After watching the video, Pei Qian had just one feeling.

After all that talk… is this even my Haunted Lodge anymore?

“Haunted Lodge uses game design concepts to understand visitor psychology, creating a dimensional reduction strike against other haunted houses.”?

How the hell would I have guessed that after putting Chen Kangtuo in charge of the haunted house project, he’d incorporate game design concepts into it!

I was simply punishing him for his overtime work!

“Haunted houses provide stimulation for visitors and activate bodily functions”?

I had no such thoughts—it was purely for revenge!

And the last point was even more ridiculous. My pricing was designed to earn less money, so how did it become a masterful touch?

Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous!

Pei Qian now felt that every pore in his body was leaking milk.

This Qiao Laoshi was essentially driving a milk truck straight into Mr. Pei’s mouth!

Pei Qian himself felt a bit embarrassed by all the praise.

Would anyone believe such nonsense?

Would people be fooled by a few words and rush to the Haunted Lodge to be tormented?

Don’t disgust me, players, don’t be deceived by him!

Pei Qian felt uneasy and watched the video again.

But since the video had been published so recently, most comments were just people trying to be first, without much substance.

Pei Qian had no choice but to go to sleep.

He’d wait until tomorrow morning to check the video’s comments and feedback before deciding whether to take any measures.

……

……

The next day at 10 AM.

Pei Qian woke up, and the first thing he did was grab his phone to check Qiao Liang’s video.

Seeing the view count, Pei Qian instinctively felt alarmed.

But after comparing it with data from his other videos, it seemed reasonably normal.

Clearly, as a well-known content creator on AiLiDao with a massive fan base, even a new series from Qiao Liang would receive widespread attention a few hours after release.

But obviously, the popularity was far below that of the “Masterpiece” series.

Many gamers clicked in, saw the content wasn’t about games, and wouldn’t continue watching—they just clicked away.

So far, the video’s popularity was fairly satisfactory to Pei Qian, as it hadn’t made it to the site-wide rankings.

What made Pei Qian even happier was that the comments below the video weren’t overwhelmingly one-sided like those on the “Masterpiece” series. Most people maintained a cautious, wait-and-see attitude toward Qiao Laoshi’s claims.

He quickly scanned a few highly-upvoted comments.

“Well said! But I won’t give you likes, comments, and subscriptions yet. When Haunted Lodge becomes popular, I’ll come back to support you!”

“For games, I trust Old Qiao, but for haunted houses… I’ll wait and see.”

“You’re right about everything, but I’m not going (dog face emoji)”

“Let me say something fair! I completely stand with Old Qiao and fully believe this isn’t a sponsored video, because Old Qiao is always transparent about sponsorships, never hiding anything. But! I have reason to suspect Old Qiao suffered severe psychological trauma in the haunted house, so he wants to drag us down with him! Everyone, don’t be fooled!”

“Damn, the commenter above might be onto something. Old Qiao is taking revenge on society!”

“Son, your fathers appreciate your intentions. You go represent us in battle and experience Haunted Lodge! Your fathers won’t be going!”

Seeing these comments, Pei Qian was overjoyed.

Though he had just woken up, he felt completely energized.

From the audience feedback so far, the video hadn’t created a one-sided effect.

Admittedly, everything Qiao Liang said was quite misleading.

But the biggest problem was that he made a prediction that Haunted Lodge would definitely become popular in the future, which was quite reckless.

What if Haunted Lodge didn’t become popular, or gained popularity slowly? Wouldn’t that prove everything in his video was wrong?

All his arguments would collapse on their own!

See! See!

The masses have discerning eyes!

Qiao Liang, do you think you can deceive our clever and wise people? That’s just daydreaming!

However, among these comments were some discordant voices, like this one:

“A real-life version of ‘BE QUIET’? Sounds interesting! I’m booking tickets now! Jingzhou, here I come!”

Pei Qian suddenly realized an issue: many of Qiao Laoshi’s fans were Tenda game players, and “BE QUIET” had already gathered quite a few die-hard fans.

Due to the unique nature of “BE QUIET” (complex prerequisites and gameplay), it wasn’t discussed much online, appearing less popular compared to other Tenda games.

But every “BE QUIET” player was a die-hard fan with extremely high stickiness!

In other words, they were hardcore players—the ones most easily swayed by this video!

Pei Qian considered this and felt it was indeed a major hidden danger.

Currently, everyone at Shangyang Games should be busy preparing for the competition, but what if they had a sudden inspiration to look after “BE QUIET” and create a collaboration with Haunted Lodge?

That was highly probable!

With this thought, Pei Qian quickly dialed Ye Zhizhou’s number to casually ask about the recent IOI competition preparations, trying to misdirect his thinking.

If they weren’t busy enough, he’d arrange some other tasks. The key was to prevent them from thinking about “BE QUIET” and Haunted Lodge.

The call connected quickly.

“Hello? Ye Zhizhou. How’s work recently?” Pei Qian asked, feigning casualness.

On the other end, Ye Zhizhou seemed slightly puzzled.

“Mr. Pei, everything is going smoothly here!”

“Oh, wait, Mr. Pei, you’re calling specifically… are you asking about the collaboration between ‘BE QUIET’ and Haunted Lodge?”

“Mr. Pei, don’t worry, that’s already taken care of! Qiao Laoshi’s video has already been posted on the ‘BE QUIET’ announcement page and the official website homepage!”

Pei Qian: “???”

Already put the video on “BE QUIET”?

You’re moving way too fast!

The video came out last night, and by this morning’s call, you’ve already posted it?

This involved overtime!

After a brief moment of shock, Pei Qian felt angry. Well, Ye Zhizhou, I’ve finally caught you red-handed!

“Did you work overtime?” Pei Qian asked sternly.

Ye Zhizhou paused: “Huh? No. Qiao Laoshi sent me the link last night, and I only posted it when I got to work this morning.”

Pei Qian was momentarily speechless: “That fast? Posting a video on the official website can’t be done in just over an hour, right?”

Ye Zhizhou chuckled and explained: “Mr. Pei, are you trying to check our understanding of the company’s strategic intentions?”

“These activities were prepared long ago!”

“Since we saw that Haunted Lodge’s ‘Desperate Escape’ project was so similar to ‘BE QUIET’, we knew there would be a collaboration! This was pre-arranged by you, Mr. Pei!”

“So while Qiao Laoshi was making his video, I had already prepared this activity. Once the video came out, we posted it immediately!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Pei, the vast majority of people in the company are busy with the IOI competition, and everything is progressing smoothly. This work hasn’t affected that!”

Pei Qian: “…”

He seemed to understand why there had been no warning from Profit Guardian.

Profit Guardian had also focused on monitoring the IOI competition project. In comparison, posting a video on the game’s official website was too trivial to notice!

Pei Qian had originally wanted to misdirect Ye Zhizhou, but Ye Zhizhou had moved so quickly, completing everything before Pei Qian even thought of it…

Pei Qian wanted to say something more, but realized there was nothing to say.

“Alright then, that’s all.”

……

Meanwhile, at Haunted Lodge.

Chen Kangtuo was daily observing various data, including visitor flow and experience numbers for each project.

Hao Qiong was also watching Qiao Laoshi’s video and said, “Qiao Laoshi is going all out this time, directly using his content creator credibility to vouch for Haunted Lodge!”

“Though I also believe Haunted Lodge will become popular, Qiao Laoshi’s courage is still admirable.”

“Should we give him some… compensation?”

Chen Kangtuo thought for a moment: “By rights, we shouldn’t let Qiao Laoshi work for nothing, but…”

“I’m afraid that paying him might tarnish his pure friendship with Mr. Pei.”

“I think we should forget it. Talking about money can hurt relationships. Let’s think of other ways to help Qiao Laoshi.”

“How about giving him a VIP status for lifetime free experiences of all future projects at Haunted Lodge?”

Hao Qiong considered: “Hmm, that’s good! Since Qiao Laoshi likes the projects in Haunted Lodge so much, getting this VIP status to experience them for free will make him happy!”

Chen Kangtuo took a notebook from beside him and wrote it down, then looked at what he’d recorded.

“However, visitors have pointed out one legitimate issue—our current queuing situation is quite severe.”

“Visitors are all gathering at ‘Desperate Escape’, and long waiting times affect the mood.”

Hao Qiong wasn’t too concerned: “Didn’t Qiao Laoshi already mention this? In a few days, most people will be diverted to the latter two projects, so this queuing situation should improve quickly.”

Chen Kangtuo shook his head: “That’s true, but we can’t just do nothing. What if one day it’s not the first project that’s full, but the third? Relying on visitors to self-regulate is too passive.”

“I think we should create an app queuing mechanism like the Shared Phone Booths. After arriving, visitors get a number and can check their queue position in real-time on the app. Meanwhile, they can visit the Golden Maze, eat at restaurants, or experience other projects. When their turn approaches, they return for entry.”

“This way, visitors won’t have to stand in boring queues, and it will bring more traffic to other supporting facilities nearby!”

“Plus, the Shared Phone Booths have already proven this method works!”

Hao Qiong nodded: “Hmm, seems like a good idea. Should we just use the Shared Phone Booths app?”

Chen Kangtuo thought: “It might not meet our requirements; we’ll need to modify it. We need a department with strong app development capabilities.”

“OTTO Technology? Their development capabilities are fine, but they seem busy with the Imaging Lab and might not have time. Besides, having them develop this kind of function might be a waste.”

Chen Kangtuo considered all the departments at Tenda capable of developing apps, then suddenly brightened as he found the perfect candidate.

“I’ve got it! Let’s ask the Student Express team!”

Student Express was specifically focused on app development with good internet thinking. Most importantly, the Student Express project didn’t seem to have much to do recently!

Everything was just right.

With this thought, Chen Kangtuo immediately picked up his phone to contact Yu Ping’an, the person in charge of the Student Express project.