Meanwhile, Pei Qian had just finished watching the video from the sales department that Meng Chang had forwarded to him.

In terms of production quality, this video definitely didn’t reach the level of a large corporate promotional film.

But that wasn’t what Pei Qian and Meng Chang had wanted anyway.

The reason they requested this video was primarily to catch the mole—to identify the person within the company who had worked with Tian Mo to create the “Master Tian” account.

Master Tian’s video editing skills were excellent, but they hadn’t reached the impressive level of a large corporate promotional film; at most, they were on par with that of a skilled content creator on the AiLiDao website.

So when Pei Qian and Meng Chang assigned the task to the sales department, they used this as the standard requirement.

If they had asked for a large corporate promotional film, Tian Mo would have realized that his team couldn’t handle it and would have sought out a professional team for editing. Wouldn’t that have been a waste of effort?

Therefore, Pei Qian and Meng Chang deliberately set a relatively low requirement: the video just needed to be at the same level as Master Tian’s videos.

Of course, they hadn’t been that direct about it. They merely said the video only needed to reach a slightly above-average level for individual content creators on the AiLiDao website, and emphasized that it must be “completed independently by internal staff of the sales department.”

The reason given was naturally that the sales department staff understood the department’s current situation best, so the video they created would better reflect the spiritual core of the sales department.

Of course, this was all just to fool Tian Mo.

Tian Mo was still naive and never suspected there might be a trap. He simply followed the requirements as given.

Perhaps he thought he had done a flawless job and believed his identity as Master Tian was well-hidden, not knowing that the sharp-eyed Mr. Pei had already penetrated through layers of fog to lock onto him.

“With this, the list for the new suffering journey is complete!” Pei Qian added Ding Xiyao’s name to the list with satisfaction.

Since you two are the two sides of Master Tian, you can go suffer on behalf of Master Tian!

Hah, you thought you could hide behind the internet and within Tenda, and I wouldn’t catch you?

Those who have backstabbed me, not a single one will escape!

…

In the evening, Qiao Liang took out his key, opened the door to his Sloth Apartment, and stepped in dragging his suitcase.

Seeing everything before him, Qiao Liang almost wanted to cry with joy.

Finally, finally back home!

Gone for a full two months!

Do you know how I spent these long two months?

Qiao Liang inexplicably felt a sense of being in another world. Everything in the apartment was both familiar and strange, filling him with nostalgia.

After taking the clothes out of his suitcase and throwing them into the washing machine, changing into home clothes, Qiao Liang collapsed onto the comfortable sofa in the living room, turned on the big TV, and didn’t want to move anymore.

A golden nest or a silver nest, neither compares to your own dog’s nest!

Earlier, when receiving the medal, Qiao Liang had a momentary absurd thought of doing the suffering journey a second time, striving to get a higher medal and the title of “Outstanding Suffering Practitioner.”

But now he had completely changed his mind.

Go to such a hellish place a second time? Was there something wrong with his brain?

Wasn’t staying at home better?

Look at this big TV, high-end ROF computer, smart fitness clothes drying rack, on-demand Slackin’ food delivery… which one wasn’t much better than the suffering journey?

Although Qiao Liang really wanted to turn on his computer and play some long-missed games, the two months of suffering plus the round-trip travel had left him too exhausted. Now he just wanted to curl up on the sofa and not move.

Even if he had to move, he could only move his fingers at most.

“Order takeout! Late-night snack! Let’s start with a jin of skewers!”

“Uh… I should weigh myself before eating.”

After ordering his late-night snack, Qiao Liang managed to stand up with effort, went to the bathroom to get the scale, and weighed himself.

The reason he could overcome the sofa’s gravitational pull to stand up was mainly because Qiao Liang knew that this was probably the peak of his weight. After this meal of barbecue skewers, his weight would only go up from here.

At this moment, he had to take a photo to commemorate it.

“Holy crap, I’m actually 140 jin!”

Although he had already expected it, seeing the actual number still shocked Qiao Liang.

When he was in the Imperial Capital, due to irregular schedules and binge eating, his weight had peaked at 180 jin. Later, after coming to Jingzhou, due to improved diet and exercise on the smart fitness clothes drying rack, his weight had hovered between 155 and 165 jin.

After two months of rigorous training, he found that his weight had actually reached 140 jin, which was practically his peak condition!

For many skinny people, 140 jin might not be considered thin, but for Qiao Liang, this was like being as thin as a beam of light.

Moreover, this wasn’t achieved through diet restriction but through solid exercise.

Although Qiao Liang hadn’t reached the state where his abs were visible, his body was now proportionate and solid. His now somewhat loose clothes accentuated his slender figure, creating an earth-shattering change in appearance compared to the fat guy he used to be.

Qiao Liang took several photos in succession, feeling very satisfied.

Then, he returned to the sofa, scrolling through his phone while contentedly waiting for his barbecue skewers.

“Ah, these two months have really been such a waste! How many things have I missed!”

“The Global Invitational Tournament, Real Estate Agent Simulator, The Successor, Horror Inn’s roller coaster, Safe and Civilized Driving, Agent Academy…”

“With so much material, if I hadn’t gone on the suffering journey, I might have produced ten, no, twenty videos by now!”

“It’s all the suffering journey’s fault, I missed all the hype!”

Qiao Liang was filled with regret.

During the suffering journey, he was allowed to use his phone, but only a little bit.

Qiao Liang had originally thought there might not be any signal on an uninhabited island, but after arriving, he found he had worried too much. Perhaps considering the safety of the suffering journey, the uninhabited island they chose this time had signal coverage!

It was precisely because of this that Chang You was able to hold a press conference on the island, making a big event.

Qiao Liang was quite happy about this at first, because it meant he wouldn’t be completely isolated from the world during these two months of suffering and could still know what was happening outside.

But as Tenda’s projects sprang up one after another like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, Qiao Liang’s mental state collapsed.

These weren’t just Tenda’s projects; they were perfect stages for Teacher Qiao’s performances!

Missing the hype for projects like the Global Invitational Tournament and the roller coaster wasn’t a big deal, but missing the hype for games like “Real Estate Agent Simulator,” “Safe and Civilized Driving,” and the drama series “The Successor” was practically killing Qiao Liang.

Those were two Tenda games!

Of course, the games were still there, and he could make videos about them anytime, but the problem was that once the hype passed, it was too late!

Players had been playing for so long, with strategy videos and analysis videos already flooding the internet. Streamers were already moving on to new games. How would it look if Teacher Qiao released a video now?

The key issue was that after so many content creators had already analyzed these games, the room left for Qiao Liang to maneuver was very small, not enough to support the content of a video.

Forcing himself to make such videos would be damaging his own brand.

When the first project came out, Qiao Liang could still barely console himself, but watching as one heavyweight project after another was released within these two months, with one peak of popularity after another passing by, Qiao Liang completely broke down.

Suffering physically on the uninhabited island during the day, then checking his phone at night to find that Tenda had released another new project—suffering mentally!

Thinking about it later, having no internet would have been better.

Although he would still learn about these bad news after returning, that would have been quick and painless. At least he wouldn’t have had to endure this torture while on the island, like being executed by slow slicing!

This situation even gave Qiao Liang an illusion.

“Could it be that… Mr. Pei is deliberately targeting me?”

“Before I went on the suffering journey, although Tenda was releasing new projects, it was basically at a pace of one major project per month, or at most two, which was still acceptable.”

“But after I went on the suffering journey, six or seven major projects were released in a cluster over two months?! Not to mention the countless smaller projects.”

“Could it be that Mr. Pei doesn’t want me to make videos, so he deliberately sent me away before releasing these projects, and also gets to watch me suffer??”

“No, no, no, that can’t be possible.”

“First, Mr. Pei is definitely not such a malicious person, and second, this motive doesn’t make sense either.”

“Coincidence, it must be a coincidence.”

“These projects have varying planning timeframes, some longer, some shorter, some earlier, some later. They probably just happened to come together.”

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but feel guilty for suspecting his good friend Mr. Pei with such malicious thoughts.

One shouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, think like that about others.

“Maybe because I’ve been suffering for too long, my mentality has become a bit distorted. This isn’t good; I need to adjust it.”

“This period of suffering has made me realize how happy my previous life was, and yet how decadent it was.”

“I should pull myself together and make good use of my valuable time to do more meaningful things!”

“Hmm… let me see if Tenda has any new projects coming up…”

“Huh? There’s another game!”

Qiao Liang was surprised to discover that after “Real Estate Agent Simulator” and “Safe and Civilized Driving,” Tenda had another game about to be released: the fighting game “Ghost General 2”!

With Mr. Pei’s prolific output rate, even the old sow from the production team would lower her head in shame!

“Isn’t this perfect timing?”

“Although I’m not a fighting game player, since it’s a Tenda fighting game, it’s definitely worth trying!”

Qiao Liang was suddenly filled with motivation.

At this moment, the hardships on the uninhabited island and the frustration of missing so much good material all transformed into creative drive.

Qiao Liang decided to start with “Ghost General 2,” experiencing the game as soon as it was released and producing a video!