And Lin Wan, who had just arrived at Shang Yang Games, was holding a notebook, posing as if she was eager to learn.

However, in the eyes of others, Lin Wan's constant note-taking only made them feel more pressured.

Everyone felt nervous and uneasy about this leader who had been parachuted in from Tenda.

Mainly, they couldn't guess Boss Pei's thoughts.

Did Boss Pei trust Shang Yang Games or not?

If he didn't trust them, the design scheme for the new game was still being done by Shang Yang Games, and the new lead planner, Ye Zhizhou, had also been promoted from Shang Yang Games' original project. The company's original structure hadn't changed much.

But if he did trust them, why parachute someone in right before the new game's development? What did this mean?

According to Boss Pei, Lin Wan's position was development director, which was basically the same as producer.

But on closer inspection, this position didn't seem to be in charge of specific matters, but more of a supervisory role.

The current Shang Yang Games could basically be seen as having three key positions: Ye Zhizhou, who was responsible for game ideas and overall planning; Wang Xiaobin, who was responsible for game values and specific implementation; and Lin Wan, who had the right to veto any important decision.

Originally, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin had completed all the planning work for the game and could report directly to Boss Pei.

But now, Lin Wan, the development director, had been added between Ye Zhizhou and Boss Pei.

Many people even speculated in private whether Ye Zhizhou had failed to turn a profit after taking over as lead planner for so long, so he had lost Boss Pei's trust, and that was why Boss Pei had parachuted someone in from Tenda?

For a time, Shang Yang Games was shrouded in uncertainty.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin originally planned to let Lin Wan take over all the work, but Lin Wan directly declined.

Her speech in front of everyone was also very short, only saying a few painless words to slightly appease everyone's emotions, and then silently listened on the sidelines.

So the meeting proceeded as usual, with Ye Zhizhou explaining the specific design of *Hot-Blooded Battle Song: Power-Up Edition* to everyone.

Lin Wan listened on the side, taking notes in her notebook.

Then, one question mark after another arose in her mind.

What's this?

And what's this?