Chapter 1536 We're Really Not Short on Money! (Happy Dragon Boat Festival!)

After the promotional video, there was also a gameplay video.

Compared to the promotional video, the gameplay video was much simpler. Yan Qi controlled the protagonist, using Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and military methods to eliminate demons in a remote village.

Before entering the village, he used Daoist pills and talismans to apply various buffs to himself, and then set up a formation to attract all the nearby monsters. With ample pre-battle preparations, he easily defeated a large number of demons.

However, the effects of the formation and talismans didn't last long, and more demons continued to emerge.

The protagonist took a long spear from his back, engaging in direct combat with the monsters using military tactics. He also shot arrows from time to time, hitting the demons performing incantations in the distance.

If the previous Daoist techniques focused more on early preparation, this part became an action game requiring reaction and skillful control. The protagonist used every weapon he could find to fight the demons, while heading towards the core area of the village.

Then, the protagonist encountered increasingly powerful demons. Some demons wrapped in layers of resentment couldn't be harmed by ordinary swords. So, the protagonist's Buddhist aura flourished, his skin turning a pale golden color. The blazing Buddhist light made the dark demonic energy melt away quickly, like ice encountering the scorching sun.

Finally, facing a powerful evil ghost, the protagonist used the Confucian principle of Gewu (investigation of things) to see the ghost's weak points: the red sharp horns on its head and back. He dodged the ghost's attack and sliced off its horns with a single strike!

Next, some other scenes appeared, such as a battlefield littered with corpses, a burning temple, a border city resisting to the death, and the road to the Yellow Springs in the realms of yin and yang.

However, these scenes only flashed by and were not described in as much detail as before, serving only as a showcase.

This gameplay video featured real in-game combat, demonstrating the four combat styles—Daoist techniques, Buddhist methods, military tactics, and Confucian arts—including the use of various weapons and various moves and actions, to the fullest extent.

Yan Qi, as a seasoned action game player, played it several times to achieve this most satisfying result.

However, he didn't show all the most exciting content of the game, only selecting some moves that could highlight the characteristics of the four styles. After all, the deeper combat system, more combat scenes and monsters, and more complex game plot still needed to wait for the game to be released for players to experience themselves.

The combination of the promotional video and the gameplay video already allowed players to roughly understand the content of the game *Shu Li*. The current feedback from the players could basically predict the situation after the game's release.

Of course, the premise was that the development was completed smoothly and all the content that was intended to be made was actually made, without using a half-finished product to fool the players.

"There are still obvious differences compared to the action game benchmarks like *Turn Back to Shore* and *Eternal Reincarnation*. It can be considered to have its own characteristics. I wonder if players will like this path," Yan Qi said with some apprehension.

He also opened the promotional video on the Aili Island website, but since the video had just been released, it didn't have much popularity yet.

Yan Qi didn't care and prepared to continue playing the game demo to look for bugs, and then come back to check later.

This time, he and Chaolu Games Platform didn't invest too many resources in large-scale promotion, only using a few basic recommendation slots, because they wanted to see the real feedback from the players.

If players discovered the video of *Shu Li* and liked it very much, it would naturally spread quickly, generating great popularity, which would prove that the path of *Shu Li* was the right one.

If a large amount of resources were invested in promotion now, real popularity and fake popularity might be mixed together, which would make it difficult to clearly determine the real popularity of *Shu Li*, and naturally it would not be easy to find the problems that exist.

More than an hour later, Yan Qi submitted two bugs.

There was nothing he could do; it was the weekend, and the efficiency of finding bugs was too low.

Yan Qi didn't care too much and continued to look at the comments section of the *Shu Li* video.

"In theory, there should be some popularity, right? After all, I bought some basic recommendation slots, and it was posted using Chaolu Games Platform's official account, so there should be some natural traffic, right?"

"Hmm? There is indeed traffic, but something feels a bit off."

"Where did so much popularity come from?"

Seeing the popularity and discussion of this video, Yan Qi was shocked.

Only a little over an hour after its release, the video of *Shu Li* had already been pushed to the top of the game channel's list, and according to this trend, it was estimated that it was only a matter of time before it reached the homepage!

Not only that, Yan Qi found that the hashtag #ShuLi# was also trending on the Aili Island website and Weibo!

This was outrageous!

Moreover, he carefully observed and found that the trending position of #ShuLi# on Weibo seemed to have been bought...

Because this keyword was hanging in the fifth position on the trending list, and this position was previously occupied by some celebrities.

What's more, with the current popularity of *Shu Li*, it hadn't reached the level of being on the trending topics at all. Outsiders didn't know this, but Yan Qi himself knew it very well.

"What's going on? Did Chaolu Games Platform buy a trending topic for me as well?"

"That's not possible. They didn't notify me about this, did they? Besides, they don't even work on weekends!"

Yan Qi was simply puzzled.

He originally wanted to see the natural popularity of *Shu Li* to determine the players' first impression of the game, but the plan was completely disrupted!

Yan Qi quickly opened the comments section and various forums to check.

"Another domestic AAA masterpiece is about to be born?"

"This scene, this action, this combat system, not bad! I really want to play it. When will it be released?"

"Exclusive to Chaolu Games Platform? Awesome! Chaolu Games Platform finally has a decent exclusive AAA masterpiece! Congratulations!"

"I knew that this kind of cultural heritage must be grasped by domestic game developers. The Chinese-style games made by foreign game companies are just empty shells and can't be relied on at all!"

"I heard that this game is still in development, but it's relatively short of development funds. This time, they probably want to raise money through this video."

"That's right. This team used to make mobile games, so they definitely don't have enough funds to make this kind of AAA masterpiece! Where is the crowdfunding or pre-sale entry? I'll pre-order one first to contribute to the development of domestic games!"

"It seems like pre-orders haven't been opened yet. Maybe the producer doesn't want to take money from the players."

"Then why isn't such a good project being invested in by companies?"

"Heh, don't you know the nature of these domestic investment companies? Single-player games are a bottomless pit for them. Who would invest? Who would let their money go down the drain?"

"Hey, it seems like several investment companies have said they are willing to invest in this game?"

"Aren't these a few of the 'Anti-Tengda Alliance'? Damn, what are you pretending for? Is that investing in *Shu Li*? It's obviously investing to disgust Tengda! I don't believe these people are so kind!"

"That's right. I hope the *Shu Li* team doesn't take this money... If they really lack money, they can ask the players to pre-order. If they take money from this kind of company, they will never have peace in the future!"

"These companies said they won't interfere with the normal development of the *Shu Li* project. And I think that this matter should be judged by actions, not by intentions. If *Shu Li* fails to achieve the most perfect effect due to a shortage of funds, it would definitely be a loss and a regret. If the investment from these companies can give us one more excellent domestic game, then why not?"

It had to be said that the popularity of *Shu Li* had risen too quickly. From the Aili Island website to the trending topics, and then to the major game forums, it had stirred up a wave of discussion among players at a speed that Yan Qi had never expected.

However, in Yan Qi's opinion, this kind of discussion was a bit strange, as if something was not quite right.

Why... did everyone's discussion seem to focus on "investment"?

Why did everyone presuppose that the *Shu Li* project was short of money?

In theory, a normal game player's first reaction after seeing the promotional video and gameplay video should be to discuss the game's art style, combat system, plot, story background, etc., and by the way, express that they would buy it as soon as the game came out.

They generally wouldn't particularly care whether the game developer had sufficient funds.

This was also normal. Why would players care about this? They weren't shareholders of the developer. As long as the game was fun, they would happily pay for it.

What's more, the *Shu Li* project wasn't short of money!

Yan Qi was very puzzled. Where did this news of a shortage of money come from? And why were so many people discussing it?

Could it be...

Yan Qi strung together the recent events and suddenly realized where the problem was.

The Anti-Tengda Alliance was trying to rope in companies everywhere. As far as Yan Qi knew, some game platforms had already been pulled in.

A few days ago, Nie Yunsheng personally ran to Jingzhou to offer Yan Qi investment, but Yan Qi had declined.

And after the *Shu Li* video was released, there was suddenly a lot more buzz online, and two investment companies in the Anti-Tengda Alliance said they were willing to provide investment for *Shu Li*...

These things happened too coincidentally and too coherently. Yan Qi wasn't stupid, so he naturally connected the dots.

Obviously, the Anti-Tengda Alliance probably didn't even intend to hide it, after all, their purpose was to persuade Yan Qi to accept investment by inciting public opinion.

"Good heavens, before, I begged and pleaded for investment, and no one was willing to invest. Now that I don't want it, they're actually coming to my door and forcing money on me?"

"This is outrageous!"

If he had relied on these investment companies, the *Shu Li* project would never have been born, let alone achieved its current state.

But many things were so contradictory. These investment companies were all about not seeing the rabbit before releasing the hawk. Helping in times of need was impossible; adding flowers to brocade was something everyone was eager to do.

Yan Qi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, it was because the change in attitude of these investment companies was too obvious, and their faces were too ugly; on the other hand, it was because the *Shu Li* project really wasn't short of money!

He had already explained it so clearly to Nie Yunsheng, why didn't they believe him?

"Forget it, forget it, I'll just post another announcement to clarify."

"How many times do I have to say it before you believe that I'm really not short of money?"