July 19th, Thursday.
At 8:55 AM, Qiao Liang was awakened by his phone alarm.
He had two phones: an Outu G1 phone and a Pineapple phone.
This time, the alarm was specifically set on the Pineapple phone. The Pineapple phone’s built-in alarm sound was like a soul-summoning curse; once it rang, it could cause someone in deep sleep to have a cardiac arrest in a matter of seconds.
So, its wake-up effect was outstanding.
Every time he heard this ringtone, Qiao Liang felt like he was sitting up from his bed like a reanimated corpse, and it always left his heart pounding.
Normally, as a freelancer, he didn’t need an alarm.
But this time was special, because the alarm’s note clearly displayed three words: Grab Headset!
Seeing these three words, Qiao Liang immediately turned off the alarm and then opened the Doubt VR headset purchase page at lightning speed.
He had already tried twice before but hadn’t managed to get one.
Although Qiao Liang believed his hand speed was fast enough, the fact proved that as long as the manufacturer released few enough units, no matter how fast your hand speed was, it wouldn’t help—because there would always be someone faster!
The headsets sold out instantly upon release, which made Qiao Liang highly suspicious. Did they really release as many as 2,000 units?
That didn’t seem right.
Earlier, when he was helping test games at Chi Xing Studio, he had met Old Song, the product manager responsible for developing the headset. With the financial resources of both Shenhua Group and Tenda Group, the VR headset inventory should have been very sufficient. There was no reason to have so few units available.
But Qiao Liang had no choice but to keep trying to grab one.
He could have reached out to Lin Wan’s team to try to get a free unit, but he ultimately decided against it.
Because he was concerned that doing so might disrupt Mr. Pei’s plans.
It was known that this VR headset’s promotional strategy was overseen by Mr. Pei.
It was also known that during this promotion, at least dozens of VR headsets had been sent out to various content creators and streamers, including many small streamers with just a few thousand followers, yet curiously none had been sent to Qiao Liang.
Could it be that Mr. Pei had forgotten about him?
Qiao Liang thought this was impossible.
Most likely, for various reasons, Mr. Pei had deliberately not sent him one!
So, if Qiao Liang actively approached Lin Wan in an attempt to get a free VR headset, it would contradict Mr. Pei’s intentions and potentially disrupt the entire promotional plan.
Therefore, Qiao Liang decided to rely on his own abilities to purchase one!
Although he had failed to get one in two consecutive attempts, as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
He firmly believed that with his hand speed, he would eventually succeed!
Counting down mentally, he frantically clicked the button when there was less than a second left, and then paid at lightning speed when the payment interface appeared!
Upon seeing the payment success notification, Qiao Liang excitedly jumped up from his bed.
Success!
During his previous two attempts, Qiao Liang had also successfully reached the payment interface, but when attempting to pay, he would get a failure notice saying the product was sold out.
This indicated that he had been just one step away from success, possibly just a fraction of a second behind the last lucky buyer.
This time, Qiao Liang’s hand speed had peaked, and he finally succeeded!
Looking at the completed order, with the product expected to be delivered by a Headwind Logistics courier in just a few hours, Qiao Liang was completely satisfied.
He returned to the product details page, wanting to see the pleasing “Sold Out” button.
Human psychology is strange like that. When you haven’t bought something, you hope there’s stock available so you can catch a deal; after you’ve bought it, you hope it sells out immediately so others can’t get it.
It’s like queuing to buy a limited-edition item and happening to buy the last one, then looking back to see the long line of people behind you sighing and dispersing—there’s an inexplicable satisfaction in that.
Qiao Liang was in this mindset as he returned to the product details page.
However, the gray “Sold Out” text didn’t appear; the page still showed stock available.
This disappointed Qiao Liang.
“How is there still stock?”
“Oh, maybe they released a bit more inventory this time. Or perhaps all the quick-fingered buyers already got theirs in earlier rounds, so everyone trying now is relatively slow.”
“In any case, it will probably sell out in a few dozen seconds.”
Qiao Liang got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and grabbed a piece of bread from the refrigerator. However, when he checked his phone again, the page still showed stock available.
“This…”
Qiao Liang was speechless.
What a scam!
If he had known that this release would have such ample stock, why did he set an alarm to wake up so early?!
“I want to see exactly when it will sell out!”
Qiao Liang wasn’t convinced and continued staring at his phone.
Five minutes later, he got tired of staring and put his phone aside. He went back to playing a game he hadn’t finished, checking his phone every few minutes.
Stock available.
Stock available.
Still stock available!
As he watched his order status change from “Processing” to “In Transit,” and then from “In Transit” to “Out for Delivery,” with lunchtime approaching, the page still hadn’t displayed the words “Sold Out”!
Qiao Liang was completely speechless.
“What a scam!”
“I thought I finally had a stroke of good luck and managed to grab one, but they released so many this time? Enough for everyone!”
He checked his fan groups and online forums, and sure enough, there were tons of people who had successfully purchased the Doubt VR headset.
Not only that, many players who had already secured their headsets earlier reported that Doubt VR’s homepage had added a promotional page featuring a new game called “Animal Island”!
Seeing this, Qiao Liang suddenly understood.
“I get it now!”
“It seems like we’re entering the final stage of the promotional work!”
When he heard that this unreasonable promotional strategy was being overseen by Mr. Pei, Qiao Liang had already become suspicious.
After so many days of deep thought, combined with the previous promotional method for “Game Producer,” Qiao Liang had formed a general hypothesis.
However, this hypothesis wasn’t yet fully developed.
Qiao Liang wanted to wait until he got his hands on the VR headset, find an appropriate opportunity, and then make a video thoroughly analyzing the situation.
But since he hadn’t been able to get one, the matter had been delayed.
Now, the time had finally come.
Qiao Liang immediately began preparing his video.
First, he would write the script and record some content. Once the VR headset arrived, he would add the remaining content and release it as quickly as possible!
Of course, for such a time-sensitive video, there wouldn’t be enough time to introduce the “Animal Island” game in detail.
Although Qiao Liang had already played it in advance and was extremely familiar with the game, recording footage and creating a structured analysis and commentary would still take a long time.
So, Qiao Liang planned to split it into two videos.
The first short video would focus on the Doubt VR itself, discussing the promotional strategy used for the headset and the true relationship between Chi Xing Studio and Tenda Group.
The second video would provide a detailed look at “Animal Island,” this excellent VR game.
One after another, these videos would definitely reveal the truth to everyone!
…
In the evening.
In his rented apartment, Meng Chang was still puzzling over what exactly the final step of “Pei’s Propaganda Methods” was.
Without figuring this out, he felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly.
Meng Chang had a vague feeling that once he fully comprehended “Pei’s Propaganda Methods,” he would be able to effortlessly earn commissions in the future, and an infinitely bright future would await him!
But being stuck on this final step was very frustrating.
Why did Mr. Pei want him to do reverse promotion and even took the trouble to personally teach him?
What goal did Mr. Pei want to achieve?
What benefit did this bring him?
Meng Chang couldn’t understand it no matter how he tried.
He browsed through the latest online comments.
During the day, Doubt VR headsets had completely removed their purchase restrictions, and “Animal Island VR” had officially been released. The headset’s reviews were comprehensively warming up.
Regarding this point, Meng Chang wasn’t particularly surprised.
After all, Mr. Pei had initially promised to maintain the strategy for two weeks to secure the minimum commission.
Now that the minimum commission had been obtained, Mr. Pei had no need to continue suppressing the VR headset’s sales and could sell them openly.
Previously, the VR headset had received poor reviews mainly because few were sold, leaving those who wanted to buy feeling resentful, which made public opinion easy to control.
Now that they were being sold openly, most people who wanted one had received the actual product and naturally discovered that the headset was genuinely good, so the reputation was gradually improving.
This also meant that high commissions were likely out of reach.
But Meng Chang didn’t mind, because Mr. Pei had fully demonstrated “Pei’s Propaganda Methods.” As long as Meng Chang mastered it and worked hard to extend the timeframe, that would be sufficient.
If he extended it from two weeks to a month, wouldn’t he get the full commission?
Mr. Pei had already been extremely generous, and Meng Chang felt he shouldn’t be greedy.
The urgent matter now was to solve the final mystery and perfect his understanding of “Pei’s Propaganda Methods.”
Then, he could earn whatever commission he wanted, for as many months as he wanted.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Seeing the scattered reviews from players, Meng Chang vaguely had a feeling, but it still wasn’t clear enough.
After all, the headset sales had just been opened up, and “Animal Island” had just been released. Most people were still experiencing it, so the player community’s feedback couldn’t be reflected online so quickly.
Just then, Meng Chang’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Qiao Laoshi had updated a video!
The video’s title was: “After 28 Months, Another Performance Art Style Promotion”!
Meng Chang didn’t hesitate at all and immediately clicked on it.
Sure enough, it was a video related to the VR headset!
As an old acquaintance of Tenda Group, Qiao Laoshi always managed to provide unique interpretations from special perspectives.
Previously, Meng Chang had been closely monitoring Qiao Laoshi, fearing he might ruin his plans.
But now his feelings were completely different.
Qiao Laoshi’s unique perspective might give him some inspiration and answer the question that had been puzzling him!
…
“Hello everyone, I’m still your Qiao Laoshi.”
“This video isn’t long, and I believe after seeing the title, you all have roughly guessed what I’m going to talk about.”
“To get straight to the point, the poor reception of the Doubt VR headset actually uses the same promotional method as ‘Game Producer’ from over two years ago—that is, performance art style promotion!”
“Many people might disagree, especially since many haven’t received their Doubt VR headsets yet. Influenced by online public opinion, they think this is a product that seeks attention, is keen on hype, and actually has no real substance.”
“So… let me remind everyone: have you noticed the name of this headset?”
“Doubt, which means skepticism, question, uncertainty, disbelief.”
“Isn’t that exactly the state everyone is in right now?”
After hearing this introduction, Meng Chang was momentarily stunned.
Performance art style promotion?
Clearly, in Qiao Laoshi’s eyes, Mr. Pei wasn’t doing reverse promotion at all, but rather forward promotion.
However, Mr. Pei had used a specific technique that most people didn’t understand or accept before the twist, which was why the promotional plan appeared ineffective.
And now, Qiao Laoshi was clearly going to unravel this and explain this specific promotional technique to everyone!
Meng Chang’s first reaction was that this seemed absurd.
It couldn’t be, right?
Wasn’t Mr. Pei’s primary goal reverse promotion to secure commission and keep him on board?
And how could this promotional plan be related to performance art?
With these doubts, Meng Chang continued watching.