Meng Chang kept weighing the pros and cons.

“The timing is fleeting. If I force myself to wait until Friday night to release it, considering the time needed for public opinion to ferment afterward, it would be difficult to dismantle and strike at Zhujia Group at the most appropriate moment. This could trigger a chain reaction, creating significant risks for Fan Xiaodong’s plans to short Zhujia Group’s stocks.”

“My commission is nothing in comparison. Even if the popularity explodes within two days, causing my commission to plummet, I’d only lose thirty to fifty thousand.”

“But if something goes wrong with the stocks, that would be a major problem. How could I face Fan Xiaodong then?”

“I can’t wait anymore! Release the video!”

Meng Chang quickly made up his mind, logged into Young Master Tian’s account to publish the video, and immediately pushed forward with the subsequent arrangements!

Having the popularity explode two days early would certainly affect Meng Chang’s commission.

It wouldn’t drop to zero, but it would likely be halved, or at least lose a third.

But Meng Chang had no choice. On one hand, he wanted to complete a perfect “Pei-style publicity method” process, which was for learning purposes; on the other hand, he had solemnly promised his close friend Fan Xiaodong that shorting Zhujia Group’s stock would definitely work, and he couldn’t let him down now.

Although Meng Chang didn’t know exactly how much money Fan Xiaodong had invested, and delaying the strike by two days might not necessarily have any particularly fatal impact, he didn’t want to take the risk.

As everyone knows, villains die because they talk too much, and those who get counterattacked often do so because of greed.

So Meng Chang wasn’t greedy at all. He didn’t bother with any fancy tricks; he would strike first and worry about the rest later!

He had to hit Zhujia Group with a heavy blow before they could establish their “attentive butler service,” knocking them down directly!

…

In the evening, Ding Xiyao returned home after work. After preparing a simple dinner, she scrolled through videos on the AiLiDao website while eating.

She had become somewhat addicted lately, watching many strategy videos for “Real Estate Agent Simulator.”

The players were undeniably talented, coming up with many clever operations that even Ding Xiyao, a former industry practitioner, hadn’t thought of.

Many players had transformed themselves into capitalists, trying every possible method to raise rents and deceive tenants. Some were even attempting to challenge themselves by figuring out how to continuously upgrade with the minimum number of transactions, using the earned money to decorate their own living spaces lavishly.

On one side, they rented old, broken, drafty houses to tenants; on the other, they kept spacious, bright houses with expensive furniture for themselves—it couldn’t be more realistic.

Some players had also noticed that the room types and tenant refreshes in the game followed certain patterns. Some people frequently got good room types and quality tenants, while others didn’t have such luck.

The forums even came up with terms like “initial account luck,” suggesting that players with bad luck should delete their accounts and start over.

Although there was no direct evidence, accounts with bad luck consistently remained unlucky, and there wasn’t a better solution besides deleting the account.

Some suspected it was a game mechanism, while others said it might be a bug.

However, Ding Xiyao hadn’t encountered this situation yet.

As she casually scrolled, a batch of videos about “Real Estate Agent Simulator” appeared on her homepage.

Ding Xiyao had watched so many similar videos that the website kept recommending them to her.

“Hmm? This video…”

Ding Xiyao noticed a video titled: “Using Games to Deeply Analyze Social Reality: A Brief Review of ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator’.” The title seemed quite formal and serious, standing out among the many comedic videos.

Clicking on it, she saw it was a new video, just released recently. Although the view count wasn’t particularly high yet, the popularity, danmu comments, and likes were all high, suggesting it was a high-quality video.

“Deeply analyze social reality? Isn’t that going too far? At most, this game just reflects reality. How does it analyze anything?”

Ding Xiyao felt confused because, in her view, “Real Estate Agent Simulator” was, as the name suggested, mainly a simulation of reality. There didn’t seem to be any “analysis” component.

The game didn’t really make people reflect on anything, did it?

Curious, Ding Xiyao clicked to watch the video.

…

The video’s creator was “Young Master Tian.” The video was expertly edited, using materials mainly from “Real Estate Agent Simulator” promotional trailers and actual game footage.

However, the creator didn’t use his own voice but instead used AEEIS artificial intelligence to automatically generate audio for the entire text.

The content of the video was very concise, with no opening greeting or address to the audience, going straight to the point.

“‘Real Estate Agent Simulator,’ a seemingly ordinary VR game.”

“Its gameplay isn’t complicated and doesn’t appear much different from other simulation management games; its early promotion seemed somewhat puzzling, seemingly severely misaligned with the game’s content.”

“However, from promotion to content, this game actually fully recreates the current state of the domestic rental housing industry. Through subtle and straightforward methods, it allows players to take on the identity of agents, understand industry secrets that are otherwise difficult to access, and comprehend the root causes of various industry chaos.”

“Perhaps some people have already sensed this, while others remain completely unaware.”

“This is normal, after all, an excellent game inevitably possesses strong gameplay and rich entertainment value, and this entertainment might temporarily overshadow players’ thoughts about the game’s deeper meaning.”

“For players willing to think a bit, let’s explore the deeper meaning of this game together.”

Ding Xiyao noticed that this creator’s tone was different from most others.

Other creators, to increase the approachability of their videos, often used more colloquial, everyday language, first establishing rapport with the audience, building a closer relationship, even inserting some interesting jokes and memes, before gradually introducing their points and expanding on them.

But this “Young Master Tian’s” video was very straightforward, getting directly to the point.

He seemed completely unconcerned with the audience’s receptivity, unworried about deterring viewers at the beginning, and uncaring whether viewers would see his video as whitewashing or sponsorship.

The entire video presented objective facts in a textbook-like manner.

Believe it or not, take it or leave it.

Moreover, there was a strange sense of “my video is made for intelligent people; fools please exit on your own.”

Logically, this attitude itself isn’t very appealing, since most viewers watch videos for entertainment. This creator seemed to carry an inherent sense of intellectual superiority—who could stand to watch that?

But to Ding Xiyao’s surprise, the comments on the video didn’t reflect this reaction.

Not only were they not criticizing him, but they seemed very excited!

“Wow! The master finally posted another video! Front row!”

“The monthly updater is alive?”

“Feels like the master must be very busy, making videos is just a hobby, otherwise he wouldn’t be so casual about it.”

“It’s fine, as long as the quality is good! The master’s videos are all masterpieces, worth watching!”

Ding Xiyao realized that “Young Master Tian” had previously released a video with millions of views, discussing the Chaolu gaming platform, which had generated enthusiastic responses.

Many people had followed him because of this, and most were gamers.

So when the second video came out about a game, they naturally came to support it immediately.

Ding Xiyao still felt the title’s claim was a bit of a stretch, with clickbait tendencies, but since it was made by a master creator, it was worth watching.

“Before discussing the game ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator,’ let’s talk about the trailer.”

“When the trailer first came out, no one knew it was for ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator,’ and quite a few people questioned its content.”

“Many people thought the trailer was at odds with the game itself, completely misaligned in promotion, but that wasn’t actually the case. This trailer was intentionally designed to correspond with the game’s content!”

“After watching the trailer, some people sympathized with the hardworking agents, while others had their inner disgust provoked.”

“And this complex psychology of surface sympathy and deep disgust was precisely a trigger. With it, players could better immerse themselves in the roles of tenants and agents in ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator,’ finding the root of the industry’s problems!”

Ding Xiyao’s expression became somewhat blank.

Was this trailer deliberately designed to make people feel both moved and somewhat repulsed?

That can’t be right. I was the lead actress; I didn’t sense that at all.

I was acting very seriously, hoping to earn everyone’s sympathy!

Besides, Director Meng Chang never mentioned this; he just asked me to act authentically.

Ding Xiyao felt that this “Young Master Tian” was probably over-interpreting. If he had been on set during filming, he certainly wouldn’t say such things.

But Ding Xiyao was also very curious about how he would over-interpret, so she patiently continued watching.

“I believe many players have noticed that when they’re tenants, they absolutely hate the agent’s deceptive practices; but after playing the role of a real estate agent, for the sake of profit, they naturally begin using various tricky operations themselves.”

“For example, while tenants are viewing houses, agents work hard to conceal problems with the property, even willing to deceive customers just to close the deal; when renovating houses, they think of every way to save costs, completely disregarding the actual living experience of tenants after they move in—after all, they’re not the ones living there; they categorize tenants into different classes, spending more time and energy on those who are more likely to rent expensive properties, while perfunctorily dealing with customers who seem unable to afford high prices…”

“Of course, many people can stick to their principles and consistently operate with conscience, but it’s undeniable that every player has faced this temptation: if removing a single sofa won’t significantly affect the rent, why not store it in the warehouse for use in the next property?”

“This is the first core layer of ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator’: allowing players to adopt the identity of agents, performing similar tricky operations, having the same motives, thereby better understanding each other.”