September 5th, Sunday.

Slackin’ Internet Café, Hangdong University Branch.

Qiao Liang looked at the smiling Mr. Pei, repeatedly opening and closing his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating, until he completely forgot what he wanted to say.

Pei Qian smiled and said, “Just say whatever you want to say. It’s fine. I’m a designer who’s good at listening to others’ suggestions.”

The corner of Qiao Liang’s mouth twitched slightly as he thought to himself, “Hmm, I don’t doubt that at all.”

Last time, Qiao Liang had shared some of his thoughts about the game, and the game was quickly updated at lightning speed. The changes made aligned almost perfectly with the issues he had raised—the overlap was as high as 99%.

The only problem was that everything was changed oppositely!

Qiao Liang wanted Pei Qian to strengthen other underused weapons, but Pei Qian nerfed the popular weapons instead. Qiao Liang wanted Pei Qian to lower the difficulty of the early stages, but Pei Qian turned around and increased the difficulty of the later stages.

Mr. Pei was right—he truly was a designer who listened to suggestions. But listening to suggestions didn’t mean he would implement them as intended…

These past three days, Qiao Liang had been suffering tremendously.

The balance adjustments in “Turn Back to Shore” forced him to continue suffering because all the weapons he was good at using had become ineffective, forcing him to develop new weapons.

Moreover, the increased difficulty of the later stages had stalled his game progress for some time. Even stages where he could easily farm three souls and seven spirits now had greatly reduced soul-farming efficiency, and he could easily fail if he wasn’t careful.

In short, the gaming experience that had started to improve had become extremely poor!

However, after thinking carefully, Qiao Liang felt that he couldn’t entirely blame Mr. Pei. It was partly his fault for being too subtle at the time.

He had only mentioned that the chopper and the glaive were good, but hadn’t explicitly stated that he wanted other underused weapons to be strengthened.

This might have caused Mr. Pei to misunderstand.

So, Qiao Liang had made up his mind that this time, he would stand his ground before Mr. Pei and clearly express his opinion!

“Mr. Pei, as the game experience officer, I should be able to offer some feedback, right?” Qiao Liang asked tentatively.

Pei Qian nodded with a smile. “Of course you can.”

“That’s good.”

Qiao Liang chose his words carefully. “The balance adjustments made recently… I feel they might not be entirely appropriate…”

“Oh? Why do you say that?” Pei Qian asked. “After the last adjustment, the balance actually improved, didn’t it?”

Huh?

Qiao Liang couldn’t follow this logic for a moment.

If viewed from the perspective of weapon utility, the balance had indeed improved. Previously, the chopper and the glaive were too dominant, while other weapons were underused.

Now, the chopper and the glaive were just as terrible as all the other weapons. That was balanced.

“Uh, the balance has indeed improved, but… all the good weapons have become unusable, which is…” Qiao Liang was confused.

Pei Qian smiled and said, “By nerfing popular weapons, we relatively strengthen the underused ones. Relativity theory—you understand, right? It’s basically that principle.”

Qiao Liang: “?”

What the hell kind of relativity theory is that!

Pei Qian continued, “Currently, ‘Turn Back to Shore’ has dozens of weapons, and the balance among the underused weapons is quite good.”

“If we were to strengthen all the underused weapons, we’d have to buff dozens of them at once. After the buff, some weapons might become overpowered, which would seriously damage the game’s balance.”

“But there are only two or three popular weapons. If we nerf all of them, isn’t that equivalent to strengthening the remaining dozens of weapons?”

“This also ensures that the balance of other weapons remains undisturbed—it’s a perfect solution.”

Qiao Liang: “??”

That sounds so reasonable… but it’s complete nonsense!

Qiao Liang was distressed: “Mr. Pei, that’s not how balancing should work! You can’t just nerf whatever is effective. As the saying goes, ‘All nerfs and no buffs will ruin even a good game.’ Mindless nerfing is not the way!”

“Who says it’s all nerfs and no buffs? Didn’t we increase the stage difficulty and enemy damage?” Pei Qian immediately pointed out the flaw in Qiao Laoshi’s argument.

Qiao Liang: “…But that’s just increasing the game’s difficulty!”

Pei Qian smiled slightly. “Indeed, these changes do increase the game’s difficulty.”

“But is higher game difficulty a bad thing?”

Qiao Liang was stunned for a moment.

Of course it’s bad!

I play this game every day and still haven’t completed it. I get tormented by minor enemies to the point of nausea. Just when I finally found an easier strategy, it gets nerfed after a couple of days, and I have to start exploring and suffering all over again.

How is that not bad?

Before Qiao Liang could protest, Pei Qian quickly said, “Qiao Laoshi, think about it carefully. For a high-end professional player like you, is higher game difficulty a bad thing?”

“Game difficulty is like the ceiling of a venue. Imagine you and the other players are high jumpers. If the ceiling is low, you’ll all hit the ceiling with a ‘bang’ when you jump, and no one can tell who jumps higher.”

“But now the ceiling has been raised, so it’s easier to determine who’s better.”

“Increasing the difficulty essentially provides a bigger stage for high-end professional players like you. You have more room to showcase your skills, to achieve things that other players can’t.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

Faced with Mr. Pei’s heartfelt question, Qiao Liang was dumbfounded, then involuntarily began to feel flattered.

Wow, even Mr. Pei acknowledges that I’m a high-end professional player?

How embarrassing!

Qiao Liang couldn’t suppress the smile spreading across his face. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just slightly more hardworking and serious than other players…”

Pei Qian smiled gently. “Qiao Laoshi, you’re being too modest. A true master like you deserves greater challenges.”

“Lower the difficulty? That would be an insult to hardcore players like you! Increasing the difficulty and maintaining the challenge—that’s showing the greatest sincerity to hardcore players!”

Qiao Liang looked at his screen, then at the very serious Mr. Pei, and suddenly felt much better.

That makes sense.

Why did Mr. Pei specifically ask me to test such a difficult game?

It’s because he trusts my gaming intelligence, skills, and perseverance!

Thinking about this, Qiao Liang didn’t find the nerfing of the chopper and glaive so unacceptable anymore.

As a high-end professional player, I should master all weapons. Obsessing over just one or two effective weapons would indeed be failing to meet Mr. Pei’s expectations!

After adjusting his mindset, Qiao Liang felt that the game wasn’t so discouraging after all.

But then Qiao Liang thought again—the reason he had persisted until now was because Mr. Pei had been constantly encouraging him!

Other players wouldn’t have this kind of treatment.

This was a serious design flaw!

Qiao Liang quickly pointed this out: “Mr. Pei, speaking of which, I have a new suggestion.”

“The game is good, but I think it’s too difficult for players to persist through the early stages! I was only able to persist until now and gradually appreciate the game’s fun because of your repeated encouragement.”

“So, is there a way to address this issue?”

Pei Qian thought for a couple of seconds: “That’s easy to fix. I can arrange for it to be modified right away.”

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but feel impressed.

As expected of Mr. Pei, coming up with a good solution in just two seconds?

Pei Qian said, “We can add a feature in the game where, shortly after starting, during a cutscene, players write their epitaph as a form of self-encouragement. Every time they die, this phrase will be displayed on the screen to cheer themselves up.”

Huh?

Epitaph?

Qiao Liang vaguely felt that something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Pei Qian glanced at his watch. “Alright, it’s about time. Thanks for your hard work these days. Let’s go eat!”

“Ah, sure!”

Qiao Liang had been wondering what was wrong with the “epitaph” idea, but at the mention of food, he instantly forgot all about it.

Time for another feast!

“Mr. Pei is too good to me. Ah, I have no way to repay him!” Qiao Liang silently exclaimed.

…

…

The two of them got out of the car at the entrance of Mingyun Private Kitchen.

Seeing Qiao Laoshi’s eager anticipation for the delicious food, Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel secretly delighted.

Poor Qiao Laoshi, manipulated so easily in the palm of his hand. Ah, I’m truly a villain.

But upon seeing the situation around Mingyun Private Kitchen, Pei Qian’s happiness instantly vanished.

This was Pei Qian’s first visit since Mingyun Private Kitchen had become popular.

In short, it was hard to describe.

Pei Qian had purchased a mixed commercial-residential villa that was completely separated from other residential properties, with its separate area and a dedicated entrance for vehicles.

Originally, these factors had made these villas difficult to sell.

However, now the commercial-residential villa area near Mingyun Private Kitchen had luxury cars filling all the parking spaces—the kind rarely seen in Jingzhou City.

And it wasn’t just luxury cars; some people had arrived by taxi.

Because now, Mingyun Private Kitchen’s clientele wasn’t limited to big bosses; some ordinary salaried workers had traveled far on Sunday just to enjoy good food and the service here.

There still weren’t many people, but compared to last time, the difference was obvious.

When Qiao Laoshi had come last time, Mingyun Private Kitchen had no other customers and looked very deserted, with only servers bustling about.

But this time, not only were there several luxury cars parked outside, but there were also noticeably more guests inside the villa.

Only four or five tables were arranged in the hall, positioned far apart, and all of them were now occupied.

The diners were conversing quietly while earnestly enjoying their food.

Everyone conscientiously refrained from taking out their phones, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed harmonious and natural.

Of course, since Mingyun Private Kitchen had very few seats, even when fully occupied, the hall still felt spacious, completely different from those extremely popular restaurants packed with people and lines forming outside.

Pei Qian saw all this and felt a pain in his heart.

In his view, these customers were all so annoying. They weren’t here to give him money; they were here to take it!

Meanwhile, Qiao Liang, following behind Pei Qian, was secretly amazed.

Last time when he visited and saw how quiet it was, he thought it was Mr. Pei’s personal property, just for his own entertainment and enjoyment.

But now it was different—so many customers, so popular! They must be making a lot of money this year, right?

Although the dishes here were indeed delicious, how had Mr. Pei managed to make such a remote private kitchen so popular in just two weeks?

He could only marvel to himself: It seems Mr. Pei isn’t just good at making games. He’s a true business genius who can excel in any field!