Chapter 19 Thursday, July 19th.

8:55 AM, Qiao Liang was jolted awake by his phone alarm.

He had two phones, an Otto G1 and a Pineapple phone.

This particular alarm was set specifically on the Pineapple phone. The Pineapple phone's default alarm sound was like a soul-reaping incantation; the moment it went off, it could cause a sleeping person's heart to stop.

Therefore, its wake-up effect was outstanding.

Every time Qiao Liang heard this ringtone, he felt like he was rising from the dead, sitting bolt upright in bed, still feeling lingering fear.

As a freelancer, he didn't usually need an alarm.

But this time was different, because the alarm's note read three large characters: Grab the glasses!

Seeing these three words, Qiao Liang immediately turned off the alarm and opened the DoubtVR glasses' purchase page at lightning speed.

He had already tried to grab them twice, and failed both times.

Although Qiao Liang considered his hand speed to be fast enough, the truth was that as long as the manufacturer released a limited number of products, no matter how fast your hand speed was, it was useless because someone would always be faster!

These glasses sold out in seconds. Qiao Liang highly suspected that the number released wasn't even 2,000 units.

That shouldn't be the case, right?

He had previously helped test games at the Chixing Studio and had met Old Song, the product manager in charge of developing the glasses. With the financial resources of Shenhua Corporation and Tengda Corporation, the VR glasses should have been well-stocked this time. There was no reason for there to be so few.

But Qiao Liang had no choice but to keep trying.

He could give Lin Wan a heads-up and try to get one for free, but he ultimately didn't.

Because he was worried that it would disrupt President Pei's plan.

It was known that President Pei was overseeing the VR glasses' promotional plan.

It was also known that at least dozens of these VR glasses had been given away to various up-and-comers and streamers, including many small streamers with only a few thousand followers, but Qiao Liang was deliberately excluded.

Could it be that President Pei had forgotten?

Qiao Liang thought it was impossible.

More likely than not, President Pei deliberately didn't send him one for various reasons!

Therefore, if Qiao Liang took the initiative to find Lin Wan and try to freeload a VR headset, it would be inconsistent with President Pei's thinking and could disrupt the entire promotional plan.

So Qiao Liang decided to rely on his own ability to buy them!

Although he had failed to grab them twice in a row, as the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way.

He firmly believed that with his hand speed, he would succeed in buying them sooner or later!

Silently counting down, he frantically clicked the button with less than a second remaining, and then paid at lightning speed after the payment interface popped up!

After seeing the successful payment, Qiao Liang jumped out of bed excitedly.

Success!

In the previous two attempts, Qiao Liang had also successfully reached the payment interface, but it was only during the payment process that he was notified of failure and that the product was sold out.

This showed that he was only one step away from success at the time, possibly only a few tenths of a second away from the last lucky person.

This time, Qiao Liang's hand speed exploded, and he finally succeeded!

Seeing that the order was completed and the product was estimated to be delivered to his home by a Fengtu Logistics delivery guy in a few hours, Qiao Liang was very satisfied.

He returned to the product details page, wanting to see the pleasing "Sold Out" button.

People's psychology is so strange. When they haven't bought something, they hope that there will definitely be stock so that they can get a bargain; after buying it, they hope that it will be sold out immediately so that no one else can buy it.

This is like queuing to buy a limited-edition item and happening to buy the last one. At this time, seeing the long line of people behind you sighing and dispersing gives you a strange sense of comfort.

At this moment, Qiao Liang returned to the product details page with this mentality.

However, the gray "Sold Out" words did not appear; the page showed that it was still in stock.

This made Qiao Liang a little disappointed.

"How is it still in stock?"

"Oh, maybe this batch released a little more. Or maybe those with fast hands have already grabbed them, and those who are trying to grab them this time have slower hands."

"In any case, it will probably be sold out in a few dozen seconds."

Qiao Liang got up to brush his teeth and wash his face, took a piece of bread from the refrigerator, and then reopened his phone, but the page still showed that it was in stock.

"This…"

Qiao Liang was speechless.

What a scam!

If he had known that the stock was so plentiful this time, why would he have set an alarm and gotten up so early!

"I'm going to see when it's actually sold out!"

Qiao Liang refused to accept it and continued to stare at his phone.

Five minutes later, he got tired of staring at it, put his phone aside, and continued to play the game he hadn't finished before, checking it every few minutes.

In stock.

In stock.

Still in stock!

Seeing that his order status had changed from "Out of Stock" to "In Transit," and then from "In Transit" to "Out for Delivery," and even that lunchtime was approaching, the words "Sold Out" still hadn't appeared on this page!

Qiao Liang was completely speechless.

"What a scam!"

"I thought I finally had a lucky streak and grabbed one, but it turns out they released so many this time? Everyone gets one!"

He also looked at his fan group and online and, sure enough, there were simply too many people who had grabbed a DoubtVR headset.

Not only that, but many old players who had already grabbed one previously said that the DoubtVR homepage had a promotional page for a new game called *Animal Island*!

Seeing this, Qiao Liang suddenly understood.

"I get it!"

"It seems that we've entered the final stage of the promotional campaign!"

Qiao Liang had already been suspicious when he heard that President Pei was overseeing this unreasonable promotional plan.

After so many days of thinking hard, combined with the previous promotional methods for *Game Designer*, Qiao Liang had a rough guess.

However, this guess was not yet particularly complete.

Qiao Liang wanted to wait until he got his VR headset, find a suitable time, and then make another video to thoroughly analyze this matter.

However, he hadn't been able to grab one, so the matter was delayed.

Now, the time had finally come.

Qiao Liang immediately started preparing the video.

First write the script, record some of the content, and then add the remaining content after the VR headset arrives, and strive to release it as soon as possible!

Of course, it would be too late to introduce the game *Animal Island* in detail in such a rushed video.

Although Qiao Liang had already played it in advance and had a very good understanding of the game, it would still take a long time to record footage and provide a well-organized analysis.

Therefore, Qiao Liang planned to split it into two videos.

The first short video would talk about DoubtVR itself, the promotional plan adopted by the headset, and the true relationship between Chixing Studio and Tengda Corporation.

The second video would talk in detail about the excellent VR game *Animal Island*.

One before and one after, definitely revealing the truth to the world!

…

In the evening.

In his rental house, Meng Chang was still struggling to figure out what the final step of the "Pei's Promotional Method" was.

He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly if he didn't understand this point.

Meng Chang vaguely felt that once he fully understood "Pei's Promotional Method," then his future commissions would definitely be substantial, and an infinitely bright future would await him!

But it was precisely this last step that was so difficult.

Why did President Pei want him to do reverse promotion, and even tirelessly teach him in person?

What kind of goal did President Pei want to achieve?

What good would this do for him?

Meng Chang couldn't figure it out no matter what.

He browsed the latest comments online.

During the day today, the purchase restrictions on the DoubtVR headset had been completely lifted, and *Animal Island VR* had also been officially released. The headset's reviews were recovering across the board.

Meng Chang wasn't really surprised by this.

After all, President Pei had promised to maintain it for two weeks to get the minimum commission.

Now that he had gotten the minimum commission, President Pei didn't need to keep the VR headset's sales suppressed and could sell it openly.

The previous poor reviews of the VR headset were mainly because it was sold in limited quantities, and those who wanted to buy it were resentful, so public opinion was easy to control.

Now that it was sold openly, most of the people who wanted it had gotten their hands on it, and naturally found that the headset was really good, so the reputation naturally slowly recovered.

This also meant that he shouldn't expect a high commission.

However, Meng Chang didn't care, because President Pei had fully demonstrated "Pei's Promotional Method." As long as Meng Chang learned it, he could just try to extend the time.

From two weeks to a month, wouldn't that be a full commission?

President Pei had already done his best. Meng Chang didn't think he should be greedy.

The current top priority was to solve the last mystery and complete his "Pei's Promotional Method."

Then he could get as much commission as he wanted, and for as many months as he wanted.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Seeing the players' sporadic comments, Meng Chang vaguely had a feeling, but it wasn't clear enough.

After all, the sale of the headset had only just been opened, and *Animal Island* had only just been released. Most people were still experiencing it, and the feedback from the player base couldn't be reflected on the internet so quickly.

Just then, Meng Chang's eyes suddenly lit up.

Teacher Qiao had updated his video!

The video's title was: *Behavioral Art Marketing Again After 28 Months*!

Meng Chang didn't hesitate at all and immediately clicked on it.

It was indeed a video related to the VR headset!

As an old acquaintance of Tengda Corporation, Teacher Qiao could always start from some special angles and make unique interpretations.

Previously, Meng Chang could be said to have been closely watching Teacher Qiao, afraid that he would ruin his plans.

But now his mood was completely different.

Teacher Qiao's unique perspective might inspire him and answer the questions that had been confusing him?

…

"Hello everyone, I'm still your Teacher Qiao."

"This video isn't long. I believe that after seeing the title, everyone has roughly guessed what I'm going to talk about."

"To get straight to the point, the reputation of the DoubtVR headset isn't good this time, but this is actually the same promotional method as *Game Designer* more than two years ago, which is behavioral art marketing!"

"There may be many people who don't agree, after all, there are quite a few people who haven't gotten the DoubtVR headset yet. They have been affected by the online public opinion and feel that this is a product that is sensational, keen on hype, and actually has no real substance."

"Then… please allow me to remind everyone: Did you notice the name of this headset?"

"Doubt, which is doubt, question, uncertainty, disbelief."

"Isn't that exactly the state everyone is in now?"

After hearing this opening, Meng Chang couldn't help but be stunned.

Behavioral art marketing?

Obviously, in Teacher Qiao's eyes, President Pei wasn't doing reverse promotion at all, but positive promotion.

However, President Pei used a specific method. Before the reversal, most people didn't understand or accept it, so the promotional plan seemed ineffective.

And now, Teacher Qiao was clearly going to explain this specific promotional method to everyone!

Meng Chang's first reaction was to think it was outrageous.

Isn't that too unlikely?

Isn't President Pei's primary purpose to do reverse promotion, get the commission, and keep me around?

Moreover, how could this promotional plan be related to behavioral art?

With doubts, Meng Chang continued to watch.